[Televisionary]

The Daily Beast: "2013 TV Upfronts Wrap-Up: Bring On the New Television Shows"

2013-05-17T07:14:00.001-07:00

The broadcast network upfront presentations are over. Jace Lacob on the 51 new scripted shows heading to television next season. What will you watch? At The Daily Beast, you can read my final upfronts post, "2013 TV Upfronts Wrap-Up: Bring On the New Television Shows," in which I wrap up our broadcast network upfronts coverage and take a look at the 51 new scripted series heading to ABC Television Network, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW for the 2013-14 season. The upfront presentations are (finally) over. Now that the dust has settled, it's easier to get a larger picture of what's going on for next season. The numbers: 51 scripted series have been ordered by the broadcast networks for the 2013–14 season. There are 29 new dramas for next season and 22 comedies. Thirty-one shows will launch in the fall, and 20 are being held for a later date, should some of the fall offerings fail to enflame the public's imagination. On the network level, ABC picked up 12 new scripted series; CBS ordered eight; NBC issued series pickups to 14, while Fox did the same for 12 scripted series. The CW claimed five new scripted shows. ABC picked up a slew of pilots, including a Rebel Wilson sitcom Super Fun Night, and issued a series order to The Avengers spinoff series, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. CBS ordered several pilots, including a Sarah Michelle Gellar–Robin Williams comedy from David E. Kelley, Josh Holloway–led cyberprocedural Intelligence, and Hostages, a political conspiracy...

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The Daily Beast: "The CW Reveals Its 2013-14 Primetime Schedule: Hart of Dixie to Monday, Supernatural to Tuesday, The Carrie Diaries to Friday"

2013-05-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

I examine The CW's 2013-14 primetime schedule, which includes five new dramas and moves around returning shows (Supernatural, The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie) across the week. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest upfront report, "The CW Reveals Its 2013-14 Primetime Schedule," in which I take a look at The CW's fall schedule. (Videos and comments from Mark Pedowitz tk.) The CW took the wraps off of its 2013-14 primetime schedule on Thursday morning, marking the final day of the broadcast network upfronts. Among the changes afoot at the nearly seven-year old network: Hart of Dixie and Beauty and the Beast are moving to Mondays, Supernatural moves to Tuesdays, and The Carrie Diaries gets pushed to Fridays at 8 p.m. Nikita, which will have its final season of a six episodes, will be held until midseason. The network ordered five new dramas for next season, which will be scattered throughout Tuesdays (The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals), Wednesdays (The Tomorrow People), and Thursdays (period drama Reign) when The CW begins its fall season in October. Two additional dramas—Star-Crossed and The 100—will be held until midseason along with newly ordered reality show Famous in 12; their timeslots are still to be determined. “We had a terrific season last year, growing our audience on-air, digitally and socially," said The CW President Mark Pedowitz in a statement. "Now we are building on that success by continuing to add more original programming all...

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The Daily Beast: "CBS Announces 2013-14 Primetime Schedule"

2013-05-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

CBS's 2013-14 schedule is here, and it's largely the same, save moving Hawaii Five-0 to Friday and Person of Interest to Tuesday, while Mike & Molly returns in midseason. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest upfront post, "CBS Announces 2013-14 Primetime Schedule," in which I explore the new primetime 2013-14 schedule at CBS, recount some of what CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said to reporters at the network's traditional press breakfast, and offer up some quick thoughts on the changes to the schedule. CBS on Wednesday drew back the curtain to reveal its 2013-14 primetime schedule during its traditional breakfast with reporters ahead of its official upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall. Stability seemed to be the rationale behind CBS's primetime schedule, which returned pretty much intact with a few notable exceptions: Hawaii Five-0 will move to Fridays at 9 p.m., in order to take over the timeslot left vacant by the cancellation of CSI: New York, and Mike & Molly is being held until midseason. Eliminating the lull of repeats, was one of the network's key strategies for the 2013-14, which will see four new comedies and two dramas (one for fall and one for midseason) join the schedule. "Comedy was a priority for us," CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler told reporters. "We shot 23 pilots this year… and our studio really delivered a lot of great content… With comedy, you rely on chemistry and all the right elements coming together at the...

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The Daily Beast: "ABC Announces 2013-14 Schedule: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Gets Tuesday Berth, Super Fun Night Gets Modern Family Lead-In"

2013-05-14T10:49:00.003-07:00

I examine ABC's primetime schedule for 2013-14, which includes Joss Whedon's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a Once Upon a Time spin-off, and Kyle Killen's Mind Games. Plus, read what Paul Lee had to say about the cancellation of Happy Endings and why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is perfect for Tuesdays at 8 p.m. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest upfronts update, "ABC Announces 2013-14 Schedule: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Gets Tuesday Berth, Super Fun Night Gets Modern Family Lead-In," in which I report on ABC's fall 2013 primetime schedule, sum up Paul Lee's remarks to reporters this morning, and issue some quick reactions to the scheduling announcements. ABC took the wraps off of its 2013-14 schedule on Tuesday morning, following speculation about where the network would slot its highly anticipated television series spin-off of feature film franchise The Avengers, entitled Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Yes, there are a lot of periods there for one title.) Elsewhere, ABC announced that Rebel Wilson's sitcom Super Fun Night would get the plum post-Modern Family timeslot on Wednesdays and its upcoming spin-off of Sunday evening's successful fantasy drama Once Upon a Time, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, would be heading to Thursdays. And comedy The Neighbors, which received an eleventh hour reprieve, is now headed to Fridays. The biggest news, however, was that Dancing With the Stars would be reduced to just one night a week. The announcements were made by ABC...

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The Daily Beast: "Downton Abbey Season 4 Sets PBS Return Date"

2013-05-14T07:37:00.002-07:00

PBS sets a January return date for the fourth season of Downton Abbey, and announces the return of Call the Midwife and the launch of dramedy Last Tango in Halifax. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Downton Abbey Season 4 Sets PBS Return Date," in which Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton talks about the return of Downton Abbey, which has (finally) set a U.S. return date in January 2014. American fans of the Crawley clan can finally mark their calendars: Season 4 of Downton Abbey will kick off on PBS' Masterpiece Classic on Sunday, January 5, 2014. Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton announced the official U.S. airdate for Season 4 of the award-winning period drama Tuesday at the PBS Annual Meeting. Downton's fourth season will run for eight weeks, from January 5 to February 23, 2014, roughly the time timeframe as its third season, which aired in the U.S. earlier this year. (In the U.K., Season 4 will air this autumn on ITV.) "Masterpiece fans will not be disappointed: Julian [Fellowes] has done another brilliant job," Eaton wrote in an email to The Daily Beast, "this time, portraying the Downton family moving on from the tragedies of last season." Those tragedies include the death of heir Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) and youngest daughter Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay). The duo—along with Siobhan Finneran (who played devious maid Miss O'Brien)—will not be returning for a fourth installment of the Julian Fellowes-created...

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The Daily Beast: "Fox Unveils 2013-14 Schedule: 24 Returns, Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human to Mondays"

2013-05-13T12:31:00.001-07:00

Fox has revealed its 2013-14 primetime schedule. My take on the changes afoot at the broadcast network next season, including the launch of 24: Live Another Day. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Fox Unveils 2013-14 Schedule: 24 Returns, Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human to Mondays," which includes full details on FOX's 2013-14 primetime schedule, including comments from Kevin Reilly on the return of 24 and much more. On Monday morning, Fox unveiled its primetime schedule for the 2013-14 season, which included several changes to its current lineup and the confirmation of rumors that 24 will be returning to the network. Fox Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly confirmed the news earlier today on a conference call with members of the press. 24 will return in early May as tentpole event drama 24: Live Another Day, which will "arc through the summer." Speaking on behalf of 24 executive producer Howard Gordon, Reilly said that Gordon had asked himself, “'Why are we killing ourselves trying to crack a feature when this is the perfect format?'” The spine of the proposed 24 feature film occurred over the course of 12 hours and translating the thrust of the film to television was "so liberating for us." The decision will allow the show's producers to take what they saw as the best of the 12 hours and translate for television. "We’ll still go in chronological order, but we will skip hours," said Reilly. "It will be dictated by the plot.” Details are...

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The Daily Beast: "NBC Unveils Its 2013-14 Schedule: Parenthood to Thursday, Revolution to Wednesday, and More"

2013-05-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

I examine NBC’s fall and midseason 2013-14 schedule, which shifts around a lot of returning shows. Plus, watch trailers for The Black List, Ironside, and more. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "NBC Unveils Its 2013-14 Schedule: Parenthood to Thursday, Revolution to Wednesday, and More," in which I offer full details on NBC's 2013-14 primetime schedule, complete with video trailers for their new fall dramas and comedies (sadly, the network isn't releasing the midseason trailers that they showed at today's upfront yet), thoughts, and reactions. On Sunday, NBC unveiled the sweeping changes hitting its 2013-14 primetime schedule, which includes several night and time changes to pre-existing shows: Parenthood will move to Thursdays at 10 p.m., following the network's traditional two-hour block of comedies (though there was no word on when Community would be returning to the lineup), Chicago Fire will get relocated to Tuesdays, and freshman hit Revolution will be moving to a new Wednesday programming block with an emphasis on dramas, including Law & Order: SVU and the new Ironside reboot. Those aren't the only changes afoot at NBC, however. Critical darling Parks and Recreation will move to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, while The Biggest Loser will move to Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Elsewhere, two of the potentially strongest new entries, J.J. Abrams' Believe (pictured above) and Rand Ravich's Crisis, are being held for midseason launches. Also on tap for...

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The Daily Beast: "TV Upfronts 2013: Bring On the New Shows!"

2013-05-09T07:19:00.002-07:00

With the broadcast networks' upfront presentations less than a week away, I look at what new television shows the broadcast networks have ordered for the 2013-14 season. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Bring On the New Shows!" in which I start to round up what new television shows the broadcast networks have ordered so far for the 2013-14 season. (It will continue to be updated with each new series order over the next week.) It's that time of year again! I take a look at the new series that are coming to television next season, as the broadcast network upfront presentations get underway next week. The orders started coming in late Thursday night. Fox has so far ordered four comedies and four dramas, including: J.J. Abrams' futuristic police drama Almost Human; Sleepy Hollow, a modern day update of Washington Irving's classic thriller; cop drama Gang Related, which will star Lost's Terry O'Quinn and RZA; and legal drama Rake, a remake of an Australian drama which will star Greg Kinnear. Keep checking this space for the latest updates as the broadcasters prepare to unveil several dozen new shows for the 2013-14 season. Continue reading at The Daily Beast...

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The Daily Beast: "Family Tree Brings Christopher Guest’s Mockumentary Style to HBO"

2013-05-08T07:51:00.002-07:00

He pioneered the mockumentary on film. Now Christopher Guest is bringing his latest comedy, HBO’s Family Tree, to a TV landscape crowded with the format. My take on whether he succeeds. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Family Tree Brings Christopher Guest’s Mockumentary Style to HBO," in which I review HBO's latest comedy, Family Tree, which begins Sunday evening, and which stars Chris O'Dowd (The IT Crowd) and hails from the fertile mind of co-creator Christopher Guest (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind). Over the last few decades, the mockumentary format has become almost totally synonymous with Christopher Guest, the writer/director (and often actor) best known for films such as This Is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration. Each film—to varying success—mined the documentary format for laughs, setting up its eccentric characters as the butts of the joke ... or the only ones in on it. It’s no surprise, then, that Guest would eventually seek to bring his brand of comedy to television, which has had significant success with the format: numerous comedies, from Modern Family to The Office and Parks and Recreation, have embraced the single-camera mockumentary format, allowing for characters to engage in “talking heads” segments in which they speak directly to the audience via an unseen film crew. It’s through this technique that characters are able to comment on what the viewer has...

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The Daily Beast: "TV Upfronts 2013: NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and The CW By the Numbers"

2013-05-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

Is your favorite show safe? I take a look at what’s on tap for the broadcast networks for the 2013-14 season, which shows are coming back, and which ones have gotten the axe. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "TV Upfronts 2013: NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and The CW By the Numbers," in which I offer a running total (which will be updated throughout the next week) at all the broadcast network shows that have been renewed, ordered, and cancelled as we move into upfront presentations week for the broadcast networks. Every May, advertisers and members of the press descend on New York City as the broadcast networks host their annual upfront presentations, where they will unveil their fall schedules, trot out talent, and announce which shows will be coming back next season and which ones won’t. The Daily Beast will be reporting on every move being made by ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and The CW as they prepare to launch their 2013-2014 schedules. As the week wears on, The Daily Beast will continue to update its gallery of new shows as the individual networks present their schedules and programming and report on what the networks’ top executives are saying. This year’s crop of pilots was heavy on literary adaptations, period dramas, foreign formats (particularly of British, Spanish, and Israeli series), and remakes of movies (About a Boy! Beverly Hills Cop! Bad Teacher!) and old television shows (Ironside! The Tomorrow People!). Plus, there was not one, but two...

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The Daily Beast: "The Good Wife: Creators Robert and Michelle King on the Season Finale, Alicia and Kalinda, and More"

2013-04-29T06:51:00.001-07:00

The season finale of The Good Wife was full of dramatic bombshells. I talk to creators Robert and Michelle King about rebooting the show, the start of a ‘civil war,’ Alicia and Kalinda’s dynamic, and what’s next. WARNING: Spoilers galore. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Good Wife Creators Tell All," an exclusive Season 4 postmortem interview with The Good Wife husband-and-wife creators Robert and Michelle King, in which we discuss the Alicia (Julianna Margulies)/Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) dynamic (or lack thereof), what really happened between Kalinda and Nick (Marc Warren), the year of Cary (Matt Czuchry), Robyn Burdine (Jess Weixler), and much more. (Seriously, it's a long interview and I had to cut a lot for space.) With two simple words (“I’m in”) the fantastic fourth season of CBS legal drama The Good Wife came to a staggering conclusion on Sunday evening with the revelation that Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), Illinois’s newly minted first lady, would be leaving Lockhart/Gardner to join the startup firm captained by former rival Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry). The move effectively reboots the show, which will return for a fifth season in the fall. What will Alicia’s decision mean for her star-crossed romance with Will Gardner (Josh Charles) once he gets wind of her betrayal? And what does it mean for The Good Wife that its main characters are being split up and established as potential adversaries? The Daily Beast caught up with...

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The Daily Beast: "Broadchurch: This British Murder Mystery Will Be Your Next Television Obsession"

2013-04-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

British murder mystery Broadchurch, heading to the U.S. later this year on BBC America, is a worthy successor to Forbrydelsen. My take on ITV’s tantalizing thriller, which wraps up tonight in the U.K. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Broadchurch: This British Murder Mystery Will Be Your Next Television Obsession," in which I review ITV's sensational murder mystery Broadchurch, which stars David Tennant and Olivia Colman and which will head Stateside later this year on BBC America. Not to be missed! The British have an insatiable appetite for crime fiction, whether it appears in print or on television screens. Putting aside the twee tea cozy mysteries of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot, however, these thrillers are not only taut but also bleak depictions of the psychological fallout from murder: tracing, as novelist Ruth Rendell has done so well in her work, how crime affects not just the victim, but also those left behind. Murder doesn’t just destroy a single life; it corrupts everyone with which it comes in contact. ITV’s superlative murder mystery Broadchurch, which wraps up its eight-episode run tonight in the U.K. (it heads Stateside later this year on BBC America), explores just that, a gorgeously realized and emotive thriller that revolves around the murder of an 11-year-old boy, Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara), in a seaside town on the Dorset coast, and the investigation by the police and the media to unmask his...

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The Daily Beast: "Hemlock Grove: Netflix’s Latest Original Show Is Scary Bad"

2013-04-19T06:58:00.001-07:00

Netflix will today offer all 13 episodes of its latest original series, Eli Roth’s horror drama Hemlock Grove. My take on how Netflix has stumbled with this poisonous fare. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Hemlock Grove: Netflix’s Latest Original Show Is Scary Bad," in which I review Netflix's newest original series, Hemlock Grove, which is not only nonsensical and almost unwatchable, but also could signal a misstep for the streaming video platform. (A sample quote: "Roman’s mother, Olivia, played by Famke Janssen as though she is channeling Madeleine Stowe’s Victoria Grayson through a hazy, upside-down kaleidoscope, is some sort of supernatural creature as well, her darkness symbolized by her haughty indifference, cut-glass English accent, and penchant for wearing black lingerie.") Netflix has recently had a rather simple mandate: to fund their own original series under the auspices of well-known creative talent and use their streaming video platform—which is now ubiquitous in households around the world—as a dynamic delivery mechanism, offering every episode on the same day. No more waiting, no more timeslots, and no more viewer fatigue; in fact, the technique removed any sense of delayed gratification, playing to viewers’ innate need to binge and “just watch one more.” This scheme worked quite effectively with David Fincher’s remake of the British cutthroat political drama House of Cards, which launched on Netflix in February and received much...

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The Daily Beast: "Sundance Channel’s Rectify is the Best New Show of 2013"

2013-04-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sundance Channel’s ‘Rectify,’ which begins on Monday, is a weighty meditation on crime, punishment, beauty, and solitude. It is also insanely riveting television. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Sundance Channel’s Rectify is the Best New Show of 2013," in which I review Sundance Channel's Rectify, which begins Monday and which I name the best new show of 2013: "With Rectify, McKinnon creates a world of light and darkness, and of heaven and hell, one that exerts a powerful gravity from which it is impossible to escape." Sundance Channel, the indie-centric network that is closely aligned with corporate sibling AMC, is quickly ascending to a place of prominence in an increasingly fragmented television landscape. For the longest time, the network was identifiable as the home of independent films, repeats of Lisa Kudrow’s short-lived HBO mockumentary The Comeback, and some forgettable reality fare. It lacked a cohesive programming identity and existed within the same hazy hinterlands as IFC. But in the last year, Sundance Channel has found itself in the white-hot spotlight normally reserved for AMC—home of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead—thanks to a slew of high-profile and critically acclaimed shows, like the gripping paraplegic unscripted series Push Girls, Jane Campion’s haunting mystery drama Top of the Lake, and now Rectify, a six-episode drama that begins Monday. The network’s first wholly owned original series, Rectify,...

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The Daily Beast: "The Great Bates Motel Debate: Sex Scenes, Mother Issues & Implausible Twists"

2013-04-15T06:34:00.001-07:00

Windy sex scenes! Dumpster diving! Imaginary mommy meltdowns! Or as it says at the site: "A conflicted Jace Lacob and a hooked Anna Klassen debate the merits and flaws of A&E’s Psycho prequel, Bates Motel." Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Great Bates Motel Debate: Sex Scenes, Mother Issues & Implausible Twists," in which Anna Klassen and I debate the merits and flaws of A&E's Bates Mote, which was recently renewed for a second season and approaches Season One's halfway point tonight. A&E’s Bates Motel, the Psycho prequel overseen by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights), hasn’t just attracted an audience—4.5 million viewers tuned into the pilot. It has already been renewed for a second season of Oedipal strife between Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) and his overbearing mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga), set against the backdrop of a seemingly idyllic Pacific Northwest logging town that hides more than a few secrets. Sound familiar? The Twin Peaks allusions are very much intentional here, as is the ominous mood lingering over the action, which so far has seen Norma murdering a would-be rapist and covering up the crime, Norman discovering a human smuggling/prostitution ring, and Norma’s other son, Dylan (Max Thieriot), keeping watch over an enormous pot field. Not to mention that a local cop (Mike Vogel) may or may not have an Asian girl chained up in his basement. As the halfway point of the first season approaches...

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The Daily Beast: "Mad Men Season Premiere: Matthew Weiner on the ‘The Doorway,' and More"

2013-04-08T06:51:00.004-07:00

Hawaii, hell, and heart attacks! Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner discusses Sunday’s sixth-season opener (‘The Doorway’), Don’s quest for paradise, Betty’s transformation, and more. Warning: spoilers abound! Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Mad Men Season Premiere: Matthew Weiner on the ‘The Doorway,' and More," in which I talk to Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner about the sixth season opener ("The Doorway") and some of the themes, questions, and characters within. “Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.” Mad Men’s sixth season started with a bang, with the season opener (”The Doorway”) offering us a look into the psyche of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), flitting between a doorman’s near brush with death, the weight of mortality, and the bliss of paradise, in this case the hot, white light of Hawaii. Throughout the two-hour opener, a jumping-off point for issues of life and death, characters took on complex examinations of identity and perception in an installment that managed to be lyrical and darkly existential. The Daily Beast spoke to Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, who is currently directing the season finale, to discuss Don’s quest for peace and his relationship with Megan (Jessica Paré), the transformation of Betty Francis (January Jones), the new role of Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), that bizarre rape joke, and more. What follows is an edited transcript of the...

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The Daily Beast: "Mad Men Returns: A Recap of Season Five"

2013-04-05T07:38:00.001-07:00

Can’t remember what happened to Don, Peggy, and Joan? Ahead of its sixth season premiere on Sunday, I bring you up to speed on what happened last season on AMC’s Mad Men. Plus, read our review of the Season Six premiere. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Mad Men Returns: A Recap of Season Five," in which I round up all of the important plot points of Season Five of Mad Men in order to get you ready for Sunday's premiere. Season Six of Mad Men begins Sunday evening at 9 p.m. with a stellar two-hour premiere, 10 long months since we last traveled back in time with AMC’s devastatingly elegant period drama. In that time, your brain may have erased precious details about what happened to Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in the dentist’s chair, whether he and “Zou Bisou Bisou” chanteuse Megan (Jessica Paré) repaired their marriage or ended it, and just what Joan (Christina Hendricks) did in order to secure herself a seat at the partners’ table. What happened to Lane Pryce (Jared Harris)? Did Betty (January Jones) have cancer? Why isn’t Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) working at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce anymore? What happened to Sally (Kiernan Shipka) at the museum? Can’t remember the details of Season Five? Read on: Don Draper (Jon Hamm) Don has married his former secretary, Megan, to whom he proposed after a trip with the kids to Disneyland at the end of Season Four. Megan now works as a copywriter at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and Don seems happy to...

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The Daily Beast: "Arrested Development Finally Gets a Release Date"

2013-04-04T10:24:00.002-07:00

Netflix has finally announced a launch date for Season 4 of Arrested Development, the beloved cult comedy which the streaming platform has brought back to life. Over at The Daily Beast, I've got a brief post up, "Arrested Development Finally Gets a Release Date," about the fact that Netflix has finally announced the launch of Season Four of Arrested Development. (Thank god.) Back up the stair car, there’s no need to be blue: Netflix has finally announced a return date for Arrested Development. Mitch Hurwitz’s oddball comedy, which aired on Fox between 2003 and 2006 and revolved around the Bluth clan of Orange County, was resurrected last year by the streaming video provider, which announced today that it will release the fourth season of Arrested Development to subscribers on Sunday, May 26. (That’s right, you can mark your calendars now: May 26 will be the day that the Internet will break in half.) All 15 episodes of Arrested Development will be available to stream on the same day, beginning at 12:01 a.m. PT. The launch follows the rollout pattern established by the platform’s first original series, House of Cards, which launched with all 13 episodes in February, and that of its upcoming Eli Roth horror thriller, Hemlock Grove. Previous reports had the series launching with 14 episodes, but Netflix today confirmed a total order of 15 installments, a significant increase from the 10-episode order it gave the show in December. Each episode will unfold from a...

Read the full article at Televisionary (http://www.televisionarytv.com).

The Daily Beast: "Mad Men Season 6 Review: Triumphant, Lyrical, and Way Existential"

2013-04-03T06:57:00.001-07:00

Mad Men’s Don Draper returns for his penultimate season on AMC Sunday—and he’s as down in the dumps as ever. I write about the dark mood hovering over the show’s brilliant sixth season. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Mad Men Season 6 Review: Triumphant, Lyrical, and Way Existential," in which I review the fantastic sixth season premiere of AMC's Mad Men, which returns on Sunday at 9 p.m. for its penultimate season: "Don isn’t so much a person as a reflection, a shadow, the wet ring left on a bar by a glass of Scotch." Spoilers are funny things. It’s tricky enough to write about a show without delving into the plot mechanics, and even more so when you can’t even touch upon certain aspects of the plot in even a cursory way. But that’s always been the case with AMC’s Mad Men, which returns for its sixth—and penultimate—season on Sunday at 9 p.m. Creator Matthew Weiner wants to ensure that even the most quotidian of details about the plot remain concealed. Members of the press who received an advance copy of the two-hour season premiere were instructed not to reveal several elements about the new season, a detailed list of plot points that are considered verboten. Those restrictions make writing about Mad Men’s beautiful and bravura Season 6 opener (“The Doorway”)—gorgeously written by Weiner and directed by Scott Hornbacher—a minefield of potential missteps, but fortunately not entirely impossible to navigate. The title is a clue to...

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The Daily Beast: "Chopped: Why I’m Obsessed with Food Network’s Reality Competition Show"

2013-04-02T06:49:00.001-07:00

Food Network’s Chopped returns for its fifteenth season. I write about why sea cucumbers, speculoos, and lacinato kale--on the surface, ingredients which many of us have never heard of--matter. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Chopped: Why I’m Obsessed with Food Network’s Reality Competition Show," in which I I write about my insatiable obsession with Food Network's Chopped, and how the competition show brings a deeper and richer awareness of food and culinary diversity to the public at large. When the Food Network, the culinary-themed cable network available in approximately 99 million American homes and 150 countries around the globe, launched Chopped in 2009, no one could have imagined the eventual impact the show would have. And by no one, I mean me. I was initially less than enthusiastic about Chopped—a culinary competition show featuring four chefs squaring off by cooking an appetizer, entrée, and dessert from various mystery basket ingredients—during the early part of its run. I complained about the under-lit sets, the under-enthusiastic judges, the under-utilization of knowledgeable foodie host Ted Allen. I compared it unfavorably to Bravo’s Top Chef, from which it had appeared to borrow its overall conceit. Over time, Chopped course-corrected: the set now no longer looks like it’s perpetually twilight, and the judges—a selection of well-known and well-respected chefs and restaurateurs—are now very much engaged and invested in the...

Read the full article at Televisionary (http://www.televisionarytv.com).