Switched at Birth: Is There a Future?

Oh my goodness, the next episode has the girls graduating from high school! Time flies! The worst part about looking at next week, though, is the fact that it's a season finale for a drama that has not yet been renewed. A holiday episode has been promised, but there's a chance that will have to function as a wrap-up for the series, which would make me sad. Seventy episodes isn't a bad life, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was hoping we were only half-way through the series' lifespan. The numbers are down this season, ABC Family has a lot of other hits (Pretty Little Liars is getting two more seasons) and potential hits at the moment (though not Chasing Life!), and fans have been railing the show for its depictions of Daphne this season. Do you want to keep following the characters or have you had it with this program?

Switched at Birth "The Girl on the Cliff" (S03E20): Bay tells Regina, Kathryn, and John about Daphne's behavior lately, getting her sister grounded through Prom. [I keep forgetting that not everyone knew about Regina and the gun!] She's only allowed to go to school and the clinic, but while at work, she is given the keys to retrieve some locked-up drugs during an emergency, and takes the opportunity to pilfer a bottle of oxycodone. [I'm really disappointed in Daphne right now!] She decides to pour it down the sink just as she's about to take it, but she's caught when the inventory is off at work, getting her fired. To make matters worse, local ATM footage shows Nacho was at the work site the night it was vandalized, and Regina learns that Daphne was as well. Regina tells Wes the truth, even if it means trouble for her daughter. [gutsy move!] Daphne takes off without her phone, so when Regina calls the clinic and learns Daphne was fired, she panics. She, John, and Kathryn head off to search for Daphne, and Kathryn finds her near Angelo's condo, beside a small shrine to the man. She admits that she never applied to Northwestern, and everything in her life sucks. [I wonder if the writers never intended for her to actually apply, or if they just abused the fact that she hadn't received an acceptance/rejection yet to throw that in.]

The night Daphne goes missing is Prom night, to which Bay wears a tux. Well, let's back up a little. Emmett still feels so bad about what happened last Prom, he campaigns for he and Bay to be named King and Queen. [...and they win?? the counselor's son is that popular??] Then, he books a limo for them, Travis & MaryBeth, and Natalie & Hilary. [aside from the recent Ditch Day, we haven't seen Natalie in FOREVER! why would she be in on the limo with them??] But, when Carlton institutes a dressed-for-girls-and-suits/tuxes-for-guys rule, things start to fall apart, as Hilary doesn't want to wear a dress. When Bay tells Regina that she feels privileged to not have to fight for who she is, Regina suggests she help out her friend with her "royal power." So, Bay decides to dress in pants and a shirt and jacket, as do Marybeth, Hilary, and Natalie. [power in numbers is such a hit-or-miss thing, though...] 

facebook.com/SwitchedatBirth

When they're not let in and question why, a teacher says that they're dressed as freaks, so they walk away. [omg.] Emmett still wants Bay to go home, change, and have a great night, but she wants to stick to her principles, so they create their own alternative Prom outside. [and this is where I have a ton of questions... why doesn't Toby DJ for them if his fraternity gig shut down early? where'd they get all the decorations at the last minute? did anyone else think the quick inclusion of Sharee and Matthew was overly forced??]

Fun Friday: Character Demographics This Season

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

For seventeen years now, GLAAD has been tracking the number of LGBT characters in scripted programming. You can see their entire report here, which is full of fantastic facts and figures. I wanted to share some highlights, though, as the numbers are pretty interesting.

Their estimate for the 2012-2013 television season (defined as any show premiering 6/1/12-5/31/13) is that 4.4% (of 701, meaning 31) of all regular characters (on new shows and returning shows) on the five major networks are LGBT. An additional 19 recurring characters are LGBT as well. Cable adds another 35 regulars and 26 recurring.

Where We Are On TV 2012-2013 Season
http://www.glaad.org/files/whereweareontv12.pdf

For comparison, they counted only 1.1% of all regular characters on network programming being LGBT in 2007.

Some other facts from the report that stood out to me:

- Women make up 45% of television characters this season.

- Of the network LGBT characters, 61% are gay men, 20% are lesbian women, 14% bisexual women, and 4% bisexual men. On cable, 49% are gay men, 27% are lesbian women, 15% are bisexual women, and 8% are bisexual men. Of the cable LGBT characters, 4% are transgender, a category not addressed yet this year on network TV.

- Glee and True Blood tie for the highest number of LGBT characters at six each!

- Showtime has 12 regular LGBT characters, the highest of any cable network.

- The CW only had one LGBT character at the start of the 2011 season, but now they have four. Speaking of The CW, 83% of their characters are white. (For comparison 72% of NBC's characters are white.) Latinos are specifically under-represented, with only 4% of the characters on network programming being Latino, despite the US being 16% Latino!

- Last year, only five LGBT characters were "people of color," (POC) but this year there are 14.

- The only network shows this year to have LGBT POC are Bones, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23, Emily Owens, MD, Glee, The Good Wife, Grey's Anatomy, The LA Complex, Malibu Country, The Office, Smash, and Suburgatory. Four are Latino, three are Asian/Pacific Islander, and seven are Black.

- On cable, LGBT POC can be found on Anger Management, Army Wives, Enlightened, House of Lies, Major Crimes, Pretty Little Liars, Single Ladies, Superjail!, Teen Wolf, True Blood, and White Collar.

- The number of disabled characters (a population we've looked at before) decreased this year, to just four - one on each of the four largest networks. GLAAD counts characters with "non-apparent disabilities such as cancer or HIV/AIDS" (as does the ADA). [Because the number is so low, I'll name them for those interested: Dr. Robbins on Grey's Anatomy is an amputee, CSI has a character using prosthetic legs, Parenthood has a character with Asperger's, and Artie on Glee uses a wheelchair. Dr. Robbins will be one of only two LGBT characters with disabilities, the other is the diabetic Thor on Nurse Jackie.]

How do these numbers compare with what you thought they were or where you think they should be? 

For starters, I know that I was surprised to see there were shows featuring six LGBT characters, and I'm surprised at how many of the depicted LGBT characters are white.  

News Roundup: Late December Edition

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
The Nate Berkus Show has been canceled. The final episode will air in May.

A fifth season of Ruby is not planned.

The League has been renewed for a fourth season.

CBS, FOX, and NBC all renew their NFL deals through 2022. Here's a little history if you're interested.

Psych returns with new episodes on Wednesday, February 29th at 10pm Eastern.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been canceled as a regular series, but will still air specials from time to time. The final episode will air on January 13th. [Apparently many people are upset about this cancellation...]

House of Anubis, a Nickelodeon live-action mystery show, returns with its second season on Monday, January 9th at 7pm Eastern.

Enlightened has been renewed, but Hung, How to Make it in America, and Bored have all been canceled.

Hell on Wheels has been renewed for a second season. [bleh.]

Cast & Plot Updates:
On March 19th, "A" on Pretty Little Liars will be revealed.

Alicia Silverstone will have a recurring role on Suburgatory, playing a love interest for George.


Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
Showtime is having a free weekend Friday, January 6th - Sunday, January 8th. Not all providers are participating, however, so take a look at the list on that site to see if you're lucky or not.

Lowe's and Kayak pulled (or "did not renew") their advertising from All-American Muslim. Since this is one of the bigger news stories lately, I imagine that you've heard all about it by now, but I still wanted to throw up some links, just in case.

President Obama's favorite shows include Homeland and Boardwalk Empire. Also, the Obama family enjoys Modern Family.

The average American watched 34.1 hours of television on average each week in 2011. It was 33.9 hours in 2010. And, 42% of all homes in America now have a DVR of one sort or another.

HBO is developing a drama series called Beat the Reaper, focusing on a young ER doctor. [I like the title!]

CBS has acquired the rights for broadcast distribution of Hot in Cleveland.

Speaking of Hot in Cleveland, Betty's White's 90th Birthday Bash will air on January 16th on NBC. Her birthday is January 17th.

If you have Time Warner Cable and subscribe to HBO, HBO Go is finally available for streaming. Expect to have the unlimited option within a month.

NBC.com is offering full-season free streaming of Up All Night, Whitney, and Grimm through January 15th, so if you want to pick up these shows, now is a good time. This season's episodes of Parenthood, The Voice, The Biggest Loser, and The Sing-Off are also available.

Similarly, all the episodes of Pan Am are available free on iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, CinemaNow, the PlayStation Store, and Sony Video Unlimited.

Next fall, Bloopers will return to the air.

Cougar Town is going to have viewing parties across the country to hype up the fading comedy. A star and a writer will be in attendance at each one (and they started a few days ago), and plenty of prizes will be available for attendees.

16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom star Amber is back in jail, and will be until at least January 27th, when she appears before a judge. She's in for probation violation, battery, and possession of a controlled substance. Regarding her probation violation, she failed to submit to some drug tests, didn't get her GED, didn't complete anger management classes, didn't put $10,000 into en educational fund for Leah, and she owes some fees. The battery is the same old charge from a while ago. The controlled substance is in regards to pills such as hydrocodone that she has without a prescription. Oh, and she wants to get out of Teen Mom ASAP.

Did you see Betty White talking about Monday Night Football? It's fun.

News Roundup: Renewals & Return Dates All Around

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
South Park returns with Season 16 on March 14th, 2012. Eastbound & Down and Life's Too Short will premiere Sunday, February 19th, 2012. [Comedy Central Press Release]

FOX's Alcatraz will premiere at 8pm on Monday, January 16th. It will move to 9pm on the 23rd, and House will take the 8pm slot. Napoleon Dynamite will start Sunday, January 15th, at 8:30pm. Bob's Burgers will return March 11th at 8:30pm.

Pretty Little Liars was renewed by ABCFamily for a third season.

A.N.T. Farm was renewed by Disney Channel for a second season.

USA's Common Law will debut at 10pm on January 26th. White Collar will return on January 17th and Royal Pains will resume on January 18th.

Dance Moms will return to Lifetime on January 10th, 2012.

Undercover Boss will return for a third season on Sunday, January 15th.

Web Therapy has been renewed for a second season.

La La's Full Court Life was renewed for a second season on VH1.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Ricky Martin will guest on Glee in late January, as "the hottest Spanish teacher ever in the history of Ohio."

Michelle Duggar has miscarried the 20th child, who was set to debut on 19 Kids and Counting in April. Michelle was in her second trimester and it's believed that the family will hold a funeral once they find out if it was male or female.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
Oxygen has three new docu-series in the works (all working titles). First, All the Right Moves, which is about friends living together and forming a dance troupe. Next, That's D'Amore, which looks at the lives of three sisters who live a privileged life thanks to their family's pizza business. Last, Taking NY, which follows some best friends trying to "have it all" in NYC. [Oxygen Press Release]

There's a great Burn Notice giveaway going on! One for Psych, too!

AMC has acquired the syndication rights to CSI: Miami, and it'll premiere on Monday, January 2nd, at 5pm, and will run in that slot on weekdays.

Dunder Mifflin will be a new brand of copy paper available through quill.com.

Harry Morgan, better known as Colonel Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H, has passed away at the age of 96.

If you're looking to get caught up Revenge or Once Upon a Time, ABC.com has all of the episodes of both up and available through January 3rd for the former and January 8th for the latter.

After House ends, Hugh Laurie will not take another television acting gig. He's thinking "writing or producing or directing or some other aspect."

Community will be featured on Hulu Plus now. Next-day access of new episodes will be available, as well as the entire back library.

There has been even more talk about Cable providers considering switching to a la carte subscriptions. [even though this particular article is two months old.]

On Live! with Kelly, Neil Patrick Harris snuck in a kiss to Betty White. [totally cute, by the way.] Also while guest-starring with Kelly Ripa, NPH and Kelly both inhaled sulfur hexafluoride, which has the opposite effect as helium!

I never knew that Saved by the Bell was cancelled every single season. Between that and not having the internet, it's no wonder that Mark-Paul Gosselaar and the rest of the SBTB gang managed to stay grounded! They didn't think anybody cared about the show!

Game of Thrones first season will be out on DVD March 6th, 2012.

ABCFamily has finished production on the new pilot Baby Daddy. Now, they're working on production for the new pilot Village People.

15 Things from Ian Harding

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Not long after speaking with Troian Bellisario, we had the chance to be part of a Q&A with another Pretty Little Liars star, Ian Harding. Ian plays Ezra Fitz on the popular ABCFamily show. Ezra is an English teacher who is in a relationship with Aria, one of the main four girls on the show.

First, some things he said about the show:

- He really enjoyed shooting a particular upcoming episode, but because giving any explanation would give away some spoilers, he wasn't able to say much. Everyone had a good time, things were loose on set, and it was just fun to shoot.

- Another girl (or girls) will have an impact on Ezra & Aria's relationship. No more information was given, though!

- Ian believes that there's no way that the show could continue for a whole other season with Ezra in the dark about who "A" is.

- If he could, Ian would give Ezra a whole book of advice! He'd tell him to follow his heart, among other things.

- Ian's character hasn't interacted much with Torrey's or Sasha's, but he'd love to do scenes with either of them if it ever works out that way.

- Though it's probably not in the cards, some guest stars Ian would love to have on Pretty Little Liars include Carey Mulligan, Marion Cotillard, Christopher Plumber, Ewan McGregor, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.


 Now, some personal things: 

- When he receives a new script, he only reads his parts first. Then, at the first table-read, he experiences the entire episode for the first time while the entire cast is reading. There's usually something shocking in the episode that results in him having his jaw on the table the entire time. "Each episode, my jaw goes progressively lower to the floor."

- He hangs out with Torrey DeVitto and Keegan Allen off-set.

- The biggest challenge for him as a television actor (he did live theatre previously) is to not over-think things and just "let go and surrender to the situation, to the moment."

- The Ezra character reads a lot. Ian likes to read as well and has recently finished Painters. The next book on his agenda is Just Kids by Patti Smith. He likes to read everyday so that his mind doesn't go "to mush."

- Other things Ian likes to do include cooking, hanging out with friends, and seeing movies. He LOVES movies. He makes a good shortbread and does a raw beet and pear salad with mint. A while back he did an extremely tender standing rib roast.

- If he wasn't an actor, Ian would probably be a psychiatrist or be doing manual labor.

- As a guilty pleasure, he likes to watch Bully Beat Down.

- He has been auditioning around Los Angeles, although there really are no breaks in the filming schedule for Pretty Little Liars until December. 

- He's not too familiar with Twitter yet. When his name and that of his character were trending, he didn't understand the significance at first. But he now knows that it's a worldwide thing and it's cool. He feels blessed and thinks that Twitter has really helped with the show's popularity.

That's it for today! Thanks again to ABCFamily and New Media Strategies for the opportunity to chat with Ian Harding! 

10 Fun Facts from Troian Bellisario

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Although I don't regularly watch Pretty Little Liars, I do find the concept behind the show intriguing. So, when I had the chance to speak with Troian Bellisario, who plays Spencer Hastings on the show, I was happy to get a little more insight into the show. There were some wonderful questions and I learned a lot in just half an hour. Some of the most intriguing things I found out are included below. 

- Troian's nicknames range from T-Rizzle to T-Bone, T-Bird, T-Rex, anything with T.

- Troian comes from a family who works in show business. (You may be familiar with her father, Donald Bellisario, producer and screenwriter who has worked on shows such as Magnum PI, Quantum Leap, JAG, NCIS. Her mother and several siblings are actors.) When she went to her parents and told them that she wanted to act, they asked her to see if there was anything else in the world she would do instead.

- In a fantasy world, Troian would be a rock star. When she was younger, she had a "very intense obsession with death" and was fascinated by forensic scientists and morticians. She had a "draw to work with the dead."

- Troian hasn't had cable in five years, but really enjoyed watching Six Feet Under on DVD. She also is trying to follow Game of Thrones because she read the pilot and auditioned for it and fell in love with it. She prefers movies instead, because of the containment.

- Troian started teaching herself guitar a little while ago. She enjoys playing Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith, Arcade Fire, and The White Stripes.

- When she has free time on the set, Troian likes to sleep, write, and work on other projects.

- Troian does not know who A is. She says that the writers are keeping their options as open as possible.

- Both Troian and Spencer are studious and put a lot of pressure on themselves to succeed. We see Spencer's uptight and focused attitude on the show, and Troian said that she was valedictorian of her class, she "felt that [she] had to be the best and the brightest at everything otherwise [she] wasn't worth anything." One big difference is that Troian has learned to re-evaluate her priorities and Spencer has not yet had the life experience necessary to see that need. If Troian was to describe Spencer's superpower, she'd say it was her intellect.

- When asked what her favorite wardrobe piece has been, Troian pointed out that, she'll have a favorite piece, but by the time she's done wearing it (seven days straight for fourteen hours each day), she just wants to get it off and burn it. She does think that there are some awesome outfits coming up, and that the clothes are adorable and really insane.

- My own question to Troian focused on how she enjoys a regular lead role in comparison to the the movies, theatre, and small TV guest roles she did in the past. Doing Pretty Little Liars has really taught her how to carry on and be a professional. Working on something ten months of the year means you aren't always feeling great, and you have to be tough and keep up a good morale. A lot of people "have a lot of ideas about how glamorous it all is and how fun it all is" but you just have to make sure that you're doing your best job for the show.

Thanks to ABCFamily for inviting TheTalkingBox to be part of this Q&A!

10 Things I Learned about Ashley Benson

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Ashley Benson has had a career in film and television for several years now, although I haven't seen her in much. She has a few years of soap operas under her belt, and right now everyone seems to know her from Pretty Little Liars, which is a pretty new show on ABCFamily. She was available to talk about her work on that show and also on her upcoming television movie, Christmas Cupid, which is one of the new films for ABCFamily's "25 Days of Christmas" event this year. Now, I knew very little about her to begin with, so I had a very educating time sitting in on the discussion. I did formulate several of my own questions, and had the opportunity to ask two of them.

- Ashley does hang out with her co-stars off-set, and they get along really well. That's cool, since I'd think it might get catty, LoL. It amuses me that they go out shopping and stuff as a foursome... I bet they get recognized a lot more than they would if they were out individually.

- Her favorite Christmas movie is The Grinch with Jim Carrey... so that totally dates her as way younger than me, LoL. And every Christmas Ashley goes to her paternal grandmother's house and they have a giant scavenger hunt to find their gifts.

- Christmas Cupid is an update on A Christmas Carol, and Ashley said that she loves A Christmas Carol since the story is good and Charles Dickens is amazing.

- She really wants to get into film. And she wants to play characters other than "the pretty girl." She'd like to try playing a druggie or something "darker." I find this interesting since she plays a ghost in the upcoming Christmas Cupid, rather than the female lead, per se.

- Her character on Pretty Little Liars, Hanna, didn't always wear a fat suit in the flashbacks. In the beginning she just had on a lot of layers, but now there's a customized fat suit in her wardrobe.

- A lot of fans who approach her confide that they have problems similar to those of the show's characters, like eating disorders. Ashley talked about how she tells people that the ads in magazines and stuff are all photoshopped and that it's all "movie magic." While that's encouraging to hear, I don't think the industry would like her telling people those sorts of things.

- She watches her work in private because she is so critical of herself. Her mom has watching parties but she doesn't attend.

- She admires Natalie Portman's work. And, if given the chance, she'd love to play Lucille Ball - she just loves I Love Lucy and considers Lucille Ball to be an amazing actress.

- She was homeschooled for high school. She hated going to school when she was younger, and was often teased in elementary school for being a dancer or being "in the industry." I can't ever remember a dancer being teased at my elementary schools (all four of them, LoL). They were usually cool kids. The kids who were teased wore glasses, smelled bad, ate their boogers, had mental disabilities, had buck teeth... that sort of thing. And "goody two-shoes" were teased, but they didn't really care.

- Dancing is the only sport she'd ever done. She was competitive for eight years or so. But she loves the Lakers and goes to every game that she can. She watches some of the games on-set with the crew.

Also, I did receive a screener for Christmas Cupid, and I look forward to watching it and reporting this week.