Community star Joel McHale is here to spread holiday cheer with an exclusive look at the upcoming fourth season of his cult comedy. McHale introduces a clip from a future Christmas episode that prominently features the one and only Dean Pelton. He quickly manages to turn his gift giving of adorable little pups into a creepy moment thanks to his ongoing obsession with Jeff Winger.
We are reminded that Community returns to NBC at last on February 7, 2013.
Do you want to own a piece of Fringe lore before the series comes to its epic conclusion? FOX, Gallery 1988, the Paley Center for Media, and The Mission Continues are teaming up to make that possible. The “Fringe Benefits Project” lets fans of the show vote for their favorite Fringe events and the top five moments will be reimagined by local artists and designers as pieces of art in the form of hand numbered limited edition poster prints. Once the five scenes have been selected, they will be showcased at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills will also have the artwork on hand beginning January 9. Buy up the fan-made posters and all proceeds will be donated to The Mission Continues, a charity that encourages and aids volunteerism by disabled and wounded veterans.
To vote from 31 of the most memorable Fringe episodes, head over to the Fringe Benefits website. The first poster (pasted above) is already highlighted and it celebrates the complete awesomeness that was the season 2 episode “White Tulip.” The limited copy is yours for $30. Fringedom, have at it.
[Via EW]
First, the good news: The Walking Dead is coming back for a fourth cycle next year, obviously, since it has been maintaining record high ratings all season long. And now, the hauntingly disconcerting news: Showrunner Glen Mazzara will not be involved in the making of season four and beyond. When the second half of season three wraps he’s stepping down as showrunner due to creative differences. Typically Dead is renewed for a new season shortly after its record-breaking ratings are posted following a season premiere, but this year the news came later and the decision to let Mazzara go was most likely the major holdup here. A series of released statements from Mazzara, the cable network that airs the show AMC, Dead creator Robert Kirkman, and executive producer Gale Anne Hurd make it sound as if the parting of ways was amicable, but industry sources say Mazzara was not enjoying his time at the helm of the show as of late. The statements can be read in full after the break.
I say this is disconcerting news because it has happened before. Series developer Frank Darabont exited the show on less “amicable” terms early in season 2, also due to creative differences with the network. The Walking Dead started off strong in its abbreviated debut season, the action slowed down when the farm was introduced in season two, and when Darabont handed the reins to Mazzara things kicked into high gear and never looked back. The current season is arguably the best one yet, and fans have Mazzara’s touch to thank for that. How will the show forge on without him come season four? It managed to reach new heights when Darabont left so it’s still fair to believe that the show will continue to see success with a new showrunner at the helm (the search is on); Kirkman and Hurd–executive producers who have their hands firmly planted in the show’s creative department aren’t going anywhere. But still (and I’m going to use this word one more time) it’s extremely disconcerting, for the team behind the show and viewers alike, to see The Walking Dead be handed off from one showrunner to the next. A show with this magnitude of ratings (and recently creative) success doesn’t deserve to be shaken up so much on such a regular basis. In the end this may really hurt the show in terms of its overall direction and sense of cohesion.
Mazzara’s vision of The Walking Dead continues when it returns with new episodes Sunday, February 10. Continue reading AMC picks up ‘The Walking Dead’ for a fourth season, showrunner Glen Mazzara will not return
ABC is teasing its viewers and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. When the alphabet network cancelled their two new high profile fall dramas 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort in November, they assured fans that their respective 13 episode arcs would be played out. Additionally, the show’s creators came out and said that they’d have time to tweak the endings so that viewers can get proper closure before they bite the dust. After receiving news of cancellation, 666 exec producers David Wilcox and Matt Miller claimed their show “is building to a powerful and surprising series finale, where all your questions will be answered. We hope fans of the show continue watching all the way to the end of Jane and Henry’s incredible journey to the dark side.” Unfortunately we won’t be getting that ending this winter as previously planned. ABC has decided to pull the remaining three episodes of 666 from its schedule. The net plans on airing them in the summer, but it is quite possible that they may never see the light of day. It’s unfortunate for the people who invested their time in the seductively suspenseful thriller, but this is the kind of thing that can happen when ratings are so dreary. Thankfully, however, ABC is still on track to deliver the final episodes of Shawn Ryan’s Last Resort which promises a “no-holds barred kick-ass ending.”
The Sunday night at 10PM slot will be filled with new episodes of ABC comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23. Viewers will receive a double dose of these show as the network will also air first-run episodes in their regular Tuesday night time periods.
Is it a sign of the end of times? Maybe, maybe not. This just in: K-Pop star PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video has generated one billion views on YouTube. That’s an incredible feat, no matter how you look at it. According to Google the clip’s been seen at least one million times in close to 75 countries, so to say it’s a worldwide sensation is quite the understatement. Recently it surpassed Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video to become the most watched video of all time on Google’s video site, and it is here where it will likely remain king for some time.
Holy Chalupa Batman, Batman! On the very day of the Shiva Bowl, FX has renewed The League for a fifth season of play. Pete, Kevin, Rodney (people call him Ruxin), Andre, Taco, and Jenny will return for 13 more episodes next fall featuring all the wacky antics that spawn from their fantasy football league competition. And the good news doesn’t stop there; a statement released by the network says that FX envisions the show sticking on their schedule beyond season five.
FX EVP of Original Programming Nick Grad: “The League is flat-out one of the funniest shows on television. Co-creators Jeff and Jackie Schaffer have such a perfect take on the material and the show has an amazingly talented ensemble cast of stars. Another season was an easy decision and we hope to have it on our schedule for many more years to come.” (!)
Series co-creator Jackie Schaffer also commented on the pickup: “It’s a dream job — we get to make a show we love with a brilliant cast on a fearless network. If the Mayans and Dirty Randy are right and the world ends tomorrow, at least we can say we made it to Season 5.”
Some stats: The current season averages 1.63 million total viewers and 1.45 million in the adults 18-49 demo. On a multi-run total basis, the season is delivering 2.43 million total viewers and 2.09 million adults 18-49 per week.
FX airs The League‘s season four finale tonight which is comprised of two back-to-back episodes, “A Krampus Carol” and “The Curse of Shiva.” Guest stars include Andre’s fiancé Trixie (Jayma Mays), Pete’s not-girlfriend Gina Gibiatti (Brooklyn Decker), Ruxin’s dad (Jeff Goldblum), and Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad) joins the roster as an adversary for Rodney. The one hour event starts at 10:30PM.
Before he could move onto the next Transformers movie, director Michael Bay called up Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to star in his upcoming action (comedy?) film Pain & Gain. In typical Michael Bay fashion you can expect lots of explosions and gags. A quick synopsis: “Based on the unbelievable true story of three personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong.” The movie also stars Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, and Ed Harris. It opens April 26, 2013.
Jump after the break for more trailers.
Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘Pain & Gain’, ‘The Great Gatsby’ & ‘The Smurfs 2’ [Update: ‘This Is The End’ & ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’]
There are only four episodes of Fringe left. What better way to ring ’em in than with a shiny poster? The elegantly harrowing image puts the season’s big bad baldie Captain Widmark front and center; his eyes remain transfixed but divert the gaze of the viewer. His stoic nature is intact, but he’s beaten up with black-and-blue patches and red blood seeps from his nose and mouth. The fedora donning mind-wiper has a bleak future because we have to believe that Olivia and the Bishops will in fact save the world by ridding it of The Observers. The final battle is imminent.
Fringe airs one more episode this Friday, December 21 titled “Anomaly XB-6783746” before going on its final hiatus as we gun for the new year. It returns January 11 and the week after that the final two episodes will air back-to-back culminating in the series finale “An Enemy of Fate.”
[Image via TVLine]
In my book and most others The Twilight Zone is categorized as one of the best TV shows ever made. It was a suspenseful show that mixed and matched all kinds of genres including psychological thriller, science fiction, and horror. It entertained, with its wild, out of nowhere twists and turns. It fascinated by holding a mirror to society in discreet and sometimes blatant ways. It premiered in 1959 with inventive creator and narrator Rod Serling; its original run lasted until 1964 after 156 episodes aired. Since then, the series has been revived twice in 1985 and again in 2002, and in 1983 Steven Spielberg produced a feature film based on the show. The TV revivals did not have the same spark and tenacity as the original run with Serling, but producer/writer/director Bryan Singer thinks third time’s the charm.
The Twilight Zone is looking to make another comeback. Singer, who is best known for directing the first two X-Men movies in that franchise and the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as the pilot for House and the recent Mockingbird Lane special, has signed a deal “to develop, executive produce and possibly direct a reboot” of The Twilight Zone, scoops Deadline. The site reports that the new drama series project is in the “early stages” of development, so we may be eyeing a fall 2014 debut or later at this point (especially with Singer being so busy with his film career at the moment). Though the reboot hasn’t been pitched to networks yet, it is being surmised that CBS will be its home since it owns the rights to the original series. Currently it’s set up at CBS TV Studios, they’re looking for a writer to come up with a pilot script, and Singer hopes to direct it.
Are you looking forward to new installments of The Twilight Zone? Can it ever reach the same levels of success and permeate people’s psyches the way it used to without the ever-present Mr. Serling at the helm? Do you think an anthology series could work on network TV today? FX has proven it can with American Horror Story, so perhaps.
[Via Deadline]
March might not feel so close right now, but I’m about to make the wait a bit more bearable. Today EW broke news that the third season of Game of Thrones will feature longer episodes than ever before. Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff explain the situation thusly. “There’s almost another full episode’s worth of extra minutes spread across the season,” says Weiss. “One of the great liberties with HBO is we’re not forced to come in at a specific time. We can’t be under 50 minutes or over 60, but that gives us a lot of flexibility.” So what are we talking about exactly? “Last year we had a lot of 52-minute episodes. This year is a lot of 56, 57,” adds Benioff. This should come as a pleasant surprise for not only fans of the show but also the readers of the books on which the series is based. Season 3 plans to cover approximately the first half of George R.R. Martin’s thickest Song of Ice and Fire novel, A Storm of Swords. “A super-sized season, as befitting Storm of Swords,” Benioff exclaims. Additionally, EW reports that a jam-packed season 3 finale will likely exceed an hour in length provided HBO gives the fantasy series the go-ahead. In sum, though HBO still caps the episode count at 10 it will feel like there’s 11 when all is said and done. “So for people clamoring for another episode, it’s in there,” Weiss elaborates. “It’s just been cut into tiny pieces.”
Game of Thrones premieres March 31, 2013. To learn about the series-inspired beer, jump after the break. Continue reading ‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 to air longer episodes; plus a series-inspired beer is in the works
After partying it up with King Chip in the clip for “Just What I Am,” Kid Cudi takes off and dances in the streets in his latest self-directed music video for his single “King Wizard.” Cudder keeps it low key here with a floating camera capturing his rhymes and movements without too many cuts and inside the same baroque frame as before.
Download “King Wizard” at iTunes today. A release date has not been set for Cudi’s upcoming fourth studio album Indicud which also includes the previous single “Just What I Am.” The next track to be released in 2013 is called “Immortal” and when it drops you’ll find it here.
Update: Shortly after the video hit the ‘Net, Cudder took to Twitter to clarify things. “Phase 2 of my domination has begun. King Wizard is not the official second single, just a scooby snack. Indicud in March.” So “King Wizard” may not end up on the album, and Indicud is now expected to release in March.
Two weeks ago Paramount gave us a first look at J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel Into Darkness with a grim poster and an announcement trailer that introduced us to the film’s big baddie played by the one and only Benedict Cumberbatch. Today the studio provides a new teaser trailer, the one that’s attached to screenings of The Hobbit. New footage is mixed with brief glimpses we’ve seen before, including that special moment between Kirk and Spock that was originally added to the ending of the Japanese version of the announcement trailer. In this go around, Bruce Greenwood’s Captain Pike takes over most of the narration duties in a plea to his Enterprise successor Captain Kirk. “There’s greatness in you. But there’s not an ounce of humility,” he says. “You think that you can’t make mistakes. But there’s going to come a moment when you realize you’re wrong about that and you’re going to get yourself and everyone under your command killed.”
To learn the film’s antagonist’s name, jump after the break. Continue reading New ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ teaser trailer, plus Benedict Cumberbatch villain is “named”