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) 

Marlo? A Hero?

I’m new to The Wire, but that seems unlikely. And yet it’s true.

Jamie Hector, who plays the ruthless but impressively ambitious and efficient young Baltimore drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield, will join the Heroes cast when the show returns next season. New York Magazine reveals that he has already shot a couple of episodes, which have been on ice during the writers strike.

Hector, who appeared in Spike Lee’s 1995 Clockers, plays the role of Benjamin Knox Washington. And that’s about all the detail he was willing to share.

What else do you need to know? Marlo is 145 times scarier than Sylar ever was.

Some pairing

I thought it was pretty creepy when romance seemed to be brewing between Claire Bennett and Peter Petrelli midway through season one of Heroes. Later, when it was revealed they were uncle and niece, I was relieved that potential storyline had been chucked.

But when Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia were snapped at a pro hockey game last month, we were back to creepy territory again. I’m willing to admit, though, that I can’t say for sure why. He’s 30 and she’s 18. Normally I’d say that’s not good. But considering that they are high profile celebrities who don’t live anything approximating real lives, is it really terrible? Read more of this entry »

Ninety days and counting is a long time to get by on a dwindling supply of original TV viewing. We all did what we had to. Some of us turned to TV on DVD. Others gasp resorted to reality shows. A few of us, I hate to say it, even popped open a book or two.

No one’s going to blame you later for what you did to survive the writers strike. But hopefully you didn’t sully your TV-absorbing brain cells with too much of the written word. And hopefully you discovered TV-friendly options, like the original Heroes tome, “Saving Charlie” (which I first mentioned here). I didn’t get that desperate, so I can’t tell you if it was worth the $24 you had to plunk down for Aury Wallington’s take on the backstory between Hiro and Charlie at the Burnt Toast Diner.

But this mom of twins read it, and she offers her take. Read more of this entry »

Every now and again, I have to clear out my drafts folder with all the tidbits I’ve been saving up and never gotten around to posting.

So here’s several news items that have come to light in the past week or so:

• The SciFi Channel has ordered a 13-episode season of a new scripted drama that will be 90 percent CGI, as far as the sets are concerned, in the style of 300 and Sin City. Amanda Tapping, late of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, stars as Dr. Helen Magnus, and Robin Dunne, who once upon a time was on Dawson’s Creek, plays her protoge, Will Zimmerman. They “are on a quest to track down, aid and protect all manner of strange creatures that walk the earth.  The show started out as an Internet-based high-def series. Tapping will, however, still make guest appearances on Atlantis in its next season.

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The latest sci-fi star to get an asteroid named for him is none other than Adm. William Adama, Edward James Olmos.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the asteroid formerly known as 1993 EO (not to be confused with the artist formerly known and then once again known as Prince) has been dubbed 5608 Olmos, according to SciFi Wire.

The name change is “in recognition of the actor’s work and promotion of humanitarian causes.”

Massachusetts astronomer Tom H. Burbine, who got a different asteroid named for Star Trek and Heroes actor George Takei last year, suggested the name change.

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I paid $15 or $20 for my Dwight Schrute bobble head, and even if you think that’s pathetic silly, it’s still a very cool desk accessory, second only to my talking Michael Scott bobble head.

But for an opening bid of just $25 you might be able to put the wobbly-noggined Beetmeister himself alongside your stapler and “World’s Best Boss” mug and have it signed by Rainn Wilson to boot.

The sought-after figure can be had at NBC.com/auctions, where all manner of licensed Peacock merchandise is up for bid.

Want a Jenna Maroney “Me Want Food” T-shirt from 30 Rock? (And who doesn’t?) Or the scarecrow prop from Kenneth Ellen’s party? The opening bids are $20 apiece.

Besides The Office and 30 Rock, there are items from Heroes, Friday Night Lights and Las Vegas. So if a couple of Hiro Nakamura’s origami birds fit your fancy, or a Panthers championship ring is more your style, bid away.

A portion of all auction proceeds benefit The United Way. Read more of this entry »

I figured I’d keep it up and share another interview with a cast member of The Wire, in honor of the third episode of the final season.

This week, we have Jamie Hector, who plays the westside drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield, the man ultimately responsible for all those dead bodies in the abandoned buildings all over the city.

LAist conducted this interview with Hector before the season began. I learned a few things I hadn’t previously known—for example, Hector taped a couple of episodes of Heroes before the strike began, but those are scenes from episodes that came after the abrupt season finale we got. His character is named Benjamin “Knox”Washington, but that’s all he would say.

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The holidays are past, but the perfect stocking stuffer for that obsessed Heroes fan can still be had.

That is, if they like dolls. Err, I mean collectible action figures.

You can check out four of the most staid action figures every conceived at Toy News International or at Super Hero Flix. Mezco Toyz’ 7″ figures feature Peter Petrelli, Sylar, Claire Bennett and Hiro Nakamura. And they’re kind of creepy.

Accessories include a swappable injured head for Claire, a removable brain with Sylar and an Isaac Mendez painting with each figure. Did I mention that they’re kind of creepy?

Evolutions launches

Looking for more than a Heroes fix? Want to actually delve into the mythology of the show (because you have that kind of free time)? NBC has added Evolutions to its Heroes Web presence. Interactive mysteries, games, puzzles, character websites, and exclusive new stories are all on ta, according to BuddyTV.

Scoop from Kristin

So it turns out Claire and Elle had a connection that goes way back.

If you’ve been following the Heroes online graphic novel at NBC.com you’d know Elle’s first assignment was spying on Claire for The Company back at her Texas high school. That tip comes from a reader of Kristin dos Santos’s scoop column at E! online.

Kristin also gives some spoilery tips as to Niki’s future. When last we saw her she was inside an exploding warehouse, having just saved Monica from a fiery fate but getting herself trapped.

…I’d also tell you that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Ali Larter. I’m hearing that the plan as of the last time the writers met up (prestrike) was for Niki to be dead—but for an alter ego to take over.

“Cloverfield,” the super-secretive monster movie that’s out this Friday, is directed by Matt Reeves.

But uber-producer J.J. Abrams (the mastermind behind “Lost” and “Alias”) has his stamp all over this flick, starting with a shout-out to “Alias” fans.

Make sure your ears are squeaky clean before hitting the movie theater: Otherwise, you’ll miss a reference to the Slusho brand beverage, first mentioned on the Jennifer Garner spy series.

Kristen Bell was also spotted sipping Slusho in a November episode of “Heroes.”

But what’s the Abrams connection there?

Well, Greg Grunberg (right) plays Matt Parkman on the NBC superhero hit. Grunberg is one of Abrams’ longtime buddies, who also starred in—you guessed it—”Alias.”

(Alas, even though “Cloverfield” is listed in Grunberg’s Wikipedia entry, director Reeves says he will not appear in the film, though he’s had at least a cameo in nearly all of Abrams’ projects.)

Abrams sure does love spinning the heads of his fanboys (and girls), don’t he? As this Boston Globe story makes clear, these clues are all part of a successful viral marketing campaign that’s made “Cloverfield” one of the most buzzed-about films of the year.

But buzz, however deafening, doesn’t mean a movie’s any good.

Luckily, it seems that Abrams and Reeves have lived up to the hype.

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Sorry, folks.

I know many of you must have been waiting with bated breath for my take on the new version of American Gladiators. Admittedly, I’d planned to watch at least some of it.

But it was on against The Wire. For me, no contest (pun intended).

Despite my absence from watching the premiere, it was NBC’s highest-rated new-show premiere since Heroes debuted in fall 2006.

NBC announced that it was this season’s highest-rated new-show premiere of this season in the coveted “demo” (adults aged 18-49) — and the highest-rated non-sports rating in the demo in nearly three years. (Not since the 2005 telecast of the Golden Globe Awards. No worries on that this year.)

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Apparently, geeks aren’t only the trend-setters of 21st century, they’re also the biggest pirates.

How else to explain the rankings of the top 10 most pirated movies and TV shows, compiled by Torrent Freak?

I came across the list in a TVSquad blurb noting that Heroes tops the list for TV shows. If you haven’t noticed, Heroes is an uber-geek fantasy playing out in prime time. The only bigger geek than Hiro Nakamura might be Masi Oka, the actor who plays Heroes‘ Hiro when he’s not moonlighting for George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic.

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To me it was the creepiest pairing since Gomez and Morticia, only a different kind of creepy than the Addamses.

Peter Petrelli and Claire Bennett—power sponge and self-healing cheerleader. This possible match-up came to light early in Season 1 when Peter saved the cheerleader but not quite the world. Those lingering stares and batted eyelashes never evolved into on-screen romance, thankfully. The two turned out to be niece and uncle.

But a spark seems to have been lit off-screen. This item in TVGuide.com cites a People Magazine report that Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettiere are dating. I can honestly say I do not care one way or another, but I thought it was worth mentioning if only to sigh with relief that it is not part of a future plotline.

It also gives me an opening to mention that David Spade is the most remarkable bachelor in Hollywood.

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It’s brilliant the way the U.S. Postal Service sells all kinds of collectors stamps they know won’t be used as postage, thus padding the profit margin. I mean, no Elvis fan could allow the King to be canceled, could they?

In the same vein, Heroes fans could look forward to licking the backside of Peter Petrelli postage and slapping Hiro Nakamura onto their utility bills—not that they would.

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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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Claire couldn’t get through the first month of school without letting hers get stolen, but Maya and Alejandro were able to slip across the border with Sylar in a dusty one. And now six lucky Heroes fans have found Nissan Rogues parked under their Christmas trees, courtesy of NBC Universal and the sponsoring carmaker.

Donna Campbell of Spokane, Wash., Deanne S. Gillett of Clearwater, Fla., Steven Ingledue of Glendale, Calif., Jerry Pierceall, Jr. of Brownstone, Mich., Curtis Preston, Jr. of Atlanta, Ga., and Marc Woronoff of New York City all logged on to NBC.com during premiere week last September and correctly answered a trivia question about the show.

Just goes to prove, the writers strike might kill the TV season, but it can’t kill good product placement. Read more of this entry »

If any of the end-of-year round-ups, best-of’s and top-whatever lists have a category for best aborted storyline, my vote would be for that of Charlie on Heroes.

OK, to be fair, she came and went before the ball dropped on 2006, but for half of 2007 I rooted for her time travel-assisted return. If nothing else, she’d be far less annoying than Claire, Nikki, Maya, Molly or even Mohinder. But a fan favorite she wasn’t to be.

An upcoming NBC-authorized novel fixes to right that wrong, however. “Saving Charlie”, by author Aury Wallington and due out Dec. 26, is sanctioned by NBC and was assisted by Tim Kring and Co, BuddyTV reports.

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As usual, we’ll just present the TV nominees here, but if you want to see the film nominees too, go here. As usual, my picks in parentheses, but I haven’t seen the vast majority of the TV movie/miniseries nominees, so no comments from me on those.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Michael Keaton / James Jesus Angleton — The Company (TNT)
Kevin Kline / Jacques — As You Like It (HBO)
Oliver Platt / George Steinbrenner — The Bronx is Burning (ESPN)
Sam Shepard / Frank Whiteley — Ruffian (ABC)
John Turturro / Billy Martin — The Bronx is Burning (ESPN)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Ellen Burstyn / Posey Benetto — Mitch Albom’s For One More Day (ABC)
Debra Messing / Molly Kagan — The Starter Wife (USA)
Anna Paquin / Elaine Goodale — Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (HBO)
Queen Latifah / Ana — Life Support (HBO)
Vanessa Redgrave / Woman — The Fever (HBO)
Gena Rowlands / Melissa Eisenbloom — What If God Were the Sun? (Lifetime)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
James Gandolfini / Tony Soprano — The Sopranos (HBO)
Michael C. Hall / Dexter Morgan — Dexter (Showtime) (my pick)
Jon Hamm / Don Draper — Mad Men (AMC)
Hugh Laurie / Dr. Gregory House — House (FOX)
James Spader / Alan Shore — Boston Legal (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Glenn Close / Patty Hewes — Damages (FX) (my pick)
Edie Falco / Carmela Soprano — The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field / Nora Walker — Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Holly Hunter / Grace Hanadarko — Saving Grace (TNT)
Kyra Sedgwick / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson — The Closer (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin / Jack Donaghy — 30 Rock (NBC) (my pick, though Carell is a close second!)
Steve Carell / Michael Scott — The Office (NBC)
Ricky Gervais / Andy Millman — Extras (HBO)
Jeremy Piven / Ari Gold — Entourage (HBO)
Tony Shalhoub / Adrian Monk — Monk (USA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate / Samantha Newly — Samantha Who? (ABC)
America Ferrera / Betty Suarez — Ugly Betty (ABC)
Tina Fey / Liz Lemon — 30 Rock (NBC) (my pick)
Mary-Louise Parker / Nancy Botwin — Weeds (Showtime)
Vanessa Williams / Wilhelmina Slater — Ugly Betty (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boston Legal (ABC)
The Closer (TNT)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Mad Men (AMC) (my pick)
The Sopranos (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock (NBC)
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Entourage (HBO)
The Office (NBC) (my pick – close, but as an ensemble, The Office slightly edges out 30 Rock)
Ugly Betty (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
24 (FOX) (my pick – c’mon, what’d you think I’d choose?)
Heroes (NBC)
Lost (ABC)
Rome (HBO)
The Unit (CBS)

Screen Actors Guild Awards 44th Annual Life Achievement Award
Charles Durning (He’s done so much on TV as well as movies, so I figured I’d include him here. Most recently on the small screen, he’s been playing Tommy’s dad (that’s even how he’s credited!) on Rescue Me. By the by, did you know he was born in Highland Falls, just outside the LoHud, by West Point?)

The writer’s strike has not only killed the momentum that many series had going when they were interrupted. It’s also caused me to turn my attention elsewhere. I mean, how much can you focus on shows that are gone indefinitely? Even a long summer hiatus has some structure for your anticipation, from when shooting begins on a new season to press tours and premiere countdowns.

Right now we don’t know how long the wait will be and what shows will be standing when it’s over.

Well, suffice to say Heroes will still be around, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving the show much thought these days. Still, this trailer that Tim Kring unveiled at the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles last weekend caught my attention and has me thinking about mind-reading, lightning bolt-throwing and dueling a 400-year-old Samurai.

The video is right after the jump…

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The sarcasm imbued in that headline only hints at my ire this morning on reading that one of my favorite shows, new or old, this season has inexplicably gotten the axe.

E!’s Kristin Dos Santos reports that with two new episodes still in the bank, Journeyman has been cut from a Monday night lineup that had my eyeballs glued to the Peacock for three hours a week. NBC has passed on its option for afull season but hasn’t officially canceled it yet.

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