Seriously? OMG! WTF?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-XV8RkVicw
As hard as CBS tried to keep Training Day on Thursday nights on CBS after Bull Paxton’s sudden and shocking death, the ratings did not support their effort. Therefore, beginning next week the gritty police drama moves to Saturdays and Amazing Race will take over it’s Thursday night at 10p slot. How the multi Emmy-winning Reality Competition show does on its new night and timeslot is up in the air, but I expect it to fail big time. Giving CBS its lowest rated 10p show and Elementary is getting elementary numbers.

That was not their only announcement MacGyver airs its season finale on April 21st and Undercover Boss takes over on April 28th. While it is not a good sign for the new show to end in April as compared to May. That didn’t hurt Ghost Whisperer that used to air in that slot years ago.

Finally, when it comes to MacGyver’s renewal, since CBS did not have a break out hit like NBC, it will be interesting to how many of their new fall shows will be back. Since the midseason dramas all failed big time. When it comes to their midseason comedy, Superior Donuts has proven it deserves to be back for a second season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVf_Fqf25Q
CBS pulled Doubt after two episodes, making it the first show to get the official axe this season. While several Fall shows were failures, they all aired all of their ordered episodes. Doubt filmed 13 and only aired two before being pulled for a Bull repeat.

And I am calling Bull on the decision. While it wasn’t doing great in the ratings, it was a horrible fit with Criminal Minds that has been declining since losing Shemar Moore and Thomas Gibson. The legal drama would have been a better fit with the Thursday night comedies than Training Dud, I mean Training Day, because it is more light hearted. Seriously, how is Training Dud still airing, I didn’t even make it to the opening credits before I shut it off? It is just hideous. While Doubt was throwback to good legal dramas. Hopefully, CBS will let the remaining episodes air on Saturday nights with Ransom.

Dule Hill, one of the show’s star, posted this message on Instagram after the cancellation. He said, “Waaaaait a second. Wait one whole entire minute now! Are you telling me that when you do a new TV show it doesn’t automatically run for 7 or 8 seasons?!! That’s cold-blooded! Have you heard about @DoubtCBS? …that’s messed up right?
Thanks to everyone involved in bringing this project to the air. It’s been a joy to be a part of it. This is why it’s called Show Business. #WhatsNext #Doubt #GoneTooSoon #TheJourneyContinues #GiveGodThanks” Hopefully, USA will finally consider a Psych revival because the network has not been as good as since they cancelled the comedic private eye show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdaRow5dtM
The Good Wife might’ve ended, but Diane Lockhart is putting up The Good Fight on CBS All Access starting today, with a special preview on CBS tonight at 8p.

The Good Fight takes place a year after The Good Wife, and Lockhart (Christine Baranski) is retiring from Lockhart, Decker, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert-Lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum, & Associates. She is ready to enjoy her life after the firm even though her Goddaughter Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) just started working as a lawyer there. Together the two of them will work on Lockhart’s final case, but a phone call will change their lives forever.

Rindell’s father, a money manager, was involved in a Ponzi Scheme and now all of his clients including Lockhart are broker than broke. Now, Lockhart needs to keep her job, but the firm tells her she cannot stay. She goes to her friends, who tell her no one will hire her. Then she gets an offer from Reddick, Boseman, & Kolstad, a majority African-American firm, who know what she can bring to them; and she accepts. After Maia is also fired, Lockhart brings her with her to the new job.

Maia not only has to deal with everyone hating her because of her family, but a new job. Luckily, she has Lockhart and Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) on her side. Quinn is a tough lawyer, who everyone will want on their side. She is good at reading people and that is why is show is so good at her job. Just like Marissa (Sarah Steele), who will work as Lockhart’s assistant and no one can investigate like her.

For those of you who wanted the show to be all about Lockhart, here it is and it is better than you thought it was going to be

Last month, I was at the CBS TCA Winter Press day and the producers and the cast previewed what we can expect from the legal drama.

1 – Show creator Robert King explains how the Goods are different from each other and yet the same.
The Good Fight is a show that is basically feeding off of where The Good Wife ended and following some of the characters and seeing what happens to them next. But it’s also about a change in the environment that we’re all going through, both political environment and legal, and how we all discuss the truth, which was always what The Good Wife was too.

2 – Christine Baranski previews what her character will goes through on The Good Fight.
Well, we certainly talked about the year in between, because The Good Fight happens one year later. So we did speak about what how she processed all that had happened to her, particularly in those final episodes, and where her life was as the new show began in terms of her marriage, in terms of her position at the firm. And it seems she’s estranged from her husband for reasons of his infidelity. But she’s at the top of her game when this show starts. Curiously, poised as No. 1 now in the show, but halfway into the pilot, I lose everything, so I’m just back, you know, scrambling. So, yeah, no, there was a discussion about the interim, which I’m sure people will be curious about, because The Good Fight really is it jumps off from where The Good Wife ended in a very interesting way, but then it turns very dramatic very quickly, especially for Diane.

3 – Will we see familiar faces from The Good Wife on the spinoff and some new ones too?
We will see Jane Alexander and Denis O’Hare as judges. Paul Guilfoyle, John Benjamin Hickey, Rita Wilson, Michael Boatman and Matthew Perry will also guest star. As Baranski put it, “It’s a revolving door. It’s a wonderful revolving door and all the great actors working in L.A. and particularly in New York and the New York theater.”

4 – What about Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies)?
Robert King said, “We talked to Julianna about the show and her relationship with it, and Julianna and we agreed that kind of The Good Wife ended that story and it would be just kind of weird if she just comes in and you see her, like, pushing a garbage can or something, you know, in the background. So I don’t think you would expect that this year.”

5 – The Good Fight is also political like the original show and they shot the pilot in November.
Christina Baranski revealed what it was like filming when the US turned upside down as they were working on the first episode. She told us, “We shot the pilot in the days leading up to the election, the election night, and subsequent days after, and the most dramatic scenes.
“Yes, we were indeed. At the time I remember thinking because I had always had a picture of that was photoshopped of Diane Lockhart and Hillary Clinton. It was prominent in many of the seasons until she began to run for office, and then we couldn’t have her picture. But when Diane has to leave her office forever because she’s out of a job and she takes that photograph of Hillary Clinton and puts it in a box, that particular scene was shot the night before the election, and I said to Brooke, the director, “Well, this woman’s going to be the next president of the United States, and Diane is probably thinking if she has the strength to pick herself up, I can do it too,” and I put the picture in a box and the scene ends. Next night Delroy and I are working in a scene, and it was election night.
“Between his coverage and my coverage, I went to my dressing room and found out the news that, indeed, Donald Trump was the projected winner by the New York Times. We were all in free fall. And I think the interesting thing is you have a lead character who is in moral kind of practical free fall in a similar way to what the country is feeling right now, like how do you take the next step up when there’s no foundation? Where are we? Where are we morally?”

We are f*cked and that is a word they can and do say on The Good Fight. The show on the other hand is anything but f*cked, so subscribe to CBS All Access to watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIppBYKmD1k
The case begins for Doubt tonight at 10p on CBS and it’s the best legal drama since Boston Legal.

Isaiah Roth (Elliott Gould) is the owner of a boutique law firm and has been fighting to right the wrongs since the Black Panthers. He is highly respected even though it gets him in trouble all the time. But he doesn’t do it for himself, he does it for his clients.

Just like his staff who learned from him. Sadie Ellis (Katherine Heigl) is a tough lawyer, who has know Roth since she was kid. They have a connection, which is why she is the lawyer she is and fights as hard as she does. Her latest client (Stephen Pasquale) was recently arrested for killing his girlfriend 24 years ago. He says he is innocent and now she will do anything to prove that he is. Especially because they have more than just a lawyer and a client relationship. Will she be able to prove his innocence?

Then there is her work husband, Albert Cobb (Dulé Hill), they have known each other since college and protect themselves from themselves. She isn’t the only one he keeps in control, he also keeps the whole office in order. Although, his love life it isn’t. Even though he is losing in love, he is winning in court. He is the type of lawyer, you want to defend you because he is the best at what he does. Just like Hill as an actor.

Cameron Wirth (Laverne Cox) is a Transgendered Ivy League, and she has been inspired by Roth ever since she saw him on television as a kid. When she fights for her clients, she does it with her all. She is an old school public defender at an expensive law firm. In the coming weeks, she will defend a college student who was raped and speaking out against her rapist. Instead of the school going after him, they are going after her. How will she convince the school to keep her client and go after the bad guy?

There are also two new lawyers. Tiffany Simon (Dreama Walker) is fresh out of Law School and the Iowa native is having a hard time adjusting to NYC. Unlike Nick Brady (Kobi Libii), who grew up in Brooklyn and studied law while he was incarcerated. Their prospectives are different and fresh from the senior members and it gives everyone new insight on their cases.

Doubt is a refreshing legal drama because it has heart. Something that is missing these days and something more shows need. It isn’t the only cases that make this show a winner, it is also the cast that makes you love them and want their representation if you were in that position. Which hopefully none of us will ever need, but no doubt we need Doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayPJcHHVfLE
Superior Donuts debuted last week on CBS and tonight at 9p, the show moves to regularly scheduled time. The comedy is about an elderly man (Judd Hirsch) set in his ways, who owns a donut shop in Chicago, and he hires an ambitious young African-American man (Jermaine Fowler) to work in his store. It is also about their differences and the similarities they have between them and six of their regular customers. Each week, they take on different issues, but at the end of the day, it is all about making a family you don’t want to kill at Thanksgiving.
On tonight’s episode, Franco (Fowler) tries to convince Arthur (Hirsch) to try baking some different flavored donuts. Franco’s donuts are hot and Arthur’s leaves them in a pickle. That is a hint to the flavors they come up with to test out. How will it go? You will just have to tune into this comedy that is as yummy as a donut fresh out of the over.
Now back to the show, in honor of the 6 regulars on the show, here 6 things you don’t know about it.

1 – In a year of remakes, this one comes from a different source. The show’s creator Bob Daily told us at the CBS TCA Winter Press Day, “Superior Donuts the series is based on Superior Donuts the 2008 play, written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts. It is set in a donut shop in a gentrifying neighborhood in Chicago, my hometown. It’s a show about change and hope and renewal, a comedy about the lives of the eight people that hang out in the shop, but we’re also going to be exploring some issues that are topical and getting more topical by the minute, things like racial profiling and gentrification, gun control. “

2 – One of those issues deals with Arthur’s Middle-Eastern next-door business neighbor Fawz (Maz Jobrani) and he would do anything to own the Superior Donuts store. Daily revealed, “We have an episode coming up about a hate crime featuring our Muslim character.”

3 – The first episode that aired on Thursday was not the original pilot. CBS liked the show, but not their first take and asked them for a redo. The show’s star and creator Fowler talked about the changes. He said, “Well, they told me they were going they were just going to reshoot it. They didn’t tell us they weren’t going to pick it up at all. They said, hey, some things in the original pilot didn’t work and we’re going to reshoot it to make them work. And the script within that time just got sharper from the extra months of just retooling and reshaping the story, and that’s what’s changed the most, besides getting Judd and Katey (Sagal) on the cast. So those are the three changes.”

4 – Now if you have someone legendary like Judd Hirsch audition for the role, how do you convince him to do it? He told us about the gift they sent him to offer him the role, “I was doing a play in the Berkshires and a dozen donuts comes in the mail and I’ve never been asked to do a play because they sent you a gift. Uh, that’s the way it turned out.” Did he eat his gift? The owner of the donut shop on TV gave them to the crew instead.

5 – Hirch did give the show a gift in return. He was working with Katey Sagal on another CBS sitcom when she was reading for the part. The Married…with Children star explained, “Well, Judd told me I should do it. That was the first thing that happened. Because I met Judd. We were doing Big Bang, and I was Penny’s mom and he was Johnny Galecki’s dad. And then, that day when I was doing it, they sent me the script to this and Judd said, ‘You should do this. You should do this. You should do this.'”

6 – Since this show takes place in a donut shop, do they eat them? Fowler said, “We eat the sh!t out of those donuts.” While Sagal claims, “I have one a week.” Then there’s Hirsch who had the best answer of them all, “Don’t ask that question because they’re going to see a weight difference between show 1 and show 20.”

Check out the show every week to see if you can notice that weight difference on the sitcom that is as addictive as well a scrumptious donut from your favorite shop.

« Previous entries Next entries »