Screen Rant » bones

Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 18, 2009

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:52:44 +0000

Welcome to Thursday’s Weekly TV Wrap Up. Today we have a chunk of news to chat about.

I want to touch a bit on the television broadcast digital conversion and how well it went, or maybe not so well for some. Then we’ll touch on some True Blood ratings news, Heroes casting info, Bones renewal info and some Lie To Me news. We’ll then toss in some info on Patrick Swayze’s The Beast, My Name Is Earl and some Law And Order: SVU cast news.

Of course, I wrap it up with TV and cable ratings from last week.

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Digital Transition Not So Smooth

As the television world went digital last Friday, for many it was a flawless event. For some, not so flawless.

One experience noted was that of a consumer who bought a digital TV, and later, a “digital” antenna to prepare for the transition – yet when the switch happened, they lost their local ABC and CBS stations.

They had issues because when the digital switch happened, stations went from the UHF to the VHF band and the antenna this consumer bought was designed only for digital UHF stations. So much for the digital sales pitch on the product. Hence, consumer beware.

There are digital receivers on the market that receive both bands. Be aware of that.

Nearly all stations that changed were using the UHF band until the change last Friday and now they’re almost all on VHF.

If perchance you or someone you know are still having problems, try this:

Force the converter box or digital TV to rescan for channels that moved to the new frequencies on Friday.

If that doesn’t work, try a technique called double rescanning.

What that entails is disconnecting the antenna from your TV or digital converter box. Then rescan again. Turn off your TV or box. Then turn it / them back on. Connect the antenna and scan one more time.

This procedure helps clear saved channels from your TV or box memory.

Source: DTV.gov, DTV.gov

True Blood Explodes On Cable

With the 2nd season premiere of True Blood kicking in at HBO, the ratings reflected viewers approval of the show.

The episode averaged 3.7 million viewers, which made it the most watched episode in two years for HBO, since The Sopranos.

source: EW

Heroes Might Be Adding A Cylon

Rick Worthy, who played the Simon model Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, is in negotiations to join the cast of Heroes.

The role will be a recurring role as Matt Parkman’s (Greg Grunberg) new partner.

Worthy brings a wealth of experience with him. He’s been in various shows prior to BSG like CSI, Fallen and Enterprise just to name a few.

They’re talking about this as if it’s a done deal but they did note they are still in negotiations. Do you think he’ll be added to the list of new Heroes cast, along with Robert Knepper and Madelina Zima?

Source: Superhero Hype

Click to continue reading our ‘Weekly TV Wrap Up’

Fox Fall TV Premiere Dates & Times

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:29:10 +0000

If you remember, back on the week of May 18th we let you know what shows were renewed and dumped with the following:

The only snags with these listings were that they were just lists of shows renewed or dropped, with no specific dates.

Fox has released their list of dates and times. Just to be thorough, we’re including all shows that they’ve announced.

A few items of note is that Fringe has moved to Thursdays, and in their effort to continue to murder the ratings, Dollhouse stays on Fridays. OK, to be fair, we’re a small minority and I do think we’re lucky that Dollhouse stayed with us for a 2nd season. Even if it’s just to draw out their DVD sales.

Saturday, Sept. 12

8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT – COPS (Season Premiere)

8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT – COPS (All-New Episode)

9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – AMERICA’S MOST WANTED (Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 16

8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT – SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (Season Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – GLEE (Series Premiere)

Thursday, Sept. 17

8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT – BONES (Season Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – FRINGE (Season Premiere)

Friday, Sept. 18

8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT – BROTHERS (Series Premiere)

8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT – ‘TIL DEATH (Season Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – DOLLHOUSE (Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 21

8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – HOUSE (2-Hour Season Premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 27

8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT – THE SIMPSONS (Season Premiere)

8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT – THE CLEVELAND SHOW (Series Premiere)

9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT – FAMILY GUY (Season Premiere)

9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT – AMERICAN DAD (Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 28

8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT – HOUSE (All-New Episode)

9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – LIE TO ME (Season Premiere)

Tuesday, Sept. 29

8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT – HELL’S KITCHEN (All-New Episode)

9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (Time Period Premiere)

Tuesday, Oct. 27

8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT – SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (Time Period Premiere)

Saturday, Nov. 7

11:00 PM-Midnight ET/PT – THE WANDA SYKES SHOW (wt*) (Series Premiere)
*Bruce’s note: “wt” means working title.

And there you have it. The upcoming season of unstoppable excitement, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. OK, I couldn’t help myself.

On a serious note, don’t fret if you don’t see 24 with Kiefer Sutherland on the list. This is just a list of shows starting around the same time the other networks are kicking it in gear for the 2009 / 2010 season. 24 is airing in January of 2010.

I know a lot of these shows may not appeal to most of the faithful Screen Rant readers, but thorough is thorough. Hey, I had to type it so quit grumbling!

All joking aside, if there’s a show in here you like and you want more details than what we may have covered, don’t be shy. Let us know. We’re a civil and understanding group of hooligans here! Thanks for coming by.

Source: Fox Press

Weekly TV Wrap Up – February 12th, 2009

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:11:31 +0000

This week, we chat about Caprica, Supernatural, the NCIS spin-off, a new vampire pilot from The CW, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy and some bits about ABC renewing some shows. Also, since we reported that Dave Letterman was announcing the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model last week, it’s only right that we finish what we started with a little something at the bottom of this post. Shall we get on with it? I knew you’d say that.

But before I say anything else, I would be remiss to not remind you that Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles are coming to your TV this Friday night!

Caprica, the prequel to Battlestar Galactica:
The two-hour prequel of Caprica is not due to air until the series launches in 2010. That isn’t all that far away but if you can’t handle the wait, you can actually buy it earlier than that on DVD or digital download beginning April 21st.

Caprica will be starring Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcolmson and Polly Walker. Also Joss Whedon fans are spinning in joy because Caprica is being executive produced by noted Buffy The Vampire Slayer and BSG alumni Jane Espenson.

Stoltz, in his ever dead pan sort of approach said:

“I’m very excited about it. We’re all sort of surprised that something with this kind of rich interesting content is actually going forward.“

Hopefully it’s not too deep of a content filled show to drag it down. We all know how intellectual story lines can kill a show these days with our much valued Nielsen families! Source: E Online,

A Supernatural Brother Is Cast!
It’s finally happened! The CW cast the third Winchester brother for Supernatural! Jake Abel (Threshold) has been tapped to step into this critical role as the third Winchester brother, an 18-year-old named Adam Milligan. He will be joining Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles in the April 23rd episode.

Adam is the product of an affair that John Winchester had while he was off on one of his demon squashing trips. And John knew about him.

He’ll only be in one episode and the episode has got some surprises for us. Hmm.. What do you think girls? Source: E Online.

The NCIS spin-off is getting its cast:
The NCIS spin-off is staffing up nicely. Chris O’Donnell has been tapped to play Callen, a character who changes personalities often! And the other cool cat looking at a role in the show is LL Cool J, who was reported to be in final talks to play the role of Sam Hanna, an ex-Navy SEAL.

CBS still has four other roles to fill and the new team will have their spin-off introduced as an episode of NCIS to air later this season before getting their own show slot. Source: EW.com.

The CW Jumps On the Vampire Bandwagon:
Before the much vaunted series of Twilight books, there was a four-book series called Vampire Diaries written by L.J. Smith. With Twilight having gone all agog, the publisher has released the books again.

At first I thought they were only trying to cash in on the vampire craze, but the books have hit the NY Times best seller list and three more books have been ordered.

Now The CW has ordered a pilot based on the 1993 book series. They’ll be bringing together Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Julie Plec (Kyle XY) to both executive produce and write the pilot.

It will be about a young woman who’s torn between two vampire brothers. There is a good brother and an evil brother and they’re battling for the souls of the young woman, her buddies, her family and the small town where they live in. Sounds like a Mongolian barbecue run to me! Source: Variety

Criminal Minds Guest Star
If you’re an Alex McLoughlin fan, and a Criminal Minds fan, go crazy if you want! McLoughlin will be guest starring in an episode of Criminal Minds where he will be playing the role of a serial killer. Dang, if you think about his demeanor, that just sounds perfect now, doesn’t it?

The episode is going to be unique attempt at seeing things from the killers Point of view.

It’s also been hinted at that we’ll be seeing more of Loughlin on CBS soon. No more details were available. No, don’t get your hopes that high. I doubt it’s Moonlight, but heck, that sure would be nice though, wouldn’t it? Source: EW.com.

Ghost Whisperer
It’s about frackin’ time! Melinda will be finally telling the new Sam about her abilities and she’s going to be letting him in on his own secret issues in the March 6th episode. Now, let’s see how he handles that one!!! Melinda will also be encountering some ghost hunters. LOL… Too bad it’s CBS. NBC could have brought Ghost Hunters International across the set for one episode. Now that would have been an awesome cross-over! Source: CBS Press

Bones News:
Any Bones fans out there? Just a tiny tidbit: Booth and Brennan will be getting “together” before seasons’ end. Something to look forward to… I guess. Source: EW.com.

ABC Will Be Renewing Some Shows
Despite not willing to announce the pickups, it’s being reported that ABC is renewing the following shows:
Ugly Betty,
Grey’s Anatomy,
Desperate Housewives,
Brothers & Sisters,
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,
America’s Funniest Home Videos, and
The Bachelor.

Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy
During an interview, James Pickens Jr. who plays Dr. Richard Webber gave up the ghost and revealed that Katherine Heigl and T.K. Knight are both leaving the show. This news has been floating around as rumors since July on Knight and December on Heigl. I won’t miss Heigl, but it’s a shame about Knight. Source: Us Magazine.

And Finally, The 2009 Sports Illustrated Cover Girl!
How do I put this? Leonardo DiCaprio is one lucky ****. Her name is Bar Refaeli. There ya have it!

You’re welcome!