April 2009 Archives

Today's cuppa: espresso from the Tassimo

In the fall of 2007, Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin premiered in his first starring role in an American TV series, with the debut of the CBS vampire drama "Moonlight."

I got to spend a couple of days on set with "Moonlight" at. The first was early on in production and ran late, so I didn't get to talk to O'Loughlin until well into the night.

Here is the text of the profile that came out the week the show premiered:

It's 9:30 p.m., and Alex O'Loughlin, star of the new CBS vampire drama "Moonlight," premiering Friday, Sept. 28, steps out of a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studios into a cool Burbank, Calif., night, bathed, appropriately, in the light of a full moon.

"I'm only a little tired," he says. "I'm going to get lunch and revitalize, try to keep my energy up, eat some nuts."

The 6-foot-2-inch actor has almost finished the first full episode of his new endeavor, in which he plays Mick St. John, a charming Los Angeles vampire who moonlights (heh) as a private investigator -- usually by night, but sometimes by day (in this mythology, sunlight is nasty to vampires but not immediately fatal).

O'Loughlin, an Australia native of Irish and Scottish stock, got his first taste of American TV playing Los Angeles cop Kevin Hiatt in season six of FX's gritty police drama "The Shield."

There, he went to school on being a TV leading man by watching star and TV veteran Michael Chiklis at work.

"He's such a solid guy," O'Loughlin says during a break earlier in the evening. "The thing is with a guy like that, he's got lots of pearls of wisdom, but often it's just the way he conducts himself that really stays with you.

"It's the way he deals with the hours and deals with the weight of that entire show on his shoulders."

After being announced in May, "Moonlight" was entirely recast, except for O'Loughlin. But that doesn't mean he's feeling comfy.

"I'm waiting to get the chop as well. Who knows? I still am. Every time Joel (Silver, the executive producer) is on set, I'm like, 'Oh, gees.' I'm expecting the friendly pat on the bum out the back door. 'Sorry son, it's your last show.' "

Birthplace: Sydney, Australia.

Movie cred: He has two movies in the can: the fantasy drama "August Rush," directed by Kirsten Sheridan, daughter of legendary Irish director Jim Sheridan ("My Left Foot," "In the Name of the Father," "In America," "Get Rich or Die Tryin'"); and "Whiteout," a crime drama set in Antarctica, directed by Dominic Sena ("Swordfish," "Gone in 60 Seconds").

He also contributed the idea for and was a co-producer on the 2005 crime thriller "Feed," in which he played a man suspected of force-feeding women to death.

Bond cred: According to news reports, he was up for the role of 007, but lost out to Daniel Craig.

Another thing I learned is that O'Loughlin is a reader, a habit instilled in him by his father, a physics teacher, but as you can hear in the interview posted below, he may be falling behind on his reading list.

My second visit is chronicled here, and again shows O'Loughlin's literary side.

WARNING: As well-read as he may be, O'Loughlin is a man's man and an Aussie, and the following audio interview contains a few instances of profanity. I'm not technically proficient enough to bleep them, so consider this fair warning to send those of tender age or sensibilities out of the room before hitting the play button -- or just wear headphones.

Among other things, O'Loughlin is discussing his guest role tonight on CBS' "Criminal Minds," executive-produced by feature-film producer Mark Gordon ("Grey's Anatomy"), former Chicago police officer Edward Allen Bernero ("Third Watch"), Deborah Spera, Chris Mundy and O'Loughlin's good friend, Simon Mirren ("Third Watch," "Without a Trace").

Here's the CBS information on the episode:

THE BAU TEAM RECEIVES A VIDEOTAPE FROM A SERIAL KILLER TRYING TO STOP HIS OWN CRIME SPREE, ON "CRIMINAL MINDS," WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 -- Alex O'Loughlin ("Moonlight") Guest Stars as the Unsub

"The Big Wheel" - When the team is sent a videotape from a serial killer detailing one of his crimes, they discover a hidden message asking them to help him stop his murderous ways, on CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, April 29 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS:

David Rossi................................ Joe Mantegna

Aaron Hotchner....................... Thomas Gibson

Emily Prentiss........................... Paget Brewster

Derek Morgan.......................... Shemar Moore

Dr. Spencer Reid........... Matthew Gray Gubler

Jennifer Jareau................................. A.J. Cook

Penelope Garcia.................. Kirsten Vangsness

GUEST CAST:

Vincent................................... Alex O'Loughlin

Det. Lynne Henderson............ Erika Alexander

Kate............................. Martha Anne Madison

Stanley Wolcott............................ Jake Cherry

Michelle............................................ Jill Klopp

Alice............................................ Giselle Jones

Carl............................... Quentin Prescott Price

Jay...................................... Terrence Edwards

Fairground Worker................... Rick A. Young

Young Vincent............................. Neil Ironfield

Sid.......................................... David J. Wright

Kim......................................... Rebecca Avery

Eric............................................. Kyle Templin

WRITTEN BY: Simon Mirren, one of the series' co-executive producers

DIRECTED BY: Rob Hardy

Today's cuppa: Two cuppas of joe from the new Tassimo coffeemaker (following two, maybe three, during "Chuck" last night). Pretty wired!

Tomorrow night, ABC's "Lost" celebrates its 100th episode with some Sawyer-centric goodness. In honor of that, I talked to Sawyer himself, Josh Holloway, and producer Elizabeth Sarnoff for a syndicated feature story. Thanks to the Reading (Pa.) Eagle, you can click here for that.

As a bonus, here's my syndicated "Inside TV" column for that week, which features additional comments from Sarnoff, who wrote for one of my favorite shows, HBO's "Deadwood," plus pictures of the 100th episode cake, created by Baltimore's Charm City Cakes, featured on Food Network's "Ace of Cakes."

Enjoy.

'DEADWOOD,' NOT DRIFTWOOD, ON 'LOST'...No TV show is created in a vacuum, and no TV show is written in one. Those who create television have usually worked on other shows, and often they bring lessons from one show to the next.

Before she came to ABC's castaway drama "Lost" -- which celebrates its 100th episode this Wednesday, April 29 -- co-executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff worked under legendary writer/producer David Milch on the HBO drama "Deadwood."

You might think there's very little in common between a show about plane-crash survivors coping with life, death, time travel and the activities of the enigmatic Dharma Initiative on a freaky Pacific island, and one about the denizens of a lawless town in Dakota's Black Hills in the 1870s.

Turns out they have a lot in common, at least for a writer.

"What I learned from working on 'Deadwood,'" Sarnoff says, "besides everything about working on a show like that, was, in some ways, that when you have a huge cast like that, you're able to go from story to story to story.

"There were so many layers of storytelling on that show, and I think, on our show as well. It just showed me how to use that kind of an enormous cast to your advantage, rather than it being, 'My God, what am I going to do?'

"What you learn is all the different options you have and all the ways you can unravel storytelling. It can be complicated."

Sarnoff also learned that characters can change over time, and that the audience can also change what they think of characters over time.

In season three, "Lost" introduced a character who was not one of the castaways. Elizabeth Mitchell plays Juliet, a physician duped by the Dharma Initiative. She came between castaways Jack (Matthew Fox) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and now, owing to some time-travel machinations, is in a relationship with Kate's old squeeze, reformed con man Sawyer (Josh Holloway).

"I learned about what happens when you throw the two most unlikely people together," Sarnoff says, "which in some ways, are Sawyer and Juliet. If you go back to season three, there ain't no way those two are going to be shacking up, but it seems the audience is rooting for them. It's awesome."

Juliet has brought out the best in Sawyer, who has emerged as a leader. It's a transformation Sarnoff has seen before.

"What a show like 'Deadwood' can show you," she says, "is you can take a guy like (saloon owner) Al Swearingen, who is, in the pilot of 'Deadwood,' unforgivingly evil, unredemptive.

"By the end of the series, you understand that he's basically bee protecting a character like (the handicapped) Jewel her entire life. You can turn characters.

"With no one have we been more successful at that than with Sawyer, who, back in season one, before I was even on the show, was a bit of a jerk -- lovable and so damn handsome, but not a guy you thought was particularly nice.

"That's what's fun. I think 'Deadwood's' the same, in that you often found yourself rooting for people because we were able to take them on a journey. Deadwood was a place that collected lost souls; I think the 'Lost' island is similar that way."

And, as a bonus for a female drama writer, "Lost" allows Sarnoff to have fun with the women characters.

"You want all your characters to be interesting on any show, but we have an opportunity on this show, because we are outside of the boundaries of a real society for the most part in our storytelling, to have them be a little bit more radical in some ways.

"We've done a lot with Juliet this season. She's not in a lab looking at microscopes anymore; she's a gun-toting chick who's got Sawyer's back. I fell pretty secure when she has his back. That's awesome."

UPDATE: Just noticed this in my Food Network highlights for May, so tune in!

Ace of Cakes Premieres: Saturday, May 9^th at 9pm -- SEASON FINALE!

"LOST in Hawaii"

The season finale of Ace of Cakes wraps up a special "Ace Goes Hollywood Week" featuring Hollywood-themed encore episodes of Ace of Cakes. When ABC's hiit series LOST needs a cake to celebrate its 100th episode, actor Jorge Garcia (Hurley) calls the bakery to commission a unique cake creation. Duff and his crew head out to visit the Aloha State and the set of LOST. While on the island, Duff also bakes an Army cake and gets to experience the thrill of a Blackhawk helicopter ride. It's a week of surfing, sand and don't forget the bakery puppets!

Today's cuppa: two big mugs of PG Tips tea down, looking forward to coffee later on...

Last Friday, I went to NBC's annual Summer Press Day at the lovely Langham (formerly Ritz-Carlton) Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena, Calif. I have a long history with this hotel, having attended previous Press Days and several Television Critics Association Press Tours there (and I'll be back in July).

I'm up to my eyebrows in deadlines today -- gotta get the regular work done so I can post that Alex O'Loughlin interview for his "Criminal Minds" appearance Wednesday, plenty of slightly salty goodness from the former "Moonlight" star -- so here are a few pictures from the event to tide you over (click on image for larger version). You can also visit my Twitter feed for tweets during this and other sessions.

The panel for "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here," featuring (top row, from left), Janice Dickinson, John Salley, executive producer Chris Brogden, executive producer (and NBC alternative-entertainment exec) Jayson Dinsmore; (bottom row) Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Stephen Baldwin, pro wrestler Torrie Wilson and "American Idol" competitor Sanjaya Malakar...

Another view of this panel...

The lovely and talented Anthony Stewart Head, formerly of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," who stars in the hit British series "Merlin," airing this summer on NBC...

One more of Head, when asked to give his best "movie star" smile...

The equally lovely and talented Piers Morgan, "Celebrity Apprentice" champion and one of the judges for NBC's "America's Got Talent"...

The hotel's verdant courtyard, a few views...

Today's cuppa: raspberry Ceylon tea

One week ago today, people gathered in cities across the country to protest a list of things, including high taxes, high government spending, corporate bailouts, etc. Estimates on how many people showed up for these protests -- dubbed "tea parties" in honor of the original Boston Tea Party in 1773 -- in total vary from a quarter- to a half-million.

They weren't large protests historically speaking, but they did get a lot of attention. In particular, they got attention from cable news outlets, which dispatched anchors and reporters to cover them, with the most intense coverage coming from News Corp. cable siblings Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.

By far, FNC was the ratings winner for the day, having rolled out many of its top anchors to selected events, including business editor Neil Cavuto in Sacramento, Calif., conservative commentator Sean Hannity in Altanta, Ga., and rising phenom Glenn Beck at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

While Fox Business Network is not yet Nielsen-rated, a spokesperson said the channel did see an "uptick in viewers" for the day.

This is all a bit ironic, since many attribute the "tea party" phenomenon this year to an on-air rant against mortgage bailouts in February by Chicago-based correspondent Rick Santelli, who works for FBN's rival, CNBC.

I watched some of the tea-party coverage on my DVR when I got back from the Discovery Networks upfront, and while I don't know whether this was a one-time outpouring of frustration or the start of a real grassroots movement -- and you can find plenty of pundits and politicians to argue both sides of that question -- what I did notice was that the protesters didn't look like the usual folks that turn out for protests.

For those involved in such causes as the environment, the peace movement, animal rights, etc., protests are a common and useful way of garnering attention, galvanizing public support and networking.

A lot of the folks that turned out for the tea-party protests looked more like a holiday picnic crowd or the the people you might find in the infield at a sporting event than the experienced activists that normally populate protests.

In TV terms, they'd be people you might expect to like "Deadliest Catch" or "Ghost Whisperer" rather than "Flight of the Conchords" or "Arrested Development." That's a gross exaggeration, of course, but that was the sense I got.

One man on hand for the event in Boston -- home of the original Tea Party -- was FBN's Cody Willard, who co-anchors the weekday "Happy Hour" show with Rebecca Diamond and Eric Bolling. As "Happy Hour" fans -- or those who read this blog post -- know, Willard is pretty outspoken about his opposition to vastly increasing government spending or giving bailouts with tax money.

He was also the subject of a recent profile in the Los Angeles Times.

I talked to him the day after the protests and was interested in getting his take on what he saw. Now, Willard's a commentator, not a news reporter, so his opinions are his own.

"It was an anti-partisan crowd," he said. "It was not a left or right thing. I do think the Republican Party did try to make it a right-wing thing, but that being said, I think basically the crowds were anti-Republican and anti-Democrat.

"They were equally angry, and rightly so, at both parties."

He added, "One of the best signs I saw out there yesterday said, 'O is the new W.' And that's the problem. It's both parties equally."

Willard believes that the tea party protests are the beginning of a grassroots movement that threatens the political status quo.

"It was a protest against the incumbents," he said.

Asked what would replace the current political crowd if it's voted out, Willard said, "It's to be replaced with a much more fluid, free-thinking, less rigid democracy/republic, that this country was founded to be."

Reminded that, while people often talk about ditching the two-party system, it hasn't actually happened yet, Willard turned to technology as an answer.

"I know," he said, "but there hasn't been an Internet and YouTube and Twitter. I teach a class at Seton Hall University called 'Revolutionomics,' that's the premise of the class, that the power of the center always disperses to the edge over time, and it's done through technology.

"That's why, in 2009, why would you possibly want to align yourself with a rigid, confusing political platform like Republicans or Democrats when you could simply go to your constituents and get a following on Twitter and Facebook and build up your presence, get the word out to your actual constituents and empower them and communicate with them and get them to follow you? What if you could get a groundswell underneath you via the technologies that are now available.

"You don't need the financial backing that you did to run for office just 10 years ago. In modern America, you don't need a two-party political regime anymore. You have technology that enables you to distribute your message for free to everyone on the planet instantly."

Is Willard right about this? Will technology topple traditional politics? We've all seen the effect technology has had on traditional media, and media and politics go together like hand in glove. He might be on to something, or it might be a case of post-tea-party euphoria.

As to what information Willard thought that any first-time protesters in the crowd took home with them, he said, "I know for a fact that they took away a very powerful networking tool, and that is connections from these people on the Internet.

"People were responding to this on a grassroots level, and that's what they're going to be able to take away -- grassroots connections that are going to be meaningful in the next election and the next election after that."

The next big tea-party protests are being planned for the Fourth of July, so time will tell. And you can be sure that TV will be there to see what's brewing.

Today's cuppa: spiced chai latte (it's hot outside, but it's cool enough for hot tea in here!)

Tomorrow is Earth Day. Not everyone associated with its founding is a sterling character, and not everyone agrees on exactly what one should do to observe it, but it's here to stay.

In my personal Earth Day history, I have picked up trash in vacant lots and by the side of the road (I still have the yellow helmet and reflective vest to show for it!). In addition, a white pine seedling that was put in my hands as I exited an Earth Day fair got planted in my parents' side yard and is now over four feet tall, last I looked.

As an aside, of late, I'm doing well with plants in general, but in the past, I had my best luck with serendipitous trees and shrubs. These included the sprouted seed found in a grapefruit that became six feet tall and covered in spines, and the trimmed bit of branch from a privy hedge that threatened to take over my parents' yard (sacrificed years ago in the interest of paving a parking area. *sigh*)

So, when I knew Earth Day was rolling around again, I turned to a man who spends more time covered in Earth that almost anyone on TV that I know, "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe.

As anyone who's seen the two special  "Brown Before Green" episodes of the Discovery Channel show knows,  Rowe has his own view of eco-sustainability that is a lot less about highfalutin' notions of saving the planet and a whole lot more about getting your hands into some dirt, garbage, poo, etc., with the goal of living well and living more lightly on the Earth.

Rowe's new website, mikeroweWORKS.com, also has a page dedicated to his "Brown Before Green" philosophy.

I've always thought that "Dirty Jobs," with its emphasis on recycling icky crap of all sorts into better and more useful things -- such as the mad-genius dairy farmer who transforms cow dung into odorless plant pots called CowPots -- was the greenest show on TV.

Apparently Men's Health Magazine agrees. Seriously, click on the story. Here's a tiny excerpt featuring some of Rowe's eco-comments:

Spell it out for me.

Brown is the color of dirt, and dirt is the color of Earth. Under the blue ocean, the green forest, and yellow sun, there is always brown -- a combination of all the primary colors. Steadfast. Fundamental. Unglamorous. Our food grows in the brown. Our bodies return to the brown. Without brown, there is no growth. There is no green.

You've put some thought into this.

I'm not done. The people I meet on Dirty Jobs would never describe themselves as "green," yet they do more to clean up our environment in the course of making a living than any celebrity ever will. If you were looking to launch an environmental awareness campaign that real people can relate to, I'd say "Get Down with Brown," and hire a plumber to act as spokesman.

Now, without further ado (or doo-doo, since this is "Dirty Jobs," after all), here are a few more of Rowe's thoughts on the environment and all dirty things therein.

On what one Discovery Networks exec thinks of Rowe's "Brown Before Green" idea:

"At first they said, 'You know, Mike, we just spent $50 million retrofitting Discovery Home to be Planet Green, and we think it would be really cool if you just didn't pee all over that.'

"I was pretty direct with David (Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav), I said, 'Look, I get that this is, everybody's put their finger in the air to see which way the toxic rain is blowing, and this is the horse you're going to ride.

"'But, look, I make my living in the flyover states, and I work with a lot of people -- I meet a lot of people, every single day -- who would like the Earth to be as healthy as possible, but they've got a real problem with your role models. They've got a real problem with the whole pedantic tone of this finger-wagging, instructive sort of thing. What are you going to do? Are you going to ignore them? Then you're going to lose.'

"I know that version of 'Dirty Jobs' did very well. I pissed off a lot of people when I said that you've chosen the wrong color. Green, what, the color of money?

"Look, if you don't have a dog in the hunt, you can only appeal to the angels of your better nature for a while, and that's really where the other side blows it. That's where green truly blows it. They start their mission, and they start their position, from the idea that the Earth is more important somehow than the people on it."

Specifically, on the topic of being out and about in nature:

"The big lie, the biggest problem with the environment -- and I'm talking about everything from ANWR to the rainforest -- is it sucks. If you've ever been in it, it friggin' blows, man. It's miserable. It looks pretty on 'Planet Earth,' but I've been to a lot of those places.

"I went up the Amazon, deep into the interior. I met a bunch of English women that were categorizing new species. They'd go into a tent at night, hang up a lantern, open up the flaps, wait for it to fill with bugs, then zipper it shut in there and set about identifying these new creatures.

"And you know, the holiness with which they were doing it, I'll never forget it. Everything I read after the fact, in terms of how many species we lose -- we can't lose them fast enough. Are you kidding?

"It's really pretty awkward right now to have an entomologist explain how these species have gone extinct when we didn't know we have them. Now we've got one more brick on the load of guilty consciousness, and we can feel really bad.

"I have a great appreciation for the outdoors, but I've got to tell you, there's nothing like a nice hotel room, room service and a really cold gin and tonic."

BTW, coming up the week of May 3 is a feature story I did with Rowe about mikeroweWORKS.com, so watch this space. In the meantime, check out our first conversation on the topic.

In conclusion, I'd like to share some nuggets of eco-wisdom, paraphrased from my mom, the world's greatest conservationist:

"Shut the door, we're not heating (cooling) the outside!"

"Shut the water off!"

"Don't throw your trash on the ground. Were you raised in a barn?"

"Don't throw that out -- it's still good!"

"Put on a sweater. Are we made of money?"

"Why are the lights on if no one's in here?"

Tonight's cuppa: Barry's decaf tea

A little over a week ago, I had a chat with Harold Perrineau Jr., who plays NYPD Detective Leo Banks on the Tuesday-night ABC series "The Unusuals," which airs its third episode this week (we did the interview between the airings of episode one and two).

Since I'm posting the full audio of the interview, rather than quotes surrounded by information, I recommend clicking on the links above and learning a bit about Perrineau before listening, so you'll understand everything we're talking about.

But if you're just too busy, here's a quick rundown:

On the HBO prison drama "Oz," which shot in Manhattan and, in later seasons, in New Jersey, Perrineau played wheelchair-bound inmate Augustus Hill. One of his co-stars in "Oz" was Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who played an inmate named Simon Adebisi.

Later on, Perrneau joined the cast of ABC's castway drama "Lost," playing Michael Dawson, who continually misplaced his son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley), causing him to call out the boy's name again and again and again.

One of Perrineau's co-stars on "Lost" was Adewale, who played the enigmatic Mr. Eko.

Another of Perrineau's "Oz" co-stars was Dean Winters, who played inmate Ryan O'Reily. The New York-based actor subsequently guested on a number of shows, including recent roles on FX's "Rescue Me," ABC's "Life on Mars" and Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," which all ended in death.

Thus far, Winters has not appeared on "Lost" or "The Unusuals." Give him time.

Another of Perrineau's "Oz" co-stars was Terry Kinney (right), who played idealistic prison-unit manager  Tim McManus. To date, he has not been on "Lost," but he does play Sergeant Harvey Brown on "The Unusuals."

Lance Reddick, who also was on "Oz," had a role as Matthew Abbadon on "Lost." He currently stars on Fox's sci-fi drama "Fringe," as the Homeland Security supervisor of the FBI agent played by Anna Torv.

(BTW, Ken Leung, who was also in "Oz," was also in "Lost," but we didn't talk about that. And FYI, if you missed "Oz," it and HBO's "Deadwood" will be on DirecTV in all their uncensored glory.)

Lastly, on "The Unusuals," Adam Golberg (above left), who, so far as I know, has not appeared in any of the aforementioned shows, plays Detective Eric Delahoy, Banks' troubled yet amusing partner.

Enjoy.

Today's cuppa: PG Tips tea

Apparently, NBC's "Chuck" is on the bubble, and several TV critics are going to the mat to fight for its survival.

I love "Chuck," never miss it, but I won't be fighting for it. On Twitter, I confined myself to tweeting, "My word on 'Chuck': With 'Heroes,' 'Celeb:Apprentice' (sporadically) and now 'Southland,' the only NBC shows I watch. Just sayin'."

Perhaps its the depressing economic and political news, perhaps it's encroaching ennui, perhaps it's just maturity, or perhaps it's a realization that, especially right now, passion doesn't matter as much as hard numbers.

How many times have networks brought back low-rated shows because of passion from dedicated fans or critics, only to axe them soon afterward anyway?

Unless a show gets the viewers, the numbers or the demographics, which translate into the scratch, the moolah, the filthy lucre, however you want to say it, it's gone.

Now, just how big those numbers have to be or how high the pile of cash has to be depends on the network in question. For example, The CW's bar of success is set somewhat below NBC's, and all cablers have more modest expectations than networks do, but the basic truth remains the same.

Get watched or die.

Mediocre shows that are popular enough to justify their costs stay on. Brilliant shows -- especially expensive brilliant shows -- that no one watches go away. Pumping half-a-season or a season's worth of mercy renewal into them doesn't usually change that formula in the long run.

There is no conflict between art and commerce, at least not on commerce's side. Unless art either generates cash or is given cash by those who generate cash (and the government gets its money from those who generate cash in the first place, so it's all the same thing), art doesn't survive.

Michelangelo didn't paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling as a charity project, and as anyone who's seen "Amadeus" can attest, being extravagantly gifted didn't stop Mozart from needing money from his wealthy benefactors.

"Chuck" and the other bubble shows will either win on the bottom line, or they're gone. It's cold and maybe Darwinian, but true. Only the strong survive.

Sometimes, in the case of NBC's "Friday Night Lights," which just got two more seasons, the strength is not so much big ratings as a combination of controlling the production budget and retaining DirecTV as a broadcast and financial partner -- but hey, the numbers worked.

I'll be very sad if "Chuck" goes, but I've been sad before when shows have gone, and I will be again. It's not fatal. To paraphrase a song from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (which has survived for 40ish years by being watched, a lot), there's always next season for dreams to come true.

Maybe next season all those ad dollars will flow back, allowing the networks to toss millions at everybody's passion projects.

Or not.

Tonight's cuppa: peppermint tea

Brought the smartphone along to Paramount Studios on Tuesday while doing a set visit for "Glee" (click here for more on that).

Here's a selection of shots -- click on them for a larger image -- starting with the "tank," a sunken parking area with a huge painted backdrop in back of it, which can be flooded and used for filming (as in one of the closing scenes of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," in which the Enterprise crew is bobbing around, supposedly in San Francisco Bay).

Here's a look at the New York Street...

Part of the "Glee" filming took place inside Stage 14, adjacent to the New York Street. As you can see below, it has a long history.

And lastly, here's a look inside the Los Angeles edition of the Discovery Networks upfront, hed at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, as Discovery Channel president John Ford talks to the crowd of press and advertising executives, at this moment in front of a backdrop of pictures from "Deadliest Catch."

Click here for a press release on the Discovery Channel upfront announcements; click here for Investigation Discovery; here for TLC; here for Science Channel; here for Planet Green; here for Animal Planet; here for Travel Channel; and here for Discovery Networks' latest venture, the Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN.

You're no doubt not surprised to hear the presentation took two hours, but the pictures on those big screens sure were pretty.

Tonight's cuppa: Barry's decaf tea with whole milk (decadent, I know!)

On Tuesday and today, Thursday, I headed to Hollywood to Paramount Studios to do a set visit to the upcoming Fox series "Glee," which premieres with its pilot episode on Tuesday, May 19, in conjunction with "American Idol," then doesn't return to the schedule until fall.

(UPDATE: Click here for my "Glee" feature story, and here for an interview with star Jenna Ushkowitz.)

I took a break from watching musical numbers being shot on set to head outside and commandeer an empty golf cart in back of the soundstage to do my regular Thursday appearance on Shaun Daily's TV Talk show on blogtalkradio.com. Click here for that -- I come in at about the 25ish-minute mark.

After you listen, you may want to hop to the next post, where I share some pictures, both from the Discovery Networks upfront on Wednesday, and from Paramount on Tuesday.

During the conversation, I shared a snippet of a recording I made on set. In the episode, the boys and the girls in the high-school glee club at the center of the show are competing to see which gender gets to perform the opening number in a competition.

(Left, Cory Monteith; right, Lea Michele)

(UPDATE: Audio removed because it was being widely ganked and distributed. But, watch your TV screens this fall, and you'll hear it again).

Today's cuppa: Barry's Irish breakfast tea chased with Ceylon raspberry tea. It's just a two-tea morning.

Pretty soon, I'm heading off to a set visit for "Glee," the new Fox project from "Nip/Tuck" and "Popular" producer Ryan Murphy, which is airing as a special after "American Idol" in May and then, as plans go now, returning in the fall as a series.

But before the singing and dancing, here's a link to my feature story on tonight's season premiere of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," courtesy of the good folks at the Buffalo News.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for the Discovery Networks upfront presentation, preceded by lunch with some of the "Catch" crabbers. News on that to come.

Tonight's cuppa: peppermint tea

Today, I was thrilled to read that the witty and charming Josh Holloway, who plays grifter-turned-leader-of-men Sawyer on ABC's Wednesday-night drama "Lost," and wife Yessica Kumala became first-time parents on April 9 with the birth of a daughter, Java Kumala Holloway.

On April 3, I talked to Holloway by phone from the "Lost" location in Hawaii for a syndicated feature story to coincide with the show's 100th episode, airing on April 29 (click here for cast member Jorge Garcia's blog, which contains pictures of the celebratory cake, created by Charm City Cakes of Food Network's "Ace of Cakes").

As it turned out, the conversation took place only days before the blessed event, and luckily I had time to ask Holloway how he felt about being a dad.

Holloway said, "Well, I'm about to find out. We're getting close. It's beyond moving. I can't even describe it to you. I listen to country music and drive my car, and it makes me all teary. I'm like, 'God, I've got to listen to reggae or something, so I'll be happy.'

"It's powerful. Those emotions come up around a child. It's been a lot of fun. It's just been amazing. It's been a really wonderful experience so far. Few more weeks" -- little did he know it would be a few more days -- "I'll be with my sunglasses on, trying to change diapers and avoid getting pooed on."

On this particular Friday, Holloway said that he had one more day of work, which meant that filming would be wrapped up before the birth.

"Yes, that timed out really nicely," he said, "for the wife, for me, because I really want to be there. I don't want to miss that, because it's quite an amazing experience."

Asked if he and his wife were fully equipped at home, Holloway said, "Of course. We're all cocked and ready. We're so ready, it's ridiculous. So far, so good. We're just waiting for the day. She is very ready, and she's been great."

Some of Holloway's fellow cast members are parents, and as to whether they've been giving him advice, he said, "Oh, gosh, whether you seek it or not, you get it. I have heard every story there is from men, women -- oh my goodness -- read all the books and all that.

"Now I'm ready to just do it, and I think that's natural. It's the beauty of nature -- you get that nine months to actually wrap your psyche and heart around what you're about to get into. You have to learn all these things, and then you just have to do it, go on instinct.

"But I'm looking forward to it."

I wondered aloud whether this new-daddy business might make Holloway all mellow.

"I might be," he said, "you never know. Good God knows I'm round at the moment. I'm definitely having a pregnancy with my wife. I'm like, 'Shirt off, I don't think so. No, no, we'll do that next year.' Right now, I'm being a soft Daddy-O."

Speaking of shirts coming off, although Holloway said he was glad that his big TV success came a little later in life, there are advantages to youth when the script calls for several shirtless scenes, as Holloway had in this year's season premiere.

"Staying in shape would be a lot easier," he said on that subject. "Not so fun for me, because I'm like 38, 39 -- that would have been better at 25. But, you know, you do what you gotta, and it keeps you in shape, whether you like it or not.

"So it's like, 'All right, I'll do it,' then I made the phone calls, 'Please, guys, don't do that to me anymore.' They broke the back of it this season, and I was like, 'Ya'll, I can't.'"

As for the tan, though, Holloway reveals that was the easy part.

"That's au naturel," he said. "I can get pretty dark. If I have to do a scene of that nature, I just go fishing, hang out on the boat all day. Four or five hours in the sun, you change four or five shades darker. I just did that, and I'm glad I did."

Tonight's cuppa: Decaf French roast coffee

Feeling a little sleepy after whipping up an Easter dinner with friends that featured grilled lamb chops (marinated in a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and cranberry juice, with rosemary, mint and thyme from my balcony garden), spring-greens salad, mushroom risotto and fresh-baked bread.

Sorry, no leftovers. We ate it all.

But before I pack it in for the evening, here's a link to my syndicated feature story on the finale of Fox's "Prison Break," which airs Friday (thanks, Boston Herald!). I also did a story on Tuesday's season premiere of "Deadliest Catch," but I haven't found a link for it yet.

But fear not, I'll figure something out.

BTW, last Tuesday, I attended the Los Angeles edition of the Cartoon Network upfront presentation, where I was shocked to discover that the animation channel is planning live-action shows, including reality shows. Click here for a detailed report from the Animation Insider, drawing from the earlier presentation in New York City.

No word, though, that the network is changing its name to ToonLyve or anything like that.

Press and advertising execs in attendance were reminded that Cartoon was the only kid-oriented network doing an upfront presentation in L.A. CN seems upbeat and determined, aiming squarely at strengthening its already strong brand with boys 6-11 and working to expand its audience base (which also includes a lot of boys a whole lot older than 11).

Cartoon execs emphasized that boys like to take risks and wear their bumps and bruises with pride, so the channel will reflect that boisterous spirit. Oh, and girls who do the same are also welcome to come along for the ride. Girls who'd rather not skin their knees should probably stick with "Hannah Montana" on Disney Channel.

Sitting right behind me at the presentation was multiple Emmy winner Paul Dini, whose broad showbiz experience includes writing and directing many hit animated series, writing comics and graphic novels, and a stint on the writing staff of ABC's "Lost."

He's writing and executive-producing a live-action, scripted pilot for Cartoon called "Prepped," about a rebellious teen who sets out to discover just what his mysterious prep school is prepping him for (hint: it's not Harvard).

After the presentation, I introduced myself to Dini and told him I was the envy of several of my fanboy pals for having an autographed copy of the oversized hardcover picture book "Batman Animated." He couldn't have been more charming, perhaps because I already had the autograph.

Before I headed off to the office, I stopped to meet the cast -- one advantage of live-action shows over animation is you actually have actors to bring out on stage -- of the upcoming TV movie "Scooby-Doo 3: The Mystery Begins," produced by Cartoon Network and Warner Premiere, and directed by Briant Levant ("Snow Dogs," "The Flintstones in Viva Las Vegas," "Jingle All the Way," "The Flintstones," "Beethoven").

Shot in in and around Vancouver, Canada, and set to air this year on Cartoon, it's a contemporary take on the classic cartoon mystery-adventure series from Hanna-Barbera, which launched in 1969. It's a prequel to the two "Scooby-Doo" theatrical films and chronicles how four mismatched teens become the ghost-hunting Mystery, Inc.

Starring are Robbie Arnell as a very not-blond Fred Jones (according to Arnell, seeing natural brunet Freddie Prinze go towheaded in the movies put him off the idea), Kate Melton as Daphne Blake, Hayley Kiyoko (Alcroft) as Velma Dinkley and Nick Palatas as Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. Frank Welker returns as the voice of the still animated Scooby-Doo.

Asked what the favorite Scooby Snack was on set, the quartet answered unanimously, "Chocolate macroons!"

Works for me.

Whether the movie works for me remains to be seen. I'm a "Scooby' purist, and didn't much care for many of the later incarnations of the franchise, including the ill-conceived "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" and the feature films. But hope springs eternal, and I'm keeping an open mind.

I'll let you know when I get to see the film.

Today's cuppa: Barry's Irish breakfast tea, double-bagged in the big mug

I have seen the season finale of NBC's "Friday Night Lights," which airs tonight -- pipe down, you DirecTV people, let those of us with cable have our day! -- and did another-brick-in-the-wall tweets about it on Twitter.

For those of you who don't know what that is -- and, until I thought up the term, oh, 15 seconds ago, that was also me -- it's when each tweet adds a word or phrase with the goal of increasing suspense (without making people hunt up all the previous tweets).

Here's the final result:

KateOH Watching Friday Night Lights season finale. Pancakes! Trouble. Saying good-bye. "You are dead wrong." Doors close, windows open. New world.

Don't know what Twitter is? Fear not. Click here and here.

So when I did my usual Thursday appearance on Shaun Daily's TV Talk show on BlogTalkRadio.com, I once again preached the gospel of "Friday Night Lights." Yes, I did.

We also talked about some of the new shows that came on this week, such as ABC's "The Unusuals," NBC's "Southland" and CBS' "Harper's Island."

And unlike last week, I was properly caffeinated and, although I wasn't asked, knew what day it was.

More later, but for now, click here for your listening enjoyment. As a bonus, not much-fast fowarding required, I come in after only five minutes or so.

Today's cuppa: raspberry Ceylon tea, whole-leaf in the pyramidal teabag

One of the curses of the syndicated journalist is you're dependent on other folks to publish and/or post your stuff, and then you're dependent on Google to find it when you want it.

This week, I did feature stories on two new series, both premiering tomorrow night. I found a link to one -- click here to see NewsOK.com's edited version of my story on NBC's "Southland" -- but the other, no joy.

Luckily, the home office was able to send me a copy of my "Harper's Island" feature (albeit a shortened one, as being edited to fit diferent spaces is the other curse of the syndicated writer).

Got lots more stuff on other topics to share with you guys, but up to my eyebrows right now in a story I'm working on about www.mikeroweWORKS.com, the new online project from "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe. Did a blog post on it earlier, and now going for the full on syndicated TV feature.

So, deadlines and duty call, but in the meantime, enjoy a little trip to "Harper's Island" (click for larger version) ...

Tonight's cuppa: lovely home-blend tea by the potful at Paddington's Tea Room in  Beverly Hills,  Calif.

Last Friday, I participated in a satellite interview tour with Nathan Fillion, former star of Joss Whedon's first Fox series "Firefly" -- in which he played tortured, sardonic spaceship Capt. Malcolm Reynolds -- and current star of ABC's Monday-night crime caper show, "Castle."

As video of the interview was only available on Beta tape, and that's very difficult to post on the Web with only a laptop and my limited skills, I have only six or so minutes of audio to offer.

But this is Nathan Fillion, who's as quick-witted as any actor I've ever interviewed, so a few minutes counts for a lot.

And so you understand what I'm talking about when I mention the reactions of some folks on Twitter to the initially lukewarm reviews of the show, I've posted some of the tweets below.

I confess to thinking that the concept -- handsome mystery novelist pairs with snarky female cop to chase killer committing murders based on his books -- was not exactly groundbreaking, as I said here...

...but the enthusiasm in the Twitterverse turned me around.

tvmadman: @KateOH I agree on CASTLE. It is like a warm blanket before you go to sleep.

Here's a link to the MP3 file of my regular Thursday appearance on Shaun Daily's TV Talk show on BlogTalkRadio.com. For once, wasn't discussing the future of television in general, but rambled on about "Guiding Light," "Harper's Island" and NBC's 1980s-'90s soap opera "Santa Barbara" -- about which I remember a frightening amount.

Also might have preached the gospel of "Friday Night Lights." Might have. Might do it again. Just might.

But I must confess, I said I used to watch "Santa Barbara" after school. To be perfectly honest, I mixed it up in my mind momentarily with "How to Survive a Marriage," a syndicated soap I did watch after school. I watched "Santa Barbara" before work, in my neophyte days on a swing shift. And no, it wasn't in a factory, it was data entry, so I'm not trying for a faux working-class-hero thing. I'll leave that to the real working-class heroes.

And, I thought tax day was next week. I didn't have nearly enough caffeine. That's a mistake I won't make again.

I come in at about the half-hour mark.

Today's cuppa: raspberry Ceylon tea

Tonight, at long last, the Cablenet Still Temporarily Known as Sci Fi Channel is airing "Stargate: Continuum," the two-hour standalone movie that came out on DVD last July. I was on set during filming of the other "Stargate" movie, "The Ark of Truth," and talked to the cast members about shooting "Continuum" in the Arctic.

Click here for a link to my Zap2it story with Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge and Ben Browder.

Today's cuppa: iced tea with peppermint and fizzy cranberry vitamin drink mix -- whoo!

It doesn't premiere until next week -- but you can watch the pilot now on Hulu -- but NBC's LAPD drama "Southland" is getting some buzz, mostly for one of its stars, former "The O.C." heartthrob Ben McKenzie. I'll be highlighting links to my feature story on the show closer to the Thursday premiere, but in the meantime, here are a few tidbits to tide you over.

On why his character, rookie Officer Ben Sherman (named before McKenzie signed on) barely speaks:

Difficult, very difficult, hard to memorize, those lines. There was a little more in the original script that got cut out for time consideration. Happens to everybody. The pilot was pretty long initially. There was a lot of stuff in it.

So what you saw is truly a stripped-down version. But I think it's accurate to the situation, which is, if you're a probationary officer, you don't speak until spoken to. You're trying to earn the respect and the confidence of your training officer and trying to get him to approve you and allow you to actually join the LAPD.

So, you're kind of at his or her mercy, so that leads to a lot of quiet moments.

On whether this was the sort of TV role he was looking for, post-"O.C."

Absolutely, yeah. I wasn't looking to get back into television quite this quickly after doing "The O.C.," only a couple of years later, but my agent sent me the script, and I fell in love with it. The writing is very specific and dense, in a good way.

And there's everything that they're doing with the show in terms of the look of it, the feel of it, the hyper-realistic shooting style, shooting on these new digital Red cameras, allowing scenes to play out, saving the editing for when you really want to increase the pace, not doing a ton of coverage, only when necessary...

On why "Southland" is not like FX's LAPD show, "The Shield":

It's similar, but it's slightly different in the sense that we're not going out of our way to create a falsely dark image of L.A. "The Shield" was very much interested in corruption in the police department, and how cops, these particular cops, Vic Mackey and all those guys, are constantly jockeying for position and power and running an illegal underground unit within the LAPD.

That's fine, but we're not making that show. Our show paints with a broader brush, in a way. There may very well be an episode where we talk about some of the corruption in the police, but that's not the central focus of the show.

The focus of the show is on various people in the LAPD, from the bottom rung to the lieutenant, and how what they see on a daily basis affects their personal lives.

On doing ride-alongs with real LAPD officers:

It's fascinating. A lot of these guys love telling stories. People say, "How do you get a story out of these guys?" I say, "I sit in a car with them for five minutes." They love telling stories.

Their day is not spent running around, frantically solving crimes. A lot of it is spent wading through, surveiling the area. Maybe they show up to a domestic-violence thing that's already wound down, and there are already officers there...

They've got time on their hands. When things go crazy, they go crazy, but it's an odd, low-level anxiety thing. At any given moment, things can get wild, but the average, everyday moments are kind of slow, so they're happy to tell you stories of the crazy times they've had.

And they're fascinating characters. It's a big department. There are 10,000 officers, and you find all sorts of different people. You'll find the real cowboys, the macho types; and then you'll find the more intellectual types, the quieter types, the family types.

One of the guys I rolled around with was one of the quietest guys in the world -- sweet, lives with his family in the house he grew up in, real quiet, real sweet, not at all what you think of when you think of the renegade, the TV cop. But it takes all kinds.

On how knowing this affects how he plays Ben Sherman:

It just reminds you that it's OK to bring your personality to the role that you're playing. That's what these guys are doing. Not everybody is an awesome tough guy. They're not all badasses; they're people who happen to be cops.

Any organization where people where a uniform, and it's kind of militaristic, you can just assume, for some reason, that they're all the same, because they all look the same, because they're wearing the same uniform.
But it's no different than saying that all actors are the same or all gardeners or whatever. It doesn't work.

On why Ben Sherman does not have a mustache, while many real police officers do:

It's true; they do. I thankfully don't have to grow one. I don't think anyone would appreciate that, me or any of the audience.

On wearing all the cop gear:

It feels pretty cool. It takes some getting used to, because it's pretty heavy. There's 10 or 20 pounds worth of stuff on you, between the gun and the bullet clips and the radio ... not the clips, clips are what girls put in their hair, the magazines.

On shooting his gun:

I'm all right. I didn't have a lot of experience with handguns. In Texas, all we really fired growing up with shotguns. I'm OK. The Glock's actually a pretty easy gun to shoot with, I feel. The kick is pretty minimal. It's a pretty serviceable, no pun intended, weapon.

On the uniform:

Exactly, the polyester uniform. When it's three in the afternoon on an 85-degree day -- that's the hardest part (of the job). It really is very flattering, too.

Tonight's cuppa: peppermint tea

Fell asleep during primetime TV Tuesday night -- the result of, I believe, the latent effects of the switchover to Daylight Savings Time -- then woke up to watch ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" on the DVR and see, with great sadness, that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was eliminated.

The Dream That Was Woz is over.

Yeah, he was a terrible ballroom dancer (but said he will continue taking lessons with his wife), but he was an outstanding entertainer and a ray of sunshine in a troubled time.

He's also probably the only mega-zillionaire that's not hated, envied or feared by large segments of the population at the moment.

Woz is not the first computer geek to appear on the show, with that honor falling to Mark Cuban, who overcame hip-replacement surgery to make it to the fifth week of competition.

IMHO, this paves the way for future appearances by more stars of the computer world. In the spirit of "Dancing With the Stars," in which the voters kept Woz around long after the judges deemed him irredeemably bad, you get to vote!

If you don't know who any of the following guys are, just Google them. Trust me, something will come up (especially for Brin and Page).