Month: May 2013

US TV

The CW’s upfronts 2013-4 – a rundown and clips from the new shows

17 May 2013 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

It’s the end of upfronts week for the major networks now, with “oh yes, we forgot about them” The CW rounding it all off yesterday. The LA Screenings start today and buyers from around the world, including the UK, have descended from all the major networks to see these pilots and decide whether to buy any of them.

Last year, The CW decided to end its policy of targeting almost exclusively young women with a collection of new shows that included the rather good Arrow and the rather poor Cult, as well as the more traditional for The CW The Carrie Diaries, Beauty and the Beast and Emily Owens MD. It was a strategy that was only partially successful, with Arrow getting renewed for a second season along with The Carrie Diaries and Beauty and the Beast, but Cult dying a death with Emily Owens.

Nevertheless, The CW is pressing on with its gradual expansion into (what it thinks are) male realms this year, while continuing to provide (what it thinks is) young female-friendly output that falls into roughly the same areas as its existing programming, with just a hint of originality in there, too.

Here’s the line-up:

  • The Originals: A Vampire Diaries spin-off
  • Reign: Mary Queen of Scots as a young woman
  • The Tomorrow People: Beauty and the Beast style remake of the old paedo-friendly ITV show, with the mandatory two white guys, one BME guy and a white girl + Mark Pellegrino
  • The 100: 100 young people return to a devastated Earth
  • Star-crossed: Romeo & Juliet + aliens
After the jump, summaries, trailers, clips and a schedule.

Continue reading “The CW’s upfronts 2013-4 – a rundown and clips from the new shows”

More religions added to the blog’s handy guide

17 May 2013 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Last week, I unveiled this ‘ere blog’s handy guide to all the Western, English-language TV shows that have portrayed particular religions to be true in some way. At the time, I said it was a work in progress, and I’ve already separated the original entry out into separate posts, mainly to avoid crashing browsers with too many videos.

Anyway, following various people’s suggestions that my memory is full of holes…

…I’ve added a few new shows to the various pages.

Friday’s “BBC2’s Cold War, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut and Warehouse 13 and Nikita to end” news

17 May 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

Film casting

Trailers

  • Trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim
  • Trailer for Last Vegas, with Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Michael Douglas

UK TV

US TV

New US TV shows

US TV

Vikings invade London

16 May 2013 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Vikings on the Thames

Normally I wouldn’t bother with a press release like this, but they went to such an effort and, you know, VIKINGS!

VIKINGS RETURN TO LONDON
For the first time since the original 842 AD London invasion, a 35-foot Viking longboat complete with fifteen Viking raiders sailed down the River Thames today.

Two replica boats used in the critically acclaimed US TV series VIKINGS were sailed along the Thames and parked up alongside iconic London landmarks including Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament to mark the UK release of the show on Amazon’s LOVEFiLM.

The company struck the landmark broadcasting deal with MGM Television late last week (Friday 10th May), which sees all nine episodes of the Norse action-drama released exclusively at once in full high definition through the LOVEFiLM Instant online streaming service as opposed to traditional terrestrial and satellite broadcasting channels.

Starring Travis Fimmel (The Beast, The Experiment), Golden Globe winner Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Miller’s Crossing) and Katheryn Winnick (Love and Other Drugs, Bones), VIKINGS chronicles the epic adventures of notorious Norse hero Ragnar Lothbrok (Fimmel), a Viking warrior who yearns to explore – and raid – the distant shores of the ocean. VIKINGS also stars George Blagden (Wrath of the Titans), Jessalyn Gilsig (Glee), Gustaf Skarsgard (The Way Back), and Clive Standen (Camelot).

Created and written by Michael Hirst – one of the most respected historical storytellers in the industry (Academy-Award® winning film Elizabeth; and the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated series The Tudors), VIKINGS is a tale of warfare, sex, bloodshed, ambition, family and brotherhood. The epic drama is the number one new cable series of the year in the U.S.

Simon Morris, Chief Marketing Officer at LOVEFiLM, said:

“Geneticists say there’s a bit of Viking DNA in all of us so we’re delighted to give our members the opportunity to indulge in first class entertainment and feast on the story of their ancestry. This is a landmark moment in the history of LOVEFiLM as it is the first time a major TV series has aired on our service before traditional broadcasting channels. We are serious about securing the best film and TV entertainment for our members and this demonstrates how content creators view LOVEFiLM as an effective broadcasting medium for high-quality and premium entertainment.”

VIKINGS will premiere on LOVEFiLM Instant in the UK on May 24th 2013 and Germany on 15th June 2013 and will be available exclusively on the streaming service in both countries. MGM Television is serving as the international distributor in all markets outside of the U.S., Ireland and Canada.

LOVEFiLM Instant is available on PC, Mac or via Nintendo Wii and Wii U, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation®3, Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire, Apple iPad® and a growing number of Internet-connected TV sets and Blu-ray players, giving members immediate access to a huge range of the latest films and premium TV shows from as little as £4.99 a month.

More vikings in Piccadilly Circus and Parliament Square after the jump. If you want trailers, boy, do I have the entry for you.

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US TV

CBS’s upfronts 2013-4 – a rundown and clips from the new shows

16 May 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

And thus we reach the apex of the quality pyramid with CBS, everyone’s favourite purveyor of monotonous procedurals and insulting comedies that people still watch. Last year, we got the halfway decent Elementary, the pretty good but still cancelled Vegas, the pretty bad and so unsurprisingly cancelled Golden Boy and Made in Jersey, and the insulting bad and offensive ‘comedy’ Partners. That means that only one of CBS’s new shows actually made it through to the next round – which also shows you just how many bankers CBS already had on its books.

Nevertheless, with CBS having now cancelled old faithfuls CSI: NY and Rules of Engagement, as well as those new shows, there’s a little more room in the schedules for new arrivals, and so there’s more to look at this year. 

Now, I said that CBS was at the apex of the competency pyramid, but that’s really just in terms of making TV shows that don’t look like they suck. Unfortunately, this line-up proves that in terms of making TV shows with stories that don’t suck, CBS is just as bad as every other broadcast network – with perhaps a couple of exceptions: can you spot them?

Here’s the rundown:

New Comedies

  • We Are Men: Four men and their dating issues. Terrible concept, but good cast, including Tony Shalhoub and Kal Penn. However, CBS show-killer Jerry O’Connell is also in there, so it’ll die quickly.
  • Mom: Another Chuck Lorre comedy, starring Anna Faris as a newly sober single mother. Good cast, again, including Nate Corddry) and French Stewart, but in case you missed it, it’s Chuck Lorre.
  • The Millers: Will Arnett gets divorced, inspiring his dad to get divorced and his mum to move in with him. Two characters have already been recast, so make of that what you will.
  • The Crazy Ones: An advertising comedy featuring Robin Williams… and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

New dramas

  • Hostages: Surgeon Toni Collette’s family is taken hostage by Dylan McDermott so that she’ll kill the President. Let’s see them eke that out for a season.
  • Intelligence: Josh Hollway is a spy with a chip in his brain that connects him to the Internet. No, I didn’t just make that up. It’ll probably do well, though.
  • Reckless: A ‘sultry’ legal drama set in Charleston, S.C., where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a charming Southern attorney must hide their intense mutual attraction as a police sex scandal threatens to tear the city apart. I didn’t make that up either.
  • Friends With Better Lives: Romcom about six friends at different stages in their lives – married, divorced, newly engaged and single – who are outwardly happy, but secretly questioning if their friends have it better. Does at least feature James Van Der Beek.

After the jump, full summaries, trailers for everything except the mid-season replacements, and a schedule.

Continue reading “CBS’s upfronts 2013-4 – a rundown and clips from the new shows”