Articles by Jeff Pfeiffer

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TV News & Program Updates

Fall TV 2011 hits, misses and mehs: Week of September 12

September 12, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By the Channel Guide staff Follow @ChannelGuide Each week during the next few months, we at Channel Guide Magazine will be updating you on notable new series, specials, movies, documentaries and more that are premiering during the new TV season, with thoughts from our editorial staff on whether you should tune in — or stay far away. Some of the new fall programming begins this week, so here we go with our first installment. Categories include “Hits,” which are shows we liked; “Misses,” shows we didn’t; and “Mehs,” the shows we could take or leave but aren’t going to go […]

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Documentary

PBS releases new clip from “Pearl Jam Twenty”

September 9, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Today, PBS released this scene from its new American Masters special called “Pearl Jam Twenty,” premiering Oct. 21 at 9pm (check local listings) and directed by Cameron Crowe in honor of the seminal Seattle band’s 20th anniversary. This clip is part of the band’s releasing of exclusive content each day for 20 days leading up to the worldwide one-night-only theatrical release of the film, and the film’s soundtrack on Sept. 20. A new song is also available for download today. This excerpt reveals how Pearl Jam formed and features “Footsteps” from the original “Momma-Son” demo […]

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Documentary

Preview: Syfy’s “Paranormal Witness”

September 7, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP I screened the first episode of Syfy’s new docu-drama series Paranormal Witness (premiering tonight at 10pm ET/PT) yesterday afternoon, and while I felt some thrills and chills as I watched it, I didn’t think much about it afterward. This morning, however, I found myself awake at about 4:30 for some reason. As I lay in bed trying to get back to sleep, my mind suddenly went back to the screener I had watched, and the two (supposedly real-life) ghost stories contained within it. My brain is sometimes prone to do this after I watch a […]

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TV News & Program Updates

ABC offering free download of “Revenge” pilot script for Kindle

September 6, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

Marking the first time it is using the Kindle platform for advertising purposes, ABC is giving Kindle users the chance to download, for free, the pilot episode script for its new fall series Revenge, starring Emily VanCamp, Madeleine Stowe and Gabriel Mann. Up until the Sept. 21 premiere of the show, users of any Kindle device or application will be able to get the script at the Kindle store. The pilot episode was written by executive producer Mike Kelley (Swingtown).

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Action

VOD Spotlight: Thriller “Hanna” is interpreted by graphic artists

September 6, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

The title character of this adventure thriller, Hanna (played by Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan, Atonement), is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across […]

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Talk Show

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” to honor Uncle Frank Potenza

September 2, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

On the Sept. 6 episode of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, the show will pay tribute to Uncle Frank Potenza, who passed away last week at the age of 77. Potenza was Kimmel’s real-life uncle, and served as security guard and an on-camera contributor for the show. The tribute will celebrate many moments from Uncle Frank’s 9-year tenure with the show, highlighting his comedy pieces and notable interviews with everyone from Tom Cruise to Kermit the Frog. Comedian and friend Don Rickles will also be on hand to reminisce with Jimmy about Uncle Frank. Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at midnight […]

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Comedy

VOD Spotlight: “Everything Must Go”

September 2, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

Raymond Carver wrote the story “Why Don’t You Dance?” — on which the Will Ferrell vehicle Everything Must Go is based — more than 30 years ago, but its lessons are possibly truer today than they were at the time of its creation. The story traces the experiences of a down-and-out salesman (Will Ferrell) who loses his job and his wife and ends up with all of his belongings on the front lawn, where he has to learn to start a new life for himself. According to producer Wyck Godfrey, the story’s relevance to today is what he and the […]

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Animation

Discovery Channel’s “Dinosaur Revolution” is a blast from the prehistoric past

September 1, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Notable dinosaur illustrators and animators have gotten together for the intriguing new Discovery Channel series Dinosaur Revolution that, in the previews I saw, managed to recall for me the best dino-thrills and emotions that I also found in everything from the Walking With Dinosaurs series to the The Land Before Time films and the “Rite of Spring” dinosaur sequence in Disney’s Fantasia. Almost narration-free, the series presents CG-animated vignettes depicting life for various dinosaurs, using the latest theories of how we believe these animals behaved.

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Horror

VOD Spotlight: “Red State”

September 1, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

When you think of great horror films, one name you don’t think of is Kevin Smith. The man who brought us Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back does have his more caustic side, as seen in 1999’s Dogma, but Smith’s latest effort, Red State, takes everything to menacing heights of horror. Taking aim at the thinking that motivates the notorious Westboro Baptist Church’s protests and that of its pastor, Fred Phelps, Red State is Smith’s own protest. Funded independently and distributed by Smith himself in a 15-date tour, featuring post-screening Q&As with the director, it represents a nervy […]