Misc notes

Some odds and ends I've intended on posting throughout the week:

NBC's Medium is getting an early return now that Kidnapped has been dumped to Saturdays (starting tonight). It'll be back 11/15.

Smith (which was the first new show to be straight-up cancelled)'s replacement, the Stanley Tucci drama 3 Lbs., was rushed and will premiere 11/14.

King of the Hill's 11th-season premiere will be on 1/21/07 and features Bobby's pet snake escaping down the toilet. Is it possible this will be a Snakes on a Plane parody?

The second officially cancelled show was Runaway. Bummer for Donnie Wahlberg, who was fantastic on Boomtown. If you haven't seen it-- run to the store and pick up the DVD set.

But what about Happy Hour, which got pulled? Get this: FOX ordered three more episodes. Somebody must have pictures someone at FOX doesn't want released to the press... BTW: the not as bad 'Til Death also got an extra three episode order.

Congrats to the shows which got full-season pickups already: Ugly Betty, Jericho, Heroes, Brothers and Sisters, and Close to Home (I don't watch the show, but there's no way I'm going to after it killed off the under-utilized Christian Kane character-- dicks).

Just when everyone has jumped on board the bus I've been driving for years clamoring to take it around back and put it out of its misery, NBC's been having good ratings from ER as it's been beating the competition (Six Degrees-- which may be on its way out-- and Shark). NBC's so happy, they are not going to put the show on hiatus through the winter as planned and will air it all season long. They may even add a few episodes to the season-long order. Has the world gone completely insane?

NBC replaced Sunday night's 3 episode Friday Night Lights marathon with a Heroes marathon. That doesn't bode well for for Lights (which I've heard is excellent-- I've only gotten to see the first ep so far). But NBC is giving Lights a tryout on Monday, 10/30 at 9 in place of a planned repeat of the struggling Studio 60. 60 probably isn't getting pulled (low ratings overall, but good ratings for the $100K+ households), but it may move. Lights hasn't gotten a full-season order yet, but NBC did order more episodes beyond the initial 13, so there's hope.

CBS pulled production of the Joey Pants (Pantoliano) mid-season show Waterfront because they didn't like the direction the five episodes in the can were going.

NBC announced major cutbacks this week-- and a new philosophy for programming that is moronic is in its limitations. NBC chief Jeff Zucker declared that NBC will not air scripted shows in the 7-8 pm hour beginning next year. In their place will undoubtedly be reality shows and game shows as they're cheaper to produce. One notable exception may be the Thursday My Name is Earl and The Office comedy block.

Just three years ago, Friends was the biggest thing the network had going. When did it air? 7 pm. Like I said: moronicly limited. What happens when NBC has a good season and can't afford to order new scripted shows because it doesn't have the timeslots for them?

The November sweeps are just around the corner, and we'll start seeing shows fall to the cancellation ax in just a bit.

And in movie news: Deadwood's kick-ass Timothy Olyphant will be the bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard. I wonder if the worst thing he'll do is kick Bruce Willis' walker out from under him. [Oh no, he di'nt!!!] -- yeah, it's an old joke, but I don't get out much anymore.

And the geekly anticipated Halo movie adaptation saw its financing pulled when the expected $135 million budget came in closer to $200 million. Microsoft is looking for alternate sources of cha-ching. What, Bill Gates can't write a check for it?

Premieres and Notables for 10/23-10/29

Monday, 10/23

Dog Whisperer; National Geographic. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere

Returning: Prison Break, FOX at 7 pm and Justice (new day), FOX at 8 pm.


Thursday, 10/26

Iconoclasts; Sundance. 8 pm. Season Premiere.
Series with two notables conversing-- each revealing more than they ever would in a straight interview. I missed the first season when I was having cable issues, but it sounds interesting enough to try this season.
10/26: Eddie Vedder & surfer Laird Hamilton
11/2: Mikhail Baryshnikov & Alice Waters
11/9: Quentin Tarantino & Fiona Apple (5-1 odds Tarantino DOMINATES the conversation)
11/16: Isabella Rosellini & Dean Kamen
11/23: Paul Simon & Lorne Michaels
11/30: Dave Chappelle & Maya Angelou

Whoa-- I just programmed it into the DVR, and I see the first season is airing marathon-style on Sunday, 10/22 from 1:00 pm -5:30 pm.

Friday, 10/27

Vanished returns on it's new night (FOX, 7pm). Catch it while you can-- it's not long for this world...

Masters of Horror; Showtime. 9 pm. Season Premiere

Saturday, 10/28

Hellboy: Sword of Storms premieres on Cartoon Network at 8:30 pm. Check it out before you buy the DVD.

(same with Ultimate Avengers 2, which airs tonight at the same time).

Sunday, 10/29

Prehistoric Zoo; Animal Planet. 7 pm. Series Premiere
A man travels through time to capture prehistoric creatures, which he brings to a wildlife sanctuary. Along the way, we learn real information about dinosaurs. How cool is that? I would have been all over this show when I was a kid. Heck, I'm gonna try it out-- long after I stopped being a kid.

This week's premieres

Whoo Hoo! What a night. I was down 15 points in my work Fantasy Football league but still had a chance to win-- but the frickin' Bears crumbled until the 4th quarter. Thankfully, the Chicago Defense scored 2 TDs and their Special Teams scored 1, and I ended up winning by 13!

#1 in the league, baby (and #2 in my other league)!

Anyway, the major/noteworthy premieres this week:

Monday, 10/16:

The Upside Down Show, Noggin. 10:00 am. Series premiere.
Yeah, yeah, I'm late, but this is a Noggin show that airs twice a day. This is an unusual show because it's designed for preschoolers, but like Noggin's Jack's Big Music Show, it's pretty entertaining for an adult. At least the clips I've seen were. I'm sure I'll be seeing lots of it in the coming weeks...

Friday, 10/20:

Trading Spouses, FOX. 7:00 pm. Season Premiere.
Season Three? Really?

1 vs. 100, NBC. 7:00 pm. Series Premiere.
The newest prime time gameshow to hit the block. This one is hosted by Bob Saget and requires a bit more thought than Deal or No Deal.

Las Vegas, NBC. 8:00 pm. Season Premiere.
The improbably surviving show returns for a fourth season.

Saturday, 10/21 marathons:

MI-5, A&E. 10am-6 pm.
The remaining eight hours of the critically acclaimed British import's fourth season. I guess A&E is too busy airing CSI: Miami repeats, and quality shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter and Inked to air good scripted fare.

Prison Break, FX. 11:00 am-6pm.
The entire seven episode run of the second season so far. If you missed any or all of the episodes, now's your chance to catch up before Monday's return to new episodes. Body count tally on those seven episodes: two major characters, two minor characters, and at least one guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.