Jeff Pfeiffer, Author at StayTuned Magazine

Interview: “Impractical Jokers” Sal and Joe on their spinoff series “Jokers Wild”

September 24, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

“This is a little more back to our roots,” Joe Gatto told me during a recent interview I had with him and Sal Vulcano. The two, along with James “Murr” Murray and Brian “Q” Quinn, are part of the hugely popular truTV hidden-camera series Impractical Jokers. All four men are spinning off that success with the new series Jokers Wild. Don’t worry; the group is not abandoning Impractical Jokers, and new episodes of Season 3 will begin on the same night as the Jokers Wild premiere, Sept. 25. Some fans might find the new show a change from what they […]

Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn to star in True Detective Season 2

September 23, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Colin Farrell had said recently that he was on board to star in True Detective Season 2, and he was evidently not joshing — HBO confirmed today that Farrell and Vince Vaughn will headline the new season of the HBO hit. True Detective Season 2 will begin production later this fall, and will consist of eight episodes, the first two of which will be directed by Justin Lin. Series creator Nic Pizzolatto is writing the episodes. The logline for Season 2 says this: “Three police officers and a career criminal must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of […]

Syfy docuseries “Town of the Living Dead” follows one town’s undying effort to make a zombie film

September 23, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Zombie films and TV shows are hot right now, but the folks in Jasper, Ala., may have been ahead of the trend — six years ago they began efforts to make a zombie movie (called Thr33 Days Dead; don’t ask us how it is supposed to be pronounced) based on a town urban legend. It remains unfinished, and their attempts to finally complete the film are chronicled in the new Syfy docuseries Town of the Living Dead, which is a nice complement to the network’s ongoing scripted zombie series Z Nation, airing on Fridays. Thr33 Days Dead itself sounds like […]

Elsa and Anna from “Frozen” appear on “Once Upon a Time” season premiere

September 23, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Fans of last year’s animated smash-hit Frozen will get to see an imagining of what that film’s two heroines look like in live-action when the characters of Elsa and Anna appear on the season premiere of Once Upon a Time, Sept. 28 on ABC. Georgina Haig guest-stars as Elsa, Elizabeth Lail plays Anna, and both actresses do indeed look like their animated counterparts, as they meld in with the other fairy-tale characters of the show. In addition to being creatively interesting, it’s certainly a bit of synergy, as well, with the characters of a hit Disney film crossing over to […]

Strike Back Season 4 resumes production; Michelle Yeoh among new cast members

September 22, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

The Cinemax action-drama series Strike Back recently resumed production on Season 4 (its final season) in Europe, the network said today. The show’s production had been on hiatus to allow star Sullivan Stapleton the chance to recuperate from a non-set-related injury sustained earlier this year. Production on Strike Back Season 4 will continue through the fall, with additional production in Thailand, according to Cinemax. In the release about the restarting of production, Cinemax also mentioned that several new cast members are now on board, including Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II), Dustin Clare (the Spartacus series), Will Yun Lee […]

Hulu orders event series based on Stephen King’s “11/22/63”

September 22, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Hulu announced today a direct-to-series order for 11/22/63, a nine-hour event series based on Stephen King’s 2011 bestseller of the same name. The series will come from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, with Stephen King, Bridget Carpenter (The Red Road, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), who is also writing the teleplay, and Bryan Burk also serving as executive producers. In a release for the series, Stephen King said: “If I ever wrote a book that cries out for long-form, event TV programming, 11/22/63 is it. I’m excited that it’s going to happen, and am looking forward to working with J.J. Abrams […]

South Park Season 18 premiere takes on Washington Redskins name

September 22, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

South Park Season 18 begins this Wednesday at 10pm ET/PT on Comedy Central. Never a show to shy away from controversial topics, the series delves immediately into the hot-button issue of the name of the NFL’s Washington Redskins team. That name is recognized by many, inside and outside of the Native American community, as an offensive racial slur, while others — including team owner Dan Snyder — claim otherwise and view it as a historical term of respect. A preview clip from the South Park Season 18 premiere (called “Go Fund Yourself”) was released yesterday online (and, apparently, on air […]

Episode schedule for TV Land’s “Cosby Show” 30th anniversary marathons

September 19, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

The classic sitcom The Cosby Show premiered on NBC 30 years ago this Saturday, on Sept. 20, 1984. The influential series has gone on to become one of the most beloved of all time, and celebrating that, TV Land is airing marathons of the show Sept. 20 and 21 starting at 2pm ET each day. Check out the Huxtables in the following episodes of The Cosby Show airing during TV Land’s 30th anniversary marathons (episodic info from TV Land; all times ET): September 20 2pm: “How Ugly Is He?” — A nervous Denise (Lisa Bonet) brings her latest boyfriend home […]

20th anniversary of “Friends” celebrated with episode marathon, Central Perk replica

September 19, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

On Sept. 22, 1994, the sitcom Friends began its 10-season run on NBC, eventually launching its cast — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — into stardom, winning a few Emmys, inspiring the “Rachel” haircut among some women, and ensuring itself of an extended life in reruns. One of the networks that shows the most Friends reruns, TBS, will be celebrating the show’s 20th anniversary this Sept. 22 — 20 years to the day of its premiere — with a 20-episode marathon from 10am-8pm ET/PT. The marathon will consist of episodes chosen by […]

U.S. TV coverage of vote for Scottish independence

September 17, 2014 Jeff Pfeiffer

Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, after a 305-year political union, is up for a vote on Sept. 18, and everyone from pundits and economists to The Simpsons‘ Groundskeeper Willie has weighed in on the financial, social and political pros and cons of such a move. But on Thursday, the people of Scotland will decide in a referendum whether their home country should be an independent nation or not. In the United States, various news networks will have coverage of the vote for Scottish independence. Here are some of the outlets where U.S. viewers can keep up with the latest. […]