I'm going out on a limb this week, and I'm choosing a DVD set I haven't seen for my "Pick of the Week" (minor mix-up at the PR firm) - Not Just The Best Of The Larry Sanders Show. Though this is a dreaded "best of" release (please, please continue with the series in seasons sets), there are tons of bonus materials on the release. Garry Shandling is joined by Peter Tolan for commentary on two episodes, with Todd Holland and Judd Apatow doing one episode a piece. There's a documentary about making the series, deleted and extended scenes, alternate takes, and interviews with Alec Baldwin, Ellen DeGeneres, David Duchovny, Tom Petty, Jerry Seinfeld, Sharon Stone, Jon Stewart, Carol Burnett, Penny Johnson, Wallace Langham, Scott Thompson, Janeane Garofalo, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Sarah Silverman, Jeremy Piven, Bob Odenkirk and Linda Doucett. Those special features join 23 episodes of the series on 4 discs. The only thing that would make this set better? Well, that would be the rest of the seas...
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The networks and ad buyers on Madison Avenue are deep in negotiations over the price of commercial time for next fall's prime-time schedule, and at least a third of their $9 billion take (that is, the networks hope it'll be that much) will be spent on Thursday night. That explains why so many good shows this fall will be airing on the same night. It's looking like one of the great network-scheduling steel-cage matches in history: Grey's Anatomy vs. CSI vs. Deal or No Deal all battling it out at 9 pm/ET.
ABC could have gotten higher ratings if it left
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At the beginning of this wild season of Fox's 24 (Mondays at 9 pm/ET), the producers graciously asked Gregory Itzin what he'd like to see happen with his character, President Charles Logan.
"I said, 'I'd like to be the hero,'" Itzin says. "I'd like Logan to turn out to be the guy in the big white hat."
So much for the opinion of actors. With only a handful of episodes left in Day 5, Logan has emerged as the dark force behind a White House scandal that makes Watergate look like a couple of parking tickets. Contrary to everyone's perception, Logan's not the bumbling, indecisive half-wit-in-chief but rather the man who masterminded the plot to steal Sentox nerve gas and assassinate David Palmer. The president has ties t
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Chris Diamantopoulos took some razzing for his portrayal of Robin Williams in NBC's Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (an encore airs tonight at 8 pm/ET). The film got Jeered by TV Guide for "reducing Robin Williams to a perky yet sad clown." As for Williams himself, he claims he didn't even bother to watch. "It's weird," the comic cracks. "If they're going to make a bad movie about your life, then [you should] wait for the Cartoon Network [version]."
Of course, the film's leading man denies that his portrayal is just a gratuitous rehash of Williams' alleged diva behavior and drug problems during the
classic sitcom's run. "I don't think the movie's exploitative," Diamantopoulos tells TVGuide.com. "By nature, a biopic — whether the person's alive or dead — is [for] making money. Even
Ray , to some degree, is exploitative.
"A lot of people ask how I think R
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Earlier this month, NBC aired its TV-movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy, which portrayed Robin Williams as both a cokehead and a star tripper on the set of his classic sitcom. Since the actor who played Williams told TVGuide.com he was unsure of how Williams felt about the film, we decided to ask the man himself.
First off, did the 54-year-old funnyman even bother to watch it? "No," Williams answers. "It's weird. If they're going to make a bad movie about your life, then [you should] wait for the Cartoon Network [version]."
Williams admits to having some slight curiosity when he first heard the Mork movie was in the works. "I knew something was up when I asked [NBC] for a script," he says. "They said, 'No, we don't have that.'"
Speaking of TV controversy, the former Mork from Ork is far more irked with ABC tha
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