After much hype last week, the new Fray song/new “Lost” footage video finally appeared during “Grey’s Anatomy” last Thursday. It’s weird to have the Fray [long associated with "Grey's"] debut a track with “Lost,” but I’m sure this is just something that ABC cooked up. The song is decent, and it actually works really well with the footage. Man, is it January 21 yet?
Enjoy the video below and look out for the new viral campaign they’ve embedded in the clip.
As I mentioned last week, I decided to combine the recaps of these two fantastic episodes into one because of their tight connection to one another and their overall excellence as a two-part mid-season cliffhanger. “Smallville” won’t return until January 15, 2009 and I imagine fans will be clamoring for its return. This has been the longest string of strong episodes in the show’s history (edging out the first nine episodes of season three or the first 12 of season five). I promise that an epic column is coming on why the show is so awesome post-Thanksgiving, but let’s get to the recap.
When will the spate of guest stars end? The mainstream treatment that my beloved underdog “30 Rock” is getting this season is really throwing me off. The show still has a soul of its own, but I feel like it’s constantly threatened from the highly-advertised guests. WARNING: Some spoilers
According to McG, the director of Terminator:Salvation, Arnold did actually film a cameo for the upcoming movie. It looks like he’s going to be in it, but with ILM helping out a bit since his character will be half-CGI. That’s not too bad of an idea, actually: some of the best parts of T3 were the ones when half of Arnold’s face was robotic, which helped us forget he was almost 60.
Also, Harrison Ford continues to hint he’s not interested in making another Indy film, so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. If they decide to go ahead and make another one with someone else as Indy, who cares? As far as I’m concerned, that won’t make my feelings of the originals any less great. It would be much more disheartening if they went ahead with Ford and kept beating the franchise into the ground…
Also, this is news to me: there is a third “Underworld” movie? Who knew? I can’t believe the first movie got the greenlight, much less the second, and a THIRD! They must have been made for pretty cheap because they didn’t even make money at the box office did they?
After a two week hiatus Pushing Daisies has finally returned to pick up where it left off. Ned, Emmerson, Chuck and Olive join Ned’s newfound half brothers Maurice and Ralston at the performance of “The Great Herrmann” a magician who became a replacement father to the boys after Ned’s father left them at a Sunday Matinee. Herrmann enlists the help of Emmerson in an attempt to discover who has been killing all of his animal “assistants” shortly before he himself is trapped in a cement block during a magic stunt. The woman who was his human assistant is immediately the first suspect and when questioned she does suggest a motive when she says that the animals were mean and that Herrmann had been promising her an act of her own for more than eight years. She denies being the killer though, and directs the team’s attention to “The Geek” a man who opens for Herrmann by swallowing and regurgitating nails, glass and small animals among other things. During his questioning Chuck finds that something magnetic is in the Geek’s stomach. Eventually Ned and Emmerson find that Herrmann is not in the cement block he was supposed to be in,
Image courtesy ABC.com
leading them to beliebe that he is still alive. When Ned talks to his half-brothers he realizes that rest of the scarf his brother is clutching should have been in the cement block. Soon everyone rushes to the scene of the crime with metal detectors to search for Herrmann’s body. Finally they find the block under the floorboards below the stage and when they hear the killer Maurice and Ralston chase after her with the metal detectors in hand. As Emmerson and Olive follow behind, Ned and Chuck chisel out Herrmann to ask him how his stunt worked and why he could not get out. Once they find that the magnets that activated the trap door were taken out of his shoes before the stunt they rush to find he Geek, who had swallowed magnets the night that Herrmann died. Meanwhile as the assistant was being held and questioned by Maurice, Ralston and Emmerson, Olive was captured by the Geek who they had previously thought was dead. He brings her onto the stage where everyone can see him and when Ned tricks him into stepping on the trap door his half-brothers pull the lever to release the trap door and catch the criminal.
While all of this is going on Dwight Dixon pays a visit to Lilly and Vivian. He reveals that he is searching for a watch that belonged to Chuck’s father and that Ned’s father too has a watch. While Lilly tried to drive him away Vivian instead secretly takes him out on a date at the pie-hole. After finding that Chuck’s father’s watch was buried with her, Dwight digs up her grave only to find it empty.
And that’s what happened so tune in next week Wednesday at 8 on ABC or go to ABC.com to watch online.
Please folks, watch ABC’s Wednesday night lineup. Well, at least “Pushing Daisies” and “Dirty Sexy Money.” These shows need all the viewers they can get so they can have their back-9 order picked up. Please. Tell anyone you know with a Nielsen box.
This could be pretty cool I think. Josh Schwartz is writing a new X-Men flick based on the “First Class” arc that centers around the younger generation of mutants. Schwartz mixed comics and teen drama well on “The O.C.” and he’s one of the more talented writers in town. I see this working out for FOX’s movie department, because I mean, they have nothing else worth a damn in development. [Variety]
Ausiello says that the CW is very likely to pick up “Smallville” for a ninth season due to its consistently steady ratings this year. No word on “Supernatural”’s chances for season five, but I’d bet a huge amount of money on that happening too. [Ausiello Files]
In other scheduling news, rumblings are that “Scrubs” will make its glorious return (and introduction on ABC) in early 2009 at 8 PM as part of a comedy block that leads into “Lost.” This seems like a weird place for comedies to go. If “Lost” airs at 9 and “Life on Mars” at 10, wouldn’t “Pushing Daisies” be the best complement to them at 8? C’mon ABC! Do the right thing here. [TV Guide]
Unnamed sources that have seen “Valkyrie” say that Tom Cruise’s performance is “laughable.” Yeah, I agree it’s weird to see the former American hero Cruise is this type of film, but I don’t believe this at all. “Valkyrie” looks really interesting and the last trailer was fantastic. I think Mr. Cruise surprises and this all some bullshit tactic to sink the film and his career. [The Scoop]
Mark Protosevich is in talks to come aboard the American “Oldboy” adaptation powered by Steven Spielberg and Will Smith. Protosevich penned “The Cell,” “Poseidon” and “I Am Legend.” I guess it could have been worse, but most people don’t want this damn film to happen anyway. I never saw it, so can’t judge, but based on the plot, I don’t see this being a film that the Spielberg/Smith combo can drive. [/Film
Rashida Jones has joined the non-"Office" "Office" spin-off where she will star alongside already announced Amy Poehler. The guys behind this show have been working on it for over a year and we've still never seen anything. Hopefully it was worth it for Poehler to leave "SNL" for. Good for Jones though, she needed a better job that "Unhitched." Why not bring her back to Scranton one more time though? [Variety]
Ratings report from last night: “House” remained steady with 13 million viewers and 5.5 in the 18-49, while “Fringe” upticked substantially to 9.4 million and 4.1 in the demo. [Live Feed]
Finally today, check out the trailer for Rob Thomas’ remake of his own show “Cupid” that should air sometime in 2009. It’s so pathetic that people are remaking their own shows, especially ones that weren’t even successful in the first place. Jeremy Piven was way better I think.
By now it would have seemed that Frank TV would be dead. The show started off so poorly that it there didn’t seem to be any hope. Recent episodes, while not great, have been good enough to keep the show alive, and thus, worth watching.
The show begins with Frank performing a decent Jay Leno impression. Surprisingly, he’s able to look just like Leno, and he gets the voice down pretty well. Also included in the set is a funny Amy Winehouse impression.
Frank then shows his depth and versatility as an actor and impersonator by doing a faux commercial for a faux vodka company. He plays a good Russian guy sitting in a bar drinking vodka, who then fights with a stuffed polar bear. As stupid as that actually sounds, it’s not quite as bad as many of the skits from the older episodes. Perhaps that’s because it was a new character that he was playing, and he plays it well. With scenes like this, he proves that he could play almost any character.
As was teased at the end of the last show, there is a Bill O’Reilly scene in this episode. Frank doesn’t play O’Reilly, as he does Bill Clinton, a person he mimics so well. Another actor plays Bill O’Reilly. Though he doesn’t look that much like O’Reilly, he has the voice and vernacular down pretty well. In the skit, Clinton and O’Reilly talk about picking up girls. Clinton tries to show him how, by picking up Ann Coulter. The set is pretty funny, but could have been better. Either way, this has some potential if used in future episodes.
Towards the end of the show, Frank unveiled a scene where he plays both Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. In the skit, the two actors are arguing on their “show” over how best to rate movies. The humor that ensues from such a petty argument is pretty funny. More skits from either of those actors should be productive results.
Frank TV is actually turning out to be a pretty decent show. While it’s still far from being a great show, any improvements could push the show over the edge and make it a mainstay. If not, maybe Frank will have a career in cartoons or character acting in the movies.
Ah! Some creepy creature that legitimately looks like a Furby has been found for the first time in 70 years in Indonesia. Beware, the thing is probably more creepy than the Furby. [MSNBC]
Coming on the heels of “Zach and Miri Make a Porno,” Seth Rogen is developing a show for Showtime that centers around three twentysomethings who “learn life’s lessons while running a porn shop.” Sounds like an interesting premise, but Rogen is stretched so thin right now I can’t imagine his involvement being that in-depth after the show gets pick up. [TV Guide]
Dan Fogler from “Balls of Fury” will immortalize Sam Kininson for an HBO film. Eh. Tom Shadyac will direct. More eh. [Variety]
Fuck. Ben Stiller is reportedly trying to pull together a third “Fockers” film entitled “Little Fockers.” This series was over by the time the first film was sold to TV syndication. The second film was horrendous, and this will be worse. [/Film]
Cool blurbs here from the “LOST” showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. They were, in fact, making it up as they went along. But only through the first nine episodes. So all you haters out there still saying that…suck it. [AICN]
My god. Eddie Murphy is pathetic. There are rumblings of a third “Nutty Professor” film in the works. Why, oh why do actors do this to audiences? [CHUD]
Rating’s report from last night: NBC slugged again – especially “Heroes,” fell to 7.6 million, 3.6 and matched last week’s series low. In good news, “Chuck” (6.8 million, 2.6) climbed 8% to its largest total viewer audience since its premiere. Actually make that great news. Hopefully by season’s end “Chuck” can tick closer to 7-7.5 million viewers and pick up a order for season three. Let’s pray this happens. [The Live Feed]
November 24th, 2008 by 
Cory Barker
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