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I will miss Craig Ferguson when he leaves the CBS's Late Late Show later this year. We are unlikely to see dancing horses, the "awkward pause," and his sidekick skeleton friend Geoff on the television screen ever again. And it seems CBS is keen to replace Scottish-American Ferguson with another UK talent, this one being James Corden. But I have to admit that I cannot remember having seen Corden in any program, unlike Ferguson who was the much loved boss in The Drew Carey Show.
CBS claims Corden is "the ultimate multi-hyphenate – a writer, creator and performer
who is loved and respected in every medium he touches, including
theater, comedy, music, film and television. James is already a big star
in the UK and he’s wowed American audiences on Broadway; we’re very
excited to introduce his considerable and very unique talents to our
network television audience on a daily basis.”
But I am not familiar with his television credits, from the British sitcom Gavin & Stacey to the The Wrong Mans. Here is a clip with him from a trailer for The Wrong Mans. In the clip he does not know what HULU is, which works well since we do not know who he is. A good match. All I can say is that CBS probably did well avoiding another SNL alum and keeping the show different. The variety on these evening variety shows has been sketchy, with Arsenio Hall trying to break into the slot but not being able to do so. And why is it women hosts control the afternoon and men the evenings? Very odd. Anyway, I hope we get a good show with Mr. Cordon. He has very big (and odd) shoes to fill.
I just watched the pilot of the new NBC romantic comedy A to Z and was surprised that it had some appeal even though it walks and talks like most of this genre. The pilot is available to all at the NBC site (and you can go here as well for the trailer and more). Here is the general set-up:
Andrew Lofland, while a guy's guy, has always been a secret romantic...
not above crooning to Celine Dion while driving to work, with dreams of
finding "the one." He imagines her to be just like that shimmering
beauty he spotted that night in that silver dress at that concert two
years ago. Zelda Vasco is a no-nonsense lawyer who has strong feelings
about being her own person and prefers the control of online dating.
However, when a computer glitch sends her a total mismatch, she's asked
to come in for an interview at Wallflower Online Dating, the agency
where Andrew works.
Andrew and Zelda meet for the first time and despite their differences,
sparks fly. She thinks it's chance. He thinks it's fate. After all,
he's convinced she's the shimmering girl in the silver dress. Is it true
love forever or just a detour in destiny?
The summary goes on (and on), but you get the point. The pilot reminded me somewhat of the movie 500 Days of Summer. However, maybe the key number here is 26. The show likes to play with the alphabet, with A representing the first theme (I will let you be surprised). The question is whether the cuteness of this couple will die long before we hit Z. Such as L for "lame" and M for "melodramatic."
The most interesting piece is probably using Ben Feldman as Andrew. If you recall, he played Michael Ginsberg in Mad Men and had a little bit of trouble getting the attention of women until the bitter end. And then the attention was all encompassing as he was led away to a padded cell. Let's just hope he does not go the way of Van Gogh in this series. The new series officially starts on October 2.
Amazon has released a third set of pilot shows before it has even started showing the winners from the second competition. You may remember that the series Alpha House and Betas came out of the first competition. Season two of Alpha House, a Gary Trudeau creation, should be released next month, whereas Betas was not renewed. And in terms of the second batch, the new series Transparent with Jeffrey Tambor will be coming to Amazon September 26 (here is a trailer). The rest will follow shortly after that.
So what do we have for the third set of pilot? We have three comedies and two dramas. You can view and rate all of them at the Amazon Pilot Season site. Here is a quick summary of each:
-- Really (half hour comedy): A funny, honest, behind-the-curtain look at the psychological and
emotional complexities of marriage and the charged dynamics of a
tight-knit group of friends grasping on to what's left of their youth.
-- Red Oaks (half hour comedy): A coming-of-age comedy set in the "go-go" 80s about a college student
enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end--and the future
begins.
-- The Cosmopolitans (half hour comedy): A dramatic comedy about a group of young American expats in Paris
searching for love and friendship and an ocean of distance from their
past.
-- Hand of God (one hour drama): A psychological drama about a morally-corrupt judge who suffers a
breakdown and believes God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante
justice.
-- Hysteria (one hour drama): An investigative thriller about a haunted young doctor who is summoned
back to her hometown to investigate an epidemic that may be linked to
social media - and her own tragic past
I was impressed with the last two pilot seasons, and the star power on this latest set is also a great start. Amazon is showing it can compete with the adults. This is good for all of us. We just need a few more hours in the day to watch all of this.
BuddyTV has put together a helpful schedule listing 121 television shows premiering this fall, starting with Houdini on the History Channel tomorrow night. It includes reality shows, cartoons, dramas, sci fi, and more. Of course, even this endless list does not include new shows from other online sources, such as Netflix, Amazon, Crackle, and many others. I will try to highlight some of my favorites as well as the more promising shows as I see them, but staying ahead of this tsunami of shows is a challenge for anyone. At least BuddyTV got us started.
More bad news for TV land - The Will Wheaton Project has been canceled by the SyFy network after only 12 episodes. I guess it did not have the audience SyFy was hoping, but I believe the geeks were happy. Overall, it was a low-budget yet fun production allowing Wil to pick fun at Hollywood, including a few SyFy productions (I am sure that had nothing to do with it, right?)
Wil Wheaton is taking it well so far based on his blog, though he seems to wonder if the executives green lighted a show they never really understood:
Ultimately, he told me, the executives in New York just didn’t think we
had enough viewers to justify more episodes. I didn’t say anything about
the total lack of promotion off the network, or point out that our
ratings were on par with The Soup, or that ratings are always lower in
summer than the fall. I didn’t bother saying any of that, because I
know he knows that. I was reasonably confident that he made those
arguments with New York when he was trying to get the show renewed. I
presume he fought hard for us, but ultimately couldn’t sway executives
in New York who never seemed — in my opinion — to really understand what
kind of show we were doing, who I was and why I was hosting it, and how
to engage with and promote to the audience who would like it.
Maybe another network will see that SyFy was starting to mine a rich vein of fans that are now following everything from The Big Bang Theory to Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley. It is only a matter of time before a similar program pops up, and I hope they give Wil and others a little more money and support.
I was disappointed to hear that the A&E network decided not to renew Longmire for a fourth season. The third season ended with a cliffhanger (spoiler alert) as Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire continued to deal with his wife's death, deputy sheriff Vic Moretti faced a disintegrating marriage, and officer Branch Connally had a tense battle with his father that ended with a gunshot. Plenty of excellent material for more seasons, but I guess A&E thought differently.
I am not sure what A&E has going for it in the drama department after dropping Glades and now Longmire. Makes you wonder if they want to be a serious contender, or stick with dumb programming such as Duck Dynasty and Storage Wars. Fortunately, the network still has Bates Motel, but I wonder if they are smart enough to hold onto it. A disappointing day in TV land.
I do not watch the award shows, but the outcome can tell us a little about what the television industry may support in the future. In that regard, it is unfortunate that Netflix did not come away with much in the way of Emmy Awards this week since I believe the company has done very well with the creation of new programs, such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, as well as offering a lifeline to other shows, such as The Killing. That said, I am glad that Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Reg E. Cathey, and Kate Mara from House of Cards were at least nominated for awards, which is still an impressive feat. I should add that House of Cards had 22 nominations in the last 2 years and 4 wins in the more minor categories, and the same goes for Orange is the New Black with 12 nominations this year and 3 wins. So in no way were these programs ignored.
I should also add that I was very happy to see Amy Poehler and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the twin heroines of comedy television, nominated as lead actresses in a comedy series even if they did not win. Parks & Recreations continues to be ignored for all its great work, but at least they are on the board (11 nominations over the years and 0 wins).
Yet I was most pleased to see Fargo's Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, and Allison Tolman nominated, with Fargo winning in the Outstanding Miniseries category (and garnering 18 nominations this year with 3 wins). What an amazing show Fargo turned out to be, and I for one look forward to a second season with (sadly in a way) a new cast, location, and story. TV doesn't get much better, and the Emmy Awards recognized this. Maybe not enough, but Fargo had its day in the sun, which is much appreciated up north.
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