The TV medical drama may have hit hard times lately, with Mercy, Miami Medical and Three Rivers all limping off the air. But Boston Med (Thursday, 10/9c, ABC) reminds us truth is often much more compelling than recycled fiction...
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This summer's press tour journal starts with CBS, where "stability is a good thing," this understatement coming courtesy of entertainment pres Nina Tassler, kicking off the network portion of the Television Critics Association gathering on Tuesday. (As opposed to the disarray over at ABC, whose turn comes Sunday, after having been rocked this week by the sudden ouster of its programming boss Steve McPherson.)
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CBS is playing to its traditional strengths this fall with a lineup of new legal and crime dramas and conventional laugh-tracky sitcoms. No critical breakthroughs on the order of The Good Wife, but there's every reason to believe commercially crafted shows like the Hawaii Five-0 "reboot" (don't call it a "remake") and the buddy-lawyer Vegas romp The Defenders will carry on the Eye tradition of mainstream populist escapist success...
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Katherine Moennig, who memorably portrayed frisky hairdresser Shane on The L Word, will guest-star in the upcoming season of Dexter, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.
Moennig will play...
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The good news about this year's bumper crop of new summer TV: There's plenty of it. (I spent much of the last few days wading through a mid-July burst of new crime-drama premieres.) The bad news: There's too much of it, and too little of it — at least from what I've seen so far — is any good. (I'm talking about the brand new stuff here, which keeps on coming whether we particularly want it to or not.) At this point, I'm beginning to pine for good old repeats.
Tuesday night provided two particularly painful examples: TNT's dreary Memphis Beat crime drama and ABC's insipid Downfall game show.
Memphis is particularly disappointing...
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Jeers to Memphis Beat for saddling Alfre Woodard with another one-note role.
The 14-time Emmy nominee (she's won four — for Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, The Practice and the HBO film Miss Evers' Boys) has lately been wasted in throwaway authority-figure parts on subpar shows like Three Rivers and My Own Worst Enemy. TNT's new cop dramedy is no exception, as Woodard's by-the-book boss mostly stands around scowling at Jason Lee's maverick Tennessee detective...
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