AMC's 'Walking Dead' more than a monster tale

PASADENA -- "The Walking Dead" found success first as a graphic novel and then as an AMC series. Despite all the attention and hype, there's still one major misconception among the uninformed.

"They think it's just a monster show," says Norman Reedus, who plays one of the walking living, Daryl Dixon. "It's not. It's about characters and about the interaction of people who would never hang out together and decisions made. We are lucky to have the zombies as a backdrop because it's pretty dynamic, but the show is about so much more." Read more →

Silent Bob finds his voice for 'Comic Book Men'

PASADENA -- Silent Bob speaks -- he speaks a lot.

It's actually actor/comic book writer/director Kevin Smith doing all the talking. But the conversation has to do with the mum's-the-word character he has played in several feature films. Read more →

TV briefs: 'Worst Cooks in America'

Can't boil water: "Worst Cooks in America," the Food Network competition series that turns hopeless cooks into confident kitchen mavens, returns for a third season with two-time undefeated series champion Anne Burrell challenged by superstar chef Bobby Flay at 9 p.m. Feb. 12.

The show pits Burrell against Flay, each leading a team of eight recruits in an eight-week boot camp. Read more →

'The River' frames TV thriller with reality-TV style

PASADENA -- Fuzzy images, collected by a camera that appears to have been dropped on a ship's deck, offer a quick look at a mysterious figure. A hand-held camera tries to follow the action but can't keep up with the shape.

These images may look like the work of a documentary filmmaker or a reality show TV crew, but it is the unique filming method used to make the new ABC thriller "The River." Read more →

TV briefs: Phil Keoghan 40-day bike ride

Amazing ride: "The Amazing Race" host Phil Keoghan is featured in a new Showtime documentary that debuts at 8 p.m. Feb. 18. The documentary follows Keoghan on a 40-day bike ride across America during the spring of 2009.

Keoghan set out to pedal 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to New York. His goals: experience a once-in-a-lifetime adventure with his father; embark on the biggest mental and physical challenge of his life; and work toward raising $1 million for his favorite charity, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. However, this life-changing adventure did not come without a price, which included a trip to the hospital, extreme exhaustion, countless spills, drastic weight loss and a dangerous crash in Ohio that left him bloodied and shaken. Read more →

'NCIS' hits the 200-episode mark

PASADENA -- The CBS drama "NCIS" will join a select group of prime-time TV shows Tuesday when it airs its 200th episode. Only 62 series -- out of the thousands that have filled network and cable channels -- have reached the milestone.

And "NCIS" shows no sign of slowing down. It's consistently the highest-rated drama in the weekly ratings and has 13.7 million Facebook fans. The popularity is global: It airs in more than 200 international markets and is heard in 20 languages. Read more →

Daughter of Master P energizes new Nick series

PASADENA -- Cymphonique Miller didn't tell producers of the new Nickelodeon series "How to Rock" that her dad is Master P and her brother is Romeo. This was something she wanted to do on her own.

"If I'm going to book a job or be an actor, be in the entertainment business, I want to make sure that I get there on my own. So I went to a general audition," Miller says. "After I flew back to L.A., I didn't really expect anything from it, and then that's when we got the call from Nickelodeon saying that, 'We actually like this video, and we want to do something with you.' Read more →

TV briefs: Nickelodeon partners with Televisa

Across the border: Nickelodeon, in partnership with Televisa, has ordered 80 episodes of an original one-hour U.S. adaptation of the popular Mexican telenovela, "Reach for a Star" ("Alcanzar una Estrella") for Nick at Nite.

"Reach for a Star" is a daily series following a teenage girl whose life changes completely when she becomes a star and wins the love of her teen idol. Read more →

NBC hopes for 'Smash' hit with musical drama

PASADENA -- Today, amid all of the multi-million dollar commercials for beer, cars and snacks during NBC's Super Bowl broadcast, look for a heavy barrage of promotional advertising for the new NBC series "Smash."

The musical drama -- a behind-the-scenes look at mounting a Broadway show on the life of Marilyn Monroe -- launches Monday, a point NBC will drive into the ground like a spiked football. Read more →

Cast of 'Rob' experiments with comic chemistry

PASADENA -- For a TV show to succeed, all of the players need to act in harmony. Cheech Marin calls the cast of his new CBS comedy, "Rob," a "great band."

"These people know how to play. The ball is alive all the time, and you have to be on your [expletive deleted]," Marin says, mixing his metaphors. Read more →

TV briefs: Bravo to launch 'Shahs of Sunset'

Reality news: Bravo gives viewers a look inside the lives of six young Persian-American friends in Los Angeles when "Shahs of Sunset" premieres at 10 p.m. March 11.

The network's latest reality show follows a group of friends who are trying to juggle their active social lives and careers while balancing the demands of their families and traditions. Read more →

Original sketch comedy show reunites ‘MADtv’ actors

PASADENA -- Former "MADtv" actors Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have reunited to star in the new half-hour sketch comedy show "Key & Peele."

Through improv, original characters and celebrity impressions, the pair will look at the oddities of life. Key and Peele talk about their new show and their brand of comedy. Read more →

Horse racing series on HBO given free rein

PASADENA -- HBO is betting its new series "Luck" will start strong and finish ahead of the TV field.

It certainly has the pedigree to be a winner. Read more →

TV briefs: Victor Garber to appear on "The Big C"

The big C as in cast: Emmy-nominated actor Victor Garber will make a guest appearance on Showtime's "The Big C" when it returns for its third season on April 8.

"The Big C" stars Laura Linney as a reserved suburban wife/mother/teacher whose terminal cancer diagnosis forces her to shake up her life and find the light side of a dark situation. Read more →

Complex 'Albert Nobbs' role lures Glenn Close

SAN FRANCISCO -- Glenn Close knew when she performed in the stage production of "Albert Nobbs" that she wanted to make the story into a movie.

That was 29 years ago. Read more →

'Chuck' actors eye end of their quirky roles

PASADENA -- For five seasons on "Chuck," Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky played Lester and Jeff -- the most strung out and silly buddies since Bill and Ted went on an excellent adventure.

That ride comes to an end Friday with the two-part series finale of the NBC comedy about a computer geek (Zachary Levi) who becomes a super spy. Read more →

Actor hopes work in ‘Spartacus’ honors predecessor

PASADENA -- Getting cast to play the lead role in the Starz series "Spartacus: Vengeance" has been bittersweet for Aussie actor Liam McIntyre.

He was excited to get the starring spot in the cable series, but he felt a great sense of responsibility because he took over the role originated by Andy Whitfield, who had to withdraw from the series after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Whitfield died in 2011 at the age of 39. Read more →

ABC fills the comedy gap with 'Suburgatory'

LOS ANGELES -- ABC has tried since 2009 to find the fourth piece of its comedy block puzzle on Wednesday nights. "The Middle" and "Modern Family" give the network two strong anchors, and "Happy Endings" has been a solid draw with young viewers.

Finding the fourth show has been the test as programs such as "Hank," "Better With You" and "Mr. Sunshine" came and went. ABC reached a point where it aired repeats of "Modern Family" while the search went on to find that fourth solid comedy. Read more →

Kiefer Sutherland returns to TV in cerebral 'Touch'

PASADENA -- For eight seasons, Kiefer Sutherland played television's baddest asset -- Jack Bauer -- on "24." He returns to the network this week in "Touch," playing the father of an 11-year-old boy who has the ability to see patterns in nature, time and people.

The role is far more cerebral than his "24" work. Read more →

TV briefs: Syfy to launch "Defiance"

Taking the lead: The Syfy cable channel has inked actor Grant Bowler to star in "Defiance," a science fiction series that will unite television and massive multiplayer online gaming.

Set in the near future, "Defiance" introduces a world where humans and aliens must learn to live together on an exotic new Earth that has been transformed by alien terra-forming machines. Read more →

KFSN anchor Matt Keller moves to Bay Area

A lot happened while I was in Los Angeles taking a look at upcoming network and cable shows.

Many of you have been asking about the departure of KFSN (Channel 30.1) morning anchor Matt Keller. He left the local ABC station on Jan. 5 to move to the Bay Area. Keller is married to former KFSN anchor/reporter Maureen Naylor, who has been working at Oakland's KTVU since leaving in 2008. The couple is expecting their first child. Read more →

New on DVD Jan. 24: 'Wings,' '50/50'

The Jan. 24 DVD releases include a high-flying film classic and a powerful tale about a man fighting cancer.

"Wings," Grade A: The wait is finally over: The film that won the first Best Picture Academy Award is available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD. Read more →

'Idol,' 'Voice' vie for similar audiences in different ways

PASADENA -- "American Idol" starts its 11th season tonight on FOX and will face growing competition for viewers when "The Voice" launches its second season Feb. 5.

Although "Idol" and "The Voice" will air on different nights, the music competition shows are vying for similar viewers. Will it be musical overkill for fans? Read more →

'Remodeled' fashion vet aims to change industry

PASADENA -- Paul Fisher has molded careers of models and supermodels since the 1980s with a client list that has included Naomi Campbell, Carol Alt, Brooke Burke and Kimora Lee Simmons. Despite being a force in the industry for so many years, Fisher has a surprising attitude about modeling.

"I'm not a big supporter of the modeling industry. I don't suggest any young person to ever enter into our world. I actually think it can be very, very damaging for a young person. I believe that anytime that you go on five castings a day, 25 castings a week, 100 castings a month, 1,200 castings a year, and 1,198 times you don't get that job, by the time you turn 18, 19, 20 years old, you look in the mirror, and you see things that nobody else sees," Fisher says. Read more →

FOX to launch eerie 'Alcatraz' with Jorge Garcia

PASADENA -- Jorge Garcia has traded one mysterious island for another.

After playing jinxed lottery winner and island plane crash survivor Hugo Reyes on "Lost" for six seasons, Garcia is now portraying an expert on prison island Alcatraz on the new FOX series of the same name. Read more →