What are you watching this summer?

[Cyclenall]

Million Dollar Password looked like one of the easiest gameshows to win money on. You could win $50,000 in minutes and then just take that and leave without any tough thought.

[RL3AO]

I enjoyed the mole tonight. I still remember the first season with Anderson Cooper!

[Brent]

I enjoyed the mole tonight. I still remember the first season with Anderson Cooper!

I did too, and I just watched the first season last week again. I especially loved Nicole aka "I won't sleep outside" !

Oh and how EVERYONE said Marcie was the mole and then she left first...

[Brent]

The final pilot ordered for the 2007-2008 season finally premieres tonight on CBS... Swingtown! Really excited for it. Very un-CBS.

In other news:

Fox is revamping the launch schedule for its fall premieres.

After previously announcing that the lineup for the new season would begin during the last week of August, the net has moved the dates back a week beginning on Sept. 1, starting with a two-hour "Prison Break."

Reasons vary: One, the extra time gives showrunners some breathing room when it comes to getting their shows on track. Many writer-producers have gotten off to a late start due to the cumulative effects of the writers strike and are still playing catch up.

Also, Sept. 1 is Labor Day, and more viewers will certainly be at home that night getting ready to go back to work and school, rather than a week before when many will still be on vacation spending the last few days of summer on the road and not paying attention to television.

Move would also seem beneficial for Fox's most buzzworthy new series, "Fringe." The J.J. Abrams sci-fi skein will air its first episode -- an expanded two-hour installment -- on Sept. 9 and will now have the benefit of marketing muscle from the first NFL on Fox Sunday doubleheader just two days before.

Other notables premieres include midseason hit "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on Sept. 8, freshman half-hour laffer "Do Not Disturb" on Sept. 10 and "House" on Sept. 16.

Complete grid here:

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/06/char ... remier.php

[Ivanhater]

I enjoyed the mole tonight. I still remember the first season with Anderson Cooper!

I did too, and I just watched the first season last week again. I especially loved Nicole aka "I won't sleep outside" !

Oh and how EVERYONE said Marcie was the mole and then she left first...

Haa..Ive watched the Mole since season 1 and was so happy to hear it was back! Good Ol Anderson Cooper..I wonder about him sometimes but thats another story ..Im watching So you think you can Dance..some of those dances are just moving!

[JonathanBelles]

What is Fear Itself supposed to be about?

[Brent]

What is Fear Itself supposed to be about?

A host of provocative directors, actors and writers - including award-winning directors John Landis ("An American Werewolf in London"), Darren Bousman ("Saw II, III and IV"), Ronny Yu ("Freddy vs. Jason," "Bride of Chucky"), Brad Anderson ("The Machinist"), Breck Eisner (upcoming Universal Pictures film "Creature from the Black Lagoon"), Mary Harron ("American Psycho"), Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator") and Ernest Dickerson (NBC's "Heroes") - have been signed for NBC's "Fear Itself," a new 13-episode suspense and horror anthology series from Lionsgate in association with Industry Entertainment.

Thursday June 5, 2008
10:00 PM 1.0 FEAR ITSELF
THE SACRIFICE VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

"The Sacrifice" has a screenplay written by Mick Garris ("Riding the Bullet," "Amazing Stories"), from a story by Del Howison ("Dark Delicacies"). Breck Eisner ("Creature from the Black Lagoon") will direct. When four criminals find themselves stranded in an old, snow-covered fort, they slowly discover both the fort and the seductive trio of sirens who reside there are filled with deadly secrets. Jeffrey Pierce ("The Nine"), Jesse Plemons (NBCs "Friday Night Lights"), Stephen Martines ("Port Charles"), Rachel Miner ("Californication") and Mircea Monroe ("Drive") star.

[JonathanBelles]

That was good! Paralyzing in fact XD

[Brent]

In the battle of the competing scripted series premieres, CBS drama Swingtown had a large advantage over NBC anthology Fear Itself. Take a look:


Thursday 10 p.m.
Swingtown (CBS): 6.0/10 (#2)
Fear Itself (NBC): 3.8/ 6 (#3)

Fear Itself did, however, manage to build from the last half-hour of lead-in Last Comic Standing (#4: 3.6/ 6 at 9:30 p.m.) by six percent. But a 3.8/ 6 is still…well…just a 3.8/ 6. Retention for Swingtown out of a repeat of CSI (#2: 6.8/11 at 9 p.m.) was solid at 88 percent.

[lurkey]

FOX ANNOUNCES FALL PREMIERE DATES FOR THE 2008-2009 SEASON
Released by FOX
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]
HOT FROM FOX...


FOX FALL TWO-HOUR PREMIERES KICK OFF MONDAY, SEPT. 1

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW THRILLER "FRINGE" PREMIERES TUESDAY, SEPT. 9; NEW COMEDY "DO NOT DISTURB" DEBUTS WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10

FOX has set the fall premiere dates for its new and returning series and will kick off the 2008-09 season with special two-hour premieres of PRISON BREAK Monday, Sept. 1 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT); BONES Wednesday, Sept. 3 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT); THE MOMENT OF TRUTH Thursday, Sept. 4 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT); and ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER? Friday, Sept. 5 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

FRINGE, the highly anticipated new thriller from J.J. Abrams ("Lost"), Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman ("Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible III," "Alias") and starring Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John Noble, will debut with a two-hour premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). DO NOT DISTURB, the new workplace comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 10 (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT).

New series and returning favorites' premieres are listed below in chronological order. All times are ET/PT.

Monday, Sept. 1

8:00-10:00 PM PRISON BREAK (2-Hour Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 3

8:00-10:00 PM BONES (2-Hour Season Premiere)

Thursday, Sept. 4

8:00-10:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (2-Hour Season Premiere)

Friday, Sept. 5

8:00-10:00 PM ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER? (2-Hour Season Premiere)

Saturday, Sept. 6

8:00-8:30 PM COPS (Season Premiere)

8:30-9:00 PM COPS (Season Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK (Season Premiere)

Monday, Sept. 8

8:00-9:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (Season Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM PRISON BREAK (Time Period Premiere)

Tuesday, Sept. 9

8:00-10:00 PM FRINGE (2-Hour Series Premiere)

Wednesday, Sept. 10

8:00-9:00 PM BONES (Time Period Premiere)

9:00-9:30 PM 'TIL DEATH (Season Premiere)

9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (Series Premiere)

Thursday, Sept. 11

8:00-9:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (Time Period Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM KITCHEN NIGHTMARES (Season Premiere)

Friday, Sept. 12

8:00-9:00 PM ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER? (Time Period Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS! (Season Premiere)

Saturday, Sept. 13

11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv (Season Premiere)

Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN (Season Premiere)

Tuesday, Sept. 16

8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE (Season Premiere)

9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE (Time Period Premiere)

Sunday, Sept. 28

8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS (Season Premiere)

8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL (Season Premiere)

9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY (Season Premiere)

9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD (Season Premiere)

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The premieres previously announced to begin Monday, Aug. 25 will now begin Monday, Sept. 1.]

[lurkey]

CW's prime-time ad sales plummet
The struggling youth-oriented CW says it sold nearly $375 million in prime-time advertising for next season, about 40% less than it did last year.
By Meg James, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 7, 2008
The struggling youth-oriented CW, reflecting its entrenchment after a bruising season, said Friday that it had sold nearly $375 million in prime-time advertising for next season, about 40% less than it did last year.

In 2007, the network sold about $600 million in ads during the "upfront" market, when the broadcasters sell the bulk of their commercial inventory. This year's total was lower, in large measure because the CW plans to field only 10 hours a week of programming -- five fewer hours than in the just-completed season.

Ratings at the 2-year-old CW, which has failed to get traction with new shows, plunged 23% from last year during the just-concluded TV season. CW, a joint venture between CBS Corp. and Warner Bros., is no longer producing shows for Sundays, instead farming out that night to independent firm Media Rights Capital.

In addition, CW and World Wrestling Entertainment ended their partnership, which means the popular "Smackdown" will no longer be around to give the network a ratings lift.

Nonetheless, CW was able to boost its upfront ad rates about 8% over last year's prices, according to a network executive who did not want to be identified discussing financial information.

The national TV ad market appears to be stronger than what some analysts and even TV executives had anticipated even a month ago. On Thursday, NBC surprised many when it disclosed that it had sold $1.9 billion in commercial time for its new fall season, a marginal increase despite the network's lower ratings.

CW's ability to hike rates after such a difficult year points to the premium that marketers are still willing to pay to reach elusive younger viewers.

Key advertisers, including movie studios, beauty product makers and cellphone companies, are betting on CW's remake of the 1990s Fox hit "Beverly Hills 90210" to increase the network's ratings. CW also hopes its cult hit "Gossip Girl," about wealthy New York teenagers, will build momentum.

[lurkey]

Two Actors’ Unions Fight as One Tries for a Deal
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
Published: June 10, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild publicly declared war on a fellow actors’ union at a Monday rally here, increasing the likelihood of new labor strife in an entertainment industry still recovering from a writers’ strike that ended just four months ago.


“We are engaged in the battle of our lives,” Mr. Rosenberg told a group that appeared to number several hundred and included the actors Ed Asner, Keith Carradine, Justine Bateman and Joely Fisher. “It is essential,” he added, “that we vote down that Aftra deal.”

The crowd responded to the speeches with chants of “Vote No!” and bristled with signs opposing the federation’s contract.

About 40,000 of the federation’s approximately 70,000 members also belong to the actors’ guild. And Aftra’s Los Angeles office resides in the same building as SAG’s headquarters.

The federation’s deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which covers about a dozen television series, including “Cashmere Mafia” on ABC and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO, was approved by that union’s board Friday and is set for a membership vote in coming weeks.

SAG leaders, with their own contract set to expire June 30, have accused Aftra of undercutting their efforts for better terms in hotly disputed areas like new media compensation, the mechanism by which actors grant permission to reuse clips from shows in which they appear, and the integration of commercial products in television shows.

Mr. Rosenberg and the guild’s national executive director, Doug Allen, in a letter dated Thursday, asked Aftra’s leaders to delay ratification of their contract because it was “interfering with SAG’s ability to exercise its leverage for the benefit of all actors.”

Roberta Reardon, Aftra’s president, and Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, its national executive director, responded on Friday with a letter warning that the federation would view any steps by SAG to interfere with ratification of the deal, reached May 28, as “a violation of both the law and the A.F.L.-C.I.O. constitution.”

In a phone interview Monday, Ms. Reardon said she expected to ask the A.F.L-C.I.O. to curtail the guild’s campaign. She added that her union’s lawyers were reviewing possible legal action.

“It’s just unconscionable that one union should start a war against another,” Ms. Reardon said. “This simply demonstrates their ineptitude.”

In an unusually difficult cycle of contract talks, unions representing Hollywood’s directors and writers have both reached new deals. But the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West settled only after staging a three-month strike that began last November, and eventually shut down virtually all television dramas, comedies and late-night talk shows.

In a report issued last week, the Milken Institute, a nonprofit that studies economic and social conditions in California, among other things, said the strike had cost about $2.1 billion in lost output and helped tip the state into recession. Other studies, however, have claimed the economic damage was not as high.

Echoes of the writers’ strike reverberated through Monday’s rally, at which dozens of red-shirted writers’ union members and staff members joined blue-clad actors’ guild supporters. “Unaccustomed as I am to speaking to crowds with picket signs, I’ll have to get used to it,” Patric M. Verrone, president of the West Coast writers guild, joked in addressing the crowd.

Many SAG members joined writers during their strike. And writers returned the favor on Monday, resurrecting strike signs that were papered over with a new message: “WGA loves SAG.”

Still, Monday’s demonstration was relatively small compared with the mass pickets that began the writers’ strike, and fell noticeably short of the demonstrations that accompanied a strike by both SAG and Aftra against commercials producers in 2000.

The two unions, which previously bargained jointly, went their separate ways this year. Aftra’s leaders chose to pattern many points in its new deal on new contracts with the writers and directors, while SAG’s leaders have been striving to better those agreements.

The producers’ alliance declined through a spokesman to comment on Monday’s rally. Negotiators for the alliance and the guild resumed talks at an afternoon session.

At the rally, SAG’s leaders were careful to avoid any specific call for a strike, and at least twice told the crowd that a vote against Aftra’s new contract would simply reopen bargaining.

Uncertainty over SAG’s intentions has already assured what many have called a “de facto strike” beginning in late June, because studios have avoided scheduling movie shoots that would be disrupted by a guild decision to walk out. The guild has not conducted a strike authorization vote, and could instruct members to keep working under terms of its old contract even if a new deal is not reached by month’s end.

On Monday Mr. Allen called rejection of Aftra’s pact a way to send a signal to the producers’ alliance. “We are not done yet! We are not done yet!” Mr. Allen said.

. . . someone pass the popcorn . . . this is getting fun again. . .

[Brent]

Two Actors’ Unions Fight as One Tries for a Deal
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
Published: June 10, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild publicly declared war on a fellow actors’ union at a Monday rally here, increasing the likelihood of new labor strife in an entertainment industry still recovering from a writers’ strike that ended just four months ago.


“We are engaged in the battle of our lives,” Mr. Rosenberg told a group that appeared to number several hundred and included the actors Ed Asner, Keith Carradine, Justine Bateman and Joely Fisher. “It is essential,” he added, “that we vote down that Aftra deal.”

The crowd responded to the speeches with chants of “Vote No!” and bristled with signs opposing the federation’s contract.

About 40,000 of the federation’s approximately 70,000 members also belong to the actors’ guild. And Aftra’s Los Angeles office resides in the same building as SAG’s headquarters.

The federation’s deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which covers about a dozen television series, including “Cashmere Mafia” on ABC and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO, was approved by that union’s board Friday and is set for a membership vote in coming weeks.

SAG leaders, with their own contract set to expire June 30, have accused Aftra of undercutting their efforts for better terms in hotly disputed areas like new media compensation, the mechanism by which actors grant permission to reuse clips from shows in which they appear, and the integration of commercial products in television shows.

Mr. Rosenberg and the guild’s national executive director, Doug Allen, in a letter dated Thursday, asked Aftra’s leaders to delay ratification of their contract because it was “interfering with SAG’s ability to exercise its leverage for the benefit of all actors.”

Roberta Reardon, Aftra’s president, and Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, its national executive director, responded on Friday with a letter warning that the federation would view any steps by SAG to interfere with ratification of the deal, reached May 28, as “a violation of both the law and the A.F.L.-C.I.O. constitution.”

In a phone interview Monday, Ms. Reardon said she expected to ask the A.F.L-C.I.O. to curtail the guild’s campaign. She added that her union’s lawyers were reviewing possible legal action.

“It’s just unconscionable that one union should start a war against another,” Ms. Reardon said. “This simply demonstrates their ineptitude.”

In an unusually difficult cycle of contract talks, unions representing Hollywood’s directors and writers have both reached new deals. But the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West settled only after staging a three-month strike that began last November, and eventually shut down virtually all television dramas, comedies and late-night talk shows.

In a report issued last week, the Milken Institute, a nonprofit that studies economic and social conditions in California, among other things, said the strike had cost about $2.1 billion in lost output and helped tip the state into recession. Other studies, however, have claimed the economic damage was not as high.

Echoes of the writers’ strike reverberated through Monday’s rally, at which dozens of red-shirted writers’ union members and staff members joined blue-clad actors’ guild supporters. “Unaccustomed as I am to speaking to crowds with picket signs, I’ll have to get used to it,” Patric M. Verrone, president of the West Coast writers guild, joked in addressing the crowd.

Many SAG members joined writers during their strike. And writers returned the favor on Monday, resurrecting strike signs that were papered over with a new message: “WGA loves SAG.”

Still, Monday’s demonstration was relatively small compared with the mass pickets that began the writers’ strike, and fell noticeably short of the demonstrations that accompanied a strike by both SAG and Aftra against commercials producers in 2000.

The two unions, which previously bargained jointly, went their separate ways this year. Aftra’s leaders chose to pattern many points in its new deal on new contracts with the writers and directors, while SAG’s leaders have been striving to better those agreements.

The producers’ alliance declined through a spokesman to comment on Monday’s rally. Negotiators for the alliance and the guild resumed talks at an afternoon session.

At the rally, SAG’s leaders were careful to avoid any specific call for a strike, and at least twice told the crowd that a vote against Aftra’s new contract would simply reopen bargaining.

Uncertainty over SAG’s intentions has already assured what many have called a “de facto strike” beginning in late June, because studios have avoided scheduling movie shoots that would be disrupted by a guild decision to walk out. The guild has not conducted a strike authorization vote, and could instruct members to keep working under terms of its old contract even if a new deal is not reached by month’s end.

On Monday Mr. Allen called rejection of Aftra’s pact a way to send a signal to the producers’ alliance. “We are not done yet! We are not done yet!” Mr. Allen said.

. . . someone pass the popcorn . . . this is getting fun again. . .

SAG is acting like big babies trying to stop AFTRA's deal approval(they aren't gonna succeed) and now SAG is the only union left without a deal(that says something to me). There isn't gonna be a strike because the public will not support it(and this is just proving what I've heard for years, that actors come off as greedy), and in fact from what I've read, the SAG membership is very divided on whether they should strike(need 75% to authorize one). I expect the SAG leadership to be replaced when this mess is over. This isn't going to end well for them.

[Miss Mary]

Brent - what do you think of Michael Ausiello going to work for Entertainment Weekly? It won't be the same w/o him at TV Guide.......sigh.

We're looking forward to Weeds starting next week.

[Brent]

Brent - what do you think of Michael Ausiello going to work for Entertainment Weekly? It won't be the same w/o him at TV Guide.......sigh.

I officially have no use for TV Guide anymore(first the magazine and now their website). That was the only reason I even visited their website usually.

[JonathanBelles]

Im watching Celebrity Circus. My major two complaints, the judges and the celebrities could have been picked better. I like the concept of the show, but I dont think it will last. I think the show may get better, but right now it is only a 5.5/10

[JonathanBelles]

Jay Leno: Cirque de So Lame. LOL!!

[lurkey]

Battered Hollywood Braces for New Strike (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | June 14, 2008 | LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER and AMY KAUFMAN

Posted on Sat Jun 14 14:55:02 2008 by abb

Still reeling from a long strike by screenwriters this past winter, Hollywood is bracing for the possibility that the entertainment industry will grind to a halt again -- this time because of a dispute with actors.

The studios' contract with the Screen Actors Guild expires June 30, and talks are getting contentious. Already, film and television producers are holding back on new projects, fearing the talks will fail, even as they rush to complete existing projects before the end of the month.

The two sides have made little progress on key issues including compensation for actors when their work is used on DVD or new media such as the Internet. The actors guild says it's prepared to negotiate even after the contract expires. However, the studios may refuse to keep talking. So long as there is no contract, the de facto stoppage in new productions is likely to continue.

"Honestly, I think a lot of actors are kind of terrified," said Sandra Dee Ferguson, a 40-year-old television actress. "Last year was really difficult for a lot of people and I'm sensing overwhelming fear in the community."

Ms. Ferguson had recently bought a home with her husband when the writers struck. A month away from foreclosure, she approached the Actors Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps entertainers, and it paid her mortgage for a month.

The financial pressure on both sides means there's still a chance they'll reach a deal by June 30. Earlier this year, after the writers' strike ended, a group of influential actors, including Tom Hanks, took out advertisements in Hollywood trade papers imploring the Screen Actors Guild's leadership to quickly negotiate a new deal.

Another wild card is that a smaller actors' union is voting on its already-agreed contract with the industry.

[Miss Mary]

Okay, you know there's not much on TV when you stumble upon the new show Swingtown and you don't flip channels.

Quirky show, set in 1976. It had a That 70s Show meets Knots Landing (or to be current, Desperate Housewives, one wife reminded me instantly of Edit Brit) but finishes up as if it's a Showtime or HBO show. LOL I read that HBO passed on the script/idea so who knows how long this show will last. I probably won't get into it but it looked different and different is always good. Certainly not dull!

[Brent]

Okay, you know there's not much on TV when you stumble upon the new show Swingtown and you don't flip channels.

Quirky show, set in 1976. It had a That 70s Show meets Knots Landing (or to be current, Desperate Housewives, one wife reminded me instantly of Edit Brit) but finishes up as if it's a Showtime or HBO show. LOL I read that HBO passed on the script/idea so who knows how long this show will last. I probably won't get into it but it looked different and different is always good. Certainly not dull!

Last night was the best episode yet. I wasn't sold on the show the first two weeks but I'm into it now. I just don't see it lasting on CBS though(ratings were down again last night ALTHOUGH it still won the 10pm hour which is really pathetic).