40. Life On Mars
39. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood

30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel

20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld

And the Top Ten Shows:

9. The X-Files

8. The Wire

7. Friends

Labels: Television, top ten

CBS has cast it's first post-strike pilot, The Mentalist. Simon Baker (CBS' The Guardian) has signed up to head the cast, which will also feature The Nine's Owain Yeoman, The O.C.'s Amanda Righetti, Shaun Toub, and Tim Kang.

The Mentalist follows Baker's character who uses his "heightened power of observation" to help solve crimes. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' David Nutter will direct the pilot from writer Bruno Heller.

But haven't I already seen this show? In fact I think I've already watched two season of the show and I'm looking forward to the third this summer on USA. That's right USA has been airing this exact show since 2006, it's called Psych.

In fact here's wikipedia's description of the show, notice any similarities?
"Psych is an American comedy-drama television series. The show stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young police consultant for the Santa Barbara, California Police Department (SBPD) whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts allow him to convince people that he is psychic. The program also stars Dulé Hill as Shawn's best friend, straight man and reluctant partner Gus, as well as Corbin Bernsen as Shawn's captious father, Henry."

I'm sure CBS' version will play up the dramatic a bit more than Psych does but still it seems a bit like a rip off. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it turns out. But I for one am not real excited about the prospects of this show.

Labels: Psych, The Mentalist

Will Arnett (Arrested Development) has signed on to co-star in Mark Steven Johnson's When in Rome. Arnett joins the already cast Kristen Bell, John Header, Josh Duhamel, Dax Shepard, and Anjelica Huston.

The story follows a woman (Bell) who steals some magic coins from a fountain in Rome, and finds herself being pursued by a group of suitors once she returns home in New York. Arnett will play an Italian artist who follows Bell back to New York to become one of the potential suitors.

The cast for this movie keeps getting better and better and looks to be a fun, romantic comedy. Filming begins in New York the first week of April.

Labels: When in Rome, Will Arnett

Eliza Dushku has gained some new playmates in Joss Whedon's new Fox series Dollhouse, and surprisingly none of them are Buffy Alum. But don't fret, there's still four of the eight main roles up for grabs, so we may get some Buffy Alum yet.

According to The Hollywood Reporter four main characters have been cast so far with Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Fran Kranz ("Welcome to the Captain"), Australian Dichen Lachman, and Enver Gjokaj tackling the roles.

The series follows a group of young men and women, called "Dolls," who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. They have no memories of their previous lives, until Echo (Dushku) begins to try to find out who she was. The dollhouse is the memory-erasing lab where the "dolls" spend their time between missions.

Penikett takes on the role of Paul Smith, "an FBI field agent obsessed with the urban myth of Dollhouse and a twisted romantic foil for Echo."
Kranz will be playing Topher Brink, "a twentysomething genius programer responsible for imprinting the dolls."

Lachman will become Sierra, "a doll like Echo and her friend, who has every personality in the world but her own."
And Gjokaj will play Victor, another doll and "a friend of Echo's, who is childlike when he's inactive, and everything from Errol Flynn to young DeNiro when he's active."

The other four characters remaining to be cast are:
Adelle Dewitt: The fortyish iceberg who runs the Dollhouse where the human Etch-a-Sketches reside.
Boyd Langton: Echo's handler and father figure.
November: The Tracy Turnblad of the Dolls.
Dr. Claire Sanders: The beautiful older woman with whom Topher is smitten.

Can't wait to see who Whedon gets to fill these roles, and I'm still hoping to see some familiar faces.

Labels: Dollhouse, Joss Whedon

Tom Wheeler's upcoming book, Cutlass Island, hasn't even hit the stands yet, but it's already been picked up by Regency for the adapting. Regency picked up the project from a pitch by Wheeler about two shipwrecked brothers who discover a lost world of mythological and magical creatures.

While this sounds like it's been done before this one has one thing other projects like Jurassic Park didn't: Abraham Lincoln. According to The Hollywood Reporter good old Abe signed a "secret piece of legislation" in 1863 called the Unique Lands and Species Act, which apparently was created to protect mythological and magical creatures.

From the minor details available it looks like Lincoln's legislation created the titular island in order to keep these creatures safe. The two brothers, presumably in present day, stumble onto the document and the island. Since they are described as "shipwrecked" I wonder if the brothers find the document and then get shipwrecked in trying to find the island, or if they get shipwrecked on the island and in doing so also find the document. Either way the brothers have to fight off evil forces who would exploit the island for their own uses.

Night at the Museum's Shawn Levy will be one of the producers which shows some promise for this family film.

Wheeler's last script, The Arcanum, is currently residing at Miramax and is a turn-of-the-century mystery in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini and H.P. Lovecraft join forces to protect civilization from dark forces. Both projects sound highly intriguing.

Labels: Cutlass Island, News, The Arcanum, Tom Wheeler

Sources tell me that Lifetime has inked a big deal, a deal so huge that some people are calling it a "Game Changer". What exactly this deal is, and how it will change the game remains to be seen.

The question is what game does it change? Does it change Lifetime itself or the entirety of Cable Networks?

These same sources tell me that an announcement could be made as early as this Thursday, possibly in a major East-Coast newspaper.

Stay Tuned as more details follow.

Labels: Lifetime, News

Did Britney Spears ruin last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother? That's the question I find myself asking today. The episode was well written, Sarah Chalke was brilliant, and Ted's 2-minute date was amazing, but Spears performance was far under par.

But the casting stunt (initiated by Spears and not the Runners of the show) did one thing positive, it brought the series it's highest rating of it's 2.5 years in the coveted 18-49 age group. The show had a total of 10.6 Million viewers and came in 2nd in it's time slot behind Dancing with the Stars.

The episode had some great moments, but Spears acting really seemed to fall flat. Her delivery was stilted and she just seemed strange. Maybe that's how the character was supposed to be, and I will admit she kind of grew on my as the show went on, but overall I'd have to give her a C. I came in hoping Spears would do a great job, but her first line seemed so off-base that it threw me and I spent the rest of the episode hoping she'd get better everytime she was on screen.

The episode revolved around Ted trying to get the doctor removing his Butterfly tattoo (from the Season Premiere) to go out with him. Ted had 10 Sessions - one each week for 10 weeks - to win her over, even though she told him from Week 1 she'd say no when he asked her out. Sarah Chalke played, Stella, the doctor (who may or may not be the titular Mother) who gets a 2-minute lunch each day, and did a great job, here's hoping HIMYM can bring her back after Scrubs wraps up. Spears played Stella's assistant who develops a crush on Ted, before ending up with Barney in the end.

The Good: The story taking place over 10 weeks made for some amazing moments. Ted asked "Who knows what they want for lunch 10 weeks from now?" Marshall's response "Sloppy Joe, Shrimp Cocktail, and a milkshake." Cut to 10 weeks later and we see Marshall eating a Sloppy Joe, Shrimp Cocktail, and a milkshake. Also Lily commits to not chewing her fingernails for 10 weeks and as the weeks progress we see her nails getting longer and longer.

The Re-Return: Marshall Manesh's return as Cab Driver Ranjit!!!

The Great: Once it's revealed that Stella won't date him because she's a single-mother, and her free time is her girl's night once a month, Ted meets her outside her office for a lunch date. Ted proceeds to catch a cab next door, where he has a lunch set up, then goes one door over for a movie (the important parts of Manos: The Hands of Fate - about 10 sec), and back for dessert, flowers, and back to her door - all in 2 minutes. (And all in one take) But my description doesn't do it justice so just watch it:



The scene was sweet, touching, and an amazing date. Too bad Stella won't be around again (at least not for some time) But she did have just enough time to mention being at a terrible St. Patrick's Day Party, which may or may not be the party that both Ted and his future wife were attending.

All in all a good episode, but had it not been for Spears it would have been a Great episode. But hopefully the stunt worked and the extra people who turned in will see how great the show is and tune in again next week.

Labels: Britney Spears, How I Met Your Mother, TV

It seems like Joss Whedon may have changed his mind. Originally the Mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly had not planned to inhabit his new series, Dollhouse, with members of the "Whedonverse." Last fall when the series was announced Whedon had told TVGuide that his "first instinct is to probably [cast] new people because I'm already reuniting with Eliza and I don't want it to seem like a house party."

But last Thursday before the Paley Fest's Buffy tribute Whedon told TVGuide's Michael Ausiello that "I've read a couple of people [from the Buffyverse], but I'm not going to say who." He continued that this didn't contradict his earlier statements because "It's not a hard and fast rule, I just want to make sure I get the right people. And I don't want to give the impression that it's just me and my friends having a party. Some [Buffyverse alums] might work out fine. But I'm not going to just seek out people that I already know are great. That would be lazy."

Personally after being at the Paley event I'd love to see as many of the Buffyverse Alum in the same show as possible. I'd especially like to see Anthony Stewart Head, Seth Green, or Nicholas Brendan join the cast. Which Alum would you like to see?

Labels: Dollhouse, Joss Whedon

The Weinsteins have finally crumbled...kind of. The Weinstien Company announced Monday that it would release both the Cancer and new-and-not-so-improved cancer-free versions of Fanboys on DVD, and seem to half-heartedly express interest to release them both theatrically as well. Yet the studio did not mention any kind of release date (the film was supposed to be released last Valentine's Day, then was pushed to September, then at the Star Wars Celebration IV in May director Kyle Newman announced the Weinstein's were committed to putting an additional $2 Million into the film and that meant the release would be pushed back to Jan/Feb of this year, a date which has come and gone) which has lead some fans to believe it may never see the light of day.

But the real-life "fanboys" are still not happy. Led by the fabled 501st Stormtrooper legion the fans have released their own press statement:

The best part is the way the Weinsteins try to cover-up the fact that their new version tested horribly by saying that "the later version tested very well with audiences, [but] the grass-roots support we have received for the first version simply cannot be ignored." From all I've heard the new version tested no better, if not worse, than the original cut of the film, and that they went so far as to use "plants" in the audience to artificially raise the scores, and convince other members of the audience to score it higher than they would have.

The Weinsteins did admit that they had received over 300,000 e-mails from fans, which helped them to reach this decision. To which I say, lets send them another 300,000 and see if they finally set a release date for the original cut of the film. More posted here as it becomes available.


Related Stories:
CineManiac Breaks the news of the Cancer Free Cut
Update on all that is Fanboys

Labels: Fanboys, News

Looks like the Friday the 13th Remake is going into production faster than I thought. Shooting is set to take place in Austin, TX (just down the road from Padalecki's hometown of San Antonio) starting on April 21.

Also filming of Friday Night Lights is set to resume this summer, which means the news of its cancellation has been greatly exaggerated, and that NBC has partnered with DISH Network to bring it back are true.

So all you Austin area readers, feel free to find the sets and send me pictures and any updates you can find.

Supernatural star (and fellow Texas native) Jared Padalecki can't get away from Jason Voorhees. Back in October Supernatural creator Eric Kripke surprised fans by saying that this season's 10th episode would feature the Winchester boys taking on the classic Friday the 13th villain. Unfortunately rights issues got in the way and those plans were scrapped. But now Padalecki has been given another chance to face off against Jason.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that he's signed up for Platinum Dunes new remake of the 1980 horror classic. But this time around don't expect Jason's mother to end up being the villain. In this new installment Padalecki will play an investigator who heads up to Camp Crystal Lake to investigate some strange happenings, presumably involving a hockey mask.

Last month I reported that Kristin Bell would be heading to Rome for the romantic comedy When In Rome. The movie had Bell picking some coins out of a supposed "fountain of love" since love seems out of her reach, only to find a gaggle of men waiting for her when she returns to New York. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are reporting that some of her potential suitors have been cast, including Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder and Bell's real life beau Dax Shepard. "Heder will play a street magician who uses his talents to try to get the girl. Shepard plays a self-absorbed suitor who falls under the spell and chases the girl." Also joining the cast Las Vegas' Josh Duhamel, as the male lead, and Anjelica Huston, as Bell's boss, the curator of the Guggenheim.
Look for filming to begin in New York in the beginning of April (I'm hearing sometime around the 6th) with a 2009 release date.

Labels: Casting, Friday the 13th, When in Rome

Back in August I attended a screening of the new Judd Apatow production "The Pineapple Express," which like "Super Bad" was written by the amazingly talented Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg. I went into this knowing the basic plot, Pothead Process Server (Rogen) witnesses a murder while on the job and drops a joint made of a special type of weed, called Pineapple Express, he runs to his dealer (James Franco) and the two go on the run.

So I went in expecting another comedy in the vein of "Knocked Up" and "Super Bad" but to my delight I got something much better.

The movie opens in black & white as two men pull up to a rock in the middle of the desert. The two men lift up the rock to reveal a passage underground which takes them to a secret government testing facility. Here we see a group of scientists with a test subject (Bill Hader) who is smoking a joint and being asked how he feels. After listening to the response one of the two men, a general, makes a call saying they've decided the substance is "ILLEGAL!" and demands the project terminated.

The film then cuts to present day as Dale (Rogen) is driving around in his car, smoking pot, and dressing up in different uniforms to serve court papers on unsuspecting citizens. Dale then goes to see his girlfriend, at her high school, where she is a student. After being convinced to come to her place for dinner to meet her parents the next night, Dale heads to met up with Saul his pot dealer (Franco). After buying some "Pineapple Express" from Saul, the only dealer in town who has it, Dale heads to serve some more papers to Ted Jones (The Wonderful Gary Cole) but as he's sitting there lighting up a police car pulls up behind him and Rosie Perez gets out and runs in Ted's place. As Dale sits there he hears a gunshot and turns in time to see Ted and the cop kill an Asian man. Dale takes off, leaving his half smoked joint in the street. Ted runs into the street where he finds the joint, which he recognizes as Pineapple Express.

Dale returns to Saul's, quickly realizing that his half smoked joint will lead the villains directly to him. Dale and Saul go on the run, first to the the woods, then to Dale's supplier Red, the only man who can give them up to Ted. Unfortunately Ted's goons (played by The Office's Craig Robinson and Super Bad's Kevin Corrigan) have already gotten to Red and a hilarious fight breaks out as Dale realizes they've been betrayed. Dale and Saul find themselves on the run, in a car chase, arrested, kidnapped, and finally in a huge absurdly comedic, explosive finale that ranks up there with "Hot Fuzz".

The movie's got just about everything you could want, Comedy, Action, Blood, guns, explosions, and lots and lots of weed. Rogen and Goldberg deliver an amazing action packed comedy that feels different than anything thats come before it. The acting is great all around with the exception of Amber Heard who plays Rogen's girlfriend. Her introduction falls completely flat and the rest of her part just seemed okay. But there are some great performance by everyone involved, including some great cameos from James Remar and Ed Begley Jr. Rogen and Franco are perfect playing off of each other as they have real chemistry.

Also I must mention one of my favorite scenes, the car chase. I've often wondered why no one just slams on their brakes when they are in a high speed chase, and finally this movie addresses just that very thing.

Overall I loved the movie and with the recent news that Huey Lewis will be writing and recording the theme song I will definitely be seeing it again when it comes out next year.

Labels: Judd Apatow, Pineapple Express, Preview, Seth Rogen

Disclaimer: I took several pictures last night but for some reason my camera is messing up and though I can see them on the camera I can't copy them to the computer. Even though my pics are still out of commission (including one Seth Green took of the two of us, Grr Arrg!) I have some from the Paley Center itself, so thanks to Kevin Parry/The Paley Center For Media for all photos.

Last night was The Paley Center for Media's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reunion Panel, and it was a blast. The event began with a clip from the Paley Archive that was related to Buffy, a scene from 'All My Children' between Sarah Michelle Gellar and Susan Lucci. The clip was met with much applause and, as it played out, laughter at the ridiculousness of it all. Afterwards, Moderator Matt Roush (TvGuide) was introduced and he admitted that he was a "Buffy-holic" as soon as he took the podium. He then remembered characterizing the show as Beverly Hills 90210 with a "666 suffix" when writing for USA Today. Roush also pointed out that since the show began on the WB and moved to the UPN it was the "1st CW Show."

Roush then introduced Marti Noxon, ex-producer/writer for Buffy who introduced the episode we would be watching. Noxon spoke about sneaking into a screening of the Buffy Sing-A-Long with Joss Whedon and the strangeness of watching people throw underwear at her on the screen (It's because of a lyric in the song she sings "I'm not wearing underwear") She then introduced that same episode, the classic Musical episode of Buffy "Once More With Feeling." The screening was met with excited shouts of joy, lots of clapping, and even some singing from the audience. (I'd be lying if I said I didn't sing along) The episode, which I haven't seen in years, looked amazing on the big screen at the Arclight, and was even better than I remembered, possibly because of the huge crowd, everyone of which was a fan.

After the episode Roush introduced the panel: Ex-Producer David Greenwalt, Amber Benson (Tara), Seth Green (Oz), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Marti Noxon, Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Emma Caulfield (Anya), James Marsters (Spike), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), and Creator/genius Joss Whedon.

The panel began with talk of the musical episode, which James called "A terror" to film. Sara admitted to hoping for a return of Buffy the Rat, (a reference to an episode where Buffy was turned into a rat, so Sarah could prepare to host SNL) but thought that "Hush" (the silent episode) was surprisingly the hardest. And Michelle said she gave herself psychosomatic bronchitis in the hopes that she wouldn't have to sing.

Joss was asked if he'd take Buffy to Broadway, and he said he'd love to take A Buffy Musical to Broadway, but it wouldn't be this one, as it was clearly a television episode, but admitted he's spent time thinking about it, but would want to write it himself. Roush then asked who'd come along to Broadway, to which everyone but Sarah seemed game.

The talk then turned to the very dark 6th season and how difficult it was for Sarah, who said it was so rough because she, like Buffy, was trying to find the character. Sarah also said it was so tough because she looked up to Buffy and wished she had had a hero like her to look up to as she grew up, to which Nicholas said "It wasn't Susan Lucci?" which got a huge laugh from the crowd.

A wonderful tidbit from the panel was the fact that Joss and David called Sarah "Jimmy Stewart" because he was the greatest American in pain, something Sarah was really good at displaying. (and not because of her bone structure as Nicholas pondered) Apparently this nickname was a surprise to Sarah herself who never knew this fact.

Roush then asked the great question that always causes debate among fans "Angel or Spike?" Which was immediately met with the response that because of the comic maybe it was Willow! (In the most recent issue of the Buffy Season 8 comic, Buffy spends one night with another girl) Sarah said she had only heard about this development about 5 min before the panel started.
When talked turned to potential spin-offs Nicholas quickly offered up a "Xander the one-eyed monster" idea, to which Seth interjecting that was the monster that we all struggled with in High School. Joss said he'd love to do a spin-off or something with all the cast back together and that he'd gladly shoot down the comics continuity in order to do it.

It was Intersting to discover that the only time Joss threatened to pack up his desk had to do with Willow and Tara's kiss. Apparently the WB contacted him saying that they had "a lot of gay this year" and they were kind of "gayed out" after Dawson's Creek and asked him if they had to do the kiss. But once he threatened to leave they backed off. And in fact they didn't lose any advertisers over the kiss, the only time that happened was, strangely, when Buffy worked at a Fast food Restaurant.

Apparently there was a recurring cruel joke that Joss and David used to play involved pulling someone aside and telling them they were fired, then saying "just kidding" Charisma said they did it to her before offering her the Angel job, Marti said they did it for her after receiving her first script, telling her she just didn't cut it and Seth said they did it to him, "but it took."

Someone asked the panel their favorite movies, a question I loved:
Joss - The Matrix
Sarah - South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Nick - Marney
James - Apocalypse Now (the original, the redux is "too long")
Emma - Silence of the Lambs/Pulp Fiction
Michelle - Labyrinth/Rainman (and anything with Seth Green)
Marti - Poltergeist/Goodfellas
Charisma - Anchorman
Seth - Raising Arizona (He also loved There Will Be Blood)
Amber - Sullivan's Travels
David - Godfather/Serenity

Some more Tid-bits:
Oz will be making an appearance in the Season 8 comic.
Sarah said "Fans were better than any Awards" in response to not winning many awards.
Sarah most misses the family including all the cast and crew.
Seth misses arriving to his trailer every morning to find David Boreanaz had left him "a gift" in his toilet.
And Joss said the thing he misses the most is the writers room, because there will never be a group of writers like that again.

And finally the night ended with everyone saying what they wereup to now.
Joss just wrapped his Independent Musical "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (in fact he drove straight from finishing it up) and said we'd be seeing it sometime, somewhere maybe on a computer, but they were still figuring that out.
Sarah had just got back from Africa where she had traveled with CARE and would be starring in an adaptation of Veronika Decides to Die.
Nick said he was currently "writing, acting, and finding peace" what he didn't mention was he'd be returning to Criminal Minds.
James had flown in straight from Mexico City where he had just wrapped Dragonball where he was getting his "ass kicked" as Piccolo as well as doing Smallville and Torchwood.
Emma had also just returned from Africa working with a different charity, and planned to return next year. She also has 2 movies coming out this year and has recently gotten married.
Michelle just wrapped up 17 Again with Zac Efron, Mathew Perry, and Leslie Mann, and also has Kids in America with topher Grace coming out soon. She also mentioned she had been cast as an "evil bitch" on Gossip Girl.
Marti will be seen in Joss' Dr. Horrible project, and is working on Private Practise, and preparing to direct a movie.
Seth joked that he and Charisma were working on the untitled "Seth and Charisma Fitness Video" which was will be a combo of Tae-bo and aerobic stripping, which will be the sexist fighting ever.
Amber just sold a series of Fantasy Chick lit to penguin and would be working on those.
David said he is now retired from the biz after a series of well timed mental breakdowns. But he'd rush back if he got a call from Joss.

Overall it was an amazing night, and one I'm glad I was able to attend. There's so much more that happened, but I can't remember it all. Hopefully the Paley Center will be releasing a DVD of it so I can relive it and you can all watch it for yourselves.

Labels: Buffy, Paley

Variety reports that William Monahan will pen a new story based on a Playboy article hitting stands later this year. The story is a thriller which is based on the true story of drug dealer Jim Keene. After Keene was arrested he made a deal with the police, rather than spend 10 years to life in prison he agrees to go undercover in a maximum security hospital for the criminally insane.
While there he's asked to gain the confidence of a serial killer in order to find the whereabouts of his victims. According to variety only two people knew he was undercover, the prisons psychiatrist and his "girlfriend" who's actually an FBI agent.
Sounds like an interesting story to me, hopefully it survives the hollywood treatment it's sure to get.

In other news Ricky Gervais' "This Side of the Truth" has obtained a fantastic cast. The British Thespian, best known for the original British version of "The Office" has recently drafted Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor and John Hodgman to join the already cast Louis CK, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill, and Jennifer Gardner.
The story is set in the near future where no one lies because no one knows how. Gervais will apparently play a history professor who creates the art of deception. HE first uses this new creation to make his lectures more interesting but soon turns to using it to pick up women out of his league. Sounds like an interesting premise with a fantastic cast.

Labels: News

Last week while my wife had surgery I decided to pick up a graphic novel I had heard nothing but rave reviews about, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, in order to pass the time. Precious Little Life is the first volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series. The novel follows Scott, the 23-year old bassist for 'Sex Bob-Omb', as he falls for Ramona Flowers and begins to date her. What starts as a normal romance book quickly turns on it's head as it's revealed that Scott Must fight Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends. The story will unfold over 6 volumes, with the first four currently available and the last two expected later this year and the end of 2009.

Much to my delight the book lived up to the hype and over the next 4 days I devoured the remaining 3 volumes and am eagerly awaiting the final 2 volumes. I had heard that Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright was at work adapting the first volume into a movie, so it was with much delight that I woke up this morning to the news that Michael Cera was in final talks to play Scott Pilgrim. Hopefully this means that the movie is heading into development and will be hitting the screen sometime in the next 2 years, maybe just in time for the final volume to hit the stands.


Below I've added the covers for the other 3 volumes of the series, in case you want to run out and pick them up, which I highly recommend, as it's the perfect blend of humor, romance, and sweet fight scenes, all of which slowly become more and more surreal as the series unfolds.

Labels: Casting, Scott Pilgrim

So this may be the coolest news of the Month, if not the year.

The God-Among-Men Genius that is Joss Whedon has teamed up with two Whedon-verse alum, Nathan Fillion (Firefly) and Felicia Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and "The Barnicle" himself, Neil Patrick Harris, to create a web musical.

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" stars NPH as Dr. Horrible, a supervillian who keeps getting beaten up by Fillion's superhero, Captain Hammer. And Felicia Day is the beautiful girl in Horrible's life. The webseries will consist of three 10 min episodes, and filming started last week.

NPH broke the news during an interview over at AICN, and was soon confirmed by Joss Whedon over at Whedonesque.com. In his post Whedon said "During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed, his fiancee Maurissa, and my other brother Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it."

Although Whedon wouldn't give much detail on the series he did say "It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life."

Personally I LOVE Whedon and it was one of the great moments of my life to meet him back in December, as he's one of the nicest guys around. And NPH is behind the funniest character currently on TV with How I Met Your Mother's Barney. Throw in Fillion and song and dance and I'm sold. The series' first episode hasn't even hit the net and I'm already hoping for more than the original 3 webisodes.

Thursday I'm heading to Hollywood to the Paley Center for Media's Buffy the Vampire Reunion Panel, and hoping there will be some more details revealed, and if all goes well maybe I'll get the chance to ask Whedon himself for a comment on the project. Keep watch here for more details as they become available.

Labels: Dr. Horrible, Joss Whedon, NPH

Jason Segel, star of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" and the upcoming feature "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" has signed, with Marshall director Nick Stoller, to create a new Muppet feature film. They duo will collaborate on the script and Stoller will Direct.

While the deal may seem strange it stems directly from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In the film Segel's character writes a Dracula Musical performed entirely with puppets. The puppets were created by the Henson pros, which apparently gave Segel the opportunity to pitch his Muppet concept in a meeting with exec Kristin Burr. Apparently the meeting went well enough for Segel to get a deal in the room.

So what will a Segel/Stoller Muppets movie look like? Will it be another "Muppet Movie" or the next "Muppets' Wizard of Oz ?" One aspect of the muppets movies I've always loved was the cameos, so it will be interesting to see what cameos Segel and Stoller can bring, with all of their connections. (Here's hoping we see Paul Rudd!)

I guess we'll see what happens as this project progresses.

Labels: Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel, Muppets

With more pictures, courtesy of the New York Times, and a new viral campaign (literally).

The new campaign revolves around Harvey Dent and his campaign for Gotham City DA, and asks everyone to go out and take pictures and video of you and your friends campaigning
for Dent. If anyone wants to do so, let me know as I'm up for it.

Labels: The Dark Knight

Well then take a look, it's big, beautiful, and reminds me of the old Indiana Jones Posters. The new poster for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull has popped up over at USA Today and it's amazing. Everyone is accounted for and we get the first good look at the titular "Crystal Skull"

Also below I decided to throw out the posters for the first 3 Indy movies (The first of which is the same age I am!!!!) for comparison to the new one, Enjoy!

Labels: Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, movie posters

Today two family films hit DVD: Mrs. Doubtfire: Behind the Seams Special Edition & Dr. Dolittle: Hail to the Chief.



I have to admit I was a big fan of Mrs. Doubtfire when it came out 15 years ago (Man that makes me feel old) the movie was a great family comedy that has enough adult humor to still be enjoyed today. The new special edition contains two discs worth of special features, some of which should be hilarious to watch, especially the "Improvisation of Mrs. Doubtfire" segment which includes 7 improved scenes.

For those that don't remember Mrs. Doubtfire follows Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) who loses custody of his kids in his divorce. When he learns his ex-wife (Sally Field) needs a housekeeper, he applies for the job. With the perfect wig, a little makeup and a dress for all occasions, he becomes Mrs. Doubtfire, a devoted British nanny who is hired on the spot. Free to be the “woman” he never knew he could be, the disguised Daniel creates a whole new life with his entire family.

The special features include all-new on-camera interviews with Williams; outrageous deleted scenes; numerous “on-the-set” featurettes chronicling the production process from casting to costumes and make-up tests; a conversation with legendary animator Chuck Jones who designed the film’s credit sequences; and an original 1993 featurette about the making of the film.


On the other hand is Doctor Dolittle: Hail to the Chief, a direct-to-DVD sequel to Dr. Dolittle 3, the TV sequel to the theatrical Dr. Dolittle and Dr. Dolittle 2 starring Eddie Murphy. I vaguely remember the first film and never saw the other 2. This film follows Dr. Dolittle's daughter, who follows in her father's footsteps of talking to animals.

Kyla Pratt returns as Maya Dolittle, whose dreams of going to vet school is put on hold when she gets a call from the President of the United States. It seems the First Dog is out of control and the President needs her help. It’s up to Maya and her own dog, Lucky, to stop a canine catastrophe from becoming a national crisis.

If this sounds like a movie for you, your likely a child or teenager. And there's nothing wrong with a good kids movie, for the kids. The disc features a few special features including: Critter Casting Sessions” featurette, “Working With Actors Of A Different Breed” featurette, “Goin’ Wild at Mountain View” featurette, and “Learning About Endangered Animals” featurette.

Both DVDs are on sale today. Reviews of both coming later in the week (Depending on Jeri's surgery)

Labels: DVD releases