As much as I love covering “Top Chef,” which is just past its seasonal halfway point, and “American Idol,” which is coming down the home stretch, I’m looking forward to blogging more regularly about some scripted TV, specifically “Chuck,” which returns this fall.

Filming for the fall begins next Friday and, to TV Guide, the Intersect and his buddies will return to TV for 13 consecutive new episodes this fall. Nice.

Zachary Levi revealed the date to resume filming to TV Guide, but not much else about Season 2. “I have a huge mouth, so if they tell me anything, we’re screwed,” he told a TV guide reporter.

“Heroes” is expected to receive the same treatment of 13 straight new eps this fall, according to the mag.

Now, I know I’ve been critical of NBC for deciding to wait until the fall to bring the show back while allowing more established comedies (“The Office” and “30 Rock,” for example) to return for a mini-season shortly after the conclusion of the writers’ strike. But while “The Office” and “30 Rock” are critical darlings that have devout, passionate and may I say extremely intelligent fans, post-strike ratings for those shows went from strong to wrong once “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI” returned with new episodes. “The Office” dropped 21 percent from its season high (earned May 1) while “30 Rock” posted its “lowest-rated episode this season,” according to Entertainment Weekly. Blerg.

Perhaps the NBC execs had a point when they decided to wait a bit; “Chuck’s” ratings were slowly building an audience and collected some momentum in the fall. Bringing it back too soon only to cut it short again for summer break might have crippled any chance for the show to build or even retain its humble ratings, meaning all but certain cancelation.

What should we expect for Chuck version season 2.0? And will “Chuck” fans ever see an appearance by Natalie Martinez, who may or may not have been tabbed to play Chuck’s steady girlfriend, thus completing a love triangle with him and Sarah? Plus more teasers, minor spoilers and photos await for “Chuck” fanatics after the break. Read more of this entry »

I miss NBC’s “Chuck.” Remember that fine show? Normal guy with government secrets embedded in his noggin, routinely saves the day with many a larf, but still can’t land his girl?

Memory still a little fuzzy? That’s why I’m worried.

By the time the dramedy returns to NBC this fall, I fear not enough people will miss it or, worse, even remember it. With other shows returning to the lineup in recent weeks, I fear it was a bad move to wait until the fall to bring back a show that was just barely finding its audience when the writers’ strike hit.

Future Best Supporing Actor nominee Adam Baldwin (pictured) deserves better. Because he’s so frickin’ awesome.

Need a quick “Chuck” fix? Watch Zachary Levi as Chuck and Joshua Gomez as Morgan—really just playing themselves—as they recap movie classics so you don’t actually have to watch fine cinema. Here’s part one and here’s part two. I’d embed the clips but Hulu, which often grants permission to do so, won’t let me.

Oh, and after the break are a couple of random photos of the lovely and talented Yvonne Strahovski with my own captions that may or may not accurately depict the scene. Because it’s been a while since she’s gotten some Remote Access play and, well, she’s hot. Read more of this entry »

More than a month ago, Rickey over at Riding With Rickey tagged yours truly with a meme. Revenge for a meme I’d tagged him with, I suppose.

Anywho, I kept meaning to hold up my end of the bargain, and I finally have. It’s the movie meme, and the idea is that I’m supposed to look up my 15 favorite movies on IMDB, choose quotes from them, list them here and make you figure out what movies they are.

Aha, but this is a TV blog, I hear you thinking! Never fear, I’ve got that all figured out. No worries, I didn’t choose a bunch of Lifetime women-as-victim movies. Rather, I started with actors from our favorite TV shows. Then, I found relatively well-known characters they played in movies, found quotes from them and posted them here.

So not only do you have to figure out what movie the line is from, but you also have to figure out which actor uttered it. To make things a weeeeeee bit easier, I’ll tell you the actors I selected, but they’re not in the same order as the quotes. I’ve alphabetized the actors, by last name:

Adam Baldwin (Chuck)
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy)
Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Jim Krasinski (The Office)
Hugh Laurie (House)
Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies)
Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica)
Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy)
Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica)
Donald Sutherland (Dirty Sexy Money)
Kiefer Sutherland (24)
Skeet Ulrich (Jericho)
Ray Wise (Reaper)

NO CHEATING. You may not look the quotes up on IMDB and then get all the answers correct. You must use your brain; you know, the part of your brain that stores all that useless movie trivia. You all have it; if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading a television blog now, would you?

After the break, the quote list:

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Your response has been outstanding so far for our Remote Access poll, which asks you to pick (or submit) your choice for the most crucial supporting actor to his/her show.

We had dozens of initial options at the start—I offered at least one actor for every scripted show we at Remote Access cover on a regular basis—but after 630 votes, it seems to have built itself up into a two-way throwdown between Jenna Fischer (Pam on “The Office”) and Brad Beyer (Stanley on “Jericho”).

Each had 171 votes—27 percent of the total vote apiece—as of this post’s publication.

Interestingly, actors from those shows also fill the poll’s next two slots: Rainn Wilson, Dwight on “The Office,” and reader-submitted Skeet Ulrich, Jake on “Jericho.” (I’d argue that Ulrich is a lead actor, but it’s an interesting poll trend regardless.)

We’re going to keep this hotly contested poll open until Monday, April 14, so you’ve got a little more than a week to launch your last-ditch campaigns for your favorite supporting actors in the poll, which appears in the right column of this blog. Mail all your Northern Attack and Office Tally friends using “limitless paper in a paperless world”! Give your “Jericho” friends on Jeritopia or JerichoNet2 more incentive by shipping them a few packages of nuts! Or throw everyone a curveball and convince “Chuck’s” Adam Baldwin to record a YouTube video requesting your vote for this very poll. (How cool would that be?)

And remember, it doesn’t have to be Fischer or Beyer. As long as it’s a supporting actor, you can pick another name on the list or submit your own.

(Photos of Fischer and Beyer courtesy of NBC and CBS, respectively.)

This unrelated photo of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), courtesy NBC Universal, is from the April 24 episode “Night Out”. It’s my blog and I felt like including it. So there.

I mentioned a few days ago that Office Webisodes would be streaming again this summer, but it looks like Dunder Mifflin is far from NBC’s only online effort

Well now NBC is announcing that Heroes and Chuck are slated for their own series of online shorts come July. Additional chapters of Webisodes for each show will roll out throughout the season, the network says. The Office Webisodes, dubbed “The Accountants” won an onlin Emmy for the 10-installment saga of a missing $3,000.
In less exciting news, 30 Rock 360 will launch, bringing the same kind of zany fun (i.e. excruciatingly un-fun) that we’ve already seen for The Office and Heroes.

I was skeptical of The Office 360 when I first heard about it a year ago, and Dunder Mifflin Infinity, as it became to be known, fell short of even my lowest expectations. In this case you might be thinking, “It’s 30 Rock-related. How could it not be fun?” I thought the same thing about The Office and was painfully wrong.

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One thing’s for sure. Remote Access readers don’t mince words.

Almost two months ago, we asked our blog readers to weigh in on the “most heinous, classless (and/or) horrifying reality show ever.” The options presented to them included “Temptation Island,” “Joe Millionaire” and “Paradise Hotel.”

Although those three would be the shows on the original poll to top the list, readers threw even more support for a suggestion made by one of their own: “It’s a tie. All of them.”

That wound up “winning” the poll, with more than 1 in 4 voters — 101 voters total — declaring their hatred for these, and possibly all, reality TV shows. Another reader-suggested poll nomination, Fox’s “Moment of Truth,” finished close behind in second with 95 votes. “Temptation Island” finished third with 67 votes.

Other reader-nominated shows were “Kid Nation” (fourth), “Flavor of Love” (fifth), “Rock of Love” (eighth) and “The Real Housewives of Orange County” (tenth). Check out the complete poll above.

So, now we’ve got a new poll, one that might be more fun for fans of scripted television. We’re asking you to determine the SUPPORTING actor most crucial to his/her show.

Think “The Office” is nothing without Pam? Vote for Jenna Fischer. Would “Lost” be just that without Michael Emerson? Make your voice heard. Should “Chuck” be chucked without Adam Baldwin’s John Casey? Vote for him or fear for your Monte Carlo’s well-being. If you don’t see a supporting actor on the list, just click “Add an answer” and you’re good to go.

Remember, we’re looking for supporting actors here. No Tina Fey or Steve Carell nominations, please. They deserve many awards, but they don’t qualify for this poll.

Well, yeah! Sort of.

Adam Baldwin, who plays my favorite character in FBI agent John Casey on “Chuck,” voices the lead role for 2007’s animated “Superman: Doomsday,” a loose interpretation of the Death of Superman trilogy.

Although I’ve always been partial to Marvel Comics, it’s almost impossible to dismiss DC Comics’ Superman and Batman. And while many correctly argue that Batman’s a more intriguing superhero because he has no superpowers and that “Batman Begins” was better than “Superman Returns,” I’ve of late preferred the Man of Steel. I think that decision was solidified when I became a newspaper reporter (Clark Kent, after all, is a scribe for the Daily Planet) and started watching “Smallville” on DVD a couple of years ago.

As a “Chuck” fan, I was curious when I saw Baldwin’s name in the Netflix synopsis for the direct-to-video “Doomsday”:

To defend Earth, Superman (voiced by Adam Baldwin) battles an evil entity known as Doomsday. But the powerful being, created by Lex Luthor (James Marsters), proves too strong for the Man of Steel. Lois Lane (Anne Heche) joins the world in mourning the fallen superhero, but Luthor’s joy in his enemy’s demise is short-lived: Even death can’t stop Superman. This animated epic is based on DC Comics’ 1993 “The Death and Return of Superman” story arc.

I figured I’d stream just a couple of minutes of it on my computer—yes, Netflix allows you to do that with selected content legally—to hear him give a voice to Kal-El. Some 75 minutes later I had completed an above-average animated adventure. Read more of this entry »

If the writers’ strike hadn’t happened, would “Pushing Daisies” have been cancelled?

Who knows, but when a new show is over budget, behind schedule and has okay ratings, that’s never a good thing.

So when ABC made a post-strike announcement to bring back “Daisies” in the fall—instead of for a handful of new episodes this spring, like established series “Desperate Housewives” and “Ugly Betty” —creator Bryan Fuller saw it as sort of a blessing.

Fuller tells Variety that the extra time gave him a chance to completely rethink the direction of the show, which was in danger of careening off course, and plan the production more carefully.

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NBC announced three series pickups for the fall: Chuck, Life and Heroes. That last one was not a shock to anyone, to be sure, but it’s definitely nice to see the news about Chuck. I haven’t watched Life, but it sure gets good play… It’s not clear if any more episodes of Chuck or Life will be filmed for the rest of this season, but Heroes definitely won’t be back until fall.

NBC also recently announced it had picked up the American series adaptation of the popular Australian comedy, Kath & Kim. The American version would star Molly Shannon as Kath, “a cheerful, forty-something divorcee,” and Selma Blair as Kim, “her self-absorbed daughter.”

Speaking of, NBC and CBS also announced when several other shows would come back.

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With the writers’ strike nearing an end—YAhoo!—it looks like many of our favorite shows will be back on the air by spring.

“The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives” and more will likely be able to churn out a handful of new episodes by April.

But others—mostly newbies like “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Pushing Daisies” and “Chuck”—  probably won’t be back until the fall.

Then there’s “24,” which won’t return until January 2009, returning to the show’s standard winter premiere strategy—but leaving fans without their Jack Bauer fix for nearly TWO years.

As for serialized dramas like “Heroes” and “Lost,” the decision is a bit more difficult.

Networks and producers are trying to figure out if it’s worth the trouble to produce just a few episodes for the rest of this season, leaving viewers hanging in the middle of convoluted storylines until September.

“Lost” exec producer Damon Lindelof seems to think the island drama can crank out more than the 8 episodes we’ve been promised this season—but then again, it’s all up to ABC as to when they’d air.

E!’s Kristin Dos Santos got the scoop from show runners for some of Remote Access’ faves, including all of the above mentioned shows.  Check it out here!

(Photos courtesy of ABC, FOX and NBC) 

I can’t tell you how many times during the writers strike I clicked on Michael Ausiello’s strike chart over at TVGuide.com to see how many original episodes of my favorite shows were remaining.

The countdown made the writers strike more real each week as first The Office hit zero before Thanksgiving and then even 30 Rock aired a random final episode in January. Well, with the end of the strike apparently imminent, Mike’s got our backs again.

It’s largely speculation combined with stated network plans for various shows. But it looks like a pretty good set of estimates.

I won’t copy the entire list here but I will point out that I’ll be sitting pretty come spring when it comes to the two funniest shows on TV. Both The Office and 30 Rock will shoot between five and 10 new episodes and air them during April and May, according to Ausiello.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has five pre-strike produced episodes remaining right now, and there is no word what’s to come after that. There’s no word yet on Heroes either, though Ausiello wrote recently that it was likely to stay on hiatus until fall due to the serialized nature of the show.

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Josh loves Jenna. I think it’s safe to get that straight right off the bat. He’s a big fan (as we all are). But asked to describe himself in a single word, he might say AlphaMale. And Jackhammer. Maybe hardworking, insatiable and merciless too. So you have to figure he likes Rainn Wilson a lot too, based on that.

What doesn’t he like or love? Writers strikes, especially the kind that punch a gaping hole in the wall of a season he and fellow fans have been waiting so long for. The 36-year-old from Denver goes by AlphaMale Jackhammer at Northern Attack. And I’m not saying that ought to intimidate anyone, but Ben Silverman might want to watch his back.

(Part 7 of many. I – II – III – IV – V – VI)

10 words or less: Which side do you support in the writers strike and why?

The writers. They created the content, they should get paid.

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Believe it or not, despite the writer’s strike ready to head into its fourth month, many shows still have new episodes in the can.

They include Jericho and Lost, which weren’t supposed to premiere until midseason anyhow. They also include Men in Trees, which had episodes left over from last season’s bizarre scheduling antics and so still has quite a few new ones to air. They also include Chuck, which airs its final two eps this week in a Celebrity Apprentice sandwich.

So, want to know who still has what?

Here at Remote Access, we aim to please, so I’ve searched around to find the latest info to answer all your burning questions, such as: Will I ever see Cavemen again? (Hey, maybe! There are seven unaired eps!) What about CSI? (Depends. Original flavor and Miami are out of eps, but New York has two more sitting around.)

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In my haste to announce the airing of the final two pre-strike episodes of “Chuck,” I neglected to notice that they would sandwich an episode of “Celebrity Apprentice” this Thursday. I thought the “Chuck” eps—as opposed to, say, the Omar Epps—would be running back-to-back but I realized my error when I went to set up my DVR this weekend. My bad.

So to clarify: NBC will air the new one-hour “Chuck” episodes this Thursday (not the usual Monday slot) from 8-9 p.m. and 10-11 p.m. Got it? Good.

Although I stopped watching “The Apprentice” after Season 1, Donald Trump’s gimmicky version of the original reality contest still could bode well for “Chuck.” “Celebrity Apprentice” has been holding its own in the ratings, so perhaps potential first-time “Chuck” viewers will stick around for at least that night’s second episode.

It’s been a while since the last “Chuck,” so here’s my Cliff’s Notes version of where we left off: After kissing Chuck, kissing Bryce and kissing Bryce goodbye, Sarah has been snippy with Chuck but they’re working together again. Adding fuel to the fire of Casey’s burning Crown Vic are his orders from the government to kill Chuck once the feds complete a beta version of the Intersect. While still harboring feelings for Ellie, Morgan continues to date Anna. Jeff, Lester and Big Mike are still funny and Captain Awesome is still awesome.

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The Golden Globes Press Conference airs tonight on NBC. Sure, it’s hardly the same drama and pageantry as it usually is with the champagne dinner, but there’s still a whole lotta hardware handed out.

So I snagged the Remote Accessories’ Golden Globes picks from a previous post and reworked it to make it easy for you to see our picks and our predictions for each of the television categories. Come back later to see how right (or wrong) we were.

Will 30 Rock and Damages walk away with armfuls of trophies? Stay tuned.

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You read that right. NBC announced yesterday that Mr. Bartowski and friends (and enemies) will fill your TV screen with laughter and love from 8-10 p.m. EST Jan. 24 with back-to-back new episodes at 8 and 10 p.m. Jan. 24, sandwiching an episode of “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Take note: That’s a Thursday, not the usual Monday slot. But since “30 Rock” and “The Office” won’t be on that night, “Chuck” is very much Must See TV and/or Comedy Night Done Right, in my opinion.

My guess is that the episodes will be “Chuck vs. The Marlin” and “Chuck vs. The Undercover Lover,” which appear to be the ones that have been banked since the launch of the writers’ strike. If you want my analysis of nominal spoilers reported by Buddy TV and other sources, click here.

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The title of this post says it all, so don’t blame me if you continue to read past the break of this post.

If you just want to read a feature about one of “Chuck’s” stars, check out Entertainment Weekly’s fine interview of “breakout” star Zachary Levi.

I promise I’m writing this paragraph before I even read the spoilers. Based on my intuition alone, I’m guessing that before the season ends, Morgan and/or Ellie discover Chuck’s secret; Casey is ordered to kill Chuck but can’t (because of, um, the show’s title); and Sarah continues being ridiculously gorgeous.

OK, I just checked out the spoilers. They’re interesting, but not earth-shattering even if they are true; nothing close to the caliber of learning that Bryce Larkin is alive. But you do get some basic plot hints and a new character arc, so use your judgment before you proceed.

Find out Buddy TV’s spoilers after the break.

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This is the time of year when “best of” lists, “biggest stories” lists and the like make up for the fact that most of this country is on vacation (if not physically, at least mentally) and it’s pretty dang hard for the news media to come up with enough copy (in print, online or to broadcast) every day.

But what about those moments in your favorite (or even not-so-favorite) shows that pretty much made you swallow your tongue with shock or fall off the sofa with laughter? What about those singular moments that just left you sitting where you were, long after the credits rolled, saying, “WTF?” And how about those moments that just made you mad.

Your friends here at Remote Access wracked our brains for the moments that most shocked, amused, confused and infuriated us over the past year.

With that, we present you with the following:

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But the annual People’s Choice Awards ceremony, 9 p.m. Jan. 8 on CBS, will be a clip show rather than a live “we’re the best”-fest.

The Writers Guild turned down a request from the group for a waiver that would have allowed a script to be written despite the writer’s strike. On top of that, it was only a remote possibility that most of the nominees would even attend because they wouldn’t want to cross the picket lines.

So, now, Queen Latifah will still be the host, but she’ll be on a soundstage instead of the stage at the Shrine Auditorium and they’ll have, it appears, pretaped acceptance remarks.

Variety reports all this, along with the fact that fans will be asked to submit questions to ask the stars.

Check out the People’s Choice site here. I didn’t see a spot yet where you can submit your questions, but you can still vote in three categories: Best new TV comedy (Samantha Who?, Chuck (my pick) or Pushing Daisies), Best new TV drama (Private Practice, Moonlight or Gossip Girl (I don’t watch any of these, but voted for GG in support of Heather)) and Best user-generated video (this is a totally new category, check it out. I voted for the Beatbox Flute).

See my earlier post with the full list of nominees.

As I previously posted, the Golden Globe television nominations (by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) were announced this morning and lots of new shows got their due.

Well, my fellow Remote Accessories and I have had a chance to mull these over and here’s some of our picks (and predictions) for winners, after the break

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