Premiere Week!

I love premiere week, this is like the 12 Days of Christmas, or 8 Days of Hannukah. Continued goodness and excitement for a week or two in September!

Sunday:
I sat through the 2 hour long premiere of Law & Order: SVU's 12th season. L&O: SVU this is an impressive run, especially considering that the core team has been together for at least 10 seasons and Benson & Stabler have been at the heart of the show since it's inception in 1999.
What made the premiere extra awesome? A guest star in our love of Lostie island. Henry Ian Cusak. He really knocked it out of the park, and it was great to have him on the small screen again.

Monday:
This is when things started to get hairy. The premiere of four shows; two are strongly appointment viewing, and two that my fingers were crossed for a rebound from the mess that was their previous season, you suss that one out.

Chuck: First a few Highlights: Casey has feelings (of love & caring, I think I saw a tear); Harry Dean Stanton as the Repo Man; Sex Writing; General Beckman live and in person (and tiny!); and an awesome baby on the way!
Very pleased with the return of this show, in it's third season the plot has become more complicated and this premiere did a good job of recapping what the show is about for new viewers while keeping the plot moving forward for us loyal viewers.

Castle: I actually think this show may have revolutionized television is some scary way, screw 3D and smell-o-vision, this was like emote-o-vision. I could actually feel the love from the cast/characters emanating through my television screen into my living room. Who knew that a show containing so much grizzly violence could leave its' audience with an epic case of the warm and fuzzies. Great to see the Castle crew back in action both in the squad room and at home with the fam.

House: Mixed feelings on this premiere episode in terms of what it means for the rest of the season. I found it to be an enjoyable hour of television and if I ignore the part where Cuddy seemed to totally forget/not care about her daughter, the totally isolated getting wrapped up in a relationship without thinking it through thing felt eerily real and familiar. It is exactly that kind of relationship that is perfect in a bubble but is then subject to the complications of... real life.
Bonus highlight: Chase going for it with Thirteen, you have a zero percent chance of scoring if you don't take the shot.

How I Met Your Mother : This week's HIMYM felt like it was really back on track, we're sort of getting to the mother, in the round about way this show goes it seems like real headway was made by reintroducing her roommate. Barney's sleaze was funny instead of forced, and the emotional root of the show, the group's dynamic was back to what we remembered from earlier seasons.

Tuesday:
Glee: This was the show that I loved to hate over the summer. I relished in ignoring it's inordinate amount of press releases despite claims of secrecy for the upcoming season. It's smugness was a huge turn off.
However, last night's premiere really brought the show to it's first half of it's first season glory. Perfect comedic timing, quick pacing and most importantly, incorporating the fantastic music into the story rather than letting it become a weird separate entity.
Bonus! Exciting, eccentric new characters introduced. I'm most excited for Cheyenne Jackson as the new vocal adrenaline coach. This canuk was hilarious on 30 Rock last season and even showed off his pipes for a brief moment there before Jenna was threatened and he had to put 'em away. I'm sure Glee will allow him to sing more.

Coming up...
Tonight: Undercovers, Modern Family
Tomorrow: Big Bang Theory on it's new night, 30 Rock, The Office, Community, Bones, Fringe...

FOX to Showcase it's Musical Talent (and we're not just talking Glee)

From April 29th to May 5th many of FOX's top shows including; Bones, House, and Fringe will be revamping their style to take on a musical format!


To celebrate this week of musical madness TV Squad has compiled a top ten list of best musical moments in television. It's worth noting that this list features actors who are slated to appear on Glee. Kristen Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) will be appearing on Glee tonight. Neil Patrick Harris finds himself on the list twice for How I Met Your Mother and Batman: The Brave and Bold. He will be guesting in a few weeks along side guest director and #1 on this list Joss Whedon!

Check out the list below, tell me your favourite musical moments on TV in the comments!

10. 'That '70s Show': 'That 70s Musical.' Even curmudgeon Red catches the fever on the show's 100th episode in season four, when Fez dreams up song-and-dance numbers while prepping for a high school concert. This love letter to the 1970s features characters belting out famous 70s tunes.



9. 'Pushing Daisies': 'Dummy.' Any time Kristin Chenoweth gets to flex the golden pipes, I'm a happy camper. 'Pushing Daisies' often featured musical numbers, and here's one of my favorites, 'Hopelessly Devoted to You,' from the second episode in season one.



8. 'Northern Exposure': 'Old Tree.' Pregnant Shelly wakes up one day to discover she's in her own little musical. She can't stop singing, and she's worried she'll never be able to stop. The best part of this tune is when her beloved Holling joins in with a sweet duet in this episode from season four.



7. 'Batman: The Brave and the Bold': 'Mayhem of the Music Meister.' The talented Neil Patrick Harris gets to show off his chops in this episode from season one, where the Music Meister uses his singing voice to hypnotize everyone within hearing range into obeying him.



6. 'Mad Men': 'My Old Kentucky Home.' I'm stretching it here, because this isn't a musical episode from start to finish. 'Mad Men' is way too cool for that. But this episode from season three featured the characters engaging in music in a believable way for that era. We got Joan playing an accordion while crooning 'C'est Magnifique,' Roger (in black face!) singing to his fiance, and Pete and his wife dancing a lively Charleston.



5. 'South Park': 'Chef Aid.' When Cartman comes to school singing the new hit song, 'Stinky Britches,' Chef realizes that the song he wrote 20 years earlier has been stolen. An expensive lawsuit, attorney Johnny Cochrane, a charity concert, and a bunch of famous singers all come together in a musical montage from season two.



4. 'The Simpsons': 'A Fish Called Selma.' Can anything be turned into a Broadway musical? Yes, and Troy McClure proves it in this musical episode from season 7, where 'Planet of the Apes' takes to the stage.





3. 'Scrubs': 'My Musical.' When a patient with a brain disorder hallucinates everyone in the hospital singing, it gave us the classic 'Guy Love,' in which Turk and J.D. sing about their, uh, friendship in season 6. Nothing gay about it.



2. 'How I Met Your Mother': 'Girls vs. Suits.' The show's 100th episode in season five creates a tough choice for our beloved Barney -- menswear or a sexy bartender? He gets some help from backup singers and dancers -- in suits, of course.



1. 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': 'Once More, With Feeling.' Joss Whedon's essential episode from season six finds our Sunnydale friends bursting into song for no apparent reason, revealing their innermost secrets in the process. Could it be demons? Witches? Ghosts? Anya has another idea -- bunnies.

Hitting the right note: Best musical moments in TV

Tonight How I Met Your Mother will celebrate it's 100th episode with at least one full musical number. It promises to be a hit with professional song and dance man Neil Patrick Harris rounding out the talented cast.

The show has already dipped into the genre on several occasions while exploring Robin's past as Canadian teen pop star Robin Sparkles. Jason Segal has also had a few chances to express himself via song including a very moving ode to slaps.



In honour of this very special musical episode of How I Met Your Mother both Slate and TWOP have composed lists of some great musical television moments.

Slate's video slide show "How I Serenaded Your Mother" provides four examples of television musicals at their best. One the list is; Oz, That 70s Show, Scrubs and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Click here to see the video and find out why these are the best.

TWOP lists their favourite TV musical moments to prep for tonight's How I Met Your Mother. Click here to find out their favourites and how they stood out from the many, many musical numbers to choose from.

Check out these lists then watch How I Met Your Mother's musical 100th episode tonight at 8pm on CBS and see how it stacks up!

January Mid-Season Return Dates

I relish in the yearly tradition of Christmas specials and TV marathons over the winter holidays, after a few weeks of indulging in some fluff (I'm talking marathons of Top Chef, House Hunters, Real Housewives and the like) and some more nerd indulgent marathons like the one's offered by SPACE like all 5 hours of Torchwood's Children of the Earth special all in one go, and the next day a consecutive run of the final 5 Doctor Who specials that featured David Tennant as our Doctor. I'm about ready to toss all that aside andget back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Here's a list of some shows premiering mid-season, and ones simply returning after the holiday break in January:

Friday, January 8th
Dollhouse (FOX, 9pm) - Kicking off the final three episodes of Dollhouse's run.

Sunday, January 10th
Chuck (NBC 9 - 11pm) Kicking off season three with a two hour block, then beginning January 11 will air on Mondays at 8

Monday, January 11th
How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8pm) is back with it's 100th episode "Girls versus Suits" in full musical form!
Big Bang Theory (CBS, 9:30pm)
Castle (ABC, 10pm) Alyssa Milano guest stars in this week's episode

Sunday, January 17th
24 (FOX 8 pm)- Part 1 of a two part season premiere, part two airs January 18, 8pm. I might actually check this out to see Katee Sackoff and Freddie Prinze Jr. in their new roles.

Friday, January 22nd
Caprica (Space, 9pm) Season premiere of the highly anticipated sequel to sci-fi hit Battlestar Galactica

TV News Round-Up

To follow up what promises to be a momentous 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother, Neil Patrick Harris will perform double duties as he'll take the reigns as director as well as acting in the101st episode. Amanda Peet will be guest-starring in this episode as Marshall's co-worker.




Mary McDonnell will be reprising her role as Capt. Raydor on tomorrow night's episode of The Closer in season 5, episode 15 "Dead Man's Hand".



Can't wait for January 10th for new Chuck? Producer Josh Schwartz gives some insight into what will go down in season three. This interview contains minor spoilers, so consume at your own discretion.

Tis the season - Slate writer Torie Bosch explains how there are only three types of television Christmas plot lines. I think she's on to something. Find out what these plot lines are here!


And.... new LOST trailer here:

Maybe it's just me, but this actually made me less excited for the new season. Maybe it's the music, or the continued lack of new or provoking material, but I'm sick of this past-season nostalgia. In with the new!

Sneak Peek: How I Met Your Mother's 100th Episode "Girls versus Suits"

Take a look at the first pictures from the much anticipated HIMYM's 100th episode in the style of a musical. Included in the production will a huge musical number with 65 back up dancers and a 50 person orchestra.

The episode will feature Barney's attempts to sleep with the hot bartender who works at MacLaren's, something he strangely has yet to do.

This episode will introduce Stacy Keibler as Katrina, the hot bartender, guest stars include Tim Gunn and Rachel Bilson.

Click here for original article and more pictures!

HIMYM's 100th Episode "Girls versus Suits" will air on January 11th at 8/7c.

Getting into the inappropriate Holiday Spirit with NPH

In case you missed Neil Patrick Harris in last weekend's airing of "The Christmas Wish" (1998) on Lifetime here's a very different kind of holiday fare featuring the one and only NPH.













This new incarnation of Christmas classic "Frosty the Snowman" is a hybrid of the original with Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney from How I Met Your Mother inserted into the role of Frosty. All the quotes were lifted from "Rough Patch" (season 5 episode 7) with permission from CBS.

To check out the video click here!

This Week in TV News

ActuallyNPH - Neil Patrick Harris got twitter and his tweets are actually a pleasure to read. Better yet, he's using his 140 characters to link us to pictures of himself (yay!) with guest stars working on HIMYM. Icing on the cake; picture posted of Zach Woodlee (see photo to the right), choreographer for FOX's musical hit Glee is choreographing HIMYM's 100th episode's musical number. These guys look good together, do we see Glee in NPH's future?


Power Comedy Couple - Amy Poehler's hilarious husband Will Arnett (Arrested Development) will be guest staring on one episode of Parks and Recreation in January. (source)

Playing with Dolls - FOX has launched a Dollhouse themed web game in anticipation of the show's December 4th return. The game begins on the Rossum Corperation homepage, the mysterious entity behind the Dollhouses. Check out arg.net for more info on the game. Click on the "ditch the tech" logo to the left to receive a message, possibly from rebels attempting to prevent the post-apocalyptic future depicted in the un-aired "Epitaph One"



Kickstart my TARDIS - "Waters of Mars" the first installment in the series of specials to end the story of David Tennant's tenth Doctor aired on the BBC this past Sunday and will be appearing on BBC America (and hopefully the CBC) in December. Russel T. Davies has been quite busy stirring up new ideas for the BBC. After the devastatingly heartbreaking five-part mini-season, Davies intends on creating a re-vamped fourth season of Torchwood.