Wednesday, September 15, 2004

NEWS BLURTS

'Greg the Bunny' will next year return to cable channel IFC -- where he was first discovered hosting a movie showcase in 2001 -- for a half-hour special that also is under series consideration. Also appearing in the program are former 'Greg' co-stars Seth Green (news) and Sarah Silverman.

'Greg The Bunny' ran for seven episodes on Fox in 2002 before being canceled. That history is actually incorporated into the special, which finds a humiliated Greg reluctantly reuniting with fellow "fabricated Americans" Warren the Ape and Count Blah in Las Vegas. Also appearing in the special are Adam Goldberg, Lou Ferrigno and Jon Favreau, host of IFC's 'Dinner for Five.'

'Greg' co-creators Sean Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano introduced the character on a New York public access show in 1999. Public access, IFC, FOX - that means Greg the Bunny is qualified to be an entrant into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame someday. (It may take a while - there are SOOO many eligible applicants, especially in the puppet division. But he'll definitely get in before Elmo; you can count on that!)
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Lucasfilm confirmed officially that a 'Star Wars' television show will be coming in the future. They didn't comment on setting, or release schedule. But as the 'Star Wars' universe already exists in the TV prime world, ('Ewoks', 'Droids', 3P0 and R2D2 at the Muppet show), there's no big rush for the new show. I'd rather that George Lucas take his time and do it up right... instead of scrambling like he did back in 1977 with that godawful holiday special!
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For two weeks straight, Olympics viewers were bombarded with obnoxious promos for NBC's 'Joey,' the 'Friends' spin-off. The commercials, most of them not featuring any footage from the show itself, had Joey wandering around his new home city of Los Angeles doing idiotic things like driving on the wrong side of the road or believing that the Hollywood Walk of Fame is a sidewalk cemetery. (Seeing Jack Nicholson's star, he moaned, "I didn't even know he was sick!')

Dumb, true. But as promos containing fresh material, they count when tallying up Joey's chances for getting into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. With his own series, these promos, the original series, and a crossover encounter with 'Caroline In The City', Joey Tribbiani will be the first of the 'Friends' to make it into the Hall.

It'll be years in the future, however, but I'm sure he'll feel right at home with the other Fools of April.
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The Emmy for Outstanding Commercial was awarded by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to the Citibank commercial "Outfit" -- directed by Kevin Thomas of Thomas Thomas Films -- in which we see an average joe whose identity has been swiped by a shopping fanatic with a valley girl accent.

This year's winner topped a list of nominees that included the Budweiser Super Bowl spot "Born a Donkey" from Goodby, Silvertein & Partners, directed by Jeff Goodby via Biscuit Filmworks; the Saturn commercial "Door Music," also from Goodby, directed by Anonymous Content's Mark Romanek; United Airlines' animated spot "Interview" from Fallon and ACME Filmworks directors Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis; the Office Max commercial "Rubberband Man" from DDB/Chicago and Anonymous Content's David Kellog; and the Miller spot "Dominoes" from Y&R/Chicago and MJZ director Fredrik Bond.

Of course, these identity-stealing serlinguists in the Citibank commercials are probably alien in origin and are gloating about their evil success to their unseen audience in the real world!
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An updated version of BBC series 'The Antiques Roadshow' is being made, featuring collectable items from the 20th Century.

Alan Titchmarsh will present 'The 20th Century Roadshow', which will examine modern treasures such as lava lamps and art deco jewellery across the UK.

Filming of the BBC One series will begin in October. The program will be broadcast in 2005 to complement 'The Antiques Roadshow', which began in 1983.

The show's executive producer, Simon Shaw, said: "The fascination of the 20th Century is that this is very much a living archive, a period we can all get nostalgic about.

"We're all about to learn what we shouldn't have thrown away!"

Both of these series are linked to the main TV Universe by their American cousin, which was featured and integrated into an episode of 'Frasier'.
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The Top TeleWords of the 2003-04 Television Season
(according to Global Language Monitor @ www.LanguageMonitor.com)

1. You're Fired!
Show: The Apprentice
Comment: Donald Trump's signature phrase
2. Mess O' Potamia
Show: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Comment: More 18-49s get their news from Daily Show than mainstream media
3. Girlie Men
Show: Gov. Schwarzenegger of California
Comment: Transcends politics moving into pop culture
4. God
Show: Joan of Arcadia and Angels in America
Comment: Supreme Being made quite a comeback on the small screen
5. Wardrobe Malfunction
Show: Miss Universe Pageant; Super Bowl XXXVIII
Comment: Recent Miss Universe incident reinforces the phrase
6. Infectious Disease
Show: CSI Franchise
Comment: Evidently nothing can contain the CSI franchise
7. OCD
Show: Monk
Comment: Tony Shaloub's trademark Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
8. The O.C. as a geographic entity
Show: The O.C.
Comment: TV literally is a 'geography of the mind'
9. Extreme Makeover
Show: From any of the reality-show genre
Comment: Both 'extreme' and 'makeover,' in any combination
10. Grim Reaper
Show: Dead Like Me
Comment: Hasn't made such an impact in popular culture since Ingmar Bergman's "Seventh Seal"

Words No Longer Hip
Word: Fahgeddaboutit!
Show: The Sopranos
Comment: Forget about Fahgeddaboutit!
Word: Voted Off the Island
Show: Survivor Series
Comment: Voted off the TeleWord List
Word: " so" as an intensive
Show: Friends
Comment: As in "...so yesterday" or "...so not fair"

Oooops.... I used that one in this post!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

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