CBS uses a euphemism for the "C" word for Swingtown

This morning at the TCA convention in Los Angeles, CBS network president Nina Tassler inched a step further in saying goodbye to Swingtown, although she still never said the official word:  cancelled.  But that's not a cause for hope, fans.  It's gone.

One thing that we're really proud of is the execution of Swingtown.  It was a terrific show and, look, I'm happy to report it ended up on over a half dozen Top Ten lists from 2008.  So at the end of the day, I think the show was well-executed.  It was well-received.  The performances were great.  And in many regards it I think that show was also a victim of the [writers'] strike, but it was a risk, and we took it, and we're proud of it and certainly would take it again.

When asked to confirm whether that meant Swingtown might still have a shot at resurrection, Tassler shook her head no.

No.  We're not going back to Swingtown right now.

Sorry, swingers!  But if it's the '70s you want, there's always ABC's Life On Mars...

John Mayer Live on CBS?

This morning at the TCA convention in Los Angeles, CBS President Nina Tassler confirmed that the network is indeed "pretty close to closing our deal" with singer John Mayer for a new musical/sketch/variety show.  Looks like NBC and Rosie Live! didn't kill the genre after all.

As of now, Tassler said, there will just be a pilot -- which could lead either to a further series of specials, or to a regular series.  "We're just going to shoot the pilot now, see what we have, and make a decision after that," confirmed the network prez.

Meet Tara -- and T, and Alice, and Buck

This Sunday, January 18, Showtime will begin airing its newest season of The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, as well as the final season of The L Word.

As part of that new lineup, the pay cable network will also premiere a new "dramedy," The United States of Tara.  The show, starring Toni Collette as a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), comes from writer Diablo Cody, who this past year won an Oscar for the screenplay to Juno.

The Tara idea, however, originated with none other than Steven Spielberg.  Spielberg and Showtime president Robert Greenblatt then came across Cody's Juno screenplay, nine months before the film even went into production, and, loving her original voice, hired her to flesh out the idea to series.

So, how much about Tara will be as quirky as Juno?  Well, the show definitely is funny, and honest. Tara's alternate personalities (teenager T; Alice, a Donna Reed-like housewife; Buck, a macho man in a trucker hat) definitely know that they're inhabiting her body.  And even more intriguingly, Tara and her family -- including her gay son Marshall, played by Keir Gilchrist, who was so funny as the kid on the short-lived Fox sitcom The Winner opposite Rob Corddry -- are "out" about her disorder; it's not a secret, kept from a nosy Mrs. Kravitz.  "Your neighbor could talk openly about being on an antidepressant, or their kid taking ritalin," Cody theorized.  "So it seemed unrealistic for it to be this huge taboo in town. ...Obviously some people are frightened, but others are intrigued.  And I think that would be the natural response to something like this."

Cody was also careful to explain that the series doesn't spring entirely from her imagination -- particularly the details about the real-life condition DID.  "I've been able in the past to use my imaginations for situations I've never been in, but in this case, when you're dealing with a sensitive topic like this, you absolutely have to do your homework."

"I didn't want to make fun because [the condition] is serious and comes from a sad place," Collette agreed.  "With all the research everyone's done, it's very personal.  I have a friend who had experience with DID who was blown away by how realistic it was."

In fact, Collette pointed out it was the pilot script for Tara that convinced her to do TV at all.  "I never had any aspirations to work in TV but I picked up this script one day from my agent and read it immediately," she explained.  "As soon as I closed last page turned to my husband and said, 'I have to do this.'  It was so delicious to read, so original and unusual, it's a complete dream for an actor.  It is about a woman with a mental illness, but it goes beyond that, into how a family lives and makes that quite normal for their lives.  It's incredibly funny but also moving and very real.  I like stories you can't fit into a box and that you can relate to as a human being."

The United States of Tara

Premieres Sunday, January 18, 2009

10 PM Eastern

What gives it such a Big Bang?

This past Monday, CBS' sitcoms Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother scored record ratings.  For Big Bang, it was both the highest overall and adults 18-49 ratings ever.  For HIMYM, it was also the show's record best in the demo, and its second highest overall numbers ever.

And so one of the questions reporters asked CBS' President Nina Tassler at the TCA conference in Los Angeles this morning:  why do you think Big Bang Theory has taken off this season?  Is it a matter of scheduling, or has the show just gotten -- to borrow a phrase from HIMYM's Barney -- awesome?Tassler's theory:  it's all in the writing, yes, but particularly in the supporting characters.  "One of the things great showrunners do," she said, "is ensure that they fully dimensionalize the supporting characters.  And so there have been episodes with Koothrappali and Wolowitz this season that have been truly hysterical."  By opening up a show's story potential by enriching the lives of not just the leads but of all of its characters, a writer/showrunner like Chuck Lorre is constructing a template for a comedy whose comedy will hold up even "into its later seasons."

Sounds like CBS is high on Big Bang -- and they have every right to be.  The show, and another CBS newbie Gary Unmarried on Wednesday, are the sole new multicamera hits to be introduced on the Big 5 networks in years.  And this morning, when Tassler was asked about CBS' future plans and development, she repeatedly mentioned the network's pride in having successfully opened a new night of comedy on Wednesday, with Gary and a relocated The New Adventures of Old Christine.

More news from Tassler and CBS to come...

President Obama in the Dollhouse?

Yes, I knew Obama was about to move into a new house, but the Dollhouse? ...  

Let me explain.  Today at TCA, Fox presented a panel of the producers and stars of Dollhouse, Joss Whedon's highly anticipated series about a unit of "dolls," men and women whose memories and identies are hollowed out, only to be refilled anew each week to go on a mission or fulfill a fantasy.

(The show had worried fans by going back to the drawing board recently; Whedon, who appeared on live link from Boston, says that the original pilot was not a true example of what the show would ultimately be.)

On the panel was lead actress Eliza Dushku, as well as her co-stars Tahmoh Penikett, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, and Harry Lennix.

You may recognize Lennix from his recurring role as a very Obama-like president on HBO's hilarious comedy Little Britain, USA.  I asked him if it might be odd, now that the HBO comedy has been renewed for a second season, to be simultaneously filming a comedic role as a hopefully noble president, and a more mysterious role on Whedon's new drama.  The answer:  he hadn't yet heard about Little Britain's renewal, but called the show's stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams "geniuses" and said he hopes that in their show's upcoming season, his U.S. president will get a second term.

Dollhouse

premieres on Fox

Friday, February 13, 2009

9 PM Eastern

Arrested Development of Arrested Development movie

When Mitch Hurwitz appeared at the TCA this afternoon to promote his upcoming Fox animated series Sit Down, Shut Up, he was of course peppered with questions about the status of the long-gestating movie version of Arrested Development.

As of now, he says, the news is that there's no news.  As far as rounding up Arrested's cast goes, Hurwitz said he had hoped he had something big to announce today, but it hasn't happened yet.  And although in front of the critics he joked that he already knew the movie's plot -- it's Valkyrie meets Hotel For Dogs, he said -- later the writer admitted that the script, too, is yet to be.

But for you fans of the Bluth clan, you can take solace in that the always hilarious Will Arnett and Jason Bateman are reunited with Hurwitz in Sit Down, Shut Up.  And, since Hurwitz told me that his actors often do improv some lines, many of which then have made it into these first 13 episodes, we can look forward to some great stuff.

Sit Down, Shut Up

Premieres on Fox Sunday, April 19

8:30 PM Eastern

Fox wants you to Lie to Me

Here are some truths I've learned on this morning's panel for Lie to Me, the new hour-long drama on FOX starring Tim Roth as a consultant who uses psychological research and observation to determine from our "non-verbal communication" whether we're telling the truth.

1)  Roth will be playing his character as British, because perfecting an American dialect is "extra work."  "When you have long days, do you really need that extra work?" he says, while also admiring Hugh Laurie, the Brit-to-American standard-bearer with his accent on House.

2)  According to Dr. Paul Ekman, the real-life basis for Roth's character, people often freak out when meeting him that he'll know their deepest, darkest secrets.  He reminds them that while body language betrays their emotions, there is no way for him to know their thoughts, so their deepest, darkest secrets are safe.  That part is true.  He also tells them he can discern things from behavior only from videotape.  That part is a lie.

3)  Whereas Lie to Me seems suspiciously like CBS' Simon Baker hit The Mentalist, Lie To Me, from the questions the producers and cast were fielding this morning, seems to concentrate much more literally on facial expression and behavior.  (The show's slogan:  "The truth is written all over our faces.")  From what I can discern Simon Baker's Patrick Jane seems to be more of an all-around Columbo type, noticing that a piece of furniture has been moved, or predicting from his knowledge of human nature that a secret password would be hidden in a certain book on a bookshelf.

4)  And more importantly, as producers Brian Grazer and Samuel Baum point out, The Mentalist is a cop show.  There are murders.  Bank robberies.  Lie To Me will cover many different areas of subject matter.  And whereas The Mentalist is about a former scam artist using his flim-flam skills to trip up the baddies, "our show is based on actual science," says actor Brendan Hines.

5)  According to Ekman, anyone can check out this actual science on his internet site, to learn how to "read microexpressions."  But, he warns, it can be a dangerous skill.  Do you really want to know?  "You may sometimes be confronted with painful truths.  But it's a matter of faith:  we're better off knowing the truth."

Lie To Me

Debuts Wednesday, January 21, 2009

9 PM Eastern

'Til Death renewed through 2010

When one door closes, another one opens:  he discussed the end -- but stressing that it's not a cancellation, just a natural ending for a show which has creatively played out -- of Prison Break.  But Kevin Reilly also commented on taking the unusual step of announcing, this early in the calendar year, a renewal for Brad Garrett-Joely Fisher sitcom 'Til Death through 2010.

It hardly sounds like a huge vote of confidence for 'Til Death, but more like a resignation to Fox's sad state of comedy, and the paucity of original programming on the networks in general.

The situation on 'Til Death is pretty straightforward and apropos to the conversation earlier about economics.  You're going to see every one of these companies make certain strategic decisions to address the economics.  We want to keep original programming on the air.  We looked at the show and said, "We like the show. There are not a lot of sitcoms on the air.  This one does have a viewership base.  We'd like to keep it on the air."  At a certain deal, it makes sense for us in certain time periods.  So we were able to make that deal, and so we're going to have places where we can program it and keep originals on the air versus just repeats or some sort of filler.

More to come from Kevin Reilly on the state of comedy overall at Fox.

Prison Break ending

Live from the TCA:  Fox president Kevin Reilly confirms:  after four seasons, Prison Break will be ending this spring.

"It's a show that just came to the end of its run," Reilly said, answering a question about the ratings declines of both Prison Break and sophomore series Sarah Connor Chronicles this season.

Prison Break will return for its final episodes on Friday, April 17 at 8PM ET on Fox.

New Season of Starz's "Crash" still to be decided

Breaking news from the TCA:  according to Starz president Bill Myers, after Crash's first season finale last night, the network is preparing to meet with the show's studio, the ever-growing Lionsgate, beginning next week to determine whether there will be a season 2 of the show.  The network has, he says, a few weeks to sort it out.  Will bring you more news as it happens!...