Joshua Malina
Podcast Party: Talking 'Backwash,' Jon Hamm, Aaron Sorkin and Twitter with Joshua Malina
This week's second 'Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan' podcast welcomes a special guest, actor/writer Joshua Malina. You loved Malina on 'The West Wing' and 'Sports Night.' You enjoyed him in guest roles on 'House,' 'Psych,' 'In Plain Sight' and dozens of other shows. And, if you're like me, he's made you crack up more than once with his irreverent Twitter feed. I generally don't follow many actors or celebrities, because their Twitter feeds are quite often vapid, self-serving or both, but Malina's Twitter is pretty damn hilarious.
But the main thing Ryan McGee and I asked Malina about is his funny new Web series, 'Backwash,' which you can find here. It's a 13-part series starring Malina, Michael Ian Black and Michael Panes as the least competent bank robbers ever. Each segment is introduced by a different celebrity -- Jon Hamm, Sarah Silverman, Dule Hill, Allison Janney, Mary Lynn Rajskub, John Cho and Fred Willard are among the celebrity narrators. Four segments are up on Crackle now.
Obviously we asked Malina about who was a diva on set and how he bribed these people into appearing in 'Backwash.' And we also asked him what it was like working with Bradley Whitford's mustache on the Dec. 3 episode of 'The Good Guys.'
Big Name Stars Coming to 'In Plain Sight'
Last night during 'Burn Notice,' there were promos for 'In Plain Sight' and it got my heart pumped just to hear Mary McCormack's voice again. Hooray, Mary's back. And so is 'In Plain Sight,' one of the most improved series on cable in its sophomore run last season. The new season kicks off on March 31 on USA Network, and 'In Plain Sight's' lined up some big stars as guests.The top of the list is Allison Janney. They're not saying if it's more than a single episode -- here's hoping -- but Allison will be a playing a "newly appointed U.S. Marshal who clashes with Mary." If you remember Janney and McCormack in the last couple of seasons of 'The West Wing,' this should be a great reunion.
Gone Too Soon: Sports Night

A lot of times, when a show that we love gets canceled way too early in its run, we like to trot out the mantra: "It was before its time." But looking at a television landscape with The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation (and that's just one night on one network), I really do think Sports Night may have been too innovative for its own good.
Creator Aaron Sorkin even wanted the sitcom to air without a laugh track, but ABC balked and there is one evident in the first season. It was dropped by the second season, but unfortunately the show was dropped as well after only 45 episodes.
Character relations were front and center, and the humor was much more subtle and dry. In 1998, comedies were still dominating the television landscape, led by traditionally formatted shows like Frasier, Friends, The Drew Carey Show and ABC's TGIF lineup. Maybe the very non-traditional Sports Night should have been an hour long, and acted more like FOX's Ally McBeal.
Review: House - Wilson

(S06E10) "They're all dying. They're all your friends." - House
Episodes like this are why I've faithfully stuck with House after six and a half seasons. Sure, more often than not, House can get stale -- it's the same thing, week in and out, and even something shocking (like Kutner offing himself last year or Cameron saying good-bye two weeks ago) isn't enough to take away from the fact that it's just another episode with another wacky case. But episodes like "Broken", and now "Wilson," are proof that there are so many more layers that need exploring in the world of Princeton Plainsboro.
In praise of In Plain Sight

In Plain Sight has become one of my favorite TV shows. I didn't think that way last year, its rookie season, when the show lurched a bit to try and find balance between Mary's professional life as a U.S. Marshal in the Witness Protection Program and her dysfunctional personal life with an alcoholic mother, a troubled younger sister with a drug-dealing boyfriend, and an on-again/off-again relationship with a hot Latin minor league baseball player.
When it went well, it was very satisfying, but the show seemed to be struggling to find its tone. Well, this season is a whole new thing. Perhaps there were changes behind the scenes, perhaps the first year was about shaking out all those story strands and building a stronger foundation, perhaps it was simply the actors getting more comfortable in their roles. Whatever the case, In Plain Sight is now hitting on all cylinders.
Medium: Car Trouble - VIDEO
(S04E14) Out of all the dreams Allison has awakened from this season, tonight gets my vote for "Most Likely to Make You Jump Out of Bed and Scare the Crap Out of Your Sleeping Husband."
One thing you have to get used to if you are fan of Medium, is the ever present scene where somebody doesn't understand how Allison knows what she knows. Even though Joe, Davalos, Scanlon and most of her friends are well aware why Allison acts so strange, there are still plenty of people who are baffled by her behavior and, as a matter of course, have to react with disbelief and/or confusion. It gets old but it's a necessary evil. The most genuine of these reactions, however, come from the Dubois children.
ABC pulls Big Shots
Big Shots, the show I haven't heard one person talk about this new season, has been pulled from the lineup by ABC effective immediately.
The show starred Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, and Joshua Malina (who is on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight, probably to plug the show - awkward!) and aired Thursdays at 10pm, right after Grey's Anatomy. I guess not too many people were sticking around after that highly-watched show. There are three episodes left and ABC is taking the show off the air. No word on whether the show will return at a later date or if the episodes will show up online at some point.
ABC day 2: predictions on Isaiah, 24, Grammer & Trees come true - TCA report
ABC crammed in eight (!) panels today on new and returning series as the TV Critics summer 2007 press tour -- finally -- came to an end.
As predicted in my preview story about today's sessions, Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy; Private Practice) was indeed asked about ex-GA cast member Isaiah Washington, who was canned last month by ABC and then scooped up by rival NBC for a role on Bionic Woman.
A reporter wanted to know what Rhimes thought about NBC president Ben Silverman saying he was in talks with Washington prior to the actor being let go at the end of the TV season.
ABC day 2 preview: Nightline, Kyle XY, Private Practice - TCA report
Today is the last day of the 2007 summer TCA press tour and one of its panels in particular is highly anticipated as ABC rolls out more shows to present to the TV Critics membership.
Shonda Rhimes is coming to the Beverly Hilton today with Kate Walsh, Tim Daly and other cast members of Private Practice to tout the Grey's Anatomy spin-off. But you just know that Rhimes will be asked about the controversial exit of Isaiah Washington from GA at the end of the season.
Where's Dr. Bailey when you need her?
Numb3rs: Waste Not

(S03E09) 13 million tons of hazardous waste. 9.6 billion dollars on fines. 1,244 disposal sites. 1 sinkhole. Bit of an Erin Brokovich feel, no? Because that's exactly what it was, but I liked it. This was a solid episode of Numb3rs.
Following a disaster at a local school's playground, Don and the team were called in. At first they couldn't understand why. Enter Joshua Malina in a his second post-West Wing role (Malina was in an episode of The Nine a few weeks ago). Here he played U.S. Attorney Howard Meeks and it's been his mission as of late to take down the construction company that built the damaged playground. He didn't realize half the kids on the playground also happened to have cancer. Uh oh.
Sports Night: Shoe Money Tonight
(S01E10) The two anchors that do the 2am West Coast update are stuck in Pittsburgh because of a snowstorm, which means Dan and Casey have to give up their night in Atlantic City to do the show. So they put together a staff poker game.
Meanwhile, Natalie is mad at Jeremy for ditching her the other night and playing tennis with a movie star, and she plans on making him pay when they play poker. Dana confronts Sally about the way she's going to produce the 2am update, and Isaac thinks he's shrinking.
Sports Night: The Quality of Mercy at 29K
(S01E09) While the Sports Night team readies for special 2am coverage of a climber's assault on Mt. Everest (not sure if ESPN would break in for that), Jeremy and Natalie come to terms with their growing relationship, Dan tries to figure out what charity to give his money to, and Dana plans to bring her niece to see The Lion King on Broadway.
Of course, she thinks she can get tickets the same day of the show. She calls and the guy just laughs at her and hangs up.
Sports Night: Thespis
(S01E08) While Dana thaws a turkey above the studio as a dry run to making Thanksgiving dinner for her family for the first time, Isaac deals with his daughter, who is having trouble with her pregnancy (Isaac feels guilty because they had an argument earlier). Dan is angry with Casey because Casey doesn't remember that it's the anniversary of their first show on Long Star Sports (Dan thinks Casey was offered Conan O'Brien's job on Late Night and took Lone Star as a "consolation prize." Add to all this various tech glitches and you have a very hectic night at CSC.
All of this seems to be the work of the ghost of Thespis, the first actor, who started acting on this very date, November 23. Is he haunting the studio and causing chaos?
Sports Night: Dear Louise
(S01E07) This episode introduces a tactic that Aaron Sorkin also used on The West Wing, an episode that's framed around having a character write a letter to a family member, explaining what they do and what's going on that week at their job and in their personal life. On The West Wing, the episode had many characters (C.J., Josh, Sam) writing e-mails to family members. In this episode of Sports Night, Jeremy writes an e-mail to his deaf sister Louise, catching her (and viewers) up on what's going on at CSC.Sports Night: The Head Coach, Dinner, and the Morning Mail
(S01E06) This episode is a continuation of last week's episode, where Natalie decided to tell the police what the football player did to her in the locker room. Meanwhile, Casey is all over a football coach's bad decision during a game, and Jeremy is obsessing over where to take Natalie on a date.
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