warner brothers-related stories
Posted Nov 16th 2009 11:04AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Okay, maybe it's not a "clone" per se, but the premise reads like an episode of
The Big Bang Theory. Coming to NBC: a group of small-town fanboys try to make continuing episodes of their favorite sci fi series after it is canceled. Larry Charles, who was behind such fare as
Seinfeld,
Curb Your Enthusiasm,
Borat and
Bruno,
will be behind the production.
The new idea is also "semi-scripted", which means it'll likely be heavily improvised much like most of the series and movies that Charles has been involved with. Warner Bros. TV is the company producing and they also do
The Big Bang Theory, so they're in effect competing with themselves. This is a good thing because they win either way.
Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing this premise played out on an episode of
The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon gets the idea and, using his sly coercive techniques, makes everybody else play along. Since he knows no other females, he coerces Penny (who is an aspiring actress anyway) to play the token female in the series. Quick! Call Chuck Lorre!
Posted Nov 1st 2009 4:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Animation, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Well, Apple didn't take my suggestion to replace Microsoft as the new sponsor of Seth MacFarlane's comedy special. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stepped up. Actually, it's Warner Bothers Pictures'
Sherlock Holmes that'll sponsor the MacFarlane variety special.
Microsoft backed out of Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show when they caught a run through of the program and objected to the humor. Goodness only knows what they thought they were getting with Seth, but it's all water under the bridge now.
Continue reading Sherlock Holmes will save Seth MacFarlane
Posted Oct 17th 2009 1:39AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E04) It's when the writers give Clark abilities he's not supposed to have that I begin to worry, like his "reconstruct the Great Wall of China" vision from
Superman IV. Thankfully, in this instance it was yet another of Jor-El's senseless tests and only temporary.
Admittedly, I don't get the title "Echo" for this episode. Is it that Oliver is an echo of his former self? Is it that he's turning the path back to heroism? It certainly seems that way.
Since Clark has switched to the black outfit, I hope people (including Lois) stop calling him the "red-blue blur". Now he's just the Blur. Or maybe the Black Blur, but that could be construed as slightly racist.
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Echo
Posted Sep 11th 2009 12:04PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Animation, Reality-Free
Mattel and Warner Brothers will
no longer be working together on a big screen adaptation of the
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise. John Stevenson is still on to direct, but thankfully, Joel Silver has left the project (I still haven't forgiven him for his
lies about Alan Moore).
The
Masters of the Universe 1987 movie is still a guilty pleasure of mine (early Courtney Cox. Yum). Of course, the classic 1980's cartoon is where J. Michael Straczynski got his start before moving to bigger fish such as
Babylon 5. The best big-screen adaptations usually happen when fans, or at least people who understand the source material, become filmmakers (the best examples are the
Batman and
Iron Man franchises). I didn't get the impression that this was happening with the
He-Man movie.
Given the sheer volume of remakes that are happening, I wonder if this movie is even necessary. Do we even need another
He-Man movie?
Posted Aug 9th 2009 7:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Reality-Free
Cartoon Network and Warner Horizon Television fired up the cameras in Toronto recently on the
new live-action pilot, Unnatural History.
While it's easy to ask why another live action show is proceeding on the
Cartoon Network,
Unnatural History could be fun enough to delay your need for that explanation.
According to a network press release, we're dealing with an "action-packed blend of mystery and martial arts" here. Fortunately, there's no sign of
Power Rangers masks or rubber monsters stalking
Unnatural History.
Continue reading Unnatural History a natural choice for Cartoon Network
Posted Aug 2nd 2009 3:01PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
When the San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to allow
every corner of television onto their floors, they weren't kidding. After seeing the roster of panels, I'm surprised the original panel from PBS's
Washington Week didn't field questions from guys dressed in Transformer cosplay.
Apparently, Warner Brothers set up a panel for just about every television show that have in development including Patricia Heaton's new ABC sitcom
The Middle, making it the most "fish out of water" selection for a panel at the geek confab.
And so did the geeks in attendance. The panel only drew
around 75 attendees and studio heads ordered Heaton not to introduce the panel because the crowd was too small.
Continue reading And the most out of place Comic-Con panel award goes to...
Posted Jun 29th 2009 2:43PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
It seems like a no-brainer that television and Comic-Con would go together like peanut butter and jelly. But TV has actually been a bit slow to the game and viewed their presence at Comic-Con as something that goes together like peanut butter and regular butter (trust me, I've tried peanut butter and butter, and it's not good).
This year, studios have recognized the importance of the annual geek con-fab and are presenting more shows and panels than ever before. There is going to be more TV at the Con than you can shake a stick at, so don't forgot your shaking sticks.
Why so many?
Variety reports that studios and networks are recognizing the buzz they can generate at the convention through electronic social networking and good ol' word-of-mouth by showcasing and premiering exclusive screenings of their shows.
Continue reading Comic-Con turning more TV on
Posted Jun 5th 2009 11:03AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Late Night, OpEd, Reality-Free
If you recognize
Steven Wright's material tonight on his
Late Show with David Letterman spot, you either have a good memory, or you bought the re-release of Wright's
I Have A Pony that hit shelves Tuesday. Wright will be performing material from the CD, which was originally released 24 years ago.
Warner Brothers released this "Deluxe Anniversary Edition," which also includes his first HBO special,
A Steven Wright Special (coincidentally, produced by Peter Lassally from Johnny Carson's
Tonight Show), as part of its 50th Anniversary celebration.
Wright's material was always off the wall, unlike anything anyone had heard when he first did Carson's
Tonight Show in 1982. Some have worked in the same field of quick-fire absurdism that Wright cleared (like Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin), but Wright's comedy was never rooted in a particular time, place, or even galaxy, really. Which is why
I Have A Pony still sounds fresh today.
Continue reading Steven Wright's Pony on Letterman, top ten favorite lines
Posted May 31st 2009 2:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Animation, Reality-Free
Perhaps some of you are already aware of the existence of this particular gem, but I was surprised to find online a banned episode of
Tiny Toon Adventures from the early 90's. In it, Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck and Hamton Pig find a bottle of beer that never goes empty, then proceed to get drunk, steal a cop car, cause general chaos and collectively die by driving said car over a cliff.
I can understand why Warner Brothers and Steven Spielberg may have wanted to stop this one from the airwaves. Despite dying at the end, I think it more highlights the positive values of being drunk, such as the ability to completely break any law you wish without fear of consequences (much as when your favorite sports team wins some sort of championship). Plus, I very much want to find that particular bottle of beer.
You can judge it for yourselves. Video is after the jump.
Continue reading The Tiny Toons episode you weren't supposed to see
Posted May 17th 2009 9:28PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Chuck, Reality-Free
Well it looks like buying all of those $5 footlongs really paid off:
Chuck has officially been renewed for a third season. The spy comedy hasn't always gotten the greatest ratings, in no small part because its highly-competitive Monday night timeslot, but fans all over the internet have been pushing hard for its renewal.
There has been a huge outpouring of support on
Twitter, where
#savechuck has often been a trending topic. Even the show's star,
Zachary Levi, has done his part to get
Chuck back for another season. In addition to taking to his
official blog to plead his case,
he even showed up at a Subway (one of
Chuck's biggest sponsors) to make sandwiches for fans.
Continue reading It's official: Chuck is saved!
Posted Jan 13th 2009 9:08AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Programming, Video, Animation, Children, Retro Squad, Reality-Free
Everyone, I need your attention! I am about to do something that rarely pops up in my life and, I'm guessing, in yours as well. It might be a little shocking, so I want to make sure that you're near a chair. Deep breath, here it goes...
I want to thank my cable provider. I'll wait until you can sit down. Need a drink of water? Breath of fresh air?
I'm being serious here! I know that it's rare that someone publicly thanks the utility that sucks their money away and provides little if any variety, but I think this time it's merited. You see, for years now the networks have been lacking a very important series of programs that are important to the proper education of our youth. I speak about Looney Tunes cartoons.
Continue reading A thank you to my cable provider (no, I'm serious!) -- VIDEO
Posted Oct 7th 2008 2:05PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, The Office, Celebrities, Reality-Free
The Office star Steve Carell has
inked a first-look deal with the WB. My guess is this was done to sweeten the pot for Carell to appear in a sequel for
Get Smart.
Talk about being the "it" man for comedy nowadays. He's in one of television's most successful comedies and is one of the top-tier comedy movie stars. He's even slated to co-star with another television icon, Tina Fey, in an upcoming movie called
Date Night.
Carell is so humble about his celebrity, he's even willing to
take a ribbing from the creator of The Office, Ricky Gervais at the Emmy Awards. The look on his face while Gervais mocks him is priceless.
I can only be envious of Steve Carell since he's had ties to both Second City and
The Daily Show, two of my favorite comedy organizations (what do you call it when one is a comedy troupe and the other is a television show?).
Posted Aug 2nd 2008 10:23AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
Just in case the first two
Scooby Doo movies left you with unanswered questions, there is some good news.
A third movie is in the works and this one will be direct-to-TV-and-DVD.
The new movie is intended as a prequel and will be called
Scooby Doo: In The Beginning. It will star lesser-known actors (and by lesser I mean virtually not known at all) since the original actors
have moved on with their careers. It will be about the Scooby Gang solving mysteries together for the first time.
Continue reading Live action Scooby Doo coming to TV and DVD
Posted Aug 1st 2008 3:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Animation, Reality-Free
Why do I think this is going to be really bad?
Warner Brothers has decided to make a
big screen feature based on the Martin The Martin character, the little black and green guy who wanted to destroy Earth and/or Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in several cartoons. Now, a feature film based on the character wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but here's the sentence that sends a shiver down my spine:
Project will blend live action and CGI.*Ugh. They can't just do a straight animated movie, they have to have some sort of live element that just ruins it? The plot will have Marvin coming to Earth to destroy Christmas, only to get stuck in a box. Producers say the movie will be aimed at families and people who like movies that kinda suck. Of course, I truly hope I'm wrong. Marvin is a great, classic cartoon character.
*Another reason to hate that sentence: the idiotic writing style that
Variety uses.
Posted Jul 12th 2008 10:34AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Lorenzo Semple Jr., the pilot writer of the
Batman television show of the 1960's (and writer of such movies as
Three Days of the Condor),
has written an article for Variety sharing his opinion of the Batman movie franchise. In it, he discusses the origins of the
Batman TV show.
Semple has a very enjoyable, erudite writing style. Here's an example: "...I am often asked what I think of the string of
Batman features which has followed. My answer disappoints. Truth is, I think only rarely about Warner's big-screen charades, for they are related to our antique effort in little beyond the eponymous title."
As one can guess, he doesn't really dig the new franchise. But Bob Kane,
Batman's creator, didn't really understand Frank Miller's famous
Batman comic book
The Dark Knight Returns, so I guess it's a generational thing.
The article is also a good history lesson regarding how the business of television worked at the time. Recommended reading.
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