On vacation
Diane Holloway is off this week. Her TV blog will return Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2008 > July > 16
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
‘Scrubs’ scrubs in on ABC, ‘Sopranos’ star flies to ‘Life on Mars’
After seven seasons in limbo, not to mention dozens of time slots, “Scrubs” comes to ABC in September — and it may or may not be the actual, final end to the medical slapstick show.
“We thought every year was our last year on NBC, so we’ve basically already got our finale written,” said chief creator and perpetual jokester Bill Lawrence. “We just have to change a few pop culture references.”
And what if “Scrubs” actually becomes a hit on ABC? It will have to go on without star Zach Braff, who has made other commitments for 2009.
“We really thought we were over last year, but I would love to come back and visit if the show goes on for another season on ABC,” Braff said.
Perhaps in anticipation of new life on ABC (“This will be the year we’re a hit! Mark my words,” said Lawrence, who rarely if ever is serious), the writers are introducing young characters as bumbling interns. Hoping for the best …
And they’re lighting up the marquee with guest stars. Former “Friends” star Courteney Cox has a three-episode arc as the hospital’s chief of medicine.
“She’s hilarious,” Lawrence said. “She’s what we call a ‘gamer.’ She’s up for anything. We’d love to have her come back for more.”
Now that “Dirt” has been canceled, maybe she can.
And in an episode filmed in the Bahamas, the Janitor will get married. But his name is not spoken, a running joke on the show. Neil Flynn, who plays Janitor, has decided to call him Zanzibar Buck-Buck McPhee.
Nobody on this show is NOT joking.
From ‘The Sopranos’ to ‘Life on Mars’
Michael Imperioli, who made a name for himself on “The Sopranos,” returns to TV this fall in ABC’s American version of the BBC hit “Life on Mars.”
“I was looking for something juicy and challenging,” Imperioli said, sporting hair so long he looks like Beethoven. “Most of the stuff I’ve done I’m either a cop or a robber, but that’s OK. It pays the bills.”
“Life on Mars,” starring Irish actor Jason O’Mara,” finds a New York cop waking up in 1973 after a car accident in 2008. Inexplicably, the 1970s are very popular in 2008. Go figure.
PS: In an ever-changing world, some things never change. ABC’s cute young pages still sport huge white Mickey Mouse gloves.
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Katie Holmes to guest star on ‘Eli Stone’
Quick update:
ABC entertainment chief Stephen McPherson announced this morning that Katie Holmes will make a guest appearance on the new season of “Eli Stone.”
Holmes has a history with “Eli’s” creative producer, Greg Berlanti: Holmes launched her career on Berlanti’s teen sudser “Dawson’s Creek.”
No word on when Mrs. Tom Cruise’s spot will appear, but we do know that she’ll “do a little singing and dancing,” according to McPherson.
“Eli Stone,” for those who don’t know, is a fanciful lawyer show starring Jonny Lee Miller as a guy with a brain aneurysm who hallucinates — or maybe he’s a prophet. Truth unknown.
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How to end ‘The Shield’
The seventh and final season of “The Shield’s” award-winning run on FX begins Sept. 2. The gritty, often foul-talking L.A. cop show with the morally compromised Vic Mackey at the helm has shocked, amused, intrigued and, well, disgusted us unlike any crime drama in TV history.
So the question on everyone’s mind, when the principal cast and creator Shawn Ryan met with reporters, was this: How do you conclude a character like Vic Mackey? The steely-eyed, bullet-headed guy would be difficult if not impossible to redeem. I mean, he killed a fellow cop in cold blood in the pilot, and he hasn’t exactly been an angel in the subsequent six seasons.
“We are concerned with ending it properly,” Ryan said. “This feels like a graduation where you know you’ve done well in school, so we’ll strive to have a strong finale. It will stay true to the show and will feel like ‘The Shield’ universe.”
Actual filming on the finale ended a few months ago, so if Ryan is still tinkering with the outcome, his cast doesn’t believe any major changes to the last scripts will happen.
Beamed in by satellite from a movie production in his native Boston, Michael Chiklis danced around specifics but said, “You will not see this coming. One bomb after another is dropped that you can’t take back. Vic is plagued by regret, and he understands now that there are tremendous consequences for himself and those around him. But you can’t change the spots on this leopard.”
CCH Pounder, who plays Mackey’s often frustrated captain in the squadron, couldn’t hold back: “This finale is what Vic Mackey deserves,” she bellowed with a big grin. “It blew my socks off.”
I think we can all figure out the fate that Detective Mackey won’t see coming. Can’t wait!
Bonnie’s back
After multiple failed sitcoms, including the most recent talk-show-within-a-sitcom “Life With Bonnie,” Bonnie Hunt has decided to go the true talk show route this time.
Described by Jay Leno, David Letterman and others as “the best talk show guest on television,” Hunt will premiere her new syndicated day-time talker Sept. 8 nationwide. In Austin the show will air on KNVA, our CW station, but no time slot has been announced yet.
Yet another daytime talker? Is this a good idea? Jane Pauley failed and so have dozens of other smart women. Marie Osmond is taking a stab at hosting one too this fall.
But Hunt just might make it work. She’s an intellectually witty woman in a girl-next-door package. Born into a blue-collar Catholic family in Chicago, she was working as a nurse in an oncology ward when she joined up with famed comedy troupe Second City.
“The most important thing is to be a good listener and have genuine interest in the guests,” Hunt said over lunch. “You want your guests to feel safe and comfortable and have a good time.”
Hunt says she was offered the late-night spot occupied by Craig Kilborn but turned it down.
“I just didn’t want to do late-night,” Hunt shrugged. “It was a personal decision because the timing was wrong. I had just gotten divorced, and my (sitcom) show had been canceled. It was a tough time. Plus, my mom watches daytime TV and I want to please her.”
Like her good friend Letterman, Hunt remains close to her mother and plans to have her pop into the show from time to time.
“My mom is so funny,” Hunt chuckled. “She still thinks the computer can see her, so she puts duct tape on the little camera.”
Next up … the ABC army invades. Entertainment president Stephen McPherson will try to convince us that he planned all along to introduce only two new series this fall. That press conference revs up in an hour.
But after the exec gets out of the way, ABC has a parade of big stars, concluding very late in a very long day with the entire cast of “Desperate Housewives.”
Has San Antonio’s own Eva Longoria Parker, who has been roughly the size of a firefly her entire life, really packed on the pounds since she married Spurs star Tony? I’ll be front and center to check it out. According to the Hollywood tabs, this is a big story, so I’ll be on the case.
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