lawyers

It's pilot season in Los Angeles, which means it's time for underemployed writers to slip on their parkas and head into sub-Artic studios to attend the tapings of television shows that may never see the light of day.

The novelty of attending a pilot taping wears off pretty quickly. If you've ever attended the taping of any television show, you know that there is a copious amount of waiting involved. Sitting and waiting and freezing. Picking out which audience members were bussed in versus which ones actually know what show they're attending can only occupy you for so long.

Court TV is not only changing its name, it's going to change the programming as well.

The network has announced that the network will have a new name starting on January 1, 2008. No decision has been reached yet on what the new name will be, but the network will introduce a ton of new reality shows. Oh, sorry, they're not "reality" shows, they're "real-life series" watched by "engagers."

Among the new shows: Tiger Team, about security experts; The Real Hustle, about con artists and scams, and The Room, which will focus on police interrogations. They are also developing a series of shows with The Smoking Gun web site. As for Nancy Grace (she's the one smiling on the right), she'll be part of the new daytime lineup, but her show will be shortened a bit to make room for the new show from Star Jones.

Wow, Nancy Grace and Star Jones on the same channel during the day. Enjoy!

Former supermodel Niki Taylor has sued E! Entertainment Television for "intentional infliction of emotional distress" with its recent Boulevard of Broken Dreams profile of the model's career and near-fatal 2001 car accident. According to Taylor and her lawyers, E! secured Taylor's involvement in the profile by telling her that the show would focus on her current professional endeavors - including a fragrance and clothing line. Boulevard, of course, did no such thing. The show's tagline is, after all, "In a place between heaven and Hollywood, dreams turn tragic and fame goes sour fast."

The complaint filed by Taylor's lawyers reads that E! "neglected their journalistic obligations to report truthfully and accurately." E! replied that they weren't aware that "journalism" had any attendant "obligations." The network's spokesperson issued a statement saying, "We're E! Entertainment Television, not E! Stewards of Responsible Media Television." Just kidding. E! has yet to go on record regarding the suit.

The Mayor of Television (hey, they had an election for Mayor of Television? Why didn't anyone tell us??) has invented the Law and Order Fantasy League Game. Basically, you guess which "ripped from the headlines" story one of the Law and Order shows (the original, Criminal Intent, and Special Victims Unit) is going to ripoff write an homage to. Will it be Michael Richards? The O.J. Simpson book controversy?

But you can't just guess which show is going to do which plot and be done with it. You have to tweak it a little bit, so it's "original" (cough cough). So, maybe a former sitcom actor says some nasty racial remarks, only this time it's not at a comedy club, it's at a private party. Or maybe a former pro baseball star (not a football star! accused of killing his parents (not his ex-wife and her friend!) decides to create a web site (not publish a book!) showing pics of the murder scene and how he might have done it.

The Mayor's idea for a Michael Richards-inspired story is more elaborate than mine, and would fit the L&O world nicely.

[via TV Tattle]

Oh, and so does John Grisham!

Interesting piece by the horror writer in this week's Entertainment Weekly (the one with Kate Winslet on the cover). King talks about the latest controversy involving the mentally unbalanced queen of exploitation legal journalist, and has a few choice observations for the woman he calls "Graceless and Tasteless:"

"And before you accuse me of writing about news in your favorite entertainment magazine, let me assure you Nancy Grace is entertainment...if, that is, you're the sort who watches NASCAR for the crashes and Survivor hoping no one will. In the increasingly weird world of infotainment, she is the belle of the Freakers Ball...[Grace] conveys by body language alone the idea that we're all guilty of something...and she knows it."

Bravo, Mr. King. He goes on to talk about the recent case involving the disappearance of Trenton Duckett. Grace had his mother on her show and pretty much hammered her about her whereabouts that day, and Duckett wouldn't say (as King points out, her lawyer told her not to, duh). And when Grace and CNN found out that she had killed herself earlier that day did they decide to not run it? Of course not, they ran it anyway.

(The article isn't online yet, but the issue is on newsstands now.)

(S01E04) I really enjoyed Tom Nicholson's (Kerr Smith) storyline in this episode. We get to see his weaknesses as he loses sight of his job when his relationship with a client clouds his judgment. Plus, someone else gets to try a case for once.

The episode opens with a man falling from a skyscraper and then the shaky camera work begins. This week's victim is Daniel Benson, son of legendary studio head Scott Benson. The victim's girlfriend, Molly Larusa, is missing. The two were dating in rehab, which is where Benson plummeted to his death. TNT&G fits into the equation because the missing girl's father is their client, Frank Larusa.

It doesn't get the best ratings on television, but it's a good show and has buzz, so ABC is giving Boston Legal a third season. Creator and writer David E. Kelley has another show coming up on ABC too, next year, titled Life On Mars.

You know, I've never seen one episode of Boston Legal, even though I watched a few eps of The Practice (until it got a little silly), I'm from the Boston area, and I'm a big fan of both James Spader and William Shatner. Weird.