Controversy raged last weekend as fans and media types reacted to a new DirecTV ad using the late Chris Farley in scenes from Tommy Boy. Now, some aggressive YouTubers are taking their shot at offending some people (with DirecTV execs at the top of the list).
The original ad featured a live action David Spade discussing DirecTV against Farley's antics from Tommy Boy. While Spade insisted Farley wouldn't mind, a lot of his fans took offense to using a dead man to hawk a product.
But the video below, from a YouTube page, The Landline, lights up the satellite TV provider with an edgy send-up of the "dead talk cash" stunt with faked DirecTV ads featuring a pseudo Heath Ledger, John F. Kennedy, and someone else you'll recognize.
There's a conspiracy theory floating around that this is actually clever viral marketing from DirecTV itself -- since no publicity is bad publicity. But, if that were true, and word really got out, it'd be "deadly" to the company's business.
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Commercial spoofs take shots at DirecTV's Chris Farley spot
Zach Braff goes on YouTube to say he's not dead at all
The latest celebrity death rumor that turned out to be false was the one about Scrubs star Zach Braff. He didn't kill himself by taking pills. To prove it, Braff has made the video below. He calls the guy who started the fake rumor (he even created a fake CNN page to make it more believable) a "douchebag" because the story upset his mom.
There's a special guest star at the end.
There's a special guest star at the end.
To Catch a Predator Catches up to Roman Polanski
Before it got self-referential and started playing up its own celebrity, NBC Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" series was a distinct guilty pleasure. It did the heart good to see some genuinely depraved lowlifes humiliated on nationwide TV before heading off to prison where they'd no doubt meet predators more adept than themselves.Meanwhile, with so many in Hollywood reaching out to defend confessed child rapist Roman Polanski, It was inevitable that some clever video editor would bring "Predator" host Chris Hansen and moviedom's most prominent pedophile together for a brief interview on YouTube (video after the jump).
The exchange hits all of the "Predator" chestnuts as, whenever Hansen ambushed one of these depraved disasters, there'd be excuses and denials galore. Sadly, Polanski outlived the real "To Catch a Predator" as lame lawsuits involving tired notions of due process and entrapment ruined the fun for everyone.
Continue reading To Catch a Predator Catches up to Roman Polanski
The Geico lizard is everywhere
Have you noticed how many spokespeople that Geico has? They have the lizard, the cavemen, that creepy stack of money with the eyes, and now they even have commercials where potholes and pipes talk to car owners. You don't usually seem one company with so many TV commercial icons.
The lizard is still popular though, and he's in more places than ever. Like videos made by famous YouTube stars. [via Adfreak]
The lizard is still popular though, and he's in more places than ever. Like videos made by famous YouTube stars. [via Adfreak]
Continue reading The Geico lizard is everywhere
Interviews with Emmy/TV Legends hit the net
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation is now launching a new website called EmmyTVLegends.org. It will include interviews with various celebrities who witnessed the rise of television including Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Walter Cronkite. Ironically, this is being done via the Internet. It's a bit like the passing of the torch from one predominant global medium of communication to the next.Granted, all the videos have been uploaded to YouTube, so it's possible to find them without going through the website. Still, it's nice that the website organizes the interviews for the viewer. I was channeling my mother for a moment while watching some of them and thinking either "he/she looks so young in that interview" or "he/she is dead now".
The site represents a real treasure trove of television stories and history. I've only had a chance to watch a few of them so far. If you're interested in the medium I recommend watching some of them in your free time.
The Twilight guy reviews the new Harry Potter movie
I'm not even going to pretend that this clip is particularly funny (though I did laugh at some of the inane names of magic spells that Jimmy Fallon comes up with), but I think it's worth watching to see some of the bizarre stuff that Fallon is doing on Late Night. I've seen some of the Harry Potter movies but I haven't seen Twilight, so I'm not sure if Fallon is making references to the movie or what ("bothered?").
Jaleel White talks about what matters to him with new series Road to the Altar
Most prime time network shows have a chain of command that would make the Pentagon look like a PTA board. There's the writers who send their scripts to the show runners who then have to filter their changes through the director who send them to the producer where it's thumbed through and sent to a group of picky censors and so on and so on. Ninety offices later, the script is finally ready for shooting, even though the story went from a quirky drama about a lawyer who represents illegal immigrants to a sci-fi epic about mutant leeches who suck out astronauts' brains through their nostrils.
But actor Jaleel White has found a place in Hollywood where the usual studio aristocracy has been thrown away in the name of freedom and simplicity: the Internet.
"I'm so excited about it because I don't need to go to an executive now," White said in a recent phone interview. "Our focus group is America."
Continue reading Jaleel White talks about what matters to him with new series Road to the Altar
That was fast! Showtime gives Nurse Jackie second season pickup
Mere hours after the series premiered on the cable net, Showtime has renewed Nurse Jackie for a second season. Why so fast, you might wonder? Well, Showtime could point to the biggest premiere since 2004, but because it was on pay cable the total number of viewers is less than two million. Those are the kind of numbers that would get it canceled on USA or TNT, not to mention ABC or CBS, but for Showtime it's excellent.Excellent is also what a majority of TV critics and bloggers -- including Jane -- had to say about the Edie Falco dark comedy. Some were more effusive than others, but for all intents and purposes, the press was pro-Jackie from the get-go. But not everyone loved the show. Nurses complained loudly about the depiction of their profession.
Continue reading That was fast! Showtime gives Nurse Jackie second season pickup
The wit and wisdom of ABC News on YouTube
The announcement of an ABC News branded channel on YouTube yesterday is a little puzzling. First, if you go to the site, the info bar indicates that "ABC News" joined YouTube August 7, 2006. So, maybe they've been working feverishly for nearly three years on this, and they were finally ready to tell people about it. The site will feature news from several ABC programs, like Good Morning America, 20/20, Nightline, ABC World News, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. And, as a bonus, we get the "Quick Fix" segment, which ABC called "a daily dose of wit and occasionally wisdom" from ABC correspondents.
Continue reading The wit and wisdom of ABC News on YouTube
Billy Bob Thornton explains everything to Jimmy Kimmel
You may have seen that Billy Bob Thornton interview in Toronto. Last night he explained what happened to Jimmy Kimmel. He also says that if you enjoyed the odd interview, then you're a humpback geek (which will be my new band name if I ever start one).
Now you can watch TV shows on YouTube (I mean legally)
I'm going to assume that one of the big reasons why you can now watch full episodes of various TV shows on YouTube is because of the success of sites like Hulu and AOL Video. There have been a lot of TV shows and movies uploaded to YouTube, often in hard-to-navigate "parts," with bad sound. But YouTube has made deals with several networks/studios, including Sony, CBS, Showtime, and Discovery to show full length, legal copies of many TV shows.It's a fair collection, including current shows like Harper's Island, Jimmy Kimmel Live, As The World Turns, Man vs. Wild, Mythbusters, along with classic shows like Bewitched, MacGyver, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Barney Miller, I Spy, I Dream of Jeannie, and many others. It's not the selection you'll find on Hulu, but it's OK (and I'm sure the list will grow). I just wonder if it's enough to get people to drift away from other video sites.
It's not glitch-free, however. Take a look at this and this and tell me what the heck they have to do with The Dick Van Dyke Show. Only five episodes of the show on there and two of them aren't even from the show.
Reprise the theme song, roll the credits, and for the love of God, revive Roundhouse! - VIDEO
As a kid, my parents were totally cool with my television viewing habits, as long as it never became excessive or kept my face from being kissed by the light of day every once in a while. Not that they had anything to be worried about, of course, considering that all I was watching was Nickelodeon. While my fellow prepubescents were slowly but surely migrating to more grown-up programming on MTV (and Playboy, if you had a cable box), I spent the bulk of my time between 1992 and 1996 fully devoted to Roundhouse, a 30-minute sketch show sandwiched between the more popular Clarissa Explains It All and Are You Afraid Of The Dark? on SNICK, Nickelodeon's Saturday night programming block.
80's sitcom intros that now look like self-parodies - VIDEO
It goes without saying that television from the 80's - as a decade - tends to stand on its own as having provided some of the oddest junk we may ever see: the glorification of cat-fights (see: Dynasty), the existence of Twin Peaks, and an alien as the star of his own sitcom (see: Of course, classically cheesy schmaltz like Dancing With The Stars and American Idol continues to thrive, keeping viewers fastened to their couches amid every note sung or dance move executed by someone in a fedora or boa, respectively.
Continue reading 80's sitcom intros that now look like self-parodies - VIDEO
Right now on Cinematical
The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:- By now, there's a good chance you've seen Watchmen. Alan Moore, who wrote the graphic novel, never wanted the movie to be made, because in his eyes, it is "unfilmable." Cinematical discusses when a faithful adaptation turns into a bad adaptation.
- Hey, have you ever wanted to be on a movie poster? Apparently, all it takes now is to comment on a trailer you watch on You Tube. Seriously.
- Oh, man. I have become completely obsessed with Twitter lately. Apparently Cinematical has, too, and they've posted the twitter handles of most of their writers, so check it out if you're into 140 character musings. (You can find a good chunk of TV Squad writers on there too. I'm kona99).
- Hey, remember when you were going to jump off that bridge, and a kind stranger came along and said, "hey, buddy. I know things are bad, but pretty soon there's going to be a Marmaduke movie," and you didn't want to believe him because you thought he was just saying what you wanted to hear to keep you from killing yourself, but you allowed yourself that glimmer of hope anyway? And you lived? Well that dude was totally right. There is a Marmaduke movie being made.
- Now that Mickey Rourke has had his comeback, Cinematical discusses who should be next. They say Eric Roberts, but I say, how is that possible when he never went away, baby?
Before Idol, Von Smith was a YouTube sensation - VIDEO
Well, we're not through to Hollywood just yet, as the American Idol auditions keep on keepin' on. Indeed, as promised by the show's producers, we're not seeing as many crazies as we have in years past. However, it's safe to say that the pool of eccentric Idol wannabes has been anything but left on the cutting room floor. That's not going to happen anytime soon.In terms of memorable performances thus far, Von Smith has arguably been "the big breakout," at least among the contestants on American Idol's Kansas City stop (he sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and wore a white fedora ... which, when you think about it, doesn't necessarily differentiate him from every other contestant).
Continue reading Before Idol, Von Smith was a YouTube sensation - VIDEO
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
