TV on DVD: Eastbound and Down and on disc

Eastbound and Down is a half-hour series starring Danny McBride as thoroughly obnoxious galute Kenny Powers, reduced to teaching gym after drugs ruined his career in Major League Baseball. He is crude and foul and disgusting. AND he has a mullet. But despite all that, and my lukewarm review back when it premiered on The Movie Network in February, I found that I laughed more and — go ahead, laugh — brushed away a tear near the end of its six-episode run. And not over Will Ferrell’s car salesman coif, which could bring a tear to the eye but for a completely different reason. I’ll probably even tune in when it returns with a second season to HBO Canada in 2010. Extras on the Season 1 DVD, new on shelves this week, include audio commentaries, deleted scenes and outtakes, and featurettes Kenny Powers: Greatest Hots, Stevie’s Dark Secret and a making-of.
Here are some other and, probably, less foul, TV DVDs, new on shelves this week:

Stargate: Atlantis: Season 5
Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season
Eureka: Season 3.0
The IT Crowd: The Complete Second Season
Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season 2
Blue Murder: Set 4
Parker Lewis Can’t Lose: The Complete First Season
Route 66: Season 3, Vol. 1
Frontline: Inside the Meltdown
American Experience: We Shall Remain
Hilarious House of Frightenstein: The Librarian’s Not So Scary Tales
– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango June 29-July 3: Daily Show, Colbert islands in stream of repeats

Repeat city on most chat shows this Canada Day and pre-July 4 week, except  for The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Live with Regis and Kelly, Chelsea Lately and Tyra. Later.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Jessica Biel (Easy Virtue), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Steve Earle (Townes) R

Tuesday: Michael J. Fox (Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist), The Fray (The Fray) R

Wednesday: Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 123), The Jonas Brothers (Lines, Vines and Trying Times), Top 10 with Regis Philbin R

Thursday: Sandra Bullock (The Proposal), comic Pete Correale, P.J. Harvey with John Parish (A Woman a Man Walked By) R

Friday: Kid scientists, Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Rick Ross with Magazeen (Deeper Than Rap) R

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Michael Douglas (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Carrie Ann Inaba R

Tuesday: Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Martina McBride R

Wednesday: Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Diane Birch, Tod Sawyer R

Thursday: John McEnroe R

Friday: Matthew McConaughey (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Cokie Roberts R

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Tom Hanks, Green Day R

Tuesday: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joel McHale, John Mayer Trio R

Wednesday: Eddie Murphy, Angela Kinsey, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal R

Thursday: Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, Neko Case R

Friday: Kobe Bryant, William Shatner, Incubus R

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Ice T, Elmo, Morgan Webb, Yeah Yeah Yeahs R

Tuesday: Seth Meyers, Michelle Trachtenberg, BMX biker Mike Spinner R

Wednesday: Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), Joan Rivers, Rachael Ray R

Thursday: Maya Rudolph (Away We Go), Damon Wayans Jr., Asher Roth R

Friday: Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Baldwin, Keane R

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton’s New BFF), Ken Jeong (The Hangover), Blink 182 R

Tuesday: Ty Pennington (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), David Sedaris (When You Are Engulfed in Flames), Jonas Brothers R

Wednesday: Shia LeBeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), June Diana Raphael (Year One), Eric Hutchinson R

Thursday: Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), David Cross (Year One), Phoenix R

Friday: Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Tracy Hutson (Feathering the Nest) R

Chelsea Lately (12:35 a.m. ET on E!)

Monday: Brooke Hogan (Broooke Knows Best), comics Josh Wolf, Natasha Leggero and Michael Yo

Tuesday: Lauren Conrad (L.A. Candy), comics Kevin Hart, Jen Kirkman, Jo Koy

Wednesday: Justin Kirk (Weeds), comics Greg Proops, Sarah Colonna and Ross Matthews

Thursday: Marissa Jaret Winokur (Dance Your Ass Off), comics John Caparulo, Heather McDonald and Brody Stevens

Friday: L.A. Laker Derek Fisher, comics Sarah Colonna, Randy and Jason Sklar

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Dr. Oliver Sacks

Tuesday: Mike Kim (Escaping North Korea)

Wednesday: California Rep. Hanry Waxman

Thursday: tba

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Neil Degrasse Tyson (Nova scienceNOW)

Tuesday: Kevin Mattson (What the Heck Are You Up to, Mr. President?)

Wednesday: Lee Siegel (Against the Machine)

Thursday: mountaineer Ed Viesturs

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Alice Cooper, Bill Maher R

Tuesday: Ricky Gervais R

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: tba

Friday: tba

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: repeat

DAYTIME

Live with Regis and Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Mark Consuelo co-hosts, Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

Tuesday: Anderson Cooper co-hosts, Seann William Scott

Wednesday: John Leguizamo (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs)

Thursday: Jerry O’Connell co-hosts

Friday: Brad Paisley

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Tom Hanks, Ron Howarad and Ayelet Zurer (Angels and Demons) R

Tuesday: Dolly Parton, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty and Marc Kudisch (9 to 5: The Musical)

Wednesday: Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friends (Cheri), Shirley Jones an Marty Ingels R

Thursday: John Edwards

Friday: Susan Lucci and Cameron Mathison (All My Children), Black Eyed Peas

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Sherri Shepherd (The View), tennis pro James Blake R

Tuesday: Denis Leary (Why We Suck), Aisha Tyler (Bedtime Stories) R

Wednesday: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Micky Dolenz (Gone Country), Nick Malis R

Thursday: Rosie O’Donnell, Oliver Hudson (Rules of Engagement) R

Friday: Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother), Elmo, Richard King R

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Ted Danson, Ernie Bjorkman R

Tuesday: Pink, Bette Midler R

Wednesday: Queen Latifah, Rob Thomas R

Thursday:  Michelle Obama, Jonas Brothers R

Friday: Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake R

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Evangelist Ted Haggard, His Wife and the Gay Sex Scandal R

Tuesday: Dr. Oz — Extreme Life Extension R

Wednesday: Oprah’s Clean Up Your Messy House Tour — Atlanta R

Thursday: Special Report — Tyra Banks and Dating Violence R

Friday: Secret Lives of Moms R

The Tyra Show (10 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Ashley Madison

Tuesday: Rock Your Ugly

Wednesday: Virginity Auction

Thursday: Beyonce

Friday: Wing Women

– Denise Duguay

Series premiere: Hung hangs its shingle Sunday at 10 on HBO Canada

Series name
Hung

Debuts
Sunday, June 28 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO Canada

Regularly airs
Sundays from 10-10:30 p.m. ET (although the June 28 premiere runs about 45 minutes or so) on HBO Canada

Premise
Stop me if you’ve heard this country song before. A one-time star athlete who hates the teacher/coach job he turned to after a career-ending injury, the same guy whose wife left him for a dermatologist and his magical injections, loses his house to a fire, necessitating the loss of his children to his Botoxed ex and her skin doc. Meet Ray. He’s living in a tent, in the backyard of his burned-out home. His neighbour, whose love of expensively rendered landscaping bad taste is unparalleled, is trying to drive him from the neighbourhood. Oh yeah. He’s broke. And hopeless. So you can imagine that a one-night stand would only sink this poor schlub lower than a hound dog sleeping in a wet ditch. But that boff, with a women he shtupped before but of course doesn’t remember, changes Ray’s life. Because it’s when he and his new friend decide that he, in fact, does have one thing going for him. His penis. And they decide to put his penis to work in a one-man escort service.

Primary cast and crew
Thomas Jane (Punisher, 61*) is Ray Drecker, about as regular a guy as you can imagine. Well, aside from the enormous penis.

Jane Adams (Little Children, Frasier, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) is Ray’s new friend, Tanya Skagle, poet, proof reader and pimpette.

Anne Heche (Men in Trees) is Ray’s ex, vapid ditz striving to be liked by her teen children.

Charlie Saxton (minor credits so far but he’s in the upcoming film adaptation of The Lovely Bones, so watch for that) is Damon, the son whose painted fingernails and makeup causes a little parental concern.

Sianoa Smit-McPhee (couple of Australian series, As the Bell Rings and Neighbours) is Darby, the sulky daughter.

Dmitry Lipkin (The Riches) is exec producer and writer.

Buzz buzz
The one-trick, um, pony of a title is good for one very brief laugh and then it’s just unfortunate. This black-comic series has humour, but even the humour is the opposite of titillating. But that didn’t stop Variety and others from writing sexy stories about the concept.

But what do I know anyway? After having seen the first four episodes, I do declare…
I’ve already covered the fact that, despite the title, this series is not a sex-joke shocker. Set in depressed Detroit, it is about a family of depressed people. The shocker is that it’s a sweet, thoughtful look at how hard it is to haul your arse out of that depression. “Make somebody feel good” is the message, because you gotta do something and anyway, it might make you happy or at least put a few buck in your pocket. But I’ve gone and made this series sound serious and self-helpish. Not so. It’s a true dark comedy, embracing ridiculous leaps of narrative logic, in which a spunky poet-baker pimps her recent one-night stand out to society ladies so he can finance the rebuilding of his cindered home. You should know that it starts out slooooooooow; it takes a full three episodes to hit its stride, but stay the course. Episode 4 will make you smile. I guarantee. Oh, and hit the mute button whenever Anne Heche’s character comes onscreen. I so far don’t see the point except to illustrate how little Ray was paying attention to his joyless marriage to this panicky, bland character.

Other reviews
Monsters and Critics’ critic April McIntyre agrees this series takes a few episodes to grow on you … and she earns a couple of cranky comments that she should not buy the series’ view that teachers like Ray are criminally underpaid.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Tim Goodman calls Hung downright “endearing.”

For something on the more acid end of the spectrum, Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal not only declares this series a failure, but she uses some of the most unkind language I have encountered in a while (and I get around), describing Ray’s first true client, whose absence of glamour is central to the action, as “a sad-eyed, fat, ever-so-pathetic wife”. Wow. Is that you, Mother Teresa?

Official website
Meh.

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for my select list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay

Virtuality: a bomb or da bomb? (Wait, are the kids still saying ‘da bomb?’)

So there’s this movie on Fox tomorrow night. It’s called Virtuality. Its brass include Ronald D. Moore, the brain behind the crazy good, addictive Battlestar Galactica. So far, so good. Yet this proposed sci-fi series has been stalled and hot-potatoed and finally rejected by Fox. However, probably on account of the cost, Fox had the pilot recut as this two-hour movie, which was originally scheduled for early July and then moved up to Friday night, June 26, from 8-10 p.m. ET.

What’s all the fuss about? It’s set aboard Earth’s first starship, Phaeton, on which the astronauts keep themselves sane over the 10-year voyage with personal pod-type virtual reality simulators. Oh, yeah. The ship is also a flying Big Brother set, with the voyage being filmed for a reality series being broadcast back to Earth (which, if approved as a series, would have been a separate online series). Anyway, then some glitch in the VR pods reveals either sabotage by someone on board or a very bad snafu. And just as this bad thing happens, they find themselves at a crucial point in the voyage, causing them to have to resort to the Fish or Cut Bait protocol. Having watched a 12-minute trailer, I can say I have no idea what the hell is going on. But I am always sci-fi curious, so I’m going to tune in.

Problem? When the hell is this show on? Friday at 8 p.m. seems like the best bet, judging by my Videotron digital cable onscreen TV listings, and all reviews and even Fox’s own site. But I just saw a promo on Fox, this Thursday morning, saying it airs “tonight at 8 p.m.” Oh and about that Fox site, when I went to fox.com’s schedule and clicked on Virtuality in the Friday listing and then clicked on the hyperlinked “Visit the Fox movie special Virtuality site”, it took me to rottentomatoes.com! Could this show be more plagued with bad karma?

The New York Daily News says not to bother, because it’s boring.

Alan Sepinwall over the New Jersey Star-Ledger says the movie looks as expensive as it apparently was and that it contains intriguing ideas that could put it level with Battlestar Galactica, but that it ends when the action is only beginning. As though, as originally intended, this were the beginning of a series. He points out that it’s probably unwise to hope that good ratings will give Virtuality a second life as a series, but wishes he could see the series that this pilot hints at.

– Denise Duguay

Band of Brothers 2.0: The Pacific

The followup to Band of Brothers is The Pacific. Here’s the new trailer for the miniseries, made, as with Band of Brothers, by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for HBO.

Having just spent D-Day watching a day-long marathon of the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, which follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne division from ocean crossing to the U.K., training and D-Day through to the liberation of the camps, I am so looking forward to this. Big boots to fill, of course.

This mini follows Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda) from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima through to V-Jay day. No start date yet announced, by the trailer notes 2010.

Here’s the trailer, with nods to James Hibberd at The Hollywood Reporter’s Live Feed, via digg.

– Denise Duguay

Series premiere: James Purefoy in The Philanthropist, Wednesday at 10 ET

Series name
The Philanthropist

Debuts
Wednesday, June 24, at 10 p.m. ET on Global and NBC

Regularly airs
Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET

Premise
Rich guy Teddy Rist saves Nigerian boy, which both deepens his grief for his dead son and sparks inspiration for how to assuage his grief over that loss: Use his millions to do good, in person and by his own hand. If he has some adventures and trysts, well so much the better.

Primary cast and crew
James Purefoy (Rome) is Teddy Rist, apparently inspired by a real guy, Bobby Sager.

Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order) is his partner and, going by the June 24 pilot, constant nag, Philip Maidstone

Neve Campbell (Party of Five, Scream) is Olivia Rist, Teddy’s wife but she and Rist had or still have something going on. Not clear from the pilot. She’s also quite naggy.

Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar from The Wire) is Rist’s driver and fixer and getter-out-of-troubler Dax

Lindy Booth (October Road, Relic Hunter) is Rist’s assistant AJ Butterfield. She totters quite gamely through Nigeria in, I couldn’t quite make out if they were Manohlos or Jimmy Choos but they were expensive and, given the terrain, remarkably durable.

Krista Allen (Head Cases) is Rist’s haunted, grieving ex-wife, Julia Carson Rist. The son’s death hangs over every one of the few words they exchange in the pilot.

Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz) is exec producer/writer and Gareth Neame (Hotel Babylon, Hustle) is exec-producer.

Buzz buzz
Fontana’s name carries some weight, but he left the show over creative differences last spring … and then returned in the fall. Odd, but then again Fontana is a brilliant guy, and although not all of his projects have been great, when he’s good, he’s very, very good. Here’s his essay for the Huff Post, describing his efforts to help Kratina victims and his new show, and here’s an interview by if magazine, whatever the hell that is, with Purefoy and Fontana, about the genesis of the show and the challenge of playing a real-life do-gooder.

But what do I know anyway? After having, indeed, seen the pilot I do declare:
I love Rist’s hedonist trying to also do some good. The character is introduced, to lovely effect, as he spins the yarn of his adventure and epiphany to a female bartender, which serves as the frame for the pilot episode. He self-consciously adopts the air of a barroom bullshitter, also hitting on her and writing her a $1,000 cheque if she will continue listening. But Fontana, who wrote and produced the opening episode, also reveals a heartbreaking character, too, one who chooses an stranger, a jaded bartender, as his confessor. The audience soon knows what she does not: about his son and his marriage and his grief. It’s a lovely setup. That Purefoy is gorgeously charismatic does not hurt. The excellent cinematography and action sequences (filmed in South Africa, Mozambique and Prague) also help, although careful TV watchers will remember that the production values of pilot episodes, on which the projects are sold, are usually much higher than the episodes that follow. HOWEVER, The Philanthropist’s premiere episode was also dotted with groaners and lost opportunities, among them Rist’s heavy-handed moment of ecstasy after he is pulled into a boy’s coming-of-age ceremony in Nigeria. That Martin, Campbell, Booth and expecially Williams are all barely involved in the action — well, that’s almost a crime but hopefully one that will soon be addressed. This has great potential.

Other reviews are mixed
Glenn Garvin of the Miami Herald … well there’s no other word for it: he HATES The Philanthropist: “(It) recalls such epochal television bombs as Manimal (a scientist who could turn into a crime-fighting dolphin) or It’s About Time (astronauts break the time barrier and frolick happily with cavemen) in its conceptual imbecility.”

On the other hand, The Hollywood Reporter’s Randee Dawn calls it “a smart, earnest yet realistic series waiting to be told, and the pilot makes an intriguing beginning.”

And Variety’s Brian Lowry says that, while not perfect, The Philanthropist is good- and good-looking-enough to make time for.

Official website
Standard collection of cast and character bios, videos that shut out Canadian IP addresses, possibly the most boring quizzes every and “Extras” that are “Coming soon.” Meh!

Can’t wait for the next new-series preview?
Hung, which debuts on HBO Canada Sunday night, is about exactly what you think it is. But is it more than a one-line joke? I’ll get back to you before the weekend.

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for my select list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay

Ed Helms, you are one sexy nerd hillbilly

Okay, I’m gushing a bit. But I finally pried myself away from the TV long enough to get to a cinema to catch the surprise box-office hit The Hangover and it was, as promised, barking-mad-funny.

It’s about four L.A. lads who head to Vegas for a one-night bachelor party that gathers in its embrace a very bad morning after the night before, a crowbar, some Jagermeister, awkward displays of affection, several car trunks, couch pizza (no, that’s not a euphemism) and rude behavior to a tiger, a baby, Mike Tyson and Wayne Newton, although not at the same time. Obviously.

Stars the former Daily Show correspondent Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis (who had mystified me at Just for Laughs a while back and redefines cringe comedy here), lovely boy Bradley Cooper (Alias, Nip/Tuck) and the MIA groom-to-be Justin Bartha (National Treasure: Book of Secrets).

Helms steals the show with standup acting (previously seen in The Office) and a missing tooth (hence his character’s horrified self-assessment, quoted in the blog-post title). Hangover 2 is already in the works, with Helms, Cooper and Galifianakis.

You should go.

– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD coming soon: Dexter, Dollhouse, Dirty Sexy Money, and that’s just the Ds

Lazy days of summer. And a lazy week for distributors of TV on DVD, who have coughed up only a measly few light-weight releases (Reba: Season 6, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern: Collection 3). So I took that as a sign to look at what’s ahead. I’ll post a link to this post at the top  of the page and try to keep it updated.

JUNE
Eastbound and Down: Season 1, June 30
Eureka: Season 3.0, June 30
Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season, June 30

JULY
Mad Men: Season 2, July 14
ER: Season 11, July 14
Prison Break: The Final Break, July 21
Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season, July 21
Dollhouse: Season 1, July 28
Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5/Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (DVD and Blu-ray), July 28
Life on Mars: Series 1 (U.K.), July 28

AUGUST
Flight of the Conchords: Season 2, Aug. 4
Californication: Season 2, Aug. 11
90210 (2.0): The Complete First Season, Aug. 11
Dexter: The Third Season (DVD and Blu-ray), Aug. 18
Gossip Girl: The Complete Second Season, Aug. 18
The Beast: Season 1, Aug. 18
Dirty Sexy Money: The Complete Second Season, Aug. 18
Eli Stone: The Complete Second Season, Aug. 18
Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season, Aug. 25
House: Season 5, Aug. 25
Lie to Me: Season 1, Aug. 25
Life: Season 2, Aug. 25
NCIS: The Complete Sixth Season, Aug. 25
thirtysomething: The Complete First Season, Aug. 25

SEPTEMBER
Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fifth Season, Sept. 1
Heroes: Season 3 (DVD and Blu-ray), Sept. 1
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, The Complete First Season, Sept. 1
Two and a Half Men: The Complete Sixth Season, Sept. 1
Fringe: The Complete First Season (DVD and Blu-ray), Sept. 8
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 5, Sept. 15
Private Practice: The Complete Second Season, Sept. 15
The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Second Season, Sept. 15
My Name Is Earl: the Complete Fourth Season (DVD and Blu-ray), Sept. 15
Castle: Season 1, Sept. 22
30 Rock: Season 3
Law & Order: SVU: The 10th Year, Sept. 22
The Mentalist: Season 1, Sept. 22
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sept. 22
How I Met Your Mother: Season 4, Sept. 29
Life on Mars: The Complete Series (U.S.), Sept. 29

DECEMBER
Lost: Season 5/Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiation Kit (DVD and Blu-ray for both), Dec. 8

With thanks, as every DVD Tuesday, to amazon.ca and tvshowsondvd.com.

– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango June 22-26: Gimme Megan Fox over Bruno any day

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has the talk-show circuit in its thrall this week. Or, rather, Megan Fox does. Hey, who’s going to complain. The girl is cute. At least it’s a bit of relief from the neverending promotional tour that is Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno. Will someone please open that movie and get it over with so we can all get on with our summers? Ridiculously, the Bruno tour (which touches down on O’Brien’s show on Thursday) does not peak until the movie opens in the U.S. on July 10. Here’s the trailer for Transformers. It opens midnight on Tuesday here in Montreal.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Samuel L. Jackson (ESPY Awards), Emeril Lagasse, BPA featuring Iggy Pop (I Think We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat)

Tuesday: Sandra Day O’Connor (Finding Susie), MSTRKRFT with John Legend (First of God)

Wednesday: Ray Romano (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs), St. Vincent

Thursday: Johnny Depp (Public Enemies), Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

Friday: Martin Short, Regina Spektor (Far)

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies), Michael Musto

Tuesday: Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory), James Frey

Wednesday: Mary Steenburgen (The Proposal), Bettye LaVette, Todd Sawyer

Thursday: Larry David (Whatever Works), chef Wolfgang Puck

Friday: Lisa Kudrow, Alan Furst, Chairlift

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Cameron Diaz (My Sister’s Keeper), Johnny Strange, Pete Yorn

Tuesday: Lisa Kudrow, Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, Elvis Costello

Wednesday: Brandon McMillon, Kerry Washington, Wilco

Thursday: Bruno, Cirque du Soleil Zumanity

Friday: Snoop Dogg, Adele

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: John Leguisamo, Nick Cannon, Sonic Youth

Tuesday: Abigail Breslin (My Sister’s Keeper), James Purefoy (The Philanthropist), Blake Griffin, The BPA featuring Iggy Pop

Wednesday: Richard Branson, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dwight Howard, The Roots

Thursday: Tiger Woods, Evan Rachel Wood (Whatever Works), Dinosaur Jr.

Friday: Cameron Diaz, Universal Record Database, Grizzly Bear

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Thomas Haden Church, Ed Helms (The Hangover), Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Kavya Shivashankar, 311 (R)

Tuesday: Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

Wednesday: Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Tracy Hutson (Feathering the Nest)

Thursday: Shia Labeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), June Diane Raphael (Year One), Eric Hutchinson

Friday: Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), David Cross (Year One), Phoenix

Chelsea Lately (12:35 a.m. ET on E!)

Monday: Derek Fisher (L.A. Lakers), comics Sarah Colonna and Randy and Jason Sklar

Tuesday: Tyrese Gibson (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), comics Jo Koy, Christian Finnegan and Guy Branum

Wednesday: Penn and Teller (Bullshit!) and comics Loni Love, Brad Wollack and Heather McDonald

Thursday: Holly Williams (Here with Me) and comics Bryan Callen and Chris Franjola and E!’s Ken Baker

Friday: MC Hammer (Hammertime), comics Kevin Hart, Sarah Colonna and John Caparulo

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Bill Russell (Red and Me)

Tuesday: Larry David (Whatever Works)

Wednesday: Reza Aslan (How to Win a Cosmic War)

Thursday: Cameron Diaz (My Sister’s Keeper)

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Simon Schama (The American Future: A History)

Tuesday: David Kilcullen (the Accidental Guerilla)

Wednesday: Matthew Crawford (Shop Class as Soulcraft)

Thursday: Jim Fouratt, journalist activist

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Tony Bennett, Mariane Pearl (R)

Tuesday: Super Dave Osborne, David Foster (R)

Wednesday: tba

Thursday:

Friday:

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: Victory Begins at Home standup special (new episodes return soon)

DAYTIME

Live with Regis and Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Dwayne Johnson (Race to Witch Mountain), Kelly Clarkson, Bruno Tonioli (R)

Tuesday: Kara DioGuardi co-hosts), Nick Cannon, Ashanti

Wednesday: Cameron Diaz (My Sister’s Keeper), Mark Feuerstein (Royal Pains)

Thursday: Shia LaBeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Il Divo

Friday: Ray Romano (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs), Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Nancy Grace

Tuesday: Maksim Chmerkovskiy (the Superstars), Benjamin Bratt and Warren Boyd (The Cleaner)

Wednesday: former crown prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi, Joan Rivers

Thursday: Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood (Whatever Works), Darius Rucker

Friday: John Edwards

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Paula Deen (My First Cookbook), Gurbaksh Chahal (The Secret Millionaire), Kellie Pickler (R)

Tuesday: Zachary Levi (Chuck) (R)

Wednesday: Jeff Probst (Survivor) (R)

Thursday: Tom Bergeron (America’s Funnniest Videos), Lisa Lillien (Hungry  Girl) (R)

Friday: Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Ghost Whisperer), Freddy Rodriguez (Nothing Like the Holidays), REO Speedwagon (Find Your Own Way Home) (R)

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Anne Hathaway (R)

Tuesday: Dustin Hoffman, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto (R)

Wednesday: Anderson Cooper, Katy Perry (R)

Thursday: Steve Martin, Ephraim Salaam (R)

Friday: No Doubt, George Lopez (R)

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Does My Butt Look Big? (R)

Tuesday: 300 Men Ask Dr. Oz (R)

Wednesday: Nate Builds a Dream House (R)

Thursday: And Overwhelmed Mom’s Deadly Mistake (R)

Friday: Obese Families in Crisis: The Intervention (R)

The Tyra Show (10 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Transforming Your Life

Tuesday: Wishes and Dreams

Wednesday:  Don’t Ruin My Gay Wedding

Thursday: Tyra Show Survey

Friday: Fantasy Makeovers

– Denise Duguay

Series premiere: Merlin is a magically light amusement

Series name
Merlin

Debuts
Sunday, June 21, at 8 p.m. ET on CTV and NBC

Regularly airs
Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on CTVand NBC

Premise
Usually seen as the shrivelled, bald and otherwise slightly scary old wizard/warlock who helps King Arthur realize his full potential, Merlin arrive in this series as a lad. Everybody, apparently, starts life as a stupid teenager. Oh, sorry. Make that studly teenager. A 13-part drama that aims to introduce the Camelot legend to a new generation. The action opens as Merlin arrives at Camelot only to discover that his secret talent, sorcery, is illegal and watches in horror as the most-recently revealed practitioner stretches his neck under an axe.

Primary cast and crew
Colin Morgan (Doctor Who) as Merlin

Bradley James (Lewis, Dis/Connected) as Prince Arthur

Anthony Head (The Invisibles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as King Uther

Richard Wilson (Kingdom, Life as We Know It) as Gaius

Katie McGrath (The Tudors) as Morgana

Angel Coulby (The Visit, Talk to Me) as Gwen

John Hurt (Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Limits of Control) is the dragon (well, the voice anyway)

Julian Murphy, Johnny Capps, Jake Michie and Julian Jones (Hex) are exec producers

Buzz buzz
It was a crazy hit in the UK when it premiered there last fall.

Oh, and Anthony Head is not afraid of the Camelot purists. Just so you know.

But what do I know anyway? After having seen the pilot I do declare:
Having put many moons between me and my teenage years, I am a little off the demographic target here, but I found the first two episodes sweet and light, like diet Cool Whip. You kids will love this. Definitely not for fans of realism as these castles are as devoid of character as a cinder-block-walled gymnasium and the costumes are pristine.

Other reviews
Variety’s Brian Lowry uses words like “tepid”.

The NYT’s Alessandra Stanley notes that the cast is colour blind and considers the whole thing quite “charming”.

Official website
Beyond the standard episode guide, the curse of the Canadian IP address means you won’t be able to watch the videos here, but there are good word games, including a sorcery quiz (8 out of 10, thank you very much) and a Camelot and Medievel Life quiz (840 points, although I won’t say the possible total). I passed on the crossword, not wanting to push my luck. Also cute but aimed more at the show’s younger demographic are offerings of Merlin wallpaper and AIM icons.

Can’t wait for the next new-series preview?
I’ll look at the new drama The Philanthropist in time for the Wednesday premiere.

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for my select list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay

Fathers, daughters and the Wintonicks’ film PilgrIMAGE

A snap of dad, in front of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Manchester, N.H. in May 1999.

PilgrIMAGE is a new documentary film from acclaimed Montreal doc-maker Peter Wintonick and his new-media-making daughter, Mira Burt-Wintonick. Perfectly scheduled on Father’s Day, it is a film-log of their travels to the destinations that map their love of cinema; his old-school and hers very new school. It’s like the Lumiere Brothers meet YouTube. I wish I could say the film, of which I received a preview copy, is fantastic. But due to waiting to the last minute, I have been foiled by a faulty DVD, with no time to order a replacement copy. But I can say, emphatically, that what I did manage to see, first via DVD player and then via computer DVD player, is lovely. I watched this Fellini segment only via the Web, on Bravo’s video player and you can too, right now!
This is a very personal film from the man behind the Chomsky film Manufacturing Consent and, among others, the film about filmaking, Cinema Verite. He and his daughter take turns sharing views as they hit various destinations. Sweetly, they both chose Kansas as the starting point. Wintonick observes that most of us have seen the L. Frank Baum-inspired film The Wizard of Oz many many times. He cites it as a huge influence, naming the Wizard as his main character: “The role of filmmakers is to draw that curtain aside.”
The rest was a staccato mess of frozen frames and abrupt lurches. Something about Charlie Chaplin. And then… not so much fading to black and stalling. So I will be watching it with, hopefully, you, Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET, repeating June 26 at 7 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Of the parts of PilgIMAGE that I saw, there was no bickering. But even so and, I guess, inevitably, it put me in mind of road trips with my own father, in particular the trip where it was just the two of us, him visiting me in Montreal.
There were lots of highs, among them, walking up the steps of the Oratoire and hearing, somehow for the first time, that Brother Andre saved my father’s life when he answered my grandmother prayers to halt the runaway infection that had invaded my boy-father’s horribly broken arm. (He still bore the foot-long scar along his right(?) arm, which he had told a young me he’d gotten from a bayonet attack in the Boer War.)
There were several moments of stress, including the point in the road trip where I shouted at him, exasperated at the never-ending-reciting-of-highway-signs as I tried and retried to get from the seventh-level-of-hell-overpass to the Manchester, N.H. Radisson hotel that I could see but not get to. To my eternal shame, I shouted at him: “Please stop talking.” Then, hoping to soften the blow, I added, with less volume, “For 10 minutes.”
He looked crushed. But 10 minutes later, to the second, he was back on the verbal treadmill. Somehow we got through it.
The payoff? Attending mass at the Catholic church in Manchester that his Quebec family had attended, when they briefly relocated there for work in the mills.
At some point, I knew the date. They were there long enough for my great-great-great Aunt Amanda to be born. Then back to Quebec and, eventually, to Ste. Anne, Manitoba. I have a two-inch-thick book of the Duguay family history, from the arrival of Pierre Duguet/Duguay in Canada sometime shortly before 1694 to a generation before my grandfather. This rickety book is a great and special thing to have, but what I miss most about my dad, who died a few years back after a 25-year remission of colon cancer, is his stories. Whether the tall tales of Boer War action or the miracle healing of the broken arm.
So, happy Father’s Day, with thanks to Peter Wintonick and Mira Burt-Wintonick for letting us tag along on their road trip, and to all the road trips and family stories of our own. And if you’ve got one to share, please do.
– Denise Duguay

Paging Law and Order: Criminal Intent! Where are you?

Apparently, I was not alone in being disappointed that Law and Order: Criminal Intent did not materialize Monday night at 9 on CTV.

Despite repeated promos advertising the show’s move from Saturdays to Mondays at 9 p.m., that slot was filled by Criminal Minds.

Reader Philip was also unamused and writes in an email to The Box: “I am a big fan of the Law and Order series. I appreciate it much more than the CSI series. Anyways, I was really thrilled about having new Law and Order episodes this summer with CI and was enjoying the ones I had seen. Then last week they announced that it was to move from its Sunday berth to a new Monday slot to accomodate some move of the week. So tonight I was looking forward to the episode that they were advertising up to Sunday Night/Monday Morning. I get ready to sit on the couch and then what do I see. They have replaced L&O CI with another repeat of Criminal Minds which I am not a fan of, and it doesn’t even look like they are playing CI in the next few weeks. What’s going on? … Why does CTV DO THIS?”

I put the question to CTV and the response only adds salt to the wound:

NBC extended the trainwreck called I’m a aCelebrity … Get Me Outta Here to two hours, resulting in the pre-emption of L&O: CI. Same will happen on Monday, June 22. So far, it seems safe to mark Monday, June 29 for the return of the series (but will it be a new episode?) that has just added Jeff Goldblum, filling the spot left vacant when Chris Noth decided to leave the show.

So, there you have it. Blame NBC. For those of you craving L&O: CI in the meantime, Zap2it reveals many,  many reruns on Canadian digital cable service Mystery TV and a couple on CTV stations. Click here for Zap2it’s Montreal digital listings or localize it to your area.

And in the meantime, no need to leave you grumpy. What’s your take on Goldblum’s new character? Raised by shrinks, his detective character, Zach Nichols, is not quite as odd and intense as Vincent D’Onofrio’s Robert Goren, but he’s a comer. Too much intensity?

I’ve only seen one episode featuring Golblum (In Treatment) and I like the way the chemistry seems to be building, however reluctantly on her part, between Nichols and the now-confirmed-pregnant Det. Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson). But no matter the role, Goldblum is a hard sell for some people. What’s your take? Email me or scroll down and leave a comment.

And thanks to Philip to writing in about the program swap.

– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD: Lost but not alone with Locke, Christian, Walt and the shoes

“I’m convinced the shoes have something to do with it.”
Now, if you walked by my desk about 10 days ago and heard me make this statement to a colleague, would you know what “it” I was talking about?
And THAT, my friend, is the difference between you and sad nerds like me who, nearly a month after the last new episode of Season 5, are still quite fixated on the series Lost.
The shoes, of course, are Locke’s, the ones that Ben, I think it was, tells Jack he must put on Locke’s dead feet so they can recreate as many of the details of returning to the island as possible.
The shoes also, because there is never only one level of meaning for Lost, also referred to the sneakers worn by Jack’s father, Christian, when Jack sees him in the island jungle for the first time (Season 1, Walkabout) and by Jacob?/Christian? in the cabin in Season 4.
Fortunately, I am surrounded by other nerds who are obsessed with Lost. So much so that not only could I keep a colleague pinned to my desk while I spouted on and on about shoes and such, but another sad, nerd colleague walked by and, cued by the word “shoes”, asked furtively, dropping his head and lowering his voice, “Are you guys talking about Lost?”
He listened intently for a second and then said, “I’m going to look up Lost and shoes. I’ll get back to you.”
Now, you’re asking, what’s all this about shoes? Indeed, you are right. There are much more pressing questions when it comes to Lost, even though there are, gaak, seven months before the final season begins.

• Some of these questions are spoilers so I will link only. Click at your peril.
• One character is rumoured to be returning.
• Another character was apparently falsely rumoured to be returning… but will appear elsewhere on ABC.
• The shoes have been confirmed as a link between Lost and the 1969 Kurt Russell movie, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. Russell’s last line of dialogue in that movie is the key to understanding every twist in five seasons of Lost.

One of the above is highly fictional.
Also fictional, I am sorry to say, is my promise to have sawed through the first two seasons of Lost, reissued this week on Blu-ray. Sometimes, my friends, life intervenes. I am plugging away.
I am loving the experience of rewatching Lost from the beginning, though I admit I feared seeing the little man behind the curtain, to use a reference to the L. Frank Baum classic so often drawn from in Lost.
However, having gotten about halfway through Season 1, I can say that the great and powerful Oz is terrifyingly alive and well, right from the epic two-hour series premiere. The booming hi-def sound, afforded by the remastering and the Blu-ray watchamajiggery, does not hurt either.
But the control of the story is what is really satisfying.
Take an exchange between Locke, saved from his wheelchair by the island, and Walt, the boy with vaguely defined special powers.
On the beach, Locke is fiddling with a backgammon set, explaining the game to Walt and holding up two game pieces: “Some are dark and some are light.”
Okay, now maybe this is another nerdy shoes moment, but the scene put chills down my spine. References to a game and to dark and light, all set on the beach — it rockets through to the rivetting Season 5 finale, in which Jacob and the unnamed character played by Titus Welliver tackle the same topics, but with stakes, while yet undefined, much higher.
Back to Locke and Walt on the beach, where Locke asks Walt if he wants to know a secret, which we do not get to hear.
Later, Walt admits to his suspicious dad Michael that Locke said he’d experienced a miracle on the island. Michael irritably cuts him off, saying their survival was a miracle, but what was it that Locke told Walt? Was it merely about the restoration of his legs? Or some other magic business between two very potent characters?
Fast-forward to the end of Season 1, where Locke is snatched by the smoke monster, which nearly drags him into a huge pit. Jack tries to save him but Locke tries to resist, saying that it’s okay, to just let him go.
So is Locke the dark game piece? Is he the smoke monster? WILL you stop laughing?
Locke has always been a spooky, pivotal character in this series, the man of faith to Jack’s man of science, but the two-Lockes at the end of Season 5 has only encouraged a reviewing of his role. I have assumed this mission.
Clearly, I spend too much time on my own. I know that. Unfortunately, people keep hanging around my desk at work and only encouraging me. So I will persist.
I am also checking out the progress of other Lost nerds via The Lost Rewatch: June 2009 to January 2010.
Let the judging begin.

Here are some other new DVD releases, and don’t forget my ramble about the great show Saving Grace, which releases its second season this week.

Family Guy, Vol. 7
Transformers: The Complete First Season
Burn Notice: Season 2
Everywood, the Complete Second Season
Jesse Stone Thin Ice
Murdoch Mysteries: Series 1
Trailer Park Boys: Seasons 1-7
Saving Grace: Season 2
Family Guy 100th Episode
The FBI Files: Season 3
The Secret Lilfe of the American Teenager: Season 2
Generation Kill (DVD and Blu-ray)
John Adams (Blu-ray)

– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango June 15-19: Colbert’s buzz cut, O’Brien’s brief reign and … Oprah’s books!

Let’s see now. Stephen Colbert has returned from Iraq with a whole lot less hair. Conan O’Brien has shocked no one by having his version of The Tonight Show fall in the ratings to David Letterman’s Late Show, even thought NBC had already declared O’Brien the “new king of late night”. Craig Ferguson, O’Brien’s former competitor, knows better and, on Friday, revealed … himself to be the king! And — yes, I saved the best for last — Oprah has finally revealed her summer reading list. Before you mock (oh wait — too late?), this list includes the classic collection of essays, Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, and the new novel which I hope to jam into my summer somewhere, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Now, go and make a living so you can buy all the books on Oprah’s list as well as a bigger TV and a better cable package!

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Jack Black (Year One), M.A. Sanjayan (The Nature Conservancy)

Tuesday: Michelle Pfeiffer (Sherie), Ian McLagen and the Bump Band (Never Say Never)

Wednesday: Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal)

Thursday: Phoenix (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)

Friday: Jada Pinkett-Smith (Hawthorne), Michael Cera (Year One), The Sounds (Crossing the Rubicon)

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Joe Torre, Spinal Tap

Tuesday: Larry David (Whatever Works), Lauren Conrad (The Hills), Gavin Rossdale

Wednesday: William Shatner, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Year One), Incubus

Thursday: Eva Mendes, Jack White’s new supergroup The Dead Weather

Friday: Brandon McMillan, Holly Williams

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Matthew Broderick, Sean Avery, Spenser and Heidi Pratt, Jason Aldean

Tuesday: Horatio Sanz, Selena Gomez, Hank Williams Jr.

Wednesday: Al Roker, Gary Vaynerchuk, Joshua Topolsky, Street Sweeper Social Club

Thursday: Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal), Lauren Conrad (The Hills), The Fray

Friday: Jeff Goldblum (Law & Order: CI), Tamra Davis

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: David Spade (Rules of Engagement), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Black Eyed Peas (R)

Tuesday: Ty Pennington (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), David Sedaris (When You Are Engulfed in Flames), Jonas Brothers

Wednesday: Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Roseanne Barr

Thursday: Kathy Griffin (My Life on the D-List), Ramon Rodriguez (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Ben Harper

Friday: tba

Chelsea Lately (12:35 a.m. ET on E!)

Monday: Betty White (The Proposal), comics Josh Wolf, Jen Kirkman and George Wallace

Tuesday: MC Hammer (Hammertime), comics Kevin Hart, Sarah Colonna and John Caparulo

Wednesday: Denise Richards and comics Loni Love, Brad Wollack and Heather McDonald

Thursday: Holly Williams (Here with Me), comics Bryan Callen, Ken Baker and Chris Franjola

Friday: Nia Vardalos (My Life in Ruins), comics Chris Hardwick and Guy Branum, and Arden Myrin

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Ed Helms (The Hangover)

Tuesday: Thom Folsom (The Mad Ones)

Wednesday: Peter Laufer (The Dangerous World of Butterflies)

Thursday: Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Austan Goolsbee, vice-chairman, Council on Economic Advisors

Tuesday: Jim Rogers, Duke Energy

Wednesday: Joshua Micah Marshall, Talking Points Memo

Thursday: Paul Muldoon, White House poetry slam

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Joe Dinicol, Michaelle Jean (R)

Tuesday: Gene Simmons, Malcolm McDowell (R)

Wednesday: David Thewlis, Alanis Morissette (R)

Thursday: tba

Friday: tba

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: CNN’s Paul Begala, BBC’s Katty Kay, Beast blogger Meghan McCain, Time columnist Joel Stein,

DAYTIME

Live with Regis and Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Megan Mullally co-hosts, Jack Black (Year One)

Tuesday: Molly Shannon co-hosts, Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place)

Wednesday: Joy Philbin co-hosts, Sandra Bullock (The Proposal)

Thursday: Joy Philbin co-hosts, Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal)

Friday: Julia Roberts (Duplicity), New Kids on the Block, Keke Palmer, David Bach (R)

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Heidi and Spencer Pratt (I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here), Dr. Larry Norton

Tuesday: Jada Pinkett Smith (Hawthorne), Lauren Costello

Wednesday: Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend (Cheri), Shirley Jones, Marty Engles

Thursday: Anne Hathaway, Lauren Conrad (The Hills)

Friday: George Lopez, Mario Cantone, Lewis Black

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Carnie Wilson, Derek Luke (Notorious), kid inventors (R)

Tuesday: Brian Austin  Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Ballas Hough Band (R)

Wednesday: Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Gabriella Crump, Spike Feresten (R)

Thursday: Jane Kaczmarek (Raising the Bar), Jensen Ackles (Supernatural/My Bloody Valentine 3-D), Dr. Ian Smith (R)

Friday: Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters, Carrie Ann Inaba (Dancing with the Stars) (R)

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Mariah Carey, Milan Simone Tuttle

Tuesday: Simon Cowell (American Idol), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek)

Wednesday: Brad Pitt, Keane

Thursday: Melissa Rycroft, Kym Douglas

Friday: Jason Mesnick, Molly Malaney

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Get Your Sexy Back Makeovers (R)

Tuesday: Dr. Oz and th Ultimate Health Checklist (R)

Wednesday: Miracle Children with Celine Dion (R)

Thursday: Tent Cities in America, a Special Report by Lisa Ling (R)

Friday: Unconventional, Unforgettable Dads (R)

The Tyra Show (10 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: I Suffer From a Sex Addiction

Tuesday: Tori Spelling plus Daphne Oz and YouTube Stars

Wednesday: Trust Your Dating Instincts

Thursday: Focus Group Your Life

Friday: Pregnancy Intervention

– Denise Duguay

True Blood returns June 14 at 9 p.m.

True Blood returns Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Canada

Season 2 rises for the series that spins characters and carnage around a love between telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her 173-year-old vampire boyfriend Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).

And don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to be returned to the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, interpreted by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) from the gothic novels of Charlaine Harris. While the first season riffed more or less faithfully on Dead Until Dark (notably adding the character of Sookie’s best friend Tara, played by Rutina Wesley), the first novel of the series, the second takes up the action of Living Dead in Dallas. Happily, Ball changes at least one major plot point in the beginning of the second novel. If you want to know what that change is, you can read to the final paragraph of Robert Lloyd’s L.A. Times review, which spills too many beans if you ask me.

The change is brilliant, and all fans of Season 1 will welcome it. However, a preview of the first two episodes of this season left me dizzy: There is far too much going on. The romance between Sookie and Bill continues, but the sweaty, sexy (ok, bloody) clinches don’t have the Harlequin crescendoes they did in the first season (who knew a graveyard could be so carnal). Their teenager, the newly made vampire Jessica (Deborah ann Woll) draaaaaags.

There are several stories revolving around Tara, including one with Michelle Forbes, who was introduced with great mysterious fanfare at the end of Season 1. This story seems, over the first two episodes, to be draining the vigour from both characters.

Then there’s Sam (Sam Trammell), the shapeshifting owner of Merlotte’s bar and Sookie’s boss. There was excellent spark between the two in the first season, which nicely evolved beyond Sam’s mooning over Sookie and into a kind of partnership between outsiders united by their powers. But Sam and Sookie’s alliance is overwhelmed at the beginning of this season by Sam’s slowly revealed relationship with Forbes’s Maryann. Forbes is one of my fave actresses. She has elevated many series, including Homicide: Life on the Street, more recently in Battlestar Galactica and, soon, the second season of excellent Canadian drama Durham County, which returns July 13 to The Movie Network. But here, the dramatic potential of her mysterious benefactress Maryann goes nowhere, or at least nowhere fast. Patience, my pretties. I hope this is good advice, but I was so not blown away by the first two episodes that I declined to watch the other two available for preview. If all four were so busy, I’d be hard pressed to keep the faith. We’ll see.

But I did like some things about the first two episodes.

Vampire of vampires Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) is back with a hilariously vain flourish. Drenched in blood, also, of course. He is on a mission to find a missing colleague in Dallas, drawing the story and its main characters to that town.

And Sookie’s brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten), is making trouble. But this time, he too, is away from home, in his case learning to love his new vampire-hating friends at Fellowship of the Sun.

So, will I keep watching? Of course! I also have this season’s novel inspiration, Living Dead in Dallas, on my reading list. Part of my grumpiness about this season is because I loved the first so much. But I’m devoted. Bitten, you might say. Check out this trailer, which gives a peek at Episode 3.

– Denise Duguay

Grow your own fangs before True Blood returns

Jonesing for the return of the vampire drama True Blood, returning to HBO Canada on Sunday, June 14 at 9 p.m. ET? Of course you are. Well then, you might want to bite down hard on this little craft project, courtesy of the people at BloodCopy, who are unabashedly promoting not only True Blood, but using True Blood and the series’ vampires’ second bevvy of choice, the synthetic but effective hydration in a bottle called Tru Blood.

But back to that craft project: Here’s a video hosted on the BloodCopy site that shows you how to create your own fangs. Not kidding, but with some humour. Kinda like Mythbusters, the excellent Discovery Channel show where former special effects wizards blow stuff up, except… in your mouth.

Anyway, here’s the video. If you want to also know how to doctor a photo of Angelina Jolie to make her look undead, then click on the BloodCopy site.

With thanks to the excellent timewaster site lifehacker.com for connecting me with these excellent time wasters.

Oh yeah and True Blood: there’s another murder, more sex, more blood and some hairdressing gone very, very bad. Check back on the weekend for my review of the first couple of episodes.

– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD: skimpy edition

Can’t talk. Re-watching Seasons 1 and 2 of Lost. On Blu-ray. Sometimes, it sucks to be me. This is not one of those weeks. It’s out June 16. See ya next week.
Still need some direction? If I weren’t knee-deep in unlocking Locke mythology on the island, I’d probably be snapping up Reaper: Season 2, which I completely missed this season. Now go, watch some DVDs. I’m coming Jack. Sawyer put the gun down. Jacob Mary and Joseph! You boys!

Some TV that’s new on DVD this week:
Corner Gas: Season 6
The Sheild: Season 7
Waiting for God: Season 4
Get Smart: Season 3
Perry Mason: Season 4, Vol. 1
Open All Hours: The Complete Series
The Best of Whose Line Is It Anyway
Reaper: Season 2
Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1979
Survivorman: Season 3
Father Knows Best: Season 3
The Alzheimer’s Project
The Cleaner: The First Season
CSI: Season 1 Blu-ray
Bionic Woman, Vol. 1
Z-Rock: Season 1
– Denise Duguay

Series premiere — Watchmen: The Motion Comic

Series name
Watchmen: The Motion Comic

Debuts
Tuesday, June 9 at 10 p.m. ET on Space (two back-to-back half-hour episodes)

Regularly airs
Tuesdays at from 10-11 p.m. ET on Space

Premise
Low-tech animation and voice are added in this nearly panel-by-panel adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ celebrated graphic novel Watchmen, the big-screen live-action adaptation of which was only recently released in cinemas.

Primary cast and crew
Dave Gibbons, co-creator and illustrator of the Watchmen original graphic novel, is credited as overseeing this production.

Buzz buzz
According to a Watchmaniac of my acquaintance, who also advised against seeing the film adaption, the “motion comic” adaptation (available on DVD and Blu-ray since March) would not be worth checking out.

But what do I know anyway? After having seen the first of the 12 half-hour episodes, I declare…
The graphic novel is chilling and spectacular, an odd retro story about a super hero killer and super heroes who’ve been legislated into powerlessness, some of them good, some bad. All vivid. The language is startling. The story is gripping. My Watchman friend described the film was “An empty attempt at a ‘faithful’ carbon copy. What works on page does not work on screen.” Does the small-screen “motion comic” fare any better? I haven’t seen the film so can’t compare. I can say this: If you haven’t read the graphic novel, do it. In case this tips the balance for you, I will repeat the oft-quoted statistic that Time magazine named Watchmen one of the top 100 novels of all time. If you will never read it, check out at least the first episode of Watchmen: The Motion Comic. It’s not great. The voices, as foretold, are featureless and cover too many characters to stand out. But you could do worse this summer than to experience the story and seeing Gibbons’ starkly beautiful illustrations (marred only slightly by the very low-tech animation). I’ve read the novel and I was hooked again, despite the voice and “motion”.

Official website
Basic broadcast info, but lovely interview with Gibbons. Listen to Part 1 here and it will automatically send you along to Parts 2 and 3 from the page. Gibbons says he was initially skeptical, until his two daughters flipped for the idea. He’s also eager to see if this motion comic can be a good match with iPhones and other mobile devices.

Can’t wait for the next new-series preview?
I’ll be back by the weekend for the return of True Blood.

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for my select list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay

Series premiere: Nurse Jackie

Series name
Nurse Jackie

Debuts
Monday, June 8,  at 10 p.m. ET on The Movie Network

Regularly airs
Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on The Movie Network

Premise
Dedicated emeregency-room nurse at NYC’s All Saints Hospital tries to do good at home and work despite bad back, mucho medication required by former, ridiculously long hours and occasionally incompetent doctors. Loves her coworkers, her family and … well that would be telling.

Primary cast and crew
Edie Falco (The Sopranos) is title character Jackie Peyton.

Eve Best is her best friend, tart-t0ngued cool customer Dr. Eleanor O’Hara.

Peter Facinelli (Twilight, Damages) is Dr. Fitch Cooper, lover of Blackberry. He suffers from a very special condition.

Paul Schulze (The Sopranos, 24, Journeyman) is the pharmacist, Eddie Walzer.

Haaz  Sleiman (The Visitor) is Mo Mo, a fellow nurse and other best friend.

Merritt Wever (Studio 60 Live on the Sunset Strip, Conviction) is nursing student Zoey Barkow. Dear, sweet, trying so hard Zoey.

Linda Wallem (Cybill, That ’70s Show, The Comeback) and Liz Brixius are writer/exec producers and John Melfi (Sex and the City, The Comeback) and Caryn Mandabach (Roseanne, Cybill, Third Rock from the Sun, That ’70s Show) is exec producer.

Buzz buzz
If I read one more freaking time that Nurse Jackie is either House a la femme or ER a la nurse I will reach through this computer screen and punch whoever’s doing the writing.

But what do I know anyway? After having gorged on the first six episodes I do declare …
If you read the above paragraph, with its threat of violence, you have something of the mood with which I approached the two DVDs of previews. Can EVERY show be the next House? Does every show HAVE to be? I am happy to say that not only is this show not House and not ER it is not even vaguely Sopranos-like. It is exactly like … Nurse Jackie! Am I’m not trying to just be annoying here. This dark half-hour comedy is a note-perfect brilliant, diamond-hard look at someone trying to get by. And failing just slightly less often than she succeeds. She keeps secrets. She cheats. Mostly for good. She is surrounded by failure and yet she keeps crushing the Percocet and adding it to her coffee and somehow she finds it in her to give $20 to a rank bee-atch demanding a pregnancy test or to console the pregnant woman who has just asked for the heart of her dead fiance. And not the Valentine-type heart. And speaking of heart, Jackie has a huge one. And if there is justice, it will beat for many seasons to come. Enough seasons, I’ll wager, that in 2012, I’ll be writing “If I read of another show that is Nurse Jackie, but with doctors…” Oh yeah. You should ignore the fact that Jackie also quotes St. Augustine and T.S. Eliot. Everyone knows that spiritual writing and poetry have no place on TV or in everyday life, not even on pay cable. So just forget it.

Here’s a scene from tonight’s pilot.

Other reviews
Well, Doug Norrie at Cinemablend and Kate Taylor at the Globe and Mail were not swept away. But Jamie Poniewozick at Time also loves it.

Official website
The Movie Network site offers little, although for a few more hours it allows online previewing of June 8’s pilot episode. The Showtime site has some great behind the scenes.

Can’t wait for the next new-series preview?
I’ll have a look tomorrow at Space’s Watchmen: The Motion Comic, which also debuts tomorrow, June. 9.

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for my select list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango June 8-12: Colbert’s Going Commando

Stephen Colbert is in Iraq to tape shows to be broadcast this week in an unparalleled military media event called Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando. If you live on Facebook, check out the details here. If you are not a Facebooker, then you must be on Twitter, so go here for promised updates. If not, jaysus just tune in the show Monday to Thursday at 11:35 p.m. on the Comedy Network or 12:35 a.m. on CTV.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Howard Stern, Mos Def (The Ecstatic, Casa Bey)

Tuesday: Julia Roberts, Black Eyed Peas (The E.N.D. The Energy Never Dies)

Wednesday: tba, Sonic Young (The Eternal)

Thursday: Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 123), Jonas Brothers (Lines, Vines and Trying Time)

Friday: Sandra Bullock (The Proposal), comic Peter Correale, P.J. Harvey with Jon Parish (A Woman a Man Walked By)

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Kevin Bacon, Michael Irvin

Tuesday: Dame Edna

Wednesday: Chris Matthews, Theresa Andersson

Thursday: Larry King, Anna Friel (Land of the Lost)

Friday: Dane Cook, Peter Travers

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: David Duchovny, Anna Friel (Land of the Lost), comic Bill Burr

Tuesday: Eddie Murphy, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal (Bonnie Raitt and Friends)

Wednesday: Dane Cook, Stephen Ho, Rancid (let the dominoes fall)

Thursday: Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, Neko Case (Middle Cyclone)

Friday: Jamie Foxx (Intuition), Kevin Nealon (Weeds)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Kelly Ripa, Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Raising the Bar), Amadou and Miriam

Tuesday: Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Mos Def (Casa Bey)

Wednesday: John Krasinski (Away We Go), Stephen Moyer (True Blood), Kudo Tsunoda, Manchester Orchestra

Thursday: Betty White (The Proposal), Opie and Anthony, Martha Wainwright

Friday: Mary J. Blige, Jarod Miller

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC plus 8 p.m. playoff specials on nights where indicated)

Monday: Adrian Brody (Brothers Bloom), Steve Kudlow and Robb Reiner (Anvil: The Story of Anvil), Airborne Toxic Event (R)

Tuesday at special time of 8 p.m.: Primetime special with Magic Johnson

Wednesday: Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton’s My New BFF), Ken Jeong (The Hangover), Blink 182

Thursday: Dominic Monaghan (Lost), J.J. Abrams (Lost and Star Trek), Bang Camaro (R)

Friday at special time of 8 p.m.: Jack Black and Michael Cera (Year One)

Chelsea Lately (12:35 a.m. ET on E!)

Monday: Ricki Lake, Bai Ling, comics Loni Love and Chris Franjola

Tuesday: Soulja Boy Tellem, comics Natasha Leggero, Jamie Kaler, Gary Valentine

Wednesday: Kim Kardashian, Ross Matthews, comics John Caparulo and Jen Kirkman

Thursday: tba

Friday: Candy Spelling, comics Sarah Colonna, Josh Wolf, Jason Kennedy

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (11 p.m. ET on Comedy Network, midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Gretchen Peters (Seeds of Terror)

Tuesday: Peter Schiff (The Little Book of Bull Moves in a Bear Market)

Wednesday: Saad Mohseni (Afghan Star)

Thursday: Katie Couric (CBS Evening News)

The Colbert Report (11: 30 p.m. ET on Comedy Network, 12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday – Thursday: reports from Iraq

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: CBC newsman Don Newman, Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal)

Tuesday: Joe Dinicol, Governor General Michaelle Jean

Wednesday: author Lawrence Hill, activist athlete Rick Hansen

Thursday: Carole Burnett

Friday: tba

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: tba

DAYTIME

Live with Regis and Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Mark Consuelos cohosts, Wilmer Valderamma (Handy Manny)

Tuesday: NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon, Michael Vartan (Hawthrorne)

Wednesday: Alan Alda

Thursday: John Krasinski (Away We Go)

Friday: Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 123)

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Francis Ford Coppola

Tuesday: Mandy Moore

Wednesday: Kanye West, Stephen Moyer (True Blood)

Thursday: Joe Scarborough (The Last Best Hope), Melissa Gilbert (Prairie Tale: A Memoir)

Friday: Black Eyed Peas

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Jo Frost (Supernanny), Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory)

Tuesday: Tony Danza (The Contender), Jesse McCartney (Departure)

Wednesday: Gary Sinise (CSI NY), Whitney Casey (The Man Plan), Jamie King (My Bloody Valentine 3D)

Thursday: Hillary Duff (Best of Hillary Duff), Jared Padalecki (My Bloody Valentine 3D, Supernatural), Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk with Me)

Friday: Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds), Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney (The Bachelor)

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer), Chicago, Sirdeaner Walker

Tuesday: Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds

Wednesday: Michael Douglas, Carl Edwards

Thursday: Heidi Klum, Matt Giraud

Friday: Simon Cowell, Zachary Quinto

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Wrongly Accused of Murdering His Parents (R)

Tuesday: Medical Mistakes — Dr. Oz and Dennis Quaid (R)

Wednesday: Finding Your Spiritual Path (R)

Thursday: What Would You Dare Live Without (R)

Friday: Held Captive as a Sex Slave (R)

The Tyra Show (10 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Jimmy Fallon, Kathy Griffin

Tuesday: My Man Is Still Hooked on His Ex

Wednesday: Kids Talent Scams Exposed

Thursday: Weekday Soccer Moms, Weekend Strippers

Friday: Tina Knowles

– Denise Duguay

Global and specialty channels preview fall 2009

Many things are up in the air for CanWest, which owns, among other things, this and many other Canadian daily newspapers, as well as Global, E! and a load of specialty television stations.  The next big day in the ongoing financial crunch for the parent company will come some time later in June, when, according the Reuters citing the June 4 Globe and Mail report, a restructuring exec will be named.

More on point, perhaps, to you fellow television addicts, is that the E! channels, including the one in Montreal, are in limbo, with CanWest having put them on the block and having left the stations out of yesterday’smulti-channel fall-season preview in Toronto. E!, if you’ll recall, had a major slate of U.S. comedies and dramas last fall (although, maddeningly, not all E! programs aired on Montreal’s E!). The next few weeks will tell the fate of E! here and in Hamilton, Victoria, Kelowna and Red Deer.

But that’s about enough of this depressing stuff. Television is for escaping.  Here is the fall plan for Global and its specialty channels.

Global

New dramas

NCIS Los Angeles: “The high stakes world of undercover surveillance at the Office of Special Projects (OSP), a division of NCIS that is charged with apprehending dangerous and elusive criminals that pose a threat to the nation’s security.” Stars Chris O’Donnell, LL Cool J,

The Good Wife: “Drama starring Emmy award-winner Julianna Margulies as a wife and mother who must assume full responsibility for her family and re-enter the workforce after her husband’s (Chris Noth) very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail.” Tony and Ridley Scott exec produce.

Melrose Place: Like its 1990s sibling, 90210, this series is being  rebooted for the double aughts, starring Laura Leighton (reprising her role of Sydney Andrews from the original), Thomas Calabro (reprising his role of Dr. Michael Mancini from the original), Ashlee Simpson-Wentz (7th Heaven) and Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield).

New comedy

Glee: “Optimistic high school teacher Will Schuester tries to refuel his own passion while reinventing the McKinley High School’s glee club and challenging a group of outcasts to realize their star potential. Going up against McKinley’s cruel high school caste system and facing harsh criticism from everyone around him, Will is determined to prove them all wrong .

The Cleveland Show: a spinoff from Seth Macfarlane’s Family Guy: “Cleveland Brown (Mike Henry) … moves with his son back to his hometown in Virginia and settles down with his high school sweetheart and her unruly kids.”

Sons of Tucson (midseason): “Tyler Labine (Reaper) as a charming but wayward schemer hired by three young brothers whose father is in prison.”

Returning

House, Life to Me, Brothers and Sisters (though it moves from Sunday to Monday), NCIS, Bones (which — ARGHHHH! — moves again, from Thursday to Wednesday,  Survivor (new edition: Samoa), The Office, SNL Weekend Update, 90210, The Guard, Dollhouse, Numb3rs, the Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Heroes, The Doctors and, in the midseason, 24, Celebrity Apprentice, ‘Til Death and the animated Bob and Doug.

Specialty channel highlights

Food Network

Chopped: Food competition a la Iron Chef hosted by Ted Allen (Food Detective, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).

Guy Off the HooK: If you love himin Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (and on Rachael Ray and other chat shows where he’s been popping up a lot), here is more of spikey haired Guy Fieri, cooking in front of a live audience.

Top Chef Masters: Another food competition a la Iron Chef. Or you could just watch Iron Chef. Up to you.

HGTV

Holmes Inspection: Another reno series starring the very likeable but exasterated Mike Holmes. And remember kids, “Make it right!”

History Television

Expedition Africa: “This is not a competition or a game; it’s a real-life adventure.” In other words, here’s another competition show from Survivor brain Mark Burnett. Four people attempt to follow the path of explorers Henry Morton Stanley and Dr. David Livingstone.

Ice Pilots NWT: This sounds like Ice Road Truckers or Deadliest Catch or any other of Thom Beers’ working-men-as-heroes documentary series. Except these guys are pilots. In the NorthWest Territories.

Showcase

The  Foundation (drama): The inner life of a well-funded but dysfunctional non-profit outfit. Starring Mike Wilmont (It’s All Gone Pete Tong).

Crash and Burn (comedy): The life and work of a claims adjuster, starring Luke Kirby (Tell Me You Love Me) and Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Street).

IFC

Vice Guide to Film: Writer, filmmaker and co-founder of Vice Magazine Shane Smith talks about film. Now this sounds like it would be worth reshuffling my a-la-carte cable package.

TVtropolis

TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens: I’m baffled by this explanation, but here you go: “In this multi-chennel universe run by misguided tele-visionaries, only one man has the confidence-instilling inflection to rehash, recap and dissect the wild world of television. His name is Stone Phillips, but he’s unavailable. Instead, TV’s Jonathan Torrens stsands and delivers the State of the TV Nationa, pruning the bushings and pulling the wheeds from all over the television landscape.” Good luck with that.

Killer Comebacks: Celebrities pulling themselves up by their publicists’ bootstraps.

Action (formerly Showcase Action)

Black Gold: Hey, remember that Ice Pilots NWT up above? Well this is a working-man-as-hero show that actually does come from Thom Beers (Deadliests Catch, Ice Road Truckers). It’s about Texas oil men. That’s Black Gold, as in Texas tea. You know.

Slice

Re-Vamped: Makeover show focussing on jilted women. Break out the vodka.

Discovery Health Channel

I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant: “Jaysus Mary ‘n Joseph” may be either the most or least appropriate response to this show title. More vodka please.

National Geographic

Rescue Ink: Tattoed bikers rescue “cuddly animals” from “intense danger”. Watch or else.

– Denise Duguay

Series premiere: The Listener

Series name
The Listener

Debuts
Wednesday, June 3 at 7 p.m. ET on Space, repeating at 10 p.m. ET on CTV and on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. (A second episode airs Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on Space, repeating at 10 p.m. ET on CTV and NBC.)

Regularly airs
Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV and NBC and Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET on Space.

Premise
Paramedic Toby Logan hears things, sees things from other people’s minds. Has done since childhood, which he doesn’t remember well. Has hidden it from everyone except a psychology prof who tells him “No one can know about you.” Even so, Toby’s decided to embrace his “gift”. But can he confide in his aloof doctor girlfriend?

Primary cast and crew
Craig Olejnik (In God’s Country, The Timekeeper) as Toby Logan. His piercing blue eyes and extra-wide-eyed stare have their own actors’ guild memberships.

Ennis Esmer (Billable Hours) as Osman “Oz” Bey, his paramedic partner and stater of things obvious.

Lisa Marcos (Flashpoint, Kevin Hill) as Det. Charlie Marks. But you don’t need the title to know she’s a detective. The tight police-issue tank top is what tells you she is a cop. That and the cascade of crisp curls and the cold, cold demeanor.

Mylene Dinh-Robic (Stargate Atlantis) is Olivia Fawcett, the doctor girlfriend. Or at least he’d like her to be. Girlfriend, that is.

Colm Feore (24, Changeling) is psychology expert Ray Mercer, Toby’s only confidante so far.

Buzz buzz
Hoping for Flashpoint mojo, this being the next big Toronto-made, Toronto-set series to be picked up by a major U.S. network. I like it better than the early Flashpoint. For what that’s worth.

But what do I know anyway? After having seen the first two episodes I proclaim…

I like all the characters. I like the acting. I don’t like the try-too-hardness. Toby cares. That’s his special power. The telepath thing is not adding anything substantive to the plot so far. Here’s hoping, because… it’s summer and this is sweet and light. If you’re looking for something dark and deep, take a nap until June 14 when vampire drama True Blood returns to HBO Canada.

Other reviews
John Doyle over at the Globe and Mail (is anybody else have a big wad of trouble navigating their new site?) is very much not a fan.

Newsday was a little more scathing, not just to The Listener: “The Canadians make nice TV – pleasant, intelligent TV, where people, even the bad guys, are civil and fundamentally decent. In a word, “The Listener” is boring. Or, if you prefer alliteration, listless.”

Official CTV website
Fancy! Panarama of Toronto street scene in which the main characters, coming guests stars and red-herring types are posed, just waiting for your cursor to reveal episode names, access to video interviews with cast and the like. Me? I’d like something a little more straightforward.

Can’t wait for the next new-series preview?
Edie Falco’s new half-hour series Nurse Jackie debuts June 8. Stay tuned!

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for the complete and updated list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay

CTV and A Channel preview fall 2009

CTV and sister outlet A Channel announced their fall schedules Tuesday and it looks like A Channel is getting the lion’s share of new shows. Big surprise. Never mind that I don’t get A Channel on Videotron digital. Bah!

A Channel

New dramas

The Middle: “The Hecks are a middle class family living in the middle of Indiana, just trying to keep their heads above water.” Stars Patricia Heaton as Frankie, Neil Flynn as Mike, Eden Sher as Sue, Atticus Shaffer as Brick and Charlie McDermott as Axel.

Beautiful Life: From Ashton Kutcher, this is a drama set on and around the catwalks and catfights. Two teen models (Sara Paxton, Ben Hollingsworth) are at the threshhold of fame.  There’s a jealous older model (Mischa Barton) and an agent (Elle Macpherson). Sharpening claws now.

Eastwick: Our man Paul Gross gets another U.S. series, this time starring not as a mountie but as … the devil? … in this adaptation of John Updike’s novel (which was make into a movie starring Jack Nicholson), The Witches of Eastwick. Also stars Rebecca Romijn as Roxie Torcoletti, Lindsay Price as Joanna Frankel, Jamie Ray Newman as Kat Gardener, Sara Rue as Penny, Veronica Cartwright as Bun, Johann Urb as Will, Jon Bernthal as Raymond and Ashley Benson as Mia.

Flash Forward: Big money on this one (ABC hopes), based on Robert J. Sawyer’s novel, and from executive producers David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) and Brannon Braga (24). “When a mysterious event causes the entire world to black out, humanity is given a glimpse into its near future, and every man, woman and child is forced to come to grips with whether their destinies can be avoided or fulfilled.” Stars Joseph Fiennes as Mark Benford, John Cho as Demetri Noh, Jack Davenport as Lloyd Simcoe, Sonya Walger as Olivia Benford, Courtney B. Vance as Stan Wedeck, Brian O’Byrne as Aaron Stark, Christine Woods as Janis Hawk, Zachary Knighton as Bryce Varley and Peyton List as Nicole.

Returning

America’s Next Top Model, Law and Order SVU, Gossip Girl, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, Castle, Monk, Fringe, Private Practice, Law and Order, Medium, Comedy Now

New comedies

Hank: “Kelsey Grammer stars in this timely comedy as Hank Pryor, a titan of industry who suddenly finds himself out of work, almost out of money and around a wife and kids for whom he’s never made much time. Despite his recent setbacks, … he knows he is destined to return to greatness. And he is – just not the greatness he imagines.”

CTV

New daytime

The Dr. Oz Show: Oprah’s medical guru gets his own show. Weekdays at 5 p.m.

New drama

The Vampire Diaries: Based on LJ Smith’s novels about two vampire brothers (Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley), who are new in town, and Elena (Nina Dobrev), who returns to her high school after the tragic death of her parents.  I know what you’re thinking, but  you’re wrong. This is nothing like the Twilight film and novel series about a young girl who meets the new kid in town who just happens to be a vampire… Heyyyyyyy!

The Bridge (midseason): “Drama about a tough and dedicated police officer who is voted to become the police union’s dynamic leader.  To serve the public as well as his 8,000 fellow officers, charismatic Frank Leo (Aaron Douglas) battles criminals on the street, corruption in the ranks and his own bosses.”

Returning

Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Cold Case, Dancing with the Stars, CSI: Miami, So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Dancing with the Stars, Law & Order: SVU, America’s Next Top Model, Criminal Minds, CSI NY, CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, The Mentalist, Ghost Whisperer, Southland, Flashpoint

– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD: Wallander vs. Jon and Kate lose to … a lunchbox

Oooooh. This is a tough week to choose just one DVD release to favour.
My practical mind is going with Wallander, a new release of the three recently aired made-for-PBS movies starring Kenneth Branagh and based on the excellent (in a morbidly depressing way) detective series by Swedish writer Henning Mankell. The movies are called Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind. Sure, I can catch up on the movies by going to pbs.org’s gorgeous new video player (free! even to Canadian IP addresses! although — please note — the Wallander films will be bumped off the video player after June 7), but the DVD comes jammed with extras, including featurettes Who Is Kurt Wallander?, Branagh’s Wallander, The Wallander Look and a Branagh and Mankell interview. Tempting.
There is also Jon and Kate Plus Ei8ht: Season 4. Remember when this reality show was notable only for the herculean efforts of the parents to not lose their minds in the face of soooo mannnny children? Nah. Too tawdry now that they’ve gone all tabloid with the word adultery sullying the hard-earned family bliss vibe and hard-bodied Kate rumoured to have accepted a free tummy tuck (I heard it on eTalk).
No. This week my vote goes to… the lunch box. The 1974-77 series Land of the Lost is now available on DVD… and for a few extra beans you can upgrade to the Limited Edition Gift Set which includes a lunch box. The show? Barely remember it though I seem to recall and imdb backs me up here, that it’s about a family thrown back to a time of dinosaurs, ape men and some big-eyed lizard men called Sleestacks. It’s being dragged out of mothballs now to promote Will Ferrell and Danny McBride’s new film of the same name, hitting cinemas Friday, June 5. But I’m all about the lunchbox. The hinge on my Scooby Doo just broke. Sweet.

Here is more practical information: other TV releases new on shelves this week:

Prison Break: Season 4
Weeds: Season 4 (DVD and Blu-ray)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Quincy, M.E.: Season 3
Blood Ties: Season 1
Army Wives: The Complete Season 2
Cannon: Season 2, Vol. 1
The Jetsons: Season 2, Vol. 1
The Hunger: The Complete first Season
Raising the Bar: The Complete First Season
Highlander: The Complete Animated Series
Holmes on Holmes: Bathrooms (or Basements or Kitchens…)

– Denise Duguay

The Tonight Show: Run Conan run!

Conan O’Brien is one helluvan elegant runner. He’s beautiful. And in a suit!
Having started the running theme on the beach in his promo ads, O’Brien opened his first edition of The Tonight Show Monday night by running across America (having forgotten to move to L.A.). Clever. And the running!
“Yeah, maybe he shoulda just kept running.”
That, of course, was the boyfriend. Millions of wired TV viewers were sharing their views of the show on Twitter. Me? I get the real-time phone call from the boyfriend, who’s on the road working.
“It’s worse than I thought it would be. And Andy Richter looks creepy. But (O’Brien) running was fabulous.” Boyfriend out.
And the moral of that story? If you, like the boyfriend, didn’t like Conan O’Brien at 12:35 a.m. on Late Night, you probably won’t like him at 11:35 p.m. on The Tonight Show.
But even if you like him, as I do, last night was nothing better than treading water.
Despite big thumbs up from show announcer Andy Richter, returned to O’Brien’s side after he left Late Night to pursue sitcoms, and some mania on the high hat by Max Weinberg and the band, the show was a little flat.
If you missed it last night: It started out strong with the running, led into a monologue opened with the string dance (quick version), then a very non-topical jokes that introduced the word “Choco-taco” into the Tonight Show lexicon.
Where Leno had Jay Walking and other out-of-studio bits, O’Brien spent the day playing tour guide to people visiting Universal Studios. F, slightly absurd O’Brien stuff that involved him screaming “Oh my God” over and over and ended with him buying two cartloads of junk from a 99-cent store for the people on his tour busses.
A couple of other bits were flatter, although a bit showing how not-connected he is in L.A. (a nosebleed seat at a Lakers’ game to Jack Nicholson’s courtside throne) revealed the secret to his flaming red pompadour: popcorn butter and bathroom spackle. Now you know.
Will Ferrell, promoting new film Land of the Lost, arrived in a throne carried by Egyptian slaves and deadpanned his way through two segments. Tips on living in L.A. did nothing to spike the energy level of the show.
Much might be made of Ferrell first deadpanning his congratulations to O’Brien because “no one thought you’d make it. No one.” and then later, after, serenading O’Brien with the oh-so inappropriate Never Can Say Goodbye, finishing with “Don’t get me wrong, I’m pulling for you man, but… there’s studio execs shaking back stage, ready the pull the plug.” Much might be made, but it’s a joke. A JOKE. Probably.
Just as when O’Brien earlier tittered that Jay Leno would be back in a couple of days. A joke!
Overall, O’Brien had moments last night where he was funny, moments where he was flat. Andy Richter is wasted, given what he contributed last night, but again, one night does not define much.
Musically, however, I hope that subsequent bands sound better than Pearl Jam did; the sound of their performance never rose above muddy.
Of course Twitter was alive with fans and foes. Conan sucks. Conan’s brilliant.
I’ll leave you with the one I liked best, being, as you might have read, not a big fan of Jay Leno:
“Conan’s Tonight Show is stupid, narcissistic, pointless & bland. Still funnier than Leno.”
People. There’s no pleasing them all.
Wanna leave your two cents? Knock yourself out in the comments below or send me an email.
– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango June 1-5: Conan 2.0

I could blather on and on about the passing of the Tonight Show crown and will Conan O’Brien be able to … let’s face it, will Conan O’Brien be able to dumb down his conceptual hipster humour for my mother (Conversations I Don’t Ever Want to Have: “Dear, what IS that bear doing with his paw? Ooooooh! Myyyyyy! Gawwwd!”). I could. And you might notice I just nipped myself in the bud. So to speak.

So let me just repeat what Conan O’Brien told James Lipton about performing comedy in front of a live audience, from an interview for Inside Actors Studio conducted before O’Brien left his Late Night post a while back.

“When it’s going well, I’ll do it for free. When it’s not going well, I would rather do anything else. Because it’s … you know, painful. There’s a lot of my career that’s just pain prevention. I’m trying to avoid getting hurt in front of people.”

Tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC, it will be that best-night-worst-night adrenaline-dread cocktail to the power of 10 as  Conan O’Brien debuts his version of the 55-year-old franchise, The Tonight Show.  He’ll be accompanied by his old/new sidekick Andy Richter and a pocketful of Tums. Guests will be Will Ferrell and Pearl Jam.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Bill Cosby, Paula Abdul (I’m Just Here for the Music)

Tuesday: Jack Hanna, John Krasinski (Away We Go)

Wednesday: Jessica Biel (Easy Virtue), Steve Earle (Townes)

Thursday: Elvis Costello (Secret, Profane, Sugarcane)

Friday: Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton’s My New BFF), comic Steven Wright

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Mary Louise Parker (Weeds), Guillermo del Toro, Tori Amos

Tuesday: Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Diane Birch

Wednesday: Jeffrey Tambor, Gabrielle Anwar

Thursday: Elizabeth Perkins, Mark Burnett, Bernie Williams

Friday: Seann William Scott, John Cho (Star Trek)

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: co-host Andy Richter, guests Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost), Pearl Jam (10 Legacy Edition)

Tuesday: Tom Hanks, Green Day (21st Century Breakdown)

Wednesday: Julia Louis Dreyfuss, Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Sheryl Crow (The Very Best of)

Thursday: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Mayer Trio (Try)

Friday: Ryan Seacrest, Chickenfoot (Chickenfoot)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Anne Hathaway, Will Forte, Jon Favreau, Mario Batali

Tuesday: Steve Martin, Vanessa Williams, Paul Simon

Wednesday: Danny McBride (Land of the Lost), Dave Matthews Band

Thursday: Jessica Biel (Easy Virtue), Rachel Dratch, Jason Sudeikis, Doves

Friday: Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Denise Richards, Mandy Moore

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Ben Stiller (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian), Dancing with the Stars’ Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas, No Doubt

Tuesday: Danny McBride (Land of the Lost), Nia Vardalos (My Life in Ruins), Taking Back Sunday

Wednesday: Heather Graham (The Hangover), Lance Krall (Free Radio), Katie Melua

Thursday (3 p.m. special b/c of NBA playoffs): Thomas Haden Church (Imagine That), Ed Helms (The Hangover), 311

Friday: Michael J. Fox, Dancing with the Stars castoffs Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough, Asher Roth

Sunday (7 p.m. special b/c of NBA playoffs): guests tba

Chelsea Lately (12:35 a.m. ET on E!)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Bob Woodruff (Earth 2100)

Tuesday: PJ O’Rourke (Driving Like Crazy)

Wednesday: Michael Lewis (Home Game)

Thursday: Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost)

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Byron Dorgon (Reckless)

Tuesday: Katty Kay (Womenomics)

Wednesday: Eric Schlosser (Food Inc.)

Thursday: Dag Soderberg (Illuminated World)

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Lynn Johnston, Ali Velshi

Tuesday: Alan Bell, Moby

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: Christopher Buckley, Randy Bachman

Friday: tba

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: D. L. Hughley, Council of Foreign Relations president Richard Haas, novelist Paula Froelich (Mercury in Retrograde), journalist Jeremy Scahill, Fortune editor Matt Miller

DAYTIME

Live with Regis and Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Pat Sajak cohosts, John Goodman (Waiting for Godot), Jillian Harris (The Bachelorette)

Tuesday: Pat Sajak cohosts, Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Scripps Spelling Bee winner

Wednesday: Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost), MC Hammer, animal expert Peter Gros

Thursday: Anderson Cooper cohosts, Denise Richards (Dancing with the Stars), Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice)

Friday: Anderson Cooper cohosts, Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Catherine Bell (Army Wives)

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Paris Hilton

Tuesday: Whoopi from London, Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Nia Vardalos (My Life in Ruins)

Wednesday: Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty), Claire Shipman

Thursday: Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy star on Broadway in Chicago), Paula Froelich (Mercury in Retrograde)

Friday: Neil Patrick Harris (Tony Awards), Lionel Richie

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Howie Mandel, Labelle

Tuesday: Molly Sims (Fired Up), Chris Jericho (WWE Monday Night Raw)

Wednesday: Brian Williams (NBC Nightly News), Christine Lahti (Yonkers Joe), Rocco DeLuca

Thursday: Lance Bass (Dancing with the Stars), chef Todd English, Neicy Nash (Reno 911)

Friday: Donnie and Marie Osmond, David Tutera (My Fair Wedding)

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton Is My New BFF)

Tuesday: Dwayne Johnson, Elle Fanning

Wednesday: Portia de Rossi, Jasmine Murray

Thursday: Christina Applegate, Keith Urban

Friday: Jessica Biel (Easy Virtue), Kellie Pickler

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: How to Handle Life’s Stickiest Situations

Tuesday: Dr. Oz on hair transplants, heart attacks and more

Wednesday: Nate Makes a Mother’s Wish Come True

Thursday: Beautiful Boy — A Father’s Heartach, An Addict Son

Friday: Can You Afford That with Suze Ormon

The Tyra Show (10 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Girl on Girl Kissing

Tuesday: Age-defying Makeovers

Wednesday: Isis

Thursday: I Lost Weight and Lost My Friends

Friday: Paris Hilton

– Denise Duguay

When it’s going well, I’ll do it for free. When it’s not going well, I would rather do anything else. Because it’s you know painful. there’s a lot of my career that’s just pain prevention. i’m trying to avoid getting hurt in front of people.