Seven episodes into its first season, “NCIS: Los Angeles” has already sold the rights to air its episodes in syndication. USA, which also airs re-runs of the original “NCIS,” has bought the rights at a staggering $2 million an episode.
USA will have the right to air the show weekly beginning in Sept. 2011 and will start stripping the episode in 2013…
The unusually quick deal is testament to the popularity of the “NCIS” brand — and the ability for top cable networks to capitalize on crime procedurals in syndication. In its seventh season, “NCIS” has grown to become the most-watched drama series on broadcast, while its USA repeats are the most-watched syndicated crime drama, averaging 3.5 million viewers.
To put that in perspective, the average repeat of “NCIS” on USA draws about as many viewers as the original and highly acclaimed “Sons of Anarchy” does on its best night. And every time I realize something like that, a little piece of me regrets having ever served my country. So please, America: stop watching CBS’s recycled crime dramas, especially in syndication. Do it for the troops.
It’s been a surprisingly heartening week for TV news. First “Sons of Anarchy” beat Jay Leno in the ratings, and now Ashlee Simpson has been fired from “Melrose Place.” Not that that matters, since she’s a terrible actress on a terrible show, but it’s a nice bookend to the extra good news that Sarah Shahi has been given another leading role.
Shahi has landed the lead in USA Network’s pilot “Facing Kate,” lifting the contingency off the project.
The pilot, produced by Universal Cable Prods., centers on Kate (Shahi), a divorced San Francisco woman who leaves her job as a lawyer to become a mediator.
It absolutely infuriates me that everybody reading this post knows who Ashlee Simpson is, yet many of you have likely never heard of Shahi. She’s a former Dallas Cowboy cheerleader who most recently starred in “Life,” and before that she was on “The L Word” and had little roles in everything from “The Sopranos” to Old School. And while she’s not the second coming of Meryl Streep, she’s definitely a way better actress than Ashlee Simpson and — equally if not more important — 800 brazilian times better looking. Seriously, this fame discrepancy makes me want to line up the editors of every gossip magazine in America and punch each one of them in the throat.
Well I’m not gonna let this stand. Below: the absurd amount of sexiness that we deserve to make up for Ashlee Simpson’s fame.
Several people with excellent taste have threatened to do bodily harm to me if I don’t start watching “Burn Notice,” so I thought I’d mention that season 3 will premiere on June 4th on the USA Network. It stars Jeffrey Donovan as an ex-spy stuck in Miami (not a bad place to get stuck, frankly) after the government terminates his contract and Gabrielle Anwar — who has a lifetime awesome pass for Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead — as a former IRA operative and his ex-girlfriend. Even better, it features fellow lifetime awesome pass-holders Bruce Campbell and Tricia Helfer (the former for Evil Dead/Army of Darkness, the latter for her Playboy shoot).
Judging by the promotional photos, the show is about lounging around by the pool in cool clothes, but the trailer (after the jump) seems to indicate there’s a lot more going on, like roundhouse kicks and explosions and chicks in minidresses wielding shotguns. Sounds a lot like my life. The lounging part, I mean.
Regarding Jeff Goldblum’s debut on last night’s episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” Warming Glow reader Bill writes:
It had the greatest, poorly written portrayal of annoying [Brooklyn] hipsters trying to “make it,” living in an artist loft space, and striving to be like the horrible, gayer, outer borough version of RENT. The dialogue was amazing and that sh*tpile of an episode had me wondering what USA network is trying to do to this franchise.
And Bill’s not alone. Videogum snagged video and adds:
[T]he entire show was HILARIOUS, not just because of Jeff’s quirky, nerd-weirdo character, but because the plot was about a bunch of Williamsburg hipsters living in a huge loft and killing each other off in an effort to take over each other’s spots in a shitty band. AND there’s a red herring about how the murders could be caused by minorities in the neighborhood who think the hipsters are displacing them. It’s ripped from the 2002 headlines!
Oh baby. I’m gonna have to stay up and watch this tonight; the episode re-airs at 12:05 a.m. I’m always down for some hipster murder. Um, fictional hipster murder, that is. Yeahhhhh… “fictional.”
(Watch highlights of the episode here. It’s not quite real because none of the actors are skinny enough to play real hipsters. And their haircuts aren’t stupid enough. And their jeans aren’t tight enough. And I’m not punching them in the face.)
