“The Walking Dead” returns with “Nebraska” episode Feb. 12
From left, Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies and Jon Bernthal of "The Walking Dead" - AMC Photo
At the end of the first half of the second season of “The Walking Dead,” Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors had made a discovery at Hershel’s farm that brought about a violent, shocking event – the killing of the walkers who had been secretly kept in the barn, which included Carol’s (Melissa Suzanne McBride) missing daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz).
As the series returns with the “Nebraska” episode Feb. 12, everyone tries to pick up the pieces from this event and decide how to move on, and there is debate about Shane’s (Jon Bernthal) role in the resolution of the situation.
Shane himself remains convinced he’s always doing the right thing to protect his fellow survivors and has a surprising supporter for the way he handled the barn walkers.
Hershel (Scott Wilson) deals with his devastation over the barn walker deaths by disappearing and taking up an old habit, so Rick and Glenn (Steven Yeun) have to go into town to try and find him when his medical expertise is needed at the farm.
Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) later decides to search for the three and an unfortunate incident results .
Lincoln is especially strong in this episode as his character tries to persuade Hershel to come back home, as well as in the way Rick handles a pair of threatening newcomers.
In addition, Bernthal’s portrayal of Shane continues to make his character one of the most compelling to watch on this gripping show.
The second season of “The Walking Dead” resumes at 8 p.m, Sunday,. Feb. 12 on AMC.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
“Whitechapel,” “American Horror Story” and “The Walking Dead” among top choices for Halloween-related viewing
From left, Phil Davis, Rupert Penry-Jones and Steve Pemberton of "Whitechapel" - BBC America Photo
My three top choices to get the Halloween goosebumps going for the Halloween television viewing season are as follows:
- BBC America delivers some pre-Halloween chills with the U.S. premiere of the series “Whitechapel” at 9 p.m. Wed., Oct. 26.
“Whitechapel” is set in modern day East London where the police are trying to solve murders that echo cases from the past, including those involving Jack the Ripper and the 1960s crime twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray.
The six part series, from the producers of “Downton Abby,” stars Rupert Penry-Jones (“MI-5,” “Persuasion), Phil Davis (“Sherlock,” “Bleak House”) and Steve Pemberton (“The League of Gentleman).
- “American Horror Story” continues its bloodcurdling run at 9 p.m. Wed. Oct. 26 on FX, with the first of two “Halloween” episodes: Part 1 features the line between the living and the dead blurring on Halloween and two of the house’s previous residents giving the Harmons decorating advice. Part 2, airing at 9 p.m. Wed., Nov. 2, involves Tate coming face-to-face with his past and Ben and Vivien being haunted by one of the house’s newest guests.
Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton and Jessica Lange star in “American Horror Story.”
- “The Walking Dead,” which has just been renewed for a third season, airs its third spine-chiling episode of its second season at 8 p.m. Sun., Oct. 30 on AMC, in which the group desperately awaits Shane’s return as he finds himself trapped in a school surrounded by zombies, while Daryl and Andrea search for someone in the woods.
Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn and Steven Yeun star in “The Walking Dead.”
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Follow me on Twitter: @MelissaHayer
Other various Halloween-related viewing options include:
- “Ghost Adventures” airs at 8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 28 on the Travel Channel – Zak, Nick and Aaron have come to Letchworth to unlock “The Village of Secrets.”
- “Iris Johansen’s The Killing Game,” based on the bestselling crime novel of the same name and starring Laura Prepon (“How I Met Your Mother”), airs at 7 p.m. Sun., Oct. 30 on Lifetime Movie Network.
- “Martha Stewart’s Haunted House” re-airs at 9 a.m. Mon., Oct. 31 on the Hallmark Channel, actor Justin Long is a guest.
- “The Sing-Off” airs at 7 p.m. Mon., Oct. 31 on NBC and features an opening medley of “This Is Halloween,” “Werewolves of London” and “Ghostbusters.”
- “Watch What Happens Live” airs at 10 p.m. Mon., Oct. 31 on Bravo – live Halloween party hosted by Andy Cohen in the Bravo Clubhouse.
- The Sundance Channel is offering some movies to whet your Halloween appetite, including “Dream Home,” airing at 10:30 p.m. Fri., Oct. 28, which centers on the story of a newlywed couple who wanted the American dream but end up in the middle of a nightmare. Gary and Jessica have moved into a suburban home in the rural countryside when Jessica begins to have strange, haunting visions of a mysterious woman wandering the halls and the shady locals hint at a morbid and tragic back story to the house; and “One Missed Call,” which airs at 9 p.m. Sat., Oct. 29, and is about college student Beth Raymond, whose friends have all been dying in droves and the one connecting factor between all of the incidents is that just before their deaths, each of the victims received a message in which they heard themselves being killed. Beth receives her own terrifying phone call and has only three days to solve the mystery and cheat death.
- If you’d like some humor instead of horror, ABC’s Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 25 and 26) night comedies, including “Last Man Standing” (7 p.m. Tues.), “The Middle” (7 p.m. Wed.),” “Suburgatory” (7:30 p.m. Wed.), “Modern Family” (8 p.m., Wed.) and “Happy Endings” (8:30 p.m. Wed.) have Halloween themes.
- NBC’s Thursday (Oct. 27) night comedies featuring Halloween episodes include “Community” (7 p.m) “Parks & Recreation” (7:30 p.m.) and “The Office” (8 p.m.)
- Additionally, “The Simpsons’” 22nd annual installment of “Treehouse of Horror” airs at 7 p.m., Sun., Oct. 30, on Fox.
(Information on programs provided by BBC America, FX, AMC, Sundance, ABC, NBC, Fox, Travel Channel, Lifetime Movie Network, Hallmark Channel and Bravo.)
From left, Atticus Shaffer, Patricia Heaton, Jake Netter, Devon Laos, Andrew J. Fishman, Mason Cook and Aidan Potter of "The Middle" - ABC Photo
“The Walking Dead,” Season 2: Premiering 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, on AMC
Initially undertaken with great trepidation by AMC, which only ordered six episodes of the first season, “The Walking Dead” wound up being a Trojan horse filled with flesh-chomping corpses: “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” might have fervent cults, but “The Walking Dead” became the network’s biggest hit to-date. Based on Robert Kirkman’s comic series, “The Walking Dead” expanded on most zombie media by establishing a story that was greater than the gore. Much as George A. Romero’s best “Dead” films were commentaries about societal ills, the shambling, ravenous zombies of “The Walking Dead” are almost incidental. This is about how people deal with disaster — who has the staying power to survive, how conflicts arise among those survivors, and what can they salvage from their past lives to carry on into the new reality?
Having faced near-death during the experience at the CDC in Atlanta and watched a member of their group commit suicide in the explosion, the survivors led by Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) leave Atlanta in the first episode of Season 1, “What Lies Ahead.” And what does lie ahead is a disaster along the highway several miles outside the city, a pile-up that, on one hand, allows the group to replenish their stores but also leaves them prey to what become known as “herds” — throngs of the dead stumbling through the wreckage. The first episode is among the bloodiest since the notorious second episode from Season 1, “Guts,” possibly because the supervising team needs to assert that there will be no shortage of viscera — just think “zombie autopsy” and you’ve got the idea. Meanwhile, the conflict over Deputy Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) and his dalliance with Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) has Shane thinking about splintering off from the group, and this at least one person willing to join him. However, over the course of both “What Lies Ahead” and the second episode, “Bloodletting,” a new set of circumstances appear to be putting off any fractious behavior.
The unfortunate by-product of our current ultra-enhanced information age is that we know too much about the shows we love. When Frank Darabont was fired from the show a mere three days after participating in a panel discussion at this year’s Comic-Con, reportedly after clashing with AMC over budget issues, there was much hand-wringing on the Internet over how much this might affect the series. After all, AMC reportedly asked for more interior shots, and that’s one thing that cannot really be done in a series like this. Zombies don’t hang out around the dinner table much. The forests, the streets and the open fields are their dinner table.
All that insider knowledge amounts to knowing how blood sausage is made. Really, if the first two episodes are any indication, “The Walking Dead” most likely alleviated any budgetary concerns by simply getting out of Atlanta. It will cost less as the action shifts to more rural areas and fewer city streets mean that the crews won’t have to clear crowds — an expensive consideration. As for the whereabouts of racist sociopath Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker), who notoriously cut off his own hand to escape from a rooftop shackling, we’re being frequently reminded of him: his brother Daryl (Norman Reedus) is toting around some pharmacological reminders of the man. There is much speculation that Merle Dixon will show up again, if the trajectory of the series dovetails with Kirkman’s comic, but that remains to be seen.
It’s been said before, but it’s still appropriate: “The Walking Dead” shares a lot of traits with “Lost” in terms of internal conflict and the creation of mythologies (trust me, they’re coming), which partly explains how a genre series became so popular. But the rest comes down to some strong character development in a relatively brief time — you find out what kind of people you’re dealing with pretty quickly when they are constantly in fear of being eaten alive.
– George Lang
“The Killing” renewed for second season
Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos of "The Killing" - AMC Photo
AMC has announced a 13-episode second season renewal for “The Killing.”
The series presently has the second highest-rated premiere season for an original drama in AMC history, according to a news release.
“The Killing,” based on the successful Danish television series “Forbrydelsen,” stars Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide detective investigating the death of Rosie Larsen; Billy Campbell as Darren Richmond, Seattle’s City Council President running for Mayor; Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder, an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division in the quest to find Rosie’s killer; Michelle Forbes as Rosie’s mother, Mitch; and Brent Sexton as Rosie’s father, Stan.
The show is filmed on location in Vancouver and is produced by Fox Television Studios and executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen for Fuse Entertainment
“The Killing’s” first season finale premieres Sunday at 9 p.m.
“The Walking Dead”: AMC releases season two “first look” photo
AMC released the above picture today as a “first look” photo from the upcoming 13-episode second season of “The Walking Dead,” currently shooting in the greater Atlanta area.
“At this moment, I’m standing on a stretch of post-apocalypse interstate in Georgia, littered with abandoned cars and blessing my good luck to be reunited with our amazing cast, and our fantastic directors and crew. Across the board, there are none better. It’s great to be shooting again. I think we’ve embarked on a great season,” Executive Producer/Writer/Director Frank Darabont said in the news release accompanying the photo.
Season two of “The Walking Dead” premieres this fall.
Photo is by Gene Page and Greg Nicotero © TWD Productions LLC. All rights reserved.
Tom Brokaw to host AMC’s Memorial Day War Heroes Weekend
Tom Brokaw, at right, with Pat Devine, Vietnam veteran. - AMC Photo by Diane Bondareff
AMC’s Memorial Day War Heroes Weekend, a special programming event in celebration and remembrance of America’s bravest servicemen and women is set to air Friday through Monday.
Tom Brokaw serves as host for the event, which features an AMC original short documentary series entitled “A Path to Honor,” produced by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker James Moll; sit-down interviews with Brokaw and war veterans; video messages from soldiers overseas; as well as iconic war films, according to a news release.
Brokaw will also introduce each night’s primetime film at 7 p.m., including “Patton” on May 27; “Apocalypse Now: Redux” on Saturday; “Pearl Harbor” on Sunday and “Midway” on Monday.
Other movies airing throughout Memorial Day Weekend include “The Longest Day,” “The Dirty Dozen,” “MacArthur,” “Guadalcanal Diary,” “Miracle at St. Anna,” “Halls of Montezuma,” “Fixed Bayonets,” “Twelve O’Clock High,” and “Tora! Tora! Tora!”
Distributed throughout each of the primetime movies will be episodes from “A Path to Honor,” a four-part series of original documentary shorts depicting crucial moments in the lives of men and women who commit to serving our country in the Armed Forces.
Brokaw’s sit-down interviews with five veterans, filmed aboard the former USS Intrepid in New York City, will be interspersed as well.
In addition, special 15- to 30-second spots of military men and women overseas sending messages to their families, friends and fellow soldiers back home will be shown on AMC throughout the entire War Heroes Weekend.
AMC, Lionsgate reach deal with “Mad Men” showrunner Matthew Weiner
Jon Hamm of "Mad Men" - AMC Photo by Frank Ockenfels
AMC and Lionsgate have announced that the Emmy Award-winning series “Mad Men” will be returning for its fifth and sixth seasons with the show’s creator Matthew Weiner continuing as showrunner.
Weiner has also signed a new long-term deal with Lionsgate, which could extend the show into a possible seventh season, according to a news release.
“Mad Men” is a drama centered on the lives of the men and women of Madison Avenue advertising in New York in the 1960s.
The cast includes Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Jared Harris, Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton, Robert Morse and Kiernan Shipka.
“Mad Men’s” fifth season delayed until 2012
Jon Hamm as Don Draper in "Mad Men" - AP Photo/AMC
“Mad Men’s” fifth season has been delayed until 2012 because the show’s cable network AMC and producer Lionsgate are battling its creator Matt Weiner over a new contract and budget cuts.
The complete report, provided by McClatchy-Tribune News Service, is as follows:
Talks stall between ‘Mad Men’ creator Matt Weiner and AMC, Lionsgate
By Joe Flint and Melissa Maerz
Los Angeles Times
(MCT)
LOS ANGELES — There may be some cutbacks coming to the advertising agency of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
The companies behind the critically acclaimed drama “Mad Men” — cable network AMC and producer Lionsgate — are battling with Matt Weiner, the show’s Emmy Award-winning creator over a new contract and budget cuts, which would include trimming the large ensemble cast.
If Weiner does not agree to a new deal, AMC and Lionsgate have signaled they are prepared to continue to produce “Mad Men” without him. Lionsgate has an agreement in place with AMC for a fifth season with or without Weiner, whose contract expired after the fourth season ended last fall.
Dropping Weiner would be tantamount to blasphemy to the show’s incredibly devoted, but relatively small, audience. Like his mentor David Chase of “The Sopranos,” Weiner closely supervises the writing of every episode and is known for obsessing over the details of “Mad Men,” which uses the Lucky Strike-smoking, secretary-leering, four-martini-lunch lifestyles of Manhattan ad men as a lens into the culture of the 1960s at large.
The stalled talks mean that the show, which usually starts its 13-episode run in the summer, now won’t air its fifth season until early 2012. People close to the show think March is the earliest it could be back on the air.
Although “Mad Men” has modest ratings — last season it averaged 3.2 million viewers — and is not even AMC’s most-watched show (“The Walking Dead” has that distinction), it put the network on the map and fired it into the cultural zeitgeist.
When critics talk about the new golden age of television, “Mad Men” is often the first show they cite as an example. Since it debuted in 2007, the show has won 13 Emmys and four Golden Globes and was the first basic cable series to win the Emmy for outstanding drama series, an honor it received in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Set in the early 1960s, chronicling the upheaval between McCarthy-era conformism and the countercultural revolution to come, “Mad Men” has been praised for bringing new depth to the secret lives of secretaries, boardroom flacks and housewives.
For the show to remain under Weiner, he will have to agree to a three-year pact worth about $30 million, according to people close to all the parties involved in the negotiations who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the talks. At that figure, Weiner would become one of the highest-paid producers in television.
Weiner, through his spokesman, declined to comment.
One of the major sticking points concerns the number of commercials in each episode. Currently, AMC pays about $3 million to Lionsgate for each episode of the show. To cover the rising costs of airing “Mad Men,” the network has indicated it wants to add more commercials, which would obviously cut into the show’s length.
Another obstacle in the negotiations are the use of so-called product placement and product integration in the program. The network would like to see more of them as a means of generating additional revenue. And certain to prompt outrage among fans, up to six members of the cast may be axed from the show in a cost-cutting move over the next three seasons, a person close to the show said.
For his part, Weiner has been extremely protective of the show and in the past has fought efforts to bump up commercial time on his show. Two years ago, AMC compromised with Weiner and added more commercials without trimming the program length.
Relations between Weiner, AMC and Lionsgate have over the years frequently been less than harmonious. In the current tumult, it’s unclear though when Weiner was first approached to discuss a new deal for a fifth season. People close to him say he was only recently asked about renewing his deal, while those in the Lionsgate and AMC camps say they’ve been trying to complete this for almost a year.
As for the cast, Weiner has cut characters before. For instance, a very popular closeted gay character Sal Romano, who was portrayed by Bryan Batt, was dropped from the show after Season 3. But that decision was Weiner’s, and — according to people close to Weiner — the show runner would regard being forced to shed actors as interference with the creative process.
Over the last four years, “Mad Men” has been a launching pad for previously little-known or unknown actors. Series’ star Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper, the hard-drinking, womanizing ad executive, was working on a Lifetime television series, and his costar Elisabeth Moss was appearing in Excedrin commercials. And most notably, “Mad Men” transformed the network from an obscure channel filled with old movies into a major destination for original series programming.
The unexpected success of “Mad Men” naturally has translated into dramatic growth in advertising revenues for the network. According to SNL Kagan, an industry consulting business, AMC’s ad revenue in 2006, the year before “Mad Men” premiered, was $139.3 million. In 2010, the cable channel took in $245.6 million. Not all that growth can be attributed to Don Draper & Co., but it’s clear that the culturally influential show was a crucial component in the network’s rise.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate has done well by “Mad Men” too. The company takes in between $3 million and $5 million per episode from the show in fees from AMC, sales abroad and DVDs, people familiar with the show’s finances said. Lionsgate has said it expects “Mad Men” to ultimately generate more than $100 million in DVD sales. Lionsgate stands to potentially make more money when it eventually sells reruns of “Mad Men” in the U.S.
It’s unclear whether the lengthy break between seasons could hurt ratings for “Mad Men.” There are plenty of other choices. But as with HBO’s “The Sopranos,” which once went almost two years between seasons, “Mad Men” has such an intense following its audience may be willing to wait.
“The Walking Dead” marathon featured on AMC March 4
From left, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies and Andrew Lincoln of "The Walking Dead" - AMC Photo
AMC will air a special marathon of the first season of “The Walking Dead” March 4, with each of the six episodes packaged with exclusive content.
Interviews with executive producer and writer Frank Darabont, who also directed the pilot; executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and Robert Kirkman as well as special effects makeup designer and consulting producer Greg Nicotero are included in the extras, according to a news release.
The marathon will also feature an exclusive first look at AMC’s new original drama “The Killing” which will have a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. April 3.
“The Killing,” from writer, executive producer and showrunner Veena Sud (“Cold Case”), is about the murder of a teenage girl and the subsequent police investigation.
“The Walking Dead” marathon begins at 7 p.m. March 4, with “The Killing” first look airing at 8:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. on March 4 as well.
“The Walking Dead,” based on Kirkman’s comic book series, is centered on the weeks and months that follow after a zombie apocalypse.
The series stars Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Steven Yeun, Emma Bell and Chandler Riggs.
New AMC drama “The Killing” set to premiere April 3
Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman of "The Killing" - AMC Photo by Chris Large
AMC’s newest drama “The Killing” is set to debut with a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. April 3. One-hour episodes will begin airing at the show’s regular time of 9 p.m. the next Sunday.
“The Killing,” from writer, executive producer and series’ showrunner Veena Sud (“Cold Case”), centers on the story of a teenage girl’s murder in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation.
“The Killing” blends three stories around a single murder, including the detectives assigned to the case and their suspects, the victim’s grieving family, and the local politicians connected to the case, according to a news release.
The show, based on the Danish television series “Forbrydelse,,” is shot on location in Vancouver and stars Mireille Enos (“Big Love”) as Sarah Linden, lead detective investigating the death of Rosie Larsen; Billy Campbell (“Once and Again”) as Darren Richmond, Seattle’s City Council President running for Mayor; Joel Kinnaman (“Snabba Cash”) as Stephen Holder, an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division in the quest to find Rosie’s killer.
Michelle Forbes (“True Blood”) also stars as Rosie’s mother, Mitch; along with Brent Sexton (“W., “In the Valley of Elah) as Rosie’s father Stan.
Fox Television Studios produces “The Killing,” with Mikkel Bondesen (“Burn Notice”) executive producing for Fuse Entertainment.
Fuse’s Kristen Campo serves as co-producer.
AMC executives Joel Stillerman, senior vice president of original programming, production and digital content; Susie Fitzgerald, senior vice president of scripted development and current programming; and Jason Fisher, senior vice president of production; oversee production of the series for the network.
