What’s on Tonight (Monday, August 4, 2008) August 4, 2008 7:44 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Television.add a comment
Here’s a look at what’s new tonight on the various broadcast and cable networks.
8:00PM
- ABC – High School Musical: Get in the Picture
- BBCA – Top Gear
- FOX – Teen Choice Awards
- NBC – American Gladiators
- TLC – Take home Nanny
9:00PM
- ABC – Wanna Bet?
- A&E – Intervention
- HBO – Baghdad High
- TLC – Jon & Kate Plus 8
- TNT – The Closer
- USA – WWE Raw
- VH1 – I Want to Work for Diddy
10:00PM
- ABC – The Mole
- ABC Family – The Middleman
- A&E – Paranormal State
- Bravo – Date My Ex
- DSC – Verminators
- NBC – Nashville Star
- Showtime – Weeds
- TNT – Saving Grace
- VH1 – New York Goes to Hollywood
10:30PM
- A&E – Paranormal State
- Showtime – Secret Dairy of A Call Girl
- VH1 – Luke’s Parental Advisor
11:59PM
- Sho2 – Big Brother After Dark
Fox Renews “So You Think You Can Dance?” August 4, 2008 6:18 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Fox, News, Renewals, So You Think You Can Dance, Television.1 comment so far
Surprising no one, Fox has renewed its hit summer reality series So You Think You Can Dance? for a fifth season. In announcing the renewal, Fox’s President of Alternative Entertainment, Mike Darnell said, “We’re delighted to have DANCE back for a fifth season next year. FOX is very lucky to have television’s preeminent performance competitions in AMERICAN IDOL and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, and it’s no coincidence that creator and executive producer Simon Fuller and executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe have been a part of both these successes.” The full press release follows after the jump.
“Freakazoid!: The Complete First Season”: DVD Review July 30, 2008 8:45 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, DVD Reviews, Freakazoid!, Freakazoid! Season 1, Television.2 comments

Cyber nerd Dexter Douglas surfs the web one fateful night, gets swept into a digital techno-electro smash-up that bites him in the gigabytes and – ZAP! – goes from geek to freak. To Freakazoid!, that is, a smart- mouthing, butt-kicking, mega-voltage superhero with things to do (unless there’s something really good on TV). Things like battle super baddies Cave Guy and the Lobe, save the world from zany ETs, ditch his tubby self-appointed sidekick Fanboy, snuggle up with girlfriend Step (who disses Dexter but is looney-swooney for Freakazoid) and be home in time to scarf down Mom’s sloppy joes. All 14 freakin’ funny Season One shows from Emmy® Award-winning series are here – enough to keep you laughing every day of the freak!
Read my review of the first season DVD after the jump.
Comic-Con 2008: The CW’s “Supernatural” Panel July 29, 2008 4:32 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, News, Supernatural, Television, The CW.add a comment
Stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki were joined by creator Erick Kripke and writers on the panel for The CW’s Supernatural. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad:
- SPOILERS: After some time in Hell, Dean returns from the dead. The beginning of the season will deal with how he got out of Hell and what has happened to Sam in the four months that he was gone.
- Meanwhile Sam is more and more accepting his role as demon killer. He believes more than ever that his rightful place in the world is for him to get rid of demons and ghosts, just like his father.
- The two brothers will continue to hold secrets from each other. They will work more independently from each other, and they’re relationship will grow a bit darker.
- Asked about the effect of the writers strike on the series, Kripke said it actually made it a meaner, leaner and more concise show. However, there were some storylines that were not covered during the season.
- Someone asked if Kripke still has a plan to run the show for only five seasons, he replied yes, saying that he wanted to avoid jumping the shark adding he doesn’t want the show to ever slip into mediocrity.
- The season three DVD will be released on September 2nd on both DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def.
- There may be a return by the Ghostfacers this season, and there is talk of giving them their own online miniseries. During the panel, Ed and Hary made a cameo apperance.
Comic-Con 2008: The CW’s “Smallville” Panel July 29, 2008 4:22 pm
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The panel for The CW’s Smallville. The panel was moderated by Joseph Loeb and featured stars Allison Mack, Justin Hartley, showrunners Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer. New stars Sam Witmer (Doomsday) and Cassiday Freeman (Tess) were also present. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad:
- The “No Tights” part of the “No Tights. No Flights” rule that was established at the beginning of the series will be upheld, implying that while Clark won’t be donning the tights, he may start flying during the 8th season.
- Swimmer said that Clark will be starting to think about his destiny in the world and begin working on a secret identity.
- Witmer’s character, Justin Bloom, will start out as an extremely nice paramedic who then starts having blackouts with dire consequences. The blackouts are connected to the apperance of the villain Doomsday.
- Freeman will play Tes, the new girl at Lexcorp, now that Luthor is gone. No one will know why she was picked to run the company.
- WIth Hartley now a regular cast member, there will be more exploration of his Green Arrow and Oliver Queen characters.
- While not returning this season, they said that the door is always open for Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) and Sam Jones III (Pete Ross) to return.
- The premiere will feature an appearance by the Justice League.
- DC Comics writer Geoff Johns will be writing an episode that will introduce the Legion of Super-Heroes later in the season. On that front, Swimmer says that here will be more use of DC characters and mythology this season.
- Mack may direct an episode of Smallville this season.
Comic-Con 2008: ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” Panel July 29, 2008 4:04 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in ABC, Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, News, Pushing Daisies, Television.add a comment
The panel for ABC’s Pushing Daisies featuredthe entire cast, who were joined by creator Bryan Fuller and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad.
- The characters will be visiting a new set of locations in season two, including a nunnery, a bee factory and a traveling circus.
- A couple new characters will be joining the cast. One will be David Arquette, who will plaly Ned’s best friend and another a pig named Pigby.
- Viewers will get to meet Emerson’s mother and we’ll see flashbacks of a young Olive, Emerson, Ned and Chuck.
- The aunts will be getting out of the house more often and participating in some of the murder mysteries.
- There will be an arc about Emerson’s daughter.
- While praising the cast as well as the writing staff, Barry said that new talent has been added for season two, including a former writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Kristen will sing in the first episode, with more musical numbers to follow during the season.
- Fuller said he idea for Pushing Daisies came from his work on Dead LIke Me. He wanted to do something sweet and refreshing.
Comic-Con 2008: SCI FI’s “Eureka” Panel July 28, 2008 2:31 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, Eureka, News, Sci Fi, Television.add a comment
The panel for the SCI FI Channel show Eureka took place on Saturday night. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad.
- Two new characters will be introduced this season. One will be Eva Thorne (Frances Fisher) who is known as “The Fixer”. The other characters will be Jack’s sister, named Lexxie.
- Colin Ferguson (who plays Jack Carter) said that Lexxie will turn Jack, and the town of Eureka, upside down. She does this by becoming friendly with everyone in the town, which took Jack much longer to do: “It’s like reliving my childhood,” Ferguson said.
- He added that it’s great to have some new blood in the series and that the actress playing her sister is very much like his real sister.
- The Artifact mythology has been wrapped up and the introduction of Eva Thorne will start a new arc.
- Sara will be Twittering online about the goings-on around the house and Eureka. If you write she’ll respond back.
- A new site, Eureka Unscripted, has been created to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the writers putting the episodes together.
- A podcast will be released one to two days after the last original episode airs.
- Beverly, the psychologist, will not be returning this season.
- Jim Taggert (played by Matt Frewer) will, however. He’ll have a recurring role during the second half of the season.
- Both Sally and Joe will be directing episodes of the series this season.
- Fargo and Henry may be getting love interests.
- More of Deputy Jo Lupo’s background will be revealed this season. Also, she will be the focus of one episode.
Comic-Con 2008: Videos from NBC’s Panels for “Heroes”, “The Office” and “Chuck” July 28, 2008 12:12 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Chuck, Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, Heroes, NBC, News, Television, The Office, Videos.add a comment
NBC has put up videos for their panels on Heroes, The Office and Chuck. Check them out at the following links:
Shark Week 2008 Kicks Off Tonight July 27, 2008 7:57 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Discovery Channel, News, Shark Week, Television.add a comment
Shark Week 2008 kicks off this evening on the Discovery Channel (Sunday, July 27th at 9pm). Check out the official website for details of what new shows are being aired at this link.
They’ve also set up a website with a fun feature over at www.SharkYourself.com. Click the image below to “Shark Yourself”.
Comic-Con 2008: SCI FI’s “Battlestar Galactica” Panel July 27, 2008 7:46 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment

UPDATED ON JULY 29 AT 4:00pm: TV Squad has put up their report on the panel. Read it at this link. Also, SCIFI.com has put up the video of the panel which you can check out at this link.
Cast members Tricia Helfer, James Callis, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Trucco and surprise guests Jamie Bamber and Tahmoh Penikett were at the panel for Battlestar Galactica, as well as Ronald D. Moore and writer/co-producer David Eick. Here are some highlights come from /Film, Maureen Ryan and IGN.
First up, a trailer was screened, here’s a summary of what was shown via /Film (click here to read IGN’s summary of the trailer):
It started off with clips from the previous seasons. Then about half way through, we started to see BS crew and Cylons on a destroyed earth. And at one point Starbuck saying “Isn’t there away out of here”. Producer David Eick, talked about how the first couple of episodes will focus on the crew having to deal with terrible living conditions. They want to leave the place they dreamt about living for so long. As the trailer continued, we saw extremely quick flashes of scenes of this season, one with President Roslyn asking Commander Adama if he was a Cylon, and the next clip showing the Commander in the airlock of BSG with a white cloth over his eyes, looking into the camera. It looked like someone or something was defiantly going to execute him and it’s either a Cylon or human doing the death sentence.
Some other things we noticed in the trailer included:
Starbuck and Apollo making out.
Adama and Roslin making out as well
The Final Four next to ruins.
Apollo in a cell crying: “just kill me”
The trailer ended with showing various cast members holding guns as well as shooting them. Some battles on Earth, others on Galatica. After viewing the trailer, we can 100% confirm that the season won’t take place entirely on Earth.
And now to the panel highlights:
- Ronald D. Moore offered this clue about who the final Cylon is: “It’s someone you’ve seen before,” Moore said. “It won’t be a guest star, it will be somebody who has graced your television screen on our program before.”
- In the final set of 10 episodes, there’s “a tremendous amount of upheaval” and “things aren’t pretty” among the human survivors who’ve arrived on Earth, Moore said.
- When asked if she was the final Cylon, Sackhoff gave the following response:”I cannot confirm nor deny if I am alive or dead, the final Cylon or not [in the series finale], only that Kara finds peace at the end.”
- Helfer told the crowd that, in the finale, she “gets to shoot some guns,” and that Six’s last scene with Gaius involved a lot of “guns, running.” It wasn’t revelaed whether they wre shooting at each other or someone else, but she described filming the ending of BSG as “like being in Apocalypse Now”.
- All the panelists agree that when they read the script for the finale, it was the only way for the show to end: “The ending is a perfect way to finish the show. Does everyone and everything justice,” Tahmoh “Helo” Penikett said. “There is a lot of closure, and still some questions left.”
Reminder: DVD Giveaways for “The Closer” and “Girlfriends” July 27, 2008 7:16 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, Girlfriends: Season Four, Giveaways, Television, The Closer: Season Three.add a comment

If you haven’t yet entered either of my latest DVD giveways, I wanted to give you all a heads up that there is still time. The giveaway for The Closer: Season Three ends tomorrow (7/28), and the one for Girlfriends: Season Four ends next Sunday (8/3). Click the links below for instructions on how to enter.
Good luck!
Comic-Con 2008: Fox’s “Dollhouse” Panel July 27, 2008 6:23 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, Dollhouse, Fox, News, Television.add a comment
At the panel for Fox’s Dollhouse, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett were in attendance. Here are some highlights courtesy TV Squad and ComingSoon.net:
- Joss moderated the panel.
- It was revealed that Paul Smith (Tahmoh Penikett) will have a difficult time tracking down Echo (Dushku) in the show, as every time he gets closer, she’s someonen else.
- Joss was asked about what he thought about Save our Show campaigns already being started before the series has even aired: Joss said that while he appreciated the fandom, he was afraid of the message it might send to the general public, and he didn’t want Dollhouse to be perceived as a show that is already in trouble and appeals only to a niche audience.
- Eliza says she’s thrilled to be working with Joss again and called him her “career brazier”.
- Joss said he likes to think of Dollhouse as having the feel of the movie Collaterai in the way the city is protrayed.
- Asked about the re-vamped pilot, Joss said reaffirmed that it was his idea and that it will give the “real” first episode more resonance. He said there’s no reason to worry and that another fiasco like Firefly (where episodes were broadcast out of order) is not going to happen.
- The new pilot is aimed at better setting up some of the back story to the Dollhouse organization as well as its cast of characters.
- 13 episodes have been greenlit, and there are plans to have them accompanied by webisodes.
Comic-Con 2008: ABC’s “Lost” Panel July 27, 2008 6:10 pm
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The panel for ABC’s Lost was made up of just the show’s executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, though later on a special guest (Matthew Fox) showed up. Here are some highlights from the panel courtesy TV Squad:
- The panel started off with a few videos, including an ad for the DVDs.
- After more videos, the two plugged liveautographs.com, a site where you can buy autographed memorabilia from the show, with all hte money going to charity.
- They then went into a Q&A session. Asked if the island moved when the hatch blew and the sky turned purple, Lindelof responded: “No., but something did happen.”
- Will we see Jin and Locke again?: Jin will still be on the show in some form, we haven’t seen the last of the two characters.
- Will we see an Rousseau flashback?: We will see her “story” (they don’t want to refer to these as flashbacks any longer).
- Shooting starts back up in three weeks if a strike doesn’t get in the way. All episodes will be back-to-back, uninterrupted.
- We’ll see Vincent, Walt’s dog, again. He’ll make it to the end of the show.
- Will Kate see Sawyer again? Yes.
- Will we see what happens to the five people in the zodiac boat? Yes. They also revealed an interesting note on this: On the set, the actors call the other castaways from Flight 815, the ones in the background, “socks”.
- How did Daniel know about the secondary protocol? It was written in his notebook.
- The notebook will be featured heavily in the fifth season.
- How old his Richard Alpert? Cuse: “Quite old”. Someone asked how many toes he has, to which they responded that we’ll learn a lot more about his history and see him barefoot in the near future.
The last question was about the name chosen for Locke in the casket (Jeremy Bentham) and how it was related to Panopticon. Before answering a question about if it was meant to show that the people on the island were being watched, a Dharma Inititive test subject, an actor, ran on-stage saying he videotapped what he saw and wanted to share it. All an act, they eventually showed the tape. Here’s what was on it (summary courtesy /Film):
The brief footage featured everybody’s favorite Asian Dharma doctor, this time introducing himself as Dr. Marvin Candle. Instead of the usual scratched up black-and-white recording, the video was being shot digitally with Marvin sitting on a couch. He briefly starts off with his normal spiel, but quickly gives up and states there’s no point in playing games anymore. He admits his name is Pierre Chang, and tells the people watching that they should be receiving his message roughly thirty years in the future. His message is simple: “It’s imperative that the Dharma Initiative be reconstituted.”
Comic-Con 2008: NBC”s “Heroes” Panel July 27, 2008 5:48 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Comic-Con, Comic-Con 2008, Heroes, NBC, News, Television.add a comment
/Film put up a report an extensive report on the panel for NBC’s Heroes. Here are the highlights, mostly centering on the show’s premiere, which was screened for the audience:
- Tim Kring joined the entire cast of onstage and proceeded to pull out a burned DVD with the handwritten text “Heroes Volume III (Episode One)” written on it. To much applause, the season three premiere was screened.
Here’s a summary of what was shown [SPOILERS]:
The episode starts off four year into the future, with a scarred Peter running for his very life. He enters a building and finds Claire waiting for him, holding a gun to his head. She tries to shoot him, but he slows down time and evades the bullet by simply walking out of its path. Then he grabs her gun and jumps through time to the present. Now we’re back to where season two ended, with Nathan being shot by an unknown assailant. As it turns out, “Future Peter” is that unknown assailant.
Nathan gets taken to the hospital, but the wounds are too severe and he dies… for about five minutes. His pale lifeless body jumps up on the hospital bed. The experience of dying and coming back to life makes him rethink his purpose, and instead of continuing what he started by announcing to the world about people like him, he comes to the realization that they exist to serve God’s will.
Later on, Angela Petrelli confronts “Future Peter” about changing the future for the worse.
Meanwhile, Claire finds herself attacked by Sylar, who captures her and splits her head open. We then see Sylar examining Claire’s exposed brain. A mildly concious Claire asks “Are you gonna eat it?” “Am I gonna eat it? That’s disgusting, Claire.” Soon afterward, Sylar locates the necessary part of Claire’s mind with his powers. He looks down and a wound on his stomach starts to heal. Claire is confused, wondering why he doesn’t kill her. “You’re not like the others, Claire. You can’t die. And now, neither can I.”
On the other side of the world, Hiro is the head of his father’s company and has all the money anyone could ever ask for, yet still feels left without a purpose. Before he can dwell on it for too long though, he receives a video tape of his late father explaining to him he must protect a world-altering secret that’s hidden within a safe in the office, and must not ever open it. Unwilling to listen to reason, Hiro opens the safe anyway, much to Ando’s chagrin. Inside is another tape of his father, this time yelling at Hiro for opening the safe. He then explains that the safe contains half of a formula that must never get in the wrong hands.
Moments later, the paper vanishes from Hiro’s hand. He stops time as fast as he can, and notices this lengthy red blur traveling through the office. He follows it all the way through the building until it connects to a blond girl, who he soon finds out isn’t actually frozen in time. His power has no effect on her. In order to get away, she punches him and speeds out of the building. Needing to get the formula back, Hiro travels to the future and sees “Future Hiro” battling Ando, who demands he give back the formula. Unwilling to do so, “Future Ando” blasts “Furure Hiro” with red bolts of electricity. Hiro quickly travels back to the present.
The last character subplot involves Mohinder and Maya. Maya gets upset that Mohinder wants to leave, and when her powers start to take effect, Mohinder realizes how people get their powers: through the adrenal gland. He then figures out how to replicate the abilities in other people, later deciding to inject himself with it, causing him to lose conciousness. As he wakes up, two muggers try to rob him. He grab one of their guns and bends it in half, and then throws one of the guys halfway across the street. The other mugger takes off without a second thought, while Mohinder stands there amazed at what he just did.
You can read another report on the panel via TV Squad at this link.
“Tell Me You Love Me” Canceled By HBO July 27, 2008 12:12 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cancellations, HBO, News, Television, Tell Me You Love Me.1 comment so far
HBO’s sex-infused drama Tell Me You Love Me has been canceled by the network, according to THR.
Creator/executive producer Cynthia Mort released the following statement about the show’s cancellation: “Given the considerable amount of time that has passed and despite the best efforts of everyone involved, we were unable to find the direction of the show for the second season. There are so many other stories to tell and many other ways to tell them. I look forward to doing that with HBO in the future.”



Whereas Flashpoint 
Here are the top 10 programs for the past week (July 21-27) for both broadcast television and cable.



