I Am A TV Junkie

Idol's Pia Toscano Might Have Already Made More Money Than Taylor Hicks

I know, I suck for slinging crap at Taylor Hicks. It's not his fault, really. He just should have never been chosen by a group of American teenage girls to be a pop star.

Having said that I betcha with the $100K that Pia will pull in for singing at a private party next weekend in Los Angeles (check this Hollywood Reporter story) is probably more than Hicks made on his debut album.

Maybe she'll sing Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me again. But if she doesn't, those partygoers and you can hear her sing it again in the clip after the jump. She's wearing a dress no doubt inspired by J.Lo's Grammy Awards dress, worth the click.

UPDATE: The Soul Patrol is swarming around me on Twitter. It was a joke! Get over it. And ... made ya look!

Video -- FX Burning Off Running Wilde Eps from Fox in May

 

Doesn't Will Arnett just look all kinds of sexy draped across a faux Louis XIV desk? And this Joe Namath inspired pose is saying all kinds of dirty, nasty body language things.

Sorry, every now and then I enjoy objectifying a straight guy. It's good for the circulation.

His show that got canned, Running Wilde, never shot its complete load on Fox so FX is doing it for them. In fact, they did so last night but no one told me. Sorry.

They sent a memo that elaborates:

Did you accidentally miss the brand new episode of Fox’s Running Wilde that aired last night on FX? Let’s fix that!

Please tune to FX for never-before-seen episodes of Running Wilde that will air at 10:00 PM ET/PT on Thursday, May 5, 13 and 20. Then, be sure to stick around for encore plays of previously aired episodes at 10:30 PM, 11:00 PM and 1:30 AM ET/PT.

Watch the last episode aired on Fox back in (oh, I'm too tired to look) by clicking this. The last five are at Hulu if you wanna do some catch up.

Video -- History Lessons with Craig Ferguson: The HMS Bounty, Ministry of Silly Walks

Who says you can't learn anything from a late night vulgar lounge comedian?

Craig teaches you about the real life HMS Bounty in last night's monologue (LINK). And more important, he has just shown son Milo (10) the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus (LINK).

Tonight Craig has Bob Saget and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Saget indicates there will be a lot of "crikey dingo" in tonight's show. Or if you rather, "Wassa Commina Go" or "Tootsie Frootsie" or "Ooh La La." 12:37 am, CBS, they care, you watch.

Hollywood Reporter Exclusive -- Chuck Lorre's Two and a Half Men Reboot

As the Reporter notes in their story at this link, upfronts are just around the corner and I'm sure CBS would like to know if they have a show or not.

Apparently Chuck Lorre has a plan. THR says:

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that series co-creator Chuck Lorre has hatched an idea to reboot the Warner Bros-produced sitcom with a new creative direction that does not involve Sheen, who was fired from the series in March. Lorre is said to have presented close associates and Men co-star Jon Cryer with the plan, and the studio and network are aware of his intentions. According to an insider, Lorre has told Cryer this reboot would involve a significant role for him and the introduction of a new, yet-to-be-cast character.

And there's lots more, click over to the Reporter now for their exclusive.

I hope there's also a significant role for Angus T. Jones, he gets the show's best lines and is a solid young comic actor.

More as it unfolds.

CBS News' Lara Logan: "There Was No Doubt in My Mind That I Was in the Process of Dying"

It took me forever to find a photo of Lara Logan that I thought was appropriate to accompany this report that she'll soon discuss the brutal assault she suffered in Cairo near Tahrir Square on 60 Minutes.

You don't wanna go with a photo of her smiling or something from an formal event where she's in an evening gown and I really didn't want to use that last image of her from Tahrir, I keep looking at the men behind her in that famous image and wonder if they were the men who attacked her.

I've been watching this woman report from dangerous places for a lot of years and I have always been impressed with her courage and pluck. Though it might be easier to get a job in broadcast journalism if one is blonde and attractive and female it certainly doesn't help you do the job. It actually probably impedes the work. Certainly in a Middle East war zone it's not convenient to have blonde hair sticking out of a helmet.

So I was thinking about all those things when the news of the tragic events in Cairo came to fore.

On Sunday, the CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent will speak for the first time about what happened on 60 Minutes with Scott Pelley:

Logan lost contact with her colleagues for approximately 25 minutes and endured a sexual assault and beating that she feared she would not survive. "There was no doubt in my mind that I was in the process of dying," she tells Pelley. "I thought not only am I going to die, but it's going to be just a torturous death that's going to go on forever..."

Thoughts of her two young children helped reinforce her determination to survive the assault, she says, which finally ended when she was rescued by a group of Egyptian women and soldiers. The soldiers drove her and her team back to their hotel, where she was examined by a doctor. She returned to the U.S. the next day and went directly into a hospital, where she was treated for four days.

When Logan saw her children, "I felt like I had been given a second chance that I didn't deserve...because I did that to them. I came so close to leaving them, to abandoning them," she says.

I am also interested in finding out if anything was ever done in an attempt to find the men who did this. With all the coverage of the event at the time it was not clear at all if there was anything done toward that effort.

60 Minutes airs Sunday at 7 eastern on CBS. Logan will also be featured on the 60MinutesOvertime.com site after the broadcast.

My Return to (Watching) American Idol -- Top 6: What a Motley Looking Crew!

The annual tradition continues.

I check in each year on American Idol the week the top six perform. I hate the audition rounds, the weeks of humiliation ... the crazies they bring on just make me sad as I guess I don't have that thing that lets me laugh at other people's misfortune.

(Having said that I'm sure I'll be out today and will see a nun slip on a banana peel.)

Look at 'em, though. What a motley crew, these six: Skinny country crooner with an Alfred E. Newman thing going on and twang for days; a Compton guy who you just wanna see get outta Compton; two young women who (I'm sorry but they) are interchangeable; rocker guy with satellite dish ears; and, finally, an extra from Yentl's yeshiva scenes.

And the rabbinical student will probably win it all. AND ... he's ginger! He has a great stage presence but ... well, the pop music world isn't usually populated by someone who wandered over from the 1985 Harrison Ford movie Witness.

(I'm accepting more Casey Abrams movie-related zingers in the comments below.)

About the judge's panel? Apparently the show DOES survive without Simon, and very well in fact. I like that the judges now enter from offstage, which I'm sure was done to showcase J.Lo's legs and her clothes. Tyler is fine, maybe a little too inside baseball with his quotes about presentation. Randy continues to be Randy despite his move into Simon's chair, he's "all good."

Seacrest, however, is really rockin' the Mad Men look this season. I like it.

So, after the jump, watch Casey sing the Carole King-penned Hi De Ho (which he nailed like he was raising a barn -- see what I did there? Another Witness reference?) and duetting with Haley on I Feel the Earth Move.

A Complete List of 2011 BAFTA TV Nominees For Your Viewing Pleasure.

Many of your favorites here, including: the Doctor himself, Matt Smith; the Doctor as a modern-day quirky London investigator, Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch; Gillian Anderson and Jim Broadbent for Any Human Heart which played in the states on PBS as did Sherlock; Miranda Hart for her self-titled show that I though would get to the States before now (shame on you BBC America) and more.

It's after the jump. I'm sure the formatting on the text is all screwed up and I apologize for that.

Video -- The Voice Indeed! Damn, Javier Colon, Where'd YOU Come From?

You can bring Frenchie Davis back from obscurity, you can present a bald, pierced lesbian and her GF to the nation, you can both those things, The Voice on NBC and be a compelling TV show.

But when you bring to the stage a guy like Javier Colon with a unique style and a voice that brings tears to the eyes of a middle-aged guy who once also had dreams of his own about singing in front of people, then you've won me over.

Watch this clip above. He does an excellent cover of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time.

I didn't watch the whole show. I had to FF thru some of the same things that prevent me from watching the initial rounds of Idol (I don't like seeing people's dreams get dashed, it cuts me like a knife). Overall, though, I liked the way the show worked, there wasn't too much Carson Daly and Adam Levine turns out to be a very watchable guy who almost singlehandedly makes the judge portion of this thing work.

I'll watch again. How about you?

You Like Stoner Comedy, Right? Right? Hey, Hey ... Dude ... HEY!!!

Kids, huh? All that ability to consume mass quantities of inebriating substances wasted on people who can't even afford those mass quantities.

What a bitch, huh? They don't even feel sick the next day. Frickin' kids and their youth. Let's steal their drugs while they're high.

I love stoner comedy. It reminds me of my not-misspent-enough youth. Or maybe in comparison to the great names in stoner comedy I just didn't cut it.

That's it, I'm an aspirational viewer of stoner comedy, which is what I've got, now, 'cuz I'm 50 and I'm supposed to be "responsible" and a "good citizen" and "not break laws."

It sucks. It's also why I watch Workaholics on Comedy Central.

Three college friends now finished with school live together in a house and work together at a telemarketing firm, because that's the job you get now when you graduate.

That would certainly make me feel like getting high every day. First thing, in fact, just like my freshman year neighbors Matt and Jim who loaded a bong before they went to sleep so it would be ready. Ready for what? Just ready, you never mind.

Blake and Adam and Anders are played by guys named Blake (Anderson) and Adam (DeVine) and Anders (Holm), which is, like, such a coincidence. An even bigger coincidence is that they were already working together doing sketch comedy on the web as Mail Order Comedy (their website at this link).

They work in this telemarketing call center, though I'm not really sure what they sell. They don't seem to spend a lot of time working, though they do spend a lot of time in the office, like in this clip below from last week where they try to escape via the roof. It doesn't go well, but I'm sure you already figured that out.

Workaholics	Wednesdays at 10:30/9:30c
Are You Flexing?
www.comedycentral.com
Jokes Sports Show with Norm Macdonald Workaholics

There's more, it's after the jump. You want to go to there.

Clips -- What You're Missing if You're Not Watching Sports Show w/ Norm Macdonald

Here's a list of what you're missing.

1) Norm noticing the Michael Jordan Hitler 'stache, too. He was ten months later that I was, but still, at least I'm not the only one obsessing about it, he held the joke in his hands until he got this show.

2) His thoughts on Cameron Diaz's idea for a baseball movie starring her BF Alex Rodriguez.

3) Video of a guy getting run over by an ice cream truck while doing The Dougie.

Corresponding video for all list items after the jump. Norm's doing this with the same tone he brought to SNL's Weekend Update. It works for him. I'm in. Every Tuesday night at 10:30 on Comedy Central.

Video -- Phil Rosenthal Brings Exporting Raymond to the @TodayShow

This is Phil Rosenthal above in detail from the official one-sheet for his new documentary Exporting Raymond.

You remember of course that Phil was the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond . Huge hit for CBS, built their Monday night comedy block around it, put them back in the comedy game ... huge.

Phil was asked by Sony Pictures Television if he wanted to work with the Russian rights holder in putting together their version of the show, called The Voronins. He said yes, he brought a documentary film crew with him and now we have this film, which opens in select cities on Friday.

Watch the trailer for the film by clicking this, and after the jump watch Al Roker talk to Phil about the film from this morning's Today Show.

Go see Phil's movie. Talented guy, successful guy, really nice guy. You don't get all three that often.

Preview Video -- Lindsay Lohan Visits The Tonight Show

I know, I'm a whore. I LIKE it when people visit the blog, and if I need to a post a gratuitous 30 seconds of video where a tarnished starlet and a chin with legs conform to the pre-show interview with some pointless conversation? Well?

I know, I hate myself too.

Airs tonight on NBC. Interesting that Jay is now taping shows the day BEFORE they air.

Watch the New Goodnight Burbank Right Now, Here in This Post

New. Bigger. Better.

Still from a garage in Burbank, though.

The new Goodnight Burbank went live today on Hulu and at GoodnightBurbank.com, and now here. All you gotta do is click this.

Hayden Black returns as Gordon Winston-Smythe now joined at the anchor desk by Laura Silverman's Whitney Appleby, a guitar-strumming, red white and blue bleeding servant of our Lord with a fascinating if not accurate knowledge of US history.

Cast includes Miracle Laurie (Dollhouse) and Dominic Monaghan (Lost) as correspondents, and Cameron Bender (many episodic TV appearances) whose IMDb profile pic alone is worth the click.

Very funny. Do check it out. I'm surprised it wasn't sold to some cable network, it's certainly better than so many things that make air.

Video -- Another Reason Conservatives Hate PBS: American Experience: Stonewall Uprising

Conservatives hate public broadcasting. Mostly because it tells the truth about things that conservatives would rather you didn't remember, like how people used to take to the streets in protest when their rights were violated and how powerful people keep other less powerful people in the margins usually for some sort of financial benefit.

For example, the gay bars of the 60s in NYC were owned by the mob, were the trashiest of joints that served crappy liquor (mostly water or soda). And the City of New York, despite the fact that they were happy to accept tax revenue from these establishments that they pretty much knew were being run by the mob, would send in the cops every now and then (especially around election season) to beat some homos.

It made the incumbent look good in the eyes of the voters. It brought in campaign cash. It did.

I know, it's awful, but that's how it worked in the 60s.

Until the Summer of 1969.

From here I send you to this page on the PBS website, where they've put together a rather exhaustive review of the beginnings of the gay rights movement in the United States.

From there, click over the jump and watch a preview of American Experience: Stonewall Uprising, which runs Monday night in most markets, but check your local listings for the PBS station in your area.

Also, if your PBS station is NOT airing this episode of American Experience, please drop me a note and let me know that. It would be interesting to see where it is that the PBS station manager decides not to air the show.

Where's My Non-Spoilery Doctor Who First Episode Post?

It's nowhere. I didn't get a screener this year. Got one last year. What did I do?

What. Did. I. Do? You know, besides devote 261 posts at this blog to the show and its cast members over the years. Besides lay out a blueprint for BBC Worldwide to take the show back from the haphazard way it was being syndicated and make it the center of the BBC America schedule. Besides post the countdown widget in my primary advertising spot on the site?

What. Did. I. Do?

I dunno. Whatev. Watch it tonight at 9 eastern on, you know, that channel that doesn't send me screeners. 

Video -- Jennifer Hudson Gets Her BAFTA Award Four Years Later from Graham Norton

JHud (which is what I call her because I'm so street) won the BAFTA Award for Dreamgirls in 2007 but she didn't get to the awards and then there was problems apparently with shipping her award.

I think some big British queen stole it and is still prancing around his flat lipsynching And I Am Telling You over and over and thanking the academy while wearing something shiny (think of something Bob Mackie, not a studded leather jockstrap).

Anyhow, Graham Norton found this out and had a surprise waiting for Jennifer on this BBC One chat show, and you can watch what happens after the jump. Panelists include k.d. lang and Bill Bailey. This episode airs in the UK tonight and here in the States on May 11.

May 11? We usually get Graham on a one week delay here in the States. We also usually don't get a full hour, just whatever they can squeeze into the 45 minutes after the 1:15 premiere airing of Doctor Who or whatever sci fi show runs before it on Saturdays.

I would appreciate being able to watch ALL of Doctor Who and ALL of Graham. And I'm not the only one.

Can't BBC America do something about this?

Watch the JHud clip after the jumperoo.

The Paul Reiser Show is the Saddest Thing on TV

I didn't watch the premiere of The Paul Reiser Show. I set my DVR to record it last week but it didn't record the show.

My DVR knew better than I did. Tried to protect me, even. But I was having none of it and made sure this week that the show recorded.

I'm such a dick. I should respect the wishes of my appliances.

It's just that there's nothing, NOTHING, believable about this show which is apparently a somewhat fictionalized version of Reiser's current existence. Which, once extrapolated, means that Paul Reiser leads a fictional existence.

So you see right there that there's something terribly wrong here.

I would get more explicative but what's the point, this show will be gone before you can say May Sweeps.

It makes me sad because I am a HUGE Mad About You fan, before that was a fan of Reiser's stand up and I was really pulling for Paul, like I pull for all people of a certain age.

For purposes of definition that's anyone near my age or older.

Sad. (Shaking my head)

Clip Bonanza: Doctor Who Insider Previews the New Series

Yes it's still Doctor Who week (until the moment Saturday that the first new episode starts) so I have more Doctor Who content, naturally.

Today, just in case you've missed one of them, all the behind the scenes clips from Doctor Who Insider. For those of you outside the States this is what BBC America does with the stuff from Doctor Who Confidential, which doesn't air in the US like it does in England right after the episode on BBC Three.

So, have at it, they're all posted after the jump, including the clip released today about the companions in this new series.

Video : Glee's Chris Colfer is One of the Time 100 for 2011

For those of you who question the inclusion of Colfer in this rarified group, think about this: He's just a kid who by virtue of doing the thing he loves is changing minds, changing attitudes and not cowtowing to anyone in the process.

He is totally, completely, unabashedly himself.

Here's what his costar Dianna Agron said about him her introductory remarks at this link:

The honesty that he infuses into his Glee character, Kurt, leaves you reeling. Our cast is blessed to hear things like "Your character has helped me through this, or helped me do that," but none more so than Chris. To witness the power he gives to his audience firsthand? It's wonderful.

After the jump watch Colfer talk about the show and this honor.

Live Feed From the TV Academy -- Cougar Town Cast and Creators Panel

Did you watch Cougar Town tonight? Now you can watch the cast and creators of the show talk about it live from the TV Academy.

I got nothin' else. The embed's from Ustream, enjoy.

Gaga/Yankovic Update -- It's A Go!

Okay, this makes sense. It turns out Gaga never even heard the song, it was someone on "her team" who originally said no, not even mentioning it to her.

Shame on you, underling. That was NOT COOL.

More at Al's website at this link. His version, I Perform This Way, will be the first single off his new album.

Video -- BBC America Sets Premiere Dates for Outcasts & Bedlam

Short version? Outcasts starts on June 18. Bedlam starts on October 8.

The long version is after the jump. The long version includes clips that I promise will be non-spoilery.

Listen Now! This Weird Al Yankovic Parody of Gaga's Born This Way Won't Be Al's Next Single

Click above to listen and sing along to I Perform This Way (lyrics provided). And then click to Weird Al's blog (this link) to read the Gaga saga in all it's disappointing glory.

Hey, everyone has the right to say no to stuff, but I think Lady Gaga will regret this later. Having Weird Al parody your work is an honor.

Whatev, she heard the song and said no.

Video -- Showtime's Weeds Offers You 4-20 Greetings

So, I know that I usually post the new Weeds key art on April 20 but I haven't received any yet this year so I'm going the video route, posted above natch.

However if you're a Get Glue aficianado (and I'm not) you can get a Happy 420 sticker by checking in at this link.

And ... Mary Louise Parker and the Weeds gang returns to your TV on June 27th at 10 pm on Showtime. If I get that key art by the end of the day I'll add it below.

Video -- It's 4-20, Watch @DougBenson's Super High Me Right Here Right Now!

Hulu, in its infinite wisdom, has Doug's movie, Super High Me, posted, and I'm embedding it after the jumperoo.

Happy 4-20, gang. Happy 4-20, Doug. Doug's in Sacramento tonight at the Punchline to commemorate the day. Both the 7 and 9:30 shows are sold out.

Confirmed! New Absolutely Fabulous Episodes Being Shooting in August AND Bonus Video

Well, a little champers all around, huh?

Got confirmation yesterday from producer Jon Plowman, and he should know.

No word yet on air date. I'll keep you in the loop. Only three episodes, which is what the BBC doles out these days (Sherlock, Upstairs Downstairs).

Now, about the bonus video ... ages ago before this all started there was a French & Saunders sketch that was the basis for the entire series. That clip ... is after the jump. Enjoy it. There are French subtitles so if you watch it over and over until your eyes bleed you might learn a new language.

Video -- Leonard Nimoy on His Animated Fringe Return & Anna Torv Playing Bill Bell

It's Nimoy, you have to watch. And he knows from where he speaks on this topic, it's not the first time a character of his that dies has come back.

Probably won't be the last, either.

Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith, Elisabeth Sladen, Dies at 63

Now this is unexpected and sad. My first report of Elisabeth Sladen's death came from Tom Wilson at Simply Television and I was very hopeful this was yet another Internet hoax because you know how often that happens anymore.

Apparently Sladen had been quietly battling cancer for quite some time.

For those of you who like me weren't raised on the show, Sladen's Sarah Jane was the companion of choice for fans of classic Doctor Who. From the Guardian:

Sladen first starred as Sarah Jane opposite Jon Pertwee. The pair worked together for three seasons, before Pertwee left the show in 1974.

She then became the assistant for Tom Baker. When the show relaunched, she appeared in an episode alongside modern-day Doctor Who David Tennant.

In a 2006 interview with the BBC ahead of rejoining Doctor Who, she spoke of her love for the programme, saying: "I think it has lovely layers and I'd defend the programme to anyone.

"I'm very emotionally part of that programme and I think a lot of the people who worked on it are. You used to love going to work every day."

Sladen of course went from the School Reunion episode of the show to her own series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which ran on CBBC, the British pubcasters children's channel and on The SciFi Channel here in the States before that channel's name change to Syfy.

From BBC Radio news today there's these words from the man who brought Sladen back to active Doctor Who duty, Russell T. Davies, at this link.

The text of the press release from the BBC  is posted after the jump, following a great clip from the episode of Doctor Who Confidential where the cast of the show talks about Elisabeth's return and their memories of her tenures with Doctors 3 and 4.

Video -- Matt Smith on New Season of Doctor Who; Filmic Scale, Filmic Ambition

And Doctor Who week continues with today's clip from the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, speaking enthusiastically about the upcoming seven episodes that will make up the first part of this split season of the big BBC and BBC America hit.

Watch it below.

And these shows won't be your only opportunity to see the stars of Doctor Who this year ... not only do we have Smith's 2010 Christopher Isherwood film from the BBC to see on PBS Masterpiece later this year (no specific airdate yet) but Karen Gillan will be playing model Jean Shrimpton in a new BBC telefilm that will shoot in New York for broadcast later this year in the UK ... and then hopefully a US outlet will pick it up.

One can hope, right?

Finally, a Doctor Who clip from an unlikely source, my hilarious online pals The Fine Bros., who are presenting 47 years of show history in six minutes and 10 seconds. You'll love it, it's after the jump.

Breaking News: HBO Renews Game of Thrones for Season Two

Now before you get all, "Wow, they must have LOVED those ratings numbers," they weren't really all that hot. HBO is self-reporting that 4.2 million viewers watched the premiere over it's many airing on Sunday and Monday on the various HBO channels.

The thing is with these huge sets and the numerous period costumes and all the costs that come with a project this size there almost has to be a second season to offset costs in the first.

The complete text of HBO's press release is after the jump, along with a clip from this Sunday's episode (9 pm, HBO).

Hey, TV ... What's With All the Incest?

Seriously, WTF? And it's not just these two, either. There's the case of these two, also. Consider this an Incest in Costume Dramas open thread. Is this the Golden Age of incest portrayed in pay cable TV dramas?

Discuss!

UPDATED: The Only Tina Fey Interview You Need, Tonight w/ Craig Ferguson

UPDATE: Watch the interview, it's in two parts: Part One here and Part B here. Thank you, once again, to RSA General Mal who provides the clips and all good things Craig Ferguson-related.

I know, this is a picture of the Olsen twins. Believe it or not, this came up when I searched Google Images for pics of Tina Fey + Bossypants, which is the title of her book (but then you already know that).

I have no idea why this pic showed up, I was looking for images of Tina holding the book. Well, here's the cover of the book, anyway.

I decided Tina would more than likely prefer I posted Mary-Kate and Ashley, though, so I am. As long as I'm posting the cover image, that is.

But about the Olsen twins, since they're here, when did they turn into Sally Kellerman in Back to School? Right?

Anyhow, do something now ... take a disco nap, set your alarm, set your DVR, do something, but make sure you see Craig Ferguson talk to Tina Fey tonight on his show.

If she's lucky, she'll get to do the Secretariat dance. And I'm interested to see what she'll make of Geoff who frankly is an acquired taste.

In your pants.

Of course all the comedy types with a memoir come to Craig since his great success with American On Purpose, which of course is still available at your local bookseller and from Amazon.com in print or for the kindle or even audiobook read by the author.

And here's a link to buy that and then a link to buy Tina's book in all it's various forms. The middle icon in each is the Kindle edition, the final icon for the audiobook.

 

And then after the jump you can watch a 30 Rock video of the cast celebrating their 100th episode and a recent Craig monologue, just because I wanna spread some love.

Craig's on tonight at 12:37 eastern on CBS. They care, you know.

Video -- Doctor Who's Karen Gillan on Amy's Vulnerability and How it Informs the New Series

It's Doctor Who week and I'm finally feeling like it's TV Christmas. I'm decorating my Tardis, I'm replacing the batteries in my personal massager sonic screwdriver, I've called my Judoon friends and reminded them not to break up my party when it gets outta hand but to rush over should those damned Sontarans try to take things over, which they always do, frickin' potato headed imperialists!

The amount of press and promotion of this series is unprecedented here in the States, with New York being treated to a rash of promo screenings, many with our big four cast members (Smith, Gillan, Darvill, Kingston) in tow for Q & A sessions.

Wanna see excerpts from one of these Q & As? Part one here. Two here. Three here.

There is also a video prequel to this season's first episode, and if you haven't seen it yet it's at the BBC America show site at this link.

Includes this image ...

... which we can all agree is obviously Richard Nixon. Honestly he is the last public figure I thought I'd ever see in a Doctor Who episode, but maybe it will reframe Watergate for a new generation (though I doubt it).

As Saturday approaches I'll share all manner of Doctor Who news and clips, and today, after the jump, I have Karen Gillan talking about some changes in Amy, some revelations that inform her choices and the new series at hand.

And come back all week for more. Saturday at 9 eastern is quickly approaching.

Video -- Dustin Hoffman's HBO Series Luck: Your First Look

 

It's from Michael Mann and David Milch and it has everyone from Hoffman to Nick Nolte to Dennis Farina to Gary Stevens from Seabiscuit and the horse racing game to Richard Kind and Ian Hart. Outstanding cast, thanks to the names at the top who attract this kind of talent.

There's no word on premiere date yet but this project is one you'll certainly hear more about, a lot more about, before that time.

Fringe -- Just Released Pics of Animated Cast & Watch Broyles Gets High Again

So it turns out that there were only a few of us that noticed the animated aspect of Friday's episode of Fringe from the promos that ran on Fox. Sorry to anyone for whom that was spoiled, I thought it was common knowledge.

In any event, here are the rest of the animation images released by Fox after the episode aired. And then, after the jump enjoy that great scene with Astrid and a very wacked out Lt. Broyles, which I loved.

That clip is after the jumperoo.

Clip Bonanza -- Tonight on The Borgias ... Huh?

Yeah, I'm watching The Borgias on Showtime, and it doesn't feel like I'm doing homework at all, despite my fears of the historical costume drama.

It could be that I'm just distracted by all the weirdness, like in the relationship between Lucretia Borgia and brother Cesare (pictured below left). Are they not a little too close? And by a little too close I mean A LOT TOO CLOSE? And I don't just mean in the photo.

To whittle it down to one word, "Ew."

Not only does it not feel like homework, it feels like a primetime soap that just happens to take place in turn of the 16th century at the Vatican and surroundings, with just as much sex and blood and murder and deceit as you might expect from the Church around that time.

In other words, it's a ripper of a family story with a guy at the top of the bill (the former Rodrigo Borgia now Pope Alexander VI brought to vivid life by Oscar winner Jeremy Irons) whose ascension to the papacy is, to be frank, going to his head.

(In fact, there was a moment where you almost see it happening. In the opening broadcast on Showtime two weeks ago there's a scene where attendants are lifting the Papal crown off the Pope's head and he gets lightheaded and stumbles a bit. The weight of the damn thing has actually restricted blood flow to his brain.)

Having spent just about everything in his efforts to become Pope, Rodrigo then took in Turkish prince Djem (hottie, great chest, hot for Lucretia) in exchange for 40,000 ducats at the request of his brother who needs him out of the area and out of the line of succession to the throne. And the price rises tenfold if Djem never comes back.

Do I have to tell you what happens? C'mon, Cesare wasn't gonna let Lucretia be pawed by anyone (okay, anyone ELSE) and 400,000 ducats is ... well it's 400,000 ducats. It's a shame of course that Cesare's brother Juan screwed up the poisoning (poisoning seems to be the preferred method), but it lets you know that Juan is ... he's a screwup. He fancies himself a warrior but he just doesn't have the stuff.

More, including three clips from tonight's episode, after the jump.

Breaking, but Unconfirmed: New Episodes of Absolutely Fabulous Start Shooting in August

In what could be the best thing that's happened for gay men since ... well, since last weekend's Palm Springs White Party (recap and photos at this link), I've heard that Joanna Lumley has told Hello! Magazine (you might remember Hello! from the episode where Patsy was caught sleeping with a member of Parliament and it wasn't George Clinton) that BBC has given the go ahead for three new episodes of Absolutely Fabulous.

She added that the new episodes will start shooting in August in the UK.

I'm waiting for confirmation and/or a link to pass along.

As you remember, a pilot for a US version of the show with Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Johnston was shot in late 2009 (that's a guess) by Fox but not picked up for series.

If you are reading this and have any additional info please leave me a comment below.

While you're waiting for official word, watch as Edina and Patsy get stuck in the panic room. Click this.

Off-Topic -- Bondage Trolls?

Someone on Twitter calling themselves @AlohaPF tweeted this pic to Nathan Fillion when Nathan mentioned that he was "tied up."

Bondage trolls exist. Watch out or their sneak up on you. If you listen closely you can hear their little leather chaps creaking as they walk.

Should I decide this is all for the weekend, have a lovely one! Still, watch out for bondage trolls.

Video -- FunnyOrDie.com: Bring Me the Head of Joan Rivers!

Then someone did. In a jar.

Don't forget to catch Joan tonight at 10:30 eastern on E! Fashion Police. Vote for worst and best of the week while you wait.

See Joan and George Kotsiopoulos rip the feather trend into little pieces in a clip from a previous show after the jump.

Iraq War Enabler Rice Set for 30 Rock Guest Shot

We of course remember tha Condi Rice has comedy chops from this appearance in front of a Senate sub-committee when she remarked about the size of work husband George Bush's penis.

She'll play herself, who as we know in the 30 Rock world previously dated Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Catfight with Elizabeth Banks' Avery character? That would be epic.

No word on whether she'll do a scene where Tracy Jordan gets her pregnant ... just by looking at her.

Clip Bonanza -- Fringe Super Preview & Prop Giveaway Details

I am wondering if I should be trying to glean something from the fact that there are no episodic photos from tonight's episode posted at the Fox press site.

What are they hiding? (Some of you have of course seen the Fox promo that offers more visual evidence of Bill Bell, but I'm not spilling here for the sake of this others who haven't.)

Of course when you have an acid freak as a character, you can tease lots of stuff in a promo and it just ends up being a drugged delusion. As this week's episode is called Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, that's entirely possible.

Here's a preview:

With the show now renewed for a fourth season you and I might be a little more relaxed about the events leading up to the season finale, but that might be folly for us from what I've read. Producers are promising that all questions of season three should be resolved in the season finale curently scheduled for May 6th.

Aaaaaand ... Walternate will get that doomsday machine operating.

Aaaaaand ... someone will die.

Die? Yes, die.

Click over the jumperoo for more.

Video -- Surprise Wedding on Parks and Recreation, See the Official Wedding Website

Best TV wedding in a long long time, and you gotta give it up to the Parks and Recreation gang for keeping this completely under wraps (at least from me) until it happened.

Most shows would have dragged out a courtship and then promoted the proposal and then the wedding with loads of sappy music cues and gauzy lens filtering. They just did it.

Refreshing, huh?

And, there's a website this morning that is celebrating the union of these two very unprepared young marrieds at AwesomeSauceWedding.com.

Watch the full episode (US only, sorry my foreign-based friends) by clicking right here.

And, btw, if you're on their wedding site and you see the like for Andy's band website, click it. If you miss it, just come back here and click this.

Video -- Cleveland Brown Interviews Fringe Star Jasika Nicole? Yes, What's So Strange About That?

Do I need to say anything about this? Other than that it's the best thing ever? Cuz it is!

After the jump I have a Fringe episode preview for you for Friday at 9 eastern, which is the first of a run of four new eps.

Piers Morgan Promises a George Michael Exclusive, Is It X-Factor Related?

Quickly, my theory: Back in the UK and apparently now here, George Michael has been on something of a reputation healing tour, doing talk shows and vaguely referencing what some people think is scandalous behavior.

I call it sleeping in a parked car, but whatev. Okay, maybe it's not a good idea to car cruise with a joint in your hand, but haven't we all done something like that? No? Just me?

I think it's because Simon Cowell is hiring him to be a judge on the US version of The X Factor.

Today I see this tweet that leads me to believe I might be right.

We'll see, tomorrow night on CNN at 9 eastern. Visit the Piers Morgan CNN site at this link.

Just in case you've forgotten what George Michael can do, click over the jump for a surprise.

America Played: Trump Says He'll Announce During Celeb Apprentice Finale

So, America, do you feel duped? You should.

I found this at Yahoo News this morning while clicking around the web, from a story titled Trump to make 2012 announcement on ‘The Apprentice’ ...

Newsmax's Ronald Kessler defended Trump from charges of cynical media manipulation. Kessler noted Thursday that even after Trump announces his campaign, he'll still be accused of staging a campaign for publicity. "But that defies the facts and common sense," Kessler wrote. "Of all the people on the planet, Donald Trump is the last person who needs more publicity. And if he is riding a groundswell of support, why would he—or anyone else—decide not to run?"

But Trump has a famously insatiable appetite for publicity. He's leveraged his business renown into a series of books, and merchandised a host of products under the Trump name, ranging from water to chocolate to wine. Oh, and yes--he is also the star of his own reality TV franchise; something that the slew of news reports about his prospective announcement plans are certain to mention (as this one just has).

Newsmax is that site that buys all those web ads that feature a headshot of a politician against a white backgound and asks some simple question like, "Obama: Is He From Here?" or something that skews very very conservative. And Ronald Kessler has apparently not been paying attention to the Trump PR machine all these years. He LIVES on publicity, he eats it three times a day, more even.

Kessler, of course, knows this, too. Newsmax writers and editors historically don't have issue with providing their readers with faulty info. This is no stretch for him.

Listen, I would welcome Donald Trump to the slate of Republican candidates for President. He'd make a lot of other candidates spend their war chests and I'm all for this. And I know Trump can't win (his previous position statements on issues he's now taking hard right stances on will be his downfall).

What I don't like is him using our politics to promote his brand. I don't like that NBC is standing around and letting him do so. It displays a lack of respect for the process, which on it's own should disqualify the guy from running.

Behind the Scenes Video -- Wendy Williams' Essence Magazine Cover Shoot

Busy girl, that Wendy. Sure she's not on Dancing With The Stars anymore, but she's still got her daily talk show in syndie, she's hosting Love Triangle on GSN and she shows up from time to time on One Life to Live as the host of a local gossip show.

She takes care of a husband and child without professional help and she works it in support of her career all over the place, including the cover of Essence Magazine.

And she's really working it. Check out the behind the scenes video in the clip after the jump. And have another clip, this one of Wendy discussing the GSN show.

And, additional bonus, there are two different Wendy covers on the stands.

As great as she looks, I still like this image below from a New York Times photoshoot better, it's my favorite image of her.

Isn't that great? I'm reminded of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Right? Right?

Click over for the clips.

Video -- Today's Matt and Katie, Together Again (I'm Kvelling)

Aw, they look like a married couple at a charity banquet, don't they?

Katie has a new book out called The Best Advice I Ever Got, features celebs and notables answering the titular question (of sorts). TV people involved include Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family, Suze Orman, Mario Batali and blog favorite Craig Ferguson.

At his blog at Variety.com (paywall) Andrew Wallenstein asks aloud if it was proper for Lauer to interview his former partner and the woman that might be his co-host in a new venture (though these are only rumors). I couldn't read the post, of course, because EVEN THE BLOGS at Variety are behind a paywall (which is so stupid I can't even begin to address the issue). But I think it's fine, she was there to talk about her book and not all the other stuff (which again are only rumors).

The presumption here that the Today show is a news show and should act accordingly? I dunno, to me it's not a news show anymore, except maybe for the first half hour and even then sometimes mindless celeb crap and tragedy porn show up in that first 30 minutes.

And those things are not news. Not to me.

The clip is posted after the jump, have at it. The old picture of Katie and Matt (left) is just for fun. And yes, I was kvelling just a bit seeing them back together. With Regis leaving, maybe Katie and Matt pick up some of those viewers with a slightly more newsworthy hour of talk, huh?

Sorry Kelly Ripa, it could happen.

First Clip from Showtime's Homeland: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damien Lewis

Wanna see three minutes and thirty-six seconds from Claire Danes' new Showtime series? Huh?

Click this, it'll appear as if out of thin air. And it tells you what you need to know about the series, where Danes, a CIA agent chained to a desk because of some act of malfeasance we are not yet privy to, fears that the American that has just been found (apparently underground, check the clip) in the Middle East is possibly part of an Al Qaeda plot to carry out an attack on US soil.

Patinkin (who CBS Corp. has hired AGAIN, despite him quitting, technically walking off, two of their previous shows, Chicago Hope and Criminal Minds) is her mentor and a former CIA division chief.

Damien Lewis (NBC's Life, Your Highness) is the soldier Scott Brody, who is found 10 years after going missing during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The project is from Howard Gordon (24), who knows his way around a geopolitical thriller, certainly, and is based on an Israeli format Hatufim (Prisoners of War).

Video -- Get Your Happy Endings Tonight at 9:30 on ABC

This is not a show about that sketchy massage parlor by the bus station where the M in the neon sign is broken so it keeps flashing the words "ass age" at you as you get up the nerve to walk in and ask for, well, you know ...

And, I've already written about the gay character played by Adam Pally and how he's not like any gay guy you've experienced in a TV comedy before.

This new ABC single camera comedy from David Caspe is about three 20-something gals and three 20-something guys who live in the big city. Alex and Dave (Elisha Cuthbert and Zachary Knighton) were supposed to get married, but Alex has walked out right before the I do's. No, literally, RIGHT BEFORE. Standing at the altar and everything, in front of friends and family and their other four friends, who now have to deal with the fallout thereof.

Yes, I know Friends started with a wedding that didn't happen. And yes, I know that Friends was also about three 20-something gals and three 20-something guys who live in the big city. Just let it go, for the sake of comedy, of which there is a lot of for you to enjoy here.

So six friends, two of them, Jane and Brad, a married couple already (Daman Wayans Jr. and the wonderful Eliza Coupe), Penny the desperate single (Casey Wilson from SNL), the aforementioned uncharacteristic gay man Max (Pally, from UCB and his own group Hot Sauce) and the not-marrieds Dave and Alex are tasked with trying to find a way to remain a social group even through all this tumult.

And, spoiler alert, they do. Or they will, rather, but you gotta stick around a little bit to see it happen.

I don't really wanna say much more about what happens in the pilot. What you need to know is that it's crisply directed and fast paced and everyone here is really solidly funny, even Cuthbert and Knighton who usually get cast in dramas.

(More on Cuthbert and this show from my internet friend Eric Hegedus, who wrote about it for the NY Post. I know, I usually don't link to Newscorp but Eric's a good guy and ... oh, don't judge me!)

The pilot was directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (Community). There are 13 episodes in the can, I've seen the first four which are very funny, one of them being Max's coming out to his parents episode which is special for me, anyway.

Highly recommended. Preview clip is after the jump. Watch this!

UPDATED: Video -- Is It Me Or Is HBO Letting Cinema Verite Just Slide By Unnoticed?

The update is this: I was a week early with this, it didn't air Saturday, it airs THIS Saturday. Sorry, HBO, I guess you AREN'T letting this slide right by.

Have you seen a TV ad or a promo for Cinema Verite, the HBO film about the making of the groundbreaking PBS series An American Family?

Me neither!

So what's up with that? There's certainly enough being done to promote Game of Thrones including food trucks and screenings and a half-hour behind the scenes doc and ... well, you get it.

The HBO site doesn't even have this full version of the trailer for the film. You can see it by clicking here.

The film stars Tim Robbins and Diane Lane as Pat and Bill Loud, the Santa Barbara couple who offered their family up to documentary filmmakers (one played by James Gandolfini) to make what was ostensibly the first reality television show.

Why is there no promo happening for this? Dunno, but I have one other piece of video, an on-the-set feature with lots of Diane Lane (looking fabulous) and talk with the directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman.

Watch that by clicking this.

The original series that is the stuff of this movie had a tremendous impact on me as a young person. I had never seen someone who identified as gay on TV until Lance Loud came out on national television. It was a huge thing in my 12-year-old life.

In this film Lance (pictured left) is played by Thomas Dekker. You might remember back during the first season of Heroes Dekker's people lobbied that his character, who was supposed to be Cheerleader Claire's gay best friend, be ... not so much gay. That led eventually to his character being written off the show.

I'm guessing that Dekker has new people now. Or possibly someone has grown up and can handle the attention of it all now? Maybe? In any event I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with what is the chew-the-scenery role in the piece.

The films airs Saturday night at 9 on HBO.