Still from CREATURE COMFORTS TV series.
© CBS
Cute Animals Get Canned
By: Stephen LackeyDate: Sunday, June 24, 2007
Creature Comforts, a series I had recently added to the TV Wasteland schedule, just got the big bump by the networks. Last week’s episode came in fourth place in its time slot. If you haven’t watched it, and apparently you haven’t, is basically a claymation series where answers given from man on the street style interviews with regular people are utilized as voices for animals created by the people behind the acclaimed Wallace and Gromit series of shorts and last year’s feature film. Reruns of The new Adventures of Old Christine will immediately replace the series. The series has already been paid for and completed, so will reruns of a sitcom really do better than this unique summer replacement? Will ad revenue really be higher on a sitcom rerun than something unique and new running for the summer? Well, yeah probably because the demographic has already been proven during the regular season. So, even if the viewership is smaller, the execs and marketing people at the network have a good grasp on how to sell the series to potential clients.
Some readers complained recently that I didn’t show any love to the series finale of Stargate SG-1. I probably should have at least mentioned that this was the series finale but I figured those who watched already knew. I watched season one of Stargate way back when it was on Showtime but lost touch with it when it moved from that network. It does seem like a series I should have been watching but it’s been on for so long there just seemed like to much catching up would be in order to become current with the series. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be doing a TV on DVD review series called Summer Watch List in addition to regular reviews that I already do. I did this last year when I watched every season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (By the way is anyone else reading the season 8 comics?). I’m starting with Supernatural: Season One, going all the way back to Stargate SG-1 Season 1, and I even have Buck Rogers The Complete Series (that should be hilarious). So, I’m looking forward to digging into Stargate SG-1 and maybe even Atlantis. What else is out there you guys think is worth a look?
OK, so this week we decided to expand the elections just a bit here at TV Wasteland to try and fill the void that is summer television. This week I think I might check out some of the Eureka marathon happening on Tuesday on SCI-FI just to refresh myself on the series then it’s all about HEX and The 4400 to top off the week. I will of course continue with “On the Train Wreck”, I mean, On the Lot and John From Cincinnati.
Monday
INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO (BRAVO, 8PM EST)
Angelina Jolie, star of “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and an Oscar winner for “Girl, Interrupted,” is interviewed. James Lipton hosts.
Tuesday
ON THE LOT (FOX, 8PM PST)
One director is eliminated, and the 12 remaining finalists screen the films they've made in a genre not of their own choosing.
WILDLIFE ON ONE (ANIMAL PLANET, 9PM EST) Be an Animal
Aspects of the predator-prey relationship are contrasted using a video game to simulate life-and-death situations on the African plain.
Wednesday
MYTHBUSTERS (DSC, 9PM PST) Dog Myths
Adam and Jamie attempt to teach a pair of untrained middle-aged Malamutes new tricks; Kari, Grant, and Tory investigate a myth about guard dogs.
TRAVELER (ABC, 10PM PST) The Trader
Tyler and Jay attempt to uncover financial connections to the bombing, and Will seek revenge for a murder. Meanwhile, the FBI learns that one of its own may be part of the conspiracy.
Thursday
EUREKA (SCIFI, 9PM EST) MARATHON
Get caught up with one of the SCI-FI Channel’s best series just in time for the season two premiere with a 12-hour marathon from 8 to 8!
JOHN SAFRAN VS GOD (SUNDANCE, 9PM PST)
John auditions for the Harlem Gospel Choir; in Australia, he attempts to broker a peace deal between Palestinian and Israeli activists and uses an unlikely celebrity as the mediator.
Friday
MAN VS WILD (DSC, 9PM EST) MEXICO
In Mexico, Bear must find his way out of Copper Canyon, and his only supplies are a water bottle, a flint and a knife. Included: how to build a compass; catching and eating scorpions; basics of fire-making; fishing without a line.
MOST HAUNTED (TRAVEL, 10PM EST) Michelham Priory, East Sussex
At the medieval Michelham Priory in East Sussex, several apparitions await the team; Karl is startled by the appearance of legs and long cloak materializing by a fireplace. Also: a phantom harpsichord is heard.
Saturday
HEX (BBCA, 8PM PST) Hole
Ella has an epiphany about her task, and wonders if Alex may be the key to defeating Malachi.
UNBREAKABLE (SCIFI, 9PM EST)
M. Night Shyamalan's movie is a brilliant dissection/critique of superhero origin stories. Starring Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis.
Sunday
JOHN FROM CINCINATTI (HBO, 9PM PST) His Visit: Day Three
John has an encounter with some local thugs; Kai makes a connection with Butchie; Vietnam Joe introduces Dr. Smith to a new patient; Shaun's porn-star mother arrives in Imperial Beach.
THE 4400 (USA, 9PM PST) Audrey Parker’s Come and Gone
An elderly woman develops the ability to astral project unseen by others, but she is stuck in limbo when her body is murdered, and she must find a way to contact Tom and Diana to help catch her killer. Elsewhere, Shawn decides to start healing people again despite threats.
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