Television

Bryan Cranston Helps Marge Simpson Break Bad in This Week’s Opening Credits Sequence (VIDEO)

By Esteban | April 12, 2013 @ 11:55 am

Mmm methamphetamine...

After 24 seasons, you have to expect Matt Groening and company to start getting pretty creative with the opening couch gag on The Simpsons, right? Well, sure enough, the opening sequence for this Sunday's episode, which is titled "What Animated Women Want," is one of the most interesting ones to date: an homage to Breaking Bad.

Marge is Walter White (Byan Cranston)—only instead of meth she makes cupcakes—and Bart is Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), distributing the addictive confections to his friends. And yes, the opening does end on a couch...just not the Simpsons' couch.

Of course, Breaking Bad is on AMC, not Fox. Is it strange that a show on Fox is basically advertising for a show on another network? Yeah, I guess. However, the Simpsons are bona fide cultural icons, and Matt Groening and company have basically been doing whatever the hell they want for years now—including making fun of Fox, time and time again. So running a promo for Breaking Bad? Suuure, why not? What's Fox going to do, cancel The Simpsons?

I Hate Magicians But Love Me Some Isla Fisher and Melanie Laurent in the ‘Now You See Me’ Trailer (VIDEO)

By Ian | April 12, 2013 @ 8:59 am

Abracadabra

Magician movies are a tough thing. Sometimes you get a cool one like The Prestige, but usually they turn out to be more like The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Part of the problem is that magicians are inherently uncool. Even the 'cool' ones: David Blaine, Criss Angel...kind of tools. Which is why I'm a little hesitant about Now You See Me. For one thing, the 'magic tricks' you see in the trailer look incredibly fake and use plenty of CGI, so...it's not real trade magic. And even if it was supposed to be fantasy magic...it still looks kind of crappy.

Then there's the whole 99/1% angle they're using about taking from the rich and giving to the poor. They tell a crowd at an expensive theater that a lot of them lost their houses and jobs and have nothing. So...then how did they afford tickets to this expensive gala? And why are they even there instead of out looking for a job or a way to provide for their family. Anyway, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman show up, so it can't be all that bad. Or maybe it's just Jumper with a better cast?

I TRY NOT TO PICTURE ISLA FISHER SLEEPING WITH BORAT AND ALL IS WELL

9 Photos »

Enjoy These Self-Referential ‘Arrested Development’ Posters If You’re Able

By Lenny | April 11, 2013 @ 10:57 am

View the Gallery / 9 Photos »

If you're a casual viewer of Arrested Development, you're probably not going to have much use for the show's new self-referential posters. Then again, if you are a casual viewer of Arrested Development, you probably don't have much use for the show itself. While fans like to complain about the poor ratings that led to A.D.'s cancellation, the fact remains that all the inside jokes and reoccurring gags made the series somewhat inaccessible to new viewers trying to join mid-season. However, those same elements of exclusivity are what helped Arrested Development build its rabid cult following. And with these posters, it seems that the show's second coming will continue preaching to the choir rather than looking for converts, a fact that probably sits well with those in the choir.

Lindsay Lohan Promotes Her Stint in Rehab on Letterman, Because Clearly No One Would Hire Her for an Actual Movie to Talk About (VIDEO)

By Esteban | April 10, 2013 @ 11:38 am

Letterman Grills Lohan

Lindsay Lohan has been in the news again lately for the typically depressing reasons. On March 18 she pled guilty to reckless driving and providing false information to a police officer, and as a result she had to spend 90 days in a lockdown rehab facility on Long Island.

Of course, that's not why Lindsay stopped by the Late Show to chat with David Letterman last night. Apparently they've made a Scary Movie 5, Lindsay is in it, and for some reason the producers of the film have entrusted her with promotional duties. However, Letterman obviously was not interested in talking about Scary Movie 5, so instead he surprised Lindsay by asking her about her well-known addiction issues.

The funny thing is, Lindsay actually came off looking pretty with it. She handed the unexpected line of questioning well, and even managed to get a couple of good jokes in there. If you happened to catch her hosting Saturday Night Live last spring, that was probably the last thing you were expecting from the plasticine Hollywood starlet.

‘Walking Dead’ VFX Reel Proves that Zombies Aren’t Actually Real for All Those Conspiracy Theorists Out There (VIDEO)

By Ian | April 10, 2013 @ 9:41 am

Apparently Zombies Aren't Actually Real

The Walking Dead usually looks pretty seamless with its special effects, and you kind of assume that it it's really easy to pull off, but as this behind-the-scenes VFX reel from season three shows, a lot of work goes into gouging a walker's eye out with a drill. My only problem with the look of Walking Dead and special effects in general is that they still haven't pulled CGI blood off yet. Am I wrong? They can take us to Pandora and bring dinosaurs to life, but there's still something about fake CGI blood that reads as...fake and CGI. I'm not sure how hard it would be to just rig some squibs on the walkers, but apparently that's the least of anyone's concern over there. Still...impressive.

Is This the End of Broadcast TV as You Know It?! (No…But Yes)

By Esteban | April 9, 2013 @ 1:19 pm

Have you heard of Aereo, the internet service that allows you to stream broadcast television to your various internet-enabled devices? Well, it just might bring about television armageddon.

All Aereo does, of course, is take the signal that anyone could pick up on with an antenna and stream it through the internet. It does not circumvent advertisements any more than a typical DVR would, and thus it does not hinder the advertising revenue the broadcast networks enjoy. So then what's the problem from the networks' point of view? Ironically, the danger posed to broadcast TV by Aereo is the way it affects cable. You see, cable providers pay the broadcast networks to carry their channels, but Aereo devalues what the broadcast channels are worth to them, which hurts the broadcast networks' bottom lines.

For this reason, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC have banded together to demand that Aereo be shut down. However, according to Variety, this week News Corp president Chase Carey has gone rogue and made the bold declaration that, if Aereo is allowed to go on, Fox will have no choice but to forsake the airwaves and go cable-only. And if Fox actually did that, ABC, CBS, and NBC would surely follow. In other words, broadcast television is defending itself by threatening to destroy Aereo by destroying broadcast television—which is to say, they're relying on the doctrine of mutually assured descruction.

So it's basically just like the Cold War, only Les Moonves is Regan and billionaire Barry Dillers is Gorbachev.

What’s the Deal with… ‘Game of Thrones: Dark Wings, Dark Worlds’

By Ian | April 8, 2013 @ 10:21 am

There's been a strange lack of nudity on Game of Thrones this season. We're two episodes in and nary a bare breast nor arse has been on display for our viewing pleasure. And this despite the fact that both Emilia Clarke and Natalie Dormer have a strong, rich past in baring themselves on camera. In fact, the only undressing we got was from Peter Dinklage right before he was about to receive...well, I don't even want the mental image in my head.

The one thing there's been plenty of this season has been the fantasy element of the show. In season one there was very little otherwordly things taking place. Asides from Bran's portentous dream omens of the raven, the show was grounded in nearly our own reality (even now I almost forgot that White Walkers were teased in the first episode) and it was only in the season finale that we got a taste of magical dragons. In season two we were teased with a morphing Jaqen H'ghar and the cloning Pyat Pree at the House of the Undying. There were big explosions thanks to Wildfire, but asides from its green vapor, it doesn't seem all that different from actual Greek fire.