The “Harry Potter”-like frenzy building for the midnight release of Stephenie Meyer’s novel “Breaking Dawn” — the conclusion of her teen vampire romance series — is but a taste of things to come.

On Sept. 7, HBO premieres “True Blood,” a sultry vamp series from the folks who gave us “Six Feet Under” by way of Charlaine Harris’ sassy Sookie Stackhouse novels. I’ll post a full review Sept. 5. But I couldn’t resist commenting now on a striking parallel between Meyer’s PG books and the R-rated HBO series, which partly answers the question Freud posed — What do women want?

In the spirit of the opening weekend of the “Sex and the City” movie, Remote Access asked readers which HBO series most deserves the next feature-film treatment.

So much for the Remote Access poll being a race between “Deadwood” and “The Sopranos.”

I suspect linkage and some campaigning were responsible for the sudden surge among devout “John from Cincinnati” fans—who evidently exist—thus propelling the one-season-and-out show from one vote on Wednesday to 167 votes this morning.

With 58 percent of all those cast, “JFC” soared ahead of “Deadwood,” which led the poll Wednesday with 47 votes (16 percent), followed by the 23 votes tallied for “The Sopranos” (8 percent).

To be fair, I didn’t hate “JFC” as much as I have conveyed in recent months; I liked the first three episodes and was a staunch defender of many of its cast members, especially Ed O’Neill, whom I described as “jaw-droppingly spectacular (and) equally adept at making the audience laugh and cry, often within the same scene.” Plus, it allowed for comebacks for Rebecca De Mornay (pictured) and Luke Perry, so that’s pretty cool.

But to give that show the movie green-light over “Deadwood” or “The Sopranos” makes me wonder if “John” fans really ever watched those other series—especially “Deadwood,” which had the benefit of not only the same creator and most cast members but also linear plots that made friggin’ sense by each season’s end.

“Carnivàle”—the third HBO show in the Top 4 that was canceled before the series had a chance to wrap things up—finished with eight votes. Two other series, “Entourage” and “Oz,” and a cruel suggestion for “None of the above” tied for fifth with seven votes.

“The Wire” grabbed six votes, followed by “Flight of the Conchords” with five.

Check out the rest of the poll results—and the latest Remote Access poll question—after the break. Read more of this entry »

Shortly after the end of the opening weekend for the “Sex and the City” movie, Remote Access will close its latest poll, seeking reader input on the HBO series that most deserves the next feature-film treatment.

With “SatC” scoring mixed to tepid reviews, only two of the 65 votes tallied sought a sequel. At this point, the poll is really a duel between “Deadwood” and “The Sopranos.” And there are compelling cases for each.

“Deadwood,” whose 19 votes represent 29 percent of the total, was—in this blogger’s humble opinion—one of the best shows on television and deserved a proper sendoff. Viewers initially expected four full seasons, then were crushed by news of the show’s cancellation after three. And HBO’s promise of two, two-hour “Deadwood” TV movies never came to fruition, leaving devout fans furious with the cable net, especially since the equally brilliant and equally ratings-challenged “The Wire” had a chance to say good-bye.

Adding insult to injury have been the subsequent HBO projects by “Deadwood” creator David Milch. In its only season, “John From Cincinnati” should only be celebrated for Ed O’Neill’s outstanding performance and the cameos by actors better known (and utilized) on “Deadwood.” And when Milch could have demanded to film the “Deadwood” TV movies or a fourth season before other projects while renegotiating his contract with HBO, he agreed to helm “Last of the Ninth,” a not-”Deadwood” show about a Vietnam vet working in the New York Police Department in the early ‘70s. The latter series could be great, but “Deadwood” fans would never stop grumbling if there’s no closure in the Black Hills.

“The Sopranos,” with 15 votes representing 23 percent of the total, had a controversial ending that made millions of viewers wonder if the cable cut out before the credits started rolling. It was, perhaps, the most non-ending ending in television history. To the tune of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” three of the four members of the Soprano (biological) family gathered around the table of a diner while semi-suspicious characters hovered around them. And when Meadow arrived, the camera cut to Tony’s face.

And, uh, that was it.

Was Tony Soprano killed? Is he alive? WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!

So say creator David Chase were to consider a more definitive conclusion. He’d be faced with either selling out for developing a movie adaptation or copping out because of his inaccessible TV finale. Regardless, tell me “Sopranos” fans wouldn’t see the movie follow-up in droves.

After the break (or in the right margin), check out where many other HBO series stand in this poll. And vote if you haven’t already! Read more of this entry »

If there’s an opposite to “blerg!” or an exclamation that’s the equivalent to Sandwich Day, Liz Lemon might be screaming it right now.

With 27 percent of the vote, the “30 Rock” character’s real-life counterpart, Tina Fey, was crowned TV’s hardest worker by Remote Access’ loyal readers. She’s also a writer and exec producer for the show and—with apologies to the amazing Amy Poehler—arguably the headliner of “Baby Mama,” which debuted at No. 1 at the box office. (In retrospect, Poehler’s no slacker, either. Perhaps I should have added her to the list of nominees.)

Fey defeated some stiff competition, and just edged out fellow Must-See TV star Steve Carell, who helms “The Office” and collected 26 percent of the votes. In third was “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest (21 percent), followed by “Lost” guru JJ Abrams (17 percent), Oprah Winfrey (12 percent) and reader-nominated “Flavor of Love” star Flavor Flav (2 percent).

Now time for a new poll: With the “Sex and the City” movie debut approaching, what’s the next HBO series that should be made into a feature-length film?

Lots of intriguing options here, including shows that were allowed to come to unusual conclusions (“The Sopranos”), others that remain on-air (“Entourage”) and still others that deserved a proper sendoff (“Deadwood,” anyone?).

Feel free to add your own nominees, as long as “Arli$$” isn’t one of them. (OK, even Arli$$, if you must.)

(Photo by Heidi Gutman for NBC/Universal.)

Thanks, HBO.

Thanks for giving us five seasons of one of the finest dramas ever to grace the small screen.

Thanks for giving us a universal story, Shakespearian in scope, that was funny, tragic and devastatingly real.

Thanks for giving us Jimmy McNulty, true “po-lice.” Thanks for giving us Omar Little, the stickup artist with a moral code.

Thanks for Prop Joe and Ervin Burrell (one smart and one, well, not), old high-school classmates.

Thanks for Daniels, who proved that even a squeaky-clean cop could be blackmailed. Thanks for Landsman, who proved that even a lazy, obnoxious sergeant could stand up for his detectives when he really needed to.

Thanks for Gus Haynes, the newspaperman’s newspaperman. Thanks for Bubbles — pardon me, Reginald — the only junkie I’ve ever loved.

Thank you for all the perfectly imperfect characters who have entertained us these past few years.

It’s official: Jericho returns to CBS at 10 p.m. Feb. 12. That’s a Tuesday.

CBS announced it on its press site this afternoon and I’m totally jazzed!

Its lead-in that first night is Big Brother, which is quite popular, and a good move to bring a new audience to Jericho.

Here’s a look at the other new year dates for CBS shows:
• Power of 10, hosted by Drew Carey, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2
• 48 Hours Mystery, 10 .m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, and Tuesday, Jan. 29
• The Captain, a new comedy starring Fran Kranz, Chris Klein, Jeffrey Tambor and Raquel Welch, premieres 8:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28

I think someone could probably write a graduate thesis on how HBO figured out how to schedule its latest series, which premieres in January.

HBO announced this week that a totally logistically complex series, In Treatment, stars Gabriel Byrne as a psychotherapist and premieres Jan. 28 at 9:30 p.m.

This is how it’ll go: New episodes air each night, Monday through Friday, at 9:30 p.m. The same patient returns on the same day each week; Byrne’s patients will be played by Josh Charles and Embeth Davidtz (a couple, Jake and Amy), Melissa George (Laura), Blair Underwood (Alex) and Mia Wasikowska (Sophie).

HBO describes Byrne’s character, Paul, as “a taciturn but effective psychotherapist who isn’t quite the level-headed source of wisdom his patients think he is.”

NOTE: This entry originally was posted Oct. 15 on our temporary site.

First the not-so-good: The Hollywood Reporter reports that Fox has cut back its order for The Return of Jezebel James from 13 eps to a mere seven.

Jezebel’s the show starring Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose (of Six Feet Under fame)—Posey’s an overachieving New York career woman who finds out she can’t give birth and asks her estranged slacker sister (Ambrose) to do it for her.

Gilmore Girls’ former head honchos Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino are the executive producers for Jezebel.

But fans of Back to You and K-Ville have something to look forward to, according to Variety.
says. K-Ville has gotten an order for two more scripts (beyond the initial 13), despite relatively poor ratings. Back to You is expected to get a full-season pickup possibly this week.

Surprising, perhaps, for K-Ville, which hasn’t gotten very good ratings nor very good reviews. But with a writer’s strike looming at the end of the month, perhaps Fox is just trying to get as much original programming in hand; easier to get extra scripts of a series already on the air than start new ones? We’ll see.
—Amy Vernon

Now that Deadwood is dead, The Sopranos fizzled out, Six Feet Under has gone to the great beyond and John from Cincinnati went back to Ohio, HBO is looking for a few good drama series.

For some baffling reason, HBO has given a second season to Tell Me You Love Me, which my husband said not to even bother with and killed the weekly recording on our DVR (we have always said that any show on HBO was worth giving a shot for a few weeks before making a decision, but this one was just that bad). Now, John from Cincinnati had its problems and I eventually stopped watching it, but it also had its moments of sheer acting brilliance. TMYLM?

The Hollywood Reporter says:

J.J. Abrams (“Mission: Impossible 3,” “Lost”) may have defected from ABC Studios to Warner Bros. TV last year, but apparently the network still adores the wonder boy producer-director.

ABC just picked up another pilot from Abrams’ company, a one-hour dramedy called “Boundaries.”

This will be the fifth collaboration between the two A’s: Abrams also produced “Lost,” “Alias,” “What About Brian” and “Six Degrees” for ABC.

And to add further to the show’s pedigree: It was created by former “Six Feet Under” writer Jill Soloway.

But here’s the worrisome news: the show’s premise. “Boundaries” is reportedly about a psychologist with a failing cable-access show, who takes a job as a notary to get her groove back.

Eek.

No offense to JJA, but I can’t help but think this sounds like “Men In Trees” meets “Boston Legal”—two shows I loathe.
But no matter.

If “Boundaries” bombs, J.J. ’s always got that “Star Trek” movie to fall back on…

(Photos from Lostpedia.com and Wikipedia.com)

Trust me. I’d much rather speak with “Deadwood” actors W. Earl Brown (Dan Dority, left) and Jim Beaver (Ellsworth, right) under happier circumstances. But I had to see if they would confirm and react to costar Ian McShane’s claims that the Western’s set was being dismantled and that the show was, in fact, done.

In August, days after Brown used the metaphor of a horse, “lying trailside foaming at the nostrils and heaving for breath” to describe the state of the show to subscribers of his blog, he was more optimistic about the series’ return in an Aug. 23 MySpace message to me. But in responding tonight at 7:44 p.m. EST to my follow-up inquiry, he confirmed the report of the tear-down and predicted “Deadwood’s” demise:

I called Ian, it seems that it is true—the sets are being dismantled. It makes sense, HBO had a 5 year deal to lease the lot. We started in Oct. 02. Those five years are up. The earliest possible date to even start a DW film would be June 08, due to Ian’s schedule. The industry is fearing a possible strike that would start June 08. To keep leasing the property, set dressing, and costumes would cost at least a year’s rental. So… I guess the horse is dead.

Beaver responded to me, in the more traditional e-mail format, 21 minutes later. His take was just as grim:

I saw the McShane quote. I don’t doubt it. I have NO insights or special knowledge, but my sense of things is that it’s over. I talked to David Milch today. He mentioned he was working on a movie for HBO, but the tone of our conversation led me to believe it was completely unrelated to Deadwood. Funny, I didn’t even think to ask straight out, though. At any rate, my gut tells me that if the movies or a fourth season were going to be made, the announcement would already have been made. That’s just my gut. But Ian’s remarks didn’t surprise me in the least.

News of “Deadwood” star Ian McShane declaring the series and its concluding movies dead yesterday makes me feel like running into a muddy thoroughfare and wrestling anyone responsible for its demise until an eye is unceremoniously dislodged.

McShane (pictured), who deserved his Golden Globe and far better fates for his portrayal of lead Al Swearengen, told Cinematical’s Ryan Stewart the following:

“I just got a call (Sept. 28) from … a dear friend of mine, who told me that they’re packing up the ranch. They’re dismantling the ranch and taking the stuff out. That ship is gonna sail. Bonsoir, Deadwood. … We all (feel cheated). It was one of those one-off jobs that you do which has got an extraordinary creative brain behind it, and it kept getting better, and the actors were great. … But everything has to come to an end, babe.”

Anger doesn’t encapsulate the swirling emotion I’m feeling; it’s closer to fury. I also feel disappointed, hurt, sad and betrayed by the way this situation was handled. And, perhaps most alarmingly, I feel a level of acceptance—as if I knew all along that HBO and anyone else responsible for the death of “Deadwood” would disappoint me as a viewer, fan and paying subscriber.

The series lasted three seasons. Even the wildest fans were realistic enough to hope for just one more to tie up the loose ends. After all, “Six Feet Under” got that privilege the year before it went off the air. Most “Deadwood” fans begrudgingly accepted when HBO pledged two, two-hour movies to achieve that goal. A single spray of Pledge has made more progress on dead wood.

“Dirty Sexy Money” premiered last night: It’s ABC’s new series about a lawyer’s love-hate relationship with the disgustingly rich Darling family.

And judging from the reviews, critics are either loving or hating the Darlings, too.

From what I’ve read, feelings about “DSM” range from this glowing NY Times review to this scathing one by Reuters. Not many middle-of-the-road critiques floating out there.

This could spell doom and gloom or super-success for “DSM.” Ratings aren’t in yet, so there’s no clue how viewers reacted.

Personally, I loved every second of “DSM”—which is better described as a soap opera than a drama. And I’m not just saying this because I heart the show’s executive producer Greg Berlanti, who grew up in Rye.

Sorry. Wrong show about death. Shannon, late (haha, late, get it?) of Saturday Night Live, is joining the cast of Pushing Daisies for a multi-episode story arc.

According to Michael Ausiello over at TVGuide.com:

… the delightfully kooky ex-SNL cutup will play Dilly Balsam, the owner of a saltwater-taffy emporium that just so happens to set up shop across the street from the Pie Hole. She’s slated to first show up during November sweeps.

Here’s some more casting news for a few sci-fi pilots/shows, including one from HBO.

First, the rock star of the bunch, “True Blood,� on HBO from Alan Ball, creator of “Six Feet Under� and director of American Beauty. Anna Paquin, the Oscar-winner (she was 11 when she won) and portrayer of Rogue in the “X-Men� movies, has been cast as Sookie Stackhouse in the series, which is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.

In the books, vampires can buy Japanese-made synthetic blood and a group then integrates into a small town in Louisiana.

• Next, we have Life on Mars. David E. Kelley’s adaptation of the BBC’s drama will be directed by Dwight Little, who’s done lots of TV, including episodes of 24, Millennium, Vanished, Day Break and The X-Files.

• Lastly, “Pushing Daisies.�

Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth and former “Boston Publicâ€? principal Chi McBride, Lee Pace and Anna Friel will star in the pilot. McBride’s character goes into business with the main character, “a man who falls in love with a deceased woman after he figures out how to bring the dead back to life.” The show’s created by Bryan Fuller, who brought us the quirky “Dead Like Meâ€? and “Wonderfallsâ€?