Is Studio 60 Really Over? Bradley Whitford Breaks the "News"
Morning, tubers! I chatted up Bradley Whitford last night at the opening of the Davante Eyewear boutique. The store was hosting a charity bash for Clothes Off Our Back, which Brad cofounded with his lovely wife Jane Kaczmarek—and I've got bad news for some of you, but at least it's funny bad news. And at least it'll make you love Whitford all the more.
Brad brings the hammer down:
I still get a lot of email from Studio 60 fans asking if the show is coming back, and I don't have the heart to tell them no. Can you tell them for me?
Uh, yeah…They took Old Yeller behind the barn.
And he's not coming back.
He's not coming back! But he's in a better place.
What do you think happened?
Look, I think it's a miracle to be able to do a TV show, to get one on the air. It takes a million different things to come together to make a show a hit. Something just didn't happen, but it was a great group of people. I loved the people I worked with, I miss them, I miss Matthew a lot. And I had a lot of fun doing it.
Do you think the cost of the show was a factor in the network's decision?
I'm sure it was. The cost of doing that kind of show is prohibitive unless you have massive ratings, and we didn't have 'em.
What's next for you?
I'm shaking my Etch A Sketch.
Awesome.
Right. I was actually not looking to do a show right after West Wing, so I'm looking forward to a break.
And what do you hear about the rest of the cast and crew scattered to the winds? What might they be doing next?
I think Matthew is working at a Jamba Juice in New York.
There you have it, folks. Matthew Perry is slinging smoothies, Bradley Whitford is going to spend more time with his babies and making art out of lead lines, and Studio 60 is gone for good. Feel free to pay your respects below.
Psych: Lights, Camera…Homicidio
(S02E13) “Spencer, thank God you’re here! Now go home.” — Detective Lassiter to Shawn
Even though it may sound crazy, one of the things I like about Psych is that it actually has an opening credits sequence complete with a theme song — something that is extremely rare in this era of maximum exposure. While that may sound mundane at first, it actually gives the show a bit of extra character. It can also be used to set the tone of an episode, as well.
For instance, for the Christmas episode the opening credits were surrounded by holiday lights while the theme rocked to a jingle bell beat. In this week’s episode, which featured Shawn and Gus’ investigation into a real murder on the set of a telenovela, the theme reflected the plot, which meant that it was sung in Spanish. While some may think that it was a bit quirky, I thought it was rather nice. Then again, I’m a big quirky myself.
I really enjoyed this week’s installment of Psych, even though it was a little weak on investigation. It was nice to see Shawn back in the spotlight after a couple of weeks where the show focused on some of the other characters. These are the types of episodes where James Roday, the actor who plays Shawn, really shines. Having him put into the role of soap opera star is a logical step, since he tends to be the center of attention whether or not he wants to be. Plus, it was fun to see Shawn trying to speak a language that he hadn’t used since high school.
I was also glad that the Lassiter and O’Hara’s storyline linked with that of our Psych detectives. There really hasn’t been that much give-and-take between the four since the season resumed, and I missed that. As I’ve mentioned before, you can tell that Shawn respects Lassie’s skills as a detective, despite the fact he is ribbing him all of the time. What I’d really like to see in the future is more interaction between Shawn and Jules. Not that I want to get them romantically involved, mind you. I just want to feel that romantic tension sparking out of the LCD flat screen like it did at the end of the first half of the season.
I think the only problem I had this week was with good ol’ Lassie…one that some fans have commented on in previous weeks. By the end of the first season it seemed like Carlton was warming up to Shawn and Gus — there’s no doubt that he admires Shawn’s ’psychic’ skills. Yet, since the show has returned Lassiter has been a bit stand-offish with the young Spencer. Jealousy? I don’t think so; Carlton is pretty sure of himself when it comes to his investigative work. I’m not too sure what it is, and I’d like to hear from you about your theories.
As I stated, this was a Shawn-based show. Yet, Gus and Henry did have some good moments. With Henry it was the discovery that he was into soap operas. Well, this was a given as plenty of manly men on television are portrayed as closet soap watchers. Henry’s other fine moment was when he was scolding Shawn for stuff that his character Chad did on the soap. For Gus, it was the scene in the precinct where he rattled off the intertwining plot lines and everyone just gave him a stare of bewilderment. There was also the scene in the hospital where Shawn was trying to end on a climatic reveal of evidence and Gus just wasn’t getting it.
As for this week’s mystery, I had no idea that the murderer was the craft services girl. She just seemed so innocent with her cart of sandwiches featuring other Italian meats. As the investigation was proceeding I had never thought that one of the writers could have been the murderer. Then, I realized that these folks do come up with some diabolical ways to kill their actors. So, it was pretty logical. By the way, did the whole reveal on the live edition of the soap remind anyone of the ending of the movie Soapdish?
This week’s pineapple reference was pretty blatant: the craft services girl comes up to Shawn and gives him the Pineapple Peking Dumplings that we asked to be specially made. As for the retro pop references this time around we had mentions of Ted Nugent, Blossom, former Mets player Keith Hernandez, former Golden Girl Bea Arthur, Charo, and The Love Boat.
Next week — Shawn and Gus and the Secret Society.
The Best and Worst of 2007: Joel’s list
To call 2007 a stellar year of TV would be a mistake, because it was a very bleh year in many respects. Shows that had previously riveted us to our seats made missteps and mistakes. New shows were either mediocre or just unmemorable. A writers’ strike made people anxious and depressed all at once. And the aspects of the TV world that have generated low expectations continued on their merry lowbrow way (I mean, who expected Tila Tequila’s search for love to be anything but a skankfest)?
But in a year of abject mediocrity, some highlights and lowlights poked through. Like last year, I’m going to make up categories instead of doing traditional “Bests” and “Worsts.” It hurts my brain less…
GOODNESS
Best “I told you so!” show: 30 Rock. Like most people who saw last year’s pilot, I thought the show wasn’t all that good. But something about it made me continue to watch. Was it Alec Baldwin’s performance? Probably. But there was something else there, a quality that told me — and a few other patient folks — that if the show was allowed to hit its stride, it could be something special. Now that it’s being hailed as the show with the “most laughs per minute,” and winning awards left and right, I’m happy that I stuck with the show from the beginning. It’s one of the smartest shows on the air, cleverly making fun of everything from product placement to politically-correct network initiatives (I’d love to see David Schwimmer come back as Greenzo) to the war in Iraq. It’s one of the shows I’ll miss the most if the strike continues.
Best “You told me so!” show: Life. I really hated the pilot for this show. Damian Lewis’ sprung-from-prison detective Charlie Crews had too many quirks and tics, and the procedural plots were too standard-grade, to make me think the show could work in the long term. But after reading all the comments of praise that accompanied Rich’s reviews (along with my brother’s glowing reviews themselves), I decided to give the show another chance. And I’m glad I did; Crews’ tics have been toned down, and the mysteries — especially in the episode “Farthingale” — were twisty and interesting to watch. NBC picked it up for a full season; let’s hope that it comes back even if the writers don’t come back until next year.
Best finale that I could hope for, given the circumstances: Gilmore Girls. Amy Sherman-Palladino left the show after the sixth season and blew up the works on her way out. New show-runner David Rosenthal took almost two-thirds of the season cleaning up the mess, giving nothing of the old Gilmore for longtime fans to hold onto. But, the season finale — which was obviously written to double as a series finale, because the chances Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel were coming back were slim at best — tied up loose ends and settled relationships well enough to satisfy even the most ardent fan. Did Luke and Lorelai get married? No. But there was enough of a “things are going to work out” vibe as the series concluded that it left me more satisfied than I could have imagined at the beginning of the season.
Best job of living up to expectations: Pushing Daisies. Unlike 2006’s most-anticipated shows — Studio 60, The Nine — PD followed up its spectacular pilot with episodes that deftly balanced the sweet and sticky (a duet of “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” anyone?) with the dark and twisted (bodies buried in snowmen, cheating spouses, dirty medical examiners). There were a few missteps, including the revelation at the end of the last pre-strike episode, but those offenses were minor. Let’s hope Bryan Fuller finally has a hit on his hands.
Best recovery from an awful season: Scrubs. Season six of the veteran comedy was awkward and — for the first fifteen or so episodes — not particularly funny. But, starting with the musical episode, Bill Lawrence and company ended on… well, I can’t call it a strong note, since they almost threw viewers back into a J.D. / Elliot coupling, but at least the episodes were entertaining. Season seven has started off well, mainly because the zaniness factor has been ratcheted back and we’re getting reacquainted with the characters again. Opinions on the season have been decidely mixed, but after last year’s stumbles, I welcome what Lawrence has done this year. Hopefully we’ll get a final episode.
Honorable mentions: Stephen Colbert’s entire year, but especially the “WristStrong” initiative; the improvement of the new correspondents on The Daily Show; The Simpsons Movie (it’s so strongly connected to TV, I decided to include it); The Office (mostly… see below); Scott Baio is 45… and Single (it’s the best of a bad cable reality bunch); It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (especially Charlie’s “Day Man / Night Man” songs); The Riches; Chuck; Reaper (though it fell off a lot after the pilot); the “Showdown” episode of How I Met Your Mother; Drew Carey’s transformation into a damn good game show host.
BADNESS
Best reason why half-hour shows are only a half-hour: The Office’s hour-long episodes. It just seemed like most of the episodes were half-hilarious, half-filler, didn’t it? And the structure seemed to be the same: first half was like a typically-funny Office episode, but in the second half, the writers run out of comedic gas and go for the broad and silly. The fun run, the kidnapping of the pizza delivery kid, Michael driving his car into a lake: all of those plotlines could have been sliced out without anyone missing them. I was very happy when the show went back to a half-hour; I wonder how those episodes will play out in syndication?
Best reason to agree with Dr. Perry Cox: Scrubs’ cantankerous doctor hates Hugh Jackman, and after watching Viva Laughlin, I can start to understand why. What a disaster: bad acting, bad characterizations, bad writing, and a musical gimmick (stars singing along with the soundtrack) that was awkward at best. In a season where networks didn’t pull the trigger as quickly as in the past due to the strike, Laughlin got canned after two episodes (aired over two days). That tells you how bad the rest of the episodes were going to be.
Best job of forcing people to get some sleep: The WGA and the AMPTP. The first casualties of the writers’ strike were the late-night shows, who had to immediately shut down. Without a steady diet of Stewart and Colbert, Letterman and Conan, Leno and Kimmel, etc., the pickings on TV were pretty slim. Seinfeld reruns? Two and a Half Men? Family Guy? Why bother when all of that is on DVD? Local news? Too much fluff and shocked weathermen. Even without writers, the recent return of the late-night slate is a welcome sight, even though I’m not sure what it’ll do to help or hurt the writers’ cause.
Best way to make the public hate a show before it ever airs: Play promos for it repeatedly during a sporting event. FOX has been a culprit in the past — who can forget Ron Silver bellowing “Her father is the district attorney!” all through the baseball playoffs a few years back? — but TBS’ constant promotion of Frank TV during this year’s Division Series and NLCS bordered on viewer abuse. Poor Frank Caliendo… I think those three promos of him doing his Al Pacino, George W. Bush, and John Madden impressions are what his vision of hell looks like. It sure wasn’t pleasant for the rest of us.
Best way to piss off loyal viewers: Kill off your main character, make her go through limbo and profess that it’s the most unique plot ever written, then bring her back to life without any residual damages. Hook up two characters that previously said that they never saw each other “that way.” Take your strongest and most likable character and spin her off into a show that makes her look like an indecisive wimp. All of that happened this year with Grey’s Anatomy and it’s spin-off, Private Practice. Shonda Rhimes was just too in love with her characters this year to realize she was going down a bunch of bad plot roads. From what I’ve heard, she’s fixed some of what she wrought in the 2006-07 season (Izzie and George are broken up, for instance), but I wouldn’t know, since I gave up on the show — one I watched since day one — last May.
Dishonorable mentions: ESPN’s continuing destruction of Monday Night Football; Big Shots; Cavemen’s original, racial-joke-laden pilot; the news channels’ blanket coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death; the entry of Sanjaya into my consciousness even though I don’t watch American Idol; Larry King asking Jerry Seinfeld if his series was cancelled; Seinfeld’s torturous Bee Movie promotion; Michelle Ryan’s wooden acting on Bionic Woman; Viva Laughlin (it was so bad I had to mention it again).
Hollywood Pays Respects To Merv Griffin
Hollywood Pays Respects To Merv Griffin
When Merv Griffin passed away last week, we all lost someone very special. Griffin was in innovator in the world of entertainment, and this past Friday, the who’s who of Hollywood gathered to honor him.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were among the throngs of celebs gathered at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Also in attendance was Nancy Regan, Pat Sajak, Vanna White, and Alex Trebek.
Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a moving eulogy that paid tribute to the accomplishments and contributions of Griffin. He also credited the late producer with giving him his first break.
The Governator told mourners, “I can say today I wouldn’t have gone as far in my career if it wouldn’t have been for Merv Griffin. He had me on many times, and I was on his show to teach him about fitness and he would be teaching me about acting. Well, neither worked.”
Merv Griffin passed away last week. He was 82.
Below, you’ll find photos of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi at Merv’s funeral over the weekend.