Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Maybe it's not a November surprise that the guys who wrote "Book of Mormon" don't think Mitt Romney is going to be our next president.
But for those who can't read one more poll or hang up on one more robocall and just want this election to be over already, we give you Wednesday's "South Park" (10 p.m., Comedy Central), which is called -- wait for it -- "Obama Wins!"
Seems, according to the network, that "Cartman is hiding something in his bedroom that could change the outcome of the entire election. While Americans innocently plan to go to sleep Tuesday night with the election results counted and a winner announced, Cartman has secretly wrestled control of the Presidential election from the voters."
Of course, with only one scene available, we can't really say WHO the fix might be in for.
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Fans of NBC's "Community" have a new date to circle on their calendars: Feb 7.
Might want to do that in pencil, since the cult fave (translation: watched by a passionate few) was earlier scheduled to return this month, albeit without creator Dan Harmon, who oversaw the show for its first three seasons.
The good news? Feb. 7 is a Thursday, not a Friday, the night the show had earlier been relegated to. The bad? It's going to be on at 8 p.m., which puts it up against CBS' "The Big Bang Theory." Among other things. On Jan. 17, "Parks and Recreation" will move to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays.
Also returning in February, according to an NBC announcement Tuesday: "Smash," its making-of-a-Broadway-musical drama. That's back with a two-hour episode featuring Jennifer Hudson on Feb. 5, after which it will air at 10 p.m. Tuesdays. Still plenty of time to kill off (or more gently lose) some of the show's more annoying characters.
Naturally, since we're talking about midseason, NBC also has some new shows (though no premiere date yet for "Do No Harm," the Jekyll-and-Hyde medical drama currently filming in Philadelphia). They are:
-- "Deception," a drama formerly called "Infamous" that stars Meagan Good, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan and Katherine LaNasa and turns on a soapy murder mystery. That premieres Jan. 7, moving into the time slot now occupied by "Revolution" (which will end its current run in November, returning to the schedule March 25).
-- "1600 Penn," a First Family sitcom starring Bill Pullman, Jenna Elfman and Josh Gad that premieres Jan. 10, when it will take the "Parks and Rec" slot.
-- "Ready for Love," Yet Another Matchmaking Show, but this one produced by Eva Longoria, that premieres March 31.
As for "Do No Harm," NBC said "further scheduling announcements will be forthcoming."
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
I may have trouble making it through a single episode of MTV's "Jersey Shore," but I've never been able to resist Hurricane TV, the multichannel show that lives for disaster.
It doesn't take a storm aimed directly at my house in New Jersey to keep me up into the early morning hours watching the same Doppler maps over and over -- I've been holding vigil for Gulf Coast storms since long before Katrina reared her ugly head.
This time, of course, it's personal. And so like a lot of you, I'll be spending time with the Weather Channel, with the cable newsies and all the local stations, at least as long as the power stays on.
8:50: If a tree comes crashing through your bedroom window and your first thought is to snap a picture and send it to CBS 3, well, you might be a Philadelphian. And a very loyal Channel 3 viewer. (The viewer in question was not in bed at the time, at least.)
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Showtime's war on terror will continue.
The premium-cable network Monday announced it had ordered a third, 12-episode season of "Homeland," its Emmy-winning drama about a bipolar CIA operative (Claire Danes) and the war hero (Damian Brody) she's convinced -- correctly, as it turns out -- has been turned by al-Qaeda.
On Sunday, Showtime says, the series achieved its largest audience so far for an episode premiere -- 1.75 million viewers at 10 p.m., a lot for a network whose shows are less likely to be watched in real time than on repeat viewings, On Demand or DVR.
(This season's premiere, for instance, was watched by an estimated 5.2 million viewers in the first week and On Demand viewership has since increased that to 5.7 million.)
If you haven't watched Sunday's episode yet, I won't spoil it for you, but it was an episode that cemented the show's reputation for not dragging out the drama. This is a show -- currently the best on TV -- where stuff happens every week. And then more stuff happens.
And if you're not watching "Homeland" because you're worried you'll get hooked and then it'll be gone: You're running out of excuses.
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Zombies rule. Again.
Sunday's Season 3 premiere of AMC's "The Walking Dead" walked all over the records for those feuding "Hatfields & McCoys" and the staggering living of "Jersey Shore" -- and outperformed a bunch of other cable and broadcast hits -- with 10.9 million viewers at 9 p.m. and a further 4.3 million for the reruns at 10 p.m. and midnight.
That's "the biggest telecast for any drama series in basic cable history among all viewers," according to AMC. The series, which last season broke the cable record for viewers 18-49, apparently wasn't hurt by its ongoing dispute with the Dish satellite service, which no longer carries any of AMC's networks.
Or, for that matter, by its location on what's become one of the toughest nights on television.
Of particular interest to the network, which makes some of its money on ads: Some 7.3 million of the 10.9 million viewers at 9 were 18- to 49-year-olds, the people advertisers most often target. (After 50 or so, we're all the walking dead to Madison Avenue.)
Total viewer ratings were up 50 percent from last season's premiere and 52 percent in 18-49.
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Robin Roberts is home.
ABC's "Good Morning America" updated viewers Thursday on the progress of its ailing co-anchor, who received a bone-marrow transplant three weeks ago to combat the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome.
Here's an excerpt from Roberts' latest blog post:
"Home Sweet Home. That has never had quite so much meaning before.
"After exactly one month in the hospital dreaming of this day, I am finally home...This doesn’t mean that my journey is over. Far from it. I am considered 21 days old. That's how long it has been since my transplant. Remember when you brought your baby home for the first time? Your precious bundle didn't leave the house much and you were careful that anyone who came in contact with your child was healthy. So I will still be resting away from GMA until I'm given the all clear, but sleeping in my own bed again feels like a big victory."
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
This is going to seem obvious to a lot of you, but it turns out that some of the time guys spend NOT watching TV is spent in front of a TV set playing video games.
That's the latest word from Nielsen, which reports that time spent with "seventh-generation" gaming systems is helping to bridge the traditional gap between the amount of time women and men spend in front of the set.
""n March 2012, women aged 18-34 watched an average of 4 hours 11 minutes of TV per day, while men in the same demo logged 3 hours 34 minutes of TV time in homes with a 7th generation game console. Factor in daily time spent using a 7th generation game console; however, and the gender delta of more than 30 minutes daily is nearly neutralized as women 18-34 clocked 22 minutes of console time, while men 18-34 spent 48 minutes with their consoles."
Watching TV, of course, is an activity that tends to interest advertisers more than playing games. So what's in it for Nielsen and its clients?
Ah, that's where these "seventh generation gaming consoles" come in (I think I have one at my house, but I'll need to check its family tree to be sure).
Says Nielsen of the gaming systems: "With their ability to provide different entertainment options [they] could be considered an electronic godsend for advertisers who now have increased advertising opportunities to reach their best consumers—the ones spending more time in front of a screen."
In other words, guys, there'll soon be no place to hide.
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
While carrying an Arizona station's feed of a high-speed chase this afternoon, Fox News showed a man apparently committing suicide.
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who'd been doing commentary during the aftermath of the chase (in the clip posted on YouTube, apologized almost immediately, according to ABC News, which reports that the chase, along the I-10 outside Phoenix, had begun with a carjacking.
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Looks as if that "Army Wives" cliffhanger wasn't a freefall, anyway.
Lifetime announced Friday that it had renewed the series -- "the No. 1 ad-supported cable series in its premiere time period" among women 18 and older -- for a seventh, 13-episode season.
Which should certainly be long enough to land that plane safely, assuming that the plan isn't to wipe out a good chunk of the cast from Season 6.
What wasn't clear from Friday's announcement was exactly who would be back for next season. Roxborough's Kim Delaney, whose character, Claudia Joy, was apparently elsewhere toward the end of the season, is listed among the stars of Season 6.
Which could just mean that there aren't deals in place with the entire cast yet. Or could mean that more of the "Wives" are moving on.
Earlier:
Ellen Gray, Daily News TV Critic
Where's "Wallander"?
That's what some viewers were asking Sunday night as WHYY pre-empted "Masterpiece Mystery!" for a pledge-related documentary about a dance photographer.
The critically acclaimed Kenneth Branagh series, a three-parter that began airing nationally -- and on 'HYY -- on Sept. 9, was interrupted, explained Christine Dempsey, the station's chief content officer, because of the need to "compromise" with the membership department, which apparently has an easier time soliciting money when it's not showing some of PBS' regularly scheduled programming, including the show that many consider one of the best drama outlets on television.
"The support is not there for it, which is unfortunate," Dempsey said.
What's also unfortunate is that "Wallander" is being pre-empted next Sunday as well, which means WHYY viewers will have to wait until 9 p.m. Sept. 30 -- following the premiere of PBS' "Call the Midwife" -- to watch the final two installments of the "Wallander III" series back-to-back.
Unless, of course, they have broadband Internet access, in which case they can cut out the middleman and watch them on PBS.org.
(An earlier version of this post incorrectly described "Call the Midwife" as a "Masterpiece" production. The six-part BBC miniseries, a fact-based drama about nurse-midwives in the East End of London during the 1950s, will premiere at 8 p.m. Sept. 30 on PBS stations, including WHYY, which plans to air it in full.)
