“Nashville” season premiere will feature 2 live performances
The East Coast broadcast will include live performances from the Bluebird Café set, one from Will Lexington and another from Deacon Claybourne.
“Sons of Anarchy” unveils its final season poster
It looks like the reaper is on Jax”s back.
Teen Choice Awards has found a new venue after UCLA flooding
This year”s TCAs, scheduled for UCLA”s Pauley Pavilion, will now take place Aug. 10 from the Shrine Auditorium.
“Chappelle”s Show” co-creator: “Louie” is the kale of television
“I”m going to put 'Two And A Half Men' in ‘Lowbrow but Brilliant” vs ‘Louie,”” says Neal Brennan. “Again, I love Louie”s stand-up; I love the stand-up sections of the show. I find the narrative to be non-existent and kind of sloppy and kind of lazy. So, I”m putting him in ‘Lowbrow and Despicable.” I think ‘Louie' is like the kale of television. I think people like to say they watch it but I don”t think anyone is really…”
“Manhattan” really shines in Episode 2
“Having successfully eaten television's mandated opening appetizer of raw fennel,” says Matt Zoller Seitz, “it's ready to move on to dishes that please the palates of everyone involved. You can practically hear the entire series sighing with relief that they've gotten the hard part over with.” PLUS: TV needs more science shows like “Manhattan.”
As he enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday, Michael Strahan is everywhere
“Few retired athletes have parlayed their success on the field and their time in the nation”s largest media market into a second career in television as well as Strahan,” as the NY Times points out. “Stars like Frank Gifford and Tim McCarver blazed trails in the broadcast booth calling games, but Strahan is one of a handful of former players to work simultaneously in sports and entertainment television.” PLUS: Strahan and fiancee Nicole Murphy split up.
Is anybody watching Food Network?
Food”s primetime lineup appears to have declined in recent years.
Chris Pratt on “Parks and Rec”: “I think people are ready for it to be done”
Pratt is returning to work in two weeks after his whirlwind “Guardians of the Galaxy” publicity tour. “They”ve done a tremendous job,” he says of the writers, “but eventually you just run out of stories to tell about these characters without it becoming hackneyed and becoming sort of jumping the shark and turning into something that wouldn”t honor the characters.” PLUS: Pratt”s evolution from “Everwood” and “The O.C.”
“Friends” star David Schwimmer is now directing “Breaking Bad”s” Anna Gunn
Schwimmer”s two-person play, “Sex With Strangers,” opens Wednesday.
How Letterman”s Stupid Pet Tricks was born
“We briefly considered Stupid Baby Tricks,” says former Letterman head writer (and girlfriend) Merrill Markoe, “but we were concerned that the idea would inspire desperate attention-seeking people to commit borderline child abuse.”
Bristol Palin”s attorney denies she earned $0 in 2012 and 2013
The documents in her legal filming came from her baby”s daddy, Levi Johnston, says the lawyer.
Why did it take so long for “True Blood” to get around to Hurricane Katrina?
New showrunner Brian Buckner is doing what Alan Ball never did – acknowledge the 2005 storm”s effects on Louisiana. PLUS: Check out a box of “True Blood” props.
Why you should stick with “The Leftovers”
Despite its bleakness, the HBO drama is doing something not done on any other show. PLUS: To watch or not to watch?
HBO gives “Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways” a premiere date
The Dave Grohl-directed documentary series will air on Fridays at 11 pm, starting Oct. 17.
Chelsea Handler posts her bat-mitzvah photo
“Don't ever say I'm not a real Jew,” Handler wrote on Instagram.
Atheist TV debuts on the web
The president of American Atheists describes his new channel as “a place we can call our own, where we can speak the truth as frankly as we want.” It intends, he said, “to promote the idea that religion can and should be criticized.”
“Veep”s” Tony Hale unveils his children”s book
“Archibald”s Next Big Thing” is due out on Aug. 15.
What is Kirk from “Gilmore Girls” doing in “Guardians of the Galaxy”?
Turns out Sean Gunn, who played Kirk on all seven seasons of “Gilmore Girls,” is the brother of “Guardians” director James Gunn (and James Gunn is the ex-husband of “The Office”s” Jenna Fischer).
Fox buys an NYC crime drama from Richard Price
The noted crime writer and “Criminal Justice” creator”s project “centers on a twentysomething Wall Street portfolio manager who unwittingly becomes a pawn in the DA”s attempts to take down a criminal organization.”
Is “OITNB”s” Taylor Schilling the new Mary Tyler Moore?
Hayden Wright things so: “The very nature of Schilling's brilliance, like Mary Tyler Moore's, however, is her knack for knowing how and when to fade into the background. It's the subtlety of her upright posture, the openness of her expressions. She doesn't always get the punchline or the dramatic breakdown, but Schilling soldiers along as the unassuming lead of a dynamite ensemble we often find ourselves discussing instead. And she deserves an Emmy for it.” PLUS: Meet “OITNB”s” Miss Rosa.
Check out 10 awesome musical performances from “The Jon Stewart Show”
From Notorious B.I.G. to Van Halen.
Piers Morgan calls Larry King a “graceless, petty little man”
The former CNN host responded after King slammed him yet again.
Disney XD”s “Kickin” It” takes on “Star Wars”
Here”s a preview of Monday”s “Star Wars”-themed episode.
A day in the life of a Times Square Elmo impersonator
Jorge, an immigrant from Mexico, is one of many Times Square Elmos. PLUS: A farmer uses Elmo as a scarecrow.
Watch “Weird Al” Yankovic take over MTV in 1984
“Weird Al” would occasionally host “AL-TV.”
“The Killing” ends on Netflix, a shadow of its former self
Not even the presence of Joan Allen in Season 4 can keep diehard viewers from wishing it would just conclude already. PLUS: “The Killing” never did achieve greatness, Season 4 is more a thriller than a somber grief melodrama, and “Killing” boss Veena Sud on the Netflix revival.
“The Knick” could be a game-changer for Cinemax
The 1900-set Steven Soderbergh drama starring Clive Owen, says Tim Goodman, “is a series that makes no rush to win support during its pilot, then audaciously walks the audience through another two hours of medical bleakness before arriving, in episode four, almost fully formed. That”s the HBO model to a scientific description, but in this case “almost” is an apt qualifier, because the series really arrives at its most important milestone by the sixth episode. By then, The Knick has fully enthralled with its merits.” PLUS: Soderbergh predicts half the viewers will look away from the gruesome scenes.