Mindy Kaling's New Show...

Is Mindy Kaling moving to FOX?

It looks pretty likely. No, 'The Office' isn't switching channels, but NBC did lose out to FOX in a recent bid for a new show starring Kaling.

Kaling would serve as writer, producer, and star of the new show, which would focus on the trials and tribulations of an OB-GYN.

FOX has ordered a pilot, so Kaling may well be switching shows (and networks) in the Fall.

They're back!

I hate mid-season hiatuses. Really, truly hate them. Mainly because each network seems to abide by a slightly different schedule, and that makes it almost impossible to keep track of when new episodes are airing.

Luckily, I know one thing:

Tonight there are all new episodes of 'Community', 'Parks and Rec', 'The Office', and 'Bones' (and 'Whitney' too, but that's barely worth mentioning). Thank you NBC and FOX! Other channels are airing repeats.

On 'Community' (NBC, 8/7C) it's an episode that's all about Foosball and lying. Sounds like a great combination to me.

Next is 'Parks and Rec' (NBC, 8:30/7:30C) where Leslie goes on trial--my guess is it has something to do with that kissing that happened with Ben last week.

Wrapping up Thursday's comedy line-up is 'The Office' (NBC, 9/8C) which is introducing Maura Tierney as a minor supporting character, in the role of Robert California's wife. I've loved Tierney ever since I first saw 'NewsRadio' so I'm super excited about her return to comedy.

Since I think 'Bones' works best when as little is known about the episode as possible (and I haven't seen it, so I don't want to ruin it for myself by reading an episode description or spoilers) suffice to say that it will probably deal more with Brennan's pregnancy, that pesky house Booth and Brennan are trying to agree on, and a murder. Definitely a murder.

please, please watch this show

Halloween!!

I love Fall. Pumpkins, foliage, apple cider. I also love watching my favorite shows celebrate holidays.

Typically the special holiday episodes kick-off around Halloween, and then continue with Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have a post coming that lists my favorite holiday-themed episodes of all time, but first lets talk about this week's Halloween episodes:

1. Halloween festivities kick-off on Tuesday (Oct 25) with 'The Biggest Loser'. There's (obviously) a candy challenge, and a haunted maze. Tuesday, 8 pm, NBC.

2. Join 'The Middle' on Wednesday for Halloween pranks, costumes, and teen general awkwardness. Wednesday, 8 pm, ABC.

3. 'Suburgatory' follows 'The Middle' with yet another Halloween-themed episode. Wednesday, 8:30 pm, ABC.

4. 'Community' is new again this week, and it's bound to be a challenge as the writers try to outdo last year's zombie-themed episode. Sociopaths, anyone? Thursday, 8 pm, NBC.

5. 'Parks and Recreation' is also new, and promises spooky laughs at April and Andy's Halloween bash. Thursday, 8:30 pm, NBC.

6. Continuing NBC's line-up of Halloween-themed episodes is 'The Office'. I can't be the only one who is waiting impatiently to see whether Erin is capable of throwing a Halloween party. Thursday, 9 pm, NBC.

7. This isn't really Halloween-themed, but it does have monsters: 'Grimm' premieres on Friday. Friday, 9 pm, NBC.

What's new on TV tonight?

Premieres of 'Community', 'Parks & Rec', and 'The Office' start on NBC tonight at 8 pm. After 'The Office' catch the premiere of 'Whitney'.

Also, 'Grey's Anatomy' is two hours long starting at 9 pm on ABC.

 And 'The Big Bang Theory' returns to CBS at 8 pm.

Premiere Dates of Television Shows Fall 2011-2012

It's September, so it is officially time to prepare for the premieres of some of your favorite shows. Pull out that calendar, here are the dates that you need to keep free:

Returning shows (in order of release):

'Glee'
When? Wednesday, Sept 21st at 8 pm
Where? FOX
What? High school Glee club, made up of a bunch of ostracized misfits and popular Cheerleaders, sing and compete and date and break-up.

'Community'
When? Thursday, Sept 22nd at 8 pm
Where? NBC
What? A hilarious half-hour show about a study group at a quirky community college. Plus, Joel McHale.

'Parks and Recreation'
When? Thursday, Sept 22nd at 8:30 pm
Where? NBC
What? A hilarious half-hour show about a group of colleges at a Parks & Rec department. Plus, Amy Poehler.

'The Office'
When? Thursday, Sept 22nd at 9 pm
Where? NBC
What? Employees at a paper company work together, and insanity ensues. Also, no more Steve Carell?

'Desperate Housewives'
When? Sunday, Sept 25th at 9 pm
Where? ABC
What? Focuses on the crazy, crazy lives of a bunch of housewives and their families in a fictional suburb. Frankly, I'm a little shocked this is still on the air.

'Dexter'
When? Sunday, Oct 2nd at 9 pm
Where? Showtime
What? A serial killer who actually works for the police, and only kills bad guys. You need to be caught up on all the older seasons or you'll have no idea what's happening.

'Bones'
When? Thursday, Nov 3rd at 8 pm
Where? FOX
What? Forensic anthropologists and FBI guy solve crimes together, and may or may not be desperately in love with each other. Plus, now there will be two babies!

New shows you might want to watch (in order of release date)...

'Free Agents'
When? Wednesday, Sept 14th at 10:30 pm
Where? NBC
What? Remake of a British comedy (but aren't they all?), two co-workers deal with the aftermath of a one-night stand. Plus, Anthony Stewart Head!

'Two Broke Girls'
When? Monday, Sept 19th at 9:30 pm
Where? CBS
What? Two broke girls, who waitress and nanny. I think it's a comedy.

'New Girl'
When? Tuesday, Sept 20th at 9 pm
Where? FOX
What? Zooey Deschanel (little sis to the star of FOX's hit show, 'Bones') finally has her own show. Basically, she plays an awkward girl who moves in with three guys. Based on the previews, this will either be really funny or really obnoxious.

'Unforgettable'
When? Tuesday, Sept 20th at 10 pm
Where? CBS
What? Poppy Montgomery (of 'Without at Trace' fame) finally gets her own show. What a shock that it's another crime ridden one! She tries to solve the murder of her sister, who was killed when they were children. Oh, and she has the uncanny ability to remember everything (except the murder of her sister).

'Revenge'
When? Wednesday, Sept 21st at 10 pm
Where? ABC
What? A girl wants revenge on the people she believes are responsible for destroying her family. Basically, ABC attempts to use Emily VanCamp in a new show now that they canceled her old one ('Brothers and Sisters').

'Charlie's Angels'
When? Tuesday, Sept 22nd at 8 pm
Where? ABC
What? Modern remake of...'Charlie's Angels'

'Pan Am'
When? Sunday, Sept 25th at 10 pm
Where? ABC
What? Trying to grab some of the fans of 'Mad Men', this show revolves around the lives of beautiful Pan Am stewardesses. Back when they were called 'stewardesses'.

'The Playboy Club'
When? Sunday, Sept 25th at 10 pm
Where? NBC
What? This show revolves around the lives of hot Playboy bunnies, and their love interests/sleazy criminal interactions. Back when Playboy bunnies...never-mind.

'Hart of Dixie'
When? Monday, Sept 26th at 9 pm
Where? CW
What? Big city female surgeon gets sent to small Southern town. If you can buy Rachel Bilson as a surgeon (I said IF!) then you might buy into this show.


Want the release dates and times of other new or old shows? Just leave me a comment!

emmy nominations for 2011 are announced! comedy

2011 Emmy Nominations "Comedy"
...who's nominated, who I want to win, and who probably will
looking for "drama"?

Lead Actress--Comedy:
*Edie Falco She's a media darling, but she won last year.
*Laura Linney She's a media darling, and she's been nominated for academy awards (3) and won emmys (3), it wouldn't surprise me if she beat Poehler.
*Amy Poehler Her show didn't deserve a win last year, but Poehler's hilarity made it a gem in 2011.
*Melissa McCarthy Her show isn't that great, but that hasn't stopped them before (Jon Cryer won in 2009?!).
*Martha Plimpton This show is tons of fun, and I think Plimpton's great, but I don't believe it has the following to win this year.
*Tina Fey She hasn't won since '08, but she's been nominated every year. and while I think she's marvelous I think this may be Poehler's year.

Lead Actor--Comedy:
*Matt LeBlanc Huh, I heard 'Episodes' is good...but I haven't seen it so I can't comment.
*Jim Parsons I can't stand 'The Big Bang Theory'. I know, I know, lots of people like it...
*Johnny Galecki See above.
*Steve Carell Last year on 'The Office'? last chance to win an Emmy? I'm thinking he will win.
*Louis C.K. He's pretty hilarious but maybe a little too vulgar for voters to think he "deserves" an Emmy.
*Alec Baldwin Two Emmy nominations but no win? Well, that's a travesty. I think he should win this year.

Supporting Actress--Comedy:
*Jane Lynch She won last year, and she's hosting this year. So, I guess she could win, but I think they should give someone else a shot.
*Betty White She's already won 7. And 'Hot in Cleveland' is not good.
*Kristen Wiig I know Fey won for SNL that one time, but that was probably a flux.
*Julie Bowen 'Modern Family' was a favorite last year, and out of all their actresses Bowen should win this.
*Jane Krakowski I love her! And I'd love it if she'd win. After all, no other actress wore a giant dog suit (while pregnant!) and walked a man around on a leash.
*Sofia Vergara Again, I love 'Modern Family', but I think Bowen really deserves the nod.

Supporting Actor--Comedy:
*Jon Cryer Read what I wrote for McCarthy above.
*Chris Colfer Yeah, yeah, "Glee" is big. And Colfer's okay. But he is not funny. I just don't see it.
*Jesse Tyler Ferguson Woah they loved their 'Modern Family' this year too! Sorry Jesse, but I want to give this to Ty.
*Ed O'Neill This is his first Emmy nomination, but after publicly snubbing Lynch last year I'm not sure he'll manage a win.
*Eric Stonestreet You won last year. Give someone else a chance!
*Ty Burrell He's hilarious on 'Modern Family', and can say even the most straightforward line with enough character to make you laugh out loud.

Check back later for my opinions on the other Emmy categories. Also, think I'm wrong? Think someone should have been nominated who wasn't? Leave a comment! Who will win? Who should win?

Bones Episode Review: The Finder aka The Bones spin-off episode

THURSDAY NIGHTS ARE THE BEST NIGHTS ON TELEVISION
and "Bones" really contributes to that excellence...normally...

Yay for all of you! Except you CBS, Sorry...

Thursday nights are the best nights on television, hands down. Seriously, can you beat a night full of "Bones", "Grey's", "The Office", "Parks and Rec", and "30 Rock"? Didn't think so. My only complaint is that several of these shows are on at the same time which makes later Hulu-ing/TiVo-ing necessary.

I've given you a full day to catch-up, so I really hope by now you've watched yesterday's "Bones". But, in case you missed it, I'll try to avoid too many spoilers. Basically Bones and Booth had to solve a murder (what else is new) and they were successful (seriously, I'm ruining nothing). What was interesting though was that they appeared in very little of the show. Why? Well, because Hart Hanson and his crew wanted to introduce us to their new show, which will be premiering on Fox in the not too distant future. The show has, rather obviously, the same name as this episode: "The Finder".

During this week's episode Bones and Booth were in Miami where the remains had been discovered. Apparently, Booth has an old army 'friend' (Walter Sherman) who is a finder. Weird that Booth has never, ever mentioned this guy before, huh? Guess you need plenty of army buddies for a successful spin-off series. He can, quite literally, located anything that anyone has ever lost. He was also brain-damaged in the war which causes rampant paranoia.

the new team of "The Finder"

Now, the premise of "The Finder" isn't all bad. Although I do have to admit that it's a bit too much like "The Mentalist" for my liking. Still, Hart Hanson seems to be skilled at making things appealing quirky, so maybe it will be a smash hit. When reviewing this week's "Bones" episode that's kind of beside the point. My biggest problem with the episode? It wasn't "Bones"! So much of it was focused on introducing Walter and his friends (who I assume will be the primary cast of "The Finder") that the tone of the episode was completely wrong. I felt as though I was watching a brand new show that just happened to have a tiny side-story which featured the crew of the Jeffersonian. It felt bizarre to say the least. I do have to admit that I'm often thrown by shows introducing their own spin-offs (I didn't like it much when "NCIS" featured the new cast of "NCIS: LA" much either), still I felt that "Bones" did a particularly poor job.

Oh, look, here we see Walter and Booth briefly interacting

We only saw Booth and Brennan briefly (which was just enough time for Brennan to appear more socially inept and vapid seriously this used to be an intelligent woman, why are the writers doing this? and for Booth to interact with her in a way that was somehow less charming than it used to be.) In fact, it seemed as though they were only there at the beginning and the end, sandwiched around the real story which focused on Walter and his cronies. And which was, essentially, the premiere episode of "The Finder". I understand that "The Finder" is a new show aimed at the same audience as "Bones", but when I sit down in excitement to watch the weekly episode of "Bones" I prefer not to be tricked into watching something else entirely.

And it seems like some other people agree with me, this week "Bones" dropped 9% from last week's viewers...

hating outsourced?

How Racist is "Outsourced"?


Side note: One of us (Sacha Dhawan!) was in "The History Boys".

Lots of people seem to be annoyed about NBC's newest Thursday night comedy. Many of my friends refuse to watch it, citing racism and rampant stereotyping. At first I was also concerned. The show could have easily turned into a comedy based solely on racist jokes. The first episode was really problematic (it showed the workers in India as totally clueless about America, and made jokes about Todd's bad reactions to Indian food). However, I've watched the last couple of episodes, and the show is working hard to actually develop the characters. They've (mainly) moved past the inappropriate Indian stereotypes. And the truth of the matter is that whether racism is overt or not, it's basically present in everything we watch. Check out this study.

For those of you who don't know the premise: Todd is a manager for Mid-American Novelties. The company decides to outsource their ordering service to India, and Todd is told to move there to oversee the switch.

The entire show revolves around Todd adjusting to Indian life. And, honestly, if anyone is shown in a bad light, it's Todd. He is often shockingly stupid about culture in India.

Are there issues with the show? Definitely. Is it racist? I think you can see hints of racism in most episodes. But it also depends on your interpretation. I certainly don't think that the writers are trying to be racist. If anything, they're trying to write a new "Office". Just set in India, with a "fish out of water" experience.

The Americans are often presented as complete idiots for the sake of "comedy" (sometimes this is funnier than others). On tonight's episode (3/24/11) Todd video chats with an American HR Rep. She proceeds to hit on him repeatedly, telling him it doesn't matter because she can just erase what she says:
"In fact, I'm in charge of the tapes...ass, ass, ass, ass, ASS."
Everyone else who is in the United States is also presented in a bad light. Jerry, the owner of the company, occasionally appears via video chat, making ridiculous suggestions while driving poorly or eating whole steaks with his hands.

Sure many of the Indian characters are presented as just as quirky and eccentric as Todd and Jerry, but that's part of what this comedy is about. It's very character driven. If it were completely PC and showed a sensible manager with typical employees it would be boring as hell.

There are also times when aspects of Indian culture are celebrated. Todd and Asha had brief romantic relationship, but she was committed to the idea of an arranged marriage, and she is now engaged in the show*. "Outsourced" is doing a good job of reflecting why Asha wants an arranged marriage, and it should be interesting to see how this evolves.



So, will "Outsourced" be renewed for another season? It's not yet clear. Last week its audience grew by 7 percent (to 3.64 million viewers). Robert Borden, the executive producer, spoke to the LA Times today and expressed his hopes that the show would be renewed.



*I was a little upset when Asha and Todd broke up, but now he's dating Tonya, so I definitely feel better about that. You know, cause she's hot. And Australian.



"Outsourced" is on NBC on Thursdays at 10:30 pm

why didn't you watch it? see what you did? now it's off the air...

"Arrested Development"
aka: why didn't you watch it? see what you did? now it's off the air...

"Arrested Development" is one of the smartest shows of all time, and if these guys ever get their documentary released I will definitely watch it. Let me just point out that it would be a GENIUS move on their part to release it right around the time that the "Arrested Development" movie comes out. You know, if that ever happens.

Now, let me just point out another lovely connection: In Season 2 of "Arrested Development" (which began in 2003) they mention "Nip/Tuck" ('Hand to God').

George Michael: "And Anne's off with her religious group trying to get 'Nip/Tuck' taken off the air"
Michael: "They don't like 'Nip/Tuck'?"
George Michael: "Well, they don't like anything..."

And who was in "Nip/Tuck" in 2007 as a guest actor (come on, you know this, I've mentioned it before...)? One of the leading actors in "Arrested Development", Portia de Rossi. She discusses her first ever role as a lesbian HERE.

Portia de Rossi & Joely Richardson

is it just me, or do they look a little too similar?

Phyllis Smith
Please note: this image is perfectly related to the next post's discussion/rant about "Toddlers & Tiaras"

Phyllis Smith is now very well-known for "The Office". But her first ever part was actually on "Arrested Development". She didn't even have any lines, but she did get to sit in on a Bluth board meeting. And that's something.

all of these images were found on a basic Google search using the keywords "Arrested Development cast", "de Rossi Nip/Tuck" & "Phyllis Smith". I do not own copyright for any of these images.