NBC Starts from Scratch with it’s New 2013 Fall Schedule

NBC had a crazy year this past season with a strong start in the fall, a disastrous winter and a slight recovery in the spring. However, most of the success was due to The Voice and the network cancelled a ton of its new shows from last season except for Revolution and Chicago Fire. That meant buh bye to the fantastic The New Normal plus Matthew Perry’s Go On, Deception, 1600 Penn, Animal Practice, Do No Harm, and Guys With Kids. But the network also dumped my favorite guilty pleasure Smash along with sophomores Whitney, and Up All Night. It was also the final season for 30 Rock and The Office. So, essentially NBC only has two returning sitcoms, Parks and Recreation and Community (for a final 13 episode season), the least it’s had in years. So, they are starting from scratch and turning to some big names like Michael J. Fox and Sean Hayes who will both return to the Thursday night comedy block alongside Welcome to the Family and Parenthood. Take a look at the full new schedule below and descriptions of the new shows. Plus for previews of the shows, and more information, head to NBC or TVLine.com.

NBC’s 2013 Fall Schedule:

MONDAY
8/7c The Voice
10 pm THE BLACKLIST (new crime drama starring James Spader as one of the world’s elite criminals helping out the FBI. It actually looks fantastic.)

TUESDAY
8 pm The Biggest Loser
9 pm The Voice
10 pm Chicago Fire

WEDNESDAY
8 pm Revolution
9 pm Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
10 pm IRONSIDE (a new remake of the 60′s police drama starring Blair Underwood)

THURSDAY
8 pm Parks and Recreation
8:30 pm WELCOME TO THE FAMILY (A blended family comedy with Mike O’Malley, Ricardo Antonio Chivera, Justina Machado and Mary McCormack whose teenage kids get pregnant and engaged.)
9 pm SEAN SAVES THE WORLD (A multi-camera comedy starring Emmy winner Sean Hayes as a gay man reconnecting with his 14-year-old daughter and dealing with his hectic work life.) * Judging from the first clips, this looks hilarious and it’s the new show I’m most looking forward to.
9:30 pm THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW (A new single camera show starring Fox as a family man yearning to get back to the work world after taking time to be with his kids and deal with his Parkinson’s diagnosis.)
10 pm Parenthood

FRIDAY
8 pm Dateline NBC
9 pm Grimm
10 pm DRACULA (A period drama about the famous bloodsucker starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers)

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY
7 pm Football Night in America
8:15 pm NBC Sunday Night Football

SUNDAY (Post-football/Winter 2013)
7 pm Dateline NBC
8 pm Nate Berkus’ AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS (Reality)
9 pm BELIEVE (A new drama about a young girl with mysterious powers and the people who are hunting her with Kyle MacLachlan.)
10 pm CRISIS (A new thriller about an international conspiracy starring Gillian Anderson and Dermot Mulroney)

On tap for midseason: the return of Community plus new comedies About a Boy (based on the hit British indie film), The Family Guide, and Undateable. New dramas include Crossbones with John Malkovich, the Chicago Fire spinoff Chicago PD, and the hospital drama The Night Shift.

No word on the fate of Hannibal or The Celebrity Apprentice yet.

Cancelled: Go On, The New Normal, Smash, Whitney, Guys with Kids, Animal Practice, 1600 Penn, Up All Night, Do No Harm, Deception, Rock Center with Brian Williams
Final Season: 30 Rock, The Office

“Smash” Can’t Let Go of Jennifer Hudson

The second season of Smash has been firing on all cylinders with great new characters and story lines. I’m really loving it and I wish the ratings were higher. However, I will enjoy it as long as it’s on the air and one of the biggest reasons is the fantastic guest arc by Oscar/Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson. Playing a Broadway star looking to grow as an artist and leave her mother’s (the great original Dreamgirls star Sheryl Lee Ralph) controlling shadow, Hudson is wonderful. She’s sweet and sincere with a nice undercurrent of frustration and fear. Her pipes are in glorious Dreamgirls form and last night’s episode featured her character Veronica Moore doing a “one night only” show. I’ve got the amazing final number for you below, “Can’t Let Go”, which I immediately bought at iTunes when the show ended last night. After watching a number like this, I don’t know how Smash can let go of Hudson. Her guest stint is set to end soon, but hey, maybe she’ll grab an Emmy nomination for the role. Better yet, she could win and be 3/4 of the way to an EGOT! … We will see. In the meantime, enjoy Hudson’s thrilling performance of “Can’t Let Go” below and watch the fantastic and underrated Smash Tuesday nights on NBC. Oh and PS~ Emmy winner Sean Hayes joins the show next week~ even more of a reason to watch Smash!

Smash~ Veronica Moore (Jennifer Hudson) “Can’t Let Go”

Another New “Smash” Season 2 Preview!

February 5th marks the highly anticipated second season premiere of the Golden Globe nominated musical dramedy Smash, and I can’t wait. The new season has jettisoned four unlikable characters (good riddens Ellis!) and added a ton of new faces (Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, Emmy winner Sean Hayes, Newsies Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan, Law & Order and Rent vet Jesse L. Martin to name a few). It also has some new show runners and is attempting to correct the uneven yet immensely watchable and fun first season. I, for one, can’t wait. Now, a second preview of the second season has hit the web following NBC’s Smash panel at the TCA this morning. Check it out below and watch Smash Feb. 5th on NBC!

Smash season 2 preview

It’s an Extended Look at Season 2 of “Smash”

Last season, Smash was the show I anticipated most and while I loved a lot about the show, it also drove me nuts. Following a brilliant pilot, Smash became incredibly uneven. There were great highs (loving Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Christian Borle and a surprisingly good Katharine McPhee) and some deep lows (Ellis was the arguably the most hateful character in TV history), but the show was always entertaining. The final few episodes of the season improved greatly and now we have our first look at this intoxicating show that chronicles the rise of a new Broadway musical and the people behind it. Take a look at the preview below and I think you’ll be as excited as I am that we are getting much improved Smash in its second season. Gone are four annoying and needless characters (Ellis, Raj and Messing’s boyfriend and husband), while there are some great new additions. Joining the cast full-time is Broadway hottie and Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan (Newsies) while Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Emmy winner Sean Hayes (Will & Grace), and Broadway vets Jesse L. Martin (Rent) and Daniel Sunjata (Take Me Out) will all do recurring arcs on the show. Things look juicier than ever and it also seems like the storytelling will be more streamlined and focused. I can’t wait! … Season 2 of Smash premieres in February, but you can get a taste right now below.

Smash Season 2 extended preview

Slapstick Stooges and Horror Houses can’t stop Audiences Hunger for “The Hunger Games”

Three new films attempted to take out the first massive blockbuster of 2012, The Hunger Games, but they were no match for that juggernaut. Games landed in first for the 4th week in a row pulling in $21.5 million for a giant total of $337 million. Faring best of the newbies was the latest comedy from The Farrelly Brothers, The Three Stooges update starring Chris Diamantopoulus, Will Sasso and Emmy winner Sean Hayes which took in a decent $ 17 million. That beat out the long on the shelf horror film The Cabin in the Woods which terrorized to the tune of $ 14.8 million. The final film attempting a Hunger coup was the sci-fi action film Lockout starring Guy Pearce which tanked out of the gate with just $6.2 million. We’ll see if anyone can stop the Games next week, but for now take a look at the new top ten below. And for more on these numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 1 The Hunger Games LGF $21,500,000 -35.1% 3,916 -221 $5,490 $337,070,000 $78 4
2 N The Three Stooges Fox $17,100,000 – 3,477 – $4,918 $17,100,000 $30 1
3 N The Cabin in the Woods LGF $14,850,000 – 2,811 – $5,283 $14,850,000 – 1
4 3 Titanic 3D Par. $11,625,000 -32.7% 2,697 +23 $4,310 $44,419,000 $18 2
5 2 American Reunion Uni. $10,700,000 -50.3% 3,203 +11 $3,341 $39,900,000 $50 2
6 5 Mirror Mirror Rela. $7,000,000 -36.9% 3,206 -412 $2,183 $49,468,000 $85 3
7 4 Wrath of the Titans WB $6,905,000 -53.1% 3,102 -443 $2,226 $71,251,000 $150 3
8 6 21 Jump Street Sony $6,800,000 -32.0% 2,735 -274 $2,486 $120,565,000 $42 5
9 N Lockout FD $6,250,000 – 2,308 – $2,708 $6,250,000 $20 1
10 7 Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax Uni. $3,020,000 -40.0% 2,112 -891 $1,430 $204,483,000 $70 7

Molly Shannon makes Promises on Broadway

Emmy nominated actress Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live) is about to make her Broadway debut in the hilarious hit musical Promises Promises. She will be playing the drunken amorous barfly Marge MacDougall, a role which netted Katie Finneran a Tony award earlier this year. Having seen this great show, an adaptation of the 1960′s film The Apartment, I can say with certainty Shannon will be brilliant in this bawdy role. She is also set to be reunited with Emmy winner Sean Hayes who stars in Promises (which also netted him a much deserved Tony nomination). They previously worked together when Molly did several guest appearances on his hit show Will & Grace. She’ll also be working with a fellow Glee guest star, Emmy and Tony winner Kristin Chenowith. Shannon will finish out the run of the show through January 2, 2011 on the Great White Way. I wish I could make it out to see her because Molly is a wonderful performer and a very gracious woman. I had the pleasure of appearing on her show Kath & Kim last year and she was a delight. For your very own chance to see Molly Shannon on Broadway, head to Promises Promises website here.

“Hot in Cleveland” is Hot n’ Hilarious!

TV Land ushered in its first original comedy last night with the hilarious sitcom Hot in Cleveland about 3 women “of a certain age” from Los Angeles who discover that they are indeed hot in Cleveland after a pit stop there. The trio is played by Emmy nominees Jane Leeves (Frasier) and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me) and Golden Globe nominee Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time) and they are a crack ensemble. Adding to the cache is 4 time Emmy winner and red-hot superstar Betty White as the curmudgeonly caretaker of the house the ladies end up renting in an effort to kickstart their lives and try something new. Here, in Cleveland they are seen as real, attractive women with a lot to offer; whereas in LA, they are all too often passed over. Wendie’s aging soap actress character is even being reduced to auditioning to play Megan Fox’s grandmother. Oh the horror. While that joke may seem a little obvious, in Malick’s capable hands, it’s hilarious. In fact, these great actresses, especially Malick and White, elevate the material and make it an uproariously good time. (Side note: I acted opposite Malick on the dearly departed Jake in Progress and let me tell you, she’s not only gorgeous and incredibly talented but also a wonderful and welcoming person). And I defy you not to giggle out loud at Jane Leeves licking herself after a night of drunken salty food eating fun. The show is also a throwback to the sitcoms of the 80′s and 90′s in style and tone that is appropriate for TV Land’s audience but is still enticing for new audiences because they do it so well. It feels like you’re hanging out with the new Golden Girls, just a little younger and now Betty White is mama Sophia. I say all that with love because the show, co-produced by Emmy winner and recent Tony nominee Sean Hayes, has incredible potential and is a great time. I look forward to seeing the ladies gel even further as an ensemble and explore what shenanigans these LA transplants will get into in middle America. Grade: A

Check out this great sneak peek of Hot in Cleveland below.

Tony’s Top TV Stars

The annual Tony Awards honoring the best on Broadway air this Sunday on CBS. The show has been a tradition for the network for years and it not only will be celebrating the best of theatre, but also showcasing a number of TV stars who are stretching their legs on the boards. The show is hosted by Emmy winning Will & Grace star and Tony nominee Sean Hayes and features several TV faces as nominees this year including Laura Linney (Showtime’s upcoming The Big C), Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), Valerie Harper (Rhoda, etc), Linda Lavin (Alice), David Alan Grier (In Living Color), and 5 time winner Angela Landsbury (Murder She Wrote). All of these honorees had me wondering just what current TV stars have won Tony Awards. So, I did some digging. Take a look at the list of Tony Winning and Tony Nominated stars from some your favorite TV programs below. Now, I’m sure I’m missing some, so head over to the Tony’s website if you want to check and call me out.

Current TV Stars who’ve won Tony Awards:

Glenn Close (Damages)~ she has 3 Tonys including Best Actress in a Musical for Sunset Boulevard
Sara Ramirez (Greys Anatomy)~ won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Spamalot
Alan Cumming (The Good Wife)~ won Best Actor in a Musical for Cabaret
Audra McDonald (Private Practice)~ she has 4 Tony Awards!
Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)~ she won Featured Actress in a Musical for Grand Hotel
Kristen Chenowith (Glee)~ She won Featured Actress in a Musical for You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown
Idina Menzel (Glee)~ the original Elphaba in Wicked, she landed the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role (beating costar Kristen Chenowith)

Other TV Actors who’ve won in Plays include: Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Eve Best (Nurse Jackie), B.D. Wong (Law & Order: SVU) and Mary Louise Parker (Weeds)

And here are a bunch of your fave TV Actors who’ve landed Tony nominations…
Laura Linney (The Big C) has 3 Tony noms to her credit, Oliver Platt (Th Big C), Matthew Morrison (Glee) nomm’d for A Light in the Piazza, Jonathan Groff (Glee) nomm’d for Spring Awakening, and Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) nomm’d for Into the Woods.

That’s just a sampling of your TV talent Tony nominated stars. I’m not even gonna start with Tony-nominated movie stars. This year alone we have a ton (Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Liev Shcriber, Christopher Walken, Jude Law, Scarlett Johannson). In the meantime, watch the Tonys this Sunday on CBS at 8pm and enjoy the brilliant Sara Ramirez in her big Tony winning performance from Spamalot below.

Sara Ramirez in Spamalot

Hollywood Happenings for 5-24-10

Here’s the lastest on what’s goin’ down in Hollywood.

~The fantastic suspenseful Emmy winning action drama 24 ends its run tonight on Fox after 8 action packed seasons. Featuring incredible performances by Emmy winners Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer) and Cherry Jones (President Taylor) plus the indispensible curmudgeon Mary Lynn Raskub (Chloe), the show will be sorely missed. But don’t fret, the franchise is getting rebooted as a feature film. YAY! Watch the finale tonight at 8pm on Fox… And a quick shout out to some of the amazing players over the shows 8 seasons. I applaud you Emmy nominees Jean Smart and Gregory Itzin, plus Annie Wersching, Shoreh Agdashloo, Dennis Haysbert, Kim Raver, Penny Johnson Jerald, Sarah Clarke, Carlos Bernard, Reiko Aylesworth and so many more.

~ The Bachelorette is back! She left that overly sensitive Jack hanging last season on The Bachelor, but Ali is back and ready for action with her own pile of steamin’ hot men tonight at 9pm on ABC.

~Part 1 of the Dancing with the Stars finale begins tonight at 8pm on ABC with Erin Andrews taking on Evan Lysacek and the girl who deserves to win by a mile Nicole Scherzinger. Part 2 airs tomorrow night.

~It was just announced that Emmy winner Sean Hayes will be hosting the Tony Awards on CBS on June 13. Hayes is also up for the Best Actor in a Musical Award for his role in the great new musical Promises, Promises. I bet Sean will give last year’s wonderful host Neil Patrick Harris a good run for his money!

~TV and pop culture phenom Glee was just renewed for a 3rd season before its first season premiere has even aired. Hooray!

~The two part American Idol finale pitting Crystal v. Lee begins tomorrow night at 8 on Fox with the results and crowning of the season 9 winner on Wed at 8. That show will also feature performances by former winners Kris Allen and Carrie Underwood, plus Christina Aguilera and more… .One day later, we get the return of the best dance show on television, So You Think You Can Dance on Thursday at 8pm.

~ Oh and if anyone cares, Poison frontman Bret Michaels won The Celebrity Apprentice.

And scene.

Kristin Chenowith lets Newsweek have it!

Tony (You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown) and Emmy (Pushing Daisies) winning actress Kristin Chenowith has had enough and just won’t take it anymore. Upon reading a recent homophobic, ignorant and ridiculous article in Newsweek, she just had to respond, and she did so eloquently and beautifully. The report declared that gay actors were just not believable in straight roles citing her Promises, Promises co-star Sean Hayes and Glee star Jonathan Groff as examples. What a bunch of horse pucky! Hello, Sean just got a Tony nomination for his straight role! And another big hello, they’re actors, they can and should play any role! It was just an insanely ignorant article and I love how Kristin responded. Check out more on the story, here on Broadway.com and here’s Kristin’s full response from Newsweek.com:

As a longtime fan of Newsweek and as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh’s horrendously homophobic “Straight Jacket,” which argues that gay actors are simply unfit to play straight. From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night — I’ve observed nothing “wooden” or “weird” in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a “pink elephant” in the Broadway Theater. (The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes’ performance for its highest honors this year.)

I’d normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff (also singled out in the article as too “queeny” to play “straight.”)

This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that “as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.” Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That’s so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call “selection bias”) to prove his “gays can’t play straight” hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now!

Openly gay Groff is too “queeny” to play Lea Michele’s boyfriend in Glee, but is a “heartthrob” when he does it in Spring Awakening? Cynthia Nixon only “got away with it” ’cause she peaked before coming out? I don’t know if you’ve missed the giant Sex and the City movie posters, but it seems most of America is “buying it.” I could go on, but I assume these will be taken care of in your “Corrections” this week.

Similarly, thousands of people have traveled from all over the world to enjoy Hayes’ performance and don’t seem to have one single issue with his sexuality! They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man. Audiences aren’t giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We’re actors first, whether we’re playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It’s a character and it’s called acting, and I’d put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period.

Lastly, as someone who’s been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all! –Kristin Chenoweth