We’ve been following Aaron Sorkin’s career since the days of A Few Good Men and Sport Night. Loved that show. Then, of course, he went on to create The West Wing and later win the Academy Award for writing The Social Network.

Now he’s back on TV, at HBO this time around, and preparing to launch a new show called The Newsroom. We brought you the first trailer for the show recently and now, there’s a brand new one we want to share with you today.

In it we get to know the band of optimists and crusaders that will make up the new show and see a bit more of the ironic humor Sorkin is famous for. Sure, some of you may think this looks an awful lot like Sorkin’s Sports Night.

Even if it does have quite a few similarities, that isn’t a bad thing because, as we said above, Sports Night was a pretty great show that we loved. So, let’s just think of this one as Sports Night 2.0 with swearing and the potential for nudity and sex.

Not a bad threesome. Not at all. Check out the trailer after the break. The Newsroom premieres on HBO in June.

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At first, NBC’s Grimm didn’t exactly blow us away. The performances were pretty wooden and the stories, while sorta interesting, still left something to be desired. Fortunately, the show has vastly improved over the course of its first season and has become one of our favorite shows.

As its Friday and Grimm is on tonight, we’ve got previews for tonight’s episode to share with you. This episode promises to be a good one as the final confrontation with the Reapers comes to Nick and his friends. Plus, Nick needs to explain Monroe to Juliette and explores his Aunt’s trailer for better tools to defeat the Reapers.

All the action begins tonight at 9/8C on NBC. Click through to check out the previews.

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You may not realize this but reality shows usually cost far less to produce than traditional drama or comedy shows. That’s one of the main reasons you see so many of them on TV. They don’t cost much and if successful can rake in considerable profits for a network.

And as we know, Hollywood is all about profits. So, it should come as no surprise that even a network like Syfy is pushing farther into the reality show space with five new series it announced today.

These new gems include Hot Set, Paranormal Highway, Ghost Mine, Viral Video Showdown and Collection Intervention. We’ve got descriptions for each of the shows right here. See if you think they sound as bad as we do. Although, we did enjoy Syfy’s Face Off and those guys are also producing Hot Set, so maybe that one won’t be as bad as the others sound. Let’s hope.

Hot Set – From the producers of Syfy’s hit series Face Off, Hot Set is an extreme design challenge pitting two Hollywood production designers each week in a head-to-head battle to design, build, decorate and ultimately create an original and signature movie set that transports the viewer into an immersive world.

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One thing will be certain in a few weeks. Once Summer starts there will be more high profile scores than Fridays and some good music might fall through the cracks. Which is precisely why I am so excited to bring you this early review of Danny Elfman’s score from Dark Shadows.

This score ranked as one of my most anticipated of the early summer season, and that anticipation was made all the more severe when we listened to the expanded preview a few weeks back. So suffice to say I am ready to dig into the 14th collaboration between Danny Elfman and Tim Burton.

That is a lot of feature film scores from a director with a very distinct style, and recently there has been a lot of concern about repetitiveness in Elfman’s music. You can only go to that stylized dark well so many times, and eventually it will be dried up completely.

So does this umpteenth collaboration yield beautiful sonic rewards, or is this little more than a Beetlejuice or Sleep Hallow remix album?

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Bryan Fuller, the creative mastermind behind Wonderfalls, Pushing Daises and choice episodes of Heroes and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, might very well have two new shows on the air next season. We already told you about his two new projects likely to hit screens this season.

Now we are getting word from EW that the already greenlit Hannibal series will have a cable-esque 13 episode season one:

Hannibal, which has received a 13-episode series order, features Lecter solving crimes with empathic FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). For the first time, viewers will spend quality time with Lecter while he’s at large and before the world knows his secrets, working side by side with a similarly brilliant man who is destined to catch him.

What we have is Alfred Hitchcock’s principle of suspense — show the audience the bomb under the table and let them sweat when it’s going to go boom. So the audience knows who Hannibal is so we don’t have to overplay his villainy. We get to subvert his legacy and give the audience twists and turns.

Sounds mighty interesting. If Fuller and company can pull of this tight rope we might have a pretty great show on our hands. Fuller is certainly very capable, but this year will see him tackle two very well known properties. It will be interesting to see how he handles each one.

For those of who want something more than the basic TV networks, and if you don’t have a premium service like HBO, there’s always USA. In fact, there’s premieres for some of USA’s most popular shows, and some new ones, just around the corner.

USA Network has set summer premiere dates for its returning series Royal Pains, Necessary Roughness, Burn Notice, Suits, White Collar and Covert Affairs. First to come back are Season 4 of Royal Pains and Season 2 of Necessary Roughness, which will hit the air on June 6 and will be shown on Wednesday at 9 PM and 10 PM, respectively.

The following week, on June 14, Burn Notice returns for Season 6, leading into the second season of Suits, which will once again be paired on Thursdays. Also returning to their regular night, Tuesday, are White Collar Season 4 and Covert Affairs Season 3, which launch on July 10.

Of those shows, we’re most interested in Burn Notice. It’s still fun to watch, features some interesting twists and turns, has some nice scenery and has Bruce Campbell. What more could you want from a show?

Remaking old TV shows as movies is a tricky proposition. There are a few angles you can take with it, you could make the movie as direct an adaptation as possible. Or you could embrace the camp nature of the source material and make a farce of it.

Both tactics have failed miserably, but so to have they both worked. This spring’s 21 Jump Street is a prime example of a film that works by embracing the absurdity of the original’s sincere premise. Most indications of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows might have succeeded in a similar fashion, so word of more classic TV adaptations can be met with some optimism these days.

According to Deadline, Universal has gotten behind their next TV to Big Screen adaptation:

Universal Pictures has set David Levien and Brian Koppelman to write The Rockford Files, a feature adaptation of the memorable series that ran on NBC from 1974-80 and featured James Garner as the down-and-out private eye. The studio will develop the film as a star vehicle for Vince Vaughn to play Rockford, and Vaughn and Victoria Vaughn will produce through their Universal-based Wild West Picture Show Productions banner.

Vaughn is a rather obvious choice, but hopefully it means they are going for a more comic approach. I know that will get fans of the original twisted up, but I think a strait forward adaptation of the show wouldn’t really work today. What could work is a Vince Vaughn staring vehicle using the show’s premise and the core of the main character. So long as it is more 21 Jump Street and less Starsky and Hutch we should be fine.

There are few franchises that garner the fan support quite like Star Trek. Trekkies, or Trekkers to some, are a loyal group of fans who have embraced the franchise in it’s many incarnations. Most of the stars of the shows and movies become fixtures at Star Trek conventions, but never before have the five television Captains appeared together onstage at a convention.

Well according to a Reuters report that is all about to change in London:

Organizers for “Destination Star Trek London” said on Monday that their fan convention would be the first official “Star Trek” live event in the UK for 10 years.

To mark the occasion, actors William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Avery Brooks (Commander Sisko), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) and Scott Bakula (Captain Archer), who have commanded operations in each of their respective series based on the iconic TV franchise that began in 1966, will appear on stage together.

Recently William Shatner wrote and directed a documentary called The Captains, where he tracked down and interviewed each of the Trek captains. If the gathering in London is half as intriguing as that was this will be a tremendous experience. There is a really compelling allure to the idea of these iconic actors coming together to discuss the roles that came to define most of them (Bakula being the notable exception, he will always be Dr. Sam Beckett first).

Hopefully this event will be recorded and made available for those of us who can’t make it to London for this rare occasion. If for no other reason than to see what that kooky Avery Brooks will do live on stage.

Whats this, another special edition of Film Score Friday? That’s right, with the massive summer season beginning in just a few short weeks I wanted to spend a little time now on a topic I have long wanted to write about, famous film composers who have written classic TV Themes.

Many famous film composers have taken their talents to the small screen, writing music for pilots or crafting original main themes. Unfortunately a lot of that really great work goes under valued in the overall catalog of these talented musicians. In this week’s Film Score Friday I aim to make up for some of that oversight, and spend some quality time focusing on some of the great TV work these renowned film composers have done.

-John Williams-

The best place to start is with the most famous of all film composers, John Williams. Back in his earliest days Williams, then known as Johnny, wrote music for TV shows. He did music for the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants, but his most famous early TV work was writing for Lost in Space.

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It’s interesting how things have changed over the last ten years or so. It used to be if you wanted quality entertainment, you went to the movies. Now, with most movies being bloated music videos or commercials for various products, discerning viewers have turned to TV for their quality entertainment.

One channel people check out regularly is HBO and one show many seem to love is Game of Thrones. Roaring back to big numbers for the premiere of season two and with a third season already set, Thrones will air its third episode of the season (aka episode 13) this Sunday. Of course, we’ve got a preview for said episode to share with you right now.

In it, you get a look at the intrigue and action expected from this episode. We know some have thought this season has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, but we also know it’s building to something pretty amazing.

You can see some hints as to what in this preview and upcoming episode. Check out the preview for episode 13 after the break. Game of Thrones airs Sunday at 9/8C on HBO.

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With the massive success of The Walking Dead TV series, it should come as no surprise AMC wants to stay in the Robert Kirkman business. Following that plan is the network’s announcement today that they are developing another Kirkman comic property, his recently launched Thief of Thieves, as a series with the writer and Walking Dead Exec. Producer Chic Eglee.

“Much like The Walking Dead brought horror to television in a unique and groundbreaking way, I feel Thief of Thieves can do the same thing for heist stories, showing the humanity of all the characters, including the criminals,” said Kirkman.

Thief of Thieves, which Kirkman reportedly based on his experience in the writer’s room of The Walking Dead, centers on master thief Conrad Paulson who, while attempting to reconcile with his estranged wife and son, vows to walk the straight and narrow, only to discover he’s completely addicted to the thrill of stealing. Now he must feed his addiction by stealing only what has been stolen, as the “Thief of Thieves.”

The first arc of the comic is being written by Nick Spencer with art by Shawn Martinbrough. Eglee will serve as showrunner of the potential TV series and will executive produce alongside Kirkman and Walking Dead Exec. Producer David Alpert.

Sounds interesting. Although, it doesn’t seem like it will have the coolness factor that Walking Dead has. No zombies.

How about you guys? Excited for this new Kirkman venture or prefer his more horror-related stories?

For twenty three years, longer than some of the readers of this site have been alive, one of the greatest mysteries on television has carried on with little to no hints as to the truth. Everyone knows who shot JR. Everyone found out the secret behind Twin Peaks.

The Cylons were revealed in Battlestar Galactica. We even all found out just where the survivors ended up in Lost. But no answer was harder to come by than which Springfield the Simpsons actually lived in.

For years, people tried to piece together the landmarks of Springfield and find out just where the Simpsons lived. Which city in the United States out of the 38 cities, towns and townships named Springfield had its own nuclear power plant, gorge, glacier and national forest that was also within driving distance to New York City? People quickly learned the answer is none, but that didn’t stop people from questioning where the Simpsons took place.

When talking to the Smithsonian Magazine, Groening was asked about the generic nature of the name Springfield. Groening replied that, “Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show Father Knows Best took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown.

When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, ‘This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.’ And they do.”

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