Tuesday, August 07, 2007

A 'Lot' To Root For

Tonight's "On The Lot" (Fox, 8 p.m.) makes the cut to the final four filmmakers, meaning someone with a pretty decent amount of talent is going home.

As I wrote last week, my pick on who I think will win it all would be Zach, an amazing visual filmmaker, with song-and-dance man Adam a close second. However, I'm pulling for Will, because not only does he bring a lot of charm with his films, but he also would likely get the biggest boost career-wise with a win. I have little doubt that Zach and Adam will sign with agents no matter how they finish.

I like Sam OK, but his stuff doesn't quite measure up. I know Jason is very popular among the show's audience, but I find his work to be wildly inconsistent, as evidenced by last week's bomb. Still, Jason has a loyal voting block, so if he can survive the vote tonight, he's got a good shot at the big prize, a $1 million development deal with Dreamworks.

Tonight the filmmakers must all work with the same logline: A guy wakes up in a dress, with no idea how he got into it. As loglines go, it's pretty mundane and narrowly focused, so I'm guessing the films tonight won't really knock anyone's socks off (unless Adam can set the whole thing to music).

I'm pretty bummed that this show never got the big ratings that would have brought a second season, but I'm at least enjoying the episodes we have.

And, no matter which filmmaker you support, I'm sure we can all agree on one thing: hopefully, Penny Marshall won't be back as a judge. While I hated Michael Bay, at least I had already considered him to be a no-talent hack. Marshall has some chops as a filmmaker, but her appearance last week as a judge was embarrassing.

FLIPPING AROUND THE DIAL: "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas didn't stay unemployed for long. One week after leaving the ABC comedy "Miss/Guided" over creative differences, he's back as the showrunner for ABC's "Big Shots." ...

"Smallville" continues to keep things in the Superman family. After mining previous Superman efforts by recruiting the likes of Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Annette O'Toole, Terrence Stamp and Dean Cain as guest stars, "Smallville" has cast the movie version of "Supergirl," Helen Slater, to play Lara, Clark's birth mother, for an episode later this season.

But the franchise has always kept it in the family. In the 1978 version of "Superman," the Superman and Lois of the 1940s, Kirk Alyn and Noelle Neill both had cameos in the scene where the young Clark outruns the train. Neill and her Jimmy Olsen, Jack Larson, appeared last summer in "Superman Returns." And Phyllis Coates, who played Lois before Neill did, appeared on an episode of "Lois & Clark" during it's first season. ...

David Anders has yet to appear on "Heroes," and he's already made an impression. Originally signed to appear as a guest star, the former "Alias" actor has been added to the cast full-time. ...

The CW announced Tuesday that one of its biggest hopes this season, "Gossip Girl," will debut a week earlier than expected. It now airs Sept. 19 at 9 p.m. ...

The latest in the "Highlander" franchise is now a TV movie. "Highlander: The Source," which reunites Adrian Paul, Jim Byrnes and Peter Wingfield from the TV series, will air on the Sci-Fi Channel on Sept. 15. ...

TUESDAY'S BEST BETS: I have to say I enjoyed the new reality series "Murder" (Spike, 10 p.m.) a lot more than I thought. Some critics blasted it for being too gory, but I have a feeling the viewer who would turn in for such a series can handle it.

A show that can make an argument for being the best new series of the summer, "Damages" (FX, 10 p.m.), returns tonight with a new episode.

And, making the hour one of the busiest of the week, the miniseries "The Bronx Is Burning" (ESPN, 10 p.m.) is also new tonight.

Making its debut tonight is the newest offering among game show fare, "The Power of 10," (CBS, 8 p.m.), hosted by Drew Carey. Contestants must correctly guess the proper percentage of Americans polled in various categories.

Finally, while I usually don't list repeats in this space, tonight's rerun of "House" (Fox, 9 p.m.) features rock superstar Dave Matthews in a great performance.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have to say, my wife & I give "Damages" a big thumbs down. We made it through 2 episodes but there were too many reasons why we simply didn't enjoy it.

First, Glenn Close is a really nasty, evil character. Unlike say Tommy Gavin or Vic Mackey, I don't see anything redeeming about her. She's basically as evil as the guy (Ted Danson) she's going after.

Rose Byrne is stunningly beautiful so perhaps I overlooked the fact that she's incapable of any facial expressions. She has the same stone face in every scene.

Overall, the flow of the show doesn't work for us...too slow, too gory, everyone's too sadistic and unlikeable. Nah, we canceled our season pass for this show for a lot of reasons. We looked at eachother halfway through episode #2 and realized this show wasn't going to survive our list.

But to call it the best show of the Summer would be dead wrong--and an insult to the best show of the Summer, "Made Men" on AMC.

Speaking of the former best show of the Summer, "Rescue Me", I meant to comment on your blog last week about the horrifying jump-the-shark- moment for this show--a moment so awful, and unrealistic, it's made both my wife & I think we might not be back next summer.

The scene with Sean and Mikey, later in the episode. Mind you, Garrity BURNED DOWN MIKE'S MOTHER'S HOUSE IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE. In that episode, Garrity is later scene quickly getting over it & drinking a beers. First unreal moment.

Next unreal moment starts with the opening to this past week's episode when they are at the basketball game and a clearly non emotional Mikey is just sitting back at the game checking out Lou's hot ex-nun girlfriend.

Finally, later in the show, Mikey and Garrity are walking down the street, Garrity tells him about burning the apartment, and Mikey wasn't upset!!!! It barely registered. And then some flimsy excuse how he was better off?

They build this whole story arc that he's got these creepy secrets inside his mother's room, and Garrity burns the apartment down and that's it?

Sorry to be taking up a Tuesday blog but "Rescue Me" show way down our charts. The show had already been tepid and way down in quality to seasons 1-3--but last week topped it.

Just my 2 cents.