Prison Break Renewed & Paley Fest Memories

Fear not Prison Break lovers – the show will be back. Yesterday Fox announced that our favorite “break out” (pun not only intended but planned because I’m clever) hit show will return for Season 3. Paul Scheuring, the show’s Executive producer, said his team had been proceeding with this year’s season finale cliffhanger and had already mapped out much of season three when they received the firm pickup Tuesday.

“We already knew where we were going,” he said. “Most of the major players are returning, but it will be a reconceptualization again, just like it was in season two.”

Expect to see a few more faces on the show next season, and expect that some of the guys we know won’t make it to Season 3. During the recent Prison Break panel at the Paley Festival Scheuring said that one of the cast members that were sitting on stage with him won’t be around for Season 3. A little birdie told me who it is, and it’s a character I like so I’m kind of bummed about it. I won’t spill it here, but if you want to know put on your Veronica Mars cap and head over to E! online and search for the clues (and if you still need help email me).

During the panel we also learned that filming will continue in Dallas but will also venture out to Louisiana and Florida.

More Notes from the Prison Break Paley Fest Panel….
I just realized that I never shared my notes from the Prison Break panel at the Paley Festival. Sorry. It seems so long ago now, but here are a few memorable moments from that evening (before, during and after)

– When you are in the lobby of your hotel and you look over to see T-Bag checking in, don’t be alarmed – he’s just an actor playing a role (and I found it helpful to remind myself of that over and over again – and I still checked the door about 5 times before I went to bed)
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LIVE Blogging American Idol

Ten minutes into and I figure ‘what the hell, I’m watching – I might as well as blog it‘.

It’s all about the British invasion tonight. Peter Noone and LuLu are mentoring the kids tonight. Don’t know who they are? Me neither. Well I know LuLu from her stint on “Absolutely Fabulous” but without that I would never have known them. Hey, I wasn’t around in the 60’s, don’t blame me.

Haley Scarnato is singing “Tell Him”, and I think this is her best performance yet. She was cute, adorable and really had fun with it. Nice job. Oh and look, Ryan Cabrera is in the audience. Paula and Randy really enjoyed her performance. Simon thought she was “naughty”. He thought it was fun, young and a bit shrieky but overall he thinks people are going to be talking about a lot more than her singing. (1-866-IDOLS-01)

Chris Richardson is not getting the love by Peter Noone. Mr. Noone doesn’t seem to have much faith in the boy. We’ve got a rather subdued Chris tonight, and I’m slowly falling in love. His voice isn’t rich but there’s something about this kid. If he were to bypass American Idol he would have a record deal based on his look alone. But going up against these great singers, he doesn’t have much of a chance. I thought he did a really nice job tonight. Randy thought it was beautiful. Paula thought he was smart with his song choice and it was sexy. Simon thought it was his best performance because he really controlled the song and made it his own. Yeah Chris. (1-866-IDOLS-02)

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“Extras” Extra Special

Personally I think Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are two of the biggest teases in the history of television.  The masterminds behind The Office and Extras have this thing about creating fantastic comedies and pulling the plug at the height of its genius. I know they are all about going out on top, but I can’t help it if it bums me out.

Gervais and Merchant have recently confirmed that their HBO series Extras will not return for a third season. Similar to what they did with The Office, Gervais and Merchant will be giving us a little extra Extras. The creators have announced that a stand alone Extras special will be created and air at an unspecific time in the future.  This is the same approach they took after the series finale of The Office.  The show came back and aired a 2-part special that brought forth and tied up some storylines from the original series (namely that tear inducing Tim/Dawn kiss…sigh).  The series finale of Extras was only a few weeks ago and I’m already looking forward to the special. Gervais and Merchant are comedy Gods.  If you haven’t yet watched Extras I suggest you go out and rent it on DVD.  If you have HBO on Demand you can most likely catch up with the episodes there.  It’s a great show.

Back at Dunder Mifflin? 
As many of you know, earlier this season Gervais & Merchant wrote an episode for the US version of The Office (“The Convict”).  But will Gervais or Merchant return to Dunder Mifflin to direct an episode in the future? Hmmm…that may just happen. As soon as I know, I will let you know.

SCANDAL: Corruption in TV Voting

This just in…corruption and fraud have taken a seemingly harmless TV internet game and turned it into something ugly, just ugly (and there’s not even a Betty Suarez involved in this one).

In the spirit of March Madness, the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye had a bracket of it’s own to name the best character on TV today.  In the final four we had strong contenders: Jack Donaghy (30 Rock) vs. Ari Gold(Entourage) and Dr. Gregory House (House) vs. Dwight Schrute (The Office).  Things turned viscious when fans of House started campaigning hard for the Doc to win.  Not to be outdone, Office fans started their petition for Dwight, going so far to get Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin) involved and asking for votes for their co-star through their MySpace pages.

Well it’s all fun and games until someone rigs a web browser – and that’s just what happened.  Someone in one of the camps (and I personally don’t know which one) rigged a browser to vote hundreds of times a minute for their “candidate”.  The cheating got so bad that all votes for House and Schrute have been thrown out and NEW voting will take place TODAY only with the deadline of 1pm CST. Click here to vote for Dwight Schrute or Dr. Gregory House.

Also, if you are in the Chicago area and want to tell the world why you love Dwight or House, check out this notice from the Chicago Tribune.

Hey, Dwight and House fans! The Final Four of our tournament is almost here and RedEye needs your help! We’re looking for one fan of whichever character wins this round to film a short video explaining just why you love the character. We’re going to film the videos on Tuesday so if you’re interested and can come down to Tribune Tower send an e-mail to jgreenfield@tribune.com right away.

TV’s Sexiest Stars

Who brought the sexy back in 2007? TV Guide has just released it’s list of the sexiest stars on TV. Let’s look a look at their list and then talk about the true sex-a-licious people that were overlooked, shall we?
TV Guides Picks…

The Ladies

1. Evangeline Lilly, Kate Austen, on “Lost”
2. Eva Longoria, Gabrielle Solis on “Desperate Housewives”
3. Katherine Heigl, Izzie Stevens on “Grey’s Anatomy”
4. Marg Helgenberger, Catherine Willows on CBS’ “CSI”
5. Ali Larter, Niki Sanders on “Heroes”
6. Nadine Velazquez, Catalina on “My Name Is Earl”
7. Roselyn Sanchez, Elena Delgado on “Without a Trace”
8. Rashida Jones, Karen Filippelli on “The Office”
9. Rebecca Romijn, Alexis Meade on “Ugly Betty”
10. Jennifer Morrison, Allison Cameron on “House”

Read on…
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24 Recap: “Day 6, 7:00 – 8:00pm”

Title: “Day 6, 7:00 – 8:00pm”
Original Airdate: 3/19/07
GMMR Recapper: LaLa

So, if I’m being honest (and I’m not trying to sound like Simon Cowell here, I swear…), this was not my favorite episode of 24. I mean, VP Demon Daniels was just being so ridiculously irrational and absurd that it seriously stretched believability, I’m sorry. The fact that he was going ahead and initiating a nuclear attack on the conveniently-not-named country, even though CTU stopped the nuke from going off in San Francisco and thus his stated reason for “retaliation” become null… and Karen and Tom were the ONLY people who were disagreeing with him and trying to stop him?!?!?!

Whatever happened to the presidential staff of 24 season 2 that was so quick to remove David Palmer from office because they thought he was irrational and had lost his mind??? Not only that, but Wayne has only been in medical for a few hours – Daniels hasn’t even been officially declared and/or sworn in as president yet. I mean, isn’t there SOME sort of protocol out there that would necessitate that they delay NUKING A FOREIGN COUNTRY and starting a war until they get the official word from the still-alive president – or at the very least Congress??? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression that only Congress can declare war and/or sanction acts of war against a foreign country. Bush, Clinton, and every other U.S. President has had to get approval from Congress before “taking action against”, i.e. bombing, foreign countries. Soooo, this is a serious serious – and horrible – plot hole if I’m right.

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Prison Break Recap: Panama

Title: “Panama”
Original Airdate: March 19, 2007
GMMR Recapper: Michelle
And the big moral lesson to be take from tonight’s episode of “Prison Break”: if you’re a prostitute, don’t assume that the John you picked up won’t ask you to dress up and pretend to be Susan Hollander or that he won’t kill you and leave you in a hotel bathroom when he’s done with you. He will likely do both of these things.

Yep, that’s what T-Bag does shortly after paying a dude to pick up his bag of money at the lost baggage claim at the airport. After he gets his cash, Bellick and Sucre, who are working together only so Bellick can get his hands on the cash and Sucre can get his beloved Maricruz back from Bellick’s holding place for her, spot him in the airport. A chase ensues, but T-Bag escapes. He picks up said hooker and when she refuses to continue their role-playing, he kills her and leaves her body to be found in the tub by the hotel maid. T-Bag escapes through the front door and is recognized by authorities only on his way out. He’s not captured, but now they know where he is.

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TV’s Freshman Year Report Card

There have been some break out hits from the 2006-07 TV season.  Some are critical darlings while others dominate the ratings.  Sadly others have disappeared like David Blaine (when he doesn’t screw up those damn magic tricks  illusions.)

What Freshman favorites would you like to see make it to their Sophomore season?  And which shows were you sad to see flunk out.  It’s show and tell, so make sure you tell others why YOUR favorite Freshman shows should be appointment TV. Fight hard enough and your comments might make it in to our GMMR TV Yearbook, Class of 2006-07.

Here’s the shows (let me know if there are any I missed)

CBS

• The Class
• Close to Home
• Jericho
• Rules of Engagement
• Shark

NBC

• 30 Rock
• Andy Barker, PI
• The Black Donnellys
• Friday Night Lights
• Heroes
• Raines
• Studio 60

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New TV Shows in the Works

So many pilots…so few make it to air. I was shocked to see just how many shows are being developed in hopes to making it on TV for the 2007-2008 season. Equally as shocked to see how many featured ex-90210ers (yes, Luke Perry, Jason Priestly and Brian Austin Green all have shows in the works). Here are a few that caught my attention, but who knows if they will ever see the light of day. I’ll be updating this list as more potential shows catch my interest.

THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES (FOX) – A comedy pilot, about two estranged sisters who reunite after one of them agrees to carry the other’s baby.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Lauren Ambrose (Sarah), Michael Arden (Buddy), Parker Posey (Coco), Ron McLarty (Donald), Scott Cohen (Marcus)

GMMR’s pick: The show is created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creative mind behind Gilmore Girls. That should be enough, but throw in Parker Posey and now I’m all kinds of excited.

SAM I AM (ABC) – Single-camera comedy about a 30-year-old psychiatrist who, after becoming the victim of a hit and run, develops amnesia and has to rediscover her life, her relationships and herself.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Christina Applegate (Sam), Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito (Angela), Kevin Dunn, Melissa McCarthy, Tim Russ (Frank)

GMMR’s pick: I kind of liked the idea of the pilot. I’m just happy to not see another hospital or crime drama. And I have always liked Christina Applegate

GOSSIP GIRL (The CW) – A drama based on the popular book series, about the world of privileged teenagers attending elite private schools in new york city as told through the eyes of an anonymous blogger
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Blake Lively (Serena), Chace Crawford (Nate), Florencia Lozano (Eleanor), Kelly Rutherford, Leighton Meester (Blair), Penn Badgley (Dan), Taylor Momsen (Jenny)

GMMR’s pick: The show was created by The O.C.’s Josh Schwartz. And if that wasn’t enough it’s about a blogger. ‘Nuff said.

BEDROOMS AND BOARDROOMS (ABC) – Drama revolves around CEOs gone wild. It follows the boardroom and bedroom antics of four dysfunctional but lovable high-powered execs.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Amy Sloan (Wendy), Christopher Titus (Brody), Dylan McDermott (Duncan), Jessica Collins (Marla), Joshua Malina (Karl), Michael Vartan (James), Nia Long (Katie), Paige Turco (Lisbeth), Peyton List (Cameron)

GMMR’s pick: Michael Vartan. Really? You want more?

FOOTBALL WIVES (ABC) – Drama based on the popular british soap about three ordinary women’s lives as they are transformed by the celebrity and fortune that come with marriage to sports superstar.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Arielle Kebbel (Nicole) Brian White (Kyle), Eddie Cibrian (Jason), Gabrielle Union (Chardonnay), Holly Robinson Peete, James Van Der Beek, Kiele Sanchez (Donna), Lucy Lawless (Tanya), Ving Rhames (Frank)

GMMR’s pick: I caught a few eps of the UK version of this show and I really liked it. Hopefully the American version won’t hack it to death. The show stars The Beek so I’ll be watching. But honestly, I just like the idea of a character named Chardonnay…although White Zin has a much trashier feel to it.

THE NEWS (ABC) – Single-camera workplace comedy set in a Phoenix newsroom.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Amy Yasbeck (Terry Lynn Collins), Jay Harrington (Judd Brinkmeyer), Julie Gonzalo (Gretchen Holt), Rachel Boston (April Tarnoff), Tim Conlon (Reese Padilla)
GMMR’s pick: Sorry, but I have to support anything and everything related to Veronica Mars these days. Even if they means supporting Parker’s new show (I didn’t like her with Logan anyway)

THE RULES OF STARTING OVER (FOX) – single-camera comedy about a 35-year-old man who got married right out of college and finds himself entering an unfamiliar territory, the singles scene, when his marriage falls apart
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Craig Bierko (Gator), Johnny Sneed as Tommy, Rashida Jones (Kate), Shaun Majumder (Dr. Bill)

GMMR’s pick: I’m all about supporting the cast of The Office. Especially when it’s Rashida Jones and this pilot being picked up means that Karen Fillipelli is out of the picture. It’s a win-win-win.

Source 

Watchlist: Monday, March 19, 2007

How I Met Your Mother – Moving Day
Ted decides to move in with Robin but Barney hijacks the truck filled with Ted’s belongings on moving day in an effort to prevent the union. Meanwhile, Lily and Marshall find it hard to adjust to not having Ted with them. Play preview

Prison Break – Panama
In Chicago, Michael and Linc make it out of town on a freighter bound for Panama, but Sara can’t get to the ship; and the FBI works a deal with C-Note for his testimony against Mahone.

24 – Day 6: 7:00 PM-8:00 PM
Jack deals with devastating news, and acting president Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe) mulls enacting controversial measures. Mike Doyle: Ricky Schroder. Dmitri Gredenko: Rade Sherbedgia.
Watch a scene from tonight’s episode

The Black Donnellys– Lies
New Italian mob kingpin Nicky Cottero (Kirk Acevedo) shows his no-holds-barred style by threatening the Donnelly boys’ mother (Kate Mulgrew). Meanwhile, Tommy is forced to accept Dokey’s bribe; Sean continues his recovery.

Battlestar Galactica Recap: Crossroads

Title: “Crossroads”
Original Airdate: March 18, 2007
GMMR Recapper: Jo

Previously, the Cylons put a gun to Baltar’s head so he signed the death warrant. Roslin and Zarek were almost executed. Ellen sold out the resistance, so Tigh poisoned his wife. Badger agreed to represent Baltar. And Lee joined on in some twisted daddy issue of his.

Roslin, with smokin super straight hair, has a dream that looks a lot like the Cylon limbo theatre. She hears a child laugh. It’s Hera. She calls out to Hera and chases after her. On the other side of the way, is Hera’s mother Athena also chases after her. They symbolically run down two staircases towards the same bright light. A Six scoops up Hera and carries her into the light.

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Grey’s Anatomy Mini Redux

The following contains spoilers for last night Grey’s Anatomy. If you haven’t watched then it’s best you stop reading right about…wait for it, wait for it…NOW! These are my random thoughts on last night’s Grey’s Anatomy – don’t expect some genius insight here – I haven’t even had my morning coffee and I was up until 3am catching up on Thursday night TV.

What are you doing this weekend? Anything fun? It’s supposed to be a wintery mess here on the Northeast. George and Izzie slept together. I plan on doing a lot of shoveling this weekend. And perhaps get in some shopping, who can say.

See how I tried to be stealth and act like I don’t care that George and Izzie had sex. They had sex people! I heard rumors it was happening but I tried not to believe them. But it’s happened and I really don’t know how I feel about it. Well that’s not true, I do know how I feel – I’m not thrilled. Here’s why…

I think George and Izzie love each other VERY much, but they aren’t in love. The sex was really a result of Izzie’s loneliness and George’s momentary lapse that he is MARRIED! I’m sorry did you hear me? He’s married. And newly married at that. Listen, if George weren’t married I really wouldn’t think this is a big deal – it happens. Harry and Sally were right. But he is, and it shouldn’t have happened. I think Callie was wrong to have lied to George about the money, and her insecurities about Izzie have become a little much, but now that we know what’s happened was she perhaps justified? Oh and I shared Callie’s tears when she told George that Izzie had feelings for him and he was shocked that anyone that hot would be in to him. I’m not sure there was anything more he could of said to hurt her in that moment. Ouch, that was painful.

But the real reason I hated the sex was that it’s inevitably going to change the dynamic of George and Izzie. You don’t sleep with your best friend (especially when one of you is married) and walk away unaffected. How they will be, and who they will be for each other is yet to be seen, but things are forever changed, and that makes me a bit sad.

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Veronica Mars Canceled…or an FBI Agent

What? Huh? Ok, so I just woke up so I’m a little out of it and my eyes may not be working properly but there seems to have been some possible developments on the Veronica Mars cancelation front since I went to bed 5 hours ago.

Just checked out the latest from Kristin Veitch. Seems that the cancelation rumors may not be completely accurate. Show creator Rob Thomas says that is the show were canceled, he doesn’t know anything about it. And get this, there are now new rumors to add to the mix, including one that has the show reinventing itself and pushing years into the future and featuring Veronica as an FBI agent.

Here’s an excerpt from Kristin’s post:

And according to CW insiders, the CW has not officially canceled Veronica Mars. However, here’s the catch: They are currently considering a different format for the fourth season. From what I hear, that format would leap four years into the future and focus on Veronica Mars as an FBI agent. Aside from returning star Kristen Bell (duh), the rest of the cast is yet to be determined, but it isn’t likely that many of her current co-stars would be on board.

So bottom line: Veronica Mars could be: 1) spinning off into a new format, 2) returning in her college years or 3) getting canceled. (Read the rest here)

I’ll be sure to keep up on all the rumors and let you know if I hear anything new.

Find:

Totally Dawesome

I’ve seen “Traveling Salesman” too many times to count, but for some reason I completely lost it while watching this scene. I can’t stop watching it.

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So were the “newpeats” a success? I personally liked the new scenes added. I’m of the mindset that every scene added was added for a very specific reason. There’s a lot of deleted scenes for every episode so definite thought went into which ones were chosen to be included in the newpeats. So that high five? Yeah, I think it will be important. I hope it will be important. For the love of God it better be important.

Sidenote: The newpeats are over and now it’s on to Grey’s, and Ugly Betty. It’s already past 1am here so it’s going to be a looooong night.

Veronica Mars Canceled?!

I just came home from a night out to see my inbox flooded with emails asking if I had any news of the cancelation of Veronica Mars.  First of all, I don’t have any more news than what is out there, and the news out there is NOT good.  My sources will only say that “it isn’t looking likely” that Veronica Mars will be renewed for a 4th season.

Kristin Veitch reported the following over on E! Online earlier tonight:

The day we’ve all dreaded has come, tubers.

With actual tears in my eyes, I must tell you that I’ve heard from several solid sources that the CW has decided not to bring Veronica Mars back for a fourth season.

Though official word has not yet come down from the network, I did hear from creator Rob Thomas earlier this week, who told me things weren’t looking good: “I’ve never been less certain of our fate. I’m afraid I’ve gone from cautiously optimistic to something less than that.”

With all the rumors swirling around, I’m sure we will hear something “official” very soon.  And for me, that will be a VERY bad day. I’m not quite ready to accept it yet.  So all together now…think happy thoughts…think happy thoughts.

If this is true, I just want to say ‘bravo’ and ‘well done’ to The CW for having the weakest television lineup ever.  You had quality shows like Everwood (RIP), Gilmore Girls (soon to be RIP) and Veronica Mars.  But now you are contributing to the history of television with deep and insightful shows like “The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll”.  Well done.  Way to leave your mark.

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