Normally, around this time of year, I'd be putting out copious reviews of all the US season finales. This year, I haven't, although a few escaped earlier in the year and at the end of last year. There's a list of reasons why I haven't done so many this time around:

1. With the writers' strike messing with everything, most of the series haven't been at their best, so it might be wrong to judge them too harshly
2. I didn't realise some series had ended
3. Some series had ended permanently so there was no point
4. There's a great big backlog of episodes that we haven't watched yet
5. I've been busy

So no Scrubs, My Name is Earl, House, Moonlight, Aliens in America, Eli Stone, et al, coverage this year, I'm afraid. Lost is still to come next week, I think. But, after the break, I'll give abbreviated rundowns on 30 Rock, Smallville, CSI, CSI: Miami, Numb3rs, Gossip Girl and Supernatural.

Continue reading "Season finales 2008"

Read other posts about: 30 Rock, CSI, Numb3rs, Smallville, Supernatural

The latest news, plus a few things that happened while I was on holiday last week. Apologies if I left anything important out!

Doctor Who

• John Barrowman says Ecclescake was grumpy
• A picture from the Christmas special [spoilers]

Film

• Script review of Day The Earth Stood Still remake
• Warner to offer DVDs and VoD of movies on the same day in UK
• Natalie Portman to star in Wuthering Heights
• Thandie Newton to star as Condie Rice and Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair in Oliver Stone George Bush biopic

British TV

• Mitchell and Webb get a third series
• Lindsay Duncan to play Margaret Thatcher
• £15m remake of Ben Hur planned [free registration required]
• Wombles to save kids TV? [free registration required]
• Marc Warren, Alexander Armstrong and Keeley Hawes in comedy drama

US TV

• Fox picks up Ronald D Moore's Virtuality movie pilot
• Tricia Helfer has secret Fox drama planned?
• Lost exec to be showrunner on JJ Abrams' Fringe
• Scrubs' Sarah Chalke might be back for another HIMYM
• Two of Patricia Cornwell's novels to be adapted for Lifetime
• Oprah to be Tina Fey's best friend on 30 Rock?
• George Clooney returning for final ER?
• Lost and Grey's Anatomy to have extra hour for finales

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Scrubs

Doctor Who

• Time slot will change to 7pm around episode five or six
• Move to HD would require TARDIS rebuild

Film

• David and Jennifer Lynch unite for Surveillance
• Matthew McConaughey to play Magnum?
• Wargames 2 trailer
• Another Bill and Ted sequel, but without Keanu or Alex Winter

British TV

• The Jacksons to have a reality show set in Devon?

US TV

• ABC unveils new sitcoms, including Molly Ringwald vehicle Brenda Hampton and Roman's Empire/Never Better remakes
• NBC unveils Fall schedule, including Lipstick Jungle, Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, a spin-off from The Office and the last season of ER
• CSI/Two and a Half Men writers swap will lead to Cybill parody?
• Britney to return to HIMYM?
• A long interview with Ronald D Moore about BSG season four et al
• Ridley and Tony Scott to adapt Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth thanks to Oprah

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, CSI

The next Daily News will be on Tuesday 25th after the Easter weekend: have a nice holiday!

Film

• John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest and Jeffrey Tambor join Ricky Gervais' This Side of Truth
• Trailers for Mamma Mia!
• Paul Giamatti reunited with Clive Owen for Duplicity
• WTF? Movie in which drug dealer goes undercover to befriend a serial killer for the FBI is a true story?
• CZJ does May-December romcom. She's December though
• More Street Fighter cast details
• A-Team release date: June 12 2009
• Quantum of Solace to get Halloween release
• Joby Harold to adapt Frank Miller's Ronin

Technology

• HD-DVD flop costs Toshiba $1 billion

British TV

• Jimmy Nail, Caroline Quentin and Roger Lloyd-Pack to get BBC1 sitcoms
• ITV Entertainment chief Duncan Gray steps down
• Top Gear to build ultimate police car

US TV

• Michelle Trachtenberg to have multi-episode arc on Gossip Girl
• David Eick confirms death of Bionic Woman

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Top Gear

Doctor Who

• David Tennant, John Barrowman, Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori all leaving Doctor Who and Torchwood??
• Eve Myles wants Sweet FA to return to Torchwood

Film

• Alison Lohman to replace Ellen Page in Drag Me To Hell
• Djimon Hounsou to play Conan?
• Rose Byrne to star opposite Nick Cage in Knowing
• Michael Bay to remake Rosemary's Baby?
• Joan Cusack and John Goodman to be Isla Fisher's parents for Confessions of a Shopaholic

Commercials

• Monkey to explain the history of tea

British TV

• Brits want on-demand programming, but only if it's free [free registration required]
• Discovery Science rebranded [free registration required]
• Next Sky Pratchett adaptation to be Going Postal [free registration required]
• ITV1 wants full series of Mumbai Calling

US TV

• Adam Carolla to host Top Gear remake?
• Dexter gets a Shield exec and a video game
• Paris Hilton to cameo in My Name is Earl
• David Simon answers questions about The Wire
• Lost cast ask producers questions about the plot
• Spoilers for 30 Rock
• The CW greenlights Filthy Rich Girls pilot…
• …while downsizing and ditching its comedy division

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Dexter, Lost, My Name is Earl, The Wire, Top Gear, Torchwood

Look! It's Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper! What do you mean they seem a bit different?

Doctor Who

• BBC denies making its mind up about a second series of The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Now Germany can watch Doctor Who
• James Marsters talks Torchwood and seagulls

Film

• Guillermo del Toro to direct The Hobbit films?
• Julianne Moore to star in supernatural horror film Shelter
• Directors Guild board unanimously approves new contract
• Dennis Quaid and Arnold Vosloo join GI Joe

Books

• Fancy composing a Bond theme tune?

Technology

• Woolworth's to stop selling HD-DVDs because Blu-ray more popular

British TV

• It's the Ashes to Ashes press pack
• BSkyB told to cut stake in ITV by government
• Nick Broomfield signs first-look deal with Channel 4
• BBC to launch a Gaelic service
• ITV to make version of Val McDermid's A Place of Execution

US TV

• CBS to team with Canadian TV to make police drama
• Starz first ever drama to be based on Crash
• Possible 30 Rock/Office crossover?
• Supernatural interview with Eric Kripke (spoilers)
• Sam Raimi to adapt Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth books
• How to legally write for A/The Daily Show during a strike

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Ashes to Ashes, Supernatural, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood

Doctor Who

• Have you been watching the Christmas advent clips?
• Voyage of the Damned will be 71 minutes long
• EastEnders filming fake Doctor Who exhibition at St Paul's
• There are pictures, too, at The Sun, which now joins the Star in reckoning that Sarah Jane will feature in the finale [plus another spoiler]

Film

• Adam Brody to play the Flash in JLA?
• Tim Roth only doing Hulk movie for the kids
• Angelina gets rights to spy's lifestory
• Terminator producers talk about plots and cast

Commercials

• Scorsese homages Hitchcock

British TV

• BBC1 unveils its Winter season

US TV

• Alec Baldwin is really playing Lorne Michaels in 30 Rock
• Youthful versions of The Wire characters turn up on Amazon
• CBS may use edited versions of Showtime programmes like Dexter and The Tudors to beat the strike
• Courtney Cox wants to spoof Britney on Dirt
• Original KITT to cameo on Knight Rider remake?
• Moonlight and Big Bang Theory likely to get second seasons

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Ashes to Ashes, Dexter, Moonlight, The Wire

Film

• Jeff Bridges might be in the Tron sequel
• YouTube footage of Jet Li and Jackie Chan's The Forbidden Kingdom
• Pinewood to double in size

British TV

• How Not To Live Your Life gets full series – and format pick-up by ABC
• Jonathan Ross sues The Sunday Times over Ricky Gervais joke
• Warren Clarke, Anthony Head and Jenny Agutter to star in comedy drama Desperados for the Beeb

US TV

• Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica stop production because of the strike
• Posters for The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• BSG's Michael Trucco gets lead in Man of Your Dreams
• 30 Rock and SNL to give live performances this weekend
• Japan wants to arrest Hayden Panettiere for interfering with a dolphin (hunt)

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes

In the US: Thursdays, 8.30/7.30c, NBC
In the UK: Five, at some point, now they've finally bought the rights

Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: 0
Major new characters: 0
Format change percentage: 0%
Number of Seinfelds: 20

There's something about Jerry Seinfeld. Funny though his own series was, in other shows, he tends to destroy anything that's good about the show. He's just not a very good actor.

30 Rock, easily the funniest comedy of last year, even if it wasn't a ratings smash, doesn't need Jerry Seinfeld to be funny. In fact, bringing in Jerry Seinfeld makes it less funny. But it does need ratings, which is what Seinfeld can bring to a show, even with a guest appearance.

Trouble is, will he make people want to stay to watch the rest of the series, or does the reduction in quality he brings means his guest appearance will turn off the new viewers to what's normally good show?

Continue reading "Review: 30 Rock 2.1"

Read other posts about: 30 Rock

Doctor Who

• Billie Piper to be in Doctor Who movie, not series?

Film

• Val Kilmer to be a felon
• Serenity 2?
• Bradley Whitford and Neve Campbell to star in global warming mini-series
• Stephen Fry and Lily Allen to star in Jane Austen spoof?

Web TV

• Two new wildlife channels for Joost

British TV

• Sooty's up for sale
• Reunion planned for Grange Hill's 30th anniversary
• Ofcom launches public consultation on Sky's plans for not-FreeView
• Jericho's Lennie James joins C4 knife drama
• ITV to save The Prisoner remake
• Jonas Armstrong's been down the gym, apparently
• Peter Serafinowicz talks about his new show
• Dragon's Den is back on the 15th
• Tribute acts to vie for Las Vegas contract

US TV

• Studio 60's Steven Weber joins Brothers and Sisters
• FX commissions pilot for Tim Robbins' Possible Side Effects
• Ally Sheedy joins Kyle XY. Nice casting!
• More star cameos for 30 Rock
• Jericho's second season is completed
• The Daily Show's Lewis Black gets his own show
• Pushing Daisies gets good ratings

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Jericho, Kyle XY, Studio 60, The Prisoner, The West Wing