TVSquad

Kung Fu star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok, Thailand hotel.

The cause of death hasn't been confirmed yet. First reports said that there was no cause of death, then his manager said it was natural causes, and now some news outlets are saying he committed suicide by hanging. I'm sure we'll find out more news later today.

Besides his run on Kung Fu, Carradine made a ton of movies, including the Kill Bill films, Crank: High Voltage, Death Race 2000, Mean Streets, Bound For Glory, The Long Riders, Grey Lady Down and many others. He was also in many TV shows over the years, including Alias, Night Gallery, Ironside, Gunsmoke, Medium, and King of the Hill. He also has a role as Gideon in FOX's summer series Mental.

Carradine was in Thailand to film a new movie.

(S02E22) If this was the series finale for Chuck, it was a really satisfying and appropriate wrap up. If, as I'm hoping, it was only the season finale, this was a really satisfying and appropriate set up for the next season of Chuck. Therefore, any way you slice it, Chuck hit a lot of high notes -- including Jeffster's pre-wedding serenade. The show was filled with action, had new information that was just a little bit stunning, and overall, it was terrific.

Have I mentioned how much I love Ellie and Awesome's wedding ? She looked amazing in her wedding gown and after the chapel situation turned into a scene reminiscent of You Only Live Twice with guys parachuting in through the roof (only in Bond it was a volcano), the outdoor, California nuptials were not only nicer, it gave Chuck a chance to give Ellie the wedding she really wanted.

At some point Hollywood is going to run out of TV shows to remake into movies, but until that happens, you can look forward to a big screen adaptation of the popular 1970s series Kung Fu, which featured David Carradine as a monk living in the Wild West. Now, usually these adaptations aren't really worth seeing, but the Kung Fu movie has at least one good thing going for, which is that the screenplay was written by Ed Spielman (the creator of the original series) and another writer from the original series, Howard Friedlander. Apparently, the movie will explore the origins of the characters from the TV show.

There are two cartoons I remember very fondly and distinctly from my days as a youngster. Both of them ceased production before I was born, but I gobbled them up in reruns. The first was Underdog, and the second was Hong Kong Phooey. So, naturally, I was ecstatic when I found out that all thirty-one episodes of Hong Kong Phooey, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon which featured Scatman Crothers as the voice of an inept crime-fighting dog who knows kung fu, would be coming out on DVD on August 15. Of course, when Phooey wasn't fighting crime he worked as mild-mannered (all super hero alter egos are mild-mannered) janitor Penrod "Penry" Pooch.  The DVD set will also feature a documentary on the making of the series.

Oh yeah, and the complete series of Magilla Gorilla comes out on the same day, but I never watched that.

[via ToonZone]

Here on TV Squad we already covered the launch of In2TV, a new service that lets you indulge your nostalgia for old shows via the magic of streaming video. Last night, I got to indulge in a little nostalgia first hand at the In2TV launch party. I am the worst person to send to events like this; I'm a lurker, too shy to talk to anyone and not the best with a camera, but as the only L.A.-based member of TV Squad, it was my honor to check out the scene.

The  event took place at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills. Gabe Kaplan took the stage, made a few jokes about the new Welcome Back, Kotter movie and showed off the In2TV concept. He was a good sport and even brought out a paper airplane to put on his head, joking that it didn't stick as well as it used to (aw, Gabe, you're thin on top but we still love you.)  He introduced George Lopez who gave a heartfelt tribute to Freddie Prinze, showing clips of the comic's career and snippets of episodes from Chico and the Man. Somehow, in George's speech, he managed to reference the fact that he has one kidney and his wife gave it to him (is there anyone who hasn't heard this story yet?) He announced the In2TV Influencer Award and handed the strangely shaped trophy to Freddie Prinze Jr. Freddie made a brief speech, then Jose Feliciano was brought to the stage to play the Chico and the Man theme (with just a bit of "Light My Fire" thrown in). The crowd was full of old favorites from the TV days of long ago. After the jump, a few familiar faces.

The phrase "kung fu comedy" doesn't exactly turn me on, but nonetheless, that's how they're describing a new show being created for NBC by Doug Liman (director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and writer Dave Caplan, a former private investigator and knower of kung fu. The half-hour comedy has no title just yet and wil focus on two bounty hunters who use kung fu rather than guns. I wonder, do they really think they can top the greatest kung fu comedy of all time, Walker: Texas Ranger?