Criminal Minds guest star Amber Heard previews CW network's best bet.
Sometimes my job gets spooky. Minutes after I Q&A'd Tara Lipinski (re: an upcoming Malcolm in the Middle), a TV Guide colleague asks if I want to chat up Amber Heard, an ingénue-on-the-rise who plays a big role on tonight's Criminal Minds (9 pm/ET on CBS) but more interestingly got the edgy film role Lipinski just told me she had to pass on. Alpha Dog (in theaters May 12), though, is but one of the many gigs Heard is about to hit you with. In fact, you may be looking at the fledgling CW network's first breakout star. You be the judge.
TVGuide.com: Get this: I just interviewed Tara Lipinski, who opted to pass on a role in Alpha Dog because of the, um, required nudity. That's the gig you wound up with, right?Amber Heard: I definitely think it is. Th
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As Huff’s second season opens, the title shrink (Hank Azaria) is lost in thought, not paying attention to his droning patient. Kind of how I felt watching this whiny, discordant and unfocused drama (Sundays at 10 pm/ET on Showtime), which whipsaws wildly and mostly unsuccessfully between raunchy dark comedy and existential family tragedy.
I kept watching my DVD time display, waiting (like the doctor) for each hour to be up. I got through seven of 13 new episodes before bailing, around the time Huff’s blabby conscience, which takes the form of a “Homeless Hungarian,” tells him to “wake up and smell the unspoken need.”
What I’m smelling is Showtime’s desperate need to launch a breakout drama that could attract the buzz of an FX or an HBO. Huff isn’t it.
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Question: Mr. Televisionary, you're my only hope! I know that once before you answered a question about a song played during a show. (See? I do read your column avidly!) But you wouldn't give up your sources for finding out this info, so here I am asking for your help! I loved the song that played during the closing credits of Six Feet Under in the "Driving Mr. Mossback" episode. Please put me out of my misery! Thank you.
Answer: Oh, Lynne — once before? Surely, an avid reader such as yourself knows that I'm a sucker for these "What was that song?" questions and that I answer them quite frequently. But who am I to doubt you? Thanks for your readership just the same.
I believe the song that's making you so darned miserable is Joe 90's "Drive," which is on the album Dream This. It played while Nate (
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Wednesday was a ratings whopper for a pair of cablers. The premiere of Black. White. drew four million total viewers for FX (nearly triple the net's previous best for an unscripted series), while the Project Runway finale (tailing Black. White. in the 10 pm hour with 3.4 million viewers) became Bravo's highest-rated program ever.... Speaking of Bravo, it has inked a deal worth $15 million-plus to begin airing HBO's Six Feet Under this fall.
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At ABC, David Arquette (Scream) has joined the comedy In Case of Emergency, playing a businessman who botches a suicide attempt.... Peter Facinelli (Six Feet Under) has landed the second lead (opposite Jeffrey Donovan) in Enemies.... Sarah Clarke (24) has joined the drama A House Divided.... Charlotte Ross (Jake in Progress NYPD Blue) has come aboard Ugly Betty.... and Sean Patrick Flannery (The Dead Zone) has joined Secrets of a Small Town. Elsewhere, Doublemint Twin Natalie Garza has been cast on Fox's The 12th Man, Michael Gaston has joined CBS' Jericho, and Lenny Clarke will play Rob Corddry's pop in Fox's Becoming Glen.
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Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths
Crafts services, you are hereby forewarned: Calista Flockhart, whose most visible role since Ally McBeal's end has been as girlfriend to Harrison Ford, is returning to series television in ABC's family-centered sudser, Brothers & Sisters — not to be confused with Sons & Daughters, the network's about-to-premiere and similarly ampersanded series, although ABC is simply asking for confusion. Also joining the cast is fellow Golden Globe winner Rachel Griffiths, of Six Feet Under acclaim.
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Question: I was wondering if you had been given a chance to screen Showtime's new show Dexter. From what I've heard, it sounds a lot like Profit, with its "evil" main character. I no longer get Showtime, but I am a huge collector of TV shows on DVD (I have about 1,500 episodes of various shows). I was wondering if it would be worth my while and my dollar. I bought Dead Like Me sight unseen. I thought it a true pleasure though I had already fallen in love with Wonderfalls (both from Bryan Fuller).
Answer: Now this is a first, a DVD question about a show that hasn't even premiered yet. I understand clips of Dexter were shown at the critics' press tour in Pasadena this month (which I did not attend), and I heard some good buzz. But all I can say for sure is that I can't wait to see this show, about a forensics expert by day (played by Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall) who by night is a serial killer, which means he sometimes can be found processing his own crime scenes. The twist here,
...
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Question: First, congrats on your great column. My weeks always start and end with you. I wanted to get your feeling on the representation of homosexuality on TV shows lately, because I feel that we've reached a turning point. I think that after a short period of (needed?) overexposure, with every show having a gay character and shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Queer as Folk, we are actually moving toward equality between gay and straight characters. For instance, I know that a lot of gay people have ground their teeth at Andrew being gay and evil on Desperate Housewives, but I actually believe that this is a good thing: We've got past the dichotomy of, on the one hand, the political correctness of the gay guy who's a great guy with no sexuality (Will & Grace) and, on the other hand, the cliché of the gay guy with nothing but his sexuality (Queer as Folk). Finally gay characters get to be something else than "just gay." They are handled the same way as straight characters ...
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Question: Considering the wonderful praise given to Rescue Me by you as well as other critics, it saddens me that this show seems to be snubbed come nomination time. It's made plenty of critics' Top 10 lists and I'm happy it made AFI's list. It simply amazes me how Denis Leary does not get an acting or writing nomination for Tommy Gavin and Season 2 for the Golden Globes. It's not the first time a deserving series has been ignored, but I am just surprised given the "FX is the new HBO" attitude as of late. In HBO's prime, it got tons of nominations. Finally, what saddens me most of all is that the ensemble of this show will simply never be recognized. Jack McGee and Daniel Sunjata deserve recognition for their story lines. The wonderful work of Steven Pasquale, John Scurti and Michael Lombardi will never be awarded since their story lines are mostly comedic in a dramatic program, even though the show would not work without them. The drama is so poignant because we are able to laugh with ...
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Boston Legal bested the rest of the TV pack with four SAG nominations in the Comedy category — William Shatner, James Spader and Candice Bergen included — while Grey's Anatomy was a close second with three Drama contenders, including lead nods for Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh. In the Drama Series Ensemble contest, it's The Closer versus Grey's, Lost, Six Feet Under and The West Wing, while the Comedy Ensemble category pits Arrested Development against Boston, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Desperate Housewives, Everybody Loves Raymond and (catch breath) newbie My Name Is Earl. Lastly, a catfight alert: Felicity Huffman is Housewives' lone individual acting nominee. Someone tie down the blenders.
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