Making Comic-Con connections is the goal for one WB exec
Studios use Comic-Con as a way to introduce scores of fans about their new shows and remind them of how much they love old favorites by bringing along footage reels, cast members and all sorts of other promotional items. For example, Warner Bros. Television Group is serving up a slew of 11 series at the convention, from The Big Bang Theory, Chuck and Human Target to Smallville, Supernatural and V. Lisa Gregorian, the group's executive vice president of worldwide television marketing (or, "queen of Comic-Con"), has spearheaded the creation of many of these popular favorites among fans, including the daily Looney Tunes buttons and large convention bags emblazoned with Harry Potter that will be given away this year. Our Brian Truitt talked with Gregorian while working on his Comic-Con preview story for this weekend, and found out that Comic-Con is more than just pop-culture items for her — it's also the connections fans make with their beloved actors and shows. Click read more for Brian's Q&A.
Photos courtesy of Warner Home Entertainment
Comic-Con 2009 preview: The best and brightest TV shows around
TV shows have become seemingly as significant an aspect of Comic-Con as actual comic books. ABC’s Lost panel is perennially a favorite, and our Brian Truitt says that people who showed up an hour early to last year’s Heroes morning presentation for the NBC show’s third season were greeted with a line that zigged and zagged around parts of the convention center and down the waterfront to neighboring hotels. Face it: Pop-culture vultures adore their TV series. The networks are rolling out shows both old and new, fall and midseason, to show crowds, so click read more for Brian’s rundown by network of what shows everybody will be crowding in to see.
Photos courtesy of NBC, Warner Bros. Television Group
July 16, 2009
On eve of Comic-Con, Russell T Davies talks 'Torchwood,' 'Doctor Who'
Our official preview of next week’s Comic-Con International, the ginormous pop-culture convention, begins tomorrow, but today we have a look at one of this year’s most long-awaited guests, Welsh writer and producer Russell T Davies. In 2005, he relaunched the Doctor Who series, a time-traveling sci-fi staple for more than 40 years in Europe, and made it the No. 1 show in Great Britain. Davies then created the spinoff Torchwood a year later, featuring a secret British organization that polices space aliens and other weird goings-on, and both series have turned into cult hits in the U.S. The latest five-episode Torchwood miniseries, Children of Earth, premieres on BBC America Monday night, and Planet of the Dead — the second of five final specials written by Davies and starring the current Doctor Who, David Tennant (who replaced Christopher Eccleston after a season) — airs July 26. Our Brian Truitt, a recent Doctor Who convert, chatted with the jovial Davies recently about the two franchises, why he’s leaving Doctor Who behind and what he thinks of his debut appearance at Comic-Con. Click read more for the Q&A, and check out the first seven minutes of Torchwood: Children of Earth below.
Photos courtesy of BBC
'SYTYCD' launches season five fall tour
The top 10 dancers on season five of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance will perform in 40 cities across the nation this fall. (If you've never seen the show, think American Idol for the dance crowd. Or just tune in tonight when it airs at 9 p.m. EST.) The show continues to score in summer ratings (despite the incessant screams of judge Mary Murphy) and host Cat Deeley (left) and crew will be back on for season six in the fall. Tickets to see Ade, Brandon, Evan, Janette, Jason, Jeanine, Kayla, Kupono, Melissa and Randi go on sale July 25 at Ticketmaster.
Photo courtesy of Fox
NBC's '30 Rock,' AMC's 'Mad Men' lead 2009 Emmy nominations
It's going to be a good day for both Tina Fey (at right) and Jon Hamm. The NBC comedy 30 Rock leads all shows going into this year's Emmy Awards with 22 nominations, announced this morning, and AMC's Mad Men, which became the first basic cable show to win an Emmy Award for best drama series last year, looks poised to clean up again this year with 16 nominations. The possible Emmy nominee list was expanded to six in all the major categories in 2009, and Mad Men will compete against Breaking Bad, Big Love, Lost, Dexter, Damages and House for best drama series. Mad Men's Hamm joins Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Hugh Laurie (House), Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Simon Baker (The Mentalist) and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) in the lead actor in a drama series category. Hamm was also nominated in the guest actor in a comedy series category for his stint as Fey's love interest on 30 Rock, which had a great morning as well. The NBC sitcom will go up against Entourage, Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, Flight of the Conchords and Weeds for outstanding comedy series, and its star, Fey, was nominated for best actress in a comedy series alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), Toni Collette (The United States of Tara) and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds). For a list of all the nominations, click here. How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris, who was nominated as an outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series, will host the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, airing on CBS, on Sept. 20.
Photo courtesy of NBC
July 14, 2009
Larenz Tate says Leary should get Emmy nod for 'Rescue Me'
It's Tuesday, so it's Rescue Me night. The FX drama, brilliantly written by Denis Leary and Peter Tolan, is in its fifth season and better than ever. Maybe after the down time of the 2007-2008 writer's strike, the creative juices got flowing fast and furious. Or, perhaps with a 22-episode season instead of the usual 13, there's room for ingenious development of so many characters. Whatever the reason, Rescue Me is rockin' and one of the guys making it happen is Larenz Tate, who plays Black Shawn (left center). Tate, who joined the cast in the fourth season, has been front and center this season as his character gets more involved with Tommy Gavin (played by Leary) and his dysfunctional family. And a few decidedly un-PC things have happened. So when I had a chance to talk to Tate, I grabbed it.
"I think Peter and Denis are able to get away with pushing the envelope and continue to push the envelope because every racial background, every ethnicity, every religious belief gets it," Tate tells me. "We're able to digest it because no one is untouched." Tate tells me he was welcomed into the existing brotherhood of the cast "with warm arms." We talked about the potential for Emmy nominations — they will be annnounced Thursday —and Tate says that the cast is behind Denis, who already is a three-time nominee for Rescue Me, both as actor and writer. This time, however, they'd really like it if he'd win.
July 13, 2009
Michael Ian Black explores his 'Issues'
It’s a very good week for fans of The State, the ’90s sketch show on MTV. Not only is the full series (finally!) being released on DVD Tuesday but two Statesmen, Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, are debuting their new show, Michael and Michael Have Issues, on Comedy Central Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET (check out a preview below). Black and Showalter play contentious hosts of a fictional sketch show; viewers will see some sketches as well as behind-the-scenes story lines. The comedy is fueled by that tension, which frequently ends up in punches being thrown. Our copy chief (and major State fan) Jill Golden watched the first two episodes and talked with Black this morning about the new show, his issues and his plan to reinvigorate the auto industry. Click read more for the full interview.
Photos courtesy of Comedy Central
| Michael & Michael Have Issues | Premieres Wed, July 15, 10:30pm / 9:30c | |||
| Preview - Greg the Intern | ||||
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Blossom stars on 'Saving Grace' Tuesday
Mayim Bialik, star of the 90s sitcom Blossom, is looking for an acting comeback and she told our Steve Thompson she would love to star in her own show again. Bialik, who earned a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, has continued to act in small roles since Blossom and she appears on Saving Grace Tuesday (10 p.m. ET on TNT) as a Hasidic Jew. “I got the audition and I had just been made over by What Not to Wear, so I had all these tight skirts. It’s good I kept one long one since I’m playing this Hasidic character.”
Her visit with WNTW's Stacy London and Clinton Kelly was prompted by Bialik’s hiatus from acting, during which she had two children and got that PhD. “People cared a lot less about what I looked like in the neuroscience world. Nobody was blogging about my shoes or my eyebrows or anything.” So why did she return to the ever image-conscience life of acting? “I wanted to see what it was like as an adult, to give it a full shot,” she says. Besides, acting allows her to spend more time with her kids than being a neuroscience research professor.
Bialik has a recurring role on ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but says she’s open to anything. “At this point I’m just doing the next indicated step, which is when auditions come in, I take them. Hopefully, someone will think it will be interesting to do a show about a quirky woman, but for now I’m just auditioning.”
July 10, 2009
Billy Campbell on the NBC disaster miniseries 'Meteor'
Whether you’re a longtime fan of Billy Campbell’s from his big-screen star debut as The Rocketeer in 1991, or are more familiar with his stint on the family drama Once and Again, you’ll be happy to see Campbell back on TV in NBC’s two-part event miniseries Meteor, which premieres this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET and concludes next Sunday. A fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, Campbell — who just turned 50 on Tuesday — stars as an L.A. cop trying to track down a psychopath who’s threatening his family, although a bigger problem comes down the pipeline in the form of a giant asteroid screaming toward Earth. Check out a sneak preview below of the miniseries also starring Christopher Lloyd, Marla Sokoloff, Ernie Hudson and Stacy Keach, and click read more for our Brian Truitt’s Q&A earlier today with Campbell.
Photo by Eric McCandless
July 09, 2009
Karen Duffy returns to TV Sunday
Former MTV VJ and Revlon model Karen Duffy, whose career was sidelined when she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis in the mid 90s, is back with a new TV show Sunday, Surprise Vacations, on the Fine Living Network at 8 p.m. ET. Duffy, who shot to fame in the late 80s, hosts the show, which gives deserving people a surprise free vacation. She says the people to be featured have “truly been illuminating the world” with their charity work. Duffy tells our Steve Thompson that she has been filming the show for the past six months while also studying to be a chaplain at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. “One of the things we learn is care-taking for the caregiver,” says Duffy, “people who are taking care of a loved one or sick child.” Although Duffy, 48, has her own illness to deal with — sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease — she says helping others helps her. “My parents have always really led by example, (showing) that the only thing worth doing is what you do for others,” Duffy says. “I think that has really helped me through my hard times. I mean, my life isn’t perfect and I’ve got to deal with this big lump in my head all the time and deal with chronic pain issues, but I’m so grateful for the days that I feel good.” Next up, Duffy has a small role in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox this fall, which — lucky for her — stars a former beau, George Clooney.
Photo courtesy of Fine Living Network
