TVSquad

It seems unusual to do any sort of review for a Broadway musical on a television site, but 'The Addams Family' has had four television incarnations thus far, two filmed and two animated. Plus, both the leads in the Broadway version (most notably Bebe Neuwirth) have had some history with television acting. Finally, we've mentioned the play here on TV Squad before so it's really just a continuation of a previous idea.

As one of the lucky few who caught the Broadway show within it's first week, I have to say that the characters have notable differences from the more familiar television or movie versions. For one thing, their mansion is located in Central Park in Manhattan rather than in the suburbs. For another, Thing and Cousin It only make the briefest of cameos with the rest of the family taking much more of the spotlight.

The Addams Family is coming back. No, this times it's not a TV series, nor a motion picture. No, this time Broadway is taking Charles Addams' amazing dysfunctional gothic family and putting their antics to music. That's right, The Addams Family is becoming a Broadway musical.

One of the things that sounds really promising about the musical is the casting. The two leads seem perfect for their roles -- Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. They're both like cartoon characters already, and in that bizarro world, they should be right at home. Hams on parade ... with music! It sounds glorious.

"Hot Mess": Ahh! Olympic fever is catching hold. The famous Torch attempted to make its epic journey through various lands pain-free, only to have protesters and crazy people totally ruin everything. In Paris, France, things got so bad that the police decided to shut it all down and just throw the torch in a car and speed off. And then Jon gave us a quick little history factoid when he shared that the Torch tradition was started under Hitler's regime. His message to France: "Way to sh*t on Hitler's legacy".

Although I was only five or six when the very short-lived series One of the Boys aired, I think I actually remember it. At least, I remember Mickey Rooney being in it. I had no idea who the rest of the cast was, and neither would anyone else until years later.

The show centered on Rooney, who moved in with his college-age grandson (played by Dana Carvey) and his roommate, played by Nathan Lane. Meg Ryan also starred in the series, which, according to IMDb, ran for a whopping eight episodes.

(S01E17) We learned many important things from 30 Rock this evening.

1. When you have to break bad news to someone, fake them out with something cute or distracting first. Whoa, holy crap, what's that? A baby panda sneezing!

2. Name your fists. St. Michael and St. Patrick. Tip O'Neill and Bobby Sands. Bono and Sandra O'Connor. Whatever works.

3. Catholicism, while it comes with the confession thing, also comes with crushing, crushing guilt. You could be eating tacos alone in a park, and boom, there's the guilt. As someone raised by an Irish Catholic family with more than one priest in its ranks and educated at Catholic schools, let me personally confirm that one. I feel guilty right now... for no apparent reason. It's just there - always crushing.

This episode didn't reach the farcical highs of "Black Tie." It was more standard sitcom fare than goofy bliss, but it wasn't bad. How wrong can you go cataloging Tracy's possible religious options, meeting Jack's family and seeing Liz embrace her role as the decider?

Broadway actors Nathan Lane and Kristin Chenoweth have reportedly teamed up on a project that they intend to bring to a national television audience. The unnamed sitcom they're developing is about a pair of talk show hosts, similar to Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. Not much else is known about the project, but I already like the characters. I'm a pushover for stuff that makes fun of Hollywood.

Nathan Lane actually has a lot of experience in television. I only remembered his guest appearances on Sex & The City and Mad About You, but he also had roles in failed sitcoms including Encore! Encore!, Charlie Lawrence, and One of the Boys. Lane is currently starring in Butley on Broadway. Kristin Chenoweth played Annabeth Schott on The West Wing, and had the starring role in a sitcom called Kristin back in 2001. I don't think it ever made air. She currently appears on stage in The Apple Tree and co-stars with Danny DeVito in Deck the Halls.

[Via TV Tattle]

"Mess O' Potomac": Good news... John Bolton is out. Bad news... he's making money with moustache rides. Even more bad news... Donald Rumsfeld has wormed his way back in the news. An old memo has surfaced and it's not fun and it's full of quotation marks. Senior Foreign Policy Analyst John Oliver elaborated on the use of quotes and air-quotes. The sun analogy was beautiful, haha.

TV Squad commenter khalidur asks the following question:

I remember when I was 10 or something I used to watch a cartoon on Disney Channel UK, called Teacher's Pet. Now that I am 16 and enjoying a long, long, long, summer holiday I am hoping to watch old episodes. Is a DVD of the episodes out, and do you guys have any info on the show generally?

To answer the second part of the question, Teacher's Pet premiered in the United States back in 2000 on ABC, and moved over to Toon Disney in 2001. The run of first-run episodes ended in 2002. It was the story of a dog named Spot, voiced by Nathan Lane, who decided that he was tired of staying at home while his master, Leonard, went to school. So, he decides to dress up and portray himself as Scott, a run-of-the-mill elementary school student. Of course, it helped that he could walk on two feet and talk as well. I'm sure if your pet golden retriever dressed up and walked into your school on two legs you would've been a bit freaked out.