ABC’s FlashForward returns tonight

After a four-month hiatus, FlashForward makes its return to the ABC schedule tonight.  When the show first premiered back in September, ABC thought they might have a new hit on their hands.

The first episode brought in over 12 million viewers, but saw a decline week after week.  The decision was then made to pull the show from the schedule the first week in December.  EW interviewed creator, David Goyer, back in December and he explained the lengthy hiatus.

[ We were going to be off for four or five weeks [through December and into January], then back on for two weeks, then off for two weeks because of the Olympics, then back on four weeks, off for two weeks again, back on three, off for two again… Our first 10 episodes had one preemption; our last 13-episode arc was going to have four. I just think when we saw that, the studio and the network and all the producers looked at each other and said, “This is crazy.” We’d rather bite the bullet, come back in March, and air all 13 episodes consecutively without preemptions.] 

 

FlashForward is about what happens after a 137 second blackout takes place across the world.  Joseph Fiennes plays Mark Benford, a FBI agent who is in charge of finding out who is behind the blackout that has changed everyone’s life.  During the blackout, everyone has a vision of something that is to take place in their future lives.  Most visions are in stark contrast to the current lives they are leading. 

Lost alums, Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger, make up some of the addition cast.  Film actor John Cho plays Fiennes partner, Demetri, who is experiencing something unlike everyone else affected by the blackout.  He doesn’t have a vision and is told the reason is because he will be dead at that point in time.  The fairly large cast of this show is diverse and extremely talented.

The show’s storylines can get confusing, but they’re definitely worth checking out.  TV executives will be looking closely at the ratings to determine whether the show will come back in the fall.  Tonight’s two-hour spring premiere is the first of back-to-back episodes that will go straight through to the season finale.

Introducing Jimmy Kimmel And The Handsome Men’s Club

Premiering last night after the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel introduced the world to a secret society known as, HMC: Handsome Men’s Club.

Kimmel, host of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, is famous for his hysterical videos such as “I’m F*cking Matt Damon” and the followup, “I’m F*cking Ben Affleck.”  He took his affinity for having celebrities making fun of themselves to a whole new level.  He included TV and movie actors, athletes and musicians in his latest work of comedic art.

The “members” of HMC are: John Krasinski, Tony Romo, Keith Urban, Taye Diggs, Josh Hartnett, Gilles Marini, Matthew McConaughey, Ted Danson, Lenny Kravitz, Ethan “Handsome” Hawke, Patrick Dempsey, Rob Lowe, Sting, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

The video begins with the group deciding whether to admit three new members.  First, Kimmel shows pictures of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson.  Every HMC member votes that they should be inducted, but Kimmel, who is the President, overrules them saying that they aren’t handsome yet, only “cute.”  Liev Schrieber was also voted in and again overruled because of having red in his beard.

The group is fed up with Kimmel’s antics and decide to remove him from the group for not being “handsome.”  After leaving, the story jumps to Kimmel in bed, having had what appears to be a very bad dream.  He is laying next to Affleck relaying his dream, when the camera pans to Jennifer Garner, who is on the other side of Kimmel in bed.  All she says is, “…it’s getting embarrassing.”

Kimmel did a great job with this video piece.  It was funny, creative and who doesn’t love to watch actors not take themselves so seriously.  Krasinkski wins points as having “filled the quota for cute.”

Check this out, you won’t be disappointed.

Oscar Presenters – Updated

In addition to my last post regarding Oscar presenters, here are even more people scheduled to present on Sunday evening. (Courtesy of oscars.org)

Elizabeth Banks                    Tom Ford

Kathy Bates                           Tom Hanks

Jeff Bridges                            Jake Gyllenhaal

Matt Damon                          Kate Winslet

Robert Downey, Jr.           Ryan Reynolds

Chris Pine                              Barbara Streisand

Sarah Jessica Parker       Jennifer Lopez

John Travolta                    Anna Kendrick

Demi Moore                        Carey Mulligan

Gerard Butler                     Robin Williams

Charlize Theron                Quentin Tarantino

Sam Worthington            Keanu Reeves

Queen Latifah                    Sean Penn

Tyler Perry                         Sigourney Weaver

Amanda Seyfried            Zoe Saldana

Rachel McAdams           Samuel L. Jackson

Colin Firth                         Cameron Diaz

Bradley Cooper               Sandra Bullock

Pedro Almodovar

 

Coupling Up On Dancing With The Stars

Last night, I announced who the eleven celebs competing for dancing glory would be.  Earlier today, it was revealed which professionals the stars would be paired up with.

Pamela Anderson/Damian Whitewood

Niecy Nash/Louis Van Amstel

Shannen Doherty/Mark Ballas**

Erin Andrews/Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Nicole Scherzinger/Derek Hough

Kate Gosselin/Tony Dovolani

Chad Ochocinco/Cheryl Burke

Buzz Aldrin/Ashley Costa

Evan Lysacek/Anna Trebunskaya*

Aiden Turner/Edyta Sliwinska**

Jake Pavelka/Chelsie Hightower*

 

*My least favorite pairings

**My favorite pairings

Comedy’s Most Wanted

Comedy on TV has been sparse at best for the last five or six years.  That is all changing now and comedy is becoming one of the most sought after forms of programming again. 

Throughout television history, there have always been sitcom classics that are never far from the mind.  I Love Lucy, All in the Family, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Friends are some of the most popular TV comedies of all time.  CBS seemed to be the only network willing to bet on comedies for the last few years with any success.  Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory have cult followings in addition to bringing in the ratings for the juggernaut that has become CBS.  Sure, NBC continues to stand behind its historical Thursday night comedy block, but The Office and 30 Rock, while critic favorites, don’t come close to the numbers of viewers that the CBS comedies are bringing in.

The 2009-2010 television season has seen more successful comedies than have been around for a long time; probably since Friends ended in 2004.  ABC has jumped back into the funny pool and finds itself with three breakout hits.  The Middle and Cougar Town received early pickups for a second season and are building a fan base.  The most popular of ABC’s Wednesday night comedies is Modern Family. 

Modern Family has rejuvenated the concept of family sitcoms.  From the first episode, the show has been firing on all cylinders.  The writing is outstanding and the cast couldn’t be more perfect.  The creators of ‘Family’ brought in old faves, such as Married with Children’s Ed O’Neil and Ed’s Julie Bowen.  They also hit the jackpot with a variety of relative newcomers such as Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ty Burrell.  Even these three actors have had some success in Hollywood, but Modern Family’s success has shot them into an entirely different realm of popularity.

Some critics said that family sitcoms were dead.  ABC’s newest hits prove that they are not dead, but evolving into a new age of comedy.

Revealed: Dancing With The Stars Cast

Earlier tonight, ABC announced the top eleven dancers to be featured on the next installment of Dancing With The Stars.  The cast consists of athletes, actors, reality stars and journalists.  Those competing for the mirrorball trophy will be:

Pamela Anderson                                  Chad Ochocinco

Niecy Nash                                               Buzz Aldrin

Shannen Doherty                                  Evan Lysacek

Erin Andrews                                        Aiden Turner

Nicole Scherzinger                             Jake Pavelka

Kate Gosselin

 

The cast of eleven has dwindled down from the last installment of Dancing, which topped out at sixteen contestants.  I am confused about some of the choices for this new season, but we’ll get into that.  Let’s start with the ladies.

Pam Anderson– This had been rumored for weeks, so it wasn’t a big surprise to hear her name.  She hasn’t done much lately that has garnered positive praise, so I bet she’s hoping this is a step in a better direction.  I can’t wait to see how they fit her, um, breasts into these dancer dresses.

Niecy Nash– I don’t know too much about her, as I haven’t seen Reno 911.  I have seen her do some hosting work on E!, so I expect her to be a little eccentric and willing to say how she feels.

Shannen Doherty– This is one celeb I cannot wait to see.  Not only does she have a rumored “wild child” past, but she could be a firecracker and a loose cannon.

Erin Andrews– I think she is only here because of her recent controversy with a peeping tom. 

Nicole Scherzinger– I feel like this show might be a step down for her.  Although, she did participate in NBC’s Sing Off, does she really need to be doing this?

Kate Gosselin– I will start by saying that this made me a little ill.  She has eight kids last time I checked and an ex-husband who is not around much.  Who is going to take care of these kids, who live in Pennsylvania, while mom is in California dancing?  I’m sure the show will find a way to pimp out the kids and get them on TV as much as possible.  She will have a fan base, but the public could be sick of her constant tabloid presence.

Now, on to the men.

Chad Ochocinco– This is going to be entertaining for sure.  He is not one to hold his tongue back and I could see some interesting situations taking place between him and the judges.  I’m thinking he’s going to need one of the tougher professional women to reign in his personality.

Buzz Aldrin– He is the token older man.  He’ll have a built-in rooting audience, I think.

Evan Lysacek– Fresh off his gold medal from the Vancouver Olympics last week, he might have a new fan base to help push him along.  He’s still relatively unknown though.

Aiden Turner– Following in the steps of his former All My Children castmates (Susan Lucci, Cameron Mathison), Turner will be the fourth soap opera contestant for the show.  He could be a wild card.

Jake Pavelka– He was the last cast member to be announced.  I was not thrilled with this decision.  I personally have no desire to see The Bachelor on Monday nights anymore after tonight.  There were so many other ways the show could have gone with this final pick.

Overall, I think the group of celebrities are pretty lackluster.  I hope to be proved wrong, but who knows.  Here’s to season 10 of DWTS…

Coming Soon To A TV Near You

So we all know that TV shows come and go in a blink of an eye.  With the destruction of The Jay Leno Show, cancellations and shows on hiatus, there always have to be new shows on the back-burner.

It’s time to clue you into what shows will be premiering in the next couple months.

NBC:

Parenthood – Tues. March 2

The Marriage Ref – Sun. Feb. 28 & regularly, Thurs. March 4

Who Do You Think You Are? – Fri. March 5

Minute to Win It – Sun. March 15

 

ABC:

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution – Fri. March 26

Happy Town – Wed. April 28

 

CBS:

Miami Medical – Fri. April 2

 

FOX:

Sons of Tuscon – Sun. March 14

 

The CW:

Fly Girls – Wed. March 24

High Society – Wed. March 10

 

FX:

Justified – Tues. March 16

 

Is The Bachelor Really Just Dodgeball In Disguise?

Oh ladies, why do you care so much about The Bachelor?  I’ll admit that I watched the first few seasons of this ABC dating show.  However, after the Trista/Ryan wedding hoopla, I figured enough was enough.  Over the last few years I may have seen a handful of episodes, but really it’s just the same insanity with a different man or woman in the position of power.  I have watched most of this season with Bachelor Jake though. 

If you think about it, The Bachelor is kinda like dodgeball.  In this case, Jake, picks his team and each week he hits someone with the ball and sends her out of the game and sometimes he even knocks more than one out at a time.

I think all reality programming is semi-successful because we love to see how people degrade themselves, act like a fool or get destroyed by someone else in a public forum.  It really is sad, isn’t it?  But at the same time, it’s pretty amusing.  I’m guilty of watching shows because of what craziness I know is going to take place. (VH1’s Flavor of Love, anyone?)

Let us not forget one of the main reasons anyone signs up to be on TV though: to become famous!  Every man, woman and child who has the opportunity to go on television thinks that this will be their one chance to make it.  Here’s a clue for any dreamers out there: it is NOT going to happen.  Sure, if you make it far enough, you might get your 15 minutes of fame, but that’s where the train ends.

Tonight is the always entertaining “Women Tell All” episode.  This penultimate episode is usually filled with bitterness, tears and more ridiculous behavior.  It is just so great to see a woman who was “kicked off the team” after the second episode want to get answers from the “team captain.”  Really ladies??  You probably spent a total of about ten minutes talking to this man. 

All reality shows are the complete opposite of what they state to be.  There is almost nothing ‘real’ about these shows.  There are story editors and producers that set up situations and editors who take footage and put it into a compelling TV show.  I’ve heard many spoilers that Jake picks the unlikable Vienna on next week’s finale.  I’d bet my blog that they are either not together anymore or if they are, they don’t make it another month.  Pessimistic? No.  Smart? Yes.