TV News and Reviews

For all you Property Ladder fans, I just thought I’d let you know to enjoy any episodes you see in repeats on TLC. Word from the network is that they currently have no plans to make further installments of Property Ladder. Such careful wording (as opposed to “canceled”) leaves an opening for a possible reincarnation at some point, but as I said in an earlier Property Ladder post , the current state of the economy and housing market doesn’t fit well with a show about inexperienced house flippers.

In other news, ironically after I’d just given the show a shout out, Shootout (aka Sunday Morning Shootout) with the two Peters (Bart and Guber) is leaving AMC. The vague word given by the hosts is that it will be moving to another network and time, but no details about the move were given. I’m guessing AMC wouldn’t be too keen to let them advertise for another network on their last show, but Peter Bart gives no further information on his blog at Variety, either. If I find out any more details about the end of Shootout’s six year run and possible future network, I’ll let you know.

Photo of Kirsten Kemp of Property Ladder, c2007 Giles Mingasson, TLC.

AMC has this great little industry insider show on Sunday morning’s called Shootout. Two old hands in the business, Peter Bart and Peter Guber, discuss the movies–and their usually widely differing takes on issues in media–and have on special guests each week. Shootout’s Bart is currently editor-in-chief of Variety and Peter Guber is a big-time Hollywood producer. Both men have worked inside the industry for decades and have a wealth of knowledge and opinions on how movies work or don’t work, how they reflect and affect society, how politics plays into it all, and much more.

Bart and Guber get a lot of the biggest actors and directors to appear on Shootout, and while these movie giants are usually there to promote a particular film, viewers are also treated to old war stories of previous movies, conflicts with studio heads or actors, previously unknown inspirations for films, and fun gossip and backstories. But above all is an intense love of the movies and the continual pursuit of making worthwhile and successful pictures.

Today the two Peters had Ron Howard and Brian Grazer as guests on Shootout, talking about their working relationship and previous films, as well as their current project: a film adaptation of a play about the Nixon/Frost interviews:

It was a treat to see this episode and listen to Ron Howard talk about his acting career as well as his passion for being a director that began at the age of 8. He and Grazer are both earnest about the projects they choose to do, and seem to have found the right balance and trust for a perfect movie partnership.

I think this show flies under a lot of people’s radar. They don’t expect Judd Apatow or Clint Eastwood or Denzel Washington to show up on AMC on Sunday morning, but they’re missing some wonderfully in-depth and candid interviews with the stars and creators of the best cinema.

Check your local listings for Shootout airings on AMC–times tend to vary, but hover around 11am Eastern/10am Central.