Catching up with The Closer and Saving Grace
All things considered, the summer television season is off to a pretty good start. I’ve been enjoying My Boys, The Middleman, Fear Itself, and So You Think You Can Dance, to name a few. The schedules might be a little heavy with the reality programming at the moment, but that’s changing soon enough. Over the next few weeks we have the likes of Eureka, Psych, Burn Notice, Stargate: Atlantis, Monk, The Closer, and Saving Grace all making their returns.
With those last two in mind, I thought I would point everyone to some handy recaps the fine folks over at TNT put together to get us back up to speed before the shows return on July 14th. Each of the videos manages to crunch the last season down to about four and a half minutes, and I’ve embedded them after the jump.
For reasons only those at TNT know, the embedded videos are really small. If that’s not a problem, here they are. If you would rather see the bigger version you’ll have to follow these links to the official sites for The Closer and Saving Grace.
Lou Ferrigno Lends Voice to Hulk; New Trailer Unleashed
During The Incredible Hulk panel at the New York Comic Con, director Louis Leterrier asked the original tv hulk Lou Ferrigno to give an on-stage “audition” for a chance to provide the big green guy’s voice in the new movie. It seemed like one of those staged bits just to get Ferrigno to yell out “Hulk Smash!” for those in attendance. But apparently it was legit, and Lou Ferrigno’s voice is in the new film!
“Lou did this amazing, ‘Hulk smash!’” producer Gale Ann Hurd told Variety. “And (director Louis Leterrier) said, ‘Come in, we’ll record you next week.’ Everybody thought it was either a staged event or we wouldn’t really do it. But the next week Lou came in in L.A. and his voice is the voice of the Hulk.”
Meanwhile, a new trailer for The Incredible Hulk titled “Awaken” can be found on a new Best Buy promo DVD, which is free with select DVD purchases. A not so great looking copy has shown up on YouTube (found via AICN). Watch it embedded!
The Incredible Hulk hits theaters on June 13th 2008.
FX dubs Shield’s last season “The Final Act” - VIDEO
It’s coming. Finally. Tuesday, September 2nd. There’s been lots of speculation about when The Shield’s seventh and final season would return. First it was supposed to be last month. Then, because of the writer’s strike, it got bumped to September - but nothing was confirmed. Well now it’s official. FX has updated The Shield website and 9/2/2008 is the day “The Final Act” begins. 13 episodes and it’s over for good. In the meantime, FX has added some fantastic cast on cast interviews to the site featuring CCH Pounder, Benito Martinez, Michael Chiklis, and… wait for it… Kenny Johnson. Lem, back from the dead! Well, not really, but after the jump I embedded one of the interviews between Chiklis and Johnson where they talk about Lem’s demise. It’s good stuff and based on the set-up of the site, it looks like more interviews will be added each week. I’m hoping they bring back some other old favorites like they did with Lem. I’d love to see Walton Goggins face-off with Anthony Anderson, considering the history Shane and Antwon have. Who’d you like to see?
Harper’s Island: it’s the new Moonlight - VIDEO
OK, before you Moonlight fans come after me, I’m kidding with the post title … mostly. The similarities are rather striking though. Remember when team Moonlight brought in former Angel producer David Greenwalt, and most of the original cast was sent packing? Well, now comes word that former Angel producer Jeffrey Bell has been brought in as the new showrunner for Harper’s Island, and Elaine Cassidy is the only actor being held over from the pilot. Eeerie, isn’t it?
I’m still not exactly bullish on the idea that serialized horror/drama is something that CBS can pull off, but you never know. That’s what makes TV so fun. And I’m enough of a fan of things in the horror genre that I’ll certainly be game to give this one a look. Bell, who also counts X-Files, Alias, and Day Break among his credits, will be sharing executive producer duties with Jericho’s John Turteltaub. Here’s hoping things go better for Mr. Bell than they did for Mr. Greenwalt. If you haven’t seen the preview for Harper’s Island yet, it’s embedded, after the jump.