BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–Look for more cowbell when NBC presents Christopher Walken as Captain Hook in Peter Pan Live. NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt made the casting announcement Sunday morning at the executive session of his network’s portion of the TCA press tour. NBC had great success last Christmas with their first Broadway re-do, The Sound of
Guillermo del Toro loves Toronto. The Mexico-born director has shot five projects in the city and raves about the crews every chance he gets. He’s putting hundreds to work on the new horror-thriller The Strain, which premieres Sunday night on FX and FX Canada. I caught up with him in June when he was the
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–Vince Gilligan is one of the reigning heroes of press tour. The Breaking Bad EP and showrunner is still taking bows and picking up award nominations for one of the best series finales ever. So why did he and fellow producer Peter Gould spend much of their TCA session Friday downplaying expectations on
I admit it–I’m a-scared of The Strain. The new Guillermo del Toro vampire thriller premieres Sunday on FX and FX Canada. Helping me over my heebie-jeebies was a visit to the set. The Strain shoots in Toronto at an old west-end glass factory-turned-TV studio and the folks there aren’t scary at all. Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bate’s Motel)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–Walking out to a blaring KISS anthem, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley woke up Friday’s gathering of TV critics in Los Angeles. “We’re not what you just had here,” understated Stanley. The Halloween rockers followed a rather dry presentation for the Sundance Channel drama “The Honorable Woman” starring Maggie Gyllenghaal. Simmons and Stanley were in what
For years, CHML’s Scott Thompson has called down to LA to get the scoop on the Summer TCA Press Tour. It did not surprise me that he seemed most keenly interested in a VH-1 show promoted Friday called Dating Naked. The premise is fairly simple: a dude and a lady strip down and go on a
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–It felt funny to be sitting through an MTV press tour session Friday for a series called Happyland. Funny yes, but happy, no. The feeling doesn’t particularly have anything to do with the merits of the series. It’s a teen comedy, set at a theme park, featuring a gaggle of photogenic young adults. One producer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–HBO chief executives Richard Plepler and Michael Lombardo had plenty to crow about at Thursday’s TCA press tour session. Once again, thgeir premium cable network had cleaned up at the Emmys, snaring 99 nominations, including a record 19 for the limited run series True Detective. (That tally nosed out the 18 noms gained