NBC “disappointed” in “Michael J. Fox” ratings, but will stick with it if numbers stay put
NBC already ordered a full season more than a year ago. “I’m disappointed,” says NBC’s head of research and program planning, Jeff Bader. “I just think it deserved more sampling than it got. It’s not that the show was rejected. It’s not like they came and they didn’t come back. I’m hoping we”re still going to get more sampling.”
Is Jimmy Kimmel losing credibility?
Following his twerking prank, Kimmel is having trouble convincing some that the Kanye West rant isn’t also a put-on.
“Once Upon a Time” goes to Neverland
The ABC drama’s bosses preview the dark trip, and meeting Peter Pan.
Will “SNL’s” overwhelming whiteness become a problem this season?
Six new white cast members won’t help “Saturday Night Live’s” diversity problem. PLUS: Which “SNL” characters will be featured prominently this season?, and the 8 biggest transitional seasons in “SNL” history.
“Homeland” Season 3 seems like it blew itself up, just like the CIA building was blown up
“That is,” says James Poniewozik, “it’s a version of what it might have been like if–as was apparently the original plan–Brody”s explosive vest did go off in that government shelter at the end of season 1. And it works, mostly, at least for the two hours of the season”s beginning. A series like Homeland can”t keep sprinting from crisis to crisis without devaluing the idea of crisis in general. If its big moments are to matter, then they have to be given time to land.” PLUS: Season 3 is back on track, Season 3 is messy and hard to figure out, why “Homeland” should dump Brody, Is “Homeland” the most sexist show?, Dana Brody gets an absurd amount of screentime, and Season 3 feels at times like a newborn foal on wobbly legs.
How to deal with Sunday’s TV crunch
“Breaking Bad” is ending at the same time as “Homeland” is premiering and “The Good Wife,” “Family Guy” and “Revenge” are returning.
Mindy Kaling gets insulted when she’s asked, “Where do you get your confidence?”
“I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting,” she tells Parade. “Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?'” PLUS: Kaling wears a shaving cream bathing suit.
Michael K. Williams on “Boardwalk Empire”: “It’s a huge season for me personally”
“I’ve never been this involved in a big storyline in anything that I’ve done,” he says.
Joss Whedon: Wonder Woman doesn’t work on TV
“I know she”s famous as a television show,” he tells EW, “but I don’t think she lends herself to television. I think she only works on an epic scale. I saw a bit of the David E. Kelley (NBC pilot). That was not a good marriage.”
Phil Keoghan: “The Amazing Race” is more competitive this year
That’s because, he says, the casting made a point of selecting very competitive people. PLUS: How the “Race” is planned out, and “Amazing” champ Jen Hoffman weds.
“Eastbound & Down”: Behind the scenes of the final season
On the set, Danny McBride is nothing like Kenny Powers. PLUS: “Eastbound” is as bleak as “Breaking Bad.”
“The Mentalist” returns
It’s the beginning of the end for the Red John storyline.
What to expect as “The Good Wife” kicks off Season 5
The co-creators say of this season: “Once you start that first domino going, there are certain things that had to happen and we knew what they would be.” PLUS: “Good Wife” is TV’s most tech-savvy show, and inside the costume design.
“Revenge” tries to get back to its roots in Season 3
With a new showrunner, “we’re sort of finding our footing,” says Emily VanCamp. “I think we”re trying to ground the show again, , and get it back to its original roots,” she adds.
Even James Cromwell can’t save “Betrayal”
The ABC drama takes its soapy storylines to seriously.
HBO’s “Hello Ladies” gets tiresome fast
Stephen Merchant’s oblivious a-hole character has been seen too much before, particularly on his and Ricky Gervais’ “The Office.” PLUS: “Hello Ladies” is awfully obvious, and there’s no depth or bite.
What’s great about “Masters of Sex”: There are no antiheroes
“There are no secret pasts on this show,” says Andy Greenwald, “no torturous moral choices, no blood-splashed detours into noble crime and unavoidable murder. There are no antiheroes. There aren’t really any heroes at all, and the only bad guys are ignorant, not evil. Yes, there’s dirty talk, but the rest of the show feels refreshingly scrubbed and bright. Masters of Sex isn’t a radical TV series for the raciness of its content but rather the character of it. It’s a clean break: a cheerful, clinical corrective to what has come to be an overwhelmingly dark decade of prestige TV.” PLUS: “Masters” is the best new show of the season, there’s no sexploitation, how the 1950s clothing was re-created, it’s a triumph of concept and casting, and how “contemporary” Lizzy Caplan ended up on “Masters.”