TVSquad

We have previously reported that Academy Award-winning film director Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg were developing a series for cable. Now, it looks like Scorsese might be directing the pilot of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire which chronicles the rise of Atlantic City in the 1920s. He's directed about casinos before, so the subject matter should be old hat to him.

Admittedly, at this stage of his career this seems a bit like slumming. He has once before directed for television (an episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories in the '80s). Honestly, where else is there to go? He's won the Oscar already. He's even directed Michael Jackson. It's his series (he's the executive producer along with Wahlberg), so everybody wins with this deal.

I note how he has gone away from his native setting of New York City in his more recent work (for example, The Departed took place in Boston), and now he's decided to cross the Hudson River into New Jersey. As a Jersey native, I can only say: it's about time!

Psych is coming back! Starting on July 18th, the comedy starring James Roday and Dule Hill will be returning to USA Network with all new episodes. The third season of this series looks to be a very interesting one, as viewers will finally get to meet Shawn Spencer's long-lost mother as well as get to see a more dramatic side of the character ... something we got a taste of during the last few episodes of last season.

The two stars of Psych got together with the press last week to touch on a number of subjects. Topics included a preview of the upcoming season, a discussion about the duo's "Ebony & Ivory" commercial, Roday's appearance on the NBC anthology Fear Itself, and the never-ending 1980s references that the two spout during each episode.

It looks like Kevin Smith is really getting his feet wet in the TV business this year, isn't he? Not only did he direct the very funny pilot to the CW's new series Reaper and write and direct the first episode of Heroes: Origins, but it now looks like he will also be directing an episode of Battlestar Galactica during its upcoming final season, as well.

Smith revealed that little tidbit to our friend Angel Cohn at AOL's TV Tattler, where he spoke about how he came on board all three of his upcoming TV projects, as well as a couple of details about his non-TV work. But, for right now, the most important part of the interview will be the details about his BSG episode...

You know how it is when you're visiting your parents and one of them suddenly tells you that on the day of your birth they sold your soul to Satan? I tell you, that's something you never forget, and it's also the premise of a new series for the CW called Reaper. The pilot will be directed by indie filmmaker Kevin Smith and will begin shooting in Vancouver next month.

The series was created by Michele Fazeka and Tara Butters, former writers and story editors for shows such as Ed, Law and Order: SVU and The X Files. The new series, in which twenty-one year old Sam Oliver must pay his debt to Satan by hunting down souls escaped from Hell, is being described as a dramatic comedy.

This new show could actually be really cool, though I must say that if you're the most powerful evil force in the universe you should be able to create a domain from which no soul can escape. What kind of contractors does Satan have working for him, anyway?

[via TV Filter]

Those of you who read my Simpsons reviews know I'm somewhat of an apologist for the series, defending it against those who say it's no longer a worthwhile show. I will say, however, that I don't think newer episodes always earn the emotional resonance they strive for. Many of the episodes from the first few seasons were genuinely heart-warming, but that emotional center isn't as prevalent in later episodes, though I hasten to add it's not gone completely.

In a brief interview on Rotten Tomatoes, voice actor Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Barney, Krusty the Clown, many others) talked about how doing voices for the movie was different than doing voices for the TV series. James L. Brooks, who has helmed such blockbusters as Terms of Endearment and As Good As It Gets, and has been an executive producer on the series from the very beginning, helped direct the voice actors to get them to enhance the emotional aspects of the characters. The result, says Castellaneta, is a movie that will be not unlike the TV series, but with levels of emotion reached that don't necessarily work on the small screen.

The movie comes out July 27.

Thanks to fellow Simpsons nut Wild Bill for the link.

They've chosen a director for the new Simpsons movie, and it's Steven Spielberg.

Wait. I'm sorry, I didn't have my glasses on. The director is actually David Silverman, a name Simpsons fans should immediately recognize. Silverman is a supervising animation director on the show and also worked on the movie Monsters, Inc.

While I'm sure David Silverman's direction will be just fine, I wonder if they ever considered having Brad Bird direct the film (or if Bird was even available, for that matter). Bird seems like an obvious choice to me, having worked on The Simpsons and also having helmed two of the more well-respected animated films in recent years, The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. I think a mix of Simpson-y irreverence mixed with Bird's knack for storytelling would have been nice, but oh well. I'm still excited, regardless.

Oh yeah, and Sitcoms Online is reporting that Albert Brooks (one of my favorite occasional guest voices) will make an appearance in the movie, too. This movie just keeps sounding better.