“Can another show Carrie on?”

That’s the question Entertainment Weekly asks in the title of a recent article, referring, of course, to the still ultra popular HBO comedy series Sex and the City.

Judging by the mediocre and mostly uninteresting results of television’s two latest attempts — ABC’s Cashmere Mafia and NBC’s Lipstick Jungle — the answer is an emphatic “Not at the moment.”

If you’re a fan of the chick-TV comedy genre, check out the article The Next “Sex and the City”? to learn more than you ever thought you would about the arrival and rise of Sex and the City, and why the influential relationship show’s legacy still has such a stranglehold on the development fantasies of clueless TV network executives — most of whom are male, I might add, not that that’s an acceptable excuse.

Okay, maybe nobody said that in so many words, but a few numbers make the sentiment clear.

When I received my latest issue of TV Guide in the mail on Tuesday, I immediately checked out the Cheers & Jeers section as usual. The magazine conducted a poll to see if TV watchers agreed with columnist Bruce Fretts’ assertion last week that Cashmere Mafia star Bonnie Somerville is the weakest link on the show.

The results indicate that 31 percent agree with Fretts, while a whopping 68 percent don’t. The remaining percentage point is made up of people who think Fretts, Somerville, or Cashmere Mafia has jumped the shark—the magazine doesn’t make it clear which one, so I don’t know either.

Thank you, smart television viewers. Bland bombshell?! Comparisons to Godfather mega wimp Fredo Corleone?! I still can’t get over that…

After receiving the January 28–February 3 issue of TV Guide in the mail today, I immediately cracked open the cover to visit my favorite section of all time, the endlessly entertaining and ruthlessly snark-filled Cheers & Jeers. To my sorta surprise, the current crop of love 'em-hate 'em assessments includes a particularly negative jab at Cashmere Mafia star Bonnie Somerville.

Dubbing the Kitchen Confidential and NYPD Blue alum a “bland bombshell,” columnist Bruce Fretts observes/whines:

Jeers to Bonnie Somerville for being the weak link on ABC’s new Cashmere Mafia. Lucy Liu’s got star power, and foreign imports Miranda Otto and Frances O’Connor can actually, you know, act. Bland bombshell Somerville’s flat line reading and lack of charisma make her the Fredo of this Mafia.

Now, in case you’re not hip to the cinematic reference, Fredo is the middle Corleone brother in the classic Mafia film franchise and Mario Puzo novel The Godfather. He eventually ends up whacked at the hands of his own sibling due to his weak character and inability to grow appropriately sized balls.

Back to the Jeer: Bland bombshell! What?! Lighten up already. Apparently that recent woman-on-woman super smooch between Somerville and her character’s girl friend Alicia (Lourdes Benedicto) wasn’t hot enough for Bruce, but it should have warmed him up to Somerville’s presence for at least a couple more episodes.

Somerville is a born and bred Brooklyn girl, having grown up just a few communities away from me in Flatbush. That’s why I must stand up for her. I got your back, Bonnie. Ignore Bruce … this week.

Everybody loves Chuck, the character, don’t they? According to the venerable entertainment industry magazine Entertainment Weekly, the guy who plays him, Zachary Levi, is one of ten breakout stars of 2007. Nice.

So, what makes Levi so special? In the eyes of EW’s writers, the actor is “TV’s most charming new Everyman.” I certainly can’t argue that the guy has major appeal, and it’s largely because of his talent onscreen that the dramedy Chuck has grown its audience consistently and impressively enough to earn a full first-season pickup from NBC. Of course, what that means exactly during the current unending writers strike remains to be seen.

The other names that share the Top Ten list alongside Levi include Juno pixie Ellen Page, Gone Baby Gone actress Amy Ryan, Why Did I Get Married? actress Sharon Leal, Dirty Sexy Money actor William Baldwin, The Hills star Lauren Conrad, 17-year-old “Beautiful Girls” music artist Sean Kingston, newly engaged Black Eyed Pea Fergie (the lucky husband-to-be is Las Vegas‘ Josh Duhamel), Into the Wild actor Emile Hirsch, and new View co-talker Sherri Shepherd. I can’t say that I personally agree with all of the selected individuals, but congratulations to each and every one of them anyway.

The December 24, 2007–January 6, 2008 holiday double issue of TV Guide arrived in my mailbox today with the one and only Christina Applegate gracing the cover. Applegate’s hit new ABC sitcom Samantha Who? remains one of the most popular freshman series of the fall season, despite a steep ratings decline following the season finale of its unstoppable earlier lead-in Dancing with the Stars.

I haven’t had a chance to properly crack open the cover of the magazine yet since I just retrieved it a short while ago. As soon as I do, though, I’ll be sharing any comedy goodies inside. For now, enjoy the festive photograph of the always beautiful Applegate after the jump.

Read more

I received my December 17–23 print issue of TV Guide in the mail yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it contains an overview of what various editors and contributors at the publication consider to be the best of U.S. television in 2007. Even better, the comedy genre is very well represented among the shows and stars mentioned.

Behind the cover featuring a smoldering Kate Walsh of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice fame is the special section My Big Year 2007. The notable comedy mentions are (in magazine order):

• Actor, producer, and writer B.J. Novak of The Office (pictured here)
• The Simpsons, now in its—wait for it—nineteenth season
• Christina Applegate of Samantha Who?
• Actor, director, producer, and writer Tyler Perry of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne
• Baldwin Brothers Alec of the sitcom 30 Rock and William of the dramedy Dirty Sexy Money
• Dana Delany, Big Comeback for Desperate Housewives
• Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer, Big Comeback for Back to You
• Drew Carey, formerly the star of The Drew Carey Show and currently the host of the hugely popular game shows The Price Is Right and Power of 10

TV Guide senior critic Matt Roush, a favorite of mine whose insightful opinions I always respect even when I don’t agree with them, also heaps praise on several notable comedy shows on his Top 10 list for 2007. Here’s a bit of what he has to say about the deserving series he singles out:

• (#3) 30 Rock: “The funniest show too few are watching, and easily the most inspired comedy airing anywhere on TV.”
• (#5) Pushing Daisies: “An enchanting confection, if not for all tastes.… Every episode is a charming, inventive delight.”
• (#10) Showtime, which airs “the subversively ribald” Weeds and “the graphic” Californication: “Showtime delivers the goods, with a diverse and irresistible array of daring entertainment.”

What a nice crop of honorees given the space limitations. I just wish someone had also managed to reserve a spot for junior sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which is consistently one of the best and funniest sitcoms on the tube. That’s what airing on The CW does for you, though.

Why? No, not because CBS’ freshman comedy is a huge success and was picked up last week for a full season, although that would be a very legitimate reason to get excited.

Instead, it’s because of a little thing called casting. Specifically, TV Guide is understandably psyched about the onscreen sitcom reunion of Big Bang star Johnny Galecki and his former Roseanne wife Sara Gilbert.

In tonight’s episode “The Hamburger Postulate,” Gilbert returns in her recurring role playing Leslie Winkle, a fellow scientist and potential girlfriend of Galecki’s physicist character Leonard.

The October 22–28, 2007, Cheers & Jeers column in TV Guide states:

Cheers to The Big Bang Theory for organizing a mini Roseanne reunion. CBS’ rookie sitcom has recruited Sara Gilbert for a recurring role as the physics-lab love interest of Johnny Galecki, who played her husband on the classic comedy. (Another Roseanne alum, Laurie Metcalf, guested as his roommate’s mom.) We don’t know much about physics, but Gilbert and Galecki still have chemistry.

Hear, hear! I wholeheartedly agree.

Why? Because of a little thing called casting. It seems that TV Guide writers feel Samantha Who?’s showrunners are inhibiting series regular Jean Smart in the role of the title character’s mother Regina. The Cheers & Jeers column in the October 22–28, 2007, print edition of the magazine states:

Jeers to Samantha Who? for tying up Jean Smart with a regular role. Smart delivers a typically fine performance on ABC’s new farce as amnesiac Christina Applegate’s self-involved mom. But we’re hoping her Who? gig won’t cause 24’s producers to forget about bringing her back as crazy ex-First Lady Martha Logan (who was last seen stabbing her hubby). That wouldn’t be a Smart move.

I think, as is common, TV Guide shows its show fetishes too easily and doth protest too much when no protests are warranted. Heaven forbid an actor should get the extraordinary opportunity to star on two very different and very successful television shows. Now, we can’t have any of that, can we?

That’s right. A full two-page spread, in fact.

When I cracked open my mailed October 22–28 edition of TV Guide yesterday, that’s what I found on pages 32 and 33—the entire six-member regular cast of ABC’s hit dramedy Pushing Daisies in a pretty, double-wide picture captioned “Flower Power.”

After the introductory one-two image punch, which teases “We dig up the secrets of ABC’s surreal hit PUSHING DAISIES,” there’s a five-bullet primer for the show.

1. Daisies bloomed out of a never-realized storyline for Showtime’s Dead Like Me.
   *I guess only people who’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Dead Like Me would find that surprising.
2. From its hyperactive color palette to its fantastical sets and props, Daisies looks like nothing else on TV.
   *That’s a glass half-full, half-empty thing, too. I know just as many people who find the whole Technicolor, fantasyland approach incredibly annoying and/or ridiculous as who consider it incredibly refreshing and/or appealing.
3. [Series creator Bryan] Fuller had Pace in mind to play the gifted/cursed Ned when he sat down to write the pilot.
   *Also no revelation to those lucky viewers who’ve seen Pace at work in Fuller’s previous whimsical series Wonderfalls.
4. [Anna] Friel is a stage-trained British actress who made her first stateside splash in Closer on Broadway.
   *Okay, good one. Most fans probably know she’s British, but the Broadway stuff, not so much. Before I reached the word “Broadway,” I thought the writer was referring to Kyra Sedgwick’s hit crime drama on TNT, or maybe that movie with Natalie Portman et al.
5. Daisies has more imaginative curveballs in store.
   *Duh.

Read the full article at TV Guide, but without the pretty pictures included in the print edition. For those, keep going.

Read more

Filmmaker-writer-actor Kevin Smith (Dogma, Clerks, Heroes: Origins), directed the pilot episode of this season’s hottest—and I mean that both literally and figuratively—new series, The CW’s most excellent comedy thriller Reaper. He also has a very entertaining guest column in the current print edition of TV Guide to match that accomplishment.

Apparently, Smith, a lifelong TVaholic, was shattered two years ago when the industry rag awarded him a (*cough* deserved *cough*) Jeer in its notorious Cheers and Jeers section for spreading his cameos a bit too thin. Whoever wrote the missive clearly had a field day crafting the derisive put-down, as well.

Jeers to Kevin Smith for flushing what little hipster cred he had left by doing a guest spot on Joey. It was bad enough when the indie director (‘Clerks,’ ‘Dogma’) started making short films for the ultrasquare Tonight Show with Jay Leno. But this is the second cheesy-sitcom cameo Smith has done after Yes, Dear last year. Even his recent gig as (what else?) a clerk on Veronica Mars can’t restore his cool now.

Ouch! What a good sport Smith is, then, for agreeing to pen an original piece for the magazine that dissed him so publicly not that long ago. I’ve got the entire column here after the jump if you’re suffering from Reaper fever like me, or just happen to really like Smith or an interesting read.

Read more