Please stand by
Upheaval, new technology and wildly fluctuating viewing habits are about to change things even more on the small screen
Alex Strachan, Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, May 03, 2008

Network TV is playing the waiting game.

The prospect of an actors’ strike in June, changing viewer habits, the proliferation of digital video recorders — now in 20 per cent of homes in the U.S. — and declining ratings for some of TV’s biggest hits add up to create a cloudy picture of mainstream broadcast TV’s future.

The major TV networks have mounted a full-court press to lure viewers back into the fold with new episodes of returning favourites like Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and House — even as the end of the season looms. On-air promotional campaigns designed to resemble fall-style launches have reminded viewers when and where those programs will return.

The traditional fall season is up in the air, though.

One network, NBC, has said it will do away with the concept of a fall season altogether, and has instead moved to a year-round model — a decision likely to affect CTV and Global Television, which simulcast many of NBC’s shows here.

The other U.S. networks — CBS, ABC, The CW and Fox — are adopting a wait-and-see approach. Those networks will unveil their fall plans next month; CTV and Global will follow in June. CBC announces its fall schedule on May 26, but even the public broadcaster is mulling over a move to a year-round schedule, once the NHL playoffs end in June.

The writers’ strike meant that several new comedies and dramas have gone straight to series, bypassing the usual network process of ordering pilot episodes and choosing the best.

NBC has already ordered several episodes, sight unseen, of Crusoe, based on the classic novel by Daniel Defoe and described as “equal parts MacGyver, Castaway and Pirates of the Caribbean,” and Kath & Kim, a U.S. adaptation of a hit Australian comedy, starring Molly Shannon as a 40-something divorcee and Selma Blair as her immature, self-absorbed daughter.

NBC’s decision to do away with pilots prompted the network to pick up the new Canadian series The Listener, starring Craig Olejnik as a paramedic with the ability to read minds. The Listener, produced by Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films for CTV, is slated to debut on NBC in the summer of 2009, after its debut on Canadian TV.

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THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY’S SELMA BLAIR

NEW YORK — She’s no longer a Sherman crank. Selma Blair told The Continuum her character in the Hellboy franchise, Liz Sherman, is “definitely grown up” and geared for action for the sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

“She was more like a teenager in the first one, kind of afraid all the time,” Blair said at last weekend’s New York Comic-Con. “Now she’s with Hellboy, they’re in a relationship, which is very strange and wonderful. And I’m a full part of the B.P.R.D. and I’m using my powers. Liz is taking control a lot more.”

Blair said a shift in the character presented acting challenges for the sequel, due in theaters on June 23.

“I was so used to Liz being this mopey girl that really dwelled on her past and the harm she had caused,” Blair said. “And it took a bit for me to learn to take charge of Liz and control things and to mature. Hopefully Guillermo (del Toro, the director) and I did it, because there’s a lot more for me to do in this one. I have my gun, I have my powers and I have my man.”

Blair called the Hellboy-Liz relationship “the real deal.”

“They’re really in love,” she said. “They’re soulmates.

The more mature Liz gets a revamped look for the second film. “It’s something a little more older and a little more chic. I think it reflects the character,” Blair said. “It’s a little more sophisticated.”

Blair — who also provided the voice of Liz in both animated Hellboy films — said there are built-up expections for Hellboy II, even in a summer loaded with comic-book movies.

“Hellboy 1 got so many fans on DVD and built such a huge fan base,” she said. “And I think Guillermo, with the success of Pan’s Labyrnith, so many people have taken notice in him. I think this is an epic movie. I think it’s better than the first one, and Guillermo’s imagination is the best there is. I think it will do great.” .

From Comics Contunuum

Shacking up with Selma Blair’s Liz proves to be more difficult for Hellboy than saving the world.

By Shawn Adler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

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He’s the lead in one of the biggest, most-anticipated comic blockbusters of the summer, an action-packed follow-up in which he reprises his role as the demon Hellboy. He of the super strength. He of the super-healing factor. He of the literally indestructible Right Hand of Doom, a granite fist that holds the key to the apocalypse.

But ask Ron Perlman what he’s most looking forward to in “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” and the answer isn’t more ferocious fights or bigger beasties. It’s romantic, candlelit dinners.

“The stuff that was cool about the first movie, the quiet stuff, the stuff that is interpersonal and character-driven and idiosyncratic [is what I'm most anticipating],” Perlman said. “The charming aspects of it got better in the second one.”

Since the first movie, Hellboy has become something of a lover boy, as his relationship with fellow paranormal investigator Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) has blossomed.

“We start off the film on the next level, where we’re living together.” Perlman teased. “She’s living in my bachelor pad with me and my 55 cats, my 22 television screens, all of which are either playing ‘Popeye’ or ‘The Three Stooges.’ ”

“You know how that goes,” director Guillermo del Toro joked.

“Not well,” Perlman added.

What makes Hellboy’s romance different from most other comic book romances, of course, is that Liz isn’t your prototypical damsel in distress — even when, as in parts of this film, she is something of a damsel in distress.

The couple finished the first film happily united. But what happens when things aren’t going well? There are many pratfalls to office romances, but they pale in comparison to the ones you face when that office is charged with saving the world, Perlman joked, telling MTV News that he was particularly proud of how the Liz/Hellboy dynamic intersected with and influenced the main story.

“The relationship gets tested, which is a story that runs parallel to the big ‘A’ story of the film. You get to see the guy you saw in the first film, who was filled with swagger and one-liners and arrogance, you get to see him completely at sea emotionally,” Perlman revealed. “He’s vulnerable and compromised while he’s trying to save the world. And he’s slightly inebriated because that’s the way he processes utter despair.”

If only there were someone he could talk to. Turns out, there just might be, confessed co-star Doug Jones.

“[Abe Sapien] falls in love for the first time ever,” Jones said. “You asked what we’re looking forward to — I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out onscreen, because it felt really right while we were filming it. Anna Walton plays Princess Nuala, and she’s beautiful and she’s good.

“He was kind of a one-note intellect before,” Jones added of Abe. “Now he’s got an emotional life and also vulnerabilities and insecurities.”

Poor Hellboy. Poor Abe Sapien. Poor humanity. “Hellboy II” opens July 11.

From MTV.com

New York City’s Comic Con was the scene of gushing fan-gasms as the faithful flocked to see the stars of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I’m talkin crowds, wrapped around like noodles, for a chance to see everyone’s favorite ass kicking demon, sans the red make-up, and the rest of the original gangster BPRD crew. The panel was hilarious with monsters on stage and more cursing from Guillermo Del Toro than I’ve ever seen at a public event.

I was lucky enough to get a few minutes with the cast before the panel. It was mayhem as well in the press room, but I did my best to keep the camera steady under the hot lights; for the even hotter Selma Blair, bad guy supreme Luke Goss, Doug ‘Abe Sapien finally gets some lovin’ Johnson, and the baddest mofo this side of hell, Ron ‘Hellboy’ Perlman.

Exclusive: Hellboy II Cast

Exclusive: Selma Blair

From Superhero Flix

There’s a brand new Drew Sturzan poster for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and it can be all yours if you’re going to the New York City Comic Con. The good folks at CHUD have given us a preview shot of it, and the poster is an awesome piece of art.

Even better, this poster can be yours if you happen to be going to the Comic-Con. Anyone attending the Hellboy II: The Golden Army panel on Saturday with Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss and Mike Mignola can get their own copy of the poster.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army stars Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Selma Blair (Liz Sherman), and Doug Jones (Abe Sapien). The sequel film directed by Guillermo del Toro comes to theatres July 11, 2008.

From Superhero Flix