As reported last week, The CW is working on a spinoff of the 90s series “Beverly Hills 90210″. Variety is reporting new details on the series.

According to reports on casting breakdowns and TVTracker.com, the new take on the Aaron Spelling-Darren Star sudser will focus on the Mills family of BevHills and offer a lot more racial diversity than the original show.
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Matriarch of the family is Tabitha Mills, a 60-something actress/alchoholic who was a major star in the 1970s and had been linked to everyone from Warren Beatty to Jack Nicholson. After her latest bout at Betty Ford, Tabitha decides to try to live on her own in her BevHills estate.

There is a lot more detail in the article. Also described are two teen characters, Daphne & Max Silver, which share a last name with 90210 character David Silver. At this time, only a pilot script has been commissioned.

I enjoyed the first 2 seasons on the original show, but didn’t care for the latter seasons. I have hopes for the sequel because of the involvement of Rob Thomas. His “Veronica Mars” was an excellent combination of real drama and some ‘teen-angst’ (”Smallville” could learn a thing or two from him), so I believe he can produce something superior to the original.

Does the world need a new 90210?

Although I am not a big fan of “Law & Order: SVU”, I have watched on occasion, and do admit it is a quality show. The amazing actor, Oscar winner Robin Williams, will be making an appearance on the 200th episode of the series. The Hollywood Reporter has:

Oscar winner Robin Williams will make a rare TV appearance on NBC’s crime drama “Law & Order: SVU.”

On an episode slated to air April 29, he will play a law-abiding engineer whose life takes a tragic turn, he becomes an ardent believer in the necessity of challenging authority.

“We are thrilled that one of the most talented and versatile actors around will be starring in this powerful and complex special 200th episode,” executive producer Neal Baer said. “We can’t imagine anyone else doing this role.”

Robin Williams is a masterful actor, and I will take any chance to see him in a dramatic role. This episode of SVU is on my ‘to watch’ list. What do regular watchers of SVU think of this appearance?

Yesterday during the panel at the 2008 Paley Festival, “Chuck” creator Josh Schwartz had this to say(via TVGuide):

The writers’ room at Chuck officially opened for business today. Production resumes in May. “The idea is to own the fact that we’ve been off the air for several months, so there’s a reset that’s going to happen,” said Schwartz of the second-season premiere, slated for September. “We’re going to bring in some fresh new characters, some new villains.” Regarding the latter, Schwartz said his dream “get” is Van Damme.

I thought “Chuck” was working fine, and not in need of a reboot. But, I can understand the need to keep gaining new fans, and not being on the air for so long could possibly be countered with a show reboot. “Pushing Daisies” recently announced a similar scenario for similar reasons.

As always, I worry that they’ll change what I like about the show to please others, but hopefully my fears are unfounded. Anyone else worried about changes? Or, should we be more trusting of Schwartz and Fedak?

ABC had promoted that we’d know the answer to the Oceanic Six mystery by the end of last weeks episode. Several “Lost” fan site were reporting Jin as one of the six, but after last week, it appears they were wrong (according to the tombstone, he died on the plane). TVGuide’s Ausiello has this to say:

Who said Aaron is not one of the Oceanic Six? Certainly not me. … In the meantime, don’t expect a definitive answer about the Six from Team Darlton. Carlton Cuse tells me they’re “not going public with any further clarifications right now.” And what of the ABC promo that promised viewers they’d know the identity of the Six by the end of last week’s episode? “We don’t determine how ABC promotes the show,” says Cuse. “But Damon and I will say you have now seen all of the Oceanic Six in this season’s episodes.”

In the past, the producers have (politely) chided ABC for the “Lost” promotions. I wonder if we have yet to see the sixth member in a flash forward, and ABC jumped the gun assuming Jin was the one (reports are the early version of the episode did not contain the tombstone scene). Did Ben pretend to be on the plane? Is Michael one of the six? Or is it Aaron?

There have been many rumors on the fate of the BSG prequel, “Caprica“. At the recent Sci Fi Channel upfronts, they announced the green-lighting of the project. MajorSpoilers has the info:

“Battlestar Galactica” is concluding its 3½-year run with 20 final episodes this year. Its “Caprica” prequel begins production in Vancouver in the spring. Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, the exec producers of “Galactica,” will join with Universal Media Studios to work on “Caprica.” Rene Aubuchon will co-write the “Caprica” pilot with Moore, and Jeff Reiner will direct it. Casting begins soon.

I like when shows come to a natural end (ex. Seinfeld) instead of a forced end (ex. ER). Having a spin-off to fill in the hole left by the series is great. I hope “Caprica” succeeds and proves to be as engaging as BSG.

Can Ron Moore continue his success?

Update: Here is the official press release.

There’s a new food related reality show coming to the market, thanks to NBC and the company behind Hell’s Kitchen, according to Variety:

“Chopping Block,” to be exec produced by David Barbour and Julian Cress, will feature would-be chefs competing as couples in a bid to win their own restaurant.

The host will be Marco Pierre White, who replaced Gordon Ramsay on the British Hell’s Kitchen last year.

I am absolutely addicted to Top Chef, but I think we’re reaching critical mass with competitive reality shows. Bravo alone has more than their fair share, so I’m curious if this show can get off the ground and get it’s own following or if it’s doomed to failure.

I’m pretty sure if I ran a network, right now I wouldn’t be reaching for more competitive reality to fill out my schedule. But I guess lather, rinse, repeat is the way scheduling works these days.

Fans of Chuck will be able to get more of their favorite not-quite-super-spy. TV Guide reports:

The upcoming series will be created by WildStorm, the DC Comics imprint that has also put Supernatural to comic paper. Chuck Bartowski and his cohorts will be available in comic form starting June 11.

Considering what I’ve heard about the Supernatural comics, I don’t know that this is a good idea. I don’t follow Supernatural (yet) but I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the comic spin-off. So does this bode well for Chuck or not?

I think Chuck is probably my favorite of the new shows that came out this year, but I don’t think I’ll look to the comic book for more fun. Part of the charm of the show is the cast, and I don’t think you can capture that with ink and paper.

Will you be picking it up?

It appears that many sites and news outlets were a little to quick to announce Clooney’s return to “ER”. Somebody actually *gasp* asked Clooney. ExtraTV has his response:

There were rumors that George Clooney would be putting on his scrubs one more time for “E.R.,” but George is telling “Extra” he has no plans to return to the NBC drama. “The truth of the matter is they wouldn’t ask, and there really would be no reason for it.”

That is about as close to a “no” as you’ll get from hollywood. I do hope they bring back some old characters for the final season (Eriq LaSalle?). As I said, “ER” deserves to go out with a bang.

Ben Browder has said that he’ll reprise his role as John Crichton if a proposed set of Farscape webisodes gets off the ground. SciFi Wire reports:

Executive producer Brian Henson and creator Rockne O’Bannon are talking about how to revive Farscape on the Web in a series of 10 webisodes.

“At the moment, that’s Rockne and Brian’s job, and I’m aware that they’re figuring out what they’re going to do with it, but I don’t know how far along in the process they are,” Browder said.

While I admit that I think Farscape suffered a bit in it’s later episodes, I have to also say that that the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series was some really fine television.

With his commitment to Stargate SG-1 at an end, it seems the perfect timing for this project. Not to mention that I have rarely seen a fandom as loyal and excitable as Farscape fans (outside of Browncoats).

At the same time, I wonder about all the returns to old series we seem to be having. Where’s the new content? Whatever happened to letting a show go when it was over? We’ve got new Babylon 5 stories, SG-1 isn’t really over, and every show I watched as a kid is being revived.

Do you think they can do something great, or should they let Farscape go?

I am a huge fan of Parker Posey (if you haven’t seen her indie films, you must), so I admit the only reason I watched “The Return of Jezebel James” was because of her. To my pleasant surprise, it was a star filled cast, with Parker Posey, Lauren Ambrose, Scott Cohen, and the amazing Diane Wiest.

It debuted as a 2-part hour-long episode. The first 1/2 hour was definitely a pilot. It was rough, but showed its potential. You could tell that Posey wasn’t quite sure how to play Sarah, and it took time to settle in. Also, the entire show was a setup. I can understand why they played the first 2 episodes back to back.

The second 1/2 hour improved on the first. The actors fell into their characters, and relationships were defined. A monologue from Sarah to Coco helped set the relationship between the 2 sisters and define the theme of the show.

The Nielsens were not good at all, but FOX didn’t promote the show very well. As I said, I only watched it for Posey, and had no idea what the show was about. From what I read of early reviews nearly all problems, reported by critics prior to the air date, were addressed. It was a solid debut, and I look forward to next week.

Recent news of the departure of Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum as full-time cast members of next seasons “Smallville” has begun speculation of their fate. Recently on her Facebook page, Kristen addressed this:

Hey Team…

So, I thought I would give those of you curious about Smallville a brief debrief. I am in Bangkok for a few more months. So, no shooting of the Ville for me. I will return for a undetermined, although small, number of episodes in season 8.

I am not really opening up the floor for lots of discussion, because it is not really the place for it. Obviously I have loved my time on the show, but I am equally as thrilled to move on to new endeavors. One of which is very dear to me, and that is GBD [Girls By Design]. So thank you all for your really fabulous support and passion!!! I hope this clears up most of the questions…

xoxo
Kristin

So with “Smallville” going into post-strike production, it will be mostly Lana-less. I personally don’t mind at all. I think that Kreuk’s version of Lana ruined the Lana character. I’m not sure if it was her fault or not, but there was nothing appealing about Lana, and she lacked the “character” of Clark’s childhood crush/sweetheart.

I really think that season 8 has the potential to be the best season yet. Not much Lana, and a new villain (with the scarcity of Rosenbaum) will force them to shake it up a bit. Sound good?

Bye the end of the season, Lena Headey had shown off her acting chops. She is a big reason for the increased quality of “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”. That is why it is good to hear that she’s getting more work during hiatus. Coming Soon has the story:

She’ll star opposite Josh Lucas in the film inspired by the classic Edgar Allan Poe story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The contemporized adaptation sees Lucas starring as a single father whose recently transplanted heart leads him on a frantic search to find the donor’s killer before a similar fate befalls him.

It’s great to see Headley in getting high profile, dramatic roles. Although “contemporized” classics are sometimes done terribly, I still have desire to see this one.

Do you like Lena’s acting? Can she handle Poe?

Sitcom veteran Justine Bateman is returning to television on the hot ABC ‘dramedy‘, “Desperate Housewives”. TV Crunch has:

Justine Bateman, best known for her role as Mallory on “Family Ties,” will be joining the ladies of Wisteria Lane for a multi-episode arc on “Desperate Housewives.”

No word on when we’ll first be seeing Justine Bateman, but she’ll play an artist that lives with Gabby and Carlos.

And… the wait is almost over for new episodes of “Desperate Housewives” — the first new episode will air Sunday, April 14 at 9 PM. Finally!

I’m glad to see Justine back on television, and the format of Housewives fits well were her style. “Desperate Housewives” quality/creativity goes up and down, but the Carlos and Gabby storyline seems to be picking up steam. I see the addition of Bateman as a good thing.

Still watching Housewives? Eager to see Bateman?

“ER” is one of those shows that comes and goes from my DVR. I didn’t watch the first few years, watched religiously for a few years after, and now peek in from time to time. In what I believe is a long time coming, “ER” will be coming to and end soon, and producers want to bring back the big hitters. One being George Clooney. IMDB’s WENN has:

Michael Clayton actor George Clooney is reportedly set to make a comeback on the long-running medical drama ER for its final season. The series’ producer David Zabel is desperate to get characters old and new together for a one-off special to celebrate the hit show ending - namely Clooney, who would reprise his role as Dr. Douglas Ross.

I think this is a great idea if they can pull it off. I wish more shows would pull together past stars to cap off the series. “ER” creativity suffered over the years, but they’ve had some amazing characters, and the show deserves to go out with a bang.

Is it time for ‘ER’ to end? What about the returning cast?

I was just inspired moments ago to write this post by a comment made by one of our readers. A comment that was left on my last post, an article about Paris Hilton’s new, uninspired, braindead stupid reality show. There one sentenced response spoke in volumes: “This is why nobody with half a brain watches MTV anymore.”

MTV’s top “minds” have forgotten many years ago that MTV stands for “Music Television”, not “Mindless Exploitation of Rich Vain Teenage Girls Television.” Mind you, that sentence was half-assed, and yet those few seconds I took to think it up was more time than what MTV gives to coming up with their lamebrain schedule, which seems to mostly consist of “reality” shows. And I use the term “reality” rather loosely. Whatever plain of existence the girls of Laguna Beach think they live on, it isn’t reality.

And I’m going to be honest with you, I did watch Jackass. I did watch Viva La Bam. And I most certainly watched Beavis and Butthead with the biggest smirk on my face. Why? Because I found them entertaining. I was a child when B&B ruled MTV, and I was a teenager when Johnny Knoxville and his renegade crew of immature misfits strutted their vulgarity to the lowest levels of crudeness. While I did do a small amount of stupid stunts in my high school, Jackass never had the affect on me as it did on some other people my age. But rest assured, those were the only shows that have ever been placed on their schedule that I gladly dedicated my free time.

Throughout my life, I have briefly tuned into TRL when nothing else was on and slowly watched as the channel’s taste in music declined, along with their respect for it. They would play forgettable pop song after forgettable pop song, and when they reached a song I did like (”It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi, for example-yes, I liked that song), they would skip it for lack of time. What’s the point of having a top 10 list of songs if you are only going to play 8 or 9 of them? And then they rarely showed the entire music video,  and would interupt them in the middle to show Kaitlynn from New Hampshire screaming some indistinguishable rant at the camera as she stood outside with hundreds of other teenage girls and boys, but mostly girls, who had nothing better to do but stand outside of the MTV building.

And then, one day I turned MTV on and reality based shows had completely swallowed the channel. Sure, the Real World had been around forever, by that point, but now we had Jessica Simpson as a newlywed, Ashton Kutcher “punking” people, girls searching loser’s rooms to pick a date, and then it happened! And by “it,” I really mean Laguna Beach and The Hills, two shows that openly display the worst traits that I have seen in girls that I have almost dated, not to mention, girls I have worked with and gone to school with.  And teenage girls get sucked into this stuff. They actually dig it! I guess, these over-dramatic high school chronicles are what kids get into nowadays.

And that’s what has happened to MTV. People continue to tune it, and MTV caught on and gave them more and more and more, leaving some of us sick and others satisfied.

At one point, MTV 2 was established and was essentually the old MTV, and by that I mean, it was all about music. But, from what I understand, MTV 2 is now heading in the same direction, as well as VH1, a channel I used to retreat to for my music needs, but has since gone “reality” with the Surreal Life and many diferent celebrity-based Osbourne-like shows.

In fact, channels selling out their initial audience isn’t an uncommon practice. FX and Cartoon Network have done it the past as well when they ditched their classic shows/cartoons theme. It’s all part of change, and I guess while I may still be young I’m already getting to the point where “things were better when I was younger” and I’m sure that several years from now when these teenage grils watching MTV grow into their mid-twenties, they are going to say the same thing when MTV drops it’s current fad and buys into a new one.

Readers, I want to know what you think of MTV in it’s most recent years. Do you still watch it? Have you ever watched it?

The Paley Festival has some interesting panels this year. One of panels was for Pushing Daisies, and TVGuide has the scoop in the Audiello Report, some of which is reaction to the WGA strike.

“I think in the long-run, [the break] was a really good thing for the show,” Fuller admitted. “It gave us a chance to look back at the nine episodes and [figure out] what was working and what was not working. The arc of the first nine was a soft, romantic arc. In the second season, we want to do something a little harder and a little more aggressive in the style of storytelling. We learned a lot of lessons.”

I hope that Daisies doesn’t change too much. I thought it was all working. It was the only show I haven’t been able to find any fault with this season. It’s an interesting read, and there is more information in the article (some spoilery).

Does Daisies need to adjust? Should it stay the course?

The CW show “Reaper” has been solid this season. A strong cast and good character development has made it one of the few new shows this season that is genuinely fun to watch.

This past week, the “Reaper” returned after a huge hiatus with a strong episode. But, The CW in its wisdom put it up against the juggernaut “Lost”. The only reason I knew a new “Reaper” was on is because my DVR recorded it. I assume that most “Reaper” fans watch it via DVR.. If they genuinely wanted to give the show a chance to improved ratings, they wouldn’t have put it up against “Lost”.

“Reaper” is still on the bubble with regards to renewal for next season. The ratings for this week were modest, but not terrible. Hopefully that trend will continue and it will be given another chance.

What do you think of “Reaper”? Have you been watching? Should it be renewed?

Well, we all knew this would happen. Paris Hilton is coming out with a new reality series. TV Squad has the details.

Who’s excited? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Personally, I could live an entire lifetime and not hear or see her face once. In fact, the very last sentence of that quote is how I’ve always felt about Hilton and her not-to-reputable act. That’s all we need is more eleven and twelve year old girls seeing this and going into school, dressing and acting like this future Surreal Life castmate!

Those of us who know the facts may find it strange that many people don’t believe that humans walked on the moon. Where there is scientific controversy, you can usually find Mythbusters. The Bad Astronomy Blog has information on an upcoming “Mythbusters” that tackles some of the “myths”:

The build team — Kari, Grant, and Tory — went to Marshall Space Flight Center to use a vacuum chamber there (it was even reported in the local paper). Looks like they’ll be recreating Dave Scott’s famous feather and hammer drop from Apollo 15, as well as the hoax claim that dry lunar regolith can’t hold a footprint, and how the flag can wave in a vacuum.

Footage of their space center visit was shown on a local news station (video here).

I am surprised it took Mythbusters so long to attack this “myth”. They always thrive on controversy, and this is one of the largest ones out there. The only one large are the 9-11 conspiracy myths.

I first started following Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait when he debated the “hoax” with Joe Rogan on Penn Jillette’s Radio Show a few years back. I recommend downloading the old podcasts for the shows for anyone interested in the subject.

The CW wants to take us all back to Beverly Hills. They’ve courted Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas to create a contemporary “spin-off” of Beverly Hills 90210, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Details about the spinoff — including which if any of the characters on the original series will make the transition to the new show — remain sketchy. CW is expected to make a decision whether to order a pilot by the end of the month.

I’m not sure if I’m highly amused, or depressed at this news. On the one hand, 90210 was a large cultural phenomena when I was growing up (which is dating me a bit, I suppose) but on the other hand, I was never a fan of it myself.

What do you think: yet another senseless resurrection of an old series, or a great idea to go with modern teen shows?