Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Welcome to the end of summer folks! Well, at least as close to the end of summer as we can get, right?

And, how about those Emmy Awards last night? Granted, I don’t watch the televised ceremony anyway (it’s simply too yawn-inducing), but I was paying close attention as the winners were announced online. Did any of your favorites win? I know a few of mine did.

You can see the list of Emmy winners here.

In the meantime, here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Jackson Rathbone (The Twilight Franchise) may have a potentially recurring role on the new fall ABC series No Ordinary Family. He will play Trent Stafford, a high school classmate of Kay Panabaker’s telepathic Daphne. No Ordinary Family debuts September 28. (Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly)

Debra Monk (NYPD Blue and Grey’s Anatomy) has signed on to Brothers & Sisters as a rival for Sally Field. She will debut in episode five of the new season as Alexandra Kirby. When Nora is offered a job as the host of an Ask Mom radio program, she’ll face some stiff competition from the more experienced and flashy Alexandra. (William Keck at TV Guide)

The BBC and “Doctor Who” show runner Steven Moffat have confirmed today that the upcoming 13-episode sixth season of the series will be split into two blocks to air several months apart. The split is the result of a request from Moffat to write a new story arc which involves a big plot twist in the middle of the season. Said twist will serve as a mid-season cliffhanger to be resolved in the second half of the season. (Dark Horizons)

Lois Smith (True Blood) will guest star on Desperate Housewives in the 5th episode of the new season, as Allison Scavo, who moves in to Lynette and Tom’s home to help son Tom (Doug Savant) get over a unique case of male postpartum depression. (William Keck at TV Guide)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Looks like Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper are teaming up for an as-yet untitled buddy cop action comedy. They are to play two San Francisco cops and friends, whose fathers were once partners on the police force. Things get interesting when they have to bring their fathers out of retirement to help crack a new case. (RiskyBiz and First Showing)

The top 10 box office movies for this past weekend, according to details from Fancast are as follows:

1. The Lost Exorcism – $21.3m
2. Takers – $21m
3. The Expendables – $9.5m
4. Eat Pray Love – $7m
5. The Other Guys – $6.6m
6. Vampires Suck – $5.3m
7. Inception – $5.1m
8. Nanny McPhee Returns – $4.7m
9. The Switch – $4.6m
10. Piranha 3D – $4.3m

Q&A SECTION (with Matt Roush from TV Guide)

Question: I absolutely love The Closer! It’s one of my favorite shows and I am always so eager to watch that I usually don’t even wait for my DVR to get ahead enough to allow me to skip commercials. This season started off with a bang and I’ve loved it, but I’m a little concerned. What will happen if Brenda does become chief? On one hand, as a woman, I think it would be great for the character to be a female Chief of Police in Los Angeles. On the other hand, I am afraid for what that would mean for her position as a “closer.” If she gets some distance from the cases, how can she possibly get all of those confessions that have the audience on the edge of their seats? Plus, I have not enjoyed the rather jerk-like qualities this whole process has brought out in Pope. I know he’s got his heart set on being chief, but it seems a little uncharacteristic for him to be such a jerk now when he has not gone completely into that territory before. Please tell me that whatever is in the works is going to maintain the same quality of scripts and keep Brenda right in the middle of the action! Do you have any insight into the rest of the season or what impact this whole development would have for the future of the show? — Beth

Matt Roush: Now that’s a true sign of devotion, watching a show in real time, not DVR time. I’m very fond of The Closer as well. It’s easily my household’s favorite summer procedural. And we’re watching it just as you are, with no foreknowledge of how this hunt for the new chief is going to turn out. (See my recent discussion of this being a spoiler-free zone for why that’s the case.) Your concerns make sense to me, in that too much tinkering with a successful formula doesn’t always make much sense and can do more harm than good in the long run. (See recent seasons of House.) Still, I can’t imagine a scenario in which Brenda is removed from the day-to-day detection of cases, and if she were promoted to such a position, I would bet it would be short-lived. But this current arc has been mostly good for the show this season, I think, adding some tension — between Brenda and Pope, between Brenda and the long-suffering Fritz — and distinguishing it from years past. (Not always easy for a long-running crime drama.) Showing chinks in Pope’s armor, and then watching him deflate last week when he learned he wasn’t even on the short list, gives the invaluable J.K. Simmons something to play, which is always a good thing. Whatever happens as this season winds down, I’m thinking you shouldn’t worry that they’ll muck up the show you love too drastically.

On another Closer note: Even if you’re not a regular viewer, this week’s episode is a standout, as Brenda contends with a military overseer (Gary Cole, excellent as usual) after off-duty soldiers are gunned down in what looks like a gang-related murder. Strong stuff.

Question: TV Guide Magazine used to run a “best show you’re not watching feature,” but perhaps there should be subcategories? I would like to put in a vote for Eureka as “the most charming show people aren’t watching.” I’ve always enjoyed Eureka, but I feel as if it has been rejuvenated this year with the alternative time-line reboot. While always light, I’ve felt some urgency in terms of the multiple ongoing romantic stories this year. Henry’s rendition of “She Blinded Me With Science” for Grace made me smile more than any romantic gesture on TV for some time. What have you thought of it recently? I see it has been renewed, but what is the timeline for seeing the back end of these episodes or the new season? While USA is always good about telling the audience the minute a finale ends when the new episodes will be, SyFy barely advertises Eureka — I always have to hunt for the start date. Why do they do that? — Rebecca

Matt Roush: Cable schedules, especially when they split seasons in two, are often confusing, and Syfy can be especially mystifying. It would be nice if Syfy would announce the return date for a show like Eureka around the time of its summer finale, but maybe they want to keep their options open in case they need this asset to return to the schedule sooner or later than they think. The good news is that Eureka is still going strong, and I agree this has been its most enjoyable and freshest season in quite a while. The show that seems to me to have been hurt the most by Syfy’s stop-and-start scheduling is Caprica, which was just beginning to build some momentum when it ended its season back in March. The second half of its season won’t air until January, and that’s a potentially fatal amount of time to be dark. Especially for a show that dark.

Question: I have a question about BBC America [BBCA] as a whole. Now don’t take this as meaning I’m in a show for the nudity and profanity. However, I find the censoring they do enormously annoying. BBCA does this frequently. They blur George’s rumpus-roast in Being Human and eliminate words, and since I’m deaf and need the closed captions, occasionally use symbols. An example would be in the late-great Torchwood they used @ in certain words. In Being Human’s case they seem to have neither rhyme nor reason. They let a euphemism for fecal matter fly while censoring the “frak” symbolized word. I remember seeing far worse on Saving Grace and Nip/Tuck. I know they don’t censor on-demand, however, nor do they closed-caption the on-demand. I find the censoring does distract my attention from the story; my mind jumps to the “aw, come on” mode. I still watch, and love, some, but well, aw come on. Other times I can’t even make it through the initial episodes (Inbetweeners and Skins jump to mind). Mind you, I do buy the DVD later and watch and enjoy some of the shows. Why the [censor] do they [censor] do this [censor]? Pun intended, but you get the idea. — Scott

Matt Roush: This and the next question both find fault and express surprise that ad-supported cable (whether on the basic tier or, in the case of BBCA, digital) still operates with standards-and-practices prudence. While the decency rules are much looser on cable than for broadcast, and certain networks (FX in particular, and AMC more and more) are pushing the envelope as far as they can, there are still concessions made to placate advertisers and to agree not go quite as far as on the pay (no commercials) services. I agree it’s a much different experience watching the uncut Inbetweeners and Skins than watching them on BBCA, where the bleeps are so constant it feels like they’re written in Morse code. Call me old-fashioned, but I can still be shocked by what they get away with on over-the-air TV across the pond. But with Being Human, I tend to get the gist of what they’re saying and (often graphically) doing. I can live with the bleeps as long as they keep importing the good stuff.

Question: Was The Glades made for another broadcast company and then somehow found its way on to A&E? I ask because I notice it having dialogue removed, and that seems strange for a show it ordered. I also notice this on its many reruns, almost as if it seems more concerned with language than the broadcast networks. Insights? — Dennis

Matt Roush: I’ve watched a handful of Glades episodes and never noticed this “problem,” but I got a handful of comments about this, so it must have been noticeable on some of the episodes I’ve missed. The Glades was produced for A&E, so that’s not the issue, but the way I figure it, having seen the same thing happen with other basic-cable entities (I’m thinking here of Breaking Bad and AMC), when the language gets too rough, the network steps in and as opposed to cutting the scene entirely, it just omits the offending word, leaving it to our imagination. Gives the producers creative license to film the scene the way they want (which can be preserved on DVD), but then is altered to adhere to what can sometimes seem an arbitrary and inconsistent set of standards.

Question: Have really enjoyed Army Wives from the beginning. Will there be a season 5? The spin-off cop show is just not the same for me. Already lots of those kind of shows on now. — Virginia

Matt Roush: As of last week, according to my sources, Lifetime hadn’t officially renewed Army Wives. And the spin-off is still being considered a pilot in development, with no solid green light. Which doesn’t mean we won’t see both next year — but I’m with you about the show spinning off into yet another crime drama. Do we really need it?

That’s it. Enjoy!