I've become strangely addicted to Showtime's "Nurse Jackie." What is that hoodoo-voodoo that Edie Falco do so well?
 
The show overall, like its titular character, has its shortcomings. But Falco is mesmerizing, and she's given plenty to work with.

As an tough, battle-scarred ER nurse in a crossroads-of-the-world Manhattan hospital, Falco gets to play the hero, the healer, the rogue who fights the inanity of the health care system for the good of her patients. She's also very addicted to powerful prescription painkillers, and although you'd think she'd be able to stash them by the fistful, considerable time is devoted to depicting her daily machinations to feed her habit.
 
Falco is unfailingly fantastic in the role. She makes you believe in Jackie Peyton's every move, every flinch, every outburst. You know that Falco would be just as good if she were playing a sanitation worker, or an accountant, but it doesn't hurt that the nurse part puts her in high-stakes and highly emotional situations. It is a tribute to her talent that I never think about Carmela Soprano while watching "Nurse Jackie."
 
Falco is so good that she rises above the show's preposterous elements, and she distracts from the weakness of some of the supporting cast. The show's half-hour format also helps. You can be dazzled by Falco's perf as a character study for 26-28 minutes, but even she couldn't carry an episode much longer. I don't think I would have hung in with "Nurse Jackie" had it been an hourlong skein.
 
(Spoiler alert -- stop reading if you haven't seen the show because I'm getting into plot specifics.)
 
The biggest problem is buying the idea that Jackie's hospital coworkers in Manhattan wouldn't know that she's married with two kids in Queens. It's just too hard to believe, and impossible to sustain. I know New York's a big city and all but puh-leeze. Also on the wrong end of ridiculous is the notion that Jackie would remove her wedding ring every morning before stepping into the ER. Just can't see it, especially for the character.
 
Of the supporting cast, some of them really stand out as less than great when working opposite La Falco. Looking on the positive side, the one who matches Falco for naturalness and brings her own distinctive goofy charm is Merritt Wever (pictured right), who plays the naive nursing student Zoey.
 
I've seen the entire run of first-season episodes, and without giving anything away, I think the writers either lost their road map for where "Nurse Jackie" was going, or they never had one in the first place.

The directing on the show, on the other hand, has been consistently good. The half-hour format seems to force a spare, no-showing-off approach. Steve Buscemi (pictured below with Falco), an old "Sopranos" hand, has helmed multiple episodes.

"Nurse Jackie" doesn't have to sweat out its fate as its first season comes to a close next month. The Lionsgate TV series was picked up after its first airing. Falco is that good.

So here's hoping the material rises to Falco's level in season two, set to begin production in the fall.
 
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One more thought: Edie Falco has undoubtedly earned herself an Emmy nomination next year for "Nurse Jackie." But in what category -- Comedy? Drama?
 
It's billed as a dark comedy, and the half-hour format naturally points to the comedy (see Toni Collette's nod for "United States of Tara," which is only a little bit lighter than "Nurse Jackie"). But there are precious few laughs for Falco and crew. It's a melodrama through and through.

Just like in the real world of medicine, there's been an over-supply of doctors in primetime for years but a severe shortage of nurses fronting their own shows.

That will change next month as Showtime raises the curtain on Edie Falco as"Nurse Jackie" while TNT delivers Jada Pinkett Smith as "Hawthorne"

I haven't seen either show yet, but on paper they sound awfully similar. She's a tough, talented, dedicated, compassionate RN who's willing to buck the medical bureaucracy to do what it takes to help their patients. Smith plays Christina Hawthorne, who seems to have more of a home life with her oncologist husband and daughter; Falco is Jackie O'Hurley, described as a lapsed Catholic with an occasional weakness for Vicodin. (I'm guessing O'Hurley uses more anatomically specific language.) 

We know the casting is great for both shows. "Hawthorne" hails from seasoned scribe John Masius, with Jamie Tarses and Glen Mazzara among the exec producers for Sony Pictures TV. "Nurse Jackie" was birthed by Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem and Evan Dunsky for Lionsgate TV.

So it'll come down to execution. The half-hour "Nurse Jackie" arrives first, on June 8. Hourlong "Hawthorne" bows June 16. I'm writing myself a prescription to track down screeners for both, STAT. Here's hoping that one or both will be worthy of a refill.

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My all-time favorite TV nurse? The husky voiced, no-nonsense Miss Julie London as the husky voiced, no-nonsense Nurse Dixie McCall from the under-appreciated 1972-1977 NBC drama "Emergency."

London usually played opposite her real-life husband, musician Bobby Troup (of "Route 66" fame), as the head nurse in the hospital frequented by paramedics Gage and DeSoto and their clientele. Interesting too that London was cast in the series by her ex-husband, and Troup's longtime pal, producer Jack Webb.

Think of the publicity opportunities for “United States of Tara."

Showtime could run a poll: Name your favorite alter (the term used for Toni Collette’s multiple personalities). Would it be T, the 16-year-old girl who dresses trashy and wants to party all night long? How about Buck, the beer-swiging trucker who isn’t afraid to get into a bar fight? There’s also Alice, a ’50s homemaker out of a Douglas Sirk film that still thinks baking a cake is the remedy for everything that ails? Or just Tara, a wife and mom who’s constantly trying to get a handle on her life that’s constantly being affected by her Disassociative Identity Disorder.

“I can’t make a decision who I like most,” Collette said. “I would be like a bad parent choosing a favorite kid. Getting into costume, hair, makeup all helps, but it’s about empathy and what I read on the page that make the characters as real as possible.”

Creator-writer Diablo Cody discussed a question as to whether Tara is doing the viewing public a disservice by going off her medication, which would help control her DID.

“I don’t want to portray Tara as irresponsible," Cody said. "I want to make clear that she had not been receiving proper medical treatment. Her medication had made her feel completely numb and she wanted one chance to reconcile. She’s living with her disorder and not muting it.”

Series, which begins Sunday at 10 p.m. and co-stars John Corbett and Rosemarie DeWitt, could

easily be the next hit for Showtime. Early reviews and buzz have been excellent.

-- Stuart Levine

Emerging from my December blog hibernation, I'm much more inclined to look forward to what the small screen has in store for '09 than reassessing '08. Fortunately, my Variety colleague Stuart Levine was motivated to muse on his highs and lows for '08 (posted after the jump).

There's not a whole lot that I've penciled into my must-see sked for the first quarter. Of course, the Big Event is the Jan. 21 return of "Lost" for its high-five season (more on that later). The final two "Friday Night Lights" segs of the season (maybe forever) on DirecTV Jan. 7-14, will be three-hanky affairs, for sure, according to sources who have already screened them. And there'll be more multicamera hijinks to enjoy from "The Big Bang Theory" ensemble, my fave comedy troupe on the tube these days, hands down.

As for new material, I was very impressed by what I saw on the four-episode screener of Showtime's "The United States of Tara." Toni Collette is amazing as a suburban mother and artist who grapples with three distinct personalities who also inhabit Tara's corporeal being. The supporting cast is also strong, with John Corbett playing Tara's husband in an understated way, and the always-engaging Rosemarie DeWitt as Tara's sister. Brie Larson impresses as the older of Tara's two teenage kids.

"Tara," which as everyone knows was conceived by Steven Spielberg and birthed by Diablo Cody, bows Jan. 18.

The 2000 Year Old Man lives! He made a cameo appearance tonight at the Paley Center for Media's fund-raiser honoring the great Carl Reiner and the deserving Matt Blank and Robert Greenblatt of Showtime Networks.

Reiner's tribute was funny, of course, with hosannas coming from the event's host, Bonnie Hunt, as well as Larry Gelbart, Dick Van Dyke, Lily Tomlin, George Segall and progeny Rob Reiner. It was clear that as he surveyed his career retrospective in the clip package, the recent loss of his wife of 65 years, Estelle, was not far from Carl Reiner's mind. He credited his wife, who died in October at 94, with "raising me" and influencing every aspect of his professional life.

It was also clear that Reiner was enjoying the opportunity to reminisce. Mel Brooks, Reiner's old compadre from the "Your Show of Shows" writers' room, was among the luminaries in the crowd, along with Norman Lear. Reiner got a second standing ovation as he walked off the stage and over to where Brooks was seated and kept right on talking. Hastily, a spotlight and a microphone materialized and in an instant the crowd was treated to a dash of "The 2000 Year Old Man."

I only took mental notes but the routine went something like this:

Reiner: "So you knew Jesus?"

Brooks: "He used to come in to my candy store. With 12 guys."

Reiner: "What were they like?"

Brooks: "They wore sandals."

Emmy's picks for writing and directing nominees in the series categories are kinda like a state of the craft report card every year. They're often the category where new and innovative programs are recognized long before they crack the more prominent races.

But in a year when Emmy voters seemed to embrace new and different, the choices in the writing and directing heats seem more pedestrian, though some of this year's contenders were so obvious (Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld for "Pushing Daisies" Pie-lette, Matthew Weiner and Alan Taylor for the "Mad Men" pilot) as to take some of the suspense out of the race this year. Sonnenfeld (pictured left) and Taylor (pictured right) have already bagged DGA Awards for their work on these pilots.

Sonnenfeld, IMHO, can safely begin rehearsing his acceptance speech for comedy helmer. (Coming from him, it oughta be a doozy.) The competish is strong -- a six-nominee category meaning that there was one tie in the nom ballotting -- but nothing was quite so inventive and visually distinct as that first slice of ABC's "Pushing Daisies."

From my viewfinder, the dark horse in the race could be James Bobin of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords." Bobin, co-creator of the series with Kiwi comedy-rockers Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, is up for the "Sally Returns" episode of "Conchord's" 12-episode frosh season.

Dan Attias nabbed a nom for the "No Cannes Do" installment of "Entourage." Paul Lieberstein has shown that there's no end to his talents by performing, writing and directing segs of NBC's "The Office," and now he's up for helming the seg "Money" Parts 1 and 2 (sounds like a James Brown hit from the early '70s). Also nommed from "Office" is Paul Feig, for handling the season finale, "Goodbye, Toby," which happened to mark the farewell of Lieberstein's character. Michael Engler of NBC's "30 Rock" is up for the "Rosemary's Baby" installment.

It was no surprise to see Showtime's Matt Blank and Robert Greenblatt looking like they were enjoying themselves Friday afternoon during their executive Q&A sesh. Any way you look at it, Showtime is on a roll. They're not getting the

"Why aren't you as cool as HBO?" questions lobbed at them at TCA anymore. Think of the programming assets Showtime has these days: "Weeds," "Dexter," "The Tudors," "Californication," "The L Word," "The Secret Diary of a Call Girl," "Brotherhood," "This American Life," "Penn and Teller's Bullshit!" and "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union."

Greenblatt reinforced the cabler's Big Mo with his rundown of the paybox's programming highlights during the past year, capped by Thursday by the best drama series Emmy nom nabbed by "Dexter." He also showed off clips of two intriguing half-hours  to come, "Nurse Jackie" (pictured left), starring Edie Falco as an unconventional nurse at a Gotham hospital; and the Toni Collette-John Corbett starrer "The United States of Tara" (pictured right), the brainchild of Steven Spielberg and Diablo Cody about a suburban mom with multiple personalities.

Greenblatt noted that Showtime's top buzz-getters, "Dexter" and "Weeds," are in a contest for bragging rights as the cabler's highest-rated shows. "Dexter" set a new high water mark for the feevee-er last September with its season two opener drawing more than 1 million viewers. "Weeds" has been smoking in its fourth season. Its June 16 debut brought in 1.35 million viewers for the premiere, and segs have been averaging a cume weekly rating of more than 3 million -- a ratings record by far for Showtime, Greenblatt assured the crowd.

Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

Hot off the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences nomination vote-tallying machine, here are the top 10 finalists for Emmy noms in the comedy and drama series heats. The final noms will be announced on Thursday, July 17.

(My 2 cents on the list follows after the jump)

COMEDY

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Weeds

DRAMA

Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Grey’s Anatomy
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Tudors
The Wire

Almost every acceptance speech at Thursday's inaugural Television Academy Honors dinner started with a statistic: The rise of HIV infection among teenagers; the number of severely wounded soldiers returning from Iraq; the rate of cancer in people under 40; the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease among the elderly.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' newest kudo (not to be confused with a new Emmy category) aims to honor "television with a conscience." Thursday's gathering at the Beverly Hills Hotel was all about achieving lofty goals and using the electronic soapbox of educate, enlighten, motivate and inform -- but the event itself managed to stay low-key, not too starchy and like a well-produced television program, breezy.  (Dinner at 7, program at 8 and we were grabbing the goodie bags by 9:20. Event producer Phil Gurin deserves a kudo for that.)

TV Academy Honors was the brainchild of ATAS chairman and CEO John Shaffner (pictured in center above with recipients David E. Kelley and Dick Wolf), who explained at the start that he felt it was important for the org that recognizes television excellence via the Emmys to also "honor programs for their humanity and their conscience." Event's debut ceremony was dedicated to the memory of Ronnie Lippin, publicist and wife of longtime ATAS publicity rep Dick Lippin. Ronnie Lippin died of breast cancer last year; the TV Acad Honors idea began as an effort to pay tribute to Ronnie Lippin and her work on behalf of numerous charitable causes.

Inaugural kudos, selected by a 22-member committee co-chaired by Shaffner, went to Discovery-BBC's "Planet Earth"; HBO's "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq"; ABC's "Boston Legal"; Lifetime telepic "Girl, Positive" and series "Side Order of Life"; CNN's "God's Warriors"; "Law & Order: SVU" seg "Harm"; Hallmark Hall of Fame/CBS' "Pictures of Hollis Woods"; and Showtime docu "Shame."

The standing ovation of the night went to the half-dozen servicemen and women in the crowd in connection with "Alive Day Memories." Exec producer Dawn Halfaker (pictured at podium), an Army First Lieutenant who lost an arm during her service in Iraq, recalled being shocked when she was approached by HBO's docu maven Sheila Nevins about getting involved with the project. "I didn't think anyone would be interested in my story," Halfaker said. "I'm just a soldier."

Call it pay TV, only in a theater. The much-loved Showtime/public radio skein "This American Life," hosted by Ira Glass, will mount a live show on May 1 at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts that will be beamed out via high-def satcast to more than 300 theaters that are part of National CineMedia Fathom digital network. Event promises to show behind-the-scenes clips, outtakes, and a live audience Q&A with Glass, and it will help tubthump the sophomore season bow of the TV rendition on May 4. For tix or more info click here....

Good news today for Aardman Animations nuts. Disney Channel has licensed a preschooler skein from Aardman, "Timmy," about a cuddly 3-year-old lamb "with a lot to learn." He's based on designs by the great Aardman animator Nick Park, and a character already known to fans of Aardman's "Shaun the Sheep" series. Disney calls "Timmy" to be Aardman's first foray into wee kidvid territory (which seems surprising), but I'm guessing it'll still have those subtle-wacky touches that we love so much in Aardman's "Wallace and Gromit" (Timmy first appeared in the "Wallace and Gromit" short "Wallace and Gromit" in a Close Shave") and "Creature Comforts" et al ....

Speaking of kidvid, those of us who were raised on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" will be wishing we could be in Pittsburgh on Thursday for the preem of "Speedy Delivery," a docu on the long-running PBS series by helmer-producer Paul Germain. Pic is described as a retrospective on the show through the eyes of David "Mr. McFeely" Newell (pictured left), who played the 'hood's Speedy Delivery postman from the show's inception in 1968. Hard to believe that Fred Rogers, the Presbyterian minister who saw television as his pulpit to spread the gospel of healthy child-rearing (never forget that "Mister Rogers'" is as much designed to teach moms and dads how to cope as it is to entertain kids) has been gone for more than five years. Thankfully, his gentle soul lives on in those 900 segs that should run forever. For more info on "Speedy Delivery," check out the doc's website right here. (Just thinking about "Mister Rogers'" makes me want to put on a sweater and change my shoes.)

She was, in a word, lovely. Funny, warm, utterly charming and altogether genuine in her willingness to listen to an unabashed fan do pale imitations of her dead-on impersonations of famous names and everyday folks.

There's nothing quite as nice as meeting someone you've long admired and having that person exceed your expectations for how cool you hoped he or she would be off screen. That, in a nutshell, describes my breakfast with Tracey Ullman a few weeks ago at the Polo Lounge. Even the weather cooperated and allowed us to sit outside on the patio while chatting about her Showtime series "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union," why she took the Lee Greenwood oath and how she happened to grow into her particular comedy niche.

"Suddenly I thought after the last (presidential) election I'd really like to vote," Ullman said of her decision to become a U.S. citizen in December 2006 (she's a dual citizen of the U.S. and Britain). "You just know, somehow. A moment comes when you want to take that next step of becoming an America. So I started studying up."

She did very well on the exam, thank you, and the civics-lesson CD she was handed in preparation for her quiz gave her plenty of material to riff on for a show on her adopted homeland. (And she now does a great heartfelt rendition of Lee Greenwood's ballad "God Bless the U.S.A.")  She's wrapped it all up in a mockumentary format spoofing the earnest PBS-style "Day in the Life of America" docus, with a dash of the vintage British radio program "Down Your Way" for good measure.

"I found the (citizenship) induction ceremony just amazing. There were 5,000 people downtown, and everyone's waving their flags, and they play that Lee Greenwood song to a film...that shows you wheat fields, monster trucks, the moon landing" and of course a big picture of a smiling President Bush, Ullman chuckles. 

"I think it's given me a new voice. It's got me fired up more of what I want to say... I've got more confidence that now they won't take away my green card away if I say things like that," she says.

Add another feather to Showtime's cap.

The feevee channel has landed Edie Falco as the star of a half-hour single-camera comedy pilot from Lionsgate Television, as Variety's Josef Adalian reports. Falco, who has three Emmys on her mantle from her "Sopranos" run, will play a "strong-willed, iconoclastic New York City nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life," per Showtime's description.

The pilot was written by Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem and Evan Dunsky. Wallem and Brixius will serve as exec producers and showrunners, with Caryn Mandabach also exec producing. Pre-production will begin pronto and the pilot will be shot in Gotham.

Showtime entertainment prexy Robert Greenblatt and Lionsgate TV chief Kevin Beggs could be forgiven for heaping on the adjectives in their statements about the deal. Falco's one of those rare thesps who could read the phone book for 22 minutes and make it compelling.

In this untitled project, Falco's character is described as a nurse who's not afraid to challenge her superiors and take matters into her own hands for the cause of saving lives. Falco noted that the bar for her next TV series was set high by her last one, but she enthused that the character and writing are "truly thrilling."

“To be bringing Edie Falco to Showtime is both a privilege and an honor,” Greenblatt gushed. “She sits firmly in the pantheon of the great actresses of our day, and to have found a show and a great role that meets her standards after six seasons of The Sopranos   is our distinct pleasure and great fortune. Bada bing is all I can think of to say!”

Beggs, who hasn't taken all of the bows he deserves for helping to bring "Mad Men" to life last year after a looooong gestation period, sez Falco's character and the show's setting will allow for "the opportunity to explore the human fallout from our broken medical system in this compelling single camera comedy for Showtime was an incredibly exciting proposition. That we will be doing so with the peerless Edie Falco as our heroine elevated the opportunity exponentially."

Life is better when Tracey Ullman has a sketch comedy series on the air.

Showtime will oblige starting March 30 with five half-hours of "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union," which promises to feature a calvacade of characters, including Tracey's take on everyone from Arianna Huffington (pictured), Nancy Pelosi, Renee Zellweger and David Beckham. Each seg is described as a satirical look at a day in the life of America. In an election year, we're going to need the wit of this Brit to keep us sane and silly. Can't wait.

We should've seen this coming. There's nothing Golden Globes voters like better than big stars in new clothes, and that's what FX served up this year in "Damages."

Legal murder-mystery thriller led the TV noms tally with four Globes chits, one for drama series, for star Glenn Close (pictured left) and costars Ted Danson (pictured right) and Rose Byrne.

It was a given that AMC's "Mad Men" would get some traction this year -- Globes voters rarely snub the buzz -- snaring a bid for best drama series and a richly deserved nod for its handsome star Jon Hamm. Same goes for ABC's "Pushing Daisies," a contender for comedy series and for stars Lee Pace and Anna Friel.

Back to the stars we-know-and-love derby, no surprise that Showtime's "Californication" made a good stand with a bid for best comedy and for star David Duchovny. Donald Sutherland of ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" made the cut in the supporting drama actor; so did Christina Applegate as lead comedy actress for ABC's "Samantha Who."

And in the spirit of the giving season, there was even a little something in the Globes stocking for 90-year-old Ernest Borgnine (pictured left), a telepic lead actor contender for Hallmark Channel's sweet-'n-sentimental "A Grandpa for Christmas." The last time Borgnine was nommed for a Golden Globe, he won -- for lead actor in 1955's "Marty," in which he played a less-than-handsome guy who's convinced he'll never meet Mrs. Right. (With all due respect to Borgnine, and I do mean all due, he was good in the bigscreen rendition of Paddy Chayefsky's telepic, but it's Rod Steiger in the original TV version of "Marty" who reaches down your throat, rips your heart out, pounds it into mush and then puts it back in just in time for him to find happiness with a young Nancy Marchand.)

Yikes, awkward timing for the season finale of "Weeds." Showtime skein's third-season closer involves our favorite gated-community suburbanites fleeing from a raging wildfire. Episode titled "Go" is set to air Nov. 19.

Showtime took pains to note in its listing release issued Wednesday that the segs were shot over the summer, and in no way is the show trying to grandstand on the real-life tragedy that hit so many in Southern California just a few days ago. In fairness to the show, wildfires are  a fact of life in this state, so it's a natural plot point. But now that "Weeds" maven Jenji Kohan and the rest of her scribe team are on strike, show's probably hard-pressed to tweak even a line or two if there's one that hits too close to the recent headlines.

I have to confess to being way behind on my "Weeds" viewing this season, but the season finale synopsis sounds intriguing enough to make me fire up the DVR this weekend and reconnect with our friends in Agrestic. I have to find out why Kevin Nealon's character appears to be getting romantic with his banjo.

(Pictured left, Mary-Louise Parker and Alexander Gould. Pictured right, Kevin Nealon.)

Showtime is getting into the high school musical business.

No, not with Zac and Vanessa, et al, but through a feature documentary to be produced with Lionsgate that promises to examine "the cutthroat world of high school musicals in southern Indiana." Pic will focus on the rehearsals, histrionics and hijinks surrounding tuner productions at three schools -- Floyd Central High, New Albany and Jeffersonville -- as students, parents, teachers and even local salons go at it head-to-head in an effort to have their shows selected to participate in the International Thespian Festival. Untitled docu will be produced by Barry Blaustein, producer of the wrestling docu "Beyond the Mat," and Nigel Sinclair, who produced Martin Scorsese's "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" doc.Lionsgate gets worldwide theatrical distrib rights to the pic, which is expected to bow next year.

Blaustein's promising to capture "all the joy, all the love, all the backstabbing" that surrounds the process.
The southern Indiana setting is kinda close to home for Showtime entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt, who had his own "Waiting for Guffman" moments in high school as the stage manager of variety show and tuner productions at his high school in Rockford, Ill., including "Guys & Dolls," "No No Nanette," "Bye Bye Birdie" and "George M!"

As such, the untitled docu project "really speaks to me," Greenblatt says.

That rumble you might've heard earlier this week eminating from the Westside wasn't the screams of youngsters on the Ferris Wheel at the pier but the folks at HBO's Santa Monica headquarters.

With less than 1 million voyeurs tuning in to the premiere episode of "Tell Me You Love Me," the folks at the pay cabler couldn't have been pleased. Shocked may be a better description.

That's a shame, considering "Tell Me" is a smart and introspective look at four couples (including therapist Jane Alexander and her husband) in the midst of relationship turmoil. And, oh yeah, there's lots of sex, too.

There's lots of ways to interpret the numbers. HBO has always said it's more interested in cumulative viewer totals over the week of repeated viewings than what happens on opening night. And the network also previewed "Tell Me" before Sunday, which means some caught a sneak peak.

But even with all that into account, the numbers have to be disheartening. It was a major drop from the "John From Cincinnati" premiere in June, and that one was considered low. The 5.7 million who tuned in for the first-ever "Deadwood," which preemed in March 2004, seems like a "Seinfeld"-like number now.

Maybe some were turned off by all the explicit sex they had read about in reviews. Who knows?

Adding to the cabler's woes was the lowest-ever premiere for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which obviously got no help from "Tell Me."

So where does HBO go from here? All they or any network can do is continue to make programs that rise above the common denominator and hope that folks give these shows a chance.

But it's undoubtedly been a tough year over there and hard to keep a stiff upper lip, with the sudden departure of Chris Albrecht and the end of "The Sopranos."

Where HBO once ruled the cable universe, those days are long gone now. Showtime has made huge strides with shows such as "Weeds" and "Dexter," while FX has established itself as the gritty basic cable alternative with skeins like "The Shield," "Damages" and "Nip/Tuck." Even networks that didn't have original drama programming just a few years ago, such as AMC and TBS, are now in the game.

This weekend should help, however. "Sopranos" and James Gandolfini could certainly be coming home with Emmys and "Longford" was a stellar piece of work, as was its star, Jim Broadbent.

HBO's closets are filled with Emmys but what it needs now, more than statues, are hits.

— Stuart Levine

For anyone who wants to test-drive the experience of being a television writer, Matt Selman has an easy solution.

Get a group of your most sarcastic friends together in a room, preferably windowless, and try to make each other laugh by outdoing one another with a steady stream of the most offensive, sophomoric and vulgar set of jokes and set-ups that you can possibly imagine -- things that could never air on TV, not even pay cable. Add in lots of takeout food and soft drinks and repeat for a few weeks on end. If your heart soars and body tingles every time you make the room snicker, you just might be cut out to be a television writer.

At least that's the quick-and-easy career counseling that Selman (pictured right), an Emmy-winning scribe for "The Simpsons" and co-writer of "The Simpsons Movie," offered Tuesday night during the "Sublime Primetime" dish sesh with a clutch of Emmy-nommed scribes, hosted by the WGA West and Variety at the Writers Guild Theater in BevHills.

"Don't wait for the industry to give you money," Selman instructed. "Take any opportunity to (try writing). The joy of writing is just as fun to do ... if you're on the worst show on television or the best show...Find a group of friends and make each other laugh. Riff off each other. Go on super-offensive runs about degrading subjects."

Here it comes, the debut of a second actress with a hyphenated Mary- name on Showtime's "Weeds."

As evidenced by this clip kindly provided by Showtime (click right here), former tot-star Mary-Kate Olsen makes her grownup TV debut in the Sept. 17 seg of "Weeds," playing the fundamentalist Christian hottie Tara Lindman in a 10-episode arc --- which basically means the remainder of the Emmy-nominated skein's third season.

The Tara character is, of course, a love interest for Hunter Parrish's Silas (pictured at left with Olsen), the older son of Mary-Louise Parker's drug-dealing soccer mom character, Nancy Botwin. As Tara tells Silas in their first meeting, when he inquires about the hood ornament-size cross hanging around her neck, "I'm tight with the Lord," but she also appreciates the pleasures of smoke. And eye makeup.

What is it about Mary-Louise Parker? What is that hoo-doo she does so well? The third-season opener of Showtime's "Weeds" is a Mary-Louise tour de force of sidelong glances, mischievous grins, heavy sighs and "oh fucks" that bespeaks the weariness of working moms everywhere. Who wouldn't get tired chasing a teenager and a pre-teen boy around all day, keeping tabs on them and trying to make a living all at the same time.

What's always been fun about "Weeds" is that it's a crazy suburban fairy-tale about a sexy-sweet pot-dealing soccer mom. Series creator-exec producer Jenji Kohan was smart to ground "Weeds" from the get-go in the heart-breaking story of a woman who was truly living the dream with a husband she loved madly and two beautiful sons, and then wakes up one day (in the pilot) finding herself a widow and forced to make her own way in the world, and to make enough of a living to maintain the comfortable lifestyle that her family has become accustomed to, or more accurately, the only way of life they've ever known. In the dealing with this smack-in-the-face wakeup call, Parker's Nancy Botwin discovers a very real world far removed from the neatly trimmed lawns and tract houses of planned suburbia.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

The truth is out there, and David Duchovny aims to find it at Showtime.

Five years after "The X-Files" ended its nine-year run, Duchovny returns to the airwaves -- though this time viewers will have to pay to see him -- in "Californication," a half-hour comedy about an author who has serious intimacy problems.

So what brought him back to TV?

"It was the script Tom (Kapinos) wrote, though I didn't think that if you do a pilot, you also have do the show, too," Duchonvy kidded. "I wasn't necessarily looking for a comedy but I was open to it."

Pilot episode has Duchovny character Hank Moody bedding many women while simultaneously trying to be a good father to his daughter, Becca (played by Madeleine Martin, who said of being part of the very adult drama, "I listen to my iPod during table reads").

Nudity and sex is a hot topic at TCA this year, with HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me" also generating headlines for its risque manner of filmmaking.

"It's a family show," clarified creator/exec producer Kapinos said of "Californication," "but a fractured, f---d up family."

Duchovny most recently starred in the bigscreen indie "The T.V. Set," which received generally good reviews. He scored two Emmy noms for "X-FIles," and also has one each for "The Larry Sanders Show" and for a guest spot in "Life With Bonnie." In 1997, he won a Golden Globe for his role as Fox Mulder.

Kapinos says the title comes from the 1970s term that citizens of Oregon used when they were concerned that the high influx of Californians would ruin their state. "This couldn't be set in another state."

When asked if his wife Tea Leoni might find her way into a few of the episodes, Duchovny -- who also acts as an exec producer -- said, ""We've always tried to not work together. It's mostly because she doesn't want to work with me."

Series, which also stars Brit Natascha McElhone, Evan Handler ("Sex and the City") and Madeline Zima, begins Aug. 13.

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Few celebrities faze grizzled TV critics but it was genuinely weird to see Mary-Kate Olsen on stage as part of the "Weeds" panel during Showtime's three-hour TCA session on Saturday.

The actress, who just turned 21, fielded more questions than star Mary-Louise Parker, though her answers left something to be desired, in most cases. (It didn't go unnoticed by the scribes when Olsen misidentified "Weeds'" fictional setting as "Majestic" sted "Agrestic.") Olsen plays Tara Lindman, whom she described as "a good Christian girl with a twist" and a Bible-loving love interest for Nancy Botwin's older son. When pressed about exactly what kind of Christian she would play (campy, evangelistic, goodie-two-shoes, etc.), "Weeds" creator/exec producer Jenji Kohan filled in the details and confirmed that yes, the character will be seen tugging on the chronic.

"She's comfortable in her Christianity and her drug use," Kohan said.

"Weeds" makes the most mature series by far for Olsen, who reached stardom by starring with her sister, Ashely, in "Full House" from 1987-95. She's also become a film producer and extremely successful businesswoman.

Olsen learned of the role from her agent, auditioned and met with Kohan, who initially had a bit of trepidation about the actress.

"We might have been nervous about her reputation but her performance was wonderful," Kohan said. "We wanted someone good for the part, and we got it."

"I've spent the last year going on auditions, acting and working hard," said Olsen, who seemed a bit stunned by the criics' interest in her being part of the cast. On the difficulty of getting more grown-up roles after a career as a child star, she added: "There will always be my celebrity, but my work speaks for itself."

"Weeds" marks Olsen's first on-screen appearance without Ashley. She was recently cast in Sienna Miller's "Factory Girl," but her part was cut.

The series launches its third season on Aug. 13, and will air 15 episodes, up three from season two.

-- Stuart Levine

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Showtime is a step closer to airing a series from Steven Spielberg.