Dexter has spawned some inspired viral campaigns in the past, and the latest from FX is a beauty! You enter your mate’s details, and a picture if you’ve got one handy, et voila! They’re at the centre of Scotland Yard’s latest investigation into a spate of murders in the UK looking suspiciously like a Dexter copycat killer… Check it out at www.thedexterhitlist.com. Enjoy!
Looks good, doesn’t it?
While Hollywood was on hold thanks to the US writers’ strike earlier this year, Buffy supremo Joss Whedon kept himself on the straight and narrow by writing the world’s (possibly) first supervillain musical, and the fruits of his labour are making their way to the internet next month.
The first act of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog goes live on the Dr. Horrible site on Tuesday 15 July with the concluding two parts airing later that week, and tells the not-so-everyday story of rubbish supervillain Dr Horrible’s regular scraps with all-America hero Captain Hammer.
And despite being available free to watch on the net, there’s a darn good cast singing Whedon’s witty words – Dr Horrible is played by How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris, while Firefly’s Nathan Fillion takes the role of Captain Hammer.
We’ve high hopes for this three-part webcast, not least because Whedon has previous form for writing pithy, action-packed musicals. And with Dollhouse on the way, too, there’s plenty for us Whedon-fans to celebrate. We’ll keep you updated as more details emerge…
We were extremely excited to get the chance to talk to actor Michael C Hall about playing the strangely likeable serial killer Dexter, and while we wouldn’t dare suggest that Michael has anything in common with his disturbing on-screen character, he certainly shares Dexter’s rather unsettling intensity. Here’s what he had to say when TV & Satellite Week caught up with him the other week…
Continue reading ‘6 days till Dexter… we chat to Michael C Hall’
8pm, Flash Gordon, Sci-Fi
Flash’s good deeds land him in trouble after the water supply he released to the cantons is found to be contaminated with a deadly virus. No prizes for guessing who masterminded that little scheme. Meanwhile, Dale reveals her own merciless streak when she gives the green light for an interrogation that will leave the subject with some serious amnesia problems. Maybe she’s angling for a more memorable name of her own - Deathly Dale? Dale the Draconian?
10pm, Chuck, Virgin 1
SERIES FINALE Captain Awesome decides to propose to Ellie and entrusts Chuck with the engagement ring, but Chuck has just found some rogue bugging equipment at the store, and the CIA are rather too thorough in their raid - taking the ring with them. Along with the missing jewellery, there’s also the small matter of Chuck’s cover possibly being blown, meaning he may face a lifetime locked away for his own safety. So much to do, so little time…
10pm, Ghost Whisperer, Living
The new series starts tomorrow night, so get yourself back in the mood with the series finale from season 2 tonight, as Melinda and Professor Payne team up in an attempt to track down the mysterious Gabriel. Here’s a promo - with the obligatory over-the-top voiceover.
There are so many reasons to love Larry David, and this hilarious video appeal for the charity Stand Up To Cancer is just one…
Those clever bods at the Hallmark channel, home to great US dramas like Monk, Psyche, Numb3rs and Jericho, have conducted some scientific research into what makes a perfect gripping drama. What’s more, to prove it, they invited TV Spy to be a human guinea pig…
To London’s Covent Garden for an appointment with Dr Peter Marsh from the Social Issues Reseach Centre, who attached electrodes to my head, chest, ears and fingers. These were to record electrical energy in the brain, heart-rate and skin conductivity. Once wired up, it was time to watch clips from a variety of top dramas to see what effect they had…
The action
Bang! Adam gets shot in Spooks. Eeek! Kate and Juliet are hiding from the smoke-monster in Lost; Weee! Peter and Nathan go flying in Heroes. Arrggh! Some bloke tops himself in Damages; Yikes! Michael gets in a knife fight in Prison Break. Kaboom! Death and destruction as a helicopter goes out of control in ER!
The Results
Phew. Glad that’s over. I feel tense, a bit over-excited and worn out – but what will the computer readings say? Turns out that my heartbeat stayed fairly constant throughout, and my brain activity actually dropped off during the Lost, Heroes and Prison Break clips – although I had seen all of them before, so knew nothing bad would happen to anyone I cared about.
The biggest changes that my body experienced were as a result of the shocking shooting in Damages and the over-the-top mayhem in ER. These two clips were very different. Damages was quiet, unassuming, one man, one woman, very little dialogue, no action - then sudddenly, and with no warning, one of the characters shoots himself in the mouth. This made my skin conductivity leap, my heart-beat increase and my brain activity to go haywire.
In contrast, ER was an ensemble piece, with loads of characters and relationships in play, a gruesome flashback of an arm being severed and the inherent threat of it happening again. The tension builds and builds into an almost unbelievable crescendo of explosions, injuries and ultimately death. My brain, body and heart all reacted – I got tense and stayed tense throughout the clip.
What does this prove?
It showed that quality drama affects me in ways I wasn’t previously aware of. It showed that different kinds of drama can increase my heart-rate, make me tense and get my brain firing off beta-waves. It made me reconsider watching ER, made me swear that I’ll never get in a helicopter, and most of all it made me determined to watch Damages when it comes onto Hallmark – even though I’ll probably watch a certain scene through my fingers…
• Hallmark will be showing the first series of Damages every Sunday at 9pm from 6 July.
OK, I’m going to admit it: I never watched the phenomena that were Buffy and Angel (cue gasps of horror in the office and the throwing of DVD screeners at my head), so I never really got what all the fuss was about David Boreanaz.
I know, I know. Where was I from 1997 to 2004? Answers on a postcard, please!
Now I’ve admitted that, I guess I can go the whole hog and also reveal I had also never watched Bones. (I should say at this point, that as a TV journo, I do actually watch TV – it’s just that I somehow managed to miss the three smash hit shows David Boreanaz has been in.)
However, I now think it was fate that I didn’t watch any of these shows at a younger age – because, if I had, I would never have gone out and wanted to stay in watching Boreanaz constantly.
Yes, this morning, I am David’s number one fan (not Misery-style, however, David, if you happen to be reading). After meeting the wonderfully talented and very beautiful Boreanaz on the set of Bones at the weekend, I am smitten – so smitten, in fact, I went home and watched the season one box-set and am currently working my way through the rest.
As previously reported here, Bones is going British for the opening episode of the fourth series and the cast and crew have been filming in London for the past three weeks.
The show’s creator, Hart Hanson, told TV Spy that the episode finds anthropologist Dr Temperance ‘Bones’ Brennan (Emily Deschanel) guest-lecturing at Oxford University and Booth speaking at Scotland Yard when they are asked by local officials to lend their expertise to a high-profile murder investigation involving a young heiress.
On a scorching hot day at a filming location in East London, David, dressed in his slick Booth suit and iconic Cocky belt buckle, said he was loving working in London and happily chatted about taking his six-year-old son Jaden on the Millennium Eye and on a boat cruise down the Thames.
He was filming scenes with Rome star Indira Varma and ex-Coronation Street star and Suranne Jones’ old flame, Jonathan Wrather, who played Weatherfield bad boy Joe Carter. He and Indira are just two of the British stars appearing in the London episode, with The Fixer’s Andrew Buchan also set to appear.
They filmed in Greenwich, the Guildhall and many other touristy locations. David said he also got to drive a mini and meet some Bobbies. I can’t wait to see Bones British-style.
Yes, fellow Dexter fans, it’s going to be back on our screens on Sunday night on FX. We are so excited! We’ll be bringing you all sorts of goodies this week (including an actual goodie bag up for grabs!), so don’t go too far away. 6 days…. just 6 days…Here are some lovely pictures from series 2 to start getting you all in the mood. Click on them for a close-up…
1) The Wire’s Amy Ryan is going to become a series regular – and possible love interest for Michael Scott – in the next series of The Office.
2) The Sopranos’ Edie Falco’s next TV role will be in Nurse Jackie, playing a nurse with a weakness for drugs.
3) The first of as many as three Battlestar Galactica TV movies has been given the go-ahead.
4) The US channel TNT is going to try to remake Cracker again.
5) Battlestar’s Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben) will appear in the second series fo Californication as a record producer who employs Hank top write his biography.
6) An Emmys insider has told the LA Times that The Wire hasn’t got a hope of winning – partly, it seems, because it begins with a ‘W’.
As well as our exclusive round-up of all the latest episodes of your favourite US shows in TV Spy, we’ve got an exclusive interview with Michael C Hall, aka Miami’s friendly neighbourhood serial killer Dexter!
Watch this space, because we’ll be posting loads more Dexter stuff in the build up to the second series, which starts Sunday July 6 on FX.
Click on the thumbnails to see more…
Fri, 9pm, Criminal Minds, Living
Spunky young special agent Julia Morris in Philadelphia requests the team’s help after a self-storage unit divulges some shocking contents, but she’s a bit too eager to make a name for herself and endangers her life in the process. Rather predictably, she reminds Rossi of himself at a young age…
Sat, 10.50pm, Law & Order, Five
SERIES FINALE This is Jerry Orbach’s final appearance on the show as Briscoe, although he did pop up briefly on Law & Order: Trial by Jury, starring in two episodes before his death in 2004. He faces a strange case which bears more than a passing resemblance to the storyline of Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, as two women are accused of murdering one another’s husbands.
Sun, 9pm, Supernatural, ITV2
SERIES FINALE Bobby and Sam prepare for a battle of epic proportions as they take on Lilith and her demon cronies in a last-ditch attempt to save Dean’s life. Don’t miss it!
Sun, 9pm, NCIS, FX
Gibbs’ private life comes to the fore as he relives the deaths of his wife Shannon and daughter Kelly after Kelly’s childhood friend Maddie asks for help with a marine stalker. Unfortunately, Gibbs takes the phrase ‘in too deep’ rather literally, and ends up submerged in a car that has driven off the end of a pier after a shoot-out…
The final list of nominations for this year’s Emmys won’t be announced until 17 July, but, for the first time ever, the awards’ organisers, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, has revealed the top 10 finalists for this year’s drama and comedy series awards. Five from each category will make the final voting list.
Notable absentees are Battlestar Galactica in the drama category and My Name is Earl in comedy, but we’d love to hear what you think. The programmes marked in red are the ones we reckon should make the final list…
Drama
• Boston Legal
• Damages
• Dexter
• Friday Night Lights
• Grey’s Anatomy
• House
• Lost
• Mad Men
• The Tudors
• The Wire
Comedy
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords
• The Office
• Pushing Daisies
• 30 Rock
• Two and a Half Men
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds
1) The Muppets are going to be doing a tour of US military bases.
2) 24 co-executive producer Jon Cassar was attacked by a lion while filming the season seven prequel in Cape Town.
3) Some rather blurry videograbs from the new US version of Little Britain. You can watch the showreel from which they were taken here.
4) Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are preparing to return to TV with a new variety show.
5) Chris Noth is leaving Law & Order. Jeff Goldblum is taking his place.
6) First the writers’ strike, now Hollywood is bracing itself for an actors’ strike.
7) There’s talk that Futurama may be coming back to TV.
It’s 6.00pm, just time to sneak in this little gem before hometime! Woo!
We all knew that Mad Men was one of the smartest, coolest new series to come out of America for years, and its latest genius new marketing campaign has only put it higher in our estimation.
This week’s issue of the American ad industry trade magazine Advertising Age features a 16-page insert dedicated to the fictional advertising company Sterling Cooper and includes profiles on Don Draper, reports on the growing sales of cigarettes and faux ads from the period. It is, quite simply, utterly brilliant. (Thanks, by the way, to Ducky, for telling us about it.)
We’ve stuck some thumbnails below, or you can see the whole thing in all its glory at Advertising Age.
9pm, House, Five
It’s the first part of the big season finale, and House suffers short-term memory loss after a bus crash. He badly needs treatment himself, but he just can’t shake the feeling that someone else on the bus was exhibiting alarming symptoms just before the crash, and he’s determined to figure it out. Be prepared for a vision of Cuddy like you’ve never seen her before…
10pm, Empire, Sky One & HD
NEW SERIES Santiago Cabrera, who starred as freaky painter guy Isaac Mendez in Heroes, gets the lead role in this lavish mini-series about the formative years of the Roman Empire. It also boasts Jonathan Cake (Six Degrees), Vincent Regan (Troy) and Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada).
10pm, My Name Is Earl, Channel 4
Earl’s still adrift in his comatose world, the perfect excuse for guest stars like Paris Hilton and Alyssa Milano to pop up! Somehow I don’t think Paris will be winning any Grammys for her performance, but she has been having acting lessons with David Boreanaz’s coach so there’s hope for her yet.
The Bada Bing turned into ker-ching at Christie’s in New York yesterday, where an auction of outfits worn by James Gandolfino el al in The Sopranos sold for $187,800.
The highest bid was $43,750 for a bloodstained costume (pictured above) that Gandolfino wore in a scene when Tony Soprano was shot by Uncle Junior. Its pre-sale estimate was $3000.
A hefty chunk of the money raised will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, an organisation that provides counseling, family assistance and health benefits to soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
You can see the full list of items sold here at Christie’s site.
1) Heroes head honcho Tim Kring says there are going to be loads of bad guys in the next series.
2) Nicole Richie has landed a guest role on Chuck.
3) Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant will join William Hurt in the second series of Damages.
4) Robert Carlyle has been saying that the next series of 24 will be only 22 hours-long. Fox, which makes the show, however, insists it will be the normal 24 episodes.
5) Battlestar’s Tricia Helfer is to star in a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde story called Inseparable.
6) Former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry will play a baddie in Criminal Minds.
Looks like David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel have a stalker! Check out these YouTube clips packed full of surreptitious photos of the pair whilst filming in London…
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