Jason Bateman, The Jake Effect
Connoisseurs of great, ratings-challenged TV shows thought they'd died and gone to heaven when cable channel Trio introduced its Brilliant But Cancelled programming block back in 2003. Trio unearthed some fascinating pilots that never made it to air, such as a TV version of Fargo with Edie Falco, and critically acclaimed but short-lived series such as East Side/West Side with George C. Scott. When Trio was shut down after NBC bought parent company Universal, it seemed that the cool concept had bitten the dust. But the channel's creator Lauren Z
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Reunion, Love Monkey and Commander in Chief
Reunion. Threshold. E-Ring. Invasion. Emily's Reasons Why Not. Love Monkey. Commander in Chief. Heist.
What do these shows have in common? They all debuted at some point during this soon-to-wrap TV season, yet each saw their run either cut surprisingly short or handicapped by irregular scheduling. Was 2005-06 the worst year ever to sample a new show? Were the networks especially hasty in deciding the fate of freshman series? TVGuide.com consulted a panel of experts with unique points of view to examine this strange little season gone by.
Are New Shows Getting Short Shrift?Jeff Bader, executive vice president of ABC entertainment programming and scheduling, dismisses the suggestion that prime time is a crueler-than-ever proving ground for new series. "
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Question: Is Marlon Brando the only person who ever refused to accept his Academy Award?
Answer: No. Back in 1936, screenwriter Dudley Nichols refused to accept his best screenplay Oscar for The Informer (1935). The early 1930s were a time of bitter conflicts between the studios and their employees; studio executives were vehemently anti-union and accustomed to forcing actors, writers, composers and crew to work on studio terms or not work at all. Nichols, who later became president of the Screenwriters Guild, refused to accept his award as a protest against what was widely perceived as the Academy's decision to sell out its less powerful members to union-busting studio heads.
By the time George C. Scott
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Oil that glitters: Dynasty's Forsythe and Evans
Question: Linda Evans and John Forsythe were in a nighttime soap with the name Carrington. What was the name of that show?
Answer: I'm happy to answer that, but I demand an explanation — unless you spent the better part of the '80s living in a vacuum or, at least, manning a missile silo, I simply don't see how you could forget the over-the-top Dynasty. A fixture of a time when alluring TV women were rightly defined as those over 20, the series was a classic and the definition of the overused term "guilty pleasure."
A ratings powerhouse in the mid-'80s, Dynasty ran on ABC from January 1981 to May 1989, making Forsythe, Evans (The Big Valley) and costar Joan Collins household names while doling out paychecks to what seemed like half of Hollywood and upping the profiles of actor
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