News From The Week That Was, Friday, 1-10-14

TV News From The Week That Was, Friday, 1-10-14
It was a crazy busy week full of news.  HBO sent out a flurry of press releases on series premieres, renewals, and such.  Most everything here is about premiere dates, there are some renewal notes, while there are a few other bits and pieces about other shows and people.

This is the list of shows or folks chatted about this week, below:

American Ninja Warrior
BACKSTROM
Boardwalk Empire
Camryn Manheim
Devious Maids
EXTANT
Face Off
Frances McDormand,
GAME OF THRONES
Girls
Mike Judge
OLIVE KITTERIDGE
Richard Jenkins Together
SILICON VALLEY
SURVIVING EVIL
Swamp People
Those Who Kill
Tim Tebow
Top Chef
VEEP
Veronica Mars
VICE

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HBO Premiere Dates

GAME OF THRONES kicks off its fourth season SUNDAY, APRIL 6 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)

VEEP returns for its third season SUNDAY, APRIL 6 (10:00-10:30 p.m.).

SILICON VALLEY debuts SUNDAY, APRIL 6 (10:30-11:00 p.m.). Mike Judge (“Office Space,” “King of the Hill”) brings his irreverent brand of humor to HBO in this new comedy series  (THERE'S more on the show further down the page here.)

VICE returns for its second season FRIDAY, MARCH 14 (11:00-11:30 p.m.)

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American Ninja Warrior

“American Ninja Warrior” will present the first ever international competition in a two-hour network special “American Ninja Warrior: USA vs Japan,” airing Monday, Jan. 13 (8-10 p.m. ET/PT).

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BACKSTROM

Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) has given a 13-episode series order to BACKSTROM, a one-hour drama from 20th Century Fox Television, based on renowned Swedish criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson’s hit series of books of the same name. Created and executive-produced by Hart Hanson (BONES, “The Finder”), the series centers on Detective EVERETT BACKSTROM (three-time Emmy Award nominee Rainn Wilson, “The Office”), an offensive, irascible detective, as he tries, and fails, to change his self-destructive behavior. Throughout the series, Backstrom leads his team, the Serious Crimes Unit, as they navigate Portland’s most sensitive cases.

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Boardwalk Empire

HBO renewed Boardwalk Empire for a fifth season.

BUT...

The fifth season will be it's last season, ending the story of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi).

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Camryn Manheim

Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Camryn Manheim has been cast as a series regular in the new CBS drama series EXTANT from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios.  Manheim will play Sam Barton, Molly’s (Halle Berry) best friend and closest confidant.  The series will premiere in Summer 2014.

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Devious Maids

Lifetime’s Devious Maids returns for a second season on Sunday, April 20, at 10PM ET/PT.

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Extant

CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced today a content licensing agreement for the new CBS Television series EXTANT.

The serialized drama, starring Halle Berry and produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television, will premiere on the CBS Television Network in June.  Amazon Prime Instant Video will be the exclusive premium subscription home for EXTANT with unlimited streaming of all the series' episodes available to their members four days after their initial broadcast on CBS.

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Face Off

Face Off season 6 premieres on Jan. 14 on Syfy.


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Girls

HBO renewed Girls for a fourth season.

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OLIVE KITTERIDGE


Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins Together

Press release snippet:

Academy Award® winner Frances McDormand (“Fargo,” “North Country”) and Academy Award® nominee Richard Jenkins (“The Visitor,” HBO’s “Six Feet Under”) star in the HBO Miniseries drama OLIVE KITTERIDGE, a film by Academy Award®-nominated director Lisa Cholodenko (“The Kids Are All Right,” “Laurel Canyon”). Based on Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and written by Emmy®-winner Jane Anderson (HBO’s “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom” and “Normal”), the miniseries recently completed production in Massachusetts for debut later this year on HBO.

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SURVIVING EVIL

Investigation Discovery has greenlit its breakout hit series SURVIVING EVIL for a second season. Returning as host is Charisma Carpenter, best known for her role as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. SURVIVING EVIL presents stories of victims who fought back against their attackers and, against all odds, survived. Recounted in each survivor’s own words, the series is an empowering and inspiring look at true-crime stories in which the victim turns the table on their assailant in order to stay alive. As host, Carpenter provides viewers with a first-person point of view as the survivor of a near-fatal incident endured when she was 22 years old. The 10-episode second season of SURVIVING EVIL begins filming in early 2014.

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Mike Judge News

via press release:

In the high-tech Gold Rush of modern Silicon Valley, the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.

Mike Judge (“Office Space,” “Beavis & Butthead,” “King of the Hill”) brings his irreverent brand of humor to HBO in the new comedy series SILICON VALLEY. Partially inspired by Judge’s own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late ‘80s, the show kicks off its eight-episode season SUNDAY, APRIL 6 (10:30-11:00 p.m. ET/PT).

SILICON VALLEY features a talented ensemble of young comic actors. Cast regulars include: Thomas Middleditch (“Search Party,” “The Office”), T.J. Miller (“Mash Up,” “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”), Zach Woods (“In the Loop,” “The Office”), Kumail Nanjiani (“Franklin & Bash,” “Portlandia”), Martin Starr (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Party Down”), Josh Brener (“Glory Daze,” “The Internship”), Christopher Evan Welch (“The Master,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) and Amanda Crew (“Jobs,” “Charlie St. Cloud”). Matt Ross (“Magic City,” HBO’s “Big Love”) guest stars.

Richard (Middleditch) is an introverted computer programmer living in the Hacker Hostel start-up incubator along with his best friend, Big Head (Brener), pompous Gilfoyle (Starr) and dry-witted Dinesh (Nanjiani). These social misfits live under the watch of Erlich (Miller), a self-satisfied dotcom millionaire who lets them stay in his house for free – as long as he gets a ten percent stake in their projects.

After a failed pitch to billionaire venture capitalist Peter Gregory (Welch), Richard seems destined to remain at his job at the tech company Hooli, founded by the megalomaniacal Gavin Belson (Ross). When Monica (Crew), Gregory’s head of operations, and Jared (Woods), a Hooli executive, realize the value of the site’s search algorithm, a bidding war erupts between Belson and Gregory, with Richard caught in the middle.

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Swamp People


Louisiana Alligator hunting season roars into action once again, and this time our beloved swampers will face the most vicious and aggressive gators ever. Season Five of Swamp People returns to HISTORY, premiering Monday, February 3 at 9PM ET/PT.

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Those Who Kill

A&E Network will premiere the new original scripted series “Those Who Kill” on Monday, March 3 at 10 PM ET/PT. The suspenseful drama stars Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress ChloĆ« Sevigny (“Big Love,” Boys Don’t Cry) and James D’Arcy ( Hitchcock, Cloud Atlas). Based on the Danish crime series format inspired by the bestselling work of author Elsebeth Egholm, the thrilling drama follows Catherine Jensen (Sevigny), a recently promoted homicide detective who tracks down serial killers and relentlessly seeks the truth behind the disappearance of her brother. Pittsburgh serves as the picturesque backdrop for the ten-episode serialized drama.

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Top Chef

It may be January, but temperatures are heating up in the “Top Chef” kitchen. Soon the final chef’testants will pack their knives…and head to Maui, Hawaii for the two-part finale, airing Wednesday, January 29 at 10pm and Wednesday, February 5 at 10pm. Once in Maui, the final three will learn which chef from “Last Chance Kitchen” will be rejoining the competition.  In what will be the closest finale in the series’ eleven-season history, who will take home the title of “Top Chef?”

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Tim Tebow

Did you know that Tim Tebow joined ESPN and SEC networks?  Yes... he did.  As a college football analyst for SEC and various duties for ESPN.

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Veronica Mars

Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that Prime Instant Video will be the exclusive online-only subscription home for streaming the TV series Veronica Mars in a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. Beginning today, Prime customers can enjoy all three seasons of the popular Warner Bros. Television series starring Kristen Bell, and get caught up just in time for the March 14 debut of the Veronica Mars movie.

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