Greetings, all! I'm back from the wilderness of Men in Trees [Fridays at 9 pm/ET, on ABC]. Actually, I am back from being trapped in the wilderness, literally! It's as if I was living this week's episode of Men in Trees, "The Buddy System," which also involves a couple of characters getting trapped in the wilderness. It's a real cliff-hanger.Yesterday I went on a hike with Adrian McMorran, who plays Carl on Men in Trees. He's the rather morose drunk who's always at the bar next to Jerome (the hilarious Timothy Webber, whom I also worked with on a Spielberg miniseries called Taken.) Well, it turned out this hike Adrian and I went on was a 10-mile, 1,700-meter climb up to the top of West Lion Mountain. We were a little ambitious, and by the time the sun had set, we were way up on the side of this mountain, in the middle of the forest, where large bears and cougars reside. Even outside of Alaska, bears seem to be a recurrent theme in my life. It took us three hours to find the trail in...
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The Hollywood trades are reporting this morning that additional script orders have been awarded to ABC's The Nine, Men in Trees and Help Me Help You (four each), as well as NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (for three). Traditionally, such script orders are a decent precursor to a full-season pickup, though it must be noted that the "vote of confidence" didn’t work out particularly well for last season's Threshold, E-Ring or Out of Practice. In related news, NBC has ordered an extra, 25th episode of ER for this season, while ABC has snipped its order for the mid-season series Traveler from 13 episodes to eight.
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Question: Since Six Degrees is tanking, why not have ABC put back Primetime at 10 pm/ET with Diane Sawyer and Chris Cuomo? This might be more successful and get more viewers to watch Good Morning America. Either that or that new drama with General Hospital's Tyler Christopher. I think they should replace Six Degrees quick!
Answer: Even I'm amazed at how patient ABC has been with this one. But don't look for ABC to restore a newsmagazine to the post-Grey's Anatomy slot anytime soon. The Grey's lead-in is too valuable. ABC's mission is to create a new hit show out of Grey's. It's obvious that Six Degrees, so ponderous and contrived, isn't that show. Here's another, and more frequently offered solution to the Six Degrees problem, from Chris L.:
"With the broadcast networks looking for the next Desperate Housewives/Lost-style immediate ratings smash, ABC should be lauded for exercising patience by giving their new shows time to find an audience while the other networks have already swung
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Question: Men in Trees is my favorite new show. Got any scoop?
Answer: Marin is moving back to New York — or so she thinks. When a "sexy and charming" publisher of a major Big Apple agency expresses interest in publishing her next book, Marin hightails it to New York to meet with him. Major sparks fly between the two, and Marin finds herself mulling over a permanent move home (until someone reminds her about the hot piece of tail waiting for her back in Elmo).
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Question: Don’t you think Men in Trees would be more compatible and hold more of Grey's audience than Six Degrees?
Answer: Don't think the suits over at ABC aren't asking themselves that same exact question.
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I have to begin by giving a major shout out to Marsha Smith, the publicist from ABC who hooked me up with this whole TVGuide.com blog thing. And also to Sara Glasser Havens, [executive producer] Jenny Bicks' assistant, who always catches the typos and makes everything sound better, as well as makes sure everything goes through the proper channels (so you're not exposed to the initial dirty versions I put out.) Basically, I've been procrastinating more and more, turning the blogs in later and later, and these ladies have made sure that they get out there. Props!This week's episode of Men in Trees [Fridays at 9 pm/ET, on ABC], "The Caribou in the Room," made me very happy, because our writer, Tim Davis, put Annie in bed for a good portion of the show. This meant that I could shoot almost all of my scenes in one day, which meant I could go back to L.A. and get in bed with Tyler! So I have very fond memories of this episode. I also remember getting a frantic call one day from Cynthia St...
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Question: Can you give me a yes or no, in your opinion, as to whether the following new shows will make it? The Class, Studio 60, Jericho, Men in Trees, Ugly Betty and The Nine?
Answer: Yes, no, yes, yes, frak yeah and maybe.
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Question: Please tell me how the future looks for Men in Trees and Vanished. I am obsessed with these two shows and hope they stick around for a full season.
Answer: Men in Trees is turning into a Friday-night sleeper for ABC, and with good reason: The show has found its footing after that clunky second episode. Last Friday's sex-drenched outing was the best, most satisfying hour of Trees since the pilot. I, for one, am glad Marin and Jack sealed the deal this early in the game. I'm losing patience for these five-season-long flirtations that TV seems to love so much. The news isn't as good for Friday-bound Vanished, which will likely disappear after 13 episodes. But as exec producer Josh Berman told me, the show's two major mysteries — who is Sara and who kidnapped her — will be resolved by then. He also revealed t
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Communication is the topic of this week’s episode, and of course everything turns into one big miscommunication. As much as it was unavoidable that Marin and Jack were going to end up together, it still seemed too early to have them jump into bed. OK, yes, neither of them actually wants to date and they are both obviously attracted to each other, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of options for them, but I am not surprised that sleeping together isn’t leading them to anything meaningful yet. I guess I am fine with them ultimately reaching a decision to be “just friends.” Although, clearly, they are not “just friends.” Immediately after determining their “friend” status, Jack teaches her how to fly-fish by putting his arms around her. It looks like next week they delve into the topic of whether it is possible to be “just friends” with someone you are attracted to. Should be interesting.... Annie and Patrick were the best part of...
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... Also known as the continuing true-life adventures of Bergl's search for the real Alaska.I write this blog from yet another airplane (I think that the last three blogs have been at least partially written from the air) after a delightful seven-hour delay at O'Hare airport. What should have been a five-hour flight from New York to Vancouver has turned into 19. Of course, I have waited until the 16th hour of that journey to begin this blog, upholding a well preserved Bergl tradition of procrastination. And there's a whole lot of turbulence and lightning going on right now. If the character of Annie mysteriously disappears on Men in Trees, you'll know why. Tell Tyler I love him! All right, sorry for the drama, but I am an actor after all....I have to apologize first off for the fact that last week's blog was billed as "the dirtiest blog to date." I know that Coley Laffoon, Anne Heche's handsome husband, was one of the many disappointed. It seems as if it was a little too dirty for s...
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