Tv.com News

Note: I'll be taking over News Briefs for the rest of the week to give Tim some time off. I promise not to Britta this.

BUSINESS TIME

... The empire business is apparently doing well. Sunday's penultimate episode of Breaking Bad was the most-watched episode in the show's history, with right around 3 million viewers tuning in to see that one bald guy do that bad thing to that other bald guy. [Vulture]

... ESPN and MLB have agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $5.6 billion that will keep baseball on the World Wide Leader through at least 2012. The deal, which requires ESPN to pay double what it's been paying each year, gives the network playoff game coverage, something it lost the last time it negotiated. No word as to how ESPN will integrate Tim Tebow into this coverage. [THR]

... Apparently they weren't kidding about living forever in that song: MGM TV and Nigel Lythgoe, uber-producer of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance are bringing Fame back to television with a contemporary re-imagining—not to be confused with the now less-contemporary re-imagining that happened with the 2009 feature film remake of the same property. So if you're keeping track, Fame has now been: a 1980 film by MGM, a TV show that aired from 1982–1987, a 2009 film, and now another TV show. I eagerly await the 2028 film and the 2033 TV show. [Deadline Hollywood]

... The musical chairs (not to be confused with those of The CW's immortal Oh Sit!, of course) of scheduling honchos continues, as ABC has recruited Andrew Kubitz, a CBS programming executive, to join its team. Kubitz replaces Jeff Bader, who left to go do a similar job over at NBC presumably for more money because really, who would want to do scheduling for NBC? [Variety]

... Steve Burton, a longtime fan-favorite on ABC's General Hospital is leaving the show after more than 21 years playing Jason Morgan. I'd love to tell you I had a good quip here, but soaps have taken enough hits over the last few years and I'm more of a The Young and the Restless guy. [TV Guide]

... The comedy-script buying spree continues, as NBC has grabbed hold of pitch from Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith called Gates. The script is based on a British show of the same name that just debuted a few weeks ago and follows parents dealing with the awkward situations that arise when dropping off and picking up their kids outside of school. [Deadline Hollywood]

CASTING NEWS

... Bunhead Bailey Buntain will guest on an upcoming episode of The Middle as a new student who Sue tries to mentor through the social hierarchies of high school. Shockingly, Buntain's character ends up faring better with the cafeteria's one percent than Sue typically does. [EW]

... It's that time of year when new series begin moving deeper into their initial episode orders and therefore need to fill a bunch of new roles. A slew of people joined new series over the last day or so. Michael Gaston (Damages, Fringe, Unforgettable) is coming to Last Resort for a multi-episode arc as the father of Autumn Reeser's character. He will probably wear a suit and glare at people. Pretty Little Liars' Sterling Sulieman has joined The New Normal as the "Republican EMT brother" of NeNe Leakes' character. Based on the subtle way Ryan Murphy handles things, I can't wait to see his measured approach to Republican ideology. Michael Wiseman (The Closer) and Vinessa Shaw have been cast in recurring roles on CBS's period drama Vegas. Shaw will play the wife of Michael Chiklis's Vincent Savino and Wiseman will play the right-hand man to Jonathan Banks' Chicago gangster character. I'm just happy that Banks is on another show where he gets to argue with more bald guys. [Deadline Hollywood]

... Though not casting per se, Katie Couric has announced the first guests for her aptly named daytime talk show, Katie, and if you had post-baby Jessica Simpson in your office pool then you should probably let me know where you work because it sounds like an awesome place. Simpson will be joined by Sheryl Crow, who apparently wrote and will perform the show's theme song. If you miss the opening show on September 10, it's okay, you can go back to 2003 and it will be just as relevant. Katie's other early guests include: Jennifer Lopez, Hedi Klum, Demi Lovato, 50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James, and a bunch of other women. Literally, there are no men announced to appear on the show thus far. It's like a gender reverse of most everything else on television. [Deadline Hollywood]

MAKING FUN OF JAY LENO IS AS PASSE AS JAY LENO NEWS

... Howard Stern is claiming that NBC reprimanded him for taking a shot at Jay Leno by calling Leno a "spineless maggot" during a rant about Leno's supposed pay cut that could help save jobs over at The Tonight Show. I can't wait until Leno responds to Stern by delivering a nine-minute monologue about Snooki's pregnancy. [The Wrap]

Cory Barker is a co-founder of This Was Television and the founder of TVSurveillance.com. Follow him on Twitter: @corybarker.

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Ben (second from left), Kate (third from left), and three other people with names.

"Good things come to those who wait" is a mantra for ketchup and sissies. Grab life by the horns and carpe the diem and take a mile when someone gives you an inch, I say! While other TV fans are going the traditional route and waiting for the fall season to officially start on their television sets, you are going to be smarter and better-looking by watching network previews on your computer!

Fox has released its two new high-profile comedies—The Mindy Project and Ben and Kate, both of which made our Most Anticipated New Fall Shows list—online early in hopes that the internet will generate some buzz, much like it did last year with New Girl. If you do watch them, Fox is hoping you'll shower them with praise on Facebook, Twitter, and your OKCupid profile for all your friends to see.

The Mindy Project stars The Office's Mindy Kaling as a romantic-comedy-obsessed doctor who's unlucky in love. It's Mindy being Mindy, basically, you know, riding bicycles and being drunk. Ben and Kate stars Dakota Johnson and Nat Faxon (I'm obligated to mention that Faxon is an Oscar-winner for co-writing The Descendants) as siblings at odds. She's a single mom, he's a vagabond space cadet! Also, they're both unlucky in love. Both shows will join a new comedy block anchored by New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel as a woman who is unlucky in love. Fox Tuesdays, where love meets unlucky.

Watch the two pilots (they're not embeddable) at one of the sites listed below, form an opinion using your brain, and come back here and tell the world what you thought. Note: I'm guessing that territories outside of the U.S. are going to have trouble with the videos, so ask your American friends to watch and then describe the shows to you in their sexy American accents.

The Mindy Project: Hulu, Fox, Yahoo

Ben and Kate: Hulu, Fox, Yahoo

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Grimm S02E03: "Bad Moon Rising"

What do incestuous coyote-monsters, a bathtub full of animal remains, and pelts gussied-up like a fifth-grade taxidermied diorama have in common? If you need me to tell you then you clearly haven't been watching Grimm, so get out now while the rest of us discuss fairy-tale monster sex rituals. Thank you!

Last night's "Bad Moon Rising" was the episode where Hank finally learned the truth about Nick and a young girl almost got violated by her hillbilly kin. But let me take a moment to address the biggest shock of the episode, which was the awful new opening title sequence.

This new opening sequence is the worst!

There was something inherently exciting about Season 1's logo and discordant instrumental theme, cluing you in to the fact that there was more to meet the eye in the forested, fantasy-land that is Grimm's Portland. With the new sequence's horribly hyped-up narration and Photoshop-filter fun, I can only hope that the show's title-sequence people saw a Wesen and temporarily lost their minds, and will return to the original opening posthaste.

"Bad Moon Rising" kicked off with Operation Freak-Out-The-Amnesia-Patient as Nick showed Juliette a really boring slideshow of their relationship and established that Juliette remembered everything in her life but Nick. Monroe suspected Adalind's spell was geared toward erasing the Grimm from Juliette's life.

The real meat of the episode, however, was Hank and Nick's search for a seventeen year-old AP Student, kidnapped by a hick in a denim vest ('90s holdovers are always a red flag, guys). This was, without a doubt, one of the creepiest rape-centric Grimm plots to grace the screen since Season 1's "Lonelyhearts," and yes, I realize I've now written "rape-centric plot" for the second time about one network TV show. Grimm, ladies and gents!

The missing AP student was Carly, the daughter of one of Hank's oldest friends and goddaughter to Hank. Kidnapped by her inbred Texan relatives, Carly and her kin were Coyotls (coyote-Wesen) and her uncle and cousins wanted her to be part of a shudder-inducing Coyotl mating ritual. After Hank spent some time reflecting on his Wesen-induced PTSD he and Nick tracked the kidnappers first to a rotting corpse in an apartment building, and then to a foreclosed barn where Carly was being held. Teamed up with Carly's father, the truth came tumbling out after Hank nearly killed the transformed Coyotl Carly and Nick had to admit he could also see the Wesen. Hank and Nick then took care of the Coyotl's by being unimpressed when they transformed, the Texans were arrested, and Coyotl Carly was safe once again and free to take too many AP classes.

Let's get this out of the way now: Come on, Grimm, Coyotl? For a show that forces me to misspell complicated German words every week I expected better of you. If I'm not cursing the English-to-Deutsch function in Google Translate then it's not Grimm!

That said, I think we're all relieved to see Hank taking a proactive role this early in the season. Throughout Season 1 Hank was a comedic relief, then an Adalind plot point, and finally an Albatross around Nick's neck. Now he's got the chance to be an equal partner in all things, sleuthing for human and Wesen criminals alike. While some (*cough* me *cough*) would be a bit more miffed that my best friend was content to let me go shotgun-cuddlin' nuts, Hank's determined to see the silver lining once Nick clues him in. With both Hank and Monroe on Nick's side perhaps our Grimm will actually be able to overcome the Royals, rogue Wesen, and the Selective Amnesia Girlfriend. Plus I cannot wait to see the Hank/Monroe meeting!

With the reveal of the truth, it's increasingly obvious this is a Grimm radically different than Season 1, determined to throw status quo to the wind rather than milking a plot. Moreover, this Wesen-of-the-week story did not feel like useless filler as so many of the Season 1 episodes did. It stood on its own and delivered a solid crime story that could have honestly been an episode of a regular procedural drama with the barest of retouches. No longer does the show feel segmented into monster episodes versus mythology episodes—just like Hank and Nick, the show is uniting all the separate pieces.

I will say that I was little troubled at the central "a group of guys kidnap a teenage girl to rape her" plot—and the fact that when Carly's father learns their intentions it takes him two commercial breaks to get as upset as I think most of us would be if we learned our child was kidnapped for a mating ritual. But Grimm avoided exploitive pitfalls and used the horrifying truth to propel the action and raise the stakes rather than wallow in sensationalism, so we'll chalk Father Coyotl's reaction up to Grimm's often-inconsistent guest star acting.

And for now let's rejoice in the enlightening of Hank—this looks like the beginning of a beautiful Grimm friendship.

Questions:
... How are Rosalee and Monroe going to react to Hank, newest addition to Team Grimm?

... Will Juliette become a more likeable character now that she has to literally restart from scratch?

... Was Adalind's spell targeted specifically to Nick memories?

... With the reveal that Hank's high school bud was a Wesen, at this point are there any actual humans in Portland? Real people from Portland, weigh in!

... Now that Hank has seen one Wesen fully transform does that mean he can see them the same exact way Nick can? Or do they need to transform to a certain point for Hank, a non-Grimm, to be able to see them?

... Will Hank become a Deputy Grimm? Can one become a Grimm if one is not born into the Grimm family line?

... How many languages does Monroe know?

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