Oh yes. It’s back. This Sunday (5PT/8ET on ABC) James Franco and Anne Hathaway will awkwardly tag-team the Oscars, and–for the third year in a row–so will Logan and I.
How does it work you ask? Don’t worry, stupid. It’s easy. When you sit down to watch the awards, make sure you’ve got your laptop (or mobile device!) tuned to this site where you’ll find running commentary by me and Logan for the entirety of the broadcast. Check out the snazzy replays of our 2010 or 2009 events to get the idea.
Don’t have someone to enjoy the show with? Join us and post your comments! Do have someone to enjoy the show with? Ignore them and hang out with us instead.
And if you want a reminder when the live blog gets close, use the handy form below. See ya there!
There’s been talk/threats of a reboot of my absolute favorite childhood cartoon, Thundercats, for quite some time. If you’re not familiar, this is what the original badass Thundercats were all about:
Recently, there’s been some buzz around a new animated series that’ll look like this:
So anime it hurts!
Ugh right? They took that neat hand-drawn style and replaced it with boring ol’ anime. What a disappointment.
But then there’s this little relic. Test footage from a scrapped Thundercats CG movie:
Wow. Suddenly I’m psyched for the new cartoon. It couldn’t possibly be worse than that.
Did you catch the first round of Jeopardy nerds vs. Watson last night? Boy howdy, what a showdown! They were all like, “What is The Grapes of Wrath?” and Watson was all like “Beep boop?”
And let me just say, isn’t that Watson a cutie? If you dig the smooth vocal stylings of that Ken Jennings and the lovable brain of that other guy, Watson is the way to go! He’s like the two of them put together, but in extra sexy robot form!
All kidding aside, this competition may be the death of us all. I mean, did the producers of Jeopardy not learn anything from the Terminator films? This is how it starts, people! Just look at those cold, unfeeling robot eyes:
Alex, Ken, and Brad posing with IBM's futuristic death machine.
Anyway, the competition continues tonight. Be there!
There is seriously nothing going on today, so let’s check in on that old Critical End! fallback: Community!
In case you haven’t been watching, it’s back from it’s mid-season hiatus and funnier than ever. They’re also returning the show to it’s roots, and moving away from some of the more over-the-top scenarios that they’ve been doing. It was also great to see Chevy have more to do in last Thursday’s Pierce heavy episode. Creator Dan Harmon is promising even more red hot Chevy action in an upcoming episode that features the entire cast visiting Pierce after he ends up in the hospital. Oh, and Entertainment Weekly also has some great news about an upcoming (nerd alert!) Dungeons & Dragons themed ep. Is this the best show on television yet or what, folks?
Anyway, here’s some more Community Season 2 news straight from the cast and crew themselves:
Truth be told, I haven’t watched Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim since it’s glory days. From what I understand, I haven’t missed much besides two or three hundred episodes of Family Guy.
Now, thanks to Conan O’Brien and a blonde wig, I have a reason to start again:
Like most people, I kinda accidentally got sucked into the Golden Globes. They really weren’t that interesting, and the mix of celebrities was a bit odd, but it was on. I ate and even started to read while they played in the background.
Then Natalie Portman freakin’ laughed.
I spit out my taco, threw down my book, and stared, mouth ajar, at the pregnant lady on my screen emitting this weird noise. I believe a small poodle also died.
The actual video is on YouTube, but I tend to prefer this one. WARNING: This is very annoying, although Brendan Fraser seems to dig it.
I don’t think we ever posted it here, but I’m a big fan of this video of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing their dueling Michael Caine impressions:
Michael Caine, apparently, doesn’t dig it so much. Or at least, he felt compelled to have a little fun at the expense of anyone who tries to imitate his Britishy tones:
Apologies. I wanted to post something meaningful today, but then I got caught up watching this clip of Duke Nukem singing Elvis while smashing chucks of ice and delivering one killer drum solo.
All kidding aside, this really should have been how The Expendables ended.
Merry Festival of the Bells, folks! Like Logan said, it’s a short week. We wanted to get you guys the Tron/Tron Legacy show today, but holiday travel and technical difficulties intervened. We’ll have it for you next Wednesday, and, if all goes well, True Grit the week after that. It’s a Very Jeff Bridges Christmas.
Speaking of, here’s a bit of Tron to tide you over. The well-remembered 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Funny or Die.
It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Community, which is strange since some weeks I feel we’re contractually obligated to do so. Check out this clip from the upcoming animated episode and share your thoughts.
Despite the fact that they all kind of look like meth heads (I understand that this is a common problem with stop-motion animation), I’m really digging this. They even pegged Chevy’s comic reaction exactly right, which can’t be easy.
The Community animated Christmas episode airs December 9th.
MSTies rejoice! Shout Factory has announced, via Satellite News, that they will release a five-disc box containing every Gamera episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Why is this news? Because the guy who brought those movies to America, Sandy Frank, has long blocked DVD distribution of the MST3K versions.
The going theory has been that Frank didn’t take too kindly to the way Joel and the bots personally lambasted him on the show, but according to Badass Digest, it was just a matter of money. Either way, Frank’s stake in the films has expired and the big fire-breathing turtle is finally flying into your home. As Badass points out, this could mean that more MST3K versions of Sandy Frank owned films could be on the way, like Time of the Apes, Mighty Jack, and the Fugitive Alien movies.
Logan and I have talked about it before, and his prediction has so far turned out to be correct: Conan’s new show is no different than either of his old shows. It’s a talk show with some funny bits, some not-so-funny bits, and some guests. The question is whether he’ll use the comparative freedom of cable to innovate as he becomes more confident in his new home. Right now, my guess is no. Not because he’s incapable of it, or because he’s lazy. Because the man seems to legitimately love the traditional talk show format.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The first show was strong overall. There was a pretty great cold open with a few laugh-out-loud moments (see above), and some excellent banter with Andy who I’m glad to see return to the role of proper sidekick. (Side note: he’ll also be handling the role of “wacky priest” in the TBS comedy Glory Daze according to a well-placed ad.) And I hope they continue to give each episode a cheesy 70’s detective show title (the premiere’s was Baa Baa Blackmail). Not a new gag, but one of my favorites.
I’ll continue to watch (or my DVR will) for the time being, with the confidence that even if Conan’s new show isn’t quite the revolution it might have been, at least it’s a hell of a lot harder to get cancelled on cable. What did you, the unwashed masses think?
