US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

Monday’s “Community showrunner fired, Ryan Reynolds to be the Highlander? and Jackie Chan quits action movies” news

21 May 2012 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Film

Trailers

  • Trailer for Hyde Park On Hudson, starring Bill Murray

Theatre

Canadian TV

  • Kate Kelton and Southland’s Dorian Missick join Haven

UK TV

US TV

US TV pilots

  • Tim Roth working on FX bank robbery drama
Arrow
US TV

The CW’s upfronts 2012-3 – a rundown and clips from the new shows

18 May 2012 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Green Arrow

Time for the last of the upfronts. Okay, USA did its first upfronts yesterday, but didn’t really announce anything new, so let’s end with the traditional way to end the upfronts: following on from the main broadcast networks NBC, Fox, ABC and CBS, today we’re going to be looking at the ‘young female adult’-skewed The CW and what it has lined up for us for the 2012 to 2013 season.

The CW didn’t have much success last year with its new scripted shows: only Hart of Dixie survived, while Ringer and The Secret Circle both got cancelled. Meanwhile, some of its older shows are now limping alone, with Gossip Girl nearing the end, Supernatural‘s end date being eyed and Nikita looking as poor as it always did. The experiment of The LA Complex fell apart, leaving just 90210 to keep the network’s scripted dreams alive.

But CW president Mark Pedowitz promised more original programming when he joined the network, so this year, The CW is trying to give itself a shot in the arm with… more of the same. Yes, time to cash in on some past glories as well as emulate some other networks. Lined up for 2012-13 are:

  • Beauty and The Beast: based on the 1980s CBS show with Linda Hamilton, but starring The CW’s Smallville‘s Kristen Kreuk as the beauty in question
  • Arrow: Bourne-esque adaptation of DC’s superhero the Green Arrow, but not starring Justin Hartley who was the Green Arrow in Smallville. But that’s because of…
  • Emily Owen MD: …in which a new doctor discovers that hospital is no different from high school. Co-stars… Justin Hartley
  • Carrie Diaries: HBO’s Sex and the City‘s Carrie, when she was a teenager. Notably features Freema Agyeman from Doctor Who, though.
  • Cult: starring one of the guys from The CW’s Vampire Diaries and one of the girls from The CW’s Melrose Place, and sees the fans of a TV show recreating the on-screen crimes.

After the jump, the run-down, trailers for the Fall shows (Carrie Diaries and Cult are mid-season – sorry) and a schedule.

Continue reading “The CW’s upfronts 2012-3 – a rundown and clips from the new shows”

Friday’s “Partridge flies to Sky, bye bye Breakout Kings, Alex Proyas’s Gods of Egypt and Sean Bean’s 4th Reich” news

18 May 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

Trailers

  • Trailer for The Words with Bradley Cooper
  • Teaser for Slasher with Elijah Wood

UK TV

US TV

  • Trailer for ABC Family’s Bunheads
  • Trailer for Political Animals with Sigourney Weaver
  • A&E cancels Breakout Kings

US TV pilots

  • USA picks up Paging Dr Freed (again) and Sirens, announces development slate
US TV

CBS’s upfronts 2012-3 – a rundown and clips from the new shows

17 May 2012 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu

Following on from NBC, Fox and ABC, today we get to have a look at the shiny new shows that CBS has lined up for us for the 2012 to 2013 season.

CBS is, of course, the 10-tonne gorilla that dominates the US TV ratings. So powerful is it that it can cancel CSI: Miami because “it doesn’t fit” and comedies like Rob, which gets 12m viewers, because it thinks it “can do better” with the same time slot – if NBC had a show that got 12m viewers, it would be its top-rated scripted show and pride of place in its line-up and left to do whatever it likes.

With so many top-rated shows on its hands, CBS can pick and choose and doesn’t need to add too many new ones. So after the break, we’ll have a look (with trailers, for once) at the few new shows CBS has to offer, as well as its schedule for the Fall:

  • Elementary – a modern day version of Sherlock Holmes starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, as well as Prime Suspect‘s Aidan Quinn. Hmmm…
  • Vegas – a rodeo cowboy becomes a Las Vegas sheriff in the 1960s. Stars Dennis Quaid, No Ordinary Family‘s Michael Chiklis, Life on Mars/Terra Nova‘s Jason O’Mara and The Matrix‘s Carrie-Anne Moss
  • Made In Jersey – a working class woman (Janet Montgomery) compete with colleagues at a Manhattan law firm. Stars Kyle MacLachlan, Stephanie March and Erin Cummings among others.
  • Partners – two friends, one straight (David Krumholtz from Numb3rs/The Playboy Club), one gay (Michael Urie). Straight guy proposes to his girlfriend (Sophie Bush) and problems ensue. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns/Chuck) also stars.

There’s also cop show Golden Boy and comedy Friend Me lined up as mid-season replacements, but there aren’t any trailers for those yet. Sorry.

Any look good to you?

Continue reading “CBS’s upfronts 2012-3 – a rundown and clips from the new shows”