BenAffleck-related stories
Posted Feb 7th 2009 7:11PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, News, Music and Variety, Talk Show, Early Looks, Episode Reviews
The prospect of a news show featuring people with disabilities interviewing celebrities and people on the street sounds like a sick way to spend a Sunday evening. That assumption doesn't help when you see
South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker's names under the executive producer heading, two guys who made the phrase "Timmy!" and "cripple fight" part of the American pop culture lexicon.
But as
Stone said himself in my soon-to-be awarding winning interview (my boss said he would put a gold star on my next paycheck),
How's Your News? -- which premieres at 10:30 tomorrow night on MTV -- aims to change the audience's perspective on more than one level.
It's a journey of self-discovery for both the participants and the viewers and that's a big step for a network that has had a hard time figuring out what it's supposed to be.
Continue reading How's Your News? -- An early look
Posted Nov 3rd 2008 1:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Video, Reality-Free
If you watched
Saturday Night Live this past week (or caught up with the show online), you know that they finally decided to skewer
Keith Olbermann and the self-important tone he uses... well, just about everywhere. One major problem: the impression, by guest host
Ben Affleck, stunk on ice. In the far-too-long sketch, Affleck spent the entire time trying to get a hold on how Olbermann sounds, alternately making the
Countdown host sound like a British lord of the manor and a man with clogged sinuses. It didn't help that the sketch was all over the place, mocking the entire
Countdown show rather than one particular segment, Olbermann's oh-so-mockable Special Comments.
But one comedian,
Michael Terry, completely nails the Olbermann impression in the video after the jump. In it, he doesn't attempt to ape the entire show; he just makes a Special Comment complaining about how he got cheated on his Subway sandwich. "Double meat, sir, as any Ritalin-addled eight-year old will tell you, means twice the amount of meat." It's hilarious, and it puts Affleck's impression to shame.
Continue reading Guy in his kitchen does a better Olbermann than Ben Affleck - VIDEO
Posted Nov 2nd 2008 12:00PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S34E07) Although I have fond memories of Mango and Ben Who-fleck working
Saturday Night Live together back in the day, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. I think someone told Ben Affleck that he's pretty all right on
SNL and it got to his head, because he was trying way, way too hard. It was almost to the point where it was unbearably awkward. If not for Senator John McCain's appearances, this episode would have been wholly unremarkable. I mean, apart from its super-weakness.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Ben Affleck/David Cook - VIDEOS
Posted Jun 27th 2008 2:41PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free
If you tuned in to
Nightline last night, you saw a report from the Congo about the political and humanitarian crisis there. But, the interesting part about it was who was reporting the story: Ben Affleck.
According to Reuters,
Affleck has made three trips out to the Congo, and he contacted ABC News to see if they wanted to send a camera crew along with him.
He also wrote an essay about his trips for the late-night news program's website. It's a refreshing view from Ben, whose trips to the war-torn country have mostly been under wraps.
"I view this as a long and ongoing learning experience to educate myself before making any attempt to advocate or 'speak out,'" Affleck writes. He also says that "it makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism. There is always the suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause."
Continue reading Reporting for Nightline from the Congo, it's ... Ben Affleck?
Posted Jun 20th 2008 8:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
On USA's spy-action-comedy series
Burn Notice, there are great actors all around. Recently, I had the chance to spend a day on the set of
Burn Notice (more on that next week!), and share in round-table interviews with the stars of the show.
Here's one of those wonderful actors, the irreverent and brilliant Bruce Campbell. As Sam, Jeffrey's old friend -- and sometime nemesis -- from the spy wars, Campbell is having a ball filming in South Florida and stealing scenes like nobody's business. Oh, and he smells good, just like
Old Spice.
Q: What is the character of Sam about?
Bruce Campbell: He's about 50. No, he's like the other characters in the show, damaged goods, which is why I like him.
Continue reading Bruce Campbell: The TV Squad Interview
Posted May 5th 2008 8:25PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Late Night, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Sarah Silverman, the star of
The Sarah Silverman Program, is fu*king Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC's late night talk show
Jimmy Kimmel Live. At least we assume so, considering they've been dating for years and kidding about their love story in public -- remember her video, "I'm fu*king Matt Damon,"
which he countered with "I'm fu*king Ben Affleck"? These two are a fun couple and seem to really have it together. However, don't look for Ms. Silverman to ever become Mrs. Kimmel.
Simply stated, Sarah Silverman told People.com
that she's vowed to never marry Jimmy Kimmel. Nothing personal, Jimmy, she just likes things exactly as they are and doesn't want to muck it up with rice, flowers, lace, cake, invitations and all the other wedding malarkey.
Clearly, little Sarah never fantasized about her parents walking her down the aisle, standing under the chuppa with her groom, and seeing the man of her dreams shatter a wine glass beneath his foot, all elements of a typical nice Jewish wedding for a nice Jewish girl like Sarah.
Continue reading Forget it! Sarah says she's not marrying Jimmy Kimmel
Posted Apr 9th 2008 8:35AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Late Night, Industry, Reality-Free
So, Disney CEO Robert Iger was having one of those yummy breakfast confabs talking about the future of the network and new media, alternate platforms and all those other fun buzz words about how we're going to be watching shows in the next few years. Then, kind of as an aside, he was asked about Jay Leno. With the end of Leno's era as the host of
The Tonight Show looming -- and Conan O'Brien chomping at the bit to take over --
Mr. Iger said that he wouldn't rule out ABC going after Jay.
Ken Auletta of the
New Yorker pressed Iger about Leno, to which the ABC head man squirmed and said, "It's not something we typically comment on."
Continue reading ABC still interested in Leno
Posted Mar 14th 2008 9:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Entourage, Web, Celebrities
File this under the category of do-it-yourself politics. In this YouTube.com era, it was only a matter of time before it happened. MoveOn.org has joined forces with Oscar-winners Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Oliver Stone, multiple Grammy-winner John Legend and author Naomi Wolf to a TV ad contest for Barack Obama.
The contest is called "Obama in 30 Seconds," in which Barack supporters are being asked -- challenged -- to come up with half-minute videos that focus on what it is about the Senator from Illinois that inspires them. The winning entry will be shown on national television.
Continue reading A new challenge for Obama fans
Posted Feb 12th 2007 7:30AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, FOX, Family Guy, Animation
(S05E10) When I checked the schedule and saw the title of this episode was "Peter's Two Dads" I was a little torn. First, the Peter-centric episodes generally have a much higher chance of going off the rails. On the other hand, the possibility that it would be a play on the 80's sit-com
My Two Dads, which starred Greg Evigan, Paul Reiser, and Staci Keanan, was intriguing.
Unfortunately (probably only for me), that idea never materialized, and the episode that we did see still left me with something of a mixed reaction. On the good side, it was well constructed, and I give a lot of points to the writers for a well thought out plot. Chris got a bit of the short shrift, but using Meg's birthday as the setting for offing Francis was a good choice. It involved her in what was otherwise a mostly Peter affair.
Continue reading Family Guy: Peter's Two Dads
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