Get ‘Hung’ with HBO Tonight
June 28, 2009 by Chandra
If you haven’t already heard, premium-cable network HBO has a brand-new comedy called Hung making a 45-minute broadcast debut at 10pm ET tonight, June 28.

The darkly humorous series stars The Punisher’s Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a formerly athletic and popular guy who seemed destined for success way back in high school. Currently a high-school teacher and basketball coach, he’s had a string of unimpressive luck, leaving him underpaid, uninsured, and pissed when his wife of 20 years (Anne Heche, Men in Trees) leaves him for her dermatologist.
More details after the jump.
That Was Fast! ‘Nurse Jackie’ Renewed for Season Two
June 9, 2009 by Chandra
Whoa! Let me check my neck to make sure I don’t have whiplash!
Less than one day — indeed, just hours — after the series premiere of its new Edie Falco original comedy Nurse Jackie, Showtime has announced a 13-episode Season Two pickup for the series. Now that, dear readers, is what you call a successful TV show, no matter what Nurse Jackie’s fate is from here on out.

The big renewal news was accompanied by the revelation that Nurse Jackie is Showtime’s most-watched series premiere in, like, ever. The pilot episode attracted more than 1 million eager viewers during the first showing at 10:30pm ET on June 8, and then another 350,000 folks tuned in for the encore later that night at 11:30pm.
Showtime’s previous record holder, the United Kingdom import Secret Diary of a Call Girl, lagged far behind, with just 950,000 viewers checking out its opening episode. And in case you’re wondering, the premium-cable network’s other huge comedy hit, Weeds, lured 1.68 million viewers to two broadcasts of its own fifth-season premiere yesterday, which made it Showtime’s most-watched series in 2009 as of now.
Two record-setters in a row ain’t bad at all. It seems the ladies rock big time on Showtime.
Nurse Jackie airs Mondays on Showtime at 10:30pm ET.
New on Showtime Tonight: Nurse Jackie
June 8, 2009 by Chandra
Fans have been waiting eagerly for Sopranos veteran Edie Falco’s next new show, and it arrives tonight, June 8, at 10:30pm ET, immediately after Weeds. Yes, I’m referring to Nurse Jackie, the latest Showtime original comedy, which stars the actress as the title character Jackie O’Hurley.

Jackie is a smart, strong-willed, and flawed emergency room nurse for a New York City hospital. She’s also a lapsed Catholic who appreciates a good hit of Vicodin or Adderall or what have you from time to time to help her make it through life. At her job, every day is a tense matter of juggling doctors, patients, other nurses, and her own very naughty indiscretions.
More details after the jump.
‘Parks and Recreation’ Opens Soon for Viewers
April 9, 2009 by Chandra

It’s time!
Tonight at 8:30pm ET, NBC will debut its long-anticipated Amy Poehler comedy Parks and Recreation. As everybody knows at this stage, the workplace mockumentary stars the former Saturday Night Live player as Leslie Knope, an employee of Pawnee, Indiana’s small Parks and Recreation Department and the aspiring first female president of the United States.
Co-starring are:
Office alumna Rashida Jones as nurse Ann Perkins, whom Leslie is determined to help transform an unused construction pit into a community park.
Scrubs actor Aziz Ansari as Leslie’s colleague Tom Haverford, who likes to put his job to good use … for himself.
New ABC Dramedy: The Unusuals
ABC will premiere the new cop dramedy The Unusuals tonight at 10:02pm ET, immediately after Lost, and I’m really looking forward to it.
Set and filmed in New York, the crime series with secrets follows a group of NYPD detectives who are unusual cops following unusual cases with unusual twists. What’s not to like?
The show stars Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Joan of Arcadia’s Amber Tamblyn, an actress who has repeatedly demonstrated a clear knack for portraying wry and independent women like Detective Casey Shraeger. A new recruit to the Homicide division from Vice and saddled with an unfortunate first case investigating the death of her new partner’s former partner, Shraeger quickly learns that her latest group of colleagues are just as unpredictable as her current assignment.
Jeremy Renner (28 Weeks Later) plays Schraeger’s Homicide partner Detective Jason Walsh, and the rest of the principal cast includes Harold Perrineau (Lost) as paranoid Detective Leo Banks, who insists on wearing a bulletproof vest at all times; Adam Goldberg (Entourage) as Banks’ suicidal partner Detective Eric Delahoy, who wants to bite the dust on the job; Monique Gabriela Curnen (The Dark Knight) as tough-chick Detective Allison Beaumont; Josh Close (The Day the Earth Stood Still) as Beaumont’s ultra religious partner Detective Henry Cole, who’s hiding something; Kai Lennox (40 Days and 40 Nights) as attention-hungry Detective Eddie Alvarez, a dishonest media whore; and Terry Kinney (Oz) as Sergeant Harvey Brown, the boss attempting to root out corruption in his precinct.
New ABC Sitcom: Surviving Suburbia
April 6, 2009 by Chandra
Bob Saget fans have something to look forward to tonight because his new sitcom, Surviving Suburbia, premieres on ABC in the 9:32pm ET, what-more-could-you-ask-for? post-Dancing with the Stars time slot.
For comparison, that’s the same time period that helped establish the first season of Samantha Who? as a hit, although the Christina Applegate comedy’s ratings have decreased substantially since it lost the top-rated lead-in.
Multi-camera Surviving Suburbia stars How I Met Your Mother and Full House’s Saget as suburb-dwelling married father of two Steve Patterson. His wife Anne is played by Men in Trees and Dead Like Me alumna Cynthia Stevenson.
The premise of the series is fairly standard. After two decades of marriage and a color-by-the-numbers existence in a nice suburban neighborhood, Steve still hasn’t turned into a true convert. As a result, his opinion of his lifestyle and surroundings is filled with negativity (but the network prefers the nicer-sounding term “cynical”) and sarcasm.
‘Better Off Ted’ Series Premiere Preview
March 17, 2009 by Chandra
I’m looking forward to this one, folks. Tomorrow night is going to be a very good night for comedy TV fans. Not only does CBS have fresh episodes of both The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried coming up, but Scrubs returns to ABC, with the brand-new sitcom Better Off Ted following immediately afterwards.
The only problem is that the two networks have scheduled the shows for the same 8pm–9pm hour. There just had to be a downside somewhere, right? So, thank goodness for recorders and my personal standby, online streaming.
As posted previously, the newbie Better Off Ted is yet another quirky workplace comedy à la NBC’s The Office, this one all about the weird goings on at a company called Veridian Dynamics. The series stars Jay Harrington (Private Practice, Desperate Housewives) as Ted, the manager of Veridian’s Research and Development division, who begins to have a crisis of consciousness about his employer’s questionable business practices.
Also starring are Arrested Development’s Portia de Rossi as Ted’s boss and one-time lover Veronica and Andrea Anders of The Class as Ted’s colleague and current romantic interest.
Check out a nearly ten-minute sneak peek after the jump at tomorrow night’s pilot episode to get an advance idea of the sitcom’s look and feel. Dare I say I think I’m gonna like it a lot? Hope I’m not speaking too soon.
New ABC Dramedy ‘Castle’ Premieres Tonight
March 9, 2009 by Chandra
Former Firefly star, recent Desperate Housewives cast member, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog villain Nathan Fillion has a new ABC series premiering tonight, the mystery novelist/cop romantic dramedy Castle.
The premiere episode “Flowers for Your Grave” — which was directed by X-Files veteran Rob Bowman, I should add — introduces viewers to Fillion’s renowned mystery novelist Richard Castle . Bored to tears with his popularity and success, Castle gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shake up his life when he learns that a copycat killer is staging actual murders from scenes depicted in his best-selling novels.
After smart, tough, and persistent NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic, The Spirit) questions Castle with regards to the crimes, he somehow manages to wiggle his way into her investigation. People in the know are repetedly mentioning the classic Cybill Shepherd/Bruce Willis 1980s detective dramedy Moonlighting when they discuss Castle. Apparently, the discordant, push-pull relationship between Castle and Beckett has more than a few similarities to that between Shepherd’s Madelyn “Maddie” Hayes and Willis’ David Addison Jr. on the earlier show.
Sounds good to me. Tune into Castle’s premiere tonight at 10:02pm EST and follow the jump for an extended promo clip and a sneak peek at the first 13 minutes of the debut episode. Although I don’t feel instantly hooked, I’m definitely giving the newbie a shot.
‘Eastbound & Down’ Hits HBO Sunday
February 11, 2009 by Chandra
Fans who’ve been eagerly anticipating the premiere of HBO’s new Danny McBride series Eastbound & Down don’t have to wait much longer. The comedy launches this Sunday, February 15, at 10:30pm EST with guest star and executive producer Will Ferrell helping out a little during the first of six Season One episodes.
Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder actor McBride stars as former ace pitcher Kenny Powers, whose behavioral problems put a premature end to his Major League Baseball career. As a result, Kenny is reduced to teaching physical education at the same middle school he went to while growing up in North Carolina.
Eastbound & Down’s remaining cast members include Katy Mixon (Four Christmases) as Kenny’s fellow teacher, former flame, and current love interest April Buchanon; John Hawkes (Deadwood) as Kenny’s married brother Dustin Powers, who lets Kenny live in his family home while he gets back on his feet; Jennifer Irwin (Still Standing) as Dustin’s patient wife Cassie; Andrew Daly (Semi-Pro) as school principal Terrence Cutler, a fan of Kenny’s who puts up with his transgressions; Steve Little (The Ugly Truth) as band teacher and Kenny superfan Stevie Janowski; and Ben Best (Superbad) as Kenny’s former drug buddy Clegg, who now owns a bar.
Did I Already Mention ‘Reaper’ Returns March 3?
February 4, 2009 by Chandra
Yep, yep — I believe I did mention that The CW has moved up Reaper’s Season Two premiere date from the formerly announced March 17th at 9pm EST to two weeks earlier on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 8pm.
Now check out the cool artwork below and don’t forget: Since Reaper will be airing directly opposite Fox’s ratings behemoth American Idol, it’s imperative that disciples tune in to watch every single episode of the show every single week. There’s no reason not to when The CW is making watching easy by running the 13-episode season straight through, sans repeats, right?

Less than a month to go! Let the countdown begin!


