Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I'm one of the last people one would expect to watch Downton Abbey, but after hearing the endless raves about it, I made it through the first season on DVD during a weekend, and a new episode is now one of the highlights of my TV-watching week. However, my question is about the "mean girls" (i.e. Thomas and Miss O'Brien). Sure, it's always fun to have a couple of mustache-twirling villains to root against, but unless I missed something, I guess they're supposed to be bad just for the sake of being bad.
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Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
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Send questions to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: Regardless of who wins, I have to say that watching The Glee Project this summer has been a total pleasure. I can't remember another reality competition where I was actually rooting for every contestant, and if Ryan Murphy wanted to add the entire final four to the Glee cast, I don't think I'd mind. But beyond the competition aspect, I love how the show gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how Glee is written and choreographed each week. As a bona fide TV nerd, that's the kind of stuff I find fascinating, and it's given me a new respect for the hard work the regular cast must put in. What are the chances of The Glee Project getting a second season, and what do you think of the ...
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There will come a time when we tell future generations about the good old days when serialized soaps blanketed the daytime TV landscape — the way prime time once was overrun with Westerns, variety shows and big-ticket miniseries, among other fondly remembered, now-faded formats. The latest death knell, not unexpected but still a shock when it sounded, came late this week when ABC confirmed that the venerable, iconic All My Children and the similarly long-running One Life to Live had been taken off life support. Word of their demise had circulated for some time — AMC takes its final bow in September, One Life to Life will soldier on until January — but it's still a jolt to the system when confronted with the unmistakable signs than an era is ending. Changing viewing habits and economics have conspired against scripted daytime dramas in favor of cheaper-to-produce talk/lifestyle shows. Just as the remnants of variety TV can be found in the results shows of reality competitions American Idol and Dancing With the Stars, soap intrigues have been upstaged by celeb-reality high jinks: the plastic casts of Bravo's various Real Housewives shows, the debauched antics of Jersey Shore, which is being spun off while the daily soaps dwindle to a mere few...
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Being Human (Saturday, 9/8c, BBC America)
So much crisis to contend with in the finale to the excellent third season of the original (and superior) version of the supernatural thriller. Mitchell has committed the ultimate no-no in vampire world — he's been arrested — and given that the episode title is "The Wolf-Shaped Bullet," there's even more desperation in his need to learn how the revived (and now evil again) Herrick survived the sort of werewolf slaughter that has been predicted for Mitchell. Meanwhile, Nina fights for her life after Herrick's slaughter at the B&B and Nina encounters Lia in Purgatory as she seeks to avert the dire prophecy.
Elizabeth Taylor Tribute (Sunday, Turner Classic Movies, starts at 6 am/ET)
For 24 consecutive hours, TCM celebrates the film legacy of Elizabeth Taylor with...
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