US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

US TV

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

15 May 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Killer Women

Time once more to creep up the competency pyramid in this week’s upfronts presentation, with ABC now unleashing upon us all the shows that it’s planning to include in its 2013-14 season. You might not think that ABC would be that much higher up the pyramid than Fox, given that last year, despite the presence of the good but now cancelled Last Resort, ABC managed to give us the dreadful 666 Park Avenue, The Family Tools, How To Live With Your Parents For The Rest of Your Life, Malibu Country, Nashville, The Neighbors, Red Widow and Zero Hour, only two of which have been picked up for second seasons.

Yet this year, we do have a decent enough selection of shows to pick from – well, decent at first trailer-glance, anyway, and mostly in the drama rather than comedy section. Here’s the rundown:

New dramas

  • Betrayal: Two lovers on opposite sides of a court case. James Cromwell, Hannah Ware and Stuart Townsend star.
  • Killer Women: Tricia Helfer as a Texas Ranger – what could be bad? Also features Michael Trucco and Marc Blucas.
  • Lucky 7: Remake of BBC1’s The Syndicate, in which a bunch of co-workers with exciting back stories win the lottery.
  • Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.l.E.L.D: Fuck, yeah
  • Mind Games: A cross between Lie To Me and Mission: Impossible. Christian Slater stars so it’ll be cancelled within three episodes
  • Once Upon A Time In Wonderland: Spin-off from Once Upon A Time set in Wonderland and Victorian England. Stars Sophie Lowe, Michael Socha and John Lithgow.
  • Resurrection: The dead come back to life in a small town. Stars Omar Epps from House, as well as Kurtwood Smith

New Comedies

  • Back In The Game: Failed pro softball player Maggie Lawson agrees to coach a team of kids. Also features James Caan and Lenora Crichlow
  • The Goldbergs: Growing pains 80s nostalgia-fest.
  • Mixology: Single people meet in a bar and discover how empty and pointless existence is. Who knew Happy Hour was due for a remake?
  • Super Fun Night: Rebel Wilson paired with Kevin Bishop for a girls’ night out. How unusual
  • Trophy Wife: Reformed party girl Malin Akerman marries Bradley Whitford and has to deal with his family. I’d rather see the adventures of party girl Malin Akerman, myself.

After the jump, full summaries, trailers and a schedule.

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US TV

A proper trailer for FX’s remake of The Bridge

15 May 2013 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

The Bridge

The Bridge is probably my favourite of all the Nordic Noir TV series that have so far come our way in the UK. With gripping direction and scripts and stand-out performances from Sofia Helin and Kim Bodnia, it knocks most other series for six. Here’s a trailer for it, in case you missed it:

As well as garnering itself a second series, the show is also set to be adapted around the world. The show’s premise of a dead body found on the exact border of two countries lends itself well to international co-production – indeed, the original was a bilingual Swedish-Danish co-production – so the UK and France are working together on The Tunnel (guess where that is set) while in the US, FX is remaking it as… The Bridge, although it’s set on the Mexico-US border rather than the Swedish-Danish one, obviously.

We’ve had a few teaser trailers so far…

…but now we have a proper trailer for the show, which stars Diana Kruger and Demian Bichir:

Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir

And here it is – you can see that a lot of the scenes are the same as the original’s. Kruger doesn’t register as well as Helin did, but I’ll wait till series proper for full judgement:

Wednesday’s “Paul Abbott’s Victorian cop show, HBO’s gay friends dramedy and a Stanislaw Lem adaptation” news

15 May 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film casting

Trailers

  • Trailer for The Congress, with Robin Wright, based on Stanislaw Lem’s The Futurological Congress
  • Trailer for Richard Curtis’s About Time, with Domhnall Green, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy et al

UK TV

US TV

US TV casting

New US TV shows

US TV

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

14 May 2013 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Fox Upfronts 2013-4

After yesterday’s brush with mediocrity thanks to NBC’s upfronts presentation of its new shows, it’s time to bask in the slightly more competent pleasures of Fox’s grand designs. Slightly.

Last year, Fox had several undeniable duds including The Mob Doctor and although The Following has been picked up for a second season, it’s not exactly the greatest TV show ever made. This year, Fox has more new shows headed our way, a lot of them looking quite poor and/or male-oriented (see if you can spot some women in that picture above, for example), but we do at least have a Gavin & Stacey remake and a JJ Abrams show starring Karl Urban to look forward to. Here’s the rundown:

Comedies

  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Screw-up cop comedy that at least has Andre Braugher and Terry Cews in the cast. And Andy Samberg.
  • Dads: Seth MacFarlane gives us Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi as – wait for it – a pair of dads.
  • Enlisted: Brothers working in the army
  • Surviving Jack: Adaptation of I Suck at Girls set in 1990s Southern California, in which the absent father and constant mother swap roles
  • Us & Them: Gavin & Stacey move to New York and Pennsylvania

New Dramas

  • Almost Human: Future cop show from JJ Abrams, with Karl Urban partnered with an android.
  • Sleepy Hollow: Ichabod Crane wakes up in the modern times and solves conspiracy theories with a cop.
  • Gang Related: Former gang member becomes a cop
  • Rake: Adaptation of the Australian show about a lawyer with a car-crash life. Stars Greg Kinnear.
  • Wayward Pines: M Night Shyamalan adaptation of Pines about a weird town. There’s a twist, and it’s not that Matt Dillon is the star

After the jump, full rundowns and full trailers for each of the shows, except for Wayward Pines. Sorry.

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