Weekly TV Ratings Oct 10-16

For the week of October 10-16. (not counting Saturdays)
ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox

Title (Network) Day - viewers in million / 18-49 demo rating

HITS
1. NFL Football (NBC) Sun - 22.07 million / 8.4
2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) Thu - 17.64 / 5.1
3. The OT Live (Fox) Sun - 14.11 / 5.1
4. The Voice (NBC) Mon - 13.87 / 4.5
5. Football Night in America (NBC) Sun - 11.77 / 4.5
6. Modern Family (ABC) Wed - 10.85 / 4.0
7. The Voice (NBC) Tue - 12.69 / 3.9
8. Scandal (ABC) Thu - 9.01 / 3.1
9. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) Mon - 7.98 / 3.1
10. NCIS (CBS) Tue - 18.43 / 3.0
11. The Millers (CBS) Thu - 11.73 / 3.0
12. The Blacklist (NBC) Mon - 10.93 / 3.0
13. Toy Story of Terror (ABC) Wed (special) - 10.29 / 3.0

SUCCESSFUL
14. Glee (Fox) Thu - 7.39 / 2.9
15. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) Thu - 8.79 / 2.8
16. Criminal Minds (CBS) Wed - 10.95 / 2.7
17. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (ABC) Tue - 7.68 / 2.7
18. Sleepy Hollow (Fox) Mon - 7.59 / 2.7
19. NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) 14.68 / 2.6
20. Survivor (CBS) Wed - 9.89 / 2.5
21. The Crazy Ones (CBS) Thu - 9.69 / 2.4
22. MLB Baseball (Fox) Sun - 8.35 / 2.4
23. Chicago Fire (NBC) Tue - 8.25 / 2.4
24. MLB Baseball (Fox) Wed - 8.06 / 2.4
25. Once Upon A Time (ABC) Sun - 7.53 / 2.4

WON'T GET CANCELLED
26. Two and a Half Men (CBS) Thu - 9.14 / 2.3
27. Castle (ABC) Mon - 11.11 / 2.2
28. The Biggest Loser (NBC) Tue - 7.00 / 2.2
29. Dancing with the Stars (ABC) Mon - 12.99 / 2.1
30. Person of Interest (CBS) Tue - 12.42 / 2.1
31. Super Fun Night (ABC) Wed - 6.02 / 2.1
32. CSI (CBS) Wed - 9.43 / 2.0
33. Mom (CBS) Mon - 7.44 / 2.0
34. Bones (Fox) Mon - 7.30 / 2.0
35. The X Factor (Fox) Thu - 6.49 / 2.0
36. Elementary (CBS) Thu - 9.06 / 1.9
37. The Amazing Race (CBS) Sun - 8.08 / 1.9
38. Back in the Game (ABC) Wed - 6.24 / 1.8
39. New Girl (Fox) Tue - 3.48 / 1.8

THE REST
40. Shark Tank (ABC) Fri - 6.53 / 1.7
41. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC) Thu - 5.82 / 1.7
42. Nashville (ABC) Wed - 5.75 / 1.7
43. Law & Order: SVU (NBC) Wed - 5.39 / 1.7
44. Revenge (ABC) Sun - 6.00 / 1.6
45. The Goldbergs (ABC) Tue - 5.08 / 1.6
46. 60 Minutes (CBS) Sun - 10.62 / 1.5
47. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) Fri - 9.24 / 1.5
48. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox) Tue - 3.41 / 1.5
49. Blue Bloods (CBS) Fri - 10.56 / 1.4
50. Revolution (NBC) Wed - 5.39 / 1.4
51. MasterChef Jr. (Fox) Fri - 3.92 / 1.4
52. Dads (Fox) Tue - 3.40 / 1.4
53. The Mindy Project (Fox) Tue - 2.83 / 1.4
54. The Mentalist (CBS) Sun - 9.38 / 1.3
55. Undercover Boss (CBS) Fri - 7.86 / 1.3
56. Trophy Wife (ABC) Tue - 4.07 / 1.3
57. The Good Wife (CBS) Sun - 8.46 / 1.2
58. Last Man Standing (ABC) Fri - 6.03 / 1.2
59. Dateline (NBC) Fri - 5.28 / 1.2
60. Hostages (CBS) Mon - 5.16 / 1.2
61. The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC) Thu - 3.86 / 1.2
62. Parenthood (NBC) Thu - 3.77 / 1.2
63. Parks & Recreation (NBC) Thu - 3.23 / 1.2
64. Ironside (NBC) Wed - 4.91 / 1.1
65. 20/20 (ABC) Fri - 4.75 / 1.1
66. Sean Saves the World (NBC) Thu - 3.26 / 1.0
67. The Neighbors (ABC) Fri - 4.12 / 0.9
68. Betrayal (ABC) Sun - 2.88 / 0.8
69. Welcome to the Family (NBC) Thu - 2.49 / 0.8

RERUNS
x. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) Mon (r) - 8.54 / 2.2
x. Scandal (ABC) Tue (r) - 2.77 / 0.7
x. Sean Saves the World (NBC) Fri (r) - 2.79 / 0.7
x. Sleepy Hollow (Fox) Fri (r) - 2.13 / 0.7
x. The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC) Fri (r) - 2.79 / 0.6

ABC
Betrayal should join Lucky 7 as the second show ABC has cancelled.  I would say this will be the last year for Last Man Standing and The Neighbors as well.  It's also not looking good for The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife on Tuesdays.

On Wednesday the ratings for new shows Back in the Game and Super Fun Night are actually disappointing based on their lead-ins. Also, the series premiere of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland were underwhelming.

ABC's most successful new show in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. It might now have the total viewers they covet, but these days, any network show would be happy to get a 2.7.  Modern Family is still its crown jewel, while they have the sudsers covered with Scandal and Grey's Anatomy.

CBS
This network gets the most overall viewers even if it isn't #1 in the demo.  Comedies are its forte there.  Hostages is its lowest-rated show, and even if CBS lets it end its 15-episode run, it won't be renewed. Also, based on the demo, I'd say this will be the last season for the excellent The Good Wife, which creatively seems like it still has 2-3 season in it. I hope it gets a proper send-off. It doesn't look promising for The Mentalist either.

NBC
Football and reality shows keep this channel afloat.  The Voice is now bigger than American Idol, and The X Factor is now irrelevant.  Welcome to the Family should be cancelled any day now, and Sean Saves the World will shortly follow. I also expect this to be the last year for Parks & Rec, and I wonder if NBC might try to save The Michael J. Fox Show by moving it to another night.

The Blacklist is its top scripted show (deservedly so). Sophomore series Revolution has all but lost its viewers. It'll be interesting to see how Grimm and Dracula do when they air next week.

FOX
Glee got a bump from those wanting to see how it'd handle Finn's death (including me, a non-Glee watcher). Sleepy Hollow is doing well, and The Following should be big when it returns. The Tuesday comedy night needs to dump Dads and Mindy Project and bring back Raising Hope and any other show that isn't Dads.

Also, here's the top cable-rated show from this week:

1. The Walking Dead (AMC) Sun - 16.11 / 8.2
2. NFL Football (ESPN) Mon - 11.95 / 4.7
3. Duck Dynasty (A&E) Wed - 7.4 / 3.2
4. NFL Football (NFLN) Thu - 7.81 / 3.1
5. NFL Post-Game (NFLN) Thu - 6.51 / 3.0
6. American Horror Story: Coven (FX) Wed - 5.54 / 3.0
7. Talking Dead (AMC) Sun - 5.10 / 2.6
8. The Walking Dead Marathon (AMC) Sun - 5.67 / 2.6
9. Sons of Anarchy (FX) Tue - 4.35 / 2.3
10. BET Hip Hop Awards (BET) - 3.69 / 1.8
11. Sportscenter (ESPN) Mon - 3.66 / 1.8
12. Real Husbands (BET) Tue - 3.54 / 1.8
13. MLB Baseball (TBS) Wed - 6.09 / 1.6
14. MLB Baseball (TBS) Tue - 5.79 / 1.6
15. MLB Baseball (TBS) Fri - 5.45 / 1.5
16. MLB Baseball (TBS) Thu - 5.45 / 1.5
17. WWE Raw (USA) Mon - 4.15 / 1.5
18. Bad Ink (A&E) Wed - 3.00 / 1.4

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Terry Crews and Kristen Schaal.
Directed by Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn.

Grade: B-

If you haven't seen the first one, fear not. This movie recaps it pretty effectively in the first 90 seconds.  It also picks up mere minutes after the first one ended, with their island covered in food, but the disastrous water-into-food machine destroyed.

This is one of those mild-enjoyment animated movies. There's "genuine enjoyment" films like most of Pixar and half of Disney, there are arms-folded hope-the-kids-liked-it movies like Escape from Planet Earth, and somewhere in the middle we get movies like this. I you liked the first one, you'll like this one too. I liked the first one.

Flynn and friends go back to their home to find the island overtaken by sentient food-animal type creatures, like spiderburgers and shrimpanzees.  We therefore get a quick-paced, frantic, colorful explosion of creatures and characters somewhere between The Croods and Alice in Wonderland.

The voice work I enjoyed the most was Will Forte as the duplicitous scientist using Flynn for his own nefarious purposes. My main quibble: Mr. T did not return to voice policeman Earl. It's covered by Terry Crews. Why no Mr. T?

Random Movie Stuff - 10/17/13

- Director Brad Peyton will reunite with his Journey 2 The Mysterious Island star Dwayne Johnson for San Andreas 3D, an action thriller about a giant earthquake from the San Andreas fault.

- Keanu Reeves will star in John Wick, about a retired hitman who is forced back into action by a sadistic young thug (Game of Thrones' Alfie Allen). Bridget Moynahan, Willem Dafoe, Michael Nyqvist, Adrianne Palicki and Dean Winters co-star.

- Chris Pine (Star Trek) has signed on as the first of three new Horrible Bosses for the sequel, scheduled to open November 26, 2014.  Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and Jamie Foxx will all return.

- Ty Simpkins, the kid from Insidious, has joined the cast of Jurassic Park 4, titled Jurassic World. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help) and Jake Johnson (New Girl). It's directed by Colin Trevorrow (who also worked with Johnson on Safety Not Guaranteed) and it's set to open June 12, 2015.

- Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman are reuniting with their Moonrise Kingdom director Wes Anderson in The Grand Budapest Hotel. It opens March 7. It co-stars Owen Wilson, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody and Tom Wilkinson.

- The Maze Runner has been pushed back to September 19, 2014. Based on the book by James Dashner, it's set in a post-apocalyptic world where young Thomas (MTV Teen Wolf's Dylan O'Brien) finds himself with his memory erased in a community of boys trapped in a large maze. It co-stars Will Poulter (We're the Millers), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones), Kaya Scodelario (Clash of the Titans) and Patricia Clarkson (Shutter Island, The Green Mile).

Gravity is #1, Captain Phillips #2

Box-office for the weekend of Oct. 11-13.

1.  Gravity - $44.27 million ($123.4) - 2 wks (WB) -20.7%
 . . . 3660 screens / $12,094 per screen
2.  Captain Phillips - $26 - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3020 / $8609
3.  Cloudy with Meatballs 2 - $14.2 ($78.04) - 3 wks (Sony) -32.2%
 . . . 3874 / $3665
4.  Machete Kills - $3.8 - 1 wk (OR)
 . . . 2538 / $1496
5.  Runner Runner - $3.73 ($14.11) - 2 wks (Fox) -51.7%
 . . . 3026 / $1231
6.  Prisoners - $3.67 ($53.62) - 4 wks (WB) -36.2%
 . . . 2855 / $1284
7.  Insidious Chapter 2 - $2.65 ($78.45) - 5 wks (FD) -32%
 . . . 2156 / $1229
8.  Rush - $2.36 ($22.2) - 4 wks (U) -47.2%
 . . . 2130 / $1110
9.  Don Jon - $2.34 ($20.14) - 3 wks (Rel) -43.7%
 . . . 1996 / $1172
10. Baggage Claim - $2.08 ($18.27) - 2 wks (FS) -49.1%
 . . . 1320 / $1572

Captain Phillips was the best opener for a live-action Tom Hanks movie since Angels & Demons (2009).  Even then, it was no match for Gravity, and with a mere 20.7% drop in week 2, it's on its way to being a monster hit.  Sandra Bullock is the most bankable actress in Hollywood right now. Weird that she has nothing official on her plate besides providing a voice in Minions. The Heat 2 was announced but they're nowhere near ready to film.  The 49-year-old probably has dozens of scripts to choose from right now.

Nothing else is doing that well. Machete Kills may have a low budget but it's still a dud. The first Machete movie opened to $11 million.  The latest Romeo & Juliet movie, which stars True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld as Juliet, tanked in limited release.

Mom - TV Review

Starring Anna Faris, Allison Janney, Nate Corddry, French Stewart, Sadie Calvano and Matt Jones.

Chuck Lorre's touch is obvious in this laugh-tracked story about a dysfunctional single mom Christy (Anna Faris) who's dealing with chaos all around.  She and her bad-example mom (Allison Janney) are in Alcoholics Anonymous together. Christy's own teen daughter is pregnant, and Christy's sleeping with her married boss (Nate Corddry). And her son's father is a deadbeat drug dealer. But she wants to be a more responsible parent now. This could be a Showtime drama reimagined as a sitcom. For me the dysfunctionality is just stacked up too high to be accompanied by a laugh-track.
 Grade: B-

Prisoners - Movie Review

Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano and Melissa Leo.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve.

★★★½

This slow-burn thriller may be two-and-a-half hours long, but I was never bored nor concerned with the running time.

It features two families (Hugh Jackman & Maria Bello and Viola Davis & Terrence Howard) spending Thanksgiving together.  When a daughter from each disappears, they start to search the neighborhood, but then the teenage son remembers they were playing by a suspicious RV parked down the street, and it's now gone.

It isn't long before the investigative officer Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) locates the RV, and the driver Alex (Paul Dano).  Alex exhibits the mental acumen of a 10-year-old and the police are unable to find enough evidence to keep him. Loki (really wish they'd named him something else) pursues other avenues, but Keller (Jackman) is convinced that Alex knows something, and with each passing day, it means there's less likelihood their girls will be found alive. So he kidnaps Alex and questions him in ways that get more and more medieval.

The movie has a lot to say about vigilante justice, but it's more about the mystery, and while I was able to figure out most of it fairly early (had to wait about half an hour for Loki to notice a clue I noticed right away), it was suspenseful to watch unfold. I can only imagine what David Fincher (Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) might have done with this material.

The acting's good all around, but this is career-best work from Jackman, getting that primal, vicious paternal instinct that would give Taken's Bryan Mills pause. (If your brain just hit a speed-bump, that is Liam Neeson's character's name.) I was also really impressed with Gyllenhaal, a man clearly struggling with his own demons that have affected him in odd ways. (He has a very distinct blink, and one where I didn't feel I needed to know why.)

It could have been tighter. I think it could have trimmed minutes here and there but the makers wanted to hang some lanterns on clues to make sure the audience didn't miss them.

New TV Show Reviews Part 2

ABC's BETRAYAL - Funny watching talented actors try to make limp material breathe.  The likes of James Cromwell and Henry Thomas are in supporting roles, but a series centered on adultery isn't really going to go far if it's in that Castle/Nashville sheen that ABC uses on all their dramas.  In fact, I've been noticing more and more that network shows look like they belong on the networks they're on. All the CBS dramas look the same, the ACS dramas look the same, the NBC dramas look the same.  Grade: D

CBS's THE CRAZY ONES - Robin Williams is back, and he's in predictably precious form. He's an ad man, and wouldn't you know it, Mad Men's James Wolk works there too. The first episode was a giant McDonald's commercial. (You know, Mad Men uses real brands too, but I never felt like they were blatant commercials for Jaguar or Kodak.)  There's no laugh-track but several times it'll have a co-worker crack up at whatever Williams is doing.  Grade: C

ABC's BACK IN THE GAME - James Caan is all crust and grumpiness, in a funny way, as an old man who takes baseball waaaay too seriously but is now helping his daughter coach her son's baseball team, and those boys are the ones who couldn't make the other teams they tried out for. Grade: B-

ABC's SUPER FUN NIGHT - Why have Rebel Wilson have an American accent but still have a British guy in the cast?  I kept wondering why they didn't let let Rebel be Australian.  I'll say this. I liked it a lot more than Girls.  Grade: C+

New TV Show Reviews

ABC's LUCKY 7 - It wound up being exactly what I thought it would be, and I didn't have high expectations. It's a semi-sweet little drama about seven people who win the lottery, but it doesn't solve all their problems, and no one had a story I felt like following.  Grade: C-

CBS's HOSTAGES - The set-up is interesting. I don't know how far it can go, but this 15-episode season is set up with a rogue FBI agent (and some helpers) kidnapping the family of a surgeon (Toni Collette) who's scheduled to operate on the US President. She needs to let him die during surgery, or they will kill her family. The ratings have helped me decide to not add it to my DVR rotation.  Grade: B

CBS's WE ARE MEN - CBS's once powerhouse Monday lineup is getting less and less funny. This one actually isn't that bad, which means if I had to choose between watching another episode of this or 2 Broke Girls, I'd pick this. It's not worth hunting down, though. It's about four guys who've been wrecked by bad relationships who serve as each other's wingmen when looking for love.  Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, Jerry O'Connell and Chris Smith (who?) are the four guys. Grade: C+

FOX's DADS - I already reviewed it, but just wanted to point out again it's terrible. Grade: F

FOX's BROOKLYN NINE-NINE - Much better show that comes on right after Dads, and it deserves a better lead-in.  Andy Samberg is about what you'd expect as the fun-loving but competent detective, the Hawkeye in this MASH unit, if you will.  Andre Braugher gets to show off some comedic chops as the straight-laced captain (who's also gay).  Probably the funniest of the new comedies I've seen thus far. Grade: B+

AMC's LOW WINTER SUN - I gave this three episodes, and the second two were better than the pilot, but the new episodes were adding up on my DVR and after seeing its ratings I just deleted them. I liked the cast, and maybe it could have grown into something special, but it starts with the main character murdering someone. He's doing it because he thinks this dirty cop killed his girlfriend, but he finds out afterward that his girlfriend is still alive.  He's already crossed the line, so what am I rooting for?  Grade: C+

A Haunted House - DVD Review

Starring Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, Cedric the Entertainer, Nick Swardson, David Koechner, Dave Sheridan and JB Smoove.
Directed by Michael Tiddes.

★½

Yet another parody movie, I know. This one sends up Paranormal Activity mainly, but gets in some jabs at other franchises.

There are two main problems with this film.

1. Nick Swardson. I rarely find him funny anyway but here he plays a gay psychic coming on to Marlon Wayans the whole movie.  Maybe some gay panic/misunderstanding at the beginning can be funny, but it gets rapey after a while and by the end, it's virulently homophobic.

2. Low-brow humor. The first night of recorded paranormal activity features... farting. *sigh*

Director Michael Tiddes (who got his big break serving as producer Rick Alvarez's assistant on the set of White Chicks) is able to get a lot of the Paranormal angles down. That's about all I can say.

Cloudy 2 is #1

For the weekend of Sep. 27-29.

1.  Cloudy with Meatballs 2 - $35 million - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 4001 screens / $8748 per screen
2.  Prisoners - $11.27 ($38.95) - 2 wks (WB) -45.9%
 . . . 3290 / $3426
3.  Rush - $10.31 ($10.57) - 2 wks (U) +5407%
 . . . 2297 / $4490
4.  Baggage Claim - $9.3 - 1 wk (FS)
 . . . 2027 / $4588
5.  Don Jon - $9 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 2422 / $3716
6.  Insidious Chapter 2 - $6.75 ($69.54) - 3 wks (FD) -51.1%
 . . . 3120 / $2163
7.  The Family - $3.67 ($31.7) - 3 wks (Rel) -47.5%
 . . . 2894 / $1270
8.  Instructions Not Included - $3.38 ($38.57) - 5 wks (LG) -37.4%
 . . . 948 / $3565
9.  We're the Millers - $2.87 ($142.42) - 8 wks (WB) -37.1%
 . . . 2405 / $1191
10. The Butler - $2.42 ($110.28) - 7 wks (Wein) -42.4%
 . . . 2062 / $1172
11. Enough Said - $2.12 ($2.48) - 2 wks (FS) +808.5%
 . . . 227 / $9317
12. Battle of the Year - $2 ($7.47) - 2 wks (SG) -56.6%
 . . . 2008 / $996
13. Metallica Through the Never - $1.67 - 1 wk (PH)
 . . . 305 / $5482

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is the first animated movie to hit theaters since Disney's low-effort Planes, so the kid market was ready.  None of the other new films really broke out. Rush opened on five screens the week before to try to build buzz. It and Don Jon had positive reviews, but didn't make any bigger a dent than the critically-savaged Baggage Claim.

Random Movie News - 9/30/13

- Hugh Jackman has joined the cast of Chappie, the next film from Neill Blomkamp (Elysium, District 9). It's about two gangsters who steal a robot to help them commit crimes. Sharlto Copley will provide the voice of the robot. Jackman is mulling over a return to Broadway for the Houdini musical.

- Mark Wahlberg is looking to team with director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) for a remake of The Gambler, the 1974 movie that starred James Caan as a college professor whose gambling addiction gets him in trouble with the wrong people.

- J.K. Rowling will make her screenwriting debut with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which takes place in the same universe as Harry Potter but won't be considered a prequel. The events in the film will take place 70 years before the Harry Potter films.

- Christoph Waltz is in talks to play the villain opposite Alexander Skarsgard in a new Tarzan movie.

2013 Emmy Winners

OUTSTANDING DRAMA - Breaking Bad
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS DRAMA - Claire Danes, Homeland
OUTSTANDING ACTOR DRAMA - Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS DRAMA - Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR DRAMA - Bobby Cannavale, Boardwalk Empire
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR DRAMA - Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal
OUTSTANDING WRITING DRAMA - Henry Bromell, Homeland
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING DRAMA - David Fincher, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING COMEDY - Modern Family
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS COMEDY - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
OUTSTANDING ACTOR COMEDY - Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS COMEDY - Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR COMEDY - Tony Hale, Veep
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Melissa Leo, Louie
OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR COMEDY - Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory
OUTSTANDING WRITING COMEDY - Tina Fey & Tracey Wigfield, 30 Rock
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING COMEDY - Gail Mancuso, Modern Family

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW HOST - Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn, Project Runway
OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION - The Voice
OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES - The Colbert Report
OUTSTANDING WRITING VARIETY SERIES - (17 writers), The Colbert Report
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING VARIETY SERIES - Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY - Derek Hough, Dancing with the Stars

OUTSTANDING TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE - Behind the Candelabra
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS  TV MINISERIES - Laura Linney, The Big C: Hereafter
OUTSTANDING ACTOR TV MINISERIES - Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Ellen Burstyn, Political Animals
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR - James Cromwell, American Horror Story: Asylum
OUTSTANDING WRITING TV MINISERIES - Abi Morgan, The Hour
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING TV MINISERIES - Steven Soderbergh, Behind the Candelabra

The show was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, and it therefore felt more like the Tonys than the Emmys a lot of the time.  A dance number in the middle of the show?  A choreography sequence in Hour 3? For this, they cut short Anna Gunn's speech?

Favorite parts of the show:
- Kevin Spacey's bit in the opening sequence.
- The acceptance speeches of Merritt Wever and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
- Will Ferrell's "couldn't find a babysitter" presentation.
- General unpredictability.

Some of the categories:
 - Loved that Breaking Bad won Best Drama. Was kinda hoping Veep or Big Bang Theory would win Best Comedy, since Mod-Fam and 30 Rock have won it the past seven years between them.
- Jeff Daniels for The Newsroom was a shocker.  Thought it should have gone to Cranston, or Hamm, or Spacey, or Lewis, or Bonneville.
- Bobby Cannavale for Boardwalk Empire was a surprise, but I guess I'm okay with it. I probably would've gone with Aaron Paul or Mandy Patinkin.
- I never watch Nurse Jackie, so I have no idea how good Merritt Wever is. I would've picked Anna Chlumsky or Mayim Bialik.

As to the In Memorium, they gave five special tributes to Jonathan Winters, Jean Stapleton, Cory Monteith, Gary David Goldberg, and James Gandolfini.  (They really thought the spot should go to Monteith instead of Jack Klugman or Larry Hagman?) But they didn't play any clips; we only got testimonials.  And same with the regular In Memorium, we got only photos.  Anyway, stretching out the death theme made the whole event more of a bummer than usual.

Fox's Dads - TV Review

Starring Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, Martin Mull, Peter Reigert and Brenda Song.

Where to begin with this show's problems? It's a live-in-front-of-a-studio-audience comedy, which means when the one-liners fall flat, the audience still laughs as if they didn't. That poor, poor audience.

Now I've enjoyed the work of the two dads and two sons in other work. The writing here is just so obvious; it feels like they're from recycled scripts circa 1989.  The premise is about two friends/coworkers who run a video-game company, but their single dads are interfering in their lives. Mull plays the scheming dad of Ribisi; Reigert is the grumpy dad of Green.

The one part of the show for me that worked was when the dads were alone at lunch. The check came, and both of them tried to get out of it by ignoring it and hoping the other one would pay.

Disney vet Brenda Song (Suite Life on Deck) probably felt like she'd graduated to grown-up sitcoms, but this one had her bosses get her to dress up as a Japanese schoolgirl to impress some Chinese customers coming in. Maybe next time, kid.

Fall TV Preview 2013

James Spader will star in NBC's The Blacklist

Last year the networks debuted 19 new shows. 7 of those shows have made it to a second season. None of the new mid-season replacement series were renewed.

This year there are 25 new shows.  The networks seem to be putting more new stuff in fall and holding back established series (like Mike & Molly and Suburgatory) to replace what doesn't work down the road.

Let's say 9 of them survive.  I will guess Mom, Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, The Goldbergs, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Originals, The Michael J. Fox Show and Reign.


=SUNDAY=

ABC
Once Upon A Time
Revenge
Betrayal

CBS
The Amazing Race
The Good Wife
The Mentalist

FOX
The Simpsons
Bob's Burgers
Family Guy
American Dad

NBC
Sunday Night Football

New Shows:

Betrayal (ABC) - The dully-titled soap is about a married lawyer (Stuart Townsend) who begins an affair with a married woman (Boss's Hannah Ware) only to learn afterward her husband in opposing counsel in a high-profile trial he's working.  Sounds like an ideal sudser to follow Revenge, but reviews have been poor.

=MONDAY=

ABC
Dancing with the Stars
Castle

CBS
How I Met Your Mother
We Are Men
2 Broke Girls
Mom
Hostages

FOX
Bones
Sleepy Hollow

NBC
The Voice
The Blacklist

THE CW
Hart of Dixie
Beauty & the Beast

New Shows:

We Are Men (CBS) - Another fall, another Jerry O'Connell series that will likely die an ignominious death.  This co-stars Kal Penn and Tony Shalhoub as a bunch of idiotic stereotypes of "men."  This is getting worse reviews than Partners.

Mom (CBS) - Chuck Lorre is one of the last living kings of the multi-camera sitcom, and here he's provided a vehicle for Anna Faris as a woefully irresponsible mother trying to put her life back together when her that-much-more-irresponsible mother (Allison Janney) re-enters her life. Buzz has been positive.

Hostages (CBS) - CBS may rule the procedural, but with Under the Dome, they showed they're still willing to try cliffhanger dramas.  Hostages will have a limited 15-episode run, and it's about a surgeon (Toni Collette) whose family is being held hostage by a rogue FBI agent (Dylan McDermott) who wants her to kill the US President, on whom she's scheduled to operate. Jerry Bruckheimer (24) will executive-produce.  Sounds more like a cable show, which is a compliment.

Sleepy Hollow (Fox) - Supernatural elements have been trending lately, so Fox tries to get into the Grimm business with this update on Ichabod Crane. He and the Headless Horseman show up in modern times. Could be goofy fun. It scored 10 million viewers on its debut.

The Blacklist (NBC) - James Spader is suddenly using his real hairline and chewing the scenery as  a career criminal who turns himself in in order to help the FBI hunt down his enemies. NBC really needs a success on its scripted slate.

=TUESDAY=

ABC
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD
The Goldbergs
Trophy Wife
Lucky 7

CBS
NCIS
NCIS: Los Angeles
Person of Interest

FOX
Dads
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
New Girl
The Mindy Project

NBC
The Biggest Loser
The Voice
Chicago Fire

THE CW
The Originals
Supernatural

New Shows:

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (ABC) - Agent Coulson lives! And rumor has it they'll explain how in one of the episodes down the road. Expectations are high for this series about the regular non-superhero people who keep SHIELD running.

The Goldbergs (ABC) - 1980's nostalgia for this sitcom that makes Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Wendi McLendon-Covey (Bridesmaids) as the parents. Sounds like it would've fit in perfectly on Wednesdays. Oh well.

Trophy Wife (ABC) - Malin Akerman is the young third wife to West Wing's Bradley Whitford, and she has to juggle stepkids and her husband's two ex-wives (Marcia Gay Harden, Michaela Watkins). Interesting cast, but reviews have been meh.

Lucky 7 (ABC) - Seven people win the lottery. This very special dramedy follows their stories, and I don't see this lasting longer than Six Degrees.

Dads (FOX) - "From the creator of Family Guy" comes a likeable cast (Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, Peter Reigert, Martin Mull) dealing with father-son issues, but reviews have been dreadful (apparently there's a lot of racist Asian jokes.)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) - If it can survive its lead-in, Andy Samberg tries for the Barney Miller route in this comedy set at a police station. Andre Braugher, that gravitas-filled actor who can't seem to find a series that'll stay on the air, arrives as the new no-nonsense chief. Hijinks ensue. I'm actually good things about this.

The Originals (CW) - Vampire Diaries spinoff. I don't watch CW. Best of luck, folks.

=WEDNESDAY=

ABC
The Middle
Back in the Game
Modern Family
Super Fun Night
Nashville

CBS
Survivor: Blood & Water
Criminal Minds
CSI

FOX
The X Factor

NBC
Revolution
Law & Order: SVU
Ironside

CW
Arrow
The Tomorrow People

New Shows:

Back in the Game (ABC) - James Caan is a grumpy ex-baseball player who helps his estranged daughter coach a Little League team. Should be a Bad News Bears mix.

Super Fun Night (ABC) - Aussie comedienne Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) plays an awkward lawyer with an American accent.

Ironside (NBC) - Blair Underwood mans the wheelchair in this update of the Raymond Burr classic. I expect it will suffer the same fate as Prime Suspect.

The Tomorrow People (CW) - Young pretty people with superpowers.

=THURSDAY=

ABC
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Grey's Anatomy
Scandal

CBS
The Big Bang Theory
The Millers
The Crazy Ones
Two and a Half Men
Elementary

FOX
The X Factor results
Glee

NBC
Parks & Recreation
Welcome to the Family
Sean Saves the World
The Michael J. Fox Show
Parenthood

THE CW
The Vampire Diaries
Reign

New Shows:

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC) - This spinoff of Once Upon A Time will spend its time in Wonderland, where John Lithgow plays the White Rabbit.  Hard to say if this franchise is strong enough to already support a spin-off.

The Millers (CBS) - Will Arnett (Arrested Development) is a man dealing with the divorce of his parents (Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges) in the first episode. The laughs look broad (it's from Raising Hope's Greg Garcia) but that might mean it fits right in behind Big Bang Theory.

The Crazy Ones (CBS) - Robin Williams returns to TV, and CBS is treating it like Richard Dreyfuss in The Education of Max Bickford. Remember that show? Exactly.

Welcome to the Family (NBC) - Mike O'Malley (Glee, Justified) plays a guy who learns his wife is pregnant AND so is his teenage daughter. Said daughter is impregnated by her Latino boyfriend so some culture-clash comedy will probably be in there too.

Sean Saves the World (NBC) - Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) is a bachelor who came out to his wife a few years ago, but now he gets custody of his 14-year-old daughter. Linda Lavin (Alice) plays his mom. It's been getting reviews on par with Nathan Lane's Encore Encore.

The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC) - Mike finally gets his own show again! I wouldn't have been disappointed if he became a full-timer on The Good Wife, but hey, here he is to try to help the network that originally made him a star. He plays a once star reporter who semi-retired due to his Parkinson's, but he decides to get back in the game. Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad's Marie) plays his wife. I'm looking forward to this.

Reign (CW) - Mary Queen of Scots gets the CW treatment. Torrance Coombs (The Tudors) plays one of her suitors.

=FRIDAY=

ABC
Last Man Standing
The Neighbors
Shark Tank
20/20

CBS
Undercover Boss
Hawaii Five-0
Blue Bloods

FOX
MasterChef Junior
(encores)

NBC
Dateline NBC
Grimm
Dracula

THE CW
The Carrie Diaries
America's Next Top Model

New Shows:

Dracula (NBC) - It might benefit from following Grimm but I haven't heard much good about it, and Friday is still Friday. It stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (The Tudors).

Pain & Gain - DVD Review

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris, Tony Shalhoub, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong and Michael Rispoli.
Directed by Michael Bay.

★★½

This is Bay in Bad Boys mode. It's a high-octane crime caper featuring some muscle-heads trying to live the American dream. By stealing the accumulated wealth from someone else.

It's based on a true story but it takes a looooot of liberties with actual events (for example, Dwayne Johnson's character is a fictitous combination of three people from the real story). A faithful telling of the facts wouldn't have been as fun.

Wahlberg is the idiot who's perfecting his body at his gym but wondering why he isn't more successful. After all, he's worth it. After attending a bogus self-help seminar, he's inspired to grab life by the throat and take what he wants. What he wants is the fortune of his wealthiest client (Tony Shalhoub), a jerk who owns several properties around Florida. He gets a couple friends (Johnson, Anthony Mackie) to help him kidnap the client, then they force him to sign over all his money.

It's fast-paced, frenetic, and it's where Bay's style excels. I don't why he chose to make the kidnappers more comical/likeable and why he made the victims jerks, but it would have taken a Scorsese-like hand to guide the waters through a more faithful account.  As is, it was fun, as fun as a movie can be where someone ends up on death row.

Stoker - DVD Review

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Jacki Weaver, Dermot Mulroney, Phyllis Somerville, Alden Ehrenreich and Lucas Till.
Directed by Chan-wook Park.

★★★

Stylish thriller that keeps the viewer off-kilter until it ramps up to its inevitable end. It's the first English-language film from accalimed director Chan-wook Park, but it still has a very Korean flavor to it, particularly Mia Wasikowska as the drab protagonist India, a blank-staring girl trying to compute why the adults around her are all so weird.

After her father (Dermot Mulroney) dies, her long-lost uncle Charles (Watchmen's Matthew Goode) shows up to comfort her mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman).  There's something off about Charles, but he's very compelling. He's been travelling for years and yet his own brother wouldn't allow him to visit.  Now why would that be?  Hint: people start dying.

Insidious Chapter 2 is #1

1.  Insidious 2 - $41.05 million - 1 wk (FD)
 . . . 3049 screens / $13,463 per screen
2.  The Family - $14.5 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 3091 / $4691
3.  Riddick - $7.01 ($31.28) - 2 wks (U) -63.1%
 . . . 3117 / $2250
4.  The Butler - $5.58 ($100.04) - 5 wks (Wein) -33.6%
 . . . 3239 / $1723
5.  We're the Millers - $5.42 ($131.6) - 6 wks (WB) -29.6%
 . . . 3238 / $1672
6.  Instructions Not Included - $4.25 ($26.58) - 3 wks (LG) -47.8%
 . . . 933 / $4555
7.  Planes - $3.07 ($82.98) - 6 wks (BV) -25.6%
 . . . 2739 / $1119
8.  One Direction: This Is Us - $2.4 ($26.89) - 3 wks (TS) -40.7%
 . . . 2300 / $1043
9.  Elysium - $2.05 ($88.39) - 6 wks (TS) -34.7%
 . . . 1720 / $1192
10. Percy Jackson 2 - $1.83 ($62.04) - 6 wks (Fox) -24.8%
 . . . 1638 / $1114

Insidious Chapter 2 had the second-highest September opening ever.  Patrick Wilson and director James Wan really know how to make money together.  The Family was modestly budgeted so its opening isn't surprising. I'm sure megaplex chains wish they'd get more wide releases this time of year when stuff like Getaway can't leave theaters fast enough.

In limited release, a couple Christian titles (The Investigator, Final: The Rapture) did well.

Breaking Bad - "Ozymandias" - TV Review

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.' 

- Percy Shelley

This may be the most devastating episode yet in an already brilliant series.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

There are only two episodes to go after this, and while we've always known there won't be a happy ending, this episode played on audience expectations and side-stepped them and had scene after scene of high-tension moments.

When we ended last episode, it looked like Hank and Gomez were goners, outnumbered in a shootout with the Aryan family. But this episode started at the beginning, showing a scene that would've taken place around the pilot, with Walt and Jesse happily cooking meth in the desert. Such warm and fuzzy memories.

Fast-forward to present (which isn't really present since we know Walt grows his hair out and fetches some ricin, but I'm getting ahead of myself) where Hank is injured and Gomez is dead. They didn't hit any of the Aryans, and Hank's time has come. A handcuffed Walt pleads for Hank's life. All he's done, he keeps telling himself, he did for his family, and now his brother-in-law is about to die.  Walt gives away his $80 million to try to save Hank but to no avail. Great acting job by the trio of Walt, Hank, and gun-holding Jack.

Hank takes a bullet to the head, and Jack and family take $70 of the $80 million. They let Walt keep $10 million to show there are "no hard feelings."  But there's one last item of business. The whole reason Walt had called the Aryans was to kill Jesse Pinkman, and Walt sees Jesse hiding under the car.  Walt gives Jesse a stare harder than Michael gave Fredo in Godfather II. Right before Jesse gets killed, Todd suggests they question him first to see how much he told Hank.  And right before Walt lets Jesse be dragged away for torture and execution, he lets Jesse know that he watched Jane die. Jesse is devastated in every way possible, and Walt's transformation to pure evil is complete.

And yet, one of the great things about BB is how Walt keeps telling himself that he's doing it for the right reasons (his family) and that basically he's still a good person (he knows he's not but it's all for his family!)  Walt is ready to take his $10 million, grab Skyler, Walt Jr., and Holly, and disappear.

Ah, but Hank had called Marie, and Marie confronts Skyler that Hank has arrested Walt.  She makes Skyler tell Walt Jr. now.  Watching Walt Jr.'s world crumble is one of the saddest events yet on this show.  Walt Jr.'s been the innocent here, and now he knows the truth and he goes through the five stages of grief in heartbreaking ways.

Ah, but when they get back to the house, they see Walt. And if Walt is there, that means Hank is dead. Then in one of the tensest moments in TV history, we get a couple glimpses of the knife rack by the phone.  Knives. Phone.  Knives. Phone. Skyler makes her choice. She grabs a knife and tells Walt to go away.  When they scuffle, the audience knows Walt won't die but it doesn't mean he won't accidentally kill Skyler, and then when Walt Jr. intervenes, there's that horrible moment of "please don't accidentally kill Walt Jr.!" Ultimately Walt Jr. protects his mom and calls the cops on his dad. Walt was already betrayed to the cops by his surrogate son Jesse; now his real son has done the same thing.

Walt grabs Holly when he leaves, another horrific moment with Skyler chasing her baby (Emmys for everyone, and this has been Anna Gunn's best season yet!). Walt's call to Skyler to help absolve her (of course he knew the cops were listening) was his last noble gesture, and it ends him riding off into the sunset with Saul's anonymous friend.

One more tidbit though: Jesse is still alive, and Todd (who's the scariest kind of psycho, calm and polite) takes him down to a meth lab, keeping him on a chain but needing him to cook.

Two episodes to go.  Are the Aryans out of it?  Will Lydia's Czech clients come to the US to get some answers?  Are Skyler, the kids, and Marie still in great danger? Who is Walt's intended target with that Ricin?

My guess is Lydia is the ricin's intended victim.  If Walt was going after Jack or Todd, he'd want a quicker method of death.  I don't see how Jesse stays alive to the series finale, but I can almost see Walt rescuing Jesse and letting him go or killing him himself.

What do you think will happen?