Austin Nichols by John P. Johnson/HBO
Austin Nichols, who starred as HBO's John from Cincinnati, is returning to his hometown of Austin, Texas, to play a Dillon High teach on NBC's Friday Night Lights, reports the city's Statesman paper. Nichols' multiple-episode arc will begin soon after the Oct. 5 season-opener.... Regina Hall (Ally McBeal) will play Cedric the Entertainer's successfully entrepreneurial housewife in the comedian's comedy pilot for ABC, says the Reporter.
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Tim DeKay and Ally Walker, Tell Me You Love Me
Question: HBO is premiering its new show Tell Me You Love Me this Sunday, and to my astonishment, you haven't yet written a single word about it. You're my go-to TV critic, and I'm especially eager to hear your opinion on this one. Some critics love it, calling it the HBO version of a Herskovitz-Zwick program (a huge endorsement in my book), while others think it's dull and pretentious. What do you say?
Answer: Thanks for asking. One of the reasons no official review has yet appeared in the magazine or elsewhere is because there was no room for my regular column in the jam-packed Fall Preview issue (on stands now; I recommend you all go out and get one). The magazine review goes out next week, but this gives me an opportunity to weigh in a few days early, and I'm happy to, because I think Tell Me You Love Me signals HBO getting back on track after John from Cincinnati (which I did feel was dull and pretentious) with a powerful, demanding and at times excruciatingly painful drama about
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Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn in Big Love by Lacey Terrell/HBO
Sundays are seldom as busy during the regular TV season as was the case this weekend, with season and series finales all over cable. So much for summer being the sleepy season. If you'd been watching any of these shows this summer, you wouldn't have wanted to miss the payoffs.Big Love: So much drama and trauma on HBO's increasingly addictive domestic melodrama about a family man and the three wives who alternately adore and tolerate his whims, schemes and transgressions. One reason I love the show is that it has lines of dialogue you could never hear anywhere else. Here’s Nicky: “Our husband’s dating life is none of our business.” Bill to Barb: “There are two other people in this marriage.” Bill to Margene: “You are not having the neighbor’s baby!” Barb to Bill: “I don’t want a fourth [wife].” Margene: “Boss lady outed us to the neighbors!”So twisted, and yet presented in such a way that it almost seems normal. Th...
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Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale in High School Musical 2 by Adam Larkey/Disney Channel
The ridiculous (in a good way) ratings for Disney Channel's multiple record-breaking weekend launch of High School Musical 2 was just the most spectacular reminder of what a great TV summer this has been — if you have cable.Not even a big hit like TNT's The Closer can match HSM2's numbers, and some of the best series, like AMC's mesmerizing Mad Men, are only doing so-so. But that's only to be expected given the glut of programming on many nights — including Thursdays, when Mad Men goes head-to-head with USA Network's latest clever breakout caper, Burn Notice. I thought my DVRs would get a break this summer. Didn't happen.Just look at the options we’ve had over the last few nights, including terrific new episodes of Burn Notice and Mad Men on Thursday. I’m really enjoying Burn now that ex-spy Michael Weston is getting closer to the truth about how he was set up to be fired. And what can I say about Mad Men besides the word I used to start my initial review of th...
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Question: I'm listening to last Friday's podcast, and I take offense to my family being associated with John from Cincinnati! I've never even watched it and now you go and sum it up in two words: "pretentious Hooie"? First of all, I've never met a pretentious Hooie. We're not a huge family, but there are many of us in the southeastern U.S., and while some may be selfish, sarcastic, apathetic, apologetic, humorous, philosophical, ambitious or even self-deprecating, they are never pretentious! If you're going to hang out with the podcast crew (and I hope you do!), you'd better be more careful about angering the Hooies. We're a nasty bunch when we get riled — nasty, but never pretentious!
Answer: HA! Biggest laugh of my week, and I thank you for that. It was especially welcome after I forced myself to watch the final miserable episode of that pretentious hokum known as JFC, which thankfully won't be testing our patience beyond this first season. Until I hear from a Hokum family, I'll star ...
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Greyson Fletcher in John from Cincinnati by John P. Johnson/HBO
No official word from HBO, but my sources are telling me that John from Cincinnati has been axed after one dismally rated and atrociously reviewed season. Now let's put Deadwood back on the air and forget this whole thing ever happened. K?
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Ausitn Nichols courtesy HBO
Made sense that in the last moments of HBO's misbegotten John from Cincinnati, Ed O’Neill was finally reunited with his AWOL avian friend Zippy. If ever there was a show that was for the birds, it was this birdbrained mishmash of half-baked, foulmouthed, anti-dramatic allegorical nonsense.Over the last week, I attempted to catch up with last month’s episodes, hoping against hope that I’d at last see what I was supposed to be seeing in this smugly opaque world of cryptic utterances from annoyingly mannered characters. (And I thought, maybe like other HBO series, in particular the superior Wire, this could be one of those shows that plays better if you watch several hours back-to-back.) The result: torture. I made it maybe halfway through each hour before zoning out in a state of utter boredom and contempt. Forget confusion — that part of the equation left the station long ago. I was merely hoping to be entertained a little. In vain, as it turned out.At least the ...
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Well, there goes the first season. And just when I thought that John was Jesus, the writers went ahead and threw in a bunch of hints to make me think he might actually be an alien. "You're all going to be toast," he told Linc. "We're coming 9/11/14." Could it just be a coincidence that their arrival is scheduled take place on the anniversary of the attacks on America? Then again, could those numbers actually represent the bible passage 9:11-14 that describes salvation through the Lord? There are just so many ways this could go!I'm interested in finding out more about this Cincinnati place that John took Shaunie to, and why Shaunie couldn't recall much of his visit other than the fact that they, whoever they are, want to sponsor him. And even if they are aliens or simply the all-powerful celestial beings that occupy heaven, what exactly do they find so useful about the Yost family? If their true goal is to redeem mankind, then perhaps these alien gods are of the mind-set that the Yos...
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OK, so Shaun, John and Zippy disappeared, although Shaun's doppelgänger still found time to scare the living hell out of Barry at the hotel bar. Are his visions of Shaun simply dreams, as he tells Dr. Smith later in the episode, or is that just wishful thinking on his part? Seems to me they could be more accurately categorized as "visions." Well, I'd actually be more likely to go with psychotic episodes brought on by trauma, but in this show, with this subject matter, I think "visions" works just fine.I liked the scene when Butchie and Kai shared their thoughts on John, who they both agreed is on some kind of autopilot and simply parrots what he hears from other people because he is programmed to mimic emotions. As they discussed, it would certainly explain why he repeats such idiotic phrasings as "A+ for fume control." What do they think, though, that the guy is some kind of robot? I guess that could be interesting. I certainly wouldn't have been expecting that.The stick figur...
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Question: I know you receive tons of questions still on Deadwood, but the feeling of betrayal just won't leave me so I need to ask: Has there ever been a show with the ratings or the buzz that Deadwood had that was canceled so that the creator could debut a new show? I know HBO mentioned doing a movie to quell the outcry. But I am starting to get the feeling this was a red herring to calm us and to give John from Cincinnati a chance. I for one have not watched the show and do not plan on it. I also know many people who feel the way I do. We loved Deadwood. How is John doing in the ratings, and is there any chance this show will be canceled so that David Milch can concentrate on that possible Deadwood movie? Yes, I know I need to move on, but it is hard with so many great HBO shows gone and this one yanked prematurely.
Answer: I don't remember another circumstance precisely like this, where an acclaimed show was sacrificed at the altar of the show creator's new (and much lesser) project.
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