But, not when there is BIG NEWS. The fabled Arrested Development movie is officially happening! Officially. Jeffrey Tambor said. So there.

In case you didn’t know, AD is only the best show ever that is not The Wire, so this is huge. Sadly, both shows are now off the air. Much less sadly, I have both series on DVD.

Typically, my initial reaction upon hearing that [insert TV show] is being turned into a movie is to nurture unreasonable confidence that the movie version will definitely suck. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut proved that this is not always the case, and handily. In fact, it proved that sometimes the movie version of a beloved show can become a real classic. (Note: This does not apply to The Simpsons Movie.)

Besides, Mitch Hurwitz’s brilliance is enough for me to already be excited about the prospect of the movie that is finally really, really happening. So, considering the amazing cast (Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, David Cross, Tony Hale, Jeffrey Tambor and also okayfineyougetthepoint), it’s statistically impossible for the AD movie to suck. Impossible, I say!

“Dollhouse” is the new Joss Whedon show he’s producing for Fox. It stars Eliza Dushku, who played Faith on “Buffy”. It seems the show stopped production for awhile, has re-cut the pilot (rarely a good sign), and now has been scheduled for the Friday night time slot of death! I like Whedon and Dushku but will remain skeptical of the show before giving it a season pass on my DVR.

Find the latest promo trailer for “Dollhouse” below:

Hmmm, kinda cheesy but it is a Fox show after all…

Source: /Film and Pajiba

I am always ready to rant about how much “The Simpsons” sucks now, relative to how great it was during, say, seasons 3 through 8. This stems not from an inherently fickle nature, but from my deep love of this show during the golden (sometimes pronounced “Conan“) years, and genuine grief over the decline in quality as the seasons have dragged on.

To the credit of the current writers and producers, it’s still better than “Two and a Half Men” a lot of other crap that’s passing for comedy, these days.

Tonight they’re airing the 734th “Treehouse of Horror” Halloween special. For some reason, Fox has seemed incapable of airing “The Simpsons” Halloween special within a logical time frame for the last seven years or so, airing it either way too soon or way too late.

But, this is the closest they’ve come in ages, so if you have any pumpkin beer  and tiny candies left, you may as well polish them off tonight at 8pm eastern and pacific. It’ll get you nice and buzzed for “True Blood,” “Dexter” and “Mad Men,” later on.

Yeah guys, let’s get sick!

So, duh, I like cartoons. One of the ones I like is called “American Dad!”

The show is in its fourth season, and I’m delighted to see the show has survived the onslaught of dismissals of it as a “Family Guy” clone, which plagued its maiden season. And second season. And the third…

The similarities are superficial, at best, and are more indicative of of a particular formula upon which Seth MacFarlane likes to base his projects, going all the way back to “The Life of Larry” (look it up), and in the upcoming “Cleveland” (look that up, too). I’m not going to dissect magic recipe at length here, but if you’re not an idiot, you’ve probably already realized that the basic formula is:

Patriarch + Wacky Family + Anthropomorphous Pet(s)/Sidekick(s) = hilarity/$100 million Fox development deal for Seth

At this point, since “Family Guy” has dissolved into a series of disconnected non sequiturs and obscure references. Each episode’s “plot” is a transparent and hackneyed mess meant to justify making said non sequiturs and obscure references, although I will say last week’s “Road to Germany” was refreshingly coherent.

I admit readily that I believe “American Dad!” has proven to be the better of the two shows, as long as we’re comparing the two. I’ve gotten into plenty of bar arguments over this opinion, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more Friday nights where I debate this issue, punch a cat, and make out with a mailbox.

So, if you wrote off “American Dad!” back when it first began, I recommend you give it another chance. If you’ve never watched it, then give it a first chance. The writers and producers had really caught on to something midway through season 1, and it’s only maintained or improved on the show’s unique sense of humor, since then.

Leave it to me to give the show a great send-up on a night when it’s airing a repeat. “Dad!” will be back next Sunday night on Fox at 9:30, though, with a new episode. And, you can bet I’ll be watching.

The gang over at TV Squad brings good news today: Fox has given “Fringe” a full season order! After last week’s episode (The Ghost Network), I can say I’m officially hooked. The show blends elements of the procedural, horror and science fiction into an entertaining show. I don’t love it, but I definitely make sure to watch each week’s episode on my DVR by Sunday.

Don’t have the luxury of TiVo and must watch something else during “Fringe’s” timeslot? No worries, Hulu’s got you covered. Find the entire third episode below for your convenience.

I finally watched the premiere of “Fringe” and I will admit it’s piqued my interest.

SPOILER ALERT!
At first I wasn’t into Anna Torv’s performance, but by the end of the episode she grew on me. She was a little too wooden in those love scenes. And how obvious was it that her FBI secret boyfriend was gonna die?! The moment he said “I love you”, I knew that spelled J.J. Abrams style doom. Pacey Peter (Joshua Jackson) was a tad whiny at times, but overall he made the ‘Creek’ proud. I totally understand the TV Whore’s concerns though about whether Jackson can pull off scientific smarts, but I’m willing to let that one pass. They hired Lance Reddick who was awesome on “The Wire” and thus will continue to be that way on “Fringe”. When the man speaks, I can’t help but shut up and take him seriously! =)

And since I’m an avid “Alias” fan (Sydney and Vaughn forever!), the scene with the shared memory/dream was totally stolen from season 3 of “Alias”! Remember when David Cronenberg played that hippie scientist who uses LSD on Sydney to retrieve her lost memories of when she was bad? Dr. Walter Bishop (played excellently by John Noble) used to work in secret for a university just like Cronenberg’s character. And Bishop even jokes about LSD in the same way as the “Alias” doc character. “Let’s make some LSD”. I guess that line makes it all okay. Still, I swear that lab (which so conveniently was up in running in a few hours) was constructed out of the same set used in those “Alias” episodes. Nevertheless, on both shows, said dream sequences were very intriguing, especially since the information learned in this fluid state was pivotal to each character. Sydney’s freedom and Olivia’s boyfriend’s life are hanging in the balance!

I have to say what is gonna keep me watching are the awesome special effects! How scary was that plane crash with all the passenger’s skins melting. And then building upon that scene later when they pan over the coma-induced, Agent Scott, really wow-ed me. His translucent skin and decaying organs were displayed quite crisply on my plasma television set. Uber-creepy to say the least!

So yeah, some the plots aren’t the most original but I suppose I’ll keep tuning in so I can figure out what this crazy “pattern” is all about.

Before Jessica Alba was in big budget movies like The Love Guru, she starred in James Cameron’s “Dark Angel”, a sci-fi action television series on Fox.

During the two seasons of the show, Max Guevera (Alba) was a bike messenger by day and rogue special agent by night. The tv show was set in a near future post-apocalyptic America where Alba’s character was engineered by the government to be a super soldier that had cat dna enhancements. One minute her character would be delivering a package, and the next she’d be fighting off agents with her super strength and flexibility. All the while never losing track of any of her bike gear and important packages.

She had an on and off again relationship with Logan (Michael Wetherly), a sometimes wheelchair ridden political activist. Together, they would fight to take down the militaristic post-apocalyptic government that loves to experiment on humans and then throw them to the wind. Jensen Ackles (CW’s “Supernatural) played Alec, a selfish rogue agent who helped out Max only when it was profitable. I enjoyed his character way more than Logan’s or Max’s, especially in the second season, when he brought some much needed comic relief to this heavy sci-fi melodrama.

Ultimately, the show ended with a giant cliffhanger where Max was supposedly the messiah that would rescue the world from its post-apocalyptic condition. Unfortunately, James Cameron never got to flesh out that character development, since Fox decided not to renew the show in 2002 for a third season.

Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage, joins the cast of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”.

From SciFi Wire:
“Manson turns up as Catherine Weaver, the chief executive of Cyberdine Systems, which all Terminator fans know develops the computers that eventually become Skynet. “She’s the CEO of a corporation that develops certain technologies,” Manson said. “And she’s very self-empowered, successful, self-assured, singular. So it’s a cool character to play.” (She added that producers will let her keep her Scottish brogue.)”

Pop culture confession: I own all four Garbage albums ( I have this strange loyalty to the band after seeing them open up for Smashing Pumpkins in ‘97). Thus, maybe that makes me a little biased and overly positive about this casting news. Nevertheless, watching Shirley Manson make her television debut has finally given me a reason to be pumped for the second season of “Terminator”.

Shirley Manson definitely has a strong stage presence, so it’s probably not that big of a leap for her to become an actress. I’m just surprised that Fox being so cool with it, especially since she has no acting training per se. It’s sorta risky to have a newbie play such a pivotal character as Catherine Weaver in the series. What are they gonna do? fire

“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” returns September 8th at 8/7c. Buy the first season of “Terminator” dvd on August 19th.

Since the viral marketing get up worked for Cloverfield, the J.J. Abrams gang have concocted a few radio spots to promote “Fringe”.

They even have a “Fringe” blog to keep track of all this viral nonsense before the September premiere. Boy, I really hope this show airs long enough to reveal this mysterious “pattern” they’re going on about.

Pacey muses on the “pattern”.

Source: Pop Candy

“Undeclared” was Judd Apatow’s next foray into television after the demise of “Freaks and Geeks”. He even cast a few familiar faces in the pilot. The show follows the hilarious adventures of a group of college freshmen. Much of the dialogue was improvised, so I think that really heightened the humor.

Some people say it wasn’t as good as its predecessor, but I love both shows. It was the American debut of Charlie Hunnam, star of the British version of “Queer as Folk”, so I watched “Undeclared” first (and thus without predjudice for F&G). Not that it mattered much, since in typical Fox fashion, the show was short lived.

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