My Aunt Elisabeth attended the same school as the famous Austrian-born chef, Wolfgang Puck. Puck is a Food Channel celebrity and owner of Spago — one of L.A.’s most successful restaurants, with franchise establishments in Palo Alto, Las Vegas, and Maui.

Aunt Elizabeth showed me a photo of the school where she and Wolfgang were classmates. She shared with me the amazing fact that during his education Wolfgang had been somewhat of an outsider. Other students once tied him to a chair and gave him a haircut by putting a bowl over his head and then cutting his hair around it.

My aunt also remembered that Wolfgang needed help on his finals with his Gulasch, which is a particularly Austrian specialty, my aunt told me. But she had to admit that Wolfgang showed up his classmates by leaving Austria to become one of the most successful chefs in the entire world.

My aunt never became a household name, but she was a wonderful chef and I spent much of my time hanging around her kitchen and helping her cook and waiting on customers. The experience helped me to evaluate what was going on in Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares.

The BBC has a track record of doing entertainment right and Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmare is a show worth watching. Fox took the show over the big pond to us. The show must offer an especially helpful experience for every restaurateur that would watch it.

© FOX – A bored Ramsey makes good TV

Each episode begins with an eatery that is experiencing truly nightmarish defects in cooking, service, staff, and décor and viewers are subjected to sometimes nauseating surveys of rotting food, arrogant cooks, and a kitchen in need of a makeover. The celebrated British chef, Gordon Ramsay, then comes riding into the scene like a dashing but irritated knight to the rescue.
In most cases, the show ends up providing dramatic and compelling case studies of what can happen to a business when it finds the right mix of leadership, staff, and enthusiasm.

Ramsay first appeared before the public as a 15-year-old professional soccer player. Following his career on the field he started a chain of restaurants throughout England and became the only restaurateur in the UK to own seven restaurants, each with its own Michelin star.

After making his appearance in a particular Hell’s Kitchen episode, Gordon attempts to save the languishing restaurant by communicating his own passion for creating excellent cuisine coupled with his furious disdain for sloppy conduct and slovenly standards in food preparation. He is a sometimes-harsh taskmaster who, over the course of two weeks, drives his apprentice cooks towards Michelin star excellence.
Viewers are entertained by Gordon’s assaults on everything from waiters with bad breath to chefs who believe a deep fryer to be the main tool in culinary excellence.
Gordon’s methods sometimes result in chefs quitting and owners facing a huge bill in complying with his requirements, but the reward comes as the renovations begin to result in customers beginning to fill up the formerly empty dining rooms.

In the British version Gordon returns unannounced a month later to see how the results for himself.
The devil is in the details for the success of both a restaurant and a TV show. Gordon Ramsey gets five-stars in both departs. Ramsey made his TV show exciting and left viewers feeling like he ruled the kitchen.

CTU Gone — Almeida Is Back
If you’ve been following my write ups for the past few years, you know I’m a fan of the Fox’s series 24. If you don’t know about the series, 24 is presented in real time, with each season depicting a single 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the U.S. government as it fights terrorist threats on U.S. soil. The day begins and ends at 8:00 a.m.

Last season was the worst season. The Producer ignored mistakes and turned aside critical questions at the 2007 Summer Press Tour
I didn’t decide to simply stop writing about 24 because they had one bad season, because this season promises to pull out all the stops. CTU is gone, Tony Almeida (believed dead) is back.
But I am getting ahead of myself.

© FOX – Let’s hope it’s Kiefer’s last one

If you never watched an episode of 24, you can Netflix the first six seasons, but feel free to skip Season 6. Except for the fact that Jack survives, the season was pretty worthless. Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is shown putting a full-court press in thwarting the attacks of nuclear terrorists and prevented critical technology from falling into the hands of the terrorists.

The season ended with Bauer quietly contemplating his future as the impact of the day’s gut-wrenching sacrifices and intense personal pain set in.
Bauer is often in the field for the fictional Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) as they try to safeguard the nation from terrorist threats. The show is based in Los Angeles and follows the actions of other CTU agents, government officials, and terrorists associated with the plot.
Season 7 looks wonderfully promising! As in Season 6, the Season 7 trailer premiered live on Time Square. We’ll have to wait a while to discover if the show lives up to the hype and high expectations that have been raised because the season has been delayed by the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.
In a press release, Fox stated the new season was being postponed to ensure that it will be able to air uninterrupted, in its entirety.

Season 7 opens with Bauer being confronted by a new crisis being investigated by an FBI task force setting the scene for yet another shocking day of momentous events.
The action in the new show takes place three years following last season. Bauer is on trial for his actions taken in his pursuit of justice. However a national security computer is hacked causing our hero to spring into action.
Season 7 features the nation’s first female president (wink wink nudge nudge), a woman named Allison Taylor.

Tony Almeida, who ostensibly died last season, has reappeared as one seemingly risen from the dead.
Tony’s apparently redivivus appearance will be greeted with relief by a lot of the show’s old fans, but I’m not necessarily one of them. I never could see what was so special about Almeida. The acting of Carlos Bernard, who played him, has never been particularly great, but I guess since Tony was Jack’s buddy and helped him out in difficult situation he became a fan favorite.
At the 2007 Summer Press tour we were told that Jack’s going green and will fight the environmental abusers of this world.

We’ll see how all that will play out.
This should be Jack’s last season. Season 6 was a downer and this could really be his last good one, if they turn the ship around.
But than there is the movie, and how can Jack die if there is a movie?
Now about that movie….

Jack in the Box?
A 24 feature film was originally scheduled to be released in 2008. The film was officially announced in June 2006. That May Sutherland told the British newspaper, The Sun, that shooting of the film would begin in London in May 2007. Other rumors reported that the film was to begin shooting in Spring and Summer 2007 following Season Six and before the seventh season.
Filming would take place in Prague and Morocco.
But in April 2007, it was announced that plans to shoot the film have been put on hold. The creators of the film originally announced filming was not expected to start until 2008, after the seventh season is finished.
In an interview with MTV News, the show’s star Kiefer Sutherland announced that a script was in development and the film would abandon the real-time format of the show, but would still cover one 24-hour period.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Sutherland confessed, “Anytime we got really close to having a great idea for having a film, we needed it for episode 18. So there it went.”

In a question and answer period at Algonquin College in October 2007, director John Cassar commented on the production of the 24 feature film.
He explained that he would much prefer to use his own writers to create the script, however, with their active work on the 24 series, it would be hard for them to write for both the movie and the series. Eventually the movie will be out. I hope it turns out to live up to its potential!

Another thing that stood out was the enthusiasm with which networks climbing on board the “green” express. NBC, for example, is planning a “green week” during which every show will feature an environmentally friendly theme of one kind or another. Even the politically incorrect FOX is planning a theme of 24 during which Jack Bauer will stop fighting terrorists and bring to justice people who are responsible for the depletion of our ozone layer. Here’s a forecast for things coming on various networks and cable stations.

NBC
NBC is introducing two new shows on the Monday line-up. The first one, called simply Chuck, is about a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government’s most vital secret agent. The plot is reminiscent of Conan O’Brian’s Andy Parker P.I., but it turns out that Chuck is actually funny. (Sorry about that, Conan! I still like you very much!) NBC’s second new offering is Journeyman starring Kevin McKidd, who is one of my favorite actors and a star from HBO’s Rome. McKidd plays Dan Vasser, a San Francisco newspaper reporter and family man who somehow journeys through time and is thus able to change the course of people’s lives.

Journeyman is intriguing, but the plot twists and time travel sequences become disorienting and confusing at times, and I’m not sure if people will have sufficient patience to follow Kevin through his meandering course through time and down all the attendant plot turns.
Jerry Seinfeld will be guest star on NBC’s comedy night show called 30 Rock.
Seinfeld fans should program this into their TIVOs. Friday Night Light is also back for a 2nd season. I recommend that you get into this warm, inviting family show. If you didn’t like it last season, give it a second chance. It’s really good and deserves a lengthy run.
Who of us ever expected a remake of Bionic Woman? Did we really need this? The show turns out to be somewhat boring. The running sequences cheesy and the music came right out of the soundtrack of the incomparable Run Lola Run. Going from pretty bad to much worse, we have the return yet once again of The Apprentice, which this season is called The Apprentice — Celebrity Edition. If Rosie shows up as the celebrity, then Donald will really be in trouble. Trump would be trumped. Anyway, what genuine celebrity would go on this show? Gary Coleman?

FOX
On FOX we have several new shows as well. Going from bad to worse we have KVille, Canterbury’s Law, The Return of Jezebel James, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You should feel free to forget about these in the order I listed. They are pretty bad. The Sarah Connor Chronicles, for example, was so bad that it makes the Terminator movies seem like fine art, using old lines that Schwarzenegger delivered with more finesse. The producers were slammed on the similarity between The Sarah Conner Chronicles and shootings at Virginia Tech — to the point that the producers are going to remove them from subsequent airings of the first show. FOX’s executives professed to not have any problems with last season’s 24, which had some serious plot issues. Did the executives actually watch the shows?

Time is up Jack, time to go…

Most of the season represented bad production. Following Episode 4 the season sank like the Exxon Valdez beneath the cold waters of mediocrity, or worse. This is one of my all-time favorite shows and I hope the producers get it back on track this season. Cherry Jones will star as the nation’s first woman president, without doubt as an attempt to cash in on the hype surrounding Hillary.What will become of Jack Bauer? I hope this will be his final season. Time to go Jack! I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it’s the truth. He should get out while his legacy still has some shine to it; and before bad times have a chance of overwhelming our memories of how great the show was.

CBS
The people at CBS are busy these days. The good news is that Jericho is back! Fans of the show should pat themselves on the back. Their angry noise and the tsunami of emails they fired off at the network convinced the producers to bring the show back from the dead. This is only the second time that’s happened in network history. CBS is also airing KidNation, the most noteworthy of the new shows. This reality show gives 40 children
40 days to prove they can build a better world in the absence of adult supervision.
The set for KidNation is Bonanza City, New Mexico, which is a ghost town remnant of a once thriving town built around a company mine. The children, ages 8 to 15 and from all walks of life, are now attempting to build their own new world, pioneer-style. The children will confront grown-up issues while coping with classic childhood emotions of homesickness, peer pressure, and the adolescent urge to break rules.

The challenges of developing both the social and physical aspects of their community, creating a host of interesting and engaging challenges. The interactions are interesting enough to push the show into top billing as the premier family show with appeal for
people of all ages. Cane, a Latino version of Falcon Crest with a mob twist, Viva Laughlin one of the most hideous of the new shows, The Big Bang Theory featuring a bunch of nerds orbiting around a pretty girl, and Moonlight, yet another Vampire drama, are really tedious in some way, and I won’t be surprised if any of those shows got canceled by the time I am finished writing this sentence. On the other hand, Shark and Survivor are still running, that should give those shows hope in some ways.

HBO
HBO just made the unsurprising announcement about the cancellation of John from Cincinnati, a mystical surfer drama that puzzled TV Critics enough to make them come back and watch for no other reason than to attempt to figure out what the show was really about. For example, I thought that John was supposed to represent Jesus Christ. “John from Cincinnati” creates the acrostic J.C. Get it? Was that clever of me?
The fact is, the show was basically indeterminate and confusing. Who could tell if there was actually any symbolism? I suspect that the thing was like a Rorschach inkblot — any actual meaning or purpose comes from the viewer and was never written into the actual script.

Names of shows are projected on the W Hotel.

Ring of Fire at the Pool. HBO’s Party at the W Hotel

The programming at HBO seems to be getting a little thin following the cancellation of Rome and Deadwood, and the closing of The Sopranos. Extras will also end with a two-hour movie that is becoming something of a closing-show trend, I guess. HBO is beginning to imitate the failure of the networks in not giving shows sufficient time to develop themselves. There’s too much focus on the short-term bottom line. In some cases I’m sure that they are cutting losses on projects that would eventually generate some important revenue. HBO still has three mainstay series, Entourage, Big Love, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I don’t know if the three will be enough to justify paying the premium for a lot of HBO subscribers. Showtime must be grabbing some of HBO’s market share new programs including Weeds and Californication. HBO does have one excellent new show, which is the Kiwi Comedy Flight of the Conchords, which follows the trials and tribulations of two New Zealand folksingers, Bret and Jermaine, who have come to New York to parlay their singing and guitar playing into a career as recording stars. So far their career has advanced to the point where they have managed to find a part-time manager, a single obsessive fan, and a friend who is owner of a local pawn shop. Flight of the Conchords reminds me a little of Extras, but it has a quirky humorous style.

Great new HBO Comedy – Flight of the Conchords ©HBO

SPIKE
Spike TV is airing a new realty show called Murder in which amateurs attempt to solve an actual extremely gruesome homicide. The crime scene was recreated with an attention to detail that extends even to the olfactory details concerning the smells that were at the scene. There are no cash awards for winning and participants are selected through a screening process that includes an IQ test. It’s difficult for me to figure why people would want to do this.

SiFi
One of the biggest surprises during the Press Tour week was a new miniseries on the SciFi channel that is coming this winter. For six hours, spread over three nights in December, Tin Man will enchant viewers with its amazing version of the Wizard of Oz story. Zooey Deschanel, from Bridge to Terabithia, and Alan Cummings, who played Nightcrawler in the XMen films, will star in this extraordinary remake. Deschanel said she and her companions are “not really the Wizard of Oz characters. It’s just a hint at those characters.” Definitely a must-watch series! That’s a little bit of what you can expect to look forward to this fall. There’s much more to say than I’ve written. So stay tuned.

Tin Man © SiFi Channel

An excellent cast, reached cult status on the level of Seinfeld.

The 200th anniversary episode, titled “Home Cheapo,” delivers top-notch humor. Doug & Carrie let jealousy get the best of them after their friends Deacon & Kelly buy a weekend home by the lake.

They discover their friends had saved enough money to make the purchase. When she gets that news Carrie says that they were able to afford it because they were so cheap.

Since its first airing on September 22, 1998, the Kings of Queens provided viewers constant laughs, great writing, and excellent acting.

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia about the show: The role of Doug is played by Kevin James. Actor Danny Heffernan, who plays Doug’s cousin on the show, is Kevin’s real life brother. Here’s one more zinger. When Doug is in pain he yelps “Yuspa!” The word comes from Cathy Yuspa who was a producer on the show.

I rank King of Queens alongside Seinfeld and Friends as one of the giants of comedy.

If you are a fan, don’t miss May 14 when Doug, Carrie, and Arthur take their final bows in the CBS series finale. It will be a poignant evening for some of us, even though I’m sure it will be full of great laughs!

Let the Race die

Drive is an action-fueled drama following a diverse group of Americans who are competing for their lives (or, in some cases, for the lives of their loved ones) in an illegal, underground, cross-country road race. Some of them have been coerced into joining The Race, others have sought out The Race themselves, hearing rumors of the $32-million prize. Each competitor has a reason why they must win.

The show munges the theme of a maverick driving race together with the theme of desperate competition borrowed from Michael Douglas’ white-knuckle movie, The Game. Drive simply fails to deliver on its premise. The race itself, with cars bouncing off each other, and hirsute truckers helping drivers in trouble fails to impress in this day of off-the-meter special effects.

Drive Cast, beside Melanie Lynskey a rather poor choice.

Drive got off to a rather cheesy start. The back-stories of the characters are simply unbelievable. One father, for example, pulls his daughter out of school and drives her to Key West, but doesn’t tell her until after the first meeting — the “orientation” — about his plans to compete.

There’s no explanation of how the girl could have possibly not twigged what daddy intended to do from the meeting.

Another scene that didn’t work was when one desperate husband, Alex, slams a man’s head on the table demanding to know where his wife is. The guy gets up looking as though getting his head slammed 10 times in a row wouldn’t mess up the part in his hair, and tells Alex that he won’t reveal the wife’s location unless Alex wins the race. Who can suspend disbelief far enough to accept a scene like that? I’m not a violent person, but in that situation I would have snapped the guy’s little finger and then repeated the demand. What husband in that situation wouldn’t take the discussion “to the next level” in order to get the answer right away.

Melanie Lynskey, who plays Wendy Patrakas, is the best thing in Drive. She’s a new mother who is on the run from her husband and competing for the safety of her newborn baby. As in Two and a Half Men and Flags of our Fathers Lynskey again proves once more she can actually act. She is funny, witty, and plays her character with warmth and heart.

But for the rest, I am sorry to report that you should pass Drive by unless you don’t have anything else to watch on TV and the laundry is already done.

NBC

The Apprentice — One day after receiving his star on the walk of fame, Donald Trump took the stage and fielded questions by critics regarding the poor ratings that The Apprentice received in its sixth season.

Donald explained the low ratings by saying that he hadn’t even watched the last episode, himself, on Sunday since he was at one of the play-off games. In addition, he noted that the show was facing tough competition during the upcoming weeks, but predicted that the ratings would improve as the series progresses. (Yes, he did mention the Rosie O’Donnell uproar, but we should all try to get over that.)

Heroes — Another of NBC’s returning smash hits is Heroes, which is an epic drama chronicling the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities. Their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world. Masi Oka who plays Hiro Nakamaura — a character who develops a way to stop time through the power of his mind — commented on the subtitles, which he thought effectively connected the series to the comic book. The biggest battle that these heroes must now wage is against Jack Bauer, whose 24 is in the same Monday time slot.

Andy Barker, P.I. — One of the new shows on NBC is a brainchild of Conan O’Brien. He is the creator and executive producer of Andy Barker, P.I. — a comedy in which Andy Richter portrays Andy Barker, an earnest, hard-working CPA who had succeeded in everything, until his new accounting business failed to take off. But when he was mistaken for Lew Staziak, the retired private detective who used to occupy his storefront office, Andy embraces the twist of fate and accepts his new double life as accountant and private investigator.

The first four episodes look promising. Although it seems a little slow at times, Andy Richter is funny and you will see the show improving per episode.

Other Shows — Also new for NBC this season is Raines, starring Jeff Goldblum, and The Black Donnellys created by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco. Far less exciting is Grease – You’re the one that I want. (But for most of us, not really.)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip will also return to finish its season. I think the fact that the season is hanging on is a favor to Aaron Sorkin. I don’t expect Studio 60 to answer the bell next season. It is beloved by critics, but viewers keep turning it off and ratings continue to plummet.

Scrubs, on the other hand, just got renewed for a seventh season. Season Six finished with a “musical” episode, which was supposed to be the show’s finale. However, the producer told us that the network will keep the show running as long as viewers keep tuning in.

CBS

Jericho — CBS is continuing its new hit show Jericho. I can’t shake the feeling that the town is suffering from a power outage rather than a nuclear catastrophe.

The producers promised to provide us some answers when the show returns. We’ll finally learn who the man of mystery, Robert Hawkins, really is — whether a friend or a foe. The show will also reveal what Jake Green’s past really was.

Jericho has been trying to follow the same idea as 24 by having a non-stop season. Jericho was completely off the air while producers created subsequent episodes that have now begun to air. They have thus preserved the continuity of the series by running episodes consecutively from the first to the most current one without breaking the flow of the story by reruns.

Viewers who want to see the first season must rent the DVD. And then they should watch the episodes from the first to the last.

This American Life — My favorite TV show by far on the CBS press day was Showtime’s new series This American Life. The show is hosted by Ira Glass, who for the past 15 years was the host for the radio version that ran on the Chicago Public Radio.

Showtime moved the concept from radio to television. Each episode reveals dramatic stories of people who have unusual experiences that change them in some way.

This American Life is funny, real, surprising, unscripted, and true. It is what Reality TV ought to be. All by itself it is worth the price of a subscription to Showtime. Viewers can do a free pod cast of the radio show over iTunes.

Rules of Engagement — Rules of Engagement is a much less-compelling new offering by CBS. David Spade stars in a rather boring and not-very-funny version of FOX’s ’Till Death plus adding one other character. You can take a miss on this show.

CW

The CW Network is easily overlooked by all the hype generated by the big networks. They’ve had to go through a re-branding of their name following the merger of UPN and WB.

Viewers really had to look for the shows that they came to love. And they did. Shows like The Gilmore Girls, Smallville, and Veronica Mars all found a strong fan base. My partner thinks that Veronica Mars is the best-written show on TV.

CW’s WWE’s Smackdown is constantly raising its ratings.

Everybody Hates Chris — This show has been overlooked by the critics, but CW renewed it for a third season. At the press conference Chris Rock, who is the executive producer for the show, as well as the show’s subject, was asked the indelicate question if he would hire Michael Richards after his outburst at a standup comedy club.

“Would I offer a job to Michael Richards? Wow, I don’t know. Probably. I don’t know. I mean, I’d have to make sure all the other non–“n***” screaming people didn’t need jobs first.” That got a laugh.

Hidden Palms — Hidden Palms is another new show on the CW network. Kevin Williamson, who produced such hits as Dawson’s Creek and the three Screams, is the executive producer for this O.C.-like mystery drama.

Pussycat Dolls – The search for the next Doll — And last but not least (well, maybe least), CW is producing their version of American Idol.

Producers of Pussycat Dolls – Search for the new Doll (like those behind NBC’s Grease – You’re the one that I want) insist that they are not copying FOX’s American Idol, but it is still difficult to shake the feeling that they did their homework by watching Idol and are now trying to cash in on Idols amazing success.

Lil’ Kim, one of Pussycat’s judges, showed up at the press conference. She and the producers who were present used buzzwords like “empowering,” and “celebrating women.” By doing so, they really set Lil’ Kim up for a barbed question from one critic:

Your unspoken tagline is ‘Don’t you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?’ In what way does that ‘celebrate’ other women?

The producers made the obvious responses that there is a lid for every pot and the show is not for everybody. However, Pussycat’s is an acquired taste. It is certainly not in good taste.

FOX

The FOX executives were the people with the brightest smiles at the press tour. Even though they lack favorites like Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, or CSI, they own television’s “Death Star,” which is one of the terms used by other networks when referring to American Idol.

American Idol — It’s tough to compete with a show that draws 82 million viewers and none of the other networks have dared to send in their “storm troopers” to fight against the “Idol beast,” as Variety Magazine has called it.

Simon, Randy, Paula, and Ryan were on the stage together to answer questions from the critics who were a little frustrated by the fact that the four of them had taken their places with absolutely no apology for showing up an hour late.

They were immediately asked if the show had gone overboard in being too rude to contestants.

Simon responded, “I take your point. This is a singing competition so why should I call someone a ‘bush baby.’” He further added;

There are times, trust me, when I watch it afterwards and just think, ‘God, I wish I hadn’t have said that!’ And I sometimes ask, ‘Why did they leave that in the show?’

American Idol is like a force of nature. As long as they can continue to attract 80 million viewers, it would be folly to mess with the format.

Fun at the Fox Party.  

24 — Of course FOX has other shows that are doing remarkably well. Thirty-three million viewers watched the season premier of 24.

At the FOX All-Star party I met one of the stars, the very talented Carlo Rota who plays Morris O’Brian. Carlo was best known to American audiences for his five seasons as Mick Schtoppel on the USA Network’s smash hit La Femme Nikita. I asked him how it felt to be Chloe’s ex-husband.

“Fantastic!” he said.

I also asked him how many times people try to get details from him about the upcoming episodes.

“Look,” he said “It’s like a magic trick! If I gave it away they wouldn’t tune in to find out for themselves.”

The mystery works for me, because I will keep tuning in for 24 every Monday — right after Prison Break, which is another hit that came out of nowhere and continues to captivate audiences.

Drive — A lot of new shows are premiering on FOX this spring. One of them, Drive, set the record for having the most cast members at one time on the TCA stage.

Drive is an action-fueled drama that follows a diverse group of Americans competing for their lives (or the lives of their loved ones) in an illegal, underground cross-country road race. Some of the entrants were coerced into joining the race, others sought it out for themselves after hearing rumors of a $32-million prize for the winner. Each competitor has his/her own reason to compete, and each for that reason simply must win.

The show harks back to The Amazing Race and also reminds me of the 1998 movie The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn.

Drive launches its first season with a three-hour episode shown in two parts beginning on Sunday, April 15th, and concluding the next day.

The Wedding Bells — Another FOX newcomer, The Wedding Bells, is a romantic dramedy (drama+comedy) about a family-owned wedding planning business dedicated to helping its clients live happily ever after. Or at least until the couple gets to the parking lot.

The partners in the business are called upon to deal with everything from high-maintenance bridezillas and their families, to cases of extreme wedding-day jitters.

Review copies of the pilot are still not available, but the first previews look very funny and promising.

It reminded me of Four Weddings and a Funeral. The show will premier Friday March 9th.

The Winner — FOX’s other new show, The Winner, is a new comedy by Seth MacFarlane, creator of the animated hit Family Guy and American Dad. This is Seth’s first experience with live-action comedy.

The Winner portrays a 32-year-old man who is still living with his parents. The theme is obviously reminiscent of The 40-year-old Virgin. Rob Corddry’s hilarious acting is the only good thing that makes it at least a watchable show. Watch for its premier on March 4th.

The Simpsons — At the very end of FOX’s presentation we got a real treat. Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, producers of The Simpsons previewed their new Simpsons movie, plus they gave us insights into the TV show’s 400th episode.

This will be a double-episode. One of them is a satire of 24 in which Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub do the voices. And the second part of the double feature deals with TV censorship.

Not to give anything away: keep your eye out for Ken Brockman to be fined by the FCC.

Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer, showed us how he transformed the character between the first season and the current one.

“I needed more power behind the voice,” Dan said. “I needed to find a more comfortable area in my throat to create Homer’s guttural voice.”

He also shared that Homer’s famous “d’oh!” was inspired by Jim Finlayson in his Laurel and Hardy role.

It was great watching while the voice of Homer came alive in an instant before our eyes.

The experience was a strange one — like a parlor trick or like watching someone suddenly switch languages and ethnicity.

GOING WITH THE

“ZEITGEIST”

The technology that runs the world of media we are living in is always evolving and improving.

One of the evolutionary and revolutionary things that is currently going on is how easy it is becoming to watch TV shows online. All the networks are making efforts to provide free online versions of their shows. Now we can easily catch up on episodes or even whole seasons of shows that we missed.

I’ve described part of the great variety of the offerings that are planned for the spring season ahead.

I’m already looking forward to July’s Summer Press Tour. Five more months; I’m counting! Stay tuned!

NBC stellte seine neuen und wiederkehrenden Serien vor. Die erwähnenswerteste ist die im deutschsprachigen Raum von RTL erworbene Serie Heroes / “Helden”.

„Heroes“ – Der neue U.S.-Hit nach „LOST“
Heroes ist ein episches Drama, welches das Leben von normalen Leuten beschreibt, die entdecken, dass sie außerordentliche Fähigkeiten besitzen. Als eine Sonnenfinsternis seine Schatten auf die Erde wirft, stößt ein Genetikprofessor durch das Verschwinden seines Vaters auf die geheime Theorie, dass Leute mit Superfähigkeiten unter uns leben.

Die Helden der Geschichte (Foto unten: Das Heroes-Team) sind über die ganze Erde verstreut, wie zum Beispiel der junge Tag-Träumer Peter, der versucht, seinen Bruder zu überzeugen, dass er fliegen kann oder die  High School Cheerleaderin Claire, die erfährt, dass sie absolut unzerstörbar ist.

Niki, eine Las Vegas Stripperin entdeckt, dass sie ein geheimes Spiegelbild hat. Ein begabter Künstler, dessen Drogenabhängigkeit sein Leben und Verhältnis zu seiner Freundin zerstört, kann die Zukunft malen. Ein unglücklicher Polizist kann Gedanken von anderen Leuten lesen, die ihn auf die Spur eines schwer zu findenden Serienmörders bringen.

In Japan entwickelt ein junger Mann die Fähigkeit, durch reine Willenskraft die Zeit zu stoppen. Ihr gemeinsames Schicksal ist nichts weniger, als die Welt zu retten.

LOST zu langatmig?
Die Wahl der Schauspieler ist sehr gut getroffen und “Heroes” hat auf jeden Fall die Fähigkeit, der nächste große Hit nach LOST zu werden. In Amerika sinkt die Zuschauerzahl für LOST drastisch, da die Plots einfach zu langatmig sind. Auch die Geheimnisse hinter LOST werden nicht gelüftet und die Zuschauer dadurch sehr ungeduldig.

In der Pressekonferenz wird Masi Oka, der Hiro Nakamura in Heroes spielt, gefragt, ob er die Untertitel mag oder ob es jemals im Gespräch war, keine Untertitel zu wählen und stattdessen alles ins Englische zu übersetzen. Masi Oka sagt: “Mir gefallen die Untertitel, speziell weil es die Idee der Comichefte mit der Serie verbindet.“

Scrubs – Die Anfänger: Verlängert!
Auch die derzeit auf Pro 7 laufende Serie “Scrubs” wird überraschenderweise noch einmal ein Jahr verlängert und geht damit in die siebente Staffel. Scrubs beendet die sechste Saison mit einer Folge “Scrubs – Das Muscial”.  Diese wurde ursprünglich als letzte Folge geplant, um Scrubs zu beenden, doch durch die populäre Zuschauerzahl im US- Markt wird Scrubs um eine Saison verlängert. Zach Braff (Foto unten, links), der auch in Natura unglaublich lustig wirkt, sagte, dass er nicht genau weiß, ob er in einer achten Staffel in Scrubs mitmachen wird. Er glaubt aber, dass Scrubs auch ohne ihn funktionieren würde. Scrubs Produzent Bill Lawrence wurde übrigens durch die Serien “Wunderbare Jahre” (Wonder Years) und M.A.S.H. inspiriert, Scrubs zu schreiben und zu produzieren.

CBS will mit „Jericho“ punkten
CBS scheint nur einen nennenswerten Hit zu haben, der es auch in Europa machen könnte. Die Serie “Jericho”, erinnert mich ein wenig an den 80’er Film “Der Tag danach” (The day after). Die Serie beschreibt, was mit der Kleinstadt Jericho passiert, wenn plötzlich eine nukleare Explosion am Horizont aufgeht. Im Vordergrund steht das menschliche Drama der Einwohner von Jericho. Die Stadt scheint auseinander zu fallen, Chaos bricht aus. Niemand weiß, wer angegriffen hat, wie viele Raketen eingeschlagen und ob  noch mehr einschlagen werden. Ein interessantes Drama, das sich mit der ultimativen Frage des menschlichen Überlebens beschäftigt.

Gerald McRaney, ohne ihm waer Jericho ein Fehlstart. Leider bleibt er nur für eine Staffel 

FOX auf der Siegerstraße
Dem Fernsehsender FOX geht es am besten von allen Sendern. Mit der Hitshow “American Idol”, das mittlerweile die Welt mit ihrer Franchise erobert hat und Sendungen wie “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” und Österreichs “Starmania” inspiriert hat, hat Fox auch leicht lachen. Andere Fernsehsender nennen American Idol den “Death Star” (Todesstern) der Fernsehwelt. Nichts kann das  82 Millionen Zuschauer “Idol Beast”,  wie es das Variety Magazin genannt hat, stoppen. Zum Vergleich: FOXs “24″ (Darsteller siehe Foto unten) haben 33 Millionen Zuschauer beim Start der sechsten Saison verfolgt.

Der „O.C“-Stern sinkt
„The O.C.“ / „O.C. California“ ist auch ein Kandidat dafür, nicht mehr weiter produziert zu werden. Nach dem Tod von Marissa in der dritten Staffel sind die Zuschauerzahlen im Sinkflug. Die vierte Staffel kann es auch nach drei ersten, hervorragenden Folgen nicht schaffen, den Stern von „The O.C.“ vorm Sinken zu bewahren.

Die Simpsons – auch im Kino
Die Erfinder der Simpsons, die mittlerweile ihre 18. Staffel in den USA starteten, haben ihren neuen Film vorgestellt, der auch, ohne Frage, ein Riesenerfolg werden wird. Interessant zu erwähnen ist, das Homers „Doh“ durch Stan Laurel (Dick und Doof) inspiriert wurde. Ich habe Matt Groening persönlich gefragt, ob er sich auch bei den internationalen „Voice-Overs“ einmischt. „Ja natürlich“, sagte Matt, „wo immer es geht – ich glaub dass die Simpsons auch deshalb international ein Riesenhit sind“.

TV-Serien: Downloads am Vormarsch
Abschließend ist noch zu erwähnen, dass das Internet bei den Fernsehsendern immer beliebter wird. Da der iTunes-Store von Apple sich immer stärker am Markt präsentiert und immer mehr Folgen zur Verfügung stellt, haben sich auch die Sender auf das neue Zeitalter eingestellt. Bei den Senderriesen wie FOX, NBC, CBS kann man nun online gratis Folgen anschauen. Was sehr bequem ist, wenn man einmal eine Folge versäumt hat…

Das wars von der Winter-Pressetour 2007.

On January 14th Rome kicked off the second and final season of the star-crossed series. It deserves attention. If you are a newcomer to the series or missed some of last year’s episodes, ON DEMAND has the entire first season.

The show suffered from the fact that the first couple episodes of Season One were devoted to developing the characters and lacked sufficient scenes of such things as bloody conflicts and chariot races through Roman commercial districts to compel the attention of some jaded viewers.

Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus

The few action scenes in the early episodes seemed muted and were used to set the scene for some larger conflict that was looming on the horizon. At a few points some viewers may have expected more of the kind of energy that characterized Russell Crow’s Gladiator.

Rome does provide a richly layered look at history and at the processes involved in building a superpower and so provides a mirror to reflect our modern political realities, with our infighting, corruption, partisan political struggles, and the seemingly impossible demands of defining collective values.

“Human nature never changes,” says creator Bruno Heller. “We see the same problems today – crime, unemployment, disease, the struggle for social mobility, and the pressure to preserve your place in a precarious society.”

Season Two begins where Season One ended. Following the world’s third most famous assassination, Julius Caesar lies on the floor of the Roman forum in a pool of his own blood, having been brought down by assassins’ knives in the Roman forum.

The vacuum created by Caesar’s demise leads to a fierce power struggle as various factions begin to vie for control of the empire.

Further intrigue, as well as a romantic subplot is added by the arrival of the beautiful Cleopatra (played by Lyndsey Marshal) to win the favor and respect of Mark Antony, who has fallen into the role of interim emperor. Cleopatra’s arrival rankles Julius Caesar’s cousin, Atia (played by Polly Walker). The temperature of the boiling political pot increases when Atia openly insults the Egyptian Queen at a dinner party.

The series dramatizes the power of love, the harm of betrayal, the evil of slavery, and the dynamics of marriage. It is an engaging retelling of the fall of a Republic and the creation of an empire.

As it has done with so many previous series, the HBO staff managed to assemble the perfect cast.

I’m sad to see the series pass into oblivion. The fall of Rome has been a sad thing for the world this time, as well. Don’t miss it before it is gone forever. It’s worth your time!

If Goethe were still around he might have been one of the writers for Deadwood, which is HBO’s very adult and extremely addicting drama series. Deadwood is currently in its third season and is created and produced by NYPD Blue’s brainchild, David Milch.

Deadwood is one of the most acclaimed television dramas. The show’s appeal derives from the quality that Milch imposes upon the production. Like a master surgeon performing some delicate medical procedure, Milch writes and rewrites every single line. At times he will spend hours on a small piece of dialog – refining and polishing until it fits perfectly into the show.

The show is definitely not for everyone. It deserves its R rating and should not be viewed until all children are safely tucked into bed. The characters use extremely course language and engage in explicit behaviors. If you can get past the vulgarities, however, the dialogue soars and swoops in cadences that at times approach poetry.

Deadwood takes place in the Dakota Territory during the 1870s and depicts life as it might have been during the full-blown Gold Rush that was going on at the time. The gritty realism of the sets gives the impression of what life during that unpolished era might have been like, but the series is no historical docudrama. It intends simply to provide first class entertainment. The cast mixes familiar names from history with characters created for the series.

An outstanding level of performance by a number of the leading actors characterizes each episode of Deadwood. Best of all, perhaps, are wonderful performances by Ian McShane who plays the role of the ruthless town boss, a villainous character named Al Swearengen. Robin Weigert, does a great job in her role as Calamity Jane. On one memorable episode she provided an ennui-laden observation that is probably as appropriate to our century as to hers when she blurted out at one point, “Every day it takes figuring out all over again, how to (explicative deleted) live!”

Ruthless town boss Al Swearengen.

“If you build it they will come” could be more truly said about the show’s little Sierra foothill town than about any ball field. The citizens of Deadwood built saloons, houses of ill repute, a general store, a medical office, and a jail. As a result, the town was flooded by gamblers, hookers, merchants, doctors, liquor salesmen, saloon owners, and lawmen. One of the series’ lead actors, Timothy Olyphant, fits into that last category because he plays Seth Bullock, the town sheriff who is running for reelection. Sheriff Olyphant is a somewhat unwilling lawman who had come to town with a simple aspiration to open a hardware franchise together with his business partner and friend, a man named Sol Star.

During its first two seasons Deadwood was nominated for 22 Emmys, won seven of them, and earned a Golden Globe Award. Its fresh, relevant, innovative, well written, and superbly acted episodes have richly earned the series all the honors that are coming its way.

The bad news is that Deadwood is in its final season. It is going out in style with a season climax consisting of two full-length movies scheduled for release.

There is still sufficient time for you to catch the rest of the 2006 season. The show airs on HBO every Sunday at 9 p.m. You can also enjoy the first two seasons on DVD or through your cable’s On Demand service.

If your taste runs to this kind of Western Drama you will enjoy Deadwood. But don’t say I didn’t warn you! This is one show that could never be shown on broadcast TV without a lot of serious editing, deleting, and reshooting. Deadwood is a vulgar, profane, and nasty masterpiece. Goethe would have loved it!