THE TV COLUMN : Spring brings hellos, goodbyes
Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2008
This is a busy week on TV, so let’s get right to it. Pay attention. Take notes.
COMING AND GOING Shows having season finales this week include: The New Adventures of Old Christine (Monday, 8: 31 p. m., CBS ) Miss Guided (7: 30 p.m. Thursday, ABC ) Make Me a Supermodel (9 p.m. Thursday, Bravo ) Shows returning to the lineup include: Cold Case (7: 59 p.m. today, CBS ) The Tudors (8 p.m. today, Showtime ) Hell’s Kitchen (8 p.m. Tuesday, Fox ) Criminal Minds (8 p.m. Wednesday, CBS ) CSI: NY (9 p.m. Wednesday, CBS ) My Name Is Earl (7 p.m. Thursday, NBC ) CSI (8 p.m. Thursday, CBS ) Ghost Whisperer (7 p.m. Friday, CBS ) Duel (8 p.m. Friday, ABC ) Numb 3 rs (9 p.m. Friday, CBS ) Battlestar Galactica (9 p.m. Friday, Sci Fi ) Gone for good. CBS has canceled Jericho for a second time. It fought the good fight, but it’s over. Last season, fans inundated CBS with peanuts to save the show and the network gave in.
Not enough viewers showed up for the party. Last week’s episode was the finale.
CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler acknowledged the passionate fan base and wished there were more of them — enough to justify keeping the show on the air. The resurrected series only managed 6 million viewers in this crazy strike-ruined season.
My hat’s off to CBS for giving the series a chance. I enjoyed it, but viewers are creatures of habit and routine. No amount of promotion was able to help the show under the circumstances. Had there not been a writers’ strike looming on the horizon, Jericho would have been dumped last season. By pandering to the clamor of frustrated fans, then putting the onus on them to turn out the numbers, CBS scored humanitarian brownie points and was able to wash its hands of the matter while shedding crocodile tears.
THE GOOD STUFF All-American TV. Tracey Ullman is one of the funniest Americans on the face of the planet. Thought she was British ? She was. Ullman is a now a genuine, card-carrying, flagwaving, naturalized American citizen. Ullman, 48, has been known to most of us since The Tracey Ullman Show debuted on Fox in 1987. That was the series that spun off The Simpsons in 1989. In that sketch variety series, Ullman portrayed a number of characters with the help of a little makeup. She was very funny. Ullman is still at it with her new Showtime sketch comedy State of the Union. The limited series of five episodes debuts at 9 p.m. today. I’ve seen all five and the first four are amusing, for the most part.
The final episode was uneven, but I forgive her.
Each episode takes a satirical look at a day in the life of America. Characters portrayed by Ullman include Cameron Diaz, Renee Zellweger, Dina Lohan (Lindsay’s mom ), David Beckham, as well as Nancy Pelosi and Arianna Huffington from the world of politics.
There are other noncelebrity characters who help her cut a wicked satirical swath. Ullman has a keen eye for a former Brit. The royal soap. Ullman’s new series debuts right after The Tudors kicks off season No. 2 on Showtime. Curtain goes up at 8 p.m. on this royal soap opera.
Meanwhile, back in the palace...
Season 2 finds young, strapping, lusty Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers ) still planning on dumping wife No. 1 and marrying young, comely, lusty Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer ).
Henry also takes on Pope Paul III (Peter O’Toole ) so Henry can be proclaimed the head of the church in England and be free to marry Anne.
We call it the Reformation.
Some critics have dismissed the series as too lusty, but I’ve found this robust take on the life and wives of Henry to be a refreshing, lavishly produced costume drama with strong actors portraying fascinating characters.
Spoiler warning: Anne loses her head in episode No. 10 this season. One good thing came from that tempestuous union — a child named Elizabeth. England was to hear a good deal from her later.
Austen alert. This Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theatre ) adaptation of a Jane Austen work is the best I’ve ever seen.
Sense and Sensibility airs in two parts — 8 p.m. today and April 6 on PBS and AETN.
If you love Austen, watch this film. If you can only tolerate Austen (as I do ), check it out. If you can’t stand Austen, pretend the tale is by someone else and enjoy it anyway.
Charming newcomers Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield are cast as sensible Elinor Dashwood and her impulsive sister Marianne. The young ladies are more than up for the roles. Arkies featured. If your cable tier gets you the Bio Channel, you may have caught the debut of I Survived last week. The series, a first-person account of folks in life-threatening situations, airs at 8 p.m. Mondays.
Monday’s episode features the tale of an Arkansas couple from Nashville who picked up a hitchhiker (kids, there’s a lesson in this ) only to find out he was wanted for murder.
The perp forced them to drive for hundreds of miles and the couple feared for their lives. Fortunately, they had a gun hidden in the car and... well, that would ruin the tale. The TV column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail: mstorey@arkansasonline. com
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