NBC Programs No Longer Available Via iTunes
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: NBC, Heroes, The Office, Announcements, Video,
Forget to Tivo the latest episode of The Office? Lose this week’s Heroes due to a power outage? If you find yourself in one of these predicaments this fall, don’t be looking to iTunes to save your butt.
A dispute over money has severed ties between the Peacock Network and Apple. It’s reported that NBC Universal wanted a dramatic price increase for their shows in their latest contract (over twice the wholesale cost). According to Apple, this would have raised the consumer price-per-show from $1.99 to $4.99. Although the current agreement expires at the end of 2007, Apple has elected to stop offering any new NBC programs before the 2007-08 season even begins.
It’ll be interesting to see which side, if any, caves in first. Though NBC’s programming accounts for approximately 40% of iTunes’ video downloads, many of its shows have greatly benefited by this popular viewing method. And let’s not forget—NBC is still considered the fourth place network.
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| Seattle PI
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Jenna Fischer Healing After Spill
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, NBC, The Office,
You may recall awhile ago that The Office star Jenna Fischer injured her back when she fell down a flight of stairs after an NBC party in May. She hurt herself so bad—fracturing four vertebrae—that she has spent the entire summer getting better. According to Fischer, “I’m still sore. I have good days and so-so days. I’m definitely able to work.” Good thing, because production for the next season of The Office begins on Monday. Luckily, her role as a receptionist allows the actress plenty of time to stay seated—and the show even got her a variety of new chairs to choose from. It’s the least they could do, I suppose, but she’s still got some healing time ahead of her. She told People magazine, “I’m not allowed to start physical therapy yet. The bones have to completely heal first. I start physical therapy in about three weeks.” After a summer off of her feet, you can bet that the cutie actress is ready to get back to 100%. Being on a hit show, no doubt, dulls any pain—mind over matter—she just has to keep her mind on the paychecks and fame and she’ll be back to herself in no time.
Read More | People
Primetime Emmy Nominations Nod at Several Shows
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Award Shows, Comedy, Daytime, Drama, Late Night, Mini Series, Prime Time, Reality, ABC, Bravo, Cable, CBS, HBO, PBS, Amazing Race, The, American Idol, Daily Show, The, Dancing With The Stars, Entourage, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, House, The Office, The Sopranos, Top Chef,
The 59th annual Primetime Emmy Awards have been announced, giving the biggest honors (17 nominations) to HBO’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. AMC’s Broken Trail just missed the top slot with 16 nominations. After a review of the best comedy, drama, reality, and variety series of the year, a look at the TV movies and mini-series, the die has been cast. Many were nominated, but few will win. Did your favorite show, movie, or mini-series get the nod from the Primetime Emmys? There’s only one way to find out.
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‘Extras’ to End with Special Episode
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, BBC, Cable, HBO, The Office,
I’m sensing a pattern here with Extras show creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Much like their smash hit The Office (the original Brit version, mind you), their latest series will end after just two seasons, but wrap things up with a special episode. Not that we should be surprised—after all, they did announce that they wouldn’t be filming a third season of the HBO series that follows film extra Andy Millman (played brilliantly by Gervais) and his escapades as he tries to make his big break. The second season looked at Andy’s sad-sack existence after he landed a role on a mediocre sitcom. Pity about this series ending, however, is that it never failed to deliver big-name cameos: Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliffe, Sir Ian McKellan, David Bowie, and Robert De Niro, among others. The one hour Extras special will begin shooting next month, but the specifics about an airdate have yet to be released. Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment, said of the series, “It’s been an honor to present this hilarious series on HBO. I can’t wait to see how Ricky and Stephen will wrap up the saga of Andy Millman.”
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‘Earl’ and ‘The Office’ Reruns Coming to TBS
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Cable, Syndication, King of Queens, My Name Is Earl, The Office, Cable/Satellite,
Wow, did you catch last night’s marathon of The Office? I caught the last half of “Casino Night” and it really brought back all of those old Pam and Jim feelings. When Jim puts it out there that he loves Pam… then later kisses her. Sigh. Add to that the slightly teary-eyed Jim when she rejected him—wow, that’s a great episode. And now, The Office will live on in reruns on TBS. Ditto for My Name is Earl, another solid NBC comedy… both Earl and The Office are part of what made NBC “must see,” at least in my sad little existence. Anyway, TBS will begin airing the pair in the fall, for the low-low cost of $600,000-$700,000 per episode. No details on what timeslots these will hold—and with Friends, Sex and the City, Seinfeld, King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond and Family Guy, there will be plenty of funny on TBS (except for Raymond, which I have never found too funny).
Read More | Yahoo! News
The End of Super Sizing
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, NBC, The Office,
Okay, so NBC fired chief programming executive Kevin Reilly to bring in some new blood. The first order of business with the new regime? Getting rid of NBC’s signature “super-sized” episodes. Man, I love those—any time I can get a little bit extra of one of my favorite Thursday night comedies is good for me. Not so anymore, as it apparently isn’t a very effective gimmick these days—in the era of DVRs, these devices are confused by the quirky scheduling. NBC’s head of scheduling said, “It was a good idea when we started it. It was very novel. But it’s just not a good idea to have shows starting at 9:23 p.m. I don’t think anyone here thinks, at this point, super-sizing often is good for the shows. We’re going to do our best to not have to do it next year.” That said, they will still honor the plan for five hour long episodes of The Office. Well, at least we have that.
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News from The Office
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, NBC, The Office, Gossip,
Get ready for the finale of The Office tonight—strangely enough, they filmed four separate endings of the finale and now it’s a little more clear why. As you may recall from last week’s episode, Tim, Michael and Karen were all hopefuls for a big job at corporate. Rashida Jones, who plays Karen, just got word this morning that her Fox pilot has been picked up. Putting two and two together, it seems likely that Karen will get the corporate job over Michael and Jim, so that she can be written off the show. Her new comedy, The Rules for Starting Over also stars Craig Bierko and is the brainchild of the Farrelly brothers. So long Karen, hello Pam/Jim sexual tension. And speaking of Pam… sweetie Jenna Fischer slipped and fell down a staircase on Monday and got pretty banged up. She’s fractured her back in four places, with a recovery time of four to six weeks. Doesn’t sound like a very fun summer for Fischer.
Read More | E! Online
25 Episodes Each for The Office, Earl
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, NBC, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, The Office, Ratings, Renewals,
If you find yourself wanting more of The Office and My Name is Earl, next season is for you. Both series have received a 25 episode (each) order, a bump up from the typical 22. Plus, five episodes of The Office will be hour long installments. I’ve really been enjoying those supersized episodes, so it’ll be nice to have a handful of full hour shows in the fall. Thursdays next season will remain intact—so expect My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office and Scrubs to continue their comedy block. Thank heavens. Thursdays are my night for TV, if ever I had to proclaim one. I even instruct my kids that Thursday night bedtimes need to go smoothly because I have major TV viewing. And, now I can breathe a sigh that Scrubs will, in fact, be returning again (albeit for just 18 episodes, but I’ll take it!). For at least another year, Thursdays will be the funniest night on television.
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This Week’s Channel Surfing Thoughts
Posted by David L. Williams Categories: Comedy, Drama, Reality, ABC, Cable, HBO, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Survivor, The Office, The Sopranos, Editorial, Features,
Otherwise known as thoughts I’ve had about the last few days of TV that aren’t long enough individually to make an entire article…
WOO-HOO, THEY LOST! – I lamented the possibility of Charla and Mirna winning The Amazing Race: (not really) All Stars, and they didn’t. They came in last (or third, really) and it was all…kinda lackluster. I didn’t want C&M to win, and I wanted the Beauty Queens to win, but they didn’t either. Eric & Danielle (aka, Team Not Charla & Mirna) won and their fakey relationship and the love between them will, I’m sure, flourish like a sunflower and I’m feeling underwhelmed. Then again, I felt underwhelmed most of the season, so I guess this is a fitting finale. By the way, Race Producers (and I know that you read all of my work), let’s try to make sure in the future that you not design the race legs so that the decisions made by the racers in the first thirty-five minutes of the episode don’t matter at all. I know you want to keep things close, but that’s just annoying.
BEST OF? REALLY, SNL? REALLY?? – Saturday Night Live was not new this week, but instead had their best of the 2006/2007 season episode. There are a couple of things wrong with this. The first is that they still have a few more episodes left. I’m not sure why they felt the need to jump the gun on this one, but maybe they were just tired of rerunning the Peyton Manning episode. Just a tip, NBC: maybe you should wait until the season is over before you start doing a “Best Of” episode. And this leads me to the other thing that’s wrong with this episode: just because you’ve chosen the best example of a recurring sketch, that doesn’t necessarily mean that what you’ve chosen is any good. I know that a lot of people like to hate on SNL on the internet (I believe the phrase “Is this show still on?” is a common “joke” (ironic quotes firmly in place)), but I can’t fully hate the show yet because there are always funny moments every week, and that’s why God invented TiVo (that has to be invented by God, right? Humans are not that good). But, SNL, “Deep House Dish” and that Bronx talk show … they’re not funny. Really not ever. And I really like Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Keenan Thompson. Those sketches, though, are just … ugh. Oh, and finally, SNL went online to have people cast votes on what their favorite digital short of the year was (and maybe the whole episode should have just been digital shorts). Did anybody really think “Dick in a Box” wouldn’t win?
Click to continue reading This Week’s Channel Surfing Thoughts
Smellovision Comes to My Name is Earl
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, NBC, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, The Office,
Here’s one of those clever little marketing campaigns that I can’t wait to see—during May sweeps, My Name is Earl will debut a feature called Laugh ‘n’ Sniff for the May 3rd episode. How do you take part in this revolutionary TV viewing experience? Look no further than your nearest issue of TV Guide during that week for a special scratch-and-sniff card. No word yet on what kind of scents viewers can anticipate sniffling in during the supersized episode, but Earl will be taking his first job at an appliance store. Also on tap for May sweeps at NBC are plenty of supersized Thursday night shows. Man, I love those extra long shows. Be on the lookout for Earl, The Office, and Scrubs extended episodes, as well as one-hour season finales of The Office and Scrubs on May 17th. May can’t come soon enough for me.
Read More | Zap2it
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