Scripted shows still plentiful even in strike

by Joshua Maloni
Niagara Frontier Publications, January 3, 2008

With no end in sight to the Writer’s Guild of America strike, television viewers can take some solace in knowing that scripted shows will continue airing into the foreseeable future. The major networks, planning for a work stoppage, banked several shows, rolling them into this month’s “second season.” Moreover, cablers such as USA and ABC Family, and premium channels such as HBO and Showtime, all have regularly scheduled midseason premieres.

In total, couch dwellers can expect new episodes from more than a dozen scripted shows, including “Law and Order,” “The Simpsons,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Jericho.” That’s good news for a fiscal year filled with half-seasons (almost every fall show has ceased production, leaving cliffhangers galore until the strike is settled).

Among the most anticipated scripted shows are:

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (Fox, begins Sunday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m., and continues each Monday at 9 p.m.)

Believe it or not, it’s been 24 years since filmgoers first met a young waitress forced to do battle with a maniacal cyborg bent on killing her son and starting a world war between man and machine. James Cameron’s “The Terminator” introduced the character of Sarah Connor, a surprisingly strong, determined mother who both protects her son, John, and molds him into humanity’s salvation from heavy metal oppression. James Middleton, the man largely responsible for crafting 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” believes there’s more stories to be told about the Sarah Connor character, and has teamed with Fox to share her “Chronicles.” “I (have) and I think our audience has always identified with this character; this character that has an enormous task thrust upon her, that is very much like us,” he said Monday. “You know, she starts out as a waitress – you know, her beginnings are not auspicious. But, you know, because of the calling that she’s given, she rises to the occasion and transforms into an amazing heroine. And I think that that’s something that we’d all like to believe could happen to each of us, that if such a calling was thrust upon us, we could be strong enough and rise to the occasion. “And with that, I’ve always loved Sarah Connor’s intensity. The fact that, you know, while fighting very viciously against her foes, you absolutely see in her face mistakes, and her fear and her anxiety. I think that that’s very interesting and it’s a fantastic character created by Jim Cameron. I wanted to really explore her.”

Lena Headey in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” (pic ©2007 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jill Greenberg/FOX)

Lena Headey (“The 300”) stars as Sarah Connor. In the show, set thematically after “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” Sarah and John (“Heroes” star Thomas Dekker) are on the run, and learning more about Skynet, the company responsible for crafting the Terminators. Their protector this time around is Cameron (Summer Glau), a female ’bot John first encounters while in high school.

“Monk” (USA, began Friday, Jan. 11, and continues weekly at 9 p.m.)

From left, Howie Mandel as Father and Tony Shalhoub as Adrian
Monk in “Monk.” (USA Network/Photo: Peter “Hopper” Stone)

The “Defective Detective,” as he’s called, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) returns for season 6.5 still a phobia-riddled, obsessive compulsive – and still the best investigator in San Francisco. Since its debut in 2002, “Monk” has consistently drawn large audiences thanks largely to Shalhoub’s combination of vulnerability, smarts and physical comedy. For his effort, he’s earned three Emmys.

“Well, you know, I think it’s a tribute to our writers. I know I just – they’re constantly, you know … expanding our universe and throwing curve balls at me and challenges at me,” he said Tuesday. “And we have such a great creative team. And we really feel like the last, I would say the last year, year-and-a-half, you know, the show has more than ever … become a true ensemble piece.”

Indeed, Shalhoub is joined by the talented Traylor Howard (“Two Guys and a Girl”), who portrays his assistant, Natalie, and Ted Levine (“American Gangster,” “Silence of the Lambs”), who plays police captain Leland Stottlemeyer.

“The support from the other actors and the writers writing to those characters more, fleshing them out even more, has, I think, kind of just cemented the whole thing. I mean, I guess I just feel that we’re at a very, very, you know, fortunate situation,” Shalhoub said. “We have such a great creative team of people who love to work together.”

This season’s first episode finds Monk sucked into a cult, led by none other than “Deal or No Deal” host Howie Mandel, who, incidentally, has OCD in real life.

The stand-up-comic-turned-actor-turned-game-show-host was delighted to land a guest role on the series.

“This was an exciting, great opportunity for me to do this episode of ‘Monk,’ ” he said Tuesday. “And I think it’s a great episode.

“I was proud to be asked to be part of this team and to work with Tony and everybody on his show. And it was … you know, I’m a cult leader. And I am charged with the – I have to get him out of his habits of wanting to use the hand wipes.

“And, you know, which … underlying it is pretty funny knowing who I am and what I deal with each and every day. Get him to break his habits and his rituals of OCD.”

“Psych” (USA, began Friday, Jan. 11, and continues weekly at 10 p.m.)

Psych features, from left, Dule Hill as Burton "Gus" Guster and James
Roday as Shawn Spencer (USA Network Photo: Alan Zenuk)

Pseudo-psychic investigators Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and Burton “Gus” Guster (Dulé Hill) return for season 2.5 of “Psych.” The younger-skewing, more offbeat leadout from “Monk” features Shawn, whose powers of observation are so keen, he dupes the Santa Barbara police into hiring him as its lead psychic detective. He’s joined by his best friend, Gus, a straight-laced sidekick with abilities of his own – namely, his nose, the “Super Smeller.”

Roday and Hill’s on-screen chemistry has been the secret to success with “Psych.”

“I think you just have to get lucky initially. You just sort of have to mesh with somebody so that you’re not having to work at it,” Roday said Monday.

In the season premiere, Gus encounters a surprise visitor from his past – his wife (played by Kerry Washington).

“It was a time where I guess Gus was tired of always living by the rules and decided to take a walk on the wild side,” Hill said Tuesday. “For one night, until he woke up the next morning and realized what he had done – and then kind of pulled himself back in.”

“Lost” (ABC, begins Thursday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m.)

Some may say “Lost” jumped the shark with season three’s fast-forward finale. Truth be told, the series has never been more intriguing, as fans and bloggers try to decipher how the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 were tied together in the past, get off the island in the future, and coexist with both “The Others” and the unknown people on the boat in the present.

•The best of the rest includes: “Kyle XY,” (Monday, Jan. 14, 8 p.m. on ABC Family); “The Return of Jezebel James,” (Wednesday, March 12, 9:30 p.m. on Fox); “Cashmere Mafia” (premiered Jan. 6 on ABC); and “The Wire” (premiered Jan. 6 on HBO).

•For reality TV lovers, “American Idol” returns to Fox at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 15. “Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites” debuts on CBS at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7. “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Bachelor” premiere on ABC at 8 and 10 p.m., respectively, on Monday, March 17.