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Posts tagged as “FOX”

The CW 2010: It’s for dudes too

The CW 2010: It’s for dudes too

For my first blog back on A TV Calling 2.0, I will try to continue the trend talking about what teenagers like, to Alex’s great dismay.

And what they (seem to) like is The CW. Born from the merger of The WB and UPN, The CW is equally the property of Time Warner and CBS Entertainment. All of their pilots in development are produced by both their production arms, Warner Bros. TV and CBS Paramount TV. Problem is, since fall of 2006, the netlet barely produced an original hit, focusing on the sure bets of both the WB and UPN. So, it carried the last seasons of “Gilmore Girls”, “Everybody Hates Chris”, “7th Heaven”.

The only sure-fire hit born under the CW banner is “Gossip Girl”. And one can argue that this show is mainly watched by female teenagers. And yes, this season has brought us “The Vampire Diaries”, who is also targeting the same female viewership, and whose showrunners’ mission is to try and not resemble “Twilight” too much. If you think I’m joking, go read this Paley Festival recap.


But for this fourth season on air, both those hits can be attributed to luck, and hide a network who has trouble expanding the soap-opera fare, and more crucially, beyond female viewers. It brought back “90210” last year and “Melrose Place” this year, but the scandal-ridden storylines barely mesmerized viewers. One is struggling in its second season, and suffered a showrunner switch in the middle of the first season, and the other returned last week to catastrophic ratings. It’s not expected to make it past this season, a shame when you know the original series lasted seven seasons.

So Dawn Ostroff, The CW’s President of Entertainment, decided to take drastic measures: having male viewers back to The CW. What better than a highly-trained female assassin played by the cutie from Die Hard 4? Yep, “La Femme Nikita” is about to be resurrected with Maggie Q as the lead. And Lyndsy Fonseca (“Desperate Housewives”, the upcoming “Kick-Ass”) is to play her hunter, a 19-year old felon that makes a deal with a secret organization (what else?) to escape a lengthy prison sentence. It sounds good and all, but don’t forget that they can make it lighter, a la “Alias”, than the original USA Network show. But ass-kicking females playing cat and mouse is sure to bring back boys to the yard.


Another pilot, still untitled and penned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, centers on a hunky horse trainer that becomes the patriarch of his parent’s Wyoming ranch after the parents die. And “Nomads”, produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, features globetrotters working undercover missions for the CIA. This last one sounds more FOX-like than CW-like. But it’s all about finding a hit outside their comfort zone, or this could spell the end of Dawn Ostroff’s tenure of the netlet.
Or it could be just a bluff move, where none of the shows are picked up and Ostroff’s people decide to go with companion shows to “Vampire Diaries”, like “Betwixt”, or “Grey’s Anatomy”-lite like “HMS” (Harvard Medical School).

TV Mid-Season '010: The Complete Review – What is new

We almost got side-tracked by the Oscars, didn’t we?
No worries, I’ve got you covered on the new series coming your way in the next few months.

New and shiny. Will you tune in?


– Miami Medical (premieres April 2): At first you might think we’re talking about NBC’s Trauma (hell, the show was even first named Miami Trauma), but the truth is, it’s a riveting original new medical drama unlike any other. Except all the others. Lana Parrilla stars in this soon-to-be-canned new series. Did someone say three for three? If there’s one thing to point out however, is that the show was created by residuals-millionaire Jeffrey Lieber (yes, that one).


– Parenthood (premieres March 2): Is it really Modern Family meets Brothers & Sisters? If anything, the cast is incredible. However with that said, I wasn’t overly impressed by the pilot but I’ll stay tuned to see if it does get better.
– Persons Unknown (premieres June 7): Created by Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie (thanks to a little film called The Usual Suspects), this new mystery drama is about a bunch of amnesiacs waking up in an unknown location. Who are they? Where are we? Add an island, flashbacks, a smoke monster and, well, you know where I’m going with this.

The Big Unknown
Day One (Spring): What a ride it has been. First it was an event series premiering post-Olympics, then an event mini-series, and now a backdoor-pilot/TV-movie with (still!) no premiere date. No need to pull the plug on this one, the cord has already firmly secured the neck.


– Happy Town (premieres April 28): No, I’m not going to make a Twin Peaks joke. The pilot was pretty much a bore and a waste of its great cast (more Amy Acker!).

The Big Unknown
Copper (Spring): Grey’s Anatomy, but with cops. How original.


– Sons of Tucson (premieres March 14): It’s been promoted for almost a year, the pilot leaked ages ago, and it’s only premiering now. Don’t ask if it’s going to blend, ask if it’s going to last.
– The Good Guys (fka Code 58/The Five Eight) (premieres June 7): Bradley Whitford with a ‘stache, Matt Nix behind the typewriter, and Colin Hanks as the snarky rookie. Do I hear Starsky & Hutch meets badassery?


– The Pacific (premieres March 14): You know you’ve been waiting for it for a decade. It’s finally here.
– Treme (premieres April 11): Will it be The Wire: New Orleans, or something else? In either case, people will declare it snubbed at the 2011 Emmys.


– Justified (premieres March 16): By Graham Yost, with Timothy Olyphant and Natalie Zea. This looks like another FX winner to me. Despite all of this though, the pitch doesn’t appeal to me.


– The Phantom (premieres in June): We’ve already taken a look at this backdoor-pilot. A trailer is also out there. If you’re not really interested, let me just add that it was written by non other than Daniel Knauf (from Carnivàle fame). Now are you gonna watch?

This mid-season certainly has an “edge” to it…

Oscar thoughts (2010)

Well, that surely was riveting (not).
Sure, The Hurt Locker probably wasn’t the best 2009 movie, but nowadays I’m happy if good work is even recognized.
So, yay.

I was pleasantly surprised by Neil Patrick Harris’ opening number.
At least they know who to call for these sorta things.

On the other hand, this didn’t really show much confidence in Alec Baldwin/Steve Martin’s duo (not even seen on stage until the fifth minute).
Twice the host, half the screentime.


The banter following their arrival felt tame at best.
It almost seemed as if they were listing a bunch of famous celebrities in hopes that fangirls all around would “squee”. Alas that wasn’t the case.
Clooney certainly didn’t seem to care about the ceremony.
The jokes themselves didn’t feel much inspired.
Case in point with James Cameron’s “micro-roast” that revolved around, you guessed it, 3-D glasses.

Did anyone else notice that, right after Steve Martin made his joke about Christoph “Jew Hunter” Waltz having hit “the motherload”, they cut to…Ethan Coen?!
Bad taste much?

I was surprisingly surprised at one win: Best Foreign Language Film.
Seemed as if Das Weisse Band was going to get it. Ended up going to El Secreto de Sus Ojos.
Yes, I’m happy about that.

Another shock came when Michael Giacchino was given the Oscar for Best Original Music.
No, I wasn’t shocked because he had won, rather because he hadn’t won before that.
Indeed, this was his first Academy Award ever.
What a shame it didn’t happen sooner. Though great speech.
Incidentally, I’m actually listening to one of the Lost soundtracks as I’m writing this.
And a note to Jennifer Lopez: it’s pronounced Ja-Key-No.

Continuing on the Lost-related talk:
If you were thinking that J.J. Abrams, or, hell, even Terry O’Quinn/Michael Emerson, were going to win an Oscar way before the guy playing Minkowski, think again.

If you’re wondering about that “Kanye West” moment, as people are calling it now, check this out.

Up winning best animated film was a disappointment.
I wish Coraline or Fantastic Mr. Fox had the award.

What’s up with Colin Farell being Jeremy Renner’s actor-buddy on stage and talking about SWAT?!
Weren’t TPTB able to get, I don’t know, any co-star from The Hurt Locker?
Seriously, who thought we would hear about that SWAT movie ever again, let alone at the Academy Awards?

Anyhow, the horror tribute was a bit weird since it included a bunch of movies I’d describe as belonging to the “fantasy” genre (Edward Scissorhands to name just one).

Speaking of, the award for the scariest moment of the evening goes to:


Who knew a comedian painted in blue was going to be a highlight.
Haven’t seen that on TV since a guy named Tobias.

Notice my total lack of thought regarding the major categories.
That’s because I don’t have any.
I’m obviously happy for Bigelow (they took their sweet time to make the historic kudos).
Big “duh” for all the other wins.
And that’s about it.

To finish us off, here’s the genius Modern Family promo they made especially for the Oscars: