TV Squad

• Showtime content on Windows Vista
  

  Filed under: Showtime, PVR Wire, Video, Cable/Satellite

  Computer users running Windows Vista with Windows Media Center will soon be able to download and purchase original content from Showtime, including full episodes, cast information, and various video highlights. Unfortunately, this is only available to people running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate and not to folks like myself still running Windows Media Center on Windows XP. I've been meaning to upgrade, but I'm an extremely lazy man.

  I've already said it about a million times, but I'm always happy to see evidence of this sometimes atavistic industry's realization that "television" no longer refers to...
  




• This American Life premiere is online
  

  Filed under: Showtime, Web, Documentary

  Despite all the rave reviews and my own personal adoration for This American Life, I did not subscribe to Showtime so I could see the televised version of the PBS radio program. But Showtime is crafty. The network has posted this week's premiere episode of This American Life online (for free!) and now I am in love with it. I never thought that This American Life needed pictures to go with its stories, but the story of Chance the bull seems like it would be lost without video.
  
  Take a look at the premiere and tell me what you think....
  



• Chris Ware animates This American Life
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Showtime, OpEd, Animation, Documentary

  This American Life starts up on Showtime this Thursday, March 22nd, and one of the first four episodes features an entire segment animated by Chris Ware. If you haven't seen Ware's art before, then you've been missing out. He's been feature in The New York Times Magazine, was in the "Masters of American Comics" touring museum exhibit, and is an artist who really captures angst well. Whoever thought that would be considered a huge plus.
  
  You can watch Ware's This American Life segment here. I really enjoyed the way it captures...
  



• The Tudors - an early look
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Showtime, OpEd, Early Looks

  
  So, it turns out Henry VIII isn't just that portly guy at the Renaissance Faire with a gigantic turkey leg greasing up his maw. He was an athletic would-be humanist with an over-the-top appetite for sex and a body hard enough to qualify him for gay porn, or at least, that's how Showtime's The Tudors, the latest in bodice-ripping historical dramas, portrays him.

  Continue reading The Tudors - an early look

   

  Other Comedy Shows, Showtime, Cable, Premium Cable, Celebrities

  Former TV stars don't fade away, they just get new gigs on hip new shows on cable.

  David Duchovny, Agent Fox Mulder of X-Files fame, has just signed on to star in a new comedy for Showtime. He'll play a writer named Hank Moody who is divorced with a 16 year-old daughter. He's not only still in love with his ex-girlfriend, played by Natasha McElhone of Solaris), but he has a lot of addictions too. The show will premiere this summer and be paired with another quirky show, Weeds. There's no title yet, though the...
  




• TV Squad lists your season and series premieres and finales
  

  Filed under: ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, HBO, Showtime, Programming, The CW, USA, FX, Sci Fi, Comedy Central, TNT

  Hola, mi muchachos and muchachoettes! It is I, Schedule Boy, back from wherever the hell I was. I'm here this time to present a comprehensive list of upcoming season and series premieres and finales for you, my adoptive TV Squad family.

  What a crazy season its been! Shows that had so much potential (The Nine, Studio 60) struggled to stay on the air, while others (Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights,...
  




• The Tudors online preview
  

  Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Showtime, Web

  Holy history porn. If you dig Rome, and Deadwood does it for your fictive nonfiction-loving self, then Showtime's The Tudors may be right up your alley. It's a journey through Henry VIII's kingship and many, many marriages with more tits, ass, intrigue and bloody violence than you can shake a royal stick at.
  
  Showtime is offering a VIP preview of The Tudors' first two episodes online. (The password is "king.") The series, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, premieres on Sunday, April 1st at 10PM. The series focuses primarily on the king's affair with Anne Boleyn, his obsession with...
  



• Buzz on Dexter's second season
  

  Filed under: Showtime, Dexter

  Great news here as some info for the second season of Dexter has leaked out, courtesy of the Museum of Television and Radio's annual William S. Paley Festival.

  The TV Addict has posted a recap of the Dexter panel discussion held last Wednesday in LA. In attendance was most of the cast as well as the executive producers. Lots of info, but rather than read through it all, here are the highlights:

  • James Remar, who plays Dexter's father, was quoted saying that, "Harry's bad." Hmmm? Perhaps his motives for fostering Dexter's talents weren't so wholesome?
  • The second season will explore Dexter's search for meaning....
    
  
  
  
  • Debbie Does Dallas ... Again: Pilot (series premiere)
    

    Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Showtime, Premium Cable, OpEd

    
    (S01E01) Obviously since I'm writing about this show, there's no hiding the fact that I watched it. On a Friday night. At 11 PM. Alone. Unfortunately my wife had no interest. Go figure.
    
    I'll break down the premise to you quickly. There's a bunch of girls having sex with guys, each other and themselves. There's lots of nakedness, frolicking and furburgers. The end.
    
    OK, maybe that wasn't all that fair; there weren't many furburgers.

    Continue reading Debbie Does Dallas ... Again: Pilot (series premiere)

    Other Reality Shows, Showtime, Cable, Premium Cable

    I saw Debbie Does Dallas years ago. It was purely for, um, journalistic research purposes, I assure you.

    If you haven't heard, Vivid is remaking the movie (remaking a porn flick...let's think about that for a second), and Showtime is also going to have a reality show to find the star! Showtime, with good reason, is a little nervous about the show. Of course, I wonder if this nervousness is really just more hype for the show (Debbie Does Dallas...Again) itself. The reality show will have several porn stars trying to become the next Debbie.

    So if people on...