Watching The 4400

And now for something a little different…

Remember how I talked about being extremely excited about seeing Joel Gretsch, our lovely Tom Baldwin, as Dan Vassar’s father on NBC’s Journeyman? Well, if you’re like me and want to see more of Joel’s turn as the absent and work-obsessed Daddy Vassar (who just might be another Traveler - what does that mean for poor Zach?), you might want to check in with Shaun over at Shaun O’Mac Radio tonight as he talks Saving Journeyman by sending Aspirin to NBC!

For anyone who has been reading me either here or over at Watching Jericho, you know that I really, truly adore a good television show, and Journeyman is one of the best new television shows this season, in my opinion. And, if you were paying attention over at Watching Jericho, you also can glean that I’m a sucker for a cause (just look at anything related to the Nuts Campaign, ok?) So when I received emails from Shaun saying that they were starting a new campaign for Saving Journeyman, I had to throw my hat into the ring and help support it, because I’m a great fan of the show.

So, check in to Shaun’s show tonight (10pm ET or 7pm PT) on Blog Talk Radio and I’m going to try and get my voice back enough to call in and you might hear something special that I’ll be doing with this blog and the Jericho blog to help support Journeyman. I’ve got a bad cold, so if my voice just isn’t up to it, just check back tomorrow here or on Watching Jericho, ok?

Jericho, television, Journeyman, TV, 4400, CBS

I’ve been feeling a little lonely, when all I’m getting from my Google Alerts is things that have the number 4400 in them, versus actual news about the show the 4400. Every so often, though, I do get a little excited when I see that any news item actually pertains to our beloved show, even if it’s just to say that executives who had a hand in the show are moving from one network to another, such as this story.

Deena Stern, most recently the senior director for brand management over at USA Networks will be moving over to Comedy Central as their Vice President of Brand Marketing. I remembered seeing her name associated with the 4400 previously, but it bothered me that I couldn’t quite remember what facet she was a part of the show, and so I went on a Great Google Hunt for information about her, and maybe even a photo of her, but fell short on that front. Even IMDB left me a little disappointed, and usually I can find something on anyone in the entertainment industry in there. Outside of the articles associated with her move to Comedy Central, I’m really not finding anything to tell me about her. I guess I should applaud her for keeping a low profile, then.

Going through the listings of the shows that she’s been a part of, though, and I have to say I pretty much adore everything on this list, with the exception of Dead Zone (only as of late, I loved the first season or two).

Read the whole article here.

The 4400, Deena Stern, Comedy Central, TV, television, USA

I do apologize for the lack of posts lately, things have gotten a bit like the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times” around here, like I said over at Watching Jericho. While I’ve been silent, though, some of the great actors from the 4400 have been very busy, popping up all over the place on other shows that I watch regularly and have usually fallen in love with recently.

So I’m watching Journeyman the other week (you’re watching it, right? Really, you should be!), and who should show up on my television screen as the father of Dan Vassar (The time-traveling Journeyman from the title), who Dan had to go to for some information but our very own Joel Gretsch! I was so excited to see him on this show, and thought that he did a wonderful job and I really hope that they keep sending Dan back to this point in the time line so we can see more of Joel and the great character that he’s playing.

Also, who should I spy as the Baddie - of - the - Week over on Life as a slimy Russian mobster who’s been selling information to the Feds but Garrett Dillahunt, our very own Matthew Ross. He’s far, far too good at slimy, people, considering the plot for the episode centered around him not only killing a girl by throwing her out of a window, but also caging her secret boyfriend up with his dogs which he used in dog fighting activities. They left the episode open at the end to allow for him back also, which I hope happens just as much as Joel Gretsch over at Journeyman.

Have you seen anyone else from the 4400 out on the new shows for this season that I’ve missed? Leave a comment below, ok?

The 4400, Matthew Ross, Garret Dillahunt, Joel Gretsch, Journeyman, Life, TV, television, USA

You have no clue what I’m talking about, right? Well, there’s this big little thing happening over in Hollywood Land that has the Networks scrambling, and that’s the likely possibility of the Writers’ Guild Strike happening by November 1, 2007. Al Norton over at Boston Now.com posits that NBC will start “poaching” shows from its stable of cable channels to help “fill the gap” while the networks and the Guild sort out their differences, and in particular he mentions the 4400, along with most of USA Network other popular shows such as Monk, Psych and The Dead Zone. (USA Network is part of the NBC - Universal family).

While I read the word “Poach” and think of it in negative connotations, I really do think that this is a wonderful thing for the 4400 in particular. The threat of not getting a fifth season seems more and more real each day that we hear nothing from USA Networks, and if NBC starts showing the 4400 in a decent time slot, they’ll garner more interest and more viewers which might not have watched it when it is exclusively on USA Network.

Think about that, NBC - Universal, when you’re making us wait on pins and needles to say whether or not the 4400 is getting renewed.

Maybe it’s just that I’m all riled up still from the Save Jericho Nuts Campaign, but more viewers means even less of a chance that the 4400 will go gentle into the good night, at least, less of a chance of disappearing without a fight.

Read the whole article here.

The 4400, Writers Guild Strike, NBC Universal, Season Five, TV, television, USA

TV Guide.com has released their nominations for TV Guide’s Online Video Awards, and the 4400 has been given a nod for Best Sci - Fi Webisodes. This award is opening to public voting, and so far, you can vote as often as you wish, which I’ve been taking advantage of today during some down - time. At least when I’ve been hitting the site, there have been some issues with the video skipping on TV Guide.com’s page, but you can go to the USA Network site and see which video they are promoting for the nomination voting. Joining the 4400 on the nominations list for the Best Sci-Fi Webisodes are Star Trek: New Voyages (which I became addicted to at Dragoncon thanks to Dragoncon TV), Battlestar Galactica and Afterworld. Outside of the 4400’s nomination, I was also happy to see Jericho’s Countdown webisodes for Best TV Drama Webisode and Best TV Show Site on the Web.

If you have trouble navigating the TV Guide.com site either because of the Flash or just the sheer volume of links, Business Wire.com has helpful gathered the full list and affiliated site for each nomination on their website which has helped me tremendously getting through everything this morning and by giving me the initial heads-up for this post via Google Alerts.

So, what are you still doing here? Get on over to TV Guide.com and vote, vote often!

I can’t help but think that this nomination helps out the chances of us getting a fifth season from USA Networks, but maybe that’s just a little bit of wishful thinking on my part. What do you think?

Hat-tip to Business Wire.com

The 4400, TV Guide, Online Video Awards, Jericho, TV, television, USA

Matt Basilo over at Prime Time Pulse recently interviewed the lovely and multi - talented Conchita Campbell about her role as Maia Skouris, being the “poster child�? for the first season of the 4400 and what she watches on television. She also mentions that the Pilot episode was by far her favorite episode in the series, along with wanting to have Shawn’s (Patrick Flueger) powers if she could have any of the others’ 4400 abilities, which I would be stuck between choosing Shawn’s powers or Maia’s powers.

She also talks about the kind of roles that she would love to do, which would be “some sort of adventure or scary movie” because she’s completely into scary movies. I would love to see her in something like these choices, because I think that she would be a perfect fit for those genres, in my opinion.

On a personal note, I did think it was highly amusing that she lists Hannah Montana as one of her regularly watched shows, as you can’t go a day in my house without watching an episode of that. And no, it’s not really my choice on that one, though I’m not sure if I’m becoming immune to it, or that I actually enjoy it every so often. Sometimes it seems very easy to forget that this amazingly gifted actress is only twelve years old, until you read an interview like this, where you see that she’s a well-adjusted and well-rounded kid along with the talented actress.

Read the whole thing here.

Hat-tip to The 4400 Guide.

The 4400, Conchita Campbell, Maia Skouris, TV, television, USA

The Sci Fi Channel’s SCI FI Wire is reporting that Jeffrey Combs is set to return to the character of Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt in the straight to DVD feature, Return to the House on Haunted Hill.

I do have to admit that I haven’t actually seen the original House on Haunted Hill, because, to be perfectly honest, I am really not into horror movies at all. And, yes, I say this even though I have seen Jeffrey Combs’ Re-animator many, many times. I know, I know, I’m just plain weird sometimes.

Completely separate from the fact that sometimes I worry people, the article details some of Jeffrey Combs’ comments from getting the initial call to come back to a character we haven’t seen since 1999, to the fact that they completely reconstructed the sets from that time period in Bulgaria. Along with that, this Direct to DVD release will have many new interactive features using brand-spanking new technology, which was why they chose to make this sequel instead of some other movie sequel, says Mr. Combs. The interactive elements that he talks about really make me want to see this, even though I’m weird enough to watch a sequel without having seen the first movie.

Thinking of original versus sequel, they slip a comment in that I overlooked at first. Jeffrey Combs is the only actor who will be returning from the original movie, which made re-creating some of the props a little more interesting.

Combs was the only actor carried over from the 1999 film. As such, he was able to provide useful insights. “They wanted to replicate the strange, 1930s almost Frankenstein-like goggles that I wore in the first, and they had nothing like that in Bulgaria, so they had to build it from scratch, using old photos and freeze-frames of the [first] movie,” Combs said. “I had a very strong memory of how they felt and looked, so I told them they had to be smaller, or this piece went that way, and by the time it was done, they were a virtual replica.”

Read the whole article here.

IMDB Profile for Return to the House on Haunted Hill.

Warner Bros. Official Movie Site.

The 4400, Jeffrey Combs, Kevin Burkhoff, Return to House on Haunted Hill, TV, television, USA

While this isn’t directly involved with the show, I thought that this was pretty interesting.

Maira Suro (IMDB Profile), Executive Producer on the 4400 has signed on with MTV in the role of Senior VP Series Development, West Coast, so says the Hollywood Reporter. This move has been expected from how the article reads, and going through the Production Notes for Ms. Suro on the Official 4400 Site over at USA Network.com, it looks as though this will be a great fit for her. Before she came onto the 4400 with the Production Company Renegade 83 Entertainment (REG) she worked with the legendary Francis Ford Coppola as President of American Zoetrope Television from 2001 to 2003, and also worked for a few years (1997 to 2000) as Senior Vice President of Drama Development over at UPN.

Nothing has been said as of yet if this will or how it will effect the 4400 in the (hopefully) coming season, of course. But with all of the talent that is working behind the scenes and in front of the camera, I’m not all that worried.

Of course, I wonder if this means that MTV will be getting some shows that make me interested in actually watching their channel again. Of course, I’m of the age that it still throws me to think of MTV not having anything but music videos as programming on their channel, which of course dates me just a little. Ok, a lot. (Hey Peanut Gallery, Shush!)

Read the whole article here.

The 4400, MTV, Maira Suro, Executive Producer, Renegade 83, TV, television, USA

While his Marked persona recently inhabited our tortured Tom Baldwin, Garret Dillahunt (who played the slimy Matthew Ross, of course) will be joining the cast of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, adding another 4400 Alumni to the cast along with Summer Glau.

He’ll be playing a “mysterious” character named Cromartie on the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which, in Network TV Speak always seems to equate to Evil, at least in general. The article seems to center more on his recent role as Jesus on the quickly cancelled “Book of Daniel”, but also mentions his roles on “Deadwood” and “John From Cincinnati”, which the former I vaguely remember and the latter I have never actually watched. But for some reason, it seems that he gravitates to the excessively “Good” characters, or the excessively “Evil” characters, and not much in-between.

And while it has been a little longer since he was on the 4400, it was mildly annoying when there was not a single mention of his Matthew Ross role listed in the article from Zap2It. I mean, the numbers for the 4400 really couldn’t be all that different from “Deadwood” or “John From Cincinnati”, could they? Of course, I could just be a little sensitive on that issue, since I’m a touch hyper-aware because of this blog.

What do you think, and during our in-between seasons (yes, I’m a bit Pollyanna-ish about us getting a Fifth Season at the moment, but there’s always hope) will you be watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles?

Read the whole article here.

Hat-tip to 4400 Spoilers.

The 4400, Matthew Ross, Garret Dillahunt, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Casting News, TV, television, USA

Note: You know what happens when you’re hopped up on cold meds and spend most of the day sleeping? Yeah, you miss posting, or at least, dreamed that you posted but when you look through the logs, nothing’s there. Sorry about that.

Chad Faust, our own Kyle Baldwin, has been making the rounds when it comes to interviews, most recently over at Prime Time Pulse where he chatted with Matt Basilo about the fourth season, which just started airing in Canada on SPACE on September 26 and will air Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT there.

MB: This season, we’ve also seen more about Kyle’s sense of loyalty, particularly towards his father and Jordan. What was it like jumping into the middle of the season’s major story arc?

CF: That was my favorite part of the season, that Kyle’s was in this classic struggle, a struggle between what he believes in as far as his outer world. His career, his ideology… between that and family. And I think that’s this classic thing to play. His contribution to the world, his grander scheme, his grail…or his family, his love, the people he cares about. It’s a struggle that I can personally relate to.

I felt this season the most connected I’ve been to Kyle, ever. I think in the past I kind of understood him, but I wasn’t necessarily going through that in my life. Whereas this year, this is stuff I’m going through.

He also says that he really has enjoyed where the fourth season has gone, as the Battle Over Promicin really isn’t a Good versus Bad, Black Hat versus White Hat struggle, which is how so many people can identify with the show and the story. It’s much more like real life than a lot of people expect a science fiction show to be, reflecting the current atmosphere of the world.

Chad talks about not only the fourth season of the 4400, but also the time leading up to this, and his recent work outside of the show, including his first leading man role in Descent with Rosario Dawson (Sin City) and that he’s currently shopping around four different screenplays, hoping to get some recognition outside of his impressive acting resume.

He also leaves us with a nugget about the possible renewal (or non-renewal) of the show by saying that we’ll just have to wait until sometime in October to hear from the network, as they don’t usually release that information until then.

Have I told y’all lately that I’m not terribly patient?

Read the whole article here.

The 4400, Kyle Baldwin, Chad Faust, interview, TV, television, USA