Film

• No Jon Favreau for Iron Man 2?
• Hugh Grant up for another rom-com shock
• New Three Musketeers adaptation/prequel

Art

• 'Mr Darcy' portrait to be sold

British TV

• A pantomime and a Gavin & Stacey sketch for Comic Relief from Ruth Jones and James Corden?
• Beeb to build web page for every show ever
• Third season of Heroes to be simulcast with the US
• US producers to bring pilots to the UK for buyers
• Sky One audiences drop 14% since leaving Virgin Media [free registration required]
• Casualty to move to Cardiff?

Irish TV

• Bill Cullen to start looking for his Apprentice

US TV

• Gossip Girl spin-off?
• Sarah Paulson to be female lead in Cupid
• Francis Capra joining Heroes
• Jamie Kennedy to replace Jay Mohr on Ghost Whisperer
• Seth Green to appear on My Name is Earl [spoilers]

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Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, Heroes, My Name is Earl

Film

• Sam Raimi talks about Spiderman sequels
• Josh Zetumer to write Dune?
• Another Muppet movie on the way
• Dark Knight featurettes

Theatre/Comedy

• Leonard Nimoy among performers at the Edinburgh Fringe

British TV

• The Inbetweeners gets a second series [free registration required]
• Robert Llewellyn dropped from Scrapheap Challenge
• Richard Hammond to make a kids science show
• Sky planning comic version of Snow White for Christmas [free registration required]

US TV

• Dennis Hopper to star in Crash
• Seth Rogen to write an episode of The Simpsons
• Jimmy Smits joins Dexter
• David Schwimmer directing segments of Little Britain USA
• Fox Fall premieres moved back a week
• Jenna Elfman to appear in My Name is Earl

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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

Film

• Ellen Page drops out of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell
• Donnie Yen to play Ip Man
• Tron 2 to be 3D in 2011, Pirates 4 on the way...

British TV

• Peter Fincham wants to poach Beeb stars, including Lucas and Walliams
• Samuel L Jackson to promote Virgin Media's VoD service

US TV

• Family Guy spin-off planned
• Therapists either love or hate In Treatment
• Changes to stories, particularly My Name is Earl's, caused by the strike [minor spoilers]
• ABC Family to renew Lincoln Heights
• The Rutles reunite for 30th anniversary

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Film

• Bootleg copy of new Indiana Jones trailer
• Al Pacino to be head Bond terrorist?
• Nicole Kidman to play Valerie Plame in Doug Liman biopic
• Star Trek XI pushed back to Summer 2009
• Corey Haim will be in Lost Boys sequel

British TV

• Philip Glenister to play American vampire killer who wants to stake Mackenzie Crook in The Last Van Helsing (working title)
• Beeb looking for more studio-based comedies [free registration required]
• No more CITV for Wales [free registration required]
• Shane Ritchie to play Arthur Daley in Minder remake for Five?

US TV

• NBC renews Chuck, Life and Heroes, but Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Friday Night Lights look dead
• CBS orders more episodes of Shark and Rules of Engagement
• Save Cavemen - send hair to ABC
• Chuck Lorre and co to work 24/7 to get episodes of Big Bang Theory, etc made
• My Name is Earl creator spent strike working in fast food restaurant
• Hugh Laurie upset by end of strike

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In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC
In the UK: Channel 4, some time in the year 2357 at this rate

Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: 0
Major new characters: A prison full
Format change percentage: 25%
Number of shanks made: 1

Ooh, this is tricky. How to review this without giving the game away for UK viewers, who are still trundling through season two.

Can't. Sorry. Don't read further than this point if you've not seen the finale for season two.

Continue reading "Review: My Name is Earl 3.1"

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Doctor Who

• A certain new Who monster will appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures, as will Jane Asher, Phyllida Law and Floella Benjamin [minor spoilers]

Film

• Steve Coogan to star in high school comedy Hamlet 2
• Journeyman's Kevin McKidd may be Thor. But probably not
• Set footage from The Hulk

Commercials/Music

• Brian Ferry appears in a Carling ad

British TV

• Wall to Wall up for sale
• BB8 had to play it safe after Celebrity BB fall out

US TV

• Glen Morgan quits Bionic Woman because of creative differences
• Apple would like to cut iTunes TV prices to 99?Ǭ¢
• Alyssa Milano to join My Name is Earl as a love interest for Earl
• Edie Falco to appear on three episodes of 30 Rock
• Californication renewed

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Read other posts about: 30 Rock, Big Brother, My Name is Earl, The Sarah Jane Adventures

Doctor Who

• James Marsters may return for another Torchwood episode and have sex with a car
• David Tennant to appear on Christmas Extras?

Film

• Sacha Baron Cohen to do Bruno and Dinner for Schmucks
• Pinewood does well from tax credits
• Ooh. Dé jà vu. Ben Kingsley to star with Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba and The Daily Show's John Oliver in The Love Guru as?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ an Indian guru
• Tron pioneer finally sells script

US TV

• Annie Wersching to play the main female lead in 24
• CW previews Aliens in America to muslims
• Former ER doctor Michael Michele to appear on House?
• Craig T Nelson to guest on My Name is Earl
• Rebecca Romijin to guest on husband's Carpoolers
• The Wire finishes filming
• Writer Jason Smilovic talks Bionic Woman, Kidnapped and more

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Doctor Who

• John Barrowman gets a recording contract

Film

• Jason Lee is on The Other Side

British TV

• George Michael to be in The Catherine Tate Show

US TV

• Bionic Woman will be post-feminist. Allegedly
• Meanwhile, Katee Sackhoff signs a last-minute deal to stay in the show
• Danny Glover joins the cast of Brothers and Sisters
• CBS buys fantasy drama Kingdom
• Aaron Sorkin sort of takes the blame for Studio 60
• Kal Penn and Olivia Wilde join the cast of House. Maybe
• Linux Roache joins the cast of Law and Order
• Spoilers for My Name is Earl, Scrubs, The Office and 30 Rock
• Standoff creator gets a three-year deal with Fox
• American Gladiators coming back?
• Friday Night Lights spoilers

Read other posts about: 30 Rock, House, My Name is Earl, Scrubs, Studio 60, Torchwood

As you may recall, last year I cast my reviewing eyes over the end-of-season finales for various US shows. The tissue-thin rationale I gave was “A good finale to a TV series can keep you watching even the biggest rubbish imaginable. They can be exciting, tense and a whole load of other things.

“Stress, of course, is a major health hazard. Therefore, so that UK viewers can brace themselves to an appropriate degree, I'll be giving near-spoiler free guides to just how tense and exciting each of the major US TV shows' finales were, starting today. US TV shows don't end all at once: they're spread over a period of three weeks or so, so there'll be another couple of updates to come after this over the next week or so.”

Guess what. I'm doing it again this year using pretty much the same reasoning as I did last year. So here goes: there'll be more to come over the coming days and indeed weeks.

Continue reading "Season finales: Prison Break, My Name is Earl, The Unit, Jericho"

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