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Get ready for more scenes like this when "Dead Set" starts airing on IFC tonight at Midnight.
Get ready for more scenes like this when "Dead Set" starts airing on IFC tonight at Midnight. The zombie battle begins tonight with the premiere of IFC's "Dead Set" at Midnight and will be running all week. This is an American airing of a series that has the classic combination of horror and humor and puts it on the set of "Big Brother UK". Where would the safest place on earth be during an onslaught of zombies other than the closed, locked-down set of a reality TV show? The effects are the best we've seen from the UK and it's very gory. Later this week we'll go into more detail as to whether or not it's "better" than AMC's upcoming "The Walking Dead" - they're two very different animals in some respects. Check out the promo clips at the end of this post.Speaking of "The Walking Dead", AMC is planning to have zombies walk in 26 cities across the world tomorrow, including Los Angeles, in anticipation of the Halloween premiere of the show. We heard that they would be most active in the morning so keep your eyes open on the way to work.
--- TV News That Affects You: You know about Cablevision turning off Fox shows a week or so ago in New York and that Dish will probably do the same in Los Angeles as early as next week over fee disputes. It's becoming clearer that one of the methods to mend the relationships between networks and carriers will be the networks pulling shows off the internet. Cablevision subscribers who thought they could still watch Fox shows online were dismayed to see the shows blocked. You can bet that Fox will try to figure out how to block Los Angeles residents from seeing their shows online as their dispute with the Dish network comes to a head next week.
The Wall Street Journal ran a story today about the decline of Thursday night TV viewers. Thursday nights used to be the biggest night of TV of the week - a night where networks could charge a premium for advertisers who needed to promote new movies and restaurant chains in anticipation of the weekend. Overall viewership is down 1% with the much-lauded 18-49 demographic experiencing a 4.3% drop. Was some/most of this due to more people watching the same programming online? Will pulling shows off the web correct this drop? It seems to make sense that this would help a bit but with more entertainment options, as well as efforts to increase viewership on other nights of the week, it seems certain that Thursday nights can not reign supreme forever.
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If you missed last night's very funny "Bored To Death" you can watch it on-demand now or on HBO's HB2P channel at 9pm - then check out showrunner Jonathan Ames' "Creator's Blog" for some great insight on the process of creating the episode. Nobody else is so thoroughly and publicly documenting their work as he is and it's a real treat to get such an intimate view of the creative process.
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This afternoon we received screeners for the new season of TNT's "Men of a Certain Age" (season premiere December 6) which we're very excited about and we thought we'd let you know that series ingenue Brittany Curran has another philanthropic endeavor in the works: a T-shirt contest that helps raise funds for children's hospitals. There are people out there who make us feel unproductive and she's one of them.
--- The TV Junkie Plan: "Chuck", "In Treatment", "Hawaii Five-0", "Dead Set", Fallon (Molly Shannon, Paul Scheer)
8:00pm Chuck NBC - Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Morgan must stop Dr. Stanley (Robert Englund) from releasing a toxin that induces nightmare
8:00pm How I Met Your Mother CBS - Marshall and Lily try to figure out how to conceive a baby with the gender of their choice; Robin's perky new co-anchor irritates her.
9:00pm The Event NBC - Sean encounters a mysterious conspiracy theorist (Paula Malcomson) while looking for answers in Leila's home; Simon's allegiances are tested.
9:00pm-10pm In Treatment HBO - A retired math professor reluctantly visits Paul to discuss the death of his wife, his displacement to the U.S. and the tension he experiences while living with his son's family / An actress, whose sister was previously treated by Paul, begins therapy to discover why she is blanking out during rehearsals for a new play.
9:00pm Top Gear BBC America - Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz hit the test track; Richard races snowmobilers; James attempts to break his personal speed record.
9:00pm Lie to Me Fox - Lightman becomes involved in a game of cat-and-mouse with a beautiful woman (Tricia Helfer).
9:55pm Hawaii Five-0 CBS - When the CEO of a successful surf company is murdered, Kono revisits her past; Five-0 is thrown into the varied but interconnected worlds of North Shore surfing
10:00pm Weeds Showtime - Nancy takes up with an old acquaintance while her sons dig into her past; Andy and Doug need to find a passport forger.
10:00pm Castle ABC - When a beautiful woman is found dead, the evidence indicates a notorious serial killer known as "The Triple Killer."
10:30pm The Big C Showtime - Cathy visits Andrea's home; Marlene gets help around the house; Rebecca and Sean call it quits; Adam apologizes to Andrea; Cathy confesses to Paul.
Every two years, Desert X presents site-specific outdoor installations throughout the Coachella Valley. Two Los Angeles artists have new work on display.
