An intrepid channel surfer and his trusty Weimarainer travel the broadcast airwaves just for you to see what works, what doesn't and what to make of this place we call America from the window on the world that we know as television.
Remember not two days ago when I posted the new House key art that looked like Corddry on this show and I said that it would be cool if Kate Walsh did a guest thing for them since the show's a parody of Grey's and ... I didn't know when I wrote that that it had actually already been shot and we're gonna see it Sunday.
Kate seen above with Taye Diggs from her day job at Private Practice. Why Taye? Why not? Have you seen him?
Press release:
Lois La Fonda (guest star Mather Zickel), host of Newsreaders visits the set of Childrens Hospital as the cast and crew reflect on the show’s history, recent cancellation and new questions about the dolphin’s place in the ecosystem. The episode includes a special visit with Kate Walsh (Private Practice) and Jason and Randy Sklar guest star.
You know what I think would be great? If the Federal Reserve sent me a check for $8 billion. Hey, if stuff's gonna happen because I post it here I should dream big, right?
Children's Hospital, Sundays at Midnight (because going to work on Monday tired is cool) on adult swim. It's what happens to Cartoon Network when the monsters come to eat your kids.
I don't know about yours Kate, but sometimes after some asparagus ...
The new season of ABC's Private Practice begins Thursday Sept. 23 at 10:01 pm eastern (because McDreamy's a time hog, him and his cool hair and straight teeth and ...).
Taye Diggs. There's a stack of doin' it right, huh? Mmmm. And look at the still I grabbed from a clip online here to the right, Kate knows it, sit there all "Yeah ladies and Joe and some of his friends, I'm this close," and then she just nods with that expression on her face while Taye's biceps strain the arms of his jacket, his sport jacket!!!
Wanna see that clip? Well, I don't have that clip 'cause that didn't happen. Something happened though and you can see it when you click this link.
Wanna meet Taye Diggs? Get in line. Oh, first get me a time machine so I can undo about a decade of pleasuring myself culinarily (it's a word) then get in line. I'll be the one trying to get pictures with Idina Menzel. You too? I thought so.
Her loyalty to Meredith & Co. is paralleled
by an allegiance to the fans, who she feels also have an ownership
stake. She and Beers do podcasts, and Grey's writers interact with viewers via the blog Grey Matter (greyswriters.com).
Rhimes tries to protect the viewing experience,
too. She is famed for giving away few plot details. As a TV fan herself
— her likes include 30 Rock, Lost, Weeds, Project Runway, Doctor Who and Torchwood— she thinks spoilers detract from viewers' enjoyment. "It's the Pentagon, but I imagine we're nicer," says Walsh.
Rhimes won't say much regarding Practice's
finale, which coincides with psychiatrist Violet's due date, except
that it ends in a cliffhanger. Will viewers learn whether the father is
clinic colleague Pete (Tim Daly) or fellow shrink Sheldon (Brian
Benben)?
"I think what happens supersedes who the dad
is," she says cryptically, adding: "But Violet definitely makes a
choice about who she wants to be with."
Note to you, the reader of this: I know that everyone else on the web has used a version of this same headline for this show, but I didn't know about the others until I did a web search. And I'm not changing, let the others come up with something, uh ... cleverer (also not a word).
You know, I don't watch a lot of ABC shows. A lot of them are just too ... much for me. Like all those docs at Seattle Grace just shtupping their brains out until an icycle plunges into someone's midsection. I do think that Eric Dane deserves some attention, but the kind of attention I'm thinking of can be focused on him with still images.
Or those Housewives. Don't they just have a bit too much time on their hands, and I mean before the five year leap. Plus, it's a shame that Marcia Cross hasn't tried to off all of them by now, I really thought by now she would have developed her psychopathic need to kill.
(There's a chance here I can't separate the actress from her Melrose role. Okay, more than a chance. And, I have to include the clip, you know which one, and it's directly below)
I could be motivated to watch Private Practice, mostly because of my great affection for Kate Walsh, but I would just be frustrated watching her and thinking about how she isn't the lead in a great sitcom. Plus, I hear it's gonna get heavy this season. Also, I don't really know if this is the right role for Audra McDonald. I'm glad the theatre star is getting TV work, but this might not be a good fit for her.
Brothers & Sisters? I have one of each, thank you. Plus, I'm already watching [adult swim] by ten on a Sunday. And as an Italian-American, I've had enough of family drama.
That leaves Dirty Sexy Money, which I watched online last year and I can now watch in splendid 40 inches of liquid crystal display thanks to my DVR.
While you were outside enjoying a lovely Fall weekend ABC was running the ten episodes they made before the strike last year in a marathon on their SoapNet cabler. Why didn't I tell you? Because they didn't tell me.
Well, if you have nothing to do between now at Wednesday, when the new season eps begin, you can still do some catch-up on ABC.com.
And, you can check out my posts on the show from last season at this link.
One more thing, contrary to some rumors from last season, Carmelita (above right) remains an important part of the story of the Darling family. (Darling Tower site at this link, btw.)
(O)n the cusp of the series' return to ABC October 1, Matthew Gross,
an executive producer on the show, gave TVGuide.com some insights into
Carmelita's unique role and why she's become a fan favorite. He also
assuaged our fears that she might have vanished forever — all in an
L.A. absinthe den, no less, while celebrating the show's Season 1 DVD
release.
"Carmelita is the most honest character on the show,
and she's not afraid to defend that," Gross said. "She is who she is,
and she's brave enough and bold enough and strong enough and willing to
lose it all in defending that. That's what builds character in a
person."
Very good news. Candis Cayne is a breakthough and frankly so is the role. Everyone should be lauded for their nerve and their verve.
And this is very good news for some of us. Some more than others, right Bob?
And can we please give Samantha Who? a suitable lead-in that will have compatible viewers and not depend on the Dancing ... geriatric audience to fall asleep in front of the set? Please? Because otherwise this very good show will go the route of Ted Danson's Help Me Help You last season.
And let's just stipulate here that Dancing With the Stars is never gonna make a sitcom lead-out a hit. No compelling comedy is going to be helped by that audience. It's like the two concept exists within a generational shift that makes neither compatible to the other.
ABC has picked up nine series for next season, including four shows that debut this year: "Dirty Sexy Money," "Private Practice," "Pushing Daisies," and "Samantha Who?" Those shows will join five mainstay and veteran ABC shows: "Brothers & Sisters," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost," and "Ugly Betty."
"The strength of our schedule this fall was unprecedented and speaks for itself," said Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, in a release. "We're looking forward to building on that success."
ABC touts its strong fall performance--10 weeks of the season, Sept. 24 to Dec. 2, 2007--when the network was No. 1 among 18-49 viewers, with an average 3.9/10 rating. ABC also says it was atop all networks during the November sweeps period, for its third consecutive November sweeps win.
You know, Tom, the CIA guy they injected into the show just recently because there hasn't been a single man on the show who's had any chemistry with Michelle Ryan. Whose fault is that? I don't know, exactly, the only other thing I've ever seen Ryan in is Jekyll on BBC and she was kind of icy, but the role called for it.
So, Tom (pictured) and Jaime will go to Paris tonight to find out why Jaime is spelled like this and not Jamie, which I think is a better spelling.
Actually, this page at NBC.com only says this: "An all-new Bionic Woman returns 11/07. Jaime and Tom are on a mission to Paris. Special Rebroadcast of Bionic Woman, Saturday 10/9c."
So, there telling you already that you have two chances to watch the show. That's a good idea, sure, let people know it will be on again so they can put your show off till then to watch Kate Walsh make out with Tim Daly.
Honestly, I have no idea what I'm gonna watch tonight. I think I'll just play it by ear.
Now here comes "Gossip Girl," which transplants teen angst to
Manhattan's tony Upper East Side, where privileged underage kids can
slurp martinis at a ritzy hotel bar, smoke weed in Central Park or have
sex in mom's townhouse (am I so old to think that bartenders still
check young kids for I.D. when they order martinis?!).
Well, I don't know about Central Park, but back in the late seventies, you could get "three for two" on the steps of the Public Library. From there, you just slipped into Bryant Park (way, way before the renovation of said outdoor space) and elevated.
With Top Model as its lead-in, it has all the heft of The CW behind it as it debuts, but it also faces some stiff time slot competition, most notably from Kate Walsh's new series Private Practice and Bionic Woman, which is the show this adult will be watching (sorry Kate, I gotta go with David Eick over another sexy medical drama, talk to me when you make an outrageous comedy and I'll be with you).
Finally ...
"'Gossip Girl' could become another one of those young-woman and
female-teen magnets that WB used to be so good at developing," said
Steve Sternberg, exec VP-director of audience analysis at Magna Global.
"There is an audience from 'The O.C.,' and that show is no longer on
TV. If this can do the ratings for CW that 'O.C.' did for Fox, I think
CW would be very happy," said Brad Adgate, senior VP-corporate research
director, Horizon Media.
Because in my dreams they are clicking over every day to see which FunnyOrDie.com clips I'm posting here.
Will & Adam -- You should really hook up the lovely Kate Walsh with a small video crew and a writer and ask the group of them to come up with some fun stuff for the site.
Kate seems like a funny lady. I don't have to remind you how funny she was on that episode of David Spade's show earlier this year, do I? Well, if I do click here and a new window will open with the interview.
I'm sure she'd be up for it, and ABC I'm sure would love to remind all those netizens about the series premiere of Private Practice Wednesdays at 9.
That's right, Scott Patterson stays at the CW, replacing Patrick Breen as the father in Aliens in America, the CW sitcom we discussed yesterday.
And over at the new Kate Walsh starrer Private Practice, the woman who played Deacon's wife on King of Queens is out and Broadway star Audra McDonald is in as Naomi Bennett, the wife of co-star Taye Diggs and friend of Dr. Montgomery.
Okay, folks in Southern California, run like the wind to your favorite communications device and try to get a $5 (that's right, just five bucks!) ticket to this:
Ronna and Beverly's All Jew Revue -- Hosted by Ronna Glickman & Beverly Kahn (Jessica Chaffin & Jamie Denbo), best-selling co-authors of You'll Do a Little Better Next Time: A Guide to Marriage and Re-marriage for Jewish Singles.
Who knows, they might even have someone nice for you.
No pressure.
With special guest Kate Walsh ("Dr. Addison" on Grey's Anatomy)
"Weekend Pick" -LA.com
If it were more convenient, I would run over to the UCB Theatre every chance I could get. Tix are cheap and the funniest people on TV show up there right in front of you. In fact, you should click over there and bookmark the page and sign up for newsletters so you don't miss anything.
UPDATE: Welcome Kate Walsh fans from TWoP and other places on the web. If you wanna see how funny Kate can be, click here for video of her interview with David Spade on The Showbiz Show.
... you'll have to check out Kate Walsh's rant on the Maxim Top 20 where at the end she rips off her shirt having to be covered up by a (lucky) floor director.
Really one of the funniest celeb bits yet on Spade's show. And Kate Walsh has me coming closer and closer to checking out her show just because she's such a good sport. And a fun gal. Nothing I love more than a fun gal.
Click here and then, if you don't already have a DVR, I think the next thing you should do is start enquiring about one.
I know I am. How can I check out the new Christina Applegate sitcom Sam I Am, costarring Jean Smart and the newly separated Jennifer Esposito, which they're throwing on against Heroes unless I do? I getting tired of watching TV online while sitting in this desk chair, it's just not comfortable enough. Hey, does anyone know if Barry Watson is still connected to this series?
The Kate Walsh starring Private Practice sits right now at Wednesdy at 9. Come January, that will be in the way of the Idol results show, and of course, the January barrage of three- and four-night Idol programming weeks. Personally, I hope the show makes a bit of a dent in Idol. I think it would do American Idol some good to have some competition for eyes, and I think starting with the results show is a good idea.
As a left coaster, I don't watch the results, I read them online. I have a lot, and I mean a lot, or other TV to watch, and Idol is just too much of a time committment. That's why I decided after season two that I would only start watching the last six weeks of the show. Also, as I've discussed before, as I was a singer when I was a kid, I don't take any delight in the Simon Cowell beatdown act.
October Road and Notes from the Underbelly, according the this Broadcasting & Cable piece will only air in between the Fall and Spring runs of Dancing With the Stars. That's not a lot of episodes now, is it? If I were, say, Bryan Greenberg, I'd wonder right now how good an idea it was to sign up for this.
The show they're giving the post Grey's spot is called Big Shots, which according to Zap2It.com is "a show about four guys (Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Josh Malina and Christopher Titus) with powerful jobs and a close-knit friendship. Great cast, and Josh Malina is working without the words of Aaron Sorkin for a change.
The dearth of comedies on all the network schedules just makes me sad.
As we told you before practically everyone else in the world (gotta love that!) the Grey's spinoff Private Practice is the biggest news in this batch of ABC Fall pickups.
October Road is also renewed for another go round, and both Greg Berlanti (Dawson's Creek) projects are moving forward, Eli Stone with Jonny Lee Miller and Dirty Sexy Money with Peter Krause.
Now comes the most mind numbing, stupendously stupid and astoundingly misguided part of this fiasco: The creators have tried to infuse social satire by making the show an allegory for prejudice. They draw astoundingly leaden parallels to every minority group in the world without a laugh in sight. It's jaw dropping horrendous and actually makes "American Dad's" lunkheaded topicality seem sophisticated. [...]
This video will get passed around like the infamous "Star Wars Christmas Special." It's nice to know that the spirit of Ed Wood lives on.
Ironically, amidst the mad rush of script ABC developed this season was one of the funniest half hours I ever read... and they didn't order THAT script in favor of this depth charge which could be the first pilot to actually hurt an auto insurance company.
Obviously not written by the powers that be at ABC.
Ellen calls ABC honcho Stephen McPherson live on the air and asks, straight out, will her show get picked up. He says, "I think she's in pretty good shape."
This episode of Ellen airs tomorrow, check your local listings. I can hear millions of people cheering already. Me? Well, maybe this is my back door into becoming a viewer of both shows, but we will see.
I don't know about you, but I have no idea what plays on the TV Guide Channel, and of course, it's a channel owned by my pal Rupert Murdoch, so I'm not so interested. Also, I have digital cable, so the TV Guide Channel program listings are an exercise in stupidity (I can just click my "guide" button on the remote and get listings, also from TV Guide, alas).
But, I noticed this today as I was trolling through the AOL video pages. Variety's Brian Lowry, who is a friend of this blog because he returns my email and I post his stuff, does this show with Andrew Wallenstein of the Reporter (this link to an opinion piece on Rosie leaving The View that I just thought didn't fly) called Square Off.
This isn't the most recent episode, but it's an ep that discussed Grey's and Idol and Bindi Irwin, and what could be better for a Saturday afternoon than sitting at your desk watching people talk about TV? Okay, maybe you bookmark this page and come back to it later after some outdoor activities.
And, Emmy-award winning Christina Applegate will star in an ABC comedy pilot about a girl reclaiming her life after a bout of amnesia called Sam I Am.
But about the Grey's spinoff, here's your chance to tell my nine regular readers who should be the next actor cast. If you don't like any of my choices (not like my choices? Are you high? Don't you have a hankering to see the redheaded girl from Head of the Class on TV again?) you can list your own in the comments.
C'mon people, the comments section is lonely. Except for Zach, Beth and John, and the occasional spammer, it's a lonely place.
Well, here's the poll:
And remember, I've watched maybe 10 minutes of Grey's Anatomy since it debuted.
I've found you have to give these things time to set up on the server from Pollhost, so if it doesn't work now, try a little later.
So, as a service to all of you, I thought I'd make a list of those who are also now available because they were in a failed ABC 2006-7 series and more than likely have a holding deal with Disney:
Donal Logue
Sofia Vergara
Jonathan Silverman
Marla Sokoloff
Josh Cook
Adam Baldwin
And, why not throw in Courteney Thorne-Smith. She seems ripe to return to a soapy drama series.
The potential spinoff will test the waters as a back-door pilot, an
expanded two-hour episode of "Grey" slated to air in May. It will
center on neonatal surgeon Addison Shepherd (Walsh), a character that
has enjoyed a strong following from fans since she was introduced at
the end of the hot surgical drama's first season.
It is understood that the back-door pilot episode will
feature Shepherd on the verge of leaving Seattle Grace, a scenario that
will be triggered if ABC goes with the spinoff for next season. There
were no details on the character Diggs will play.
"Grey" creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes is
writing the episode and is expected to shepherd the potential series.
Meanwhile, Rhimes' other pilot for ABC and ABC TV Studio, about female
journalists, has been pushed to a summer production start.
Well, Taye is certainly a "dreamy/steamy" presence for the new show. And, this gives the network some return on the production deal his company has with ABC.
Now, does Taye's casting mean that this show would not be a place Isaiah Washington could move to and start anew? I dunno. The networks don't seem to think they need two handsome African-Americans on any one show (unless they are of opposite genders and dating). Would T.R. Knight go to this new show? Should we just stop discussing it? Okay, let's go with that.
And hey, could we see a guest appearance from one of my favorites, Idina Menzel? Please?
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