Bitty Schram Catches Thief, Speaks Out
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Cable, Talent,
Bitty Schram, wonderful as Sharona in the first seasons of Monk, returns to prime time as an art gallery owner in two episodes of the new FX crime drama Thief, airing April 4 and 11.
Schram has never spoken out about the real reason that she left Monk at the height of its popularity - that is, until now. In the April 3-9 print edition of TV Guide, Bitty reveals that she didn’t want to leave Monk, but she suspected that she “was being paid less than many people who got raises,” and she couldn’t “work out a new contract.” She went on to call Monk “the best experience of my career.”
We’re certain Schram wasn’t earning Screen Actors Guild minimum, but, nonetheless, a pay dispute is a better exit issue than the long-circulated rumor that Bitty walked because she wasn’t getting enough screen time.
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The Cancellation Of Rollergirls and Why America Hates Bad Girls
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Reality, Cable, Cancellations, Editorial,
The recent cancellation of the reality show Rollergirls wasn’t a huge shock, but it was a huge disappointment. The show follows the triumphs and crises of several all-women teams competing in the intense sport of Roller Derby. There isn’t a shrinking flower among the bunch: these women are tough, both physically and mentally, and will quite literally knock anyone to the ground who gets in their way.
They are, in short, true “Bad Girls.” No wonder the show was cancelled.
American television likes you to think they appreciate bad girls. But that’s a lie. TV’s idea of bad girls includes sexy vixens and man manipulators, women who use their cleavages and ruby-red lips far more often than any sort of physical and mental prowess to achieve their goals. Even Sydney Bristow of Alias, touted as the baddest of bad girls, is conventionally pretty and achieves successful missions with skintight, skin-baring outfits, always perfectly made up and groomed. No mater how grueling the life of a double agent, Sydney always manages to get her lipstick on.
The women of Rollergirls appeared on camera without disguise, and although none could be called TV-pretty, they all have a distinct charm. With names like Miss Conduct and Punky Bruiser, they never fail to capture our attention, and often, our respect. With their trailers, love for beer, love for their children they are often raising by themselves, and their strong, muscled bodies, these women are guilty of one TV sin - they just don’t fit into the mold of Acceptable Television Women. The cancellation of the show is a loss in more ways than one.
Read More 
| Rollergirls Official Site
The Sopranos: The Fleshy Part of The Thigh
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Cable, HBO, The Sopranos, Features,
It’s head-spinning how rapidly highly paid television stars recover after surviving life-threatening health catastrophes on their shows. Tony on The Sopranos is a case in point. Comatose for most of last week’s episode, Tony was conscious and on his feet Sunday night. Beyond that, everyone and his brother visits Soprano to pay homage. The near death experience did nothing to cleanse Tony’s potty mouth. “Get out of my room you sick c***!” he bellows at an insurance company representative.
The episode’s best bedside visit is from two Jesus zealots who want Tony to accept Jesus Christ as his Personal Savior. Given Soprano’s “wink and nod” approach to the Catholicism in which he was raised, the attempt to see Tony Born Again is simultaneously comic and ironic.
Click to continue reading The Sopranos: The Fleshy Part of The Thigh
Follow The Amazing Race to New Day and Time
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Prime Time, Reality, CBS, Amazing Race, The,
Just in case were you setting aside 10 PM tonight for the Amazing Race—you’ve just earned an extra hour of sleep. As always, another network change has made my freshly printed TV schedule null and void. CBS has moved the Emmy-winning reality series to its new time slot: Wednesday evening at 8 PM. The earlier family-friendly hour will probably give the show the wider exposure that it deserves, but putting it America’s Next Top Model is one more thing my TiVo did not need. Arrghh!
HBO Assumes The Positon
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, Cable, HBO,
HBO has television’s best track record with comedy specials. That’s why I’ll be watching tomorrow night at 10 PM ET, when the network premieres its latest comedy fest, Assume the Position, starring Robert Wuhl, formerly of the HBO series Arli$$.
In the special, Wuhl appears as a guest “professor” before an actual classroom of New York City College students to satirically explore the stories that made up America and the stories that America made up.
I hope he includes one of my personal favorites: After the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria landed on our shores, the ships’ crews were highly disappointed. Everything in the New World was closed in celebration of Columbus Day.
Read More | HBO’s Assume The Position
Oscar-winning Best Picture “Crash” on Showtime
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Award Shows, Drama, Prime Time, Cable, Showtime,
This must represent a record: Less than one month after winning the Best Picture Oscar, Crash is premiering on Showtime, Sunday, 8:05 PM, ET/PT. Even better, the Crash TV debut is part of Showtime’s Free Weekend Preview.
I saw the triple Oscar-winning Crash last May at the Writers Guild of America, West, Theater in Beverly Hills. Following the screening, Crash‘s Oscar winning writer/producer/director Paul Haggis took the stage for a Question and Answer session. He claimed to have been inspired to write Crash after he and his wife were car-jacked on Wilshire Boulevard’s Miracle Mile in Hollywood, after renting videos at Blockbuster. Sunday you can see the acclaimed motion picture in the privacy of your own home, no rental or late fees apply.
CBS Scores Thursday Night Overall
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Prime Time, Reality, CBS, American Idol, Survivor,
Nicknamed The Tiffany Network, CBS has been looking more like Big Lots! of late. But not last night. Thanks to CSI and impressive showings for both Survivor and Without a Trace, CBS scored a Thursday prime time ratings’ win, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Eye Web, yet another nickname for CBS, averaged 25.1 million viewers and a 7.9 ratings/20 share for the evening, among the coveted 18-49 demographic.
Not to worry American Idol fans. Although CBS won last night overall, Idol remained Numero Uno in the 8-9 time slot. And Simon’s still crying all the way to the vault.
Scrubs Coming To iTunes
Posted by Rhys Alexander Categories: Comedy, ABC, NBC, Scrubs, Internet, News,
The NBC comedy, Scrubs, is so good that it has the power to unite enemies. In a television first, the warring networks NBC and ABC will join together to bring the popular comedy to iTunes. If you are a tragic soul who has never seen the show, Scrubs follows the adventures of John “J.D.” Dorian, played by Zach Braff, through his years as a fledgling emergency room physician. With a wildly talented cast, and unparalleled writing, Scrubs is the best comedy on television today.Executives agree, and are counting on the highly-rated show to attract viewers in the coveted 18-49 age group.
As always, each iTune episode will cost $1.99 to download. We’re thrilled. You can never have too much Scrubs!
Read More | LA Times
Freddie: Freddie And The Hot Mom
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, ABC, Editorial,
Following last night’s Eva Longoria festooned 100th episode of The George Lopez Show, I looked again at Freddie, another ABC-TV Latino comedy. This one is in its freshman year and stars Freddie Prinze Jr. From the same team that gave us the George Lopez and Drew Carey sitcoms, Freddie exhibits the aforementioned series’ flaws, too. The stories are simple and tired, reminiscent of American Vaudeville sketches, and the dialogue is dull.
Charming, handsome, and talented, Prinze Jr. is poorly served by this barely mediocre vehicle. Most episodes, including last night’s tepid shenanigans, focus on Freddie’s attempt to get - and to keep - a woman, despite interference from a well-intentioned, but disaster-prone, live in family.
The cast has snap, crackle, pop that begs better words be put in their mouths, and stronger situations between their script covers. Freddie has great chemistry with Brian Austin Green, who plays his dim, egocentric, libidinous buddy. As Grandma, Jenny Gago steals every scene in which she appears, and the show’s best dialogue is reflected in her Spanglish to English translation titles.
“Freddie and the Hot Mom” had Prinze enamored of his niece’s friend’s comely mother. First, the daughter is against Freddie dating her mom. Later, Prinze’s niece Zoey feels threatened by her uncle’s new girlfriend. If one’s plot is nonsense, then it had better be inspired nonsense. Lucy’s was. Freddie’s is not.
Certainly I appreciate the difficulty of churning out Seinfeld or Will & Grace-sharp dialogue every week. But Freddie’s consistently anemic scripts make the series fall into the category of “don’t see” TV.
Prinze deserve better, as do his cast and crew.
20th Century Fox Says No Further Development
Posted by Christopher Stone Categories: Prime Time, Cable, FOX, Cancellations,
20th Century Fox Television, the studio behind the series, has thrown in the towel for Arrested Development. The studio announced that AD creator Mitch Hurwitz is ready to call it quits. For three seasons, Arrested Development was the darling of critics and award givers, but failed to be a ratings’ winner, or even a serious contender. In February, Fox, the network, not the studio, burned off the series’ final four episodes in a suicide time-slot, opposite the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.
For a while, Arrested Development had hoped to find a new home on Showtime, but a deal to bring AD to cable was arrested in its development. With Mitch Hurwitz’s decision to move on, the Showtime deal is DOA.
Read More | Variety
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