Entries Tagged 'ABC' ↓

Caught some of ABC’s ballyhooed obstacle course game which, of course, is fashioned after
MXC, itself fashioned after the Japanese head-scratcher Takeshi’s Castle. Or maybe it skips the middle-man and apes Takeshi’s Castle. Whatever, it sucks either way.

The obstacles are not nearly as entertaining as the Japanese counterparts–the bouncy balls are a sad trade-off for the head-traumatizing awesomeness of the log roll. There’s still mud and water and contestants saying stupid things and announcers saying stupider things, but the dialog pales in comparison to the MXC voice-overs. Then again, you could get away with a lot more innuendo on Spike TV than you can on ABC prime time.

The lone highlight was that boxing glove obstacle and the inevitable crotch punches.

Yes, this is a cheap way to rub it in, so apologies Laker-Land, but NBA Commish David Stern must be a little happy after seeing the returns for the ballyhooed Finals match-up between Boston and L.A., which brought in a 10.7 share for the Celts’ dismantling of Kobe and company.

Granted, it doesn’t scorch the airwaves and the NBA has plenty on its plate with the ever-unfolding nightmare that is disgraced ref Tim Donaghy and allegations of game-fixing, but I’m sure most casual hoops fans–not to mention the ABC front office–were just a bit relieved to not see another Detroit/San Antonio ratings-assault.

Boston’s dramatic one-season turn-around and Finals victory is a great story, and as a New England resident it was hard not to bounce for joy when they secured Banner #17.

As a life-long Knicks fan, however, it served as a stark reminder that my squad of choice has as much chance of competing for an NBA title any time soon as my Goffstown Parks and Recreation team.

Join Judge Dave Johnson, Adam Arseneau, and Erich Asperschlager as they dissect, discuss, and debate the season finale and entire fourth season of Lost. How does one move an entire island? Is Claire really dead? Can Ben continue to stay one step ahead of Charles Widmore? What do the two remaining 16-episode seasons hold for our heroes and their nemeses? And can you truly wait until January for more episodes? Enquiring minds want to know!

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Warning: comments below may contain spoilers, so read at your own risk!

Attention Lost devotees! The Verdict crew will be assembling a special recap podcast on Thursday night immediately following the finale of Lost, which will surely involve a lot of confused stutters, swear words and frozen donkey wheels. Don’t miss it!

Look for it either late Thursday night or early Friday morning, depending on how many curse words we have to bleep out. That kind of post-production work takes time, after all.

Lost fans worldwide are twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of this Thursday night (9/8c), when the two-hour season finale airs and hopefully (for once) answers more questions than it presents. An unlikely proposition, considering producers have already hinted at the “big surprise” by ts internal production codename: Frozen Donkey Wheel.

Call me cynical, but it is shockingly unlikely anything involving a frozen donkey wheel will clarify any of my questions, at all.

What do you guys think? There are a lot of outstanding questions to be wrapped up. Will we get to see the Orchid station? Will we (finally) get to know who the heck was in the coffin back in the finale of Season Three? Will we get to see the events that lead up to the rescue of the Oceanic Six? So many questions… so little time.

Also, if you haven’t seen the Orchid Orientation video yet, do not pass GO or collect $200 until you have seen it. It is essential viewing going into the finale, and one of the rare occasions where content that exists outside the “official” canon of the episode content is vitally important.

We’ll be back Thursday to recap. Until then, patience.

ABC has also announced its prime-time schedule for the fall. Not much in the way of new content: Scrubs moves over from NBC for its final 18-episode season; Mike Judge gives us yet another dysfunctional animated comedy in The Goode Family; British scifi import Life on Mars will keep Lost’s schedule spot warm until January; and Ashton Kutcher cranks out two new reality series — one revolves around a beauty pageant competition, partnering with Tyra Banks, and the other is an in-your-face “Publishers Clearing House” vehicle in which a mobile production team drives to unsuspecting families’ homes to test their on-the-spot knowledge of each other for cash and prizes. Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual. Casualties of last season include: Men in Trees, Miss Guided, October Road, Women’s Murder Club, Big Shots, Cavemen (did anyone ever watch that show?), and Cashmere Mafia.

For full details visit ( Variety )

Sure, the news hit two weeks ago, but I’ve never been the first one on my e-block to know anything: Lost fans can look forward to an extra hour of season finale this year! Instead of the 13 episodes of a strike-shortened fourth season, E! reports (and the most recent official audio podcast confirms) that we can look forward to a 14th hour, adding up to what will now be a three-hour finale beginning with part one on May 15 and finishing up on May 29 with parts two and three. Despite the two week gap (to make room for Grey’s Anatomy’s own two-hour finale), getting more Lost is a very good thing. And heck, it gives us obsessives a little more time to speculate about why this year’s jaw-dropping reveal is code-named “Frozen Donkey Wheel” (which, frankly, sounds delicious).

While interviewing Rodrigo Santoro about his role in David Mamet’s new film Redbelt, I asked if there was any chance Paulo may reappear on Lost before the series concludes. “As far as I know he’s still… in the ground. I don’t know. Maybe, if they can come up with some crazy scenario to bring him back. I’d love to go back to Hawaii.”

For more with Rodrigo, check out Cinema Verdict on May 9 (we have been asked to hold our coverage until the film is released).

Not quite a year ago, bleary-eyed teens, twenty-somethings, and (ahem) slightly older gentlemen woke up to a world without plucky young P.I. Veronica Mars. After three great seasons, May 7, 2007 marked the untimely end for writer/creator Rob Thomas* and one of the cleverest shows no one watched.

Fast forward to today, and it’s suddenly sunny days for fans of smartly written TV. With ABC’s recent announcement that they’re picking up a Thomas pilot based on the New Zealand show Outrageous Fortune (about a family of criminals trying to go straight), that makes the beleaguered writer three-for-three this pilot season.

Oddly enough, the first two greenlit projects also fall under the “remake” umbrella, though considering his other ABC order is for a remake of his short-lived 1998 series Cupid, it begs the question: if you created a show in the ’90s, and remake it 10 years later, will it still star Jeremy Piven? The answer, it seems, is no.

Of course, the Thomas pilot we should all be most excited about is his spin-off of the ’90s 30-year-old-high-school-kids mega soap Beverly Hills 90210. That’s right…. a spin-off of 90210. It sounds so awful, Rob Thomas is the only person I’d trust to make it awesome. Either way, it’s coming to the CW, so we can all look forward to the inevitable Rob Thomas/Aerie Girls reunion special.

Whenever someone this talented’s luck suddenly turns from bad to rad, it’s tough to tell whether the glass is half full, or half full of poisoned lemonade. Most of me believes that with three chances to do so, Rob Thomas will finally rise to the Apatow-level of success he deserves. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that all it really means is that a year-and-a-half from now I’ll have three more complete season box sets in my Amazon cart that I’ll be too depressed to buy.

What would Veronica do?

* Not to be confused with the lead singer of “rock” band Matchbox 20 (my musical arch-nemesis… don’t ask).

With Lost lost for the time being, I’ve just realized that’s the last episode of a habit show until sometime in April. I’ll be watching a little TV–the NCAA tourney, Weather Channel forecasts, and way too many reruns of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Samantha Brown’s Passport To …, but should my local teams (Pitt and West Virginia) drop out, there’s nothing I’m looking forward to on the tube for a while. This is healthy, isn’t it?