We've seen Medium's Allison have dreams that she later realizes aren't supposed to come true for a few years, but last night's episode was a twist on that idea. Her dreams were about the future, or rather, what the future would look like if Tyler's life didn't change. His mother was so consumed with thoughts that her son was evil, that she would have pushed him that way had she not taken her own life at the end. The point of Allison's dreams was to let her know that Tyler's mother was a poison that would have destroyed, not only his life, but the lives of his future classmates as he terrorized them in an all too familiar school shooting scene. Allison was actually seeing Tyler's mother's dreams, but misinterpreting them at first. This mother was so deranged that she kidnapped and attempted to kill her own child because she thought he was evil. When Allison confronted her about her dreams, she realized that she was the problem and not her son. She took her life to spare Tyler any future damage, and as we saw in Allison's final dream, it seemed to work because Tyler was at his high school graduation making his valedictorian speech. This episode was another variation on a formula that I thought would prove to run out of variations very quickly. It still amazes me how this show manages to come up with original plots and storytelling tactics without being gimmicky.
Next month's sweeps period will be a little different for NBC. The peacock network will feature more hours of coverage and live coverage than any past Winter Olympic games, which will leave little time for the network's usual programming. Here's a look at what you can expect from NBC next month. As always, I will try to keep the plans as spoiler-free as possible, but be warned that the following may contain minor spoilers. All dates are subject to change.
Thursday, February 9th is Valentine's Day for NBC
Will & Grace - Taye Diggs guest stars in an episode that promises a wedding and life-changing news for someone.
Four Kings - Barry and Bobby are big hits at a society party when they escort two older women, but Barry learns that his date may have more on her mind than companionship.
My Name is Earl - Christine Taylor guest stars as a woman who causes Earl to fall in love for the first time this season.
The Office - Michael heads to the New York corporate offices where he and Jan are in for a big surprise. Meanwhile back in Scranton, the staff celebrates Valentine's Day grade school style.
The Olympics Highlights
Opening Ceremonies - Friday, February 10th 7-11 p.m.
Figure Skating (Pairs Short Program) - Saturday, February 11th 8-11:30 p.m.
Snowboarding (Men's Half Pipe Final) - Sunday, February 12th 7-11 p.m.
Figure Skating (Pairs Free Skate Final) - Monday, February 13th 8-11:30 p.m.
Snowboarding (Women's Half Pipe Final) - Monday, February 13th 8-11:30 p.m.
Alpine Skiing (Women's Downhill Final) - Wednesday, February 15th 8-11:30 p.m.
Figure Skating (Men's Free Skate Final) - Thursday, February 16th 8-12 midnight
Women's Hockey Gold Medal Game - Monday, February 20th (LIVE) 1-6 p.m.
Figure Skating (Ladies Free Skate Final) - Thursday, February 23rd 8-12 midnight
Men's Hockey Gold Medal Game - Sunday, February 26th (LIVE) 8-11 a.m.
Closing Ceremonies - Sunday, February 26th 7-11 p.m.
NBC will split coverage of the 17-day event with sister networks USA, MSNBC, and CNBC for a total of 418 broadcast hours. For a full schedule of the entire coverage, click on over to MSNBC.com.
Sticking with NBC for a moment, the network sure knows how to make a Winter Press Tour appearance! Yesterday, I brought you all the scheduling changes, cancellations and renewals. Today, I have news on Surface and Joey, both of which were addressed at the event Sunday. Surface has only two episodes left, but are they the last two ever? Not necessarily according to NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly whose says, "The reaction is that the show has done a pretty good job over on Monday. I think it's creative. It's got a very loyal audience." He goes on to say that the show is at a wait-and-see juncture, "so we'll reassess in May, and we'll look at the rest of the product, but no decision is made right now one way or the other." He did promise, however, that the February 6th season finale will wrap-up the current season's storyline. Joey hasn't aired a new episode since before Christmas as it is currently on a hiatus while the network tries out comedies Will & Grace, Four Kings, My Name is Earl and The Office on Thursday nights. Will the show ever return? Reilly said that the network does not have any plans for the show right now, but they will go into March and "see how the schedule settles in, and then we'll reassess as to where Joey can come back on." Reilly was also asked about the future of the show and said, "I think we've got to see when it comes back on the air." Stay tuned to Pass the Remote for all the latest on both shows' futures.
About Last Night... CBS won the first hour of the night with comedies King of Queens and How I Met Your Mother, followed by Fox's Skating with Celebrities and ABC's Wife Swap. At 9, CBS stayed in the lead with Two and a Half Men and new comedy Courting Alex, followed by Fox's 24 and NBC's Las Vegas. The final hour of the night also went to CBS with CSI: Miami, followed by Medium on NBC and The Bachelor on ABC. For more on last night's ratings, visit Zap2it.
~Primetime Pass~
@8 p.m. - Lorelai tries to pretend that the discovery of Luke's daughter is not having an impact on their engagement and Rory deals with Paris' lack of management skills at Yale's Daily News on WB's Gilmore Girls. Over on Fox, it's more auditions as night 3 of American Idol sings on.
@9 p.m. - Scrubs celebrates its 100th episode with an homage to The Wizard of Oz. At 9:30, the show continues its back-to-back run with guest star Jason Bateman. Over on ABC, Air Force One is held hostage on Commander In Chief.
@10 p.m. - Michael J. Fox and Betty White guest star on ABC's Boston Legal. Over on CBS, Tom tries to enlist a picky pop star to headline a benefit concert on Love Monkey.
QUICK CUTS
*As I reported earlier today in a special edition, the WB and UPN are shutting down and merging into a new network. The merge is a joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS Corp., with each owning 50% on the new network called The CW. In today's press release, shows including Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, Everybody Hates Chris, Smallville, America's Next Top Model, Reba, Girlfriends, Beauty and the Geek, Supernatural and WWE Smackdown are all included. No word yet on other WB and UPN favorites. The new network will launch in September and will be carried in 95% of the country.
*Commander in Chief and Will & Grace lead the crop of television shows nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. The awards "recognize and honor mainstream media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives" according to the organization's web site. Chief will compete in the Outstanding Drama Series category along with The L Word, Queer As Folk, Six Feet Under and South of Nowhere. Will & Grace will compete in the Outstanding Comedy Category along with Out of Practice and Shameless. Competing for Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular gay character) are (click on the episode names for descriptions) Law & Order: SVU (for "Alien"), Cold Case (for "Best Friends"), My Name is Earl (for "Pilot"), What I Like About You (for "Someone's in the Kitchen with Daddy") and Without a Trace (for "Transitions"). The awards will be broadcast on April 15th on Logo and April 16th on VH1.
*NBC is closing The Book of Daniel after only three weeks. The peacock pulled the show off the air, effective immediately. Also getting pink slips today, ABC's Jake in Progress (according to co-executive producer Jane Epenson's blog) and TNT's Wanted. Jake starred John Stamos and aired after the now canceled Emily's Reasons Why Not. TNT announced that Wanted will not return for a second season. For more all three cancellations, visit The Futon Critic.
*And finally, My Name is Earl is temporarily shutdown while star Jason Lee recovers from a bout with chicken pox. NBC announced the news during its Winter Press Tour Sunday. The show is expected to resume filming in a couple of weeks with Lee appearing in all of the episodes. NBC recently picked up the show for a second season.
That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the Scrubies and thoughts on the 100th episode! Plus, all the latest television news!
Don't forget to help Veronica Mars with the $4,000 Shower Campaign! Click HERE for details
3 comments:
Medium just continues to be an excellent show! I can never completely figure it all out and that is one of the things that makes it so good.
Glad to hear that Surface still has a chance of survival
Any word on why NBC has canceled Book of Daniel?
NBC is saying that it was a mix of things that led to Daniel's cancellation, but mostly low ratings. Also, the network is quick to point out that it hasn't officially canceled the show, just pulled it off the schedule. I would imagine we'll be getting that official cancellation release in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
Paris on GG is an amazing character, isn't she. I hate her with all I've got. If she were near me, I'd probably slap her. Any character that stirs that kind of reaction in people has GOT to be good.
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