I Am A TV Junkie, A Blog For The Clicker Jockey

Sarah Connor Returns to Battle For Another Season

The Reporter is, uh, reporting (which is what they do) that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be back for another go round.

I gave up on it around episode five, I think. I just don't connect to Lena Headey. In fact, after that episode I was convinced that she was a real-life terminator who had traveled back in time to give a listless, emotionless performance in this show.

Also, I think it's a problem for an action show that the action types on the show are women. John Connor doesn't do much besides getting tucked away in a corner while everyone fights for his future. I think the show would perform better with a stronger male lead. I think they cast the wrong kid.

It was the top-rated new scripted show of the 2007-8 season in the demo, which I know isn't saying a whole lot, but it's something.

I'm guessing that they'll pair it with 24 starting in January, though I have no details as such.

UPDATE: Details emerge. It's coming back for the Fall. How about that!

Looking Inside Today's 24 News (or making wild assumptions about stuff I know nothing about, you choose)

You know, I'm always trying to second guess what's going on behind the scenes at Fox's 24 because, among other things, I've been waiting for the show's producers to insert themselves and the show surreptitiously into the 2008 Presidential debate.

I won't recount all that, but you can click here for all my posts about this show, which I will readily admit to you I haven't watched since the pilot, which aired just after the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

And you know the players here include Joel Surnow, co-creator and co-exec producer with Robert Cochran up until the end of season five, and he's big into the Republican noise machine and hangs with Limbaugh and worships at the shrine of the Grover Norquist-advanced drown it in the bathtub and get rid of it school of government.

I've also talked about the casting of Cherry Jones as the US President for the recently postponed 2008 season and what I thought they were trying to do when the conventional wisdom was that Sen. Clinton was the presumptive nominee.

Joel Surnow Leaves 24, Will Jack Bauer Now Consider Waterboarding Torture?

Because I betcha if you asked Surnow the simple yes or no answer on that he's have to punt. He wouldn't want his mancrush GWB charged with war crimes, would he?

E! Online:

Surnow said that he'll always be close to the show as long as it's on but, with his resignation effective immediately, the politically minded producer will not be involved in season seven's remaining 16 episodes.

Only eight "hours" of Jack Bauer's seventh hellish day in the spotlight had been shot when the struck show ran out of scripts and Fox opted to postpone the premiere rather than have to break up the season.

Thanks to the logistical complexity involved in shooting a big-budget show like 24, which will feature a locale change to Washington D.C., Janeane Garofalo and a female president (Cherry Jones) next season (all changes inputted before the strike), producers say it's going to be another year until Day Seven is off and ticking.

Variety Has Many Details on Returning Shows

And, because I would end up excerpting the whole article here, I'm just gonna have to click over there for it.

Notably:

• There will be a negotiation of sorts to see how many eps Bill Lawrence gets to wrap up Scrubs. I think he should get as many as he wants, but I'm not "the decider."
• Boston Legal should be first drama back in production
• No more Cane, but the lights are not just out yet for next season
• Forget about Heroes and 24, as previously rumored

Check there to see if your fave is mentioned.

Fox TV Postpones 24 Premiere, Makes Sked Changes

First things first, 24 is postponed indefinitely, as it says in the press release, "to ensure that 'Day 7' can air uninterrupted, in its entirety."

Idol comes back on January 15 and 16 with a four-hour two-night premiere. As you know, I don't watch Idol until it's down to six singers, so I don't really care but you might.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will start with a 2-night premiere on January 13 and 14, and I believe this was the slot that 24 previously occupied.

There's other stuff, but these are the big items. I'm sure they'll publish this release somewhere on the web (I can't link to my email) so look around for more details.

For example, there's a game show in the mix called Moment of Truth, but this is the first I've hear of it.

24 Season 7 Premiere Trailer Straight From the Times Square Jumbotron

And you get to see it inside, out of the NYC rain, albeit without Mary Lynn Rasjkub, but if you just click here you can see her latest from FunnyOrDie.com so it's almost like you're with her.

Here it is. Season 7 premieres on January 13, a Sunday, with a two-hour event (which kind of pisses me off because it means no Fox cartoons that night). I've watched it, and I have some comments, but they are for later.

24 Fans, Your "Chloe" Girl Is Pissed!

And FunnyOrDie.com has the video. You know I'm gonna post something that mentions Tom Sizemore, Beliefnet.com and Mary Lynn's surgically-repaired hymen.

LINK

Well, after this I'm pretty sure Rush Limbaugh will stop drunk dialing her.

Why Kiefer and Others Need to Hire a Permanent Driver

They all have assistants, they all have teams of attorneys. Why not add an on-call driver to their cadres? Because Kiefer may be looking at a year in jail, he was already on probation.

AP:

The star of the Fox TV drama "24" was charged with single counts of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or above, said city attorney spokesman Nick Velasquez. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a minimum of four days, Velasquez said.

"We also charged him with a second DUI offense within 10 years, which we believe also violates the terms of his probation," Velasquez added.

Consider how much this is going to cost Sutherland between lost wages and possible additional lost revenue from endorsements, etc. Now think about how happy someone would be to sit around waiting for Kiefer to have to get somewhere by car while collecting, say, $100 K a year. Sounds like it's worth the money, doesn't it?

And another thing -- he was coming home from 24's season launch event when he was pulled over. Why is the star of a prime time show drinking himself past the .08% limit at a business event? Kiefer, you're an adult, what are you thinking?

I'm just sayin'.

What Up With 24 Bringing on Janeane Garofalo

Hollywood Reporter:

Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive producer Joel Surnow jokingly describes himself as a "right-wing nut job."

On the Imagine TV/20th Century Fox TV series, Garofalo will play a government agent who is part of the team investigating the crisis befalling Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and company in the upcoming season.

So, what's the deal with packing the show this year with avowed liberal/progressive women? And during a time when a woman (who I don't consider all that liberal/progressive, btw) is going to be running for President.

Remember that this season of 24 will run all during campaign season, all through the primary season.

I think there's something behind all this. Surnow, I don't trust you as far as I could throw your friend Limbaugh.

I wrote previously about the hiring of out lesbian Cherry Jones to play the President previously, and you can read that post at this link.

I've written about Janeane's grooming habits (or lack thereof) at this link.

More Trouble From the 24 Writers' Room

Hollywood Reporter:

The real-time drama starring Kiefer Sutherland that was scheduled to start filming Aug. 27, will now begin shooting Sept. 10 so that the writers can complete enough scripts for the new seasonlong plot.

Production start on 20th Century Fox TV/Imagine TV's "24" originally was pushed from late July-early August to Aug. 27 when the producers' original set-in-Africa story line fell through and they went back to the drawing board.

I'm sure everything will be fine. If not, the producers can handcuff the writers to exposed plumbing in the ceiling above their desks and drip noxious chemicals into their bodily orifices until they finish writing thes episodes. If that doesn't work, there's always waterboarding.