Krysten Ritter first started making a proper go at an acting career in the early part of the decade, but it’s fair to say that the first real turning point came in 2005, when Rob Thomas decided that she’d make the perfect Gia Goodman on “Veronica Mars.” From there, the good gigs have been plentiful, including stints on “Gilmore Girls” and “Breaking Bad” and in such films as “27 Dresses,” “What Happens in Vegas,” and arguably the most high profile, “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” Currently, Ritter can be seen in the Crackle.com web series “Woke Up Dead,” a zom-com – that’s a legitimate term for a zombie comedy, right? – co-starring Jon Heder and Josh Gad. Premium Hollywood had the chance with Ritter about the challenges of doing an online series, but we also quizzed her about several of her past projects, too.
The late Soupy Sales was a great comic who achieved his great fame through television but never had much of a film career. His one starring role, 1966’s “Birds Do It,” is essentially impossible to see. Given two of the comments currently on IMDb, perhaps for a reason.
Nevertheless, his pie throwing and receiving savvy tickled the funny bone of a couple of generations and certainly influenced the slapstick comedy of his era quite a bit. So, in honor of the late Mr. Sales, the most famed pie fight of the 1960s.
Considering that this scene from Blake Edwards’ 1965’s “The Great Race” features several of the biggest stars of its day including Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon (as two separate characters — the villainous Prof. Fate and the aimably drunken Crown Prince Hapnik), a pre-“Columbo” Peter Falk and character acting great Keenan Wynn (aka Col. Bat Guano of “Dr. Strangelove“), it’s also easily the most star-studded creamy pastry battle yet filmed.
And, remember the wise words of Mr. Sales and brush after every pie fight: “Be true to your teeth, and they’ll never be false to you.”
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.
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.
I confess I’ve only been watching Bravo’s “Top Chef” for one-plus seasons now, but I’ve become hooked in a hurry. So this was just my second time experiencing “restaurant wars,” when they break up the final eight contestants into two teams and have them run an actual restaurant for the night.
But first, the episode began with a Quick Fire challenge, and the guest judge this week was Rick Moonen, who owns a sustainable seafood restaurant in Vegas. They would have a tag team cookoff, in which each chef had 10 minutes out of 40 to complete a dish, but while one chef was working the others were blindfolded. Man, that looked HARD. They drew knives and Jennifer and Michael V. had to choose teams…Jen chose Kris Kringle (Kevin), Mike Isabella and Laurine, deciding to let the brothers be on the same team and duke it out, literally. So Michael had Brian, Eli and Robin.
