eric mccormack

Trust Me is one of those shows that will probably not make it -- the ratings have been careening -- but I'm still watching it. I'm not sure why. It's not a great show, but I do like Tom Cavanagh and Eric McCormack. They're good together, even though the show around them seems to lurch from story to story without much cohesion.

I think the problem is that unlike a legal, medical or cop show, it's hard to dramatize the creative process. How do you show two ad men, an art director (now creative director) and a copywriter, come up with amazing commercials, billboards, ads, etc.?

I'll admit that I'm not too thrilled with TNT's new drama Trust Me yet. I want it to be much better than it is.

Of course, the key word there is "yet," because we all know that TV shows can get better as they go along in their first season, and even into their second. Unfortunately, we now live in a fast-paced TV world where shows have to pretty much be a hit from the get-go. Sure, shows on premium cable networks like HBO andf Showtime often get a longer honeymoon because there's less ratings pressure, but for the most part, shows either have to be a big hit early, show growth over the weeks (in general or in a certain demographic), or have to have a lot of "buzz" that cancels out (at least temporarily) any notions of a cancellation (like Gossip Girl).

But Trust Me? The ratings are in free fall.

I will guess that a lot of people think that the reason why we have another cable drama set in the world of advertising is because of the success of AMC's Mad Men. And while the honors that the 60s-based show probably gave TNT execs an extra reason to look at Trust Me and put its production into overdrive, the show has actually been in the works for a while.

The comparisons are going to come though. The shows are very different. Judging from the first two episodes, they're not only different in setting (2009 Chicago vs. 1960 NYC) and tone (faster paced, with more obvious humor than Mad Men), they're not really going for anything deep or tackling any big issues.

Can two cable shows about the advertising world co-exist? Of course they can. With 12 Law and Orders, 9 CSIs, and 57 reality shows where sexy people live in a house, I think we can have two shows about advertising.

Trust Me is the new name of the TNT series Truth in Advertising. It stars Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) as Mason and Tom Cavanagh (Ed) as Connor, best friends who also run an ad agency. Unlike Mad Men, it's set in the present day. Also unlike Mad Men, it's set in Chicago. See? Two big differences right there.

(S07E07) Too often when a show reaches an anniversary, like say 100 episodes, the producers feel the need to mark the occasion with an extraordinary entry. That was what happened with Monk.

To commemorate the 100th episode, they created Mr. Monk's 100th Case, and using a show within a show format, celebrated Adrian Monk, a modern day Sherlock Holmes. San Francisco's defective detective

Thank goodness it all worked! I was afraid we were going to get a clip-laden, down-memory-lane type of show with nothing remotely intriguing. No, writer Tom Scharpling and company were more clever than that.

My first thought when I heard about TNT's Truth In Advertising, which has just received the go ahead for 13 episodes, was "oh, they're just doing that because of the critical success of Mad Men." And who knows, that might be true, but this show by itself sounds awfully intriguing.

I mean, come on, look at this cast: Eric McCormack (Will and Grace), Tom Cavanagh (Ed, Eli Stone), Sarah Clarke (24), Monica Potter (Boston Legal), and Griffin Dunne (Law and Order: CI, 3 lbs.). And it's from the same people who bring us The Closer, so you know it's going to be of some quality. And it's really great to see Cavanagh and McCormack back on weekly TV again (oh, when oh when is Ed coming to DVD?).

In case you haven't heard, there is the possibility of a writers strike in early 2008, and TV networks have started to buy more and more scripts ahead of time just in case.

ABC has Section 8, which is described as being about "everyday people with exceptional neurological abilities recruited to work for a secret branch of a government agency" (again? *sigh*). NBC passed on the show because it was too much like another show they have about ordinary folks with powers (hmmm...The Biggest Loser?)

Everyone knows that Debra Messing has small breasts, including Messing herself. But NBC execs wanted her to have bigger ones.

At a panel discussion during the Tribeca Film Festival, the Will & Grace star disclosed that she wore "chicken cutlets," a form of silicone breast enhancer, when she shot the pilot of the show. But when the show was picked up by NBC, she didn't want to wear them anymore. After seeing the next couple of episodes, the president of NBC called the producers, wanting to know where her breasts went. They wanted her breasts back, but she refused to wear them.

TBS is looking for a companion to its highly-rated reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, and good ol' boy Bill Engvall appears to be it. The comedian, who appeared in the Blue Collar Comedy Tour alongside Jeff Foxworthy, will star in a pilot for the cable network. Engvall will play the father at the center of a sitcom, which is described by TBS senior vp of programming Michael Wright as, "very clever and witty but not mean-spirited." If you're like me and you have no idea who this guy is, you can watch some of his comedy and an interview with him in this clip on YouTube. Engvall is co-producing the show with Michael Leeson, whose impressive resume includes producing The Cosby Show, Taxi, Happy Days, All in the Family, and Mary Tyler Moore.

Engvall's pilot is the second comedy that TBS is eyeing. The network recently greenlighted a workplace comedy pilot called Imperfect Union, starring Eric McCormack (who recently claimed he was done with sitcoms).

File this under "Famous Last Words": Eric McCormack told an audience at the Edinburgh International Television festival that the experience of doing Will & Grace was so perfect, that he doesn't think that he's going to do another sitcom again.

Ever.

Uh-huh. Suuure, Eric. You're just coming off a long-running sitcom that, no matter how bad it got over the years, still had a palpable chemistry amongst the cast. You're tired of the grind right now, and you think that you'll never be able to replicate what you had on your old show. You may even be concentrating on working on the stage, which is where you started. But if, after a few years in the relative obscurity of Broadway, NBC or someone else waves a juicy sitcom part under your nose, especially one that's accompanied by pots of money, you don't think you're going to say yes? Let's just say that your mouth shouldn't be writing checks that your "artistic integrity" can't cash, pal.

It was recently announced that the 60th annual Tony Awards will go hostless this June 11, because "the 60th Anniversary show is bigger than just one host". Or maybe no one wanted to step up and take the chance of getting ripped apart by the public if things don't run smoothly. Anyway, instead of following the lone emcee tradition, this year's show at Radio City Music Hall will be carried by 60 different stars, including Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Bernadette Peters, and Hank Azaria.

Back in 2004, MTV's Video Music Awards went hostless, and I remember feeling somewhat disoriented while watching it. Whether this was because I was watching MTV or because it was hostless, is still up for debate.

(S08E23) There are those who are die-hard fans of Will & Grace, which premiered on the NBC schedule back in 1998. Then there are those who despise the show, which is about the relationship between Grace Adler (Debra Messing) and her gay friend Will Truman (Eric McCormack). The fans love the back-and-forth between the two characters and the dynamic of their relationship. Those who hate the show may be uncomfortable with the subject matter (homosexuality) or the cartoon-ish characterizations of Will and Grace's friends Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and Karen Walker (Megan Mullally ), or the fact that it's just not funny.

I fall under neither category. I liked Will & Grace, but was not a huge fan. I'd watch it if I happened to see something interesting going on, and I'd laugh at a few of the lines (not as heartily as I would laugh during an episode of Scrubs, though). Yet, Jack annoyed me sometimes and the influx of guest stars on the show was somewhat distracting. In fact, over the last few years I didn't really follow it at all.

However, as this would be the last episode of the series, I decided to give it a review. My opinion on the last show of the series? Meh.

NBC has a solid history of confusing and/or misleading previews (check out tonight's West Wing, for example -- and that's all I'll say for now), and the tradition continues in previews for the final episodes of Will and Grace.

The previews all show Will and Grace doing things as a "couple": kissing passionately, Will throwing Grace down on the bed to make love to her, Grace asking Will to be there for her and her baby, and one scene of them walking down the aisle together.

But it's all out of context! The kiss was a kiss of two best friends, the scene with Will and Grace in bed was a flashback to when they dated and he hadn't come out yet, the scene about the baby is Will and Grace discussing her future as a single mom, and the scene of them walking down the aisle? That was the ep where Will gave away Grace at her wedding to Leo!

Of course, maybe it's all misdirection. Maybe the show is going to surprise us all by having Will turn out to be straight (he never can keep a man, can he?), and she and Will get married and live happily ever after! Talk about twist endings.

JustJared has some photos from the filming of the last episode of Will and Grace (no spoilers - it's photos of the cast taking a bow in front of the studio audience). The finale will be 45 minutes long, and the DVD of the finale will actually go on sale a mere 5 days after it is shown on NBC (May 23)!

Talk about quick turnaround.

[via TV Tattle]

Sitcoms Online reports that Eric McCormack of Will and Grace has created a show for Lifetime television called Lovespring International. The series, which is slated for six episodes, will focus on a dating service that alleges to be based in Beverly Hills, but is actually in Tarzana. The staff of the dating service work to convince their clients that their service can find them the perfect match. Actually, isn't that rather similar to UPN's Love Inc? I'd imagine some might make that comparison when the improvised show airs on June 5, but since it's on Lifetime no one will probably see it anyway, so I guess it's a moot point.