AMC confirms return dates for 'Mad Men,' 'The Killing,' 'Walking Dead'

AMC announced premiere dates for two of their flagship shows: "Mad Men" and "The Killing" -- and a return date for new episodes of "The Walking Dead" -- at the Television Critics Assn. press tour Saturday in Pasadena.

The network confirmed what Jon Hamm recently leaked: Season 5 of "Mad Men" will return March 25  with a two-hour episode directed by Jennifer Getzinger, not Hamm. (The episode directed by Hamm himself apparently will air April 8.)

After leaving viewers hanging at the end of its first season, "The Killing" will return for its second season April 1 to get back to the task at hand: solving the mystery of who killed Rosie Larsen. "The Killing" also will launch with a two-hour premiere.

"I can confirm reports that the killer will be revealed in the season 2 finale," said Joel Stillerman, AMC's vice president of programming.

"The Walking Dead" returns with new episodes from Season 2 on Feb. 12, accompanied by its live aftershow, "The Talking Dead." The network also announced that it has ordered 16 episodes for Season 3 rather than the 13 of previous seasons.

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Photo: Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos in "The Killing"

Credit: Chris Large / AMC

'Dallas': Everything old is new again

The groundbreaking prime-time soap "Dallas" is returning to TNT this summer, but don't you dare call it a remake or a reboot. The iconic stars of the original "Dallas" are blending with new, young cast members to continue the story of the oil- and cattle-rich Ewing dynasty.

The cast of the new version came together during the TNT portion of the Television Critics Assn. press tour. And yes, Larry Hagman, who plays the ruthless and charismatic J.R. Ewing, wore a Stetson.

Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing, said he had never imagined that he would ever reunite with Hagman and costar Linda Gray for another go at the series. He called it "the heartbreak of my career" because he couldn't see a circumstance that the three would ever work together again. "This is the best thing that could have happened in my life," he said.

After a beat, Hagman quipped, "I got a tear in my eye."

The original stars will be joined by Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Josh Henderson and Julie Gonzalo (let's see if they call them the Four J's).

Hagman, 80, who announced last year that he had been diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer, said he was doing well and felt strong. When asked what was best about his new gig, he said "Work at 80! And doing a job I love. I feel very lucky."

Gray said she and her original colleagues love working on the new series. "This is a lovely continuation."

Cynthia Cidre, one of the executive producers, said the original "Dallas" stars were not being used "as bait" to bring a new audience into the show. "They are integrated fully into the new cast."

Although producers hope to capture some of the popularity that made "Dallas" such a smash hit, Hagman had an offbeat theory for why audiences gravitated to the show.

"It was during the Great Recession, and people couldn't afford to go out and hire babysitters," he said. "So they stayed home. And there we were!"

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Photo: Larry Hagman, left, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy and Brenda Strong in TNT's new "Dallas." Credit: TNT

Marco Polo to get the Starz treatment with new original series

Starz, continuing to build its original programming slate, announced Friday that it will create a period drama about 13th century explorer Marco Polo.

The series, written and directed by John Fusco ("Hildago," "Young Guns"), will chronicle the  adventurer's early years in the court of Mongolian leader Kublai Khan. The epic tale will feature, according to the news release, political betrayal, forbidden relationships and, of course, martial arts. And, because it's Starz, you can assume there will be some nudity.

Executive producers of "Marco Polo" will be Harvey and Bob Weinstein (the Weinstein Co.), former NBC executive Ben Silverman (Electus) and Fusco. 

Production on the series is scheduled to begin next year.

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus is elected 'Veep' in new HBO series

In HBO's new comedy, "Veep," Julia Louis-Dreyfus is hardly a pitbull with lipstick. She's more like a confused poodle who wants to be a pitbull with lipstick but, instead, got elected as the vice president of the United States.

Minutes before Julianne Moore took the stage to discuss inhabiting the role of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for the upcoming HBO film "Game Change," Louis-Dreyfus was on deck at the Television Critics Assn. media tour to discuss her role as Selina Meyer, a former senator who finds herself as second-in-command of the United States. It's a position nothing like she thought it would be -- the president is nowhere to be found, her speeches get redacted, leaving her with nothing but prepositions to recite, and she's somehow always running down halls. 

We don't know what political party Meyer belongs to and she's not as calculating as real-life politicians. And she, like the rest of the country, has embraced a "green" initiative.

"She doesn’t have a phony set of ideals," the former "Seinfeld" star said during Friday's panel. "But she wants to stay alive as a political animal."

The series, which is set to premiere April 22, has a bit of the romanticism of "The West Wing" but also hints at the "cynical, corrupt, sinister" world of politics, said creator and executive producer Armando Iannucci, who wrote the British film "In The Loop"-- which was also a satirical look at the world of politics.

"I'm a big fan of 'The West Wing,' " Iannucci said. "At this particular point, that portrayal of Washington as a clean and noble heartland just wouldn't wash with the public. We've seen too much."

So why a show on the unglamoruous position? "For me there was something in that role that had comic potential -- not the comedy you would initially think about," Iannucci said. "The thing about it is your so near and yet so far. You're so close to power and yet your removed from it. Your identity is entirely in the web of the President. If he likes you, he’ll give you power. [The vice president] is not in control of [his or her] own destiny."

But sometimes there are moments of hope. In one scene from a preview of the show, Meyer gets word that the president has had a heart attack. Her reaction is more of what could be than actual worry.

“There’s a lot of disappointment," Louis-Dreyfus said of her character. "But there are moments of glory -- though I must say they are not long-lasting moments.”

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Photo: Julia Louis-Dreyfus receives her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010. Credit: Getty Images

Anna Deavere Smith on healthcare, mimicry and President Obama

Anna Deavere Smith's one-woman show, "Let Me Down Easy," makes its TV premiere Friday on PBS. The playwright and actress ("Nurse Jackie," "The West Wing") conducted hundreds of interviews on the topic of healthcare, wittling it all into her signature collage performance. She assumes the roles of 20 people, including biker Lance Armstrong and former supermodel Lauren Hutton to ordinary patients and the frontline workers who tend to them.

 We spoke briefly with Smith while she was in Los Angeles at the Television Critics Assn. to promote the show's premiere. (Unfortunately, she wouldn't give us any details on the upcoming season of "Nurse Jackie." We tried! )

What prompted the decision to focus on healthcare?

I was invited to do a project for the Yale School of Medicine in the '90s — way long time ago. And I just loved working there. I loved how the people who I interviewed expressed themselves, and it was something that really stayed in my heart. I sort of took five years off from the theaters.  When I was ready to come back and do theater, I thought, ‘Well, maybe that would be a good subject.’ That was in 2005. So then I just started doing lots and lots of interviews. Four years later — and several productions later — when it was time to come to New York, is when President Obama was starting to roll out his healthcare bill. In fact, I did a reading in Chicago of the material at an event. Studs Terkel, who is a mentor of mine, was supposed to introduce me. He was too ill, so President Obama, who at the time was Sen. Obama, introduced me that night. The next morning we had a talk on the phone. I could tell then just how passionate he was about healthcare — this was well before he was even thinking about running for the presidency.

You did countless interviews. What was the one thing you took away when it was all said and done? Because the stories, while they may hint at policy issues, go deeper than that.

Exactly. I think the theme that sort of rose to the top was the idea of "care." Who cares about you? What is the miracle of somebody caring about another person? And having many opportunities to look at utter carelessness, like in the case with Katrina or even material that’s no longer in the play — Rwanda. Two tribes in the same country, the same race, dismembering each other and hurting each other. Genocide.

Your previous works focused on events: "Twilight: Los Angeles" looked at the L.A. riots in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and "Fires in the Mirror" looks at racial tensions in two Brooklyn neighborhoods following a death and subsequent murder.

Right. And this time around I knew that I didn’t want to make another play with an event. If for no other reason, this was the expectation that people had come to have. Two shows of like, about 20, had events.  And I don’t think that the form that I’m trying to develop requires an event. This play, I think, plays a little more like a piece of music. It gives you the space to think about themes, to come up with what the stories mean to you, what life means to you. I didn’t want to have an event, and yet I still wanted to make an evening of theater that would be coherent. It was just really hard. It’s just a lot of trial and error. What it requires is having people who take a chance on you. People who give you the time and the space and what you need to develop a project. I had a fabulous person in New Haven. I had a friend in Texas who gave me some money to work there. I worked at Stanford Medical School and ultimately started putting the pieces together well enough that I could take it to New York. And then Boston American Reperatory Theatre said, “Come here and work on it.” It’s really the kindness of people in medical centers and theater who helped this become real.

 

Ricky Gervais talks Golden Globes and his new HBO show

If you don't get Ricky Gervais, who in two days will be the most feared man in a Beverly Hills ballroom as the host of the Golden Globe awards, there's probably a good reason.

You're not very smart. 

Speaking at the winter TV media tour Friday morning, the British comedian who was widely attacked after his last stint as Globes host said people who were offended by his last performance are misinterpreting his comic jabs and barbs.

People often "confuse the target of the joke with the subject," Gervais said. "I think smart people know what we're trying to do."

"We're not just trying to be outrageous for outrageous sake," he added. "The job of a comedian is to make you laugh and to make you think as well."

Gervais appeared on an HBO panel with executive producer Stephen Merchant and actor Warwick Davis, who together are behind an upcoming series "Life's Too Short," which takes aim at the overblown culture of celebrity and culture. The comedy is centered around Davis, who plays a fictionalized version of himself, as he tries to navigate himself back into spotlight.

"There's no difference now between fame and infamy," Gervais said, adding that it's impossible to exaggerate the absurdity of show business. "There's no shame, there's no shame in anything."

Gervais said he has complete control over what he will say Sunday night -- and as long as he's satisfied with his performance, he'll have no qualms about whatever the critics think.

"What's the worst that can happen," Gervais said. "If I'm happy with my performance, then you're bullet-proof."

"I don't care what people think," he added.

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Photo: Ricky Gervais, left, and Warwick Davis. The two are behind a new HBO show called "Life's Too Short." Credit: HBO

HBO announces dates for 'Game of Thrones,' 'Game Change,' 'Veep'

This post has been corrected. See the note below for details.

HBO announced at the Television Press Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena that April 1, will be the return date for Season 2 of "Game of Thrones." Several major characters were killed off in the first season, leaving room for a bunch of new actors; a preview of the new season offered glimpses of some incoming characters, including Stannis Baratheon, played by Stephen Dillane, and Carice van Houten as his magical advisor Melisandre.

[For the record, 10:50 a.m. Jan. 13: This post originally listed the "Game of Thrones" premiere date as Aug. 1. The show will premiere April 1.]

Also launching on HBO in April is "Veep," a political comedy created by Armando Iannucci (“In the Loop”) and starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as vice president, which premieres April 22. 

Coming to HBO on March 10, "Game Change" is another production with a political orientation. This film features Ed Harris as John McCain, whose 2008 presidential campaign pulls in then Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, played by Julianne Moore. It's based on a book by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, directed by Jay Roach and written by Danny Strong (HBO’s “Recount”). 

Finally, there's "Girls," a new comedy series created by and starring indie film ingenue Lena Dunham (“Tiny Furniture”), and executive produced by Judd Apatow and Jenni Konner. Premiering April 15, it's a lo-fi look at a quartet of young New York women, starring Jemima Kirke, Allison Williams and Zosia Mamet as well as Dunham.

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Photo: Richard Madden plays Robb Stark in "Game of Thrones." Credit: HBO.

'Homeland' exec says writers can wriggle 'out of a box'

[Note: There are some spoilers in this post about the recently concluded season of Showtime’s “Homeland.” Please skip if you’re really behind on your DVR viewing.]

The December finale of “Homeland’ didn’t polarize viewers the way, say the season's final episode of “The Killing” did. But some fans of the series — created by “24” veterans Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon as well as Gideon Raff, who conceived of the Israeli original — were divided about the way the first season ended.

Claire Danes’ Carrie was far from vindicated — in fact, she seemed to be going down a new path of memory loss. Damian Lewis’ Brody seemed to be positioned for an improbable spot in political office. And we still have no idea who might be the bad seed at the CIA.

David Nevins, the Showtime entertainment chief who put the show on the air, acknowledges how fans might feel a little squeezed by the new direction. But he said the show’s creators would find a way out when the series returned. “Alex and Howard are very good at writing themselves into a box, but they’re also very good at writing themselves out of a box,” he said in a recent interview with Show Tracker.

Nevins said that a finale for a serial mystery like “Homeland” meant walking a fine line between revelations and reticence: “We don't believe in closure, but we do believe in rewarding people for their time.”

At Showtime’s Television Critics Assn. panel on Thursday, Nevins continued the frank talk, saying fans were “justified” in feeling skepticism about whether the second season, which is likely to return later this year, could continue building the mystery without gving fans the sense they were being thrown red herrings. But he said that new revelations would keep the story moving forward.

One of the biggest questions is whether the wider intelligence community will know about Brody’s terrorist connections. To reveal that would be to rob the show of its woman-versus-the-world drama, but continued milking of that idea could get old.

Nevins did suggest at the event that the (romantic?) relationship between the two main characters would continue. “Brody and Carrie have only just begun,” he told reporters.

In other Showtime news, Nevins revealed at TCA that “Nurse Jackie,” “The Big C” and “The Borgias” will all return on Sunday, April 8. He also disclosed the network was producing a documentary about former Vice President Dick Cheney from independent filmmaker R.J. Cutler (who did the Anna Wintour doc “The September Issue”).

And Nevins told TCA that it's "a real possibility" that last summer's season of "Weeds" could be its last. Meanwhile, he said that “Dexter,” which in December ended its sixth season, could go beyond the planned eighth season. Maybe. "This is the likely endpoint, but I'm leaving open the possibility that plans could change," he told reporters.

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Photo: A scene from the first season of "Homeland" Credit: Kent Smith/Showtime.

'2 Broke Girls' and one ugly clash with reporters

"2 Broke Girls" is one of the few new huge successes of the TV season, and its stars and executive producers had hoped to celebrate its popularity Wednesday during CBS' portion of the Television Critics Assn. press tour.

But a session to promote the series deteriorated into an uncomfortable and messy clash between reporters and executive producer Michael Patrick King, who grew agitated with repeated questions about the continuing controversy concerning the show's lone Asian character, the owner of a diner who speaks in broken English.

Even though King had been expecting questions about the character Han Lee (Matthew Moy) since it has been an issue since the series premiered, he became increasingly defensive as the session wore on, making what amounted to a flat joke about the Irish heritage and sexual orientation of one reporter who continued to press him about whether CBS had asked him to make Han more dimensional and tone down his ethnicity.

The producer's combative demeanor ultimately cast a sour note over what should have been an upbeat session.

It's not the first time King has faced criticism over race. He was the creator of "Sex and the City," which was set in New York City but seldom featured principal characters of color. The only nonwhite character in the first movie spinoff of the series was an assistant to Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) played by Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson.

King initially tried to downplay the controversy over "2 Broke Girls," saying that while the show's humor may be edgy it was also full of heart. He said CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler had called the show "an equal opportunity offender," and the show comically deals with stereotypes, particularly of the title characters (played by Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs) who are respectively brunet and blond.

When the subject kept returning to Han Lee, King grew increasingly contentious. "I like Han and the fact that he's an immigrant," King said, adding that he didn't find the character offensive. King added that because he is gay — and a comedy writer — it gave him permission to poke fun at other "outsiders."

And even though King maintained that he had received no instructions from the network about toning down Han's more stereotypical characteristics, he noted that the last three episodes had not made any Asian jokes — only jokes about the character's shortness.

King repeated that he was proud of the "creativity and hilarity of what we do," and expressed surprise that there were fewer questions about that aspect of the show. But with his defensiveness, King and his prickly tone took the attention away from his show.

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Photo: Michael Patrick King, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs at the Winter Press Tour 2012. Photo: Monty Brinton / CBS.

 

'Desperate Housewives': And now the end is near

Marc Cherry, the creator of "Desperate Housewives," has known for seven years what the last act of the series will be when the show finally reaches its end later this year.

And no, he's not talking.

"I'm so not revealing it," said Cherry at a session about the series during the ABC portion of the Television Critics Assn. press tour. "I'm hyper protective. It's a secret."

He said the show, now in its eighth season, would tie up many loose ends, including many from the first season. Several characters from past seasons will also show up as a sort of homage, he said.

But whether Nicolette Sheridan, who left the series in 2009 after reported clashes with Cherry, would return remained a mystery. Her character, Edie Britt, was killed off and she later filed a lawsuit against him alleging abuse and wrongful termination.

Even though the series is struggling this season, Cherry repeatedly talked about how satisfied he was with it: "We all feel so fulfilled. I got to work out a lot of family issues."

He said he's often asked if the end is bittersweet, and he said, "It's completely sweet. There's no such thing as a job that goes on forever. Everything comes to an end."

Several cast members said they would miss the camaraderie of working together on the show. "This is like our own little village," said Vanessa Williams, who joined the series two seasons ago. "It's like a community."

Cherry said one of the highlights of the series was establishing a storyline that he thought fans would not let him get away with -- breaking up the marriage between Lynette and Tom Scavo (Felicity Huffman and Doug Savant).

Huffman said the two started fighting off-screen. "It was interesting but also upsetting. I didn't get to work together with Doug, which is one of my favorite things to do on the show." But she noted that the plot was realistic, saying that 50% of first marriages end in divorce and 80% of second marriages end in divorce.

That prompted a quick comeback from co-star Eva Longoria, whose marriage to basketball star Tony Parker ended in 2010. "God, it gets harder?

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PHOTO: Left to right, Vanessa Williams, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Terri Hatcher and Marcia Cross of "Desperate Housewives."

Credit: Matthew Rolston / ABC

ABC's Paul Lee reveals the network's inner vixen

ABC is embracing its inner bitch.

The network has long been a showcase for raging hormones and feisty women with "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and more recently "Modern Family."  For years, the network struggled to come up with manly man shows — think "Cavemen"  and "Invasion" — but network executives finally have concluded that cattiness has its benefits.

Still, the network can't say the word "bitch" too loud.

Two of the network's midseason shows started out with the word "bitch" in their titles:  "Good Christian Bitches" and "Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23."  But network executives sanitized the titles before they introduced the shows to advertisers last spring.  

"Good Christian Bitches" became "Good Christian Belles," and then just "GCB."  The latter was renamed a decidedly flat "Apartment 23" before the network restored some of the original sass with "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23."

"On broadcast television, as it turns out, that isn't a word that you want to use in the title," Paul Lee, president of the ABC Entertainment Group, said Tuesday during ABC's executive session at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena. 

He acknowledged the marketing challenges, particularly for "GCB," which is based on the book "Good Christian Bitches" by Kim Gatlin and stars Kristin Chenoweth and Annie Potts.  The show, which premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday, March 4, is about a woman with legal problems who returns to her hometown of Dallas to the consternation of her former high school classmates, who are now church mavens.

Scary 'found footage' of lost boat crew takes ABC down 'The River'

The discovery of "found footage" is riding the pop culture zeitgeist these days, ranging from the surprise box office hit "The Devil Inside" to the popularity of the "Paranormal Activity" franchise.

The producers of ABC's "The River" are hoping to bring that same shaky feeling of jumpy and erratic camerawork that exposes strange doings to "The River," about a film crew that may have met a strange fate in the Amazon. One of the key producers of the series, which will premiere Feb. 7, is Oren Peli, who wrote, directed and produced the first "Paranormal Activity" film.

Peli said in a session promoting the series during the ABC portion of the Television Critics Assn. press tour that he first came up with the idea of a documentary film crew getting caught in the rain forest and a rescue mission trying to find them as a concept for a movie. After talking with Steven Spielberg and other producers, he reasoned that the concept might make a compelling television series.

But fellow executive producer Michael Green said that although the series is filmed in Hawaii and pivots on people who are lost and in a dangerous situation, it will not be similar to "Lost." The show will be more intent on scares and strange bumps in the night.

"Each episode will be its own horror movie," Green said. "There will also be longer arcs that will reward viewers who hang in there. But our inspiration is much more 'The X Files' than 'Lost.' "

"The River revolves around the disappearance of wildlife expert and TV personality Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood), who journeys around the world with his wife and son. When he goes missing deep in the Amazon, his family, friends and crew set off on what the producers call a "a dangerous and deadly journey" to locate him. They encounter weird happenings and unseen dangers.

Although the emphasis is on scares, Green said the key to unnerving viewers will be to make the characters relatable. "I asked the network how scary are you willing for me to go, and they said I could be as scary as you want as long as you care about the people."

Some of those characters may be put in dangerous situations that producers hinted might leave to their demise, making some of the performers wonder how long they might last on the show. Leslie Hope, who plays Cole's wife Terri, recalled how she thought she was pretty secure playing Keifer Sutherland's pregnant wife during the first season of "24," only to have her character get "stabbed in the gut" and killed in the season finale.

Zack Estrin, another executive producer, joked that because of that, Hope's character would be around "for 40 episodes."

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Photo: Cast of "The River." Credit: ABC