Don't forget! Season 3 of Saving Grace kicks off this evening after the premieres of both Wedding Day, TNT's first unscripted series, and Jada Pinkett Smith's new nurse-based medical drama, HawthoRNe.
Here on the East coast we're just an hour and half away from the night kicking off, so I thought I'd throw down a small peak at the Saving Grace season premiere. With the execution of Leon and the arrival of the new girl Grace was lead to at the end of season 2's finale, I have no idea what to expect.
I've said it many times in the past and I'll say it again, though, Saving Grace gets better each season, so I have no fears related to what's coming up - I know it'll be good.
Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to a reality show. All that huffing and puffing I've done in the past about reality television hasn't gone away but from what I'm hearing, I may actually like this one.
The show in question is TNT's first ever foray into non-scripted television, Wedding Day. Produced by reality king Mark Burnett and Dreamworks, along with a producer of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Wedding Day seems like it just may be the rare reality show that makes it onto the DVR's of even the staunchest reality haters.
The clip below doesn't show too much of the show's style, but gives you a good idea of what kind of story the show will be telling on a weekly basis: Holiie and Steve, of Saginaw, MI., were set to tie the knot when Hollie was thrown into a six day coma and forced into a wheel chair for six months from a last minute auto accident. Steve rose to the occasion, caring for, helping and cheering Hollie on throughout her recovery.
The story is laid out by the bride and groom, as well as their family and friends. I'm predicting a real tear jerker here, so stock up a weekly supply of tissues.
What the clip does not feature are the two hosts, celeb wedding and event planners Diann Valentine and Alan Dunn, and how they go about serving up the perfect wedding day for the couple. I can only assume, though, that the over the top screaming, bullhorns and hoopla of Extreme Makeover will be tossed aside for a more graceful approach. Aleast that's what I'm hoping.
A fellow TV blogger who's seen the pilot twittered this: Mark Burnett Throws a Good 'Wedding' (shows me I can like reality TV ... sometimes):
So I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for this show. It kicks off tomorrow on what could arguably be called TNT's biggest night of the summer season with the premiere of Jada Pinkett Smith's new medical drama HawthoRNe and the return of Holly Hunter in season 3 of Saving Grace. Pinkett Smith and Hunter back to back is an impressive feat for TNT - along with the Monday night pairing of Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer and Raising The Bar's Jane Kaczmarek the network really seems to be making a name for itself with very strong female characters.
Wedding Day, HawthoRNe and Saving Grace all premiere tomorrow, Tuesday June 16th on TNT. My DVR's ready, is yours?
A former NBC head and a boxing promoter have teamed up to form Signet International Holdings, a startup with plans to purchase a small network called AMG TV. Though I've never heard of AMG, it apparently broadcasts mainly syndicated programs in areas just outside major cities, like New York's Hudson Valley (New York City/Stamford, CT) and California's Victorville (Los Angeles). Once AMG is in hand, they've teamed up with a company that spun off Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic, Kerner Broadcast Corp., to create the first U.S. 3D network (apparently Japan has one already...of course).
I can see where 3D television could be exciting at first. Could you imagine seeing the opening plane crash of Lost in 3D? That would be stellar TV in, literally, a whole new dimenson. The possibilty of stepping up the impact of visual effects on non-action scenes is just a great. Earl's wings on Saving Grace, for example. The problem is this technology won't instantly make old TV shows 3D -they have to be filmed that way and I forsee the costly nature of 3D as being quite a hinderance. I imagine it is probably expensive to film and broadcast and this could only lead to a drop in production values and we saw what happens when production values are lowerd (I'm thinking of you, NBC, and your 2008 flop Crusoe - low quality, low viewers, right?).
From reading the Variety article it seems the networks that are currently experimenting with 3D technology are all sports related. Not being a sports fan I couldn't care less, but I do realize how cool it could be to watch sports in 3D. I can see the commercials now "See the sweat fly towards you!".
Slim pickings tonight (Sunday), people. As usual, CBS is running behind due to sports (golf, I believe), so adjust your DVR's as necessary The Unit and Cold Case fans.
I've actually given up watching Cold Case due to so many episodes being cutoff because of sports. I try to DVR The Unit and sometimes I remember to fix the end time but usually it's torrent time! Hopefully now that I no longer work Sunday nights my average will get better.
And don't forget Breaking Bad. While I love this show, it's one of the few that I prefer to backup a bit on my DVR and watch a few episodes back to back.
Monday: House. I'm hoping they don't waste too much time on House's murder theory. While last week's episode was quite fantastic, I thought that was the one weak part.
24. It's getting really late! Jon Voight was scarily awesome last week as Jonas Hodges and I'm hoping he keeps it up for this episode. I'm also hoping someone finally sees Olivia Taylor as the snake she seems to be. I'm wondering if this week may finally see the return of Kim Bauer, too. Hopefully so.
Medium. Ah, Allison, the love of my life. A little back and forth this week as Allison gets to relive her pregnancy. It was rather disturbing when Marie crept into Allison and Joe's bedroom with that gun. Now we get to see pre-Marie.
Castle. Last week we were treated an ice pop druggie that no one bothered looking for and this week we are given a ritualistic killing. Behold the ups and downs of the modern cop drama.
Saving Grace. We're creeping up on Leon's final hours - will Grace have a revelation and step in? I'm wondering how rough the back and forth between Leon and Earl as time reaches the midnight hour.
Tuesday: Fringe. I still haven't watched last week's episode. I had to download the torrent after returning home from work to realize the last 7 or so minutes were cut off by the ultimate in "illiterate programming". Way to force me into being illegal, Fox.
Rescue Me. Ah, finally. After a really lengthy hiatus, last week's episode was chock full of back story and a few new surprises. I don't about anyone else but Chief Feinberg has been creeping me out. Obviously, Tommy's gonna keep his job or there wouldn't be a show but I suspect the upcoming Section 8 hearing will be a laugher. I'm really looking forward to Tommy learning of Black Shawn and his daughters relationship, as well.
Cupid. We're up to the third episode and I'm digging it. Sarah Paulson is not quite as cute as she was in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip due to her characters jaded attitude but Bobby Cannavale's sweetly determined Eros/Trevor balances her out quite well.
DVR Life is a TV blog. We watch lot's of TV. Mostly on DVR but also streamed, downloaded or on DVD, basically anyway you can possibly watch it with the least amount of commercials. We try to stay away from the "Next Week On..." parts of shows and avoid spoilers at all cost. You'll never see spoilers on this blog. We don't pay much attention to reality television. It's rare that you'll read about it here.
A note about times: DVR Life is based on the east coast, so all times refer to Eastern Standard Time. If you live elsewhere go ahead and delete an hour or two.
A note about reality tv: This blog is about scripted television programming. That's what we prefer. We may mention a reality show from time to time in relation to network news or in an off handed comment but that's about all.
If anyone would be interested in doing, say, a weekly column about reality tv, we would not be against that. But we don't watch it so unless you're willing to write it...
Contact DVR Life If you'd like to contact DVR Life, use the address below. We're always looking for screeners, PR contacts, other TV Bloggers, writers and plain old TV fans.
Posts
