fak3r » tv

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth

fak3r — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:07:50 +0000

The British comedy Red Dwarf has been a favorite of mine for many years, and this year it celebrates its 20th year anniversary. While they show hasn’t *constantly* been in production this fact is a bit misleading, but regardless, this year the crew of The Cat, Rimmer, Lister and Kryten are reuniting for a new 3 part series, Back To Earth. Their previous adventures cover all sorts of ground, but basically there’s a skeleton crew left in a mining ship lost far out in space. I’ve been in the loop on the new episodes since I’m following Robert Llewellyn on Twitter, he plays Kryten, the android on the right in the picture. It’s been really interesting learning about the man behind the character as he goes about his day, with a lot of his efforts focused on Car Pool, an interview show he produces where he interviews celebrates while car pooling in his Prius. Really funny stuff. As a bonus, a few weeks back he had Chis Barrie, who plays Lister in Red Dwarf, as seen standing next to Kryten above. It’s a funny interview, file those two under guys I’d like to have some beers with. You can find the show on Robert’s own site, Llewtube or download them as podcasts over at iTunes. For the uninitiated who are interested in Red Dwarf, the best way to start is at the end, and by the end I mean the pilot for the show entitled The End. The shows are all on DVD and hilarious, and next to AbFab I can’t think of a British Sitcom that I enjoy more.

Aquadots sweetened with the date-rape drug 1,4-butanediol

fak3r — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:52:49 +0000

It’s amazing, with all the toy recalls this year, the Aquadots one just stands out since it apparently contians the same active ingrediate in the ‘date rape’ drug! And how could such a hazardous chemical have ended up in a child’s toy? Remember, it’s all about money… “The toys were supposed to use 1,5-pentanediol, a nontoxic compound found in glue, but instead contained the harmful 1,4-butanediol, which is widely used in cleaners and plastics. The Food and Drug Administration in 1999 declared the chemical a Class I Health Hazard, meaning it can cause life-threatening harm. Both chemicals are manufactured in China and elsewhere, including by major multinational companies, and are also marketed over the Internet. It’s not clear why 1,4-butanediol was substituted. However, there is a significant difference in price between the two chemicals. The Chinese online trading platform ChemNet China lists the price of 1,4 butanediol at between about $1,350-$2,800 per metric ton, while the price for 1,5-pentanediol is about $9,700 per metric ton.” Indeed, the Wal-Mart ‘race to the bottom’ mentality of needing everything to be cheaper rewards this kind of ‘cost cutting’.

Jon Stewart to pay his writers out of own pocket during strike

fak3r — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:40:38 +0000

This is cool (and somewhat of a relief), Jon Stewart will be paying his writers out of his own pocket during the writers strike. “In a show of solidarity with his fellow scribes, the Daily Show host has told his writing staff that he will cover all their salaries for the next two weeks, according to a well-placed source. He has also vowed to do the same for writers on The Colbert Report. A Comedy Central spokesman referred my inquiry about this to Stewart’s personal publicist, who has yet to respond. Stewart’s intention, says the source, is to ensure his writers will face no financial hardship should the strike, which kicked off at 3 a.m. local time, conclude within that time frame.” I was wondering if we were going to have to endure weeks of reruns and loss of coverage that the strike would have brought, cool! Wonder what Colbert has planned.

Colbert into double digits in recent poll

fak3r — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:03:39 +0000

Apparently Stephen Colbert’s “candidacy” has started to take off, apparently a new poll (in South Carolina only natch) shows him in double digits! “Comedian Stephen Colbert, who recently announced he would run for U.S. president as both a Democrat and a Republican but only in the state of South Carolina, scored 13 percent in a new poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports. The national telephone survey found that 13 percent chose Colbert as an independent candidate in a race against Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and former New York mayor Republican Rudy Giuliani. Colbert received 12 percent support when former Sen. Fred Thompson was suggested as the Republican candidate. (Clinton won both match-ups in the poll.) The host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central declared his newfound political intentions last week and clarified his position a few days later, telling NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday: “I don’t want to be president. I want to run for president. There’s a difference.”

Jon Stewart to appear on Jack’s Big Music Show

fak3r — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:54:37 +0000

One of the best kids shows out there today is Jack’s Big Music Show. Plenty of sing-along songs that I and my kids keep singing, even after the show is over. Jon Stewart, a parent himself, is going to play a news reporter character, and I’m sure it’ll be a hoot. “Feb. 2 episode, there’s Jon Stewart (Brunk Stinegrouber of the Groundhog News Network, in a nifty earflaps hat) trying to coax a frightened Gertrude the Groundhog out of her home. Gertrude gets a little inspiration from the Schwartzman quartet, but it’s not enough. Not till Jack and his friends sing a song about the first day of preschool (”I Can Do It!”) does she muster the courage to face the press, who want to know if she’ll see her shadow. There’s also a special ditty from Steve Burns of Blues Clues fame, along with the Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd, ”I Hog the Ground,” (Cuz I’m small/And I’m brown/And I hog/And I’m brown.) that contains a guitar riff the Ramones would be proud of. A Feb. 10 show is set to feature Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines as Sudsy Bubblestein, a professional dog washer and stylist.” So they’ve got all sorts of based covered there. If you’ve ever seen old Blues Clues, you’ll barely recognize Steve Burns, but I’ve seen the video they’re talking about above, and it’s great. The two also hooked up on Burn’s solo debut, Songs For Dust Mites. Oh, and extra credit if you’ve seen Jon Stewart in Elmopalooza like I have!

1-31-07 Never Forget!

fak3r — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:52:23 +0000

UPDATE: goldenfiddle.com has great coverage of the image, and it’s use as a tshirt design; it looks like this is really going to happen!
“…Cause we are the Aqua Teen (Hunger Force)!” As for all of the knee-jerk reactionaries in Boston that brought on this craziness (which didn’t happen in the other 8 cities this PROMOTION, NOT HOAX was set up in), I only have to say this, “we are not bombs” (credit goes to some dude on Digg.com that proposed this for a tshirt – hey, I’d buy one). For the two that got caught in this dragnet, props for giving the best press conference on 70′s hairstyles I’ve ever seen. More on this as soon as soon I talk to Fry Lock, meatwad, Carl and Mastershake (in that order) to get their side of this. Oh, and you can see the trailer for the movie that this was supposed to promote, here.

Return of the Muppets?

fak3r — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:55:09 +0000

I would love to see another Muppets series, what in the day of American Idol, and all the other real(ly awful)ity TV that’s out there, how cool would it be to see everyone again? Plus, the idea sounds funny: “…a brand new pilot for a Muppet mini-series is being passed around Disney, a spoof on mockumentary series like The Office that has the Muppet gang getting back together to put on a new show after venturing off on their own to find new jobs. That plot actually sounds very similar to The Muppets Take Manhattan . Word has it that the mini-series, if successful, could spawn a brand new primetime Muppet series.” It’d be sweet to watch with the kiddos, and then get the DVDs of The Muppet Show that I remember watching every night when I was a kid; and yes, I still aspire to being one of those two old guys (Statler & Waldorf) heckling with their smart assed comments from the balcony… “You know, the older I get, the more I appreciate good music. - What’s that got to do with what we just heard? - Nothing, just thought I’d mention it!”

The Daily Show is as substantive as the “real” news

fak3r — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:31:46 +0000

“The Daily Show is much funnier than traditional newscasts, but a new study from Indiana University says it has the same amount of meat on its bones when it comes to coverage of the news. The brand of news coverage Jon Stewart and the rest of The Daily Show’s staff brings to the airwaves is just as substantive as traditional news programs like World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News, according to the study conducted by IU assistant professor of telecommunications Julia R. Fox and a couple of graduate students. The researchers looked at coverage of the 2004 Democratic and Republican national conventions and the first presidential debate of the fall campaign, all of which were covered by the mainstream broadcast news outlets and The Daily Show. Individual broadcasts of the nightly news and corresponding episodes of The Daily Show were analyzed by the researchers, who found that the “average amounts of video and audio substance in the broadcast network news stories” were no different from The Daily Show. Perhaps more telling, The Daily Show delivered longer stories on the topic.

“It should be noted that the broadcast network news stories about the presidential election were significantly shorter, on average, than were The Daily Show with Jon Stewart stories,” said Professor Fox. “The argument could be made that while the amount of substance per story was not significantly different, the proportion of each story devoted to substance was greater in the network news stories … On the other hand, the proportion of stories per half hour program devoted to the election campaign was greater in The Daily Show.”

Futurama is coming back!

fak3r — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:38:17 +0000

Good news everyone! After the rumors and false Billy West statements, Futurama *really* is coming back, with the same cast to boot! “Futurama” star Katey Sagal confirmed the return of the show on Comedy Central Tuesday night during an appearance on Craig Ferguson’s “Late Late Show. … The quirky animated show from “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening was canceled by Fox about two years ago, but will return with at least 13 new episodes on Comedy Central by 2008. This is only the second time in television history that a show sent to TV’s trash heap has been resurrected. Curiously, the first was “Family Guy,” also an animated Fox show. The tale of “Futurama’s” dramatic revival roughly follows that same path that “Family Guy” did. In both cases, the shows have been successfully airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim late-night programming block. They both also turned into hot-selling DVD box sets. “Family Guy” returned to Fox earlier this year, while last fall, Comedy Central outbid Adult Swim for the license to air all 52 episodes of “Futurama” and whatever new episodes might one day be produced. This week, deals were inked to secure all of the original voice talent and the production staff of “Futurama,” paving the way for the series’ return to TV.” Hmmm…but it’s not until 2008, to quote Fry, “That’s not soon enough.” Or, as Professor Fansworth would say, “Sweet Zombie Jesus!“

Futurama to return?

fak3r — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 01:52:00 +0000

In what would be a cool trend, Futurama could come back from the dead, ala Family guy. ”Nearly four years after it was cancelled, the popularity of Futurama on DVD could breathe life back into the animated television series. On the subject of a rumoured resurrection, creator Matt Groening, best known for his other animated hit, The Simpsons, says, intriguingly, “You never know.” Such a trail was blazed in 2004 by another animated series, Family Guy. Fuelled by DVD sales and high-rating reruns, it spawned a direct-to-DVD film and two seasons of television episodes.” It would be nice to see shows being on television because people were given a chance to like them, and vote with their dollars. Ahem…the apply named Arrested Development anyone?