January 2016 Archives - Channel Guide Magazine

#TCA16: Zach Galifianakis is a rodeo clown? We’re sold!

January 16, 2016 Ryan Berenz Comments Off

Zach Galifianakis is a rodeo clown. Need we go on? In the new FX new single-camera comedy Baskets (premieres Thursday, Jan. 21, at 10pm ET/PT), Galifianakis plays Chip Baskets, a man with a dream of becoming the world’s most celebrated circus clown. Inspired by the famous European circus performers of the 1800s, Chip attends a prestigious clowning school in Paris. But the Parisian clown scene proves too costly — the upscale French clown-nose boutiques are pricey — and Chip is forced to leave the school. He returns to Bakersfield, Calif., where he lives in an extended stay hotel while looking for […]

#TCA16: FOX’s “Lucifer” should be cast down to … well, you know

January 15, 2016 Ryan Berenz 1

FOX’s new supernatural crime drama Lucifer (premieres Monday, Jan. 25, at 9pm ET/PT) feels like Castle if Richard Castle were the Prince of Darkness. Tom Ellis stars as Lucifer Morningstar — yes, Satan himself — who has grown bored reigning over Hell and is on holiday in a much more exciting place: Los Angeles. Lucifer is a tall, dark and handsome Brit who owns a nightclub called Lux, drives around in a high-end convertible (license plate FALL1N1) and gets people to reveal their forbidden desires. It’s all fun and games for Lucifer until a faded pop star whose career he helped launch is […]

TBS launches Rashida Jones comedy “Angie Tribeca” with 25-hour Binge-A-Thon

January 14, 2016 Ryan Berenz Comments Off

Rashida Jones plays LAPD Detective Angie Tribeca in this darkly funny spoof of police procedurals from executive producers Steve and Nancy Carell. TBS is launching the series on Sunday, Jan. 17, beginning at 9pm ET/PT with a 25-hour, commercial-free marathon of the first 10 episodes. The series continues with Episodes 11-20 premiering Mondays beginning Jan. 25. TBS has put together a rather humorous press release that deserves to be shared with the world, so here it is: TBS TO LAUNCH ANGIE TRIBECA WITH 25-HOUR MARATHON OF COMMERCIAL-FREE EPISODES STARTING JAN. 17 RASHIDA JONES, HAYES MACARTHUR, JERE BURNS, DEON COLE AND ANDREE […]

“Mercy Street” explores conflicts between nurses on opposite sides of the Civil War

January 14, 2016 Ryan Berenz Comments Off

Mercy Street, a six-part drama series is set in Alexandria, Va., in 1862 and follows two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War. New Englander Mary Phinney (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Confederate supporter Emma Green (Hannah James) have an ideological clash at the Union Army’s Mansion House Hospital, formerly the Green family’s luxury hotel. Inspired by real accounts from Mansion House doctors and nurses, Mercy Street also stars Josh Radnor, Gary Cole, Peter Gerety, Norbert Leo Butz, McKinley Belcher III and Shalita Grant. Mercy Street premieres on PBS Sunday, Jan. 17, at 10pm ET/PT following Downton Abbey (check […]

America Ferrera keeps “Superstore” stocked with laughs

January 4, 2016 Ryan Berenz Comments Off

NBC’s new sitcom Superstore does for big-box retail store employees what The Office did for desk jockeys. America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) stars as Amy, a veteran Cloud 9 store “angel” who has accepted the monotony of her job and keeps her private life closely guarded. The monotony gets broken up when new employee Jonah (Ben Feldman, Mad Men) arrives and is eager to impress Amy. Ferrera says researching her role at first consisted of going to superstores as a customer and observing employees. “I would sort of say, ‘Where can I find a coffeemaker?’ and then they would tell me, and […]

David Duchovny And Gillian Anderson On “The X-Files”: The Truth Is In Here

January 4, 2016 Kellie Freeze 1

The statement “absence makes the heart grow fonder” certainly rings true in the case of The X-Files. The groundbreaking sci-fi horror drama went off the air in May 2002 and spawned two films — one in 1998 and a second in 2008 — but the return of the beloved series has garnered so much fan love that it has turned into one of TV’s most anticipated events of the winter. “I think of it as a 13-year commercial break,” series creator Chris Carter said in a statement. “The good news is, the world has only gotten that much stranger, a […]

Michelle Dockery content with Lady Mary’s closure on “Downton Abbey”

January 1, 2016 Ryan Berenz Comments Off

It’s the beginning of the end for the Crowley family and their servants. “Maybe we’re leaving a little bit earlier, but, I think, on a really high note,” executive producer Gareth Neame says of the decision to conclude Downton Abbey after six seasons. The final eight episodes air through Feb. 21, with the Christmas special serving as the series finale on March 6. “We didn’t want to leave,” says Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary, after the cast wrapped shooting at Highclere Castle. “Laura [Carmichael] and I wandered around for the last time, and suddenly we didn’t want to go […]

Shades of Blue: Ray Liotta, Jennifer Lopez play complex cops in NBC drama

December 29, 2015 Lori Acken 2

Ray Liotta was already contemplating a return to series television when he got a script for NBC’s gritty cop drama Shades of Blue. The veteran movie tough guy was intrigued. The material was good. His character, police Lt. Matt “Woz” Wozniak, was a complicated guy. Oscar winner Barry Levinson (Oz, Donnie Brasco) was aboard to co-executive produce and direct. And pop culture superstar Jennifer Lopez would be making her return to scripted TV — a guaranteed ratings boon. But. “The one thing I didn’t want was to be in ‘the J.Lo show,’” Liotta admits. “That’s nothing against Jennifer at all. […]

NBC’s Telenovela preview airs Dec. 7. We talk with Eva Longoria!

December 4, 2015 Lori Acken Comments Off

NBC’s new Eva Longoria comedy Telenovela premieres Jan. 4 at 8:30/7:30CT, but the network is offering viewers a two-episode sneak peek this Monday, Dec. 7 at 10/9CT. Longoria, who created and stars in the sidesplitting series, said the idea came from her love of the ’70s sitcom Soap and the 1991 Kevin Kline/Sally Field film Soapdish — coupled with tales told to her by pals in the telenovela business. “They would tell me stories about crazy things that would happen to them on set,” Longoria says, “and I would be floored by the amount of drama that happened that was bigger […]