Well I clearly wasn’t the only one wondering what all the hype was about.

A few days ago I called Kristen Bell’s Heroes debut as new hero Elle unremarkable at best. It just seemed to me they didn’t need the vaunted Veronica Mars to recite the lines they gave Bell for Monday’s episode, “Flight or Fright.”

And it wasn’t that she was terrible, either, far from it. She was just OK.

Unlike me, TVGuide.com’s Michael Ausiello knows a thing or two about Bell’s resume. That is to say, unlike me he’s actually seen Mars. And here’s what he had to say at his Ask Ausiello column.

I was expecting more. Read more of this entry »

ABC’s ordered six more scripts of Samantha Who?, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That’s a pretty big vote of confidence after a mere two episodes have aired.

But I’ve seen the two episodes, and they’re pretty amusing. Hilarious? No? Funny? Yes, in large part due to star Christina Applegate, but also thanks to a strong supporting cast that includes Jean Smart (as her mom) and Tim Russ (as her doorman). Trekkies may recognize Russ as Tuvok from Voyager).

Samantha, in fact, is the highest-rated of the fall’s new sitcoms. Admittedly, there’s only six of them, so it’s not as huge as it sounds, but the second episode, which aired Monday, snagged 14.3 million viewers, not to shabby.

Once again, Jericho Monster scores a couple of fabulous interviews with two Jericho hotshots: Robert and Darcy Hawkins.

I’m a bit behind on this. Jane posted the interviews last week, but the past couple weeks have been kinda nutsy-cuckoo so I slipped a bit.

But Jericho Monster regularly has some of the best Jericho-related interviews around. She interviews the fans, crew, cast, bloggers, survivalists, anyone who can relate to the tale of Jericho (by this I mean both the story that the show tells and the story of the show’s cancellation and resurrection).

I first “met” Jane when she commented on some posting I had about Jericho way back in the day, in the dark times between death and rebirth. She commented on several posts, actually.

When CBS made the decision to bring back Jericho, at least on a limited basis, and re-run part of Season 1 over the summer, I sought out guest bloggers for their different take on the episodes, as I’d already written recaps on the second half of Season 1.

Jane was one of my first volunteers.

She did three recaps — one by herself and then conspired with fellow Jericho lover and mutiple guest blogger Beth to create Margie and Edna, two old biddies who live in Jericho and recapped not one, but two episodes, including the season finale.

The ladies (Margie and Edna, that is), have become beloved throughout the Jericho fan community, in large part due to the lively (and hilarious!) writing of Jane and Beth.

Jane has two other blogs, too — Jericho Central (news, links and other tidbits, suggestions on how to help Jericho) and Arabelle’s Alley (other things relating to Jericho and other TV shows, including a regular “Ask Margie and Edna” Q&A feature).

Check ‘em out. I often find out something new, and her interviews with fans and others are always interesting.

Illustrations courtesy of Jericho Monster.

Have you been watching “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre”?

If you haven’t, you might want to check out the second episode at 9 p.m. Sunday on WNET/Channel 13 locally — it runs through Nov. 18 — as it has a lot to say about power and gender, a timely issue in what seems to be our perpetual election season.

Jane Horrocks— who was weirdly terrific as the freakish singing impersonator in “Little Voice” — stars as Ros Pritchard, a Yorkshire supermarket manager who breaks up a fight between two Neanderthal candidates outside the market one day and concludes, “I could do better than you lot!” So she decides to stand for Parliament as the leader of the new Purple Democratic Alliance and lo and behold: She not only wins, she winds up prime minister.

I know, I know: It’s a total fantasy. And for a while (at least through Episode 2), “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” threatens to remain a total feminist fantasy, with women around the country — including supermarket owner Kitty Porter (Frances Tomelty), policy wonk Miranda Lennox (Jodhi May) and even Conservative Party star Catherine Walker (Janet McTeer) — rallying ‘round the cause to form an idealistic, green government.

Some of the new government’s reforms are illogical rather than innovative. What would be gained by moving Parliament from London to Yorkshire? Wouldn’t that be a costly enterprise, all in the name of showing yourself to be “one of the people”? And why ask the people constantly what you should be doing? Aren’t leaders supposed to have a practical platform? Isn’t that why people elect them?

And what’s with the endless anti-Americanism on the Britcoms and dramas? Writer Sally Wainwright has said she penned this as a wish-fulfillment after Tony Blair was re-elected. She gives Ros a speech, after a plane explodes in a British suburb, in which she wonders why terrorists would attack England now that she’s distanced the country from President Bush. Whatever your thoughts on the war in Iraq, it followed 9/11, not the other way around. Terrorism can no more be blamed entirely on geopolitics than random acts of violence on a New York City subway platform can be blamed entirely on sociology. Some people are just nuts, and some have a disproportionate rage at life’s rejections that they cannot resist visiting on others.

For a time, this kind of air-headed thinking and writing threatens to derail “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard.” The sprightly musical score doesn’t help, setting the wrong tone, and at first, neither does Horrocks’ cheery, everywoman performance. It’s grating, and so, you fear, will be the series.

But just when you’re about to concede, “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” and Horrocks’ growing steeliness reveal something more shadowy up their sleeves. Ros has a weak husband, Ian (Steven Mackintosh of “Our Mutual Friend), who has his hands in the cookie jar in more ways than one. Moreover, their moody older daughter, Emily (Casey Mulligan, the innocent heiress in the fabulous “Bleak House”), is resentful of the way her mother’s new job straitjackets her life and more than capable of exacting her pound of flesh.

And thus the TV soundstage is set for a doozy of a dilemma in which Ros will have to choose between the good of the nation and the good of her family, between absolute honor and power.

“The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” is amazingly good on the subject of power. It’s not that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the miniseries says. That would be too simple. It’s that once in power, you have to retain power, especially if, like Ros, you’re an idealist who really believes this is the best way to serve others. And retaining power turns out to be a lot harder than gaining power. It may even mean being single-minded with those you love most.

That’s the rub and the nub, whether you’re Nicolas Sarkozy or Angela Merkel. It’s not that being a woman and a mom would make you a better leader, as Sally Field suggested in her loopy Emmy Award speech that Fox cut.

Gender politics isn’t about gender. It’s about politics.

Too cool.

Come Nov. 12, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan, there will be free screenings in movie theaters in eight cities for Battlestar Galactica: Razor.

They’ll be at multiple locations in each city/metro area: New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and Chicago.

Here’s how to get a seat:

Admission is free, but those who want to see “Razor” at a movie theater must first register at the site battlestarevent.com. The site will not go live until Friday. Repeat: The site will not go live until Friday. Seat registrations will be given away first-come, first-serve.

I don’t know which theaters in the New York/New Jersey area will have the screening, which is a full 12 days in advance of the Sci Fi Channel broadcast. I (one of the lucky ones who got an advance screener) previously wrote about the fabulousness of the telemovie and fully plan to try to get tix to one of the screenings. Seeing this on a big screen should be amazing.

I’m not a big fan of Dunder Mifflin Infinity, the interactive online game that is paralleling the current season of The Office and has attracted over 100,000 participants.

The idea is that you sign up to join a virtual branch of Dunder Mifflin and compete in weekly contests to accumulate Schrute Bucks and advance within the company. The challenges mirror actual plotlines from the show. So when Creed Bratton dyed his hair black with printer ink, the challenge was to use a graphics Web app at the site to design an outfit to make your Creed look younger. When Ryan asked Pam to design a logo, DMI participants designed one too.

But a continuing series of technical glitches, frequent rules changes and the inability to simply form your own branch or join one of your choosing have conspired to make me think this endeavor has not been very well planned or executed. But I’ve been playing along half-heartedly just to see what it was all about and to see if it got any better.

One thing that has surprised me is the creativity people are putting into it.

I have a feeling this show just might appeal to all the same men who just loooove Prison Break (you know who you are):

Fox is considering a Prison Break spinoff, set in a women’s prison, tentatively titled Prison Break: Cherry Hill. (How girly could they make the title? Cherry Hill? Oy.)

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show would “center on Molly, a new regular character that will be introduced on Prison later this season.”

Fox already has ordered a script for a possible spinoff.

Molly is an upper-middle-class wife. After suffering a family tragedy at the hands of the Company—the government conspiracy that framed Michael Wentworth Miller and Lincoln Dominic Purcell and put them behind bars—she seeks them out at the hellish Panamanian prison Sona in her quest to exact vengeance.

Molly is sentenced to life “for her acts of revenge.” She’s prepared to serve her sentence, but then finds out “some of her loved ones are alive.” Then all she wants to do is get the heck outta there.

Two more freshmen series got a few extra episodes this week: Carpoolers on ABC and Moonlight on CBS.

The Carpoolers news comes via E!Online’s Watch with Kristin. The show, which has Grand View’s Tim Peper as one of four leads, got an order for three more scripts, for a total of 12 episodes.

The Hollywood Reporter brings us the Moonlight news. The Friday night vampire-detective drama got four more scripts, even though it’s CBS’ lowest-rated show of the night.

I can’t help but think that these script orders wouldn’t have come if it weren’t for the threat of a Hollywood writer’s strike.

Network broadcasters can’t do much to make your widescreen more energy efficient or your viewing habits carbon-neutral.

But they can spread the eco-message that “Green is Universal,” which is what NBC has in mind next month.

Picture Earl driving a Prius, Howie Mandel making deals for locally grown produce or Jim Halpert pushing paper produced with a high quantity of post-consumer content. (Actually, that last one happened once.) You won’t be able to flip on the Peacock from Nov. 4-10 without being bathed in subliminal messages of the Al Gore variety.

Well, ABC just confirmed what we already knew: “Pushing Daisies” is freakin’ awesome!

Looks like the network ordered what the biz calls the “back nine,” which is the final group of episodes to make up an entire season.

So we’ll be solving crimes with the “Daisies” gang—and witnessing perhaps some more plastic wrapped kisses between Ned and Chuck—until at least May.

Hooray! That news just makes me want to have an anti-depressant-laced piece o’ pie.

This is perfect timing, too, since our quirky crew returns for another installment tonight.

So last night’s finale of “Damages” ended like its stellar freshman season began, with Patty on the dock of her beach house.

Except instead of throwing a dog collar into the sea, she’s throwing Ellen back into the deathtrap of working at Hewes & Associates.

But by now, Ellen’s not nearly as naive—having been through what’s quite possibly the worst post-graduate job ever. And she’s out for—as James Brown so fabulously sang in “The Payback” over the closing credits—REVENGE.

Star Glenn Close and the producers had been making rounds of interviews in the last few weeks, drumming up publicity for the critically-acclaimed but ratings-challenged show. (FX has yet to say whether it will renew the drama for Season 2.)

They’d all said that the Frobisher case would be wrapped up, but some new plotlines would develop for another season.

(SPOILER ALERT!)

And they sure did wrap up that Frobisher case—thanks to Larry, the elderly turncoat client.

I’ve been there, on the phone with the Mrs., listening dutifuly but feeling the pull of my surroundings. The heart is willing, to twist a phrase, but the attention span is weak.

In my defense, though, my wife has never called me from an airliner caught in a storm. In matters of life and death, my focus is true. And that is reason #458 why HBO will never air an original comedy series about my daily life.

The funny thing—OK, one of several funny things—is that the basic premise of Sunday’s edition of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “The Tivo Guy”, closely paralleled that of star/creator Larry David, ever moreso than usual, that is.

The scene is Larry’s living room, and the Tivo repairman arrives after several crossed-up appointment times. When the phone rings and it’s Cheryl from the plane, Larry is consumed by getting his signal fixed and clearly isn’t paying attention to Cheryl. The reception wasn’t clear, though, and there was a lot of noise on her end. So as she relayed her heartfelt thoughts as she faced her potential final moments, Larry’s chatting with the Tivo guy and finally tells her to call back in 10 minutes.

Here’s something totally different. Or not.

Barry Sonnenfeld is directing and executive producing a comedy for ABC, tentatively titled “Buddies.”

The Hollywood Reporter says it’s a “single-camera buddy comedy set in the world of ‘80s cops.”

First off, for those of you not in the “biz,” a single-camera comedy is the 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm style as opposed to Seinfeld and Friends. Wikipedia says this gives a “slicker and more polished look.”

It’s heartening to see NBC’s “Journeyman” getting its act together.

Last night’s episode, which has to be something of a turning point, gave us a realistic scene set at Dan’s San Fran newspaper, in which the powers that be fretted over the way the Internet has cut newspaper advertising and circulation. They then cast a wary eye on Dan (Kevin McKidd), who as one of the paper’s middle-aged stars is deemed too expensive for the paper’s payroll.

(Thank goodness, Dan’s editor concluded he’s too good to lose, although I wonder why Dan didn’t tell his boss about the identity of the bomber he discovered in the past and also, why he kept the bomber’s money — all unethical. Perhaps his loyalty to his new life as a helpful time-traveler is greater than his loyalty to his day job.)

Nevertheless, the very fact that a network drama is paying attention to the decline of certain media and the rise of the Web tells me that this has finally entered into the public’s consciousness.

Note: As promised, I’ve begun watching Season 1 of 24 and am blogging on one episode a week episodes after I see them, as a run-up to Season 7. Remember, I’m pretending I know nothing about Seasons 2-6, so blah blah blah, yackety schmackety.

I know, I’ve been very remiss in blogging on Season 1. Life’s been busy.

But this weekend, as all the sick people in my house napped, I watched episodes 5, 6 and 7 in a row and am back in the action.

And action it was!

I’ll deal with this character group by character group:

Steven Weber, late of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (and a multi-episode arc coming up this season on Brothers & Sisters as a love interest for Sarah), will headline a sitcom on NBC called Zip.

The Hollywood Reporter sez the show was ordered last year as a pilot for NBC, but didn’t make the final cut. It’s been revived now that Weber’s signed on, apparently:

“Zip” centers on Trip Stringer (Weber), a guy with no money living in Beverly Hills who, with the help of his Latino partner, Hugo, and a colorful cast of accomplices concocts one scheme after another in the hopes of making it big and securing the glamorous Beverly Hills lifestyle for his three children.

TV Guide got an exclusive first look at Season 4’s premiere episode of “Lost,” and man oh man, I don’t know what to make of them.

First off, we’ve now got the episode’s title: “The Beginning of the End.”

A nod to the fact that NBC announced earlier this year that “Lost” will definitely end its thrill ride in May 2010? Or just an explanation of the still-unknown plotline, which rumor has it, involves both Sawyer and Hurley flashbacks and flashforwards?

Anyway, from the looks of these photos, it seems as if the premiere will start right where we left our Losties, with Charlie dead and rescue from Naomi’s (not Penny’s) boat imminent.

Still, Locke looks awfully chipper after (presumably) just killing Naomi and taking a bullet to the belly.

And what’s up with the downed plane in the jungle? Some are saying the wreckage is left over from Flight 815; but TV Guide seems to be hinting at yet another plane. (If so, this darn island is like the Bermuda Triangle. Are we going to find Amelia Earhart in the jungle soon, too?)

In other news/speculation, some fans stationed in Hawaii are saying that an upcoming episode—if not the premiere—will possibly explain how Kate is a free woman once she gets off the island.

After May’s finale, I remember wondering how Kate—who we assume would still be a fugitive headed for jail, or at least a trial—was meeting up with Jack at the airport.

Sounds like we may find out how Freckles earns her Get Out Of Jail card after all.

Anyone else have any ideas on how “Lost” will kick off in February, using these new photos as a guide?

(Photo courtesy of ABC) 

This season, ABC has the sitcom Carpoolers and the dramedy Big Shots.

Each is about a group of four men who are friends, by varying definitions.

So why not try it again for next season?

ABC bought the pilot for The More Things Change …, The Hollywood Reporter reported (I love saying that; it makes me giggle for no particular reason whatsoever) today. Writer Allan Loeb (he co-wrote the New Amsterdam pilot for Fox and scripted the Halle Berry/Benicio Del Toro flick Things We Lost in the Fire)

It’s about male friendship and how it endures and survives through change.

Todd Phillips, who directed the big-screen Starsky & Hutch (and one of my personal favorites, Old School), will direct.

So that’s what all the fuss was about?

I admit, I never watched Veronica Mars, so the small sample we got of Kristen Bell last night is all I’ve ever seen her. But to be honest, I thought she was ordinary at best. If I didn’t know who she was and hadn’t been aware of the months of hype surrounding her Heroes debut, I wouldn’t have given the character of Elle much more than a passing thought.

I found her rather unremarkable and even thought it was kind of a shame that she killed Ricky, the Irish thug, because he was a lot more interesting, even for a stock character. That said, there was nothing bad about the performance, and Elle does show some promise as a character of some depth worth exploring.

Although I don’t watch “Dancing with the Stars,” it’s tough not to comment on Marie Osmond’s collapse last night.

Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version:

1. Osmond attempts the samba (and that’s putting it kindly).
2. After her dance, Osmond jumps and screams for reasons unknown.
3. Osmond listens to unimpressed judge’s commentary.
4. Osmond faints, perhaps upon hearing she neglected to show the “gaiety and the fun.”
5. Audience laughs, thinking it’s a harmless slip-and-fall or a joke.
6. Realizing it’s neither, host Tom Bergeron calls for a commercial break.
7. After the break, Osmond has recovered and reports that these things happen on occasion.
8. Judges award Osmond a 21 out of a possible 30.

First of all, why was Osmond jumping and screaming after a particularly unimpressive performance? She was celebrating as if she won the competition. It was kind of like watching a defensive lineman sack a quarterback and then pose, even though his team’s losing 42-6.