Television

Dan Harmon Has Some Very Very Strong Opinions About ‘Community’ Season 4

By Paul | June 17, 2013 @ 1:30 pm

So Dan Harmon got his job back at Community and will return to Executive Produce / Showrun Season 5. Phew. All good news, right? Well, with his new/old job re-secured he just had to watch Season 4 for catching-up purposes.

And what did he think? Well, Mr. Harmon's got a weekly 'Harmontown' podcast / comedy show and this week he revealed his feelings. He starts out pretty nice and pretty tame, he felt comfortable calling the season not his cup of tea. He felt it was merely impression and a paltry one at that. Then he went all hardcore, saying:

Man, watching those characters without me there, man it was like flipping through Instagram just watching your girlfriend blow everyone.

Harsh. But, y'know, pretty true. Best, least harsh thing to come out of Harmontown this week? He reached out to Bill Murray for Season 5. No word on what will happen with that, but woah, that would be kind of amazing.

If You Bought a 3D TV Just to Watch Sports on ESPN 3D, I’ve Got Some Bad News for You

By Esteban | June 13, 2013 @ 2:30 pm

ESPN decides two dimensions are plenty

Back in 2010, fresh off the enormous success of James Cameron's Avatar, ESPN launched ESPN 3D and predicted that a "3D tsunami" would sweep the film and television industry, changing the landscape forever.

Well, they were wrong. Box office revenue for 3D films in 2012 was the same as it was in 2011, while the number of films released in 3D dropped by 20% during that same period. Now, ESPN has announced they are pulling the plug on ESPN 3D due to low ratings.

Just how low were the ratings for ESPN 3D? Well, they were so low that Nielsen couldn't even measure them accurately. Of course, this should hardly come as a surprise given that only 6% of households in the United States even have 3D TVs and, of that measly 6%, most only watch 3D content sporadically.

In any case, industry analysts had already noted that, over the last several quarters, TV manufacturers had shifted their focus from 3D televisions to "ultrahigh definition" televisions, whatever the hell that means. Now that ESPN has pulled the plug on ESPN 3D, the truth is more painfully obvious than ever: that $2500 3D TV in your living room is now about as useful at your Toshiba HD DVD player.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

H/T – [NY Daily News]

Boxes, More Dragons, and Neck Stabbing: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season Finale Wrap-Up

By Paul | June 10, 2013 @ 9:17 am

Well, that's it. How can you possibly top last week's Red Wedding slaughterfest episode, 'The Rains of Castamere'. It just couldn't be done. What we got last night instead, was a whole lot of walking, talking, and philosophizing. Oh, and a dick in box. Literally.

This episode was pretty much all ends-consolidating: The Young Wolf is dead and the remaining Starks are pretty well scattered. Winter is still coming and it would seem that the War of the Five Kings is almost wrapped-up. What have we got to think about now? Edmure Tully is still married to the daughter of the guy who murdered all of his friends and bannermen (those are going to be some awkward Sunday dinners); Theon Greyjoy is now a soprano; and Arya Stark is going to be so unflinchingly badass we just can't handle it. Three dragons in flight and a whole bunch of liberated slaves? Yes, please.

What might happen next season? First off, someone needs introduce King Joffrey to Ramsay Snow, like, immediately. And two, We need the folks of Westeros to start getting amorous again, we haven't seen any comfortable skin in like two episodes. Oh, and we're seriously, we're probably off sausages for a while. You understand, all those nitrates and phallic imagery and whatnot.

Now, what are we going to do until Breaking Bad starts? Go outside? Maybe.

MORE SKIN, FEWER BOXES!

18 Photos »

Some ‘Arrested Development’ Superfan Re-Edited the Fourth Season Into Chronological Order

By Esteban | June 7, 2013 @ 1:29 pm

Anustart, Anyone?

Did you find all the complexly interwoven timelines of Arrested Development Season 4 a little hard to follow at times? Because I'm not going to lie—I kinda did. I'm not going to beat myself up over it, though, because I'm pretty sure most of my confusion was caused by the fact that sometimes George Michael Bluth was played by 17-year-old Michael Cera, and sometimes he was played by 25-year-old Michael Cera. Besides, I figured it all out in the end.

‘Orange is the New Black’ Netflix’s New Women’s Prison Dramedy: Cue the Catfight Countdown

By Paul | June 6, 2013 @ 2:13 pm

Come for the Shower Scenes, Stay for the Ladydrama

Ok, given the vast universe of TV shows to watch, our first choice is almost never lady-centric ladydramas (Sorry, Meredith Baxter). But, what if you added a prison into the mix? Wouldn't that change the game? It certainly would.

Netflix is banking on that, in fact, with their new lady-prison ladydrama, Orange is the New Black. It's exactly that mental image of 70s and 80s prison exploitation films really made us wanna give this one a look-see. Driven by thoughts of Caged Heat, Chained Heat, and Red Heat among others, and all of the torn- jumpsuit catfight-tastic action one expects from such films, we eagerly clicked on Orange's newly-dropped trailer.

The basic idea is that Taylor Schilling plays some yuppie white lady who had a lesbian lover once, apparently, with whom she briefly smuggled drugs and now she's gotta be the new girl in a somewhat hard-core prison. Trailer highlights? A brief nipslip and the line, 'I have a prison wife, her name is Crazy Eyes.' Sadly, it's not what we were expecting, but y'know, if there's nothing else to watch...

Let the Catfight Countdown begin.

TAYLOR SCHILLING SEXY IN GRAY

Taylor Schilling The Lucky One Special Screening

8 Photos »

‘Game of Thrones” George R. R. Martin Watches Red Wedding Reactions on Conan (VIDEO)

By Paul | June 6, 2013 @ 10:30 am

What Could Possibly Ruin Such A Perfect Ceremony?

Giggling genius, and occasionally petulant maniac, Game of Thrones scribe George R. R. Martin wants you to be terrified. He told Conan O'Brien as much last night. As the books' author and architect of last week's Red Wedding insanity, he is very clearly a sociopath. You guys saw that, right? We can't stop muttering, 'Holy shit' to ourselves every time we think of it.

Obviously enough other people had the same reaction, because everyone and their cousin posted their reactions on You Tube, like you do. Conan sat down and forced Martin to watch the shock and horror he brought down upon them and a nation of Thrones fans. Men and women alike shrieked like girls on a doomed roller coaster, formerly indifferent old dudes sat agape, and everyone seemed a little emptier inside. Martin's reaction? More maniacal giggling. Damn you, George, damn you. When do we get more?

The End is Coming: New ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Promo is a Smug and Taunting Wisp Smoke

By Paul | June 5, 2013 @ 10:35 am

Breaking Bad in Legos

Maybe Legos will help fill the void? Read More »

Breaking Bad Infographic

Infographic: Walter White's Faltering Finances

How much does Walter White have left? Read More »

Where Do We Go From Here?

Seriously, what's in store for the Breaking Bad Finale? Read More »

AMC released the first Breaking Bad finale promos today. Jeeze, look at that wisp of smoke. Look at it! This is the first indication that the network will torture the crap out of us for two months over the final episodes. They've got us all in a frenzy over little bit of smoke, BECAUSE THEY CAN.

We've been staring at it for an hour now. Seriously. Like an album cover from the mid-70s or 3D mall art from the 90s. Are there hidden messages in it? Are there spoilers? Anything? No. There's nothing. It's just a puff of smoke. Now we're going to spend the rest of the day wondering what kind of smoke that is. It could be the charred remains of someone important. It could be the fog of a one-man Walter White war. Maybe, it's Hank Schrader's ire.

Meth? It's probably meth. The series finales start on August 11th, and until then: Damn you AMC, damn you.