Vincent D'Onofrio, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Watching Vincent D'Onofrio's Det. Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sundays at 9 pm/ET, USA) is a deliciously unsettling experience. We love the awkward mannerisms, the halting yet penetrating speech, the craned neck bend he performs when grilling suspects. He's brilliant, insightful, riveting. But, frankly, he seems a few sandwiches short of a picnic, if you know what we mean….
For example: In "Untethered," D'Onofrio's last episode before the writers' strike, Goren went undercover in a mental ward to expose prisoner abuse. Instead, he fell prey to the sadistic mind games and emerged from the ordeal near-catatonic. In the first post-strike episode, "Purgatory," the suspended Goren got reinstated, but we never witnessed the psych evaluation that was required to get his shield and gun back. This was no acci
read more
Grant Show, Swingtown
Grant Show flashes back to the '70s with the sleeper hit Swingtown (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET, CBS). We caught up with him for a quick chat.
TV Guide: As a '70s wife-swapper in CBS' Swingtown, you spend a lot of time half-dressed. Does that create any awkwardness on the set?
Grant Show: No, but I'm telling you, I have to go to the gym all the time now! I thought I was done with that! As a matter of fact, as soon as I'm done talking to you, I'm going to the gym.
TV Guide: God bless ya! Here's a burning question: Is the mustache real?
Show: Yeah. I've had it since February of last year. I get some funny looks. Recently I was sitting at a restaurant here in Hollywood and a couple of girls who I didn't know were talking with us, and one of them leaned over to my buddy and asked, "Is your friend a porn star?" It's
read more
Lance Reddick and Dominic West, The Wire
Apparently playing one of TV's most challenging characters — The Wire's hard-drinking, corner-cutting Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty — wasn't challenge enough for Dominic West. "I've been dying to direct," the British actor says. "HBO, thank goodness, took a chance on me." The gamble was worth it: West's episode, "Took," in which McNulty's plot to secure funds for the police department by concocting a serial killer of homeless men spins out of control, debuts this Sunday, Feb. 17 (9 pm/ET, HBO), and it's pitch-perfect. We asked the aspiring auteur to take us through some of its more challenging scenes.
THE SCENE: Show of Force
Squad cars, helicopters and boats swarm the Seaport in search of the "killer." "I can't tell you how exciting that was! It wasn't written that there'd actually be helicopters and stuff. I asked for
read more
Dominic West, The Wire
During its first four seasons, HBO's The Wire (Sundays, 9 pm/ET, HBO) has tackled some major issues: inner-city crime, labor conflicts, political corruption, the failing public-school system. And as it launches its final 10-week run, the sprawling drama clearly still has a lot of big questions on its mind.
In a jaw-dropping twist at the end of this season's second episode, Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) resorts to desperate measures in an attempt to restart a hard-fought case against drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector). Suffice it to say, his tactics would give Gil Grissom conniption fits. "It's not about how the unit tracks Marlo down," West says. "It's about how McNulty goes after him despite the authorities."
Those authorities include the ci
read more
George Michael, Ricky Gervais and Gerard Kelly, Extras
We're thrilled that Ricky Gervais is resurrecting his bloody genius HBO series Extras for a one-shot finale this week, but we can't help feeling dejected. Soon, Extras will be gone for good. Here's what we'll miss most. (The Extras series finale airs Sunday, Dec. 16, at 9 pm/ET on HBO.)
Extras features TV's most delightfully dysfunctional duo
That would be Gervais' serious-actor wannabe Andy Millman and his idiotic agent, Darren Lamb (Gervais' collaborator, Steven Merchant). In creating the duo's maddening attempts at communication, Gervais harkened back to comedy's legendary mismatched duo Laurel and Hardy. "They nailed it," Gervais says simply.
It showcases TV's sweetest relationship
"People know that she's vulnerable, because she's a bit stupid," Gervais says of Andy's best friend, Maggie (Ugly Betty's Ashley Jensen). Particularly refreshing is the absence of will
read more
Jerry Seinfeld, Bee Movie
TV Guide caught up with Jerry Seinfeld in the middle of all the buzz about his latest release, Bee Movie, hitting theaters today.
TV Guide: Are you psyched that your animated film, Bee Movie, is finally coming to a theater near us?
Jerry Seinfeld: This was a big life experience for me — and it's been going on for four years. I didn't plan it that way. I thought I was just going to write it and give it to DreamWorks and they would make it. But then I got involved in how it got made, and it just went on down the wormhole.
TV Guide: I don't think anyone expected that your next project would be an animated movie about bees….
Seinfeld: The fact that it was something different really attracted me. All new toys, all new clay to play with, all new technology. It sort of woke me up
read more
Vincent Kartheiser, Rich Sommer, Jon Hamm, Bryan Batt and John Slattery, Mad Men
With its season finale airing tonight, TV Guide lays out the top reasons Mad Men (10 pm/ET, AMC) is the show to watch.
1) The enigma that is Don Draper. He has matinee-idol looks, power and creative genius. Plus, he's a philanderer, a liar and god knows what else. What are we supposed to feel for this guy — contempt? Envy? Compassion? Yes, yes and yes, and never more so than by the end of the Oct. 18 season finale. Matthew Weiner, creator of AMC's sleeper hit, promises, "We will like him more. Don [Jon Hamm] is asking himself if he wants to separate from everything that is his humanity. He knows on some level he's a fraud, and you'll see him trying to have feelings."
2) Location, location, location! The marble lobby of Menken's department store, the dingy Deelite Coffee S
read more
Alec Baldwin and Jerry Seinfeld, 30 Rock
There'll be no Pez dispensers, puffy shirts or Junior Mints in sight. Still, the Emmy-winning 30 Rock's Oct. 4 season premiere (8:30/ET) will seem like a trip back in time as Jerry Seinfeld returns to Must-See TV for a sidesplitting one-night stand. Fans have Seinfeld's upcoming animated feature, Bee Movie, to thank for the comedic legend's return to Thursday night. While Seinfeld was working on NBC promos for the flick, network cochairman Ben Silverman asked the comic if he'd be interested in appearing on 30 Rock. Jerry was all over the idea. "I like Tina Fey. I think she's very bright. I like the whole vibe," Seinfeld says. "So I thought, 'Yeah, I could see myself on that show.'"
But here's what really sealed the deal: "I'm a gigantic fan of read more
Mad Men
We can't say he didn't warn us. Before his new AMC drama Mad Men premiered last month, former Sopranos executive producer Matthew Weiner said, "There will hopefully be a ‘Holy s--t!' moment in each episode." Three weeks in, he's holding up his end of the deal, as the show reveals the amoral underbelly of perfect-on-the-surface protagonist Don Draper (Jon Hamm).
Set in New York City in 1960, Mad Men (airing Thursdays at 10 pm/ET) slickly re-creates a topflight Madison Avenue advertising agency and its ruthless, ego-driven players. You can practically smell the Brylcreem, whiskey and cigarettes as the bright, sexy characters look sharp and crack wise. But all is not well underneath those sharkskin suit
read more
Glenn Close, Damages
Over the course of a dazzling career, Glenn Close has played eccentric (The World According to Garp), diabolical (Dangerous Liaisons) and charming (as Homer's mom on The Simpsons). But in her new role as mercurial, high-powered attorney Patty Hewes in FX's legal drama Damages (premiering tonight at 10 pm/ET), she hits all those notes — and then some. "She's a woman at the top of her own law firm, who has no peer within her company," Close says. "I'm not sure that's been done before."
In Damages' mind-bending first episode, Hewes is quickly shown to be "the sharpest person in the room," Close says. V
read more
