David Chase by Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
David Chase reported to a Trenton, NJ, courthouse on Wednesday morning to defend himself against former New Jersey municipal court judge Robert Baer's claim that ideas of his ideas helped Chase bring The Sopranos to life. Baer, also a former assistant prosecutor, filed suit in 2002, alleging that he suggested to Chase a TV series about organized crime in Jersey and gave Chase a crash course on the North Jersey mob, and as such wants credit and compensation. According to the AP, opening statements are expected after the lunch break.In a related class-action suit, absolutely no one is laying claim to John from Cincinnati.
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Jason Clarke and Jason Isaacs in Brotherhood by Jim Fiscus/Showtime
This Sunday, it sure didn't feel as if the sweeps month had already ended. Major pivotal episodes of ABC's hit series, a movie special on CBS (one of the better Hallmark Hall of Fames to air in a while) and, somewhat lost in the shuffle, a season finale of one of TV's more underappreciated dramas. That's a lot to digest.First off, the watercooler show of the night was unquestionably Desperate Housewives, capping an above-par season with the long-awaited arrival of a devastating twister. The circumstances were just about as far-fetched as most things that happen in this diverting comedic soap, but that final shot of a flattened Wisteria Lane was truly apocalyptic. Lynnette’s banshee screech would have been justified even if she hadn’t just realized the house where her family had hunkered down in the basement was buried in rubble. Outstanding.(For the record, I side with those who think that Ida, the owner of the wayward cat, is probably the “friend” referred to in...
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Question: I was excited to see that HBO's The Wire has completed production and is still set to air this season, despite the strike. Do you think the fact that it may be one of only a few shows on the air next year will mean that it finally gets the award recognition it deserves?
Answer: That would be one of the few positives to come out of this, wouldn't it? Also in its favor will be the many tributes The Wire is likely to receive in the media, with this being its final season, and now that HBO stalwarts like The Sopranos are no longer in the mix, it may open up the categories enough to allow this excellent series to finally get its due, at the very least for best-drama consideration. It also may help that the final season is airing in the second half of the season, closer to the time when Emmy nominating ballots go out. If the TV season is still in a shambles by then, The Wire's chances for recognition could be considerably higher than the usual long shot ...
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Edie Falco and Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock by Nicole Rivelli/NBC Photo
Every week, after laughing myself silly at the warped lunacy of 30 Rock on Thursday nights and then being greeted by the stubbornly low ratings on Friday morning, I’m more than ever convinced that this inspired comedy is the new Arrested Development. (And not just because it’s a dark-horse Emmy winner, also taking home the best-comedy trophy after its first season.) Here’s another cult classic that is apparently too off-kilter to be more than an acquired taste, unfortunately destined to fly under the radar.This view isn’t coming from a comedy snob. I get a kick out of most of CBS’ more mainstream Monday comedies, including the new Big Bang Theory, which gets funnier and more confident by the week. On Thursdays I’m still delighted by 30 Rock’s time-period rival, the sweetly campy Ugly Betty. But 30 Rock strikes me as something special, something to treasure, firing on all burners with a wild and hilariously absurdist sensibility.This week’s epi...
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Question: I am going to preface my question by trying to establish a little street cred. My favorite shows include Veronica Mars, Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, The Sopranos and The Wire. While I have enjoyed new shows like Dirty Sexy Money and Chuck, there has been one show, to my big surprise, that has become my favorite: Moonlight. I know, the pilot was horrible. I originally checked it out to see alums from Veronica Mars and Alias, but I have stayed because of Alex O'Loughlin. I think he has created a really interesting, layered character, and the show's mythology and character development are really starting to take off. It's a fun guilty pleasure. It's not award-winning TV, but it's a lot of fun with a very charismatic lead. I think critics should give it a second chance. It's the first time I have watched anything on CBS in, like, 10 years. Any news on the prospects of this show given the strike?
Answer: First off, you don't have to justify your enjoyment of any TV show
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Shooter Jennings, Giants
His terrific new album, The Wolf, may address his outsider status in country music, but country-rock rebel Shooter Jennings has been anything but a loner of late. He’s about to start a family with his girlfriend of six years, Sopranos actress Drea de Matteo; he’s thrilling crowds with a kickass live show on his current tour; and on Saturday night, he joins a host of rowdy friends (including Kid Rock, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Steven Tyler) to honor the music of Hank Williams Jr. on Giants (9 pm/ET on CMT), a raucous two-hour salute to the man known as Bocephus. TVGuide.com spoke to the 28-year-o
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Question: I was wondering what you thought of David Chase's comments excerpted from an interview in the upcoming The Sopranos: The Complete Book. He kind of spit in the fans' faces and told them to get a life. Since reading that interview, I will never watch or buy anything made by him or his production company. What kind of pretentious jerk tells people that there is a war going on and that we should care about other things? He didn't seem to mind that there was a war going on when he picked up his Emmy. Talk about frivolous.
Answer: The quote that seems to have really riled you went like this: "It seemed that those people were just looking for an excuse to be pissed off. There was a war going on that week and attempted terror attacks in London. But these people were talking about onion rings." Gotta say, that does come off as arrogant, and I'm sorry he took that attitude, given some of the other more thoughtful things he had to say in this interview. But then, given the amount of abuse
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Jenna Jameson by Denise Truscello/WireImage.com
Celebrities are now vying for the position of Donald Trump's "top dog" by taking their business to the streets. Literally.Seven of 14 celebs on The Apprentice's first celebrity edition were behind two Sabrett hot-dog carts in midtown Manhattan Friday afternoon to tape a challenge for the NBC show. Led by America’s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan on the megaphone, the celebrities stopped curious passersby for a donation to charity and an authentic New York street hot dog. At another location, some of the female contestants (including Omarosa, Marilu Henner and Playmate Tiffany Fallon) were manning their own cart.While Morgan was the moneyman for his team, country-music star Trace Adkins, actor Stephen Baldwin and UFC fighter Tito Ortiz served up the franks. Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, Sopranos star Vinnie Pastore and Kiss frontman Gene Simmons handled the crowd, gladly posing for pictures as long as a donation was made and a hot dog was sold.A few celebrity friends stopped ...
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Question: Recently you've been letting the world know how great a show Dexter is. I think Hugh Laurie is incredible in House, but if Michael C. Hall doesn't win an Emmy for dramatic male performance, I have to believe that Emmy voters have never themselves acted. The man is a revelation. What I want to talk about, though, is Brotherhood, the show that follows Dexter. No one ever talks about it, even though it is better than 98 percent of all other television shows, from Annabeth Gish's powerful performance in Season 1 to Ethan Embry's hometown cop who is spiraling out of control this season. Please, please give Brotherhood some much needed publicity.
Answer: Consider it done. And to be fair, I did include Brotherhood in my recent roundup of pay-cable dramas, but it's kind of hard not to lead with Dexter, which is what Showtime is doing in its promotions as well. Brotherhood is a great show that somehow has become as marginalized as The Wire is over on HBO. Like The Wire, it has a
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Question: Not only do I think Damages was the best new show to air this summer, I now have to say it is the best show on television! I usually can't stand it when shows do flashbacks, then revert to real time and go back and forward again. But Damages does it so well, and that device makes its stories all the more compelling. Here's my question, though: Will Damages be back for a second season? I ask because they have killed off so many of their major players; will enough cast members be left to do a second season, and if so, what storyline could they possibly come up with next? Glenn Close's performance is out-of-the-park superb. Most times Patty is cold, calculating, vindictive, cruel (remember the doggie?) and downright nasty. (Didn't we all love it when Ellen told her off and even again last week when she declined to come back to the firm?) That makes it all the more compelling when we see even the slightest humanity or compassion from her. She is riveting. Also, I've been a fan of ...
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