Excellent! Schwing! Saturday Night Live premieres this Saturday (9/25) at 11:35PM on NBC. Hosted by Amy Poehler with musical guest Katy Perry.
Category Archives: Entertainment
Jump into interactive 8-Bit Glee
Glee just got 8-bit’d. From The Station and Doctor Octoroc, the guy who brought us Dr. Horrible in 8-bits, comes a new YouTube interactive game starring your favorite Glee club New Directions. You’ll recognize the music, the characters, and the locations in this Pokemon-style video collection. Once you watch this first video all the way through, you will be prompted at the end to choose where to go next. Mash play and give it a go!
[Via NYMag]
HBO renews Boardwalk Empire for a second season
A mere two days after its smashing series premiere, HBO has renewed the Scorsese/Winter production Boardwalk Empire for a second season. The debut of the Prohibition-era drama averaged 4.8 million viewers, making it HBO’s most watched premiere since 2004’s Deadwood. Says Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming: “All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi. The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”
Boardwalk Empire airs Sunday nights at 9PM on HBO.
[Via EW]
J.J. Abrams pitching Locke/Linus buddy cop show [Update: It’s official: NBC picks it up!] [Update 2: Postponed]
Read that headline again. Now again. J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost, is hoping to bring together Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson (aka Lost‘s John Locke & Benjamin Linus) for a new series. O’Quinn and Emerson would play former black-ops agents in the comedic drama tentitively titled Odd Jobs. News first broke about a potential reuniting of Lost‘s brightest stars back in February when O’Quinn told TV Guide about “a TNT-type show that would pair him back up with…Michael Emerson as suburban hit men juggling family issues.” Much time has passed, and now things are starting to heat up again. Plans to make this show a reality are very real. NYMag reports that Abrams and collaborators Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (Alias, Mission: Impossible 4) are pitching Odd Jobs to a handful of TV networks. All I can say is that if these plans do result in a Locke/Linus buddy cop show, the world will be a better place for it.
Update: According to Deadline, this thing is happening!! After shopping around Odd Jobs (working title) to various networks, NBC came out on top with the winning bid. It was a nailbiter between former Lost home ABC and NBC, but in the end the Peacock nabbed it. It’s official: The one hour long drama will star the fantastic Terry O’Quinn alongside Lost-mate Michael Emerson. J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Josh Appelbaum, and Andre Nemec will serve as executive producers; the latter two are also penning the pilot script. Warner Bros. TV, with Abrams’ Bad Robot, are backing the project. Deadline reports that the show has a put-pilot commitment, meaning NBC will air the pilot and likely followup by picking up the series granting it a 13 to 20-something episode season. The show will join Undercovers as the second Abrams production on NBC by *fingers crossed* next fall.
Update 2 (3/10): Development of the show has been postponed. In the meantime, you can catch Emerson and O’Quinn in new pilots this fall–CBS’s Person of Interest and ABC’s Hallelujah Hawaii Five-0. (Hallelujah is being retooled for Fall 2012.)
Community is going animated for the Christmas special [Update: “Twittersode” to precede the premiere]
Series creator Dan Harmon is ready to take Community to a whole ‘nother level, quite literally in fact. Season 2’s Chistmas episode is going to be entirely stop motion animated, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer-style. Earlier this summer Harmon shared his excitement over the possibily of making such a unique episode. “It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do but, I never anticipated having the ability to do it,” he told NYMag. “Jeff Gaspin at NBC woke up one morning and thought Community should do an animated episode. I was like, ‘Well, that’s weird, because that’s the kind of stuff I’m usually suggesting and guys like him veto.”
Upon hearing news of the holiday surprise, a number of the cast members also couldn’t contain their enthusiasm for it. “It is so hard for me not to tell everybody I know about it,” says Danny Pudi (Abed). “The minute we read that script, I was over-the-moon excited. It’s like that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special that you see every Christmas. But in true Community fashion, it’s also a little subversive and a little dark.” Alison Brie (Annie) said, “When I found out, I fell in love with the show all over again!” Star Joel McHale (Jeff) revealed, “I can confirm that we are not yellow [ie. The Simpsons], and we do not have a talking dog [ie. Family Guy] in the episode. But all your favorite Greendalians will be going animated.”
Can you imagine an animated Senor Chang and Starburns? It’s going to be great. In related news, you should know that Community also has planned a top-secret, big budget Halloween special featuring–you guessed it–zombies! “Knowing too much about this particular plot would ruin it, but I promise it’s an awesome, one-off crazy conceptual episode with plot points and effects that are more familiar to horror film fans than our show’s fans,” says Harmon.
Community returns Thursday (9/23) at 8PM on NBC.
Update: Starting at 7PM ET (one hour prior to the season premiere) the main characters of the show will communicate with one another in a conversation using Twitter. This “Twittersode” is being described as a “prequel” scene to the premiere ep. According to EW, “they’ll make arrangements for their first meet-up of the year, as well as preparations for their first class, Anthropology 101.” A class we all know will be led by the one and only Betty White. You have two options to watch the prequel convo go down: (1) Head over to www.nbc.com/CommunityTwittersode or (2) follow the Community gang on Twitter and watch it happen live in your Twitter feed. Hop after the break to find all the characters’ Twitter handles. (Mind you these are Twitter accounts for the fictional show characters, not the actual actors’ Twitter names.) Happy tweeting!
[Via EW, here, here & here] Continue reading Community is going animated for the Christmas special [Update: “Twittersode” to precede the premiere]
Modern Family season 2 premiere stills
ABC’s breakout comedy Modern Family returns this Wednesday at 9PM. Check out stills from the premiere ep “The Old Wagon”; they include photos of Phil (Ty Burrell) driving a time machine and Mitchell and Cameron constructing…something. No doubt it’s gonna be a HOOT!
[Via IGN]
Undercovers cast & premiere stills
Sexpionage! Violence! Romance! Steven and Samantha Bloom (Boris Kodjoe & Gugu Mbatha-Raw) are ready to kick ass and take names in the J.J. Abrams/Bryan Burk/Josh Reims spy series. The Abrams-directed pilot airs Wednesday night (9/22) at 8PM on NBC.
[Via IGN]
Glee season 2 cast & premiere stills
The FOX musical sensation is back. No, not American Idol…Glee! Another year at McKinley High is about to begin, so brush up by reintroducing yourself to all the main charachers in the gallery below. Don’t forget to peek into gallery #2 to get a sneek peek at the premiere ep called “Auditions.” Glee premieres tonight (9/21) at 8PM.
[Via IGN]
Running Wilde premiere stills
The new FOX comedy from the mind that brought us Arrested Development is almost here! Check out these premiere stills from Mitch Hurwitz’s Running Wilde and plop on your couch tonight (9/21) at 9:30PM to catch the absurd and the funny. Stars Will Arnett, Keri Russell, and a bearded David Cross make up the majority of the stills.
[Via IGN]
Kyle Chandler & Elle Fanning sign on for Abrams’ ‘Super 8’
Paramount Pictures has let slip the first two stars to come out of J.J. Abrams’ upcoming 2011 sci-fi flick Super 8. They are Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and Elle Fanning (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Dakota’s sister). Principal photography began September 20 in West Virginia. Interested in learning more about Super 8? Head over to the May 7 post that features the teaser trailer and (sparse) details surrounding the project that is shrouded in mystery. It’s an Abrams pursuit; what else more could you ask for?
[Via EW]
Kanye West is SNL’s Oct. 2 musical guest
“F–k SNL and the whole cast; Tell ’em Yeezy said they can kiss my whole ass.” So much for that “Power” verse. Kanye West is slated to make a triumphant return to Saturday Night Live on October 2; Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston will serve as host. Perhaps ‘Ye will use this time in the spotlight to formally introduce his next single “All of the Lights”? Whatever goes down, you can expect one helleva performance because Kanye is on his game right now.
[Via EW]
2010 Fall TV Preview
It’s mid-September, my favorite time of year. Brand new television programming begins and old favorites return. I’m going to run through the new network and cable shows that I’m most anticipating, let you know which returning shows you should be watching, and I’ll hypothesize about which new shows are likely to get the axe. Not so interested in my opinions? Simply click here to view the 2010 fall schedule for the big four networks (including synopses, cast/creator info, and trailers) and decide what to watch on your own terms.
CBS: There’s a reason why CBS is the most watched network–they mostly air procedural crime dramas that do not force viewers to tune in every week. Take, for example, the CSI franchise (which now includes CSI, CSI: NY & CSI: Miami) and the NCIS franchise (NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles). Sprinkle in some fantastic comedies like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother plus popular reality shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race, and Undercover Boss and you’ve got a worthy lineup that does not require weekly viewing. Though I am not not the biggest fan of the procedurals, The Mentalist does a fine job of drawing me in when I happen to channel surf to the network. Also, I’ve only heard good things about The Good Wife, so you might want to give that a try as well.
Of the five new shows premiering this fall on CBS, there’s only one that I’m fully interested in: Hawaii Five-O. Again, crime procedurals are usually not my cup of tea but there’s no denying how action-packed and fun this 1960s reboot looks. (The show originally aired on CBS for 12 seasons from 1968-1980.) Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Fringe) serve as executive producers and stars Alex O’Loughlin (Three Rivers), Scott Caan (Entourage), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), and the beautiful Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan) will work together to take down the villains. Except tons of explosions, violent action scenes, and quick, witty banter from Caan. It only helps that the backdrop to all of this is Oahu! Premieres Monday, September 20 at 10PM.
Getting the axe? $#*@ My Dad Says.