Men in Trees Cancelled

TV Guide has confirmed that, after having moved it around its schedule to the point of confusion, ABC has cancelled Men in Trees.

Series creator Jenny Bicks told Michael Ausiello, “I am really proud of the work we did on MIT… a huge thank you to our supportive fans.”

She added, “I wish the show had not been moved six times and put onto two long hiatuses.”

Since the show has been on the bubble, the producers prepared an alternate ending to serve as the series finale. Men in Trees’ will return on Wednesday May 28 for its final run.

Reaper Episode 15

Sam and Andi finally went out on a date in Reaper Episode 14, though he managed to convince her that she just hallucinated all that stuff about her almost dying. The rebellion to bring down the Devil didn’t work, largely because the group of demons was too mean about it.

Sam’s making dinner for Andi. He insists he wants to cook for her and that she won’t get food poisoning. An angry Tony shows up to interrupt the dinner. After roughing Sam up a bit, he agrees to cook for him, advising him he’s leaving town and dropping out of society. He hopes to rebuild the army and defeat the Devil. Andi overhears the last part of the conversation, which doesn’t sound like it’s from the cookbook as Sam claims.

Josie and Sock are together again. Now Ben’s moping.

The Devil brings Sam to a soccer game, where he tells him a bunch of the kids have the same father, Jack King, who’s also the proud father of a few hundred other children. He works at a sperm bank. Sam gets a cool vessel, a retractable sickle. Andi catches them while they’re toying with it. They pretend they already ate when Andi asks about lunch. Instead, they head off to the sperm bank, and this time Andi follows them. After filling out an application, they go into Jack’s office, sickle in hand. Then they decapitate him… in front of an open window… with Andi watching. They may have some explaining to do. He ain’t dead, though. They need to hack him a few more times. His head’s still alive and talking. They’re pretty sure he’s gone once they get rid of his head, but they don’t realize his hand’s still alive.

Ben has a chat with a girl at work, who tells him his Phil Collins (aka soulmate) is out there.

Sam brings Andi some flowers. Her response is to attack him and accuse him of killing somebody. He promises her there’s an explanation. He just can’t tell her what it is, but after a threat of calling the cops, he tells her to just give him some time to talk to his other boss about his other job so he can tell her the truth. He’s got 24 hours to come clean.

Gladys at the DMV wonders why Sam’s got a note attached to the vessel. She agrees to send it without asking questions. The Devil got the note, but he’s more concerned about the vessel, which is missing a piece. He meets sam at a video store, where the surveillance tape shows Jack, who managed to regenerate himself. Sam asks for permission to tell Andi the truth, agreeing to a favor, a terrible favor one day in the future in exchange. So now he’s got another deal with the Devil.

Ben’s got a surprise for the boys. They have a new roommate, Sarah from work, who is also now Ben’s wife. She needed a greencard, or so he says.

Andi wants to hear the news sober. Sam wanted to be tactful about it, but Sock’s got an easy explanation. Sam works for the Devil. She walks away because she wants a real explanation. If Sam can’t handle the problem, the Devil will handle it for him. Ben and Sock have solved the problem, though. They kidnapped her and threw her in the trunk, though they haven’t planned what they’re going to do with her after that. Sam opens the seat up to talk to her from the other side, bringing her a juice box to play nice. She lies to him, but he doesn’t buy it. So she attacks him, but it takes a while for the other guys to notice because they’re distracted. They do notice eventually, though, and rescue Sam, but Andi promises to kill all of them.

This leads them to a theory. Go visit Tony and his band of demons in the country to scare Andi into believing the truth. Once Tony turns into his demon form, she seems to believe it. Problem is they left the keys in the car, so she steals it and drives off. Sam loves her, but he’s sick of being patient.

Jack goes to the hospital to take pictures of his new kids. He’s not sure how many of them are his. The boys show up at the hospital, where Sam’s greeted by the Devil. He fixed his problem with Andi. She’s in the trunk. Apparently his idea of fixing things is the same as Ben and Sock’s. Sam talks to her again, and she won’t tell. She can’t handle it, so he tells her he loves her. She’s afraid of him. Probably not the response he was looking for.

Ben looks for the maternity ward, but on his way, he meets up with a woman with green eyes reading a Sue Grafton novel who likes mixed martial arts. It’s his soulmate after all. Too bad he’s married now.

Sam and Sock spot Jack. He really wants to escape, so he cuts off his hand. Sock’s off to get the hand. Sam will handle the rest. As Sam’s fighting Jack, Jack manages to get the sickle away from him. Andi comes in and inadvertently kills Jack. Now Sock needs to deal with the new naked Jack, but he manages to escape. Sam hunts him down, though, and that takes care of the last of the pieces.

Ben wants to go out with the girl he met at the hospital, but his wife won’t let him. Go figure.

Andi shows up at the bar, and she seems to be over the whole fear thing. Now that that’s done with, though, it’s time to pay up the favor. The Devil wants an inside man to betray Tony and get him information beyond the circle.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Reaper episode 16, Greg, Schmeg, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on The CW.

Reaper Episode 14

After the boys found out that Tony and Steve are demons, they began avoiding them in Reaper Episode 13. Steve doesn’t get all the demophobic behavior, particularly since he knows Sam’s a reaper but hasn’t treated him any differently. With that in mind, though, Steve would like Sam’s assistance… to take down the Devil. Andi came even closer to being dragged into this demon… stuff, as she had a run in with the acid queen, who tried to kill her.

Andi’s fine, but she’s not sure whether she’s seen hallucinations. The doctor tells her it’s not unusual or anything to worry about. Only it’s not a doctor. It’s a guy the boys paid to trick her, and he’s covered his tracks by handing her a bottle of pills Tic Tacs.

The moron who lived at the apartment before them hasn’t left a forwarding address, so they’re getting all kinds of free stuff. This time it’s a bunch of alcohol.

For some unknown reason, Sam doesn’t have any interest in going out for a banana split with the Devil. He wants to get right to the soul. The guy was a lawyer (a lot of those in Hell). He’s back bleeding people dry… literally. At least he knows who he’s looking for, as Cubby Bryce, an ambulance chaser, has his photo on the bench that the Devil’s transported Sam to.

Andi returns to The Work Bench. Sam doesn’t know whether to hug, kiss, handshake, or bow. So he does some mix of the lot, settling on an awkward hug. She’s realized now that life is short. She knows they kissed (she’s pretty sure she didn’t hallucinate that), and she wants to go on a date with him. He says yes because if he doesn’t she’s going to have to slap him upside the head.

Josie’s there, and Sock is happy to see that his mark is still all over her, like dog pee. She decides that, since it means so much to Sock that she’s wearing the scarf he gave her for Christmas, she’ll give it to the first random person she sees, which happens to be Ted.

Steve and Tony both invite Sam into their lair. Tony wants to be subtle. Steve just blurts it out: they’re part of an underground alliance of demons planning to overthrow the Devil. They’re angry that they were cast out of Heaven for eternity and believe that Lucifer’s leadership is taking them in the wrong direction. They want Sam’s help since he talks to the Devil, and in return, once they overthrow him, he won’t be able to collect any more souls, including Sam’s.

Ted wants a word with his peeps. He asks Sock to give him Josie’s phone number. This won’t end well. Sock writes a number on his hand and tells him to go forth and hit that thing.

Steve and Tony take Sam to their headquarters for a Demons Anonymous meeting. All the demons talk about the good they’re doing to undermine the Devil. Bob has a problem, though. He tried to eat a child on Wednesday. Happens to the best of us. He let the kid go and called his sponsor, who bailed him out of this jam. The plan is to be nice and do charity to get Lucifer to beg them to stop. Shouldn’t take more than a few hudred years at this rate. Sam’s disappointed by the lack of aggressiveness and leaves. Even the fundraising efforts aren’t enough to convince him this isn’t a joke. Tony agrees with Sam that this isn’t going to work quickly enough, particularly with a human lifespan, as people die so quickly like goldfish. His plan is to ram a nuke down the Devil’s throat. I don’t think that will work either.

Sam gets a call from Cubby and arranges to meet him after work for a workman’s comp case. Then he steps over his latest (now dead) victim. Sock’s real interested in this case once he hears how much money could be made. Sam reminds him they’re there for an ambush, and they attack. Not very well, but it’s enough to get the job done.

Ted tells Sock that he had a date with Josie last night and that she wants him to hook up her DVR, which is code for touching parts. His theory is that Josie likes to date down, which is why she went out with Sock.

The demon group has prepared a human sacrifice for Sam. According to Bob, who used to work at legal in Hell, this will get Sam out of his contract. The sacrifice’s soul takes Sam’s place in Hell. I say go for it, dude. Sam refuses to take part in this. They agree to return the drug dealer to the park rather than killing him. Sam insists he’s not the Devil’s friend. The devil’s just kind of… clingy. He’s not so sure they’ll be able to hurt the Devil if he lets them summon him, but Tony’s demon form is pretty convincing.

Josie tells Sock he’s not some sort of loser. Ted’s another story, but Sock manages to scare him away. He tells him he already hooked up Josie’s DVR. Twice.

Sam apologizes to the Devil for being rude and invites him out for ice cream. The Devil can’t eat ice cream, though, as punishment from God, but he goes anyway to watch Sam eat and talk about how he loved God and is glad he’s no longer alone now that he has Sam as a friend. Sam complains that he can’t even get in touch with him, so he gives him his private cell phone number, with a Phoenix area code.

Tony’s got a sword, the one that brought Lucifer down the first time, and he plans to get the group of demons together to do it again. Sock and Ben don’t get why Sam’s having second thoughts. Sock smacks him upside the head a few times, some of them just for fun.

Then Andi shows up for a gropefest. She’s happy that she can trust him. He tells her he’ll never lie to her, although he doesn’t mind messing with her head, leaving out big chunks of information. He can’t talk about a tiny, tiny part of his life (the part where he hunts down escaped souls from Hell for his friend the Devil, often putting those closest to him in grave danger). She’s okay with this.

Steve interrupts them and forces Sam out of the apartment for coming between him and Tony. Tony’s getting a little tired of Steve’s pacifist ways and can’t understand it coming from the guy who recruited him for Lucifer’s war on God. Steve still wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his creator. Tony mostly just still wants to kill the Devil.

Ben realizes why Cubby’s name sounds familiar. His name’s on all the packages they’re receiving, and they’ve been drinking his beer. He must have lived there before he died, which can’t be a coincidence. The lease was signed by Satan, and their theory is that this whole thing is just a trap. They call Sam to warn him. He’s kind of in the middle of a rebellion, so it’s not really a good time to talk. Just then the Devil shows up. He kills Bob and grabs the sword, which is actually a fake from Koreatown. Then he blows up the building, but at least he spares Sam. Sam believes the original plan was going to work, but the Devil’s not worried since everybody in the world isn’t good and never will be.

As it turns out, Tony’s not exactly what you would call dead. He’ll be back looking for more.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Reaper episode 15 Coming to Grips.

The Tudors Renewed for Season 3

The Tudors season 2 just started, and Showtime hasn’t wasted any time in renewing it for a season 3.

“The Tudors is now a fixture for us at Showtime, and we’re on our way to completing the entire saga of all six wives of Henry VIII,” Robert Greenblatt of Showtime said. “We are enormously proud of this show, the extraordinary cast and the production team that recreates the grandeur of the Renaissance year in and year out. There is nothing like this anywhere on American television.”

CBS Summer Schedule

New programming that will air on CBS beginning in June is as follows:

Big Brother 10
Sundays at 8/7c as of July 13
Tuesdays at 9/8c as of July 15
Wednesdays at 8/7c as of July 16

Greatest American Dog
Thursdays at 8/7c as of July 10

Jingles
Sundays at 9/8c as of July 27

Flashpoint
Fridays at 10/9c as of July 11

Million Dollar Password
Sundays at 8/7c as of June 1

Swingtown
Thursdays at 10/9c as of July 10

In addition, the network will have its traditional abundance of crime drama reruns and 60 Minutes (no matter what, every single Sunday, whether it causes Big Brother to be delayed or not).

Jericho Season 3?

CBS has cancelled Jericho. Twice. But that doesn’t mean the show’s done just yet. According to the New York Times, CBS Paramount Network Television has held talks with Comcast in an effort to find new life for the program.

The plan is to offer a Friday Night Lights-esque deal, as that show was saved for a third season when DirecTV obtained the rights to show it first in exchange for helping with production costs. DirecTV customers will be able to see the show four months earlier than regular CBS viewers.

Of course, even if this plan falls through, there are other avenues, including a move to cable. Either way we’re likely to see continued budget cuts if there is a season 3.

Heroes Season 3 Begins September 15

Update: NBC has delayed its Heroes season 3 premiere. The new season will begin one week later, Monday September 22nd, at 9/8c.

For those who can’t wait, check out the Heroes season 3 episode 1 spoilers.

Heroes Season 3 will be making its return to NBC on Monday September 15th at 8/7c. The return date will feature an all night Heroes event. The first hour will be set aside for a clip show to get fans familiar with the series again. After that will be two hours of the new season.