Winter TV lineup.. What will you watch? - PROAZN.COM COMMUNITY: Asian Men and All Races of Women Coming Together

Angellebabie · #1 (**permalink**) 01-07-2008, 11:45 AM

Winter TV Preview:

AMERICAN IDOL
Returns Jan. 15
8:00-10:00 PM (FOX)
Episodes set to air: Zillions - My Guilty pleasure

American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe wants us all to know that he is completely aware something went horribly wrong last season. ''Last year we had nobody outstanding,'' he admits of the leggy, pony-hawked, and beat-boxing top 12. ''I promise it's a different year altogether.''

what's new about season 7? For starters, contestants that reach Hollywood will be allowed to play instruments to accompany their crooning. ''No one did anything stupid,'' Lythgoe says. ''The worst was some poor guy playing drums and doing a very poor impression of Karen Carpenter.''

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DANCE WAR
NEW · Premieres Jan. 7
8:00-10:00 PM (ABC)
Episodes set to air: 7 - Faints in boredom

If you thought Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba were tough on celebrities, wait until they battle each other. The two Dancing With the Stars judges will create rival song-and-dance teams that compete each week. Naturally, America decides the victor; then, the losing coach must eliminate the group's weakest member. Waiting for the winners is a national tour with an unnamed ''major performing artist.''

''It's a discovery process,'' says Tonioli of Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (which is hosted by former Dancing champ Drew Lachey).

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MEDIUM
Returns Jan. 7
10:00-11:00 PM (NBC)
Episodes set to air: 9 - She sees dead people

Last time we saw Allison Dubois (Patricia Arquette), she'd just been outed as the Phoenix DA's in-house psychic. ''Her whole world is upside down,'' says executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron. ''All of her convenient and comfortable points of contact have been ripped away.'' Which leaves room for Oscar winner Anjelica Huston to step in as an investigator who cultivates Allison as a source.

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ONE TREE HILL
Returns Jan. 8
8:00-10:00 PM (THE CW)
Episodes set to air: 12 - lord help us

Having his characters graduate high school at the conclusion of last season put One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn in a bit of a bind. ''College hurts these types of shows,'' he says. ''I didn't want to put the cast all at the same school and doing all the same things.'' His solution for season 5: Skip college altogether and pick up four years later. Now 22, Lucas (Chad Michael Murray, pictured with Hilarie Burton) is a basketball coach, while Brooke (Sophia Bush) is a fashion designer. Also popping up for a three-episode arc in future Tree Hill is a man we didn't think would last 15 minutes, much less four years — Kevin Federline. ''He plays a musician who's an ass,'' reveals Schwahn. We wouldn't have it any other way.

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CELEBRITY REHAB
NEW · Premieres Jan. 10
10:00-11:00 PM (VH1)
Episodes set to air: 8 - Its like a carcrash.. you just hafta look

In-house rehabologist Dr. Drew (Loveline) was concerned about turning chemical-dependency treatment into The Surreal Life. But after 21 intense days, the good doctor calls his patients — including Brigitte Nielsen, Taxi's Jeff Conaway, and American Idol's Jessica Sierra — ''courageous people who were willing to share their painful experiences, with the hope somebody will gain from it.'' Those painful experiences continue for Sierra, who relapsed after filming and was arrested Dec. 1 for disorderly intoxication. (She pled not guilty.) Drew remains convinced the series was a good idea: ''People walk on eggshells around addiction. It is the pandemic of our time, and it's time we took a good hard look.''

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TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
NEW · Premieres Jan. 13
8:00-9:00 PM (FOX)

Picking up where T2 left off, Sarah Connor (300's Lena Headey) and her teen son, John (Heroes' Thomas Dekker), battle pesky future killing 'bots while on the lam.

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BREAKING BAD
NEW · Premieres Jan. 20
10:00-11:00 PM (AMC)
Episodes set to air: 7 I guess this is a masculine version of weeds

Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle) stars in this dark comedy about a New Mexico man named Walter who, after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, decides to go into the crystal meth business. Why drug dealing? Because he makes diddly as a chemistry teacher/car wash cashier. ''Walter's been a straight arrow all of his life,'' explains creator Vince Gilligan (The X-Files), who insists he developed Bad several years before Weeds, another drama about suburban drug dealing, premiered on Showtime. Of course, it doesn't matter which idea for which show came first. As any dealer will tell you, in the end it all comes down to who has the best product.

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IN TREATMENT
NEW · Premieres Jan. 28
9:30-10:00 PM (HBO)
Episodes set to air: 43

In Treatment, which follows psychotherapist Paul ( Gabriel Byrne) through weekly sessions with four patients, plus his own turn on the couch with therapist Gina (Dianne Wiest). In Treatment aims to make patients' problems relatable. ''The idea was to keep it as unintellectual as possible,'' explains executive producer Rodrigo Garcia, who adapted the show from acclaimed Israeli series B'Tipul.

The show airing five nights — Monday through Friday — for eight and a half weeks where every half-hour installment comprises one session, and each night of the week is devoted to a particular patient.

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LIPSTICK JUNGLE
NEW · Premieres Feb. 7
10:00-11:00 PM (NBC)
Episodes set to air: 7

Lipstick Jungle takes viewers into the world of three high-profile New York women: Wendy (Brooke Shields), a movie studio executive; Nico (Kim Raver), editor in chief of Bonfire, a Vanity Fair-esque magazine; and Victory (Lindsay Price), a fashion designer.

Cashmere Mafia and Sexinthe City Lookalike.

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JERICHO
Returns Feb. 12
10:00-11:00 PM (CBS)
Episodes set to air: 7

Back from the dead for a limited engagement, the postapocalyptic drama picks up where it left off last May — with Jake (Skeet Ulrich) and Hawkins (Lennie James) facing long odds in a fierce battle over salt and turf against the New Bern townsfolk. ''We blew most of our money on this,'' admits exec producer Carol Barbee of the clash. ''There's a huge payoff.'' Enter Esai Morales, who joins the cast as a military man who helps end the fighting and reestablish order. As for the future of Jericho the show, ''With the strike going on and pilots getting derailed, Jericho is in a unique position if ratings are good,'' says Barbee. Start sending in those nuts now, people.

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FARMER WANTS A WIFE
NEW · Premieres Feb. TBD (THE CW)
Episodes set to air: 8

Just when you thought every acre of the reality matchmaking field had been tilled, along comes Farmer Wants a Wife. The premise is, fittingly, simple: Ten city gals will vie for the heart of Matt Neustadt, an earnest-as-the-day-is-long, frequently shirtless sodbuster. Each week, the lasses face challenges — from pie baking to chicken cooping — that help the hunky harvester separate the ripe from the too green and too spoiled. And you can bet the farm there will be plenty of down-home drama: ''You can take the girl out of the city,'' notes exec producer Adam Cohen, ''but you can't take the city fight out of the girl.'' Hide the pitchforks!

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OPRAH'S BIG GIVE
NEW · Premieres March 2
9:00-10:00 PM (ABC)
Episodes set to air: 8

A reality show may seem an odd fit for the ever-benevolent talk-show host — until you consider Big Give's premise: Ten contestants travel the country and attempt to outdo one another in various philanthropic competitions. A player will be eliminated each week, until one is named Oprah's Biggest Giver. ''It's pretty revolutionary to do a show about giving and not getting in this day and age,'' says executive producer Ellen Rakieten, who adds that Winfrey will serve neither as host nor judge, but will remain a presence throughout. (We're sensing Charlie's Angels-style speakerphone calls.) In any case, if Oprah's involved, the least we can do is give it a chance.

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UNHITCHED
NEW · Premieres March 2
9:30-10:00 PM (FOX)
Episodes set to air: 6

This tale of four friends cast back into the dating world after their various long-term relationships sour. The show promises a date-of-the-week structure featuring ''a constant rollout of psychologically inappropriate people''

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THE RETURN OF JEZEBEL JAMES
NEW · Premieres March 7
8:30-9:00 PM (FOX)
Episodes set to air: 7

A sitcom about a single New York book editor named Sarah (Parker Posey) who gets her free-spirited younger sister Coco (Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose) to carry a baby for her, Jezebel was birthed by the writer-producer who created Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino.

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LEWIS BLACK'S ROOT OF ALL EVIL
NEW · Premieres March 12
10:30-11:00 PM (COMEDY CENTRAL)
Episodes set to air: 8 - Must See

Leave it to Daily Show contributor Lewis Black to air an argument over who is more evil: Paris Hilton or Dick Cheney? Based in a pseudo-courtroom — with Black holding the gavel and comedians like Patton Oswalt, Kathleen Madigan, and Paul F. Tompkins arguing each case — Root of All Evil spends a half hour debating which of two subjects is more wicked (example: Kim Jong Il or Tila Tequila?). ''In a sense, we're venting for [viewers],'' says Black, who also claims to be well trained for the gig. ''I've basically spent the last 20 years as a stand-up judging people and things,'' he says. ''It's not a tough transition, except I get to sit down part of the time.''

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TBA

jaja68 · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-2008, 11:56 AM

The only thing I will try to watch is Lipstick Jungle. There are two reasons. 1.) I love, love the book. 2.) I admire Brooke.

Otherwise I will not waste my precious time on television.