The newest extreme sport: covering the weather for TV. In an effort to satisfy the public's appetite for footage of blizzards, hurricanes and, most recently, the devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma, reporters as well as professional and amateur chasers are heading straight into the eyes of the storms.
The third season of Falling Skies could turn into either War of the Worlds or E.T. — which just happen to be two movies directed by Steven Spielberg, an executive producer of the TNT alien-­invasion series. A new ally from outer space has given the human resistance the upper hand in their battle for survival against the Espheni, but not everyone is so trusting, especially given recent evidence of a traitor in their midst.
When Rosie Larsen's murderer was not revealed in The Killing's Season 1 finale, heads across America exploded. It was the most disparaged creative decision since Lost's purgatory series ender. Still, executive producer Veena Sud believed her gritty crime drama would survive the backlash.
Even on a show all about the brave men and women who put out fires and save lives, there has to be a character that's less than heroic. Jason Beghe is that guy, a dirty cop who's been recurring on Chicago Fire (Wednesday at 10/9c on NBC).
When it comes to acting, Laura Linney knows no fear. She has embodied everyone from steely First Lady Abigail Adams in HBO's John Adams to FDR's mousy cousin/lover in the ­recent biopic Hyde Park on Hudson. But with her Golden Globe-winning performance on The Big C, she took on a seemingly impossible feat: making cancer funny. Now the show is being put to rest with a four-­episode finale, but neither Linney nor her character, Cathy, is going down quietly. Tonight's episode finds her struggling with chemotherapy — she wants to stop treatment so she can feel well enough to take care of her family and make sure they'll be strong enough to survive without her. Soon after the show's fourth season wrapped, the 49-year-old three-time Emmy winner shared her thoughts about the end of Cathy's journey.
For its entire five-season run on both NBC and TNT, the ratings-challenged Southland has struggled to stay alive. And after a heart-pounding and catastrophic finale on April 17 that drew a mediocre 1.8 million viewers, the gritty police drama is again facing cancellation. The day after the airing of what could be their final episode, which culminated in out-of-control John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) getting shot down by fellow officers, executive producer Jonathan Lisco and Cudlitz looked back — and ahead...
You may think you pamper your pets by letting them share your bed or feeding them gourmet food, but unless you've thrown a doggy wedding or a "bark mitzvah," you won't qualify for Nat Geo Wild's new series Spoiled Rotten Pets (premiering Saturday with back to back episodes at 9/8c and 9:30/8:30c).
When they were in KGB spy school in 1962, the young Russians now known as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings couldn't say "nyet" when ­they were ordered to marry and move to suburban Virginia. Eighteen years and two kids later, the question is, will the couple finally find true love with each other undercover? On location in Queens, where they're filming a scene that involves an armed and dangerous little girl, The Americans costars Keri Russell, 37, and Matthew Rhys, 38, banter and finish each other's thoughts as they contemplate that idea and more...
Sometimes even network executives admit they've made mistakes. After canceling Unforgettable last year, CBS is bringing back the cop drama this summer. AMC changed its mind about dropping The Killing and, most recently, Lifetime decided to revive Drop Dead Diva.
Season 1 of Enterprise, the fifth (and so far final) Star Trek TV series finally arrives on Blu-ray Tuesday. Besides all 25 episodes, the six-disc set is chock full of special features including an eight-part documentary including new cast and crew interviews about the launching of the space exploration prequel series and behind—the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, cast commentary, and a frank conversation with shows creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, who admits his true feelings about Diane Warren's theme song. Scott Bakula, aka Captain Jonathan Archer, commander of the Enterprise NX-01, shares some memories and what else is in the stars for him.
On a hot fall afternoon just outside Charlotte, North Carolina, Antony Starr is busy getting punched in the kidneys, slammed against a wall and kicked in the solar plexus. As he pauses for a breath, a command comes: "Let's work on that strangling again!" Just a typical day on the set of Banshee. Flash back to late April. On the first day of shooting, the actor playing Starr's opponent in a brawl came at him a bit too strong. "He cracked me in the face and split my lip open," Starr recalls, "but our schedule was so tight, I didn't get to the hospital for six hours." That's when Starr realized just how different filming Cinemax's noirish thriller would be from the comedies and dramas he was used to making in his native New Zealand. "They shot...
If you only watched Southland in its first season on NBC or you've never seen TV's grittiest and most realistic cop show, here's a chance to catch up on TNT's riveting, beautifully acted Seasons 2, 3 and 4. Warner Bros. Home Video is releasing a new DVD set on Tuesday, a week ahead of Season 5's premiere (Wednesday, Feb. 13, 10/9c, TNT).
Talk about outsourcing! An increasing number of TV's all-American cops, firefighters and doctors are being played by actors not from the U.S. of A. Of course, foreign actors have been hiding their accents to play Americans for years. House's Hugh Laurie was so skilled at trading in his upper-crust Cambridge lilt to play the titular grumpy doctor that many viewers were shocked to find out he was British when he spoke with his real voice on an awards show or during interviews...
"I love playing a fireman!" says Eamonn Walker, who costars as Wallace Boden, the stoic fire battalion chief on Dick Wolf's Chicago Fire. The British actor, best known for his role as spiritual inmate Kareem Said on HBO's Oz, is especially thrilled now that Boden is out from behind his desk and going on calls. "How can you play a firefighter and not fight fires?" he asks with a laugh.
T.R. Knight hasn't been seen much since he left Grey's Anatomy in 2009. At the time, he cited "a breakdown of communication" with executive producer Shonda Rhimes over a slur by costar Isaiah Washington and what the actor perceived to be a diminished role on the show. With that drama behind him, Knight, 39, is back on screens big and small. Not only is he appearing in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 (hitting theaters this April), but he has also returned to TV in a big way with a multi-episode arc on The Good Wife, playing a hoodie-wearing political consultant...
The remainder of Supernatural's eighth season — which resumes Wednesday at 9/8c on The CW — with the focus on Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki), who are on their quest to finish translating the "Word of God" tablet, which will allow them to shut the gates of Hell and trap demons there forever. But the Winchesters won't be alone in that pursuit. "Everyone's going to have some skin in the game," says exec producer Jeremy Carver, especially King of Hell Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard).
Yep, that's former One Tree Hill heartthrob Chad Michael Murray rocking the crew cut, 'stache and steely glare of an LAPD cop. The actor guest stars as Officer Dave Mendoza in the first two episodes of Southland's new season (premiering February 13 on TNT). "Mendoza's a...
The folks who make up The Vampire Diaries' fan community are a rabid bunch: They're even nominated for their own People's Choice Award. "Our fans are the most extraordinary group," says exec producer Julie Plec, "and they are very vocal." There should be plenty of chatter now that Elena (Nina Dobrev) has officially hooked up with bad boy Damon (Ian Somerhalder), making Team Delena rapturous. And those Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena devotees? Not so much. "I will probably have to hide for a while!" jokes Plec. That's advice Damon might want to take once his brother Stefan finds out about the tryst. ("He'll be in for a shock," says Plec.) But first, we'll let Somerhalder revel in his character's juicy new story line...
Downton Abbey transformed PBS from a sometimes stodgy channel into a destination network, drawing 5.4 million viewers for its second-season finale (doubling PBS' primetime average). Now, Downton creator Julian Fellowes has signed with NBC to create The Gilded Age, his first series for American broadcast TV. NBC is betting that the drama will attract the same audience for its depiction of New York's moguls of...
If you love a man in uniform, tune in to the December 6 episode of The CW's Vampire Diaries. "We've got...
The iconic photos from the southern plains states during the Great Depression say it all: the haunted eyes of weary mothers, children with their faces wrapped against the choking dust and families piling their belongings into trucks and heading to California.In the two-part documentary The Dust Bowl, filmmaker Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Prohibition) focuses on the nearly decade-long drought that, coupled with unsustainable farming techniques, destroyed millions of acres in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.
If Homeland's Morena Baccarin were a lesser actress, Jessica — the betrayed wife of Al Qaeda operative-turned-double-agent Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) — would be a forgettable obstacle in the way of Brody's passionate bond with CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes). But Baccarin plays what she calls her "incredibly emotionally layered character" with moving subtlety and fierceness. "She's got some brass knuckles this season," says Baccarin, 33, who also doesn't hold back when it comes to opening up. Here's what you need to know about her.
