Question: I recently watched TV Guide Network's look at fall TV programming, and I enjoyed your commentary. But I did have a few questions: My gut is telling me to watch Moonlight, but I keep feeling that it's going to get canceled about as soon as Threshold was a few seasons back. Makes me not really want to tune in as I'm inclined to. I'm also super-excited about Bionic Woman. Do you think NBC is willing to work with the show and give it a proper chance to shine?
Answer: At this point, with the new season merely a few weeks away, I'd say go with your gut. What can it hurt, even if the shows don't ultimately make it? If you're curious to watch, what's stopping you? Of the two shows you mention, I figure Bionic Woman has a better shot than Moonlight, if only because of brand recognition and the amount of promotion the show is already getting (not all of it focused on the Isaiah Washington stunt casting), and I think NBC would be patient in letting the show find its (bionic) legs.
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Frankly, I was surprised and a bit dismayed that CBS didn’t have symbolic bowls of nuts in the room as the network launched its portion of the TCA press tour Wednesday morning. Which didn’t stop Jericho from dominating much of the conversation when CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler took the stage to introduce one of the more ambitious and controversial new lineups in CBS’ recent history.Tassler said she couldn’t go to a neighborhood camera store, or even a doctor’s office (where the doctor pulled a bag of peanuts out of his coat in reference to the fan campaign) without being reminded of the furor over Jericho's cancellation and subsequent renewal for seven episodes at mid-season. She says she went on message boards, read the e-mails, “and what you saw was a huge segment of the population that really felt they were not being counted, but more specifically, that they had a knowledge and an awareness of the show that was so detailed and so committe...
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In years past, CBS's stability (which you've gotta know the other networks covet) has often been criticized as complacency, especially in these last few years of wall-to-wall crime dramas. Zzzzzz. That's about to change, with a fall lineup of new, intriguing high concepts that could open some eyes where the Eye net is concerned and give CBS the one thing it most desperately desires: Buzz. Let's hope some of the new stuff sticks.There is reason to be skeptical. The few shows from last season that went particularly "off brand" didn't last, most notably the serialized crime caper Smith (gone in three weeks) and the apocalyptic Jericho (canned after one season, which ended in a hail of bullets between warring towns, leaving fans on edge and up in arms themselves). The nagging question is if CBS will truly give its offbeat new lineup a chance to distinguish itself or instead will fall back on the tried and true that works so well for a network known for its satisfying, crowd-pleasing mai...
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Now playing Vince's sexy new agent on HBO's Entourage (returning Sunday at 10 pm/ET), Carla Gugino talks to TV Guide about hanging with the boys, working with Pauly Shore and her secret talent. Hmmm....
TV Guide: How does it feel being the new girl in a boys' club like Entourage? Carla Gugino: It's the most natural thing in the world for me, actually. I've always been friends with lots of guys, and these guys have been incredibly welcoming. Sure, they're men — and good-looking men, to boot — but it's not a big testosterone fest on set. It feels like going to play, not to work.
TV Guide: You play Vince's new agent, Amanda. Will Vince be doing less "Aquaman" now and more of, say, whatever Nora Ephron's dir
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The newest pilot news, from Variety/the Reporter:• D.B. Woodside (24) has been cast as Marcus in CBS' Hugh Jackman-produced musical drama Viva Laughlin.• Marisa Tomei will topline CBS' The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, the Oscar winner's first network series since appearing on A Different World 20 years ago.• Kate Burton (Grey's Anatomy) and Camille Gauty (Prison Break) have joined Fox's Supreme Courtships, playing a justice and her ambitious clerk, respectively.• Real-life football wife Holly Robinson Peete is the mom of a star wide receiver in ABC's Football Wives.• Mae Whitman (Thief) is The Bionic Woman's younger sister. Just think of the cool hand-me-downs!• Heroes' Tawny Cypress has joined Fox's K-Ville, as has John Carroll Lynch (Close to Home).• Fox has ordered a half-hour sudser about blue-collar families, from Idol creator Simon Fuller.• Kurt Fuller (Desperate Housewives) is the title femme's boss in ABC's See Jayne Run.• T...
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