I Am A TV Junkie

This is What You Will Be Watching Tonight: Wilfred, Louie, FX, 10 pm

(Sorry I'm late with this, not for the usual reasons -- not liking it -- but because all the floors in my house are being replaced and I'm ... busy.)

Raising a child is fraught with ... oh, what the hell do I know about it I've not done it, but Louis CK has. Anyway, one morning he's brushing his daughter's teeth and she comes out with this while discussing the split custody parenting situation with him:

"I like mama's better. I like mama's better because she makes better food. And I love her more, so I like  being there more."

Louie says OK, but as she turns her back to walk away he give her the finger. And so would I. And a couple scenes later he starts working on making better food. And so would I.

There are things that happen in tonight's Louie premiere (FX on cable, 10:30 pm) that you will never see on another TV show. Period. And I'm not telling you what those things are because I hate spoiling the viewing experience for you.

What you need to know about the new season of this show is that it's even better than last go-round, it may elicit from you moments of real clarity about your life and relationships, you'll be moved ... and for the most part you'll laugh right through every scene.

Tonight, Louie's sister Gretchen shows up very pregnant and it opens up an entirely new vein for the show creator/writer/director to drain. Family, failed marriage, body issues, trust ... it's like he's reading my journal, if I had one.

Something happens (not telling) that tests Louie in a way that I don't think has happened before, and the sequence is shot and edited masterfully, there's real urgency and compromises with higher powers that happen right in front of you in an instant and you will get so wrapped into it that you'll find your breathing labored and pulse racing.

And the denouement of it all will slay you, just cut you into pieces, into happy funny laughing pieces.

BTW, great performance by Yul Vazquez, who you'll remember as Bob, one of the two intimidating gays from Seinfeld (think AIDS Walk and armoire ... yeah, that guy). The whole sequence hangs on his work here and it's perfect.

This is just the first of four outstanding episodes that I got from FX (thank you Kristy). The rest are actually even better than this one. With these four half hours Louis CK cements the fact that he is clearly among the best in his field as a writer and director.

Years from now when Louis CK is among the most respected auteurs in film these shows with be held up as some of the best television produced in this era.

My comments on Louie's season two lead-in, Wilfred starring Elijah Wood and Jason Gann, after the jump.

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 -- Adweek's Alan Frutkin On FX's Wilfred Pilot (Loves It) & Jason Gann and Elijah Wood

The most important thing we glean from the video is that the show goes into production in March for a Summer debut where it will be paired with the brilliant Louis C.K. series Louie.

Jason Gann and Elijah Wood also talk to Frutkin about the show's development and their characters. More new info on the show, even before the Australian TV version there was a short film that apparently did pretty well at Sundance.

Can't wait for this. I'll keep you in the loop until premiere day.

Hot Pilot -- Elijah Wood Stars in the FX Comedy Wilfred

I. LOVE. THIS. SHOW.

Okay, so it's a show about a guy who talks to a dog, a dog that steals the neighbors' marijuana plants and can make a bong out of a Gatorade bottle. That's my dream life.

Or maybe Ryan (Wood) is the only one who can hear him. Maybe Ryan is the only person who sees Wilfred as a guy in a dog suit who looks like Jason Gann, one of the Australian co-creators (with Adam Zwar) of the show.

Or, maybe Ryan is hallucinating all of this. After all he took all the anti-anxiety meds, the whole bottle, that his sister prescribed for him instead of showing up for his first day of work as a contracts administrator in the hospital sis works in. Maybe this dog next door, Wilfred, who lives with the lovely Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann), is just a dog.

In any event, we'll have thirteen half-hours this Summer to try to figure it out for ourselves.

I watched the Australian version of this show last year on IFC and Sundance, and I think it might work even better here. There's something about Gann being the only person with an accent that makes his interaction with Wood even more compelling. Gann's also much taller than Elijah and that's always good for visual humor. And maybe, though it might just be his voice juxtaposed with all the American accents, Wilfred seems even more subversive now.

Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl) appears as the neighborhood's resident weed-growing, Harley riding nuisance, who by the end of the pilot has a target for his rage and it's not the dog. Of course it's not the dog, why would a dog break a window and steal two huge pot plants? How would he, how could he?

Wilfred premieres this Summer on FX in a hour block of comedy that will include the second season of Louie. I'll keep you in the loop until then with previews as they come.

Lights Out on FX: Very Well Done, Never Watching It Again

Why? Because watching television should not be this painful.

I had the screener for this but after watching the first episode and a few minutes of the second (which I realize you haven't seen and I'm gonna try not to spoil) I knew my headline would read something like this. I didn't want to dissuade sampling, though, so I didn't post till today.

There is almost nothing wrong with the execution of this idea ... it's shot well and solidly written with some great performances, most notably from lead Holt McCallany as a former heavyweight champion facing much bigger challenges.

My problem with the show is that the very likeable lead character in Lights Out is heading toward, well, big big major amounts of shit.

He's a guy who walked away from a fight career because his wife feared for his life, but he was particularly ready to go. There's unfinished business between him and everyone; the guy who took his title, his manager dad (Stacy Keach) who had him pull back in the final round of his last fight and not go for the knockout which cost him the title, his brother who he's put through business school and who has dropped the ball, the wife who's gone on to fulfill her dreams in medical school and leaving him behind.

He's a man who's peaked rather early in his life and now finds himself emasculated to some extent, he's experiencing mental deficits from getting hit in the ring, will more than likely descend into dementia in the next couple years, he's got no money, his support system is failing him and his brother has pushed him into a very bad decision that will result in his downfall, which for me started about ten minutes into the second episode when the cops come a-callin'.

(And, btw, that bad decision and what happens during how that plays out? Would never happen in real life. Famous people, like a former boxing champ, know that they can't work as muscle for a bookie because they are instantly recognizable. It's actually the only hole in the pilot script, though it's an awfully big one.)

I just don't want to see this happen to someone I like. I don't want to spend 13 hours in the next 13 weeks living this with this very well-meaning guy and the what's about to happen to him. At the end of the day one has to decide what kind of television one wants to watch between dinner and sleep.

The producers of this show have done a great job. For a lot of people this show will be very compelling. Ultimately, however, I am choosing to spend my leisure time doing something less painful.

Finally, let me say that the producers did an excellent job casting the guy who plays Showtime boxing analyst Steve Farhood. The guy looked and sounded just like him. Damn, where'd they find that guy?

Very well done show. I'll pass. Respectfully, though.

From NPR, Danny DeVito on Season Six of It's Always Sunny ... & Nipple Tweaking

I had to post this for no other reason than it brings up the issue of Glenn Howerton and nipples once again. Glenn seems to be way into nipples ... his own, Danny's, maybe Sly Stallone's, too.

Danny seems to love hanging with the "kids." Can't blame him, I completely get it. I would hang with this crew, too.

And nipple play is not a problem.

Listen to Danny and David Green from NPR All Things Considered by clicking this.

Starts up again Thursday night at 10 on FX, I would post another preview clip but I've posted them all.

Video -- It's Always Sunny ... Season Premiere: Wedding Bells? McPoyles? Chaos? Sure!

So, who's gettin' married? I'm not gonna tell you, you gotta watch. Don't you want it to be the McPoyles and ... well, maybe they could all marry each other in some weird polyester robe wearing internet minister kind of ceremony.

It's not the McPoyles, though they ARE back this season, just not yet. You gotta wait until Halloween. I love the McPoyles.

(Hey, and where's the offbeat cable series for Jimmi Simpson who plays Liam McPoyle, anyway?)

I don't really know how to write about this show. These people; Mac, Dennis, his sister Sweet Dee, their dad (?!?) Frank and Charlie; they're horrible people. They learn nothing. They lead self-serving lives of hedonistic chaos.

They also crack me the fuck up.

But let's make it clear, there are not TV characters that are attractive in that "I betcha I would enjoy being Chandler Bing's friend" way. They lie and scheme and break the law and burn things down and hunt human beings and ... I just flashed on the fact that this series is chock full of revenge sex, lotsa revenge sex happens ... but I digress.

I don't quite know how they do it, but they do the most horrible things to each other and the people of Philadelphia, really irresponsibly horrible terrible -- you get me when I say they're just the worst? -- and you kinda wanna see what they'll do next.

It's why I watch two hours of the show every Monday night this past Summer and why I've been dying for the show to come back.

And it will, September 16 at 10 on FX.

All kinds of preview clips in a widgety thing from Hulu after the jumperoo.

Video -- Tonight on Louie a Chance to Go to Heaven (but no, not really)

"You gotta have faith." Right?

Click here for a preview clip. That's the great veteran NYC actor Tom Noonan in the image above and in the preview.

Leave it to Louis C.K. to begin his episode of religion with a conversation in and around a glory hole in a gas station bathroom.

Three episodes left and I can't imagine the two after this one getting any more provocative than this one, which I saw thanks to the fine people at FX, who I thank.

If you have ever had a crisis of faith, or if you aren't a person of faith, or even if you just tangentially have a connection to being told to believe in something that seems completely outrageous on its face, you gotta see this episode. 

And I'm not entirely sure, but I think there's a pretty good chance that William Donahue from the Catholic League will scream himself red in the face afterward. Or at least he would if he didn't have so many pals at another Newscorp unit, that collection of schemers and scammers who work at the Fox Noise Channel.

(I think some Donahue-based controversy would be great for the show, especially with the two-episode season finale running next Tuesday night September 7.)

And I'll just say this as I close ... this half hour of television is the most honest portrayal I've ever seen of a parent and child discussing religion, and that final scene between young Louie and his mom may be the best single scene in the series.

At least for this fallen Catholic it was.

Video -- Preview Tonight's Louie, Read My Expletive-Filled Tirade on Previous Episode

That's Stephen Root (NewsRadio, all kinds of great films like Office Space, True Blood S1, King of the Hill, etc.) as Louie's surprisingly touchy-feely dentist. Watch the preview by clicking this.

Then click over the jump for my seriously expletive-filled rant at Louis C.K. over last week's episode. That's right, I let him have it.

Go ahead, you know you're curious.

Video -- Your Fave TV Stars Review Movies on Twitter: Glenn Howerton/The Expendables

Today's film critic is Glenn Howerton who plays "the devastatingly handsome" Dennis Reynolds on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which returns for it's sixth season on FX on September 16.

Compiled from his tweets, check all of them out at this link:

Expendables. Amazing body mass index. So much steroid use. So hard to watch those men try and walk much less run. Nips were hard as glass none the less. Stallone appears to be wearing a mask of his own face over his face.

And that was the Your Fave TV Stars Review Movies on Twitter post for today. There will be one tomorrow if I find one. Or maybe the next day. Or, send me tweets from your fave TV stars when they review movies on Twitter.

And to thank Glenn for playing our game (though he didn't even know he was), we have a few It's Always Sunny ... season six behind the scenes clips for you, and they're in a Hulu widget after the jumperoo.

I have to think this year the show is going to explode, especially after it's Summer vacay on Comedy Central. Note to producers ... this is a great way to expose your show to new fans, and we love getting four episodes in a row. It gives us a great chance to catch up and to get to know the characters.

Video -- And Tonight on FX's Louie ...

You know what would be really funny and very meta? If this week's episode of Louie was about a blogger who kept writing about a stand up comedian's new cable series even though he had already used every press image made available to him and had to resort to pulling screengrabs off a YouTube clip to satisfy his need to illustrate his posts appropriately.

Okay, not funny. Still meta, not funny.

First, some business, though (press release):

FX has ordered another season of its newest critically acclaimed comedy series Louie, starring actor/comedian Louis C.K., picking up a 13-episode second season, today announced John Landgraf, President and General Manager of FX Networks.  
 
Seven (five as this is posted - ed.) all new episodes of Louie remain in season one, airing Tuesdays at 11 PM ET/PT, with the two final episodes airing back-to-back on September 7 at 11:00 PM and 11:30 PM behind the season three premier of Sons of Anarchy at 10:00 PM.

“Louis has made a truly original series – a comedy unlike anything on television, but perfect for his unique voice,” said Landgraf.  “We are very happy with the show's performance and critical acclaim, and are delighted to move forward with a second season.  With the pick up of Louie, FX has renewed all three new original comedies that the channel debuted over the last year.”

And somehow, despite the good news, you can imagine Louis C.K. finds a reason to be disturbed by it. Right?

From the show site we find out that tonight's ep concerns itself with Louis remembering his sexual education. The clip has nothing to do with said story, but watch it by clicking here. Don't watch the clip if you're an adult still concerned with getting beat up by bullies, it'll push your buttons.

No, strike that. Watch the clip, especially if you fall into that category. I think Louie wants you to be disturbed by this. Or is it just me?

Episodes you've missed are at Hulu (US only, sorry my overseas friends).

Full Episode Video (all I can find): Louis C.K. Wants You to Know His Mom Doesn't Suck

He tweeted today:

folks plz know as you watch LOUIE tonight that the mom character is NOT my mother< who is the best. its fiction. I love my mom a LOT.

Did someone get a call from Mommy? I dunno, but I do know that Louie's TV mom hates the salad, complains about not just Louie's weight but the extra pounds on his friends and I'm sure there's more.

I would love to tell you who plays her (image right) but someone's not updating the show's IMDb page and I don't know this very prolific character actress' name, though I've seen her in lots of shows and films. 

(UPDATE: It's Mary Louise Wilson and man was that some storyline for Louie's mom, huh? More on her lesbianic discovery and my Elisabeth Hasselbeck-related comments tomorrow.)

You can check out the look of horror on guest star Lake Bell's face (I think it's Lake Bell, she went by so fast) in the preview clip at this link.

Thought you'd be interested in this taste of Time Magazine TV writer James Poniewozik's recent post on the show:

Louis C.K.'s new FX comedy, Louie, debuted while I was on vacation at the end of the June, so I wrote about it in a pre-holiday blog post the week before. If it got lost in the shuffle, let me remedy that by saying: Louie continues to be one of the best new series of the year, and if you haven't been watching, I urge you to catch up.

(snip)

The show is not always laff-a-minute hysterical (though the standup is consistently funny), but—on my theory that the best sitcoms are not always those with the most jokes—at its best moments it's better than hysterical. And maybe because the episodes are (all or mostly) both written and directed by Louis C.K., there's a kind of first-person, artisanal-comedy feel to the show that gives us a strong distillation of the comic's personality and worldview. [One complaint, which is less about the show than its airing: its unusual story structure doesn't lend itself well to typical sitcom commercial breaks. Having originally watched the show on screeners, it seems arbitrarily broken up on air. It'll play better on DVD.]

After the jump, I have done you a solid and created a player that holds all the episodes currently available on Hulu. 

Episode four, which was held up by tech issues, is now live (for those of you keeping a scorecard).

And it's after the jumperoo. Catch up on eps before tonight at 11 on FX.

Oh, one more tweet from Louis ... this one is not for the weak or easily offended, but it comes with good news from FX:

Folks, FX has picked up LOUIE for a second season. 13 more eps. Holy hitlers mothers tits. This is very good news.

Wow, Hitler's mom must've been hot. Did she do Maxim?

NPR Audio -- Louie Creator Louis C.K. on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

Listen to it by clicking right here. If you haven't noticed the reviews for Louie have been consistently off the charts amazing. Somehow, though, I imagine Louis will find a way to be disturbed by that, dontcha think?

Terry Gross is one of the nation's outstanding interviewers out of WHYY is Philly if you aren't familiar.

I'm just very happy for him and thrilled the the development people at FX gave him enough leeway to do his own show.

Per Hulu's notice today at this page, the first two episodes will be up tomorrow. They apologize for the delay. You can watch a web exclusive clip from the Ricky Gervais episode last Friday by clicking this link.

I wish I had a new episode preview for you. I don't. Sorry. Fridays at 11 on FX, every cool kid on earth will be watching so you'd better, you know.

Louie Web Exclusive Video -- Louis C.K.'s Technique For Getting His Tweets Read

Hey, sorry that the Hulu embeds below are US only, though I know there are ways that people can get around that (not that I would encourage that, it would be ... wrong).

Read this last two words in this tweet from Louis to understand how he gets readers. Not a bad idea, though it would kill me, absolutely kill me, to do the same.

(I think he's being ironic. And not that Alanis kind of irony that's not really irony at all.)

Speaking of which, those two full episodes of Louie that ran on premiere night will be on Hulu, just not quite yet. Seems the Hulu folk are taking the three-day holiday weekend. They should be there tomorrow, I believe.

In the meantime, check out these web exclusives, at this link featuring Z Rock's Jay Oakerson and this link for some standup material.

And watch it Fridays at 11 eastern on FX.

Video -- Elijah Wood Comes to FX in Pilot for US Version of Australian "Dog-Com" Wilfred

You see, this is why I tell you guys to set up your DVRs to record these obscure shows on cable channels from overseas. If you had, you would have (like I do right now) four episodes of series one of Wilfred from Australia's SBS network waiting for your eyes.

I first wrote about the show back in April at this link. 

Honestly I was a bit suprised to hear that Wood (he of the almost disturbing blue eyes, image right) was hooking up with a basic cable channel to do a series but it seems FX is getting after the comedy (like its Louie premiere this week) in a big way. His presence should, if it goes to series, ensure a really nice sampling from the cable audience.

Hollywood Reporter:

"Wilfred" marks Wood's first starring role in series television. The "Lord of the Rings" star will play the character Ryan; Gann, who co-created and starred in the Aussie series, will play the title character.

David Zuckerman ("Family Guy," "American Dad," "King of the Hill") wrote the adapted pilot script and serves as executive producer. He described "Wilfred" as a comedy "about a guy (Wood), the girl next door and a mixed-breed dog, Wilfred, who is part Labrador Retriever and part Russell Crowe on a bender."

The pilot will be directed by Randall Einhorn ("The Office," "Parks & Recreation"), and lensing is scheduled to begin this summer.

Gann is Jason Gann, the co-creator of the series and the guy who will again play Wilfred, this time probably without the Aussie accent, though in watching the original it wasn't a bother for me.

If this goes to series, FX will have four comedies in its stable that really work for me, including the animated Archer, Louie and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia which I predict will return to big numbers now that episodes are running every Monday night on Comedy Central.

Watch some of the original (it airs on IFC here, do try to check it out on air if you can) by clicking this link.

FX's Louie Tonight at 10 11 Eastern (oops!) -- Excerpts from Louis C.K.'s Brain

Okay, I don't have actual biopsies of Louis C.K.'s gray matter (think of the eBay potential) but I have stuff that evidently started in his brain and traveled south, to the mouth, and then out of it during a recent conference call with reporters and bloggers.

And here's some of that (links and clips dropped in where I think appropriate).

About writing all the episodes himself:

Writers’ rooms, they kind of gravitate towards a certain place.  There’s a need to perfect things in a writers’ room, and that can take a lot of fun out of a show sometimes.  It’s a struggle.  It depends on your personality.  Some people love working with a writing staff.  I had a great writing staff on Lucky Louie , but it sometimes felt like Congress or something.  It’s like if you’re the president and you have the ability to just fire Congress, life would get kind of fun all of a sudden.

I remember when I got the green light to do this show, and my daughter was asking me about it.  She was about seven at the time, and asked me, I don’t know why, she said, “Are you going to have writers on the show or are you going to write it all yourself?”  And I said, “I think I might write them all myself.”  And she said, “I think that would be easier because you don’t have to explain to all those people what you want to do.  You can just do it.”  And she was right.  Seven years old, she was very savvy about production.

So it does really make it easier.  And again, like I said before, I can write stuff incomplete and start working on it.  I don’t have to prove it to anybody.  I like doing it that way.  The writing process for me is different according to what I’m writing.  With this show, I usually start with a moment or a scene or a feeling that’s funny to me, like these two people having a conversation.  I want to see that.  So I’ll write out that conversation that I want to see, or that moment, and sometimes it will just sort of lead into a story.  Sometimes I’ll get interested in the voices I’m writing for and wonder what happens to them and then go find out, or the situation I’m writing about.  Other times I have the conversation on paper and it stops being interesting, so I go, “That’s it.  That’s done.”  So we shoot that as a one off instead of a whole episode, or just one segment instead of a more chronological story. 

About the content and language limits of a basic cable venture:

It’s kind of fun to play inside of limits sometimes.  I feel like there’s nothing I can’t say on stage except for the certain words that they don’t like to hear, because they don’t have an FCC thing, it’s just Standards and Practices, which is them thinking about their advertisers and what they want to present as their standards.  You can’t say …, you can’t say …, you can’t say retarded, although since I said that on the Jon Stewart show they came back and said, “Well, not necessarily you can’t.”  So I don’t know where the line is with that one.  

There’s a few buzz words.  And then there’s sort of a general note about if you’re going to describe sexual moments, she calls it tonnage.  That’s the word, there’s tonnage.  Like when I did the thing with Bobby Cannavale before we went on the air of him describing the gay porn that I would have to make to make money, I showed that to her and I said, “What, of this, would you have approved?” just as an exercise.  And she said, “There’s nothing in there that, on its own, couldn’t have gone through, but it’s a tonnage thing.  I wouldn’t have let you do this whole scene.”  She said, “The only thing I might not be okay with is two guys … in your mouth and laughing.”  And I said, “Really?  … in the mouth, that’s out?”  And she said, “Well, it depends on the context.”  I said, “What if I said something about … in Hitler’s mouth?”  She said, “Maybe.  We haven’t had anybody on this network say … in the mouth, but maybe you’ll find that.”  So there’s a feeling like I could get to whatever I want; and obviously, I don’t have some hell-bent need to say awful things on FX, but I like to know where my limits are.  

They have surprised me with what they’ve let through.  Sure.  There’s been a few things where I’ve been like, when Ricky Gervais said your (cock) looks like a dog was sucking it off, and then he started chewing it because he thought it was a bloody tongue filled shoe, as I was standing there watching him say that I thought, “That’s never going to be on television.”  It’s on television.  So who knew?  I didn’t even get a peep from them from that. 

More after the jump.

Video -- Louis C.K.'s New FX Network Comedy is Almost Too Good For TV

I can't believe this show is gonna make air on American television, even on cable. I didn't think a US television exec had the balls.

John Landgraf had the balls. He said this to GQ about Louis C.K.'s new show, Louie:

I'm extremely bullish about Louie, I think it's one of the most original and funny shows I've seen in years. The broadcast networks saw his life story—a divorced dad raising kids—as ripe fodder for a traditional sitcom; I think they offered him more money to write the script than we gave him to produce the pilot. We told him we didn't need a traditional show, and to just use his stand-up as a base, tell non-linear stories, tell anecdotes, cast the people you want—or use the real people, we don't care! He's a one-man band. He can write, direct and star in it. We didn't really supervise it much past that.

Great, now I don't have to say all those things, which I agree with after watching the first four episodes of the show that will premiere on June 29.

More after the jump.

Dear @ComedyCentral, How About the First 3 Episodes of It's Always Sunny ...?

I don't know if any of you noticed, but what I thought was gonna be It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia from the beginning on Comedy Central was ... not.

They started with the fourth episode, Charlie Has Cancer. Oh, btw, Charlie didn't really have cancer.

So,. Comedy Central, what up cable network? Music rights issues? Or did you not wanna start with an episode called The Gang Gets Racist?

(Here's a clip from the episode via Hulu, it seems perfectly watchable.)

Or ... did you wanna get to the Danny DeVito episodes faster? (Danny shows up at the beginning of the eighth episode which is the season two premiere, Charlie Gets Crippled?

I may have to run out and buy a DVD, or at least find a discounted previously viewed one on the fly. I was hoping this Comedy Central run would fill in all the gaps I have with the show. I'll have to be extra vigilant.

My fave from the four they showed was the one with my college roommmate Dave's nephew Michael Rosenbaum, called Gun Fever. Clip at this link.

More this Monday night at 9 eastern. And, new eps upcoming on FX.

Full Episode Video -- Tonight, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia From the Beginning on Comedy Central

And, new episodes of the show on FX (the show's sixth season) start again ... well, eventually. Can't find a return date for them there but I know the show is renewed through season seven.

If you've never tasted any of It's Always Sunny ... here's some, an episode from season five called The World Series Defense which I just loved.

I'm sure there are many ways to describe this show, but I think mine is pretty cogent, it's The Three Stooges plus sex plus drugs plus Danny DeVito, though you won't see DeVito in the earliest episodes to run tonight on Comedy Central. He wasn't added till a bit later.

As my OCD feeds on being able to watch stuff from the beginning, I'm kvelling about having four eps each Monday night of this show to consume, especially considering all my Monday shows will now be in repeats. 

And, I'll admit to a little bit of a crush thing on Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton (above left). Especially in these costumes from a season five episode called The Nightman Cometh which you also need to see and isn't posted at Hulu, unfortunately.

More for you on the show at this TV.com link.

The Annual Ritual -- Shows On the Bubble and the People Who Love Them

It's that time of year. TV fans lay in their beds at night imagining the big bad network executive wielding his axe, spying that fan's favorite show from a distance, approaching, keenly aware of the environment that surrounds.

Stalking, peering through overnights and production cost projections. Rooting through contracts, commitments, story arcs looking for something, anything to wave at the Gods and Goddesses of Television hoping for a sign of potential profitability, the economic thumbs up, if you will.

E!'s Kristin is overseeing a Save One Show campaign that has one of my favorites, Better Off Ted, leading shows in the running. It would be a lovely thing if Ted were to return, there's already plenty of other web resources for saving BOT, too, including SaveBetterOffTed.com to which I've previously linked.

(I would love that to happen, but I'm not so sure it can. I would love to be horribly wrong, though.)

At Wondercon this past weekend, Chuck fanatics saw tonight's episode (8 pm eastern, NBC, here's the preview clip) and Zach Levi told the crowd and TVByTheNumbers.com proprietor Robert Seidman the best way to save that show is to watch it live and not on your DVR.

The Los Angeles Times is talking about the prospect of Damages going the Friday Night Lights route with a first run exclusive to DirecTV.

Is there a show you wanna save? Need help? I might be interested.

Video -- It's a Justified Hit for FX, and Why Not? (Great Script, Great Cast, Great Execution)

So Fox has a new lawman in town, despite his show not being called Lawman (it's original title).

And I guess it's a good thing they renamed it, particularly for me. I guess I wasn't the only person who just assumed a show called Lawman with a lead character in a white cowboy hat would be set in the Old West.

(Though I wasn't really quite sure how old the old in Old West was in my head ... I'm still not sure.)

This is all modern-day US Marshall business, it's just the lead character that's a throwback. Tim Olyphant is great, surrounded with a solid cast including Natalie Zea, who you know I adore from Dirty Sexy Money and Hung (waiting for her to have more to do), Nick Searcy and particularly Water Goggins.

Yeah, I get why everyone raves about the guy now, I just never managed to get into The Shield.

Did you miss it? It reruns on Friday and Sunday nights this week and I'd betcha you can catch it by cruising your on demand menus.

Great ratings, best premiere since The Shield, in fact. More at Multichannel News (LINK).

Another cable drama that will swipe eyes from broadcast TV, though. And, the show will have an easier ride at FX than it would at any of the nets, including shorter season run, less bother from censors and an easier time getting nontraditional storytelling accomplished.

What all this tells me is that the standards and practices of the broadcast networks are not keeping up with the interest of the public in watching shows that actually speak to our current national condition.

What does it tell you? Comment below.

Annotated With Clips -- FX Animated Comedy Archer Debuts Thursday at 10

You know how I'm always looking for more Carl from the Mini-Mart on Family Guy? You don't?

Oh.

You remember the Adult Swim cartoon Home Movies? The coach character?

Oh, oh, you'll remember how I gushed over Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil  ... ?!? Do you just look at the pictures here?

You know the guy who voiced Ben, the son, on Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist?

(Argh, you're hopeless, it's like I'm writing this for ... oh ... I'm writing it for myself. Well, that's a revelation, maybe even a breakthrough.)

Jon Benjamin, funny funny guy, does a lot of animation work ... really funny as Carl, elevates anything and everything he gets in a script, is the lead voice in a new FX series called Archer from Adult Swim alum Adam Reed (Sealab 2021 ) which got a sneak preview back in September.

The response to that was so big their run got extended. I've seen the first six of them. I've seen the first six of them about five times. 

Their press release:

FX will debut its new animated comedy series Archer on Thursday, January 14 at 10PM E/P. Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy set at the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a spy agency where espionage and global crises are merely opportunities for its highly trained employees to confuse, undermine, betray and royally screw each other. The series features the voices of H. Jon Benjamin as suave master spy Sterling Archer, whose less-than-masculine code name is "Duchess; Jessica Walter as his domineering mother and boss, Malory; Aisha Tyler as his ex-girlfriend, Agent Lana Kane; George Coe as his aging-but-loyal butler, Woodhouse; Chris Parnell as ISIS comptroller and Lana's new love interest, Cyril Figgis; and Judy Greer as Malory's lovesick secretary, Cheryl/Carol.

More in the next couple days.

Check out Jon's co-star Aisha Tyler visit the animation studio at this Hulu link. See a clip from the Thursday premiere at this one.

Click over to the show's Hulu page for more, uh, stuff to watch.

Adam Reed talks about the show at Hulu and you can watch that at this link.

Show site at this link. You might as well just bookmark all those links because you're gonna really enjoy this show.

Time Warner Cable May Drop ALL Fox Channels -- At Odds Over Carriage Fees

In which case you'll have to watch your favorite Fox shows on Hulu, which comes into my home via ... Time Warner Cable's broadband service, and with many less commercials.

And then that may end because Hulu eventually plans to put up a paywall, and then I'll use "other methods" to see those shows, methods that involve the internet connection I have from ... Time Warner Cable ... so it all comes around again.

And again.

And again.

Reuters has the story from the Fox perspective today that was picked up by their partners at The Hollywood Reporter:

Fox said it has for the past nine months attempted to "negotiate in good faith" with Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, which serves some 14 million customers, and said those talks are ongoing.

But there is a "very likely possibility that Time Warner Cable may choose to no longer carry Fox Broadcasting, Fox Cable and Fox regional sports programming," Fox said.

Time Warner Cable confirmed that the talks are ongoing but said Fox's current demands "are unreasonable and excessive, especially in this economic climate."

"We hope Fox won't punish our customers by taking their programming away while we try to reach an agreement," said spokeswoman Maureen Huff.

(Ms. Huff is the TWC exec I spoke to regarding the BBC America in HD situation back in July before the Torchwood miniseries Children of Earth.)

TWC has opened a website called Roll Over Or Get Tough (www.RollOverOrGetTough.com) that lays out the issues this way:

These days, every dollar counts. And for most families, cable TV provides the best entertainment value for the money.

But some of our contracts with program providers are up at the end of this year – and they’ve demanded as much as 300% more for their shows. Even worse, they’re threatening to pull the plug if we don’t pay their price.

In today’s economy, a 300% price increase is excessive. And withholding popular programming is unfair to America’s families – especially over the upcoming holidays.

Don’t let these TV networks hold your TV hostage. Together, we just might make a difference in what America pays for TV.

They don't mention Fox by name.

More after the jump, important stuff you need to know.

Video -- FX Animated Comedy from Frisky Dingo's Adam Reed stars Jon Benjamin

It's called Archer, and I had a clip, but FX pulled it back just now so I can't post it. Hibberd still has it live, I'm guessing, he gets back to work tomorrow, so click over here for it.

I've been catching up on the first and only season of Frisky Dingo, the Adult Swim series that's ostensibly about this guy Killface that erects something called the Annihilatrix and plans to push the Earth out of orbit, destroying life as we know it and the millionaire playboy Xander Crews whose as his secret identity, Awesome X, battles to save the world.

Check out a clip from Frisky Dingo, in the absence of anything else, after the jump.

I say ostensibly because the show worked as an outstanding parody of everything from cable news to celebrity culture to global warming to modern relationships. Great stuff from Reed and partner Matt Thompson.

Two season came and went and the production company (70/30 Productions) behind it went belly up in January. Which is a shame. DVD link? Sure. Click below, buy, and help feed my kids.

         

Okay, so I have no kids. Sue me! Click and buy it anyway.

This new show from Reed has Jon Benjamin starring as Archer, and the supporting cast is stellar -- Judy Greer (secretary), Jessica Walter (Archer's mom), Chris Parnell and Aisha Tyler (girlfriend). Benjamin, of course, has been selling his voice to cartoon characters for years, from Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (running in the morning on Comedy Central these days) to Family Guy, where he plays Carl, my favorite convenience store guy in all of 'toonland (yes, even more than Apu, sorry Apu).

So, it's ostensibly about the spy game but more than likely about everything and anything from which they can squeeze a laugh.

FX will be pairing the show with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which seems to only get more popular with age. In fact, if the people at FX would do me a solid and send me some DVDs I might even catch up with it ahead of the fifth season premiere.

Adam Reed = Very funny. I will make sure to get back to you with premiere dates and maybe even a clip, someday.

Frisky Dingo Ode to Killface clip after the jump.

True Blood: Emmy Winner Zeljko Ivanek Guests as Vampire Judge, Upcoming as Heroes' "Hunter"

 

When I was in high school Zeljko Ivanek was a young actor working a lot on Broadway. And he had a foreign name. And I was reading those theatre listings in the NY Times like they were the Rosetta Stone.

So I always remember Zeljko Ivanek.

But I hadn't seen him in years until he showed up in Damages as Ray Fiske, the creepy consigliere to Ted Danson's even creepier Arthur Frobisher, he of the hookers and blow in the back seat of the limo crowd. And Ivanek beat Danson for the Emmy for supporting actor in a drama.

Even creepier? Last night on True Blood as the vampire judge that rules on Bill Compton's murder of a fellow vampire to save Sookie Stackhouse.

(You can watch the whole episode right now at HBO if you like. Here's the link.)

It's also been announced that Ivanek will recur in a few episodes of Heroes after the holidays as The Hunter. Since the chapter in the (failing) saga is being called Fugitives, a guy called The Hunter must be a big part of the action, don't you think?

Well, I guess we should see about whether or not the show will survive long enough to show us this chapter. Because if I'm an NBC honcho and I'm seeing the cheapie shows that are rating higher than Heroes, I'm starting to look around for a lower cost option.

Maybe an hour of grass growing? Paint drying?

Watch Ivanek work with Stephen Moyer in a clip from the tribunal scene after the jump. Very creepy. Somewhat suitable for work (with the volume down) but not for the kiddies.

It's after the jump.

Where's My Pre-Emmy Post? Right Here, But Does It Matter?

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Why? Because the Emmys are shit.

Okay, they're fun to watch, and I will (despite the error of a reality host-hosted show) but the categories are all screwed up and the people who decide who wins (with the exception of you, Jennifer) are old crotchety dustballs that still gasp when they read or hear the word shit.

Which would mean they've already gasped twice at this post.

Creative Arts awards were already given. Click this for more.

I will say this, though, David Bianculli at Broadcasting & Cable hits it on the head with this:

Emmy and Mad Men could be perfect bedfellows. Mad Men is up for the top prize of Best Drama Series, in a fun, competitive field against, among others, ratings-winning stalwarts such as ABC's Lost and Fox's House, and FX's Damages and Showtime's dark and compelling Dexter. And if it wins, few faces would soak in the spotlight quite like Jon Hamm, who's up for a Best Actor in a Drama Series Emmy as the series' centerpiece, Don Draper.

A win by Mad Men or Hamm would help the Emmys do one of the things it does best: help break new shows on the verge of bigger ratings. Granted, with basic cable fare dominating the nominations as never before, there are fewer big-rated series to bring in the larger rooting crowd. But the competition between hot and more established choices will be one of many good storylines that could bring viewers to the night. And the Emmys could use all the help it can get.

Thing is, I don't really see it happening this year, despite how much fun it would be. Well, maybe Jon Hamm, but the show? I love the show, but I certainly look more forward to Dexter than Mad Men. Furthermore, I would vote for Michael C. Hall over Hamm.

Sorry Deb and Roberta, but it's true.

And it would be great to see the surging Showtime win some bling.

BTW, I watched the Dexter third season premiere last night and it is ... well, WOW! Jimmy Smits? Amazing! The set up for this season? Ripe with possibilities. And Rita? Horny and hungry. Think about that, Rita is horny and hungry.

I'll have more tomorrow about Dex. In the meantime, watch the Emmys, have a great time, but don't think that it actually celebrates the best in television.

It tries to, if that makes you feel any better.

It would also be a big surprise, to everyone but me, if Damages took away the Best Drama statue.

Hell, maybe I'll write about the comedy category before the weekend. It is the big event of the week.

Christian Biker Gang Reality Series on A&E May Get Pulled After Arrests for Attempted Murder

Christian bikers charged with attempted murder? Now I've heard it all.

Daily Pilot:

Brass knuckles, custom knives and handguns and rifles with scopes were among the hundreds of items police had on display when they released the names of the dozen men arrested during last week’s raids. Costa Mesa and Newport Beach SWAT teams raided two Costa Mesa homes Aug. 6 and arrested John Lloyd, 41, Brian Heslington, 35 and Scott Guinn, 23. Guinn and Heslington were booked on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance. Lloyd was booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm as a gang member.

Police say the men, as part of the Hells Angels, were part of a huge brawl at Blackie’s By The Sea with members of the Set Free Soldiers, a biker group calling itself a Christian ministry. The brawl left two Hells Angels members stabbed and one member of the Set Free Soldiers with a head injury after a billiard ball was smashed into the back of his head. Many of those arrested appeared in court Friday and have postponed their arraignments to a later date.

Victoria Times Colonist:

A&E prides itself on its gritty, street-level reality shows. Now, the cable channel is involved with an outfit that might be too hardcore even for the home of Intervention and Dog the Bounty Hunter.

The network recently shot a pilot for a new series with the controversial Christian motorcycle gang Set Free Soldiers, a group whose leader was arrested in Orange County this week, along with six members, on suspicion of attempted murder.

The arrests stem from a July 27 double stabbing that occurred during a bar fight in Newport Beach between the Anaheim-based group and members of the Hells Angels.

James Hibberd in the Reporter:

An A&E spokesperson said the pilot, with the working title of "Saints and Sinners," was shot a couple months ago and that the network doesn't believe that any of the bikers involved in the show were among those who were arrested.

Sources said "Saints" centers around a SFS halfway house where bikers reform alcoholics and drug addicts. A&E had hoped the project would make a proper companion for tough-love shows such as "Intervention" and "Dog."

But not to worry, there are actually two fictional biker stories coming to TV, the first, FX's Sons of Anarchy, premieres September 3 at 10. After the jump, a preview clip.

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?

Damages Season One: Really Wealthy, Really Self-Involved People Doing Really Nasty Things

All the things I hate; disgusting amounts of wealth, wealth-backed manipulation of the masses, callous disregard for others, levels of self-interest heretofore rarely seen in any work of fiction (and remember, truth can be stranger, and usually is).

But so well done that I actually managed to get four episodes under my belt in a day, consecutively.

I saw Glenn Close in Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles four times (yes, four times, and I would have ventured to the Shubert -- no longer there -- to see Faye Dunaway do it if they had let her, however her singing voice sounded).

I love Glenn Close's performances in just about everything in which I have ever seen her in. And this is no different. I picked up the DVD set a while back and it sat there on my shelf because I knew it was about stuff I hate. I'm an underdog kinda guy, always have been, always will be. I already have a negative view of excess wealth. For example, corporate golden parachutes enrage me. Show me a story about a CEO getting a big payout to leave and my blood boils (can't even look at a pic of Dick Grasso from the NYSE).

What's particularly tough about watching Damages is that you know immediately that the nice middle class young woman who gets hired by Patty Hewes (Close), played by Rose Byrne (below left), ends up beaten and bloody at the end, because the show works in flashbacks.

Tough also because Byrne's character, Ellen Parsons, is the character you see the action through and she's the character whose history most resembles my own -- nice middle-class New Yorker makes good in the big city.

(The only problem I have with Byrne is that I would think her character would have some New York in her voice, and Byrne either chose not to go there of didn't have it with which to go.)

And sure, it's about more than rich people manipulating everyone else, it's also about people's secret lives and what they're willing to do to make sure they stay secret, it's about perception vs. reality, and most of all, it's a Glenn Close star turn, and she is remarkably good in it. And so is Ted Danson, playing a really horrible guy. Scumbag. You know, all "I don't know what you mean" to his wife and all hookers and blow when he's out of her range.

Another hallmark of the show? Making New York look great. I love when NYC looks great in films and TV.

I'd get more into it, but you all watched the show almost a year ago. I guess I was busy at the time following the real life horribleness that was the writers' strike. But I'm gonna keep plowing through this first season of the show during the summer in advance of the second season premiere, which is not yet scheduled, but began shooting in February.

After the jump, a discussion with clip from the producers.

The Apatow Gang Hits the Paley Festival

Apatow, Rogen, Hill, Rudd, Tom Arnold ...

Tom Arnold? Yeah, Tom Arnold.

I just checked IMDB, I don't get the connection, either.

I will tell you this, however, in the second episode of Dirt this season, Tom plays the Alec Baldwin-inspired character and hits it out of the park. I'm gonna make a clip of his best moment over at Hulu and post it under the Apatow clip.

This panel at the Paley Fest, btw, was apparently just this past Monday night after Jonah Hill's SNL appearance, and they talk about Mariah Carey and how she didn't get any of his jokes.

Clips after the jump.

The Big Questions Asked by FX's The Riches is ...

... When people pretend to be something they are not, what lengths will they go to, to uphold this false sense of identity? (Right from the Hulu webpage for the clip that's after the jump.)

Not just a question for the family inside this show, but a question for all of us, dontcha think?

And this season, according to Gillian Flynn at Entertainment Weekly, there are even more questions:

Season 2 wrestles constantly and noisily with the idea of freedom: Is freedom money or the absence of money? Is it a home or rattle-around homelessness? And how does anyone stop craving? ''The minute you get what you think you want, you always want more,'' Dahlia frets, and she's right. Everyone in this drama, rich or poor, is on the make, from Dahlia's murderous, coyote-eyed cousin Dale (Todd Stashwick), who blackmails the Malloys for a piece of the action, to Wayne's venal boss, Hugh (Gregg Henry), whose latest real estate venture depends on screwing over Katrina victims. Even the Malloys' marks have crushing needs. In the midst of stealing a car, Dahlia and her crew get taken hostage by the vehicle's fed-up owner. At his house, the man paces with a gun as a collection agency rings constantly, his wife grumbles about her Wal-job, and Dahlia tries to figure out what the man needs to feel better.

Behind the scenes clip after the jump.

Every Computer-Using American Gets to Hulu Tomorrow -- Plus, The Riches Pilot Ep For You Now!

Can't wait till tomorrow? Email me! Because I still have all ten of my beta invites and no one ever asked me for one.

Broadcasting & Cable:

Hulu, the broadband-video site developed by NBC Universal and News Corp., will open to the general public Wednesday. Hulu had been in a private beta since October and a semi-private beta since last month.

In addition, Hulu announced deals to bring content from Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League to the service.

Hulu will make feature films from its content partners available, including The 40 Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Napoleon Dynamite and the Die Hard trilogy.

For TV shows, brief 15- to 30-second ads are inserted where a commercial break would be traditionally located. Hulu did not specify how advertising would be delivered during feature films.

A clip from Hulu (naturally), an interview with Matthew Fox, star of Lost and the film Vantage Point.

LINK

The pilot episode of The Riches, the Emmy-nominated FX series starring Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard, after the jump.

Video -- Ian Hart Talks About Don Konkey & Season Two Of Dirt (And the "After the Show" Show)

(Very quickly, this first paragraph is an update to this post after I've found the after show debriefing kind of thing that they have hidden far far away inside the Dirt flash-based site, it's a Brightcove clip with embed code, so I'm posting that at the end of this clip, so there are two clips here now for all you Dirt-heads.)

So, Don's on his meds. Well, of course, that's a good thing for real humans outside the teevee box but we're talking about a major change to a character in a show, and my favorite character to boot.

But you know, I don't think it's gonna be a bad thing, and I also think it's good for the narrative of the show and for Courteney's character and I'm looking forward to seeing what Ian Hart can do without all the ticks and mannerisms of a just-functional schizophrenic who talks to his cat and dates dead starlets.

I liked him criticizing Lucy on her driving and I think that's just the beginning of what Don has to say about some things. Hopefully he can buff some of the hard edge of Lucy, still not a character I can connect with at all.

Ian Hart and Courteney Cox talk about these changes in a clip after the jump.

Dirt's Malan Carlton: "I Am a Brand!"

Yeah, you're a brand, if that brand is rich girl who doesn't suffer, doesn't sweat, doesn't really have to work for anything, who gets paid to breathe.

Dirt returns tomorrow night at 10 on FX.

LINK

Video -- Ashley Johnson Plays Britney Doppelganger on Dirt

I gotta tell ya, they packed this seven episode season that starts this Sunday on FX with every tabloid story they could find.

Also included this season are bits that are reminiscent of the Alec Baldwin phone call and Anna Nicole Smith, not to mention the beforementioned storyline with a TV version of Paris Hilton.

You remember Ashley Johnson, she was the youngest Seaver on Growing Pains and Mel Gibson's daughter in What Women Want, and now she'll play a pop tart with a husband, kids, and apparently a problem with Lucy Spiller's Dirt Now magazine.

You can see a clip with her, Courteney and Ian Hart after the jump.

A New, Yet Abreviated, Season of FX's Dirt Comes to FX

Don't judge me, I have my guilty pleasures, too. And I do feel dirty, surprisingly, watching this one because of stuff like last season when they had a storyline where a rap producer had chopped off the head of his biggest star and had it preserved and stored in his wine cellar.

You can't find stuff like that just anywhere.

And, you can't get any better than the combination of series creator Matthew Carnahan directing and Ian Hart (pictured) playing the schizophrenic paparazzo Don Konkey, which I certainly hope happens more this season than last. The episodes with Carnahan directing Hart had some remarkable moments of visualizing his illness that just blew me away.

Like, for example in the series pilot when Konkey is standing in line at the druggist for his meds and the women on the boxes of hair color on either side of the aisle start talking to him, or in last season's finale when he saw all those people out in the desert.

Great stuff.

Oh, and Courteney Cox is in it, too. See her, she's right there. And, her character's just been stabbed by the downward spiraling Julia Mallory. I have a preview clip and a behind the scenes thing after the jump.

And ... there's an heiress gets a DUI storyline ripped from the headlines, with a character who's first name sounds like a European city and last name sounds like a hotel chain, Malan Carlton (as in Ritz-Carlton, but in the narrative not connected to my knowledge -- see directly above).

I Said I Would Stop Writing About Pilot Orders, but This One Is Too Good

It's called Sons of Anarchy and it's an FX Cable pilot about bikers and biker gangs and it has a great cast (Katey Sagal, Scott Glenn, Charlie Hunnam).

Hollywood Reporter:

"Anarchy," executive produced by Sutter, veteran feature producer Art Linson and his son and producing partner, John Linson, is a multigenerational family drama that centers on Jack (Hunnam), a man in his 20s who is faced with his own responsibilities as a new father and is unsure how he's going to balance that life with his involvement in the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club founded by his late father.

Glenn will play Jack's stepfather, the president and patriarch of the club. Sagal will play Jack's mother and the matriarch of the club. The role was written for Sagal, who is married to Sutter.

Sagal and husband Sutter are pictured, right.

Now, doesn't that sound like something you'd be interested in watching? I know, me too.

Also at FX a little bad news, about the length of the seasons of returning shows Dirt and The Riches (BuddyTV.com):

With seven episodes in the bag, FX has enough to make Dirt's run last through April.  The network also has a half-season of The Riches at hand, as well as full seasons of Morgan Spurlock's reality series 30 Days and the final season of the Michael Chiklis-led drama The Shield.  No premiere dates, however, have been announced for the latter two shows.

Dirt was a guilty pleasure of mine last season, and I particularly liked Ian Hart as the schizophrenic photog.

Strike Update (w/Video) -- I'm Getting Press Releases from All Sides

And whenever I get something from the AMPTP, I check out the WGA website for the response, and visa versa.

AMPTP:

The AMPTP today unveiled a New Economic Partnership to the WGA, which includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels.  The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year.  In response, the WGA has asked for time to study the proposals.  While we strongly preferred to continue discussions, we respect and understand the WGA’s desire to review the proposals.  We look forward resuming talks on Tuesday, December 4.

We continue to believe that there is common ground to be found between the two sides, and that our proposal for a New Economic Partnership offers the best chance to find it.”

WGA:

Among the rumors was the assertion that the AMPTP had a groundbreaking proposal that would make this negotiation a "done deal." In fact, for the first three days of this week, the companies presented in essence their November 4 package with not an iota of movement on any of the issues that matter to writers. Thursday morning, the first new proposal was finally presented to us. It dealt only with streaming and made-for-Internet jurisdiction, and it amounts to a massive rollback.

For streaming television episodes, the companies proposed a residual structure of a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hour-long program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun). For theatrical product they are offering no residuals whatsoever for streaming. For made-for-Internet material, they offered minimums that would allow a studio to produce up to a 15 minute episode of network-derived web content for a script fee of $1300. They continued to refuse to grant jurisdiction over original content for the Internet.

In their new proposal, they made absolutely no move on the download formula (which they propose  to pay at the DVD rate), and continue to assert that they can deem any reuse "promotional," and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode and even if they make money).

The AMPTP statement is complete, the WGA statement can be found at their website.

And, for our video portion, let's talk to the people involved at the FX drama series The Riches.

LINK

I Was Just Popping Around at IMDB.com ...

... and clicked over to the show page for the FX series Dirt, second season upcoming.

Title of this year's second ep? "Dirty, Slutty Whores."

Wouldn't it be great if Courteney Cox's character Lucy Spiller went to NYC and hooked up with Nick George, the character that Peter Krause is playing? They could call the show Dirty, Slutty, Sexy Whores with Money.

That show would get some great sampling of its pilot episode.

Is it the Year of the Transsexual on TV?

First you got Billy Baldwin's character on Dirty Sexy Money having an affair with a transsexual, and now this, a new series from Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) with a sex change at the center of it (Hollywood Reporter):

Joseph Fiennes, Blythe Danner and Robert Wagner have been cast in Ryan Murphy's untitled transsexual drama pilot for FX.

The project, formerly known as "4 oz.," centers on a family man named Bob (Fiennes) who decides to get a sex change.

Danner and Wagner will play Bob's parents, Bunny and Scotch. The roles of Bob's wife and kids have yet to be cast.

So, Joseph Fiennes of the perpetual 5:00 shadow is going to play a man getting a sex change? Somewhere down the line, the makeup people are going to have a problem covering up his stubble. Of course, anything else can just be taped into place.

More on that taping process here.

Slate.com on Damages and Saving Grace

Their TV critic Trey Patterson says ...

This week, in a gift to any entertainment journalist struggling to think up a trend piece, cable brings us the premieres of Saving Grace (TNT, Mondays at 10 p.m. ET) and Damages (FX, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET). Grace features Holly Hunter (pictured with Laura San Giacomo - JB) as a hard-living police detective; Damages has Glenn Close (pictured with Zeljko Ivanek - JB) as a hard-bitten litigator. Two actresses of a certain age, two writers' rooms of uncertain talents, two dramas with definite luster.

And both Oscar-nominated as well, Hunter winning for The Piano in 1993 while uttering not one word. That's acting. My favorite Holly Hunter movie? A tie between Broadcast News and Living Out Loud (which is a Robert LaGravanese movie you should really see, it's just so well done). Glenn's Oscar is to come, it will be for Sunset Boulevard when they finally get the thing made (yes, I saw her do it four times in LA).

Trey comes down in favor of Grace and gives a qualified thumbs down on Damages, but I'm still going to try Damages tonight. Not sure about Saving Grace (which debuted last night, but will re-air all week, I was celebrating Dad's 70th last night). Guardian Angel? Really?

I dunno, Trey, I think I'd rather see Glenn Close chew the scenery than watch another person on TV walk around with a delusion talking to them, and even worse, them answering back.

Angels? Talking to humans? Oh, sure. Then again, I know this guy on TV that slices people's heads open and "eats their brains."

Watch!!! -- Damages Premieres Tuesday

Now I don't know how much interest I would have in a 13-episode legal thriller during the rest of the year, but it's Summertime, the lead performers are bigtime famous, and I have nothing to watch on Tuesdays.

So I'm going to take a crack at Glenn Close's new FX Network series, Damages, which co-stars Rose Byrne (currently in the Danny Boyle film Sunshine), Tate Donovan and Ted Danson.

If you care to join me, here's some reading material ahead of the premiere:

• Matea Gold in the LA Times
• Brian Lowry's review in Variety
• Aaron Barnhart in the KC Star

And here's the trailer for the series from YouTube:

Just as a point of reference, I saw Close do Norma Desmond on stage here in Los Angeles four times.

Reader "Long Island Beth" Reminds Me of Another Snub, Dirt's Ian Hart

Not that we both didn't expect it.

Graduated from a previous comment thread:

I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that Ian Hart wasn't nominated for "Dirt." Overall, the same old same old. I don't think I'll even tune into the Emmy show at all.

The episode he submitted was "What to Expect When You're Expecting," which was episode four, I believe the one where Kira, the schizophrenic Don Konkey's apparitional delusion of a dead starlet girlfriend who he photographed in her coffin gave birth to a thing I have not seen the likes of since Eraserhead.

Ah, good times.

He's a great actor, with an entire career ahead for winning awards, but it would have been nice for him to be recognized. Or do I mean that it would have been nice if my approval of his performance could have been recognized.

Hmmm.

Here's a clip from an entirely different episode, in fact it's the pilot.

LINK

I know it didn't show a lot of what he can do, but I've run all the other clips. Click on his name below this post to see the drugstore clip, it's great.

Nip/Tuck's Murphy: Rosie Back for "Several Episodes"

From the TCA Fall tour, FX's day on the stump, Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy sez:

The character was so instantly popular. We've spoken about (a spinoff); it's an ongoing discussion.

So those of you who are wishing ill for Rosie can go to hell and you probably will end up there anyway, if you believe in hell, that it.

Why TV Sucks, Kevin Reilly Edition

Here's what I'm looking at. Kevin Reilly is at FX, the cable network, gets The Shield and Nip/Tuck off and running, and because of basically that, he gets the job at NBC.

He fails at NBC. Miserably, in fact, wouldn't we all agree? C'mon, first to fourth in light speed?

Then, after he renegotiates his contract in March, he gets sacked by Zucker, who has to buy Reilly out of his contract.

Having failed miserably of course, he goes back to News Corp., but he miraculously moves up from his previous position at FX to president of Fox Entertainment. After he failed at basically the same job at NBC.

And that's why TV sucks.

Yea! Viewer Mail About Dirt's Don Konkey

I got a lovely note from Beth that reads:

I stumbled across your Web site and enjoy reading it very much. It's especially nice to find another fan of Dirt, in general, and Ian Hart in particular. I, too, think he's marvelous as Don. Given that the show received many (unfairly, in my opinion) critical reviews, do you think he'll be nominated for an Emmy? I think of him as a lead because he carries the show, but I somehow think he'd be put in the best supporting actor category. What are your thoughts? Thanks so much!

Hey, Beth, stumbling upon my site? You should then also check out StumbleUpon.com (really, it's kind of like Digg or Newsvine).

Now, about the possibility of Ian Hart getting an Emmy nomination, I don't really think the academy will find him. Of course, if I were Courteney and David (yes, I wonder if David Arquette surfs the web looking for stuff like this) I would certainly send the season finale episode in for a nomination for him. He is their only chance. I certainly don't think Wayne Brady will be getting noticed for his guest starring role in which he played the guy who might cut off Brent Barrow's penis.

Better chance that the Golden Globes would nominate Hart, but that would also better timing on the part of the show. If the season finale ran during November sweeps, there's a chance Ian would have gotten noticed by the Hollywood Foreign Press.

Also, he's British and relatively unknown in US TV circles, especially to the older members of the TV Academy.

I would love to see a director nod of Matthew Carnahan for the season finale. That desert scene was trippy.

And thanks, Beth. Keep reading. Use the comments, too. That's why I have 'em.

Big FX Network News -- Dirt, The Riches Renewed for Another Season

Well, I guess we get to find out if Don Konkey got to Lucy in the driveway before she Spill-ered (get it, her name is Lucy Spiller) all the blood out of her body.

Betcha she makes it. Duh.

It's my favorite guilty pleasure. I watch nothing else like it. It's big fun, so over the top, and I'm glad it's back. But ...

But I want to see more Don Konkey this season. Ian Hart is amazing and just takes over every time he's on camera.

More Don!

(Hey, that link right above this is Don's Myspace page, complete with messages from Lucy!)

And, it would be great if Courteney and David could get Matthew Carnahan to direct more episodes this season. I just looked at his IMDB page and his schedule looks clear. Pony up the bucks, his eps were the best of the season!

But you know they didn't renew just for me, they did it for the green (from the Reporter):

FX, which prefers to cume its multiple weekly telecasts, averages a weekly audience of 5.9 million viewers for "The Riches" and 5.2 million viewers for "Dirt" over multiple runs. In adults 18-49, "The Riches" hits a weekly cume aud of 3.9 million viewers, with "Dirt" at 3.7 million.

Cabler said those numbers are in line with how vets "Rescue Me" and "The Shield" perform.

The Riches is a very well-done show, the timing of its season just wasn't good for me.

"Dirt" Season Finale -- "Kiss? What Kiss?"

Well, the kiss was only as long as it was because they kept cutting between the two of them and Brent, and it was only that long so that it could indicate that the leering Brent (Jeffrey Nordling, with the stupid sideburns back after shaving them off, what, two weeks ago?) would be very interested in watching more happen. But then Brent probably gets a woody from animal show on the Discovery Channel.

Once again, this was a great Don Konkey episode, as we watched his love for his pal Lucy fuel his trip to the desert to find salvation or just to keep him from killing her at the urging of all his schizophrenic delusions. I didn't think the scene at Joshua Tree right before the helicopter came was as strong as that scene I posted last week from the pilot, but certainly it took the storytelling away from the typical and that was interesting and indicative of Matthew Carnahan, who directed this final ep. I wish this kind of imprint had been on more of the other episodes.

The thing with Lucy's brother was weak. It could have not happened at all and I would have been fine with it. It did not enhance the fact that eventually is was Julia who stabbed her.

I don't know about you, but the whole time I've been watching this series, the question playing in the back of my head was, "What are Courteney and David trying to say to Bonnie Fuller?" From yesterday's NY Times article on the finale by Alessandra Stanley:

Lucy is modeled on Bonnie Fuller, who is credited with spicing up first Us Weekly and now Star magazine. When one of Lucy’s cub reporters, a seductive Eve Harrington type, steps out of line, Lucy punishes her by forcing her to interview all the cast members of all 18 seasons of the MTV reality show “Real World.”

I don't have an answer to that. Do you? Is Lucy dead in the driveway, or is she just rapidly losing blood? Will Don be arrested for this crime? Will Lucy's brother ever pick up his luggage?

I guess we don't know if the show is coming back yet, but I do know it's getting a run in Britain, so maybe that revenue would generate a second season.

It was fun and pretty campy. It could have been more consistent. I would have liked to have seen Carnahan direct more episodes. I would have liked to have seen more of Paul Reubens, too.

"Dirt" on FX: The Single Best Sequence

But damnit, it was in the pilot episode. Now, I've enjoyed the show during its run, and the short clip of America's Jen from next week whet my whistle, but finding this clip (unauthorized, although I begged the people who post clips for the show to give me more Don Konkey and they didn't) reminded me of how excited I was at first. Here, watch this:

Note to Courteney and David, this was your hook, the way to get this show the attention and critical notice it needed to rise to the level of The Shield and Nip/Tuck (which, although I don't watch because of the surgery scenes I do regard highly).

All that great visualization of Konkey's schizophrenia done here in just a couple moments in the pilot (directed by series creator Matthew Carnahan) hooked me on this show. And yes, I guess the one could argue that his current storyline with Lukas Haas as an apparent apparition ordering him to photograph Lucy is pretty cool, but it doesn't have the visual bang that this stuff had.

That's why with one ep to go, even an ep that guest stars one of my favorite actors, I'm ultimately disappointed.

Note To Self: Stop Prognosticating About "Dirt" or Any Other Show

Because I just suck at it. Anyway, to review, I said last week that it was Holt who left the pic of them having sex, or at least that's why I assumed Lucy gave him the video of Julia screwing that other guy.

Apparently, I'm a horse's ass. That wasn't the case at all. In fact, for Holt that pic was a problem that was all about him. Lucy, of course, rivals all in self-importance so she felt similarly and then they both whipped it out and had a good ol' pissin' contest. Actually, they did that very animalistic creep within inches of each other that's supposed to look hot but ends up feeling predatory and angry. Then he leaves and goes home to washed up Julia who's about to replace IV drugs with cutting, woo hoo!

So, if I had to guess, I would say that the person doing this to Lucy is the character Jennifer Aniston plays at the end of the season.

That would be outstanding, in fact.

But mostly it was a great Don Konkey episode, which I'll go into after I watch Jericho.