Melinda McGraw

ABC Pilot News: Reiko Cops Detective Role, and More

• Mar 18, 2009 03:18 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich
• 6 Comments

If you seek Lost's Amy beyond this spring (or beyond the 1970s, for that matter), you may be out of luck. Reiko Aylesworth, who only joined up with the Dharma Initiative for a handful of episodes, has landed a role in Jerry Bruckheimer's untitled ABC drama pilot about amateur detectives.

Among a multitude of other ABC pilot castings from the Hollywood Reporter, Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue) has been cast in ... read more

TV History Lessons on Mad Men

• Aug 11, 2008 03:54 PM ET
• by Matt Roush

Advertisers do not like controversy. Advertisers have thin skin. Just a few of the valuable observations to be taken from Sunday’s rich episode of Mad Men, written by Matthew Weiner and Rick Cleveland, which provided a fascinating window into how the TV and ad business worked circa 1962 (and in some ways it hasn’t changed that much since then).One major subplot, with surprising personal and professional repercussions, hinged on a controversial episode of CBS’s groundbreaking legal drama The Defenders, with a shockingly blunt abortion storyline that was causing sponsors to flee. Schlubby Harry Crane, disgruntled after inadvertently learning how much less he was being paid than colleague Ken Cosgrove ($200 a week to Ken’s $300), brought the episode to his bosses’ attention at Sterling Cooper—prompting a screening for lipstick client Belle Jolie, the idea being that women would likely seek this episode out, despite the controversy. (Peggy was on hand to he... read more