King of the Hill and creator Mike Judge
This Sunday (at 7:30 pm/ET) will mark the 200th episode and 10th season finale of Fox's King of the Hill. The achievement is yet another feather in the cap of series creator Mike Judge, who turned Beavis and Butt-head into household names and directed the oft-quoted cult hit Office Space. Known as
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Rainn Wilson, The Office
I'd like to start this week's blog by publicly thanking my husband for letting me hijack his laptop for the past few weeks while I've been on the road. Thanks to him, I've typed many of my recent blogs from planes, hotel rooms and coffee shops. I'm currently en route from Montreal to our hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, where I'm meeting him for a special advanced screening of his new horror movie, Slither (which, if I can do a little wifely bragging, just received an amazing review in Variety).
Tonight NBC is reairing my favorite episode from Season 1 — "Health Care" — written by the uber-talented Paul Lieberstein. I've watched this episode more times than any other episode we've made, and I still love seeing it.
This week, Michael has to cut employee health benefits. Because he knows this will make him unpopular he makes Dwight do it. Dwight goes way overboard. He surveys people about their private health problems and the
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The Simpsons
Fox has ordered two more rounds of The Simpsons — the 18th and 19th seasons for the longest-running prime-time entertainment series on the air — and one more of King of the Hill. The two-year renewal for Homer, Marge et al takes the animated comedy through the 2007-08 season, during which it will air its 400th episode. That is a lot of eaten shorts, I tell you.
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Kevin James, The King of Queens
This week the networks began meeting with ad-agency execs to talk about what's in development for the 2006-07 season. That means it's time for producers of current shows with less-than-robust ratings to start worrying about getting picked up for next season. Here's what industry insiders are telling the Biz.
ABC: The network's comedies are having a tough year in the ratings, but you can't cancel all of them. Rodney, Hope & Faith, Crumbs and Less than Perfect aren't likely to make the cut. According to Jim, George Lopez and Freddie have a chance of returning. Since ABC has two more hours to program in the fall now that football has moved to NBC, shows that would otherwise be doomed have a chance. We're talking Invasion and Commander in Chief. Their survival depends on the strength of the network's new-program development.
CBS: Another season of The King of Queens depends on whether the n
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The Office's John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer
This week's episode of The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC] is called "Take Your Daughter to Work Day," and it is written by the hot and talented Mindy Kaling (who also plays Kelly on the show). Every few weeks we have a scene that knocks me on the floor laughing while we shoot, and this was one of those weeks. I haven't seen the final product so I'm not sure what made it in and what didn't. And who knows if the comedy translated on screen or if it was just one of those days where we were slaphappy and giggling at everything. But this was a fun episode to shoot.
In this episode the Dunder-Mifflin employees bring their daughters to work for the day. Stanley brings his hot teenage daughter who starts crushin' on R
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Question: Thanks for devoting much of last Friday's column to my favorite show, Arrested Development. Reading some insight on the situation from you and other fans is both heartwarming and cathartic. I read from another critic that some execs at Fox believe there is a scenario in which AD can get renewed for a fourth season. Given that many of the Fox comedies, like King of the Hill, Malcolm, Bernie Mac and That '70s Show, are on their last legs and that Fox hasn't had a great development season this year, the network may be inclined to bring AD back to fill some gaping holes. Especially considering that AD is one of the few shows that does have significant Emmy recognition and Fox is hardly in a position to be tossing those away. Do you think this is a likely scenario?
Answer: Hard to say, but it's doubtful. The current season was certainly a bit of a surprise — given that during the second season Fox had cut the episode order and yanked it from sweeps, and with all the fun ups and
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Bernie Mac is developing an All in the Family-type sitcom for Fox, Variety reports. Mac, who won't star in the project, will write and produce the pilot with King of the Hill scribe Dean Young.... Before it embarks on its winter hiatus, Alias will go back to where it belongs — Wednesday nights at 10 pm, following Lost. The new schedule begins next month.
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Question: Well, CBS has done it again. I was interested in watching Category 7: The End of the World tonight (Sunday), but apparently because of a late football game, it started 10 minutes late. This has not only messed up my TV watching for tonight, but how many people have TiVos who are not going to catch the end, since they'll cut off at 11 pm? Also, CBS has sacrificed one hour for four since Category 7 is a two-parter set to finish next week (Nov. 13). If I can't watch the first part, I won't be interested in tuning in for the second part next week. NBC's NASCAR coverage ran over by 20 minutes, but they adjusted Dateline so it ended at 8 pm/ET to accommodate a top-of-the-hour start time for The West Wing. If NBC can do it, why can't CBS? Just another example of the networks not giving a flip about the audience. Your thoughts?
Answer: Rule of thumb when planning to record either CBS or Fox on Sundays during football season, on VCR or DVR: Set ample time on either end, because
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Question: I currently go to college and live with three other roommates, all big fans of Fox's Sunday-night comedy lineup. A week ago, we watched all four of the shows, from The Simpsons to American Dad. What troubled me the most was my roommates' puzzling affection for The War at Home. They laughed at every racial, sexual and trashy joke, all of which I found rather disturbing. I know the modern sitcom has transformed from white-bread to dysfunctional, but War's loudmouthed stupidity was too much for me. Even The Simpsons' premiere was lacking, but it easily towered over this junk. What did you think?
Answer: Have you considered finding new roomies? (Joke.) And is it possible you're living with sophomores? Because The War at Home may in fact be the most sophomoric new comedy of the season. (Sorry.) Like you, I found this one to be crude without being the least bit funny, pandering for laughs with only one marginally adept performance (Anita Barone as the mom) in the entire cast. But
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Question: What is the future of King of the Hill? Is the upcoming season going to be its last?
Answer: By all accounts, this will be the show's final season leading off Fox's Sunday lineup, which means its scheduling will be hit-or-miss depending on sports overruns. The show hasn't always been well treated by Fox, but this will be its 10th season, after all. And no show (with the possible exception of The Simpsons) is meant to last forever. King is going to enjoy a long and healthy afterlife, and I suppose there are worse futures than that. Personally, I would like to see Hank and Co. moved to the post-Simpsons slot if The War at Home fails, as it deserves to do. That would be a much more noble, and visible, way to go out ...
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