Glee
Oh, Marti Noxon, you had fun writing this one didn't you. The Buffy vet, who serves as a consulting producer on Glee this season, made her episodic writing debut with "Extraordinary Merry Christmas," a near-plotless throwback to The Judy Garland Show's boozy, high-as-a-kite holiday special (and old-timey variety specials in general). And why not? Last season, they turned Sue into the Grinch (literally) and gave Artie fake legs (literally). Why not deliver a holly-jolly Christmas by serving up some Yuletide chestnuts and the best of '60s TV (accents! corny jokes! canned laughter!)?
But in case you missed the story stuff, or forgot it, or blocked it, here's what you need to know: Mr. Schue picks Artie to direct a throwback Christmas special for Lima's cable-access station, which interferes with the glee club's promise to help Sue serve at a homeless shelter (this year, she's the anti-Grinch), but they show up anyway to sing...
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The Walking Dead, True Blood, Supernatural
Historically, horror hasn't scared up a great track record on TV. Supernatural series? Yes. Terrifying ones? No. The good news for FX, which on Wednesday launches American Horror Story, is that audiences seem to be growing braver. Millions have dared to peek out from behind their fingers, making hits out of The Walking Dead and True Blood. Even when Nip/Tuck dipped its scalpels into overt horror -- terrorizing us with sadistic serial killer The Carver -- it drew record numbers to FX.
But do viewers have the stomach for a haunted house dreamed up by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who gave us both Glee and Nip/Tuck?
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Glee
Here's what Glee boss Ryan Murphy says he likes about his new team of writers: "We hired people who will read scenes and scripts and go, 'We can do better, let's change that. Like, they'll literally say, 'You know what? We don't wanna do that with Mercedes. No one wants to f---ing see that.'"
That may sound extreme, but to help plot out what will be senior year for most of the McKinley High glee clubbers, Murphy says he specifically sought out writers with "big opinions" about the show. Why? Because the second season of Glee had been hit with its own kind of Slushee and was in need of cleaning up.
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Marti Noxon, Heather Morris
There are many reasons the Internet exploded when it was announced in June that Buffy the Vampire Slayer executive producer and fanboy favorite Marti Noxon had joined the writing staff of Glee: She has plenty of cult cred, thanks to her days working alongside Joss Whedon, but her resume is also littered with top dramas including Mad Men, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters.
"Geeks and musical nerds are all the same people," she says. "There were only so many places to hide in high school: One was the A/V club and the other was the drama club. In Glee, the two meet so beautifully."
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Marti Noxon, Heather Morris
There are many reasons the Internet exploded when it was announced in June that Buffy the Vampire Slayer executive producer and fanboy favorite Marti Noxon had joined the writing staff of Glee: She has plenty of cult cred, thanks to her days working alongside Joss Whedon, but her resume is also littered with top dramas including Mad Men, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters.
"Geeks and musical nerds are all the same people," she says. "There were only so many places to hide in high school: One was the A/V club and the other was the drama club. In Glee, the two meet so beautifully."
Glee adds 6 to writing staff
We caught up with Noxon Saturday at Comic-Con, where she was promoting the upcoming remake of Fright Night, to talk about what she'll be doing on Glee — and how the Fox musical might allow her to deal with some unfinished Willow-Tara business...
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Darren Criss
Is Darren Criss, better known as lead Warbler Blaine on Glee, headed for Broadway? Does he know if Blaine is a senior, and thus headed for graduation? What does he think about creator Ryan Murphy's decision to graduate stars like Lea Michele and Chris Colfer off the show anyways?
TVGuide.com caught up with Criss on the eve of Glee's Sunday Comic-Con panel and attempted to get answers:
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Glee
Glee's writing staff is tripling in size just in time for Season 3, Deadline reports.
The six writers joining the team are Allison Adler, Marti Noxon, Michael Hitchcock, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Matt Hodgson and Ross Maxwell. They, along with Glee executive producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, will begin crafting...
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James Marsters, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Joss Whedon by Kevin Parry/WireImage.com
Joss Whedon couldn’t contain himself. So jazzed that his landmark musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was being screened at the legendary Cinerama Dome theater (site of this year’s awesome Paley Fest), he sneaked into the audience to watch one of the numbers before rejoining that old gang of his for group photos before taking the stage for a retrospective Q&A (moderated by yours truly). Like me, I think he would have rather just sat in the theater to drink it in. But there was catching up to do.I’ve finally met someone whose passion for musicals outstrips mine (if only because he’s genius enough to be able to write one). The reason Joss arrived too late to set up the screening (following my own opening remarks) was because he came straight from wrapping production of his next musical project: Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, an entirely independent made-for-Internet (but no word yet on where you’ll find it) musical-comedy, conceived during...
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Question: This week marks Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 10-year anniversary. (The show debuted on the WB on March 10, 1997). Looking back at those 10 years, it's difficult to ignore the show's remarkable influence on other shows, on all genres and on the industry itself. Just to name a few: Alias, Smallville, Lost, Heroes, Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, and even shows like Gilmore Girls, Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. (The creators of those three shows have declared in recent interviews their undeniable love for Buffy.) Moreover, Buffy created a genre of its own: "the multigenre," a mix of a few genres in one show — fantasy, horror, comedy and drama, for instance. Looking at some of the shows on TV right now, it's easy to see shows that embraced Buffy's special multigenre: The O.C., Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Veronica Mars. Another interesting aspect of this influence is the writer. Joss Whedon surrounded himself with a fabulous group of talented writers who were almost kidnapped to other ...
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Cristina said it: “Thank you for not dying, Meredith.” As if that were even a remote possibility. Normally, I’m not much of a fan of sweeps megastunts that put the life of a show’s central character at risk when you know for a fact that he or she isn’t heading for the great beyond. The show in question, after all, is called Grey’s Anatomy, and it's not like they were about to hand the reins over to Meredith’s Alzheimer-addled mother (who ended up taking Meredith’s place in Afterlife Hospital when all was said and done, in one final incredible coincidence).Indulgent? Why, yes it was. This Grey’s sweeps “event” could easily have been handled in two, rather than three, episodes. Waiting an entire hour for Meredith to run into the light and rejoin her friends and lover was a bit exasperating, though not without its high points. Still, I’ll give Grey’s a pass on this one — as long as they promise never to kill Meredit...
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