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 December 7 - 13:
1. Sunday Night Football: Philadelphia at NY Giants, NBC, 20.88 million.
2. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.43 million.
3. "The Mentalist," CBS, 16.37 million.
4. "60 Minutes," CBS, 16.24 million.
5. "NCIS," CBS, 15.087 million.
6. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 15.085 million.
7. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.84 million.
8. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.43 million.
9. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 14.38 million.
10. "Biggest Loser 8," NBC, 13.45 million.
11. "Survivor: Samoa," CBS, 13.25 million.
12. "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.97 million.
13. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 12.72 million.
14. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 12.044 million.
15. "Prep & Landing," ABC, 12.042 million.
16. "Christmas at the White House," ABC, 11.95 million.
17. "Charlie Brown Christmas," ABC, 11.17 million.
18. "Bones," Fox, 10.90 million.
19. "Barbara Walters Presents," ABC, 10.55 million.
20. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 10.34 million.
Stage stars Alfre Woodard, James Frain and J. Smith-Cameron have been added to the cast of HBO's "True Blood," now headed into its third smash season.
The series, created by Alan Ball and based on Charlaine Harris’ “Southern Vampire” book series, was apparently made specifically for the post-Buffy crowd who miss the cheap special effects and comic-book scene layouts. Only instead of Buffy, we get Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), a girl who can hear people’s thoughts.
Woodard (Drowning Crow) will reportedly appear as mother of cook Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis). Frain (The Homecoming) will play a vampire who connects with Sookie’s friend Tara (Rutina Wesley). And Smith-Cameron (The Starry Messenger) play the mother to Sookie’s shape-shifting boss Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell).
For more information on “True Blood,” visit http://www.hbo.com/trueblood.
As the premiere of ABC’s mind-bending hit mystery/drama "Lost" draws near, more and more fans are realizing that we haven't seen a speck of new footage in the promos. Sure, suspense is one thing, but it's good to have some idea of what's going to happen, no? Well, maybe they know what they're doing. After all, the season 6 premiere will be a 3-hour event consisting of one full recap episode prior to the 2-hour premiere.
What viewers may not know is that the series finale has already been decided, and the show’s producers and writers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, decided to share the info. The series finale will be 3 hours long, taking place over 2 weeks. In an interview with Chicago Tribune, both Lindelof and Cuse talked about the last season of the show, and in amongst that was the info about the 3-hour finale. Here’s the quote from the interview:
“Will 18 hours be enough for the last season? (By the way, Season 6 will consist of a two-hour season premiere, 13 episodes and three-hour series finale that will air over two weeks — but as Cuse joked, “I’m sure the network will sell it as a six-part finale if they can.”) Cuse: “For us, [18 hours] is just about right. I mean, we aren’t sitting here feeling like, ‘Oh my God, we need a ton more hours to tell the rest of our story.’ It feels like it’s going to work out just fine. It will have been the right length.”
The creator of "American Idol" is launching a new project that will follow five young people trying to make it in Hollywood with online audience feedback. Starting in early 2010, Simon Fuller's "If I Can Dream" will follow three aspiring actors, a model and a musician whose experiences will be streamed live for viewers to comment on what they see, and influence it, through blogs, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.
The announcement Wednesday said the project is designed for the social networking set and will be "unfiltered and unvarnished." Unfiltered.... riiight. It seems that anyone involved with this show hasn't been on a message board or internet forum in their entire lives. Unfiltered audience influence will rapidly result in some extremely volatile and offensive involvement. There's no way Fuller and co. are telling the truth about total access.
"If I Can Dream" will launch across multiple platforms, including mobile handsets and radio. An edited episode will be available weekly on Hulu.com and distributed internationally.
HBO has set Sunday, March 14 as the premiere date for its World War II miniseries "The Pacific." The Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg-produced 10-part miniseries, which follows U.S. Marines fighting in the Pacific Theater, air weekly through May 16. It's been years in the making and serves as a bookend to the Emmy-winning "Band of Brothers," which focused on the war in Europe.
"The Pacific" stars Joe Mazzello, Jon Seda and James Badge Dale and is based on a pair of books: "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge (who will be played by Mazzello) and "Helmet For My Pillow" by Robert Leckie (played by Dale).
CBS has issued a pilot order for "Mike and Molly," a new comedy from Chuck Lorre, the mastermind behind the network's top comedies "Men" and "The Big Bang Theory," and "Two and a Half Men" executive producer Mark Roberts.
It's an ensemble comedy, revolving around a couple who struggle with overeating and meet at a weight-loss support group. Producer and writer Roberts was an actor who co-starred on '90s sitcom "The Naked Truth" before switching to writing. He is credited as a co-writer on nine of the 11 "Men" episodes that have aired so far in the seventh season.
USA Network has announced that they're developing a series based on "The Freshman," the 1990 comedy feature that starred Matthew Broderick and Marlon Brando. In the film, Broderick played a wide-eyed NYU freshman who becomes an errand boy for a Mafia boss (Brando) without realizing it. Andrew Bergman, who wrote and directed the movie, is set to write the series version.
The project is a kick-start for USA, being their first major series development based on an existing property in eight years.
