Don't get a Lockwood angry. You won't like them when they're angry. In The Vampire Dairies' September 9 premiere, Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino) is surprised to see his long-absent, black sheep of the family Uncle Mason (Taylor Kinney) turn up for the funeral of his dad, the mayor. But a bigger surprise comes when Mason drops the bomb that werewolfism runs in the Lockwood bloodline!
"Mason has learned to harness his rage and is going to serve as a mentor to Tyler," says Taylor. "I've come to teach Tyler that there are choices he can make to control his destiny as a human...or otherwi...
I was scoping out paperdolls for inspiration today (upcoming project, info coming soon!) and stumbled across a designer (CANADIAN!) who just blew my breath away! Her name is Danielle Meder and she has a blog called FINAL FASHION.
As a huge comic book nerd her sketches just screamed high end X-men. lol. I could just imagine how she'd draw Kitty Pryde!
Anyways below are a few of her paper dolls but definitely click on the link above and give her site full look over
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Thursday, Sept. 16
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10 p.m. (FX)
The Apprentice, 10 p.m. (NBC)
The League, 10:30 p.m. (FX)
Sunday, Sept. 19
Boardwalk Empire, 8 p.m. (HBO) NEW
Monday, Sept. 20
Dancing With the Stars, 8 p.m. (ABC)
How I Met Your Mother, 8 p.m. (CBS)
House, 8 p.m. (Fox)
Chuck, 8 p.m. (NBC)
Rules of Engagement, 8:30 p.m. (CBS)
Two and a Half Men, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Lone Star, 9 p.m. (Fox) NEW
The Event, 9 p.m. (NBC) NEW
Mike & Molly, 9:30 p.m. (CBS) NEW
Castle, 10 p.m. (ABC)
Hawaii Five-0, 10 p.m. (CBS) NEW
Chase, 10 p.m. (NBC) NEW
Tuesday, Sept. 21
NCIS, 8 p.m. (CBS)
Glee, 8 p.m. (Fox)
The Biggest Loser, 8 p.m. (NBC)
NCIS: Los Angeles, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Raising Hope, 9 p.m. (Fox) NEW
Running Wilde, 9:30 p.m. (Fox) NEW
Detroit 1-8-7, 10 p.m. (ABC) NEW
Wednesday, Sept. 22
The Middle, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Hell’s Kitchen, 8 p.m. (Fox)
Undercovers, 8 p.m. (NBC) NEW
Better With You, 8:30 p.m. (ABC) NEW
Modern Family, 9 p.m. (ABC)
Criminal Minds, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Law & Order: SVU, 9 p.m. (NBC)
Cougar Town, 9:30 p.m. (ABC)
The Defenders, 10 p.m. (CBS) NEW
The Whole Truth, 10 p.m. (ABC) NEW
Thursday, Sept. 23
My Generation, 8 p.m. (ABC) NEW
The Big Bang Theory, 8 p.m. (CBS)
Bones, 8 p.m. (Fox)
Community, 8 p.m. (NBC)
30 Rock, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)
$#*! My Dad Says, 8:30 p.m. (CBS) NEW
Grey’s Anatomy, 9 p.m. (ABC)
CSI, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Fringe, 9 p.m. (Fox)
The Office, 9 p.m. (NBC)
Outsourced, 9:30 p.m. (NBC) NEW
Private Practice, 10 p.m. (ABC)
The Mentalist, 10 p.m. (CBS)
Friday, Sept. 24
Medium, 8 p.m. (CBS)
Smallville, 8 p.m. (The CW)
CSI: NY, 9 p.m. (CBS)
Supernatural, 9 p.m. (The CW)
The Good Guys, 9 p.m. (Fox)
Blue Bloods, 10 p.m. (CBS) NEW
Don’t get a Lockwood angry. You won’t like them when they’re angry. In The Vampire Dairies‘ September 9 premiere, Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino) is surprised to see his long-absent, black sheep of the family Uncle Mason (Taylor Kinney) turn up for the funeral of his dad, the mayor. But a bigger surprise comes when Mason drops the bomb that werewolfism runs in the Lockwood bloodline!
“Mason has learned to harness his rage and is going to serve as a mentor to Tyler,” says Taylor. “I’ve come to teach Tyler that there are choices he can make to control his destiny as a human…or otherwise.”
Nina Dobrev (Elena/Katherine) adds, “Taylor’s been adjusting really well. I don’t envy when new people come [on set] because we’ve all already created this family bond, but everyone’s really accepted him.” The same won’t hold true in Mystic Falls, reveals Ian Somerhalder (Damon). “Mason’s a really nice guy, but Damon makes it difficult for him to be nice,” says Ian. “He really pisses Damon off.”
“Yeah, we don’t get along,” echoes Taylor. “Historically, the Salvatores haven’t gotten along with the Lockwoods for ages, and having a new Lockwood in town doesn’t sit well.”
It hasn’t been lost on him that he’s following in the werewolf paw prints of another famous Taylor —Twilight hottie Taylor Lautner. “My brother gave me a few ‘Team Jacob’ magnets to mess with me,” says Taylor, who apparently sports impressive abs of his own. “I don’t know if I stack up to Mr. Lautner, but we’ll see.”
As for competing with all those sexy werewolves on a certain HBO series, Taylor says he finds it perplexing that “every time a werewolf takes off his pants on True Blood, he transforms.” Mason’s transformation will be more traditional—dependent upon a full moon. And the actor says he’s well-equipped for his first howling scene. “I grow hair like crazy!”
The exhaustive search for a new title for ABC’s Cougar Town—one that better reflects the show’s evolution from single-woman-on-the-prowl sitcom to dysfunctional-family comedy—has been scrapped, exec producer Bill Lawrence confirms to me exclusively.
“I’m not changing the title,” Lawrence tells me. “We never thought of a good new one, which kind of sucks. And when you look at the modern landscape of television, changing the title means changing your DVR and all this other stuff.”
Lawrence says he’s hopeful the publicity surrounding the proposed title change will “get the message out” that Cougar Town has become a different (and vastly improved) show.
“It’ll be a funny burden to have,” he shrugs. “It might be the worst titled show of all time.”
After seven seasons of churning out fashion challenges for aspiring designers, Project Runwayproducers are shaking things up. From a new 90-minute format to an initial twist, check out seven reason why you should watch Season 8 (premiering Thursday at 9/8c on Lifetime) — in the words of host/judge Heidi Klum.
1. A new 90-minute format means more judges’ deliberation footage. Heidi Klum: People would always ask, “Why did you make this decision?” Elimination day is all day, but on the show it was down to about 10 minutes. Sometimes the judges might not agree with one another, or something funny happens. So, now we have the freedom to show it much longer than we ever could.
2. Expect harsher circumstances and more scathing critiques. Klum: I feel like season after season we are going a little harder on the designers and with the challenges. We just try to pump it up a little more and give the designers twists because they think they know what’s coming up because they’ve seen it before. But we need to surprise them too, and not just viewers at home.
3. Runway will debut its first hat challenge. Klum: We have one challenge I’m proud of that got to be on the show. I bumped into [couture hat designer] Philip Treacy at the Oscars and I’m like, “Why don’t you come onProject Runway. I would love if the designers would make an outfit for one of your hats.” So, we got to fly him to America and he brought 15 of his most wildest and crazy avant-garde hats.
4. We may have another Kenley on our hands. Klum: There’s one girl who’s very, very opinionated. She basically never stops talking, ever. So, we kind of, like, start rolling our eyes because the clothes should speak for themselves.
5. You can go to bed a half-hour earlier since it starts at 9/8c. Klum: I always believed that 10 o’clock was way too late, so I love our time slot and think we’re right on track again.
6. Someone gets auf’ed before the competition even begins. Klum: This time we started with 17 designers and we met at Lincoln Center — where fashion week has moved to … I give them a surprise last [audition] challenge, and whoever does not make it through that challenge will officially not be on the show and will not move into their apartment. So, we give them this last twist before they could even unpack their bags!
7. It’s staying in New York. Klum: In the beginning, they said it would go back and forth [between Los Angeles and New York], but I think the network decided not to go back. I think people respond to it better being here in New York than there.
Exec producers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec offered few spoilers when moderator Marcos Siega rattled off a list of questions he had about The CW’s genre soap “The Vampire Diaries.”
Responses ranged from “I’m not going to say” to “possibly,” but to quell the crowd’s disappointment in the lack of new information from the gatekeepers, a never-before-seen teaser of the Season 2 premiere — which wrapped shooting the day before — was shown, ending the lighthearted panel on an anticipatory note.
The highlight was Katherine (or Elena) admitting to Damon: “The truth is, I never loved you.” Then you see an unhappy Damon violently throw down a glass. A natural reaction if you were caught in his situation, wouldn’t you think?
Some plot points did surface, including one that could prove problematic.
When Siega asked about the possibility of seeing Stefan speaking to Katherine but believing she was Elena, Williamson revealed that “Katherine and Stefan [do] come face to face [in the first episode back].” Speaking of Katherine, according to Williamson, there’s more to her backstory: “There’s another part of the story we haven’t shown you.”
Plec shared some info on Jeremy’s fate. “He’s either going to wake up alive or he’s going to wake up dead. But he is going to wake up,” she said. Read into that what you will.
Williamson also made mention that Stefan would be accepting his identity. “One of the things that Stefan will come to terms with is the fact that he’s a vampire, and that includes drinking blood,” he said.
And like “Twilight” and “True Blood,” “Diaries” has a werewolf element crucial to the series. Now that things are progressing for Tyler, whose family (the Lockwoods) has a curse he isn’t yet aware of, the first werewolf image may be seen sooner than you think.
“It’ll happen [some time] in the first order,” Williamson said.
Much of the session catered to the fans and also showcased the cast and crew’s good rapport. When Siega asked about Stefan being “stuck in the closet,” the panelists couldn’t take the question seriously. Wesley went along with it to the amusement of the crowd and finally said, “I’m going to come out of the closet.”
“[Kevin just] said, ‘Marcos, thanks for ruining the big twist,’ ” Somerhalder said, laughing.
Who was most unlike their character, who had the best hair (Paul Wesley) and who was the better kisser (“I guess I’m the lucky one, I get to make out with them both,” Dobrev answered diplomatically) only scratched the surface.
“Earlier today, I wrote on both their hands. Team Elena [on Wesley's] and Team Katherine [on Somerhalder's],” Dobrev said, holding up their wrists as proof.
A fun moment during the panel was when Somerhalder shared that he could wear the vampire fangs and speak normally.
“I can recite the Gettysburg address [while wearing] mine,” he declared.
The panelists urged him to prove his statement (and intelligence) and Somerhalder obliged, “Four score and seven years …,” proving he wasn’t just a pretty face.
At the Comic-Con “Family Guy” panel, producers showed a nine-minute preview of its upcoming “Return of the Jedi” spoof — but ruled out spoofing the prequels.
“This last one almost killed us,” creator Seth MacFarlane said. “It would be too expensive. The problem is we try to be as faithful as possible to the look of those movies to do that with the prequels, I don’t think TV budgets have reached that level yet.”
Added Alex (“Lois”) Borstein: “That, and they sucked.”
MacFarlane also ruled out doing more big franchise movie spoofs … except, possibly, Indiana Jones.
“We may tackle Indiana Jones,” he said. “There’s no one quite like LucasFilm for allowing us to do what we do.”
The “Jedi” parody is titled “It’s a Trap!” and the nine-minute preview was hilarious, better than the show’s “Empire Strikes Back” spoof.
Episodes next season include:
– Stewie goes to the North Pole and tries to kill Santa
– We learn that Lois did a porn movie “and we get to see it”
– Brian sells out and writes a self-help book and is on Bill Maher’s show, which will mix live action and animation
– Meg takes out all her pent-up wrath on the family, while Brian is freaking out on shrooms
– The hour-long season premiere is a whodonit and is based on Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” which characters will be killed off throughout the show.
A fan asked if MacFarlane will bring back the Down Syndrome Girl who so famously annoyed Sarah Palin.
“My guess is that at some point we will … despite all the Palin business,” he said.
Added a writer on the show: “I wrote that episode. This season I decided I’d even things out and write something that would offend smart people.”
She can read minds, sling beers and toss back shots with werewolves. Not to mention work a pair of short-shorts across two states. No wonder True Blood‘s Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is the dream girl for three guys who put the super in supernatural.
So far she’s been loyal to her first love, Civil War-era vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), but a heartrending breach of trust will soon tear the two apart, leaving an opening for calculating Viking bloodsucker Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) and sensitive werewolf bodyguard Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello).
“It will shake the very core of their relationship,” says executive producer Alan Ball of the shocking incident that wounds the couple in Season 3. “Bill and Sookie’s love for each other is authentic and they want to make it work. But it might get harder and harder.”
Sookie’s love life is a huge reason viewers are sucking up True Blood by the gallon. The Emmy-nominated drama, based on the best-selling book series by Charlaine Harris, is HBO’s biggest hit since The Sopranos. Set in backwater Bon Temps, La., and surrounds, it’s a Southern Gothic gumbo of hot sex, deep love and vampire politics, with enough story lines to choke a gator.
But underneath it all is the battle for Sookie’s heart that’s been raging since Season 1. Fans have chosen sides, and it’s on for Team Bill versus Team Eric (unofficial team T-shirts are available online), with new rival Alcide now running as a dark horse, er, wolf.
Team Bill diehards held their breath in the Season 2 finale when Bill was kidnapped just after proposing to Sookie. This season kicked off with Bill being hauled away by werewolves working for vampire king of Mississippi Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare). Sookie’s search for her intended landed her in Russell’s clutches, too, and she might have died along the way if not for Alcide’s protection. Add to that the conniving Eric; Bill’s maker and ex, Lorena (Mariana Kleveno), who’s said she’d like to wear Sookie’s rib cage as a hat; the dangerous vampire queen Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood); and you’ve got one bloody mess.
Still, Moyer (Paquin’s real-life fiancé) believes that, when it comes to true love, all the mayhem is manageable. “I can’t get into slinging matches about who’s better for Sookie because it’s just ridiculous,” he laughs. “Bill is for Sookie, the love of her life.”
Moyer makes a good case for why on a moonless night in an outdoor scene that will air in the Aug. 8 episode. We won’t reveal too much, but we will say he’s ready to fight Russell, who has put Bill’s progeny, teenage vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), in danger. Bill’s all passion and protectiveness, and definitely someone you want in your corner — or any room of the house. Score one for Team Bill.
But during the escape from Russell’s mansion that eventually leads to this moment, Moyer hints, “Sookie does something we haven’t seen her do yet for Bill. It being the roller-coaster ride that their relationship is, something happens immediately that makes things go awry.”
TV Guide Magazine: Your first season included so many great theme episodes — like the bloody Halloween party and the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. Can we expect more of these events? Williamson: The CW is very event-oriented, but I was initially very resistant of it. Last season was all built around Founder’s Day. And this year we’re considering three events as our big lead-up to the season finale. Plec: We do have a carnival in our second episode, and in the third episode, Elena and Damon and Alaric travel together to Duke University, where Isobel, Alaric’s wife and Elena’s birth mother, met and lived together. She studied the paranormal and was an expert in the anthropology department which is how she disguised her vampire research. She had become obsessed with Mystic Falls and dug deep into the history of the town. So on their trip, they dig into her dusty files to see what she may have known that they don’t know.
TV Guide Magazine: What about another Halloween episode? Williamson: We’re not looking at the show as if a whole year has passed, but we will have an episode timed to Halloween, which will be a huge masquerade ball that we’re now thinking of as a possible two-parter. S–t will hit the fan.
TV Guide Magazine: There will be one big murder? Plec: Yes. At least. Williamson: It’s getting harder and harder to look at our wall of death where we have photos of people like Anna (Malese Jow) and Bonnie’s grandmother (Jasmine Guy). Plec: And Lexi (Arielle Kebbel)…
TV Guide Magazine: I was quite upset about Bonnie losing her Gran. Will we meet Bonnie’s parents? Plec: People ask, ‘Why doesn’t Bonnie have parents?’ Well, Bonnie does have parents. She lives with her father, who we have not met on camera, but she does not have a relationship with her mother. These are characters we may possibly explore this year. Bonnie comes from a long line of Bennett witches and mom is out there somewhere… Williamson:True Blood actually did with LaFayette’s mother (revealing her in a mental institution) what we wanted to do with Bonnie’s mother, even though we came up with that idea a year ago. Plec: That happens all the time. Williamson: Sometimes we’ll write dialogue and Nina Dobrev (Elena) will say, ‘You do realize that’s exactly what was said in Twilight, right?’ And I’ll tell her, ‘No, I had no idea.’ Vampire stories have been told for centuries so stories are going to overlap. I just don’t want to do it in the same way or too close to when the others do it.
TV Guide Magazine: Speaking of which, both Twilight and True Blood have plunged heavily into werewolf territory, which you are about to do in your new season. Plec: We actually talked about this a lot, because we didn’t want to be the third to bring something to the table. But it’s in the Vampire Diaries books and the character of Tyler Lockwood could not and should not exist without this werewolf arc. We started laying the groundwork for this story all last season, so to negate that genre element would have been to negate the entire Tyler character. Williamson: Every vampire story has a werewolf nearby. It’s just the way it is.
TV Guide Magazine: What will your werewolves look like? Williamson: Wolves, and we’ll show them transform. But not right away. And I think on True Blood their werewolves transform at will, whereas Tyler is bound by the full moon. Once a month he can’t control it.
TV Guide Magazine: And now it’s looking as though True Blood is about to introduce werepanthers. Williamson: Really? Well we’ll introduce were-armadillos!
TV Guide Magazine: One thing Elena hasn’t considered yet is her potentially having to sacrifice motherhood if she lives forever with a Salvatore vampire, because your vampires can’t conceive, can they? Plec: No they cannot. Williamson: One of the things we’ll see Elena deal with this year are mortality issues. She’s dating a guy who’s never going to get old and she’s never going to be able to have children.
TV Guide Magazine: There’s lots of gayness going on over at True Blood. It surprises me that there’s no suggestion of homosexuality on a Kevin Williamson show. Williamson: I’m happy to bring a gay character in when it fits the story. Caroline’s father is gay. He has a boyfriend. We’ve already set him up as a Founding Family member. Plec: And it’s quite possible we’ll be meeting Caroline’s dad this year. This is going to be a big season for Caroline’s relationship with her mom, the sheriff.
Sounds like some good stuff is planned. And it seems we can at least breath a sigh of relief that Caroline — last seen bleeding internally — will survive her emergency surgery. As for the other cliffhangers, we’ll all have to stay tuned until the Sept. 9 season premiere to find out if Jeremy becomes a vampire, if Uncle John survives and if Elena exposes Katherine as her scheming impostor.
Once Katherine returned to Mystic Falls inThe Vampire Diaries‘ season finale, it didn’t take her long to do some serious damage. Kissing Damon! Stabbing John!
Producers and cast say her tour of destruction has only just begun.
“I would like to see Elena take on Katherine. Elena’s gone a long way,” Nina Dobrev said at the show’s Comic-Con panel Saturday. Despite Elena’s evolution over the course of Season 1, Dobrev said it’s still nice to step into Katherine’s shoes. “She’s badass. She gets away with a lot.”
More important than a possible battle between Elena and Katherine, however, is the conflict ahead for Damon and Stefan, as Katherine tries to pit the Salvatore brothers against each other. In exclusive footage from the new season, Katherine tells Damon that she never loved him, despite their season-finale lip-lock, and tells Stefan that she came back for him.
“This little switcheroo thing is kind of interesting. Katherine fooled Damon, but it will be really interesting to see Katherine and Stefan come face to face,” creator and executive producerKevin Williamson said, noting that the confrontation will take place in the first episode.
Katherine’s return may also lead to changes in Damon and Stefan’s distinct personalities. That means seeing more of “nice Damon” and the increasingly dark side of Stefan.
“I think it’s a thing that will never escape him,” Williamson said. “He’s going to have to come to terms with being a vampire and accepting himself for who he is. Part of accepting himself may just be drinking blood.”
But no matter how dark Stefan or other characters may get this season, executive producerJulie Plec promises the change isn’t necessarily permanent.
“We like to think that the darker a character goes, the closer we get to a window to the light,” she said.
Things can’t get much darker for Katherine, who murdered John in the final moments of the season finale. Will there be further bloodshed in Mystic Falls at her hands? Williamson would only say there would be more deaths ahead.
“It has to fit for the story,” Williamson said of the upcoming fatalities. “It has to come from a place of good storytelling.”
Viewers can also expect to learn more about Katherine’s origins via flashbacks.
“There’s another part of the story we haven’t shown you,” Williamson said. “It’s Chapter 2, but it’s also the other side. That’s sort of the mystery: Where has she been? What has she been up to?”
For the Fringe team, meeting their alternate selves in the series’ second season finale was only the beginning. The tug-of-war between this world and the other world will be even further explored as Season 3 deals with the themes of duality, duplicity and the road not taken. “We want to see how our universe would have evolved had different choices been made along the way,” executive producer J.H. Wyman said at the series’ Comic-Con panel Saturday. “People are really interested in possibilities and choices that you’ve made or could have made that would take your life in a very different direction.” So now that viewers will be spending more time in the alternate universe, we thought we’d make a handy guide to navigating that world with clues and teases from the cast.
1. Don’t underestimate the other universe: John Noble tells TVGuide.com that the alternate universe will play a bigger role this season. Episodes will alternate between showcasing primarily the other world and our world, but with a small hook from the opposite place. Additionally, producers said this season will go back and forth between mythology-heavy episodes and myth-alone episodes with cases.
2. Don’t assume you have Nolivia all figured out: She may be very much in love with her boyfriend, but her mission is to keep an eye on Peter and Walter and she’s sticking to it. “I think Nolivia and Peter are a more natural personality match than our Olivia and alternate Peter … they just have sort of a more animal understanding of each other,” Joshua Jacksonsaid. “I think they’re almost going to get along too well and then the inevitable wrecking comes and it will tear everything up again.”
3. Which means … Olivia is not to be underestimated: First off, don’t expect to stay in confinement for very long, according to Anna Torv. Exclusive new footage from Season 3 not only previewed a steamy kiss between Nolivia and Peter, but a big brawl between the two Olivias. “I always think our Olivia really wants to kind of be the best, whereas [alternate] Olivia just wants to win,” Torv said. “That’s the swagger to her and the earnestness to Olivia.” (Torv’s biggest complaint about her alternate self? “It’s exhausting getting the wig on and off.”)
4. Don’t expect to see Peter over there anytime soon: Joshua Jackson says he’s been able to appreciate the show in a new way thanks to his lack of screen time over there. Plus, Peter has plenty of his own emotional baggage to deal with this year. “He’s in a really bewildered state,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t know who to trust or where to go.”
5. Alternate Broyles is not to be trusted … maybe: Lance Reddick has no doubt his character has “enormous respect” for Walternate, but maybe that’s not enough. “At the same time, Broyles is a bit of a maverick, so I guess we’ll see just how that loyalty plays out.”
6. Nina is ready to cut loose in the other world: Viewers will get to see much more than just alternate Nina’s arm this year, Blair Brown said. “If she’s about control in this world, she’s about a lack of control in that world,” Brown said, who also added there is still a lot to discover this year about Nina and Peter’s relationship.
7. And more alternate Astrid!: Alternate Astrid will appear heavily in the first episodes of the new season, according to Jasika Nicole, who describes the other Astrid as machine-like. “Astrid doesn’t have the emotional communication in the alternative universe which she does in this one,” she said. “She’s kind of a loner.”
8. Fans of that world (and this one!) may not have seen the last of William Bell just yet: Despite Leonard Nimoy‘s retirement after Season 2, the producers think there’s a possibility he could return. “Should we be able to convince him to come out of retirement, we have another story to tell,” executive producer Jeff Pinker said.
Fringe returns to Fox on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 9/8c.
ABC’s forthcoming fall drama No Ordinary Family is one part Heroes,one part The Incredibles— but don’t expect starMichael Chiklis to don any capes or costumes.
“You don’t want to see me in Lycra, believe me. I’m just glad I don’t have 60 pounds of orange latex on,” Chiklis said, alluding to his last superhero job as The Thing in the Fantastic Four films.
The first episode of No Ordinary Family, which was screened for audiences at Comic-Con on Saturday,revolves around a family at its breaking point. After their vacation ends prematurely when the plane they’re on goes down in mysteriously infected waters, the Powells emerge with some extraordinary abilities. (It’s an origin story that owes a debt to that of the Fantastic Four, but Chiklis’ presence should buy the show a pass from fans of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johhny Storm, and Ben Grimm.)
When Jim (Chiklis), a police artist, returns to work, he discovers he has more or less become Superman — minus the flying. Stephanie (Julie Benz), his over-achieving but stretched-thin wife, gains super speed.
Executive producers Greg Berlanti and Jon Harmon Feldman said they liked the idea of melding a traditional family drama with genre elements. Between them, the pair has worked on such dysfunctional family dramas as Dirty Sexy Money and Brothers & Sisters. Berlanti said he was in the middle of writing the script for Green Lantern, the upcoming action film starring Ryan Reynolds, when Feldman pitched him the idea.
“I loved the idea of melding worlds. I love that this is a show where you can have two great actors who can have really powerful scenes together in the bedroom… and also have the guy leap off buildings,” Berlanti said.
“He is powerful in the bedroom,” Benz said. “Super strong.”
Meanwhile, daughter Daphne (Kay Panabaker) finds herself suddenly able to read people’s minds, and son JJ (Jimmy Bennett) becomes super smart.
The show will quickly delve into the mythology of how and why the family came into its powers. In the first episode, Jim fights what seems to be a common criminal, only to discover the crook’s got some extraordinary moves of his own. And Feldman said a new scene will be inserted at the end of the first episode which hints that something, or someone, with less than good intentions may be behind it all.
No Ordinary Family premieres at 8/7c Sept. 28 on ABC.
Without Twilight here to compete at Comic-Con, the most in-demand vampires are those living in Bon Temps. CreatorAlan Ball and the cast from HBO’s True Bloodwere met with the accordant shrieks at the show’s Friday panel. And they were plenty talkative about this season (witches!), behind-the-scenes antics (socks that aren’t for the feet!) and the future (Sookie and Bill 4ever!)
How do the menfolk on True Blood handle all that nudity? Joe Manganiello(Alcide) said there are a few options: “Sock with a draw string, a plastic-backed thong, which apparently breaks if you’re running fast, or the man panty, or manty, which reduces you to a Ken doll.”
Did Alexander Skarsgard come off a little two-dimensional during the panel? Yes, but he had a good excuse. Skarsgard had said he wouldn’t be there because he’s busy shooting a movie, but Anna Paquin and Steven Moyer carried out a cut-out of the actor on stage. The ladies in the audience screamed anyway, and Paquin lovingly caressed 1-D Skarsgard. Ryan Kwanten, who plays Jason, was also missing from this year’s lineup.
Hasn’t Tara suffered enough? One would think so. But things aren’t going to get any easier, to hear it from Rutina Wesley (Tara) and Ball. Asked about her bad taste in men, Wesley began singing “looking for love in the all the wrong places,” before explaining. “When Tara gets close to loving someone, she immediately runs away… She’s unstable right now but I’m hoping for stability in the future.” Ball added, “There will be a brief break for her at the end of the season, but it won’t last.” And there you have it, Tara fans.
Will fans will ever learn why Franklin is a bit, er, off? Ball said no, he just is. “He does care [about Tara] in his own twisted way. Unfortunately, he is also a psychopath.”
What’s more challenging for the cast, the sex scenes or the violence? “Well, you have to fake the violence,” Paquin said. Also, she prefers to get naked earlier in the day and kill people later, “that way you’re not all messy for lunch.”
We heard there was a porn version of True Blood. True? Ball said not only is there a porn version of, but the Sookettes in the Snoop Dogg music video — an ode to Sookie, which you can view here — wore the same wig that Porn Eric wore.
What’s up with Sookie’s all-mighty microwave fingers? Paquin said viewers will find out what’s behind her other power before the season’s end. She added that she’s enjoying getting to do more of the ass-kicking this season. “I never got any action in X-Men… I wore some really hot gloves.”
How long are fans going to wait to see Jessica and Hoyt reunited? Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica) hinted that it might be awhile. “You have to learn to love yourself before you can love someone else,” she said. “With the confusion of becoming a vampire I don’t know if Jessica loves herself enough, so we have to wait for that first.”
Any celebrity fans we don’t know about? Elizabeth Taylor, according to Kristin Bauer van Straten (Pam), who’s friend is Taylor’s lawyer. Harris also said Anne Rice is a big fan. Did we hear the word “cameos” just now?
Which is Bauer van Straten’s favorite live animal on set? “Skarsgard’s not so bad once you get used to him,” she dead-panned.
Is there any character who Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, is most excited for viewers to meet? Sookie’s great-grand father. Harris gave no further details.
What is Paquin’s favorite gross-out moment? With so many to choose from, it must be like choosing a favorite child. But she settled on the scene in Season 2 in which Sookie enters Gran’s house after it has been run over by neighbors under Marianne’s spell. “There was a small naked man in my sink doing something quite intimate with what looked like intestines… that was pretty interesting,” she said.
Is there any hope that Bill and Sookie will end up together? Ball is rooting for the couple. “I do believe they’re soulmates,” he said. “I believe their love is genuine and it really is true,” he said. Harris’s books on the other hand? Relationships may not end up the same way. “I think [the books and the series] are separate entertainment experiences,” she said. “I’ve had my ending in mind for the past 8 or 9 years.”
“It’s so much fun to see our animated characters come to life,” Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon’s programming president, said in a statement. “And who better to bring grown up Timmy Turner to life than Drake Bell, who himself grew up on our air and still remains one of our most popular Nick stars ever.”
The animated series focused on 10-year-old Timmy’s refusal to grow up, so he could keep his fairy godparents. In the movie, an older Timmy is still in the fifth grade and living at home, but all that changes when he begins to have feelings for Tootie (Victorious‘ Daniella Monet), a nerdy girl who has grown into a beautiful woman and returned to town. Timmy must make a choice between his godparents or growing up and being in love.
“I think fans of the series will love seeing the characters in this new way,” creator and executive producer Butch Hartman said. “Our mix of live-action and special effects animation will make them look ‘hyper-real’ and our goal is to make this movie as visually exciting as it will be funny.”
Steven Weber (Wings, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) also stars as a larger-than-life oil tycoon, who turns his attention to capturing Timmy’s fairies and using their power to fuel his maniacal ambition.
Move over, Jason Stackhouse. There’s a new set of abs on True Blood.
Joe Manganiello, who plays werewolf Alcide Herveaux, has been promoted to be a series regular for Season 4, a show rep confirms to TVGuide.com.
The One Tree Hill alum was originally brought on to appear in few episodes, but has impressed producers with his performance during Season 3. Manganiello’s character plays a substantial role in The Southern Vampire Mysteries novels, on which True Blood is based.
Fox comedy starring perennial favorite Will Arnett, Running Wilde.
Who’s in it: Will Arnett and Keri Russell.
What it’s about: An obnoxious billionaire (Arnett) reunites with his earth-crunchy old flame (Russell) and her daughter.
Why it caught my attention: The Arrested Development pedigree. Obviously star Arnett is an alum, plus AD‘s creator Mitch Hurwitz is also behind Running Wilde.
Show most likely to: Make you wish Arrested Development was still on.
I don’t think it will be Navid because he’s trying to get Adriana back. Liam?? Now that would be juicy. I just hope that it isn’t Teddy. I know he has an amazing body but I don’t really like his face, lol.
Sources close to the production of 90210 have revealed that one of male characters - Matt Lanter‘s Liam,Michael Steger‘s Navid, or Trevor Donovan‘s Teddy – will be coming out of the closet in the upcoming season!
Co-Executive Producer Jennie Urman reveals:
“We want to address the issue in a real and relatable way.”
Historically, pop culture is full of vampires who are calm, collected, and more than a little mysterious, which is what makes Deborah Ann Woll on True Blood such a hoot. Her fledgling vamp Jessica is none of those things — instead, she’s equal parts giddy and grossed-out (and blessedly free of those centuries’ worth of wisdom that make most other vampires such a drag). Heading into season three, Woll’s just as much of a delight as ever, and even feature film auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson are beginning to take note.
What’s in store for Jessica this year — and for Woll herself? Movieline talked to the 25-year-old actress about the third season’s arc and her upcoming projects.
Jessica is my favorite character on the show, but I have to confess that when she was introduced, I worried that she might be really annoying. How do you keep her endearing when she could so easily tip over the other way?
Gosh, first of all, thank you! I’m glad she’s your favorite. The only thing I think you could do wrong with the character is not commit to it, maybe. You know, people do things that are wrong or annoying or inconsiderate. We are not a perfect race — and neither are vampires. [Laughs] I don’t particularly believe that acting is about winning people over or having them like your character.
Is that commitment harder when you’re having to portray something really emotional or when you have to indulge some of the fantasy aspects of the show? Do you just have to say, “I may look stupid in front of the crew, but I just have to go for this”?
Many times. Not only is it stupid to run and jump and pretend that the things that aren’t happening are actually happening, but even the emotional stuff could sometimes come across as silly. I had to be ‘devirginized’ in front of a lot of people — that’s maybe not the most flattering or easy thing to portray! I had to kind of come up with my idea of what it would be like to go through that experience, and they could all judge me on whether I’ve gone in the right direction or not.
You came on board near the end of season one and had to join this cast already in progress. Does that inform how you treat new actors who are going through the same thing in seasons two or three?
Oh, for sure. Luckily, my experience in coming on was extremely positive. Nobody tried to pull any sort of power play against me — everyone was absolutely welcoming and happy to have me and encouraged me to do the best job I could do. One hundred percent, I try to provide the same thing for any cast member who comes along with us. Really, you’re only as good as the sum of your parts, and if you intimidate someone so much that they can’t do their job to the best of your abilities, that detracts from the experience. We all want it to be as good as it can be in every aspect, so as soon as a new actor comes on, I’m so excited to meet them and make them feel as absolutely at home as I can.
When you first came in, did you know at that point that you would become a regular, or was it still just a guest star part?
It was still a guest star — it was a recurring, two-episode guest star. The way it was written, it looked like there was a possibility of coming back here and there over the next season, but I had no idea what their plans for their character were. After I filmed the first two episodes, the day before I came in to film the finale for the first season, I got the call that they were offering me a regular position for the second season, which was extremely exciting. I was really surprised, but of course I was so grateful, because it’s meant a lot to me.
What is Jessica’s relationship with Hoyt going to be like this season?
Oh boy. Tumultuous, for sure. Both of them have been really hurt by the people in their lives and by each other, and there are other issues. Jessica has things she is ashamed of, and I think she doesn’t find herself as deserving of someone as good as Hoyt is. There’s a lot that has to change for them before they can really forgive each other. Maybe their relationship shouldn’t reconnect — it could be stronger that way.
Did you know there are dozens of fan videos and romantic montages dedicated to them on YouTube?
[Laughs] Romantic montages?
Oh yeah. They’ll compile scenes between you and Hoyt and set it to, like, a Miley Cyrus song or something.
Aww! Oh, that’s really sweet. I’ll have to check that out. My mother is the one who’s on the Twitter and the Facebook, and she gets all the updates on what the fans are doing. She’s usually my middleman for the internet stuff, but I don’t think she does YouTube. I’ll have to look for that — that’s great.
So you guys have actually shot the season finale already, haven’t you?
We’ll finish it in the next week or so.
What do you feel like Jessica gets to do this year that she hasn’t before?
Oh, I’ve been very lucky with the writing and what they’ve allowed me to do with this role. Each season, I feel like I start and end in a different place, and that’s what you want as an actor. You like those arcs and those changes and the feeling that the events that happen to you as a character fundamentally change who you are in some way. This season, there’s a lot of growth and a cool arc that happens. There’s even a cool moment — I think it’s in episode eight — where I found myself reacting the way that Jessica from the second season might have responded, a bit more impulsively. Then, within the scene, I felt myself going, “No, I’m past that. I can respond to this in a different way.” It became kind of a cool moment, and we ended up keeping it; here was Jessica right in the middle of a transition.
I think my favorite moment in the premiere was when Jessica was freaking out about a dead body but as soon as she heard that Sookie might be getting engaged, she immediately became a giddy teenager about it.
If there was a buzzword for Jessica, it would probably be “impulsive.” It’s very moment-to-moment living for her, and it’s fun to play that. It’s fun to go, “Oh my gosh, I killed somebody,” and then jump straight into, “But oh my gosh, you’re gonna get married!” It’s a nice playground.
Are you going to Comic-Con again this year for the show?
I am going to Comic-Con, definitely.
I heard the cast was unprepared for how big the True Blood panel would be last year. Do you feel like you guys kind of shoot it in a bubble?
It’s funny, I guess when I thought of these TV shows of old, I always imagined them filming on these maximum-security sets and nobody could get in and it’s very highly guarded, but we go into work and it’s just like anybody else’s office building. We have a card, we show up, we get let in and we shoot right in the middle of Hollywood — it really doesn’t feel like we’re really that hidden at all! I guess because it’s such a short season and we do films on the off-season and we don’t shoot it at the same time as it’s airing, we don’t hear any of the hype while we’re shooting it. The hype comes after it’s done. If people get really excited about a scene, we go, “Oh great, I shot that six months ago!” We do feel very removed from it all.
I’ve heard that you might be in talks for the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie, The Master, to play the daughter of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character.
There’s nothing official. I will say that I have talked with him, and he’s very nice. I don’t think we or he is anywhere near making a decision — I think he’s still working on the script, so he’s got that job to do. There’s really nothing official there, it’s just some interest that he and I both have.
But you’re definitely in the upcoming remake of the horror film Mother’s Day. What can you tell me about it?
I think it has a lot of unique qualities to it that you wouldn’t normally find in that kind of home invasion drama. I do like that women are playing both the villain and heroine — I think that’s an unusual thing to see in this genre. I also like that nobody dies with their top off. [Laughs] That’s a positive.
There wasn’t a new episode of True Blood last Sunday, but then again, you probably needed that downtime to decompress from the previous episode’s insane final scene. On a show that co-mingles sex and violence as a general rule, that last encounter between Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Lorena (Mariana Klaveno) may have shredded the envelope: testing the limits of vampire-on-vampire hate-sex, Bill twisted Lorena’s head completely around between thrusts — and true to Lorena’s malevolent nature, she loved it.
Did Klaveno feel the same way about having to shoot it, though? With True Blood resuming its run this weekend, she called up Movieline to discuss exactly how they made it work, why Lorena just can’t get over Bill, and how J.J. Abrams is inadvertently responsible.
So you had a very, shall we say, “head-turning” scene in episode three?
You could say that. You could say “twisted.”
I’m sure you’re going to hear all of those jokes.
We were making them on the day of filming, trust me.
Please tell me what your reaction was when you read that.
I think my jaw dropped to the floor, and my initial thought was, “Oh, my poor parents.” [Laughs] There was sort of an anxiety about it, but upon reflection, I realized it was going to very much be a water-cooler scene for the season, and given the choice, I’d rather be in the water-cooler scene than not. I made my peace with it, although I’m nervous to actually see it! I’ve seen it in pieces because I had to go back and do sound for it, but I have not seen the finished product yet.
It’s insane.
It was kind of insane, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, so many great scenes happen in episode three, and I don’t know that anyone will remember them when the last moment of the episode occurs.
Well, how the hell did you film that? I want to know everything.
I think it’s CGI magic, but they actually built a puppet — a Mariana puppet, or a Lorena puppet, I should say. I did a lifecast of my torso and my face, and it came out perfect. It looked exactly like me, and her head could twist around. We kind of did it in stops and starts all day long. [Laughs] We did it with Stephen and I facing up, Stephen and I face-down, Stephen with the puppet…there were many different versions that we filmed, and they sort of pieced them all together with post-production magic to make it all look, I’m hoping, horrific.
On a show like True Blood, it’s kind of an honor to have the most talked-about sex scene, isn’t it?
Yes, yes. I mean, I had a pretty gruesome sex scene last season when we were rolling around in blood, but this one pushed the envelope for sure, as far as incorporating violence and sex. It’s actually one of the things I love about the show: it knows what it is, and it does what it does very well. Alan Ball just knows how to keep upping the ante and how to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Once you think you have the show figured out, they pull something like this, and it’s like, “Wow, I’m speechless.”
What was it that you so enjoyed about the flashbacks in that episode?
I love these particular flashbacks because you get to see the beginning nature of their relationship and Bill really not having a handle on his vampire life. He makes mistakes and crosses lines, and you see Lorena acting as his maker in a maternal sort of way, which you really haven’t seen before. I don’t know if you were surprised, but I was surprised about how things were handled in that scene.
Why do you think Lorena is so obsessed with Bill?
I think he represents everything that she wants. The irony is that the very things that initially attracted her to Bill are the qualities in him that keep him from returning her love: He’s this honorable, dignified man who has scruples and morals. She’s been waiting to find a companion; she’s a very lonely character, and I have my own ideas for why that is, that she was never really loved in her human life either. The problem is that she’s very much in tune with her vampire life and she wants him to indulge in those vampire things, and this season, you get to see a darker side of Bill. I think it’s as twisted — again, sorry for the pun — as it seems that it excited Lorena that she starts to see her input in Bill. The more violent he is, the darker he is, the more he pushes away Sookie for his vampire life, the better it is for Lorena. She thinks, “This is the vampire I made.”
Do you mind playing such a villain, or do you want fans to like you?
I do want the fans to like me a little bit! This season, she does have her evil moments still, but the way she deals with Bill’s wife, I think, is very surprising. You leave that moment where she starts to glamour her and you think, “Oh my God, she’s going to do something horrible to his wife and I’ll never like this character,” but she doesn’t. She’s sort of taken care of in a way. Further on, in episode ten, I think you’ll see more of those moments. I think it makes her a more interesting character and it’s so much more rewarding to play a character who has those sides to her.
You’ve taken a lot of abuse this season, but at least you get to wear some fabulous clothing. I thought Lorena’s riding outfit that she got burned up in was kind of insanely wonderful.
Thank you! Yes, they worked very hard on that outfit. It’s a shame that it was only onscreen for about two seconds. [Laughs] I was set on fire, but I think I had about four different fittings just for that outfit. I’m an extremely lucky girl that I get to wear all these fabulous clothes.
So tell me about this chance meeting with J.J. Abrams that helped launch your career.
Oh, yes. I used to work at Morton’s in Burbank, for about seven years. J.J. used to come in to write when he was working on Alias — he’d come in with his laptop late in the evening and have a steak. I was an insane fan of the show and I knew who he was and I didn’t want to approach him and say anything, but we kind of struck up an acquaintance because I was a hostess and I knew he needed the one table with an outlet next to it for his laptop. So, after about four or five of these times when he’d come in and need that table and we’d have a bit of a back-and-forth, it came out that I was an actress. He started scolding me that I hadn’t mentioned it before and hadn’t been giving him my headshot.
But you couldn’t have!
I know! I said, if I’d done that, he would have been turned off. He was very generous and very gracious and he said, “Please send me your stuff,” which I did, but I thought, “If I just send him my picture and a resume with nothing on it, it’s not going to go anywhere.” So I started to come up with a very clever cover letter about why I needed to be on Alias, full of inside jokes about the show like how I look amazing in colored wigs or how I can pretend that Glendale is the Czech Republic. Apparently, they loved it there and passed it around at the writer’s table or something, and a few weeks later, I got the call from their casting office that they were offering me a little part.
And who did you play?
I play the girl who blows up. I’m literally onscreen for a couple of seconds, and then I blow up.
You’ve gotten blown up, burned up, your head’s gotten twisted around…you have a very interesting resume, Mariana.
I have. I think I’ve died many, many times on TV, and this show is adding interesting some new atrocities to the list.
When Siega asked about the possibility of seeing Stefan speaking to Katherine but believing she was Elena, Williamson revealed that “Katherine and Stefan [do] come face to face [in the first episode back].” Speaking of Katherine, according to Williamson, there’s more to her backstory: “There’s another part of the story we haven’t shown you.”
