J.J. Abrams, creator of Fringe
Lost's J.J. Abrams is returning to TV with the fall's most-buzzed about new show, Fringe (premieres Tuesday, Sep. 9 at 9 pm/ET, Fox). Even, so, Abrams says he's a little nervous. We chatted with Abrams about how he handles the pressure, his strong female characters, and exploration strange new worlds on Fringe and his upcoming big-screen take on Star Trek.
TV Guide: Everybody is talking about Fringe. Are you feeling the pressure?
J.J. Abrams: I feel the pressure every time. I felt it on Felicity, on Alias, on Lost, and I feel it on Fringe. It goes with the territory. But I'm far more excited about people seeing it than I am nervous that they may not like it.
TV Guide: What can you tell us about it?
Abrams: I don't want to give away too much.
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Harold Perrineau, Lost
Lost's breathtaking finale will no doubt have fans feverishly dissecting its innumerable puzzles until the show returns in early 2009. (Read our recap and weigh in with your thoughts!) Locke (aka Jeremy Bentham) is in the coffin?! What "very bad things" happened after the Oceanic 6 left the island?? How in Jacob's name is Ben gonna help all of them — plus Locke! — get back there??? And exactly where did the former Others ringleader and that wacky frozen device move the island to?
But at least one major character's fate was definitively sealed with the close of Season 4 when Michael (Harold Perrineau), the suicidal castaway — and father to "real big" mystery boy Walt — perished aboard the fiery
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Harold Perrineau, Lost
Harold Perrineau is back on the island — and ready to talk about why he left.
"It only goes about five feet deep," Harold Perrineau says, nodding in the direction of the swimming pool in his backyard. "If I stand in it, part of me's still above water."
From the hint of relief in his voice, you'd think a shallow pool was a major selling point when Perrineau bought the unassuming Los Angeles home more than a year ago. You wouldn't be entirely wrong.
As the T-shirt- and jeans-clad actor, 44, settles onto a sofa in the family room, he admits he's not a big water guy. He doesn't swim and he's prone to seasickness. So it's not hard to imagine Perrineau's anxiety when he found out his hotly anticipated return to Lost (Thursdays at 9 pm/ET, ABC) would take place on a ship in the vast Pacific. "My first day it was like, jump in a speedb
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Jeff Probst, Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites
Who would have imagined that Survivor could still surprise us? Yet its 16th edition, Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET, CBS; see programming note below) — which finds notable former players alongside a group of ardent devotees — has proven refreshingly unpredictable. According to host Jeff Probst, the twists just keep on comin': "Mark my words. There's so much crazy stuff to come — the kind that producers pray to the reality gods for." Here's an exclusive peek at the whiplash headed your way. (Lots of spoilers ahead!)
Jonathan Penner is forced to leave the game — and he's not alone!
A nasty gash on his right leg that Jonathan sustained during a challenge in the March 6 episode grows increasingly infected, ultimately forcing the prickly playe
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Josh Holloway apparently has had it up to "hair" with Sawyer's look.
"It's no shock to say that Season 4 ends with the Oceanic 6 getting off the island," Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof shares with TV Guide. "The real mystery is how, and what they have to sacrifice, and what happens to the people who didn't leave. You get all that this year." Sounds good, we'll take it. But what other intel are producers willing to spill? To find out, we turned to no, not viewers but to Lost cast members themselves for their own burning questions. Warning! The producers' answers could cause a major head rush, if not a full-on Desmond-style time jump.
Jorge Garcia (Hurley): "Is Ben in the coffin?"
Carlton Cuse: Come on, Jorge!
Damon Lindel
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Ken Leung, Rebecca Mader, Jeff Fahey and Jeremy Davies, Lost
TV Guide got the details on Lost's (Thursdays, 9 pm/ET, ABC) fresh faces.
KEN LEUNG "Miles":
Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse created the role of Miles specifically for New York City native Ken Leung after catching his live-wire performance as Uncle Junior's unstable protégé in The Sopranos last year. Before signing on to the super-secret ABC series, though, the actor — who also played the porcupine-esque Kid Omega in X-Men: The Last Stand — called up Cuse and attempted to pry some info out of him. "After our conversation," Leung admits, "I was still more or less blind." Allow us to fine-tune the picture: Miles, like The Sopranos' Carter, is a hothead, but he's a uniquely gifted one. "He's after something he can g
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Survivor: Micronesia
Check out the stats for Survivor: Micronesia's (premieres Thursday, Feb. 7, at 8 pm/ET on CBS) competitors, and hear what host Jeff Probst has to say about each one!
First, a few faves meet their matches...
The Flirts
Parvati Shallow and Mary Sartain
If out-flirting were part of the Survivor creed, Parvati Shallow, 25, would've walked away from the Cook Islands a million bucks richer. And as far as real estate company owner Mary Sartain, 29, is concerned, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. "Parvati's probably my favorite Survivor player," Sartain says. "I admire the way she worked the guys. I'm a pretty big flirt myself." Still, this time around, Shallow claims she's got a less shallow strategy in mind — sort of. "I've grown up a lot," she claims. "I want to make smart alliances. Some that might surprise you.
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Todd Herzog, Courtney Yates, Denise Martin, Amanda Kimmel and Peih-Gee Law, Survivor: China
Who’s going to win? Jeff Probst helps us rate China's (Thursdays, 8 pm/ET, CBS) final five.
Todd
We Say: The Utah-based flight attendant, 22, may be a little guy, but he's had the biggest impact on this season's game. He's smart, strategic and as cutthroat as Richard Hatch. But has he made too many enemies?
Jeff Probst Says: "Todd has been exciting to watch because he gets such joy out of playing the game. He's loving this manipulative adventure he's on, and he's good at it. But it's always fun to be the person in charge of giving the blind side to somebody until you get to the final tribal council and they're sitting on the jury. Todd's gotta let other people get credit for making moves if he wants a chance to convince people he's worthy [of winning]."
Odds:
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Lee Pace and Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies
"A guy who loves a girl wants to be left alone to make pies but can't because of the situation he's in." So star Lee Pace explains his surreal new ABC series Pushing Daisies (Wednesdays, 8 pm/ET, ABC). For those who have yet to cultivate a Daisies crush, the situation is this: Pace's character, Ned, a lonely pie baker, can bring the dead back to life with a touch — but can also kill with one more. Which kinda throws a kink into romancing Chuck (Anna Friel), the childhood sweetheart he's resurrected from the grave. Here's a primer to ABC's promising freshman fantasy.
1. Daisies bloomed out of a never-realized storyline for Showtime's Dead
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Jeff Probst and the Tribal Council set for Survivor: China
When it comes to Survivor (Thursdays, 8 pm/ET, CBS), a memorable Tribal Council requires more than just a good torch-snuffing. The set can pack a visual wallop, too. Production designer Jesse Jensen has outdone himself for Survivor: China with a 60-foot-high, three-story temple inspired by the country's traditional, vibrantly hued places of worship. The ambitious project took 57 workers seven weeks of 12-hour days in sweltering humidity to build. Not to mention 20 tons of steel framing, 8 tons of concrete and 400 sheets of timber shipped in from Russia and milled in Shanghai before being driven seven hours to the remote building site. Here, Jensen gives us an exclusive tour of the Tribal set.
The ivory pen used by the Survivors to cast their votes was molded from an unconventional source: an opium pipe. The urn where they place their parchments was originally an antique b
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