TV is a tough business: you can ace your audition, head into the pilot shoot with the whole network's support behind you, follow your director's notes to the letter, and still get fired from what may eventually be a bona fide television classic. (Just ask Lisa Kudrow, who was replaced by Peri Gilpin on Frasier after the third day of rehearsals. Luckily, she landed Friends the next year.) With that in mind, we thought it fair to pay tribute to the actors who were oh-so-close this pilot season before the network decided to go in a different direction. Godspeed, kids. Here's hoping you book a guest star arc in time for November sweeps.
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Anyone still freakishly bitter -- if unsurprised -- that Niecy Nash was sent packing last week on Dancing with the Stars? Sisterchild, I sure am. At least she was funny. Now we're left with Chad Ochocinco to zap us with quips and buzzwords and chest clutches, and that's not the same. At least tonight's viewing options leave us with many decent alternatives, including the finest film ever about taking over a delirious recluse's candy empire.
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Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Selleck is returning to CBS. Just this morning, the Tiffany Network picked up Blue Bloods (previously titled Reagan's Law), in which the former Magnum, P.I. stars as a second generation New York City cop. CBS also ordered full seasons of Mike and Molly (from Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre), Hawaii Five-0 and Defenders. [Deadline]
Former Food Network host Juan-Carlos Cruz is expected to plead not guilty today in his arraignment for allegedly trying to hire two homeless people to kill his wife. After two men tipped off the cops last week, Cruz, who hosted the channel's Calorie Commando, was arrested and taken to the Los Angeles County Jail. According to TMZ, Cruz approached the men at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and supplied them with $1,000, a box cutter and instructions to slit his wife's throat. [Radar]
By now you've adjusted your Google Calendar accordingly to make room for all the new programming NBC is dropping on the unsuspecting public this fall, but wouldn't you like to see some actual video evidence of what lies ahead? Of course! If you feel like crashing your browser, NBC has helpfully created a fall-schedule page on their website to help you accomplish just that; otherwise click ahead and watch previews of Undercovers, The Event, Outsourced and Love Bites.
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If you were hoping that Fox would do something fun and exciting with their fall schedule -- like, for instance, moving Fringe out of the Thursdays-at-9 trench war and into the Lost-vacated Tuesdays-at-9 slot to capitalize on the mythology-heavy nature of the show -- you're out of luck. The network released its schedule today and it's decidedly bland -- unless you're the kind of person who gets riled up by the fact that Glee is airing an hour earlier. Also, are you ready to hear Joe Buck promote Glee during the Super Bowl? Hopefully, since the network announced their breakout hit will get the coveted post-Super Bowl slot in February. After the jump, the complete fall and mid-season schedules.
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· You know how NBC's fall line-up was announced online this past weekend instead of at the Peacock's Upfront presentation, per usual? That is because James Hibberd, the Hollywood Reporter's television editor, sneaked into a video rehearsal of the presentation and leaked the programming. NBC has since retaliated by banning Hibberd from today's presentation (which, technically, he already saw) and canceling his one-on-one interviews with network executives Jeff Gaspin and Angela Bromstad. Maybe next year, NBC should spring for some extra security... or a venue other than the New York Hilton. [The Wrap]
ABC pulls the plug on another sitcom, Fox builds a new comedy night and more TV Bites after the jump.
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I didn't want or expect three eliminations on Celebrity Apprentice last night, but that's just what we got, isn't it? Right down the line, Maria Kanellis, Curtis Stone, and Sharon Osbourne took the elevator ride to hell. Trump calmly explained that they didn't sell out their coworkers enough. Of course. But more importantly: Only Holly Robinson Peete and Bret Michaels are left. Huh? This isn't the Sharon Osbourne-Curtis Stone finale we banked on following Summer Sanders' elimination. Could Bret, the man who joyfully gave us the catchphrase "Pump up the wiener," really win it all?
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For those of us who jones for some bloodsucking action in our lives, the good people at True Blood have heard our cries, and have given us a full, two-minute Season 3 trailer to whet our appetites in advance of the June 13 premiere. So what can we expect from our merry band of vamps, shape-shifters and mind-readers this season? Looks like healthy portions of hungry werewolves, bared fangs, bare asses, and enough spilled blood to make anyone blanch.
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This weekend, If you thought you detected a certain high-pitched squealing coming somewhere from the desert of the Southwest, you were probably right. The cast of Glee kicked off its four-city tour last night in Phoenix, Arizona, and while the fans obviously ate it up with two spoons, critical reaction was a bit mixed.
Check out the full set list, videos from the show and a roundup of reviews after the jump. Just be sure to bring your passport and your birth certificate.
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THR has details on NBC's new fall schedule, and from the looks of things, it seems like Mary Poppins is helping NBC entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin program the network: There's a place for everything and everything in its place. "This new schedule brings NBC back to basics with its commitment to quality scripted programming, " said Gaspin, totally not all thinking about the Leno Debacle. Rather than be in the slow, trainwreck business, NBC is putting itself in the packaged, theme-night business, and they've moved around a couple of your favorite shows in the process.
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Sweet! Yesssss! Or gosh! Insert whichever ironic exultation you want to borrow from Napoleon Dynamite here: Fox has revealed it's developing an animated adaptation of the indie sleeper hit. Director Jared Hess and stars Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez are all participating. Not much more is known at the moment, but the 10 or so hipsters who still have their "Vote For Pedro" T-shirts will no doubt be happy to have that fashion option back. [The Live Feed]
Ever since NBC announced the Rockford Files remake, you wanted to snap, "Stop trying to make The Rockford Files happen, NBC. It's not going to happen." And now it isn't: Deadline reports that the Dermot Mulroney-toplined reboot is kaput. Even USA, a better fit for such a quirky procedural, passed on Rockford. Conventional wisdom suggests we live in a sad generation of entertainment awash with remakes, but you'd think at least one retread would've been good (or successful) enough to warrant this mimeographed mania. Truth is, the idea of a working remake may be the most contrived of all.
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If you ever want the Alphabet network to pick up your medical drama, you'll have to get past Shonda Rhimes first. The Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice creator received news today that her latest endeavor, Off the Map, was greenlit to series, and it sounds like it'll be a hybrid of Grey's and your favorite soon-to-be-over ABC island adventure. Cue the smoke machine.
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It's the end of an (initially exciting, then terribly frustrating) era. NBC has decided to completely cut the cord on Heroes -- that's right, no reduced episode order, no miniseries, no wrap-up movie, no nothing. It was quick and brutal, and unlike the deaths on the show itself, this one's going to stick. [THR]
