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Exclusive Interview: GRIMM co-creators David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf on Season 1 and the future of the series

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 05/18/2012

David Giuntoli and Silas Weir Mitchell in GRIMM - Season 1 - "Last Grimm Standing" | ©2012 NBC/Scott Green

Talking to GRIMM co-creators (credit shared with Stephen Carpenter)/executive producers (with Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner)/show runners David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf have been working together for ages. For one thing, their collaboration dates back to the screenplay for 1982’s feature film WACKO. Or you could listen to the way the two Los Angeles natives share opinions and complete each other’s sentences while talking about their current supernatural procedural drama GRIMM has its first-season finale tonight at 9 on NBC; it’s already been renewed for next season. David Giuntoli plays Portland, Oregon police detective Nick Burkhardt, who is still dealing […]Read On »

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TV Review: COMMUNITY – Season 3 – “Introduction To Finality” – Season Finale

By CARL CORTEZ

Danny Pudi is Evil Abed in COMMUNITY - Season 3 - "Introduction to Finality" | ©2012 NBC/Lewis Jacobs

Stars: Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, Chevy Chase, Jim Rash Writer: Steve Basilone & Annie Mebane Director: Tristram Shapeero Network: NBC, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: May 17, 2012 With NBC airing the last three episodes of COMMUNITY in a sort of marathon block, it’s hard to grade the episodes fairly. Each week of COMMUNITY is a treat unto itself – and not knowing what’s coming next or what they’re attempting to parody is part of the fun. Watching them in three big lumps (while cool), takes some of the […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: GRIMM star Silas Weir Mitchell is not Blutbad to the bone

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN

Silas Weir Mitchell in GRIMM - Season 1 - "Last Grimm Standing" | ©2012 NBC/Scott Green

On NBC’s GRIMM, which has its first-season finale tonight at 9 PM, David Giuntoli plays Portland, Oregon police homicide detective Nick Burkhardt. In the opener of the series, created by Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, Nick discovers that he is a Grimm, someone who can see the true nature of supernatural entities living among oblivious humans. Nick’s initially reluctant guide to the world of the Wesen (pronounced “Vessen”), as the supernatural beings are called, is a Wiesen Blutbad named Eddie Monroe, played by Silas Weir Mitchell. Blutbads are the basis for werewolf myths, we are told, but Monroe […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: COMMUNITY star Yvette Nicole Brown on the finale and Season 4

By A.C. FERRANTE 05/17/2012

Yvette Nicole Brown in COMMUNITY - Season 3 - "Regional Holiday Music" | ©2012 NBC/Jordin Althaus

With COMMUNITY airing a three-episode Season 3 finale marathon tonight, Yvette Nicole Brown who plays the outspoken Shirley Bennett on the series chatted with ASSIGNMENT X about the season and where the show could go in Season 4. Here’s what she had to say … ASSIGNMENT X: Every time you watch the show, you don’t know what you’re going to get – it must be like that for the actors when they get the scripts. YVETTE NICOLE BROWN: It’s an acting exercise every week. Will I be doing a drama? Will I be doing a musical? I love it. Where […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: Kyle Killen is wide AWAKE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN

Jason Isaacs in AWAKE - Season 1 - "Two Birds" | ©2012 NBC/Jordin Althaus

NBC’s AWAKE, which airs its series finale next week, is a show that unfortunately did not find an audience. Partly a police procedural – its hero, Jason Isaacs’ character Michael Britten, is a Los Angeles police homicide detective – AWAKE has another component that makes it unique. Following a terrible car accident, Michael awakens to one reality where his wife has survived the crash but their teenaged son is dead; when he goes to sleep, he wakes up in another reality where his son is alive but his wife has perished. Cases in one reality also turn up in different […]Read On »

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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Bombshell” – Season Finale

By CARL CORTEZ 05/15/2012

Katharine McPhee in SMASH - Season 1 - "Bombshell" | ©2012 NBC/Eric Liebowitz

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Theresa Rebeck Director: Michael Morris Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: May 15, 2012 My biggest regret of the entire 2011-2012 TV season – sticking with NBC’s Broadway musical series SMASH to the bitter end. And it’s been a hard pill to swallow. It’s a show that started off strong, and then, through a series of bad decisions and one awful storyline after another, destroyed the show’s entire existence. The story was all about finding the right Marilyn Monroe for a new Broadway production – and […]Read On »

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Interview: Katharine McPhee makes a SMASH with the Season 1 finale

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 05/14/2012

Katharine McPhee in SMASH - Season 1 | ©2012 NBC/Patrick Randak

NBC’s SMASH, set in the world of Broadway musicals, has its first season finale tonight at 10 PM. Never fear – the show has been renewed for a second season. This year, one of the main plotlines has been the rivalry between veteran musical chorus member Ivy Bell, played by musical theatre veteran Megan Hilty, and New York newcomer Karen Cartwright, played by Katharine McPhee in her first scripted TV series lead. McPhee, a Los Angeles native, shot to pop fame as the runner-up in the 2006 fifth season of AMERICAN IDOL. Since then, she’s appeared in feature films, including […]Read On »

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TV Review: PARKS AND RECREATION – Season 4 – “Win, Lose, Or Draw” – Season Finale

By CARL CORTEZ 05/11/2012

Amy Poehler in PARKS AND RECREATION - Season 4 - "Win, Lose, Or Draw" | ©2012 NBC/Tyler Golden

Stars: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe Network: NBC, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: May 11, 2011 As NBC mulls the fate of PARKS AND RECREATION (it would seem an impossibility that they wouldn’t bring it back, even for a truncated season), the fourth season finale “Win, Lose Or Draw” proves why the show shouldn’t be on the bubble, and deserves a few more seasons of its well-oiled comedy. Like THE OFFICE, PARKS AND RECREATION derives its humor from the mockmentary approach. There’s a little more fluidity with the PARKS […]Read On »

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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Previews”

By CARL CORTEZ 05/08/2012

Katharine McPhee in SMASH - Season 1 - "Previews" | ©2012 NBC/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writer: David Marshall Grant Director: Robert Duncan McNeill Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: May 8, 2012 As SMASH nears next week’s Season 1 finale, one can’t help but scratch their head at how a once promising show sunk so low, so fast. While I still admit to being fascinated by a handful of characters and the backstage antics pertaining to the Broadway music itself, it’s the misguided decisions where the writers have forced their generally well-written characters to partake in that just strips the show of […]Read On »

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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Publicity”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 04/24/2012

Katherine McPhee stars in SMASH Publicity on NBC | © 2012/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Theresa Rebeck Director: Michael Mayer Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: April 23, 2012 You can’t help wondering, sometimes, if SMASH creator Theresa Rebeck, who is also a playwright, has had more than one run-in with a movie actor. In “Publicity,” an episode she wrote, she’s got more fun and games going with Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman), the movie actress brought in to play Marilyn in order to attract investors and an audience. But once again, the story line moves away from the show and more into the […]Read On »