Category: Television

‘The Michael J. Fox Show’ canceled by NBC

Michael J. Fox’s TV hot streak has ended: NBC’s The Michael J. Fox Show has been canceled and replaced on Thursday night by Hollywood Game Night, EW confirmed Wednesday night.

The actor, who was on Family Ties in the ’80s and Spin City in the late ’90s, hasn’t yet made it through one season of his anticipated return to television; 15 of the show’s 22 episodes have played so far, and there’s no word yet when or if the rest will air.

Sean Saves the World, which NBC had already announced was canceled, has also been pulled from the Thursday night lineup.

Jerry Seinfeld Sorta Confirms Seinfeld Reunion, Gives Details on Secret Project With Jason Alexander

Jerry Seinfeld is confirming there’s going to be a Seinfeld reunion! Well, for the most part.

During an appearance on WFAN’s Boomer & Carton radio show in NYC this morning, the 59-year-old actor was asked about a recent photo that showed him and costar Jason Alexander outside of Tom’s restaurant, the famed eatery where much of their hit TV show took place.

Seinfeld said the secret reunion project wasn’t for a Super Bowl commercial or an episode of his show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. “It’s neither,” he said, adding cryptically, “But it is not not those things either. It’s a secret project.”

When pressed for more details, Seinfeld said, “I did. I’ve gave you more now than I’ve given anyone. I told you what it isn’t, and then I told you that it isn’t not that either.”

He confessed that the Tom’s incident “was filmed” and confirmed that other Seinfeld characters were involved. He also described the project as “short-ish form” and a “one-and-done” thing that will be out “very, very soon.” Eek!

Earlier this month at the 2014 SAG Awards, we asked Julia Louis-Dreyfus about the reunion photo of Seinfeld and Alexander, much to her surprise! “I didn’t see that!” she said when asked about the Tom’s photo. “First of all, thank you for telling me about it. I didn’t know they went, so that sounds like fun.”

She added, “We sort of did a Seinfeld reunion within Curb Your Enthusiasm [back in 2009]. We sort of did the anti-reunion on Curb a couple years ago. So I think it went pretty well. I think that we did it.”

Fallon to begin ‘Tonight’ run with Will Smith, U2

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight” show, which debuts next month with actor Will Smith and U2 as guests, will look familiar to people who appreciate his current work in the time slot following Jay Leno.

Fallon said he doesn’t expect to change his brand of comedy to tailor himself to an earlier time slot. Fallon and his successor at “Late Night,” Seth Meyers, met with reporters Sunday as NBC begins the delicate process of a late-night transition.

“This show has completely changed from when I first started,” Fallon said of “Late Night,” which he has hosted for five years. “I feel like we’ve blossomed into what will become the new ‘Tonight’ show.”

He rejected the idea of changes to make himself more appealing to an older, middle American audience that likes Leno. It’s a delicate subject at NBC, where executives believe Conan O’Brien’s limited appeal doomed their first effort to replace Leno. The executives anticipate Fallon’s light-hearted comedy translating better.

Leno closes his two-decade run on “Tonight” Feb. 6 with Billy Crystal and Garth Brooks as guests. On Feb. 17, Fallon debuts a week’s worth of shows at midnight following NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics. He moves into his regular time slot a week later, followed by Meyers, who has “Saturday Night Live” chum Amy Poehler booked as his first guest.

NBC’s entertainment president, Robert Greenblatt, said he’d like to keep Leno at NBC, perhaps to host regular specials. Fallon said he’s not worrying about whether Leno leaves NBC and decides to keep working in late-night TV elsewhere.

Fallon said he called Leno when he got the “Late Night” job to reassure him he wasn’t gunning for Leno’s gig. He said they have spoken regularly, and he’s taken some of Leno’s advice, most prominently to make his nightly monologues longer.

“He’s a good guy,” Fallon said. “He’s really treated me well.”

Fallon’s “Tonight” show “should be goofy and fun and make everybody laugh. That’s our job,” he said. He said he appreciates showing different sides of celebrities by getting them involved in skits or games, like when Tom Cruise cracked two raw eggs on his head. Fallon’s musical skits are among his most memorable. He said he alerted New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office ahead of time about his recent duet with Bruce Springsteen that spoofs Christie’s traffic jam scandal.

Although Fallon is moving “Tonight” to New York from the West Coast, he said he will take the show on the road — including to Los Angeles for a couple of weeks a year.

Some critics have noted that the formal title of the show is changing from the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” to the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Fallon said it was an homage to the show’s roots.

Meyers is taking over a show where the three previous occupants of his chair — David Letterman, O’Brien and Fallon — are all still hosting shows. He said the legacy of “Late Night” is that hosts get to do weird things and that people have a little more patience with it.

But Meyers seems very much the traditionalist. The current head writer of “Saturday Night Live” values writing, and he’s brought the author of his “SNL” ”Weekend Update” segments over to lead his own writing team. Meyers said he’s looking to build a stable of writer-performers and that a strong monologue will be key to his show. He won’t have a regular sidekick and hasn’t decided whether he will have a band or DJ for musical interludes.

A strong ensemble or guests will be a priority, with Meyers noting that “I like being in a (camera) shot with someone who is funnier than I am.”

“If you get too hung up on the legacy of what you’re getting into, it gets in the way of the work,” Meyers said. “Our goal is to be as funny as we can and get better every night.”

‘Better Call Saul,’ ‘Mad Men’ Get Premiere Dates

Ahead of its Saturday morning presentation at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, AMC announced premiere dates for Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, Mad Men and its new dramas, while renewing The Walking Dead companion Talking Dead for a fifth season.

Better Call Saul, which focuses on the evolution of Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman before he became Walter White’s attorney, will debut in November. (A specific date has not yet been determined.)

The first half of Mad Men’s final season will bow Sunday, April 13 at 10 p.m., one week after the series debut of Revolutionary War drama Turn, which will get a 90-minute premiere starting at 9 p.m. on April 6.

Fellow freshman series Halt and Catch Fire, which centers on the personal computing era in the early 1980s, will launch in the summer at a specific date to be determined later. Western Hell on Wheels will also return later in the summer.

On the unscripted side, Game of Arms will premiere Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 10 p.m. followed by the May returns of Small Town Security and Freakshow.

Meanwhile, the Chris Hardwick-hosted talk show The Talking Dead has, unsurprisingly, been renewed for a fifth season after ending the first half of its fourth season with a series high among total viewers. (AMC renewed The Walking Dead for a fifth season last year and Hardwick earlier this week told critics that he’d host the series for as long as AMC would have him.) The Walking Dead — and Talking Dead — will again launch their seasons in October, with a formal date likely to be announced at Comic-Con.

“We are extremely excited about the 2014 lineup,” AMC president and GM Charlie Collier said. “Both the returning and new series reflect our commitment to serving passionate audiences with compelling, character-driven storytelling.”

Sasheer Zamata Joins ‘Saturday Night Live’ As New Cast Member

Three years after she graduated from the University of Virginia, Sasheer Zamata is landing a very big break — the young comedy performer has been selected to join Saturday Night Live as a new cast member.

Zamata will make her debut on the venerable NBC late-night sketch comedy series on its next live show slated for January 18 with Drake as host and musical guest.

Zamata, who trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, becomes the first black female Saturday Night Live cast member in five years since the departure of Maya Rudolph. The lack of female black performers on the show stirred a debate last fall while SNL boss Lorne Michaels had been quietly conducting a talent search.

Several dozen actresses were seen in multiple cities. Zamata, whose name had been floated as a suitable SNL candidate before, was among 12 who received callbacks and were invited to test on the SNL stage on December 16. She will now be a featured player on the show that has launched the careers of a slew of young comedians.

Jonah Hill Will Host SNL Again

Jonah Hill will host Saturday Night Live for the third time, NBC announced today. He’s slated to host on January 25, with musical guest Bastille.

As previously announced, Drake is doing double duty on January 18.

Hill previously hosted in 2008 and in 2012, and he did a perfectly fine job both times, but if anyone from Wolf of Wall Street should be in studio 8H, it’s Leonardo DiCaprio. He has never hosted SNL! He should! It would be interesting to see Leonardo DiCaprio perform comedy that isn’t Growing Pains.

‘Duck Dynasty’: A&E Ends Phil Robertson Suspension; Aims to Turn Controversy into Teachable Moment

A+E Networks has maneuvered its way out of the “Duck Dynasty” controversy surrounding its top-rated show by consulting with the key advocacy groups in a position to raise the loudest ruckus over its response to the inflammatory remarks made by Phil Robertson about homosexuals and African-Americans, among other topics.

A&E said Friday it would lift the suspension against the family patriarch implemented on Dec. 18 after Robertson’s remarks in an interview with GQ made national headlines, exposing the lingering divide in the nation over the acceptance of homosexuality.

In the ensuing days, A+E Networks CEO Nancy Dubuc and other top execs had extensive conversations with the Robertson clan about how to move forward with the show after the decision to suspend Phil Robertson sparked a furor about his right to voice his opinions.

The execs also kept in close contact with reps for GLAAD, the NAACP and other orgs in an effort to find a path to allowing the show to continue. The rest of the family issued a statement in support of Phil on Dec. 19, suggesting that they would not continue filming without him. But it was notable that none of the family members took to the media to bash A+E for the suspension, despite ample opportunities.

Before A+E announced its reversal on Robertson’s suspension and plans for a PSA campaign aimed at promoting tolerance, GLAAD and NAACP were apprised of the cabler’s decision — ensuring that there would be no immediate backlash from the two prominent advocacy orgs. The Robertson family’s reps at WME were also involved in the discussions, none of which were held face to face because of the holiday timing of the flap.

“After discussions with the Robertson family, as well as consulting with numerous advocacy groups, A&E has decided to resume filming ‘Duck Dynasty’ later this spring with the entire Robertson family,” the network said in a statement.

Robertson was placed on “indefinite hiatus” for comparing homosexuals to animals, saying “start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

On Friday, A+E sought to continue to distance itself from those remarks while arguing that the show is not about politics or the cultural issues but the homespun antics of the Louisiana-based family that made it big selling duck hunting equipment.

“We at A+E Networks expressed our disappointment with his statements in the article,” the statement said, “and reiterate that they are not views we hold. But ‘Duck Dynasty’ is not a show about one man’s views. It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family… a family that America has come to love. As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. These are three values that we at A+E Networks also feel strongly about.”

The sheer volume of punditry and commentary unleashed by Robertson’s comments and A+E’s initial response added urgency to the company’s need to find a resolution to the standoff with the family. Numerous conservative critics and orgs cited the suspension as an example of the media’s anti-Christian bias given the religious foundation of Robertson’s expressed beliefs, while GLAAD and other advocacy orgs condemned the sentiment behind his remarks as intolerant and highly insensitive.

The PSA campaign amounts to A+E’s attempt to turn the turmoil into a teachable moment, and also provide some cover for a decision that will undoubtedly prompt criticism from some quarters. The decision to reinstate Phil Robertson to the show may dampen A+E’s standing with some in the creative community, where tolerance and respect for gay rights are considered a given, not a subject for debate.

Details of the PSA campaign, which will run across A&E, History, Lifetime and other A+E outlets, were sparse on Friday. There was no word if any of the “Duck Dynasty” family members would appear in the spots, or if any of the issues would be addressed in the future episodes of the show.

A+E vowed that the campaign would promote “unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people, a message that supports our core values as a company, and the values found in ‘Duck Dynasty.’ “

The uproar over Phil Robertson is likely to give a boost to the upcoming season of “Duck Dynasty,” which unspools Jan. 15 with episodes filmed long before the GQ article hit. Not that the show needs much help in drawing an audience. Viewership soared during the past year to average 13 million for the most recent season. Merchandise sales have also been part of the success story, with Forbes estimating that the show has sold $400 million to date.

‘Saturday Night Live’: Drake to pull double duty as host, musical guest in January

When “Saturday Night Live” returns from its holiday break, it’ll be with its third double-duty host of the season.

After Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga’s turns as host and musical guest this fall, the series announced during its holiday episode on Saturday (Dec. 21) that Drake (aka Aubrey Graham) would be the next musician to get the gig this season.

The rapper and former “Degrassi: The Next Generation” star will host the January 18, 2014 episode. This will be Drake’s second appearance on “SNL” — he served as musical guest in 2011 opposite host Anna Faris.

We’re totally in for a Wheelchair Jimmy/”Degrassi” spoof sketch, right?

‘Family Guy’ character back from the dead

Well, that didn’t last long. Just weeks after killing off a beloved character — and plenty of fan outrage later — “Family Guy” has brought back Brian from the dead. The show killed off the Griffin family dog, voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane, in the Nov. 24 episode, but in Sunday’s (Dec. 15) episode, “Christmas Guy,” Brian came back for good thanks to a genius move by baby Stewie.

Brian was run over by a car after Stewie had destroyed his time machine, but in “Christmas Guy,” Stewie ran into his future self, and then traveled back in time to save Brian from the accident.

After the Christmas episode aired, creator MacFarlane poked a little fun at the fan outcry. “I mean, you didn’t really think we’d kill off Brian, did you? Jesus, we’d have to be f****** high,” he wrote on Twitter. “Oh and hey… thanks for caring so much about the canine Griffin. He is overcome with gratitude.”

But the whole ordeal was all for a good reason: “And thus endeth our warm, fuzzy holiday lesson: Never take those you love for granted, for they can be gone in a flash,” MacFarlane wrote.

‘Family Guy’ kills off major character

Warning: This story contains spoilers from Sunday night’s episode of Family Guy

Family Guy viewers paid a shocking visit to Quahog on Sunday night, as they witnessed the death of one of the show’s main characters.

A regular on Seth MacFarlane’s popular animated series since its pilot in 1999, Brian the family dog was hit and killed by a car during the Season 12 episode Life of Brian, in which Stewie destroyed his time machine and the Griffins adopted a new pet. The show’s executive producer Steve Callaghan spoke to E! Online about the painful decision, which forced the family to say teary goodbyes to their bruised and bloodied dog.

“We thought it could be a fun way to shake things up,” Callaghan says. “It seemed more in the realm of a reality that a dog would get hit by a car. As much as we love Brian, and as much as everyone loves their pets, we felt it would be more traumatic to lose one of the kids, rather than the family pet.”

Shortly after Brian’s death, the Griffins adopted a fast-talking new dog named Vinny, who is voiced by The Sopranos’ Tony Sirico, and helps comfort Stewie in the wake of his devastating loss.

“Where Brian was sort of a match for Stewie intellectually, Vinny is a good match for Stewie because he doesn’t let Stewie get away with any crap,” Callaghan says. “He’ll call Stewie out on his b.s. freely.”

Cast members such as Mila Kunis and Seth Green were surprised to learn of the character shakeup, which has already sparked the hashtag #BringBackBrian on Twitter. Aside from his belief that Vinny will add a new dynamic to the Griffin family, Callaghan isn’t worried about any major post-Brian backlash in the long term.

“Our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough to know that they can trust us,” Callaghan says. “We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series.”