'Dancing With The Stars' Season 14 Dream Casting
What To Watch On TV This Week
Just Shoot Me
George Segal Heads to TV Land's 'Retired at 35'
At an age when many actors would be thinking about slowing down, George Segal continues to set the bar high in both TV and film. The 'Just Shoot Me' alum is returning to the small screen in a starring role on TV Land's half-hour pilot, 'Retired at 35.' According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story follows a successful young businessman who decides to leave the New York fast lane and move into his father's Florida retirement home. Don't look for Segal's character, the father, to be sitting around playing Canasta, though. He'll play a former insurance executive who's all about partying and having fun.
George Segal joins the cast of Entourage
Did you like Just Shoot Me? It was one of those shows I didn't really watch when it was on NBC but later caught in syndicated reruns, and it was really an underrated sitcom. It was actually quite funny and had a great cast. When people talk about the great NBC sitcoms over the years they always talk about Seinfeld, NewsRadio, and Friends, and while Just Shoot Me wasn't up to the greatness of those shows, it was good and funny. Now one of the stars is joining HBO's Entourage.George Segal will play a veteran manager/agent who Kevin Connolly's character looks up to and seeks for advice. It doesn't look like a permanent gig (The Hollywood Reporter describes his stint as a "multi-episode arc"), but I think he'll be a great addition. It might even make me get back to the show. I loved the first few seasons but it kinda lost me a couple of seasons ago.
But isn't that great casting? You can just picture Segal getting all loud and chomping on a cigar.
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.Let's do something different this week. Which of these DVDs do you plan on buying? Let us know in the comments section.
I can't imagine buying any of these shows. The only two I might be interested in are Just Shoot Me (though I think it's one of those shows I'm happy just to see in reruns and not actually own) and Make Room For Daddy. But I would buy that just because it's a classic show, not because it's one of my favorites. It's one of those classic shows that I just never got into, unlike I Love Lucy or The Dick Van Dyke Show or The Honeymooners.
- Breaking Bad - Season 1
- Canterbury's Law - Complete Series
- Cities of the Underground - Season 2
- Dirty Jobs - Collection 4
- Futurama - Into the Wild Blue Yonder
- Girlfriends - Season 6
- Just Shoot Me - Season 3
- The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice
- Make Room For Daddy - Season 6, Vol. 1
- The Mighty B - Vol. 1
- My Wife and Kids - Season 1
- Oliver Twist - Miniseries
- The Red Green Show - 2001 Season
- Spider-Man - The Vulture
- Summer Heights High - Season 1
- The Universe - Seasons 1 and 2 Megaset
Rena Sofer booked on Two and a Half Men
Okay, you know how on How I Met Your Mother there's a big, ongoing story about who is actually the mother? Well, I think CBS has spilled some of that storyline over to Two and a Half Men, the show that usually is paired with HIMYM on Monday nights. Why do I say this? Because they seemed to have cast a mother! Actress Rena Sofer has been cast on Two and a Half Men as someone who played a significant role in Charlie's life and she comes back into it on September 22, the season opener. She brings along a child when she returns, a little boy -- her son -- who may have some connection to Charlie.
Now, the connection hasn't been spelled out, but if he has an affinity for booze, plays the piano, wears bowling shirts and chases little girls, you can bet he's Charlie's child. Of course, the writers will probably be more subtle, but this would be an interesting wrinkle in the show if that's the direction in which they're going.
Even more spinoffs I would like to see
When one of our favorite TV shows goes off the air, it can be devastating. However, many times, the cancellation is the birth of a spinoff. Sometimes it can be a great thing (Frasier) and sometimes not so much (AfterM*A*S*H).
Here are some of this month's spinoff ideas that I would love to see.
Mr. Hawkins Goes to Texas
After the conspiracy of the Cheyenne government was revealed on Jericho, Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) thought the hard part was behind him. He had no idea what was in store. As America tries to form a new governing body, they are desperate for honest men to help lead the way. With help from Mimi Clark (Alicia Coppolla), his personal assistant, Hawkins fights government bureaucracy with the same zeal that he fought domestic terrorism.
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Back to You -- An early look
In July, I was at a sitcom writing seminar in which Sam Simon (who helped develop The Simpsons) declared: "the sitcom is dead." Veteran comedy writer Ken Levine (who hosted that sitcom seminar), however, disagrees. Ken believes the traditional multi-camera sitcom might be on a respirator, but still has a pulse. Levine said, "I would amend Sam's statement and say that yeah, the bad, stale, family sitcom with tired rhythms, forced laughs, and bogus characters is dead."I guess if you're trying to revive the dying sitcom, a good way to start is by assembling a top-notch team. And Fox's new Wednesday night comedy, Back to You, does just that.
Tom Poston dead at 85
Tom Poston, one of the classic veterans of TV comedy, died earlier today at his home in Los Angeles. He appeared on The Steve Allen Show in the 1950s and Newhart in the 1980s.
Poston played handyman George Utley on Newhart, and was also a regular on another Bob Newhart series, Bob. And to keep the connection to Newhart going, he played Cliff "The Peeper" Murdock on The Bob Newhart Show in the 70s. Poston also appeared on Grace Under Fire, Mork & Mindy, The Simpsons, Will & Grace, Home Improvement, Murphy Brown, Get Smart, Coach, The Love Boat, Studio One, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Just Shoot Me, That 70s Show, and dozens of other shows over the years.
Poston was married to actress Suzanne Pleshette, who played Newhart's wife Emily on The Bob Newhart Show.
The Five: Current TV obsessions
If you're like me, you go through these phases where you get obsessed with a certain TV show. Maybe it's because you've never seen it before, maybe you haven't seen it in years, or maybe it's summer and you're looking for good things to watch. Below are five shows that I currently cannot get enough of, and why.
1. Lingo (GSN). Like Joel and Rich, I'm a game show geek. And while I watched this one here and there a few years ago, I've been watching it every single night lately. It's not a great show, but I like the simplicity of it, and Chuck Woolery is a quirky host. I still don't get the co-host though (Stacey a couple of years ago, now it's Shandi). Oh, she's hot and friendly, but what exactly is her job? She sits in front with a keyboard and controls the board? I doubt it. Many times you'll see her say something like "let's start with an N..." and she'll press a key, but the letter has already shown up on the board! So what exactly is her purpose? At least Vanna actually turns letters.
I do like the way Shandi says "Lingo balls" though.
And I Quote: the best one-liners of the week
"Star Jones, how can we miss you if you don't go away?" - Keith Olbermann, on Countdown. - "It's thinking like that that's forced women to live with their original ribs." - Nina, to Elliott, who said there's no such thing as surgery to have your belly button centered, on Just Shoot Me.
- "He only sells them, he doesn't wear 'em." - George's mother, about her date with bra salesmen Sid Farkus after seeing her husband with a male bra on, on Seinfeld.
- "This means she's now golddigging for two!" - David Letterman, about Anna Nicole Smith's pregnancy.
How to not alienate David Cross
Being a celebrity must be weird. Aside from the fame and fortune (if there is, indeed, either), you have to deal with a public that feels as if they know you, just because they've seen you on the big screen, in interviews, or you come into their home every week. It's probably hard for people who are in the celeb stratosphere and have to have an entourage and a gated home, like Madonna or Leonardo DiCaprio or Michael Jackson. People who aren't exactly going out to bars with friends or shopping or going to the movies down the street. But it can also be hard for other celebs.Someone like David Cross. He's famous, but he's not FAMOUS. He's really just a regular guy who goes out to bars and restaurants in NYC, hangs out with friends. He's written a piece for New York mag's ettiquette issue, on how to not alienate a celeb if you see one out somewhere. It's pretty funny, but pretty accurate too.
My favorite part is when Cross tells the story of how he was standing at a bar one time, and a guy came up to him, snapped his fingers in his face and yelled, "Name!"
Jeez.
McDermott, Malick join ABC pilots
Lots of casting news
today in The
Hollywood Reporter. Dylan McDermott has joined the cast of the ABC
drama, A House Divided. It's about a rift between a midwestern farming community and the federal government. I
wish I knew more because, wow, that sounds like a snoozer. Sarah Clarke (aka 'Nina' on 24) is also part of the
cast. She plays the wife of the lead character, which might just be McDermott.Wendie Malick, of Just Shoot Me and Jake in Progress, has been cast in the ABC comedy pilot, A Day in the Life. The show is about a young couple's wedding day, from different points of view (I imagine it'll have to advance past the wedding day). Malick plays the mother of the bride.
Other casting news:
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