Solo Performance night of Hollywood Week is ‘Idol’s’ first major attempt to get us to care about this season’s contestants and decide if we’re interested in seeing more of them.
The contestants get a full band, an audience and a big stage on which to perform. It’s the real crucible to see if they’re cut out to make it on the live shows and, of course, to see if they can make an impact and make us care about them going forward.
Here’s my assessment of the contestants from whom we got to see a full performance last night. [Read more…]
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Breaking TV News: BETTER CALL SAUL Nets AMC Record Ratings
Press Release: The premiere of “Better Call Saul” on AMC last night was the biggest series premiere in cable history, drawing 4.4 million adults 18-49 and 4.0 million adults 25-54. The second episode of “Better Call Saul” airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, as part of a two-night television premiere event. [Read more…]
Morning Static: EMPIRE, FARGO, THE SIMPSONS & More!
• The Cast Of “Downton Abbey” Played Cards Against Humanity… And It’s So Very Wrong
• Must Read TV: ‘Parenthood’ Cast Share What They Learned From Being a Braverman
• Opinion: The 7 biggest problems with ‘Gotham’
• Duh of the Day: CBS Chief Les Moonves Calls Overnight Ratings ‘Worthless,’ ‘Antiquated’
• The More You Know: Jane Lynch Tells The Real Story Of How Lisa Kudrow Became Phoebe
• HBO Go, Colbert, and the Streaming Wave: 5 Big, Unanswered TV Questions for 2015
• TCA Journal No. 3: We Don’t Clap.
• Best Awards Show Ever: The 18 Best Drunk Moments at the Golden Globes
• ‘Parenthood’ Postmortem: Jason Katims Teases “Bittersweet,” “Uplifting” Series Finale
• From the Department of About Damn Time! Tig Notaro is getting her first HBO comedy special.• Review: The Duplass brothers’ charming HBO comedy strikes familiar notes, for better or worse
• Seconded: Matt LeBlanc Has Quietly Made ‘Episodes’ A Must-See Comedy
• ‘Empire’ scores big ratings for Fox. But can it soar while other TV musicals flail?
• Friday Fun: Star Trek credits Gets Simpsonized.
• Coup: FARGO Season 2 Just Added Some Crazy Awesome Actors
• Not So Funny Business: Larry David Says ‘Odds Are Against’ A New Season Of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
• Woo-Hoo! HBO Renews ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ for Two More Seasons
• So Say We All: Edward James Olmos Is Set To Join Marvel’s ‘Agents Of SHIELD’
• ‘Glee’: Watch Lea Michele Sing ‘Frozen’s’ “Let It Go”
• Class Act: Taraji P. Henson Is Finally Having Her Moment With “Empire”
• ‘Banshee’ Returns With Guns Blazing: What’s Next For The Smart Action Drama
• Must Read TV: “BoJack Horseman” Creator Makes Awesome Point About Gender In Animated Comedies
• Sad But True: 19 Insane ‘Saved By The Bell’ Star Scandals
• Order Up! Bob’s Burgers gets a sixth season
Morning Static: GAME OF THRONES, COVERT AFFAIRS, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK & More!
• Game of Thrones: Who’s Playing Young Cersei?
• Must Read TV: Broadcast TV Should Take More Risks Than Cable in 2015
• The Business of Show: ‘Downton Abbey’ ratings down slightly
• Pilot Watch: ABC Family Orders Two Single-Cam Comedy Pilots
• Who Knew? The newest ‘Orange Is the New Black’ inmate is about to break the Internet
• Shocker! USA Cancels Covert Affairs After Five Seasons
• The Long, Strange, Impossible Journey That Brought Archer to Television: Creator Adam Reed’s story is as odd and surprising as any given episode.
• Sneak Peak: Stop What You’re Doing and Watch the First 9 Minutes of 12 Monkeys Now
• TCA Journal No. 1: Why Are We In Pasadena?
• RIP: ‘Person of Interest’ producers on [spoiler]’s death, that big kiss
• Woo-Hoo! Netflix has big plans for 2015 originals
• Spotlight: Kevin Hart left his failed ‘SNL’ audition ‘feeling like I had no talent’
• Who? Can Scott Borchetta save a sinking ‘American Idol’?
• Watch: This Hilarious “Parks And Rec” And “Jurassic Park” Mash-Up Has Andy Dwyer Fighting Off Dinosaurs
Morning Static: GAME OF THRONES, AGENT CARTER, GLEE & More!
• Groan: Radar Online is making a syndicated talk show
• Scoop: ‘Glee’ Casts Gina Gershon as Darren Criss’ Mom Pam Anderson
• CES: Netflix to Rate Smart TVs on Online Video Streaming
• Morena Baccarin on Joining ‘Gotham’: It’s a “Different World”
• Girl Power! Hayley Atwell’s ‘Agent Carter’ defies stereotypes
• Sorry, X-Files Fans: Amazon Scraps Chris Carter’s New Sci-Fi Series
• Parting is Such Sweet Sorry: 7 new things we now know about ‘Parks and Recreation’s’ final season
• Who? Grace Helbig’s E! show gets series order
• Mark Your Calendars: ‘Game of Thrones’ is coming to theaters in IMAX
• Duh of the Day: HBO Renews Girls for Season 5
• Must Read TV: ‘Agent Carter’ Showrunners Grilled By ‘Arrow’ Producer in Honest, Wide-Ranging Interview
• This Week in Tech: Sling TV Offers Live Sports For Cord-Cutters
• Anyone Got a Spare $150! ’12 Monkeys’ Is The First TV Show With The Ability To Change Your Living Room’s Lighting Scheme
• Kit Harington: Game of Thrones can’t get more naked, but season 5 is definitely bigger
• Stuart Scott, ‘Life Itself,’ and how we tell stories about living with cancer
Morning Static: GOTHAM, SLEEPY HOLLOW, NETFLIX & More!
• ‘Oh, And Hugh Jackman!’: Dr. Cox’s Most Glorious Rants From ‘Scrubs’
• ‘Gotham’: A Peek at the History (and Future) of Arkham Asylum
• ‘Gotham’: Morena Baccarin on Her New Role, Arkham Asylum & More
• Daily D’oh! Netflix cracks down on users attempting to bypass regional blocks
• Deathwatch: Midseason TV survival odds
• Scoop: ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ is ditching flash forwards and everything else you need to know 1
• ESPN’s Tribute to Stuart Scott: Created Lovingly, Discreetly, in Hopes It Would Never Air
• Sleepy Scoop: Hollow EP Previews Abbie’s ‘Inspirational,’ Angelic Encounter
• ‘Supergirl’ TV Show Casting News ‘Soon’; More Rumors Emerge
• Your 2015 Winter TV Guide: Print and Download Your January Calendar Here!
For Canadian Eyes Only: AIR FARCE New Year’s Eve Returns!
Press Release: The Farce awakens… 2014 is almost over, but not before the year’s biggest stories are subjected to the AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE treatment. From Polar Vortex cold to Olympic gold, from soccer’s World Cup to body cameras on cops, Canada’s favourite comedy troupe is back, turning pipelines into punchlines, with an ALL-NEW special featuring their take on the year’s biggest stories.
Tune in on Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at 8:00 PM (8:30 NT) as Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, Craig Lauzon, Alan Park, and Penelope Corrin return to CBC with two new cast members—Second City alumnus Darryl Hinds and the multi-talented Aisha Alfa—and a line-up of famous Canadians ready to join in the fun. [Read more…]
Season Finale Review: THE AFFAIR Goes Out Without a Bang
During their brief separation, Helen Solloway referred to her morally-questionable husband as a potential sociopath. Was she wrong?
In last night’s 10th installment of “The Affair,” Noah’s side of things never felt more fantastical. For months, he bedded beautiful women, then once he was caught, he used his time away from work to finish his book. Upon landing his six-figure deal, Helen begged him to come back. Later, it was he who played victim as he faced Cole’s loaded gun.
With Noah preoccupied back in the city, Alison was suddenly ready to make amends with Athena, if only to temporarily get away from the husband that reminded her of Gabriel, and from an already strained relationship with her lover. In her retelling of events, Cole was ready to kill Noah, or Noah’s family, or himself, without Noah having ever chased Scotty into the backyard. In present-day, Noah was arrested, presumably for Scotty’s murder, and Alison promised she’d get him out of it. Was that why her summation of the day’s events failed to include Noah and Scotty’s encounter, or is there something else we’re missing here entirely?
Last night’s season finale left its audience with many unanswered questions, but few of which have driven my interest in this thought-provoking character drama. I have very little empathy for Noah or Alison, but those characters, and their relationship, are why I’m watching “The Affair” in the first place. Everything else – including equally mesmerizing performances by Maura Tierney and Joshua Jackson – is secondary. The Showtime drama is at its best when it centers in on the formerly secret tryst, and its ramifications on the marriages it’s destroying. The show is at its worst when it navigates away from that, and more towards tertiary characters like Whitney, and the ongoing statutory rape/pregnancy story line with Scotty.
Last week, Ruth Wilson gave an impeccable performance during Alison’s breakdown at the pediatrician’s office, and again when her character contemplated suicide in the near-arctic waves. This week, Jackson shined in both Noah and Alison’s vastly different retellings of the day the Solloways went to pick up Whitney. Both accounts showed Cole at his most manic state since the pilot, a character who has since lost everything else that mattered to him most.
I don’t regret listing “The Affair” high up on my list of 2014’s biggest televisual accomplishments, but the show still hasn’t figured out what it wants to be in a world where Noah and Alison’s relationship is no longer forbidden. The last two episodes have embraced more outlandish story elements (Alison’s one-night stand with Oscar, the reveal that Helen’s mother had a P.I. following Noah for four months), the kind I wouldn’t have expected to come from the show “The Affair” was trying to be in its earliest episodes, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. As long as its writers are able to make clear that they’re attempting to do nothing more than create a can’t-miss prime time soap, I will gladly continue to watch the misadventures of these self-absorbed white people. I can’t, however, keep watching a show that jumps back and forth between wanting to be a complex television narrative, and just another overly-complicated tale of egotistical, misguided souls that could only truly exist in a soap-operatic world. The show just doesn’t work when it tries to be both of those things.
Despite its faults, and one mediocre cliffhanger, I look forward to seeing what comes of season two, and seeing if the show can overcome its end-of-the-season identity crisis.
Side notes:
• I really enjoyed what little Geoffrey Owens (f.k.a. Elvin Tibideaux, “The Cosby Show”) was given to do in those rubber room scenes, but does anyone believe for one minute that he wrote Noah a note telling him that he was his hero? C’mon now!
• Det. Jeffries has been lying about having a wife and kids this entire time. The real ‘babe’ in his life goes by the name of Steve.
• the first time, Noah and Alison’s recollections featured memories that have previously only been shown in the other person’s retelling of events. Executive producer Sarah Treem spoke with Alan Sepinwall about that, and her response provides insight into Noah and Alison’s psyches, and what might change from a storytelling perspective in season two.
• ICYMI, write-ups on episodes one, two, three, four, five, six and seven, and a teensy bit on episode eight.
CraveTV Review
If you’re wondering why it has taken this TV Addict slightly longer than expected to post our review of CraveTV, Bell Media’s Netflix competitor that launched earlier this month, look no further than the service itself.
Billed as “a video streaming service offering full seasons and series of the most loved and celebrated shows ever,” CraveTV is — simply put — a TV Addict’s dream. No really. Any grammar, spelling and/or syntax errors from here on in should be solely attributed to the fact that even as we type this, we’re half-watching INSIDE AMY SCHUMER in a little window at the top left of our desktop! That’s how good CraveTV is, we cannot stop watching it. It’s a problem, a big one. But before we get into why, let’s start off with the glowingly positive shall we.
CraveTV isn’t messing around when it comes to selection. From genre-defining series that we’re embarrassed to admit we still haven’t found the time to watch (See: HBO classics such as THE SOPRANOS, THE WIRE and DEADWOOD) and half-hour sketch shows we’ve only seen bits and pieces of on YouTube (See: KEY AND PEELE, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER and KROLL SHOW) to exclusives that we’ve already started binge-watching (Hello WGN’s MANHATTAN) and classics that we can’t get enough of (See: MONTY PYTHON, SEINFELD, and FRASIER), CraveTV isn’t messing around when it comes to feeding our seemingly insatiable appetite for all things television. Suffice it to say, if you are eligible to subscribe to CraveTV — particularly at the launch price of $4 per month — it’s an absolute no brainer. No really. There’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t stop what you’re doing right now, call your local cable provider and spend this holiday season holed up in your living room watching the glory that is STAR TREK’s most underrated and under-appreciated gem DEEP SPACE NINE!
Oh wait there is a reason… which brings me to that dark side of the service that I teased earlier in this post.
Related: “How Bell Media Bumbled the Launch of CraveTV”
First and foremost. As a long time Rogers customer, myself — not to mention millions of others across Canada — are shut out from this service due to the unholy war between Bell Media and Rogers that does little but infuriate customers on both sides (See: Rogers equally childish treatment of NHL fans who aren’t paying a pretty penny to Rogers each and every month). But even more troubling than Bell Media’s exclusionary policies* is that CraveTV’s new business model effectively sidesteps any regulatory issues put in place by the astoundingly ineffective CRTC in terms of their recent purchase of Astral Media. Which is to say. non-Bell subscribers to HBO Canada should all but assume that any new and exciting content will no longer be built around the traditional over-the-air model that many of us have been subscribing to for all these years but rather reserved for CraveTV’s catalogue. Case in point, Bell Media’s recent announcement** that will see a remastered, 16×9, full-frame, high definition version of THE WIRE be exclusively released to CraveTV subscribers this January rather than where it belongs on HBO Canada.
shomi Review: Why We’re Not Buying What Rogers and Shaw are Selling (At Least Not Yet!)
And finally, any review of CraveTV wouldn’t be complete without the mention of their advertising strategy. You know those posters and billboards that have been plastered across the city? Well, they’re sort of missing a giant asterisk when it comes to that $4 per month price tag. Just to be clear: CraveTV is only $4 per month if you already subscribe to Bell or one of their partner’s cable packages. Packages, which after a quick scan online appear to range between $39.99 and $111.95 per month. (Current cable partners include: TELUS Optik TV, Bell Fibe TV, and Bell Aliant FibreOP TV subscribers)
All that being said, if you are one of the shrinking number of Canadians who, like us, fork over one hundred plus dollars a month to prop up an antiquated cable model, CraveTV is completely worth it. One can only hope that (a) Bell Media sees the error of their ways and opens up this package to all of Canada as soon as possible. Or at the very least, (b), allows me to a finish binge-watching the fantastic first season of MANHATTAN before they pull my media credentials in response to this review!
* Correction from Scott Henderson, Vice-President Communications Bell Media: We have no exclusionary policy. We have been very clear from the beginning that CraveTV is “available to every TV provider in Canada” (see release) and Kevin Crull has been clear he wants to get it into as many hands as possible. We have had meetings with all distributors, including Rogers, and we hope they come on board soon. Already Telus, Eastlink and other small cable providers have signed up and made the product available to their providers.
The TV Addict’s Response: While it’s all well and good that Bell Media doesn’t have an official exclusionary policy, I’ll believe it when I see it. Case in point, I’ve been waiting over a year, possibly two for CTV to meet with Rogers and allow me access to streaming content on CTV.ca and CTV’s mobile apps. (Photo Below)
** Correction from Scott Henderson, Vice-President Communications Bell Media: We also announced in this fall a deal for the entire HBO back catalogue for CraveTV (see release). This is separate than current HBO programming. All back catalogue programming will be available on CraveTV, including the Sopranos, Sex and the City and, as you note, The Wire. HBO Canada features current programming – so The Wire won’t air on HBO Canada. But to be clear, this is the same situation as in the U.S. – To our understanding The Wire will not be broadcast on HBO there.
The TV Addict’s Response: According to an official HBO (US) Press Release, the new high-definition re-mastering of THE WIRE will be available to all HBO subscribers across the US on HBO GO, as well over the air. From the release, “Now, new and old fans of the series can watch the show like never before thanks to a brand new High-Definition upgrade of all 60 episodes, which will debut in December on HBO Signature® and HBO GO®”
About Last Night: Death, Rape and Adultery Claim Sunday Night TV
Last night, the likes of “Revenge,” “The Affair,” and “The Newsroom” were clouted by death, rape and adultery. Before it’s too late, a few thoughts on each of Sunday night’s controversial dramas: [Read more…]