Jeff Pfeiffer | 2/22 | Channel Guide Magazine

BET networks cover dedication of the MLK memorial

October 14, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Originally scheduled to have been dedicated back in August until Hurricane Irene put things on hold, the new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial will finally be officially dedicated this Sunday, Oct. 16. BET, Centric and BET.com will feature a live, commercial-free simulcast of the dedication starting at 11am ET, hosted by BET News anchor Ed Gordon, correspondent Lola Ogunnaike and special contributor Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post. The event will feature an opening performance by Aretha Franklin and an address by President Obama to formally dedicate the memorial.

Fans of cuteness are the winners when Animal Planet pits “Puppies vs Babies”

October 14, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP This Saturday, Oct. 15, at 10pm ET/PT, Animal Planet’s Puppies vs. Babies begins its first installment of three one-hour specials that seek to determine which is cuter — baby humans or baby animals. (Although it is called Puppies vs. Babies, trailer clips seem to also include toddlers and older kids in the mix with babies, along with kitties in addition to puppies). Wherever you fall in the debate (I’m not afraid to take a side — go puppies!), it’s a good bet you’ll be awwwing all throughout this battle, which takes the 16 most popular [...]

Nothing says the holidays like Syfy Original Movies

October 13, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Perhaps trying to recapture the feeling of that long-ago time right after the original Halloween came out, when every horror movie seemed to have a holiday theme, Syfy has announced a new slate of holiday-related films in its infamous Saturday Original Movie franchise. According to Thomas Vitale, executive vice president of programming and original movies for Syfy, the network is “committed to finding new and different ways to destroy the world in our Saturday Original Movies. Since 2002, we’ve unleashed natural disasters, unnatural disasters, creatures on land, sea and air, and iconic fantasy characters. Now [...]

Twitter-feed ghosts of TV series past

October 10, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP This morning, while perusing my Twitter feed, I happened to glance over at the “Who to Follow” suggestions off to the side and noticed that the Twitter feed for NBC’s Free Agents was among the recommendations. I found this odd, since the show had been canceled last week. Why would I want to follow a feed that likely will not be updated, and which probably should be deleted at this point? I remembered a similar experience I had in seeing that the Twitter feed for FOX’s Lone Star — a show we really liked last [...]

Latest Ken Burns documentary explores the Prohibition era

October 1, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP There is a scene near the end of the 1987 film The Untouchables when Kevin Costner’s T-man character Eliot Ness — whom we have just seen, along with his team of agents, help bring gangster Al Capone to justice — is asked by a reporter what he would do if the talks of ending Prohibition become reality. Thinking for a moment, Ness then says with a hint of a smile and a bit of relief, “I think I’ll have a drink.” That sentiment was likely shared by many citizens by the time America’s 13-year “Noble [...]

Halloween 2011 TV schedule

September 30, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP October is upon us, the time of year when darkness grows longer, a chill clutches the air, and many people look to their TVs for scary escapism. Throughout the month, leading up to Halloween, many networks will offer a variety of scary shows, specials and movies — from hardcore horror to family-friendly frights, depending upon your mood. Here are some of the notable highlights. Programming and times are subject to change; check back throughout the month, as this post will continuously be updated and added to. While we focus here mainly on TV series and [...]

FOX airs previously postponed “Animation Domination” hurricane-themed crossover

September 29, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP This Sunday’s (Oct. 2) new episodes of The Cleveland Show, Family Guy and American Dad will be series crossover episodes focused around a hurricane that hits the shows’ respective cities of Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls. These episodes were originally slated to air last spring, but were postponed out of respect to the victims of the devastating tornadoes and storms that battered the South at that time. Since then, various other storms have not shown Mother Nature has any inclination to ease up too much, so perhaps FOX is trying to squeeze these in before [...]

Jason O’Mara talks about his visit to “Terra Nova”

September 23, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Terra Nova, the epic new sci-fi/action/drama series premiering this Monday, Sept. 26, at 8pm ET/PT on FOX with a two-hour pilot, has a storyline that straddles both a future world about 150 years from now, and an alternate world 85 million years in the past, where the brunt of the action takes place. In reality, the show has sometimes felt like it’s taken a million years to get here, with premiere date postponements and rumors of out-of-control production flying over the last year and a half. But judging by what I’ve seen from the pilot, [...]

How the stars reacted to the Emmys on Twitter

September 19, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Here is a selection of some of what the stars — nominees and observers — had to say, and a few of their pics, about last night’s Emmy Awards presentation via Twitter. All tweets are presented [sic]. Jane Lynch (@jamemarielynch), nominated for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series as Sue Sylvester in “Glee,” and a first-time Emmy host – “EMMY RED CARPET all poised for the show! Mama is nervous!” Rainn Wilson (@RainnWilson), star of “The Office”; not nominated — “The world of TV should be ashamed of itself that Steve Carell never won an [...]

“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Season 4 premiere gets wet and wild

September 16, 2011 | By Jeff Pfeiffer
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By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP One of the reasons we had to wait until the Star Wars prequels before we saw any underwater denizens of George Lucas’ universe on their home, um, terrain — aside from story considerations — may likely have been that the special effects technology simply didn’t exist during the original trilogy to effectively present such a world to viewers. And even when we finally did see one of these societies in the form of Jar-Jar Binks and his fellow Gungans in Episode I, it was for a few minutes. But the two-part Season 4 premiere of [...]