TVSquad

Disneyland hosted its own Disney Convention, called D23, in the style of Comic Con this past weekend. The name comes from the year Walt Disney moved to Hollywood and the event was held at the Anaheim Convention Center across the street from Disneyland . Among other announcements was that of a new Muppet movie called The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made (hopefully it's a working title). There was also a live performance by Miley Cyrus, whom Disney owns the soul of.

Admittedly, it's a pretty good idea which caters to the real Disney enthusiasts out there (having met a few, I know they certainly exist). Disney is one of the few companies that is large enough to have its own version of Comic Con. While the convention had announcements for most of its franchises, I noted the absence of any mention of the recently-acquired Marvel Comics.

On the other hand, the company already has a Disney convention open all year round. It's called Disneyland (or Disneyworld for the East Coast). What do you think of this development?

When the San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to allow every corner of television onto their floors, they weren't kidding. After seeing the roster of panels, I'm surprised the original panel from PBS's Washington Week didn't field questions from guys dressed in Transformer cosplay.

Apparently, Warner Brothers set up a panel for just about every television show that have in development including Patricia Heaton's new ABC sitcom The Middle, making it the most "fish out of water" selection for a panel at the geek confab.

And so did the geeks in attendance. The panel only drew around 75 attendees and studio heads ordered Heaton not to introduce the panel because the crowd was too small.

As our own John Scott Lewinski pointed out in his interview with Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, the Venture Bros. masterminds, the show is a cult treasure, but not so hot in the big picture.

It's a source of perpetual heartbreak for me, knowing that the many people I convert with my DVDs are just a mere drop in the bucket. Even worse, despite the insane number of fans that flood convention floors to hear Hammer and Publick talk, other [adult swim] celebrities of arguably less awesome programming get the mainstream love. Just check out this great LA Weekly interview (and photoshoot, ladies) with Hammer and Publick to remind yourself why these guys are so marvelous.

I imagine a lot of stalkers must love a place like Comic-Con. All of their most sought after celebrities are together in one place for easy pickings. It must be their Costco.

One star, however, decided to turn the tables on his fans and used his own costume to stalk and hunt down a few of his fans on the floor of this year's convention.

To make it even creepier, he dressed up like a clown. That slurping sound you hear is my spine falling out of its socket from uncontrollable shivering.

Even though TV Squad's very own John Scott Lewinski is fighting his way through hordes of overweight Rorschachs and pre-pubescent Chun Lis to get exclusive interviews and scoops on the newest TV news at the San Diego Comic Con, don't forget that our partners-in-crime from Cinematical are also there covering the latest flim-flam in film.

The movie side of the annual pop-culture cavalcade opened with one of the biggest names in the history of film and what could very well be one of the biggest names in the future of film. Director James Cameron screened a solid 25 minutes of his forthcoming sci-fi epic Avatar. Blogger Todd Gilchrist got a hint of the plot and special effects movie-goers can expect when the film hits theaters later this year and said it "promises to be both hugely entertaining and technically groundbreaking." Man, that's got me worried. That's what they also said about Titanic.

• At 8, FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• At 8:30, G4 has their Comic Con '08 Live Preview.
• At 9, NBC has a new Baby Borrowers, followed by a new Celebrity Circus.
• PBS has a new Nova scienceNOW at 9.
• Also at 9: Sundance Channel has a new On The Road In America.
• At 9:30, HGTV has a new Design on a Dime.
• At 10, TruTV has a new Black Gold.
• TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne at 10.
• Bravo has a new Shear Genius at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new episode of The Real World.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Mind of Mencia.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Usually, we don't get/need to post stuff we hear via movie blogs, but when the wonderful world of TV and film collide, strange things can happen. Over at Ain't it Cool News, Hercules posted some new Futurama footage that was shown as an introductory trailer to the four DVD films that will be produced and shown on Comedy Central. Personally, I just want new full seasons of Futurama, without the horrible thought that it might end after the 16-episode run.

The below video is pretty funny, but Family Guy did a similar joke when they came back from the dead. I have always loved it when Fox shows made fun of Fox. I am not sure if this footage will be part of the movies or not, but it looks probable. Enjoy!

Sorry, I know Comic-Con has come and gone and we've all gone back to our boring, mundane lives, but I just found this great clip featuring Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Reno 911! and The State talking about their upcoming ping-pong movie, Balls of Fury. In the midst of a Q and A, a man approaches the mic and begins to chastise the two actors for daring to mock the game of ping-pong. I'm not positive, because it's difficult to get a clear look at the man's face, but I believe it's comedian Chris Tallman, perhaps most recognizable as the host of Comedy Central's short-lived series Crossballs. But then, I could be wrong. Anyway, check out the video and see how real men handle hecklers:

If you're curious about the upcoming Simpsons movie (and who isn't?) and want to see a really, really rough preview of it, watch the video that's embedded after the jump. The producers of the movie came to the San Diego Comic Con and presented a preview of the movie consisting of storyboard drawings and the voices of the main characters. Apparently, Homer has gotten himself in some sort of trouble (shocker), and the people of Springfield are more upset with him than ever.

Anyway, I'd watch the video now and not wait until later, because FOX might move pretty quickly to have YouTube take it down. So click on the link below and enjoy.

(UPDATE: Reader Douglin sent us a link to a second video... it looks like Homer is on a dog sled in this scene. Pretty funny. You can find it here.)

(UPDATE #2: Both videos have been taken down by YouTube. Hope you enjoyed them while they were up.)

During an introductory speech for Robert Smigel given by cartoon historian Jerry Beck at the San Diego Comic Con, the world's only insult comic dog, Triumph, popped up and went on a hilarious tirade about Beck's boring speech and the innumerable nerds who were in attendance. This is footage shot by someone who was actually there, so there's a lot of swearing and you also get to see Robert Smigel actually doing the voice and manipulating the puppet. Of course, they don't try very hard to hide that when he does his shtick on Conan, but Smigel is in the middle of a crowd and really has nowhere to hide. Beck actually posted the video on his Cartoon Brew site, but I stuck it after the jump for your viewing pleasure. My favorite part is when he tells a rather rotund attendee he must love the "Fantastic Four food groups." Click on and enjoy.

UPDATE: The video is no longer available, apparently.

There are no plans for a collaboration involving Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi and Robert Smigel of TV Funhouse and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog fame, but John K wrote on his blog recently about an encounter with Smigel at Comic-Con in which Smigel expressed his love for John K's "George Liquor" character, and K asked if Smigel would be interested in writing some episodes for a straight-to-video release. This was just two gents chatting, so it means nothing, but what do my fellow animation fans think of a collaboration between these two fellas? I think they have a similar sense of humor, and under the right circumstances they could probably come up with something pretty cool.