Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Ch-ch-ch-anges!

In the next day or so, you'll be noticing a new look to this and the other Telegraph blogs as we move off Blogger and onto the main site at macon.com. In TV parlance, think of it as us getting a new timeslot.

I'm not quite sure how this is going to work - I leave all the technical stuff to our Webmaster - but it should only affect you in the sense that you may have to put in a new address for your bookmark and homepage. (What?!? This site isn't your homepage? What is wrong with you?)

The switch will allow us to better manage the blogs and log the incoming traffic (who knows, I might be getting loyal baker's dozens of Web surfers) and give all of our blogs a more uniform look.

This specific Web page on Blogger will still be good for a while as the Web people try to figure out how to transfer the other 500-plus previous posts to the new site, so you will still be able to go through and peruse my previous postings at your leisure (which I know all of you do regularly).

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Just a few bits of TV news today.

Laurence Fishburne made it official this week and will be stepping into the lead role of "CSI," sort of replacing William Petersen, who will still appear in a recurring basis.

Speaking of changes, Annabelle Wallis has replaced Anita Briem in the Jane Seymour role on "The Tudors" for Season 3. The two actresses look a lot alike (and both are drop-dead gorgeous) so it shouldn't be too much of a distraction.

Speaking of gorgeous, Charlotte Sullivan ("MVP") has been cast as Maxima on "Smallville." If the writes do the character any justice and write her the way she was in the comics and on the Superman animated series, she should be a fun addition to the series.

Also, Courtney B. Vance ("L&O: CI") will join his real-life wife, Angela Bassett, for a multi-episode arc on the final season of "ER."

Finally, a get well shout out to Christina Applegate ("Samantha Who?"), who had a double mastectomy to treat her breast cancer. Applegate said doctors were able to get all of the cancer, which hopefully means a good prognosis. This should serve as a reminder to all women about the importance of breast exams each year.

90210 SURPRISE: We're supposed to not take this as a bad sign, but the CW is not sending out an advance copy of the new "Beverly Hills, 90210" pilot to critics.

In a statement released to critics this week, the CW said: "The CW and our studio partner CBS Paramount Network Television have made the strategic marketing decision not to screen "90210" for any media in advance of its premiere. We're not hiding anything . . . simply keeping a lid on 90210 until 9.02, riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time."

Um, yeah. I suppose it's a smart move strategically - critics are more likely to be unkind in talking about the BH revival, which should draw pretty ratings for the network built around marketing very pretty people.

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: We used to have a reporter at The Telegraph who was obsessed with Ninjas. I don't know if he's reading this, but tonight's "Mythbusters" (Discovery, 9 p.m.) explores the legends of the Japanese assassins, such as the ability to catch an arrow in mid-flight. I can do that, but I choose not to.

"Greatest American Dog" (CBS, 8 p.m.) continues on CBS, while the Olympics continue on NBC.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christina Applegate is really a pretty good actress. I cannot think of anything she has been in that has not been cute. She even won an EMMY for her Friends work and has made lots of people forget her Kelly Bundy bimbo act. Although Samantha Who has a little Kelly in her.
The point is what a brave thing for any young woman to do. I know she is not the first to deal with this but she is a pretty big celebrity and I have new respect for her and wish her well.

Anonymous said...

Yes, very good news about her prognosis.

90210: I will still watch the pilot out of mere curiosity, but I am hoping this show does more focus on Doherty and Garth as I could care less about the new kids.

Phillip Ramati said...

Applegate is a good actress who usually rises above the "pretty blond" roles they stick her in.

One of the few positives to come out of this (besides her good health) is that when a high-profile person is involved with something like cancer, it usually serves as a wakeup call for people to get checked, and I'm hoping it does so here.

Jonathan said...

It's actually pretty amazing to go back and watch "Married With Children" and see how good all of the acting was (minus Faustino of course); the writing pretty much sucked and reached for the lowest common denominator. But the work of everyone, especially Applegate, was well above the material.

It is great to hear she is doing better, and it is great to see how she is handling the situation; although I guess we never know what's really going on behind closed doors, but she seems to be doing well.

I, like Zod, have to watch the 90210 premiere out of morbid curiosity, but cannot imagine sticking with it beyond that unless it just blows me away. Don't see that happening. Of course I never thought I would enjoy a little show about a teenage girl fighting vampires very much either, so who knows.

Phillip Ramati said...

Well, if BH: TNG is successful, I'm guessing BH: DS9 can't be too far behind.

Anonymous said...

But you're still here on blogger....?