"Torchwood" casts its new leads

All of a sudden, I've seen a lot of news about casting for the new Starz-produced season of "Torchwood," which has been titled "Torchwood: The New World." In addition to John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, they're casting a slew of Americans. They aren't done casting parts, but the new announcements I'm aware of are:

Bill Pullman (the President from "Independence Day") playing "Oswald Jones, a dangerously clever convicted murderer who escapes his lifelong prison sentence on a technicality and quickly becomes a media sensation. Genuinely repentant yet boiling with lust and rage, Oswald gets caught up in a terrifying worldwide crisis."

Mekhi Phifer (Dr. Greg Pratt from "ER") playing "the third lead, Rex Matheson, a CIA agent, a fast-tracked high-flyer with a lethal sense of humor who starts to feel his mortality when his life is put in danger." I love this description from Wikipedia: "Initially, the character doesn't know what to make of 'Welsh women and World War 2 captains.'"

Arlene Tur (some chick from the TV show based on the movie "Crash") playing "a surgeon by the name of Vera Juarez."
First of all, I can't imagine I'm the only "Torchwood" fan who is a little ticked that Pullman's character's last name is Jones. Come on, Ianto Jones just died. I really hope they address the events in "Children of Earth" to some degree, since it ended on a decidedly depressing note. Jack left Gwen and planet Earth behind. Why is he back? How will Gwen react? Why aren't they in Cardiff anymore? Did a rift in time and space conveniently pop up in America? As long as they don't act like nothing ever happened, I'll be happy. One of the biggest reasons I didn't want an American remake of "Torchwood" is because I want continuity in my television shows. I know they will want to make it palatable for a new, American audience, but they really can't ignore the epic world-shaking events that took place in the last miniseries.

I was also irked by TV guru Michael Ausiello's recent Facebook update, "'Torchwood' scoop: Ianto fans are not going to like this. Producers are casting the role of Brad, a Washington D.C. bartender in his late 20s who hooks up with Jack for a 'mutually satisfying one-night stand.' Interested actors should be comfortable with 'intimate scenes between two men.'" Yeah, as an Ianto fan, I'm not thrilled. But Jack has always been the promiscuous type, so I'm not surprised. At least Starz is going to let Jack be Jack still. I think I'll just take that as a win and be quiet.

I'm actually getting pretty excited for this. Not just because it means more "Torchwood," but because they're casting some interesting people and they're not remaking the whole thing. Also, the name actors matched with the American production will hopefully mean more publicity in the US. I am a tad worried about Mekhi Phifer because I've only ever seen him in bland, slightly boring roles in mostly procedural shows. I rather see "Torchwood" go over-the-top and dynamic than reserved and bland. Even at its worst, and it has definitely had some lows, "Torchwood" has been a unique show that has never been ashamed of its tone and sexual audacity.

From the looks of things, the original people behind the show were closely involved in making sure the new "Torchwood" is still "Torchwood." The new season will last 10 episodes, and luckily it won't return to the monster-of-the-week format it had in its first two years. I much prefer shows that have a season-long storyline that rewards viewers who stay with it. If you dropped the show in the first two seasons, it might be time to get back into it. "Torchwood" has definitely improved itself over time and it looks like that trend is going to continue.

Tis the Season - More Shows Renewed, Cancelled

It's that time again! That nervewracking time of the year as we creep closer and closer to upfronts where the networks have to announce their fall schedules and decide what stays and what goes. I'm happy to announce that I've had some luck with my bubble shows this year. I'm also happy to announce that I officially love Michael Ausiello (but that's nothing new!)

(Ausiello is keeping a great Bubble Show Scorecard here. I think his version is the best as it's the most up-to-date.)

In his column this week he filled us in on when each network has their upfront presentation:

• Monday 5/17 - NBC and FOX
• Tuesday 5/18 - ABC
• Wednesday 5/19 - CBS
• Thursday 5/20 - The CW

But, onto the good news/bad news segment! "V" was renewed, much to my delight. I think the show still has potential, unlike "Flashforward," which was just cancelled. "Flashforward" was an epic disappointment for me this year so I'm hoping "V" will make up for it by returning strong next season.

Also cancelled by ABC were "Romantically Challenged," (which I hardly remember hearing about), "Scrubs," and "Better Off Ted." I'm glad "Scrubs" is finally retiring; it really wasn't the same show, just the same title. And I'm unsure about "Better Off Ted." I heard from quite a few sources that it was good, but I never watched myself so all I can do is offer my condolences to any "Ted" fans.

"Human Target" and "Lie to Me" were both saved, despite every site talking about saving one or the other. Well, unofficially saved so far, but I'll trust Ausiello with this one and take the victory. "Human Target" seemed like a fun enough show and I checked out a few episodes, but I'm a "Lie to Me" girl all the way. Any show that teaches me how to detect lies is a winner in my book.

But the best news of all? "Chuck" was finally, officially renewed. And we didn't even need a giant Subway campaign this year, so yay for us.

This has been a crazy season: "Lost" is going away forever, "24" the television series is ending (personally, I am totally ready for some "24" movies), "Supernatural" got renewed despite its intention of ending this season (and ending the season with a very series finale-y episode), "Fringe" got renewed without too much last minute drama, "Southland" got the life it deserves on TNT, "Burn Notice" was renewed through, like, 2035, and who knows what the hell is going on with "Heroes." (I'd take another season. Even though I hate this concept, it's the perfect definition of a 'guilty pleasure' for me.) [Update: "Heroes" is dead. Finally. It's still sad remembering your glory days though.]

I'll probably post something else about the new fall pilots when we get closer to fall. There are so many right now that still have such fluid concepts and casts at this point that I don't bother to brush up on them until later. So for now, I'm going to celebrate the renewal of the shows I've been cheering for all year.

"Happy Town" - the name doesn't fool me, it annoys me

I've been seeing promos for this for a while now since "Ugly Betty" left the 10:00 spot on ABC on Wednesday open, but I still have no idea what it's about. And the more promos I see, the more hilariously bad it looks. According to Wikipedia, "a period of peace following a series of unsolved kidnappings is cut short when a new crime has everyone talking in the small Minnesota town of Haplin." It's also classified as a drama, but the promos made me think it was a SciFi show somehow. I recognize a couple names attached, like Sam Neil, M.C. Gainey, Robert Wisdom, Amy Acker, and Steven Weber. On the basis of the promos alone, though, I already hate this show. I feel like they named it "Happy Town," just so they could make that stupid joke in the ads - "don't let the name fool you!" Cause it's not a happy town, get it? Get it? This was the first irritating promo I saw:


Other promos with more dialogue just made things worse, not better. "The Magic Man?" And he has some sort of ability? (I wasn't able to find that promo to post it here). I've seen some people comparing it to "Twin Peaks," a show I've never seen but have definitely heard about, so I can't really say either way if it resembles a show I know was really weird. I don't know about "Twin Peaks," but the promos are reminiscent of a million different movies/shows that make me feel like I've already seen this show before. It reminds me most of "Harper's Island," which was based on Agatha Christie so at least you knew you had seen that done before.

Entertainment Weekly columnist Michael Ausiello wrote on Twitter, "I can tell you what my LEAST favorite [show] is: HAPPY TOWN. Better title would be HEINOUS TOWN." Jessica Shaw, who writes the Tonight's Best TV feature said she "snickered through about half of the premiere" but said it got better towards the end and gave it a decent grade of B. My favorite, though, is when I went to tvguidemagazine.com and found Matt Roush's list of reasons to avoid the show. It seems to be a show that focuses on a small town with a small population where half the people get murdered and the other half are running small cutesy specialty stores that would never survive in small-town America these days. It looks like Stars Hollow on acid.

I love SciFi, I love dramas, I love quirkiness, but this show seems like an odd combination of things that just doesn't sit well with me. I'm not sure what to make of it, and it already looks like it's taking itself way too seriously. I'm still debating whether or not to watch. Maybe I'll just keep it on in the background after "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town" are over.