Note: TV critic Joanne Ostrow is in Pasadena, Calif., as the major networks roll out their upcoming shows and stars for the press. Here are some of her reports. More at
Jay’s new show.
It won’t be edgy like “The Daily Show.” It’s about mass appeal, something for everyone and delivering viewers to local stations in time for the late news.
NBC is encouraging affiliates not to run commercials, music or anything after Jay Leno’s talk show, set to start airing each weeknight at 9 this fall. That’s so that when Jay says “your late local news starts now” it’s an immediate handoff.
Leno will do live ads, have celebrities drive green cars on a racetrack outside the huge new studio, and will have Brian Williams do a regular feature on news not good enough for the real newscast.
Talking to critics, Leno set low expectations for his show: He can’t hope to beat “CSI,” he said, but he’d like to beat “CSI” reruns.
The host showed off his trim waist:He’s lost 10 to 12 pounds by running 4 miles a day, and sounded resolved about the end of his “Tonight” run. If he bombs, he said, at least we’ll remember that he led “Tonight” for 17 years and left it in the No. 1 slot.
Chevy Chase back and funny
. Fielding questions about NBC’s “Community,” a comedy about a study group at a community college, Chevy Chase praised his castmates: “This is the best cast I’ve worked with since . . . ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ ” he said.
You didn’t expect him to be serious, did you?
The half-hour is largely based on creator Dan Harmon’s experience at a community college at age 32. It strikes a unique tone, unlike standard-issue NBC comedy. The producers have “The Sarah Silverman Program” and “Arrested Development” to their credit and this show feels as subversive, but with luck may reach a wider audience.
Joel McHale (“The Soup”) has the central role; John Oliver (“The Daily Show”) will appear in at least two of the first dozen episodes.
“Alice” through Syfy’s looking glass.
This December, Syfy will do a “racier, sexier, tougher” version of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” four hours over two nights, with a stunning cast: Kathy Bates as Queen of Hearts, Harry Dean Stanton as Caterpillar, Matt Frewer as the White Knight and Caterina Scorsone as Alice. Nick Willing (“The Tin Man”) wrote and directed.
“It’s a well-defined acid trip,” said Stanton, who told critics he never read the book, hates fairy tales and had no interest in learning about this one. By contrast, Bates is a collector of first-edition copies of Carroll’s “Alice.”
“Stargate Universe.”
Syfy also is trumpeting “SGU,” coming on Fridays starting Oct. 2. Expect less emphasis on sci-fi, more on characters; “edgier and younger” is the directive.
Stars Lou Diamond Phillips, Ming-Na, David Blue and Robert Carlyle were at the press tour to promote what looks like a clever next chapter, essentially the 16th season of “Stargate.”
Phillips said that he got the job because, like Edward James Olmos, they needed a three-name ethnic guy.”
“I’m a huge geek. I will fly that banner,” said Blue.
Yet another medical drama.
“Mercy,” on NBC, isn’t just a hospital show like too many others this season, it’s about “female friendship,” according to creator Liz Heldens. On the plus side, it features Michelle Trachtenberg (“Gossip Girl”)
Let’s count the current med shows: “Nurse Jackie,” “Trauma,” “Three Rivers,” “HawthoRNe,” plus “House,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice.”
“Trauma” — kaboom!
After a clip full of fiery explosions, shattering glass, a helicopter crashing into a building, paramedics rescuing victims from extreme danger and violence, the producers of NBC’s “Trauma” insisted the spectacle of trauma isn’t what it’s about. Huh?
“The ante is upped here. It is more visceral.
“We use the adrenaline and the spectacle as a means of exploring character,” exec producer Peter Berg claimed. That said, it was back to how much bang-boom and how many “MCIs” (“mass casualty incidents”) they can fit in each hour?
Dario Scardapane, creator-producer, said, “We’re not gonna blow up the world every week but yes, there will be an intense event that these people respond to.”
It won’t become “pileup of the week,” Scardapane said. The industry is looking for the next “ER” and this series aims to be the pre-hospital show.
