TVSquad

Marvel Comic's website is now offering a look at Spider-Man not seen by many on this side of the Pacific, with a Japanese television show from the 1970s.

Taking an American superhero and blending him with the traditional motifs of Japanese children's TV produces a bizarre mix -- like tossing a hot dog and sushi in a blender set to frappe.

Rather than take on the Green Goblin or Electro, The Land of the Rising Sun's version of Peter Parker defends precocious Japanese kids from guys in rubber suits, ala Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Director Sam Raimi, the man who created such gut-wrenching horrors as The Evil Dead trilogy and Spider Man 3, takes his talent for disemboweling innocent people and chopping off limbs with a dull ax to television ... for a reality show?!?

13 - Fear is Real premieres tonight January 7 on The CW at 8 p.m. eastern. It puts 13 innocent (not really) people in the middle of a fake horror movie, and the last one standing on their bloody stumps takes home the grand prize.

The reality show aims to do for horror movies what Next Action Star did for action movies - rip them off and turn them into another schlock reality show that requires little to no creative ideas or thought.

This must be my week for nostalgia. First, I learned all about what the cast of Saved by the Bell has been up to for the last 20 years. Now, the news that The Electric Company is coming back to TV has pushed my nostalgia button once again.

As a kid, I was such a fan of The Electric Company that when my husband and three year old started singing the Spider-Man theme song, I thought they were wrong. I didn't understand where the lyrics, "Where are you coming from, Spider-Man? Nobody knows who you are," were in their version of the theme. I was set straight! I guess I can accept that Spider-Man theme situation, but to me, Morgan Freeman will always be Easy Reader.

I'm not a fan of most "big" movies. You know, those movies with a ton of special effects, babes and explosions but very little plot? However, that doesn't mean decent "big" movies don't exist, and I think the Spider-Man films are a good example. Also, nobody brings a comic book to life better than Sam Raimi (perhaps some of my comic book-loving readers will disagree, though).

Anyway, I mention Spidey on this TV blog because FX has garnered the rights to broadcast Spider-Man 3 in 2009. How much FX ends up paying for the movie depends on how much money the movie itself brings in. As of this writing, the movie has brought in $161,401,784. The deal between Sony and FX could also allow Sony to sell the film to other broadcast networks.

Just out of curiosity, who saw Spider-Man 3 and what did you think of it? I liked it quite a bit, though I think it's probably the least of the series so far: a little too much story for one movie, but it did maintain that "old comic book" feel I love so much. I have a lot more to say about it, but I'll turn it over to you guys in the comments. Opine.

"Loan Wolf": Paul Wolfowitz is in a spot of trouble at the World Bank. Resident Expert John Hodgman, sporting yet another snazzy tie, stopped by for the first time. I don't like seeing Hodgman on television anymore, because each appearance teases me and reminds me that his new book isn't coming out any time soon. Obviously, I am often reminded.

Here are AOL Television's top picks of the week.

How I Met Your Mother (Mon., 8PM ET, CBS)
Come on down! The phenomenon known as May Sweeps is upon us, and that means explosive finales and guest stars galore. CBS will be commemorating Bob Barker's retirement from The Price Is Right later this month, so it's no surprise to see him also pop up on Mother. Barney, who believes Barker is his dad, travels to L.A. to get on the show and reveal himself. Showcase Showdown, indeed.

Veronica Mars (Tue., 9PM ET, The CW)
For those new to Mars, it's NOT too late to start watching. The show hasn't been cancelled yet and the final five episodes all feature standalone mysteries. For longtime fans, we'll take what we can get, right? Our favorite college detective takes on the case of an Arab couple whose restaurant is being vandalized with slurs. Daddy Sheriff, meanwhile, cracks down on underage IDs -- including ones distributed by his dear daughter.

I've had a weird little crush on Steve Carell ever since his correspondent days on The Daily Show, but no one -- apart from a few fellow TDS fans -- has really agreed with my awkward attraction until now.

A few nights ago, Justin Timberlake hosted Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, which is an annual brightly-colored celebration of slime and burping and all things immature. As Tobey MacGuire and Steve Carell stepped up to present the award for Favorite Animated Movie, there was a collective gasp heard from anyone older than 14 in Nickelodeon-watching households... "The 40 Year-Old Virgin could totally beat up Spiderman". Look at these pictures! Someone has obviously been working out. Carell looks like he could pound in MacGuire's nerdy little face and take his lunch money. Of course, this strange shift in the public consensus on "hotness" was so sudden that it knocked the Earth off its axis and we are currently spiraling into the sun.

Being a comic book fan sets you up for a lot of disappointment. For one thing, there seems to be a pretty direct ratio between the number of Atlantis Attacks crossover books you own and the age at which you lose your virginity (ahem19ahem). For another, our only portrayal in the media seems to be Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons and he is as insulting as he is completely and utterly dead-on.

The worst disappointment, though, is whenever some studio exec decides to "adapt" one of our mylar-enshrined treasures into some big or small screen entertainment. It seems that for every good decision made, there are ten disasters of the "nipples on the bat-suit" variety.

In recent years, movies have faired better than TV when it comes to adaptations, but there are a few gems to be had. The Five best comic book-to TV adaptations after the jump...

Remember the old Spider-Man cartoon? Not the one from the 90s, the one from the 60s that was all groovy and had those confusing shots of Spidey shooting his web straight into the sky, and you wondered what the hell he was hanging on and swinging from. Airplanes? A blimp? Giant birds? It didn't make any sense, but the theme song was cool:

In his satin tights
Fighting for your rights
And the old red, white, and bluuuuuuuuuuuue!

Oh, wait, that was Wonder Woman.

If you've got eight spare minutes and don't mind seeing cartoon nudity and hearing animated flatulence at work, then take a look at this video: someone has compiled what he or she thinks is Family Guy's ten funniest moments and clipped them together. It's kind of odd how some of the selections are maybe 15 seconds long, while others -- especially a clip featuring Quagmire -- seem to go on forever. But I think that's the nature of Family Guy: just when you think a gag should end, Seth MacFarlane purposely extends it to the point where it becomes funny again.

Anyway, I don't agree with all of this person's choices, but it's not a bad way to spend eight minutes. The video is after the jump.

Yes, the headline would usually include the "at (age)," but I can't find anything that says what his age was. Nothing on the IMDB, and nothing on his site either.

You would recognize Jay's voice as much as his face, as he voiced an incredible number of cartoons over the years, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Reboot, Spiderman, Teen Titans, Superman, The Mighty Ducks, Gargoyles, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as a massive number of videogames: World of Warcraft, X-Men Legends, Lionhearts, various Star Trek games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and just about every other video game ever made that used a voice. But he had live action roles in TV and movies too, including Lois and Clark, Newhart, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Mr. Belvedere, Twin Peaks, Beauty and the Beast, Eerie, Indiana, Matlock, Murphy Brown, Picket Fences, and The Golden Girls. He was also a Royal Shakespeare Company actor and a singer.

He died earlier this week after surgery for removal of a non-cancerous growth on his lungs.

But try telling that to CNBC. The other day, while giving a report on the weekend box office, anchor Joe Kernan said that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest beat the previous record set by Aquaman, which had beaten a previous record held by Spiderman.

Um, does anyone at CNBC know that this Aquaman movie is a fake movie from Entourage? As Jossip says, Kernan was only reading a teleprompter, but the person who wrote the copy should have known (and where exactly did they get this "info" that Pirates had beaten Aquaman?) Video after the jump.

Update: Keith Olbermann talked about this just now on Countdown, and played the whole clip. Seems that Kernan actually did talk about Entourage just before this and made a joke. So the web has been corrected. Thanks to everyone in the comments who pointed this out too.

In a very short and only somewhat informative interview with iF Magazine, Marvel independent producer Avi Arad listed a few cartoons that the company will have premiering on television sometime in the furture. Fans can look forward to a new cartoons based on Spider-Man; Wolverine and the X-Men; The Fantastic Four; and even an Iron Man cartoon after the movie based on that particular comic is released. I wish there was more information on these new animated series, but at least we know they're in the pipeline. I think I'm most interested in the new Spider-Man cartoon. If I recall, the last attempt made at bringing Spidey back to cartoon land was in 2003, and that series only lasted about one season.

[via Toon Zone]

If you were a kid during the early 1970s, those were your salad days for children's programming. If you weren't getting up before your parents on Saturday mornings to watch Scooby-Doo or Superfriends, you were up before your parents on weekday mornings to watch Captain Kangaroo or your local kid's show.

Also likely, since you only had about four channels to choose from back then, you were spending some time watching your local public television station. If you were really little, you would probably be watching Sesame Street, which was just hitting its stride with all of the preschool set (we called it nursery school back then, dangnabit!). If you had already learned all of your letters and numbers, and Susan was losing some of her allure, you were probably watching Sesame Street's older brother -- The Electric Company.