Well, its official: The new season of Grey’s Anatomy now has a shiny premiere date and now we at least know exactly how much longer we have to wait. The magical date is Thursday, September 24 so be sure to tap that into your calendar of choice. The time and place is of course 9/8c on ABC. So that leaves us with about four more months of suffering before we can finally find out exactly what happens with George and Izzie. They do love to torture us, don’t they?
Despite low ratings in its first season, Dollhouse was renewed for a second season of thirteen episodes.Among other factors, fan response to the show was seen as a reason for the renewal; FOX's president of entertainment stated that "if we'd cancelled Joss' show I'd probably have 110 million e-mails this morning from the fans."As part of the deal, there was a cut in the show's budget,though Whedon has stated that this will not affect the second season. The series will continue in its 9–10 pm Friday timeslot, with the season premiere scheduled for September 25, 2009. Season 2 of Dollhouse began filming on July 22, 2009, so Fox pushed back Dollhouse's return to afford Whedon & Co. sufficient time to produce enough hours to kick off the season with at least three or four consecutive episodes. Miracle Laurie announced that she will be returning in the second season. Alexis Denisof will be joining the cast as Senator Daniel Perrin, and Summer Glau is scheduled to appear in at least two episodes as Bennett, a character who is working inside a Dollhouse. Michael Hogan and Jamie Bamber, will both have a cameo.
The CW has renewed Gossip Girl for a third season,which will start airing on September 14, 2009. The cast began filming on June 29, 2009 in New York City. Hilary Duff has confirmed that she will be joining the show for a multi-episode guest arc in this season as Olivia Burke, a famous movie star who wants a normal college experience. This character was inspired by real life actress Emma Watson's decision to attend college. Joanna García has confirmed that she will also be joining the show for the first four episodes as Bree Buckley, an "evil Miss America type" from a rival Texas family who have a lot of beef with the Archibalds - she will serve as love interest for Nate. America's Next Top Model boss Tyra Banks has been confirmed to appear in the fourth episode as Ursula Nyquist, a larger than life actress, who'll work with Serena. Also appearing in this episode is Sonya Harum an up and coming actress and designers Tory Burch and Georgina Chapman. Music group Sonic Youth will make a guest appearance in the show's fifth episode playing an acoustic version of their song "Starpower". This episode is a "big event" involving Rufus and Lilly. Gina Torres has been cast in a recurring role as Vanessa's mother, Gabriela Abrams
Fox medical drama Housekicks off its sixth season with a two-hour premiere on September 21. That's nearly a month and a half away before we figure out what will become of House after being admitted to a mental facility supposedly for detox. Of course, there are other notable storylines that hang in the balance, including the possibility of House and Cuddy finally doing something more than a hallucinatory hook-up, newlyweds Chase and Cameron, and the team minus Kutner.
While profiling a killer with a personal vendetta against an emergency room doctor, the BAU team discovers that Hotch is missing, on the 5th season premiere ode criminal minds airing September 23, 2009
Starring:
Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop
Special Features:
Fringe: Deciphering the Scene on Every Episode
Dissected Files / Unaired Scenes
The Massive Undertaking Docupods on Select Episodes
Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel
Roberto Orci's Production Diary
Gene the Cow
The Details:
The following is the official description of the series:
"Teleportation. Mind control. Invisibility. Astral projection. Mutation. Reanimation. Phenomena that exist on the Fringe of science unleash their strange powers in this thrilling series, co-created by J.J. Abrams ('Lost,' 'Alias'), combining the grit of the police procedural with the excitement of the unknown. The story revolves around three unlikely colleagues – a beautiful young FBI agent, a brilliant scientist who's spent the last 17 years in a mental institution and the scientist's sardonic son – who investigate a series of bizarre deaths and disasters known as "the pattern." Someone is using our world as an experimental lab. And all clues lead to Massive Dynamic, a shadowy global corporation that may be more powerful than any nation."
"Fringe: The Complete First Season" is not rated.
Mini-Review:
I started watching "Fringe" when it first aired. I caught the first six episodes, then they started piling up on the DVR and I missed the rest. (My wife, on the other hand, continued watching the whole series.) I liked the show well enough, but there was nothing that particularly compelled me to keep watching. It wasn't like "Heroes" or "Lost" where some bigger story was unfolding and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Yes, "Fringe" has a bigger underlying mystery, but it takes a lot longer to unfold. I guess I wasn't patient enough.
If I had to describe "Fringe" to the uninitiated, I'd say it's a new take on "The X-Files." In each episode our FBI heroes take on a new, bizarre, unexplained mystery. Mulder and Scully are combined into FBI Agent Olivia Dunham who partly 'wants to believe' and partly is skeptical. She is teamed with a mad scientist and his estranged son. Each week they come upon a freaky murder mystery, investigate it, discover that their mad scientist was somehow involved in its development, then catch the bad guy. It definitely followed a formula. "Fringe" takes pride in the fact that each event is somewhat based on real science or real legend. They like to have a degree of believability in the scientific horror that takes place whether it be recovering images from the eye of a dead body or accelerated aging or bio-engineered mutants. However, for every reason it might seem probable, you could think of 10 reasons why it couldn't possibly happen. I think that's part of the peril of hanging your hat on believability and it often backfires on them as the mysteries become more and more outlandish.
"Fringe" does have a very strong cast. Anna Torv is great as Agent Olivia Dunham. She's tough, no-nonsense, and by the book. She's a bit of a tomboy as we almost always see her in a suit, but she's still feminine and attractive. Torv is a great leading lady. Torv is also an Australian, so I'm impressed she pulls off a convincing American accent. Joshua Jackson is also good as Peter Bishop, Walter's alienated son. His constant sarcasm can potentially turn the audience off, but he manages to walk that fine line between being annoying and appealing. John Noble has the best role in the cast as Dr. Walter Bishop, the resident mad scientist. I have no idea how a character could be such a master of medicine, physics, and every other scientific field. But Noble also pulls it off while getting the added bonus of acting eccentric and partially insane. Lance Reddick is also good as the stone faced Agent Phillip Broyles. But especially notable is a season ending cameo by Leonard Nimoy as a crucial character in the "Fringe" mythos. His appearance alone is enough to get people like me to tune in to Season 2.
I think if you enjoyed "The X-Files," you're a prime candidate to enjoy "Fringe." This show should get you through your Mulder and Scully withdrawals. Pick up this DVD and catch up now before the second season begins.
The bonus features are smeared all over this 7 disc DVD set. Each episode has a brief featurette showing some behind the scenes footage of the making of the episode. Three episodes have commentary by the crew (Abrams, Orci, Kurtzman, etc) but none of the cast. There are also deleted scenes, a gag reel, a featurette on the visual effects....and the cow. I'll also add that the lenticular cover is pretty cool looking, though I wish there was some explanation for the frogs, leaves, seahorses, and other icons that accompany each episode.
As if the remarkable “Epitaph One” wasn’t setting the bar high enough, along comes this unbelievably cool and eye-catchingly original poster for the second season of DOLLHOUSE. Seriously, if the upcoming season can live up to even half of this just-released promotional poster’s awesomeness… (Starting September 25 at 9PM on FOX and Global TV in Canada.)
Last week the five major broadcast networks outlined their new fall schedules and previewed clips of new series for advertisers at their annual upfront presentations. After taking a look at these clips myself, I’ve compiled a list, divided into what’s most promising, what’s roughly in the middle, and what looks horrible. These aren’t reviews per se, they’re just immediate reactions to very brief footage – I’ll re-evaluate after I’ve screened the pilots later this summer. First up, least promising of the bunch… Alex O’Loughlin fans, please don’t hurt us? 100 QUESTIONS (NBC)
Buzz was that NBC was high on this comedy before its upfront presentation and that it was being touted as “the next FRIENDS.” Highly doubtful, and I’m pretty sure the laugh track was the only thing laughing during the dreadfully unfunny trailer. BROTHERS (FOX)
Starring former New York Giant Michael Strahan…plays former NFL player Mike Trainor, who returns home to help his brother’s struggling restaurant business. CCH Pounder from The Shield and Carl Weathers also star as their parents. Strahan does fine, but what would really be great is if the whole thing didn’t feel so strained and dated. THE DEEP END (ABC)
GREY’S ANATOMY with lawyers. Because it refuses to stop. THE FORGOTTEN (ABC)
A band of amateur detectives work to identify victims and solve their murders. Looks like a COLD CASE lookalike CBS passed on – and with good reason. HANK (ABC)
Kelsey Grammar plays a CEO who loses everything in the stock market, forcing him and his family to relocate to suburban Virginia. It’s the recession comedy of the year: humble, and kind of cheap. HAPPY TOWN (ABC)
I demand a moratorium on prefacing previews with “from the network that brought you [insert cult favourite here].” Just because you mention TWIN PEAKS, doesn’t make this murder mystery set in a town Where Bad Things Don’t Happen Twin Peaks. Got it? MELROSE PLACE (The CW)
Sydney Andrews, of the original Melrose, inexplicably survived her seemingly fatal death and has returned to collect rent from a whole new gaggle of tenants, which include Ashlee Simpson-Wentz in her return to TV. Like the 90210 remake, it seems to lack the balance of soap and melodrama. Needs a Heather Locklear sooner than later. PAST LIFE (FOX)
Honestly, it’s the silliest sounding show I’ve heard in a while. About “an unlikely pair of past-life detectives who investigate whether what is happening to you today is the result of who you were before,” I couldn’t decipher from the clips previewed whether this reincarnation drama was a joke or a sadly mistaken idea for a procedural. THREE RIVERS (CBS)
MOONLIGHT’s Alex O’Louglin is a star dammit! It’s great CBS is so enamored with him, but could they find a role any more thankless than as a surgeon at a organ transplant hospital? I don’t even like him that much I know he deserves better than this. TRAUMA (NBC)
It’s THIRD WATCH, with a bigger budget (so more explosions) and about paramedics. Already I’m feeling medical drama fatigue. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (The CW)
Twilight = icky. Twilight x Dawson’s Creek’s Kevin Williamson = slightly less icky, but still pretty icky. [Source: Aleks Chan, TV Addict]
In an effort to fill the news void between May’s season finales and September’s fall premieres comes even morefiller post-Upfront analysis courtesy of our very own Ken Tucker in-training Aleks Chan, who shares his take on this fall’s most promising new shows. COUGAR TOWN (ABC)
Sure, the whole women-of-a-certain-age bit is a bit played-out, but this one, about a recent divorcé getting back into the dating game in her 40s, is helmed by SCRUBS creator Bill Lawrence and stars an especially game Courteney Cox, who is much better served by slapstick than being icy and bitchy on her short-lived FX series DIRT. COMMUNITY (NBC)
THE SOUP’S Joel McHale plays a smoothly operating lawyer who’s busted for having a fake degree, and is forced to attend a junior college to save his career. McHale looks like he’s breezing through another episode of his E! show, and from the looks of the trailer, the material’s just as funny as him. GLEE (FOX)
FOX has already aired the pilot last week, and it’s leading the pack right now. Crossing my fingers that it’s not a huge case of pilotitus. THE MIDDLE (ABC)
Patricia Heaton, whom I’ve never been a huge fan of even in her Everybody Loves Raymond years, is finally in a role that truly suits her: the furrow-browed, frumpy wife and mother who’s begging to know what happened to her life. The trailer seemed to be aiming for a Malcolm in the middle vibe, and it seems like it will mostly work. MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
The Alphabet net is so confident about this comedy about three different families that it aired the entire pilot during its presentation last week – it might not have been completely kooky to do so: out of all the previews, it garnered the most audible laughs. It’s like a strange combination of the office and ABC’s one-season tanker sons & daughters. The clips make me thing it’s more of the former. V (ABC)
A remake of the ‘80s miniseries, it could possibly be the most topical conspiracy/invasion drama ever: aliens come to earth, claiming in peace, and effusively spread their notions of change – but they’re up to something. Looks creepy good, unlike the miniseries, which was mostly corny good. Plus: Juliet! [Source: Aleks Chan, TV Addict]
It's a busy day for Global Dynamics and Eureka as Allison's labor begins during a sonic cleaning of the company, and the townspeople exhibit Alzheimer's disease at the same time.
Episode 3.15: Shower the People
Airdate: August 21, 2009 (2009-08-21)
Jack investigates the deaths of scientists who drowned in less than liquid circumstances. Meanwhile, Allison's baby shower goes green.
Episode 3.14: Ship Happens
Airdate: August 14, 2009 (2009-08-14)
Henry's 20-year-old ship project returns with more on board than it left with, and Carter thinks it may be linked to the town's deadly electrical anomalies.
Episode 3.13: If You Build It…
Airdate: August 7, 2009 (2009-08-07)
Strange things happen in Eureka when teenagers begin to build a space jump receiver and the "alien" ship lands in Eureka. Meanwhile, Fargo abandons his car "Tabby" or "Tabitha"who then kidnaps him and Larry (the new owner) to teach them a lesson. To make matters worse, Fargo also has important information regarding the ship to give to Allison. In the end Henry arrives and wipes some of the dust off, revealing the ship to have a US Flag, and thus be of Earthly origin…
Episode 3.12: It's Not Easy Being Green
Airdate: July 31, 2009 (2009-07-31)
Tempers and tensions run high as Eureka hosts long-term rival Area 51 in their bi-annual Eureka-fied bowling tournament. When a series of escalating pranks turns deadly, Carter finds himself chasing down a creation of blob-lical proportions.
Episode 3.11: Insane in the P-Brane
Airdate: July 24, 2009 (2009-07-24)
A scientist at GD seems to have gone mad as he starts to measure ghosts and spirit, but when things start to fly it's not a joke anymore. Carter believes it has something to do with the re-opening of section 5, and its new member Tess. Carter and Tess become trapped in the 5th dimension while investigating these strange phenomena.
Episode 3.10: Your Face or Mine?
Airdate: July 17, 2009 (2009-07-17)
While Carter is isolated in a D.O.D. recertification test, Deputy Lupo gets to be Acting Sheriff. But she is not acting at all like herself - someone is slowly stealing her identity, Eureka style…
Episode 3.09: Welcome Back Carter
Airdate: July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10)
Following Carter's dismissal, Fargo and General Mansfield decide to field-test a new robotic sheriff named Andy. However, the unfortunate robot seems to be the target of random gravitational anomalies which repeatedly crush him, and Carter cannot help but get involved. After Carter and Andy save the town yet again, Andy realizes that Eureka is better off in Carter's hands and exploits a loophole in the town charter to have him reinstated. At the end of the episode an alien object is detected heading straight for Eureka.
Episode 3.08: From Fear to Eternity
Airdate: September 23, 2008 (2008-09-23) (Fall Finale)
A doomsday weapon built in the abandoned military complex is discovered, as is the secret Thorne wants to stay hidden - she's 107 years old, real name Mary Perkins, and was involved in a pre-Eureka research project that developed the first atomic bombs (using radioactive material from meteorites). Meanwhile, Jo and Zane get stuck together, literally, and Zoe's life is imperiled by the aging syndrome that killed Mary's colleagues. Allison is found to be pregnant with Nathan's child. After Jack lets Thorne go, General Mansfield tells Carter that his services are no longer needed by the town of Eureka.
Episode 3.07: Here Come the Suns
Airdate: September 16, 2008 (2008-09-16)
It's Election Day in Eureka, but voting is the least of the town's concerns when an artificial sun threatens to go supernova. Lexi is going to have twin boys.
Episode 3.06: Phased and Confused
Airdate: September 9, 2008 (2008-09-09)
A mysterious "superhero" who can walk through walls and fly is causing a ruckus in Eureka. Meanwhile, Zoe and her friends are trapped in a forgotten bunker that was built before World War II. Zoe slips and falls in a mysterious substance.
Episode 3.05: Show Me the Mummy
Airdate: August 26, 2008 (2008-08-26)
Sheriff Carter ends up with an accursed mess on his hands when the opening of an Ancient Egyptian tomb unleashes lethal effects on those who opened it as a swarm of Ancient Bugs are rehydrated (and reanimated). The Bugs use humans as hosts dehydrate and eventually kill them. Once they almost overrun the town, the sheriff and Global Dynamics must contain it or let Eureka fall in to the mercy of a 3000 year old plague.
Episode 3.04: I Do Over
Airdate: August 19, 2008 (2008-08-19)
On Allison and Stark's wedding day, Sheriff Carter finds himself stuck in a time loop, causing him to experience the same lousy day over and over again. Meanwhile, Sheriff Carter's sister, Lexi, visits Eureka. As the time distortion escalates and threatens the town and entire universe, Carter's team takes desperate measures.
Episode 3.03: Best in Faux
Airdate: August 12, 2008 (2008-08-12)
It's time for Eureka's robotic dog show, and the android canines are out in force. However, when sudden mysterious earthquakes shake Eureka, Sheriff Jack Carter ends up with a pure-bred disaster on his hands.
Episode 3.02: What About Bob?
Airdate: August 5, 2008 (2008-08-05)
Sheriff Jack Carter and Allison Blake investigate when a scientist mysteriously disappears from within a sealed biosphere. Meanwhile, the Corporate Fixer attempts to make Eureka’s efforts more… profitable.
Episode 3.01: Bad to the Drone
Airdate: July 29, 2008 (2008-07-29)
Success comes at a price, as several citizens of Eureka discover when the DOD sends a corporate fixer, reputed for completely revamping more Fortune 500 companies than anyone else, to town during an Anti-Missile test that sees the target drone named Martha threatening Eureka.
