TVSquad

Alright, kids. The Paramount panel. This is what Comic-Con is all about - big, marketing juggernauts produced by massive corporations. I'm sure a handful of indie comic producers turn in their graves at the thought of what Comic-Con has become, but you can't deny that it's all about the passion. There's something beautiful and deeply sincere about true fans connecting with the creators of their obsessions. The love of good storytelling and making life more bearable through sharing in an aesthetic experience can't be besmirched by even the crassest of capitalist gestures, and there's free stuff. Nothing wrong with that.

The Paramount panel was loaded with tidbits - mostly for the film, not TV, buff. (You can check out TV Squad and Cinematical scribe Kevin Kelly's live blog from this afternoon's event here.) However, some of our TV friends have made the jump to the big screen - SNL's Andy Samberg, Alias and Lost creator J.J. Abrams and Heroes' Zachary Quinto.

(S32E13) I'm not very familiar with Forest Whitaker's work, but I'm well aware of his new-found status as one of the biggest actors in Hollywood. He recently won multiple awards for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, so I knew that he could act. Whitaker didn't do such a spectacular job on SNL. He was good, yeah, but not spectacular.

However, the writing this week was really something else. It was a lot weirder than usual, I thought. For the most part, I liked it. I see that they've cut down on a lot of the more formulaic recurring character sketches, which is a massive improvement. Plus, none of the those recurring sketches are accompanied shitty little theme songs! Remember the days of "Debbie Downer" and "Carol"? Thank goodness those are over.

The guys from the Lonely Island comedy troupe have been three of the most important additions to the Saturday Night Live family in a very long time. Andy Samberg is now one of the most recognizable faces on the cast, and Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have lent their writing expertise to some of the most famous sketches of the past few seasons. For example, the "SNL Digital Shorts", like the wildly popular "Lazy Sunday", were these boys' doing.

Well, it sounds like the guys are thinking about putting their talents to LP form. Samberg recently said that they'd like to try to create an entire album of their now-famous style of hip-hop knock-offs. I'm not sure if I'd jump at the chance to buy a collection of songs like "Dick in a Box", but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't think about it.