Posts Tagged ‘My Own Worst Enemy’

January 1 is a New Year and time for fresh starts. Those fresh starts also apply to TV Land as well with the networks shuffling up their line-ups to make sure TV watching continues to be a routine for us in the New Year. They’ll be getting rid of struggling shows, bringing in new, promising shows and otherwise just shaking up the schedule. Don’t forget to reprogram your Tivos!

NBC: Variety recently broke the news of NBC’s new TV schedule starting in January:

On Mondays starting January 5, “Superstars of Dance,” will air at 8 to 10 p.m. until its finale on Jan. 26. (It will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 4, however, with a special two hour episode.)  

Ryan Seacrest’s reality show, “Momma’s Boys,” will also air at 10 -11 p.m.

Monday night staples “Chuck” and “Heroes” won’t be shown in January but will start back up again in February. Mitch Metcalf, NBC exec VP of programming planning and scheduling, told Variety that these shows don’t repeat too well so they will take a break before airing new episodes in continuous blocks.

“Law and Order: SVU” repeats will take “Life’s” place Wednesdays at 9 p.m starting Jan. 7, and “Life” will return with new episodes in February.

The new Friday line-up consists of Howie Mandel’s new reality show, “Howie Do It,” at 8-9 p.m. starting Jan. 9. Critical hit, “Friday Night Lights” returns Jan. 16 and will air at 9 p.m. “Dateline NBC” will wrap up the night at 10 p.m. 

Meanwhile, “Deal or No Deal” is taking a break and will only air with specials or holiday episodes. It hasn’t been determined if the show will be cancelled or return again in a regular time slot. Other shows that are likely not to be continued include “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Lipstick Jungle” and “Crusoe.”

It has not been announced when the new show, “Kings,” as well as “Medium” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” will air.

And don’t forget about the weekends. “Sunday Night Football” will give way in January to specials including The Golden Globes (Jan. 11), “Saturday Night Live Film Festival” (Jan. 18), “The Last Templar” (Jan. 25-26) and “Super Bowl XLII” (Feb. 1). After these specials are over, regular series will then settle into their regular times slots on Sunday nights.

ABC: It also recently announced its new line-up per Sitcoms Online:

Tuesday nights will look different starting in December. “According to Jim” will return in December airing in the 9 p.m. hour, but in January it will start airing in the 8 p.m. hour before “Scrubs.”  ABC brought new life to the hospital comedy show after NBC cancelled it. It will start airing new episodes on Jan. 6 with back-to-back episodes at 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Wednesday and Thursdays are also going to look different with mysterious island survivors replacing sexy doctors. “Lost” will take “Private Practice’s” slot on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. starting Jan. 21, and the latter show will move to Thursdays where it will start airing new episodes Jan. 8. It will air at 10 p.m. after “Grey’s Anatomy” where “Life on Mars” has been.  The 70s cop show will start airing in the recently cancelled “Dirty Sexy Money’s” time slot Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

It hasn’t been determined yet what will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. where the recently canceled “Pushing Daisies” was airing.

Meanwhile, “Pushing Daisies,” “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money” will air the rest of its 13 episodes, but ABC hasn’t ordered more.

The 100-day writer’s strike may be long over, but the networks are still reeling from it as evidenced by the recent announcement of shows being cancelled.

Many shows that premiered last fall, such as ABC’s Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Private Practice, had low ratings last season but were given second chances this fall because of the lack of new scripted shows.

Yet, Private Practice is the only one of those shows that has been picked up for the rest of the season. ABC’s Samantha Who?, the CW’s 90210, Fox’s Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, NBC’s Knight Rider and CBS’ The Mentalist are also safe for the rest of the season.

Shows not so lucky include ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Life on Mars and Pushing Daisies, NBC’s Kath & Kim, Lipstick Jungle, Life and My Own Worst Enemy, the CW’s Privileged and CBS’ Worst Week. These shows haven’t been picked up for the whole season, but they haven’t been cancelled yet.

Kath & Kim, as well as fellow low-performing NBC shows My Own Worst Enemy and Crusoe, may have taught networks to make pilot episodes first instead of just going ahead and ordering a series of episodes as they did with these shows, according to TV Guide magazine.

Speaking of cancelled, CBS’ The Ex-List was axed after only four episodes, Fox’s Do Not Disturb after three episodes, ABC’s Opportunity Knocks after three episodes and the CW’s Valentine after eight episodes.

Other long-term shows ending their runs include ABC’s Boston Legal after five seasons, Fox’s King of the Hill after 13 seasons, NBC’s ER after fifteen seasons and FX’s The Shield after seven seasons.

Four Reasons Not to Cancel Dirty Sexy Money

It’s soapy and sensational fun: It’s a modern day Dallas with its custody battles, murder trials, blackmailing, affairs and deceitful alliances.

They’re rich and bratty but aren’t so hard to hate: Former couple Nick and Karen Darling have such an irresistible chemistry that it makes me secretly wish they would get back together even though he’s married to Lisa. And despite Brian Darling calling his recently discovered illegitimate child “smurf” and “dwarf,” Brian Jr. has made us see that the ever-moody former reverend does indeed have a heart.

The great performances: Donald Sutherland gives the show drama and potency as the Darling family patriarch and Peter Krause gives the superficial, materialistic show some heart and roots it in reality.

They’re rich and loving it: While the economy is suffering, it’s fun to escape into the world of the Darlings and watch the beautiful cast zip around in sports cars, throw their money around, strut around their mansion in gorgeous clothes, and watch them so terribly misbehave.

I’ve read a few negatives reviews on the new NBC espionage series, “My Own Worst Enemy,” and I have to tell you – I don’t know WHAT show those guys are watching!

I’ve watched it from the beginning and have even re-watched online (mainly because I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed and I often need clarity when it comes to espionage). But my point is that Slater is at his best as Edward/Cool King of Spies vs. Family Man/Henry the Clueless.

Here’s the scoop: Henry is a great guy. Dull, but great. He’s a devoted family man, “taking one for the team” as his job is apparently quite lame.

Then there’s Edward. Dear, homicidal-but-for-the-cause Edward. Yeah, I dig Edward (a lot), but clearly he has issues. (I mean that whole bedding a woman before putting a bullet in her head…well, I’m not into it all that much, but who am I to judge?) I tend to think these two guys could be great friends – if they weren’t the same person.

Ok, here’s the deal: Edward and Henry occupy the same body. Rather, it’s actually Edward’s body (thus Edward’s real life), and Henry is actually a “cover” to give Edward some normalcy in society. Except that Henry knows nothing of his “cover” until that stupid chip malfunctions (o’ the chip!). The chip was implanted in his (their) brain, courtesy of some twisted, clandestine government agency. (Isn’t that just the way? No wonder there’s no trust in the government!)

Anyway, imagine the worst-case scenario as Edward the Ultimate Spy snaps out of the actual reality, only to become Henry, the sappiest husband this side of Petticoat Junction.

Still, the show is thrilling, suspenseful and boasts a great cast. And in the three episodes shown there were plot twists thicker than curdled milk.

So like I said, those other folks – I don’t know WHAT they’ve been watching to give poor reviews to NBC’s best new series, “My Own Worst Enemy,” ‘cuz I just can’t stop watching. The show is great. And Christian Slater is still hot.

Ladies, don’t we know men are always one step behind? Just kidding, guys.

Seriously though, many male stars best known for their film roles are succeeding female film stars by making the move to the small screen.

With the exception of Alec Baldwin joining “30 Rock”, film actresses have inundated your TV for the past couple seasons. “Fatal Attraction” femme fatale Glenn Close joined “Damages”. After she was “The Flying Nun”, Sally Field acted in many films before returning to TV on “Brothers & Sisters”. Oscar winner Holly Hunter stars in “Saving Grace”, and Kyra Sedgwick became “The Closer” after a parlay in films like “Singles” and “Something to Talk About”.

Perhaps male film stars took notice after all four of these women recently scored Emmy nominations for Best Lead Actress in a Drama and they want to bask in the TV limelight too.

Here’s a look at male film actors coming to television in the fall:

Christian Slater (“Heathers”, “Windtalkers”) – Slater stars in NBC’s “My Own Worst Enemy” as a man with two very different personalities.

Josh Lucas (“Poseidon”, “Sweet Home Alabama”) – Lucas is in charge of a family-run pharmaceutical business in Showtime’s “Possible Side Effects” written, directed and executive produced by Tim Robbins.

Simon Baker (“The Devil Wears Prada”, “Land of the Dead”) – After a stint on CBS’s short-lived “Smith,” Baker stars in CBS’s “The Mentalist” as a… you guessed it… mentalist.

Sean Bean (“Flight Plan”, “National Treasure”) – Bean costars in NBC’s “Crusoe” based on the novel, “Robinson Crusoe.”

Kurt Russell (“Tombstone”, “Tequila Sunrise”) & Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix” trilogy) – The movie actors “Entertainment Weekly” reported are the top choices to replace William Petersen when he leaves “CSI” after this season.