Television

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.

When the new TNT regime took over, they got rid of quite a few shows I loved like PERCEPTION, FRANKLIN AND BASH, and SULLIVAN AND SON.  I haven’t given up on TNT entirely;  they still have THE LIBRARIANS, and some of the new shows they launched this year look entertaining.  Critical Blast got an early look at the first two episodes of PROOF: “Pilot” and “Til’ Death.” 

On July 14, BBC Video will be releasing Doctor Who: The Daleks. This collection features a Doctor Who story from each of the modern Doctors facing off against the Daleks, a classic Doctor Who story, and a new Documentary called Dalek Origins. 

Dalek (season 1, episode 6)

TNT's MAJOR CRIMES returns to television for a fourth season starting June 8, with a double homicide that seems to be an open and shut case. But then, when are they ever that easy on MAJOR CRIMES?

Returning to the series is Raymond Cruz as Detective Julio Sanchez, and not everybody is happy about that, particularly Lt. Andy Flynn (Tony Denison), who is very vocal about his concerns that Sanchez might blow up again at any crucial moment.

The homicide provides an opportunity for Rusty (Graham Patrick Martin) to develop a story for his college journalism course, and he obtains the necessary permissions from Chief Taylor (Robert Gossett) to do this. However, the lessons he gets from trying to follow the story end up having little to do with writing and more to do with the business. But it also leads into something else that is going to have repercussions throughout the season when he takes a hint from police photographer Buzz Watson (Phillip P. Keene).

After basically going into hiding since The Colbert Report went off the air, Stephen Colbert launched a new "Late Show With Stephen Colbert" channel on Youtube, and this teaser for his return to TV.  Its typical Colbert.  Funny and weird.  I've really missed having Colbert around and I can't wait for September!

Update:  Later in the day, Colbert posted a new video announcing that Jon Baptiste will be his new band leader:

John Noble will star as Sherlock Holmes’ wealthy, estranged father when he joins the cast of ELEMENTARY as a series regular in the fall. The character has been referenced in past seasons as being instrumental in Sherlock’s first stint in rehab three years ago and in pairing his son with Joan Watson, his former sober companion, now his current investigative partner and friend. In the season four premiere, Mr. Holmes arrives in New York City to deal with the aftermath of his son’s recent relapse.

There's more than once in my life that I've engaged in the schadenfreude that comes with some personality's fall from grace. But in the case of the Duggar family and the recent cover-up scandal of sexual misconduct by a (then) 14-year-old Josh Duggar, I'm overcome with disappointment.

It's saddening, and not without its own "ick" factor, when one considers some of the victims were his sisters -- which may hardly be surprising given that they were fairly much the only girls with whom he had constant contact while going through puberty in a structure that proscribes any form of dating. Hormones are a hell of a chemical.

USA Network just released the pilot of one of their new shows entitled Mr. Robot. The description intrigued me, despite never having heard of it before today. The blurb reads, “A cyber-security engineer by day and a vigilante hacker by night…” and is accompanied with a cool comic-esque image to boot. I’ll admit though I was initially a little weary due to the terrible title for a show. Mr. Robot. I feel like the title song should be song by Styx and it gives the impression of a slapstick comedy troupe. But, ok, USA, you have my interest since I’m always willing to give you the benefit of the doubt because of our past together.

Ripper Street: Season Three is set to hit the streets on DVD and BluRay on June 23^rd, and if you’re a fan of the Leman Street good guys you’ll mark this date down on the calendar! I was hooked on Ripper Street half-way through the first episode of season one and I haven’t stopped loving every episode since.

Season Three is 8 episodes in length, and starts out four years after Season 2 ended. It takes the events that ended in season two and progresses them outward to what we see they’ve become four years hence. Things have not been so cozy in the time that has elapsed.

Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn) left Whitechapel and moved to Manchester to start over again and become the police officer/man he always wanted to be, foregoing violence to become a man of peace. Having risen quickly through the ranks, we see him here now as Inspector Drake.

It's been a week now since we bid adieu to the first season of CW's THE FLASH -- and we still can't stop talking about it! So rather than keep the discussion just around the Critical Blast virtual water cooler, we thought we should let our readers in on the conversation.

Have something to add? That's what the Disqus comments below are for. Please, throw your thoughts into the pot!

R.J. Carter: This is where it was all supposed to come together and make sense. And yet, I’m left with more questions than ever. Is Barry living in an alternate timeline ever since he stopped the tidal wave? Did he just disappear from that Central City? And if Eobard Thawne is out of the picture -- might we still see Harrison Wells in Season Two?

Amid a somewhat tamer St. Louis Comic Con this year, one of the highlights was the Behind the scenes with CW's The Flash with Liam McIntyre and Rick Cosnett panel. Rick (Eddie Thawne) and Liam (The Weather Wizard) were all smiles when they entered the room and immediately started joking with the crowd. Rick even sent Liam into the audience saying this was his panel, but Liam quickly returned to the microphone.

Liam started by asking Rick, "I hope you can talk a lot, because I can talk a lot." Rick continued on by asking who had seen the season finale to which most the hands in the room went up. Then he apologized to those who hadn’t because he was sure there would be spoilers.

And spoilers there were. (**SPOILER WARNING** if you haven't seen The Flash season finale you might want to stop reading until you have).

I've been a regular at comic and sci-fi conventions, or whatever you want to call them these days, since the '80s.  The experience has changed quite a bit in those decades.  In the past, they were mostly a place to shop for merchandise and meet creators.  Today cosplay, video games, movies, and, most especially, celebrity signings, are the predominant aspect of cons.  Geek has inherited the Earth and everyone wants to take part in the fun.  That popularity has caused ticket prices to spike, show floors to be overcrowded places impossible to navigate, and worst of all, it's increasingly difficult to get tickets for San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con.

by Tricia Delloiacono and Mike Maillaro

Mike: This column is dedicated to our mom.  Along with her love of reading and writing (and MANY other things), Mom passed on a great love and appreciation for David Letterman. Thanks, Mom!  My sister is far more eloquent than I am, so I am passing the mike to her:

There’s a good portion of America these days that probably hasn’t heard of Ed Sullivan or his variety show and thus don't know just how popular and important it was to the people of the US and to the careers of the performers who now occupy the status of legend in the entertainment industry.

Then there’s a good portion of us who were too young to remember THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW when it was on because we were too young by the time it wound down in 1971.

But there is still a sizable number of Americans who remember the show because they tuned in every week to see it. Those, dear reader, are the luckiest of all… because they got to see Elvis, the Beatles and so many more before all the rest of us.

Now, thanks to StarVista Entertainment, the rest of us can count ourselves lucky too. This 6-DVD set spans the entire run of THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, showcasing many of the talents that performed on it through the years.