Ray Wise and Bret Harrison in Reaper by Michael Courtney/The CW
It took a year, but the CW (the network cobbled together from the ashes of the WB and UPN) is finally starting to look like a real network, albeit one aggressively and obsessively focused on the 18-34 youth market. Which no doubt is causing more than a few existential crises among those longtime vets of the TCA press tour who said goodbye to that demo a while ago.Dawn Ostroff, the network’s relentlessly perky entertainment president, took a “no regrets” approach to her upbeat presentation Friday morning. She’s serious about tapping into trends with her programming and with various online/digital offshoots (especially where the new teen soap Gossip Girl is concerned), but otherwise, there’s something kind of refreshing about a network that doesn’t take itself too seriously.There was loud laughter in the room during clips of the CW’s various lightweight reality shows, including a first look at the new twist on guilty-pleasure fave Beauty and the Geek...
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Matt Frewer, Eureka
Within the strange, genius-populated little Northwestern town at the heart of Sci Fi Channel's Eureka (Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET) resides Jim Taggart, the off-center "dogcatcher" who specializes in the critters, creepies and crawlies born of the burg's bizarre scientific experiments. TVGuide.com spoke with Matt Frewer (aka Max Headroom for my fellow children of the '80s) about his stay in Eureka and the series' "aggressive multiplatform media initiative." (He has no idea what I just said.)
TVGuide.com: It's always a pleasure — if not a little bit clumsy — to interview another person named Matt.Matt Frewer: Oh, well, just pretend I'm wearing a name
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Colin Ferguson, Eureka
Starting tonight at 9 pm/ET, Sci Fi Channel's Eureka ventures into the same Pacific Northwest that played home to Twin Peaks as it tells the tale of a tiny town harboring a big secret: namely, a population of geniuses, many of whom toil for a top-secret government think tank. Playing U.S. Marshal Jack Carter, through whom viewers experience this strange (and soon about to become stranger) world, is Colin Ferguson, whose alter ego has little idea that this quick pass through town, with a temperamental teenage daughter in tow, will turn into a very "extended" stay.
TVGuide.com: How are you doing there, Colin?
Colin Ferguson: I'm han
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Matthew Fox, Lost
Question: I am amazed at the new Lost-related websites springing up. The Oceanic site last year was cool, and then the Hanso site, but now there is a site for the Valenzetti Foundation, which is somehow related to the new book Bad Twin and the site for Windmore Laboratories, the makers of the Dharma food and Sun's pregnancy test. Oh, and let's not forget the new Hanso phone number (which, I admit, I did call). How involved are Lost's creators in the info going up on these sites, and is it necessary for the avid Lost fan to scour these sites for a fuller appreciation of the show?
Answer: From what I gather, the producers are very involved in these offshoots, all of which sounds like a great deal of fun for anyone with the time to indulge their Lost obsession. It reminds me of my early days on the TV beat, back in the low-tech pre-Internet days, when the legendary Twin Peaks issued a number of products, including the late Laura Palmer's diary, to tease the audience into trying to solve
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Onetime West Winger Matthew Perry stars on Aaron Sorkin's Strip.
Television's new fall lineups won't be unveiled until May, but Hollywood is already making predictions about which pilots will become full-fledged shows. Here are some projects that are generating heat.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip NBC has penciled in this drama from West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin about the backstage doings of a famous sketch-comedy show à la Saturday Night Live. Sorkin's mighty pen, and a cast that
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Kyle MacLachlan
Former Twin Peaks G-man Kyle MacLachlan — most recently the star of ABC's now-adjourned legal drama In Justice — is joining the cast of Desperate Housewives on April 16 for a multiepisode arc. "He’s a lovelorn, single dentist who is trying to make a connection with Susan," says executive producer Tom Spezialy. "She’s already entangled with her ex-husband and Mike, so he’s very much the fourth wheel in this situation." MacLachlan will appear in a handful of episodes and it’s possible he could return in the fall. "It depends how he plays," says Spezialy. "I would think he would fit in nicely in our world." Another variable: ABC hasn’t officially canceled In Justice. Not sure what they're waiting for.
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Ray Wise
Tonight's two-hour 24 "event" (beginning at 8 pm/ET on Fox) will host a parade of faces new and familiar, including Elisha Cuthbert's return as Jack's beleaguered daughter and the debut of C. Thomas Howell as Kim's (overdue, if you ask me) therapist. The evening also introduces us to Vice President Hal Gardner, who has been choicely cast with Ray Wise, a star of the Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck and who is familiar to TV fans as Twin Peaks' very bad dad, Leland Palmer. TVGuide.com welcomed the chance to ask Wise about his 24 VP, working with George Clooney
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Question: Someone recently wrote in about the poor chances of Invasion getting a second season. That would sadden me (I like the show), but I have wondered where it would even go for a second or third season. Some shows seem to be able to keep it fresh and fun for years, and others burn themselves out quickly. I know networks want shows that keep making money year after year, but do you think they might keep the "Arrgh, they canceled my show!" viewers happier if sometimes they released a show that was only meant to have one season? Some stories are too big for cinema, but they're not long enough to last five or six seasons. Sometimes one season is just about right. (I got this idea from animé, in which stand-alone 26-episode stories are very common.)
Answer: We'll see how this plays out when the networks experiment this summer and into next season with the telenovela format (on My Network TV), which (from what I understand) tells closed-ended soap-opera stories in season-long formats. I
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Question: I love your column and your candid insights. Matt, do you share my opinion that Lost is on the verge of Twin Peaks-ing itself into oblivion? The first season of Twin Peaks was so awesome and must-see. By the second season, they seemed so full of their own cleverness and press that they forgot what made their show compelling to begin with: awesome, mysterious plotlines and various twists and turns. With Lost, the second season is having the same problem. The show that I ordered all of my friends/family to watch this season has morphed into a scattered, disjointed, meandering story with barely any of the wonderful features of Season 1. Just as Twin Peaks suffered a premature death, I think Lost is headed there as well, particularly when they keep going on hiatus and bombarding us with reruns. 24 blows away all competition for me in the drama department, not only because of the fast-paced action but because I can tune in and rest assured I will never see a rerun. Lost is on the ...
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Ray Wise
Monday's two-hour 24 "event" (beginning at 8 pm/ET on Fox) will host a parade of faces new and familiar, including Elisha Cuthbert's return as Jack's beleaguered daughter and the debut of C. Thomas Howell as Kim's (overdue, if you ask me) therapist. The evening also introduces us to Vice President Hal Gardner, who has been choicely cast with Ray Wise, a star of the Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck and who is familiar to TV fans as Twin Peaks' very bad dad, Leland Palmer. TVGuide.com welcomed the chance to ask Wise about his 24 VP, working with George Clooney
read more