TV odds and ends

So who's the cursed one? Nathan Filion, who many fans and critics believe is a completely capable leading man, but whose Firefly crashed and burned. Or Tim Minear, whose Wonderfalls and Firefly didn't even get air all thirteen of their episodes?

Maybe they're both cursed: Drive got the axe already. It aired, what, four episodes?


NBC.com revealed that Studio 60 will return on May 24, the day after the May sweeps officially ends. Bad news: it's missing sweeps (then again, maybe that's good news) and that NBC didn't make a big deal of its return.


ABC gets the "WTF are they thinking? award" this spring with it's shoddy treatment of Men in Trees by keeping it off the sked so it can air Notes From The Underbelly and October Road, two shows I just couldn't bring myself to keep watching. The thing is: Men In Trees has already been renewed, so it's not as if it's not strong enough to air now. But the plan is to use the episodes in the can next fall, so at least we'll get an extended season of Trees next year.

ABC did a similar move to Boston Legal a few years ago, and it worked. The only thing is, Boston Legal was bumped because the show that was tried out in its spot became a hit. The show: Grey's Anatomy. Not quite October Road or Underbelly.


[adult swim] had its upfront this week. The first news: as of July, it's airing seven days a week (Friday night was a regular Cartoon Network night-- like kids that age should be up watching TV at midnight).

On June 17, the Robot Chicken maniacs are airing a special Star Wars episode. And they got The Man himself, George Lucas, to lend his voice for the episode. You have to give Lucas credit for having a sense of humor about his creation. He's been pretty open about his love of some of the satires that have come down the pike-- especially the last few years.

Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil is finally getting a tryout as a series this summer. I watched the pilot last summer and thought it had potential.

Shows which will have another season: Morel Orel (yes!), Frisky Dingo (best news ever, but I don't know how they'll clean up the mess from Season One), Robot Chicken (a slam dunk), The Boondocks (brilliant), Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (could never get into it, but I'll watch), Metalocalypse (killer!), The Venture Brothers (already knew it, but it's good to hear again), Squidbillies (meh), Assy McGee (double meh), Aqua Teen Hunger Force (duh...), Saul of the Molemen (I think I vomited a little in my mouth), Tim and Eric Awesome Show (I'll need a bucket for the vomit now).


You'd think the [adult swim] news would be the happiest thing I heard all week, but newsarama.com broke the news that made me happiest. Joss Whedon was so impressed with Bryan Lynch's writing on the Buffy-verse Spike comic book Shadow Puppets that he decided Lynch was the guy to help him launch an Angel Season Six miniseries.

I was kinda torn about the news at first. Here you have one of my all-time favorite television shows ever being brought back after what I thought was a fitting (if controversial) series finale and make it into a comic book. (Nothing wrong with comics; it's just not the same as the show though). But Whedon said the series will be what the plan was for Angel if it hadn't gotten cancelled. So I have to be all over it.

Unfortunately, IDW holds the rights to the Angel-centered comics, and their issues run an appalling $3.99 each, so I'll probably wait for the trade paperback(s) that reprint the planned 12-issue series (not that $4 is gonna crunch me, but I've pretty much been forced to drop every comic I read-- I'm down to about 1-1/2 a month-- so I can't justify blowing my cash on the most expensive books on the stands).

And if you need a little reminder, here's a pic from the final scene of Angel (minor spoiler alert-- just 'cause you know who's standing at the end-- doesn't mean one or more don't fall by the end credits, though):

God, I miss that show...