TVSquad

Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Sarah Michelle Gellar is starring in an HBO comedy pilot called The Wonderful Maladys, about a group of dysfunctional New York siblings. The project also stars Nate Corddry (Rob's little brother) and Swingtown vet Molly Parker.

We don't know much about the show's concept yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Being a Buffy fan, anything Sarah Michelle Gellar does instantly pops on my radar. So far, Gellar's post-Buffy career has delivered a few tedious big screen horror thrillers like The Grudge and The Return, but I loved her comic performance in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales. That performance, along with some of her funnier bits from Buffy, have me convinced that Gellar would make a great comedic lead.

Charles Randolph (The Interpreter) wrote the pilot script and TV vet Alan Taylor (Mad Men, Big Love) is directing. Gellar is executive producing the project, which will be shot early next year.

I almost didn't want to review this DVD set. Did I really want to go back into those murky waters again and bring up all those old disagreements? But here we go...

Actually, the DVD set for Studio 60 is much like the TV series itself. It starts out brilliantly and then as it goes on it starts to get worse and worse. But then it ends nicely!

Packaging

Pretty standard packaging, just a regular box containing three plastic holders housing two DVDs each. The artwork on each plastic holder is fairly interesting. Instead of a large pic on the front and the info on the inside, all the episode info is on the front and back of each individual holder, including pics from episodes and promotional pics.

Just in time for tomorrow's series finale on NBC at 10pm comes this announcement from Warner Home Video that they will release Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series on October 16.

The set will not only include all 22 episodes from it's first and only season, but there will be a new behind the scenes featurette and episode commentaries by creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme (hopefully cast members will join in too).

You knew I'd be the one to tell you this news, right?

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip returns to the NBC schedule on May 24, presumably to just run the rest of the episodes they have filmed. Hopefully they knew they were ending early while filming so they can end the show in a good way.

By the way, May 24 is a Thursday. The show will air at 10pm in the slot currently occupied by ER. I wonder what would have happened to the show if it had originally been in this slot, or maybe an hour earlier. Oh well. I guess the best way to think of it now is as a long miniseries, one that will have around 22 episodes and a conclusion.

I used to work in a television newsroom, which is why I was interested in getting a sneak peek at the script for Action News. Fox has picked up the pilot for the fall season and has attached stars Fred Willard, Patricia Heaton, and Kelsey Grammer (and possibly Nate Corddry, but I'll get to that in a minute). The premise for the multi-camera sitcom is that egotistical anchorman Chuck Tatham (Grammer) has returned to his old stomping grounds of Buffalo, NY to reunite on-air with his former co-anchor, Patty Carr (Heaton).

...of course, the second part of that headline should probably be "...but it probably won't be renewed."

There have been rumors going around that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had stopped production, but that's not the case. In fact, they just finished filming episode 19 earlier this week, and filming of episode 20 started earlier today. So it looks like they'll film the full 22 for the season, but after that...well, they'll probably burn off the episodes during the summer and the show will not see a second season. That's Ray Richmond's take on it, and I agree with him.

Which is really too bad, because...well, for all the reasons I've mentioned several times here at the site before. And it's too bad that NBC abandoned the show, even though other shows that have premiered since Studio 60 was put on hiatus haven't done any better in the ratings. It would have been really nice to see what the show could have done in another time slot, another night. But I guess we'll have to be happy with a one season DVD set, hopefully with extras.

[via TV Tattle]

And all through the house, a heck of a lot of voice talent was stirring ... even the ones who have a voice like a mouse. When was the last time you saw Eddie Deezen? It's probably been awhile, however he's been heard a lot -- most recently in Kim Possible. As far as all of the other voice over actors in this piece? Legendary. You've got everyone from The Unit's Dennis Haysbert to SpongeBob's Tom Kenny to Don LaFontaine, trailer announcer extraordinaire reading you this classic tale.

Gather around your computer, and warm everyone with this holiday classic. I can't imagine all of this VO talent assembling again, so enjoy it while you can.

(S01E11) I've never understood how people can celebrate Christmas in California (or Florida or Texas, for that matter). I grew up and live in New England, and I don't understand how you can have Christmas without the cold air and the possibility of snow. I mean, it just doesn't seem right, roaring down the 405 with the top down as the temp hovers around 78 degrees, with no Jack Frost nipping at your nose (job). But that's just me.

But it's also Matt Albie, who wants to bring a little Christmas spirit to Los Angeles and the set of Studio 60...

(S01E08) After seeing this episode (which just confirmed something I thought anyway), I'm not quite sure while people are so annoyed by the show's supposed liberalism and "east and west coast" mentality. This show is doing two things. One, it's sparking debate about a lot of serious issues (religion, gay rights, tolerance, politics), and two, it makes sure it dumps on liberals and Democrats and Hollywood just as much as much as they do flyover country, religious people, and Pahrump, Nevada. There's enough to go around on both sides.

I think a lot of viewers who don't like the show (and I truly don't understand why they're watching it week after week if they can't stand it) don't get the fact that just because the show dares to bring up the above topics, that it dares to even suggest that these topics are a hot-button issues and there might be a way to actually get along, doesn't mean that it's "against" anything.

Ray Richmond over at The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin today and found out that not only have the ratings for the show the past few weeks made the execs at NBC happier than they were, but that a full season order for the show might be coming any hour or day now. Another source at the network said they would be very surprised if the show wasn't picked up this week.

Here's a quote from Sorkin that is interesting, especially since it addresses something that is often talked about here in our comments section:

In response to all the buzz about Studio 60's weak ratings and whispers of its possible cancellation, one die-hard fan is taking evasive action. Clay Johnson has launched SaveStudio60.com, where he has an online petition to keep the show on the air and encourages readers to buy things from the companies that advertise on Studio 60 (although, I think this tactic is far-fetched because I don't think Apple is going to deduce that you bought an iPod because you saw one advertised on Studio 60). Johnson says the show is worth keeping on the air simply because it's "smart television". So far, 1,000 people have signed the petition.

"The Stranger Among Us": According to Tony Snow, President Bush spent his summer reading Albert Camus' The Stranger. "Now, if you've never read The Stranger, it's a classic novel about a Westerner who kills an Arab for no good reason and dies with no remorse." HA! Wow, I spent the entirity of last year working on a project about that book and I didn't even make that immediate connection. What a waste.

"Give Cease A Chance": Whoo! It's quiet in Lebanon! Senior Fire-Ceaser Rob Corddry briefly elaborated on the situation. Big laughs for his cease fire talk. Fun Fact: A similar method can be used on quarreling children, especially if said children are weilding guns.

"Ministry of Truth": Propoganda-coverage! Gosh. The mid-east is a lot more artistic when it comes to propoganda. All we have are TV ads. TDS showed a Photoshopped picture of the famous National Geographic girl (y'know, the one with the stunning eyes) in a beer hat and the entire audience groaned really loudly. I never realized how precious of an image that is, haha.

The Gay Pride Parade took place in Greenwich Village over the weekend (making Jon feel very out of shape). Jon joked (I hope?) that he thought, "I bet my son would love a parade!" and took his little boy to the festivites. Jokes about juggling balls and balloon animals ensued.

Jon Stewart started off with some joke about auctions. It was a reference to an eBay comment from the pre-show warm-up, so the audience was pretty excited to hear it. I suppose it was nice that he began with a light joke because what came next was absolutely horrifying. They rolled a clip of Connie Chung's farewell from Weekends with Maury and Ohmigod What Have They Done with Connie Chung?! It was... disturbing, to say the least. If you really feel like watching the mess that is Chung rolling around on a piano, YouTube has video. The pianist looked too busy feigning enjoyment to actually play the piano.