
Billy Burke
When NBC renewed Revolution for a second season, creator Eric Kripke knew he had to make some changes. "I'm relentless about figuring out what doesn't work and making it better," he says. "We reset the chessboard." That meant returning to the show's original conceit — a world without power — and cutting back on war-themed episodes. He also moved production from Wilmington, N.C., to Austin, giving the show a fresh look.
"With the change of Austin came a new team coming to us with a fresh eye," Kripke says. "I hope the audience sees were working hard to improve it and create a very credible world."
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Lorri Tierney and Nikki Galarza
Launching the careers of pint-size celebrities is anything but child's play. Mother of All Talent — TVGN's new eight-part docuseries — follows the day-to-day operations of Tribute Talent, a Staten Island, New York-based agency that caters to precocious kiddos and their ambitious stage parents. The only characters more colorful than the fame-hungry clients? The owners themselves: Lorri Tierney, 43, and her hilariously unfiltered 64-year-old mom, Nikki Galarza. The ladies give us the lowdown on their family business....
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Jessica Lange
Forget eye of newt. With a record-breaking premiere audience of 5.5 million viewers, Coven, the witch-centric third season of FX's American Horror Story franchise, is casting a spell on viewers. And no wonder: It's campy, creepy and "the cast is completely off the hook," says executive producer Tim Minear, who sums up the show's ability to attract major...
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Pearl Jam
Most Bones fans will likely agree with its title character (Emily Deschanel) when Brennan declares to her intended, Booth (David Boreanaz), "We've waited long enough." The wait is over, as the brusque forensic anthropologist and her impetuous FBI baby-daddy finally head to the altar — although for most of this endearing episode (Monday, 8/7c), nearly everyone in the Jeffersonian lab, including a full complement of returning Squints, is laying bets that the wedding will never happen. There's a new case, after all, and the real challenge is to keep Bones from becoming too distracted. Cyndi Lauper (returning as psychic Avalon Harmonia) is on hand to perform at the ceremony, but what she should really be singing is "Get Tempe to the Church on Time." There are additional complications and intimations of cold feet before the lovely finish, but Angela (Michaela Conlin) probably says it best: "You don't want your fingers to smell like death when Booth puts on the ring."
She's right. And: ew.
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Jessica Lange
Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I'm enjoying The Blacklist thus far and would watch it for James Spader's performance alone, but I'm also enjoying the stories as well. NBC is sticking to a formula that has worked before, albeit on a sister network. The intriguing loner, at odds with a government agency, solving the case of the week with the help of his associates, with a through story that's addressed for a few minutes at the start and end of each episode, just enough to keep the serial nature of the story going. Am I the only one who thinks that The Blacklist is Burn Notice with a network budget? If the show is successful, NBC will end up as an expensive version of USA Network. Not there's anything wrong with that. — Rick
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The Walking Dead
AMC has tapped Walking Dead executive producer Robert Kirkman to develop a companion series to its blockbuster zombie drama. Set to premiere in 2015, it will focus on a new set of characters... Some members of the cast reveal where they'd like to see the walkers wreak havoc.
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Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore
In its second season, A&E's Bates Motel will introduce the infamous fruit cellar where Mother's stuffed body...
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David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel
It's the perfect day for a wedding. The rose garden at USC's Exposition Park in sunny downtown Los Angeles is perfumed with posies in full bloom, there's a pleasant breeze in the air and...a pair of smiling skeletons topping a wedding cake?
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Steven Yeun
Is "I've Got You Under My Skin" the most appropriate sweet nothing to croon in the skin-crawling world of AMC's The Walking Dead? No matter, because there's not much of a lull in Sunday's powerful episode (9/8c), ominously titled "Infected." Which suggests the virus that felled Nerd Boy last week creates a bloody panic in the cell block, reminding us how illusory any notion of safety can be. "I haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time," former Army medic Bob Stookey (new regular Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) observes as a full gamut of courage, terror and anguish is displayed during and after the latest crisis. Earning special bonus stripes this week: Melissa McBride as the awesome Carol, who takes a few distraught girls under her wing, but not to coddle them: "You want to live, you have to become strong" is her mantra. Meanwhile, the walkers keep pressing up against the prison gates and the audience can't get enough of the riveting mayhem, as evidenced by the record numbers who turned out for last Sunday's premiere.
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