The new fall season starts soon and one of the shows I'm looking forward to most is NBC's Community.  Why am I excited? I'm glad you asked and I'll give you two reasons: 1. Chevy Chase 2. Joel McHale! 
Joel McHale may be the funniest person on tv right now with his hilarious E! show, The Soup and now he'll be on twice each week!  A full hour of McHale is a week is indeed a glorious thing.  So I've got some new clips and behind the scenes fun for you from his new show Community. (And if you haven't been watching The Soup tune in this Friday night on E!)

“WHO’S THE HOT GIRL?”

Jeff discovers Abed's value at Greendale!

“MEET PROF. DUNCAN”

Jeff pays his old friend Prof. Duncan a visit while on campus.

BEHIND THE SCENES

The cast of Community gets you familiar with the characters and on set antics.

COMMUNITY – THE CAST

Joel McHale and Chevy Chase lead a cast of characters in NBC's all new Thursday night comedy!

COMMUNITY – GILLIAN AND JOEL

Gillian and Joel give you an inside look at their characters Britta and Jeff.

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And if you or someone you love is a fan of the show then this set is going to be a must buy.  On October 13th Fox is releasing a 19 disc box set that includes every Futurama episode and movie ever created, along with a ton of extras including a letter from creator Matt Groening.  But you better get it fast as only 25,000 sets are being created.  You can see more info in the press release below.

LOS ANGELES, CA. - Blast off into space with the ultimate out-of-this-world collection over a thousand years in the making when "Futurama" The Complete Collection 1999-2009 lands as a 19-disc set October 13th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Join the Planet Express crew in their comical adventures across the universe with this intergalactic mind-blowing set, packaged together in a collectible Bender head, including a detachable rubber antenna. A must have for die hard "Futurama" fans, proven by the enormous popularity of limited edition copies sold during this year's Comic-Con, the set includes all 72 episodes from the hilarious animated cult series, as well as the four feature length adventures - Bender's Big Score, The Beast With A Billion Backs, Bender's Game and Into The Wild Green Yonder.

From "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, "Futurama" debuted in 1999 and immediately gained a faithful cult following. Cancelled after four seasons, an outcry from the fans and the show's success on DVD helped revive "Futurama" for four all-new adventures that debuted on DVD in 2007-2009. Recently the series has been resurrected again for its sixth season set to air on Comedy Central in 2010.

The "Futurama" The Complete Collection is highly collectible, with only 25,000 copies being produced one time ever. The collection is jam-packed with bonus materials including a letter from the "Futurama" creator Matt Groening and producer David X. Cohen, commentary from various cast members, numerous deleted scenes, an interactive still gallery, blooper reels and more. The complete 19-disc collection will be available for $169.98 U.S. / $199.98 Canada. For those fans that already own every "Futurama" adventure on DVD, a limited number of empty "Bender Heads" will also be available for purchase. Prebook is September 2.

Synopsis:
Looking to get your FUTURAMA fix in great, big, hilarious, planet-sized chunks? Then this is your lucky light year! Now, in one shiny collection, you'll find all seventy-two original TV episodes and four epically amusing, feature-length adventures starring your favorite spaced-out space crew, plus enough extras to fill a moon base, if you're into that sort of thing. So buckle up...and blast off for laughs!

DVD Specs:

• "Space Pilot 3000"
• "The Series Has Landed"
• "I, Roommate"
• "Love's Labours Lost In Space"

• Commentary
• Animatics for "Space Pilot 3000"
• Deleted Scenes
• Script/Storyboard for "Space Pilot 3000"

• "Fear Of A Bot Planet"
• "A Fishful Of Dollars"
• "My Three Suns"
• "A Big Piece of Garbage"
• "Hell Is Other Robots"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes

• "A Flight To Remember"
• "Mars University"
• "When Aliens Attack"
• "Fry and the Slurm Factory"

• Commentary
• Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Interactive Still Gallery

• "I Second That Emotion"
• "Brannigan, Begin Again"
• "A Head In The Polls"
• "Xmas Story"
• "Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love?"

• Commentary
• Animatics
• Deleted Scenes
• Easter Egg

• "The Lesser Of Two Evils"
• "Put Your Head On My Shoulders"
• "Raging Bender"
• "A Bicyclops Built For Two"
• "A Clone Of My Own"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• 2 Easter Eggs

• "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back"
• "The Deep South"
• "Bender Gets Made"
• "Mother's Day"
• "The Problem With Popplers"

• Deleted Scenes
• 2 Easter Eggs
• Futurama Video Game Trailer

• "Anthology Of Interest I"
• "War Is The H-Word"
• "The Honking"
• "The Cryonic Woman"

• Commentary
• Still Gallery/Concept Art
• Alien Alphabet
• Deleted Scenes
• 2 Easter Eggs

• "Amazon Women In The Mood"
• "Parasites Lost"
• "A Tale Of Two Santas"
• "The Luck Of The Fryrish"
• "The Birdbot Of Ice-Catraz"
• "Bendless Love"

• Commentary
• Gallery of Storyboard Images for "Parasites Lost"
• Deleted Scenes
• 3 Easter Eggs
• David X. Cohen Introduction
• "A Table Of Two Santas" Table Read
• Alternate Show Opening Quotes

• "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid"
• "That's Lobstertainment!"
• "The Cyber House Rules"
• "Where The Buggalo Roam"
• "Insane In The Mainframe"
• "The Route Of All Evil"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes

• "Bendin' In The Wind"
• "Time Keeps On Slipping"
• "I Dated A Robot"
• "A Leela Of Her Own"
• "A Pharaoh To Remember"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes

• "Anthology Of Interest II"
• "Roswell That Ends Well"
• "Godfellas"
• "Future Stock"
• "The 30% Iron Chef"

• Commentary
• Still Gallery/Character Art
• "How To Draw Characters" Galleries
• 80 Static Images
• "Anthology Of Interest Part II" Animatic
• "Roswell That Ends Well" International Clip With Alternate Animation Commentary
• 9 "3D Models From Rough Draft" Sequences
• Deleted Scenes

• "Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch"
• "Leela's Homeworld"
• "Love And Rocket"
• "Less Than Hero"
• "A Taste Of Freedom"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Storyboard Images
• "Love And Rocket" International Video Clip

• "Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV"
• "Jurassic Bark"
• "Crimes Of The Hot"
• "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles"
• "The Why Of Fry"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes

• "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"
• "The Sting"
• "Bend Her"
• "Obsoletely Fabulous"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Animatic With Subtitles
• Easter Egg: Writer Goodman On Guest Voice Actors and Script Changes And Actor DiMaggio On Bender

• "The Farnswoth Parabox"
• "Three Hundred Big Boys"
• "Spanish Fry"
• "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Easter Egg: Table Read
• 11 Segments Of 3D Models From Rough Drafts With Narration
• 2 "How To Draw Characters" Galleries of Fender And Professor
• Still Gallery And Nine Pencil Test Segments

• Synopsis - Evil nudist aliens send Bender on a rampage through time, forcing him - slightly against his will - to steal all of Earth's priceless historic treasures. Will the heroic Planet Express crew save the planet? Will Leela find true love? Will the ancient and terrible secret of Fry's buttocks be exposed? All will be revealed in Futurama: Bender's Big Score, the greatest adventure of our time, and also the greatest adventure of several other times!

• Audio Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen and Cast Members
• All New, Full-Length Episode Of "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad," Including TV Commercials Of The Future
• Mind-Bending Futurama Math Lecture By Professor Sarah Greenwald
• Promo For "An Inconvenient Truth" Starring Bender And Al Gore, Including Commentary By The Former Vice President

• Synopsis - Space itself rips open, revealing a gateway to another universe, but what lies beyond? Horror? Love? Or maybe both, if it happens to contain a repulsive, planet-sized monster with romantic intentions! Nothing less than the fate of human and robot-kind is at stake as the Futurama crew takes on The Beast With A Billion Backs.

• Audio Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, and Cast Members
• Extra Episode From XBOX Game With Commentary
• Animatic - Feature
• Deleted Scenes/Storyboards
• Blooper Reel/Record Sessions
• 3D Models/3D Turnarounds - With Audio Description
• Celebrity Featurette - David Cross
• Bender Reads The Credits
• Bender Sings His Version Of The "Futurama" Song
• New Character/Design Sketches

• Synopsis - With fuel prices skyrocketing, the Planet Express crew sets off on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the world's only dark-matter mine, source of all spaceship fuel. But deep beneath the surface, they discover a far stranger place... a medieval land of dragons and sorcery and intoxicated knights who look suspiciously like Bender.

• Audio Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz and Dwayne Carey-Hill
• Storyboard Animatic: Bender's Game, Part One
• Futurama Genetics Lab - Cross-Breed Your Favorite Characters!
• Dungeons & Dragons & Futurama
• Featurette: Futurama's Band Of Warrior-Writers Discuss The Influence Of Dungeons & Dragons ^TM On Futurama (Everything Else That Matters)
• How To Draw Futurama In 83 Easy Steps
• A Step-By-Step Guide With The Rough Draft Crew
• 3D Models With Animator Discussion
• Deleted Scene
• Blooperama 2: Outtakes From Bender's Game
• Bender's Anti-Piracy Warning
• A Sneak Peak At The Next Futurama Epic - Into The Wild Green Yonder

• Synopsis - All the other galaxies will be green with envy! Mankind stands on the brink of a wondrous new Green Age,, but ancient forces of darkness, three years older than time itself, have returned to wreak destruction. Even more shocking: Bender's in love with a married fembot, and Leela's on the run from the law - Zapp Brannigan's law! Fry is the last hope of the universe. Could this be the end of the Planet Express crew forever? Say it ain't so, meatbag!

• Audio Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Patric M. Verrone, Michael Rowe, Lee Supercinski, and Peter Avanzino
• Storyboard Animatic: Into The Wild Green Yonder Part 1
• Docudramarama: How We Make Futurama So Good
• "Louder, Louder!": The Acting Technique Of Penn Jillette
• Golden Stinkers: A Treasury Of Deleted Scenes
• Blooperama 3: Electric Blooperoo
• How To Draw Futurama In 10 Very Difficult Steps
• 3D Models With Animator Discussion
• Bender's Movie Theater Etiquette
• Zapp Brannigan's Guide To Making Love At A Woman
• Easter Egg - Bender Toilet Paper Joke
• Easter Egg - Zero-G, Matt And David In Space
• Easter Egg - Season 5 First Day - Gootage of David X. Cohen, Matt Groening And Ken Keeler Hard At Work On Futurama

About Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
A recognized global industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC (TCFHE) is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming on DVD, Blu-ray Disc (BD) and Digital Copy as well as acquisitions and original productions. The company also releases all products around the globe for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets -- from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce - throughout the world. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC is a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company.

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KRISTEN DAVIS!!!!

Thank you to all of you who entered.  I put all the names in a hat and pulled one at random and Kristen's name was the one I pulled.

I hope you enjoyed the season finale last night and remember to tune into Monk & Psych tonight at 9/8c.

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Tonight brings as an all new episode of USA's Royal Pains, the Season Finale in fact, and that means it's time for another 1 day giveaway!!! This one is pretty sweet and I'd really like to win it myself, but I have to give it away to one of you lucky readers instead. So keep on reading for a synopsis and clip from tonight's episode, what's up for grabs, and what you have to do to win.

Royal Pains, the biggest hit of the summer, wraps up season one Thursday, August 27^th at 10/9c. Hank treats a woman suffering from hallucinations, Divya and Raj fret over their engagement party, and Jill's feelings for Hank come in question. Join other fans on Facebook, Twitter and on the Official Website.

Enter To Win:

Royal Pains Branded Playing Cards

Royal Pains Branded Band-Aids

Royal Pains Inner Tube

Royal Pains Rattan Beach Mat

Royal Pains Travel Scrabble Game

Yesterday a suspenseful new movie came out on DVD.  The film, Boot Camp, stars Everwood's Gregory Smith, Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Mila Kunis, and the exceptional Peter Stormare, whom you may know from Armageddon or Prison Break.  The new film, coming straight to DVD, tells the tale of Sophie (Kunis) who gets sent to an attitude adjustment camp for juveniles with a panache for making trouble.  But the camp isn't what the kids' parents think.  Instead of being turned into model citizens the kids are brutalized and brainwashed into submission.  Amazingly the movie is based on a true story.  You can see the full press release below and pick up the DVD at your local store.

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If you haven't been watching NBC's online series CTRL, you've been missing a great performance by the wonderful Tony Hale.  But if you haven't been watching it you're in luck as the final episode of CTRL has now gone live online! This means that all ten episodes of this great series are online and can be viewed here: http://www.nbc.com/ctrl/video/categories/season-1/1130329/. This is a great way to catch up with episodes you’ve missed, rewatch your favorites or pick up the series for the first time!  Watch it, you won't regret it!

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AVATAR
Well yesterday the trailer that crashed the internet was released and after my initial response of Holy Crow That's Incredible! I rewatched and realized it still looks good, just not as mind blowingly amazing and revolutionary as Cameron had teased.  Mainly my first reaction being so good was because I was under the impression that the movie was completely CG and thought the scenes with real actors was incredible.  But since they are just real people, not as blown away.  But it still looks good to me, and as I said on Facebook yesterday, in response to someone commenting that "Avatar will push filmmaking to new technical zeniths, but have no story."  I still think it has a story. This is James Cameron, the man who gave us Terminator, Aliens, T2, The Abyss, True Lies, and Titanic.  So check it out below:

The Wolfman
As a kid I was a huge fan of the Universal Monsters, even though I had never seen a single one of the movies.  Instead I read all these books they had at the library about them, and I couldn't get enough.  At that same time I discovered a favorite movie of mine, Monster Squad, that featured slightly altered versions of the Universal Monsters, because Universal wouldn't give them the rights (I've included that trailer below The Wolfman trailer)  So I was admittedly excited when The Wolfman was announced, but my excitement has dimmed since the movie has been pushed back time and again.  So when the new trailer came out yesterday I was prepared to be excited.  And while the trailer is nice, it didn't have me jumping for joy.  In fact I kept thinking "Shouldn't I be more excited than this?"  It's a decent trailer for a movie that has a lot of promise and a great cast, but something doesn't click for me.  Hopefully once I see the film I'll feel differently.

Monster Squad

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I was in college the first time I saw Say Anything, which means I came a little late to the party. But I quickly realized that this was a gem of a movie. Say Anything is a quintessential 80s film. It has everything you would expect from the era of John Hughes, laughs, quotable lines, John Cusack, and of course Heartbreak. But this isn't a John Hughes film, no it's actually Cameron Crowe's directorial debut. And it one of my all time favorite films (thanks in part to my wife who counts this as one of her top 5 movies of all time), so I am especially excited to share with you that the movie is coming to Blu-Ray in a new 20th Anniversary Edition. Below youll find a couple of my favorite quotes from the film, a trailer for the movie, and the official press release announcing the November 3rd release of the 20th Anniversary Edition on Blu-Ray & DVD.

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GHOST HUNTERS

All-New Episodes!

Wednesday, August 19 @ 9 PM

Tonight SyFy presents the first new episode of Ghost Hunters under the new spelling. I've seen the episode and I must say its quite a good one. I came into GH a little late but quickly caught up and it has become one of my favorite series to watch each week. On tonight's episode Jason & Grant investigate a private home in search of a possible Inhuman Entity otherwise known as a demon! Will they find something that has escaped from hell or is it something else entirely? You'll have to tune in tonight to see! But you can get SyFy's official synopsis and a clip below.

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I have to say I'm quite excited by today's announcement that TNT's Leverage will be sticking around for two more episodes.  I'm a huge fan of this show and can not wait to see what more they have in store for us.  As it stands the show will air it's summer finale on September 9.  And with that date steadily approaching keep your eyes open for a contest that will give one lucky winner the Season 1 DVD set of this brilliant show.  That contest will probably run for about 2 weeks ending on the date of the summer finale.  Here's the full press release below.

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If you read this blog regularly you know I'm a fan of the beautiful Kristen Bell.  So of course I had to share with you the trailer to her new movie, When in Rome.  The trailer looks like your typical RomCom, but I've always enjoyed a good RomCom so I'm game.  Plus I enjoy most of the cast, so it should be a fun 90ish minutes.  Enjoy:

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The best advice I can give you about District 9 is to stop reading this review. In fact don’t read any reviews, just get your keys, get in the car, and head to the theater. Seriously, stop reading. Well if you’re still reading this you’ve either already seen it, or you’re just stubborn, so I might as well go on. The reason I said to stop reading is simple, I knew almost nothing about this movie when I saw it, and I think it made the experience that much more. In a time when most trailers give away the entire movie, District 9 is a rare exception, a movie which, like Cloverfield, plays it close to the vest in their ads, and as such makes for a much more rich experience.

District 9 is set in an alternate Johannesburg, South Africa over which an enormous alien spacecraft has hovered for the past 20 years. Over the years the humans and “prawns”, as the aliens are known, haven’t had the best relationship, getting so bad that the government has placed the entire prawn population (1.8 million) into a fenced off area known as District 9. As the movie opens the government has hired a weapons contractor to assist them in moving the prawns from District 9 to District 10, which is located well away from any humans. In essence the government has set up their own alien concentration camp.

The man in charge of this operation is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a nerdy office worker whose father is the owner of the company (no nepotism here!). As you can imagine a small group humans trying to evict 1.8 aliens doesn’t go smoothly. And that is all I’ll tell you about the plot. I know it’s not much, but trust me you’ll thank me later.

What I can say is this is one of the best sci-fi movies I’ve seen in years (since Donnie Darko to be exact) and possibly the best all around movie I’ve seen this year. Director Neill Blomkamp comes out of the gate with one of the most impressive debuts in years. (Again I think back to Donnie Darko and its promising director Richard Kelly and hope that Blomkamp capitalizes on his success a bit more than Kelly did.) But possibly the most amazing part of Blomkamp’s debut is seeing what he can do with only $30 million.

With a limited budget, Blomkamp has done more than Michael Bay has done in both of the Transformers combined. The prawns are amazing and look real enough to touch, they’re so good in fact I think if real aliens showed up they might look fake next to them. And Blomkamp has done a great job of combining a great story with some amazing action pieces. But be prepared, said action pieces are quite graphic in the violence department.

Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the social side of the movie. District 9 is of course at its heart an allegory for apartheid. And Blomkamp does what only a good director can do; he makes an allegorical film that doesn’t shove the message down the viewer’s throat. What he does do is plant a seed in your mind that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theater.

In the end the movie is an amazing sci-fi action film that in a dream world would be nominated for an Academy Award. But I fear that it may have to settle with amazing reviews, lots of cash, and a large fan base.

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I'm sure by now you've heard that NBC has announced that Jerry Seinfeld will be the first guest on The Jay Leno Show. Personally I think the show's a horrible idea and I think the news that ABC and CBS will not allow their talent to appear on the show is not only more new worthy, but that it puts a big damper on the show. I would rather watch scripted Television than another variety show/talk show/whatever this is going to be show. But I thought I'd post the press release.

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Tonight marks the premiere of A&E’s newest journey into the unknown, The 5 Lives of Criss Angel Mindfreak. For five weeks, the world renowned illusionist will push himself to the limit with five death defying stunts. You can see a clip below.

Tonight’s premiere episode is called “White Death,” where Criss will bury himself under ice:

Criss takes the "Buried Alive" escape attempt to an unprecedented level, adding the extra weight and freezing temperatures of snow and ice. Shackled and placed in a transparent coffin before hundreds of fans and his concerned family and then buried in ice and snow, Criss must escape his bonds and dig himself out of impossible conditions before succumbing to hypothermia, suffocation or the possibility of the ground collapsing from the weight of the snow.

Be sure to catch the premiere of The 5 Lives of Criss Angel Mindfreak, tonight at 10/9c on A&E!

To ring in the premiere of this epic television event, A&E created a number of cutting edge digital creations. Online games, augmented reality experiences and home console promotions lead the way to bringing Criss Angel and his amazing feats to the forefront of entertainment.

Kill Criss Angel online game - Allows fans and foes alike decide whether they want to help or kill Criss Angel as he attempts the dangerous “White Death”
demonstration.

The Five Lives of Criss Angel Mindfreak augmented reality experience - Takes players through five levels that relate to each of the five episodes of the fifth season of “Criss Angel Mindfreak.” One of the first of its kind, this groundbreaking initiative leverages augmented reality to make the user’s hand the game controller, controlling the main game piece through hand gestures in front of a standard web camera.

PS3 and Xbox360 - PlayStation Home the 3D social gaming service for PlayStation 3 users will now have the opportunity to watch “Criss Angel Mindfreak” video vignettes in the Home theatre. In addition, users have the opportunity to win two custom virtual items including a Criss Angel branded coffee table and coffin couch to accessorize their personal apartments in world

You can learn more and play these games here at the official site.

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TNT announced today that they have renewed original series HawthoRNe for a second season to premiere in 2010. The show which stars, Jada Pinkett Smith as Christina Hawthorne, a compassionate nurse who has a hard time balancing her working life and her personal life. If you haven't seen the show before you can tune in tonight for an all new episode. And stayed tune for a new episode of Saving Grace. You can find details of both episodes below as well as the complete Press Release announcing the second season pick-up.

Christina battles over budgets and may have to cut one of her staff members in a new episode of TNT’s HAWTHORNE

“Mother’s Day” – Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)

Christina leaves Bobbie in charge of the entire hospital nursing staff while she goes into budget battles with Morrissey, who gives Christina until the end of the day to lay off six nurses. The order couldn’t come at a worse time for Kelly, who gets into trouble when she refutes Dr. Marshall’s treatment for a stroke patient. Nor could it come at a worse time for the ER, which becomes the scene of a devastating tragedy.

“Looks Like a Lesbian Attack to Me” – Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT)

The squad investigates the death of a parole officer with secrets, while Grace and her brother Johnny finally track down Neely, the young addict who shares visions of Earl. Meanwhile, Rhetta decides to make some personal changes in the wake of her troubles at home.

TNT’s Hit Series HAWTHORNE, Starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Set to Return for Second Season

Character-Driven Medical Drama Averaging 3.8 Million Viewers for First Season

TNT has picked up a second season of its hit medical drama HAWTHORNE, starring and executive-produced by Jada Pinkett Smith (The Women, The Matrix trilogy) and created by Emmy^® winner John Masius (St. Elsewhere, Providence, Dead Like Me). The network has ordered an additional 10 episodes of the character-driven drama, which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT). For its first season, HAWTHORNE is averaging 3.8 million viewers and ranks as ad-supported cable’s #1 entertainment program on Tuesdays among adults 25-54 and women 25-54. The second season is slated to air in 2010.

HAWTHORNE co-stars Michael Vartan (Alias), Suleka Mathew (Men in Trees), David Julian Hirsh (Lovebites), Christina Moore (Hyperion Bay) and Hannah Hodson (TNT’s The Ron Clark Story). The series is produced for TNT by Sony Pictures Television in association with Pinkett Smith’s 100% Womon Productions, John Masius Productions, and Jamie Tarses’ FanFare Productions. Pinkett Smith, Masius, Glen Mazzara (The Shield, Crash, Life) and Jamie Tarses (My Boys) serve as executive producers.

“HAWTHORNE has been a great addition to TNT’s lineup of original series, and Jada Pinkett Smith’s performance has been a tremendous draw with viewers,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “There are powerful episodes remaining, and we’re looking forward to what is certain to be an extraordinary second season.”

HAWTHORNE, which premiered Tuesday, June 16, with 4.4 million viewers (Live + 7), is one of six high-profile original dramas populating TNT’s Monday-Wednesday lineup this summer. The six series, which include The Closer, Raising the Bar, Saving Grace, Leverage and Dark Blue, are the fulfillment of an aggressive TNT strategy to build a slate of quality original programming in primetime.

HAWTHORNE is scoring tremendous growth over programming in the same Tuesday 9 p.m. timeslot last year, with adults 25-54 up 90%, viewers up 69% and households up 63%. In addition to its success as part of TNT’s Tuesday night lineup, the show performs well among DVR users, averaging a 38% lift when comparing Live to Live + 7 delivery of adults 25-54.

Pinkett Smith plays Christina Hawthorne, a compassionate and headstrong Chief Nursing Officer heading up a group of dedicated nurses at Richmond Trinity Hospital who spend long days and nights on the hospital’s front lines. Hawthorne is the kind of nurse who fights for her patients and doesn’t let them slip through the cracks. When necessary, she takes on doctors and administrators who are overworked, distracted or just unable to see the human being behind the hospital chart.

But the long days at the hospital and Christina’s intense focus on helping others take a toll on her personal life. She is still coming to terms with losing her husband, who died a year ago after a battle with cancer, leaving her to raise their smart, rebellious teen-age daughter on her own. Constantly trying to strike a balance between her career and her equally important role as a parent, Christina finds little time to take care of the one person who always seems to fall through the cracks – herself.

Vartan plays Dr. Tom Wakefield, the oncologist who treated Christina’s husband and serves as Chief of Surgery for the hospital. The cast also includes Mathew as Bobbie Jackson, the head ER nurse and Christina’s best friend; Hirsch as Ray Stein, a nurse struggling with being accepted in a female-dominated profession; Moore as Candy Sullivan, whose stunning beauty is matched by a unique sense of duty; and Hodson as Camille, Hawthorne’s daughter. In addition, special guest star Joanna Cassidy (Six Feet Under) portrays Amanda Hawthorne, Christina’s mother-in-law, who also happens to be a member of the hospital board.

TNT, one of cable’s top-rated networks, is television’s destination for drama and home to such original series as the acclaimed and highly popular detective drama The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick; Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter; Raising the Bar, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; HawthoRNe, with Jada Pinkett Smith; and Dark Blue, starring Dylan McDermott. TNT also presents such powerful dramas as Bones, CSI: NY, Cold Case, Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER and Charmed; broadcast premiere movies; compelling primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards^®; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Labels: TNT, TV