NBC will rebroadcast "Company Man," the heart-tugging Heroes episode that shed light on HRG's past, on March 26.... Twin Peaks: The Second Season arrives as a six-disc DVD set on April 3, damn good pie not included.... Bravo announced on Tuesday its first-ever media acquisition, the TelevisionWithoutPity website.... Monday's premiere of FX's The Riches drew an audience of 3.8 million total viwers, putting it just ahead of Dirt's own debut.
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Today’s TV sermon, inspired by tonight’s wonderfully entertaining Hurley-centric episode of Lost, is all about hope. About not giving up hope, even when the TV gods seem to be working against our innate optimism that all good things come to those who patiently wait and watch.I have hope for Lost, always have had. The show may never regain the mass audience of its first season, and that was probably inevitable. As the show got denser and the island more cluttered with new characters and enigmas, not all created equal, the impatient among us gave up, screaming “not another Twin Peaks!” and drifted away to more predictable shores. Their loss. Even at its worst, which arguably came in the ill-conceived six-episode “pod” last fall, Lost is still one of TV’s most ambitious and spectacular productions, blessed with a fascinatingly diverse cast (this year, largely underused until now) that reveals new depths with each flashback into their back stories. For...
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Question: Dude, what gives? I've been waiting 16 years now for some fresh Twin Peaks scoop.
Answer: You heard it here first: The log lady's big secret is that she has male and female parts.
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Question: I have to wholeheartedly disagree with Dewey's notion that a show should stand the test of time before being lauded as one of TV's best. For one thing, creators, writers, directors and actors move on from TV projects, so to judge a TV show in its entirety robs the talented people behind the show's success of their glory and exalts the mediocre people responsible for its less successful years. Think of Alias: The first two seasons were brilliant in every way, but once J.J. Abrams left to pursue other projects, the show declined in quality. But to deny Alias' impact on television merely because of the final seasons would be wrong. And vice versa — we shouldn't unduly exalt the final three seasons merely because the first two were so innovative. I also think of Twin Peaks, a show that changed the face of television, albeit for a very short time. If it were judged in its entirety, the last 10 to 15 episodes would have to knock its overall quality down a few notches, and we would ...
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Question: It seems to me that there are more and more shows making it into network prime time within the regular television season that don't make it past six weeks. Are you aware of a plan by any of the Big Four to greenlight projects for shorter seasonal runs, much like HBO and Showtime do? With a shorter schedule, a series would be able to focus on its arc, and increase its effect on the viewer. For most shows, it would decrease the need for "filler." (You must admit that even the best of the best on network television, now and again, will screech to a halt while trying to disguise the fact that that show is simply treading water.) For an on-network example, look no further than Twin Peaks. As a mid-season replacement, that show had only seven hours to involve us in the mystery and make us love or hate each of the many characters, all while asking us one of the most important pop-culture questions of the '90s: "Who killed Laura Palmer?"
Answer: Yes, and look what happened when Twin
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So NBC is going to abandon the first hour of prime time, according to non-visionary chief Jeff Zucker. No more pricey comedies and dramas to fill the 8 pm/ET hour in the future. I guess the handful of shows, mostly comedies, now airing in that hour will migrate elsewhere at some point, whichever ones actually survive. Sounds like surrender to me. Not to mention fewer scheduling options for a lesser range of programming. Be on the lookout for more cheesy game shows and cheaper reality retreads. And what would happen should NBC be lucky enough to stumble across a perfect 8 pm/ET premise like ABC's family-friendly Ugly Betty? This is such a short-sighted blanket philosophy it's as staggering as it is depressing. Was it just two years ago that Friends signed off as one of the highest-rated shows ever, holding down that first half-hour of prime Thursday real estate? How times have changed, and how quickly. And how sad is it for TV's future to see a network simply giving up rather than tr...
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Matt Frewer, Eureka
Within the strange, genius-populated little Northwestern town at the heart of Sci Fi Channel's Eureka (Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET) resides Jim Taggart, the off-center "dogcatcher" who specializes in the critters, creepies and crawlies born of the burg's bizarre scientific experiments. TVGuide.com spoke with Matt Frewer (aka Max Headroom for my fellow children of the '80s) about his stay in Eureka and the series' "aggressive multiplatform media initiative." (He has no idea what I just said.)
TVGuide.com: It's always a pleasure — if not a little bit clumsy — to interview another person named Matt.Matt Frewer: Oh, well, just pretend I'm wearing a name
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Colin Ferguson, Eureka
Starting tonight at 9 pm/ET, Sci Fi Channel's Eureka ventures into the same Pacific Northwest that played home to Twin Peaks as it tells the tale of a tiny town harboring a big secret: namely, a population of geniuses, many of whom toil for a top-secret government think tank. Playing U.S. Marshal Jack Carter, through whom viewers experience this strange (and soon about to become stranger) world, is Colin Ferguson, whose alter ego has little idea that this quick pass through town, with a temperamental teenage daughter in tow, will turn into a very "extended" stay.
TVGuide.com: How are you doing there, Colin?
Colin Ferguson: I'm han
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Matthew Fox, Lost
Question: I am amazed at the new Lost-related websites springing up. The Oceanic site last year was cool, and then the Hanso site, but now there is a site for the Valenzetti Foundation, which is somehow related to the new book Bad Twin and the site for Windmore Laboratories, the makers of the Dharma food and Sun's pregnancy test. Oh, and let's not forget the new Hanso phone number (which, I admit, I did call). How involved are Lost's creators in the info going up on these sites, and is it necessary for the avid Lost fan to scour these sites for a fuller appreciation of the show?
Answer: From what I gather, the producers are very involved in these offshoots, all of which sounds like a great deal of fun for anyone with the time to indulge their Lost obsession. It reminds me of my early days on the TV beat, back in the low-tech pre-Internet days, when the legendary Twin Peaks issued a number of products, including the late Laura Palmer's diary, to tease the audience into trying to solve
...
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Onetime West Winger Matthew Perry stars on Aaron Sorkin's Strip.
Television's new fall lineups won't be unveiled until May, but Hollywood is already making predictions about which pilots will become full-fledged shows. Here are some projects that are generating heat.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip NBC has penciled in this drama from West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin about the backstage doings of a famous sketch-comedy show à la Saturday Night Live. Sorkin's mighty pen, and a cast that
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