Today we’re going to talk a little bit about House’s next season, plus casting news about Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty.

We’ve got contract news on Law and Order:SVU, insight into Wentworth Miller’s (Prison Break) next role, and some bits about Sons of Anarchy and Nip/Tuck.

We’ve also got some late-breaking bits we’ve added this afternoon with regards to the creator of My Name Is Earl, and the final season of Lost.

We have the usual weekly recap of ratings from the previous week, but it’s not the usual list.  The source is having issues distributing the information, so I’ve done the best I can this week.

And of course we wrap up with the ratings from last week.

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A Thought About House’s Upcoming Season

With the new season of House coming up, we all know that House has committed himself.

But have you thought about how things will be once he’s out and back at work?

Neither did I, but according to executive producer Katie Jacobs, we should be prepared for the hospital to be working differently.

“A doctor can’t check into a mental institution and just walk back into his job like nothing happened. We will not start forsaking reality. This [story] will have consequences.”

Source: EW

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Lost Gets One More Hour

The mythos of ABC’s Lost is so big that the last season of the show couldn’t contain the entire story.  At least that’s one take on why ABC has added an extra hour to the next season.

Now, instead of 17 hours, you’ll have 18 hours of getting Lost.

No facts are concrete, but rumors say they’ve added an additional storyline to the season.

Not to be a horrid tease, but with all the supposition about Charlie, I have to wonder if that’s the extra storyline?

Source:  THRFeed

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Gossip Girl Casting News

Hillary Duff will be joining the cast of Gossip Girl for a guest appearance in a multi-episode story arc.

She’ll be playing a movie star (shocking) named Olivia Burke who ends up rooming with Vanessa (Jessica Szohr).

Duff’s first episode will air on October 5th.

Source:  EW

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Ugly Betty Cast Update

If anyone is wondering about Daniel Eric Gold’s status on Ugly Betty, wonder no more.

Gold is returning to the show and he’s becoming a full-time series regular.

Source:  EW

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Greg Garcia Heads To Fox

It was a sad day earlier this week as production staff cleared out the facility that was being used as the set location for My Name Is Earl.  With the show gone, folks are looking for work and the creator / executive producer of Earl, Greg Garcia, was one of them.

News is that he’s landed a gig over on Fox developing a new pilot for the network.

This new pilot is about “a 25-year-old who winds up having to raise an infant with the help of his quirky family. The kid was the result of a one-night stand with a woman who ended up on death row for murder.”

If you feel like it sounds familiar, even Garcia admits that this comes from the kind of world that Earl inhabited.  At least he’s honest.

Source:  Variety

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Law And Order:SVU Contract Renewals

Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have successfully extended their contracts for 2 more years.

Unconfirmed sources say that the pair will be making roughly $325k per episode, or $6.5 million a year, each.  I’m wondering if they’d pay me to be in just one episode. I’m not greedy!

Source:  E Online

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Where Will Wentworth Miller Show Up Next?

After playing a felon on the run in Prison Break, Wentworth Miller will next appear in a guest role on Law and Order: SVU’s season premiere episode, and this time he’ll be on the other side of the badge.

He’ll be playing a member of the NYPD Blue named Nate Kendal who ends up saving a rape victim.

Wentworth fans, set your DVR’s.  The episode will air September 23rd.

Source:  TV Guide

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FX Programming Reminders

Sons of Anarchy returns to the cable network with fresh episodes beginning on September 8th and Nip/Tuck returns in October.

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Ratings

Either my source or Nielsen are having issues with the data, so I’ve only got the top 20 ranked shows from last week to share with you.

As you can see, America’s Got Talent dominated while a repeat of NCIS takes the title of highest-rated scripted drama.  Considering all the fanfare going on, I’m a bit surprised that the Michael Jackson special on CBS was only at 13th on the list.  A pleasant surprise is that The Philanthropist landed in the top 20, settling in at 16th.  I’m glad it ranked where it did and considering the quality of its story, I hope it improves.  You can check out my quick review of The Philanthropist to see what myself and others thought of the show.

Rank, Show Title, (Repeat, Premiere, Special), Network, Viewers in the Millions

1. America’s Got Talent-Tue (P) NBC – 11.5 < NBC’s best performer
2. NCIS (R) CBS – 11.1 < CBS’s Best performer
3. America’s Got Talent – Wed (P) NBC – 10.4
4. The Mentalist – Tue (R) CBS – 9.1
5. 60 Minutes (R) CBS – 8.8
6. CSI (R) CBS – 8.7
7. Two And A Half Men (R) CBS – 8.7
8. 20/20 Special Edition on 6/25 (S) ABC – 8.2 < ABC’s best performer
9. CSI: Miami (R) CBS – 8.0
10. Wipeout ABC – 7.8
11. So You Think You Can Dance – Wed Fox – 7.6 < Fox’s best performer
12. Criminal Minds (R) CBS – 7.6
13. CBS News: Michael Jackson (S) CBS – 7.5
14. CSI: NY (R) CBS – 7.4
15. The Big Bang Theory (R) CBS – 7.2
16. Philanthropist (P) NBC – 7.1
17. 48 Hours Mystery Tuesday (R) CBS – 7.0
18. So You Think You Can Dance – Thurs  Fox – 6.9
19. The Bachelorette ABC – 6.8
20. Dateline Friday NBC – 6.7

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Selected Top Cable Shows

As you can see, break-ups help reality TV as Jon & Kate ratings spiked, marking another good week for TLC with The Closer, Royal Pains, Burn Notice and NCIS snagging spots in the top-20 cable slots for their respective networks.

1. BET Awards Show, BET – 10.7
2. Jon & Kate Plus 8, TLC – 10.6
4. WWE Entertainment, USA – 7.3
5. The Closer, TNT – 6.4
8. Royal Pains, USA – 5.9
9. Sprint Cup Racing/Loudon, TNT – 5.6
12. Burn Notice, USA – 5.3
17. NCIS, USA – 4.2
20. Confed. Cup Soccer, ESPN – 3.9

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I’m looking forward to how they mix up the chemistry of House with the new equation of his having been committed and it’s good to see that Law and Order: SVU will retain the steadfast cast that’s been in place since 1999.  I was a bit worried, considering how the network had renewed the show before the two lead actors were resigned. For you Gossip Girl fans (who ask me to cover news on the show), I’m wondering if you feel like having big-name stars come and go on the show is great to see or just distracting?  Do you think it’s only a ruse to boost ratings?

As always, questions and comments are welcome here on Screen Rant.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 11, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 18, 2009
• Weekly TV Update – April 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 2nd, 2009

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’

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 11, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 2nd 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 13th, 2009
• Heroes Lite: Less Viewers Means Fewer Episodes
• Can Heroes Redeem Itself From a Ratings Landslide?

It is Thursday again and the weekend looms in front of us.

Today I’m going to chat about Summer Glau maybe being on Dollhouse, a tiny bit about Law & Order: SVU, a bit of Doctor Who news and some info about Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality including the air date and scenes from the show.

And as usual, we’ll take a peak at ratings from last week.

Oh!  I’ve jammed in a subtle note about Burn Notice.

While you’re here, if there’s anything TV related on your mind, slap it in the comments and let us know what you’re curious about or have an opinion on.

Shall we get on with it?

Summer Glau On Dollhouse?

Does Summer look chatty here?

Joss Whedon was asked if he’d consider getting Summer Glau on Dollhouse.  Duh!

He’s way ahead of everyone.  Apparently he was already asking Summer to consider coming on board the Dollhouse production before The Sarah Connor Chronicles was even canceled. (A moment of silence for TSCC please.)

Joss is looking to cast her in a role of a character that talks too much.  LOL… that would be new.  Summer Glau being chatty?

Some think she’d be prefect as an “active” (i.e., one of the dolls) in Dollhouse, but Joss likes pushing his cast.  The idea of her being someone chatty would definitely be new to us.

If you haven’t seen her actually being all chit-chatty, it’s a refreshing look at Summer.

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

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Law & Order: SVU Contract Talks

Word on the street is that there is still no deal in place for Law & Order: SVU stars Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni for next season.

As you know, SVU has been renewed for next year regardless of the stars’ contracts, but word is that negotiations are “moving in the right direction.”

I think it’s a shame that Hargitay and Meloni were asking for so much money and I hope everyone can come to a happy medium.

I know SVU is NBC’s No. 1 scripted show, but that isn’t saying much considering where on the charts it kept showing up.  Last week in the ratings it was in 25th place.

Source:  Entertainment Weekly

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Doctor Who Coming to BBC America

Starting in July, BBC America will be airing five Doctor Who specials.  On top of those episodes, they’ll also be airing the final four adventures that have David Tennant starring as the Doctor.

All this fun starts in July.

Making a smart move for Doctor Who fans, BBC America also snagged the 2008 Christmas Special, “The Next Doctor,” which stars David Morrissey and Dervla Kirwan. It will be broadcast on June 27, 2009.

Sounds great.  Now I have to figure out what channel BBC America is.

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

Continued after the page break:

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 14th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 2nd 2009
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009

It’s Thursday. That means another round of news from the TV landscape. This week, I’ve got some conjecture and observations with the occasional possible SPOILER in place.

There are some new shows coming up this weekend, some Dollhouse noise, Law and Order cast updates, Dr. Who tidbits and observations or questions about Life On Mars, ER and other shows. And FYI, my ratings aren’t missing: I’ve moved the ratings section down towards the bottom of the post, right before my zany entries of the week!

Primeval

Primeval is starting up this Friday night on the Sci-Fi Channel. The ads look interesting enough. Anybody seen it? Anything you want to say about it? Without spoilers of course!

Sanctuary

For the Sanctuary fan, season 2 of Sanctuary has started filming, according to the Sci-Fi press release!

Fringe (SPOILERS Where Noted!)

Fringe returned this past Tuesday, and is sticking around for 6 straight episodes. Anyone been noticing “The Observer” making rounds on different shows? I’ve seen him on the NASCAR telecast in Jimmie Johnson’s pit, and on American Idol. I’m sure he’s in other shows, but those are where I’ve seen him so far. Have you spotted him anywhere?

Cast SPOILER Warning:

It’s been reported that Leanord Nimoy will be making a guest appearance on the finale of Fringe as the infamous William Bell, Walter’s science partner from back in the day!

Story Outline SPOILER

Upcoming eps of Fringe will be answering some questions, like what were the experiments on Olivia as a child; Peter’s “medical condition” and what the pattern means for Olivia and the Bishops on a personal level.

Sweet. A show that says it will answer questions, and then does. Can’t beat that!

Source: E Online

Dollhouse

Ratings for Dollhouse are slipping, slowly but surely, and that bites for Joss Whedon fans because the show finally feels like it’s starting to get it’s legs under it.  Well, to be more precise, it’s starting to feel like a product Whedon himself would put out, as opposed to the Fox network controlled issues we’ve seen so far.

Here are the official ratings for Dollhouse thusfar:

• Ep 1 – Ghost: 4.76m,
• Ep 2 – Target: 4.25m,
• Ep 3 – Stage Fright: 4.18m,
• Ep 4 – Gray Hour: 3.57m,
• Ep 5 – True Believer: 4.26m,
• Ep 6 – Man on the Street : 4.1m,
• Ep 7 – Echoes : 3.87m,
• Ep 8 – Needs: 3.49m

A sliding scale, yet I enjoy what the LA Times had to say about the treatment of the show by Fox and its subsequent ratings slide:

We blame Fox for the misstep, and for burying it on a Friday. It’s a real pity viewers haven’t had the patience to keep up.

Another oddity about Dollhouse is that TV By The Numbers was looking up some data for Dollhouse and they’ve noticed that Fox listed the May 8th episode of Dollhouse as the season finale. This is only the 12th episode aired. Admittedly, it’s more than the original 7 episodes that Fox initially agreed to way back when.  Yet earlier, Fox had stated that they would be airing all 13 episodes filmed.  I’m starting to want to type bad words at this point, so that’s all I’m going to say about this.

Sources: Whedonesque, LA Times, TV By The Numbers

Law & Order Cast And Cash Problems

Rumors were abound when I wrote that there’s a possibility that Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni on Law & Order: SVU, may find themselves replaced.

The show has been renewed for an 11th season, but the two are banding together to ask for more money. Beside the $350k per episode wage they get, they’re also asking for back-end profits. Dudes, don’t go the Friends route!

While many don’t think NBC would dare retool their No. 1 scripted show (now that ER is done), Dick Wolf just says that he hopes they return next season.

This economy is not the best time to be pushing for more money when other networks are cutting costs, including actor salaries. Then again, Hargitay and Meloni definitely have NBC over a barrel. This should be interesting.  They better hope some of the newer shows replacing ER don’t pull their weight, or their bargaining chips are going to be thin.  Real thin.

Source: EW

Dr. Who

For the consummate Dr. Who fan, there will be a Dr. Who Season 3 marathon this Friday on The Sci-Fi Channel!

The fun starts at 8 AM with Smith and Jones, then followed by The Shakespeare Code, Gridlock, Daleks In Manhattan – pt1, Evolution Of The Daleks – pt 2, Human Nature – pt 1, The Family Of Blood – pt 2 and finishing up at 3 PM with Blink.

Source: SciFi.com

Lost (Slight Time-Shifted SPOILER)

So far on Lost, there’s a lot of “The island controls your life” chatter going on.  Last night, Ben confronted the smoke monster.  Smokey showed Ben his own demons and gave him a new set of running orders.

Though it hasn’t been explained, I’m starting to think I know what the smoke monster is, and for that matter, what the island is.

Does anyone else have any thoughts about the underlying premise of the island?  Or is it just a vengeful version of Gilligan’s Island?

Jay Leno Is Not Wanted?

We have one of TV’s talk show icons ready to air their new show on your network, in your region. Wouldn’t you think that Jay Leno just might rank as a watchable show? For some, no question. For others, it’s “eh?.”

The Boston NBC affiliates think it’s “eh,” apparently. WHDH-TV is opting to air their 10 O’Clock newscast instead of the Jay Leno’s new talk show! They don’t feel Leno is going to be effective in prime time and say it will hurt their 11 O’Clock hour to air Leno.

NBC itself has said that this move is in violation of the affiliate’s agreement with NBC. If WHDH persists, they are going to have their NBC affiliation pulled. Ouch!! And they thought running the show was going to hurt!?

WHDH-TV has until September to change their mind. That’s when the new Leno show will air.

As far as his show goes, Leno says he hopes everything will work out in the end!

About his new show, Leno added:

We will probably lose the couch and the desk and just do more things. We’ll still have celebrities. There will still be a monologue, the stuff that works, headlines, and Jaywalking.

He can probably do his own headline about the NBC affiliate!

Source: TV Guide, Boston.com

Life On Mars (Incredibly mild, alluded SPOILER)

For those of you who watched it, did the Life On Mars finale work for you? Some things made more sense finally, and I can’t say it was a let down, but I didn’t have a great revelation either.

At least the title now makes sense!

ER

The ER finale hit it out of the park, as far as finale ratings go!

ER brought in just over 16 million viewers which is the largest number of viewers for any drama series finale since the Murder She Wrote finale in 1996.

I didn’t find the episode too incredible, but it was on par with what they usually produce. I enjoyed the closing scene when they panned back so we could see the panorama of the entrance, now that was pretty cool.

Source: NBC Press Release

Mekhi Phifer Fans

Mekhi Phifer (Dr. Pratt, ER) has booked a multi-episode story on Lie To Me. He’ll be playing FBI agent Ben Reynolds.

I really liked Phifer and was bummed to see him leave ER so early on in the closing season.

Source: TV Guide

ABC Using Saturday Nights To Close Out Some Shows

ABC is using Saturday nights to close out the random collection of shows they’ve preempted this season for other ventures.

These shows are Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money.

Pushing Daisies will resume Saturday, May 30, at 10 pm/ET. After that, Eli Stone will air on Saturdays at 10 pm from June 20 through July 11. Starting July 18, Dirty Sexy Money will air until the August 8th finale and the reveal of Dutch George’s killer.

Source: TV Guide

Ratings From The Week Of March 30th to April 5th

Up until now, I’ve been pulling numbers from various locations and squishing them together in one place. I found a spot, a single spot, with all the numbers we are interested in. I am going to start compiling those statistics here, but this week we are going to have a little bit of an overlap because of the way they track them. Starting next week, we’ll have new numbers for you. There’s still some new stuff in this list this week, and the list has grown a wee bit.  Oh, you’ll be proud of me.  I finally got Lost in there!

The strongest scripted show in the list is NCIS, coming in 4th overall.  ER & CSI also made it into the top 10.  NCAA Basketball only took one top 10 spot, and of course, American Idol ruled the roost, followed by Dancing With The Stars and those tight, minuscule dancing outfits.

Source: TV By The Numbers

The “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!?” Section

Every week something comes along that makes my jaw drop and wonder just what were they thinking.

Octomom

G4 TV is reporting that the Octomom, Nadya Suleman, the mom who can’t seem to get enough of children, and who originally said that putting her kids on TV would be exploitation, is well in the works for a reality television show.

They’re going to follow her around with her 14-strong brood, chronicling her attempts at finding “love.”  The count is 14 because she already had 6 when she went for her procedure to have another baby, which ended in 8.

The TV Network picking this up is “undisclosed” at the moment. Hmm. Are we betting people? Fox? Sci-Fi? MTV?

Source: G4

Fox Hits A New Tasteless High

Someone’s Gotta Go is a reality / contest show where people get laid off. Fox reps say they were inspired by the recession for this idea! Can you believe this crap?

It’s about real businesses struggling to make ends meet. The only twist is that co-workers will vote the laid-off person out. Can we say The Apprentice?

Regardless, give me a f@#$ing break! Do you (Fox) have no better sense of empathy for folks suffering through this economy than to mock them like this!? To make an entertainment venue out of misfortune? The title sucks, the inspiration sucks and well, you, the reader, can fill in the blanks, ’cause I’m done with this one.

Source: TV Guide

Let us know what’s on your mind or if you have any questions about shows you would like us to look up, leave us a spoiler / spam free comment and we’ll see what we can do!

Until next week!

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Fox Fall TV Premiere Dates & Times
• FOX To Air All 13 Episodes of Dollhouse
• Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville
• NBC 2009 Fall Premiere Dates Announced
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 19th, 2009

It’s been an interesting week indeed.  Today I bring some DVD news about Star Trek: TOS, Pushing Daisies, Ugly Betty, Breaking Bad and Friday Night Lights.  It’s all good!

I’ve also have a couple of bits of business news about Disney and its slow, creeping take over of the entertainment world!

REMINDER: Don’t forget, Friday night on The Sci-Fi Channel:  Stargate Continuum.  It’s a great movie.  Vic and I saw it last year with the cast of the show.  There was a great time had by all.

Let’s start the show with the numbers from the last week of television viewing:

Since many of you said you were interested in numbers for a lot of shows, well, I slapped in a lot of show! As you can see, American Idol trumped everyone yet again.  The first non-reality show, The Mentalist, was third on the list and then the shows scatter throughout from there!

Rank, Show, Millions of Viewers

Source:  TV By The Numbers

Star Trek TOS Coming To Blu-ray

The first season of Star Trek: The Original Series comes out on Blu-ray April 28 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. It’s a seven-disc set including all 29 first-season episodes and many special features.

It will have both newly enhanced and original special effects.  Also, an enhanced soundtrack and the original one.

Source:  Sci Fi Wire

Speaking of Star Trek

Jeri Ryan, who portrayed 7 of 9 on Star Trek: Voyager, will be playing a lawyer on Law & Order: SVU for a few episodes.

She’ll be playing attorney Patrice Larue on the April 7 episode, and will reprise the role in at least 2 other episodes.

She’s come a long way from her space faring ways!

Source:  TV Guide

Pushing Daisies News

For the fans desiring the fulfillment of seeing the last episodes of Pushing Daisies, well guess what?  Though you won’t get the final unseen episodes on TV, they will be included in the complete second season release on DVD and Blu-ray.  Hey!  The release date is my birthday:  July 21st.

Source:  EW.com

Ugly Betty

The final 3 episodes of Ugly Betty, which you have yet to see, will be returning to air after its surprise spring break.  Expect them to show up starting on May 7th.

Source:  EW.com

Friday Night Lights

NBC and DirecTV have come to terms and Friday Night Lights will be given 2 more seasons!  As you know, the two networks have worked out an agreement to share the costs of production, keeping the show on the air.  DirecTV airs it first, then NBC.

Something you should prepare yourself for is that it’s a show about high school.  Students do move on after graduating.  I just thought you should know.

Source:  E Online

Breaking Bad

A late breaking bit to add to my article here is that Breaking Bad, despite only being 4 episodes into its second season, has been picked up for a third season.

Source:  THR

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS AND OTHER NOISE

ABC, ESPN and YouTube

The Leader of the Band, Disney, is eyeballing a deal that will put ABC and ESPN videos on YouTube.  This is all a plan that will help Google make YouTube a more commercial entity for them from the advertising that will ensue.

This means that Disney Media Networks will be able to sell advertising  attached to its content.  Oh lord, that means an ad about a Disney movie every few minutes.  Goody.

Google and Disney will be splitting the ad revenue generated from their partnership.

Starting next month, you’ll start seeing channels for ESPN, ABC Entertainment, ABC News, ABC Family and SOAPnet.

When I watch On Demand, CBS has an ad or two.  NBC, well, I don’t know.  They charge 99 cents on this venue that has mostly free content.  ABC, egads.  The ABC On Demand venue has just as many ads for their upcoming movies as they do ads on the network when it airs live.  The hard part is, it’s the same ad, over and over.  I hope they don’t do that with their online content.

Source:  Hollywood Reporter

Speaking Of Disney: Hulu

Huh?  Not only is Disney looking to spread out to YouTube, they’re also looking to buy an equity stake in Hulu.  Disney will probably look to distribute content to Hulu once this takes place.

The funny angle to this is that this is the cheapest route for Disney to get their content on Hulu, versus a direct licensing deal.

Crumbs… more ads on some Hulu content now.  I’m doomed!

Source:  THR

Guiding Light To End

I know you all probably have secretly scheduled this in your TiVo…  It’s OK, you don’t have to admit it!  All joking aside, the milestone this show represents warrants a little attention.

After 72 years, Guiding Light will be coming to an end.  SEVENTY-TWO years…  that was not a typo.

That comes out to 15,700 episodes that aired on radio and television.  It started out as a 15 minute radio program and just grew from there.

I know this will probably shock you, but the 72-year-old veteran show is getting dumped because of reality shows like Judge Judy and Dr. Phil which crank in better ratings and cost less to produce.  As it stands, the production company is looking at some other options to try and continue the show, like DirecTV or other avenues.

A few alums that ran across the show through the years:  Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones, one of my favorite vampires – Chris Sarandon*, Christopher Walken and Billy Dee Williams – just to name a few.

Its final episode airs on Friday, September 18th.

I have to go now.  I’m going to go pray to my porcelain container after writing that Judge Judy and Dr. Phil helped destroy a television legacy.

*Does anyone know what I’m referencing when I call Chris Sarandon one of my favorite vampires?

Source:  NY Times

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 19th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 2nd 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 28th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• NBC 2009 Fall Premiere Dates Announced
• 2009 ABC Fall TV Line Up: Pushing Daisies A Casualty

Due to technical difficulties beyond my control, the digital dog ate my homework. Or, I had to write this article twice! The digital dog just sounds more light-hearted than what the second line implies. Enough about my woes with technological gremlins.

There wasn’t a ton of news to report or snark on this week, so I had to dig up enough to make this yet another interesting read. Well, at least I think it is! I do have a few snippets that might be spoilers for The Office (Guest appearance) and Lost (Possible finale shoot notes).

Shall we get on with it?

Big Reminder:

The DVD movie, Stargate Ark of Truth will be on Friday night on The Sci-Fi Channel!  Don’t forget!

Viewer Numbers From Last Week

As of Wednesday, these are some of the viewer estimates from some shows we like, and some we think you may follow.

The top performing show of the week was Wednesday’s American Idol which brought in just over 23 million viewers. After that, are some of the shows we’d be more interested in how they’re doing.

Show (Network): Number of viewers in the millions

• 60 Minutes (CBS): 17.04 (Would you look at that! People like the news!)
• NCIS (CBS): 15.84
• The Mentalist (CBS): 15.49
• Desperate Housewives (ABC): 14.75
• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): 14.61
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS): 14.12
• Criminal Minds (CBS): 13.74
• CSI: Miami (CBS): 13.61
• House (Fox): 13.13
• CSI: NY (CBS): 12.79
• Without a Trace (CBS): 11.87
• Rules of Engagement (CBS): 11.42
• Cold Case (CBS): 11.41
• 24 (Fox): 11.36
• Castle (ABC): 10.97
• Law & Order: SVU (NBC): 10.74
• Bones (Fox): 10.52
• Lie to Me (Fox): 10.26
• Brothers & Sisters (ABC): 10.15
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS): 9.69
• ER (NBC): 9.47
• Lost (ABC): 8.82
• The Office (NBC): 7.95
• Burn Notice (USA): 7.31
• 30 Rock (NBC): 7.02
• Ugly Betty (CBS): 7
• Heroes (NBC): 6.48
• My Name Is Earl (NBC): 6.42
• Better Off Ted (ABC): 5.50
• Kings (NBC): 4.60
• Dollhouse (Fox): 4.14
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox): 3.65
• Smallville (CW): 3.29
• Supernatural (CW): 3.15
• Battlestar Galactica (SciFi): 2.4

Better Off Ted

As you can see the premiere of Better Off Ted wasn’t as big as ABC might have hoped for. Maybe things will pick up after basketball.

Some Of Our Faves

Though the Fox network had its usual low set of numbers for a Friday with Dollhouse and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, both shows had a small improvement from the week before. Supernatural also had some increase in viewers but Smallville had a slight drop.

Word on the street is that despite the numbers, Dollhouse may return next season. No promises Though.

Battlestar Galactice Finale

The highly debated two-hour series-finale of Battlestar Galactica brought in 2.4 million viewers last Friday. No, not big on the numbers compared to network, but good enough for cable networks. That number made it the most-watched episode since Jan. 6, 2006 and it outperformed the season three-finale by 56%.

Burn Notice

The second season-finale of the USA drama Burn Notice hit a record 7.31 million viewers in its Friday 10 p.m. time slot. Go Michael Westin!!

Sources: Media Week, TV By The Numbers, TV Guide

Nothing Says Canceled Like…

This is pure conjecture on my part, but from what I’m seeing, I feel that The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not coming back next season. I say that because Stephanie Jacobsen, (Jesse from The Sarah Connor Chronicles), has joined the cast of the Melrose Place pilot in the role of Lauren. Lauren is a med student who is a high-end call girl by night. (Now let’s see if you can get her accent out of your head now!)

On top of that, Brian Austin Green, is being reported as lining up a role in another CW pilot called Body Politic.

Granted, these two are not main characters and these shows are only pilots, but I’m guessing some contracts either allow for this, or have ended on TSCC. My feel is that the execs at FOX aren’t holding their breath for an additional season and specific characters are not going to be needed. I actually got that feel from the panel at WonderCon in ‘Frisco anyway.

TSCC did get their 2nd season from the advertisers, and again – my conjecture – because of the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie. With that movie fast approaching release date, the curiosity seekers have dwindled and the tie-ins that could be, are no longer.

Last weeks episode carried quite a bit of drama with it and I am enjoying it. Yet there’s only so far they can go with it.

In case you have the hots for additional news on the desperate reboot attempt of Melrose Place, other cast members reporting in are Colin Egglesfield, (All My Children), Michael Rady (Greek), Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), Ashlee Simpson (7th Heaven) and Jessica Lucas (90210).

Source: TV Guide

Speaking of Brian Austin Green

Brian Austin Green’s role as Derek Reese on TSCC may not be the only thing he’s possibly leaving behind! This is just shameless gossip, and a great excuse to add a nice picture to my post, but it’s been reported that Megan Fox moved out of the house she was sharing with Brian.

You know those moments that we look back on and reference about the “One that got away”? I think Green just took the cake on this one!

Guys, the line forms to the right!

Source: E Online

The Sopranos Creator Returns To HBO

David Chase, the creator behind The Sopranos, is coming back to HBO with a new idea in mind.

A Ribbon of Dreams is a mini-series that is set in 1913 and follows two very different men — one a college-educated mechanical engineer and the other, a cowboy with a violent past.

They form a partnership and become motion picture pioneers. Their journey is followed as the Hollywood film industry evolves from silent westerns to talking pictures and into the studio system of present day.

The premise initially seems kind of ‘meh’, but if you dwell on this, it may have a ton of potential with the various eras and lots of different people that may come and go through the series.

Source: TV Guide

No Heather Locklear Here

Even though the CW landed many of the veteran stars back on set for the 90210 reboot, they are having no luck getting Heather Locklear for their new version of Melrose Place. I think it might have been a matter of who is employed and who is not. Locklear has a few projects in the making.

The CW has tried to cover their tracks with this thinly disguised cop out press release:

“There wasn’t a way to bring her back that made sense.”

Riiight. I love PR. But some days it seems like it really is their job to get blood out of a turnip. (Have you figured out this was just another excuse to post a pretty face?)

Source: EW

Back Gets More Cast

CBS has two more stars for their new pilot titled Back. The CBS pilot will star Skeet Ulrich (Jericho) and the two new cast members are Sherry Stringfield (ER) and D.B. Woodside (24).

Back is about a man (Skeet Ulrich) who returns home after eight years. The catch? Everyone thought he died in the 9/11 tragedies, so he was reported as missing.

Sherry Stringfield is Ulrich’s wife. Upon his return, he discovers she’s moved on with a new hubby, which is classic Cast Away. (Man I hurt for him when Hanks returned home to find his wife off with a new hubby and kids.) With Ulrich’s return to this depressing scenario, he’s going to need a shrink. That’s where Woodside comes in. He will be playing that shrink.

Dang, I’m depressed for him already!

PS: Before you ask, no, I don’t know why he went away.

Source: TV Guide

The Office Guest Star

(Mild actor / story line Spoiler)

If I’m not mistaken, Idris Elba (The Wire, Rocknrolla), has started his 6 week guest stint on The Office.

Amy Ryan (The Wire, Gone Baby Gone), is also scheduled to show up as the H.R. goddess Holly Flax for the final episode of the season.

Source: E Online

Lost Season Finale Conjecture

(May be a mild finale spoiler)

It seems that ABC was advertising or seeking extras in Hawaii to play the parts of guests at a wedding on Lost. The timing of such an inquiry is not lost on a few. If schedules are on track, this is the time frame that they would be shooting the season-finale.

Now what would a wedding pertain to? Who knows. It could be a past wedding, or a future wedding. Or a future wedding from their past that is really the present yesterday? I think I just hurt my brain.

Eh, just thought I’d toss this snippet out.

Source: E Online

SOME FUN STUFF:

Next Top Model Gone Bad

Last week 4 people were injured and 2 hospitalized after a stampede of high heel cuties erupted in New York during a casting call for America’s Next Top Model.

At first I thought there was an impromptu makeup sale on the street corner.

It turned out that while hundreds of fashion model wannabe’s were lingering around in line to audition for the show, an argument had ensued. During or after the spat, a BMW either drove by or broke down near the mascara smeared mob and when it spewed some smoke, someone in the automotive-challenged hoard had yelled bomb, and the surge for pseudo safety was on!

The three that were arguing were arrested.

I really enjoyed the reference to this whole thing from the source article over on E Online:

“Fashion Week meets Thunderdome.”

I can’t imagine what a herd of spiked heels running might sound like.

Universal Pictures Has Some !!!!’s

The Advertising Standards Authority, (ASA) a London-based watchdog group, is asking British broadcasters to not air a commercial regarding the DVD release of the 2008 Angelina Jolie flick, Wanted. They’re saying that the movie glorifies and glamorizes gun violence.

Being that the ASA doesn’t get that people are not that stupid, Clearcast, the approving agencies for TV advertisements feels confident that viewers just might be able to distinguish the difference between the fantasy shooting action in Wanted vs. real life. What? You can’t curve bullets? Crap.

Per BBC News, Universal Pictures has replied with the most humorous statement:

“Maybe the ASA, which also banned the ‘Wanted’ posters last year, objects to a female lead handling the big guns, rather than the guns themselves.”

Though I have a hard time believing that was their official company line on the issue, I think Universal Pictures just made a fan out of me anyway.

Source: E Online

• The Friday Night Death Slot: Sarah Connor Chronicles & Dollhouse
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Are Smallville And Supernatural Ending Next Season?
• Dollhouse & Sarah Connor Ratings Better Than We Think
• Solved: Dollhouse – The Mystery Of The 13th Episode

All kinds of goodies took place this last week. Let’s get on with the tidbits of TV!

1. Bruce’s Public Service Announcement: Be aware that the season premiere of season 4.5 (Is that just not the most ridiculous thing ever?) of Battlestar Galactica that is airing this Friday on January 16th will run over by 3 1/2 minutes. That means you need to make the appropriate changes to whatever recording device you may employ, if that is indeed what you are doing. Me, I’m gonna be there live! Despite in-laws crawling all over my place, they’ve been warned. Back off when my show comes on. Go to sleep, go for a walk, go for a drive, or watch it with me, but git out of my way and don’t talk during my show! I take my BSG serious! Source: SciFi Wire

2. Some of the biggest news this last week was the Golden Globes awards. Here’s a list of Television Series wins that came away with some of that award glitter:

• Madmen beat out Dexter, House, In Treatment and True Blood for Best Series
• Anna Paquin (True Blood) took Best Performance by an Actress - Drama
• Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment) won Best Performance by an Actor – Drama
• 30 Rock (NBC) beat out Californication (SHOWTIME), Entourage (HBO), The Office (NBC) and Weeds (SHOWTIME) for Best – Musical Or Comedy
• Tina Fey (30 Rock) took away the Best Performance by an Actress – Musical Or Comedy award.
• Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) won the complimentary award for Best Performance by an Actor – Musical Or Comedy
• John Adams (HBO) won the Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television award.
• Laura Linney (John Adams) won it for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture
• Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
  Actress: Laura Dern (Recount on HBO)
  Actor: Paul Giamatti (John Adams on HBO)

Source: GoldenGlobes.org

3. If you’re a Faye Dunaway fan, keep an eye out. Dunaway is making a guest appearance on Grey’s Anatomy in February. Source: EW.com

4. Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy: Melissa George who played the rambunctious, self destructive Sadie has left the show. Tuesday was her last day as she is off to “Do something else”. Rumor on the street says it was a mutual decision between her and ABC. Some think the character was too flamboyant. Source: EW.com

5. Stephanie March will be reprising her role of Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot on the popular crime drama show, Law & Order: SVU. Right now, she’s slated for 6 episodes. If her return is a success, will they consider keeping her on? Source: NBC

6. Pushing Daisies star Swoosie Kurtz is slated to make an appearance on NBC’s Hero’s this spring. Her character, Millie, will be on at least one episode. What’s not known is whether Kurtz’s role will become a recurring role. Depends on audience reaction I guess. Source: TV Guide

7. Remember Laura Vandervoort who played Kara on Smallville? I thought I’d follow up (Not stalking, really) on what she’s been up to since her Kara days. She’s had roles in The Jazzman, due out this year; she played Marcie Cutler in Out of Control, due out this year; Frankie in Damage that is due out in 2010 and presently she’s working on her latest project: Into the Blue 2, also due out in 2010. She keeps everyone apprised of her whereabouts on her website, lauravandervoort.net. She has a surprising versatility to her photo portfolio. Sources: IMDB,

8. Survivor castaways have been announced and the new trick this year is they will be split up into 2 teams immediately and 2 folk will be left behind before anyone even gets to know each other. Ouch. The kid who was always picked last for kick ball will probably be left behind again! The motley rice eating, bug crunching bunch ranges in age from 19 to 53. Source: CBS

9. Supernatural and Smallville kick off the 2nd half of their seasons on January 15th.

10. Stargate: Atlantis generated some great numbers for the Sci-Fi Channel, bringing in an estimated 1.15 million adults between the ages of 25 and 54. The highest rating since their season 4 finale. Source: SyFy Portal

11. John Glover (You may remember him as Lionel Luthor on Smallville) is joining the cast of Heroes. He’ll be playing the part of Sylar’s biological father. He’ll show up about 5 episodes into the 2nd half of the season. Source: E Online

12. Everyone is reporting the hottest news this week that Prison Break will be canceled, or more to the point, be allowed to run its course and end gracefully. For whatever reason, they may add an additional hour or two to fully complete the endless story of the chain gang constantly having to escape something. Of course, if you’re a faithful Screen Rant follower, you knew this already since we reported it back in November. Stick with us… we’ll keep you on top of things.

• Ratings: ‘Smallville’ Flying High, ‘FlashForward’ Losing Viewers
• Neil Patrick Harris Returns Emmys To Glory
• First Look at True Blood’s Vampire Queen
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – February 26th, 2009
• Serinda Swan Is One Of Four Temptresses In Tron 2.0
• Smallville Ratings Are Improving: Best In A Year