I was looking forward to Matthew Perry's new Showtime show The End of Steve, a drama about a radio talk show host. Unfortunately, Showtime wasn't looking forward to it as much as I was and didn't pick up the show.
Instead, Perry is going to produce, co-write, and star in a new comedy about a sports arena manager who finds himself thinking about where his life is at after he turns 40. Fans of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The West Wing (two other shows that Perry was in) will be interested to know that Thomas Schlamme will be involved in the show too as director and co-producer.
A lot of people have wondered what happened to Matt LeBlanc. After Joey died, he seemed to fall off the face of the Earth. Even Friends cast members who aren't in the public eye a lot (like David Schwimmer) have been keeping busy and you often hear about them being in a movie or performing on stage. But no one really knew what LeBlanc. was up to (besides wondering about a Friends reunion movie).
Now we know. LeBlanc has signed on to star in a new comedy for Showtime titled Episodes. It will be one of those behind-the-scenes looks at a television show and will be produced by Friends co-creator David Crane and Mad About You producer Jeffrey Klarik.
You know, ever since Friends went off the air, rumors have cropped up again and again that there would be a big screen version of the show, presumably picking up the storylines from the grand finale. Of course, if you remember the great stories on Joey, maybe post-Friends storytelling isn't such a grand idea after all.
However, at least one person is sure that a feature film is coming. James Michael Tyler, who poured the coffee at Central Perk as Gunther (he also ogled Rachel), was asked about the movie version and Tyler said that Friends: The Movie is definitely on.
So no one told him life was going to be this way, but it was, at least for a few days. A gentleman in Brixton, South London named Steve Misiura watched every single episode of Friends in a non-stop marathon. That's 84 hours of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Phoebe loving, fighting, and drinking coffee. He actually broke the world record for watching TV, which was at 72 hours straight. I think this is a record someone here at TV Squad should try to break.
Of course, this being the age of the web, he kept a blog about it and uploaded pictures from the event. The picture above is Steve about 80 hours into his marathon. He began to hallucinate and get various ailments.
I think it would have been OK, record-wise, if he had interrupted his marathon at some point. He could have just used the excuse "I was on a break!"
Next Sunday, CBS will launch There Goes The Neighborhood, a new reality show where several families are walled into their neighborhood, without electricity, cell phones, or computers. Though from the clip below some of the rules are bent because something has to be running the cameras and mics. When will these reality shows run out of steam?
At one point, one contestant says "how many people can say that they went on a reality show with their families?" Uh ... the lucky ones?
Along with Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox starred in one of the most popular ensemble TV comedies of all time. It's inevitable that at least one of her former Friends co-stars will eventually show up on her new ABC comedy, Cougar Town, for a guest spot. Even show creator Bill Lawrence knows that this is something the TV Gods demand.
"You and I both know that we'll do that eventually," Lawrence told EW's Michael Ausiello about the possibility.
But don't expect to see any of Cox's old friends visiting Cougar Town any time soon. ABC is set on selling the show's star and not potential guest actors this fall, Lawrence said.
I'm not sure what "addicted to" really means. If I love a show and never miss an episode, does that mean I'm "addicted?" Or do I have to have some sort of sadness/emotional withdrawal if I miss an episode, or some sort of chemical reaction in my body that forces me to watch the show every week?
The media never turns down a chance to advertise a "reunion" of the cast of NBC's Friends, even when it's only two cast members appearing in the same show. Courtney Cox will be guest-starring onWeb Therapy, an online-only show produced by L Studio starring Lisa Kudrow.
I recall when Jennifer Aniston guest-starred on the two-seasoned FX series Dirtwhich starred Courteney Cox. That was subliminally billed as a Friends reunion as well.
One could argue that this is a cheap marketing ploy, and that person would be correct. It could be one that works, though. I haven't watched Web Therapy, but the premise seems interesting and it's certainly the sort of role Lisa Kudrow could pull off.
Lost fanatics, rejoice! We may still have, oh, more than half a year left before we get cheerfully dumped with a load of new episodes (::drool::), but in the meantime, we have DVD's, abc.com, repeats on SyFy, and YouTube!
Well, technically, we can't get our fix of full episodes on "the Tubez," but the site still provides us with plenty of fodder; fan dedications, clip montages, and music videos galore. Let's face it: people love their Hurley birds, smoke monsters, and everlasting, cancer-conquering romances. And why shouldn't they?
... not what you think it is, probably. Last night NBC had The 50 Funniest Phrases of All-Time special, and here are the top ten phrases. For the whole list, click here.
The top 50 list is pretty good, but this top ten has several lame entries, eh?
1. "Yada, yada, yada" (Seinfeld) 2. "Doh!" (The Simpsons) 3. "How you doin'?" (Friends) 4. "Ayyyyy" (Happy Days) 5. "We are two wild and crazy guys!" (Saturday Night Live) 6. "Burn" (That 70s Show) 7. "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" (South Park) 8. "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin to do" (I Love Lucy) 9. "Excuuuuuuuse Me" (Saturday Night Live) 10. "Homey don't play dat" (In Living Color)
Because of TV Land's The Cougar, I'm instantly turned off from any show that has "cougar" in the title, unless it appears on The Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. ABC announced Courteney Cox-Arquette's new show Cougar Townearlier today and here's a clip. Not sure if it's a wise move to name a show after a fad slang word that will (hopefully) run out of steam by next year.
I've been trying to figure out what bothers me about the TV commercials for the new movie 17 Again, and I finally know what it is: it's just not believable.
I know, I know, of course a movie that features a 37-year-old man somehow becoming a teenager again through some complicated process (from the previews I think it involves a whirlpool and/or lightning) isn't supposed to be gritty realism, but I'm talking about the cast members.
As a TV Squad contributor who, admittedly, could be considered a "niche viewer" (in that I watch few shows, but never miss an episode), I was naturally hesitant to check out Roommates on ABC Family. A friend guaranteed me that the show was not only as bad as one might expect, but that it was so utterly, bafflingly wretched that investing thirty minutes in it turned out way more entertaining than I'd expected, and not just in the so-bad-it's-funny way, either.
Roommates is so atrocious, its production should be considered a criminal offense, considering that, even as a basic cable program, hundreds of thousands of dollars (at the very least) have surely been invested in the show. And that's money that could have easily gone toward refugees or food banks or, say, into the budget of ABC Family's other critically lauded programming like Greek or Secret Life of The American Teenager.
There's an odd little rumor spreading around the internet today, that Friends star Matthew Perry will appear in the season finale of Lost. Is it true or not?
Answer: very not. ABC and Perry's publicist says that there's no truth to the rumor whatsoever. Perry did express a desire to appear in the show, which he loves, but it's not going to happen. How did it start? Well, the IMDb is an awesome web site, but when you can join and pretty much add any info that you want, things like this are going to happen (see also: Wikipedia). His name is still up there though, playing a character named "George Hobbes."
This month we're taking a look at celebrities who did TV commercials.
Whenever you get into any profession, you have to start at the bottom. The TV business is no exception. The stars you see in prime time today probably cut their teeth working in TV commercials. Heck, some of them still do TV commercials even after they become big stars (but it's often overseas...shhhhhhhh).
After the jump, a sampling of TV commercials from years ago that star celebrities who are now household names. If you're old enough to remember these commercials, you'll probably say to yourself, "Oh yeah, I remember this ad, but I didn't realize that he was in it!"