Men in Trees by Sergei Bachlakov/ABC
If this is a harbinger of the week ahead, I may be taking off on a last-minute vacation tonight. ABC has gone and canceled one of TV's most consistently heartwarming hours, Men in Trees.The sad, depressing news was just confirmed to me by series creator Jenny Bicks, who says she was informed of the network's decision late last week. "I am really proud of the work we did on MIT," she tells me. "A huge thank you to our supportive fans." Bicks believes that two years of schizophrenic scheduling ultimately did the cherished dramedy in. "I wish the show had not been moved six times and put onto two long hiatuses," she sighs. "No show could survive that."Truer words have never been spoken. As soul-crushing as this is, I managed to find a silver lining in all this: Viewers will get their happy ending. Bicks and her team prepared for Trees' possible demise by shooting an alternate series-finale ending that will now be tacked onto the show's last episode, which is slated to air this summer. ...
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Lee Pace by Michael Roberts/ABC; Anne Heche by Sergei Bachlakov/ABC
Add Pushing Daisies and Men in Trees to the list of shows preparing season finales as a result of the writers' strike.Daisies creator extraordinaire Bryan Fuller informs me that the show's ninth episode — the last one for which a script is written — can function as a season finale in the event the strike extends into the new year and beyond."As we were scrambling to rewrite [Episode 9]," he reveals, "we added several elements that will put many balls into the air and hopefully encourage the audience to come back and see how they land."Fuller confirms that production on the potential season finale got under way today, which means "our crew will now be able to work through Thanksgiving." Over at Men in Trees, show-runner Jenny Bicks reports that prior to the strike, she prepared an alternate ending "in case the last episode we have written becomes our finale. We would be sad if this happened, but we are prepared." As I pointed out in my handy strike chart, MIT — which c...
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Scott Elrod and Anne Heche by Sergei Bachlakov/ABC
Let others wax pop-culturey about the premieres of Chuck, Reaper and Gossip Girl. The show I'm excited to see on the air — and after an unacceptably truncated first season — is ABC's Men in Trees. Uprooted from its time slot without any fanfare (and all to make room for the likes of October Road and Notes from the Underbelly), Men in Trees returns Friday, Oct. 12, at 10 pm/ET, with a rather excellent episode, which I had the pleasure of screening over the weekend. (Any quality TV that engrosses and delights my wife always gets the upgrade to "excellent.")As you may know from embracing my news blog, ABC decided to take last season's unaired episodes and use them to "supersize" Men in Trees' sophomore season, resulting in fewer repeats and whatnot. Yet the first new episode out of the gate on the 12th is not from that batch. Rather, to better ease those both familiar with and new to the Anne Heche-starrer into the new season, they shot a brand-new episode titled "A Tree Goes...
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Kelli Williams by John Sciulli/WireImage.com
Another obstacle is taking root for Marin and Jack on Men in Trees.Ex-Practice star Kelli Williams is joining the cast as a love interest for James Tupper's conversationally challenged environmentalist. But in a bit of a twist, the two won't connect in Elmo. Far from it, in fact. "Jack's going off to do a job far, far away and he's going to meet a woman named Julia," Trees creator Jenny Bicks reveals to me exclusively. "She's happily married, but they are going to bond emotionally over something very significant that happens on the high seas." Williams is on board for at least five or six episodes, beginning with this season's seventh.
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An ABC.com blog entry by series creator Jenny Bicks confirms as much as anything can that Men in Trees' five unaired Season 1 episodes will not see the light of day until the fall, where they will be used to kick off a "more fattening," 27-episode sophomore run. Until then, Bicks says, "We will absolutely be on the air starting in June, with reruns all summer," though she is reluctant to hint at a time slot.Why did Trees not wrap up its freshman run this spring? Bicks says it speaks not at all to the quality of the unseen episodes, but rather "has everything to do with ABC wanting to use Thursday nights to showcase new shows" such as October Road and Notes from the Underbelly.
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Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome you’ve given me as well as your thoughtful comments. Please keep them coming. I’m going to keep the recap and comments a little short this week (hey, it’s a repeat after all) and pose some questions at the end, which I encourage everyone to respond to.I forgot how excited I was when Mario Cantone made his first guest appearance as Terry the hairdresser. I remember him so fondly from his days on Sex and the City. I wonder if Jenny Bicks will be able to entice anyone else from the show to make a guest appearance in Elmo. I hope so. But back to Mario. “I’m as New York as the Statue of Liberty but less of a queen,” he tells Marin when they meet, then promptly lops off way too much hair during a tremor. A larger tremor results in an avalanche that traps Patrick and his newly discovered father in Buzz’s cabin. Marin tucks her hair woes under a hat and teams up with Jack to help find the missing pair. And what’...
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Justine Bateman, Men in Trees
In a candid TV Guide interview, former '80s teen star Justine Bateman opens up about making mayhem on ABC's Men in Trees (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET), her kids, and... knitting sweaters for Courtney Love?!
TV Guide: How did you land the role of Lynn on Men in Trees? Justine Bateman: This is going to sound so made up, but I was on an airplane and [series creator] Jenny Bicks was also on the plane. We didn't have a conversation. She saw me, called my agents and said, "Oh, can she play Lynn?"
TV Guide: Lynn was a character on the show before we even met her. She was discussed for months, right? Bateman: Yeah. Sometimes in theater, they'll talk about your character a lot before
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Welcome to another episode of Men in Trees [Thursdays at 10 pm/ET, on ABC]. This week's installment, "The Indecent Proposal," was written by our creator, Jenny Bicks. She is also a great blogger, so you should check out what she says about this one on the writers' blog at ABC.com. I know it sounds like I'm plugging the ABC website every week, but I promise I'm not some shameless promoter for the network. I just enjoy reading what our writers are thinking. This episode was exciting for me because it's the first time I have a scene with Jane (Seana Kofoed). In fact, this will be the first time that our characters ever speak to one another on the show. Seana and I were always saying to each other, "Wouldn't it be hilarious if Jane went out to Queens with Annie and met her insane family?" Well, Jenny Bicks must be a mind reader, because that's exactly what happens! Annie is bringing Patrick home to meet the parents and announce their engagement, and she tries to set up Jane with her cut...
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Anne Heche and James Tupper, Men in Trees
TVGuide.com recently invited fans of ABC's Men in Trees (Thursdays at 10 pm/ET) to hit series creator Jenny Bicks with your best shots — the questions about Marin, Jack, Annie et al that you ache to have answered. Faster than you can say "Elmo, Alaska," Bicks came through. Here is her exceptionally qualified take on one of the TV season's most enjoyable and frothy hits.
Men in Trees is my favorite show, I love it. The only part I do not like is Lynn (played by Justine Bateman) and Jack (James Tupper). It doesn't make sense that he would change his life just because an old girlfriend that hurt him came back to town pre
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Welcome to another Men in Trees blog by your friendly host, Bergl. I've just returned from a promotional shoot for the UK launch of Men in Trees, which is very exciting for me because I'm originally from England (my dad is British and my mom is Irish). Did you know that Jason O'Mara, who plays the charming publisher Stuart Maxson, is Irish? He has the most amazing American accent, which you will be hearing again in subsequent episodes. (Ladies, don't you love how they keep adding even more handsome men to the show? James Tupper can't be expected to shoulder all the burden on his fisherman sweater-clad shoulders, which, yes, do look as good in real life.)Jason O'Mara is from Sandycove, which is right around the corner from the town of Dalkey, where my mother grew up. Now our Irish relatives can watch us on Men in Trees. Up until now, my appearances on UK TV were mostly limited to The Rage: Carrie 2 and an episode of CSI: Miami, and in both of these I kill people — most notably...
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