Craig Ferguson's New Show

Stephen Colbert isn't the only one to return with a show this week.  Our friend Craig Ferguson is back tonight with his own new comedy special Just Being Honest on Epix.  I have missed Craig and I expect his new show display more of his outlandish energy and warped view of the world (from a Scottish perspective, of course).  Here is a short clip of his show.  Now we just need to get Craig into a more permanent gig so that we get to watch him grill today's celebrities and politicians.  I hope he lands somewhere soon.

Thank You Netflix for Bringing Back Longmire

I thought it was gone, but Netflix had the good sense to bring back Longmire for another season. A&E had a great show on its hands and it tossed it overboard to find a younger audience. Well, I haven't seen anything this good on A&E since.

Executive producer John Coveny is very happy with the show's new home at Netflix, noting in an interview with the Los Angeles Times:

It was a great feeling to be like at the terminal and they say, “Um, your flight's canceled and you’re never going to get another one.” And then the guy on the next shift comes up and says, “By the way, we found another flight. It’s a private jet, all first-class seats.” Greer has been doing this slightly longer than us. We had a former life and a world to get out of, which was advertising. But to have a show come out of cancellation is one thing. But to have an upgrade to Netflix is an entirely other beast, and it’s utterly fantastic.

You may recall the last season ended last summer with a gunshot and unknown victim. Well, you can watch new 10-episode fourth season on Netflix starting tomorrow and learn what happened.  I expect to stretch out my viewing of sheriff Walt Longmire and friends over a series of weeks rather than one weekend sitting. The show is too good to rush. And now I am hearing that Netflix is planning a fifth season. It keeps getting better.

Colbert Tries To Be Himself

Are you ready for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiering tonight?  Mr. Colbert has plenty of talk show experience, but always as a pretend character. What will the real Colbert be like? And is he someone we want to watch every night? It remains to be seen. 

I also read he is bringing over his entire team from The Colbert Report.  I wonder if that is very wise. They wrote for a different man on a different show. Making the transition could be tough.

Television premieres, like life, can be unpredictable. As Mr. Colbert noted in his book "I am America":

Life is chaotic and unpredictable. If a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, it could cause people at the opposite end of the globe to watch a Discovery Channel special on butterflies.

Update: The first night's show had plenty of energy, even if it was a little over-planned.  I'm not sure if Jeb Bush was the best candidate to kick off the show. I thought Colbert moved beyond politics in his new seat, but old habits die hard. And even a joke cadidate like Huckabee would have been more interesting than Mr. Bush. He was crumbling under the lights and came off like someone's father trying to be cool yet not understanding he was part of the joke (yet not on on it). And George Clooney was glowing as always, but he wasn't given much to do (that was the point, but it become too painfully clear). The ending song finally lifted me, almost literally, so all was not lost. But I am less interested in the show now than I thought I would be. I guess I need to give Mr. Colbert some time to warm up or calm down.

Peele & Key Leave Too Soon

Just as the presidential campaigns get interesting, our friends Key & Peele have decided to hang up their comedy act after five season on Comedy Central. The last episode is this Wednesday night (September 9).  As a result, audiences will be deprived of a necessary palliative to this strange country and its daily insanity. 

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, both raised in mixed race families, were able to channel this nation's strange obsession with race into hard-hitting comedy sketches that illuminated the issues and educated the audience while also being pure fun.

In a recent article in The New York Times, Jordan Peele stated:

People need to be talking about the ways the system is skewed.  We want to use our ability to make people laugh to allow them to talk about it. 

President Obama may miss Luther most of all (shown below). With more than a year to go in his administration, I expect the Republicans will continue to block him at every pass. Luckily, President Obama seems to be finding his own inner Luther these days now that he can see his pending departure. 

The Civil War in HD

This Monday (September 7) is your chance to see the HD version of Ken Burns' The Civil War on your local PBS station.  It is hard to believe 25 years have passed since the initial broadcast of this amazing series. 

I know the summer schedule is busy, so maybe you can put it on your DVR for now.  That way if the fall TV line-up is horrible you have something worthwhile to watch.

A Talk with Lily Tomlin

Speaking of Grace and Frankie, the Wall Street Journal interviewed Lily Tomlin the other week about her role of the Netflix television series as well as her new movie Grandma.  As a 75 year old actress, she is seeing a whole new set of options roll her way.  She is already working on the second season of Grace and Frankie with her friends Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston.  

In addition to discussing her new movie and marriage to Jane Wagner, her partner of 40 years, Ms. Tomlin also discussed a salary battle on her Netflix series.  She noted:

I was sort of pleased about what we were making, and then I heard the guys were making the same. And I said, “Well, I don’t think the guys are playing that much”—of course they turn out to be in almost every episode. Anyway, I said that to an interviewer, never thinking it was going to cause a big flap. And Jane and I have a bit of a backend [share of series profits]. 

I guess money is a point of contention whether your husband is running off with his law partner or a fellow actor is seeking similar compensation.  Don't worry - Ms. Tomlin received a well-deserved raise for the second season.  If you have yet to check out the show I recommend you do so.  

The End of The Dome and More

I am not sorry to see the end of Under the Dome.  After three seasons, CBS has decided to let it end.  I barely hung on for the first two season, but decided to skip the third season after the rambling story lost its way and the acting continued to deteriorate.  I am not sure what happened in Stephen King's book, but it could not be this.  The master or horror needs to write a new book about the series that will not end as executives stretch and massage an okay story into a meaningless, meandering mess.  

So what else is dead?  It appears the NBC has killed the revival of Coach.  The original show ran from 1989 to 1997.   Surprisingly, the main start Craig T. Nelson will still be paid for all 13 episodes even though the project is over.  The last show I watched with Nelson was Netflix's first season Grace and Frankie where he played Jane Fonda's boyfriend.  I hope to see more of Nelson even if he is no longer the coach.  

And one more show to add to the cancelled list - SyFy's Haven.  This is another show that started out well concerning a small town in Maine (actually Nova Scotia) where the residents have unique and dangerous powers known as "the troubles."  Once again, the show went on too long and slowly traveled from fun to droll.  I let the show sit on my DVR for a long time during season four and zoned out during season five.  I appears everyone else did as well.  Another good show gone bad.