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After last season’s horribly uninteresting Heroes finale, I was fully prepared to cut my losses and walk away from the show altogether. Unfortunately, Kristin Bell’s loveliness has thwarted my plans once again with its beautiful blonde locks and snappy come-backs by joining the cast (for a few episodes anyway) in its second season (so says TV Guide.com). Not nearly as exciting as the almost-news a few weeks back that she would be spending time on the Lost island, it is nonetheless good to know that we won’t have to wait until her movie with Jason Segel to catch a glimpse of Ms. Veronica Mars acting all sassy.

Her character on Heroes is described as a “sexy, myserious young lady” which sounds like a role she could play while in a coma. I for one can’t wait until next week when we find out this news was bogus and that she’ll actually be joining the cast of Jericho.

Thanks Andrea for the tip!

Here’s a piece of awesome news: it’s being reported that Kristin Bell (Veronica Mars) is going to have a role in the coming season of Lost. According to the story, she’ll play Charlotte, who is “attractive in a natural and athletic way, precocious, loquacious and funny. Charlotte is also said to repress her emotions and have a hard shell to crack.” What? Repressed emotions on Lost? Now they’re really breaking new ground. Next thing we’ll find out is that she has a dark secret.

The news isn’t that much of a surprise when you consider Bell just finished filming the new movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” with Jason Segel, which was shot in part in Hawaii. If we’ve learned anything from three years of Lost production, its that the series producers, like the Native Americans, use every part of the islands. The presence of the lovely Kristin Bell is a no-brainer. Maybe Lost can do a cross-over with How I Met Your Mother so that Jason Segel can also make an appearance (he can play someone with a dark secret… and who is tall).

The cast of ABC’s new fairy-tale Pushing Daisies

The bliss that is summer in the city has obviously slowed down my production output. This raises several significant problems. The first being less content for you, dear reader. The second is the fact that the network pilots tend to change as fast as we’re able to watch them (the mess that was ABC’s Cavemen has all ready recast a role and decided to write a new pilot episode).

So here I am, finally committing some thoughts to type weeks after first seeing ABC’s crop of dramas that the network hopes will ultimately wow millions across America. A few of the series are strong contenders, a few others should just be forgotten before the embarrassment is broadcast to an entire nation, and one is really, really great. Despite the high (or not so high praise) remember, these are just previews, not reviews. A lot can change between now and air — and probably will. The full breakdown down after the break…

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ABC hasn’t really had a significant hit comedy since the early 90s heyday of the family sitcom. They had Home Improvement, Roseanne, and TGIF which seemed to have raised a generation of kids unable to go out on a Friday night. Once Seinfeld and Friends took off, however, the network was left in the dust with its only line of defense being Damon Wayans, Jim Belushi and George Lopez. In recent years the network has tried a myriad shows, none of them sticking (that being said, no one has been able to make comedy successful anywhere on broadcast television).

This isn’t to say all of their attempts at getting back into the comedy game have been failures. It was ABC that gave life to Sports Night for a season-and-a-half before low ratings ultimately sunk it, and in recent years the network has fully embraced the single-camera format despite not being able to figure out how to actually use it to make people laugh. In a way, the best thing ABC had done in the comedy department was flirt with the idea of picking up Arrested Development from FOX before it was ultimately shot in the head. When all was said and done it proved to be nothing more than a casually tossed out suggestion, but at the very least it gave the impression of the wanting to put their mark on a genre (like what they’ve been extremely successful in doing with dramas).

For fall 2007 ABC has released pilots for three new comedies (Cavemen, Carpoolers and Samantha Who?) which I have been lucky enough to view. I’ll preview each after the jump…

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Remember when audiences were fleeing this show like the plague? Man those people were suckers.

I have three pages (though small pages) of notes on last night’s awesome Lost finale and I intend to work through them more or less in order. I’ll do so, complete with all of the brain-melting spoilers right after the break…

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“Are ya havin’ a laugh?”

Going into tonight episode I kind of expected not to really get anywhere until next week’s two-hour EXPLOSIVE finale. Unsurprisingly, I was right in that assessment. Still, I rather liked this week’s installment — especially the fact that it made me actually feel sorry for Charlie despite the fact that I’ve been calling for his death for well over a year.

What the episode did well, that others hadn’t, was used the flashbacks as a way to highlight a person’s life, not just as a way to weave together this maddening web of connections. Sometimes character is character and even though I generally find myself hating Charlie, you had to give the guy the benefit of the doubt when he’s staring down his own mortality.

The rest of the episode was nothing more than a set-up for next week, with the exception of reminding us that, yes, Bernard and Rose are still alive. It was a minor work in the Lost canon, but I don’t get bothered by pit-stops on the way to something really big (we are going to be getting something really big next week, aren’t we?).

Not a lot of mythology this week outside of the underwater station whose name escapes me. I do find it curious that it took this long for our castaways to follow that cable the other way. Speaking of, those hostiles must be awfully hungry since Locke blew up the sub a few weeks back, no?

Dude, that are museum, like, totally blew up.

Ah 2006. We were all so young and naive back then. To think that network executives were actually under the assumption that audiences would respond to serialized dramas where characters and stories develop over the course of several seasons. Such buffoons. Most audiences, who aren’t myself, don’t have 10 hours a week to dedicate themselves to a story that may or may not ever actually go anywhere.

Traveler, a left-over from last falls serial-spectacular, finally aired last night on ABC after Grey’s Anatomy. It doesn’t come back until the end of the month, but will then run over the course of the summer – or until it gets such low ratings is pulled and replaced by a reality show featuring contestants trying to make the best test-pattern. More of the series after the break…

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I think this is a still from the show, though I’m not entirely sure since I don’t watch it.

It seems like a sure thing. Take a likable (but not altogether necessary) character from ABC’s No. 1 show and give her a spin-off. Assemble a strong ensemble cast (Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman and Tim Daly). And, finally, tease the show in a two-hour backdoor pilot that will be seen by 21.2 million people, essentially guaranteeing a spot on the network’s 2007-08 schedule.

But here’s the problem: The spin-off sucks so far.

Replace Seattle Grace with Oceanside Wellness Group, McDreamy with Dr. Feelgood, and surgical interns with old med school buddies and you have Private Practice. The cookie-cutter cast include a gynecologist who knows nothing about women (get it?), a fertility specialist who wants love (of course!), and a therapist who is as neurotic as her patients (d’oh!). And Addison? She became a babbling Ally McBeal knock-off.

What makes Grey’s great television (and PP not) are, simply, the characters and the writing. Sure the Grey’s doctors are emotionally stunted and sleep around and complain a lot. And it’s not that they are relatable (unless you are a horny intern too) because which characters on TV really are these days. In short, they are appealing and sexy and smart and you want to get to know them. This is thanks in large part to the writing. I can’t recall another show in recent history that has so affected the national lexicon (i.e. “Seriously?” and va-jay-jay). The mix of soapy goodness, romantic comedy and intense medical drama makes for perfect escapist television.

Prediction: The spin-off will happen, duh. ABC will air a sneak preview after Grey’s this fall and then move it Monday, its weakest night of television (Sorry What About Brian and The Bachelor). It will take on another hit in the CSI franchise, CSI: Miami. Ratings-wise it will do less than Miami and Grey’s but will improve on the timeslot ratings for the network, thus ensuring its renewal. During November, February and/or May sweeps I smell a crossover. Grey’s and PP can coexist, albeit on different nights. And Grey’s is here to stay on a competitive Thursday night for the foreseeable future. If only Addison stayed when she returns to Seattle Grace tonight). Seriously.
–AeA

Harry Potter and the Inscrutable Island

Massive spoiler related commentary right after the break…

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It’s mysterious!

Well, the big news of the day is that Lost has officially set an end date. Yes, the show will be resolved and it will do so in May of… wait for it… 2010! That’s three more seasons for those of you keeping score at home. Now, as you collectively pick up your jaws from the floor and reattach them to your heads, check out how it’ll end up going down as reported by Variety:

In conjunction with the advance order, “Lost” showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have inked hefty new multi-year overall deals with ABC Television Studio to continue with the series until the end. Duo had made setting a wrap date for the show a condition for staying.Lindelof and Cuse had wanted “Lost” to end after two more seasons. They’re essentially still getting their wish: The 48 episodes they’ll produce over the next three years is the same number the show produced during its first two seasons.

ABC execs, however, came up with a way to keep “Lost” on its sked for three more seasons. What’s more, the 16-episode arcs will run without repeats (a la “24″), allowing the Alphabet to make the show more of an event.
[READ MORE]

That’s right, 16 episode seasons! This is as much great news as the whole three seasons thing is disastrous. Personally, I’m all for the decision. I don’t care if actual, recordable time is stretched to max so long as they don’t stretch out the story — which is what seems to have been happening to the series the past two seasons.

It finally seems like the networks (or at least a network) are starting to learn a little something from the cable model. Twenty-Two episode seasons over 9 months aren’t necessary when you can have a 13 (or 16) episode season spread over a tight four months. It’s enough time to take advantage of televisions strengths (telling a detailed story over numerous hours) without falling into its trappings (milking something beyond recognition well before it’s sell-by date).

What do you think? Will you continue to watch Lost until the very end? Is three years too long or do the shortened seasons make things a little easier to stomach?

Locke’s dad… kind of a jerk, right?

A murderously delicious episode of Lost last night, despite most of the big shocking reveals having been highly speculated about for months. Despite the above picture being a rather chunky spoiler, I’ll have the rest of the deets after the jump…

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May sweeps, the period in which network television tries to pull out all the stops in an attempt to skewer their ratings higher so they can charge more for advertising, started last Thursday, April 26th. Why Thursday? I’m not entirely sure, but would imagine it is due to the desire to keep the four week period clear of Memorial Day weekend, where the only people watching televsion are fans of mid-round NBA playoffs and losers like me. Sweeps concludes on Wednesday, May 23rd.

The good news is that all of your favorite shows (and even more of your least favorite shows) will be brand spankin’ new, complete with didn’t-see-that-coming twists and turns as well as celebrity cameos, shocking allegations, animals, trick photography and CG talking appliances. In other words, all the reasons in the world to avoid enjoying the outdoors for these few weeks when the weather isn’t suppose to be rainy or so hot you’re convinced you just might take home the pot in your Apocalypse is Nigh pool at work.

Here’s what I’m looking forward to watching:

• Seeing whether those crazy S.O.B.s over there at Lost can actually pull off the unimaginable: making some sense of this sometimes maddening season.
• Enjoying Heroes a few more times before it joins Lost in the category of shows that fell victim to second season frustrations.
• Jordin or Melinda?
• There are still more episodes of How I Met Your Mother, right? Seriously, that show has been especially MIA these past few months.
• Tony Soprano gets wacked or joins the witness protection program or retires to Vermont or god-forbid just goes on with his life as we’re left holding the cable bill

What are you anxious for? Or perhaps the better question would be, are you just anxious for the season to be over all ready?

Mark your calendars!

Well that was good. Outside of the “huh, what?” cliffhanger, we were given probably the best Sun/Gin story in the shows history. Not that the revelations were all that shocking or that the plotting was all that suspenseful (were we not suppose to know that the woman was his mom?) but “D.O.C.” was a terrific episode because it was probably the first time we actually got to see Yunjin act, and as it turns out she’s really good. It’s a shame that the series had taken so long to utilize the character for something other than plot progression.

The ultrasound scenes were especially good because it also marked the first time that I can think of in which Juliette seems to be emoting honestly. She truly loves giving expecting mothers good news and this was the first time we could really see that. All of her previous actions have been cloaked in a veil of double-agent and triple-agent nonsense, but in that scene she was being honest.

Also noteworthy in the episode was that One-Eyed-Jack is not, in fact, dead and that Gin has some cool Dolph Lundgren moves that he can bust out on occasion. There was also the revelation that everyone on Oceanic Flight 815 was dead and the island IS purgatory — or something. Actually it probably isn’t purgatory, but I’ve always felt that the best ending would be the one that people have had the most theories about. It’d be kind of a great F-You to all the whiners. That being said, I really could have gone without a cliffhanger this week. The mood of the episode was too sweet and loving to really need one.

Our favorite ratings-tracking company, Nielsen Media Research, has released its first batch of the most “timeshifted” network broadcast programs. Timeshifting, for those still living a reel-to-reel lifestyle, is essentially recording a program to watched on your own schedule. People have been doing this since the mid-80s when a rocket scientist first cracked the “VCR Timer Code” allowing people to finally program their video recorders to start and stop on command. This audience was largely ignored. Now that the VCR has gone the way of the dodo and replaced by the incredibly friendly and easy to use DVR, suddenly those viewers (the timeshifters) became important… kinda (its not like these people are acutally watching commercials, which is for what the advertisers are looking).

Let’s get to the numbers: House, Lost, American Idol and CSI all had between 2.1 and 2.7 million more viewers when timeshifters were included. In terms of percentage increase The Office and Lost scored the biggest boost from the “I’ll watch it later” crowd getting a 31.5% and 22.8% increase respectively.

While typing this my boss brought up the good point that these shows will probably see an increase in product placement which, as anyone who has ever watched The Office can attest, is probably right on the money.

Get the full details by clicking here. Thanks for the tip, Paul.

Yikes. Crazy eyes!

What I’ve grown to love about Ugly Betty is that even a weaker episode (like last night’s) can still be jam packed with secret rooms, hidden diaries, foot fetishes, nosy reporters, lonely/crazy immigration case workers, secret deals, sexy blackmail, Marc, Amanda and Justin all inside the New York technicolor publishing industry. Oh, and there’s lots of cleavage.

Not every episode of Ugly Betty is a home run (or even a sac fly), but they’re certainly packed with plot. The show stays true to its telenovela roots by giving us two twists for every turn, an yet never feels like appointment television — which in this case almost seems refreshing.

I like knowing that it’s possible to make a show you can just jump into without having to fall back on the trapping of the “network procedural.” As long as you can understand the motivations of the characters (which any six year old could easily do), Ugly Betty is an easy show to pick up. Good drama doesn’t have to be as dense as Lost or as flat as Law & Order.

As for “Punch Out,” it was solidly OK. I’m partial to having more Marc and Amanda than less — especially when they’re plotting. Still it was good to have the show back after its EPIC hiatus.