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

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.

Joss, NPH, Fillion Go Live with Dr. Horrible Tomorrow!

Everything you need is right above in this handy dandy li'l widget from Clearspring, that you could also place on your blog or site or Facebook or MySpace page.

And you wanna do that, as Stewie Griffin says, because ... well, oh, just watch the clip after the jump. Stewie will explain it all to you.

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?

Peter Griffin Interviews Cleveland Brown, Star of His Own New Show

Apparently this was posted on YouTube in May (during upfronts) and only about 100,000 + people have seen it thus far, so I'm posting it here because it's a holiday and I have another Doctor Who post following this and I'm trying to break them up with something unrelated.

Not that you really needed to know that.

What am I doing now? Just trying to fashion enough of a post so that I can say something to the effect of "the clip is after the jump" so that you can feel not so cheated and actually wanna click to the clip.

What a quandry! The longer I spend rambling nonsensically through the next couple graphs, the more you'll become more exasperated and remember this moment the next time I try a trick like this, risking your alienation.

So, I guess I better stop this. Clip's after the jump. I guess you already knew that. Good clip, shows you what the characters will look and sound like and it's funny to boot.

American Idol 2009 Audition Dates, Sites, Right Here!!!

It's time again. Yes, again. Note to tone deaf freaks, please show up. The most hateful people this country has are waiting to laugh at you on the teevee (emphasis on the first syllable).

Aw, you know how I feel about the Idol auditions, it's just an excuse for ripping a new hole in people who already have giant chasms of pain inside them.

But they keep showing up, and some of you keep watching. I'm talkin' to you, Janet and Jim.

It's just sad, especially for a kid who used to audition for stuff like me.

Then again, I'm the guy who has to walk into the lobby when I'm at a comedy club and a guy bombs.

Okay, I've said just enough to warrant your clicking after the jump and reading the schedule.

Some Sort of Targeted "Family Hour" Letter Writing Campaign Going On

Hi, gang, happy Saturday.

I'm promoting this comments to a post and adding to it to make my usual point about people and their TVs. Read this:

I am VERY upset that FOX has decided to put HOUSE on at 8 p.m. in the Fall.
That is just rediculous (sic). HOUSE is not a show for teenagers. And I think it will hurt the ratings for sure since many adults who watch it, don't get to sit down until 9 p.m. after the kids are in bed.
I BEG FOX to put HOUSE back on at 9 p.m. EST.

WE LOVE YOU, HUGH!!!

To which, I replied:

Well, Lisa (that was her name - JB), I think maybe you have some power here. Take some interest in your kids on that night and stop them from watching the show.

Unless you are incapable of doing so.

In that case, you shouldn't have kids.

TV is not your babysitter, it's a device that brings entertainment and advertising into your home.

It also has an off switch.

So, second time recently I've had to deal with the crazies that think TV networks should cater directly to their very slim moral code. I had to take issue with a woman who didn't want Swingtown on the air at all. It offended her very limited sensibilities.

To which I always say, "Bite Me."

These are the same people who are always supporting these candidates that are shoving their free market no regulations crap at me. But they don't like the free market when it doesn't work for them.

To which I say, "Bite Me."

BTW, that combination of House and Fringe on Tuesday nights is gonna win that day for Fox.

Wedding Bells for ITV Global and Twentieth Television, Development $$$ For New Projects

So, you've probably figured out by now that I watch a lot of British television. And I love it, but I also know that we aren't sending them our b- and c-level projects (Cavemen, anyone?) and they probably aren't sending us theirs either.

Or if they do, we're using the stuff for Summer runs, like Celebrity Circus (and did you notice how they pulled back on the antics of Pantomime Homo Louie Spence last night? I saw that coming!).

So, I think this is a good thing.

Details from THR.com:

Under the deal, 20th TV and ITV will have access to the other's roster of formats, as well as production facilities. The first projects to come out the venture is British versions of 20th TV's comedy for ABC "Dharma & Greg," and its 2006 Fox crime drama pilot "Southern Comfort," which will be shepherded by ITV Prods., ITV Global Content's domestic production arm. Like 20th TV, ITV Prods. is a supplier to all British networks, not only ITV.

The pact is not exclusive, allowing 20th TV and ITV to also work with other producing partners in both countries. Through its ITV Worldwide division (formerly Granada), ITV Global Content has two new series on U.S. networks' fall schedule: "Eleventh Hour" on CBS, a co-production with CBS Par, and "Sit Down, Shut Up," a co-production with Sony and 20th TV.

What? A British version of Dharma & Greg? Really? I gotta think that Seth MacFarlane is just dying of laughter right now. Why? Click this. Hey, if ITV thinks that's a hit for them, I have a show idea about a older gay male blogger from the states that watches too much television.

Southern Comfort was a 2006 Fox pilot with Madeleine Stowe, Eric Roberts and, get this, Travis Fimmel. Don't remember him? Travis was the blond guy who played Tarzan in the short lived WB series.

Teen Choice on Fox is Miley, But Where Are Fox's Teen Stars?

There are so many reasons why Fox should have a pair of teen sitcoms or a teen drama to match up with Idol in the Winter and Spring, but they don't.

Because Idol doesn't seem to be able to launch other shows, and I'm not counting House because House would have hit no matter what. I don't particularly like it (I like the funnier, British Hugh Laurie) but it's very very well done with a great lead performance, and I like Kal Penn (who just spoke at this year's ACLU conference, btw).

And, if they had a couple of teen stars (and I don't count Thomas Dekker from Sarah Connor, he's really a secondary character on the show) they could get one of them to host this awards show instead of promoting the Disney cash machine.

Also needing product that can be helped by their big unscripted hit? ABC, whose Dancing ... show doesn't seem to be able to usher viewers to a scripted program, either. Their problem is the rest of their schedule doesn't really cater to the oldsters that watch celebrities dance.

They need a new Golden Girls for the new millenium, or something like that.

There's of course another possibility, that putting together a schedule of like-minded programming doesn't work anymore in the age of the remote control, DVR, and too many cable channels (not too many good shows, mind you, just too many channels).

Behind the Fuzzy Door -- THR Live Feed Talks to Seth MacFarlane, Will Stewie Come Out?

Get it? Fuzzy Door Productions is Seth's company. Still, would make a great porn title, wouldn't it?

James Hibberd's THR Live Feed blog and reporter Paul Gough get this out of Seth:

"Most likely," MacFarlane said in response to the Stewie/gay question, "in some way it's going to be worked into the plot of the 'Family Guy' movie if we ever have the time to get it off the ground," MacFarlane said.

For the Fox midseason spin-off, MacFarlane confirmed Cleveland's family will leave Quohog and return to his hometown in Virginia

"It'll be worth it. You'll love the talking bear, believe me," he said.

Stewie of course is only one year old. Still. You gotta remember, these people don't age, they are two-dimensional. and they have four fingers on each hand.

And of course, that talking bear above is not the one on the spinoff, that's Fantasy Rupert. and Fantasy Rupert would never leave Stewie's side, especially now that they can fly to CA and get married.

Which brings something up, btw, I'm having an issue with The Simpsons flashbacks this season. How can they flash back to 1994 when I was watching the show in 1994?

I know, it's a cartoon. I guess Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo don't really fly through space without breathing apparati (apparatuses?) either.

TV Notes From My Facebook Inbox: Torchwood, The Inside

I got two things this morning.

Number one ... from my involvement in the Dollverse page (for the new Fox show Dollhouse):

Dollhouse consulting producer Tim Minear, who also wrote on and ran Angel and Firefly, once wrote a show called The Inside. I don't know how well known The Inside is. Most Mutant Enemy fans I speak to have heard of it, but not seen it. It aired in 2005 on FOX, didn't get a lot of promotion and started airing only three weeks after being given an air date. It was dark, psychological and touched on many of the themes that Dollhouse will probably touch on. The characters were complex and although the show was a procedural on the surface, each case illuminated a different aspect of the main character Rebecca Locke, who was gradually deconstructed over the course of the show's thirteen episode run.

Anyway, point is: it's one of my favorite shows. And it has no DVD release. This pisses me off.

So, myself and Dev have created another site (linked above) to try and stir up some interest and get Fox to release a boxset. More obscure shows have got DVD releases. I'm not after another season or anything unrealistic, just a boxset of the show. So if you have a few moments, check out the site. Not sold on the show? There are some vids on the site that may change your mind. The aim is to get as many people who may be interested aware that the show exists.

You can click on this link for more.

Then there's this, and it's more details (I refuse to use "deets" no matter how many times The Seacrest says it on the air) on the Torchwood series three ripoff miniseries from BBC Wales' Julie Gardner.

She says:

“As you know, plans for a third series have been underway for a long time, and we now have a new producer and a new director in place, as well as brand new scripts all ready to go. It’s the longest and most ambitious story we have ever made, so be prepared for some shocks and surprises! Life at Torchwood is never quiet or easy, and the whole of Captain Jack's world is about to be turned upside down!”

Sure it is, just 8 hours less of it all, huh? I'm so disappointed. Even the DVD set won't match the others on my bookshelf now.