Eureka Renewed For A Fourth Season

NBC Universal announced on Friday that they've picked up Eureka for another 22 episodes for sister cabler SyFy. That's pretty awesome news in our book. We dig Eureka. It's no secret as we've gushed a time or two in anticipation of this current season's return.

The quirky sci-fi series is three episodes into the second half of season 3. With the announcement of 22 new episodes, we can only assume that the plan is to split the season in two parts again, therefore guaranteeing atleast two more summers worth of new Eureka.

Read more...

The Philanthropist Review Via Twitter

DVR Life doesn't usually write reviews or episode re-caps. We figure there's thousands of TV bloggers and websites out there for that kinda thing and we just don't have that kinda time. We do, however, tend to use our twitter feed while watching certain shows and this evening, after tweeting throughout tonight's episode of NBC's The Philanthropist, realized this was pretty close to a review.



















That's really all there is to say about this show. The premise is slightly cheesy but the stories tend to be exciting. The cast and production values are aces and the writing can be slightly predictable, though well informed. It's definately not bottom of the barrel summer tv fare like most people make it out to be. We here at DVR Life would actually suggest checking it out.

The Philanthropist airs Wednesdays at 10pm on NBC.

Read more...

Mad Men Season 3 Poster

Looks damn good, huh? What else is there to say? Mad Men is by far the most stylish show on television and it's no surprise that the poster created for the series' upcoming 3rd would also be stylish as all get out.

And while there's no new footage, here's a little promo for season 3 to get you by for now:



Mad Men returns, as the poster says, Sunday August 16th at 10pm on AMC.

P.S. We highly recommend clicking on the poster above to see the details up close in full size.

Read more...

Welcome Back, Leverage!

We here at DVR Life love when a good series returns. Especially during the summertime. Living down in a swamp where oppressive humidity and blaring heat make it near impossible to venture outside really makes us appreciate a good TV show. Thankfully, TNT's Leverage is back for it's second season so we have a good reason to keep our curtains drawn tight and the A/C down low for another hour.

The plucky crew of Leverage returns for a second season, each crew member fresh off world-wide thieving adventures, acting failures, computer-hacking accomplishments and mercenary escapades. The crew's leader, Nate Ford, is having a hard time, though. The season opens with Nate being walked through an insurance office where he seems to have just landed a lucrative job. Thankfully Nate is a mess, or he wouldn't have been there to pull survivors from a burning car wreck that just flipped over his head as he literally ran from a life of cubicle dwelling and towards the nearest bar.

When that car accident turns out to be a case of sabotage (yikes! who would have guessed!?!) Nate is reluctantly drawn back in by his raring to go team mates who, to his dismay, take over his shi-shi loft apartment, and begin planning revenge for those wronged.

The new season seems to be headed in much the same direction as the first, though we have to point out that the characters seem a bit more polished, in a good way. We're always glad to see characters become stronger, not as annoying and/or more appealing, as the writers seem to have done over the show's hiatus.

If you have yet to catch Leverage, I think you'll be able to jump in rather easily. Thieves find a heart and become addicted to helping the powerless who have been wronged by those in a position of power: it's a Robin Hood for the current boom and bust days and nothing more than an intricate con and blow-you-away thievery skills will make up for it.

Leverage returns to TNT tonight, Wednesday July 15th at 9pm (EST).

Read more...

Premiering Tonight: Dark Blue

An initial thought that came to mind while watching the pilot episode of TNT's new cop drama Dark Blue: the script writers must have watched a million undercover-cop movies when they were kids. My second thought was a question: are they paying homage to these classic films or have they seeped so far into their subconscious they can't help writing in cliches?

Whichever the case may be, the show comes across, save for a bit of grit here and some testosterone there, as a watchable and less dramatic version of A&E's overly dramatic, unwatchable undercover-cop series The Beast.

While Dark Blue sticks to the grungy alleyways and dingy fight clubs pretty much all gritty cop shows are known for, the cinematography manages to pick it up a level or two over other examples of the drama. This may be no surprise coming from creators of the CSI, Eleventh Hour and Cold Case franchises - especially Cold Case - the two seem to have very similar pale-lighting, pretty dives visual styles.

Dylan McDermott leads the cast as Carter Shaw, a stylishly gruff lieutenant leading an undercover operation for the Los Angeles Police Department that's so far off the radar the F.B.I. have a hard time figuring out it even exists. Not too sure how likely such an outfit is, but damn if they don't have a really cool, exceedingly photogenic abandoned loft-cum-office that would require major amounts of off the books dough for rent.

While Patrick Swayze was The Beast's only saving grace, McDermott doesn't seem to have that burden upon his shoulders, and thankfully so. The performance is pretty solid but his character comes across as an overly tortured sort. Weary eyes, heavy sighs and an "I need to save everyone and everything" attitude would probably work just as well had the part been that of a depressive artist or well-meaning but beaten down single father (or something else equally depressing).

Production for the show is rather slick at times, but nothing compared to the overly stylized CSI's. There's a few slick spots, particularly one when the bad buys douse a hide-out in gasoline and exit slow-mo style to their pretty get away car with flames bursting behind them. At one point I thought an otherwise impressive gun battle seemed a bit like a trigger-happy (and again, slow-motion) Chevrolet commercial, but who even notices product placements these days?

The story line for the episode was pretty ho-hum for a pilot about this subject - handler and partner wonder if undercover-cop has gone so deep he's switched sides. It's been done before but it's just one of many stories to come, so hopefully they'll get over that bump and start giving us more original fair. There's a reason people drool over undercover-cop stories and hopefully the writing crew will figure that and their own voice out soon enough, lay off the old cop flicks and give us a great show. The potential is certainly there.

Dark Blue premiers tonight, Wednesday July 15th at 10pm (EST) on TNT.

Read more...

Preview: ABC's Defying Gravity

We have to admit, this show kind of snuck up on us here at DVR Life. With all the talk of the summer television season in late spring and how cable would be ruling the season we have to admit that we didn't hear anything about this show until just a week or so ago.

Our ears first perked up at the mention of Ron Livingston. Then we heard it was from the producers of Grey's Anatomy and also starring Laura Harris of Dead Like Me. All good, if not consistent (Grey's crew doing sci-fi?), things to hear.


Both clips are rather similar but there's some different footage in each. The trailers don't tell you much about the plot, only that there's zero gravity sex, someone yelling "Zoe!" and Ron Livingston is billed as a hot American hero, so we'll fill you in:

In the near future an international crew of astronauts (four men, four women: imagine that!) take off on a six year space mission covering the eight billion miles to Venus. The reasons for the mission, though, are being billed as "mysterious".

The series will be a mix of flashbacks, spot lighting the astronaut's path to being chosen for the flight, and the present.

Defying Gravity premieres with a two hour episode on August 2nd before taking it's usual Sunday 10pm time slot.

Read more...

Welcome Back, Eureka!

DVR Life really wanted to get this up yesterday, you know, before the show came back, but we were having nicotine fits or something. It's never too late to welcome back an old friend, though.

Things may have shifted a bit on the show, what with Carter not being Sheriff anymore, and even in the real world surrounding the show, with SyFy being the new official name of the Sci...well, what was the Sci-Fi network, but the show is back and quirky as ever.

The series' easy breezy story lines and grin-inducing verbal patter tends to get a lot of flack in the science fiction world as being mindless or labeled the kind of show you zone out on. We think that's a load of bull, though.

While the premise and story lines may not lead to mock UN sessions like Battlestar Galactica, the production values are of a decent level and feature some fantastic visual effects, especially for a show of it's size. It's also fun and witty and one of the few science fiction shows we could watch with our mothers (and that's a good thing - we love our moms).

The basic idea is this: not every show needs to explore the greater intricacies of the human condition or blah blah. It's good to have some sci-fi that elicits a giggle or two, wows us with non-killer robots and oddball experiments gone wrong. We heart Eureka for giving us a laugh, an escape and good science fiction all at the same time.

If you missed the return of of Eureka last night, fear not. Set your DVR's as the first episode of season 4 is being replayed on SyFy Tuesday at 8pm and then again Friday at 8pm.

The next new episode of Eureka airs on SyFy Friday at 9pm.

Read more...

Skins Finally Returning To BBC America

Rejoice teen-soap lovers as BBC America has finally lined up gritty brit-hit Skins to return for a third season. The series is perhaps the most realistic teen-soap to ever hit small screens, following a group of Bristol teens through their junior and senior years before heading off to college or real life.

The show picked up tons of flack from critics during it's first season, many claiming that the stories were unrealistic and overly dramatic...DVR Life would just like to point out that either none of those critics grew up in the early to mid-90's or we and our friends at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fl. knew how to live exceptionally well because we laugh our asses off while watching Skins, partly because we truly feel "we've been there, done that and love seeing it portrayed on TV all these years later."

For those already initiated to the debauchery of Skins, be forewarned: series 3 features nearly an entire new cast. The only returning face will be Effy, Tony's younger sister who merely put in a few occasional appearances in the first two seasons.

While we came to love Tony, Sid, Anwar, Cassie, Maxxie and all the other generation 1 characters, the producers came up with the rather novel idea of starting all over again with a new line-up of juniors: generation 2. We're still not sure were DVR Life lands on this issue but you have to figure One Tree Hill already pulled the jumping past college thing and The OC had the kinda ridiculous idea of having their characters suddenly change life paths and skip college.

It's a bit refreshing to see writers come up with a new idea.

DVR Life is just happy to have the show back. After series 2 ended on a few very depressing notes last January we were promised a springtime return which never came. BBC America is pretty good at that kinda thing (where's Robin Hood?!?) so we were elated at this announcement.

Skins series 3 premieres Thursday August 6th on BBC America.

Read more...

HBO's Big Summer

Folks at the HBO camp must be feeling pretty great. The network is riding high on some pretty big ratings this summer, the most impressive being the numbers for season two of vamp-opera True Blood which is reaching a reported average of 10.8 million viewers per episode.

This last week's first airing at 9pm Sunday drew 3.7 million watchers, which ballooned to 5.1 if you add in the second showing. Throw in DVR's and HBO On Demand and the network is coming up with that 10.8 number, which is a near 40% bump (38% to be exact) over the first season.

The network is also probably elated with the big numbers for it's newest scripted original show, Hung, which premiered to 2.8 million viewers. Throw in the second showing and all told the show was watched by 3.7 million. It managed to hold 76% of the True Blood lead-in and is reportedly the largest premiere for HBO since John From Cincinnati, which, while the show ended up bombing, premiered strong on the back of The Soprano's series finale.

Congrats, HBO, on a banner month.

Now let's get ready for the return of Entourage with it's sixth season premiering July 12th. This season will see some new additions to the cast and some guest stars. Joining the show full time will be Kate Mara of 24 and Brokeback Mountain as E's new assistant, The OC's Autumn Reeser as a junior agent at Ari's agency, and Gary Cole who's been in everything from The West Wing and Office Space to Kim Possible.

And speaking of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, creator of WW, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Sports Night, etc, will make a guest appearance as himself. Other notables playing themselves this season will include Lil' Wayne, Zac Efron and a whole bunch of sports stars.

Read more...

Make It Or Break It

Caught last night's premiere of ABC Family's newest scripted series Make It Or Break It. Last time I watched the premiere of a scripted series on the network I was pretty much horrified by the blatant born again preaching and swore off the network and it's shows (the series was The Secret Life of the American Teenager, if you were wondering). Then I started hearing about Greek and how awesome it is and kind of regretting my decision not to watch it (and don't want to start now without catching up), so I thought I'd at least give the Make It Or Break It pilot a chance before just saying no.

The fact that Slate.com compared it to Friday Night Lights didn't hurt either.

The series revolves around a group of Olympic hopefuls at a well-to-do, well known training center, Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Center. Things at the center pretty much revolve around three young girls, Payson, Kaylie, and Lauren, who are all a lock to make it to the national competition and, hopefully, continuing to the worldwide games.

But then Emily shows. Emily isn't as rich as the other girls and she hasn't been coached all her life. She's a scholarship case, discovered at a park. She's wearing leotards off the rack and shows some fear when approaching the vault. Her little brother is in a wheelchair and her mother is unreliable when it comes to keeping a job or picking her up on time.

Despite the cold front from the mean girls, a small case of sabotage, and a job at local the pizza joint featuring stoned customers and a meth head manager, Emily's got heart and she don't quit, two ingredients all good family dramas have.

The writing is consistently the highlight of the series. There's a few good quips here and there, and even some language I was a bit surprised to hear on ABC Family. The acting is acceptable, nothing to praise nor disapprove of, though Cassie Scerbo, acting as Lauren, manages to inflict the perfect rich girl sneer of disapproval. The spoiled brat squeal when things don't go her way is also pitch perfect. Scerbo also delivered my favorite line of the evening when she describes her teamate Kaylie's floor excercise routine as "flipping your hair and pulling it out of your ass."

As for the production, I'm sorry Slate but you are WAY off base with the FNL reference. Perhaps with the story telling aspect, but the acting is very rehearsed, unlike FNL and it's famous freedom the actors are given. There's also none of the breath taking camera work or awe-inspiring soundtrack we've come to know and expect from this shows' football-tossing brethren.

The production does have the usual modest budget, filmed in Vancouver or Toronto sort of feel to it. Not that Canadian shows have low quality: check out Being Erica or Flashpoint to dispel that myth. It's just that U.S. productions that don't have the highest of budgets tend to move production up north and TV nerds can usually tell. That's nothing to be ashamed of - many great TV shows rely on this to get renewed come budget-cut time at networks.

Oddly, though, the pilot was reportedly filmed in Los Angeles, Ca., so go figure. Beyond the young girls, the series has also made regular cast members of some recognizable faces, including Peri Gilpin of Frasier, Strong Medicine's Rosa Blasi, and, believe it or not, Candace Cameron (now known as Candace Cameron Bure), little sis to 80's teen hearthrob cum born again christian Kirk Cameron and big sis on Full House.

I'm looking forward to more Make It Or Break It, but I don't see myself missing the characters like I do the first three or four weeks after the latest season of Friday Night Lights ends, nor do I see myself ever gasping in anticipation or marvelling at the images before me. What I do see is chuckling with delight everytime Lauren releases her inner Bitch (much like I do when Blair on Gossip Girl let's it fly) or flashing back to crappy food service jobs or cracking a smile when Emily lands that perfect dismount, pissing off the rich kids and wowing the coaches.

Read more...

Last Minute Sneak Peak: Saving Grace

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.

Read more...

Eureka Marathon This Weekend

What could possibly be better than relaxing in a hammock overlooking a beautiful landscape from the wrap around porch of your Victorian-style farmhouse on a sunny Sunday afternoon?

You don't have a Victorian-style farmhouse? And you live in Florida where it's so disgustingly humid that you can't even fathom stepping foot on the 4 foot by 4 foot platform you call a front porch? You don't even own a hammock?

Well, I guess a second runner up to all that could be watching the Sci-Fi Channel's Eureka marathon. If, like me, your DVR inexplicably removed Eureka from your Series Manager and it took you nearly 3 weeks to notice due to working graveyard shift, then you're in luck.

The Sci-Fi Channel chopped Eureka's third season in half, deciding to air 8 last year and 8 this year. Cheap, I know, but what are you going to do? New episodes begin airing Friday July 10th with the return episode, "Welcome Back Carter".

To catch up or review, set your DVR for Sunday. Starting at 9:30am, Sci-Fi will air the first 8 episodes of season 3 back to back. I like that they're not waiting until the last minute to do this so you have one day between the marathon and the premiere. It gives you a chance to watch them leisurely before starting up with the new episodes.

Read more...