Benjamin Bratt Talks Cleaner Slate of Guests

• Jun 24, 2009 11:39 AM ET
• by Tim Molloy

The Cleaner, Benjamin Bratt

Are special guest stars always a shark jump? The Cleaner's Benjamin Bratt says no way — especially when they include Whoopi Goldberg, Mia Kirschner, Gary Cole, and Joe Don Baker, some of the actors appearing on his A&E drama this season. read more

Do Rescue Me's Musical Numbers Hit the Right Notes?

• Jun 23, 2009 06:28 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

Steven Pasquale

Don't worry, we cringed too when Steven Pasquale burst into song in the latest episode of Rescue Me.

But once the shock wore off — and we realized that Pasquale could still make Sean Garrity hilariously stupid while singing — it became apparent that creators Denis Leary and Peter Tolan had put some thought into the song-and-dance routines. (That's right, routines; there are more to come.)

"Those would be my fault," Tolan told TVGuide.com. "We were sort of looking for a way to showcase Steve's singing, and this seemed like the most natural way — these fantasies while he was being prepped for surgery or after. The good thing is they're all on story. The first one is more naturalistic — there's sort of an MTV feel to the second half of it, but it feels a little more grounded. Then they just spin out of control."

Pasquale has a history with ... read more

TVGuide.com Voters: House Tops Votes in Jump the Shark Poll

• Jun 12, 2009 05:31 PM ET
• by Tim Molloy

Hugh Laurie and Olivia Wilde

House received the most votes — 33 percent — in a TVGuide.com poll about what show most jumped the shark this past season. The poll, which included the four shows that drew the most mentions when we asked what shows jumped, drew more than 5,000 votes. read more

Poll: Did Bones, Grey's, House or Heroes Most Jump the Shark?

• Jun 10, 2009 05:07 PM ET
• by Tim Molloy

Olivia Wilde, Patrick Dempsey

We asked which shows Jumped the Shark this season, and TVGuide.com readers told us. By a wide margin, they pointed most often to Heroes, House, Bones and Grey's Anatomy. Some even snickered and laughed while doing so.

So now we need help again. Vote in our poll on which of these shows is the biggest Shark Jumper of this past season. read more

What Shows Jumped the Shark This Season?

• Jun 3, 2009 02:03 PM ET
• by Tim Molloy

Lost

Do we smell blood in the water?

With the traditional fall-to-spring TV season over, it's time to look back on which shows have jumped the shark. Lost is often listed as a show that's never jumped, but did it retain the honor this outing? read more

Exit Stage Left: The Tonight Show

• May 28, 2009 06:09 PM ET
• by Tim Molloy

Conan O'Brien

Show minus stars equals different show: It's one of the mantras of Jump the Shark, and it's true — unless, maybe, the show is The Tonight Show.

The Tonight Show is an institution that has had only four full-time hosts in more than half a century. Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno all made their own imprints on the show, but in the way a minister does a church. Whether or not congregants like his or her personality or jokes, the basic religion stays the same.

Leno is... read more

Can One Tree Hill Thrive Without its Stars?

• May 21, 2009 01:00 PM ET
• by Tim Molloy

Hilarie Burton and Chad Michael Murray, One Tree Hill

To some fans, One Tree Hill without Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton sounds kind of like Seinfeld without Seinfeld... and Elaine.

The CW's plan to replace the leads with three new characters has elicited skepticism from fans who consider the show's heart to be the dynamic between Murray and Burton's characters, Lucas and Peyton. (A TVGuide.com poll found that nearly half of respondents will take a "wait and see" approach to the revamped OTH.)

They may be right to hold off on a decision, because these types of major cast revisions can go either way. read more

House, Bones, Grey's Have Sex Dreams... But Not Sex

• May 15, 2009 01:19 PM ET
• by Tim Molloy

House

Look, we have unrealistic dreams of our own. We don't need to see the unrealistic dreams of the imaginary people on TV, too. That's just too many steps removed from anything we might ever care about.

So we're underwhelmed by the new hallucinatory sex trend sweeping this season: House and Cuddy and Bones and Booth ended the will-they-or-won't-they speculation in their respective finales, and Grey's Anatomy introduced Izzie's brain tumor by having her have sex, loudly and often, with the very-dead Denny. (In so doing, the show also made the first-ever argument in favor of cancer. Bad.)

All the sex was pretend. Or set in an alternate dream-world. Or something. read more

Distracting Guest Stars: This Ain't Your Little Sister's Hilary Duff

• Apr 28, 2009 02:37 PM ET
• by Erin Fox

Christopher Meloni and Hilary Duff

A new trend is making us jumpy — shark jumpy, that is: Young, hot musicians going for acting cred by guest-starring on gritty procedurals.

First Taylor Swift guested on CSI. Then Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz appeared on CSI: NY. Now, Hilary Duff is joining NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Tuesday, 10 pm/ET). Duff has aimed for acting cred before, playing an oversexed popstar in the movie War, Inc., but no one saw it. Now on SVU, she's playing an irresponsible young mother who becomes a suspect in her daughter's disappearance. Really? It was hard enough for us to buy her as the heroine in A Cinderella Story, and that part was made for her.

We understand that guest stars are important to series, and that the bigger the name, the better the ratings. With procedurals, the more salacious the crime, the bigger the buzz for the show and guest star. But does seeing such recognizable stars — and ones not known for dramatic acting — take you out of the story? Weigh in after the jump

Critiquing Randy Jackson — Can Judging Jump the Shark?

• Apr 23, 2009 11:13 AM ET
• by Erin Fox

Randy Jackson

You had to feel for Kris Allen last week after watching his stirring rendition of "Falling Slowly" on American Idol. The crowd went nuts with each soaring note, and later we found that Paula Abdul, Kara DioGuardi and Simon Cowell were quite pleased with his performance. Unfortunately for Allen, Randy Jackson critiqued his song first:

"A'ight, so check it out man, uh, dude — for me, for you tonight... I gotta tell you something, man. I don't know, it never really quite caught on for me. And yo, I love that song, but for me, it was pitchy from note one, for me."

Were we all listening to the same song? And for us, Randy, that critique could have been a bit more coherent — for us.

Read on for more about Randy's judging style and tell us what you think! read more