TNT has given a 10-episode order to Raising the Bar, a new legal drama from Steven Bochco and starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a public defender. Gloria Reuben (ER) plays Zack's boss, Jane Kaczmarek (the Malcolm parent currently not cooking up crystal meth) is an erratic judge (what I like to call "The Holland Taylor Role"), and all the while Mr. Belding wags his finger at that reckless young lawyer.
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Broadway legend Ben Vereen has been tapped to guest on Grey's Anatomy this fall. In his episode, tentatively scheduled to air on Oct. 4, he'll play a burn victim. If we're lucky, a singing, dancing burn victim. (It's Ben Vereen, for crying out loud!)Find more on this Grey's news here. First Christopher Reeve, now Dean Cain is guesting on Smallville. The onetime star of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman will appear in the fall season's fourth episode as a baddy named Dr. Curtis Knox. As in knoxious. Although Steven Bochco's new TNT legal drama doesn't have a title, it's certainly packed with big names: Jane Kaczmarek, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Gloria Reuben have all signed up. Kaczmarek will play a wacky judge; Gosselaar, a public defender; and Reuben, his boss.Six Feet Under's Mathew St. Patrick has joined fellow All My Children alum Abigail Spencer in NBC's neighborhood-watch-group pilot, Backyards and Bullets.
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After 18 seasons and 400 episodes, Fox's The Simpsons (Sundays at 8 pm/ET) has attracted more than 350 celebrities to offer their voices to animated doppelgangers. Some have played themselves (Steve Buscemi, anyone?), some new characters (Reese Witherspoon as Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter, for instance), some old characters (Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub, who reprise their roles from 24 on May 20) — and in one instance, a mix (Elizabeth Taylor played herself and voiced Maggie's first word). Throughout, producers have attract
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Question: Without a doubt, last year’s My Name Is Earl was the breakthrough comedy of the season. But what about this year? I heard positive things about The Class, but it does remind me too much of Friends, primarily because of the ridiculously waspy cast. Then I saw a preview for ABC’s Help Me Help You. At first, the name sounded terrible to me, and it didn't help that I don't care for Ted Danson (I hated Becker). But the supporting characters, like the promiscuous Asian woman and the guy who refuses to accept he’s gay, seem to make this show really funny. What do you think? Should I bother with this one, or are the previews misleading?
Answer: Too soon to tell. The patients are the funniest thing about Help Me Help You, though Danson’s scenes with his character's ex-wife (Jane Kaczmarek, a recurring guest star) show promise. But is it a breakthrough/breakout hit, even on the modest scale of Earl (my fave new comedy of last season)? Not likely. The Class seems to me a terrific fit for
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Question: I'm a big fan of the Law & Order franchise (more of Law & Order: SVU than the original), but I was wondering what the chances are that the new series Conviction will survive on Friday nights. Trial by Jury didn't do very well in that time slot, and, speaking as a future prosecutor, I'm very optimistic about this show. I was just wondering if you think it will do well or not, and if you've seen more than just the previews of the show in order to form an opinion about it. Thanks.
Answer: Hard to know if it will survive on Fridays. Special Victims Unit did very well there, but that was before CBS found a winning formula for the night. I know I would much rather watch Numbers than Conviction, which seems to me a very clumsy effort by Dick Wolf to try to make a David E. Kelley-style series. (My review of Conviction will appear in the next issue of TV Guide, out later this week.) It may depend on how well Las Vegas survives the transfer to Fridays. If Vegas boosts NBC's Friday
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