Cables Fox and FX’s stars were out in full force on Sunday night, taking over the penthouse of swanky West Hollywood private members’ club Soho House for their annual Television Critics Assn. summer rendezvous.
What is the TCA press tour?
Basically, it’s nearly every television reporter in the country locked together in a hotel ballroom, peppering the stars of the small screen with questions about new shows, most probably won’t live to see the next press tour. You may best know it from the #TCA14 hashtag, which occasionally trends on Twitter and can seem inexplicable if you don’t follow lots of TV critics, but nothing follows.
What is the TCA?
The Television Critics Association is a professional organization of TV reporters, columnists, and, yes, critics who have banded together to better cover the medium, promote the best it has to offer (via the group’s annual awards), and just generally offer each other support for what can be a grueling beat to cover. (Yeah, it’s just watching TV, but have you seen how much TV there is nowadays?) In that regard, it’s like pretty much any other trade organization.
Guests dined on fried chicken, tender brisket and corn on the cob in the terrace garden, while the young stars of “Red Band Society” played darts and table hockey in the main club. Servers kept attendees snacking with woodfired pizza and mini grilled cheese sandwiches accompanied by shots of tomato soup, and dessert included bitesize butterscotch puddings and freshly fried donuts.
“Red Band” and “So You Think You Can Dance” stars crammed the corridor outside the venue’s popular Polaroid photo booth, while “Gotham” scene-stealers Robin Lord Taylor and Cory Michael Smith spent much of the night beset by press trying to glean intel on the highly anticipated Batman prequel series. Likewise, “The Strain’s” Corey Stoll had a steady stream of critics eager to dissect the genre thriller, which premiered as the summer’s biggest new cable drama among young adults last week.
Fox Networks Group chairman Peter Rice held court by the bar for most of the evening, while the cast of Golden Globe winner “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” took over the terrace couches to hobnob with eager journos. “Bones” headliner David Boreanaz — who brought son Jaden to the shindig — was spotted exchanging hugs with “So You Think You Can Dance” host Cat Deeley, while “Sleepy Hollow” star Tom Mison couldn’t help but marvel at the sprawling view of the city afforded by the club’s secluded balcony.
Tom Mison who recently marries girlfriend Charlotte Coy stars as Ichabod Crane, a former professor of history at Oxford University prior to the American Revolution, he came to America with the British before switching sides and becoming a spy for the Colonials. Having beheaded the Horseman in 1781, he was brought back to life with the Horseman due to their blood mixing when they died. Despite his skeptical knowledge of the supernatural in life, he has been an invaluable resource following his resurrection due to his detailed knowledge of supernatural traditions.
Sleepy Hollow has garnered audience over the last 2 seasons. The series is considered a modern-day retelling of the 1820 short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving.
On October 3, 2013, Fox renewed Sleepy Hollow for a second season, which is set to premiere on September 22, 2014 and will contain 18 episodes.
Sleepy Hollow is broadcast in Canada on the Global Television Network and in the United Kingdom on the Universal Channel. In Australia, the series premiered on September 17, 2013 on Network Ten, shortly after the U.S. premiere. However, on January 13, 2014, Sleepy Hollow moved to Network Ten’s digital channel Eleven