TCA 2011: Dr. Drew Pinsky will now treat 'regular folks' on TV

 
“Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,” “Sober House,” “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew,” “16 and Pregnant,” “Teen Mom”  and “Dr. Drew Pinsky.” Breathe. Now add “Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers.” Could there come a time when Dr. Drew Pinsky seeks his own services for treatment on overexposure?

When asked if others might perceive all his TV ventures as crossing the line into fame-monger territory, Pinsky replied: "I understand that people could think that ...We’ll find out.”

Pinsky is adding to his already full plate -- he began hosting "Dr. Drew Pinsky" on HLN in the spring -- with a new daytime series, "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers," on the CW this fall. The daily, half-hour show will air in a two-episode block from 3-4 p.m. (an original episode will be followed by a repeat) beginning in the fall. Pinsky and a panel of experts -- which will sometime include the likes of Halle Berry, Patrick Dempsey and Kelly Rippa -- will offer help to people dealing with various personal issues.

Viewers can expect to get acquainted with Pinsky's wife and triplet children. There will also be an element similar to "Loveline," the long-running radio show on KROQ that Pinsky co-hosts, which will be called Love Lab.

Pinsky said it was the ability to venture away from the celebrity world he's become immersed in that attracted him to the project.

"One of the things that comes across my Twitter feed is 'why don’t you deal with regular folks?' " he said. He added that he had originally intended "regular" people to take part in "Celebrity Rehab" along with the stars, but that those prospects fell through. "I'm very anxious that here we work with regular people."

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-- Yvonne Villarreal

twitter.com/villarrealy

TCA 2011: Sarah Michelle Gellar clones herself for 'Ringer'

Fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" have been waiting for Sarah Michelle Gellar to return to TV for eight years. They are getting more of her than they could've imagined in the new CW series, "Ringer," a thriller that has Gellar playing identical twins with mysterious — and possibly dangerous — agendas.

"They actually cloned me," Gellar joked on Thursday at the Television Critics Assn. media tour in Beverly Hills, where she appeared along with the show’s producers and other members of the cast.  "We thought we'd take advantage of modern technology, and Dolly will be playing the other twin."

Getting serious, Gellar noted that the technology has come a long way since the basic split-screen techniques they used back in her "Buffy" days.

"There's so much more that's available now between face replacement and the stop‑motion cameras. So during the pilot, we played with all of them — it's kind of like kids with new toys — to figure out what works best.  Ultimately what you find is, even though there is all this technology ... the heart of the scene is two people talking to each other."

Gellar says that she's excited to be returning to television, but it took her a while to recover from her cult stardom. "I was very burned out after 'Buffy.'  It was exhausting.  It took me from — essentially I was 18 on the pilot, and I was 24 and married, you know, when we finished. I had never had time. That show was my life. I sort of needed to explore and live that gypsy lifestyle, and I traveled."

But once her daughter was born, "I realized that I was done living the romantic lifestyle, and although it works for some actors, I want to be home. I want to put her to bed and get up with her in the morning, and I want to be there for her first day of school. And nothing offers that more than television.  And what's been so interesting for me getting back into it was I didn't realize how much I missed it.... I think if I hadn't had the time away, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the experience that I'm appreciating now."

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-- Joy Press

twitter.com/joypress

Photo: Nestor Carbonell, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ioan Gruffudd of "Ringer." Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press.

TCA 2011: 'The Secret Circle' aims to bewitch viewers on its own

There’s no nose-twitching or talking animotronic cats in the witch universe seen on the new CW series "The Secret Circle.”

“It’s very dark,” said executive producer Kevin Williamson. “Our version of witchcraft is very dark … there’ll be scary, evil witch-y woo.”

Williamson, who also serves as a producer on “The Vampire Diaries,” appeared Thursday at the Television Critics Assn. media tour in Beverly Hills, along with the show’s producers and members of the cast, to discuss the new mystery drama.

Photos: TV witches --The funny, the spooky and the ugly

"The Secret Circle,” like “The Vampire Diaries,”  is also based on a popular series of books by author L.J. Smith and centers on a coven of powerful witches. Cassie Blake (played by Britt Robertson) moves to a her mother’s hometown in Washington after a tragic accident leaves her orphaned. It's there that she quickly discovers she’s a descendant of witches and is part of the next generation of the Secret Circle that will battle with evil forces.

But there are teens involved, so romance will also play a part in the series. Cassie finds herself in drawn to Adam (Thomas Dekker) who is the boyfriend of Diana (Shelley Hennig), both are also members of the coven.

When discussing what can be expected from the love triangle as the season progress, Dekker says audiences will learn that the Adam-Cassie relationship is more than just a teen “lustful” attraction, it’s predestined.

“There’s lots of inner conflict going on for my character this whole season,” Dekker said. Adding that he’s assumed the role of Cassie’s instructor on the witch lifestyle, bringing them closer together -- which only makes their dynamic more difficult. And things for the coven will intensify as they try to uncover what went wrong with the previous coven, Williamson said

“As our new circle tries to uncover that, for fear of their own future, they find a lot of those discoveries go intergenerational,” he said. When the pilot starts, our teenagers are a little suspicious of their parents. As the season continues, they’ll start to understand their parents in ways they never would have expected.” 

Williamson said he was drawn to the project because of Smith’s ability to tap into his “happy place,” noting the themes of teen angst, coming-of-age journeys and other issues teens deal with that Smith spins with figures such as vampires and witches.

And though TVD and TSC have many links -- Williamson, the CW, Smith, witch characters -- don’t anticipate a crossover.

“I didn’t want this show to look like ‘The Vampire Diaries,” Williamson said. “I wanted it to be its own world … The witch mythology at the core of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and the witch mythology in ‘The Secret Circle’ don’t connect …We needed to start at ground zero.”

But you can catch them on the same night: Thursdays this fall.

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 -- Yvonne Villarreal
Twitter.com/villarrealy

Photo: Britt Robertson, left, as Cassie and Thomas Dekker as Adam in a scene from "The Secret Circle." Credit: CW

TCA 2011: CW chief Mark Pedowitz open to comedies on the network

Vampires, Upper East Siders and rogue CIA agents. Now witches and the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar. It can only be the CW.

Mark Pedowtiz, the newly minted president of the mini-network, appeared Thursday at the Television Critics Assn. media tour in Beverly Hills to discuss what’s in store for viewers: extended seasons for some of its shows, more reality series and ... maybe some comedy?

Four of the network’s series will have an extended season: “Gossip Girl” and “90210” will get an additional two episodes, bringing their total to 24; “Supernatural” and “Nikita” will get a one-episode boost, bringing their tally to 23. Not getting a supersized season, despite solid ratings, is “The Vampire Diaries” — but it’s due to the grueling post-production process on the series, Pedowitz insisted.

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All this is on top of the highly anticipated return of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” queen Gellar in the network’s new thriller “RInger,” inherited from CBS, which did not pick it up. And he said the show would not suffer “one bit” from the different budget of a smaller network.

And in addition to the Mario Lopez-hosted “H8er,” which pairs celebrities with their detractors, and the seemingly never-ending cycles of “America’s Next Top Model,” other reality fare is on the horizon: One, “Remodeled,” will come midseason to give “America’s Next Top Model” a rest, and “Frame” a competition series in the vein of “Big Brother,” will lock two people in a house for eight weeks.

But with a new president -- Pedowitz , a former ABC exec, replaced Dawn Ostroff earlier this year -- comes new possibilities. Pedowitz said he was a fan of remakes, citing “90210” as success, and said plans for a new superhero to charm audiences in a “Smallville”-less world was still to come. Ostroff had first hinted at last year’s TCA press tour that the network was looking to other DC superheroes to fill the void.

ABC Family gets top score in GLAAD survey of gays on TV

ABC Family stands at the head of the class in a new report looking at depictions of gay, lesbians and transgender people on television.

In its fifth annual Network Responsibility Index, the advocacy group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) assessed the quality and quantity of gay characters on the broadcast networks plus 10 cable channels from June 2010 to the end of May.

The top score went to the Walt Disney Co.'s cable outlet ABC Family, which is targeted at viewers 14 to 34 and features several series with gay characters, including "Pretty Little Liars" and "Greek." CW earned the best score among any broadcaster, thanks to openly gay characters on shows such as "90210" and "Gossip Girl."

"We're incredibly proud to be acknowledged by GLAAD," ABC Family President Michael Riley said in an interview. "We want to be sure we program in a relatable, authentic way."

GLAAD gave failing grades to cable outlets A&E and TBS. The group pointed out that most of what very little gay inclusiveness A&E could claim stemmed from the fact that Ryan Buell, the host of "Paranormal State," came out as bisexual.  

"Often inclusion of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) characters is a matter of will," said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs at GLAAD. "It’s really something we’re going to be addressing with both of those networks."

Representatives for A&E and TBS did not respond to emails requesting comment.

Photos: Ricky Martin, 'True Blood,' Tina Fey win big at GLAAD awards

Other networks that have been flunked by GLAAD in the past – including CBS and USA – have risen to "adequate" in the new report. CBS' drama "The Good Wife" includes a bisexual investigator played by Archie Panjabi, who won an Emmy for the role.

GLAAD representatives say that representations of gays and lesbians on TV shows is important because the medium helps shape Americans' perceptions. More than one-third of people who reported viewing gays more favorably over the past five years in a recent GLAAD poll said that "seeing gay or lesbian characters" on TV was a contributing factor.

The group also pointed to the immense buying power of gays and lesbians, estimated at $835 billion in 2011.

One area of concern for GLAAD: the continuing lack of transgender characters on television. With a few exceptions – such as model Isis King on CW's "America's Next Top Model" – transgender people are seldom seen in programming.

Graddick said that transgender depictions on TV are lagging 20 years behind those of gays and lesbians.

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Twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT

Photo: Shay Mitchell (center) plays a lesbian on ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars." Credit: Adam Rose/ABC Family.

Comic-Con 2011 kicks off: now with more TV goodness

It's the most wonderful time of the year — that is, if you're a fanboy or girl in San Diego this week. That's right: Comic-Con has officially started. And this year's confab isn't too shabby, with Steven Spielberg making his first appearance to discuss his motion-capture movie "The Adventures of Tintin." And, of course, there's the unveiling of Andrew Garfield as the new Spider-man.

But TV is also proving to be a big draw at this year's sold-out event.  Ballroom 20, Comic-Con's room dedicated to television, will feature panel presentations from HBO's "Game of Thrones" and "True Blood" and AMC's "The Walking Dead." 

And several studios are planning to screen pilots, including J.J. Abrams' "Alcatraz" and "Person of Interest," and Kevin Williamson's "The Secret Circle." There's also "Terra Nova," "Once Upon a Time" and "Grimm." 

If you weren't lucky enough to score a ticket to the annual geek pilgrimage, rest easy. Our sister blog Hero Complex has reporters on the floor to cover as much of the madness as possible. 

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-- Yvonne Villarreal
Twitter.com/villarrealy

Photos: Top: Sarah Michelle Gellar in "Ringer." Credit: The CW. Bottom: Sorana Caldwell (left) and Gilia Melendez walk Comic-con in costume. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times.

One year after 'Lost' finale, Hurley, Ben and others live on with new shows

Today is the first anniversary of the "Lost" finale, and some people are still mad about it. (Check out the Twitter hashtags #WeHaveToGoBack, #GetOverIt, and #TheyWereDeadTheWholeTime for proof.) But the show's creator, Damon Lindelof, still feels a little wistful about the long-lost Dharma days. "For all you castaways -- 815 flies forever," he recently tweeted. "Sixteen tons and I got Lost. This May 23, I raise my forty to those gone, but never forgotten."

The "never forgotten" part is obviously true -- but maybe that's because they're not really gone. "Lost" alumni are already dominating the networks' upcoming fall and midseason schedules.

Fans will find Jorge Garcia (Hurley) on Fox's "Alcatraz," a sci-fi series from "Lost" executive producer J.J. Abrams and writer Elizabeth Sarnoff. Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) will star in CBS's crime thriller "Person of Interest," which also comes courtesy of Abrams, along with "Lost" alum Bryan Burke.

Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert) appears to be wearing his "Lost" guyliner in the CW's "Ringer," which stars Sarah Michelle Gellar in a double role, playing twins. Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) will be in ABC's political drama "Scandal," from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers ("Grey's Anatomy"). And Rebecca Mader (Charlotte) pops up in ABC's "Bosom Buddies" revamp, "Work It."

As for that magical polar bear, we hear he's still struggling to find work. There just aren't enough good roles for middle-aged bears these days.

-- Melissa Maerz

Photo: Jorge Garcia, who played Hurley on "Lost," returns in the sci-fi series "Alcatraz" on Fox. Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images

What we learned about the fall 2011 TV season at the 'upfronts'

After a weeklong stretch of sitting through the networks' presentations of their fall schedules, the "upfronts" are finally over. So what did we learn?

That Donald Trump has backed out of the presidential race (if he'd ever backed into it in the first place).

That NBC hopes that women can save TV. (From Debra Messing's Broadway musical drama "Smash" to Christina Applegate's hipster-mom comedy "Up All Night," female-skewing scripted series dominate the network's line-up.)

That ABC is seeking more balance for its male viewers. (Its new series "Charlie's Angels" (see photo at right) and "Pan Am" may feature ensemble casts anchored by women, but those women are often a) attired in wet clothes or b) involved in "sexy entanglements" with pilots.)

That CBS believes the sitcom isn't dead. (Ashton Kutcher's swooping in to save "Two and a Half Men," and the buddy comedy "2 Broke Girls" tested better than any other pilot in CBS history.)

That Fox has single-handedly spawned Singing Competition Madness. (NBC's "The Sing-Off," Oxygen's "The Glee Project," and Fox's own "The X Factor" will follow the path of a little show called "American Idol.")

That the CW's banking on some familiar faces to boost its ratings. (Reuniting with the network are Sarah Michelle Gellar of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," who's playing  twin sisters on "Ringer," Rachel Bilson of "The O.C.," who's playing a doctor on "Hart of Dixie.")  

And finally, that witches are going to destroy us all.

While you're waiting for the locusts to descend, we recommend wiling the hours away browsing the new TV schedule and watching these preview clips from the new shows that are coming your way this fall.

-- Melissa Maerz

Photo: "Charlie's Angels" Rachael Taylor, left, Minka Kelly and Annie Ilonzeh. Credit: Bob D'Amico / ABC / Getty Images.

Fall TV season: Are witches the new vampires?

Guys with fangs are so last year. This fall, witches are taking over. You'll find them on HBO's "True Blood," where Sookie will face down a coven this season. They'll be casting spells on their fellow high school students in the CW's "The Secret Circle," a drama from "The Vampire Diaries" creator Kevin Williamson. A particularly wicked one shows up in ABC's "Once Upon a Time" to place a curse on the town of Storybrook. Plus, with NBC's mystery "Grimm" riffing on various fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel's friend with the black pointy hat might soon join the others.

So where did all the soft-hearted, sharp-toothed Edward Cullens go? Since women generally watch more television than men, the networks are greenlighting more female-skewing shows for fall, including ensemble dramas lead by female characters (ABC's "Pan Am," NBC's "The Playboy Club," ABC's "Good Christian Belles") to comedies anchored by actresses (Christina Applegate's "Up All Night" and Whitney Cummings' "Whitney" on NBC, Zoey Deschanel's "The New Girl" on Fox). And viewers seem to like bad girls best: CBS' "2 Broke Girls," starring an insult-slinging Kat Dennings, tested better than any comedy or drama in CBS history, and two of the season's most highly anticipated shows, "Good Christian Belles" and ABC's "Apartment 23," originally had titles that featured a word that rhymes with witch. For networks seeking female viewers and mean girl heroines, witches offer the perfect double threat.

Plus, for advertisers seeking younger viewers, there's that whole built-in audience of goth girls, who'll no doubt love to watch "The Secret Circle" hero Thomas Dekker -- or as some might call him, the Man-Witch. Teenage girls have always loved witches -- during the '90s, they flocked to "Charmed," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," "The Craft" and Winona Ryder's version of "The Crucible" -- and it's easy to see why: Those stories verify the feeling that high school is filled with total monsters, that popular girls are casting spells on their hangers-on, that if some pale, creepy kid with long fingernails gets close to you, you'll just die.

Still, while witches are somewhat timeless (there's a reason each one is, like, 10 billion years old), they also seem particularly attractive to a generation of girls drawn to the tough-minded, self-sufficient heroines like Katniss of the book and coming film "The Hunger Games" or the arrow-slinging killer in "Hanna." At a time when parents have their kids under constant supervision, through Facebook and FourSquare and cellphone check-ins, "The Secret Circle" offers a world in which rather than being hyper-managed by parents and teachers, young women can literally control everything around them with the only counsel coming from a book of spells. It's no accident that right before the heroine of "The Secret Circle" discovers that she's a witch, her mother dies, leaving her to make her own decisions.

No doubt these stories appeal to adults too. And that's especially true on "True Blood," on which the witches apparently wield the power to make Eric's shirt disappear.

-- Melissa Maerz

Upper photo: "The Secret Circle." Credit: CW. Left photo: Actors who play TV witches: Katerina Graham, Melissa Joan Hart, Elizabeth Montgomery and Kevin Alejandro. Credits: CW / ABC / Nick at Nite / HBO

Fall TV season: Watch a sneak preview of CW's 'H8R' from Mario Lopez, with Snooki, Kim Kardashian

The CW unveiled its fall schedule Thursday at its upfronts presentation in New York, announcing a new reality show, "H8R," that brings celebrities face to face with their biggest non-fans.

The unscripted series will air with the first all-stars edition of "America's Next Top Model" on Wednesdays.

Earning points for originality and Internet buzz from potential viewers, "H8R" puts presumably thick-skinned stars (including Snooki and Kim Kardashian) in a battle to win over regular folks who hate them. Mario Lopez will host and executive produce the show, from executive producers Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey and Jeremy Spiegel (both of "Extra").

[Warning: The video below has some explicit language.]

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Fall TV season: Watch a sneak preview of Kevin Williamson's supernatural 'The Secret Circle' [Video]

The CW unveiled its fall schedule Thursday at its upfronts presentation in New York, announcing another supernatural-tinged drama, "The Secret Circle," based on the popular young-adult novels from "Vampire Diaries" writer L.J. Smith.

The mystery thriller, which centers on a coven of powerful witches, comes from "Vampire Diaries" creator Kevin Williamson and will air with that hit CW show on Thursday nights.

After a tragic accident leaves her an orphan, Cassie Blake (played by Britt Robertson) moves to a small harbor town in Washington where she finds out she's descended from witches and has magical powers. She and her new friends are the next-gen Secret Circle and they're headed for a showdown with some evil forces.

In addition to Williamson, executive producers are Andrew Miller, Leslie Morganstein ("The Vampire Diaries," "Gossip Girl") and Gina Girolamo. Stars include Natasha Henstridge, Thomas Dekker and Phoebe Tonkin.

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Fall TV season: Watch a sneak preview of CW's 'Hart of Dixie' from 'Gossip Girl's' Josh Schwartz [Video]

The CW unveiled its fall schedule Thursday at its upfront presentation in New York, announcing a new fish-out-of-water medical drama, "Hart of Dixie," starring "The O.C." alum Rachel Bilson.

The series, which will be paired with "Gossip Girl" on Mondays, will make a full prime-time block from writer/producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. (The two created "Gossip Girl" and "The O.C.").

"Hart of Dixie" transplants Bilson's sophisticated, type-A Dr. Zoe Hart from Manhattan to the fictional small Gulf Coast town of Bluebell, Ala., to practice medicine and learn life lessons. Also starring: Jaime King as a sweet-on-the-outside Southern belle, Scott Porter and Cress Williams.

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-- T.L. Stanley