The Amazing Race 16 – A First Look

The Amazing Race Cast

Minutes into the start of this new season, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as they did not have an instant elimination task to lead things off.  After all, it’s really a waste of time to see someone go who you don’t even have a chance to get emotionally invested in.

This season of the Amazing Race has 1 ½ recognizable teams.  First there is Miss Teen South Carolina, Caite, who gave America one of the most memorable speeches about why people cannot find US on a World map as you can see below.   She claims that she is now out to prove she’s not as dumb as America thinks.  (An excerpt of the speech is also televised on the episode.)

My hunch is that one of the other recognizable teams, Jordan, from last season’s Big Brother sweethearts, Jeff & Jordan, will prove to be a bit more daft.  (I’m writing this before I’ve seen the entire episode so don’t read any more into this than you have to.)  Oh and by the way, for those of you wondering, Jeff and Jordan claim to have seen each other every weekend since they left the Big Brother house.  You also have this team of strong, but not very street smart cowboys Jet and Cord too that might prove to be even less capable than the gals.  Although they are easy on the eyes so I hope they stick around as well.

So after watching, other teams showing interesting personality traits include a couple of Undercover Detectives – Louie and Michael (oops, well now your cover is blown, better hope you win the dough); Carol and Brandy, the lesbian team who had a few funny quips in episode 1, and Dan and Jordan, brothers, one gay and the other straight.  It’s not hard to spot the gay one here, but you’ll find him fairly amusing if you enjoyed watching Jack on Will & Grace.    The rest pretty much just blend into the wood work here, without anyone really having much of a chance to really see any personality in Episode 1, although the 71 year old Grandmother (Jody), who is in “triathlon shape” racing with her granddaughter (Shannon) was definitely one team to root for in the underdog category.

I won’t give away all of the tasks here, but finding the way to the airport in LA using only public transportation didn’t prove to be as daunting as I would have thought.  As for the rest, lots of fun twists and turns here with teams misinterpreting some of the tasks, resulted in other teams leading the way that you never would have guessed.  Not a bad start and I’m definitely in it for the season.

Here is a quick look at the 11 teams via the Amazing Race intro:

  and for a more intimate look at the teams, check this out…

ABC’s New Series – Happy Town Gets Its Premiere Date!

ABC ANNOUNCES THE SERIES PREMIERE DATE FOR NEW DRAMA “HAPPY TOWN,” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28

ABC has announced the premiere date of its new drama, “Happy Town,” WEDNESDAY,
APRIL 28 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET). The residents of the sun-splashed town of Haplin, Minnesota — also known as “Happy Town” — have enjoyed an uneasy peace for the past five years — but that is about to change. Still haunted by a number of unsolved kidnappings, Haplin now faces a disturbing new crime that brings all of its unresolved fears to the surface. Has the elusive “Magic Man” – who many believe is responsible for the bizarre abductions — returned to claim yet another innocent victim? As Haplin’s mysteries are revealed, many of its prominent citizens’ motives come under scrutiny as their own secrets and personalities are peeled back one layer at a time.

The Haplin founding family, represented by the mysterious matriarch Peggy Haplin and her quick-tempered son, John, run the local bread factory, which is the town’s largest employer. The powerful family tries to wield control even while dealing with the fact that John’s daughter was one of the Magic Man’s many victims. The ever-dapper Merritt Grieves, who runs a charming but perhaps irrelevant film memorabilia shop, seems strangely sinister. The lively widows residing at the Meadows Boarding House with Merritt become all aflutter whenever he is in their presence. Haplin’s other colorful characters include Tommy Conroy’s boyhood friend, Big Dave Duncan, as well as the nefarious Stiviletto brothers.

Many in this small Midwestern town have skeletons in their closets, and some dark truths are being revealed about some familiar faces. There are signs both obvious and hidden that something strange is going on, as exemplified by a recurring bit of curious graffiti: a halo with a question mark under it. They say every town has its secrets, but that doesn’t even begin to describe Happy Town.

“Happy Town” stars Geoff Stults as Tommy Conroy, Sam Neill as Merritt Grieves, Lauren German as Henley Boone, Steven Weber as John Haplin, Amy Acker as Rachel Conroy, Sarah Gadon as Georgia Bravin, Robert Wisdom as Roger Hobbs, Jay Paulson as Eli “Root Beer” Rogers and Ben Schnetzer as Andrew Haplin.

Recurring stars include Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under”) as Peggy Haplin, Abraham Benrubi as Big Dave Duncan, M.C. Gainey as Sheriff Griffin Conroy, Peter Outerbridge as Handsome Dan, Warren Christie as Greggy Stiviletto and Sophia Ewaniuk as Emma Conroy.

Josh Appelbaum (“Life on Mars,” “Alias,” “October Road”), Andre Nemec (“Life on Mars,” “Alias,” “October Road”) and Scott Rosenberg (“Life on Mars,” “October Road”) are executive producers. “Happy Town” is produced by ABC Studios.

Here was the exclusive review of Happy Town previously posted.

Past Life – A First Look

PAST LIFE

The premise of Past Life is around the idea that the memories of a previous life are interfering with the present.  This new drama series investigates the world of the unexplained through the eyes of a doctor and a former detective who must work together to solve decades-old mysteries.  Sound familiar?  I’m hard pressed to find a lot of differences between CBS’s most likely to conclude series Cold Case and this one.  Even the lead blonde looks semi-familiar.

Cold Case or Past Life?

I’m enjoying the show, but it really seems like another CBS clone as was Lie To Me.  The first episode revolves around a teenage boy who suddenly remembers flashes of his past life where he was murdered.  Of course only flashes are there or this all would be too easy to resolve.  Now the idea is to bring the boy and find the scene of the crime so that he can properly remember things and have all of the images stop.

Case #2 revolves around a young woman who is having images of a dead woman and it’s causing her to overdose on drugs of choice.  While the cast is decent and the stories well done, you still have the feeling that you’ve seen this done again and again on CBS.   The second story even more than the first one was so reminiscent of Cold Case with the ending song and flashes to all of the people involved.  (All that was missing was the flashes of images of the characters from then to now.)

This might be a show worth checking out on occasion, especially when Cold Case concludes (although the coveted advertising demo for that show skewed older than anyone at FOX would be interested in), so one has to think that Past Life will not have much of a future, especially considering it’s up against CSI, The Office and Grey’s Anatomy.

SERIES PREVIEW:				Tuesday, Feb. 9 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT)
SERIES PREMIERE:				Thursday, Feb. 11 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT)
STARRING:				Kelli Giddish (Dr. Kate McGinn) Nicholas Bishop (Price Whatley) Richard Schiff (Dr. Malachi Talmadge) Ravi Patel (Dr. Rishi Karna)

Undercover Boss – A First Look

Undercover Boss, Premieres Feb 7th After The Superbowl

CBS has quite the reputation for putting on some quality Reality Programming.  After all, they were the first Network to take a shot at something different that resulted in this whole genre in programming with the introduction of Survivor.   But for every Survivor and Amazing Race, there was a Kid Nation and a Pirate Master.  (And I’m sure most of you already forgot  about There Goes The Neighborhood.)  Survivor, Big Brother and Amazing Race were all success stories because they managed to do something original in the Reality genre.

And now we have Undercover Boss.  And while this is new territory for CBS, it is hardly new territory for this genre.  FOX had a decent concept in Secret Millionaire, a show where rich folks donned poor man clothes before surprising their new friends with money and returning to their wealthy lives.  And while this show did well in overall numbers, it didn’t in the coveted 18 – 49 demo that advertisers crave.  So now I hear that ABC has picked up that show.  Undercover Boss’ concept isn’t much different, only more limited as here we have a wealthy CEO going undercover in his own company looking to see what life is really like beneath the ranks.

CBS describes the concept as “a different executive will leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their company. While working alongside their employees, they will see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organization and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering the unsung heroes who make their company run.”

The premiere episode which follows the Super Bowl will feature Waste Management CEO Larry O’Donnell.   He meets and greets folks on assembly lines and working to pick up trash, not to mention one who multitasks almost everything in a satellite office and one who cleans porta-potties.  It all leads up to the usual profound revelations both in how office policies are carried out and in improving the employees lives.   And I confess that it is fun meeting all of the new people and most of their personalities are endearing.  But it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before although the pilot does make for some moving moments, even if we all knew they were coming.

The biggest problem I see is long term.  For example, in the pilot, the presence of the cameras surrounding this “new employee” is explained by him “doing a documentary” on the organization.  Well, doesn’t that pretty much take the surprise out of the actions of these employees?   And if this show were to succeed, how could a boss possibly go undercover without someone figuring it all out right away.  (Remember rule #1, people gossip a lot in the workplace.)  Did CBS think beyond the first few episodes here?  Granted, this season has already been shot but how could this be on next year?  I think someone didn’t think ahead here when creating this show.  I’d say CBS didn’t expect this to go beyond a season, but they did schedule this on after the SuperBowl.  In the meantime, you can look forward to future episodes focusing on White Castle and Hooters. Enjoy it while you can.

Undercover Boss; Premieres Feb 7, After the Super Bowl and then will remain on Sunday nights following The Amazing Race.

Happy Town – Has ABC Lost Faith In It?

Happy Town

I came across this show after screening the much self-hyped premiere of ABC’s dismal and soon-to-be-forgotten series The Deep End.   First of all, let me say that this is one heck of a show!   Given the track record of exec producers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg with critical and ratings bomb October Road and the ratings challenged Life On Mars, it is understandable that ABC would be squeamish about going forward with this series that was filmed last March, yet still sits in the ABC vault.   Still, having seen this show and before even knowing who the exec producers were,  I kept on comparing October Road to Happy Town.  Perhaps because its lead, Geoff Stults, as well as Jay Paulson were both supporting players on October Road.  At first, the idea of a comparison was crazy, except that they both take place in small towns, this one being Haplin, MN.  But then it became more apparent that if you took October Road, and made a lot of crazy awful stuff happen there, you have your new and improved series.

It’s not black and white in the first couple of episodes as to whether each of the characters are good or evil and there is a lot of mystery surrounding most of them.  Sam Neill’s shopkeeper character in particular, is one of the most intriguing personas in that he seems to know a lot about what’s going on but knows how to keep himself out of trouble.  It’s also great to see Six Feet Under’s Francis Conroy back on the air as mysterious matriach Peggy Haplin.   Nevertheless, character development is everything here and this show knows how to put together a complex cast of characters.  And although there might be a serial killer involved here, don’t even try to compare this to the blood bath of CBS’s Harper’s Island, which featured one dimensional caricatures  straight out of the Friday The 13th movies.  The first big mystery surrounds the identity of The Magic Man, who abducts people and leaves no trace of them.  It’s hinted that it’s someone we already know.

There are also some comparisons to Twin Peaks.  I suppose that makes sense, but personally never got that show and this one is at least more firmly rooted and related to our world as opposed to the “bizarro” world that Twin Peaks took place in.  I’ll stick with the “October Road except for now stuff happens” comparison.

This show is akin to a great mystery book.  A book in which I found impossible to put down and was even more depressed after watching the first two episodes that I have no idea when I will finally get some answers!  The pace is faster than LOST or many of the other serial failures ABC tried out (Nine, Invasion to name a few) and the storylines are instantly addicting.  One thing is for certain and that is nothing is certain here in Happy Town.

So here is my personal plea to ABC: Please get behind Happy Town and put these 8 episodes on your schedule and do the type of promoting that made Desperate Housewives a household name.  While we’re at it, why not schedule this following Desperate Housewives for a few weeks and give Brothers And Sisters a little break.  Perhaps we can then forgive you for rushing The Deep End onto your schedule first.

“Happy Town” stars Geoff Stults as Tommy Conroy, Sam Neill as Merritt Grieves, Lauren German as Henley Boone, Steven Weber as John Haplin, Amy Acker as Rachel Conroy, Sarah Gadon as Georgia Bravin, Robert Wisdom as Roger Hobbs, Jay Paulson as Eli “Root Beer” Rogers and Ben Schnetzer as Andrew Haplin.

Recurring stars include Frances Conroy as Peggy Haplin, Abraham Benrubi as Big Dave Duncan, M.C. Gainey as Sheriff Griffin Conroy, Peter Outerbridge as Handsome Dan, Warren Christie as Greggy Stiviletto and Sophia Ewaniuk as Emma Conroy.

Josh Appelbaum (“Life on Mars,” “Alias,” “October Road”), André Nemec (“Life on Mars,” “Alias,” “October Road”) and Scott Rosenberg (“Life on Mars,” “October Road”) are executive producers. “Happy Town” is produced by ABC Studios.

Live For The Moment – A First Look

Jeff Probst with Roger Childs Live For The Moment, This special broadcasts on Thursday, Jan 28th

Jeff Probst hosts this special that easily could turn into a series (or series of specials) about living your life to the fullest.  And let’s just say that this show tugs at your emotions within a few minutes of its start.  While the story of Roger Childs, the first person featured, may be a bit out of the ordinary, the concept is basically that of this being a TV version of the work that is done by the Make-A-Wish foundation, as it helps Roger and his family live out a few dreams, and trying to gain insight into just how we all should go about living our lives.  I don’t want to give away too much here on Roger’s adventure, but I will give you a hint on one of them – Buzz Aldrin.

In a time where people are depressed with their own lives due to economic troubles and job woos, the timing on this show couldn’t be better.  And as Roger revealed after one of his adventures, we should all finish what we started.  Mark Burnett is a genius in my mind who can do no wrong.  Why not make the most of the time you have and pursue your passions?  Hopefully a session with this show will give you the strength to make a change to your own life.

Even with his failures (“The Restaurant”, “The Casino” & “Pirate Master”) Mark Burnett always manages to entertain.  This is no exception and to be honest, the material is more suited for a shorter story on 20/20 or Dateline, but if you invest the time, you probably won’t regret it.  I’m not sure I could deal with my emotions being manipulated like this every week, but as a series of specials, count me in.

Live For The Moment reveals how one person’s life-changing event inspired them to live life to the fullest. Host Jeff Probst takes someone on a series of adventures and experiences that create special life moments with their family and friends. This person shares their inspiring insights on how they now live their life differently and, in doing so, will possibly change the way others live, too. Jeff Probst and Mark Burnett are executive producers for Jeff Probst, Inc. and Mark Burnett Productions

This one-hour special will be broadcast Thursday, Jan. 28 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT).

Saturday Night Live Alert!

Let’s  face it,  SNL has been severely lacking in humor for the past two years.   One big exception was when Jon Hamm hosted in Oct 2008.   Well, good news folks, he’s back on January 30th!  Let the party begin.  Here was one of my favorite sketches from the episode.  The Vincent Price Halloween Special…..

The Deep End – A First Look

The Cast of The Deep End

Being a huge fan of lawyer series, The Deep End seemed like a shoo-in to capture the void left by the absence of Boston Legal, alas, this show seems to have missed the mark.   When you create a series with a premise that we’ve seen hundreds of times, you need to find a unique niche.  Perhaps if given enough time, this show will find it, but for now, call in the cliche’ police, because we have a number of citations to hand out.

Let’s start with Citation #1: The man who sleeps with every hot woman with a pulse and proud of it.

Citation #2: Every woman with a pulse has no issues sleeping with the guy.   And, of course, all of the woman are gorgeous.

This worked on Boston Legal because it really was an absurd show that was more of a comedy even though it had its serious moments.  The Deep End is not funny.  Not by a long shot.

Citation #3: The head of the firm is a run by a one dimensional man who only sees dollar signs.  I loved Billy Zane on Samantha Who, but here, the writers need to find a bit more substance and less of a lawyer stereotype.  (Perhaps these writers should watch a couple of The Good Wife episodes in a desperate quest to learn some character development here.)

Then we have all of the rest of the Freshman lawyers.  Let’s just say that there is way too much sleeping around here, and not much in case work. Which leads me to the next citation.

Citation #4: The freshman lawyer who knows more than the Partner when working on his first case.  I think that was the icing on the cake in terms of unbelievable character/storylines.

In this clip below, count the citations you can hand out!

Many better law series have failed, this one should as well.

“The Deep End” stars Matt Long as “Dylan Hewitt,” Billy Zane as “Cliff Huddle,” Clancy Brown as “Hart Sterling,” Norbert Leo Butz as “Rowdy Kaiser,” Leah Pipes as “Beth Branford,” Tina Majorino as “Addy Fisher,” Ben Lawson as “Liam Priory,” Nicole Ari Parker as “Susan Oppenheim” and Mehcad Brooks as “Malcolm Bennet.”

The series executive producers are David Hemingson and Jan Nash. The pilot for “The Deep End” was written by David Hemingson and directed by Michael Fresco. The series, which premieres on January 21, 2010 from 8:00-9:00p.m., ET, is from Twentieth Century Fox Television.

Crash Is About To Burn

The End Of The Road Is Near

The news doesn’t look good for the very few fans of the Starz original series Crash.  I also found out that I was one of only 97,000 people who watched what looks to be the final episode of the series, which is a shame because it was one of the best hours of drama that I can recall.  One where you actually think about all of the events that lead up to the final climatic moment of the show.  97,000 people?  Really?

OK, so perhaps there are millions unaccounted for like me who DVR’d it.  Well, maybe not.  But seriously, all of this brilliant acting shouldn’t go sight unseen.  Netflix has the show on instant download (although I’m hearing that eps nine and 10 are out of order).  But look, any show with well known names like Dennis Hopper, Eric Roberts and Keith Carradine is at least worth checking out.  Don’t you agree?  One word of note.  You do have to watch the entire series to get the appropriate payback for some of the previous episodes.  This show is going away – no doubt about it.  Treasure it while you can.

The show hasn’t been “officially cancelled yet”, but Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht has only been been on the job for 3 days!   He comes from HBO, so I think he is used to seeing much larger numbers.

The Best of 2009 – A Look Back At This Year’s Outstanding Performances

Jocko Sims and Dennis Hopper in Crash

Best Drama Series: Crash. Starz has gotten little respect for its ground breaking yet low rated series, however, this one deserves a look.  You have to really watch Crash and pay attention or you might miss something.

Runners-up: Mad Men, Durham County, Southland, Medium, The Good Wife, Nip/Tuck

Best Comedy Series: Modern Family.  One of the most pleasant surprises of the new season, this show consistently delivers.  Instantly delivering a great supporting cast lead by Eric Stonestreet and Ed O’Neill, this is the show that proves that the comedy is hardly dead.
Runners-up: The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Desperate Housewives, Two & A Half Men, The Middle

Best Reality Show:  Survivor has had its best season since Season 1 thanks to the evil Russell who started out making me cringe and ended up making me route for him.
Runners-up: The Amazing Race, Tabitha’s Salon Takeover, Kitchen Nightmares, and The Biggest Loser

Simon Baker is The Mentalist

Best Lead Actor in a Drama: Simon Baker delivers the goods for this mammoth CBS hit The Mentalist that once again is never going to be water cooler TV mostly because it’s on CBS.
Runner-up: Kiefer Sutherland / 24 and Dennis Hopper / Crash

Best Lead Actress in a Drama: Kyra Sedgewick/The Closer. The show changes from routine to a solid hit thanks to an outstanding performance which should get a mention more often in the media.
Runner-up (tie):Sally Field/Brothers & Sisters and Elizabeth Mitchell/Lost

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy: Julia Louis Dreyfuss still has the best timing in comedy today.  She turned this show, which at first seemed destined for failure into a critical hit.  If only other viewers could give her another shot.
Runner-up: Amy Poehler / Parks & Recreation

Best Lead Actor in a Comedy: Jim Parsons/The Big Bang Theory.  Parsons low key performance is without a doubt the best and deserves to be rewarded one of these years.
Runner-up: Zachary Levi/Chuck

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Paul Gross / Eastwick came out of nowhere, but he was one of the few highlights in this failure.   Let’s hope we see more of him in the future.
Runner-up: Michael Emerson / Lost, John Slattery / Mad Men and Evan Handler / Californication

Archie Panjabi in The Good Wife

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Archie Panjabi / The Good Wife. With an ensemble of known and respected actors including Josh Charles and Christine Baranski, it’s Archie’s  performance that is the standout.
Runner-up: Christina Hendricks / Mad Men

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Eric Stonestreet / Modern Family If you have any questions about his ability or diversity for playing different roles, check out his recent guest performance on the fall finale of Nip/Tuck.
Runner-up: Simon Helberg / The Big Bang Theory and John Krasinski / The Office

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Jane Lynch/Glee.  I’ve been a fan of hers since I caught her hysterical performance in The Mighty Wind.  Since then she’s delivered hilarious performances on among other shows,  Two & A Half Men, Boston Legal and most recently, the big screen hit Julie and Julia.
Runner-up: Wanda Sykes / The New Adventures of Christine,  Conchata Ferrell / Two and a Half Men and Angela Kinsey / The Office