Rome News

NBC'S new drama "The Philanthropist" might be a hit with viewers, but it's a bust with Council on Foundations president Steve Gunderson, who says the show starring James Purefoy is misleading.

Four decades after he last played his famous alter ego The Saint, Sir Roger Moore has revealed he will star in a re-remake of the show.

James Purefoy as Teddy Rist on NBC's 'The Philanthropist.' James Purefoy , the latest British actor to land a lead role in a U.S. network show, stars as bad-boy do-gooder Teddy Rist in "The Philanthropist" on NBC .

I am - " Hercules!! An disappointing drama from writer-producer Tom Fontana , "The Philanthropist" stars the great James Purefoy as a billionaire named Teddy Rist who travels about throwing his money at an array of problems.

There's a good reason why competently run television networks want to look at a pilot episode before they buy a series.

What is an Obama-era TV show? NBC's "The Philanthropist'' calls out for that moniker by giving us a billionaire playboy who decides to devote his life to charitable works.

In one of the first scenes of the new series about Teddy Rist, a billionaire playboy inspired to mix business with helping out impoverished and troubled people around the world, Purefoy barely manages to keep his modesty covered as local authorities attempt to rouse his character from a hung-over slumber while storm waters fill up his African hotel ...

Proof that the road to ratings hell is paved with good intentions, NBC presents "The Philanthropist" during the summer silly season.

The Philanthropist debut, 10 p.m., NBC. Teddy Rist is a rich businessman with planes and phones and such.

"No, I don't think you should," agreed James Purefoy, who plays Teddy Rist in the new series The Philanthropist, which debuts tomorrow night on Global and NBC.

HBO's series Rome focused on the exploits of two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo , weaving a tale of how these relatively minor characters had a huge impact on the course of human history itself.

Philanthropist Bobby Sager was in Kabul, Afghanistan, when a group of men- enraged by his attempts to train female doctors- threatened to hold him for ransom.

There are plenty of reasons to suspect NBC's "The Philanthropist" will be awful: It's airing in the summer dumping ground; it was part of NBC's terrible 2007-08 development season; and executive producer Tom Fontana wrote the pilot teleplay, got fired and then got rehired.

Check out NBC's new original scripted programming coming out this summer including the return of 'America's Got Talent.' " Merlin " is a new drama series that updates the story of the infamous sorcerer of Arthurian legend for a new audience.

John Doyle Wednesday, Jun. 03, 2009 05:00PM EDT O ver the past week or so, most of the TV coverage here, there and everywhere has been devoted to reality shows, talk shows and stuff that is officially described as "competitive dating programs." That's because we have been at that tipping pointing in the TV season when network series end, while ...

ACTOR Kevin McKidd, who is currently starring in US hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy, is homesick for the "crazy characters" in Scotland, he revealed yesterday.

As if taking a final bow, Tiger Stadium was transformed Thursday by a crew for the movie "The Irishman," which has been filming for the last few weeks around Metro Detroit.

The RSC has once more staged Shakespeare's history play. Did the critics leave Stratford hailing Greg Hicks's Caesar ... or conspiring to stab him in the back? Great dictator ... Greg Hicks as Julius Caesar and Noma Dumezweni as Calpurnia.

Mark Antony refers to the dead Brutus at the end of this play as "the noblest Roman of them all", but there is precious little nobility in the world of Lucy Bailey's RSC production, in which the urban mob of the first half is if anything more violent than the contending armies of the second.

As the TV networks scramble to find new, cheaper ways to reach audiences, we can be grateful that good projects come cheaper when packaged and sold around the world.