Channel Surfing: Amy Ryan Nabs In Treatment Role, Jessalyn Gilsig Talks Glee, Sanaa Lathan Spies Tilda, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Amy Ryan (The Office, The Wire) has landed a role on Season Three of HBO's psychiatric drama In Treatment, where she will play the new therapist for Gabriel Byrne's Paul. That role was formerly supplied by Dianne Wiest's Gina, who was Paul's mentor/psychotherapist for the first two seasons. (Wiest has departed the series.) [Editor: it's about high time that Ryan had a regular gig on a series. She's been a favorite since her turn on The Wire as Beadie, so it's only fitting that she returns to HBO for In Treatnment.] (Deadline)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has an interview with Glee's Jessalyn Gilsig, who plays Will's scheming ex-wife Terri. So will Terri be returning for Season Two of Glee? And just what was up with her potentially inappropriate interest in Finn (Cory Monteith)? While Gilsig admits that she hasn't yet received her official pickup from FOX for next season, she did discuss what happened with Finn in this week's episode ("Funk"). "What happened was completely by accident," Gilsig told E! Online about Terri's relationship with Finn. "She sees in Finn so much of what she saw in Will when she first met him because he's the same age as Will was. It's her way of remembering happier times—when she used to be kind to Will. And she realizes, here's a chance to be supportive of this kid." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Sanaa Lathan (Nip/Tuck) is the latest actor to board HBO's comedy pilot Tilda, which stars Diane Keaton, Jason Patric, and Ellen Page, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. Lathan will play Sasha Litt, described as "a mysterious new head of operations that RMG head Andrew Brown (Jason Patric) brings in to work at the studio." Production on the pilot, written by Cynthia Mort and directed by Bill Condon, is slated to get underway soon in Los Angeles. (Deadline)

ABC won't be coming to the rescue of cancelled CBS comedy series The New Adventures of Old Christine after talks broke down between ABC and studio Warner Bros. Television. "The network had showed strong interest in picking up Old Christine for the past three years," writes Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "But when the show finally became available this year, a deal proved impossible to make as ABC was said to be unwilling to pay the high license fee needed to keep the veteran comedy series going." Which means that the Old Christine episode that aired May 12th will in fact serve as the series finale. (Deadline)

SPOILER! Leonard Nimoy has hinted that he might be returning to FOX's Fringe, despite the fact that his character, William Bell, appeared to have died in the season finale. "Do I think William Bell is really dead?" said Nimoy in a video on the official website. "This is science fiction. I have died in science fiction many times and somehow magically or scientifically come back. Given that he has disintegrated, what happens in the future remains to be seen." [Editor: his conjecture would also cast doubts upon Nimoy's "retirement" from acting as well.] (via Digital Spy)

What, was the title Conveyor Belt of Doom already taken? Chris Jericho will serve as host of ABC's "extreme game show" Downfall, set to air launch June 22nd. Series, which has been ordered for six episodes, will feature "contestants try to answer questions while on the roof of a Los Angeles high-rise. Meanwhile, 'the largest conveyor belt ever seen on TV' will send potential winnings (cash and prizes), the player's personal possessions and even friends and family over the side of the building." (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has signed a two-year overall deal with writer Lisa Zwerling (FlashForward), under which she will join the staff of NBC's upcoming drama series The Event as a consulting producer and develop new projects for Universal Media Studios. "Lisa is a breath of fresh air, so smart and passionate," said NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios drama exec VP Laura Lancaster told Variety. "We're impressed with her creative range and feel so fortunate she's decided to make UMS her home." (Variety)

"Sword of omens, give me sight beyond sight!" Cartoon Network has ordered a new animated series of ThunderCats (based on the much beloved 1980s animated series) from Warner Bros. Animation. "The update will combine swords and science with high-stakes battles as good and evil clash for the Stones of Power," writes The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. News comes after Cartoon Network gave a series order to animated superhero project Green Lantern. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC Worldwide America has hired former Nickelodeon executive Herb Scannell has the new president of U.S. operations, where he will oversee digital channel BBC America as well as BBC Worldwide America's US-based studio and production entity. "I would assume (BBC America) has more original shows launching than any other channel in cable TV," Scannell told Variety. "That's just by nature, given the number of shows coming from the BBC that haven't aired here in the States. I do have an interest in supplementing that with made-in-America shows that kind of have the three major attributes that make a BBC show: That they're smart, innovative and irreverent. Those are the key building blocks to think about programming wise and in branding." (Variety)

After nearly 40 years, the axe has fallen on Roy Clarke's long-running British comedy series Last Of The Summer Wine, which will end its run after more than 30 seasons this year, BBC One confirmed. "Last Of The Summer Wine has been part of BBC One for nearly 40 years," said Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One, in a statement. "This wonderful final series is a fitting farewell to these much loved characters and I am delighted some of the channel's other heritage brands will be helping to say goodbye in style." (BBC)

Frances Berwick has been promoted to president of Bravo, filling a position that has been empty since Lauren Zalaznick was promoted to president of NBC Universal Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks in 2008. [Editor: congrats, Frances!] (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Circles Alias Reboot, True Blood Werewolves, ABC Passes on Ghost Whisperer, Chuck, Doctor Who, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Could ABC be dipping its toes back in the Alias well? According to a story by E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos, ABC Studios is said to be considering a reboot of J.J. Abrams' Alias, which starred Jennifer Garner as superspy Sydney Bristow. "It's only very initial talk at this point, but I'm told that the development folks over at the Alphabet network are considering doing a new version of Alias that would borrow some elements of the original series," writes Dos Santos. "But the series would most likely not include any sort of complex mythological throughline such as the Rambaldi prophecy (a storyline that lost some of the fans). According to this source, ABC is hoping to hold onto its lost Lost audience with a re-envisioned J.J. Abrams series, in light of FlashForward not working out so well. (It was canceled last week.)" [Editor: Interestingly, ABC seems slow to get back into the superspy game, with NBC's Chuck already on the air and J.J. Abrams' own Undercovers heading to the network this fall. I also question the wiseness of rebooting a series that only ended a few seasons back and which is closely associated with a particular lead actress.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

UPDATE: The Wrap is reporting that the potential Alias reboot would be for first-run syndication (a la Legend of the Seeker) rather than for primetime broadcast on ABC. "Network stressed to TheWrap that the talks are in very early stages, and that Jennifer Garner would not be in any way involved," writes The Wrap's John Consoli. (The Wrap)

USA Today's Bill Keveney has an interview with the cast of HBO's True Blood about the third season of the vampire drama, which launches next month and brings a slew of werewolves to Bon Temps.It's just another element added to the supernatural craziness of it all," said Anna Paquin. "There's no way you can ever get bored on a show like this. When you think you've seen it all and done it all, something weirder and wilder comes out of the woodwork." (USA Today)

It's time for Ghost Whisperer to fade into the afterlife. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that the CBS supernatural drama--which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt--will not be picked up by ABC. "After five wonderful seasons and over 100 episodes, we are disappointed to announce Ghost Whisperer will not be returning for a sixth season," said Ghost Whisperer executive producers Ian Sander and Kim Moses in a statement. "We’ve had an incredible experience and owe a debt of gratitude to everyone involved. We continue our relationship with ABC Studios and look forward to developing many more successful projects together in the future." ABC later confirmed the report via Variety's Michael Schneider. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files, Variety)

Jeffster! The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an exclusive full-length look at the latest music video from Chuck's Jeffster, their hilariously low-rent version of Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat has teased details about the two-part finale of his first season of Doctor Who to Doctor Who Magazine, which concludes with the provocatively titled two-parter "The Pandorica Opens"--which will feature a cliffhanger for the Time Lord (Matt Smith) and his latest traveling companion (Karen Gillan)--and "The Big Bang." "It's not just the cliffhanger for Episode 12," Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine. "It's like the cliffhanger for every single episode up until that point. This is where the wheels come off. Everything the Doctor is running from lands on his head today." (via Digital Spy)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that Alex Graves (Fringe) has signed on to direct the pilot for FOX's upcoming time travel/prehistoric drama Terra Nova, from executive producers Brannon Braga, Peter Chernin, and Steven Spielberg. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Little Britain creator/stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas are heading back to BBC One, with a new sketch comedy entitled Come Fly with Me, which will be set an airport and feature the comedy duo in a variety of guises. "It's thrilling that Matt and David's next big show will be on BBC One," said Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One. "They are uniquely talented comic writers and performers and Come Fly With Me is a wonderfully exciting idea." (BBC News)

Cartoon Network is prepping weekly animated series Green Lantern: The Animated Series. No information was immediately available other than the fact that the series will follow popular DC Comics character Green Lantern and will launch after this July's direct-to-DVD animated Green Lantern movie. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Top Chef contestant Marcel Vigneron is heading to sci-fi territory. Syfy has announced that it has given series orders to three unscripted series, which it will launch later this year: Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, Paranormal Witness, and Face Off. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Bittersweet Symphony: An Advance Review of Season Three of BBC America's Gavin & Stacey

There are some series that manage to wrap their arms around you and never let go, making you laugh and cry in equal measure.

British comedy Gavin & Stacey, which returns to BBC America for its third and final season after way too long of a break, is just one of those series, the sort that makes you laugh and cry in equal measure, filled with characters that you can't get enough of and whom it will be very hard to say goodbye to forever in just a few weeks' time.

Revolving around the titular star-crossed lovers, the series--created and written by co-stars James Corden and Ruth Jones--has charted their courtship and marriage over the course of three bittersweet seasons and the reactions of their friends and family to such an unexpected match: Gavin (Mathew Horne) is, after all, an Essex lad while Stacey (Joanna Page) hails from Barry, Wales, making their marriage a union of two nations, cultures, and life philosophies.

Season Three finds the pair struggling to adapt once more after Gavin has taken a six-month transfer to the Welsh office of his employer, moving him and wife Stacey in with Stacey's omelette-mad mum Gwen (Melanie Walters)... and promptly booting unwed mother Nessa (Jones) out of her bedroom and into the caravan her boyfriend Dave (Steffan Rhodri) lives in.

Back in Essex, Gavin's parents--the sensible Mick (Larry Lamb) and blousy Pamela (Alison Steadman)--attempt to adjust to life without their little prince, as does Gavin's best mate, Smithy (Corden), who just happens to be the father of Nessa's baby Neil. (Still with me?) Stacey's uncle, the amazing Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon) is only too thrilled to have the couple in Barry, especially as it means fixing up his place into a bachelor's paradise so that Gavin's mates can stay over. Ahem.

This season, Gavin and Stacey have to contend with new living arrangements and the possibility that (spoiler alert!) they may not be able to conceive a child. It's a blow to Stacey, particularly in light of the fact that Nessa and Smithy--whose relationship has been constrained to a few one-night stands--were able to have a baby together. It's this tartness that's actually one of the more refreshing things about Gavin & Stacey, even as it tackles real-life relationship (and familial) problems, they never feel like force-fed "issues," but rather just layers to touching and often tender comedy. (Tidy.)

It's the rare comedy that actually reshuffles the deck with each season, reacting to and adapting from the plot twists that the writers have introduced. The fact that these characters evolve and their situations change, sometimes on an episodic basis, is what makes Gavin & Stacey such a joy to watch: there's real emotion and revolution in the DNA of the series. It's episodic and yet we're treated to a fly-on-the-wall perspective of living, breathing characters who are lovable because they're often so inherently flawed.

The ebb and flow of the series makes it feel absolutely real, as the comedy often comes from the history between these characters. While the third season marks the end of Gavin & Stacey, it's not impossible to think that life will go on for each of these characters. We, rather sadly, will just not be privy to them.

The result is an relationship comedy at the very top of its game, filled with eccentric characters and laugh-out-loud moments, a bittersweet symphony that will play on long after the final credits have rolled. You'd do well to head over to Barry before they do.

Season Three of Gavin & Stacey premieres tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

A Pebble on the Beach: Revisting Last Year's Review for Season Two of BBC America's Ashes to Ashes

BBC America was originally meant to air Season Two of genre-busting drama series Ashes to Ashes last May, following their run of the first season of the Life on Mars sequel series starring Keely Hawes, Philip Glenister, Dean Andrews, Marshall Lancaster, and Montserrat Lombard.

Unfortunately, things didn't quite turn out that way. A year later, BBC America is finally bringing Season Two of Ashes to Ashes to American shores, with the first episode slated to air tonight at 10 pm ET/PT. (It's also the perfect jumping-on point for viewers who may not have seen the first season.)

Thanks to a region-free DVD player and a friend in the UK, I've been writing up episodes of Ashes's phenomenally mind-bending third season on a weekly basis over the last few weeks (the series is set to end its three-season run next week in the UK), but I wanted to resurrect my review of the first two episodes of Season Two of Ashes to Ashes, which I wrote last May and which I heaped much praise upon, calling it "darkly seductive."

You can read the full review here (beware: it contains spoilers for the first two episodes), or you can read my wrap-up thoughts on the first two episodes of Ashes to Ashes's brilliant second season below:

"...the first two episodes of Ashes to Ashes' second season kick the Quattro into top gear, presenting a series of tantalizing new possibilities for Alex Drake, new enemies for Drake and Hunt, and an intriguing overarching plot that increases the tension and danger for our New Wave heroes. I just can't wait to see what happens next."

Having seen the entirety of Season Two (and most of Season Three now), I can honestly this is one series that's well worth your time as it only gets better and better with each subsequent episode. You'll soon fall in love with Alex, Gene, Ray, Chris, and Shaz... and marvel at the slick production, mind-altering plot twists, and metaphysical implications that the series kicks up. So set your DVRs and break open the Bolly...

Season Two of Ashes to Ashes begins tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Angels Wept: The Maze of the Dead on Doctor Who

When it came time for Steven Moffat to revisit the Weeping Angels, I didn't know how he'd be able to top their jaw-droppingly creepy debut in Season Four's "Blink."

Yet, in this week's episode of Doctor Who ("The Time of Angels"), written by Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, Moffat manages to not only make the terrifying "Blink" seem like child's play in comparison, but he creates a whole new level of dread and suspense involving these otherworldly creatures, taking Doctor Who's fairy tale ethos into a very dark place indeed.

Since their introduction in "Blink," The Weeping Angels have remained my favorite Who villains to date as their very horror stems from the fact that they're quantum locked: we can't see them move or about to pounce until it's too late for us. Look away, or even blink, and they'll consume the full potential of your life. While that was already a particularly unnerving proposition, Moffat has done himself proud with "The Time of Angels," an episode that finds the Doctor and Amy Pond joining up with a figure from the Doctor's future: River Song (Alex Kingston), who appears to be hiding a rather crucial secret from the man who could one day be her husband. Or will he be? Hmmm...

What did I think of "The Time of Angels"? Let's discuss.

Talk about an entrance: I thought that the reunion between the Doctor and River was handled with a mix of excitement, drama, and heart-stopping visuals as River not only carves a message in Old High Gallifreyan to the Doctor (so he'll find it at some point in the future) but then jettisons herself through a spaceship airlock knowing that he'll rescue her in the TARDIS. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, River Song is amazing.

Just who is she? She knows the ancient Gallifreyan language (enough at least to inscribe "Hello, Sweetie!" on the Byzantium's Home Box), she can pilot the TARDIS better than the Doctor himself, and she knows details about the Doctor that point to some future relationship between the two. (In her last appearance, Season Four's "The Forest of the Dead," also written by Moffat, River appears to know the Doctor's true name.)

But there's also something else going on here as well, something that River is keeping concealed from the Doctor. Octavian whispers something to River about the Doctor perhaps not helping her if he knew the truth... and the fact that she appears to be a released prisoner helping the church on this mission. What crime could she have committed? Hmmm...

And then there are the Angels themselves. While their appearance in "Blink" was haunting, here the Weeping Angels are even more powerful, able to transform themselves from an image of an Angel into an actual Angel, as poor Amy Pond discovers when she's trapped inside the surveillance center and is watching the Angel move, even though it's been filmed on a four-second timeloop. I thought that sequence was brilliantly shot and acted as Amy becomes aware of her predicament and is able to save herself without the Doctor's help. However, her belief that she has something in her eye makes me think that she's not out of the woods by a longshot. If an image of an Angel can become an Angel and the creature imprinted itself on her eye then it may have transmitted itself to her brain... where it begins to manifest inside Amy Pond.

This theory would seem to bare some weight given Amy's later belief that she's turning to stone as the Angel begins to control her mind and perception capabilities. Which would be bad enough if the team wasn't already surrounded by an army of Weeping Angels, the statues within the maze of the dead, and who had already killed off the majority of their military cleric team. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident: it was a rescue mission. The Angel aboard that ship was looking to free its brethren trapped in the maze of the dead on Alfava Metraxis.

And now they've lured the Doctor, Amy, and River into a deadly trap. But, as the Doctor says, there's one thing you don't want to put in a trap: him. As he fires a gun (which must be a first for the Doctor), we're left to ponder just how they'll escape and seeming inescapable trap laid out for them by the army of Weeping Angels surrounding surrounding them and draining their lights...

Well, there is that matter of the gravity globe, after all. And, while they might be at the top of the maze, they're right underneath the Byzantium.

All in all, Moffat has delivered a fantastic episode that put the tenuous partnership between the Doctor and Amy in jeopardy, reintroduced both the Weeping Angels and River Song in sensational style, and left me anxious to see just what happens next. Full of atmosphere, tension, and gripping suspense, "The Time of Angels" ranks up there with the very best of Doctor Who, a consummate ghost story of terror, rage, and fear that I can't shake from my mind, days later.

What did you think of this week's episode? Is River Song who she claims to be? What did Octavian mean by his off-hand comment towards River? What's going on with Amy? Head to the comments section to discuss.

On the next episode of Doctor Who ("Flesh and Stone"), trapped among an army of Weeping Angels, the Doctor and his friends must try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner, but in the forest vault, Amy Pond finds herself under a yet more deadly attack.

The Last of Its Kind: Impossible Choices and the Beast Below on Doctor Who

"You took it upon yourself to save me from that. That was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know." - The Doctor

Despite his kindness and benevolence, The Doctor has always been a figure of immense pride that borders on hubris. As a 900-year-old Time Lord, he might risk life and limb to save Earth time and time again but it's his belief that he knows better than the planet's inhabitants, that he's better equipped to make the monumental decisions than the mere mortals whose continued existence is in his hands. The Doctor, to put it bluntly, has a bit of a God complex.

This week's episode of Doctor Who ("The Beast Below"), written by Steven Moffat and directed by Andrew Gunn, found the Doctor and Amy together on their first adventure in the TARDIS and encountering the numerous secrets of Starship UK, the future of Great Britain, now a fused-together spaceship looking for a new home among the stars.

As a first outing for the Doctor and his new companion, it was a fantastic installment that found the two at cross-purposes as they begin to learn how to work together and which tested their individual moral compasses, forcing each to make difficult decisions that would impact humanity in unforeseen ways.

Considering that this is only their second episode together (and ever), I thought that Matt Smith and Karen Gillan totally sold their burgeoning relationship, which isn't exactly as perfect as it might seem. The idyllic and gorgeously opening sequence in which Gillan's Amy drifts in deep space tethered by the Doctor to the TARDIS (which Steven Moffat revealed at the recent BAFTA/LA screening was actually a last-minute replacement for another sequence which didn't work) is vastly at odds with their heated exchange within Starship UK's Tower of London, a scene that reveals Amy's naivete about her traveling companion and the Doctor's belief that he knows better than the humans. ("You're only human," he tells Amy condescendingly.)

After all, the Doctor has been around for more than 900 years; he's seen things that most mere mortals could only dream of, so he has to know better than a girl from Ledworth who has been off-planet exactly once in her short life. After all, she voted to "forget" the awful truth of what was going on aboard Starship UK and sought to conceal the true nature of the secret conspiracy from the Doctor, believing it would be better if they left before he was faced with an impossible decision.

But no one makes decisions for the Doctor, as he savagely reminds her (and reminds her of her humanity). The Eleventh Doctor might be an incarnation that's fun and frothy but there's some real darkness and anger inside of him as well, the latter of which--along with his own innate pain--that leaps out of him in this exchange. Rather than simply take her abuse, Amy stands up to the Doctor, making another decision for him that is The Right Choice.

For the truth of Starship UK is that there is no engine aboard the ship, which is being piloted through deep space by an ancient creature known as a space whale (one of which was seen during Torchwood's second season). Every five years, the adults have the ability to learn the truth about the creature and may opt to "forget" or "protest." Most, of course, look to turn a blind eye, choosing to forget the truth about their existence. Those who don't become food for the imprisoned and tortured space whale, while those with limited use (particularly the children) are either conscripted into serving the conspirators--the winders and the smilers--or become yet another tasty meal.

The monarch, Liz Ten (the always sensational Sophie Okenedo), is also aware of something going on (her glass of water experiment is the same the Doctor uses) and she seeks to learn the truth as well but it's a path that puts her in the same place every ten years: back in the Tower of London, having gained the knowledge about what they are doing to that poor, lonely creature, and voting to forget rather than abdicate.

But this time there's a difference: Amy Pond is there by her side and, after getting one hell of a scolding from the Doctor, she opts to make the difficult choice of abdication rather than let the Doctor lobotomize the space whale. She sees a clear parallel between the space whale's plight and that of the Doctor: the last of their kind, lonely and in pain, each looking to help humanity rather than be doomed to an eternity of isolation.

She makes a harder choice than the Doctor is prepared to, placing the residents of Starship UK in danger on little more than a hunch, one formed by seeing the creature interact with Mandy and Timmy. It came to Earth because the children were crying and because it wanted to help, not because of a coincidence or a miracle. While the Doctor can't bring himself to kill the space whale, he wants to put it out of its misery, but Amy won't allow him to destroy something so ancient and beautiful, to take a path of destruction. She believes in the power of benevolence and she's right, ultimately. The space whale, no longer in pain, increases its speed.

Despite their brief time together, Amy has learned something from the Doctor: the ability to notice everything, to process the details and form a picture of what's actually going on outside of the shadows. While that applies to the space whale, it also relates to the Doctor and herself as well.

"You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry," Amy says, but it's not just the space whale she's referring to; it's the Doctor himself as well. He's a hero because it's in his nature to be too. He can't avoid the cry of a space whale or a human child. His identity is rooted in a need to heal, to help, to save. He is, after all, a Doctor.

The final scene aboard Starship UK repairs the damage done between the two in the Tower of London as Amy reveals why she wanted them to leave and why she's still running (albeit from her wedding, which she's continued to conceal from the Doctor): because she was scared, because she was not ready, and because she could. The tenderness of the embrace between the two, framed by the massive wall of glass overlooking the stars, places their interaction not just in terms of the fantastical and the extraordinary but also the very human and personal.

It's an episode that builds upon the strengths of the season opener to cement the relationship between the Doctor and Amy and between the characters and the audience as well. Smith and Gillan both prove more than capable of channeling the intensity and range of emotions necessary for Doctor Who, rendering it impossible to look away from them or fail to be moved by their new-formed partnership. While the season is only just getting underway, I've already fallen head over heels in love with them both.

What did you think of this week's episode? How did it compare to "The Eleventh Hour" for you? Are you loving Smith and Gillan as much as I am? Discuss.

Next week on Doctor Who ("Victory of the Daleks"), The Doctor and Amy meet Winston Churchill during a trip back to World War II, where they also encounter the Daleks.

Channel Surfing: AMC Sets Mad Men Return Date, Scott Porter Returns to FNL, Laurence Fishburne Staying Put at CSI, Lost, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Mark your calendars, Mad Men fans: Season Four of the period drama is set to launch on Sunday, July 25th at 10 pm ET/PT while new drama Rubicon will launch with two back-to-back episodes on Sunday, August 1st at 8 pm before it moves into its regular 9 pm timeslot the following week. "Sunday nights are where you find the best of premium television so it should be no surprise that AMC -- the home of premium television on basic cable -- is stacking our original dramas there as well," said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, in a statement. "We welcome back Mad Men and look forward to introducing Rubicon all on Sunday nights this summer." Rubicon stars James Badge Dale (The Pacific), Dallas Roberts (Walk the Line), Jessica Collins (The Nine), Christopher Evan Welch (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Lauren Hodges (Law & Order) with Arliss Howard (The Sandlot) and Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow). (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Scott Porter will be reprising his role as Jason Street in Season Five of NBC/DirecTV's Friday Night Lights. Porter, who will appear in the seventh episode of the season, was last seen during Season Three of the drama series. He'll be joined by fellow former stars Taylor Kitsch and Jesse Plemons and possibly other ex-Friday Night Lights cast members for what is likely the series' last season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that Laurence Fishburne has renewed his deal and will remain as the lead of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation through the 2010-11 season. "In the upcoming Season 10 finale, Fishburne will face off against two serial killers in a battle of wits that will conclude in a life-and-death cliffhanger," writes Hibberd. "One villain is played by Matt Ross (Big Love) in a guest-starring role. The other is Bill Irwin, who reprises his role as Nate Haskell, the Dick and Jane Killer. Also in talks to guest star in the finale, veteran actor Marty Ingels." (Hollywood Reporter)

SPOILER! TV Guide Magazine talks to Lost and Supernatural star Mark Pellegrino, whose enigmatic character on Lost, Jacob, is set to get some major reveals in the May 11th episode ("Across the Sea"). "Jacob has a lot of darkness and corners we haven’t explored yet, so the differences between him and Lucifer are not as much as you would think,” Pellegrino told Keck. "With these archetypal characters, the boundary between good and evil becomes blurry. Jacob’s on a mission. It’s your judgment as to whether he’s good or bad." (TV Guide Magazine)

BBC America has announced the launch of Season Three of comedy Gavin and Stacey, set for Friday, May 14th at 9 pm ET/PT, the much-delayed premiere of Season Two of Ashes to Ashes on Tuesday, May 1st at 10 pm ET/PT, and the third season premiere of comedy Not Going Out on Friday, May 14th at 9:40 pm ET/PT. (via press release)

Brannon Braga (24) has come aboard the Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin-executive produced FOX drama Terra Nova as showrunner/executive producer, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, who reports that the project--revolving around a family from 100 years in the future who return to a pre-historic Earth overrun with dinosaurs--has been given an unofficial pickup, with 13 episodes ordered. (Deadline.com)

Meanwhile, Michael Ausiello is reporting that Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler has been made a "very lucrative offer" to star in Terra Nova. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Gil McKinney (ER) has been cast in a recurring role on Friday Night Lights, where he is set to appear in at least six episodes as a married graduate teaching assistant in the college history department who falls into a relationship with Aimee Teegarden's Julie. In other casting news, Aisha Tyler and Scott Foley (The Unit) have been cast in CBS comedy pilot Open Books; Foley--who is a regular on ABC drama pilot True Blue--will guest star. (Deadline.com)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with V star Logan Huffman about why his character, Tyler Evans, is about to change and why he's the real hero of the series. "There is something special going on with him," said Huffman of Tyler. "To be honest, people don't realize it because it's right in front of their face, but Tyler is a hero. Have you read The Hero with a Thousand Faces? He's the only character that fits every criteria. Almost every famous character does not know who his father is. Luke Skywalker! Those characters have huge hearts, but not much of a brain, and through pain they gain a real soul." (TVGuide.com)

David Hasselhoff is returning to CBS' daytime soap The Young and The Restless after an almost three decades-long absence beginning in June. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown) has been cast in a two-episode story arc on TNT's upcoming drama series Rizzoli & Isles, opposite Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. He'll play Sgt. Joey Grant, Rizzoli's childhood friend who now serves as her boss. Series premieres in July. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FOX has given a pilot presentation order to animated comedy Heel about "a man and his sociopathic dog who is jealous of his owner's family," from writer/executive producer Chris Cluess, Reveille, and Machinima. (Variety)

Elsewhere, FOX renewed Cops for a 23rd season. (Hollywood Reporter)

The premiere of Matt Smith-led Doctor Who on BBC America scored an average of 1.2 million total viewers, a record-setting telecast for the digital cabler, as well as a record for adults 25-54 (0.9). (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

TNT has shot a pilot for reality adventure project The Great Escape from executive producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, according to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "The show, which has a MacGyver-flavor to it, puts ordinary people in extraordinary movie-like situations challenging them to escape using only their everyday skills, team work and what they can find around them," writes Andreeva. Project shouldn't be confused with Michael Bay and Magical Elves' own adventure project, One Way Out, which is being shopped to networks. (Deadline.com)

Starz has begun to reorganize its management under recently installed president/CEO Chris Albrecht, with EVP of development Bill Hamm now out at the network and several others expected to receive pink slips. Former HBO executive Carmi Zlotnik is expected to join the pay cabler. (Variety)

Elsewhere, The Wrap's Josef Adalian takes a look at why Albrecht is shaking up the management structure at Starz and offers some rationale as to why Hamm may have been axed. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Warner Bros. Television has signed a two-year overall deal with Fringe executive producer Jeff Pinkner, under which he will remain on board the FOX sci-fi drama as co-showrunner and will develop new projects for the studio. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

The Girl Who Waited: "The Eleventh Hour" on Doctor Who

The Doctor might travel through time and space in his trademark TARDIS, a little blue police call box, but the true time machine is Doctor Who itself.

When the series truly clicks, it functions as a way to travel back to our own childhoods, to recapture that feeling of awe and surprise that are unfortunately usually lost on the long road to adulthood. What Doctor Who can do is transport us back to our younger selves, to a time where we saw a very different world: one that's full of possibility and magic.

I thought that the opening sequence of this weekend's season premiere of Doctor Who ("The Eleventh Hour"), written by Steven Moffat and gorgeously directed by Adam Smith, managed to achieve just that as it introduced both the Eleventh incarnation of the Time Lord known only as the Doctor (Matt Smith, taking over for David Tennant) and his latest companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), the girl who waited.

Arriving to seemingly rescue Amy, the only Scottish girl in a small English village ("rubbish," she calls it) from her mundane existence, the Doctor discovers a crack in Amy's wall, the escape of an alien known as Prisoner Zero, and the fact that, even for an experienced traveler such as he, Time itself has a mind of its own.

What did I think of "The Eleventh Hour"? Let's discuss.

(You can read my spoiler-light advance review of the first two episodes here and find a post collecting all of my cast and crew interviews and features here.)

Amy Pond is truly The Girl Who Waited. Little Amelia Pond (Caitlin Blackwood) has her heart broken when the Doctor promises to return in five minutes and waits in vain for him to return from his brief jaunt. I loved the whimsy of their early scenes together as Amelia looks to find some food that the Doctor can stomach, from bacon and beans to apples and bread and butter, before the Doctor settles on fish fingers and custard. The appearance of the TARDIS in Amelia's back garden, the seeming answers to her prayers, gives the entire sequence an aura of fairy tale, with the shot of Amelia making her way through the "woods" of her garden heightening this sensation.

But, despite the Doctor's promise (one that clearly echoes of that of her dead parents), he doesn't turn up in five minutes and Amelia gets her heart broken as she sits waiting for him until morning. When the Doctor does return, he discovers that twelve years have gone by and Amelia has grown into an adult, Amy, who works as a kissogram and doesn't have time for the raggedy Doctor that she dreamed about as a child.

I thought that Smith and Gillan had the sort of natural chemistry that is impossible to manufacture for the screen. Gillan's Amy seems to be the perfect combination of awe-struck wonder, modern moxie, and adult sensuality, representing perhaps the best possible combination of aspects of Rose, Martha, and Donna. Their own newness--Amy as a traveler and Eleven in his new body--creates a feeling of instant kinship, as those each is someone uncertain of their first steps.

Together, they solve the mystery of Prisoner Zero, a pan-dimensional entity that has taken up residence in Amy's house these past twelve years, hiding in a room that's hidden by a perception filter. I thought that Zero was a hell of a lot more terrifying when he couldn't be seen. I did like the idea of him transforming himself into the coma patient and his dog, but I thought that the actual physical and serpentine appearance of Prisoner Zero wasn't particularly fearsome at all. (In fact, the CGI was pretty shoddy, rendering his snakelike form a little humorous in the end.)

But the central thrust of the episode--will the Doctor and Amy, with the help of Amy's boyfriend Rory (Arthur Darvill), be able to capture Prisoner Zero and stop the Atraxi from incinerating the planet--wasn't really the important bit. Instead, it's an introduction to the Doctor, the set-up of Amy's twee universe and her friends and family, and an opportunity for the Doctor (and Matt Smith) to step up and claim the mantle of Time Lord.

It's this last bit that gives "The Eleventh Hour" some heft and grit. Determining just what this persona will look like (at least in terms of wardrobe), the Doctor demands that the Atraxi return to confront him and never return to Earth again. Scanning the Doctor, the Atraxi see all ten incarnations of the Doctor before Matt Smith steps through the blue-hued image to announce himself as Eleven. It pays homage to the actors that have come before while establishing Smith as the latest in a long line of Doctors, bow-tie and all.

Likewise, the episode is also about change: as Smith completes his regeneration, so too does the TARDIS itself, which rebuilds itself in a new and whimsically loopy style (while on the outside we get the nifty St. John Ambulance logo), while it creates a new sonic screwdriver for the Doctor, one with a green light that's symbolically different to his destroyed silver-and-blue model. It's the little touches such as those that display that there's a new Doctor and his accoutrements have been updated similarly.

I'm not one who believes that it's an either/or proposition when it comes to the Doctor. You can both love David Tennant and Matt Smith; they're not mutually exclusive. I was terrified initially by the thought of someone else stepping into Tennant's shoes and taking over as the Doctor but this episode quieted my concerns altogether. Smith is a deliciously quirky Doctor, all gangly arms and squinting eyes, fire and passion, ice and logic, all at the time time.

He gets one last chance to reward Amy for her waiting and blows it once again: a quick trip to the Moon to break in the TARDIS results in another two years gone by for poor Amy Pond. But this time, she gets the chance to claim her reward, an opportunity to see the stars with the Doctor, to experience the impossible and the unimaginable. It might be a change of pace from her "boring" life in a sleepy little English village but it's also an escape route: Amy, you see, is about to be married in the morning.

Just who Amy is meant to be marrying is a mystery. Is it her boyfriend Rory, whom she was dating two years ago? Or is it her friend Jeff (Tom Hopper), whom Rory had expressed some jealousy toward? Or someone entirely different? Hmmm... (FYI, Steven Moffat wouldn't say who Amy is marrying when asked at the BAFTA/LA event I was at on Thursday night, saying that the first season would answer that question.)

And then there's the beginning of the season-long arc. Just what are the cracks in the skin of time of space? When did they begin to form and what is causing them? What does Prisoner Zero mean when he says, "the Pandorica will open [and] silence will fall"? Looks like Moffat has already engineered this season's overarching mystery and I, for one, can't wait to see what happens next.

All in all, I thought that the first episode set up the dynamic between the Doctor and Amy and introduced the Doctor in a compelling and tragic way that shaped Amy's life from a formative age. It's an intriguing origin story for the Doctor's companion, one who hasn't bumped into him but rather one who has spend the days and nights of her childhood dreaming of the man who will rescue her. Little does she know that he'll be placing her in danger right from the start...

I'm curious to hear what you thought of Number Eleven, new companion Amy Pond, and the first episode under the reins of new executive producer/head writer Steven Moffat.

Did Smith's performance win you over? Are you still missing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor? What did you think of Amy Pond? And her, er, predicament, as revealed by the final shot of the episode?

And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week?

Talk back here.

Next week on Doctor Who ("The Beast Below"), The Doctor and Amy travel to Britain of the future, where people live in a giant spaceship; Amy comes across the terrifying Smilers.

Channel Surfing: Matthew Weiner Wants Six Seasons of Mad Men, More Breaking Bad (?), Lost, Doctor Who, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Looks like we're at the halfway point for AMC's Mad Men, at least according to creator Matthew Weiner. Speaking at last week's National Association of Broadcasters, Weiner stated that he would like to wrap up the period drama after six seasons as he couldn't see the series, produced by Lionsgate Television, going past that point. [Editor: Personally, I think that this is a good thing as an end date would allow Weiner to not only go out on a high note but begin planning the back half of the series' run while knowing just when it will end, much like Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had requested an end date for Lost/] (The Weekly Blend via The Wrap's Weekly Blend)

Elsewhere at AMC, The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that Breaking Bad is likely to be back on the cabler for a fourth season, following news that executive producers were told that the series is ready for a renewal. However, there is currently no deal in place between studio Sony Pictures Television and AMC. While neither side would comment, Adalian writes that "all parties are hopeful [a deal] will happen." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Looks like some lucky fans will be able to say goodbye to Lost in style, with ABC preparing several official Lost-related events next month in Los Angeles and New York. Carlton Cuse spilled the info on the May 13th Lost Live: The Final Celebration event at UCLA's Royce Hall last week on Twitter, which is believed to be a fundraiser that will feature an advance screening of the series' penultimate episode and a live orchestra performance, conducted by Michael Giacchino, of music from the series. ABC has yet to announce this or several other events that are being planned for Los Angeles and New York in May, including two overseen by Paul Scheer and Upright Citizens Brigade for May 22nd. (Variety)

TV Guide Magazine, meanwhile, has the "final Lost cast photo," which depicts the cast of Lost among the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 as the actors are asked where they would like to see their characters end up once Lost wraps its run next month. (via Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor will be appearing in two episodes of Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures, both of which will be written by former Doctor Who head writer/executive producer Russell T Davies. The move marks the first time that Davies will have written for Smith's Doctor. The two-parter, part of the series' fourth season which is set to air this fall on CBBC, finds the Doctor reunited with former companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning)--last seen in 1973--and Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) herself, as well. "It's a fantastic script and I can't wait to work with another Doctor and hope Matt has fun with us," said Sladen. "I've known Katy for ages and I am delighted to be working with her. I last met her in LA but this time we will be in Cardiff. LA was good but Cardiff is better."

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Aaron Ashmore (Smallville) has been cast in a recurring role on USA drama series In Plain Sight this season. Ashmore will play "the smart yet rough-around-the-edges long-lost half brother to Mary (Mary McCormack) and Brandi (Nichole Hiltz)" who looks to reconcile with his siblings. He's slated to first appear in the back half of Season Three. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that CBS is has shot a pilot presentation for a hidden camera comedy series WTF! (that would be, ahem, Wow That's Funny!) with Drew Carey. According to Hibberd, "the project combines a hidden-camera show with flash-mob tactics as the group pulls benevolent pranks on deserving citizens." Project is produced by Raquel Prods and RelativityReal, with Jay Blumenfeld, Tony Marsh, Charlie Todd, Drew Carey, and Tom Forman serving as executive producers. (Hollywood Reporter)

TVGuide.com's Adam Bryant talks to Stana Katic about tonight's episode of ABC's Castle, in which Katic's Kate Beckett gets a love interest, who just happens to be played by Battlestar Galactica's Michael Trucco. "It's really wonderful to have the opportunity to show a more sensual, romantic side to Beckett," Katic told Bryant. "I think it's great having someone like Tom Denning who is genuinely interested in Kate and is formidable enough to become a bit of a competitor for Castle... It forces Castle to have some introspection as to why he hasn't approached her yet in that way and what's going on with his relationships and past romantic experiences. He's had a number of girls swing in and swing out. So, this is an opportunity for us as an audience to delve deeper into something he may not realize he's missing." (TVGuide.com)

Casting tidbits: Henry Zebrowski (Michael & Michael Have Issues) has been cast in NBC comedy pilot Beach Lane. Elsewhere, James Carpinello (The Punisher) will recur on CBS drama series The Good Wife. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Land has ordered nine episodes of comedy Retired at 35, starring Johnathan McClain and George Segal. Series, from executive producers Chris Case, Michael Hanel, and Mindy Schultheis, will premiere in first quarter 2011. (Variety)

Warner Bros. Television has signed a blind pilot script deal with Canadian writer Rob Sheridan (Corner Gas), under which he will move to Los Angeles this summer to develop a half-hour comedy for the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO Documentary Films has picked up US television rights to Alex Gibney's documentary My Trip to Al-Qaeda, which it will air this fall. (Variety)

Cybill Shepherd has been cast opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in an untitled Lifetime original telepic, where she will play Hewitt's mother, a waxer at a women's beauty salon who discovers that her daughter has become a prostitute in order to pay her bills and keep her family in their home. (Hollywood Reporter)

VH1 is set to launch a staggering 44 series, each of which will fall into the cabler's newly devised programming hubs: music, celebrity and "real life stories." (Hollywood Reporter)

Marjorie Cohn has been promoted to president, original programming and development, of Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids and Family Group. She continues to report to Cyma Zarghami. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Countdown to Doctor Who: Eleventh Hour is Upon Us!

"Trust me. I'm the Doctor."

With just a few hours to go before the US premiere of Doctor Who, now starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and written by Steven Moffat, I thought I'd remind you one last time to tune in tonight to BBC America when the Doctor regenerates and sets out for a whole new series of adventures among the stars and the sands of the hourglass.

You can read my spoiler-light review of the first two episodes of Doctor Who here, as well as my feature article for The Daily Beast about the Eleventh Doctor, as I interview Matt Smith and Steven Moffat about what's coming up for the Doctor, the challenges and joys of working with a character that continues to endure, romance, wardrobe choices, and much more.

And, if that weren't enough Who goodness, I've got the outtakes from my feature piece, presented on this site as two Q&A-style interviews, one with Matt Smith and the other with executive producer/head writer Steven Moffat.

I'll be curious to see what you think of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as new companion Amy Pond. I had the chance to spend some time with both the other night over cocktails and can say that they're both as wonderfully kind and magical as you'd expect them to be.

Only one last thing to say and that's: Geronimo!





Doctor Who premieres tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America, following a one-hour special about the Doctor and his universe at 8 pm ET/PT.

Countdown to Doctor Who: More with Series Star Matt Smith

Geronimo!

The eleventh hour is upon us as the US premiere of Doctor Who, overseen by new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat and starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, is set for tomorrow on BBC America. (I caught up with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Steven Moffat, and Russell T Davies at last night's fantastic BAFTA/LA screening, Q&A, and cocktail party here in Los Angeles.)

I had the opportunity to speak to Doctor Who's Matt Smith (who replaces David Tennant as the Time Lord known only as the Doctor) and Steven Moffat a few weeks back for a feature piece for The Daily Beast (which you can read here in its entirety), but I wanted to dive back into both interviews to bring you the stuff that you didn't get to read in my original feature. (You can also read my review of the first two episodes here.)

With Doctor Who set to premiere on Saturday on BBC America (with an extended-length episode with limited commercial interruptions), I thought I'd apply even more Who goodness with the rest of the transcript from my one-on-one interview with new series star Matt Smith, who talks with me about getting advice from David Tennant, working with Steven Moffat and Karen Gillan, when it hit him that he was the lead on Doctor Who, and where (and when) he'd like to take the Doctor, among other things. (Part One--more from my one-on-one interview with Steven Moffat--can be found here.)

Televisionary: Did David Tennant give you any advice about stepping into the role of the Doctor?

Matt Smith: Well, we didn’t really talk specifically about the character or stuff like that, but he said, ‘Look, mate, just go and enjoy the ride, because what a ride it is.’ I think with things like this you have to carve out the part in the way you play it yourself.

Televisionary: You and Karen Gillan are both new to the series. Was it less scary to have someone else in the same position as you?

Smith: Yeah, I think that’s quite a nice thing, actually, that we get to share it together. And, my, what a journey we’ve been on. And, of course, there have been huge highs and huge lows. I’m very fortunate because I get on very well with her, which is a real bonus, because if you didn’t get on with the girl who plays the companion, you’d be in real trouble.

Televisionary: How would you describe the Eleventh Doctor in terms of him as a character?

Matt Smith: The Doctor is always The Doctor. But I think this particular Doctor has got a kind of recklessness about him. He’s a bit of a thrill-seeker, a bit of an addict. He has a real lust for time-travel and a real sort of madness, a [sense] that he’s living on the edge.

Televisionary: What did you base your Doctor on? Did you consciously try not to emulate the 10th Doctor or make your Doctor different from all of the incarnations that have come before?

Smith: Yeah, I don’t think you can think about what’s come before you. I think it just has to be an instinctual response to the text that’s in front of you. I tried to do it as clearly and honestly as I could on my terms, in my way, without thinking about any previous incarnations of it. Of course, you wouldn’t want it to be exactly the same but the head writer’s changed as well so the flavor of the show is slightly different as well. But the Doctor is always the Doctor.

Televisionary: What is it like working with Steven Moffat? How would you describe his creative style?

Smith: He’s a genius. I say that unequivocally: he is a complete genius. Russell [T. Davies] made the TV series the most popular show and did that brilliant but I think that Steven [Moffat] has made it the most magic. He’s really turned it into a fairy tale and a magic one. The way he plays with time is extraordinary--actually. It really is--and structurally what he does with it. There are little details in the first episodes that come back up in Episode 12 and you think, how has he managed to weave that into the arc that succinctly and brilliantly? He’s got such wit and intelligence and humor. Steven is truly brilliant.

Televisionary: When was the moment where it hit you that you were actually playing the Doctor?

Smith: Oh, god. I dunno, really. That’s a good question. The first day was really bizarre because I was on the beach and the TARDIS was there and it was quite extraordinary. But I guess it’s when you start thinking about what you’re going to have for lunch: when you forget that you’re sort of saying, “Hello, I’m the Doctor, and I’m this and I’m that,” and you just start doing it instead of thinking about it, really. There have been so many moments. That first day when you shoot [in] the TARDIS, you are unmistakably aware that you’re about to play the most famous part in British television.

Televisionary: What is your favorite part of doing the show so far? What’s been the scariest?

Smith: The first day was pretty scary, to be honest, in terms of days I look back on and go, “Ooof!” But my favorite part? Oh my God, there’s been so many. Karen’s been amazing, the scripts are just so inventive and ingenious. We did some filming out in Croatia for Episode 6, which is about vampires and is brilliant. Richard Curtis wrote a script for us; that was exciting. There’s been so many. They are vast and varied. I could talk about them all day, the highlights.

Televisionary: This season you end up battling vampires in Venice and Van Gogh shows up. What would you like to see happen to the Doctor? Is there anywhere or anywhen you’d like him to travel to?

Smith: I’d quite like him to go to the lost city of Atlantis at the bottom of the ocean. But I think, production-wise, that would cost an absolute fortune, so I don’t know that they ever will. But I’d like to go there and I’d like to visit the dinosaurs. They would be great. If there was some mad dinosaur episode, that would be cool. And Atlantis, if you had to take the TARDIS down into the sea, that would be amazing.

You can read the finished feature for The Daily Beast here, and be sure to read the first part of this series, my in-depth Q&A with Steven Moffat.

Doctor Who premieres Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Countdown to Doctor Who: More with Executive Producer Steven Moffat

Geronimo!

With the US premiere of Doctor Who just two days away, anticipation for the new series, overseen by new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat and starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, is about to reach a fever pitch, thanks to a series of well-timed publicity stops around the country this week.

I had the opportunity to speak to Doctor Who's Steven Moffat and Matt Smith (who replaces David Tennant as the Time Lord known only as the Doctor) a few weeks back for a feature piece for The Daily Beast (which you can read here in its entirety), but wanted to dive back into both interviews to bring you the stuff that you didn't get to read in my original feature. (You can also read my review of the first two episodes here.)

With Doctor Who set to premiere on Saturday on BBC America (with an extended-length episode with limited commercial interruptions), I thought I'd spend the next two days offering up the offcuts from that feature. First up: Steven Moffat, who talks with me about following Russell T Davies on the series, Tintin, why Doctor Who endures, and Sherlock, among other things. (Click here to read more from my one-on-one interview with Matt Smith.)

Televisionary: Was there a lot of pressure taking up the reins from Russell T Davies and rebooting the series?

Steven Moffat: There’s a lot of pressure making 13 episodes of this kind of show by any standards. Taking over from Russell isn’t a particular thing I think about, to be honest. You’re taking over from an awful lot of people when you’re taking over on Doctor Who. They’ve been making the show since 1963! So that wasn’t the first thing on my mind at all. But it’s very exciting. People keep asking me about the pressure. It’s a very, very exciting job. I’m not going to waste time feeling pressured about it. There’s enough to worry about without worrying about that.

Televisionary: You were originally attached to write three scripts for Steven Spielberg’s Tintin trilogy but opted to focus on Doctor Who. Can you explain the draw that the Doctor had for you?

Moffat: I’ve always been fascinated with Doctor Who so to be offered that job. Two: the movie business, while I love it dearly and all that, isn’t as good a place for a writer to be that’s why—I’m hardly the first writer you’ve heard of departing movies to work on a television series. Bluntly, television is a better place for writers to be, so it’s not such a radical decision, frankly.

Televisionary: Would you say that this Doctor Who is tonally different than RTD’s Doctor Who?

Moffat: Doctor Who changes tone every single week. That’s the truth. One week it’s a comedy, the next week it’s a romance, the next week it’s a horror film. We can do a musical, if we wanted. It’s not really got one tone but that’s for other, more boring shows than ours. Generally speaking, I suppose I fall back on this cliché of calling it a dark fairy tale and we probably pushed it more towards that storybook fairy tale feeling. But I feel that the most important central thing about Doctor Who is that its tone changes every week. It’s not the same show every time. It’s the same main character, the same main two characters, and it’s the same TARDIS. Everything else changes.

Televisionary: How would you describe the Eleventh Doctor in terms of him as a character? What makes him tick?

Moffat: First of all, really, really importantly, he’s the same man. There isn’t an eleventh Doctor. There’s just one Doctor, he’s just now got his eleventh face. So the fundamental things that make the Doctor tick haven’t changed in a very long time. If you put on different clothes, you feel and act differently. Can you imagine putting on a new body? That would change you even more. He’s altered in that sense and he feels and acts different... He’s both clumsy and graceful at the same time. Both elegant and a mess at the same time... The best thing about the Doctor is that he’s always a set of contradictions. You can’t quite nail him in a sentence and you shouldn’t be able to.

Televisionary: Why was Matt Smith the right man to take on the mantle of the Doctor? How would you describe him as an actor?

Moffat: Because he gave the best audition. [Laughs.] First and foremost, he’s an astonishingly brilliant actor. Within the industry, he was already tipped for stardom, absolutely was. It’s been a meteoric rise. People refer to him as an unknown but the truth is, barely out of acting school, he’d had major acting roles in the West End, major roles in television, already been cast in a movie. He was already tipped for the top, right from the off. That’s the first thing. He’s a proper star and a proper actor.

There was something about Matt, though he didn’t at the very beginning know the show very well at all, he just—-taking it off the page—-got the tone you need. The kind of actors we get in to audition for Doctor Who tend to be very, very high-level, very, very good actors. You don’t get any bad auditions for a role like this. It would be inconceivable. But you can miss the tone of Doctor Who, the playfulness, the joy of it, the energy of it and Matt just got that. I don’t know if it’s a matter of instinct or that he’s just a very clever man. He read the scripts, which was all he really knew about Doctor Who, and gave us, fully formed in that first audition, exactly what we were looking for.

Televisionary: When I spoke to Matt, he said that the Doctor was one of very few roles—the other being Hamlet—that a 60-year-old and a 27-year-old could both play. What is it about the character that innately allows for such flexibility and range?

Moffat: Just the simple and rather brilliant device that they came up with back in 1966 of regeneration. The Doctor, when his life is in danger, just creates a new body for himself. And when he does that, he’s not exactly the same man, he’s a bit different. He reboots himself into a new face and form. That’s what’s innate about it, a simple, brilliant piece of plot mechanics which enables the Doctor to be literally a new person.

Televisionary: We’ve seen many incarnations of the Doctor over several decades. Why do you think the character endures?

Moffat: To theorize about that, you’re talking about people like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. I think you need a strong, clear, visually identifiable character. I think you need one where there can be different takes. There are different James Bonds, there are different Sherlock Holmeses. There are many different Doctor Whos. You have to have a character where it’s not static. It’s not that he’s going to date, it’s that he’s going to adapt to the modern age very easily and properly. But above all else, let’s be clear, Doctor Who hasn’t lasted for any mysterious reasons; it’s lasted because it’s really, really good. It’s really, really entertaining and vital and brilliant and I think, probably, the best character that television has yet come up with.

Televisionary: You’ve also got another project for BBC One coming up. What can you tell us about Sherlock?

Moffat: Sherlock, which I devised with Mark Gatiss and is being filmed at the moment also in Wales, is Sherlock Holmes but Sherlock Holmes set in the modern day. Not by any trickery; it’s not like he’s resurrected or any nonsense like that but we just do the stories but we relocate them in the modern day.

What Mark and I both felt was that the brilliance of Sherlock Holmes is getting obscured by all of the trappings of Victoriana whereas to the contemporary readers of Sherlock Holmes, it was sort modern and vital and now. Just taking all that Victoriana away, I honestly really think reveals the character, just what a great pate of character in Sherlock Holmes and Watson are and it’s a dream project for Mark and I. We’ve been talking about it for years and finally my wife, who is producing it, made us sit down and get on with it.

I’ve seen quite a bit of it now and I think it’s absolutely astonishing. The director, Paul McGuigan, directed Gangster Number 1 and Lucky Number Slevin. I think it’s a really remarkable piece of work and I’m just thrilled by it.

You can read the finished feature for The Daily Beast here, and Part Two of this series, the rest of my interview with the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, can be found here.

Doctor Who premieres Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Channel Surfing: HBO Renews Treme, Damages May Be Dead, Jared Harris Promoted on Mad Men, 24, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

It took just one episode, apparently, before HBO ordered a second season of New Orleans-set drama series Treme, from creators David Simon and Eric Overmyer. "We would have picked up this show last week," HBO president Michael Lombardo told The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "We've seen the first nine episodes it's as strong as any show we've seen. Much like The Wire, the audience is so passionate and so invested. We're about servicing our subscriber base and I believe that people will become addicted to this show. We have to be a place where this kind of excellence is giving space to continue." According to Lombardo, Season Two of Treme is being targeted for a spring 2011 debut, where it will likely be paired with the first season of fantasy drama Game of Thrones. "They should be ready about the same time," said Lombardo. "[Game] looks beautiful, the compelling scripts are just fantastic, we're doing reshoots but nothing major. The show is there." Production on Treme's second season will begin this fall. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian, meanwhile, talks to Lombardo in a Q&A-style interview about the Treme renewal. "The first season of True Blood we picked up in the first week. Whether it was after the first day, I don't recall," Lombardo told Adalian. "But I must be candid: We knew we were picking this up (before the premiere). We were actually trying to arrange a phone call with David before we got numbers, but because of David Mills' funeral, that was just impossible. We were sure early on in a way that was unique." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Variety's Stuart Levine is reporting that Monday night's season finale of FX's Damages may wind up being the series finale, after all. "Despite a meeting in the next two weeks between Sony Pictures Television and DirecTV to discuss the possibility of the Glenn Close skein changing networks, insiders say it doesn't look as though the drama is a good fit for the satellite provider," writes Levine. "Sony, of course, wants to see Damages continue, but the studio would have to take a substantial license-fee reduction. With what would be the fourth year of the show, and cast and crew expecting salary increases, it would likely be difficult -- though not impossible -- to cut costs." If Sony was able to broker a deal with DirecTV, their Channel 101 would want to take the first window of Damages' fourth season, which could be a problem for FX, which co-produces the legal drama. [Editor: I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that something could be worked out but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the finale as much as I possibly can.] (Variety)

Good news for Mad Men fans: Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jared Harris has been promoted to series regular for Season Four of the period drama, which returns to AMC this summer. "Harris joined the Emmy-winning drama in Season Three as Lane Pryce, Sterling Cooper’s new financial officer (installed by UK parent company Putnam, Powell, and Low)," writes Ausiello. "In the finale, he became a founding partner in SCDP alongside Don Draper, Bert Cooper, and Roger Sterling." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere, Ausiello also has a spoiler-laden interview with 24 executive producer Howard Gordon about this week's shocking twist... which I won't spoil here, but I will say that Gordon is candid about the decision they made and much more. "It was an incredibly emotional day," said Gordon about the final day of shooting on 24. "I’m just so incredibly proud to be a part of it... This has been an incredibly strong season. I can [only] judge it in terms of what my own opinion is of the show and what I hear about it anecdotally from the people who are friends and family, but I feel very proud of this year. Kiefer is very proud of this year. People are happy to be ending with such creative vigor." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot Southern Discomfort, where she will play Haley, described as "a recent Harvard graduate who returns to her Texas hometown to reunite with her old boyfriend." She'll star opposite Don Johnson and Mary Steenburgen in the pilot, which hails from Sony Pictures Television, Tantamount, and ABC Studios. Bush's casting is said to be in second position to her role on the CW's One Tree Hill, which has yet to receive a pickup for another season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, Ben Browder (Stargate SG-1) has joined the cast of the CW's drama pilot presentation Hellcats, where he is set to play football coach Red Irvine. (Deadline.com)

More wrestling is coming to Syfy, following the conclusion of a multi-year deal between cabler Syfy and World Wrestling Entertainment to bring Friday Night Smackdown to the sci-fi channel beginning October 1st. As part of the move, Syfy will shift its traditional Friday night programming block of originals--which includes Caprica, Stargate Universe, and Sanctuary, among others--to Tuesdays. "WWE is the ultimate in imagination-based sports entertainment," said Syfy programming president Dave Howe. "The fantastical thrills of Friday Night SmackDown provide an ideal addition to the Syfy slate, as it targets the younger male and female demographics, which are the fastest-growing categories for WWE." Syfy's current wrestling series, NXT, will wrap up its run in October. (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)

Naren Shankar is said to be leaving CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, stepping down from his role as executive producer/co-showrunner on the procedural drama in order to focus on his development deal with CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)

Kevin Eubanks will depart NBC's Tonight Show on May 28th and will be replaced, beginning June 6th, by American Idol's Rickey Minor, the musical competition series' music director. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed, Variety)

Looks like Glee star Lea Michele injured her knee while filming an upcoming episode that features the music of Lady Gaga. (Specifically, it was the glee club's take on Gaga's "Bad Romance.") "I'm directing that episode and I did more coverage on that song then we've ever done in the history of the show," co-creator Ryan Murphy tells told E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos. "It's a big number. It's like, big and athletic and hard. And those girls and Chris [Colfer] I think did it for six hours straight." As for Colfer, he too was amazed that he wasn't injured shooting the show-stopping number. "I almost died just trying on my getup," Colfer told Dos Santos. "Literally, I probably almost died because I wear 10-inch heels and those take some getting used to. They're like stilts walking around. They're platform, stick stiletto heels. And I had to dance my ass off in them [laughs.]" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

In other Glee-related news, FOX has released the Sue Sylvester "Vogue" video from next week's "Power of Madonna" episode of Glee. The video, a shot by shot remake of Madonna's "Vogue," can be seen in its entirety below:


BBC has confirmed that it will not be going ahead with a third season of post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors. "The BBC is committed to making a broad range of varied and ambitious drama, but in order to achieve this we do have to move on from some pieces in order to allow new work to come through," said a BBC spokesperson. "After two series, Survivors will not be returning." (Daily Telegraph)

Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Wizards of Waverly Place showrunner Peter Murrieta will depart the Disney Channel comedy should it be picked up for a fourth season. (Deadline.com)

Arthur Smith and Kent Weed's reality shingle A. Smith and Co. is developing a reality series based around Aussie magician James Galea and will pitch the project--which mixes comedy, illusion, and sleight of hand--to networks. (Variety)

Looks like Carrie and Co. will be walking in their Manolos over to E! and Style, according to a report by Alex Weprin in Broadcasting & Cable. Comcast Entertainment Group has signed a deal to acquire off-net and ancillary rights to all 94 episodes of HBO's Sex and the City beginning in January 2011. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Warner Bros. Television has hired ICM agent Tom Burke as SVP/head of casting for the studio, where he will oversee all casting both for WBTV and offshoot Warner Horizon. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Billy Campbell Lands The Killing, More on Conan-TBS Deal, NBC Gets Law & Order: Los Angeles, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

Billy Campbell (The 4400) has been cast as one of the leads in AMC drama pilot The Killing, where he will play Darren Richmond, a City Council President in Seattle. Series, executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen and Veena Sud, revolves around three interlocking stories that are connected by the murder of a young girl. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

TBS' deal with Conan O'Brien for a latenight talk show is described as a "watershed moment" by Variety's Stuart Levine, who reports that the cabler's deal with O'Brien will bring more viewers to the channel who may not have come to the comedy-centric cabler before. Deal will create a two-hour latenight block (with George Lopez's Lopez Tonight that will air Mondays through Thursdays on TBS. (Variety)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian has an interview with Turner Broadcasting Company's Steve Koonin about TBS' surprising deal with Conan O'Brien, who will bring his latenight show to the cabler in November. "The most important point is: Conan chose TBS. And he had lots of different opportunities," said Koonin. "We've been very vociferous and vocal about trying to grow our business and saying we're as good as broadcast. To have someone like Conan (come to TBS) ... validates what we've been saying. We are every bit as good as broadcast television. It's a win for the whole (cable industry)." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

[Editor: FOX affiliates are said to be relieved that Conan O'Brien won't be coming to their network, according to a report by Broadcasting & Cable's Michael Malone, which can be read here.]

George Lopez, meanwhile, will move his TBS latenight talk show Lopez Tonight to midnight in order to accommodate O'Brien's new series. "I want to say that I am completely 100% on board with this move," said Lopez on last night's show. "I talked to Conan on Wednesday and I talked to him last night and I said I welcome you into my deep loving embrace." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

NBC has allegedly ordered thirteen episodes of Law & Order spin-off series Law & Order: Los Angeles (a.k.a. LOLA), which it will launch this fall, according to Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva, who reports that Blake Masters (Brotherhood) has been hired to write the series. However, neither NBC nor executive producer Dick Wolf would comment on the report. Should the move go forward, it's possible that the Peacock will once again be home to at least three iterations of the Law & Order franchise (with original-flavor Law & Order said to be look to return), but I can't help but wonder if NBC didn't learn its lesson about not shooting pilots first before ordering projects to series. (Deadline.com, The Wrap's TVMoJoe, Fancast)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Diane Keaton is in talks to star in HBO comedy pilot Tilda, from executive producers Bill Condon and Cynthia Mort. Should a deal close, Keaton would play a Hollywood blogger who is said to share some, uh, attributes with Nikki Finke. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Looks like Matthew Broderick is getting some company on the beach. Patton Oswalt (Caprica) and Kristen Johnston (3rd Rock from the Sun) have been cast in NBC comedy pilot Beach Lane, which stars Broderick as an author who is hired by an slacker millionaire named James (Oswalt) to run his newspaper, based in the Hamptons. Johnston will play James' real estate agent step-sister. Project, from Universal Media Studios and Broadway Video, is written/executive produced by Paul Simms. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)

Reports are swirling that post-apocalyptic drama Survivors (which airs Stateside on BBC America) has been axed by BBC One after just two seasons. "Sadly the BBC aren't going to do any more Survivors," an unnamed source told Total Sci-Fi Online. "They expressed genuine affection for the show and a real desire to go again but felt that with the ratings having slipped a little since the first series they couldn't take the risk. The sad truth is that we're somewhat the victims of having gone out on the main channel - in some ways the exposure is wonderful but in other ways it's a mixed blessing." (via Digital Spy)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with V's Joel Gretsch about what's coming up on the ABC sci-fi drama series. "Yeah, he will," said Gretsch, when asked about whether Father Jack would have to choose between being a priest or a soldier. "The episode we're filming now, that question is very much in the forefront. Father Jack is really an unlikely resistance fighter. He's ill-equipped. Even though he was in the war, he was there from more of a spiritual standpoint. Father Jack is a fish out of water, yet he is learning that he's got to do something. He will definitely find his way through this, though it's not an easy road for him and it pushes his moral dilemma." (TVGuide.com)

Pilot casting update: Kyle Howard (My Boys) has been cast opposite Olivia Munn in NBC comedy pilot Perfect Couples; Max Ehrich (The Pregnancy Pact) has been cast in two CBS pilots, Quinn-Tuplets and Team Spitz. (Hollywood Reporter)

Starz is said to be developing two mini-series projects with Ben Silverman's Electus: historical drama William the Conquerer, from executive producer Pierre Morel, and action-thriller Peacekeeper, co-created by Fisher Stevens and Silverman. Move comes after Starz has announced several international co-productions, including Pillars of the Earth and Camelot. (Variety)

Syfy has teamed up with RHI Entertainment to produce two telefilms for the cabler: The Other Side and Roadkill. (Hollywood Reporter)

Scott Free and Tandem have announced that they are developing a mini-series sequel to their upcoming period drama Pillars of the Earth that will be based on Ken Follett's sequel, "World Without End." John Pielmeier will write the script for a possible eight-hour mini-series and Starz will co-finance the development of the project with Tandem. (Variety)

Hasbro Studios has hired Cartoon Network executive Finn Arnesen as SVP of international distribution and development, where he will oversee the studio's international expansion and report to Stephen Davis. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Secrets and Shadows: An Advance Review of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who

Fairy tales are funny things.

Ostensibly stories for children, they manage to capture that incredible sense of wonderment and awe that we all have when we are younger, as well as darkness and terror, a fear of the things that go bump in the night.

When I spoke to Matt Smith and Steven Moffat a few weeks ago for a feature I wrote on the new iteration of Doctor Who--which launches Stateside this Saturday on BBC America--both of them described this new Doctor Who as a "dark fairy tale," and, having seen the magical first two episodes, I can say that the comparison is particularly apt.

Under new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat, Doctor Who has been transformed. 27-year-old Matt Smith has stepped into the role of 900-year-old Time Lord the Doctor with an equal mix of relish and madcap verve and he's joined in the TARDIS (which itself gets a facelift, along with the Doctor's trademark sonic screwdriver) by Scottish actress Karen Gillan, who plays new companion Amy Pond.

While I have an eternal love for David Tennant's Tenth Doctor (as fans of this site will undoubtedly know), I do have to say that Smith's Doctor is remarkable: at once mad scientist, man-child, and manic magician rolled into one.

I don't want to reveal too much about the plot of these first few episodes because Doctor Who truly thrives when it surprises. And these first two installments offer much in the way of surprise and tantalizing thrills. In other words: they have to be seen in order to truly feel just what Moffat, Smith, Gillan, and Co. are trying to achieve here. But I will say that Smith's charm, poise, and quirkiness are one of the series' best weapons.

In just his first scene--where he attempts to sample an array of food in order to settle into his newly regenerated body (culminating in a stomach-churning combination of custard and fish sticks)--Smith wins you over through sheer force of will, effortlessly offering the very best aspects of Tennant's Doctor with new twists of his own. The result is one that pays homage to Tennant (he wears his cast-off wardrobe for the first 45 minutes or so) while setting up the Eleventh Doctor as a separate entity in his own right.

It's not an easy feat to follow in the footsteps of David Tennant but Smith proves that he's more than up to the task. His Doctor is at once all wide-eyed wonder and haughty tutor rolled into one: a creature of paradox whose knowledge is only ever truly appreciated when he's in the company of another.

Which brings us then to Gillan's Amy Pond. I don't want to give too much away about Amy but I will say that Gillan's spin on the role of the companion is one for the ages, offering a character that's not only different than Billie Piper's Rose, Freema Agyeman's Martha, and Catherine's Tate's Donna but who is uniquely connected to the Doctor in a way that no other companion has been.

A Scottish girl in an English village, Amy shares the outsider status of the Doctor, exploring the notion of belonging or not belonging, of sharing a home but not having one. There's immediately a simpatico spirit between the two travelers, a connection forged in a sense of being the Other, with its roots in the series' dark fairy tale aura. She's plucky, resourceful, and secretive, keeping something vital from the Doctor that might have changed his offer to her to travel the stars with him. (You'll have to watch to find out just what that is as well as the circumstances of their first meeting.)

The first episode, "The Eleventh Hour," written by Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, is a staggering beautiful introduction to the new Doctor Who, a one-off mystery caper that at once sets up the new characters while exploring the small English village that Amy lives in, a village that conceals a dangerous creature known as Prisoner Zero, whose presence might spell doom for the entire planet. (My only complaint is that Prisoner Zero is far more terrifying when he's not seen than when he is. Which I promise will make more sense when you see the episode.) The installment deliciously sets up that overarching fairy tale sensation, offering a plot that is at once exciting and utterly heartbreaking. It seems that even a Time Lord is a prisoner to time itself...

The second episode, "The Beast Below," written again by Moffat and directed this time by Andrew Gunn, offers the first real adventure for the Doctor and Amy Pond as they travel to the far future and encounter a Great Britain that is little more than a metal spaceship amid the stars. But this ship and its seemingly docile society hide a dangerous and horrific secret. Look for Sophie Okenedo in a fantastic guest starring role as the mysterious Liz Ten, and for Amy to prove her worth to the Doctor.

Moffat's Doctor Who seems to have retained the sense of awe and beauty of Russell T Davies' run but has replaced some of the--for wont of a better word--silliness of some of those episodes with a darkness and grit. Fairy tales aren't always upbeat stories of magic and mirth but are often cautionary tales that explore the darker impulses of human nature. They might be intended for children but that doesn't mean that they are exclusively created for children.

In the hands of Moffat--the writer of some of Doctor Who's most beloved installments including "Blink" and "The Girl in the Fireplace"--the series becomes a winning mix of light and dark, adventure and heartache, home and away, the past and the future. Based on these early episodes, Moffat's tenure promises to be a legendary run on Doctor Who, filled with fire and spirit, joie de vivre and madness. In other words: exactly what the Doctor ordered.





Doctor Who launches Saturday at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Eleventh Hour: Countdown to "Doctor Who"

"Follow me through time and space."

Anticipation is building to a fever pitch as the countdown until the launch of the new Doctor Who continues, with UK residents very luckily getting the first episode of the Steven Moffat-executive produced Who--starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan--on Saturday. (Those of us in the US will have to wait until April 17th, when BBC America launches Doctor Who.)

Until then, some clips to sate your appetite, including the first 35-seconds or so of the Doctor Who premiere, entitled "Eleventh Hour," the first full-length episode featuring Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, and a look at the Doctor battling some vampires in Venice from the sixth episode, "Vampires in Venice."

(You can also read my interview with Doctor Who's Matt Smith and Steven Moffat over at The Daily Beast here.)

It looks like the Doctor has his hands full when "Eleventh Hour" begins, as you can see from the clip below.

Doctor Who: "Eleventh Hour":



My favorite bit from the next clip: "Hello, handsome!" Here's a look at the sixth episode of the upcoming season, which finds the Doctor battling some rather pale, beautiful girls, in an episode written by Toby Whithouse (Being Human). Keep your eye on the library card...

Doctor Who: "Vampires in Venice":



And, finally, here's the latest trailer for Doctor Who from BBC America:



Doctor Who launches tomorrow on BBC One and on April 17th on BBC America.

The Daily Beast: "The New Doctor Who"

Doctor Who returns this month on BBC One and BBC America with a new Doctor (Matt Smith), a new companion (Karen Gillan), and a new head writer (Steven Moffat).

Looking to learn more about what's new and what's remained eternally the same? Head over to The Daily Beast to read my latest piece, entitled "The New Doctor Who."

I spoke to new series star Matt Smith and new head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat about the Doctor, Amy Pond, the Doctor's wardrobe, what makes this Doctor Who different, what's next for the iconic time-traveler, and much more.

Head to the comments section to discuss your take on what Smith and Moffat have to say, your take on the Eleventh Doctor, and anything else that springs to mind.

Or as the Doctor himself would say, "Geronimo!"

Doctor Who launches Saturday, April 2nd on BBC One and Saturday, April 17th on BBC America.

Fantastically Absurd: An Advance Review of Season Three of BBC America's "That Mitchell and Webb Look"

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar. Dr. Death. The Lazy Writers. Those guys who look like Mitchell and Webb but are, um, far more conceited.

These are but a few of the memorable characters created by David Mitchell and Robert Webb (Peep Show) on their gleefully subversive sketch comedy series, That Mitchell and Webb Look, which finally returns to BBC America after a far too long absence.

As a longtime viewer and Numberwang-obsessive, I've long waited for BBC America to bring this winning series back to the airwaves in America and my high anticipation was well rewarded when I sat down last night to watch the first three episodes of Season Three of That Mitchell and Webb Look, supplied by the network for review.

Along with some much beloved returning sketches including the snooker commentators as well as the aforementioned Sir Digby Chicken Caesar and Ginger and the Lazy Writers, Mitchell and Webb have cooked up some new creations in the mad lab in which they write (or, quite possibly, David Mitchell's bedroom).

Putting aside the nightmarishly absurdist numbers-based quiz show madness from earlier seasons (i.e. Numberwang), the duo offer up a post-apocalyptic game show called The Quiz Broadcast, in which contestants attempt to answer questions while viewers at home are told in no uncertain terms to "remain indoors." It's only natural that the world has undergone a horrific incident called "The Event" that has scarred the psyches of everyone who has survived and causes recurrent nightmares, even in waking. Contestants often go mad or face sudden death while playing. (Yes, seriously.)


Then there's Poirot-y, a spoof of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, famously played by David Suchet in the long-running ITV/PBS series of mysteries Poirot. Here, Mitchell plays Poirot-y, whose deductive skills are often limited to waiting for a suspect to begin to speak in "the evil voice," a tell-tale sign of malevolence that's often accompanied by better hair, makeup, and a cigarette being smoked from an evil cigarette holder.


Webb plays period mad scientist Dr. Death, whose devices seem tailor-made for military applications but who wishes them to be used for the good of mankind and is only too willing to destroy them to prevent the president of the United States (Mitchell) from allowing them to kill. Including the Giant Death Ray (a gargantuan bar code scanner able to tell the price of a can of cling peaches) to a huge robotic scorpion that fires "helpful" bullets and is meant to work behind the counter of a convenience store.


One-off sketches include Episode Three's hilarious spoof of Jane Austen's seminal "Pride and Prejudice" (which involves a conga line, Mr. Darcy, and freestyle disco dancing), a method for finding lost objects called Jan Hankl's Flank Pat™, Santa's horrifically bad mannered brother, a dog cannon doorbell-replacement, and Agent Suave, a James Bond-wannabe whose superspy abilities include guessing the weight of fruitcakes.

All this and recurring mutton-chopped superhero Captain Todger (Webb), who must be seen to be believed. (It helps if you know just what a todger is in British colloquial slang.)

Ultimately, That Mitchell and Webb Look is a rare beast: a sketch comedy series where every sketch is, well, great, offering a balance of intellectual humor, gross-out comedy, and scathing satire as well as some of the most deliciously absurd sketches ever to grace the small screen. You'd be well advised to tune in if you haven't been exposed to the wit and flair of Mitchell and Webb. Just remember, whatever you do, remain indoors.

That Mitchell and Webb Look returns to BBC America on April 7th at 9:30 pm ET/PT.

Hope Never Dies: An Advance Review of the Season Premiere of BBC America's "Survivors"

For the survivors of the European flu, things have not been going so well lately.

During Saturday night's season finale of BBC America's Survivors, members of the group were alternately kidnapped, shot, and forced to participate in a child thief gang that would have felt quite at home in Charles Dickens' Oliver. In other words: things couldn't really get much worse. And yet...

In tonight's gripping second season premiere, the loose band of survivors discovers that things can in fact get a lot worse, as they face their toughest challenges yet and continue to become increasingly splintered by outside forces. Tonight's episode pushes them to the brink of death itself, as several characters find themselves trapped in untenable situations from which escape seems futile while one of them makes a selfless sacrifice in an effort to earn her place among the group.

Survivors has thrived by offering a heady blend of post-apocalyptic suspense and a meditative exploration of the human condition under some bleak circumstances and tonight's episode is no exception to that rule. What do we do when faced with certain death? When the world comes crumbling down around our heads, do we hide or fight? Can you trust in the kindness of strangers or is there always a price to pay?

Season Two of Survivors takes place moments after the end of the freshman season as Anya and Tom attempt to save the life of Greg, wounded by a shotgun blast minutes before at the hands of the sadistic Dexter. But attempting to operate on a gunshot wound victim in the middle of a horror-filled London isn't exactly easy and Anya needs vital hospital equipment if she has any chance of saving Greg's life. Thus, a last-ditch mission to the hospital where Anya worked as Anya, Tom, and Al attempt to grab some supplies while Sarah and Najid keep an eye on the delirious Greg.

The only problem: Anya didn't count on the hospital being on fire.

I won't say any more about that situation but it ranks up there with some of the most grueling and tense situations on the series to date as the severity of their situation is tested by even more terror, the aching possibility of loss, and a brutal encounter experienced by the manipulative Sarah, who discovers that she is in way over her head.

Greg, meanwhile, suffering from the results of the gunshot wound and having his chest cut open without any anesthesia, begins to imagine/remember life before the virus outbreak, giving the audience some vital clues into his past and his character, including one reveal that tantalizingly dangles in the air. While he struggles with his past actions, his sole desire is to locate and save Abby, taken during the season finale by a group of armed men from the lab.

Abby's presence at the laboratory kicks up a whole new direction for the series as we learn more about the lab and its scientists, who they are, what they want, and what their true mission is. I was extremely surprised by a crucial reveal at the end of the episode as well as an intriguing subplot that makes me wonder just what is actually going on with this lab. Look for Whittaker, the Machiavellian head scientist, to become a more fully realized and three-dimensional character as he explains--or lies--to Abby about what they want from her and as we learn a great deal about his own character flaws.

Three words--"hope never dies"--may hold some critical answers and I can't wait to see just how this story pans out. Survivors continues to surprise with its grittiness, plot twists, and compelling characters and despite the series' move to Tuesdays (where it will now air opposite Lost), it's a series that's well worth your time.

Season Two of Survivors begins tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Secrets and Shadows: BBC America Unveils New "Doctor Who" Trailer

Digital cabler BBC America today unveiled its newest promotional trailer for Doctor Who, which launches April 17th in the US.

Starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, this new Doctor Who finds Smith tacking up the mantle of the Doctor, a 900-plus-year-old traveler from a vanquished planet who travels through time and space in his TARDIS. Joining the Eleventh Doctor is Gillan's Amy Pond as the dual-hearted time traveler's latest assistant. Plus, Steven Moffat comes on board as the new head writer/executive producer. Having written such standout installments as "Blink," "The Girl in the Fireplace," and "Silence in the Library," among others, I can't wait to see just what he gets up to when he's at the reins.

You can watch the full minute-long promo below as we begin to count down the days before the new Doctor takes to the sky.



Doctor Who premieres Saturday, April 17th at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.