TV Heartbeat! The Walking Dead is back!! Affairs! Proposals! Virgins! Agent Cooper is Back?!? Say Anthing but TV!
I’m scrambling like a madwoman to get ready for New York Comic Con this weekend so next week I’ll have lots of news to share. Yeah!! In the meantime, there’s plenty of stuff to watch with The CW finishing up its premiere week and those pesky zombies rising again!
The Walking Dead makes its long-awaited season 5 debut! If you can’t remember what happened over the past couple of seasons, AMC is binging the full series leading up to the Sunday premiere. How will the group escape Terminus? What’s Terminus’ dark secret? Is Rick finally out of his passive stupor? Will Carl be the strong kid from season 3 or the whiny brat of season 4? What’s up with Daryl and Beth? Will Abraham finally make progress on his mission? So many questions that need to be answered…let’s see if we get them this season!
For counter programming, Showtime is launching its new series, The Affair starring Dominic West (The Wire, 300) and Ruth Wilson (Luther, Saving Mr. Banks) as the adulterous couple and Joshua Jackson and Maura Tierney as the cheated-upon spouses.
Already renewed before it aired, Star Wars Rebels makes its series debut this Monday.
The CW is launching Jane the Virgin which is an adaptation of an Venezuelan telenovela. The buzz on star Gina Rodriguez is pretty deafening so tune in to see her charm her way through the show!
NBC launches its final comedies of the season including Marry Me which stars Casey Wilson and Ken Marino. (Yes, Vinnie Van Lowe in a rom com!) The story focuses on a couple who have had disaster after disaster as he tries to propose.
Tonight: Arrow season premiere (The CW), American Horror Story: Freak Show season premiere (FX), Ghost Hunters season premiere (Syfy)
Friday: Cristela debut (ABC)
Saturday: Intruders season finale (BBC America)
Sunday: The Walking Dead season premiere (AMC), The Affair debut (Showtime)
Monday: Jane the Virgin debut (The CW), Star Wars Rebels debut (Disney XD)
Tuesday: Marry Me debut (NBC), About a Boy season premiere (NBC),
Wednesday: Top Chef season premiere (Bravo)
Health check
To the surprise of no one at all, The Walking Dead has been renewed for a 6th season. A cultural phenomenon, a ratings juggernaut, the key to launching its new companion show, there is no way AMC was letting this one get away.
Meanwhile, the summer shows are still getting their progress reports. USA can’t get enough Satisfaction so the show will be back for another season next summer. However, they weren’t in a rush so Rush will be cancelled. Everyone will be piling in to the Hollywood Game Night living room for another summer, but, as previously mentioned, we won’t be visiting Dallas again next summer nor will we be hearing that awesome theme song again.
Elsewhere, after this week, the majority of network shows will be launched launched and, so far CBS and NBC are pretty happy. ABC is breathing a sigh of relief thanks to Shonda Rhimes’ takeover on Thursday nights. The newest show, How to Get Away with Murder, is killing the competition.
However, not everyone can be on the upswing and, well, Fox is ready to write off this season. While Gotham has been great (as expected given how much they promoted the show), nothing else is really working for the network. Sleepy Hollow is solid, but it’s not building its audience like they hoped. Utopia, Gracepoint and Red Band Society all opened soft and none are the breakout hits they were hoping for. While there are a bunch of shows ready to launch in the winter (American Idol, Glee, Empire, Wayward Pines), it’s still months away.
The CW only recently started their premieres so there’s no verdict on that quite yet. We also have a shift in football and baseball so some TV is going to get moved around (The Big Bang Theory will move back to Thursdays) so nothing is written in stone yet!
Crystal Ball
Recovered from that fabulous Twin Peaks announcement yet? While details are still scarce, Kyle MacLachlan sent out a tweet that is hopefully a sign that Agent Cooper will be back!
Better fire up that percolator and find my black suit 🙂 #Twinpeaks
— Kyle MacLachlan (@Kyle_MacLachlan) October 6, 2014
Honestly, I can’t imagine Twin Peaks without him and I can’t image David Lynch doing the series without his muse. I’m also hopeful that composer Angelo Badalamenti, so critical to setting the moods in Twin Peaks, will also be back. There are discussions, but nothing is solid yet.
Speaking of not solid, it’s that time of year where networks are starting to buy new series ideas. There’s lots of news about so-and-so being signed to a series, but the vast majority of these shows will never be shot so no one should get their hopes up.
Case in point: NBC recently announced they are doing to do a TV series of Say Anything which will pick up with a grown-up, loser Lloyd Dobler who is trying to win the hand of Diane, again. Ugh! Some things should be left well-enough alone, right? I’m not the only that feels this way since Cameron Crowe got on twitter to express his displeasure. Less than a day later, the project died.
So Lloyd and Diane will forever be on that plane, waiting for the light to blink off. As it should be…
Stay tuned!
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