"Peter Pan Live!" among the year's setbacks
By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Along with its triumphs, the world of TV had its share of setbacks in 2014. Here's a sample:
— "How I Met Your Mother" Concludes: This long-running CBS sitcom met few viewers' expectations for a slam-bang finish. Its big reveal — naming the titular "your mother" after nine years of teasing — yielded a finale only slightly less tangled than the ending of "Lost." And even "Lost" resisted the temptation to include a blue French horn in its wrap-up.
— David Gregory Exits "Meet the Press": After months of speculation that Gregory was being ousted from the program he had hosted since 2008, NBC News announced in August he was toast. That was 18 months after the network signed him to a new contract it described as "a long-term commitment." And four months after NBC News' president defended him in a memo to "Meet the Press" staff expressing support "for David, now and into the future." His future was short-lived. He was out in a jiffy, with Chuck Todd his replacement.
— Ray Rice's Elevator Assault: Over and over, viewers were force-fed the chilling video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice striking his then-fiancee and knocking her out. After it was released on a Monday in September, the video of Janay Palmer crumpling to the elevator floor was aired repeatedly by multiple networks. In one particular hour, the clip aired 37 times on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. But by Thursday, many of those networks vowed to give it a rest. But Rice isn't necessarily off the air. Having lately appealed his indefinite suspension by the NFL, and won, he's eligible to play again in the NFL — and log more TV face time.
— "Utopia" Unrealized: Arriving with much fanfare, this Fox reality show stranded a group of strangers at a remote site where, during the year to follow, they were meant to build a more perfect society. But it turned out they couldn't even build a show that viewers would watch. Puny ratings forced its cancellation after just two months. For Fox (and the human race) "Utopia" swiftly proved to be a dream unfulfilled.
— "Peter Pan Live!" It proposed a bold counter-theory for the space-time continuum. It argued for eternal youth in a realm only accessible by fairy dust-assisted human flight. Unfortunately, NBC's live production of this time-honored musical never managed to take off. Viewers had the feeling they had grown up and grown old by the end of its three hours struggling to get off the ground.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More