Sutton Foster on Her Move to TV and ‘Bunheads’: “I just wanted a new challenge”

Despite having a title that a five year-old might make up, the upcoming ABC Family television series Bunheads stars Broadway veteran Sutton Foster.  Having earned her fame in her Tony Award winning roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes, Foster tells Broadway World why she is making the transition to television for the series written by Rosanne and Gilmore Girls writer Amy Sherman-Palladino.

When asked why the long-time stage star is now taking a starring role in a television series, Foster reveals, “There were a couple of reasons.  Amy Sherman-Palladino being one of my favorite writers. Also, the show is based around dance and its affording me a lot of opportunities to do some pretty cool stuff. Already we’ve shot one song and dance routine and I know there’s more down the pike. But the thing that I’m most excited about is really the character and the writing. And being really able to showcase my comedic stuff. She’s just a really awesome character who is a dancer, so I’m sure as the series grows and grows they’ll be throwing lots and lots of stuff at me. I always say I’ll try anything once, so they’ve already thrown a bunch of stuff my way. I’m sure a lot more is coming. I don’t think theater fans will be disappointed!” Read more

‘Smash’ is Cleaning House: 4 Actors Gone from the Show

It was just reported that 2 series-regulars and 2 recurring actors were axed from NBC’s Smash.

Let’s get the semi-good news out of the way: Jamie Cepero the actor who plays Ellis, probably the most hated character on the show, is getting the boot. I say semi-good news because while I too despised him, it’s always sad to hear an actor getting fired. I not only thought he was a badly written character but I just thought Cepero was an awful actor. Maybe in another role he’d be fine but Ellis certainly wasn’t it. Read more

Matthew Weiner on How He Cast Jessica Paré in ‘Mad Men’

Jessica Pare has made a huge splash Mad Men this season, from singing ‘Zou-Bisou-Bisou’ to finally (as far as we can see) taming new husband, Mr. Don Draper.

Pare was a series-regular on the show Jack & Bobby and also appeared in Hot Tub Time Machine has appeared but when it came time to audition for Mad Men, she first read for the role of… a hooker. 

While talking to Vulture, series mastermind Matt Weiner explained that Pare “actually first auditioned for the prostitute [who slaps Don in the face during sex in the season four premiere] and I thought she was wonderful. And then my casting people were like, “You know, she was in the top three for the people to get that part. You’re looking for this Megan character. Have you thought about Jessica?” Read more

Watch the Trailers for All the New CBS Fall Shows

CBS only ordered 4 pilots for the fall and the only one that remotely interests me is the Dennis Quaid starrer, Vegas.

Made in Jersey is a Legally Blonde rip-off and Sherlock is a near clone of the BBC’s Sherlock.

Check them out below. Read more

Watch the Trailers for All the New NBC Fall Shows

NBC has 9 new scripted shows coming this fall and some look pretty promising. Jon Favreau and JJ Abrams Revolotion, Matthew Perry‘s Go On, The New Normal with Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells and 1600 Penn with Josh Gad.

Check them all out below! Read more

Watch the Trailers for All the New ABC Fall Shows

ABC has 9 new scripted shows coming – 7 for the fall season and 2 as mid-season replacements.

Two that seem good based on their trailers are Shawn Ryan‘s Last Resort starring Andre Braugher and The Family Tools with J.K. Simmons and Kyle Bornheimer.

Check them out below! Read more

Watch The Trailers for All of the New FOX Fall Shows

FOX has 5 new scripted shows coming this fall: The Following, The Mindy Project, The Goodwin Games, Ben & Kate and The Mob Doctor.

I put all of the trailers in order of my favorites. The Following stars Kevin Bacon and looks pretty damn good. The Mindy Project with Mindy Kaling is a show that I’ll definitely try out.

Check them all out below! Read more

Matt Walsh Talks ‘Veep’ and Comedy: “A fat guy is guaranteed to get the highest laugh count”

Upright Citizen’s Brigade veteran Matt Walsh may not have the most familiar name, but he’s appeared in some of the most popular comedies of the last decade, including The Hangover, Old School, and I Love You Man. 

He’s taken that success to a number of small roles on television, but now has a much more significant role on HBO’s Veep opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Mike McLintock, Director of Communications.  Walsh talks about working with show creator Armando Iannucci and his comedy background in an interview with New York magazine.

Walsh reveals that Iannucci allows the cast some room for improv, especially to make the language more “American.”  He explains, “We get these 40-page scripts, and there’s tons of great jokes in there, but once we start rehearsing, we play with it. We’ll paraphrase some of the more British stuff, make it American, and he’ll write down what we say and take what he likes from that. And on our filming days, we’ll get one or two loose takes — not to be self-indulgent, but to look for things to discover. And he’ll shoot in this open, documentary-style, which is very forgiving — it’s not about hitting the marks. The show is pretty truthful about portraying Washington, but it’s not The West Wing. It’s not idealistic. It’s shabby. Some of us don’t have desks and work on a couch. We have bad coffee. Papers are everywhere. And we seem to be dressing like people did in D.C. about twenty years ago! No cutting-edge fashion.” Read more

Christian Borle on the ‘Smash’ Season Finale, What to Expect in Season 2 and ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’

The season finale of Smash is tonight and while I’m an episode behind – shhh, don’t tell me what happens – I’m still 100% in the camp for the show. That being said, I do hate when they break out in song at places other than a theater, performance space or when they daydream. Like that time when Ivy (Megan Hilty) and Karen (Katherine McPhee) suddenly started singing in the middle of Times Square? Yeah, that’s awful. Please stop that. 

The good news is that it might now it has a new showrunner. Christian Borle, who plays Tom on the series, talked with the LA Times about next season and what might be in store for the show.

“I just met [new show-runner] Josh Safran for the first time last week and kind of heard what was on the docket, and it’s going to be a totally different … show. The show is almost getting rebooted,” he said.

He went on to say that he thinks in season 2, the show will “delve more into the process of the creation and what the writing partnership is, the nuts and bolts of that room. We looked at it briefly in Season 1 but didn’t really; it was kind of, in a way, a shorthand to get us to the next event.” Read more

Lena Dunham Responds to ‘Girls’ Criticism: “This show isn’t supposed to feel exclusionary. It’s supposed to feel honest”

Lena Dunham, the 25-year-old writer, star, and creator of HBO’s hit Girls, is the one who has to take flack for any criticism about the series.  In an interview with NPR, Dunham addresses the media’s main complaint that the show lacks diversity.

Dunham said, “I take that criticism very seriously…This show isn’t supposed to feel exclusionary.  It’s supposed to feel honest, and it’s supposed to feel true to many aspects of my experience.  But for me to ignore that criticism and not to take it in would really go against my beliefs and my education in so many things.  And I think the liberal arts student in me really wants to engage in a dialogue about it, but as I learn about engaging with the media, I realize it’s not the same as sitting in a seminar talking things through at Oberlin.  Every quote is sort of used and misused and placed and misplaced, and I really wanted to make sure I spoke sensitively to this issue.” Read more

Next Page »