Weekend TV in Review: Good Wife, Luck, Spartacus, Hallmark's Moon

Julianna Margulies and Josh Charles There actually is no better or even more satisfying drama on Sunday nights than CBS' scrumptious The Great Wife - company, I am counting cable (even pay) for the reason that equation, a minimum of for the time being, while we are among seasons of these dynamic signature shows as Homeland, Bet on Thrones, The Walking Dead, etc. (Although PBS' Downton Abbey comes close because the essential TV great escape.) This is also true this Sunday, nearly as good Wife provides a pivotal and sensationally entertaining episode (9/8c) firing on all writers. There's suspense, humor, memorable and electrifying showdowns between most of the major figures, virtually all you want from the show towards the top of its game. Taking center stage: Will Gardner's (Josh Charles) judicial bribery analysis, a vendetta headed through the crisply arrogant special district attorney Wendy Scott-Carr (the terrific Anika Noni Rose), that is now in the grand jury stage where, the old saying goes, they'd even indict a pork sandwich - giving this episode its title, "Another Pork Sandwich." Within this situation, a lot more like deviled pork. The twists come fast and furious as both Will's and Wendy's sides play dirty as well as for keeps - also it will get especially personal when Alicia (Julianna Margulies) is known as towards the stand, being caught in the centre because her estranged husband Peter (Chris Noth) is the one that hired Wendy, his former political rival, to begin with. The legal and emotional fireworks are tremendous and enjoyably surprising, with a few wonderful-to-behold strategy and legerdemain performed through the show's current No. 1 with no. 2 scene-stealers: Barbara Preston because the stealthily ditsy-seeming lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni and Emmy-champion Archie Panjabi as sly, sexy Kalinda. As icing around the cake - whipped cream, to become exact - we obtain the following chapter within the flirty yet cutthroat competition between Eli Gold (Alan Cumming) and upstart consultant Stacie Hal (the amusing Amy Sedaris), competing for any crisis-management gig with Sun Tzu as inspiration for his or her devious tactics. Will they desire one another, or basically the win, or are these goals mutually exclusive? In either case, they offer brilliant comic relief within an episode that never stops twisting and turning. "Let us attempt to lessen the excitement level to any extent further, shall we?" Diane (Christine Baranski) pleads to Will at one juncture. The idea. The Great Wife hasn't been better. Want more TV news and reviews? Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now! HBO'S MANE EVENT: There's poetry moving in HBO's equine-racing saga Luck (Sunday, 9/8c), using the action around the track so thrillingly captured pics of and edited you might not mind once the human drama so frequently feels delayed in the gate. An interest project from Deadwood's David Milch, that has a romantic and affectionate understanding of the world, Luck teems with pungently recognized figures, many living a precarious information on determined desperation. Some silently, like Nick Nolte like a gravel-voiced trainer-switched-owner, seeking redemption for any lost equine plus some noisally, most particularly Kevin Dunn directing Dennis Franz like a dyspectic gambler inside a motorized wheel chair, a part of a gang of 4 shaggy underdogs (together with a scraggly Jason Gedrick, plus Ian Hart and Ritchie Coster) who finish track of an individual stake with what equine causes it to be towards the winners' circle. "Present day your day they go all from us," Dunn wheezes within the series' final episode like a large race looms. But through the nine instances of Luck, they are all large races, with everything else on the line for that rogue's gallery of polyglot (and sometimes unintelligible) grifters, gamblers, trainers, jockeys, agents, proprietors and addicts who hold off the Santa Anita racetrack, wishing fate will smile their way. Whether you will want to hang too is really a more difficult wager. With director Michael Mann setting the visual template within the pilot, Luck always looks magnificent, particularly when individuals mythic and regal horses are center stage. But despite Dustin Hoffman headlining the impeccable ensemble, being an ex-disadvantage murkily plotting his comeback from the plush hotel suite, the plot is really as stubbornly slow-burning as Hoffman's dramatically reined-in performance and ultimately much less inspired. Luck is basically a delicious tone poem, and something of their best moments comes in the midpoint, when Hoffman's Ace stays a evening outdoors the stable from the $two million Irish champion he's his partner (the terrific Dennis Farina) buy like a front. As the equine lightly nuzzles him because he sleeps, Ace and that we at least feel in your own home. HERE'S Bloodstream Inside Your EYE: Or at best your camera lens, as Starz' Spartacus: Vengeance will get going ahead (Friday, 10/9c) - or as I love to think about it, "Spurt-acus," because of all of the gouts of bloodstream, among other body fluids, that flow copiously throughout this lurid melodrama of savage swordplay, sordid talking and animal carnality (a pleasant method to say sex, sex, sex). "I've proven difficult to kill," states the title character, the fabled gladiator-switched-revolutionary, possibly a sly mention of sad and untimely circumstance through which the show needed to replace its original leading guy, Andy Whitfield, who died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma this past year. (The growing season premiere finishes having a tribute card towards the actor.) Using the beefcake reins, and filling the Thracian's sandals a lot more than adequately, may be the Australian actor Liam McIntyre, that has his work eliminate for him because the soulful Spartacus and the ragtag gang of players face being outnumbered and overcome with a Roman military out for his or her bloodstream. (Although it's often their own we have seen being leaking, always graphically and frequently in slo-mo.) While our heroes lurk within the sewers and catacombs of Capua, plotting their next move, we return above ground towards the scene from the climactic first-season massacre in the Bloodstream and Sand season, where Spartacus' loathsome enemy Gaius Claudius Glaber (Craig Parker) and the evil wife Ilythyia (Viva Bianca) are positioned in the ill-fated House of Batiatus to vanquish the uprising. (It will not be considered a surprise to fans whenever a certain survivor from the slaughter seems, however it shocks the togas off these vile Romans.) With over ripe dialogue that seems like Shakespeare ground via a blender of baroque profanity, interspersed with action sequences of just about comical brutality among orgies of debauchery, Spartacus has returned having a vengeance. Don't say you have not been cautioned. Within The MOON: Even by Hallmark Hall of Fame standards, the inspiring schmaltz is cosmically from the charts in ABC's based-on-a-true-story A Grin as Large because the Moon (Sunday, 9/8c). John Corbett changes his charm offensive into overdrive as devoted teacher/coach Mike Kersjes, who rallies his special education students to become the very first of the type (in 1988) to go to Space Camping in Huntsville, Ala. His type of adorably starry-eyed "kids" (including V's Logan Huffman like a dyslexic angry-youthful-guy who obviously works out to become a born leader) is first seen departing a planetarium early when their area trip erupts into chaos. They endure lots of ribbing for his or her various learning and behavior disabilities, frequently activating one another, until Mike sets them the aim of an eternity. Because he convinces doubters this team of misfits has "the best stuff," a indication of "the amazing energy from the human spirit" - company, he makes use of individuals very words - we risk being crushed by all of the uplift. However they reach Space Camping, so that as they meet their challenges mind-on, together with a simulated Space Shuttle flight that tests remarkable ability to obtain along and interact, it might be nearly impossible to not cheer them on. Funnel SURFING: Friendly advice: Have tissue handy with this week's latest installment of PBS' Downton Abbey (Sunday, check local entries). I'll refuse more. ... Other highlights: Fans of NBC's Chuck (Friday, 8/7c) may also be crying to their pocket suppressors, because the adorable spy spoof systems its five-season run with back-to-back episodes. ... You cannot accuse the invention Funnel of being unsure of its audience. The most recent show to fulfill our obsessions with reading for gold and Alaskan adventures, Bering Ocean Gold (Friday, 10/9c), originates from the designers of Most harmful Catch, and follows four ships his or her deck hands scour for riches at the end from the ocean. ... The weekend's musical highlight: Tony Bennett: Duets II (Friday, PBS, check local entries), with shot performances in the legend's chart-topping Compact disc, including "Body and Soul" using the late Amy Winehouse and "The Woman Is really a Tramp" with Rhianna. ... Vintage guilty pleasure: The CLOO funnel digs in to the TV archives for any 24-hour marathon (beginning Saturday at 6 am/5c) from the bare-knuckled detective drama Mannix (1967-75), starring Mike Connors. A then-unknown Diane Keaton seems within the episode scheduled for 10 pm/9c. ... The existence and career of the National football league celebrity is the topic of HBO's sports documentary Namath (Saturday, 9/8c). ... Dick Van Dyke presents his beloved co-star Mary Tyler Moore the 2011 Existence Achievement Award in the Screen Stars Guild Honours (Sunday, 8/7c, TNT and The best spinner's). ... Jeremy Irons offers the unlikely voice for Moe's well-traveled and not avoidable bar rag, which matches missing on Fox's The Simpsons (Sunday, 8/7c). Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now!

Dylan Kidd Will Get A Job

Roger Dodger director finally returnsIt's hard to believe that its now a decade since Dylan Kidd's witty debut Roger Dodger introduced itself. Since then the director has given us the less-seen PS, and more recently some episodes of Adult Swim's Children's Hospital, but Kidd is now finally set to return to cinema screens with Get A Job.The film has the zeitgeisty idea of following a group of recent university graduates facing the fact that, in the current economic climate, they're going to struggle to land satisfying careers. Or any job at all. It's being set up at CBS, where it's attracting some serious attention.Rising star Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole, Footloose, 21 And Over, Project X) is in talks to take the lead, and there's also been interest from Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jay Pharaoh, Anna Kendrick and Bryan Cranston. Jesse Eisenberg, for whom Roger Dodger was a big break, is apparently up for a cameo.CBS are keen to make it clear that no casting has yet been finalised, and that Get A Job doesn't actually even have a green light thus far. But the word on the street is that shooting could start as early as next month.

Scandi 'Phenomena' goes to Giddings

"Thale" is just the latest Nordic property eyed for remake potential. Norway's "Phenomena" books are headed to the bigscreen. Giddings Producer Gudrun Giddings has teamed with Daniel Marc Dreifuss and Marius Haugan to option film rights to Ruben Eliassen's seven-book fantasy series "Phenomena."The Norwegian novels revolve around a prophecy of the ancient magical scripture Phenomena that says two elf children will save the world from evil forces. Brother and sister Alk and Ilke realize they are the chosen ones for this exceptional task.Nicolay Nickelsen is co-producing the project that Filmed Imagination is developing.Eliassen is best known in Norway for his work in the music and advertising industries there. His first book in the "Phenomena" series, "Phenomena: Prophecy Selected," was published in 2002. The latest book was published last fall.Dreifuss and Haugan are currently in pre-production on stop-motion pic "The Dream Prince," based on Eliassen's other book series, "Mare." "We are pleased to add this fantastic world, where adventure and mystery abound, to our diverse slate," the two said of "Phenomena."Swedish-born Giddings, who recently produced the Patrick Dempsey starrer "Flypaper," is the latest Hollywood-based producer to look to Scandinavia as a source for new projects after Sweden's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "Let the Right One In," Norway's "Trollhunter" and Finland's "Rare Exports" grabbed the attention of the majors as remake opportunities. More recently, Martin Scorsese has picked up film rights to Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbo's "The Snowman," while Summit and Swedish shingle Yellow Bird Films are adapting Nesbo's "Headhunters." "Scandinavia has a world of hidden gems, and 'Phenomena' is a treasure I believe can be enjoyed by a worldwide audience," Giddings said.Giddings is also exec producing, together with Lars Helebust, the Norwegian psychological thriller "Thale," now in post-production at Storm Studios in Oslo, with an eye toward remaking it for U.S. auds and selling it to foreign territories."Thale," produced by Yesbox Prods.' Bendik Heggen Stronstad and helmed by Aleksander Nordaas, bows in the region next month. Shingle's credits also includes "Kano" and "Circle."Pic revolves around mythological creature the Hulder, a beautiful woman with long blond hair and a long cow's tail who lives in the Scandinavian woods and seduces men. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

Ough Gervais: I'm Never Hosting the Golden Globes Again

Ough Gervais "Phew! Thank f--- that's over." That's how Ough Gervais known to finishing his third stint as host in the Golden Globes... and also the last. The British comedian and creator in the Office demands he will not be which causes it to be a four-peat moss moss. "I've told my agent not to let me be convinced to make it happen again though," he written on his blog. "It's as being a parachute jump. You'll be able to only appreciate it searching back if you understand you didn't die plus it was quite an amazing step to complete.Inch Ough Gervais on returning for the Golden Globes: "What's the worst that could occur?Inch Gervais, 50, received fire a year ago for his offensive jokes that skewered Hugh Hefner, Charlie Sheen, the cast of Sex as well as the City 2 and Scientologists, among others. Through the 2011 telecast, save for starters bleeped f-blast, Gervais made an appearance being holding back, with a couple of zingers on Justin Bieber's manhood, Jodie Foster's Beaver and Elton John. Still, Gervais states it had been his favorite time hosting. "Everybody else were great this year too," he written. "In my opinion they finally worked out that my gags only made an appearance rude and nasty but were really a smaller amount frightening whatsoever. Or they were just drunker. Either in situation, it absolutely was fun..." You think Gervais should host the Golden Globes again?

Lionsgate's done deal surprises observers

Lionsgate buys Summit for $412.5 million | Wall Street mulls deal's benefits Lionsgate's $412.5 million deal to buy Summit Entertainment, announced Friday, arrived with a notable lack of fireworks. "There was never really much drama in this negotiation," noted James Berk, CEO of Summit investor Participant Media. "It really unfolded in a pretty orderly fashion. I think that's kind of unique." When the deal announcement came a few minutes after the close of markets Friday afternoon, the one real surprise to many was that the transaction wasn't a tentative agreement but a complex completed transaction -- financed as a leveraged buyout that cashes out Summit's investors with a stake of about 5% in the amplified Lionsgate. Summit's ownership -- which includes top Summit execs, Nala Investments and Suhail Rizvi's Rizvi Traverse Management -- had been considering early last year a move into TV production as a way to diversify operations from the core businesses of film production and foreign sales in order to take advantage of the success of the "Twilight" franchise. Toppers Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger told Variety last February that the first moves would take place in the following months."We were looking into the funds it would have taken to expand," Berk noted. "At the same time, Summit became very attractive as a potential acquisition so these conversations started with multiple parties."Besides monetizing the investment of the Summit owners, Berk said, the Lionsgate deal offers the benefits of being able to take better advantage of the "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" franchises, long-term stability, monetization of the Summit library and the firepower to compete effectively with the big six studios."This really is the right deal at the right time," he added. Berk also expects the deal to benefit Participant, which is already halfway through a five-year output deal with Summit and looking to ramp up feature production and move into TV production. The eight-year-old company -- focused on areas such as the environment, healthcare, human rights, institutional responsibility, peace and tolerance -- has backed "Syriana," "Inconvenient Truth," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Contagion" and "The Help." Berk admitted that he's cognizant of there being one less buyer in Hollywood. "On the one hand, it is frustrating to lose a player in the feature film market," Berk told Variety following the announcement. "But if the company executes, there's plenty of capacity for its product." Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Exclusive clip from Steven Soderberghs Haywire

[brightcove]1387756159001[/brightcove]We have got our on the job a unique clip from Haywire, which, handily, you can view above.The footage showcases the sinister goings-on of dodgy official types Coblenz (Michael Douglas) and Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas).Mallory, the lady the two males are talking about, is really a rogue special operations agent hunting lower the males who presented her. So that as she's performed by MMA star Gina Carano, she wreaks revenge with ass-kicking flair.It is good to determine Douglas back on form (and Banderas sporting a really regal beard) within the action movie's rare quite moments.Haywire opens within the United kingdom on 18 The month of january 2012.

Syfy adds three VPs

"Face Off" Syfy has triggered three unscripted programming professionals within the V . p . level to supervise its slate of reality series, like the new makeup/prosthetics competish show "Face Off." Robyn Lattaker-Manley, Wayne Sampson and Colin Whelan will be the NBCUniversal cabler's new veeps, alternative programming, verifying to senior V . p . Tim Krubsack. Tori Socha and Andrew Whitney join the web as company company directors of alternative programming. Lattaker-Manley, Sampson and Whelan will manage Syfy series including "Ghost Potential predators," "Fact or Photoshopped: Paranormal Files," "Haunted Collector," "Paranormal Witness," "Hollywood Treasure," and approaching skeins "Monster Guy," "Dream Machines" and "Total Blackout." The crew may even manage developing new unscripted shows for your internet. The Three have varied abilities inside the same industry: Lattaker-Manley labored becoming an indie producer carrying out a stint at Wager Sampson requires the cabler from Dick Clark Prods. and Whelan arises from TLC. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

Keck's Exclusives: New Girl's New Valentine

New Girl Due to its first Valentine's episode, Fox's New Girl will get a hot-blooded addition because of True Blood's Ryan Kwanten (also called Jason Stackhouse). Inside the February 14 episode, Zooey Deschanel's Jess goes cruising inside a bar searching for a sense-free one-evening stand and encounters Ryan's Oliver. "I save her from choking around the cherry," teases Ryan, who states Zooey welcomed him on set with open arms. "But he loves talking about food and calculates being most likely probably the most boring males she's ever dated."For his or her own V-Day history, Ryan notifies me, "I've been single for this type of very long time that Valentine's seems like another day." Altogether now: Awww....The nights will probably be far steamier for Mr. Kwanten this summer season when True Blood stream returns due to its fifth insane season. "I'm already back shooting," according to him. "Jason is unquestionably treading into uncharted areas with Jessica. A minimum of, his one-track mind is dependant on love." Perhaps it would be unfortunate if his ex-flame - Reverend Newlin's wife, Sarah - would return in Bon Temps and mess everything up?Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

Consumer electronics spending to top $1 tril in '12

Spending on consumer electronics devices worldwide is expected to top $1 trillion in 2012, driven in large part by tablets and smartphones, according to research released Sunday by the Consumer Electronics Assn.Televisions, long a robust category, are losing momentum.Sales of TVs were up 2% in 2011, and are expected to be up another 1% in 2012, to 262 million units. However that growth is concentrated in emerging markets, as the developed markets of North America, Western Europe and developed Asia-Pacific (mainly Japan and Korea) are nearly saturated.Tablet sales, however, are projected for explosive growth: at least 96 million units worldwide, and perhaps 100 million. That's a growth rate of 65% year-on-year, and they're expected to be a full 5% of the worldwide CE market."Because (tablet sales) has grown so rapidly in North America, it's practically peaked already," said Steve Bambridge, Global Business Director GfK Boutique Research, which worked with CEA to compile the data. "But there's a lot of other growth to come in other markets."The driver of the CE market in 2012 is expected to be the smartphone, accounting for 22% of all CE spending, up from 18% in 2011.In fact, most other product categories are leveling off or actually beginning to contract.Home audio, digital still camera and LCD TV sales showed small increases in 2011, but the energy is all in smartphones and tablets. Western Europe in particular is a strong market for high-end smartphones, will developing APAC is still buying low-end "feature phones."In fact, said Bambridge, "The rush into smartphones has squeezed other portable device categories: car navigation, camcorders, portable media players All of these are losing their relevance as the smartphone takes over their functionalities." In the camera market, he noted, compact cameras are declining, but high-end digital SLRs are holding their ground.Consumer spending on consumer electronics continued to rebound from the 2008-2009 economic crash, but Western European figures continue to be depressed as several economies there remain on shaky ground. Meanwhile the emerging markets -- Central and Eastern Europe, developing Asia Pacific (including India & China), Latin America and Middle East/Africa have grown to 46% of the world market and are the most important center of growth. Demand for LCD TVs is especially strong in the emerging markets.CEA presenters described emerging markets roaring ahead while developed markets are plateauing. The BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are leading this trend, with growth rates around 50%. "These emerging economies really are the focus of growth," said Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis for CEA.Overall consumer spending on CE products was up 8% in 2011 worldwide, and was up in every region: In developed markets North America 10%, Western Europe 2%, and developed APAC 2%. In emerging markets, Central/Eastern Europe was up 18%, emerging APAC 17%, Latin America 11%, Mideast/Africa 8%.LCD TV purchases grew 5% in 2011, but were down 3% in Eastern Europe. 3D TV is doing better than some reports have indicated, Koenig and Bambridge said, with steady growth in the U.S. market.To date, they said, that growth is linear, instead of the usual "S" curve of slow initial sales, rapid adoption, and then leveling off.However the market with the greatest 3D TV penetration is China, where passive glasses were applied to inexpensive sets. "What are they doing with those 3D TVs?," said Babridge, "Because there's not a lot of 3D content in China, which goes to show if you drive the price low enough people will take the product." Contact David S. Cohen at david.cohen@variety.com

Judge Issues Constraint Order Against Guy Who Threatened Selena Gomez

First Released: The month of january 6, 2012 4:02 PM EST Credit: WireImage BURBANK, Calif. -- Caption Selena Gomez gets to this year's Concert Of Hope at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., on March 20, 2011 A civil judge on Friday granted Selena Gomez a 3-year constraint order against a guy charged with threatening to get rid of the singer-actress as well as traveling from Illinois to try and meet her. Superior Court Judge William D. Stewart granted an order, which requires Thomas Brodnicki to step back in the Magicians of Waverly Place star and never make an effort to contact her. Another judge dropped a criminal offence stalking charge from the Brodnicki, 46, this past year after identifying prosecutors hadnt proven he'd triggered fear within the star. Stewart two times postponed giving a civil order until Brodnicki had an chance to reply. Gomez, 19, didn't appear at Wednesdays hearing. She authored inside a declaration filed in October that they is at extreme fear after learning that Brodnicki had threatened to kill her as they was on the psychological hold. Prosecutors later alleged he stalked the actress between This summer and October. Stewart noted that Brodnicki filed a declaration in December basically consenting towards the protective order which the guy with past mental illness had received due process. He stated Gomez had reasonable induce to scared of Brodnicki, who didn't attend Fridays hearing. An order also covers Gomezs family. Copyright 2012 through the Connected Press. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.