You should watch HBO’s special Ricky Gervais- Out of England if:
- You like the dude.
- You like stand up comedy.
- You like The Office/ Extras.
- You had enough of those lame boring (Dane Cook but not limited to) people, who for some unknown reason manage to get a gig/ appear in movies whenever they want.
- You’re having a laugh. Are you having a laugh?
According to an article in this week’s Newsweek, Israeli TV is quickly becoming the hottest commodity to hit Hollywood since Ben Stiller did his Derelicte schtick in Zoolander. Not to nuke the fridge here, but with acts like Yael Naim picking up steam in MacAir commercials and shows like HBO’sIn Treatment (B’tipul) managing to muster a modest, but staunchly loyal cult following, it’s not at all surprising that TV and film execs are looking to Israel to provide them with some much needed fresh and original programming. Have you seen NBC’s and ABC’s Summer programming? There’s not one show among the bunch that’s not reality TV.
It’s telling of Israel’s rising popularity and perhaps indicative of its viability as a fixture in the entertainment industry that network TV had followed in the footsteps of HBO and chosen to add and adapt an Israeli show, Mythological X, (about love, nonetheless) to their Fall roster. (To sneak a preview of The Ex-List, click here)Loaded, a FOX-produced show about dot-com millionaires is also slated to air in the Fall.
But aside from the creative, engaging story lines that Israel seems to have the capacity to deliver, why has Hollywood looked to another country to fulfill what seems to be a gaping hole in the U.S. entertainment industry at present? To quote Joshua Alston, “Israeli shows are cheap”:
“In Treatment” premiered new episodes five days a week over nine weeks. “We’re used to doing 12 or 13 episodes per season,” says HBO executive Michael Lombardo. “The cost-effectiveness of the show is what enabled us to take on this huge commitment of 45 episodes.
“The relatively low cost will allow U.S. networks to try out Israeli formats and give them space to find an audience. “In Treatment” premiered to sluggish numbers that would spell trouble for a pricier show. But it built steam by the end of the season, and performed well enough relative to its cost that HBO will launch a second season this fall.
What may be considered “shoestring budgets” by U.S. standards is fueling the passion and stamina of Israel’s entertainment industry and in turn delivering a premium product at a bargain rate. And as long as this translates to the end result being more Gabriel Byrne, then I’m one happy gal.
The “Sex & The City” PR machine is working so hard on promoting their film that it almost makes you forget how much of a shitty show it was, especially towards the end. And who has time to watch four middle-age women, strutting around acting like shallow and vacuous teenage girls, chasing 20-year-old dudes? Haven’t we had enough? Why won’t you watch “Indiana Jones” instead? At least Harrison Ford ages with grace…
There’s a new M Night Shyamalan movie coming out mid June called “The Happening,” with Mark Wahlberg. Looks promising, we’ll check it out soon.
Although HBO’s new therapy series In Treatment does not rate well among viewers so far, and although the concept of a show that is based mostly on a dialog with a monotone background and relatively passive characters contradict what we are used to get from our TV, the show is very addictive. In Treatment airs daily, and each patient has one session a week, so the show deals with different issues every day. Don’t let the slow start mislead you, in Israel, where the show was created, it also took a while, but then the show became a hit, with a growing group of devoted followers. I’m sure that this crossed Mark Whalberg’s mind when he decided to bring the show to the states.
HBO wanted to increase the exposure of In Treatment and wisely decided to put full-length episodes on its YouTube channel. So if you are not yet acquainted with psychoanalyst Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) and his patients, here’s your chance.
Jerry Seinfeld is in the news again. If it’s his new Bee Movie, his wife’s new cooking book, the release of Seinfeld’s season 9 on DVD, or the controversy about promoting Bee Movie at McDonald’s, Jerry is back. And it’s good because no one is funny anymore (with the exception of The Office of course…) Jerry showed us all and especially all those comedian wannabes what distinguish him from others in his speech when he got the first HBO Comedian Award last April.
So, Bee Movie premiers tonight. If you want you can catch it everywhere, on my end I think I’ll just wait for the DVD…
I’ve been looking forward to the end of September ever since the beginning of May when I was left wondering just why Charlie may or may not have been killed off the island, how many new Fall shows the Heroes phenomena would spawn, and who would be the next cast of D-list celebs breaking onto the Dancing With The Stars scene.
As it turns out, September is here and the season doesn’t hold better TV than what’s airing today and tomorrow. Tonight marks the return of two of my favorite shows on TV-Simpsonsand Family Guy. For those of us who got some sort of interim Simpsons fix this Summer having watched the Simpsons movie, we were left with ravenous appetites which only called more attention to the lingering gap left behind last season after Homer saved Mr. Burns from a fatal mall accident involving a fountain. So now we’re on to this season, Mr. Burns debt of gratitude to Homer and Mr. S taking stock of his life with the help of life coach, Stephen Colbert. (yeah, we’re not kidding) And all this in the first episode of the season…
Tonight’s Family Guy has patriarch Peter Griffin enlisting the help of the Star Wars saga to entertain his family when their power goes out. Brian the dog as Chewbacca and Quagmire as C-3PO have my head spinning already. Not to mention the juxtaposition of life sabers and Darth Vader (Stewie). Well, who better to destroy the Griffin household than Stewie, after all…And while the Curb Your Enthusiasmpremiere aired a few weeks ago already, tonight is a new episode in the unfolding dramedy involving Larry, Cheryl, the Dansons, and the Blacks (the family they adopted from the Hurricane).
Conflicts/Footnotes to Sunday night premiere week: Cold Case is back as well tonight and personally, for me, this show is compelling enough (if I can drown out the slow-mo soundtrack of your life anecdotes coupled with the morally righteous preachy ending long enough). One thing this show is a testament to is the power of the band Coldplay. As long as this show is around, that band isn’t going anywhere.Tomorrow night is perhaps one of the most exciting TV premiere days of the week. With the return of Dancing with the Starsand the premiere of the much-anticipated show Chuck, be sure to check back here tomorrow for more of a preview of the two hottest shows of the season.
Till then, get your comedy on for Sunday night! It will help you get thru the work week, or at least put your attitude in the right place.
Steve Carell was the highlight of the Emmys as was seeing the cast of The Office before the show’s season premiere gets underway next week. The worst part, this year’s choice of host:
As a side note, we all get how big The Sopranos was as both a TV and cultural phenomenon, but does the show need to be nominated in the same category (Best Writing) for four different episodes? How well does that bode for the crew of Lost and Battlestar Gallactica - the only two other shows nominated.
The cast didn’t help, nor did the strong marketing campaign, it just didn’t pick up, and on Monday, HBO decided to cancel the TV drama John From Cincinnati after only one season. The cast included some impressive names such as Bruce Greenwood, Rebbecca De Mornay, Luke Perry and of course the one and only Ed O’Neill, but even they couldn’t save the show.
HBO’s upcoming series include the drama “In Treatment,” the comedy “12 Miles of Bad Road” and “True Blood,” the recently picked-up vampire drama by “Six Feet Under” creator Alan Ball (Reuters).
The summer season is lackluster when it comes to the production of new, interesting television. There was a piece published a few months back in Entertainment Weekly that described the transition from Summer being a season of re-runs to new pilots. On the flipside of re-runs was the chance to catch up on any episodes you missed during the regular season and to get you all jazzed up the Fall season. There was a roundness/cyclical nature to such network programming strategy. Now it’s all about bombarding viewers with as many new game shows starring burned out 80s stars on the major networks, and on the more provocative cable networks, intense dramas with big-name movie stars.
Given this new formula, it’s not surprising to see Chris O’Donnell back on the small screen (after all, we saw him on Gray’s Anatomy playing Meredith’s boyfriend not too long ago) starring in a Goodfellas-type Ridley Scott/John Grishamesque drama called The Company with Michael Keaton and Alfred Molina. The show debuts tonight on TNT at 8 PM and since my favorite show Weeds doesn’t start up for another week (neither does The Hills btw, but how much fun will that be without the pervasive presence of Heidi Blow-up doll Montag), I just might be forced to give Chris O’Donnell a little TLC in the form of company tonight.
In the meantime, to satiate Weeds fans in anticipation of next week’s Season 3 opener, here’s a sneak peak. Oh, did we forget to mention that Mary-Kate (the formerly troubled, newly rehabilitated of the Olsen twins) is slated to join the cast this season as Sylas’ girlfriend? We can hardly wait…
Alec Baldwin is teaming up with Anthony Hopkins, Dan Akroyd, Sex & The City alum Kim Cattrall and everyone’s favorite bobble head w/boobs Jennifer Love Hewitt to star in “Shortcut To Happiness.” In previous iterations, the film’s title was “The Devil & Daniel Webster” with Love Hewitt playing of course, the devil (she dyed her hair fecal red just for the part) and Baldwin, assuming the role of the desperate writer willing to do anything, including bedding Love Hewitt (quelle sacrifice), to have a hit. As you can imagine he gets his wish, but Dan Akroyd must suffer greatly for Baldwin’s happiness. Sound contrived enough for you??
Tsk Tsk Alec. We understand Sir Anthony’s uncanny knack for making poor film choices and since JLH, Kim Cattrall, and Dan Akroyd currently don’t have careers to speak of outside of TBS and PAC, we’re trying to figure out how a man at the top of his professional game could sign on to do such a lame project.
Lately, we hear more and more about Jerry Seinfeld. In April it was HBO’s The Comedian Award, Then last month we heard he is promoting his new animated movie Bee Movie, a project he has been working on for four years now and it’s his first big project since Seinfeld ended. due in theaters on November 2ND. And now OK Magazine has chosen his $32 million East Hampton, NY home, as the hottest celebrities summer house. it’s good to hear from Jerry again, after watching the show for so many years, it’s like hearing from an old friend.
Television lovers, I have something good for you. Apparently, there was an online leak of the Emmy Award finalists in the comedy and drama series categories.
And the nominees are:
Comedy:
ABC: Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty
NBC: My Name Is Earl, The Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock.
CBS: Two and a Half Men.
HBO: Entourage and Extras
Showtime: Weeds.
Drama:
ABC: Lost, Boston Legal, and Grey’s Anatomy.
NBC: Heroes and Friday Night Lights
Fox: House and 24
HBO: Rome and The Sopranos
Showtime: Dexter.
Reuters also reports, that naturally The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences refused to comment on the accuracy of the information.
Anyone who read this blog before knows that The Office in comedy and Heroes in drama are my favorites, although my wife will probably choose Lost in drama.
When I first saw the preview for HBO’s new slew of shows in their post-”Sopranos” vortex era of shows that have no chance of living up to the hype of their predecessor, I immediately was drawn to this imported Brooklyn hipster duo/ Alt-folk band of New Zealand brothers (in the namaste sense of the word) Bret & Jemaine, who are trying to make a go of their musical aspirations in New York.
The 12-episode series is performed in the same deadpan, sardonic parody-style of a Ricky Gervais production (”The Office,” “Extras”) with moments of awkward tension and bone-dry humor that are comedically so subtlly timed and well-executed that they are probably lost on the general American public. Nonetheless, these moments are filled with silly musical tunes that play of the situational irony of a scene. As Bret and Jemaine are musicians (both on and off-screen) this set-up works. Read More…
Hillary Clinton rocks the vote in this clever parody of “The Sopranos” series finale. Chelsea may be MIA but a some Billing and a little Journey go a long way.
“The Sopranos” ended with a whimper I’m sorry to say, with a series finale that hardly did justice to the caliber of show it started out as. For 59 minutes, nothing of note happened and the show driveled on building up to the final slow-mo climactic scene in which Tony and his family meet for dinner. Each members arrives separately so you’re held in suspense as to whom will be killed and whom will be spared. In the end, Meadow walks into the diner late to meet up with Tony, AJ, and Carmela and it’s “understood” that there’s a hit out on Tony and the assassins are at the restaurant setting up their mark.
Unfortunately Meadow running into the diner last minute is where the clip abruptly ends and credits start rolling. Huh? Disappointed? We sure were…
First off, my deepest appreciation to Mr. James Gandolfini. One of my favorite actors, who took many years of hard work of being typecast in small roles as a gangster, including one memorable performance facing off Patricia Arquette in True Romance. It took him a lot of hard work, but at the end it paid off, and he got the part for which he will be remembered for the rest of his life as Tony Soprano. And now, 85 episodes since The Sopranos premiered in 99′, its time to say goodbye. So don’t forget, The Sopranos last episode, airs tonight at 9PM on HBO.
In case you didn’t have the time to watch, here’s a recap of the last season.
“Curb You Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld” creator Larry David and his wife, Laurie, of 14 years announced their split. The split is said to be “amicable” and the two will continue to jointly raise their daughters. While David has made quite a name for himself for being the genius behind our most memorable cultural neurotic icons since Woody Allen, his wife, Laurie, an active environmentalist has pursed more serious undertakings. Her most notable role being that of producer of the Al Gore documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” and a recent college tour stint with Sheryl Crow. Of course the latter can only raise certain flags. Like, will Crow’s now infamous rationing of toilet paper inspire a future episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”? One can only hope so…
As summer slowly takes over anywhere else but here in New England, and all the excitement of season finale is way behind us, it is now time of self reflection, inner observation and self-realization , or we can seat on the half crumpled couch and look for something interesting enough to watch so we won’t have to do something as unbelievably hard as reading a book or taking a walk. HBO might have a partial answer to our quest of decent TV in a new show called Flight Of The Conchords. Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are a two man folk band from New Zealand who are trying to make it in New York City. On their way to success, they manage to find a manager, one fan, and also one friend. The new comedy series premieres Sunday, June 17, 10:30/ 9:30c
Thanks to HBO for allowing us to offer you this preview of the new show.
You’ll probably be watching the season premiere of the series finale of “The Sopranos” which oddly enough coincides with the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. There has to be some sort of correlation here, but I’m too wiped out from this week to piece it together.
I’m not really into the show. I never have been but if ”The Sopranos” bring back Drea de Matteo, which is unlikely, I’ll start watching again. And whether or not you feel it’s time to end the show, it’s time. “ER”has overstayed its welcome resulting in us all eagerly awaiting the day the hospital gets bombed and all the residents and doctors are trapped inside with zero chance of survival.
So I’m glad “The Sopranos” is ending. It’s opting to bow out a little more gracefully making us wish upon Tony a kindler more gentler fate than he probably deserves, likeable bastard and all.
Although HBO’s new therapy series In Treatment does not rate well among viewers so far, and although the concept of a show that is based mostly on a dialog with a monotone background and relatively passive characters contradict what we are used to get from our TV, the show is very addictive. In Treatment airs daily, and each patient has one session a week, so the show deals with different issues every day. Don’t let the slow start mislead you, in Israel, where the show was created, it also took a while, but then the show became a hit, with a growing group of devoted followers. I’m sure that this crossed Mark Whalberg’s mind when he decided to bring the show to the states.
Jerry Seinfeld is in the news again. If it’s his new Bee Movie, his wife’s new cooking book, the release of Seinfeld’s season 9 on DVD, or the 
I’ve been looking forward to the end of September ever since the beginning of May when I was left wondering just why 
The summer season is lackluster when it comes to the production of new, interesting television. There was a 
Alec Baldwin is teaming up with Anthony Hopkins, Dan Akroyd, Sex & The City alum Kim Cattrall and everyone’s favorite bobble head w/boobs Jennifer Love Hewitt to star in “Shortcut To Happiness.” In previous iterations, the film’s title was “The Devil & Daniel Webster” with Love Hewitt playing of course, the devil (she dyed her hair fecal red just for the part) and Baldwin, assuming the role of the desperate writer willing to do anything, including bedding Love Hewitt (quelle sacrifice), to have a hit. As you can imagine he gets his wish, but Dan Akroyd must suffer greatly for Baldwin’s happiness. Sound contrived enough for you??
When I first saw the preview for HBO’s new slew of shows in their post-”Sopranos” vortex era of shows that have no chance of living up to the hype of their predecessor, I immediately was drawn to this imported Brooklyn hipster duo/ Alt-folk band of
“The Sopranos” ended with a whimper I’m sorry to say, with a series finale that hardly did justice to the caliber of show it started out as. For 59 minutes, nothing of note happened and the show driveled on building up to the final slow-mo climactic scene in which Tony and his family meet for dinner. Each members arrives separately so you’re held in suspense as to whom will be killed and whom will be spared. In the end, Meadow walks into the diner late to meet up with Tony, AJ, and Carmela and it’s “understood” that there’s a hit out on Tony and the assassins are at the restaurant setting up their mark.
“Curb You Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld” creator Larry David and his wife, Laurie, of 14 years 
You’ll probably be watching the season premiere of the series finale of “