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Rob Lowe to exit Brothers and Sisters
Dishy Rob Lowe will exit US drama Brothers & Sisters, it has been announced.
The movie star-turned-TV star has been playing Senator Robert McCallister, eventual husband of Kitty Walker (Callista Flockhart), since appearing in a recurring role in 2006.
In that time he’s been politically opposed by some of the Walker clan, but embraced by the family around many of their perpetual dinner parties and functions. Last season he also had a medical emergency and a threat to his marriage.
But the exit for the former West Wing star may lead to greater role …
The Greatest TV Shows Of The Noughties?
Lists, lists and more lists emerging as the year and the decade draw to a close.
There are many opinions about which shows have shaped the last ten years of television.
The Sunday Age on the weekend noted: The Sopranos, The Office, Australian Idol, Big Brother and Lost.
“Big Brother debuted in the Netherlands in 1999. By 2001 we had our own version, and we could not believe our eyes. For the first time we were seeing not just real people on television, but real people like us. Despite furious denial in some …
Matthew Perry comedy for ABC network
America’s ABC network has picked up the rights to the new single-camera comedy being developed by Matthew Perry.
The former Friends and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip star will play a self-involved manager of a second-rate sports arena who begins to reevaluate his life on his 40th birthday.
The comedy is based on an idea by Perry, and will be written with Sony-based Alex Barnow and Marc Firek (both ofTil Death, Out of Practice, Family Guy). Thomas Schlamme (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing) will direct.
Amid continued speculation …
ABC2 down to The Wire
Marena Manzoufas isn’t a name that’s as well known as David Mott, Tim Worner or Michael Healy but it’s no less integral to our television viewing.
Manzoufas is Head of Programming for the ABC, a position she has held for the last 8 years. In the first of a rare two-part interview with TV Tonight, she talks about her approaches to ABC1 and ABC2, and the role of the public broadcaster.
Prior to working at the ABC, Manzoufas had roles in Programming & Acquisitions at SBS and in sales at Beyond.
At ABC she …
Vale: Karl Malden
Esteemed character actor Karl Malden, who became known to millions of TV viewers as a veteran police detective in The Streets of San Francisco, has died, aged 97. No cause of death was reported.
Despite his years alongside a young Michael Douglas (pictured), it was in film and theatre that he made his mark. He played the shy suitor in A Streetcar Named Desire and an Oscar nominated performance in On the Waterfront. Amongst his countless films were Baby Doll, Gypsy, Cheyenne Autumn and Nuts.
He made his greatest mark in Hollywood in …
ABC2 coming soon: The Wire, The Beast & more
ABC2 has announced some of its upcoming programming will include The Wire, the premiere of Patrick Swayze’s new series The Beast, plus repeats of ABC1’s United States of Tara (starring Toni Collette), Cold Feet, and John Safran’s Race Relations.
The shows will comprise part of the channel programming in the next six months.
Viewers who have missed out on The Wire on Channel Nine will now have a chance to see what is frequently lauded as one of the best TV shows of all time -a strategy it took with re-screening The West …
Returning: The Wire
The Wire’s fifth and final season is finally returning to Channel Nine.
The award-winning HBO drama will return to late nights in a 11:45pm am timeslot from Tuesday July 7. It was originally slated for May.
The episode “More with Less” screened in the US in January 2008.
Frequently praised as one of the best television series of all time, it is known for paralleling the war on terror through the war on drugs. Each season focuses on a different facet of the city of Baltimore.
Season 5 focuses on the media and media consumption …
Desperate spin-off on the cards
Now here’s a series with promise: a Desperate Housewives spin-off for Kathryn Joosten and Lily Tomlin, two terrific character actresses whose performances as Karen McCluskey and her sister Roberta have provided a great comic sub-plot this season.
Joosten has been memorable on the show from the get go, especially with her scenes with Felicity Huffman (Lynette). She’s picked up Emmy Awards as a result of her work on the show.
Tomlin of course is lauded as a film actress, even though she hit the big time on TV’s Laugh-In in the 1960s. …
Airdate: Mad Men
It’s taken a long time, but Mad Men, the always-awarded US drama series, will soon have its premiere on Australian free to air TV.
Set in the boardrooms of New York’s 1960s advertising agencies, this exquisite series premieres on SBS at 8:30pm on Thursdays April 16. The production design is outstanding.
Created, executive produced and written by Sopranos writer Matthew Weiner the 13-part series depicts America ‘before the loss of innocence, the assassinations, the Vietnam backlash, the Summer of Love…a time when the workplace is a hotbed of casual, cavalier misogyny and racism, …
Vale: Ron Silver
Ron Silver, best known for a recurring role as a slick strategist for liberal President Jed Bartlet on The West Wing has died. He was 62.
Silver died after a two-year battle with esophageal cancer.
The actor was nominated for an Emmy for his West Wing role. He played lawyer Alan Dershowitz in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune, starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons. Silver won the Tony Award for Best Actor in 1988 for David Mamet’s Speed the Plow.
Silver was a regular or had recurring roles on such TV shows as …
TV: The Bush Legacy
Entertainment invariably reflects its social and political times. Movies and television shows are products of their generation. When Clinton was in office there was a flood of movies depicting the US President as an action hero –something writers could never have done while crusty old Ronnie Reagan or George Bush Snr were in power. The West Wing also emerged under the Clinton reign.
So as George Dubya Bush now steps down and makes way for a change in the US, what is his television legacy?
What television shows were a response to his …
Vale: Steve Gilborn
Steven Gilborn, best known as the father of Ellen DeGeneres’ character on Ellen, died last week. He was 72.
He died of cancer.
Gilborn also played the maths teacher on The Wonder Years and appeared in Damages, The Bernie Mac Show, NYPD Blue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, The Practice, L.A. Law, Columbo and Law & Order.
His film credits include Nurse Betty Doctor Doolittle, The Brady Bunch Movie and The Late Shift.
Gilborn is survived by his wife of 42 years, photographer Karen Halverson, two daughters and four grandchildren.
Source: Variety