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TV Review: ALCATRAZ – Season 1 – “Cal Sweeney”

By PETER BROWN 01/31/2012

Sarah Jones and Jorge Garcia in ALCATRAZ - Season 1 - "Cal Sweeney" | ©2012 Fox/Liane Hentscher

Cast: Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill, Parminder Nagra, Jonny Coyne Writer: Elizabeth Sarnof Director: Brad Anderson Network: Fox, Airs Mondays @ 9 p.m. Original Telecast: January 30, 2012 The biggest question coming out of the “Cal Sweeney” episode of ALCATRAZ is: What’s behind door No. 1? While the episode itself was another inmate of the week returning to modern day in order to cause havoc on San Francisco, kill a whole bunch of people and steal loot. It turns out that Sweeney (the inmate in question) wasn’t just wooing lonely tellers in order to get swag but instead a […]Read On »

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TV News: Could TRUE BLOOD actress Lara Pulver be on DOCTOR WHO?

By SEAN ELLIOTT 01/30/2012

Lara Pulver in SHERLOCK - Series 2 | ©2012 BBC/PBS

Lara Pulver has just had the pleasure of working with writer and producer Steven Moffat for his new series of SHERLOCK, which will be airing in the U.S. in May. As so often happens, Mr. Moffat tends to use actors that he likes in other projects that he works on, so the question came to mind that maybe, just maybe, Ms. Pulver would find herself involved with a certain BBC long-running science fiction show called DOCTOR WHO. Here’s what the actress had to say to ASSIGNMENT X … “He may be calling me right now,” she jokes about Moffat calling […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Auditions No. 4: Aspen”

By PETER BROWN 01/26/2012

Magic Cyclops in AMERICAN IDOL - Season 11 - "Auditions 4 - Aspen" | ©2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler Network: Fox, Airs @ 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays Original Telecast: Jan. 25, 2012 So here we are again for yet another round of the same ole, same ole on the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL, coming from lovely Aspen, for what I believe the first time in the show’s history. First the good news, IDOL was only one hour tonight instead of the usual two. The bad news is that there was literally nothing different from the other three audition episodes other than the people singing (and for the […]Read On »

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TV Review: TOUCH – Season 1 – “Pilot” – Season Premiere

By PETER BROWN

Kiefer Sutherland, David Mazouz and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in TOUCH - Season 1 | ©2012 Fox/Brian Bowen Smith

Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, David Mazouz, Danny Glover, Gugu Mbatha-Raw Writer: Tim Kring Director: Francis Lawrence Network: Fox, airs Wednesdays @ 9 p.m. Original Telecast: Jan. 25, 2011 On the surface, Fox’s new drama TOUCH, seems like a RAIN MAN rip-off but just with a bratty kid and Jack Bauer (from 24), but it isn’t. Nor is it HEROES (as it is created by Tim Kring) with Jack Bauer as a superpowered killing machine – because that would just be too freaking awesome. This time Kiefer Sutherland isn’t running around yelling that “There’s no time!” or “Dammit!” (although he did say […]Read On »

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TV Review: ALCATRAZ – Season 1 – “Kit Nelson”

By CARL CORTEZ 01/24/2012

Sam Neill in ALCATRAZ - Season 1 - "Kit Nelson" | ©2012 Fox/Liane Hentscher

Stars: Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill Director: Jack Bender Network: Fox, airs Monday nights Original Telecast: January 24, 2012 Like all new genre series, the pilot usually kicks things off in grand fashion, but the next few episodes are all about finding a tone and a way to do epic stories on a much smaller TV budget. The other issue – how much mythology to dole out week by week without confusing new viewers? ALCATRAZ definitely follows that pattern as the third episode “Kit Nelson” struggles to find a workable tone and an engaging mystery without coming off as […]Read On »

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Blu-ray and DVD picks of the week including ABDUCTION

By PETER BROWN 01/20/2012

ABDUCTION | © 2012 Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. MOVIES ABDUCTION – This is the film that was supposed to launch Taylor Lautner into a new role of being an action star. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t have TWILIGHT in front of it, no one apparently gives a rat’s hairy ass. The few tweens that actually would spend […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – Season 11 – “Auditions No. 1 – Savannah” – Season Premiere

By PETER BROWN 01/19/2012

Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson on AMERICAN IDOL - Season 11 - Savannah Auditions | ©2012 Fox/Michael Becker

Cast: Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Seacrest Network: Fox, airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 8 p.m. Original Telecast: Jan. 18, 2012 I found the premiere episode of the 11th season of the world’s greatest karaoke competition, AMERICAN IDOL, extremely amusing. No, not because of the lack of talent that was displayed traditionally, but because they focused on how many talents have come through the show in that span. I’m amused because it has been 10 years of going through these painfully bad auditions – again, not talking about the lack of talent, but the very fact that they […]Read On »

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TV Review: ALCATRAZ – Season 1 – “Pilot”/“Earnest Cobb” – Series Premiere

By PETER BROWN 01/17/2012

Sarah Jones and Jorge Garcia in ALCATRAZ - Season 1 - "Pilot" | ©2012 Fox/James Dittiger

Cast: Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill, Parminder Nagra Writers: Elizabeth Sarnoff, Jack Bender Directors: Danny Cannon, Steven Lilen, Bryan Wynbrandt Network: Fox, Airs Mondays at 9 p.m. Original Telecast: January 16, 2012 Whenever I see something about Alcatraz, I can’t help but think of THE ROCK. Just because it was sooo Michael Bay at his explosive finest and sooo over-the-top Sean Connery (and his quotes about doing the prom queen and generous use of expletives) that it makes for a great watch – not to mention batsh** crazy Nicolas Cage. So throughout the two hour season premiere for ALCATRAZ […]Read On »

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TCA News: PBS says expect ENDEAVOUR, the INSPECTOR MORSE movie prequel, to become a regular series

By CARL CORTEZ 01/06/2012

Shaun Evans in ENDEAVOUR | ©2012 PBS/ITV

The popular British detective series INSPECTOR MORSE has been transformed into a one-off TV movie prequel called ENDEAVOUR and is based on Colin Dexter’s novels. The movie has already made its debut in the U.K. on ITV and has proven quite successful. This co-production with the PBS (which will air it this summer on MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!) has already provided talk that a TV series might follow. Shaun Evans who plays a younger Morse (the movie is set in the 1960s) says he would love to come back for a full series. “It was a great opportunity for me,” says Evans. […]Read On »

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TCA News: PBS says expect a Series 3 of SHERLOCK

By CARL CORTEZ

The current Second Series of the BBC/PBS co-production of SHERLOCK has been breaking records in the U.K. and even though PBS won’t air the episodes until May, talk of a third series is inevitable. While speaking at the PBS session for MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! which airs SHERLOCK under that banner, actress Lara Pulver who plays Holmes foil Irene Adler in Series 2, spoke about the show’s impact her native U.K. “It’s resonating hugely within the British audiences, which is very exciting and there’s more scope for these two characters [Holmes and Adler],” admits Pulver. As for whether Benedict Cumberbatch will return […]Read On »