As we enter into the final quarter of the traditional broadcast TV season, where many of the mid-season entries are already beginning to wrap up their runs (“Alcatraz,” for example, aired its two-hour finale on Monday) and most of the series that kicked off way back in the fall are in that depressing twilight period just prior to their last run of new episodes before season’s end, many of your favorite premium cable programs are taking advantage of the semi-lull by coming back with a vengeance.
Category: Television (Page 60 of 84)
“Mad Men” always had the feel of a show that couldn’t go on forever. It’s too smart, too ambitious, too consistent to live forever in a television world so full of subpar material. Basically, it’s too good to last.
So, it was disturbing, but not surprising to hear “Mad Men” cast and creators reveal the show is ready to retire from the advertising business after its seventh season.
For now – to celebrate the show’s fifth season – media joined fans of the show at the 2012 PaleyFest in Los Angeles to see what’s ahead for the most stylish and one of most (mad) manly shows on TV. Series stars Jon Hamm and January Jones joined John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, Kiernan Shipka and creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner for a red carpet episode screening and Q&A.
It was heartbreak for many of the male fans in attendance as the voluptuous and witty Christina Hendricks was otherwise engaged and couldn’t attend. Of course, it’s also possible she was laying low following her recent Twitter picture scandal in which said voluptuousness was on display for all the world to see.
Obviously, though still a couple years away, the specter of a series conclusion dominated much of the media’s bombardment of questions.
“As I’ve said, I don’t want to overstay our welcome,” Weiner said. “When I was a writer on “Sopranos,” I thought it was difficult sometimes to come up with stories that hadn’t already been covered on previous seasons or by other productions in the genre – other mob movies or TV shows. The fifth season is finished now, and I’m planning on seven. It’s just really hard to do this show.”
Pushing the idea of a final season aside, the hundreds of fans in attendance at the Saban Theater wanted the scoop on the new season. Last season ended with Don Draper – legally free of ice queen wife Betty and seemingly emerging from the shadow of alcoholism – suddenly getting engaged to Megan. Hamm said the major season-spinning plot twist felt like a shock right up until cast and crew made it official on film.
“(Weiner) and I talked about that ending for weeks before we actually shot it,” Hamm said. “But, even after all of that time, when it came time to shoot the scene, I was left wondering if it was all a fake. Was it just going to be a dream sequence or something?”
“I was just glad to see the season end up on sort of a hopeful, upbeat note,” Hamm added, “because my character had been on such a downward spiral throughout the season.
Weiner made it clear that, on the “Mad Men” set, the talented collective cast stays in character and interacts as a family as the top secret scripts unfold.
Weiner explained, “When I directed the scene where Don told his coworkers about the engagement, we filmed the group’s reaction shots first – a reverse angle. The other actors were mostly frozen – not a lot of reaction.”
“Then, we turned the camera around to see what they were so stunned by, and it was (Hamm) smiling as broadly as he ever has playing the role. That unnerved everyone. There hasn’t been a lot of smiling in (Draper’s life) recently before that moment.”
Hamm added, “I find myself really hoping that this works out for my character – after watching him struggle through the divorce and trying to give up his drinking.”
“We had that episode earlier in the last season in which (Draper) documented his struggles to stop drinking in his own journal. I think that story offered a new glimpse into how (Draper) was examining himself and evolving.”
While Hamm’s character moved on to a new potential relationship, ex-wife Betty Draper Francis (Jones) continued struggling with life as an often stern and unforgiving mother.
“I’m looking forward to see how people react to Betty now,” Jones said. “For a while, people have run away from me on the street all the time because they see how Betty treats her children. I think they’re worried about me becoming a mother myself now because they think I’m really going to be like that.”
“In this new season, I think Betty is still evolving, and I see her improving as a person.”
As the fifth season gets ready to roll on AMC, Hamm is following up on the longtime tradition of a series’ big star taking his shot at work on the other side of the camera by taking on some directing duties. It’s up to everyone else now to catch up to the idea.
“(The rest of the cast) said they’ll never work with me again. Actually, everyone was very supportive, and I got a lot of great advice from the other cast members.”
It’s a sure sign that spring is on the verge of emerging when the networks start to let slip the names, premises, and attached actors for all of the pilots under consideration for the next TV season. Most of these pilots go nowhere, which is the way the cookie has always crumbled, but a few lucky programs end up getting the go-ahead for a series commitment. I don’t claim to have any real idea how the networks think – as a critic, it’s pretty much a given that I never know what the networks are thinking (and, in turn, they don’t care what I’m thinking) – but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid to give my thoughts on 15 of the pilots that I’d like to see come to fruition and join the fall schedules of their respective networks. You can check out a much fuller list from The Hollywood Reporter by clicking here, but in the meantime, here’s the stuff that I’m hoping to be TiVo’ing in a few months’ time….
1. Gilded Lilys (ABC)
It’s been quite awhile since a broadcast network has managed to sell viewers on a period piece set prior to the 20th century, so the fact that ABC is even considering this series, which takes place in 1895 and revolves around the first luxury hotel in New York, is proof of how much pull executive producer Shonda Rhimes has with the American Broadcasting Company. In truth, the big selling point for me is John Barrowman. This doesn’t exactly bode well for another season of “Torchwood,” but the dude deserves a big U.S. break. You never know: this could be it.
2. Untitled Louis C.K. / Spike Feresten Comedy (CBS)
Go on, admit it: you were sold the moment you saw the name “Louis C.K.,” weren’t you? And Spike Feresten isn’t bad, either. Seeing these two guys attached to this project is the only reason why it stands out, since the only real description available is that it’s an an ensemble comedy about a bunch of twentysomethings trying to make their dreams come true despite today’s crappy financial climate. But, damn, after two seasons of “Louie,” the idea of Louis C.K. putting his spin on anything makes it something that’ll surely be worth seeing. With that said, however, I hope Dan Byrd ends up not being available to do the show, as that will mean that “Cougar Town” has been renewed.
3. Animal Kingdom (NBC)
Two words: Tyler Labine. I mean, come on, America, what more does this loveable teddy bear of a comedy actor have to do to get a show to stay on the air for more than a season or two? NBC is, if memory serves, the last of the broadcast networks that has yet to cancel a series out from under Mr. Labine – “Invasion” was on ABC, “Reaper” was on The CW, “Sons of Tucson” was on Fox, and “Mad Love” was on CBS – and, frankly, this could be his last stop before the autograph-show circuit. Doesn’t Tyler Labine deserve a better fate than that? You’re damned right he does.
4. Untitled Kevin Williamson serial killer drama (Fox)
The man behind “The Vampire Diaries” brings Kevin Bacon to the small screen to play Ryan Hardy, a former FBI agent on the hunt for serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), who’s busy building himself a whole cult full of serial killers. If that isn’t enough to sell you, the cast also features Natalie Zea (“Justified”).
God, I miss television. You’d think that, as the writer of a weekly TV column, I’d have all the time in the world to just kick back and watch the boob tube to my heart’s content, but that’s never quite how it seems to work out. Indeed, if anything, I watch less TV now that I’ve got my own TV column that I ever did before I got the column. There just aren’t enough hours in the day anymore to indulge in all of the small-screen scrumptiousness that I’d like…and, unfortunately, that also includes the wide variety of TV-DVDs that I get in to review. This seemed like as a good a time as any, then, to take a quick look at some of the more interesting sets that I’ve had piling up around my desk recently. It’s a pretty diverse bunch, to be sure, but since when is there anything wrong with a bit of variety?
Borgia: Season One: No, not “The Borgias,” although the subject matter is quite obviously similar. This is actually a series by Tom Fontana, best known for his work on such TV classics as St. Elsewhere, Homicide, and Oz, done for the French network Canal+ in 2011. Although it’s only just now come to DVD, Netflix subscribers actually had the option to enjoy the series online starting late last year. If you enjoy a good historical drama, this’ll do the trick nicely.
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father: The Complete First Season: “People, let me tell ya ’bout my best friend…” So went the opening lines of Harry Nilsson’s classic theme song, which I can still sing in its entirety when pressed. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s held up 100% from its original late ’60s / early ’70s run, but Bill Bixby is one of those guys who I always wanted to be my uncle, he was always so darned affable onscreen, and as an adult I can definitely appreciate his storylines far better than I could back when I was still part of the under-10 set. (I was obviously far more partial to Brandon Cruz’s work at the time I originally watched it.)
Always wanted to have Peter Griffin’s voluptuous form? Stewie’s diminutive outline? Now you can. “Family Guy” fans everywhere can give themselves the full Quahog treatment with the new “Family Guyzer” application, which converts users’ digital photos into their own freakin’ sweet “Family Guy” characters. All you have to do is upload a picture, choose which Griffin family member you want to be most like, answer a couple of questions about your appearance and click the button.
Once you’re been “Family Guyzed,” you can then share your unique character on Facebook and even play as your 3-D avatar in Fox’s free-to-play, browser-based “Family Guy Online” MMO launching this spring. Granted, we didn’t have very much luck getting the application to work at first, but that’s because we tried using a photo from our webcam as opposed to one taken with, you know, an actual camera.
Check out the trailer for the app below and then visit the official site to give it a whirl.
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