Image Credit: BBC
British stars Claire Skinner, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir, and Alexander Armstrong will appear in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special. The holiday episode of the time travel show is set during World War II and, according to the BBC, will find Skinner’s character and her two children evacuated to “a draughty old house, where the caretaker is a mysterious young man in a bow tie, and a big blue parcel is waiting for them under the tree.”
Image Credit: JoJo Whilden/The CW
Sarah Michelle Gellar isn’t the only geek icon returning to television this fall in Ringer. Ioan Gruffudd — maybe best known to the masses for playing super-elastic egghead Reed Richards in two Fantastic Four movies — boasts a large following himself for playing author C.S. Forester’s fictional 18th/19th century British naval hero Horatio Hornblower in a series of eight impressively-produced Emmy-winning TV movies that aired on A&E from 1998 to 2003. Gruffudd, 37, loves being identified with the role — and would love to be playing it for years to come. The Welsh actor — whose other film credits include Titanic, Black Hawk Down, and King Arthur — tells EW that if Ringer is a smash, he’d like to leverage his career heat to rally interest and funding for more Hornblower films, which he says are quite expensive to make. READ FULL STORY »
Gleefanatics, you’re gonna piddle your pants. As a self-confessed Gleek, I feel I can be honest with you… plus I try to use the word “piddle” as often as possible. With only days until the Sept. 20 season 3 premiere of Glee, here’s a fabulous treat to kick off your weekend: EW is exclusively premiering one of the biggest musical numbers from the premiere, a cafeteria-set cover of The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat.” I saw the premiere yesterday with co-creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy in attendance, and I can promise you the premiere delivers the goods. (Check out my colleague Lynette Rice’s account of the Glee fun.) But don’t just take my word for it! Watch below and try not to tap your feet. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Fred Savage will be busy behind and in front of the camera on the Happy Endings set next week: EW has learned that he is not only directing his second episode of the sophomore ABC comedy, this time he’ll be making a rare onscreen appearance, guest starring as himself. (We can’t give away too much, but let’s just say involves a bad date, Elisha Cuthbert’s Alex, and Savage providing live commentary for The Princess Bride.)
The former Wonder Years star reinvented himself as TV director years ago, helming episodes of such series as Modern Family, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Ugly Betty. Savage’s episode is slated to air sometime this fall, while season 2 of Happy Endings debuts Sept. 28.
One week away from the return of Fringe Friday, Fox has released a significant peek at the sci-fi saga’s season 4 premiere. The tease comes in the form of the fifth and final installment in a series of promos that began in July called “Where Is Peter Bishop?” — a reference to the season 3 cliffhanger that saw Joshua Jackson’s challenger of the unknown disappearing from existence after a trip through time. (Note how Peter’s quantum leaping is evoked in the graphic featured in all of “WIPB?” spots of the numeral 4, toppled over. The icon suggests both looping and branching theories of time travel.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Richard Cartwright/ABC; Bob D’Amico/ABC; Cliff Lipton
Welcome to Spoiler Room: Jen’s Edition. Kidding. But also not really. After wrapping up today’s column, I realized I chose four questions from people named Jen. I promise you, this is not an act of favoritism. But now I’m really curious how many of you are out there.
Regardless, if you ask, I’ll answer. So get askin’! Send your questions, ponderings, new show scoop requests, and post-premiere reactions to spoilerroom@ew.com. And if many of your names happen to be Jen, fantastic. (Your move, Sarahs.)
‘GREY’S ANATOMY’: FINALLY SOME MER/DER FOR YOU
I can’t tell you how often I get harassed lovingly asked for Meredith and Derek scoop, and after sitting through next week’s two-hour premiere with my mouth hanging open for 80 minutes (two hours, minus commercials), here’s what you’re going to get out of me on Mer/Der, Crowen, and Alex (who is sans nickname because he’s all alone. Poor Alex). READ FULL STORY »
It doesn’t take much more than a shirtless Damon to pique our interest, and the latest promo for The Vampire Diaries does all that and much more. The new clip gives us an extended sneak peek at a scene from this week’s premiere episode, “The Birthday,” that’s sure to make any Delena fan’s heart palpitate. In the clip, Damon startles Elena by stepping out of the shower sans clothing. Of course, she manages to look away just long enough to talk about tracking down Stefan, but Damon’s not having it (or so it seems). Watch the promo, which also features some juicy dish from writer Julie Plec, and let us know if you’re ready for this season’s twists and turns.
Image Credit: Autumn Dewilde/Fox
If you were five-alarm charmed by Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer, there’s one day on the fall calendar you might want to circle: Sept. 20, when New Girl debuts on Fox. (For the more impatient, you can download the first episode from iTunes for free right now.) The blue-eyed indie film vet stars as Jess, a freshly dumped but adorable she-nerd who moves in with a trio of dudes, and it turns out everyone has a lot of learning to do about the opposite sex. EW spoke with Deschanel and series creator Liz Meriwether about their twentysomething comedy. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Mitchell Haaseth/NBC
In 2009, Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Anthony Stewart Head was playing a thrice-divorced sex-obsessed boss to two recently single talent agents looking for love (occasionally with each other, occasionally without) on the British comedy Free Agents. This year, he’s doing the same thing — but on the American remake (which premieres on NBC tonight at 10:30, before moving to its regular 8:30 timeslot next week) and with a few differences (here, they’re PR execs), yet the same silly, provocative panache. This guy knows a sexual position called the Flying Dutchman, and he’s not afraid to use it. EW caught up with Head recently to chat about the show, his character, American adaptations, and filming next door to Mad Men. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: The CW
The return of Sarah Michelle Geller to series TV delivered a solid, if unexciting, number for The CW.
The good news: Ringer greatly improved upon its 90210 lead-in and performed far better (up 66 percent) than Life Unexpected‘s debut in the slot last year. But Ringer was originally developed for CBS and has generated plenty of headlines for The CW this summer, and it would have been nice to see the drama’s debut break out of network’s standard ratings zone.
Ringer was seen by 2.7 million viewers and earned a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49. That’s the largest total audience — though not the highest rating — that the network has had in that slot since 90210 premiered there a few years ago (both SMG and 90210 draw an older audience than, say, Vampire Diaries, which is why the total viewers number is relatively high compared to the more important number — the rating). The return of 90210 (1.6 million, 0.8) dipped 11 percent from its premiere last fall. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Fox
A rather jaunty Simon Cowell, who’s bringing a U.S. version of his British hit The X Factor to Fox on Sept. 21, talked to reporters Tuesday about his experience filming so far. “I would say the American audiences are more vocal,” he said. “When they like someone, they let you know. And they certainly let you know when they disagree with you. There were a few occasions when we had to — otherwise I may have gotten seriously injured — bring back certain contestants we’d said no to.”
Will this aggression stand, man? It will! “We did say to [the audience], you’re like the fifth judge here. So it was fun, and everywhere we went, the crowds were good. Better in the evenings, because you could feel that they were drunk. I might do that for the live shows — just make everybody drink.”
More from reality TV’s newest boozehound after the jump: READ FULL STORY »
James Hibberd
@James_Hibberd
Lynette Rice
@EWLynette
