The official Avengers trailer was finally released this week. Attached to the previews of Real Steal, it offers everything we wanted and more. All of the Avengers are showcased in the preview, providing the perfect teaser for the upcoming movie.
The Wolverine may end up with two separate cuts. In a recent interview with Hugh Jackman, he discussed the interest in making an R-rated Wolverine movie. A possible compromise that is being floated is the idea of releasing a PG-13 version of film, so as to not exclude the younger fans, in addition to the R-rated cut we all want to see.
Queen of the webisode, Felicia Day’s most recent project, Dragon Age: Redemption, is now live. It’s a brilliant webseries placed in the Dragon Age RPG universe. Felicia Day’s character, Tallis, is an elven assassin hired to capture an apostate mage. Along with the release of the webseries, a new DLC was released for Dragon Age 2 also featuring Tallis.
“It turned into this because we’re both control freaks.”
– Doc Hammer
The Venture Bros. has since its 2003 debut been one of the best, and most under-appreciated, shows on television. Airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block, the show began as a parody of (and tribute to) Jonny Quest, and other ‘60s space age adventure shows. However, it quickly developed its own mythology and a massive cast of characters representing everyone from David Bowie to Spiderman. Only four seasons of the show have eked out so far, but hopefully the recent “Shallow Gravy” special represents progress toward bringing us more. SuicideGirls recently spoke with the series’ creators, pseudonymously known as Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, about the show, the special, and the possibility of season five.
“I like the alternative dark humor.”
– Paul Lieberstein
I love talking to guys like Paul Lieberstein. Currently he is a writer/producer/actor on the hit NBC sitcom The Office. As Toby, the laconic and divorced human resources director of Dunder Mifflin he is constantly butting heads with the idiotic Dunder Mifflin Regional Manager Michael Scott [played by Steve Carell]. Lieberstein is already responsible for many of the series best episodes such as “Dwight’s Speech” which includes Dwights Hitleresque rant and “The Client” where the office workers have a table read of Michael’s secret screenplay. But I first saw Lieberstein’s name as a writer/producer on the primetime cartoon series King of the Hill which is one of the greatest shows ever on television.
“They can certainly attack me when I’m not there.”
– Al Franken
Man I love this job! After three long years of wooing I finally got a chance to talk with the legendary comedian Al Franken. After many successful years as a standup comedian and Saturday Night Live writer, Franken has released a number of hysterical and popular books such as Why Not Me? and Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot. When Franken released Lies and the Lying Liars in 2004, esteemed filmmakers Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus followed and him and documented the experience. Now its all been put together in the film Al Franken: God Spoke.
Last Wednesday saw the first big batch of DC’s new 52 released. Reviews were as mixed as they were for Justice League #1 the previous week. A few of the comics were praised here and there, but there seems to be one clear winner for the week. Animal Man #1 has caught everyone’s attention, and I have yet to hear a bad word about it. For reviews on all of last week’s releases, check out Nerd Bastards‘ full report.
Potential major *SPOILERS* for The Avengers have been leaked. If you don’t want to know who the big secret villain is, just skip the next paragraph.
“I want to write to what seems like a fitting ending to the series.” – Charlie Day
FX introduced the new season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to the Television Critics Association with their series of four unique TV spots. With one spot for each character, they feature the gang in overly dramatic situations that are innately hilarious, because it’s the gang.
Charlie Day’s was a Miracle Worker spoof where Danny DeVito teaches him to read and pump water. Charlie’s character is known to be illiterate. After the gang’s presentation to the critics, I got some quality time with Day as he walked from the stage to his next interview. It was a little shorter than the usual interview, but still a solid walk and talk. The Sunny gang and I go way back. At one TCA party, I rode Santa Monica pier rides with Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney, and I was on the set of their classic “Charlie Writes a Musical” episode.
Day created the show with Howerton and McElHenney and hired Kaitlin Olsen for the FX show. Danny DeVito joined the show in season two, and the gang has relentlessly practiced hilariously bad behavior. They regularly take the politically incorrect position on hot button topics like abortion and the economic crisis (see episodes like “Dee and Dennis Go On Welfare”).
As with any success, movies came calling. Day has costarred in studio comedies like Going the Distance and Horrible Bosses. His next movie will be Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. Sunny is signed for at least two more seasons on FX and Day addressed all of that, plus his standards of The Green Guy and Charlie’s crush on the waitress in the time we had.
“[A show] called Sluts… was the first job I had.”
– Liz Meriwether
I fell in love with Liz Meriwether when she presented her new show, New Girl, to the Television Critics Association over the summer. I would have naturally had affection for anyone who created such a warm, quirky show, but freckles and glasses just completely did me in.
New Girl stars Zooey Deschanel as Jess, a woman who moves in with three male roommates after catching her live-in boyfriend cheating. As she starts to date again, she sings her own theme song to get through the heartbreaks, and dances in celebration a lot. The rough version of the pilot even had a title song set to a sequence of freeze frames where Deschanel posed in different adorable positions. Deschanel sings the theme, lending her musical talents to the show too.
So this innocent reaction to typical sitcom plot lines (wacky roommates, crazy dates) already endeared Meriwether to me. I ran into her later at the party Fox held for its new batch of shows at Gladstones in Malibu. Standing in the beach air at dusk, Meriwether was starstruck herself to see chef Gordon Ramsay at the same party. She was concerned she was not yet drunk enough to be an entertaining interview. Little did she know I was smitten by her natural charm, no drunken word vomit necessary.
