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

Heigl, Izzie and Brain Tumors -- Shonda Rhimes Talks to the Critics

I kinda feel guilty, not too guilty to go to the "Katherine Heigl has a big mouth" well for another post, but guilty because I don't even watch this show. Medical dramas where bad stuff happens to people isn't my idea of a good time, and if I was gonna watch one, it would be a well-made one like ER.

Now, I certainly hadn't heard the brain tumor for Izzie rumors before I wrote that post yesterday about Denny coming back, but now that I have heard those rumors it certainly seems like I was somewhat prescient, doesn't it?

Yesterday at the Television Critics' Association panel with ABC showrunners, Shonda said:

“I found it surprising,” Rhimes said, adding that Heigl asked her to give her character a light load in the second half of the season so that she could do a movie.

“I actually have a really wonderful working relationship with [Heigl] and Izzie is one of my favorite characters,” Rhimes added. “But [Heigl] is really outspoken.”

For me, it's not the outspokenness, it's that she thinks it's appropriate to do her business in a series of public dialogues where this stuff should be done behind closed doors. I mean, imagine if you called your local paper and told them that your company isn't treating you well.

Okay, they wouldn't care. I get that. That's why I think this actually works against Heigl with her fans. She's attempting to solve an employment issue by using the juice she has because she's employed in said position, and most of us don't have that at our disposal.

She comes off somewhat elitist because of that, and that's not good for her future in this business. People, women especially, want to identify with the women they see on screen. Heigl is making that much more difficult to do by placing herself on a higher level than her audience.

Is Denny Duquette Alive? Or Is Izzy Gonna Die (and have Denny meet her at the pearly gates)?

This is compelling info for you Grey's fans from THR.com:

Good news for "Grey's Anatomy" viewers: Fan favorite Denny Duquette, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, is returning to ABC's medical drama.

A rep for the show confirmed Morgan's guest appearance but declined to divulge further details.

So, I figure it's just like that scene at the end of Julianna Margulies' run on ER where she meets Clooney's Dr. Ross at the plane (it was a plane wasn't it?) and they embrace.

Only in heaven.

Because Izzy dies some horrible death that has to do with her opening her mouth one too many times. That would be somewhat fitting.

Sarah Silverman (who's no longer f**king Jimmy Kimmel) Ironically Nominated for F**king Matt Damon

Yes, this got an Emmy nod for best song, and it's up against two song from Flight on the Conchords, a song from a Disney Channel show (HA!) and Jordan Peele's "Fitty" song from Mad TV this season.

But none of them just broke up with the person who was the intended recipient of their nominated song, so they don't get posted and Sarah does.

Sadly, no nom for Sarah for her self-titled Comedy Central show. He got into the final round of voting, but then came of short.

LINK

Controversy? ABC's McPherson on That Damned Ballroom Dancing Show

First of all, they're not stars. Even Adam Carolla, who comes closest to being one isn't quite one.

(But do go out and buy The Hammer on DVD, you'll enjoy it.)

What Stephen McPherson said at the ABC panel during the TCA tour (with thanks to Ausiello at EW, who was there):

9:42 am: McPherson concedes he was disappointed by the most recent cycle of Dancing With the Stars. The cast was "nice and sweet... there wasn't a whole lot going on." He adds that the show would have benefited from a little "more controversy."

Controversy? What they were missing was a member of the LDS Church. Every reality show needs one or more, according to this Newsweek article:

In reality TV terms, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in a sweet spot demographically: still small enough that members get excited to see one of their own in the spotlight, but large enough that when they watch together and vote they can affect results and ratings. Mormons reserve Monday nights for Family Home Evening, and when Marie Osmond competed on the family-friendly "Dancing With the Stars" last year, she benefited from having the voting fall on a Monday each week. In fact, all three Mormon contestants made it to the final four that season.

See, with Marie in the previous cycle, they got that Mormon bump. Didn't have it last time around.

Stephen, you also can't count on contestant's relatives dying each cycle. To do so would be really gruesome.

Controversy? It's people who make their living in the public eye (but not quite stars) learning how to ballroom dance! You want controversy? Cast a couple of regular people from Intervention or maybe both Corys from The Two Corys or even Pam Anderson, though her partner wouldn't be able to dance too close.

To her.

Because of the giant rack.

ABC Has Only One Half Hour (Sam Who?) On Its Fall Schedule

Which, considering the drubbing they took last season with the Caveman show has to be expected. Still, as a guy who loves to laugh, it just sickens me that it's come to this.

(And Ugly Betty is not a comedy.)

Honestly, though, with it's recent success, I thought we'd see an hour of Wipeout on the schedule on Fridays, and it's still Wife Swap and Supernanny, shows that just make me lose my lunch. Yes, I'd rather watch people negotiation big rubber balls than each other's lives. Lives are hard, balls are squishy.

And, once again, Samantha Who? isn't paired with another comedy, it just leads out of that damned celebrity ballroom dancing show. Why you people watch this dreck I'll never know, and if BBC America runs reruns of it again on Monday nights I'll just ... burst?

I thought they brought Scrubs over to fix this situation, yet I don't see that show up on the sked, which is posted at THR.com (link).

J.J. Abrams to TCA Tour Reporters on Lost's End Date, Fringe, and ...

... I wish he would have turned to these people surrounding him in the clip and suggest they back off. Man, I could never be famous, the crowds would freak me out to no end.

(BTW, if you want some paparazzi run over with a car, just make me famous and put them in front of my Ford Ranger, which I will still be driving when I'm famous though I will have it converted to full electric.)

Clip after the jump, but first ... some initial reactions to Fringe from the web.

Walt Belcher at the Tampa Tribune:

The first impression of “Fringe,” the buzz-generating sci-fi thriller coming to Fox this fall, is “it’s good but not knock-your-socks off great.”

Second impression: “Thank God, it’s not as complicated as ‘Lost’.”

Fox screened the pilot for TV critics and The People Who Blog About Television via closed-circuit TV to our rooms. I watched it twice.

There’s an inferior rough cut version that’s available on the Internet and producer J.J. Abrams hates that.

Hey, if J.J. doesn't like that, how was it leaked? Seriously, is he trying to tell us here that he didn't know or didn't act or ask someone to act? Please.

Alan Sepinwall from the Newark Star-Ledger (writing at his own blog):

J.J. and company know what they're doing. It's a slick pilot with interesting characters, a plot that moves and some good action sequences. Noble and Jackson are very strong as genius father and son (I always liked Jackson as Pacey and am glad to see him in a good adult role), and supporting players like Reddick (as Torv's hard-line boss, not much of a stretch from his work on "The Wire") and Brown (as an executive of a cutting-edge science company) do the expected lot with a little, in terms of screen time. J.J. admitted at the session that "Alias" got too incoherent too quickly and promised stronger episodic elements each week, in addition to whatever ongoing story arcs he has planned.

Clip after the jump.

FX, ABC Lead GLAAD Report Findings, Bravo Not Mentioned?

Hibberd at THR:

"Time and again we see that what people watch on TV shapes how they view and treat the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around them," GLAAD president Neil Giuliano said. "ABC and FX are leading the way when it comes to telling our stories, showing other networks that including images of our community can go hand in hand with critical and commercial success."

Yeah, but anything good that FX is doing is immediately tempered by their corporate siblings at the Fox Noise Channel.

Here's the comment I wrote under Hibberd's article, so you don't have to click over:

Not surprised that Newscorp would find a ghetto for their LGBT content, it's FX, and that's fine except other segments of the Newscorp empire make bank on being anti-gay (can you say Hannity?).

No mention of Bravo? But aren't they the gayest network? I thought they were fierce tranny messes over there (or is it all that over-the-top stuff that made them unmentionable?

And I guess it's foolish to include LOGO and Here!, huh.

They're not including Bravo as a "gay" network, are they? Because I think you should have to identify yourself as such to get the props.

Seriously, are they not including Bravo because they consider it a gay network? Isn't that like considering Charlie Crist gay even before he tells you he is? Or before you find him in a chatroom cybercruising what turns out to be Mark Foley under an alias? Or before you open the stall door in the bus stop bathroom?

Because you shouldn't get credit for being a gay network if you don't call yourself such, should you?

Grey's Source Sez: "They Want Izzie Dead!"

Tom O'Neil at his LA Times blog Gold Derby:

Uh-oh! Could we have blood on our cyber-hands soon, Derbyites? Marc Malkin of E! Online reports: "Latest buzz hissing from the set of the ABC hit is that creator Shonda Rhimes may be entertaining the idea of killing off Katherine Heigl's Dr. Isobel 'Izzie' Stevens because of the now infamous remarks Heigl made about the upcoming Emmys.

That's why you don't air your dirty laundry in public. Something this young woman hasn't learned in her many years in show biz (from the time she was a teen).

You know, she did the same thing a few years ago on another show. She was on Roswell and pulled the same crap. The denotes a pattern, and not a good one.

More from Tom's post:

Furious, "a key show insider" told EW.com: "The show bent over backwards to accommodate her film schedule, and then she criticizes the show for lack of material? It's an ungrateful slap in the face to the very writers responsible for her Emmy win in the first place."

Can't really blame that key show insider.

She needs to check herself before she wrecks herself. Isn't her mom still her manager? Can't she muzzle her? Or is this their plan for her to win friends and influence people?

Dale Carnegie wouldn't be impressed.

Maybe They'll Just Call Him "McKidd?" Journeyman Star Commutes to Seattle Grace

Well, he stays in the same general part of the fictitious country that is the United States of Television.

Entertainment Weekly (and my sister's former work buddy Lynette Rice):

Kevin McKidd, the Scottish actor who headlined last season's time-traveling drama Journeyman, is in serious talks to join the cast. He'd play an M.D. who comes to the hospital after a stint in Iraq. It's expected to be a long story arc for McKidd, who also played the soldier Lucius Vorenus in HBO's regrettably short-lived Rome.

Hey, at least it's not Mario Lopez wearing child sized scrubs so that you can see his definition. I mean, I'm all for man candy, but Lopez is getting ridonkulous. If there were cameras and a red carpet there, he'd probably go shirtless to church.

I liked McKidd in Journeyman, I just didn't think the show made much sense.

ABC's Wipeout Wins the Week. Why? Two Words: Big Balls

THR.com:

The premiere of ABC's "Wipeout" was the highest-rated show last week, becoming the network's first series to debut in the weekly top spot since 2004's "Desperate Housewives."

"Wipeout" (10 million viewers, 3.7 rating/12 share in the key adults 18-49 demo) gave the network a foothold on what has become the most competitive night of the summer: The three top shows last week all aired Tuesday.

This show was completely off my radar, and the second I happened upon it Sunday night (as there were no Fox animated show scheduled) my remote fell from my hands.

The only problem I see ahead is the events themselves. I think they might get boring after a while seeing all these contestants working the same obstacles each week.

I just love watching people fall on their faces. Is that wrong? Nah. Well, I'm not leaving banana peels outside of any convents, at least.

After the jump, Big Balls in action.

Sounds hot, huh?