Can you tell my boss is on vacation?

I'm back to posting every day again, lol.

Anyway, interview with FNL's executive producer about the DirecTV deal and what the next two seasons have in store. Warning: If you're like me, and have been saving yourself for the NBC broadcast episodes, this article spoils episodes that haven't aired yet.

LOLs from The Onion: Obama depressed after BSG finale.

An interview with Tamara Taylor about Bones. Important note: Fox will be doubling up episodes (due to all the Obama pre-empting), and will be airing new eps on Wednesdays AND Thursdays for a couple weeks.

Politico thinks that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is really similar to West Wing character Josh Lyman. Well... duh. Josh was based on Emanuel when he worked in the Clinton administration. Any excuse for more Bradley Whitford, though.

Good news and bad news

The good news is that Friday Night Lights got a two-season pickup, for 26 more episodes. I'm considering getting DirecTV. Also, bonus interview with Zach Gilford.

The bad news is that Andy Hallett (Lorne from "Angel") died of heart disease. So sad.

Yeah...

Yesterday was an interesting day... I went to another funeral (complete with a trumpet playing "Taps" and a gun salute - this is a srs bsns funeral, y'all), and came home with a new car. Well, a different car. New to me. Mine was leaky, so I swapped with my dad (so he could fix it), which means until Easter, I am driving a midlife crisis car (red, sporty, shaped like a penis).

I have NO motivation to do work today. Totally checked out. It was kind of a rough week - worked until 7:30pm on Tuesday, was back in at 8:15am on Wednesday, had a hearing all day, and stayed until 6, when I left to drive home for the funeral. Next week will be equally annoying - we have four hearings, bringing our total to 15 in two months - but after that, hopefully it will slow down.

Anyway, things are looking good for Friday Night Lights, but if it does come back, Tyra and Lyla will be getting "departure arcs" a la Street and Smash this year. Which I'm pretty okay with, actually, because I never liked Lyla, and I feel like Tyra's been repeating the same two storylines since season 1, so it's time to move on. Plus, it will annoy me if no one ever graduates.

Also, watch David Boreanaz dance. Really.

For anyone interested in Rob Thomas' show Party Down, it looks like all the episodes are up on Starz's website. I've only watched the first ep, and wasn't totally blown away, but it was good enough to watch some more.

Stuff

Went to the dentist today - I have cavities. :( Funny, my teeth felt fine before, but now that I know, they hurt.

Anyway, Ted is getting another new girlfriend on HIMYM. DirecTV will be airing canceled shows, and is working on a deal for more Friday Night Lights (yay!). And depression on the Veronica Mars movie front.

Everything in 3 seconds

I've got a horrendous project in work, plus the budget coming up next week, so don't expect to see a lot of me. Here's a three-second review of everything I've watched in the past week or so:

The Office: Hilary Swank is so not hot.
Friday Night Lights: OMG, Matt/Julie is the cutest thing ever! Tim/Lyla is... not.
Battlestar Galactica: Somebody's totally gonna get airlocked. Also, that ending? Kind of like walking in on your parents having sex.
Psych: Fire bad. Tree pretty.
24: I love Tony. "Okay, we'll just forget that happened" and goes on with the deal.

Time out

I have a headache today, a situation which is not helped at all by the fact that I'm staring at mind-numbing spreadsheets all day. So, taking a break to bring you the news of the day.

First up, David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who. Ordinarily, I'd get all worked up about a major actor leaving a show I like, but it's Doctor Who, and changing up the Doctor every few seasons is kind of what they do (Tennant was the 10th, following Christopher Eccleston, who also played the invisible dude on Heroes). I'm curious who they'll choose for the next one, but as I have very limited knowledge of British actors, I'm not putting out any suggestions.

Lauren Graham (formerly of Gilmore Girls) is going to Broadway to star in Guys and Dolls opposite Oliver Platt. That... seems like odd casting to me. (Also, I can't help thinking about [title of show] and their whole thing about TV actors in musicals.)

There's an interview with Taylor Kitsch (Riggins!!!), and a lot of it is about sports (not surprisingly) but be wary if you don't want to know what's going on on FNL.

I also found this write-up on Dirty Sexy Money, which has reeled me back in after I was somewhat noncommittal at the beginning of the season whether I wanted to stick with it or not. I still miss the stoner space camp Jeremy (he's not nearly as fun when he's trying to woo Nick's wife), and Karen constantly grates on my nerves, but Brian is still super awesome and Brian Jr. is impossibly adorable. Plus, you can never have too much Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland (well, come on, Kiefer must get it from somewhere!).

And finally, for your daily dose of randomness: speeding muppets.

Linky linky

Lots of links today.

First, New Clue disturbs me. Don't mess with my childhood!

Big (spoilery) developments on How I Met Your Mother. Plus, Regis Philbin guest stars. Also HIMYM-related, which NPH character would make the best VP for Barack Obama? I vote for Barney.

Friday Night Lights casting news: It'll be a rough year for Matt Saracen, since his estranged mother is apparently popping up, and there's a new hotshot quarterback in Dillon.

And finally, links to interviews with Tahmoh Penikett (where he talks about BSG and Dollhouse) and Aaron Sorkin (where he talks about why Studio 60 failed, and how much we all miss Sports Night).

Lethargy

What is it about slow work days that makes even the little work you have to do that much more unbearable?

We did get a surprisingly inappropriate letter today from a legislator. The cover letter claims that it's an issue with Sallie Mae, and right off the bat we're going in the wrong direction because a.) all financial aid questions go to PHEAA, and b.) Sallie Mae is a private provider, so the state doesn't get to tell them what to do. But then, it gets even better. The attached letter from the constituent isn't even about Sallie Mae - it's about someone's problems with the Western PA Water Company. Now, I'm very sorry to hear that the replacement of the water line has left a mud pit in your yard, but as our secretary, Stephanie, said, "Unless the mud pit is full of school children, we're not really gonna do anything."

And then, when I go to call them to tell them that there's been some mix-up and they've sent us the wrong letter for us not to care about, no one's in the office to answer the phone! Rep. Kortz, you get the gold star for today.

Anyway, it's Friday, so we must have a little fun. You could watch Joss take on the nature vs. nurture debate, or read this article about several "re-freshman" shows, including Chuck, Dirty Sexy Money, and Life, which I keep saying I should watch, but still haven't yet. Maybe they'll make it easy for me and do a marathon before the next season starts. Also, rue the fact that you don't live in Texas, otherwise you could be an extra on Friday Night Lights. I'd make an awesome fan.

Dude, you're not my nemesis.

I think Dr. Horrible has enough quotes to supply me with post titles for a year.

Anyway, Joss just did an online Q&A at the Washington Post, so go check out what he has to say. I'm particularly interested in his perspective regarding the lack of a strong female lead and his tendency to kill off lovable characters, since those are the two biggest criticisms I've seen of Act III. I think the first, obviously, stems from his self-proclaimed feminism - but I'm kind of left scratching my head and thinking, "When did Joss ever say that Dr. Horrible was meant to be a feminist work?" Just because he made a show about girl power and likes to write strong female characters doesn't mean that everything he does is going to be part of a feminist agenda. Some things are just for fun. (Also, it's a 45 minute web musical. How much character development do you really expect for a secondary character?)

Er, okay, you might want to stop reading now if you don't want to know how it ends...

I'm also intrigued by his answer to the second question. I like that he acknowledges that most of his character deaths are pointless, and I agree with him that this one was different. In order for Dr. Horrible to fully become his evil persona, he needed to lose everything that was important to him. He needed to lose Penny. I've seen some suggest that his evil deeds could've repulsed her and he'd lose her that way, but then it becomes a different story. Because she's still alive for him to pursue. He can choose to give up his evil ways for the love of the girl and ultimately be redeemed (and, uh, Joss has already done that plot. Twice). But that's not the story being told. Dr. Horrible has no choice. He wanted something, and in the process of getting it, sacrificed what he really wanted. It doesn't work if there's a chance he can get her back.

It's a dark ending, but it's kind of brilliant in terms of Dr. Horrible's character arc - and knowing how it ends, I went back and watched the whole thing straight through, and it's a downward spiral that starts as early as the opening of Act II.

Anyway, moving on. Spoiler phobes can start reading again...

Battlestar Galactica news! Here's a report from the TCA panel on "Caprica." I'll admit, it doesn't really sound like it will resemble BSG in feel, but it still sounds pretty cool. Also, Grace Park drops some hints about what's coming up in the last half-season (and also kills a spider during the interview), while Jamie Bamber will be starring in Law & Order: UK. On the one hand, I cringe at the idea of that franchise expanding any more, but on the other hand, I'm kind of curious to see how different it is, given that it's based on the British legal system rather than the US. Plus, it's always good to see actors I like being employed.

And finally, the Friday Night Lights panel report, also from TCA. I'm curious to see how it all works out if they really air different versions on DirecTV and NBC. I will more than likely be downloading illegally, regardless of what Katims says.

TV news... stuff

I am uncreative with my title today. Dumb cat woke me up too early. Also, I had weird dreams.

Anyway, let's start with 24. Chloe O'Brian will be stepping out for a few hours, due to her real-life baby being born during production. But don't worry, her ex-husband/baby daddy (on the show, people! Not her real baby. Don't go starting rumors now) Morris will be taking over. I don't mind. I like Morris.

In other casting news, Street and Smash won't be around on Friday Night Lights next year. It makes sense, considering they've both graduated and it was a little silly having Street hanging around all last year. They should've either made him an assistant coach or just written him off completely. At least they'll appear long enough to give their characters a send-off. And I like that FNL is being realistic and not keeping them in high school forever, just so they won't have to deal with cast changes. I thought Lyla and Tyra should have graduated by now, too, as should Riggins, although the prospect of Riggins failing and having to repeat a grade would not exactly strain credulity. I am curious what they'll do next year, since Matt, Landry, and Julie are all seniors now, meaning that none of the original cast will still be in high school if there's a season 4 (except possibly Riggins, lol, who will be a sixth-year senior). I'm hoping they'll introduce some new younger players this year... otherwise, it'll feel like the show's setting itself up for cancellation after season 3.

If you're interested in a sneak peak at some new shows, here are reviews for Rob Thomas' Cupid remake, as well as Christian Kane's new series, Leverage. I'm excited for both of them!

And now it's time for the interactive portion of today's post. Last summer, I watched a ton of TV on DVD, introducing myself to a lot of new shows that have become must-see TV, including Friday Night Lights, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and Psych. This year, I'm asking for your input. I've got a ton of shows in my queue... which ones should I watch?

Here's the list:

• My Boys
• Entourage
• Arrested Development
• Rescue Me
• Weeds
• Dead Like Me
• 30 Rock
• Ugly Betty
  

'Bout damn time we heard something good!

Okay, it's not a network announcement, but this article has the magic words in relation to How I Met Your Mother: "a pickup is considered a given." Squee!

In other news, that chick who dated Landry on FNL is gonna be on Heroes next season.

I went on a shopping spree this weekend, good old retail therapy, and came home with new clothes, matching earrings, perfume for myself and my mother (Mother's Day is coming up), and a new toaster oven! I also went grocery shopping, but that was less fun.

Speaking of Mother's Day, my mom called me yesterday to see if I was coming home. I said no, since I just went home two weekends in a row in April, and we're going to DC in a few weeks. So Mom gives me the mopey, "Oh well. Another Mother's Day you're not going to be home."
Me: But I'll see you when we go to DC. We can celebrate then.
Mom: Oh, well, maybe next year we'll celebrate your birthday the week after, too.
Me: Uh... that's what we did this year, remember? Since it was a waste to celebrate my birthday and Easter on separate days?
Mom: Oh yeah...

And speaking of birthdays, shout-out to Megan, whose is tomorrow! Yay!

It's almost 5:00...

...so I'm gonna run through this as quick as possible.

Hillary won PA, and managed to hit the spread right in the middle so it doesn't matter AT ALL. Okay, so she won by 10 points. If it'd been more like 5ish, it'd be a clear sign it's time for her to drop out. If it'd been by 12 or more, it would've had a lot of superdelegates taking a second look at her. But as it stands, she's pretty much in the same position she was before the PA primary. So now it's on to Indiana and North Carolina. More primaries. Yay?

More on Catherine Baker Knoll being insane. Seriously, go watch the video I posted yesterday. The Trib-Review asks, "Exuberant or unhinged?" Unhinged all the way, baby.

I am totally not spoiling myself, but if you're interested, there are casting sides (script pages) online from Dollhouse. Get 'em quick before Fox finds out and has them taken down.

Also, here's an interview with Kyle Chandler about Friday Night Lights, and a looooong post about this chick's trip to the Office set.

Still eating Chinese food, btw. I got two full dinners out of the sweet & sour pork, and I'll probably make two meals out of the chicken with cashews (and yes, Kelly, they are definitely cashews. I double-checked).

Happy Friday!

Is anyone excited about the BSG premiere tonight?? I... will not be watching it, as I'm still 3 episodes behind on season 3. (Also because I'm going out with Christi tonight - we're going to see The Other Boleyn Girl.) But soon, my friends! Soon! To get you ready, here's a feature that summarizes the story so far, and gives some hints of things to come. Also, an interview with creator Ron Moore.

Other news: NBC has announced an Office spin-off, as well as the plan for Friday Night Lights. Episodes will air on DirecTV in the fall, and then on NBC in the winter. I'm pretty sure that means 99% of people will be illegally downloading the episodes as soon as they air on DirecTV, rather than wait for the network repeats. Sounds like a pretty dumb idea. If it was, like, a week delayed or something, maybe. But who wants to wait months to watch something when other people have already seen the episode?

Once more, with coherency

Okay, now that my squee has subsided somewhat, here's the full recap of the Friday Night Lights panel at Paley Fest. Even though they're trying to hold it in for another couple weeks, the news is just bursting out of them, you can tell. :) I'm so excited about this renewal!

Also, here's the recap from the Pushing Daisies panel as well, which I missed earlier this week, if anyone's interested.

Shh!

It's happening.

But nobody's supposed to know.

SQUEE!!

Happy birthday to ME!!

Okay, I'm a little early, but why restrict celebration to only one day? After going out for drinks with Lindsay last night, I came home to a flower delivery from my parents, and Andrew, my fellow former intern, took me out to lunch today. Whee!

So, in honor of me turning the big 2-4, I have all sorts of TV news for you! (What do you mean, I do that all the time? Shut up! No, it makes sense... I'm turning 24, and 24 is a TV show, and... yeah.)

Anyway, yesterday I mentioned that Scrubs had escaped cancellation by moving to ABC. If you're curious about other shows that are "on the bubble," as they say, check out this list. The accompanying article also gives the prospects for some of the more anticipated shows. I'm happy to see that Friday Night Lights and How I Met Your Mother are looking good for renewal. Not so much for Reaper and Jericho. I have to admit, Reaper has sort of lost my interest. The show came back last night, with the last however many episodes are left, and I found myself only half-watching it. It's a shame, since it had such a promising pilot, and I had pegged it to be a new favorite show, but it's been something of a letdown since. I won't really miss it if it goes away.

Jericho, on the other hand, has been breaking my heart the past couple episodes. It felt a lot like a guilty pleasure last year (so bad it's good), but this 7-episode second season has really been stellar. It's almost like an actual TV show! Last week's ep, with the tragic death of Bonnie, and this week's, portraying the aftermath, were just fantastic in delving the emotional depth and ratcheting up the conflict between the townies and the government goons. There are only two more episodes left, and it's not looking good for renewal - and I'm finding that I'll actually be sorry to see it go.

Oh, I've also been watching New Amsterdam, about a New York City cop who saved the life of a Native American woman back in the 1600's and she rewarded him with immortality. It's pretty cool so far, although I find the flashbacks ( showing New York in its various incarnations over the past 400 years) more interesting that the present-day crime drama part of it. It's on Fox, which means it probably won't last more than a few weeks (it's only aired three episodes, and it's already been in three different time slots), so I'm not getting attached, but I'm enjoying it for now.

In other news, Rob Thomas (and no, Megan, that is NOT the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, although he did make in-jokes about them on Veronica Mars) has been given the green light to give his failed show "Cupid" a second try. The original was from 1998 and starred Jeremy Piven, and was canceled faster than you can say... something clever, I don't know. As you'll note, Thomas was also tapped for the 90210 spin-off, so if both shows are successful, he'll be a pretty busy guy.

Super amazing news!!

Friday Night Lights has a future!! I'm so excited! I don't know what it means that NBC is partnering with DirecTV (will I have to get DirecTV to be able to watch it?), but even if I have to download or wait for the DVDs, I'm just happy that it's coming back.

More interesting TV news - is Alicia Silverstone the Mother? She's guest starring as a love interest for Ted in multiple episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and if the show doesn't get picked up for season 4, she could be the LAST love interest we see with Ted. The producers have promised they'll reveal the mother before the series ends, so if this is it... it could be her.

Also, there's going to be a 2-hour 24 movie, a "bridge" between seasons six and seven to air in the fall before the January premiere. However, this article does not answer two vital questions - first, will it be in real time? And second, will they call it "2"?

Well, maybe he really was a terrorist...

Best story ever. A college student repeatedly rammed some guy's van with his car, then claimed that he was Jack Bauer, and that the driver of the van was a terrorist. Fantastic!

More on the future of Friday Night Lights - now there's talk of NBC "sharing" with another network. I don't care, as long as it's ON.

And, big shocker, Santos and Obama are similar because Santos was based on Obama. Yeah, good luck to anyone who signs up to be Obama's VP, that's all I'm saying... (Leo McGarry, Santos' running mate, died on election night, a plot twist precipitated by the death of actor John Spencer.)

*rumble*

Oh man, I am hungry today. Dunno why - I rarely eat breakfast anymore, but it doesn't usually bother me.

Teresa, my boss, is back from vacation today - well, theoretically. She's apparently been in a meeting all morning and no one has seen her yet. But she's supposed to come back today. It was fun being in charge for a few days. No, actually, that's not true. People are annoying.

I watched Jericho last night. I considered it a guilty pleasure show last year (like a train wreck I couldn't pull my eyes away from), but I'm surprised that it's almost actually good this year. Well, not according to this guy, but I'm not about to complain about a show that looks cheaply produced. Come on, I watch Doctor Who, for crying out loud.

Okay, wow. I started typing that at least two hours ago, and then I got distracted by actual work. Anyway, what else was I going to talk about? Ooh! Friday Night Lights. There's the possibility that NBC might wrap it up with a two-hour movie, which is not nearly enough, but I guess better than nothing. Also, Taylor Kitsch is playing Gambit in Wolverine. I don't know who/what that is (something X-Men related, it would appear), but at least he'll be employed if the show gets canceled.

In other news, it apparently takes three people to replace Heath Ledger. That's quite impressive.

There's now talk of an actors' strike, which - you've gotta be kidding me. I thought we were done with the strike nonsense. Just bring back my shows, dammit! Speaking of which, why aren't more fans up in arms about truncated seasons and episodes being pushed back to fall (or disappearing completely? It's like we're just so grateful to have any TV at all, we don't care how much they're taking away from us.

Like, for example, we've just missed an entire season of 24, now that they're pushing season 7 back to January 2009. They've already filmed 8 episodes, and will continue to work to finish the other 16, but we still won't see anything until next year. Although, considering how craptastic season 6 was, I don't know if I mind so much. But oh! this is hilarious - Joel Surnow, the executive producer of 24 is leaving, so TWoP came up with some interesting replacements. I think my favorite might be Mark Burnett: "The creator of Survivor makes a surprisingly easy shift to scripted TV, thanks to 24's preexisting habit of eliminating a different character every week." And of course, Joss Whedon: "Ultimately, Chloe's battles against the "monsters" of the modern world serve as an allegory for our everyday fights with real monsters like vampires and demons."

OMG! Celebrity curling! (Curling, as anyone who lived in my suite during the winter Olympics knows, is the BEST SPORT EVER.)

Everybody back to work!

The writers' strike is OVER! *cheers*

So, what does that mean for your favorite shows? Michael Ausiello comes through as usual with a comprehensive list. Highlights:

1. 24: Expected to return this fall or January '09.
2. Bones: Four pre-strike episodes left. Unclear whether additional episodes will be produced for this season
3. Chuck: No new episodes until fall.
4. Friday Night Lights: No new episodes expected for this season. Future TBD. (see below for more info)
5. How I Met Your Mother: Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May
6. The Office: Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

The news on the FNL front is troubling. There's talk of moving the show to USA or Bravo (NBC-affiliated cable networks), but nothing is definite yet. I really, really hope that Friday's episode doesn't end up being the series finale. It was a good episode, but an incredibly unsatisfying ending (think of the greatness of season 1's "State"), particularly since the show was just starting to get back to its season 1 level of awesomeness after the shaky start to season 2. If you love the show as much as I do, and you're interested in a "save the show" campaign, Pop Candy has a few suggestions.

In other news, my favorite girl, Kristen Bell, is starring in what looks to be a Disney romantic comedy. I think we can pretty much guarantee that she will neither taser someone nor shoot electricity out of her fingers, but hey, maybe she'll be good even without electrocuting someone. :)

Also, my high school celebrity crush, Joshua Jackson, is starring in a new J.J. Abrams TV show called "Fringe." Yay! Oh, Josh, how I've missed you.

I also have a big political post coming (I've been saving up links, but never seem to find the time to talk about them), so don't think I've forgotten about the primaries!