Jeff Pfeiffer, Author at StayTuned Magazine

What to Watch: Independence Day 2011

June 30, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

This Independence Day weekend, if you choose to exercise your unalienable right to the pursuit of sitting around and watching TV, here’s a roundup of some of the best patriotic shows and specials, and movie and series marathons, to enjoy! All times are Eastern unless otherwise indicated; programming subject to change. Wimbledon: Men’s Semifinals — July 1 noon-5pm on NBC. “Ax Men” Marathon — July 2 from 7am-8pm on History. If you happen to be lying on the couch sawing logs, why not tune in to this marathon of the series about actual loggers? 98th Tour de France — Stage […]

USA Network Welcomes New Characters Suits and Necessary Roughness To Its Lineup Of Series

June 30, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

“Characters Welcome” is the slogan for USA Network, and it has done an outstanding job of living up to that with its slate of critical and popular series. So many viewers have welcomed characters such as Michael Westen, Hank Lawson, Neal Caffrey and Annie Walker into their homes that USA is the No. 1 network in all of basic cable. The network welcomes a few new characters to its mix in the new series Suits, premiering June 23 and Necessary Roughness, premiering June 29. Suits Originally titled A Legal Mind, Suits comes from Doug Liman (the Bourne trilogy) and David […]

“The Voice” is spinning off a concert tour

June 29, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP NBC has had a surprise hit on its hands this spring and summer with its singing competition series The Voice, so naturally, after tonight’s Season 1 finale, producers will be looking for something to keep the show in people’s consciousness — and money in producers’ pockets. Enter: The Voice Live On Tour. The Live Nation-promoted tour will feature the final eight contestants from the first season — Beverly McClellan, Vicci Martinez, Javier Colon, Dia Frampton, Frenchie Davis, Nakia, Casey Weston and Xenia — hitting the road for six shows across the country.

VOD Spotlight: “Sucker Punch”

June 28, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

Sucker Punch is an action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary. She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls—the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), the outspoken Rocket (Jena […]

VOD Spotlight: “Battle: LA”

June 28, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

In Battle: Los Angeles, Earth is under attack from unknown forces. As people everywhere watch the world’s great cities fall, Los Angeles represents the last stand for mankind in a battle no one expected. For years, there have been documented cases of UFO sightings – Buenos Aires in 1965, Seoul in 1983, France, Germany, China – but all of these had official stories that covered up and dismissed these inexplicable events. For example, on the night of February 24-25, 1942, with America on nationwide alert following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Angelenos were wakened to air raid sirens. The 37th […]

Today in network swag: Discovery’s Shark Week

June 23, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP I have to admit, one of the perks that I enjoy most when it comes to writing about television — aside from seeing advance screeners and talking to sometimes-notable people — is much of the swag that networks will occasionally send to promote a show. This past week I got some pretty cool items from Discovery Channel to hype their upcoming annual event, Shark Week.

“Tomasito” Hanks makes hilarious Univision appearance

June 22, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

Although he probably won’t be named the new host of Sabado Gigante anytime soon, Tom Hanks did make a memorable appearance yesterday on the Univision morning show Despierta America, in promotion of his new film Larry Crowne. Despite apparently understanding little to nothing of what the Spanish-speaking hosts (who referred to him as “Tomasito”) were saying, he gamely had fun with them in a cooking segment (where he tried to tough out eating a hot pepper), and particularly in a segment where he danced with the smokin’-hot weather forecaster (and quite well, actually). It probably makes sense that the fun-loving […]

U.S. pickup of Canadian “Combat Hospital” put pressures on production

June 21, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Brian Gorman One Monday Elias Koteas was in Los Angeles reading a script, and the next he was in a military hospital performing surgery. In Canada, TV crews and filmmakers often work on small budgets, short deadlines and tight schedules. But, when Global Television’s U.S. partner, ABC, decided it wanted Combat Hospital for the summer, everything went into hyperdrive. This was complicated by the fact that the series is one of the most elaborate and complicated ever made in Canada. For example, the show is shot on a massive 1,700-square-meter indoor-outdoor set in Toronto that replicates the Canadian-led Role […]

Discovery special explores SEAL Team Six

June 21, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP It’s a good thing that Disney decided not to pursue a trademark of the term, “SEAL Team Six,” otherwise we may not have gotten to see the upcoming Discovery Channel special Secrets of SEAL Team Six, premiering July 10 at 9pm ET/PT. Although the now-famous Special Ops unit officially doesn’t even exist, it suddenly became America’s worst-kept classified secret since Area 51 this past May when the team made international headlines by taking down Osama bin Laden. But that was just the latest mission for this highly elite group that has been active for three […]

VOD Spotlight: “Unknown”

June 21, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

There have been many thrillers about amnesia — the Bourne films likely the first to come to mind. But in Unknown, botanist Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) has an even bigger problem. After he and his wife land in Berlin for a conference, he is in an auto accident. When he wakes after a four-day coma, he discovers that no one else, not even his wife, knows who he is. Complicating his situation, a man who claims to be Dr. Harris (Aidan Quinn) has taken his place. The star of Unknown was pulled into the story from the start. “For […]