Author: Will Harris (Page 186 of 261)

Will is a member of the Television Critics Association and has written for Decider.com, the Onion A.V. Club, The Dissolve, Indiewire, Rhino.com, TV Week Magazine, The Virginian-Pilot, Popdose.com, and EW.com along with writing for Bullz-Eye.com and Premium Hollywood.

From TV Land to TV Lame?

June 5, 2007 /

In a move that will no doubt annoy the hell out of those of us who receive a certain degree of comfort out of knowing that there’s always a sure-fire place to find a rerun of “The Brady Bunch” when you want one, TV Land is changing its network concept, in an attempt to better cater to the Baby Boomers in their audience.

Step #1: Begin purging of “classic TV” format by airing re-runs of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
Step #2: Continue purging process by airing original, non-classic-TV-related programming, like, say, a show called “High School Reunion.”
Step #3: As long as you’re already getting rid of the classic-TV aspect, why stop there? Give up the all-TV aspect of the format, too, and start running movies that can be seen on virtually any other basic cable network and are never as funny once they’ve been purged of their profanities. Example: “Caddyshack.”

Boring.

At least the TV Land concept was an original one. Why throw that away in favor of turning the network into basically the exact same thing as everyone else…?

External Entertainment, External TV, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, TV

A certain degree of comfort in “Creature”

June 4, 2007 /

There aren’t many positive things to be said for our favorite series going on their annual summer hiatus, but, occasionally, the networks manage to surprise us with a summer replacement that’s A) not yet another reality show, and B) actually worth watching. “Creature Comforts” – airing at 8:00 PM tonight – definitely succeeds on the first front, and as to the second…well, it’s the kind of show that’ll probably wear out its welcome before the half-hour mark, but it’s still clever enough that you can count on various segments from the series becoming instant and longtime YouTube favorites. (In fact, you may have already seen the original short that inspired the original British series, which in turn inspired this American adaptation.)

The premise of “Creature Comforts” is that the creators have gone through and done interviews with ordinary people, recorded their responses, and then had the fine folks at Aardman Animations (“Wallace & Gromit,” “Flushed Away”) set the people’s voices to animated animals. You get the idea almost immediately, as the opening segment has two dogs sniffing the butt of another, offering comments that were obviously made during a wine tasting. (“It smells…pretty ripe. I’m getting medium to dark notes.”) The humor is relatively dry for the most part, but, then, some of the comedy comes not from the lines but, rather, from the facial reactions of the other animals in the scene; for instance, one lion is answering the question, “Have you ever killed a man,” and the other lion’s eyes are darting back and forth, as if to say, “Shit, man, he’s gonna give us up!”

Your mileage on the show will undoubtedly vary. It has its highs and lows, and once you’ve gotten the idea, either you’re either going to be in for the long haul, or you’ll shrug, say, “Heh, that’s a funny idea,” and keep on flipping. I’m fearing it’s going to be the latter, unfortunately, but given the fanbase for Aardman’s other works, the up side is that, even if it should only last for a few episodes, “Creature Comforts: The Complete Series” will almost certainly be released to DVD.

External TV, TV, TV Comedies

“How’s that for a topper…?”

May 28, 2007 /

Charles Nelson Reilly, who spent much of the 1970s as both a staple of “The Match Game” and a regular on Saturday morning television, has died at the age of 76.

Funnily enough, I just did an interview with Marty Krofft – soon to be posted on Bullz-Eye – where he and I discussed Charles Nelson Reilly’s role on “Lidsville” as the evil magician Horatio J. Hoo Doo (seen above). I always thought Reilly was a hoot, one of those staples of ’70s television who – rather unfairly, I thought – never managed to escape from his reputation as a staple of ’70s television. But the guy was a Tony-winning actor for “How To Succeed In Business Without Even Trying” who studied acting alongside Steve McQueen and Hal Holbrook, and although his film career never really took off (career highlight: “Cannonball Run II”), he stayed active on TV and doing animation voiceovers ’til the very end. His most memorable work in recent years…? I think you have to give it to his role as Jose Chung on “The X-Files,” a part he reprised on a later episode of “Millennium.” But he did a great comedic turn as himself on an episode of “The Larry Sanders Show,” and he also turned up on a couple of episodes of “The Drew Carey Show” as well.

Me, I always remember him for his role as Uncle Croc. “Uncle Croc’s Block” was a very, very short-lived Saturday morning series where Reilly played a crotchety kids show host, and although I have no idea how it would play for me today, at the time, I thought it was hilarious because it was so different from anything else on Saturday mornings as the time.

Sorry to see you go, Charles. Hopefully, one of these days, the film of your one-man show, “The Life of Reilly,” will make it to DVD…although there’s a line in this trailer for the film that isn’t nearly as funny any longer.

In the meantime, we’ll leave you with the final word on one thing you absolutely weren’t:

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Movies, News, TV

A Couple of Questions with…Bill Bellamy and Peter Engel

May 24, 2007 /

“Last Comic Standing” is returning for its fifth season…but it’s doing so without host Anthony Clark. (Some, like our own Mike Farley, would say that’s a blessing.) Now fronting the mike for the series is Bill Bellamy, who, if you’re really old, you might remember from his days as an MTV VJ. We spoke with Bellamy, along with the show’s producer, Peter Engel, during a recent teleconference.

Bullz-Eye: Bill, you’ve been working on “Who’s Got Jokes” recently, for TV One.

Bill Bellamy: Yes.

BE: Will you be bringing the Pope of Comedy over to “Last Comic Standing” with you?

BB: Uh, no. (Laughs) No, no, we won’t! He’ll definitely have his throne on “Who’s Got Jokes,” but we have on “Last Comic Standing,” man, we have amazing, amazing fun with our talent scouts. I mean, we got Kathleen Madigan, Alonzo Bodden, we got ANT, and these guys…I mean, they’re like three Popes in one, in a way, ‘cause they’re bringing so much laughter and, also, y’know, critiquing and just different elements to the show that we didn’t necessarily have before.

BE: Do you know if it was your work on “Who’s Got Jokes” that caught the eye of the producers, or were they just still remembering you fondly from your “Def Comedy Jam” days?

BB: Uh, yeah, I’m hoping it’s all of it… (Laughs)

Peter Engel: (Helpfully) Well, I’ll answer!

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Actors, External Entertainment, External TV, Interviews, TV, TV Comedies

A Couple of Questions with…James Lipton

May 24, 2007 /

Yes, that’s right: the host of “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” The series is continuing onward, with Kyra Sedgwick as its latest guest, and we had the opportunity to pose a few questions to Mr. Lipton – who, if you can believe it, is eighty years old! – about a few items on his resume, as well as one we’ve always wondered about the students in the audience of the Actor’s Studio…

Bullz-Eye: Hi, Mr. Lipton.

James Lipton: Hi.

BE: Could you speak a little bit about your experiences working on “Arrested Development”?

JL: I loved it. Why wouldn’t I? Those people are extraordinary, beginning with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard at the top, and those actors are amazing. It was a wonderful show; I wish it were still on the air. It came as a surprise. They called me, and they pleaded with me to be on the show – don’t ask me why – and I couldn’t. I said, “Look, I…” At this point, I was still the dean of the (Actors Studio Drama School). I said, “I’m a dean, which is a full-time job, I’m executive producer, writer, and host of ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio,’ which is a full-time job…I can’t expand my week! I work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, without exception, from the beginning of September ‘til the middle of June. I take two days off – Thanksgiving and Christmas – and that’s it. And I can’t come.” Finally, they got in touch with me, and they said, “Look: if you will come, we will do all your scenes in one day. Everybody else will lay off, and only the people involved in your scenes will come in and do your stuff with you, and we’ll get it all done in one day. We’ll fly you out, do it one day, and fly you back.” I agreed to do that. And then about a week before I was to arrive, they said, “Hey, we’ve written a second script for you…but we’ll do it all in the one day.” And then the night before I was to get on the plane, I got an E-mail which contained a third script, and they said, “But we’ll do it all in one day!” I did them all in one day! I did three shows in one day. And subsequently, of course, several months later, I did the final show. I came back for one show. And it was a great experience.

BE: I know that David Cross’s impression of you was not quite as good-natured as Will Ferrell’s…

JL: His was much less good-natured. I’d never seen it – I was only told – but do you want to hear a story about that?

BE: Sure!

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Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Movies, TV

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