Television

The complete second season of the Syfy drama, BITTEN, is now out on DVD, allowing for some wonderful binge-watching of werewolves -- and, this season, of witches as well.

This sexy action-drama picks up with the murder of Elena's friend, who had discovered her lycanthropic secret. However, while that's touched on a little bit in this second season, it takes a back seat to the new plot, which introduces a coven of witches, led by Ruth Winterbourne (Tammy Isbell) and her daughter Paige (Tommie-Amber Pirie). One of their own, young Savannah (Kiara Glasco) has gone missing, and is being used to bring about the prophesied "Undoing" of all witches.

Last month I read an interview with Aaron Ashmore (Warehouse 13) by Geek Girl Diva over at Entertainment Weekly. For those who aren't aware, Aaron is the identical twin of Shawn (Iceman from the X-Men franchise). The interview focused around the new Syfy show titled KILLJOYS, where he plays a bounty hunter.

Carol Burnett – comedic trailblazer, actor, singer, dancer, producer and author – has been named the 52nd recipient of SAG-AFTRA's highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Burnett will be presented the performers union's top accolade at the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at 8 p.m. (ET), 7 p.m. (CT), 6 p.m. (MT) and 5 p.m. (PT). Given annually to an actor who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession," the SAG Life Achievement Award will join Burnett's exceptional catal og of preeminent industry and public honors, which includes multiple Emmys®, a special Tony®, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and both a Kennedy Center Honor and its Mark Twain Prize for Humor.

Well, that didn't take long.

Marvel has announced that Elodie Yung (Jinx in G.I. JOE: RETALIATION) will be joining the cast of DAREDEVIL season 2 as Elektra. 

I will say upfront that I don't know Elodie Yung's work all that much, but she does seem to be an extremely beautiful woman.  Which really isn't a required trait to play Elektra, just a personal commentary from me.  I am definitely a fan of beautiful women.

Yes, you read that correctly: Harry Shearer has decided in the nick of time to remain with the 26-years-running animated comedy series, THE SIMPSONS, and will continue lending his voice to Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and other characters.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Shearer's contract is not special, being the same as all the other primary voice actors: a four-year deal, with a dollar value estimated at nearly $300,000 per episode.

So rest assured -- the voices of your favorite characters will not be given to another actor. Shearer's deal was done just in time so production would not be affected. THE SIMPSONS will begin their 27th season on September 27th.

Now, FOX, what can you do about getting Phil Hartman back?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – (July 1, 2015) – Call it the duck days of summer, the time when it’s 90 degrees outside and still four months away from hunting season. The Robertson family has come up with a way to chase away those summer blues and benefit deserving charities as well.

NEW YORK – July 6, 2015 – Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan will join the critically acclaimed drama THE GOOD WIFE as a series regular during the show’s upcoming seventh season. Morgan will play Alex, a calm, experienced hourly investigator whom Alicia hires. 

"We've loved and admired Jeffrey Dean Morgan for years, and we were thrilled to hear that Julianna did too, so it was a no-brainer to ask him to join our troupe," said executive producers Robert and Michelle King.

It seems like every publication is doing a comic-con variant cover these days. With all of the superhero content hitting the airwaves, it makes perfect sense for TV Guide to get in on the act.

There isn't enough epic horror in the world. Almost every horror story is a killer offing the cast one-by-one, or it ends up with a small group holed up somewhere trying to survive. When I say epic, what I'm talking about is a work like Stephen King's THE STAND, a continent-spanning adventure with multiple settings and dozens of characters. Some would say that's THE WALKING DEAD, but I wholeheartedly disagree with that assertion. It's just a group of characters hiding in various places talking season after season. It's not grand or epic in any way.

After having said it so often on THE APPRENTICE and it's spinoff, CELEBRITY APPRENTICE, Donald Trump must find it ironic to hear his trademarked expression thrown back at him. But it's true. The real estate mogul turned Presidential nominee was told to pound sand by NBC after his comments regarding illegal immigration included the words "rapists" and "drug dealers."

The network sent the following message to Talking Points Memo earlier today clarifying their announcement:

HEROES is returning to NBC this fall as HEROES REBORN.  The show will be debuting September 24, but we got a first look at the trailer:

Commentary: Lots of action, but not a lot of information here yet.   One thing I love is seeing Masi Oka as Future Badass Hiro.  Masi Oka seems to always get typecast as a nerdy little character (Franklin from SCRUBS or Max from HAWAII FIVE-O....not to mention "normal" Hiro in HEROES).  But, he actually looks great when they show him as Badass Hiro. 

Last night on TBS's CONAN, Conan O'Brien announced that he is going to be immortalized with a set of four Pop! Vinyl figures to be available this July, when CONAN will become the first-ever late-night show to broadcast from San Diego during Comic-Con® International. Created for TBS byFunko, the figure designs include "Conan O'Brien," "Batman Conan," "Zombie Conan" and"Conan's Monster."

Check out Conan's announcement from last night's show:
teamcoco.com/video/pop-conan-figures-are-coming

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

There is a great disturbance in the Force.

After a year of establishing themselves as a major thorn in the Empire's side, the Rebels return for a second season to continue their fight for freedom. With the defeat of the Inquisitor in season one, the Empire is not to be outdone. Hera, Kanan, Ezra, Sabine and the rest of the crew will face a new threat.

Darth Vader.

While being the most notorious advocate for the Empire in the entire galaxy, the showrunners still plan to use Vader sparingly:

“I think you don’t want to overuse a character like that, and you don’t want to have characters like Darth Vader in a situation where he’s going to lose relentlessly,” Filoni told MTV News over the phone.

Austin Basis has a long and varied career in acting -- and lately a lot of it has been at the CW. As the newest season of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets underway, we spoke with the actor about his career and where things are going for his character on this fan-favorite television show.

You’re a very persistent actor. You’ve taken the traditional route from playing unnamed characters and bit parts, and worked your way up the ladder. Which I actually like to see over the “I just discovered somebody, let’s cast them and write them a million dollar check.”

LOS ANGELES – On the day of her appearance on ABC’s CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP, Charo (of LAUGH-IN and LOVE BOAT fame) is revealing that the show, in a roundabout way, saved the life of her beloved calf Manolito. The longtime vegetarian and animal advocate rescued the orphaned calf shortly before filming started with the intent of educating viewers about compassion for farm animals and the cruelty of bullfighting. Little did she know, for liability reasons, ABC has a strict "no pets" policy for celebrities who appear on the show.

There are obvious spoilers in this article. If you have not watched the season 5 finale of GAME OF THRONES, do not read any further.

Still here? I'm warning you, if it gets spoiled...not my fault.

You certainly are persistant, I'll give you that.

Last chance to bail!

INCOMING SPOILERS...

Jon Snow is DEAD and he got what he deserved. I won't mix words here and I'll be as blunt as possible. Jon Snow is brave, kind hearted and always seeking to do the right thing. Those type of people usually die first in the Seven Kingdoms. Instead, Jon went from being a bastard to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

TNT's MAJOR CRIMES succeeds because it doesn't have a single star -- it has a constellation of stars that put all their light on telling the story, and let the show be the object of focus. One of these terrific actors is Raymond Cruz, who portrays Detective Julio Sanchez. We stole of few moments of Cruz's time to talk about his character's evolving story on MAJOR CRIMES, which airs Monday nights on TNT.

The big question for MAJOR CRIMES fans right now is, "Does Julio Sanchez have a grip on his anger issues?"

You know, he's working on that. [laughs] As you know, things don't happen overnight. What's great and fascinating about the show is you get to see someone who has to deal with things in real time, over a period of time. He just returned from a five month suspension without pay, he's attending counseling, he's living with his mother.

I'm a notoriously fickle television viewer.  Simply put, I won't stick around long for a new show that doesn't wow me, and I'm more than happy to drop a show once it falls into a rut.  Time is precious and my shows have to be top notch.  I'm not a fan of procedurals and reality shows, but otherwise, I'm willing to give just about any other genre a chance. I never know what will dust my fancy, but when it does, oh my, I'm sold.