Rob Owen
TV Q&A: 'Arrested Development'
Friday, 24 May 2013 00:00The TV Q&A column is on an early summer vacation this week but it will return next week. Please submit your questions for TV Q&A today.
In the meantime, watch the trailer from the fourth season of "Arrested Development" that debuts Sunday on Netflix. See it after the jump. ...
TV reviews: NBC's 'Save Me' and Fox's 'Does Someone Have to Go?'
Thursday, 23 May 2013 07:41
More new summer programming and the first show debuting tonight, NBC's "Save Me" (8 and 8:30 tonight), offers a reminder that everything that's golden during upfronts week sometimes loses its luster in the eyes of network executives before it ever airs. NBC announced "Save Me" as a midseason series in May 2012. Now it's being burned off in the summer.
(This is a good time to note that not every broadcast network show airing in the summer is a dud. Some shows, like CBS's "Under the Dome," are actually developed specifically for the summer. Not all shows are created equal but when a program has been sitting on the shelf for a year, you know the network has lost confidence in it.)
Anne Heche stars in "Save Me" as Beth Harper, who chokes on a sandwich, has a near-death experience and then comes to believe that God is speaking to her. And she does know things people are thinking that they have not said to her.
Ostensibly a comedy, "Save Me" is more quirky than outright funny. It almost feels like a weird, little indie film if indie films were somewhat flat and predictable. And "Save Me" certainly doesn't fit with any of NBC's other single-camera comedies. This is why it's getting the summer send-off.
Read about Fox's "Does Someone Have to Go?" after the jump. ...
'Sullivan & Son' cast tout season two
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 00:00
We reported last month on the season two premiere date for Pittsburgh-set TBS sitcom "Sullivan & Son" (10 p.m. June 13) despite production delays stemming from an incident involving star Steve Byrne. (At the time that news about Byrne broke, I e-mailed him to ask for comment and he replied but said he couldn't say anything more beyond, "Go Pens!")
Last week I chatted with him on what he said was his first day without having his mouth wired shut in six weeks.
Three episodes had already been filmed when he was “attacked by a cab driver” in Los Angeles. Byrne’s jaw was broken and wired shut and he was on a liquid diet for the duration. His jaw was broken the same day Penguins star Sidney Crosby suffered the same injury in late March.
“I was almost judging my own recovery time line by his,” Mr. Byrne said. “He got back a week earlier than I did.”
Byrne could not discuss specifics of the incident with the cabbie, calling it “a pending legal matter.”
Learn which season one guest star will be back in season two of "Sullivan" and watch a video of the (politically incorrect) cast on the season two premiere date after the jump. ...
More from the set of 'Nashville'
Tuesday, 21 May 2013 00:00
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- In Sunday's TV Week I previewed Wednesday's first-season finale of ABC's "Nashville" (10 p.m., WTAE), which has been renewed for a second season.
Actress Judith Hoag, who plays Rayna's sister, Tandy Wyatt (pictured at right with series star Connie Britton), offered this preview of what the finale holds for her character. She also explained that the Wyatt business empire is far larger than the show has ever let on.
“I am groomed to take over the [family] business for when my father either steps down or passes away,” Hoag said. “But I think what you’ll see is somebody who is ready to stop living in the shadow of the more powerful people in her life.”
Read more after the jump. ...
TV reviews: 'Motive' and 'The Goodwin Games'
Monday, 20 May 2013 00:00
The 2012-13 TV season doesn't end until Wednesday but already the broadcast networks are jumping into summer mode debuting a Canadian import (ABC's "Motive") and a homegrown burn-off sitcom (Fox's "The Goodwin Games") tonight.
"Motive" (10 tonight, then moves to 9 p.m. Thursday) is another procedural crime drama with a format twist that ABC touts but but the difference worth paying attention to is the casualness with which the police investigators go about their business investigating murders. It's completely believable that cops would get a bit jaded and treat a crime scene like a day at the office, yet it's not a portrayal you see very often on TV cop shows.
For that alone, "Motive" stands out a bit. It doesn't reinvent the genre by any stretch but this lighter tone is noteworthy.
The big format shift is less of a revelation: Instead of viewers waiting until the end of the episode to learn who the killer is, we're shown up front the identity of the killer and the victim. From there to the end of the episode that explains why the killer did it, there's a lot of jumping back and forth through time as the pieces of the puzzle come together. If you're a fan of journeys rather than endings, "Motive" is for you. But if you like to play a guessing game about the mystery, well, you may be out of luck.
Detective Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman, who last played a campaign adviser on "The Killing") and her partner, Oscar Vega (Louis Ferreira, formerly Justin Louis of "Stargate Universe"), are the ones putting the pieces together as they chase down the killer. In the premiere, that killer is a high school student.
Flynn has a son (Cameron Bright) so "Motive" does go home with her a bit but it's mostly about the case. "Motive" is most interesting when Lauren Holly ("NCIS") is on screen as Dr. Betty Rogers, a medical examiner with a wicked sense of humor."Morbidity suggests he sprouted wings two-to-three hours ago," Dr. Rogers says when assessing a dead body.
Read about "Goodwin Games" after the jump. ...
TV Q&A: 'Sherlock,' 'Mike & Molly,' 'The Neighbors' and a review of 'The Office' series finale
Friday, 17 May 2013 13:18Click here for a link to headlines of recent TV news and views posts.
TV Q&A with Rob Owen
Submit a question to TV Q&A by clicking here.
This week's TV Q&A (after the "Read more" jump below) responds to questions about “Sherlock,” “Mike & Molly” and “The Neighbors” and reviews the series finale of “The Office.” As always, thanks for reading and keep the questions coming.
- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV writer
The CW announces fall 2013 schedule
Thursday, 16 May 2013 13:38The CW announced its fall schedule this morning, which introduces three new series this fall, brings back "Nikita" for a final, six-episode season and renews the low-rated "The Carrie Diaries."
Read the network's complete release after the jump. ...
CBS announces fall 2013 schedule
Wednesday, 15 May 2013 09:40CBS unveiled a fall schedule this morning that adds one drama and four new comedies for fall, including a two-hour Thursday comedy block.
"Mike & Molly," starring Pittsburgh native Billy Gardell, is not on the fall schedule, but CBS has ordered a full 22-episode season and will bring the sitcom back sometime during the 2013-14 TV season.
Read the network's full announcement release after the jump. ...
ABC announces fall 2013 schedule, including 'Avengers' spin-off
Tuesday, 14 May 2013 16:29
ABC announced eight new fall series but the biggest news may be the pickup of an "Avengers"-inspired TV series, "Marve's The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," as seen in the ABC promo above.
Read the network's full announcement after the jump. ...
Fox announces fall 2013 schedule
Monday, 13 May 2013 10:33Fox announced its schedule for the 2013-14 TV season, moving "Raising Hope" to Friday night and adding two new comedies on Tuesday.
In addition, Fox will bring back "24" as a 12-episode event series that's expected to debut next May (the season will still take place over 24 hours but some less eventful hours will be skipped).
Read it after the jump. ...
