Dr.Horrible-related stories
Posted Sep 21st 2009 1:27PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Video, Celebrities, Emmys, Reality-Free, Joss Whedon
In case you missed our
live blog of the event and you haven't been checking around the Interwebs, Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris did a quick skit starring his character Doctor Horrible from
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The sketch guest-starred Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer and a couple of other cast members. Oh, and by the way, that particular Internet series
won an Emmy itself.
One can only wonder if Joss Whedon had a hand in the sketch. It certainly seems that way. The sketch used his sort of style and humor, particularly the bits where the screen was "buffering".
Fortunately, and perhaps in appreciation of the existing rabid fanbase of anything Whedon-related, a clip of the segment has already made it to YouTube (so TV Squad itself cannot be sued for taking someone else's intellectual property. You hear that CBS?). Hopefully it remains up there for a little while. The clip of the Dr. Horrible appearance at the Emmys follows after the jump.
Continue reading Dr. Horrible's Emmy appearance
Posted Aug 25th 2009 7:39PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Judges
Of all the names bandied about as replacement judges and guest judges on American Idol, I can honestly tell you that today's name made me smile.
How I Met Your Mother's
Neil Patrick Harris is filling in as a guest judge on American Idol as they conduct auditions in Dallas, Texas.
Neil is not only one of the funniest talents around, but he is a legitimate singer who has appeared on Broadway, hosted the Tony Awards (and the upcoming Emmys, too) and knows what it takes to sing professionally. And let's not forget
Dr. Horrible.
Continue reading Neil Patrick Harris is the latest American Idol guest judge
Posted Aug 18th 2009 10:05AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Felicia Day has already proven herself a terrific singer through her role on
Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. Now she's extending her talent resumé via her own project,
The Guild, by having the cast of that show appear in a pop video for a song called "Do You Want To Date My Avatar?"; she's also the lead singer. Ms. Day may very well be the next Kylie Minogue.
It's rare for a U.S. production to release a music single in conjunction with a show, however Felicia herself created this show and if she wants to use it to launch her singing career, then more power to her. Why do I envision this group doing a live concert at the next San Diego Comic Con?
How soon before Ms. Day is the star of her own television drama or comedy? Nerd boys: she's hot, she sings and she plays
MMORPGs. Admit that you want her. Video is after the jump.
Continue reading Felicia Day ... the next American Idol?
Posted Aug 5th 2009 6:00PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
Hundreds of Joss Whedon fans are expected to take over the small town of LaVergne, TN this weekend for
WhedonFest 2009, a celebration of all things Joss Whedon. A fan group called Whedonites United is holding the three-day event in the Tennessee Valley woods. Yes, it's a camping trip (and no,
the irony is not lost on us).
The first-ever Whedonfest will offer a number of nerdy activities for Whedon devotees, including role-playing hours, an improv show, and a number of panel discussions, like "The Nature of Identity in
Dollhouse," inspired by Whedon's work.
Continue reading Browncoats, Slayers and Dolls unite: WhedonFest '09 kicks off Friday
Posted Jul 16th 2009 11:33AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Video, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
One of last years biggest online video hits, Joss Whedon's
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, is back in the news, and in a very good way: It's been nominated for an Emmy.
Not sure where to find it on the complete
list of nominees? Just search for "Dr. Horrible" and you'll find it. It got the nod in the "Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs" (a pithy name, no?) category. What's interesting is that the other nominees were all either on TV already or were offshoots of existing TV shows.
Dr. Horrible was the only nominee that was born online and built its audience there (until, at least, the
DVD came out earlier this year).
This could be the start of something great; the Academy recognizing online-only programming can do nothing but help make it more mainstream. But this could also be an isolated incident, since the names behind the production were so huge. What do you folks think? Think this nomination will encourage more big names to hit the internet with their pet projects?
Posted Apr 9th 2009 2:10PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Web, Interviews, Reality-Free
When I was preparing for my
Nathan Fillion interview, I knew that I had a big responsibility: people love this guy. I mean
love-- in a slightly disturbing way. So I reached out. I went on Facebook and
Twitter and asked people what they wanted me to ask him, so I would get the fewest number of
Firefly fans pissed off at me as possible. Luckily, the questions submitted were mostly along the lines of, "will he impregnate me?", so I wasn't too worried about not asking something someone was dying to know.
"Hey, I've got a quick question for you: How long do you think this 'internet' fad will really go?" But before I could ask a single question, that's how Nathan Fillion starts our interview. "Um, you know, I think it's on it's way out. I give it a month, maybe two at the most." I could understand where he was coming from. I was just one in a long line of reporters he was talking to today, so he has to keep himself interested somehow. Why not joke around with me about the fall of the internet?
Continue reading Nathan Fillion: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Mar 30th 2009 1:38PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
No, you didn't miss a scoop about a
Serenity sequel or that long-rumored
Buffy movie finally getting made. Mr. Whedon will appear in a special live simulcast performance of Chicago Public Radio's
This American Life on April 23.
The program will beam into 400 movie screens nationwide and will feature
TAL host, and
Buffy fan, Ira Glass and guests sharing stories connected by a central theme, "Return to the Scene of the Crime." The simulcast will feature show regulars Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia, David Rakoff and Dave Hill along with
Dollhouse producer Whedon who will deliver a "special musical performance."
Continue reading Reminder - Joss Whedon is coming to a theater near you in April
Posted Jan 12th 2009 10:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, Web, Reality-Free
I recognize that the fans of
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog have probably already gotten the DVD (available exclusively on
Amazon.com), so in effect I'm preaching to the choir. However, if you haven't gotten around to enjoying it by now, what are you waiting for? This is, quite simply, the best thing to come out of the writer's strike.
If anybody thinks Joss Whedon's reputation is overblown, then you only have to listen to the genius that is "Commentary! The Musical" to realize how much of a genius the man is. It's tough to write a musical, but it's even tougher to write a 42-minute piece of musical metafiction that goes generally along with the beats of the original production and involves pretty much every cast member big and small (and some of the extras, as well). Granted, in all cases, he had help from his brothers Zack and Jed and Jed's fiancée Maurissa Tancharoen, so it must run in the family.
Continue reading Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - DVD review
Posted Jan 9th 2009 12:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Reality-Free
You think the recession hasn't hit the TV industry yet? Here's some proof it has:
the stars of How I Met Your Mother received pay raises...but not the kind of big money you've heard about in years gone by. The ensemble of five, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan renegotiated with the producers (20th Century Fox TV) to boost their salaries to $90,000-$120,000 per episode. That's still a lot of money in today's economic strife, but compared to
Two and a Half Men's Charlie Sheen's $825,000 per ep, it's downright modest.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother's pay raise
Posted Dec 19th 2008 7:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Web, Festivus, Reality-Free
As I look back at the posts
TV Squad did this year, a certain topic popped up quite a bit: "Hey, folks, take a look at [Name of big star] in this [funny/quirky/dramatic] web series you can only find at [Name of web site]!" While the quality of and star power behind web-exclusive programming has been building for a couple of years now, 2008 saw an explosion of web series that attracted enough buzz to make one wonder if Jeff Zucker wasn't thinking of this a little bit when he offered Jay Leno the 10:00 slot on NBC.
What caused this explosion? Well, we can thank one of 2008's other big stories -- the writers' strike -- for a lot of it.
Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2008: Web TV goes big time - VIDEOS
Posted Aug 22nd 2008 11:01AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Celebrities, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
The Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards -- affectionately known as the Shmemmys to Kathy Griffin fans -- has at least one more viewer this year. I will be watching the other Emmy presentation, the awards that come before the Primetime Emmys. The big one with all the major categories, musical numbers, clip montages and near-mandatory attendance by the nominees is the Emmys. The other one is the technical awards. But I will be watching for a very good reason:
Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Chalke will be co-hosting the Creative Arts Emmys this year on the E! channel, September 20.
Neil, an Emmy nominee for
How I Met Your Mother, and Sarah, who is also a guest/semi-regular on
Mother as well as a permanent regular on
Scrubs, are a great choice for this gig. They're smart, funny, quick, attractive and maybe even unpredictable.
I mean, wouldn't it be a hoot if Neil came on stage in his
Dr. Horrible gear and asked Sarah if her Hanes undies were riding up or doing their job? She should then counter and ask him about that smell, you know ... the Old Spice? Hey, maybe they should get Bruce Campbell to confront Neil about the Old Spice deal -- that was Bruce's commercial before Neil took over!
Continue reading Awesome! Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Chalke to host Creative Arts Emmys
Posted Aug 5th 2008 10:20AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Interviews, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
One of the highlights of the Sci Fi / EW party at Comic-Con was being able to talk to and shake the hand of Joss Whedon. It's no secret that I'm a fan of his work, and with the incredible presence of
Dr. Horrible and
Dollhouse at this year's Comic-Con, it's no mystery why he was at the 'Con.
Unfortunately for me, I had no idea he was going to be heading down that red carpet, so in hindsight I of course have a ton of questions I would have liked to have thought of at the time. Since my time was limited with everyone anyway, I kept it relevant to what was going on at the 'Con as best I could.
I've got more to add later about the discussion regarding the digital medium, but that will be a different post down the road. As for Joss, he's very easy to talk to and my transcription doesn't really show how good-natured the conversation was. At one point Eliza Dushku stepped in to say hello to us -- you don't see that every day.
Continue reading A short talk with Joss Whedon
Posted Jul 25th 2008 6:32PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Video, Interviews, Reality-Free, Comic-Con, Webisodes
One of the panels I was most looking forward to was today's Joss Whedon panel, where he'd be discussing everything from the Buffy television series and comic books (including Fray), to the Dr. Horrible videos.
This was an interesting juggling feat for Rich and I, as I was in this same ballroom covering Stargate Continuum while Rich attending Big Bang Theory, then Rich tool over for Atlantis, then I came in for Joss. It was kinda comical, actually, as we did some quick ticket swapping to bypass the incredibly long line just for this panel. After this, Rich comes in to take over for American Dad and Family Guy. Good times.
Continue reading Joss Whedon & Dr. Horrible - VIDEO - Comic-Con Report
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