Category: News (Page 145 of 401)

NBC wants more comedies?

October 23, 2009 /

Carolla

In these tough economic times, networks are looking to the sitcom to boost both the American spirit and their ratings (not necessarily in that order). NBC one again rules as the comedic king of Thursday nights with a solid lineup consisting of “Community,” “Parks and Recreation,” “The Office,” and “30 Rock.” I’m reminded of NBC in the 90s, when Thursday nights featured “Frasier,” “Mad About You,” “Friends,” and “Seinfeld.” Comedy has always been NBC’s forte, so the network’s recent moves come as no surprise. Discounting “The Jay Leno Show,” NBC only airs comedy during primetime on Thursday. Given their success in that genre, the network has inked deals with Adam Carolla (“The Man Show”), Bill Oakley (“The Simpsons”), and Aaron McGruder (“Boondocks”).

The Carolla project will feature the comic as a contractor and father whose life is turned upside down when his wife leaves him. Carolla is set to exec produce the multicamera sitcom along with Kevin Hench, as well as Jimmy Kimmel, Daniel Kellison, Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun.

Comedian also knows a thing or two about being a contractor, having worked in the construction industry before his big break as a radio personality on radio station KROQ. Universal Media Studios is behind the project, along with Jackhole Industries and BermanBraun.

As for the Cheadle/McGruder comedy, project revolves around mismatched brothers who reunite to open a private security company.

Universal is producing, along with Cheadle’s Crescendo Prods. label (which includes partner Kay Lieberman). McGruder, who’s writing, is EP with Cheadle and Lieberman. Project has a script order at the Peacock.

For the Oakley project, scribe will exec produce along with Dave Bartis and Doug Liman. Laffer centers on the youngest judge in a circuit courthouse.

I don’t know where NBC is going to find room for these shows. Obviously, Thursday nights are out of the question. The network can try their hand at competing with the CBS comedies on Mondays or the ABC comedies on Wednesdays. I would say Tuesday nights, but “The Biggest Loser” already takes up the two-hour block.

News, TV, TV Comedies

Gore v. chills at the box office

October 23, 2009 /

I keep reading that the studios are reducing their outputs and that we’ll be seeing fewer new movies, but there’s sure no sign of it lately as we have another complicated week where, at least in theory, anything can happen. Still, the prognosticators agree that the latest entry in the first and longest running franchise in the sub-genre of torture-heavy horror, “Saw VI,” will likely win the week for Lionsgate.

On the other hand, there is also a consensus that the low-violence yet entirely potent chills of “Paranormal Activity” will be cutting into the Saw-bucks some also. Obviously, there is some audience crossover but, just as obviously, the most jaded gore hounds may find it beyond tame. I’ve already noted online the start of an inevitable backlash. I doubt this reaction will have the same angry potency that afflicted “The Blair Witch Project” so many moons ago. In that case, Lionsgate’s attempt to persuade less-savvy audiences that it might actually be real probably backfired later on, as did the over-hype of some of the early write-ups.

This time, Paramount has been more cleverly circumspect than the “Blair Witch” marketers, simply making the case that the modest video-movie can really scare the bejesus out of an audience. I’m here to tell you it can, even though I feel sure that not a single person I saw it with was under any delusion that what we were watching was not staged. Still, you see the violence-loving fanboys complaining at certain sites. I mean, how can a movie be scary if it lets you imagine the worst of it? How is that ever going to work?

It’s probably pretty obvious by now, especially from my post just before this one, that I prefer the “Paranormal” approach and will be rooting for it but, despite the still growing excitement around the movie, it’s the definite underdog as “Saw VI” will be opening in 3,036 theaters, while it’s competitor will be expanding to a mere 1,900. However, the outstanding per-screen averages that the film has been nailing could compensate if some horror audiences find the prospect of yet another ultra-brutality fest less than ultra-appealing.

Though it’s yet another family-friendly CGI animated film, this one based on a property at least some of us remember from our childhoods, hopes are not all that astronomically high for the next film. Summit’s “Astro Boy” is based on the best known creation of Japan’s “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka, who basically invented both manga and anime as we now know them and who created some of the best comic books for adults that I’ve ever read. Of course, you’d never know from the horrendously lame gag at the end of the trailer or the often ugly CGI animation that ruins the beautiful 2-D (black and white, too!) of the early Tezuka cartoons as scene in the trailer. This appears to be another case of a studio adapting a property and missing what made the original work.

astro_boy_movie_image

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What’s scary?

October 22, 2009 /

I’ll be doing my weekly box office preview next, but before I do we have an apt movie moment for this week’s box office derby as the “extreme” horror of the latest entry in the “Saw” franchise will be pitted, among other films, against the clever head games of “Paranormal Activity.” Just in case anyone out there thinks the push and pull between scaring an audience by showing it disturbing material or by almost showing it disturbing material is anything new, I’ve got a wonderfully concise sequence from Vicented Minelle’s soapy-but-brilliant 1952 inside-Hollywood tale, “The Bad and the Beautiful.”

Below Barry Sullivan as a hardworking director and Kirk Douglas as a hotshot writer-producer partially modeled on horror-legend Val Lewton (“Cat People,” “The Body Snatcher,” etc.), deal with the rather basic filmmaking problem their low-budget scare flick is presented with.

That’s Ned Glass as the costume guy, by the way, feeding those great reactions by Douglas and Sullivan. Gotta love Ned.

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

Rob Corddry has his day

October 22, 2009 /

During it’s preliminary run, Rob Corddry’s “Children’s Hospital” was hosted by TheWB.com and drew admiration from critics and fans alike. Now the sitcom is getting picked up by Cartoon Network, which plans to air the first season and subsequent new episodes during its Adult Swim block.

Although “Children’s Hospital” is heading for greener pastures, the WB has still decided to tap Corddry for other projects.

Under terms of the exclusive deal, Corddry will create, exec produce and star in a pilot presentation for the studio.

Warner Bros. has set aside money for Corddry to shoot a project, which would then be shopped to the networks.

Corddry said he’s penning an “unconventional family comedy” in which he’ll play the father; the show will be set in an off-kilter world. Like his hit Web series “Children’s Hospital,” which parodied hospital dramas like “Grey’s Anatomy,” the show also will be a parody, this time on the family laffer.

As for “Children’s Hospital,” which earned critical acclaim during its original 10-episode run on TheWB.com, the sitcom is about to make the transition to the TV screen.

Cartoon Network’s adult-targeted Adult Swim latenight block has picked up the show’s Web run — 10 episodes at five minutes each — and has ordered a second season of 12 new episodes (at an extended 11 minutes each) to run next year.

Meanwhile, Warner’s TheWB.com digital platform has ordered a new Web series from Corddry and his brother Nate (“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”) that center on the siblings as an unlikely rock band.

The mockumentary will feature the brothers as they decide to exit show business in order to pursue their real passion as rock stars — in the style of the Bacon Brothers.

Good to hear that Corddry is back on his feet after “The Winner” bombed. I really enjoyed the first ten episodes of “Children’s Hospital,” which showcased his clever, strange, and goofy sense of humor.

News, Video

What’s all this, then? – “Monty Python: Almost The Truth – The Lawyer’s Cut”

October 22, 2009 /

If you’ve been checking in on Premium Hollywood over the course of the past few days, then you’ve probably spotted our man Bob Westal’s tributes to the 40th anniversary of Monty Python, and if you haven’t…well, they’re here, here, and here. Python fans will likely have already seen Bob’s finely-chosen clips, but if they’re new to you and made you laugh, then you really ought to be tuning into IFC’s ongoing six-part documentary about the history of the Python organization: “Monty Python: Almost the Truth – The Lawyer’s Cut.” As evidenced by the fact that there’s an Amazon link in the midst of the title, the documentary is indeed being released onto DVD on Oct. 27th, but don’t let that stop you from checking out the remaining episodes as they air on IFC. Those who aren’t obsessive types might find it a bit more Python than they can stand, but it’s definitely the comedy equivalent of “The Beatles Anthology,” leaving no stone unturned from the group’s career, showing their origins, discussing their TV series, films, and infamous live performances, and offering insights from other comedians who’ve received inspiration from the gentlemen in the Flying Circus.

It’s worth noting, by the way, that there is actually a theatrical cut of “Almost the Truth,” which comes in at a decidedly tighter run time of under two hours…and I know this because I was in attendance at the Ziegfield Theater in New York City last week when it was screened. The best bit about it, though, was that the screening was attended by John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, not to mention the group’s female in residence, Carol Cleveland.

Oh, no, wait, that wasn’t the best bit. The real best bit was when, after the screening, the gentlemen took the stage – with Cleese carrying a cardboard stand-up of the late Graham Chapman under his arm – to answer questions which had been submitted by the audience, which you can experience for yourself below:

No, hang on: the actual, honest-to-Brian best bit was the fact that I actually got to meet the Pythons.

Well, mostly.

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