Watching Showtime

The GLAAD Awards were this weekend, and man oh man were the stars out and about in all their glory! Bill Paxton brought his son, Ellen and Portia looked fabulous, and the lovely ladies of the L Word accepted a special recognition award!

The few and the proud who showed up to accept the award on behalf of the entire L Word cast looked as gorgeous as ever. Jennifer Beals stunned in her springy yellow dress, while Ilene Chakin belted her stunning grey number.

Actresses Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig snuck past red carpet cameras but showed off their basic black numbers on stage with Chakin and Beals, accepting the award on behalf of the entire L Word cast.

Jane Lynch stepped up her basic black suit, stunning as always!

Tons more pictures follow after the jump from the red carpet, the after party, and more! Look for a few QAF faces to make their appearances as well!

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Showtime viewers have been pretty lucky these last three months with the writer’s strike. Shows are filmed far enough in advance that as long as the strike ends in the next two months or so, there won’t be a single blip in the programming schedule. And with it sounding like the negotiations might be just about over, we can all celebrate. How do I know this? The Hollywood Reporter wrote an article highlighting filming schedules for just about every major network, and Showtime was included.

The Tudors has already wrapped filming, Brotherhood, Dexter and Californication don’t begin filming until at least June, and Weeds has that free pass from Lionsgate to film on schedule, so those five shows are fine. The L Word won’t film it’s sixth season (if there’s going to be one) until the fall, so they’re pretty well safe also.

Most networks aren’t so lucky, and regular filming schedules will be off-set for quite some time. This means many regular network shows will be off-schedule for  months. Another good reason to have Showtime!

Finally answering the question that’s been on everyone’s mind since the dramatic end to season 2 of Brotherhood, Showtime has announced it’s return, with eight new episodes scheduled for 2008.

” ‘Brotherhood’ is one of our shining hours at Showtime — a drama series that is among the highest-quality shows offered anywhere on television,” Showtime’s entertainment president Robert Greenblatt said. “And we’re proud to keep it firmly in our portfolio.”

With the Writer’s Strike occupying the minds of most television writers, people have been turning to Showtime as one of the few networks still able to offer new programming. Even CBS is jumping on board, replaying the first season of Dexter starting in February. I’ve not been too worried about the strike, quietly hoping it would simply end sometime this spring, thus not affecting any scheduled programming. But now that this is happening this strike needs to end fast, so they can get to filming the third season!

Catch up on old episodes:
season one recaps
One Too Many Mornings (s2, e1)
Down In The Flood (s2, e2)
The Lonesome Death Of … (s2, e3)
Not Dark Yet (s2, e4)
Dear Landlord (s2, e5)
True Love Tends To Forget (s2, e6)
Only A Pawn(s2, e7)
Shelter From The Storm (s2, e8)

Showtime, Brotherhood, Michael Caffee, Jason Isaacs, Thomas Caffee, Jason Clarke, Eileen Caffee, Annabeth Gish, Declan Giggs, Ethan Embry, Freddie Cook, Kevin Chapman, Rose Caffee, Fionnula Flanagan

Only the Caffee family can have a Thanksgiving like this one!

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While Brotherhood didn’t take home any nominations for it’s amazing show, Jason Isaacs (Michael Caffey, Lucious Malfoy!) was given the nod for Best Lead Actor In A Series for his work on “The State Within”. I’ve never seen the show, but here’s a description, thanks to Malfoy’s Grandma:

“The story-line, of having lost his only true love, a beautiful young woman married to his best friend who was killed in political strife, is a good one, very touching to see Jason and his former friends and to see his reaction as they are assassinated. One dies in his arms, very touchingly, and we know this was the brother of Jason’s lover. As the details of her death are revealed and the only witness murdered by a corrupt state governor, Jason falls in love with a young woman of ardent liberal politics, and must keep her too from being murdered by the same corrupt, heartless, wickedly powerful plotters who deal out mayhem and murder at will simply to gain more power! All very intriguing, if a bit hard to follow because it is packed tightly into the series.”

Sounds fantastic, and I’ll be adding this to my Netflix account immediately. Good luck to Jason!

With the holidays fast approaching, I was lucky enough to fit in an interview with Brotherhood guest actor Darren Tow earlier last week. Although his time on screen was brief, he is very clearly a talented actor, and has some great stuff to say about the craft.

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Last week I had the chance to interview John Talalas, who played Police Commissioner Steven Simon on the episode “True Love Tends To Forget”. A tremendous actor, he’s had a plethora of experience to draw from, and has some great stuff to share.

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With Deco finally deciding he wants back on the “good guys” side of things, life could get rough for Michael and Freddie. Meanwhile Michael’s dealing in purses and both Tommy and Colin have to come to grips with Judd’s declining health.

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Annabeth Gish sat down recently with Express (the Washington Posts’ free publication) to discuss her role on Brotherhood, among other things. Here’s the interview!

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It’s election day, and before the sun sets there will have been some serious changes to the Caffee family. From Cath having to make tough decisions about her pregancy to Tommy having to make even tougher decisions about the election, everything will be different when it’s all over. And with a big reveal at the end, it’s a no-miss episode!

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The actors of Brotherhood have been more than generous with their willingness to sit down and talk with me about their experiences on the show, their love of acting in general, and so much more. Last week, I had the opportunity to interview William Decoff, who plays Officer Walsh on the show’s second season. He has a lot to say about acting, life, and Ethan Embry (who he worked closely with on the show)!

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Through this blog I’ve had the opportunity to write about some amazing shows, bring some amazing contests to readers, and turn more and more people on to the amazing shows on Showtime. Now I can add to that list interviewing an amazing actor! Don Foley spent some time working on Brotherhood, and then via a few great conversations and maybe a little begging on my part, I got the chance to interview him! Learning the ropes from a working actor is always an amazing experience, and getting the opportunity to talk to someone who came into the craft later than most, who is now working 5-6 projects a year, was a special treat! Check out what he had to say about being an actor, his time on Brotherhood, and a lot more!

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Cath’s trying to sort through the stuff in her extra bedroom so they can turn it into a nursery now that she’s expecting. Michael agrees to go look at paint swatches with her so they can figure out what color to paint it. Not at the moment, though, because Michael has to go be a gangster first. Over at Tommy’s house, he and Eileen are eating in silence, so we know everything’s back to normal there. She’s still dissatisfied and can’t talk about it, and Tommy’s trying to pretend nothing’s wrong.

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Okay, so I’m not really famous, but a super cool thing has happened and I feel the need to point it out (as well as clarify).

Every morning before work I check my e-mail. It’s a ritual. This morning I notice a comment ping, so I open it up, and it’s from my latest Brotherhood Review (and yes, I know I’m still like two eps behind). Who should be commenting, but Don Foley (aka Joey Richard)!!!!

My first reaction? “Holy crap, people actually read this thing! I should start proofreading what I write!” And yes, Don, I totally thought you were a teenager during the furniture store thing, and you pulled it off well!

So now that we know famous people read the site, maybe I should start making a list of people I’d like to have comment, people I’d like to interview, and all that action. Starting with Mr. Don Foley. Rock star first Hollywood comment. I sort of feel like I should brush up on my interview skills (and by “brush up” I mean learn how) and see if I can score us an interview, but I wouldn’t even know how to start asking questions that weren’t, ” So, like, you actually read my blog?!?!”

While Tommy’s trying to put his life back together after Eileen walks out on him, Michael’s thinking about making a serious life change … to the suburbs with Cath and her kids. In the end, everything makes it’s way back to status quo, but not before drama and fighting threaten to once again rip apart the Caffey clan.

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