Last night, on The Walking Dead‘s supersize Season 2 premiere, little Carl Grimes (played by Chandler Riggs) finally wrenched the spotlight away from the adults on the show, for a few minutes. But now that his future is uncertain, to say the least, we got to thinking about how little we actually know about Carl — which reminded us of how many kids on TV are not characters so much as props. They’re there to look cute or give the illusion of a well-rounded family or provide a focal point for their parents’ anxieties.
Since there are tons of minor kid characters on TV, we made two rules for this list: 1. The child in question can’t be a baby, because a person who can neither walk nor talk can’t be expected to hold down his own story line. 2. The kid has to be the sibling or offspring of one of the show’s main characters. Peruse our picks for TV children who might as well be props after the jump, and add your suggestions in the comments.
This week, the long-running WB-turned-CW drama Smallville airs its two-hour series finale. No doubt the most anticipated moment of the episode will be the return of Michael Rosenbaum reprising his role as Lex Luthor. The actor, who left the series in 2008, finally decided to come back due to the intense outcry of fans, who lobbied long and hard for the bald villain to bid adieu before Clark Kent flew off the airwaves forever. There are a variety of reasons why actors return to shows they had departed, including wrapping up storylines and honoring the series that launched them into stardom. Here is a look back on other actors who came back for the swan songs of their respective series. (Needless to say, there are spoilers ahead.)
We weren’t sure what to expect on Sunday’s Big Love finale. With only 70 minutes to tie up one of TV’s most tangled plot webs, the show was going to need a Joseph Smith-worthy miracle to finish up without seeming incomplete. And, thankfully, one of our favorite series actually pulled it off — but not without pulling the trigger on a few of its central characters. Now, it goes without saying that we should be happy to see TV’s villains die. But it struck us, watching this demise, that sometimes we enjoy seeing characters we were probably supposed to be rooting for meet their maker. After the jump, we round up seven TV deaths we shouldn’t have enjoyed but secretly loved. Spoilers abound throughout the post, but don’t scroll past page one if you don’t want to know which Big Love characters return to Heavenly Father.
Social science newsflash: pathetic guys often date women who are too good for them. Of course, the conclusions of this recent Slate piece will come as no surprise to those of us who watch TV. From Homer Simpson to Andy Dwyer to George Costanza, television shows abound with dudes who don’t deserve their ladies. A field guide to those gentleman, by type, is after the jump.
Great couples are everywhere on TV, and we often hear their praises sung. Hell, the L.A. Times just devoted an entire feature to Eric and Tami Taylor of Friday Night Lights. But to be perfectly honest, some of our favorite TV pairings are the fascinatingly uncomfortable ones, from frigid spouses Pete and Trudy Campbell on Mad Men to Liz Lemon and, well, basically anyone. Our picks for the top 10 awkward TV couples are after the jump. Tell us yours in the comments.
If the first promo clip for Big Love’s final season is any indication, we’ve got some epic TV to look forward to beginning January 16th. Although the 37-second video gives away exactly zero plot points, the sense of the Henrickson family’s imminent collapse — and eternal damnation — is pervasive, from the panicked dialog to the shadowy lighting. So, because we were going to waste all day thinking about what it all might mean anyway, we’ve decided to share our overthinking with you. After the jump, watch the promo, follow along with our predictions about what it all means, and add your own hypotheses in the comments.
1. Allegedly Conan O’Brien has been told by NBC that he needs to either accept a move to midnight or leave the network. No wonder he’s not making any jokes. [via TMZ]
2. James Cameron has optioned Charles Pellegrino’s upcoming nonfiction book The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back — which provides accounts from Japanese civilians and American pilots who experienced the atomic explosions firsthand — with his own personal funds. [via Variety]
3. “I’ve done a lot of stuff I’m really ashamed of.” – Michael Cera on breaking the law [via MTV]
4. An “audio sculpture” installation based on The xx‘s eponymous debut album opened at a London gallery last night. [via NME]
5. The new season of Big Love premieres on Sunday, and Bill Henrickson is running for public office. [via LAT]
So your husband has been lying to you for years about his identity, your dad just died, and a man who isn’t your husband just proposed to you. Oh, and did we mention that someone shot Kennedy? Yes, Betty Draper, you are living proof that sometimes it really is hard being so beautiful. Luckily for you, however, you’re not alone. More endorphin-deprived housewives after the jump. Interestingly, most of them come from HBO series.
We finally got around to seeing your film Step Brothers (apologies, but we had to get through the Season One of Mad Men, a Sci Fi Channel miniseries called Tin Man, and a few rogue episodes of Big Love in our queue first). While we know there are plenty of beer-guzzling 20-somethings who will disagree with us based on the cult popularity of Anchorman and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, we’ve decided that you should stick to directing shorts.
