re: the use of Wendell on 'Castle'

Regarding the use of Michael Grant Terry ('Bones'' Wendell) on 'Castle':

'Rizzoli and Isles', Lesbian Subtext, and TNT Ratings

 'Rizzoli and Isles' (airing Monday nights 10/9C on TNT) is full of lesbian subtext. There's no way around it, you watch an episode and it's just there. I watched a single episode with my mother, with no conversations about what the show entailed ahead of time, and by the time we were halfway through she had already asked me if Jane and Maura were together.

And the answer is no, no they're not. And they probably never will be. The characters are both straight women--Janet Tamaro (the creater) has said this, Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon have said this, and Tess Gerritsen (who wrote the books upon which the characters are based) has said this. But, despite the fact that the characters are (apparently, definitively, 100%)  straight, the show is full of lesbian subtext. And some of it is so obvious it's maintext (if you don't believe me watch the most recent episode, "Seventeen Ain't So Sweet"-S2Ep14).

There is no way that all of that is accidental; everyone involved with the show knows about its large lesbian following. Janet Tamaro has commented on it in interviews, and Sasha Alexander acknowledged the Lesbian 'Rizzoli and Isles' Drinking Game on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (see the clip below).  I imagine that in the writers room they have fun throwing in situations where Maura and Jane could be construed as being a couple, and I imagine Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon occasionally throw a few meaningful glances in amongst their acting for the same reason.

After all, lets be honest, if they show wasn't acquiring a lesbian following it wouldn't be doing half as well. It's just not that good. The writing isn't any more brilliant than half a dozen other crime shows on the air right now (and no where near as good as 'Castle' or 'Bones'), but it has something those shows don't have. Two incredibly attractive female leads. My guess is that at the very least the executives at TNT try to continue to appeal to their lesbian following--the infamous speed dating promo suggests that's the case.

And if TNT wasn't aware of the true importance of their lesbian viewers before this week's episode, maybe they will be now.  Neither #RizzoliandIsles nor #RandI trended during the most recent episode, but you know what did trend? #gayzzoli. Hopefully TNT, and 'Rizzoli and Isles', will take a hint and keep up the subtext.

Sasha Alexander talks about how gay her show is, plus the drinking game:
TNT's speed dating promo:

I found the great screen shot at RizzleGirls

It's Competition Time...

How is this in any way a fair competition, TVLine?

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO VOTE

 TVLine is now running their 'Law-Enforcement Crushes' Tournament.

After an intense Twitter battle between Michael Weatherly ('NCIS') and Nathan Fillion ('Castle'), Weatherly was crowned the winner in the male competition.

Nathan Fillion: Twitter, New York, & Interviews

Apparently Nathan Fillion's twitter is useful!

Fillion announced yesterday that he was traveling to New York to attend premieres and promote his show ('Castle') on morning shows:

NathanFillion Nathan Fillion

What's that, NY? You miss me? You wanna do what? Premieres and morning shows? I'm in!

Unfortunately Fillion didn't announce which morning shows...but that's okay, because I did the research for you.

On Friday (11/25), otherwise known as the day after Thanksgiving, Fillion will be making an appearance on 'Live with Regis and Kelly!'. Which, weirdly, will no longer have Regis (his final show is 11/18).

Thanks to the commenter who pointed out that Fillion will also be appearing on 'Good Morning America' on Monday (Nov. 21st). The show airs on ABC  and begins at 7 am.

I'm not sure what else he's appearing on, since he doesn't appear to be on any late night show schedules. If you have an idea, be sure to let me know!

Now, I assumed that since 'Castle' wasn't filming (how ever would they film without Fillion?!) that meant that Stana Katic would also be doing interviews. And I was right. Here's Katic on 'The Talk' (first airing 11/17):

'Rizzoli & Isles' Summer Finale: Live on Twitter

My roommate graciously gave up watching the Pats game so that I could watch 'Rizzoli & Isles' live. That means I'm officially ready for the summer finale! Some, however, aren't quite as ready. TNT had promised that Sasha Alexander, Angie Harmon, and Tess Gerritsen (who writes the books that the series is based on*) would all be tweeting live to accompany the show. Unfortunately, that won't be the case. Sasha Alexander just tweeted that they're still on the set, and since she hasn't even seen the episode yet it will be a little tricky for her to do commentary: "East coast/midwest tweeters! Here's the deal, I'm going to do my best to live tweet with you but we are still at work" (SashaAlexander1).

You can follow along with Tess Gerritsen's tweets here: https://twitter.com/#!/tessgerritsen
And see if Sasha Alexander gives any more updates here: http://twitter.com/#!/sashaalexander1



*'The Silent Girl' by Tess Gerritsen is the book that Hoyt was reading in his hospital room!

The TCA (Television Critics Association) is mainly men

What is The TCA?
(and who cares if they met?)

The Television Critics Association, often referred to as The TCA, just held their bi-annual meetings, and for once they weren't as secretive as normal. For the first year ever social networking was allowed within the meetings, which meant that dozens of people slouched in chairs throughout the conference rooms tweeting their reactions to the networks' presentations of their newest shows.

If you're curious about what happened in these usually secretive meetings you can just Google 'TCA twitter'.

During the yearly TCA meeting television critics from all over the country gather to hear spiels from networks who are hoping to win them over. The networks are all praying that the snippets they display of their new shows gain popularity amongst the critics, and get favorable reviews both in print and online (which will ultimately translate to a higher initial number of viewers). Essentially, they're hoping for free publicity. And if they don't get it their show could easily crash and burn. Presence on the internet (and particularity good press) is more important than ever.

But who are these TV critics who hold the potential to sway the American public to such a large degree? For one thing, they're largely men. If you go to The TCA website you can see a list of several critics who are members (click on them to see which publications they write for). Of the 77 television critics listed only 24 of them are women. For those of you who prefer percentages, that means that only 31% of the television industry's most recognized TV critics are female. Which really begs the question, how does that influence which shows gain popularity? Sure, gender isn't everything, but it does play some role in our reactions to what we see onscreen. If it didn't the whole concept of chick flicks would be a moot point.

How to you feel about the fact that published television critics are predominantly men? And do you think that plays a role in how different TV shows are received by the American public?

'Rizzoli & Isles', Sasha Alexander's twitter, & Boston Fleet Week episode

'Rizzoli & Isles': Episode 3 ("Sailor Man")

So, this has basically become the 'Rizzoli & Isles' blog and I apologize for that. It's just that with the lack of new television airing this summer (for those of us who don't have Showtime, HBO, etc. anyway) it's one of the best things on the air.

So, if you're as obsessed with the show as I am, you should check out Sasha Alexander's twitter tonight as you watch the episode. She's going to be chatting live (aka tweeting) about the show and answering viewers' questions. She'll do it during both the PT and ET showings, so regardless of what coast you live on you won't miss the 'live' aspect.

Angie Harmon was supposed to do this last week, but that failed miserably (either she forgot, her Twitter wasn't working, so some sort of family issue came up). But Alexander did it two weeks ago, so at least we know she's somewhat reliable!

Here's her twitter: SashaAlexander1

'Rizzoli & Isles' airs tonight on TNT at 10 pm. It's all about Fleet Week, which evidently happened in Boston last month (I certainly missed it, but I guess I don't live in the right part of town).

Here's the promo:

TV Schedule during Spring Break

I want that show to be new this week...NOW.
Or
The Genius of Mid-Season Replacements

So, instead of analyzing a show, I'm going to write about television scheduling. I know, that sounds really boring. But, I promise you, some of the networks are making genius moves with their scheduling that you're probably missing.

I'm sure you've all noticed (if you watch any TV at all) that there haven't been new shows for the last couple of weeks. Why? Because it's Spring Break! Maybe not at your college (and definitely not at your work), but at some college, somewhere. And viewers age 18-24 make up a large percentage of the viewing demographic. They also have the capability of destroying a show. If you lose that demographic either because they're not watching, or because they're Facebooking/Tweeting/Commenting on the internet about how bad it is (59%). Well, your show could be off the air before you know it. As a network, it's important to count that particular age group.


It turns out, the higher your education level, the more likely you are to evaluate a show online. But it's not just the college-age kids the networks need to be worried about. While watching TV 42% of Americans are online, and many of them (61%) will have a social media site where they can post something about what they are watching.*

So, what's that genius move I'm talking about? It's taking a chance and introducing a brand-new show while all the popular/currently on the air shows are on hiatus. Some networks choose to do this during the summer, and then use the shows which are successful that first summer during subsequent summers. TNT did this last summer with "Rizzoli and Isles".

And ABC is doing it right now with "Body of Proof". The show premiered during the first week of this incredibly long and tedious 'spring break' hiatus. And they've released three new episodes already, while all the other networks are running mainly reruns (except for reality tv shows, but that's a whole other issue). So, what do you think the most popular current episodes on Hulu are? The first three episodes of "Body of Proof"! Now, this method of releasing TV shows during hiatus only works if your television show is good/successful (not mutually exclusive!) because you need to retain viewers after the other shows come back on air. Unfortunately, as I've said earlier, I don't think that "Body of Proof" will stand up to that test.



*"About the Data: This 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll was conducted online within the US between March 11 and 15, 2011 among 2,526 adults (aged 18 and older). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Where appropriate, this data were also weighted to reflect the composition of the adult online population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online". Marketing Chart