Results tagged “fox”

Today marks the release of "The Shield: Complete Series" on DVD. This series pushed the boundaries of what could be done on cable television, in terms of content, quality of writing and production, and talent (Academy Award winners galore guested or had long-running storylines). "The Shield" paved the way for current darlings of the critics and viewers like "Damages", "Mad Men", "Breaking Bad", Saving Grace", etc. High quality, aggressive and unapologetic storytelling is not limited to premium cable anymore because of "The Shield".

It's hard work watching baseball games on Fox. On the one hand, each contest always seems lasts an hour too long and, on the other, the Fox announcers over-the-top Yankee gushing (though mostly Derek Jeter) makes you feel less like you're watching a baseball game and more like an episode of the Dating Game. Plus, last night's classic not withstanding, game one of the ALCS was a slow, matter of fact contest between the dominant Yankees and the suddenly hapless Angels.

Looks like "Family Guy"/"American Dad"/"The Cleveland Show" creator Seth MacFarlane is coming through on the idea of a music/comedy variety show. When we attended his "Family Guy" Pre-Emmy party (check out the vids) we marveled at his cabaret prowess an it looks like there were additional admirers at FOX and...... Microsoft? Yeah, MacFarlane will shill Windows 7 as part of the "Almost Live Comedy Show" special as part of an all-Seth MacFarlane night on November 8th. According to Variety, MacFarlane and co-host Alex Borstein "will use what is described as ridiculous and bawdy comparisons to describe what's 'as simple as Windows 7' and what's 'more difficult than Windows 7'" during live-action segments of the show.

Before Barack Obama's campaign, Yosi Sergant was a local public relations guy and a constant presence in the Los Angeles arts and grassroots scenes. He represented Shepard Fairey among other organizations before he got the idea to have artists make posters for the campaign. One of those, Fairey's HOPE, became a huge hit and a driving force and symbol of the campaign. Sergant was then offered a job in the White House as the arts liaison and eventually was named the Communications Director at the National Endowment for the Arts.

         

After eight and a half years of nine-to-five work and three Spiderman franchises, Ian Shive had enough. Like most us, we all wish we could just grab a camera and travel to earn a living. But like most of us, we don't. Shive is the exception.

Tonight is the two-hour season finale of "24" (haters can move on please). We're already looking forward to season 7 which will supposedly occur in New York City and will be the "most realistic" season yet. How is that even [snark] possible? We admit we have shamelessly been wasting a ton of hours on the "24 - Special Ops" iPhone game. A recent high point for us was the chance to see a Janeane Garofalo performance where she read some of her "Janis Gold vs. Chloe O'Brien" dialogue.

New Web Series: Fans of stand-up comedy will enjoy "ROFL" which starts today and will be updated weekly with hand-picked tidbits of comedy from around the country. The show gets posted to Revision3 internet TV.

Late night TV is hopping tonight, everybody has at least one great guest, be sure to check the full listings after the jump.

Congrats to Bravo for it's best April ever in terms of viewership. Strange to us that "The Real Housewives of New York City", "The Millionaire Matchmaker" , and "Make Me A Supermodel" can fuel that kind of growth during these times but evidently a lot of people we know are watching these shows without copping to it.

The AP has an interesting story today on local newscasters trimming their staff despite reports stating that local news is becoming a ratings leader compared to national news broadcasts. Having technology that allows only 1 or 2 people to go to a location shoot should mean more coverage, because that's what people want, not the same amount of coverage with less people.

The TV Junkie Plan: "Better Off Ted", "Lost" (maybe), "MythBusters" (if not "Lost"), "South Park", "Reno 911!", Letterman, Fallon.

The TV Junkie braved the stunning heat last Sunday to put on a monkey suit and attend the red carpet ceremonies at the Gibson Amphitheater for the 2009 TV Land Awards. This event is a favorite of TV fans as it's an opportunity to see the creators and talent of some of the best TV from ages past, most of whom are also involved in current TV projects as well.

The TV Junkie Plan: "Chuck", "24", "Doing Da Vinci", Letterman, Fallon

The TV Junkie Plan: "Better Off Ted", "Lost", "South Park", "Reno 911!", Leno, Fallon

The TV Junkie Plan: "Deadliest Catch", "Out of the Wild", "Modern Toss", Letterman, Fallon.

The Discovery Channel has put together a ton of programming it has dubbed "Alaska Week" and it begins tonight at 9pm with "Arctic Roughnecks". Tomorrow will feature the season premiere of "Deadliest Catch" and we will have an interview with Captain Keith of the Wizard for you!

Weekend Edition

Jon Hamm aka Don Draper aka Dr. Drew Baird is available for a date ......for charity. Paul Rudd, Kevin Smith, Nathan Fillion, Patrick Duffy, David Schwimmer, Julianna Margulies and others are also available for dates so take your checkbook to the Adrienne Shelley Foundation website who is auctioning off these wonderful people on eBay.

We know it's a couple days away but we couldn't help talk up this Thursday night's NBC lineup: "The Office" will be back with 2 brand new episodes at 8pm and 9pm with the series premiere of Amy Poehler's highly anticipated "Parks and Recreation" sandwiched in between the two at 8:30pm. Check out the website of Pawnee, Indiana, the location of "Parks and Recreation" and of course the video snippets.

Unless you are a basketball or baseball fan, this weekend's options are kind of slim - feel free to sift through our picks - what are you going to watch? If it's not on our list, let us know and we'll talk about it.

Tonight is all about the final episode of "ER" and/or how to avoid it. NBC is pretty much devoting all of its prime time programming to "ER", what with retrospectives, and the two-hour finale. We admit that we used to watch "ER" about 10 years ago because we had a girlfriend that was an "ER" addict, kind of like the way one becomes a vegetarian because one's significant other is a vegetarian. At some point though, the show jumped the shark - was it the multiple helicopter crashes? The myriad of fatal diseases stalking their way through the staff? The constant replenishment of characters so that the "young" part of a "young doctors in love" soap opera could still fit the definition?

Our friends over at BBC America's "Top Gear" have really done it - they have achieved unprecedented success with "Project Sipster": the creation of a car that gets 84mpg , goes from 0-60mph in 7 seconds, and whose cost was to be $7000 or less. You can see more in this video. Suck it Tesla and watch "Top Gear" on BBC America tonight at 8pm.

The Internet is abuzz today with promotion of HBO's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" to air this Sunday. Some writer's are pointing out that the show doesn't address any of the problems going on in Africa these days (AIDS, war, famine, rape, pillaging of natural resource) - instead it depicts a laid-back and idyllic place with only quaint soap opera-esque concerns.

Nielsen says that President Obama's latest press conference slipped in the ratings and that the CW series, "Reaper", gained (the implication is that Obama is suffering from overexposure). I'm not sure how many teens would be that in economics, much less everyday Americans. I guess former President Bush avoided these kind of comparisons by not doing press conferences and by spending more time on vacation than any other president.

According to the LA Times, about 1 in 4 TVs were tuned to "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" when President Barack Obama made an appearance last week. Leno has had higher ratings only 3 other times in the past, but the media space is a lot more crowded than it was even 4 years ago, so it was a stellar night for NBC.

Tonight marks the end of "Battlestar Galactica", for about 20 years until the geeks of the future resurrect it like they did the now-campy 1970s version. Some have complained that this final season swung the show onto a science-fiction track that was too science-fiction-y but the show had to return to its roots, its core, before wandering off into the cosmos.

The big news for TV and for LA is that President Barack Obama will be a guest tonight on "The Tonight Show" - we know what we'll be watching at 11:35pm (sorry Colbert).

Ad spending in the US dropped by 2.6% in 2008, with only cable increasing ad revenue for the year. TV and cable still retained a leadership position as the preferred media, taking more than 60% of all ad dollars.

Today in the web TV world, Josh Schwartz's (Gossip Girl, The O.C., Chuck) music-themed web series, "Rockville CA" premieres on TheWB.com. The show features both indie favorites and up-and-coming bands such as Eagles of Death Metal, The Broken West, and Bishop Allen. “Rockville CA” is set in a fictional Los Angeles rock club and was shot on location at The Echo, which is an actual, real rock club, that you might have heard of if you have a heartbeat.

AMC's "Breaking Bad" is so good that we can't stop thinking about last night's episode. Both macabre and humorous, it was the best thing we saw on TV last night. The show starts with Walter White already out of the frying pan and in the fire and it ends with him seemingly consumed by the flames - we don't know how they're going to keep it up.