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.
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I can’t believe that Jon & KAte garbage would have been the #3 rated show on TV. My GF and I watched that show ONCE and I couldn’t stand it. I fail to see why so many people get addicted to pure garbage like that. I do feel bad for those poor kids in that their parents are exploiting them to make a buck. If any of those kids grow up normal, it’ll be a miracle.
Ok, who are the Gossip Girl fans!!!
Bruce email me off site if you have to, these people need help !!!
Hey a little piece of rumor news on Greg Garcia’s new show. If it gets picked up expect an episode with Earl (from “My name is Earl”) showing up to complete his Karma list. I have it on good source that this will happen.
Andy we are surrounded by morons in this country. I think Neilson goes out of there way to find these pathetic people. The top ten shows are all crap. I’m so glad I gave up broadcast tv…
Andy S:
don’t worry.. the ratings only spiked for the show when there were problems coming up between them in the epi.
790:
Actually, there are some decent shows in the top-10 list.
And hey, everyone has their likes and dislikes.. go easy.
Yeah Bruce, I need to focus my rage on the ratings system. That’s the real problem.
Breath…
LOL
Actually, ratings wouldn’t matter if advertisers didn’t care.
Advertisers wouldn’t care if viewers stopped buying their products.
But then, we’d have no TV at all then. It would be all subscription TV and we’d get nothing but telethons and symphony TV all day long with continual PBS programming on the one channel that would exist!
Whoa… I scare myself.
This falls under the “Greed is Good” slogan,,, lol….
But yeah I see your point B,,,
I wonder how many channels they have in the Star Trek universe as there is no economy to capitalise on.
Huh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a TV in Star Trek.. egads, we’d have to read and continually improve ourselves!
I don’t understand how ANYONE will do ANYTHING in the Star Trek universe without a reward system to motivate them to do it… If everyone is “equal” I would just sit at home 24/7 and do absolutely nothing… And i’m sure a great many people would too…
Good point Bruce but the non Starfleet civies would have to watch something. Lol,,,,,
I’m imagining the 32 Screen-Maxi-Home Theater 2000 from “Back to the Future 2.” Turn on,,,um,,,
the atrocity channel, hey mom what’s for dinner,,,”
Boy not me KenJ, if I had a shuttle craft with warp drive I would pack that up and go exploring… Think of the cool phaser weapons,,,,
Where’s your imagination my man?
And equipped with a cloaking device… merahhahah… Imagine the havoc one could create?!
LOL,,,,,! good one B, !!!
Yeah it would also have Mutiphasic Sheilding and futuristic Voyager Armor plating… and of course the standard 3 year warrenty…including nural gel pack changes…
Hey, if everything can be made using replicators, then couldn’t we all own super heavily armed battle cruisers and crap? I will make a flying tank. The hull at its thinnest would be like 10 feet thick, lol. Of course the energy shield is still a must, the thick hull is just backup. I’ve seen enough episode of Star Trek to know that the shields will always fail when you need it the most…