The Defenders (Friday, 8/7c, CBS)
One week before she begins a limited run on Broadway — and let's hope HBO or somebody records THAT show! — the irrepressible Kathy Griffin goes to Las Vegas in a guest shot on this struggling courtroom drama. She is cast to type as a brash insult comic sued for offending one of her audience victims (What, Joan Rivers was busy?) In the subplot, the son of a hotel owner turns to buddy lawyers Nick and Pete for help after he wakes up to find a casino host strangled in a hot tub. What are the odds he's guilty? ...
read more
Viewers of the CBS hit Blue Bloods may feel like they've gone through a time warp when they see executive producer Leonard Goldberg's credit on the screen. One of network TV's most successful execs, he oversaw programming at ABC in the 1960s, produced such hits as Charlie's Angels and Starsky & Hutch with Aaron Spelling in the 1970s and was responsible for some of the most memorable made-for-TV movies of the '80s before heading into film. Goldberg, who turns 77 this month, told us what it's like to be back on the front lines of prime time.
read more
Alan A. Armer, who produced the Emmy-winning television show The Fugitive, has died of colon cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 88.
Armer died Dec. 5 in his Los Angeles home.
From 1949-51, Armer produced one of TV's first shows, Lights, Camera, Action. He went on to produce 20th Century Fox's first show, My Friend Flicka, in 1955, followed by Broken Arrow (1956) and Man Without a Gun (1958).
read more
Leslie Nielsen, whose career went from officious and villainous types to the hilariously buffoony roles in Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies, died Sunday of complications from pneumonia, his agent told TVGuide.com. He was 84.
See other celebrities we've lost this year
He was surrounded by family when he died in a hospital near his Fort Lauderdale, Fla., home.
The actor had a whole career before becoming one of the funniest guys in movies. He typically played people who were quite humorless.
Before his starring roles in The Poseidon Adventure and Forbidden Planet, he appeared in several live television series such as Lights Out, Tales of Tomorrow and Armstrong Circle Theatre.
A student of the Actors Studio, the Canadian-born Nielsen went on to appear in innumerable episodes of various TV series, spanning the Golden Age of Television and its anthologies including...
read more
New releases announced today, January 12:
Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series will be coming out March 24
The Fugitive - Season 2, Volume 2 will be coming out March 31
Visit TVShowsOnDVD.com for the complete stories on these and other news items.
read more