Archive: January 2010 (31-40 of 52)

Jan 13 2010 08:05 AM ET

'Conan': 'NBC is a big pimp,' plus: All the other late-night hosts join Team Conan

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Categories: Career Advice, Conan O'Brien, Controversy, Craig Ferguson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Talk Shows, Television, The Tonight Show, TV Last Night

Last night, it was as though the late-night hosts were talking not just about, but to and even as each other. In the wake of Conan O’Brien’s announcement that he would “not participate” in the “destruction” of the Tonight Show legacy, Jimmy Kimmel said on his show, “Fortunately, I will!” He said this in the voice of Jay Leno, having made himself up into a punching-bag version of Jay, and continued tossing jabs:

Kimmel, whose impersonation was finely detailed and sustained, said, “You know what ABC stands for? ‘Always Bump Conan.’”

Jimmy Kimmel’s guest Chevy Chase — who had a Fox late-night talk show in 1993 that lasted only six weeks (remember that, Conan!) — came out wearing a Conan wig.

Conan received a long ovation when he emerged last night, and began by saying that at NBC, “our new motto is, no longer just screwing up prime time.” He showed tape of the “worldwide reaction” to his statement of refusal, subtitling comments from foreign dictators including Fidel Castro: “Conan had to put his foot down!” READ FULL STORY »

Jan 12 2010 05:44 PM ET

Conan O'Brien: Where does he go from here?

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Categories: Career Advice, Conan O'Brien, Controversy, Jay Leno, Talk Shows, Television, The Tonight Show

So with his release of an eloquent, measured, but firm statement today, Conan O’Brien begins the process of untethering himself from the shackles of NBC and The Tonight Show. The question is, where does he go from here?

As I said yesterday, I think going to Fox would be a mistake. I still think so. Going to Fox gets Conan an 11 p.m. time period, where he’ll be competing for younger viewers with  Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Yes, I know, O’Brien will instantly reach more viewers on Fox than Stewart and Colbert do on their cable outlets, but there’s a lot more crossover between Conan’s young/hip viewers and the Comedy Central stalwarts than there is for any other late-night host. Hosting the Tonight Show opposite Letterman, O’Brien automatically looked young and fresh. Hosting — oh, let’s say Fox brands it Conan! – against Stewart and Colbert, he’ll look as though he’s not as engaged in current events and lose some of his young viewers. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 12 2010 08:08 AM ET

'Better Off Ted': Watch the unedited jokes that'll get BLEEPED out tonight now!

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Categories: Better Off Ted, Sitcoms, TV Tonight

On the first of two episodes of Better Off Ted airing tonight (don’t get me started!), a memo circulates around Viridian Dynamics with a typo instructing employees that they must speak offensively to each other. Here, as a public service, I offer the unedited outtakes that’ll get bleeped tonight. Really, don’t watch this at work, there are dirty words here, do not listen with kiddies in the room, I’m serious, even if Ted, gloriously, is not:

About the only insult I can quote from the above is when Linda calls Veronica “Frosty the Snow Whore.”

Be sure to watch Better Off Ted tonight on ABC.

And follow me on Twitter @kentucker.

Jan 12 2010 02:45 AM ET

Letterman weighs in on 'Jay Big Jaw Leno': Last night's late-night jokes, including Conan's and Craig's

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Categories: Conan O'Brien, Controversy, Craig Ferguson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Talk Shows, Television, The Tonight Show

“Well, once again, I did not get The Tonight Show.” With that rueful opening joke, David Letterman finally weighed in on the late-night shenanigans. “NBC is bringing back Johnny Carson — they’re putting him on at 10 p.m.”

Letterman was relentless, gleefully relishing these moments. Presenting an alternate-universe version of what went down over at NBC, Dave said, “[NBC] gave The Tonight Show to Jay ‘Big Jaw’ Leno… [but] he said, ‘Y’know, I’m having trouble staying up this late. Is there any chance you could put me on at 10 p.m.?” Letterman then offered some “free genius advice” to NBC:

Makes as much sense as anything else, right?

Dave was wonderfully unstoppable. He gave us a Top Ten list of “Signs There’s Trouble at NBC” that included, “Just gave 10 p.m. show to Snookie.” Letterman offered a terrific sight-gag, saying that things were so confused over at NBC, they were now airing “Nighttime with Chuck and Don”: Cut to a shot of Charles Grodin sitting at a desk, with Don King next to him cradling a guitar, Kevin Eubanks-style.

Letterman concluded with a question: “Do I still have a show?”

Meanwhile, Jay Leno kept up his curious tone of chipper bitterness last night: “Our show has been canceled. We’re fired again. [Except] the last time, we performed better than expected — that was totally different!” READ FULL STORY »

Jan 11 2010 12:10 PM ET

NBC's new late-night schedule: Brilliant by accident?

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Categories: Conan O'Brien, Controversy, Craig Ferguson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Talk Shows, Television, The Tonight Show

NBC is the media’s piñata, slammed for everything from screwing up the 10 p.m. original-drama slot to ruining Conan O’Brien’s sleep. But in its own accidental, cynical, necessity-as-mother-of-invention way, NBC’s new late-night schedule could really work for the network. Here’s why:

Presuming Conan agrees to all this (and I think he’d be making a big mistake going over to Fox), we’ll soon have an NBC late-night schedule with Jay on from 11:35 to around 12:05, and The Tonight Show from 12:05 to 1:05. Jimmy Fallon will rub his eyes and broadcast from 1:05 to 2:05. This is a minor revolution in late-night: No network has ever timed its shows to air in this formation.

What does this mean for the competition? David Letterman goes up against Jay in the opening monologue duel, but Dave also faces Conan’s sharp monologues during The Late Show‘s second half-hour, which is when Dave is working his hardest to make sure that his second, B-list guest keeps your interest and that the music acts are lively. This could be a problem for The Late Show. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 11 2010 09:00 AM ET

'Big Love' season premiere: 'Where is Roman Grant?'

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Categories: Big Love, Dramas, Misc., Television, TV Last Night, TV Review

The irony ran high on last night’s season premiere of Big Love. Kenny Rogers was scheduled to open the new ”family-friendly” casino that Bill Paxton’s Bill Henrickson worked so hard on all last season with the Blackfoot Indian tribe. But the family we’re most concerned about — the Henrickson clan, including Bill’s three wives: Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn), Nicki (Chloë Sevigny), and Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) — is anything but friendly at the moment. They may smile at each other, hold hands and pray in a Mormon storefront church, but back at home(s), things are tense, as good drama must be. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the episode.

Harry Dean Stanton’s Roman Grant was killed at the end of last season by Bill’s brother Joey (Shawn Doyle), but “the prophet” still hovered over the fourth-season opener. “Where is Roman Grant?” is the headline on a TV news broadcast. “Where is Roman Grant?” was the question asked as the FBI bursts onto the dead man’s compound. His wife played by the vinegary Mary Kay Place pleads ignorance, but later, she’ll tell Nicki to go to the basement freezer for some bacon for a BLT sandwich and Nicki gets a load of a lot more than pig meat. Pretty soon, Roman’s corpse is being moved around with the abandon of some outtakes from Weekend at Bernie’s. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 11 2010 08:43 AM ET

The return of 'Chuck,' last night and tonight: Now, it's really 'Chuck Versus Chuck'

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Categories: Chuck, Television, TV Last Night, TV Review

In the current issue of EW, I make the assertion that by turning Chuck Bartowski from panicky nerd to adrenaline-pumped super-spy, the show’s creators risk alienating their core fan base. (And until the ratings are in for a few weeks’ worth of episodes, we won’t know whether a core fan base is mostly what’s keeping Chuck alive.)

But watching last night’s two season-premiere hours again, I realized: Fans couldn’t care less about a shift in strategy designed to freshen Chuck and make it more appealing to a wider audience. What the fans want is solidly constructed plots that work within the often-wacky Chuck universe, and for the emotions underlying the joking to ring true — for those emotions to, ideally, even run a little deep. That’s what happened on last night’s season premiere, and will happen again tonight.

Last night’s back-to-backs, “Chuck Versus The Pink Slip” and “Chuck Versus The Three Words,” set up what Sarah enunciated quite succinctly: “You’re a spy now, Chuck; you have to keep your emotions to yourself.” By which she was also referring to herself, of course. This led to a pleasing tension between the two of them.

The missions themselves were pretty “Ring” standard, and, sorry, but Chuck being able to flip and dip between red lasers to avoid tripping an alarm — seen that too many times elsewhere.

What I liked most was Zachary Levi’s more delicate balancing-act that had nothing to do with avoiding red beams of light. Rather, it’s the way Levi is able to navigate between his old, squeamish-guy persona and his new, hey-I-can-do-this abilities. Chuck can’t get too cocky too fast, and he can’t shake the lack of self-confidence that, in the past, has tripped him up both on missions and in romance. Levi walked that fine line perfectly last night.

Loose ends:

• How do you feel about Tony Hale’s character being really dead-dead, and the return of Big Mike? Personally, I’m going to miss Hale’s unique mix of mince and malice.

• Did you buy the notion that Carina would be intrigued by Morgan because “no one’s ever said ‘No’ to me before”?

What did you think of Chuck‘s season premiere?

Jan 10 2010 08:41 AM ET

'Saturday Night Live' recap: Charles Barkley shows some bite

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Categories: Politics, Saturday Night Live, Television, TV Recap, TV Review

It was a measure of how much fun Charles Barkley was as the new year’s first Saturday Night Live host that I couldn’t tell whether he was reciting a joke or ad libbing when he said during the opening moments, “Some of [the show] is great; some of it we’re gonna do anyway.”

While not “great,” it certainly had its good moments. Barkley did his share of saving some mediocre sketches, such as the “Reel Quotes” game-show, which asked two contestants (Barkley and Kristen Wiig) to complete famous film lines. Wiig was supposed to be funny for answering with excessively long responses; me, I laughed when Barkley’s character completed “Life is like a box of… ” with “dead people,” as well as, “May the force be equal to mass times acceleration.”

Barkley, Kenan Thompson, and Jason Sudeikis made the latest variation on SNL‘s “Scared Straight” parody amusing in two ways: Thompson rattled off the baroque prison punishments with aplomb, while Sudeikis and Barkley each offered some excellent reactions to the craziness this sketch always seems to stir up in both the performers and the audience.

Weekend Update: Seth Meyers got off a good Lady Gaga/Polaroid spokesperson punchline, and made a so-so Jay Leno/Tonight Show joke (“It’s a little weird to start The Tonight Show at a time when it’s no longer tonight”). The best stuff came from Fred Armisen wheeling in as New York governor David Paterson and emitting a stream of anti-New Jersey jokes:

I’m afraid the “MacGruber” bits were grimly unfunny, hinging solely on Will Forte’s MacGruber blabbing racist idiocies to Barkley’s character. But much worse was the endless “Shana” sketch, with Wiig reprising her supposedly-sexy-then-gross character. Watch it if you dare:

Alicia Keys’ singing exuded what seemed like an effortless power — even when the lyrics in the second song, “Streets of New York,” were just a string of cliches, she sounded terrific. And Keys took part in a pretty funny Digital Short, drunk-dialing Andy Samberg’s weird nerd for a booty-call:

Delayed over 30 minutes by a football overrun, Saturday Night Live betrayed live-show jitters only once, late in the show, when a Charles Barkley-as-a-banker sketch seemed to cut off before its completion. You can’t tell it from this edited version, but it sounded to me as though Barkley continued talking as the show went to a commercial.

Sure, Barkley did a lot of distracting reading off the cue cards, and once again, SNL behaved as though the only woman in its cast who can recite long passages is Wiig. (Nasim Pedrad in particular is being wasted.) Still, maybe it’s the optimism of a new year, but I thought this was one of the more likable editions of the show in recent months: SNL took on some of Barkley’s loose affability.

And, see the bonus moment that could have made mast night’s show a great one: Barkley as Keys!

Jan 9 2010 09:32 AM ET

'Dollhouse' recap: 'Getting closer' to this end of this series, with surprises

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Categories: Dramas, Joss Whedon, Sci-Fi, Television, TV Recap

Last night’s Dollhouse felt crammed, in both good ways and uncomfortable ways. Written and directed by Tim Minear, who really knows how to handle this stuff, the episode “Getting Closer” seemed as though a lot of information and subplots had been added and compressed once the Dollhouse folks knew that cancellation was probably inevitable. Whether that’s true or not, the result was a dense but by no means unpleasant hour. SPOILERS AHEAD.

How could it be unpleasant, with Amy Acker back as Dr. Saunders, and the revelation that Saunders has been having an affair with Boyd? (Or should that be “?!”) Romance was in the air, as Topher was reunited with Summer Glau’s Bennett. They spent a fair amount of time kissing and making goo-goo eyes at each other… that is, until Saunders shot and killed her. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 8 2010 10:57 PM ET

UPDATED: Jay Leno takes swipe at Letterman: Late-night chaos continues, Conan, Kimmel, Fallon weigh in

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Categories: Controversy, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Talk Shows, Television

Last night on The Jay Leno Show, the host once again addressed rumors that he was being “fired” by NBC.

Speaking in a tone of mock-outrage, Leno joked, “That means I didn’t sleep with my staff for nothing!”

Pow! With one shot, Leno dragged David Letterman’s problems into this latest version of the late-night wars.

Then, referring to a possible shuffling of Leno into the 11:35 p.m. time slot now occupied by Conan O’Brien, the host added that NBC has devised a plan in which “all parties will be screwed equally.”

Leno also showed a postage stamp with his image on it, saying its release was imminent. Unfortunately, he said, “it gets cancelled after four months!”

UPDATE on The Great Late-Night Self-Referential Controversy:

Conan did a very funny summation of the rumors swirling of possible changes in late night with this list, that includes, “The Tonight Show will be an iPhone app and the Jay Leno show will become an Xbox game.” Check it out:

Jimmy Kimmel also weighed in last night, saying that “Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien are moving in together. ” Kimmel took questions on the subject from the audience (with a little help from Carson Daly):

Kimmel also illustrated the new carving-up of the late-night pie by bringing out a pumpkin pie, cutting it to suggest audience segments for the hosts… and then eating the pie.

And Jimmy Fallon sent out a “thank you note” to NBC for “announcing that Jay Leno will be moving back to 11:30… It’ll be interesting to see how [my show] does up against the ‘perfect push-up’ infomercial.”

For more late-night news: Is Fox open to courting Conan? Sure, says source. But…

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