Welcome to CraveOnline's Idiot Box Updates, where we run down all the latest TV news and separate the facts from the rumors and nonsense on and about the small screen.
Here's a list of the top 20 prime-time network shows by viewership numbers, compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Jan. 18-24. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. NFC Championship: Minnesota vs. New Orleans, Fox, 57.93 million.
2. “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 26.85 million.
3. “American Idol” (Tuesday), Fox, 26.38 million.
4. “NFC Championship Post-Game Show,” Fox, 23.83 million.
5. “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 16.31 million.
6. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 15.05 million.
7. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 14.91 million.
8. “The Mentalist,” CBS, 14.56 million.
9. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 14.29 million.
10. “NCIS,” CBS, 14.19 million.
11. “CSI: NY,” CBS, 13.54 million.
12. “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 13.22 million.
13. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 12.7 million.
14. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 12.34 million.
15. “Bones,” Fox, 11.97 million.
16. “24,” Fox, 11.11 million.
17. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 10.67 million.
18. “Human Target,” Fox, 10.46 million.
19. “How I Met Your Mother,” CBS, 10.41 million.
20. “Biggest Loser 9,” NBC, 9.95 million.
Very soon, T-Pain will invade your televisions with "Freaknik: The Musical," a one-hour animated special based on a now-defunct annual Atlanta street party known for raging harder than hard. The TV-MA cartoon premieres March 7 on the Adult Swim, and follows students who are looking to resurrect the street party. T-Pain is the "party ghost," while Lil Wayne voices the character Trap Jesus, who T-Pain describes as having "a Jesus-type aura to him." Samberg portrays a "frat boy" while Kelis plays the role of Tyra Banks, whose television show T-Pain's character appears on.
"Freaknik: The Musical" also features Andy Samberg, Lil' Wayne, Bill Hader, Kelis, Snoop Dogg and George Clinton, among others.
"Some people are going to hate it, some people are going to think it's funny," T-Pain said, who's worked on the project for two years. Should be interesting, to say the least...
Joss Whedon is gearing up for the finale of "Dollhouse," but his legions of fans want to know what he'll be up to next. According to ScreenRant, with rumors of a show on FX, Dr. Horrible 2 and aspirations of directing Glee making the rounds, Joss cleared the air on a couple topics:
On the sequel to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,
“Sadly, my collaborators don’t have more time on their hands. They all have other jobs, which I think is both rude and disgusting. But we very much want to do it. We meet, we hammer out stuff, we have songs, we have ideas, we’re really working it, but it’s a slow-moving train. We’re very passionate about it, and Neil’s been great. He’s always checking in before he takes a gig.”
On directing an episode of "Glee" this March:
“That’s something that’s trying to be worked out, but I haven’t heard whether or not that’s going to take place. I hope so, that’d be great, [but] I don’t know anything about it. I’m just a director on hire for that. I’m a huge fan, [so] I’m going to show up and hopefully put the cameras somewhere useful.”
What do you get when you draw a raccoon face on a pumpkin, give it an atrocious accent, a propensity for violence and the mental capacity of a chimp? At least one of the cast members of "Jersey Shore," that's who. The douchalicious cast is aiming to keep fist-pumping into Season 2, but a deal's yet to be reached on the salaries and things are getting tense between MTV and the kind of people who take unpleasant stereotypes to unprecedented levels.
MTV has stepped up its offer to $10,000 an episode after the cast banded together to demand more money, and agreements could be reached by week's end for another season.... I'm sorry, that's about as far as I can take this story. I lived in Jersey. The flashbacks are getting too strong. These people actually exist. And there's tens of thousands of them.
Variety is claiming that David Fincher and Charlize Theron are collaborating to create a new serial killer investigation series called "Mind Hunter" for HBO. Fox 21 has optioned the book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Killer Unit, which was collaboratively written by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker and based on Douglas’ own experiences as a top FBI investigator of serial killers and rapists.
Fincher is said to be executive producing the project along with Theron, and the project marks the first collaboration between Fox 21 and HBO.
"Heroes" star Greg Grunberg says the show's inability to kill in the ratings falls squarely on the shoulders of problem-plagued NBC. The show has been in trouble for most of the season, and Grunberg, who plays Matt Parkman, says poor scheduling and marketing caused the significant ratings drop. My two cents: the writing sucked terribly, which caused the rest of the show to fall flat. NBC acted accordingly.
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Leonard Nimoy is set to return for the second season finale of "Fringe" as trickster William Bell, to finally go toe to toe with his one-time partner, Walther Bishop (John Noble).
Consulting producer Akiva Goldsman - who will be directing the two-part finale - had the following to say:
“William and Walter will finally face off in the finale. These [characters] have so much that they’re bringing to bear. And Leonard and John are two fantastic actors. We’re trying to do the last two episodes as a singular event, a little bit more movie-like. It’s really one big story. We’re approaching it like a mini-feature. It’ll have a singular narrative drive.”
VH1 has ordered several new projects for the spring season, and the reality trend is getting laid on thick.
Makeover series "Transform Me" and dating advice series "Undateable" will both give viewers ways to improve their lives. Then there's "Famous Crime Scene," which chronicles pop culture's most shocking deaths, as well as a Canadian docu-drama show, “Peak Season: Vancouver."
In "Transform," eight, 30-minute episodes will premiere March 15. Laverne Cox (VH1’s “I Want to Work for Diddy”) will lead a makeover team giving women an "inside and out" transformation.
"Undateable" is an advice show based on the upcoming book "Undateable: 311 Things Guys Do That Guarantee They Won’t be Dating or Having Sex." The show will have a five-night run starting April 19.
"Famous Crime Scene" is a seven-episode half-hour series looking at the deaths of celebrities like Tupac Shakur, John Lennon and Michael Jackson. The show debuts Feb. 12.
“Peak Season: Vancouver” originally aired on MTV Canada follows the lives and loves of a group of young people at a ski resort. The 10-episode series will air starting Feb. 14.
Sure, NBC burned him in one of the worst ways they possibly could've, but Conan O'Brien seems open to getting back into bed with NBC already. The former "Tonight Show" host just sold the network two television pilots, "Justice" and "The Pink House," from his production company Conaco.
Justice is an hour-long series written by John Eisendrath (Felicity, Alias) that follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits to start his own legal practice. It's described as a new take on a law show with a big character at the center. "The Pink House" is a half-hour multi-camera comedy concept show.
David Spade and TBS are teaming up to develop an animated version of the film Joe Dirt, which Spade starred in. The pilot script follows a "mullet-sporting, muscle-car-loving loser with a heart of gold."
"David Spade is a hugely popular comic talent who has created a funny, yet lovable, character in 'Joe Dirt,'" said Michael Wright, executive vp of programming for TBS. "We look forward to seeing how he and his fellow writers and producers take this character in new directions as TBS continues exploring the world of primetime animation."
The movie "Joe Dirt" was released in 2001 and was a modest performer at the boxoffice. Spade, Fred Wolf and Donick Cary will executive produce. This marks TBS' third animated project following Fox TV and DreamWorks' "Neighbors from Hell," and Lionsgate and Olive Prods.' "Good and Evel."
