I had some downtime this weekend (read: I left my house twice because my sinuses were attacking me), so once I cleared all the outstanding shows off my DVR, I needed something else to do!  I found myself clicking on the banner to the right, and ended up spending hours on USA’s Character Arcade, trying to beat high score after high score on a wide variety of games!

My personal favorite is Character Mahjong – match up your favorite USA characters and shows as you try to clear board after board in a take on the classic.

I’m also a big fan of Felix-RX which happens to be this week’s game of the week.  Match at least three pills and make sure Felix gets his drugs!  It’s like Tetris but there’s medicine and psychadelic backgrounds involved!

Check out all of the games over at the Character Arcade, and check back here over the next few weeks, to see what the game of the weeks is, and what great prizes you can win (an IPod Touch, a PSP Go, a Wii Party Bundle).  Let us know what you think!

Today at 4PM Eastern time, Taylor Kitsch from FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS will be chatting live with fans over on TV.COM – don’t miss your chance to get some of your questions answered.  Taylor’s onscreen brother (and one of his offscreen best friends) Derek Phillips (Billy!) will be chatting along with him.

Check it out here!

When SUPERNATURAL first premiered, it wasn’t on my radar, and I regretted that decision almost immediately.  Having now gone through 2 Season 1-3 rewatches in 6 months (and now officially caught up on the brilliance of the series), I have to say that it ranks as one of my favorite shows currently on TV!  Tonight’s incredible episode moves it even higher up the scale.  As Vlada points out in her review, this is one of those rare shows that manages to get better and better with age, versus running into the same old story well that other shows continue to go back to.  The fact that they continue to weave a mythology that makes sense and doesn’t come out of left field (usually) into each episode is a testament to their genius.

Tonight’s episode, “Changing Channels”, written by Jeremy Carver and directed by Charles Beeson, deals yet again with one of my favorite characters ever on the show, the strangely enjoyable but totally horrible Trickster (Richard Speight, Jr) who is once again up to no good.  He’s on the scene to bother our boys, but also to teach Sam and Dean some very important lessons about their lives and their destiny.

The show starts with a great voiceover that you would normally hear at the beginning of CHEERS and some of the most amazing opening credits I’ve seen on TV!  As they bounce from show to show, with the Trickster aiming to teach his lesson, my favorite has to be their first stop in Dean’s guilty pleasure, the perfectly named “Dr. Sexy MD.”  A total GREY’S ANATOMY rip-off, complete with ethereal Anya Marina tunage and a whole lot of “Seriously?”, they absolutely embrace the look, the feel, and the thoughts we’re always having about GREY’S (like why does a show like that have ghosts….a nice Jeffrey Dean Morgan nod), all the while producing some of the funniest scenes we’ve seen in a long time.  The rest of the episode deals with them moving in and out of random TV shows (a Japanese game show is particularly funny and I particularly like the sunglasses at night), p0king fun at them along the way.

The show tonight isn’t just an episode put out there to amuse us; it’s another great episode to back up or build up the continuing mythology that has been present throughout the show.  You know that whenever the Trickster is around, it’s going to get you and the Winchester boys thinking about everything.  SUPERNATURAL’s cast and crew proves that you can have a totally hilarious show that changes up the day to day and STILL move along the stories in an incredible fashion.

Oh and you people out there not watching SUPERNATURAL?  First off, shame on you!   Secondly, even if you’ve never seen the show, tonight’s episode is a perfect episode for the TV lover in all of us!

Last week, I had the chance to join some of my friends in the blog world on a guided set tour of LAW & ORDER with the shows stars Jeremy Sisto (Lupo), Anthony Anderson (Bernard), and Alana De La Garza (Rubirosa). We spend a good amount of time asking them questions about their characters, their feeling of being a part of this show 20 years in the making, and what we have to look forward to in the coming weeks on the show (hint – Sisto LOVES him some MAD MEN and Rich Sommer’s guest starring turn this week was a huge “get” for him) –

Check out our Q&A sessions and our tour through the set!

20 Years of LAW & ORDER:

Fans ask the questions!

Welcome to the World of LAW & ORDER:

I have been saying all over the place, anywhere that anyone will listen, that this season of GREEK has been my favorite so far.  The stories have been sharp, the humor is top notch, and the twists and turns have made for some of the most consistently enjoyable hours of TV this Fall!!  One of the best things about the show is how much time they’ve spent fleshing out the characters that could have easily been stereotypes of the varied college students they portray.

Last week, I had the chance to speak with another fabulous member of ZBZ, Ashleigh Howard, played by the lovely and charming Amber Stevens.  We talked a little bit about what’s to come in tonight’s season finale (hint hint – a musical number), how Ashleigh has changed for the better over the years, and why people need to give this brilliant show just one chance and they’ll be hooked!

I have to say, this season of GREEK is firing on all cylinders! Everyone’s at the top of their game!
Oh, well thank you!

What’s the feeling that you’re getting from viewers – are they having the same reaction?
I’ve heard from quite a few people that they’ve heard that this is the best season yet.  I think our original fans are still sticking around – they’re pleased with the way that the stories are going.  Especially [the Thanksgiving] episode, makes a lot of fans happy!

Ashleigh’s grown, she’s changed over the years.  What is different about her now versus how the character started?
Well, kind of in the beginning, she was Casey’s sidekick.  most of the drama going on was revolved around Casey and Ashleigh was just kind of there to support her and be the shoulder to cry on.  Since then, the writers have really developed Ashleigh and have given her her own life and have finally declared a major for her [laughs] and you know, given her love stories and complications and she’s grown as a person, and you can start to see who she really is, and that she’s trying to be more of a leader than a follower and yeah, she’s just developed as a person.

You mentioned a little bit of the Thanksgiving episode having to deal with the Casey and Cappie.  What can you tease for us about the finale episode, and SongFest and everything that happens there?
I know [the Thanksgiving episode was] a big episode, especially for people who have watched from the beginning.  [The finale] is Song Fest, which was really, really fun to shoot.  It wraps up the season nicely, and leaves a great cliffhanger for the following season coming up next year.  It’s really fun, you get to see different dance numbers, and singing. And relationships that are developing and ending.  We had so much fun.  We had dance rehearsals.  I had to go into the studio and record the song (check out a sneak peek here – view at your own risk of spoilage).  It was super fun and it was a lot different than what we do all the time.

You guys are back to shooting for next season already, right?
Yep, we’re in the middle of it right now!

You said there’s a big cliffhanger at the end of the finale – what can we look forward to coming up, beyond that?
There’s a pretty big cliffhanger with a relationship with a couple of the big characters on the show.  The next season has a lot to do with them, and whatever they have going on is going to be something.  There’s a breakup that goes on. Casey, Ashleigh, Cappie, they’re all graduating soon, so it’s all about them trying to figure out what they’re going to do after college, or if they want to go to law school, or grad school or something.  The characters are trying to figure out what they’re going to do next.  Rusty has a grant that he is working on.  He has the big project that he’s doing, he’s like building this, thing [laughs].  There’s a lot that’s going on, but it’s all pretty cool stuff and it’s interesting to see where they want to take these characters.

GREEK is so true to life – all the stories feel organic.  You don’t bring in guest stars for the sake of guest stars, and I think that’s a big reason that the show stands above others on the air. Is there anyone we can look forward to as guest stars?
Dan Castelenetta comes back, for a few episodes on and off, I’m pretty sure.  He plays Rusty’s professor.  That’s all I can think of right now.  There are plenty of new characters that come to the show, though!

Every time I talk to someone with the show, and I’ve been lucky enough to talk to a lot of you, there’s this running joke almost.  Is it hard to remember where you are in shooting, and where you are in the characters’ lives since it’s taken quite a few years to tell a few semesters of story?
Oh yeah, all the time.  I’m really confused right now as to what has aired and what hasn’t.  You know, we’re like so much further along than what people have seen.  I always get confused about what I can say [laughs].

I always wonder, do you get a cheat sheet before these interviews that say like “Don’t say this, avoid that”?
No but sometimes they give us the main points that they want us to push [laughs]. Otherwise, it’s left up to me.  Probably not the best idea, haha.

Why do you tell people that they should be watching GREEK?
It’s really good!  I think the thing that most people really like is that college was a huge time in their life.  Like a changing point for them, or they made most of their life long friends there, and it was just a really happy time for people, and a lot of people that watch our show just say how nostalgic it is for them, or high school students are saying that they look forward to college because they see what goes on on our show.  I don’t know, it’s just kind of a fun time!  It’s a really light hearted show, it’s really easy to watch.  It’s really easy to get invested in these characters.  It’s not something you need to make yourself sit down and get ready to watch.  It’s just easy fun.  It really has an appeal to all people.  Just give it a chance!

I do want to touch on Ashleigh’s fashion!  I think there’s always something that someone mentions the day after a GREEK episode airs, about what your character wore the night before!  Do you have a say with any of that, is that your fashion, or is that the costume designer?
The costume designer dresses me like herself.  I wear clothes, her name is Mandy, literally she’ll walk on stage and she’ll take something off that she’s wearing that day, and she’ll put it on me.  It’s like, you need this top I have on.  Everything I have, she probably owns, and Ashleigh’s like a mini Mandy!  I love everything.  It’s really fun to go into my dressing room and find out what the new outfit is for the day! I feel like every time I walk into the hair and makeup room, everybody’s waiting to see what I have on.  It’s usually something very costumey.  There’s many parts of it that like every girl would want to wear, but then there’s the one thing that takes it over the edge that makes it just Ashleigh!

Do you get a chance to watch other TV besides your show?
Not really [laughs]. I spend more of my time on my computer.

Are you guys getting into the Twitter-craze that everyone seems on board with?
I actually don’t have Twitter.  I don’t really know how that works, ha.  I have Facebook, for myself.  I love my Facebook because I upload pictures.  I’m a big picture taker so all of my friends always want copies.  I use Facebook a lot for that.  I have a Myspace where I like reach out to fans.  But Twitter I have not caught on to yet.

The show is on there (@greekshow) so maybe they’ll wear you down!
Well, I went on it once!  That was the only time I went on it.  It was for a Twitter like chat thing, whatever they call it!

What else do you have coming up?
I sang the song for the ABC Family sequel Santa Baby 2.  I sang Santa Baby.  Which is pretty cool; I’m actually pretty excited to see how it turns out.  I’ve heard the song – it’s part of the movie, and there’s like a big scene where it plays so I’m really excited about that.  I’m excited to see the Song Fest episode, because I haven’t seen it yet.  That’s kind of really all I’m up to because GREEK takes over my life [laughs].  Trying to do the singing thing on the side.  There’s not much time.

Would you like to put an album out?  Have you made songs available or is it something you’re just starting to kick around with?
Not really. I have a couple songs like on my website, and then I have the Santa Baby song that’s coming out and will be available on Itunes and stuff.  But otherwise, no I have not recorded one but that is my goal!

Check out the amazing new video from the coolest girl group around, Subtle Sexuality, featuring the beautiful Kelly Kapoor, the pretty Erin Hannon, the ‘Nard Dog and introducing Mr Understood!

I love this song – been singing it all day.  I need their album, pronto!

One of the pilots I found myself eagerly anticipating earlier this summer was ABC’s FLASHFORWARD, the story of what happens when the world blacks out for around 2 minutes, and they see their future.  I got the chance to watch the pilot early and on a fancy big screen and I was hooked from the get go.  One of the stand outs for me in a very diverse cast was my favorite LOST-ian, Sonya Walger (Penny on LOST; Olivia here).  To me she stands out as the heart of the show, and I got a few minutes to chat with her last week about what’s coming and why she thinks now is as good a time as any to fall for this show!

I’m loving FLASHFORWARD!  I’m wondering, what was it about Olivia that drew you to playing this character?
Not only is the premise completely unusual and compelling and high concept, you have the premise supported by these really intricate, complicated, grounded characters.  It’s unusual to have both.  Quite often you read a pilot where there’s a big, exciting, dramatic event, but they’re quite banal characters.  This was a rare exception.

How much did you know about the show, about the character going in?  Is it all on a script by script basis?
It’s entirely script by script.  We shoot two episodes at a time, so I get two ahead of the game, and that’s it, and that’s all I know.  It’s all I knew going in.  David was very candid about how not candid he was going to be, and very unapologetic about that.  I remember at the time, scratching my head, thinking, how will that work, and now, I’m very grateful for it.  I really am.  I’m grateful to just sort of dealing with what’s directly in front of me and what that episode demands and not to have to think too much about the long end game of it.

Is it a relaxed feeling on set, knowing that you have this full season not to tell stories?
It’s a great relief!  Honestly, knowing that we have these writers at the helm, that David has mapped out the entire concept of the whole show, I mean, he really has, is tremendously reassuring as an actor.  It means you know that they’re not just winging it and making it up as they go!  There’s a real sense of a controlling hand behind you, which is tremendously comforting!

What can you say without obviously giving too much away or getting yourself in trouble about what we can expect in upcoming episodes?
Well, this next one, episode 6, airs tonight, is a really fun episode.  There’s such a lot of drama coming into it.  It’s the first episode you really see Simon, Dominic’s character, coming in, and it’s explicitly revealed just how involved he is in so much of what’s been going on.  Olivia has to confront her husband about the information she has about the drinking, and that’s a very powerful scene between the two of them.  And then the net really tightens about her, and Lloyd, and Mark, and the confrontation there that is pretty explosive.  It’s so ingeniously arrived at that you never would have predicted that this is how the three of them would meet and how it would turn out.

Do we get to see yet who sent the text message to Olivia?
I’m sure we will find that out, but you’re not going to find that out next week!

A lot of the story has to do with fate, and whether the characters believe in the future they saw, if it’s avoidable, or fixable.  What would you do if you saw your own flash-forward 8 months in the future?
I would try to forget it as soon as I could. I have no interest in seeing my future at all.  I don’t want to know [laughs].  I wouldn’t want to investigate it very thoroughly at all!

For people who are asking about why now is a good time to get involved in the show, what are you telling them?
I think it’s such an interesting show, and because there’s so many storylines that are revealed as things go along, you’re not buying into something too late here.  It’s very, very clear and quick to catch up with what’s happening.  The whole world blacked out.  People got a glimpse of their future, and now everybody’s trying to cope with what they saw.  That’s essentially all you have to know.  Yeah, there are little clues that you might have missed along the way, but nothing that would preclude from enjoying these characters in these both crazy situation and situation that I think has made all of us stop in our tracks and go wow, what would that be like!

Last question quickly – have you heard about whether Penny’s making her way back to LOST?
No idea, you’ll have to let me know if you find out! [laughs]

Tune into tonight’s all new episode of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES to see how they do Halloween, Mystic Falls style – I’m falling a little more in like with this show day after day!  What about you?

Check out your official first look of Season 8 of 24.  I cannot wait for this season to start!!!  I love me some Jack Bauer!

Oh my god, January, please hurry!

ABC’s offering up some of the greatest comedy on TV these days, and I have to say that I’m falling more in love with Patricia Heaton’s show THE MIDDLE with every episode I watch (it’s got to be because I relate so much with the harried mom and dad who love each other and their strange and wonderful children). In celebration of tonight’s all new episode, “The Block Party”, I had the chance to chat with Patricia about why she loves Frankie, why everyone should be watching, and the mortifying conversation she had with her TV hubby between scenes!

I’m loving the show.  I think that the family unit in this show is more like my family than any on TV.
I think that’s it.  I think that’s right.  I think it’s like most people’s family, actually!

What drew to this character?
The script was so well-written that I kind of couldn’t say no.  I initially thought, gee, why would I want to play a mom, I did it for 9 years, I really need to branch out to something, but the show felt so different when i read the script, and Frankie was not the long suffering perfect wife.  in fact, she’s the opposite, she’s the cause of a lot of problems [laughs].   She’s trying to juggle work and her kids and she sets up all these expectations for herself and her family, you know with the kind of schedules that we have these days, it’s impossible to achieve. She’s constantly being disappointed, and you know, kind of causing her own problems, along with all of her kids and her husband.  I think it was appealing in that she was a real human being and not just the standard voice of reason in a crazy household.

That’s exactly it for me – she’s very relate-able.  She causes problems.  You know, my mom’s forgotten to mail something important plenty of times.
Yes, you know, trying to cut corners, and throwing a bag of fast food on the table for the kids, sometimes you just don’t have time.  You’re trying to do too much and there’s too much expected of you!  You have to kind of cut corners.

The chemistry of the family – you and Neil, and the kids, it’s so believable.  Had you known him before?
I did not know Neil, and it was really funny, I had the most embarrassing conversation with him.  I had only seen the pilot of SCRUBS and I remember him distinctly, he was one of the funniest things in the pilot, but I don’t remember him saying anything in the pilot.  He was like this tall guy who just stared at Zach Braff.  So I don’t know how I got this idea, but I got this idea that his character never spoke.  So I said to him just like a week ago, I said, “how is it having all these lines because you never spoke in like the 9 years you did SCRUBS, right?” and he says, “I had lines!” [we both laugh].  I said, “I don’t know where I got that idea, but I just remember you staring in the pilot.”  He said, “no, my character didn’t have a name, but I definitely had lines.” [laughs].  Oh I was mortified! I thought, my god, how did they know this guy was a good actor because he didn’t have any lines in his past role.  How did he get this role?  Because he’s so good in this role. That was my point, he was so good at Mike, playing my husband, I thought, wow, they took a chance on this guy because he hasn’t spoken on camera yet! [laughs]

What are you saying to people about why you think they should tune in?
I think, you know, there’s two kinds of shows.  You’ve got escapist fantasies like FLASHFORWARD which is really fun to watch and then you have shows like THE MIDDLE which is sort of about the family struggles and economic struggles that everybody’s going through but it’s got a really great, warm, funny take on what you go through every day.  It takes your own daily struggles and elevates them to the point of comedy!  Which I think is always a relief.  I think people need that relief.

Is there a sense of almost relief or relaxation on the set knowing you have a full season to play for sure?
Yeah, I don’t think we ever really worried about that.  We’re not in control of what time we’re put on the schedule, we’re not in control of how we’re promoted, we’re only in control of showing up at work and trying to produce the best stuff we can.  We’ve known it’s a good show and the critics have supported us, we’ve known that it’s great.  When you’re in this business long enough, you know that the only thing you control is your own work, and so you do that well, and you kind of leave it there at the end of the day.  And of course, it is wonderful to get that acknowledgment from the network that they love the show and they’re standing behind us, to get that pick up for the full season after only airing 2 episodes, everyone was hugely excited about it, we were all cheering on the set, it was wonderful news to get!