Dr. House is one of the most interesting and complex TV characters of the last decade. Originally a thinly veiled medical Sherlock Holmes, House has become one of the best formulaic Doctor shows that is always willing to shatter it’s characters in exciting and unexpected ways.

Fox announced yesterday that the current season of House will in fact be it’s last. Despite strong ratings the show continues to be increasingly expensive as each season passes, and like 24 before it, Fox wanted to cut costs and end the popular drama before it grew to stale.

This news will be no surprise to the creative crew of the show. Fox originally wanted to end the series last year, but brought the show back for one more season. The team behind the show have already gone on record that they will end the series with some sort of satisfying conclusion.

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Starting today, Netflix members can check out Lilyhammer, which is the first original series available only on Netflix Instant. Lilyhammer features former Sopranos star and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt in this fish-out-of-water dramedy. Van Zant is also a writer and producer for the show.

The show centers on a New York mobster, who after testifying against a mob boss, who enters witness protection and chooses Lillehammer, Norway. He chooses Lillehammer as his hiding place due to his love of the 1994 Lillehammer winter olympics. As one might expect, hijinks do ensue.

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The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a lot like the Golden Globes. It is an honor in and of itself, but it is often awarded to someone whose project has a large advertising budget. This causes many cynics out there to feel it has no merit at all, but at the end of the day it is an honor and is part of the fabric of Hollywood.

The 2,459th star to adorn Hollywood Blvd is officially going to The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Just in time for the 500th episode airing in two weeks, Groening will be honored with a star devoted entirely to him. A previous star honoring the Simpsons themselves already lines the famed street, close to where Groenings own star will soon be located.

Groening has forever left an indelible mark on society.   Voted the “Best Show of the 20^th Century” by Time Magazine, the [Simpsons] has left a path of catch-phrases (Homer’s “D’oh!” and Bart’s “Eat my shorts”) and societal commentary. It has also given birth to a theme park ride and United States postage stamps, personally designed by Groening. He served as producer and writer during the four-year process of the long-awaited hit feature film The Simpsons Movie, released in July 2007.  

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Somehow it’s Thursday again and that means new episodes of some of our favirite shows on NBC. We won’t bore you with more angry rants about the lack of Community on the schedule, we can leave that alone for the moment. Instead, let’s focus on the fun shows that are still around.

Well, to be honest, there’s pretty much only one show we know of that’s still going strong. That show? Parks and Recreation. It’s a great time and helps us forget, at least a little while, the sting of not having any Community to watch. Sorry, couldn’t help ourselves.

We’ve got previews for tonight’s Park and Rec for you today and in this episode Valentine’s Day comes early to Pawnee. Yes, it’s a V-Day episode. Don’t worry, it will be funny. We promise.

We’ve also got preview for The Office in which Jim plays hooky and things don’t go over well with his coworkers. Last, but not least, we’ve also got a preview for Up all Night, a show we haven’t really watched but it does have Will Arnett in it, so how bad can it be?

Check out all the videos after the break.

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For those of you who were disappointed when Apple completely revamped its flagship video editing software Final Cut Pro and released the somewhat controversial and feature-poor Final Cut Pro X, it seems the company has listened to your complaints. Well, at least some of them.

This week Apple released an update to Final Cut Pro X, bringing the app to version 10.0.3. The latest update adds several features that will most likely please editors including new advanced chroma keying, support for XML 1.1 and beta broadcast monitoring for Thunderbolt devices and PCIe cards.

However, the most significant addition seems to be the software’s new multicam editing feature. This feature enables editors to sync up to 64 angles of video and photos in one timeline “automagically.” Or, if you want to get technical, the software uses time of day, timecode, markers, or audio waveforms to sync. Although, we think “automagically” sounds cooler.

The Final Cut Pro v10.0.3 update is available now and is free for all existing Final Cut Pro X users. New users can purchase the software from Apple’s Mac App Store for $299.99 after a 30-day free trial.

Check out the full press release from Apple after the jump.

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For nearly 50 years Doctor Who has captured the imaginations of countless minds, from the very young, to the very young at heart. The internet age has allowed that active fan base to accomplish some pretty incredible things, including the ambitious Doctor Who Fan Orchestra which takes individual YouTube submissions of each instrument and re-builds themes from the show.

From the video’s description:

The Doctor Who Fan Orchestra invites musical fans of Doctor Who to take part in an online collaborative celebration of Murray Gold’s music. Participants submitted recordings for this work from November 2011 to January 2012.

This final mix includes a total of 177 submissions from 154 individual participants, ranging in age from 11 to 57, and who are located in at least 18 different countries across the world, including: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Spain, France, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

The end result is incredible, a near flawless performance of two classic early run Murray Gold themes. The video itself is a collage of individual performances that is almost as interesting as the music they are playing. To see the pieces fit together in an intricate, 21st century weave of YouTube videos highlights this magnificent piece.

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Something happened in the last ten years or so as exceptional drama TV programming moved away from traditional networks and onto pay cable systems like HBO. With shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, HBO has established itself as one of the premiere destinations for those seeking well written, skillfully produced and high quality shows.

A new show on HBO seeks to continue that tradition this weekend with the premiere of its new horse racing drama Luck. On first glance, it seems like Luck should have no problem taking its place with those other great shows. It was created and is being produced by David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood) and Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Heat) and features an impressive cast including Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina.

All of those elements together should warrant at least a look at the new show and will almost certainly lead to its success with fans. To help you get ready for the premiere, we’ve got a lot of videos to share with you today including some interviews with Milch and Mann as well as a couple trailers.

Check out all the videos after the break. Luck premieres Sunday at 9/8C on HBO.

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Tonight sees the end of Chuck, a quirky show that never seemed to connected with the mainstream, but managed to carve out enough of a fan base to stay alive for an impressive five season run.

The Friday night time slot the show has inhabited is often referred to as the ‘Firday Night Death Slot’, a moniker that has made sense this season as it has been no secret this would be Chuck‘s last season.  That said, death is not always a sorrowful event, sometimes it can be a celebration. A celebration of the life of a show that against most odds lived long enough to give its fans a satisfying run.

Check out a whole slew of videos clips in anticipation on tonight’s finale. In the first few videos you get series stars Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, and Joshua Gomez remembering the show, thanking the fans and saying goodbye to the show.

Following those we have several clips from tonight’s finale to get you all jazzed for the, hopefully, fond farewell to one of our favorite nerd/super spies.

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It’s Thursday again so that means more new episodes of some of our favorite shows on NBC tonight. Sure, we still miss Community and hope it’s really coming back.

Until then, at least we’ve still got brand new episodes of 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and more to help us pass the time. Not only that, we’ve got previews for all the new episodes for you right here too.

First up on 30 Rock, Liz invokes a pact she and Jenna made to each other years before. Then on Parks and Recreation, Knope 2012 goes on a bowling adventure.

Next up, it’s a second episode of 30 Rock called “The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell.” Finally, The Firm is back with a new episode. Havent had a chance to watch that one yet but I would bet the budget for a one hour drama show would have been more than enough to cover the cost of new episodes of Community.

Come on NBC, get with the program and give the viewers what they really want. We don’t mind that you made a mistake, we all do. Just correct it. . . soon.

Check out all the previews after the break.

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With the recent resurgence of fairy tale themed shows such as NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s own Once Upon a Time, the Disney-owned company is now prepared to launch their second fabled show in the form of a live-action retelling of the children’s classic Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

The pilot will be written by Jonathan E. Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho with Steinberg acting as executive producer with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile. It is also speculated that the series, if picked up, will air after the networks already highly successful Once Upon A Time. This version of the tale is intended as a period piece and will feature a hardboiled princess who develops a connection with a wild beast. No word yet on casting.

As if one Beauty and the Beast show wasn’t enough, the CW has also ordered a reboot of the CBS-produced version which ran on the network from 1987-1989. It starred Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Vincent, a lion-faced creature who wanders the New York sewers and occasionally quotes Shakespeare.

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You might not know the name H. Jon Benjamin, though you should, but you have probably heard his voice. The star of the FX animated series Archer has been a staple of primetime and late night animation for years. From Adult Swim to FX and even Fox, Benjamin has been almost anywhere animation is aimed at teens and adults.

TheFlickcast recently had the opportunity to hear insights on all things H. Jon Benjamin from the man himself. He discusses the process of Archer as well as the new season, how he is just like Sterling Archer and even the fate of his Comedy Central show.

On ad-libbing in the Archer recording booth 

Very little.  There is not a lot of room.  The scripts are tightly written and he encourages sometimes on occasion, he’ll be like do you want to add anything, and I’ll say no.  So it’s not the same kind of production as Bob’s Burgers, which is a lot improvising all the time, but the scripts don’t really require it.

On Archer‘s popularity with the masses

Well, the masses are idiots, so they don’t know any better.  They’re too busy just staring at the light and cartoons are colorful.  So don’t get me started about the masses.  I’m really not a fan.

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Next week sees the return of Spartacus, the Starz original series chronicling the life of the titular slave who rebelled against his Roman oppressors. The show’s official second season, called Spartacus: Vengeance, has been long in coming, and brings with it many questions in the wake of the tragic death of the first seasons’ star, Andy Whitfield.

The Flickcast recently partook in a discussion with series creator/exec. producer Steven S. DeKnight where, among other things, he talked about the transition from his original star to new Spartacus Liam McIntyre (check out our interview with the actor here), where the show is going from here and working with Joss Whedon.

On Liam capturing the essence of Andy Whitfield’s Spartacus -

…that’s really what drew us to Liam is that we didn’t want to try to duplicate (Andy). I mean, that will never happen. He was such a singular, amazing talent. But we wanted to find somebody that had the same base qualities of compassion. And I told all the actors when they auditioned that even though Spartacus may fly into a rage now and then, he never comes from a place of anger, it’s always from a place of a wounded heart. And we really felt like Liam captured that essence.

On no character being safe on the show - 

…on this show characters literally get the ax. I think really ultimately for me it’s always – it comes from the story is how is the story best served by a character death. I don’t ever want somebody to just die. It needs to have ramifications either emotionally or towards the plot. So that’s always the number one driving force of – on who do I kill.

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