At the New Yorker Festival on Sunday, the whole cast of Arrested Development got together for the first time since the show's wrap party in 2005. Co-creator and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz shared plans for a pending film and short run of television episodes. "We’re basically hoping to do nine or 10 episodes with almost one character per episode...We’ll do this kind of thing that builds the peril in their lives until they all come together, really, in the first scene of the movie." Each TV episode would cover an individual character's journey over the past five years and lead up to the film, which would bring the family together. The episodes and movie would come out in early 2013.Hurwitz was careful to explain that the process will require working with various studios and property holders. Fox aired the original series but have not committed to producing or showing the new limited season, but Netflix and Showtime have expressed interest in the project. The announcement comes as the most recent, if not the most definitive, rumor that has come and gone since 2008 about a potential AD film. NPR collected articles and statements about a hypothetical AD movie since that time and concluded that "As hard as it is to hear, if there are no "film companies on board" yet, then "announcement" and "confirmation" are not the right words, and there's no deal." The NPR opinion piece argues that Sunday's announcement is just the latest reiteration of what the actors and creators have said since the rumor began in 2008. "The fact that they've been confirming it for three years could be taken by an optimist to mean they're pretty determined not to let it go and are stubbornly insisting on eventually getting it done," but the fact that there's no progress on the production means "There aren't any episodes if nobody has agreed to air them. There isn't any movie if nobody has agreed to finance one."Do you think this latest news is a step closer to Arrested Development's resurrection, or it is the same unsubstantiated wishful thinking we've been hearing about for three years?
Sensitive G.O.P. presidential hopeful Rick Santorum criticized a "Saturday Night Live" skit the morning after it aired which made light of his staunch anti-gay marriage stance, suggesting that the segment was akin to "bullying" during an interview with New Hampshire radio station WGIR on Sunday, according to the Huffington Post. The "Yet Another GOP Debate" sketch on the late-night show portrayed each of the many Republican candidates spouting off ridiculous dialog, some in hyperbolic situations, playing on aspects each one's public persona or platform. An agitated Santorum was reporting from a gay bar in The Castro District in San Francisco, one of the U.S.'s largest and best known gay neighborhoods. Other occurrences in the skit included "security camera" footage depicting apparent bad ass Ron Paul's absence from the debate due to his kidnapping, easily escaping after coolly murdering his captors. While lifeless candidates Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich were locked in a closet together off-site and forced to battle to the death. Bachmann prevailed."The left, unfortunately, participates in bullying more than the right does," Santorum said. "They say that they’re tolerant, and they’re anything but tolerant of people who disagree with them and support traditional values."Santorum told the radio station that he would continue to stand up for the traditional values "that made this country great," despite being a target of the comedy show. "I welcome the criticism, go ahead," he said, ironically, after airing his grievances with the show.Did left-leaning SNL bully former Republican senator Rick Santorum by parodying him in a sketch?
Sarah Silverman is hosting a comedy show titled "Live from N*****head: Stripping the Paint Off Of Good Ol' Fashioned Racism." Silverman's fellow comics will be involved, proceeds will go to the NAACP, and the event will take place in Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's home state of Texas. Of course, the name comes from Perry's family hunting ground, first reported by the Washington Post at the beginning of October and much discussed since then. Perry has said it's an "offensive name that has no place in the modern world."Asked about the title of her comedy show, Silverman told EW, "“This is a never-forget moment. The show’s provocative name holds a mirror up to an ugliness that seems to have become yesterday’s news without having barely even made news.” She also explains that using the loaded N-word in the title of a show to benefit a civil rights organization draws on "the positive thing about N-head and other outwardly racist actions...Like trying to put the Confederate flag on Texas license plates, it's no longer just a gas in the air. It's something you can point it. It's something you can fight against and expose. So I see this as an opportunity that should be taken."Jezebel asks, "But is Sarah Silverman the best person to hold the mirror? She made headlines ten years ago, when describing getting out of jury duty. She joked that a friend suggested writing "I hate chinks" on her paperwork. "I wanted to do it, but then, I'm like, I don't want people to think I'm racist. You know, I just want to get out of jury duty. So I filled out the form and I wrote I love chinks. And who doesn't? Many people — including the president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans — found the joke, and its language, offensive."Do you think the use of the name of Rick Perry's former hunting grounds delivers a pointed critique or is it unnecessarily vulgar and unintentionally racist?
ABC’s Pan AM debut took us on a ride through the “friendly skies” giving us a look at what Pan Am symbolized from 1920 to 1991. It was a golden age of luxurious air travel when the ladies of the sky were trained to deliver babies as well as fold cocktail napkins for the US’s first international carrier. They globe trotted in fitted pencil skirts designed by Beverly Hills couturier Don Loper. The women that took flight for Pan Am had both beauty and brains. The show, full of drama and intrigue, is based in New York in 1963. In this episode there was romance and espionage plus an historical depiction of the transport of prisoners from Cuba during the Bay of Pigs. The main plot is set on the maiden voyage of the Clipper Majestic from New York to London. Before the flight the stewardesses were weighed and checked to make sure they met the strict Pan Am standards. Flying without wearing a girdle could get you grounded! Producers are trying to hone in on the success of AMC’s drama, Mad Men, but Pan Am shows a different side of the decade. A more optimistic side full of glitz and glamor and globe trotting. Do you think Pan Am will take flight?
ABC’s Pan AM debut took us on a ride through the “friendly skies” giving us a look at what Pan Am symbolized from 1920 to 1991. It was a golden age of luxurious air travel when the ladies of the sky were trained to deliver babies as well as fold cocktail napkins for the US’s first international carrier. They globe trotted in fitted pencil skirts designed by Beverly Hills couturier Don Loper. The women that took flight for Pan Am had both beauty and brains.
The show, full of drama and intrigue, is based in New York in 1963. In this episode there was romance and espionage plus an historical depiction of the transport of prisoners from Cuba during the Bay of Pigs. The main plot is set on the maiden voyage of the Clipper Majestic from New York to London. Before the flight the stewardesses were weighed and checked to make sure they met the strict Pan Am standards. Flying without wearing a girdle could get you grounded!
Producers are trying to hone in on the success of AMC’s drama, Mad Men, but Pan Am shows a different side of the decade. A more optimistic side full of glitz and glamor and globe trotting. Do you think Pan Am will take flight?
Was the Breaking Bad season four finale the best so far?
Can TV's favorite marijuana-merchandising MILF Nancy Botwin once again get by or will she once again get busted? Just when it seemed that Weeds' Nancy was reaching a high point, her son Silas' bitterness has become an insurmountable obstacle for the entrepreneurial family. He's aggressively coming at both her budding new upscale pot business and potential custody of his sacrificed half-brother Stevie, which she's within inches of earning --er, conniving-- back. Shane maintains his loyalty to misguided Mom, but how long until he, too, grows weary of taking a back seat in the family's drug trade?[Spoiler alert for plot lines leading up to the finale.]BuzzFocus.com details this week's episode, setting up the season finale: "She [Nancy] had magically whisked her way into the loving arms of the SEC, much to the commission’s chagrin. She’s kicked off a new drug business complete with a PR representative and corporate funding to target East Hampton’s elite buyers....Heylia is out for blood after Demetri stole her MILF weed and offered it to Nancy....Emma has turned rat to Detective Oullette, letting the officer know that Nancy is the bigger drug game he needs to worry about....Silas’ final play against his mom is to bring in Nancy’s sister and Stevie’s current guardian."With so many enemies and adversaries rising against her, and pseudo-adult but perpetual ally Andy with his head elsewhere, can our pot-slinging protagonist persevere? Or will Nancy's notions of achieving success land her back in the joint or worse?
Gossip Girl is on their 5th season and has reached 100 episodes.
FOX could be saying farewell to its first family, The Simpsons. The golden gods are voiced by a decades-spanning cast who seems to be attempting to negotiate with FOX's proposed cuts to their compensation, but FOX says they're not playing hardball-- they actually can't afford the actors.According to IGN, the studio and the six principal voice actors have reached a stalemate in talks over salaries, "and on Monday the executives asked/demanded that the cast take a 45% pay cut or else the show will end. The cast, in return, asked for only a 30% pay cut and a slice of the show's huge back-end profits.""FOX is taking the position that unless they can cut the production costs really drastically, they'll pull the plug on new shows," a Simpsons insider told The Daily Beast. "The show has made billions in profits over the years and will continue to do so as far as the eye can see down the road. The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that's not good enough for Fox." "We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model." - - 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox Television retorted via The Hollywood Reporter, saying: "23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world.... We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come." Can Fox keep from canning the cartoon series over cash flow issues? Or will the beloved yellow brood lose their show over the green?
The first four episodes of The Office Season 8 have struggled to find the show's footing without Michael Scott. The AV Club calls the first episode, "The List," "a walking caveat, a thesis statement for the transitional season to come." Robert California's snap judgement comes with the moral that you have to be willing to change your first impressions, "a point the writers are trying to get across to viewers who have been itching to make snap judgments since Carell announced his departure."Episode 2, "The Incentive," suggested that the show might be trying to operate the same way as ever, with Andy standing in for Michael. Even Dwight being Andy's second in command recalls early seasons. Episode 3, "Lotto," avoid this trap by casting Andy as a supporting players and depending on his preexisting relationship with Darryl. Again, the AV Club comments, "The further the show gets away from the novelty of Andy being the manager, the more the show can start to explore how the situation at the heart of the show has been altered by recent story events. "And that's what this season needs to do. It will fall flat going back to retell season 2 and 3 stories with Andy standing in for Michael. It needs to stand on its own, 8th-season The Office, the Andy Bernard era, something totally different from what it used to be. The fourth episode, "The Garden Party," cobbled together a few different plots, including one that had Andy seeking his family's praise, and Jim writing a book to mislead Dwight in his capacity as host (some people objected to this gag because when did Jim find time to execute this prank with a pregnant wife and a baby?) It wasn't a strong episode, but we could consider these first four shows the birthing pains of a new kind of The Office, if the writers are willing to take us there.
[Spoilers for the premiere of the eight season of The Office ahead]The Office's eighth season premiered on NBC last night, Thursday September 22, with an episode titled The List. It was part of a great lineup including premiers of Parks and Rec and Community, and while some of the characters on Whitney seemed like suspicious knock-offs of HIMYM characters, at least it's not Outsourced. After a year's worth of apprehension about who will replace Steve Carrel's Michael Scott as manager, and a handful of guest spot teases at the end of last season, last night viewers discovered that Ed Helm's Andy Bernard will replace Michael in the manager's office.The AV Club sees this move as the writers playing it safe -- I think many viewers would agree that Andy is more like the departed Michael Scott than any other character, with his inappropriate, awkward but earnest interactions. The AV club writer says "I’d even argue that Andy’s big moment in the episode (rewriting California’s list) was not very far removed from how Michael Scott would have resolved that situation." Over at Newsday, a critic responds to the premiere, "Of course it had to be Andy. Couldn't bring in a new character -- that had been tried, and the results were less than ideal. Couldn't bring in Robert California -- James Spader. Too weird. Couldn't bring in Jim. He's been there. He's done that. And he wasn't good at that, plus Jim was ostensibly too sane. He's the sardonic observer, and for this role to work, the socially inept loner is far preferable." The analysis goes on like that, excluding other potential characters from the running and settling on Andy.Other outlets are psyched about the choice for new manager, and of course some are disappointed with the decision and with the episode overall. What did you think?
Larry King
March Madness
Natasha Fame Leslie
Ryan Seacrest
Sanu Dellafiore
John Armstrong
Fred Hanna
Georgia Hester
