TV quick hits: John Oliver’s HBO premiere, ‘Lost’ reunion, ‘Army Wives’ farewell, pilot dish
We’ve got a number of big TV headlines to share in today’s TV Quick Hits, and rather than spending any time on an introduction, let’s just dive right in here for those of you who are big-time John Oliver fans.
Oliver’s new gig – The former “Daily Show” correspondent / current “Community” guest star will launch his new HBO comedy show on April 27 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern, which means that he could have some carry-over from “Game of Thrones” earlier in the night. The title for the show, which will have some similarities to his gig with Jon Stewart, will be “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Given that this is HBO, he’s going to have the leeway to basically do and say anything that he wants.
“Lost” reunion details – In case you missed the glorious news, there is a “Lost” reunion happening at PaleyFest this year, and we know now some of the folks that will be there come Sunday, March 16. To date, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Jorge Garcia, Emilie de Ravin, Ian Somerhalder, Nestor Carbonell, Malcolm David Kelley, and Henry Ian Cusick have all signed up. That’s a pretty interesting list, though it is slightly striking that neither Matthew Fox nor Evangeline Lilly, arguably the two leads, are not there. That could change, given that the entire roster is not yet set. Also, kudos to Ian for showing up, even though we know what happened to him in season 1.
Will Forte show going to series – This is what being in a big movie like “Nebraska” does for you. “Saturday Night Live” alum Will Forte’s new series “Last Man on Earth,” which is a single-camera comedy with a pretty clear premise, has been ordered to series. We’ll find out more about a launch date at Fox’s upfronts in May.
“Army Wives” farewell – For those who hate that Lifetime put this show away without any sort of proper goodbye, know that there is a retrospective coming ironically on the same day as the “Lost” reunion. Entitled “Army Wives: A Final Salute,” the show will feature (per TVLine) interviews from Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brigid Brannagh, Wendy Davis, Sterling K. Brown, Brian McNamara, Terry Serpico, Drew Fuller and Jeremy Davidson.
We’ll close with a video of Al Roker and Matt Lauer getting a bizarre massage in Russia this week … just because we can. Just remember, Sochi has strong rules about everything else, but still have no problem with this happening.