Various TV News
So there’s bits of interesting TV info out there. I figured I’d make this a catch-all for various discussions. So feel free to add your own discussion here.
First up the final three episodes of Pushing Daisies starts May 30th. I’m betting that, like me, you loved this show and were horrified that Bryan Fuller left this to return to the train wreck that is Heroes. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the final episodes for some time. If you haven’t seen Daisies it behooves you to pick this one up on DVD for a watch.
The only reality show I can stand is So You Think You Can Dance. Lots of local kids seem to do really well on this one. (Some of the successful ones ending up on the far less watchable Dancing on the Stars) If you like it, it starts May 21st.
Not a whole lot else on until summer. Burn Notice returns June 4th. We can see if the costar got over her anorexia. Last season wasn’t nearly as compelling as it had been. It’s still fun, but it needs to progress a little.
I’m not sure when Dexter returns. Last year it started the end of September. So I expect that’ll be true this year as well.
Good news if you love Chuck. NBC announced that it is being renewed. A lot of people were worried with NBC more or less moving it’s late night time slots down one hour. With the 9:00 MST slot now featuring Jay Leno every night there’s less room for borderline shows – especially dramas that tend to be a bit more expensive.
*** SPOILER DELETED ***
My Name is Earl is reportedly gone. It had a great first season but really struggled after that – often becoming stupid. Still, there were a few good episodes even this season. But I think it’s good they put it out of its misery.
In case you haven’t heard. Leonard Nimoy joins Fringe this week as the big “bad guy.” I’ll leave any spoilers aside. Fringe is stupid in many ways but the compelling acting and often smart scripts keep me coming back. (Well as smart as they could be given the B-horror movie bad science plots they have to work with)
Dollhouse hasn’t been announced as dead. But it’s been getting consistently low rates. I’ve not started watching yet although I have most of the season on my HD. If it’s cancelled I’ll probably just delete them all…
Posted on May 3, 2009, in Television. Bookmark the permalink. 34 Comments.
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Agreed on Pushing Daisies. Too bad that they are only going to show three more episodes. The Norweigan (the last aired ep) was on-par with the first season fare — truly smart writing, and it seemed like they were really setting up some interesting storylines that would pay off in future seasons (or at least in the season finale).
We shall see.
I have been anxiously awaiting Dexter’s arrival on iTunes (season 3). I remember buying season 2 around this time last year…
Dude. Spoilers.
Sorry about that. I changed the Chuck entry.
Dexter season 3 is very good, although like the last two seasons the final wrap up is the weakest part. I’m not sure why that is. The biggest problem is that there are just a tad too many coincidences and happy happenings. Of course even with weak endings the show is still amazingly well written. I watched it via Bittorrent.
Fuller didn’t leave Daisies for Heroes. He tok his old job back only after NBC axed Daisies. Clark what’s your source on Chuck? A friend of mine has ben a big advocate for the show and I know she would be thrilled to hear that her hard worked paided off. As for EarL, I heard Fox might pick it up if NBC canceled it. I follow Ethan Suplee aka Randy on Twitter. I wonder if he has heard anything?
Earl is not worth the pick up. The first season was good because the karma thing seemed plausible, so his list seemed grounded in what assholes might have done. I lost interest during the 2nd season…
I REALLY liked how they wrapped up Season 2 of Dexter. I thought WHO they pinned the murders on was quite good, and it all fit nice and neat. Sure it was a happy coincidence for Dex, but it also seemed to have been leading that way since the end of season 1.
Rose, it was AICN this evening.
I’d heard the same thing but I suspect some of the pilots they had for the fall weren’t that good. Chuck started out strong but lost quite a few viewers during a down period. Part of the problem was that they didn’t really progress the series. Given the finale (no spoilers – don’t worry) I think that’s about to change.
Regarding Fuller, yeah, it wasn’t his choice to keep the show (although it was ABC, not NBC). I was more just aghast that he’s going back to Heroes. Even if he isn’t doing Daisies I wish he’d use his talents on something better.
I agree with Earl. They simply ran out of ideas. I really get the impression some of the writers left too, although I have no insight to that. There have been some really bad directors as well. Still the first season was fantastic. Earl was to comedy what Heroes was to superheroes. Great original premise, great cast, and they just lost it from the season finale onward.
I still wish Jason Lee would get a Fletch movie or even TV series. The books were fantastic (although I’ve honestly not read them since college – so I might think differently now) I was disappointed when I heard the Fletch movie was dead. The Chevy Chase movie is an all time classic. “Provo, Spain?” The sequel (made where I was living while I was residing in Louisiana) was horrible.
Sorry Clark you’re right, ABC. Sorry I have been so obsessed with NBC canceling good shows, Life, that I just typed it without thinking. I think Fuller was hoping to do some good back at Heroes and he did. The episode he wrote after returning, Cold Snap, was a thousand times better then what we had been getting. Of course unless he writes every episode it won’t matter too much. I am so happy to hear Chuck is returning.
Yay Chuck!! Yay SYTYCD!! Yay three more Pushing Daisies!! Yay summer so I can catch up on some reading!!
I am loving Dollhouse. This last week’s episode had me throwing my hands in the air and shouting. I watched it twice.
I can’t wait for next week’s episode, which I think is going to be the season finale. This show has a lot of potential, in that they could take it to a lot of different places, so it keeps you on your toes wondering what’s going to happen next. There are some things to complain about, but overall I think it’s great.
Haven’t watched My Name is Earl since the first season, but my kids do, and my son had me watch an episode recently that was seriously funny. The one where Randy started shooting shark hormones and became all aggro and mean. “Why is your pee blue?”
It’s Walter that makes Fringe so good.
Now NBC is saying they won’t announce Chuck’s fate until May 19th! They revealed their new line-up today. Let’s see a TV show based on the movie Parenthood, 2 new medical shows and 2 new comedies. The comedies sound ok. Peter Berg(who I can’t stand is producing on of the medical shows. They say the fate of Medium, Chuck, original flavor Law and Order and Life are still up in the air.
No word on My Name is Earl’s fate either. You gotta figure at least a few of those shows will be mid-season replacements or go on USA.
Susan – we watched the first dollhouse and haven’t watched any more. However, they are all saved to tivo for watching once we have nothing else. I’m happy to hear it picks up!
It gets better as it goes along. There’s a lot of back story that slowly gets revealed. And it totally keeps you guessing.
Dollhouse can be uneven from week to week, especially in the first several weeks, but the overarching narrative and the thematic underpinnings are strong.
I love Fringe. Walter is definitely the best part of the show, but I really like the B-movie feel to it, and I think the rest of the cast is pretty strong as well. It’s my favorite show on TV right now.
I’m so happy Chuck was renewed! My faith in Subway has returned! (Note to self: need to get another footlong)
Looking forward to summer shows: Bum Notice, Closer, Psych, Monk (eep, last season!)
Monk’s gotten pretty repetitive. I have to admit that I missed a few episodes this last fall and didn’t care too much. Still it’ll be nice if they wrap up the death of his wife investigation.
NBC is saying Chuck’s renewal wil depend on $$ and if the studio wil be flexible on the # of episodes.
I can’t believe no one else her is into True Blood. I thought the first season was so fun. The second season starts next month. You don’t even have to be into vampires to enjoy it.
I like True Blood quite a bit. Is it really come back as soon as next month? I’m looking forward to the return of Burn Notice too. Moon Bloodgood is going to play Micheal’s newest nemisis. I liked her on Journeyman. So glad Fringe is returning! I love Peter and Walter. What I really need is some new Doctor Who! Watching the specials on YouTube and Torrents of Torchwood just aren’t cutting it.
That sucks that the final decision on Chuck is waiting. Part of the problem is where it is being scheduled. I defy NBC to find something better in that time slot.
Word is Earl is being renewed now. Which surprises me. Put it out of its misery and keep Chuck.
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Last I heard they were going to put Chuck on Fridays with Friday Night Lights. Last season NBC gives FNL to Direct TV and now it’s back. Interesting. Of course not much survives on Fridays. No word yet on Dollhouse. Whose upfronts are today?
I’ll never understand studios. They put shows on Fridays and Saturdays and then complain about poor ratings. Hello, McFly?
With tivo & dvr…why do Friday / Saturday even matter? I rarely watch a show on the day it actually airs.
Good question. For that matter with Hulu why does it matter? And given how so many people now watch TV using PVRs I’m surprised more advertisers aren’t (yet) making use of Hulu (or why the studios won’t let Hulu work on TV devices like the AppleTV).
To add a place it does matter is when there are already two strong shows — which is what Chuck faces. For instance I can only watch Big Bang Theory off of BT because my DVR is already recording two shows on Mondays (Fox and NBC – so CBS can’t be recorded)
Ah. That’a a good point. We only had double lapping this season (and have 2 tivos) and nothing tripling for attention, so I didn’t think of that. I know it was a bigger problem for us last season, but I just watched my shows the next day on-line and eliminated the “problem”.
I think the tv industry is going to HAVE to overhaul programming / advertising soon to keep up with the technology.
Yeah, I honestly have no idea anymore how they calculate ratings. It seems to me that the traditional way is biased towards a way of watching TV that is now largely irrelevant. I often watch shows months after I record them. Are ratings still biased towards people who watch live? Does that affect Chuck more than others?
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009
all the info you could possibly want about viewing #’s, DVR, etc.
Clark – I agree. We haven’t started dollhouse yet, but have them all on tivo to watch over the summer when tv is slow. On Mondays we tivo Chuck, Heroes and Castle on one tivo and Big Bang, HIMYM and Rules of Engagement on another (for example). Shouldn’t I get “credit” for watching all of them? I no longer get TBS but still watch My Boys on-line. Same for Psych and Burn Notice…again, that should count because I’m actively seeking them out.
Just because my tv is showing a tivo’d Curious George at 7 pm on Mondays doesn’t mean my household isn’t watching Chuck. So crazy.
They need to overhaul how they count DVR viewers. I sometimes can’t watch what we DVR the night it records. Sometimes my husband and I are embroiled in a major Wii tournament and don’t watch any TV until the weekend. That doesn’t mean I donakt love mt TV shows. I haven’t been able to watch HIMYM all season because of two booked DVR’s but I will catch up!
Fringe has been renewed. Cool.
Sounds like Chuck is doomed to Friday only because the 3rd hour is Jay Leno every night. Of course if that plan dies it’s anyones guess. (Personally I think NBC is insane to do that – but we’ll see) Also if the new shows bomb then Church has a chance. Personally I don’t understand the whole Friday bit. Why put expensive dramas on Fridays? Put some forgettable but cheap reality TV show.