IAmATVJunkie.com is a Torchwood Spoiler Free Zone Until July 20

AMC's Mad Men in 33 Days: Checking In With Our Authority, a New Player and an Ad Partner

Our Authority = Deb and Roberta Lipp's Basket of Kisses Blog. If you don't read it you're not really a fan of the show.

Just about everyone connected to the show (including creator Matthew Weiner) reads it, what's up with you?

Clicking over to the site with just a little more than a month until the third season premiere, and we have a hotbed of activity, starting with this huge partnership with Banana Republic, which includes clothes inspired by the show's wardrobe and a chance for you to win a walk-on role on the show's fourth season.

Click here for contest details.

And, there's this from the NY Times detailing all the promotional attachments to the show for the season including Clorox, Vanity Fair and Variety. Variety? Per the article:

The Vanity Fair promotion, along with the partnership with Variety, were developed for Lionsgate Home Entertainment by Initiative, a media agency owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies.

The Variety partnership is notable because it involves the Variety.com Web site, where visitors will be able to read a so-called digital flipbook about the ’60s featuring articles from the Variety archives.

One article likely of interest, from the front page of the issue of Nov. 25, 1963, carries the headline “All Showbiz Mourns Kennedy,” reporting on the aftermath of the assassination of the president.

A little strange that an entertainment trade publication would be entering into promotions with a product that they review and report on, dontcha think?

Also from Basket of Kisses is a look at the press materials AMC sent out with their Emmy screeners this year. It's at this link and includes images you might not have seen before from season two.

Finally, if you want to click over to a new (newish?) Mad Men Wiki, click here for the site from Wetpaint. Info about the show in a handy format for research.

The new season starts on Sunday August 16 at 10 pm. A promo for the new season after the jump.

2 Maddow Clips -- The Shadowy Religious Group That Will Scare The Shit Outta You

It's referred to alternately as The Fellowship or The Family. They have this building on C Street in Washington where they house members of Congress and indoctrinate them into a very outside the mainstream religious ethos where these members of Congress are led to believe they are more special than all of us and that they, basically, are free to do whatever they need to do in the acquisition of power and wealth.

Whatever. They. Need.

Rachel Maddow had Harper's Magazine's Jeff Sharlet on two days in a row (very rare) to discuss this group and their relationship to both the Ensign and Marc Sanford political sex scandals. Sharlet infiltrated the group to research this secretive group for his 2008 book The Family, which is now available in paperback. (If you buy it from Amazon by clicking the icon below I get a li'l somethin' somethin' from them, so thanks.)

This text is from the book's jacket:

The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the Far Right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a “family” that thrives to this day. In public, they host prayer breakfasts; in private they preach a gospel of “biblical capitalism,” military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao, the Family's leader declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't."

Sharlet’s discoveries dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the Cold War, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not “What do fundamentalists want?” but “What have they already done?”

You wanna know more now, don't you? I thought so.

After the jump, two clips from Thursday's and Friday's Maddow show with Jeff Sharlet. I'm gonna pick up this book this week and you should too, especially if your member of Congress or any of your elected officials are affiliated. When you hear about what these people and their leader Douglas Coe espouse, you're gonna be freaked out.

Read this backgrounder written by NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Jim Popkin from April 2008 for more information. Pay particular attention to the Doug Coe sermon footage from the second clip after the jump. There's a clip on the page too, an NBC Nightly News story on the group from the same time.

Particularly, there's this:

In his preaching, Coe repeatedly urges a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It’s a commitment Coe compares to the blind devotion that Adolph Hitler demanded from his followers -- a rhetorical technique that now is drawing sharp criticism.

"Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler were three men. Think of the immense power these three men had, these nobodies from nowhere,” Coe said.

Later in the sermon, Coe said: "Jesus said, ‘You have to put me before other people. And you have to put me before yourself.' Hitler, that was the demand to be in the Nazi party. You have to put the Nazi party and its objectives ahead of your own life and ahead of other people."

Coe also quoted Jesus and said: “One of the things [Jesus] said is 'If any man comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, brother, sister, his own life, he can't be a disciple.’ So I don't care what other qualifications you have, if you don't do that you can't be a disciple of Christ."

These are the people who have access to our elected officials. They have very twisted ideas about how the world should be run, they care little about you short of your potential to be utilized by them in whatever way they want, and it scares the livin' shit outta me.

More on this group from Sourcewatch.org at this link.

Video -- Friday's Craig Ferguson Clip is An Unpredictable Monologue

One thing about Craig's monologue as opposed to any of the rest, it seems more dangerous, like anything could happen at any moment.

That's why I watch Craig.

LINK

HBO's Hung With Our Gay On-The-Set Insider, Will Ray Have Male Clients?

What, you thought I forgot, right? Nah, I watched the Hung pilot, and I'm watching again right now. No, no Dirk Diggler moments at the end of the pilot, you cheeky li'l ...

Anyway, back in the pre-show hype period I started trying to get in touch with the creators of the show, Colette Burson and husband Dmitry Lipkin (The Riches, pictured left), explaining that obviously a show about a guy with a big dick was gonna interest gay men and I wanted to get some inside info.

What Colette did (via Facebook, which is always my ace in the hole) was kindly thank me and refer me to her and her and Dmitry's assistant, Powell Weaver.

Gay.

Inside.

On the set.

BINGO!

I sent Powell some questions back before the premiere (which is almost two weeks ago, I can't figure out for the life of me why they would start a new series the weekend BEFORE Independence Day, but whatev) , and he'll be available to me each week for some inside info and maybe a question or two from readers. So, start thinking about that.

So, first out of the gate ...

First of all ... Tom Jane? Nice. We likey. How's he doing with being 'the guy who's Hung"? Was there a lot of joking during development, on the set?

Thomas Jane is great.  They looked at literally hundreds of auditions for Ray, from actors all over the world.  There were a million ways to go, and I personally was so excited when they cast Thomas because he was hands down the hottest man's man who came in!  And he completely sells the character of Ray.  He's so watchable in every way.

I have to agree here. I certainly didn't plunk down my eight bucks to see The Punisher because of Travolta, or because I bought the comic. I didn't even know it was a comic.

More than that, though, the guy can act, and I've known that since I saw him in The Last Time I Committed Suicide playing Neal Cassady. In the movie he's so effortlessly sexy I couldn't take my eyes off him.

Of course in Hung his character Ray Drecker is just plumb outta confidence. He peaked in high school, an injury ended his pro sports aspirations, the teams he coaches at that same high school are failing, his marriage is over, his kids think he's a jerk and when he finds himself sitting in a hotel/motel ballroom taking a class that tries to help him find that tool that will turn things around.

(BTW, that motivational speaker pictured left, played by Steve Hytner [Seinfeld]? He's also been a co-star of yours truly. High school, can't ever get away from high school.)

By now you know that Ray runs into a previous lover at the seminar, Tanya (Jane Adams, Frasier) who will eventually volunteer to be Ray's pimp of sorts.

Actually, the job she's doing is more like being a mec (see the story from James Lipton's biography where he discusses acting as a mec for French prostitutes, or just click this link for the Conan O'Brien interview with him for more info).

When I heard HBO was doing a show about a male hooker, I immediately considered that the character might take on some male clients, so I asked:

Of course, a lot of my readers are wondering if there will be male customers for Ray. Is there at least talk of that or about that in the show?

I would love to see male customer's for Ray too!  The idea has been raised in the writers room.  It could end up happening or not happening.  There are so many factors that go into television storytelling - you want to tell the most organic, natural story you can and not burn up any plot that could be potentially used to greater effect down the road.  Ray is a macho man, a former baseball star and current basketball coach.  It would go against Ray's character to agree to a male customer in first season - we just wouldn't buy that he would actually do that.  But as we get to know Ray over the next few years and watch him change and learn, who knows - he might find himself with a male customer if the price is right.

So, nothing this season but not ruled out.

You know what I was just thinking? Gigolo is a much easier word to hear than manwhore. Plus when I think of manwhore I immediately think about that guy Jeff Gannon who was in all those White House press conferences during the Bush years.

Anyhow, after the jump I have a webisode thing from HBO called Tanya's Diary, where she tells you what plans she has to market her new product and the body it's connected to. Tanya not only has plans to market Ray but to improve the product as much as she can.

Episode two of Hung airs Sunday at 10, moving to its standard half-hour format, followed this the season premiere of Entourage, on HBO.

Video -- Hayden Panettiere on Catty Schoolgirls, Waning Heroes, Her New Movie, Raccoons

With the gang from the KTLA Morning Show here in Los Angeles.

The Heroes stuff comes toward the end. She claims that the bar was set so high the first season that it's been hard to rise back to that level. I say Tim Kring shot his load early and has failed to keep a staff stable (Bryan Fuller just left, AGAIN!) or learn to innovate.

I beginning to believe that he got lucky with a great pitch and then "lost his abilities" and became a producer only worthy of Crossing Jordan-type stuff once again.

Hayden clip after the jump. She's with Sam Rubin, Mark Krisky and that skinny blonde woman they have in the AM that's kind of shrill.

Anniversaries -- The Great Movie Year of 1939, Moon Landing, Mets Win First World Series

It's a Summer with lots to commemorate, and my three favorites all have a television component.

Turner Classic Movie has pitched in their part with a new documentary hosted by Kenneth Branagh called 1939 ... (from the press release):

... an all-new documentary created for Warner Home Video and narrated by acclaimed actor/filmmaker Kenneth Branagh (Henry V).  It includes new interviews with film scholars/critics Leonard Maltin, Daniel Selznick, Molly Haskell and Scott Eyman, as well as impressive archival interviews with Claire Trevor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Francis Lederer, Maureen O'Hara, Ann Rutherford, George Cukor, Howard Hawks and more.  The documentary chronicles the year, when the studio system reached its zenith as a well-crafted infrastructure and how each studio approached the year's product.

If you don't know (and you really should, this always comes up at parties) 1939 was an outstanding year for English-speaking cinema with The Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Stagecoach, The Women (all gay men are required by law to see this movie), and Wuthering Heights, among many others.

Just check this entry at Wikipedia.

TCM is devoting Thursdays to the year, which, yes, I do realize was yesterday. This Thursday's films, however, are Stanley & Livingstone, Beau Geste, Golden Boy and Gunga Din, one of my dad's faves.

Click below to purchase The Women from Amazon.

The first clip after the jump is the trailer for this documentary, which is currently on my DVR and airs next on July 30, check your listings.

Secondly, it's the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, which if my great grandfather Walter Keperling was still alive he would tell you never happened. It was all staged on a movie set, he kept saying.

All I know is that I can still remember exactly where I was (my parents' house in Valley Stream, on the couch, ready to cover my eyes because I was sure something bad was going to happen. Aliens? Technical errors that result in a man's head exploding inside a helmet? I don't know what I thought, but I remember being relieved when it all turned out okay.

Click here for a whole bunch of stuff from Discovery.com about the anniversary. Right here, an excerpt from Irene Klotz's interview with Buzz Aldrin, second man to stand on the moon:

IK: Why did you say that NASA's current plan to the moon is a detour?

BA: It's going back to do the things that we have done before and other nations are capable of doing that right now. It seems to me that we leave ourselves open to other nations being able to claim that 'Oh look, we beat the Americans back to the moon. They're just not going to be leaders in the 21st century.' We need to chart what I think is a new course.

IK: So you're saying that the United States wouldn't be respected for doing the same thing that it did before. It needs to do something different to gain world respect?

BA: I don't think we get our money's worth out of investing and doing something that other people can do, when there's rather questionable return -- commercial return or the knowledge that we get -- by having humans back on moon to justify the large expense of their habitation.

This is why I was so flummoxed by our former President's announcement in 2004 that he wanted to go back to the moon. But I decided to presume that he meant himself and I was happy for a while.

After the jump, watch Neil Armstrong set his foot down on the lunar surface and say those famous words, and what happened for the next minute and some.

Finally, in 1969 I was a little boy on Long Island and the NY Mets were about to do what anyone and everyone thought was an impossibility, the ragtag group under Gil Hodges beat the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series.

My brother Bill was at the final game and was one of many who grabbed a piece of Shea Stadium turf. My dad planted a fig tree in that ground and that tree is still with him here in Southern California, it made the trip with us.

I would certainly hope that there will be some programming around the anniversary, but for now we have some interview footage from a recent Mets alum reunion in Yonkers, with, interestingly, Ron Swoboda (who was famous for an amazing catch in that series, see the image above) talking about both the Mets AND the moon landing.

Clips after the jump.

Craig Ferguson Video -- White Lines Opening Shows Puppets In Action

And ... if you're going to vote for favorite puppet you have to see their work, right?

Note, guitar guy in clip not a puppet, that's Chris without the harness in a big blond wig.

Now, I can't embed the clip because the song is copyright protected (Duran Duran cover version which I had never heard before and it rocks) and the clip would be removed from YouTube and CBS doesn't provide embed code for the clip because they want you to click this link and see it there, which I completely understand.

I don't like it, but I understand it.

While you're there, click this link to vote.

I guess I'll need to go with another clip here. After the jump, I'm posting the segment featuring the Chenbot. Don't watch it if you're looking for a whole lot of Big Brother scoop, though, Craig doesn't really quite get around to it.

But you will meet Sonya the CBS photographer.

More on the new season of BB at TV.com at this link, however, with Julie giving you a tour of the all new all "green" BB house.

Chenbot!

That's Mrs. Chenbot Moonves to you -- hey, they should name the kid Chenbot!

Clip after the jump.

Video -- It's Wendy Williams Day in Manhattan, For Realz!

For realz = My freshman year roommate Tony Gale's favorite exclamation.

"How you doin'!" It's Wendy Day on the isle of Manhattan, check out the YouTube clip below.

Yes, it's safe, she has her show hair on. Wendy returns triumphantly to your TV (syndication, check your local listings) next week.

You just never know what she might say, who she might say it to, or what might happen because of it.

I'm just getting you ready for what I think is going to be a big deal in daytime. I have the sense that she's really gonna shake things up, like TMZ did in early fringe and Ellen did in the afternoon. Like her or don't like her, she's gonna change things.

Clip after the jump. Start date for the show is July 13, check your listings or the Wendy show site at this link.

Video -- Carrie Keegan Gets Up Close With Hayden Panettiere

I'm not feeling really cheeky right now so can you write your own naughty li'l Carrie meets Hayden thing? Put it in the comments section and I'll replace this lame paragraph with the winner and absolutely no compensation whatsoever except my thanks.

Before you start, two things ...

a) Chris Columbus, director, AND ... No Good Television virgin I believe. Check the 1:12 mark in the clip for the typical "can you say that" moment.

b) If you think about it, this movie is Can't Hardly Wait only from the Jennifer Love Hewitt character's point of view, kind of, almost.

One more thing, it opens Friday. I would bet it'll open in the $18-25 million range and cool considerably in the second week. Should open well in countries where Heroes is being shown.

Clip after the jump.

Hey, what ever happened to her recording career?

You, get writing!

Clip Bonanza -- ABC Hits Hulu, Housewives, Grey's, Better Off Ted

Also, Hulu has a start date for their UK outpost, but first let's look at some the fine offerings on Hulu from their new partner Disney.

ABC's Better Off Ted (Hulu link)

The best new comedy of the year in my humble opinion. (When the time comes and I have the energy to fight off the angry villagers I'll tell you exactly what I think of the opening episodes of Parks & Recreation.) They have the episodes 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of this season posted. Episode five was Win Some, Dose Some, which has some great business for Andrea Anders playing Linda, whose pictured here because I know Toby will appreciate that.

Maybe the episode has some music clearance issues? I dunno, but it's very funny and you'll just have to buy the first season DVD. No release date yet, but I'll keep you updated. Interesting, you can watch that ep at Amazon On Demand, here's the icon to click below.

I've posted the fourth episode, Racial Insensitivity, after the jump. It's the first clip. Great satire on corporate political correctness gone tech gone wrong in the one where the new "green" sensors that turn the lights on and off can't recognize African-Americans, including our lab guy Lem. It's my favorite episode so far.

See my interview with Malcom Barrett and Jonathan Slavin who play Lem and Phil respectively at this link.

ABC's Desperate Housewives (Hulu link)

A commenter at Hulu asks (and let's just place a big sic before the whole thing):

Why would you post a new show on hulu and start by playing the 12th episode and not start at 1? I won't watch a show if I can't see the beginning to the end. What the heck Abc. just because everyone else is doing it don't mean you have too to. Be a leader and quit following all the other networks. You can Start by play LOST it's latest season by starting with episode #1.......I've seen all the desperate house wives season's in order except the latest one. Same with LOST. I won't watch either again until I can watch the newest season thats out now for both from start to finish in that order... This pisses me off..

I thought I'd answer him: Dude (and it is a guy, btw), it's not about you. Go buy some DVDs. I have friends on staff at this show and they need the one-tenth of one-half of one-third of a point to support their eBay habits so open your wallet.

Disney's syndicated Legend of the Seeker (Hulu link)

I've watched a few minutes of a couple of episodes of this on the occasional lazy weekend afternoon. Why? Check out the pic below.

See? That's why. That's star Craig Horner. He's short, but what the hell, everyone's the same height on my TV. And I'll never meet him. Hey, if the guy's gonna do the swords and sorcery thing shirtless he needs to put up with a little objectification, even from middle aged gays.

I'll post the 2-hour (broadcast length) pilot as the second clip after the jump for you. You're welcome.

Also new to Hulu is that improbably sexy doctor show, McScrewy and McDiagnosy or whatever they call it, and The Superstars, not improved, btw, by including a celebrity component and moving it to prime time.

Nothing yet from Disney Channel nor ABC Family, but they are reportedly to come.

Hulu UK, according to their daily the Telegraph, will go live in September:

According to senior sources close to the UK negotiations, Hulu is trying to sign a deal with both commercial broadcasters in the next few weeks, for a roll-out of the service by September.

Hulu is also understood to be in talks with the BBC as it is hoping to cash in on the gap left by the disallowed Project Kangaroo, the proposed VoD service from BBC Worldwide, ITV, and Channel 4 which was blocked by the Competition Commission earlier this year.

A source close to the negotiations said: “Hulu is proposing to launch this September with 3,000 hours of American content, as well as material from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. It will be playing catch-up in the short-term until it has enough British TV content and will need a unique selling point in the short term.”

Pundits are predicting Hulu will follow the British VoD pattern and allow access to the British TV partners’ content the night after it broadcasts, making it available for 30 days.

More as it develops.