July 31, 2009

“Drawn Together’—the basic cable series that invited us to “find out what happens when cartoon characters stop being polite … and start making out in hot tubs”—is scheduled to return in 2010 with a direct-to-DVD release, “Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!”

For three seasons, Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein’s mash-up of reality TV parody and knock-off cartoon characters (Toot Braunstein = Betty Boop) pushed the boundaries of good taste with explicit dialogue, gratuitous violence, kinky sex and black humor that made light of such issues as abortion, spousal abuse and anti-Semitism. (Such good Jewish boys….)

Comedy Central cancelled the show in November 2007, and the creators say the last episode, an “American Idol” parody, isn’t how they envisioned the end of the series.

“That’s not how we wanted to go out,” Silverstein said at Comic-Con.

Going the “Futurama” series-to-film route, Jeser and Silverstein say the “Drawn Together” movie is currently in production, scheduled for a March 2010 release.

“Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!” marks the return of The Jew Producer, who cancels the show without telling the housemates. He continues the reality TV-style competitions for his own amusement until Foxxy Love notices all the housemates can suddenly cuss without being censored. The characters (including Adam Carolla as Spanky Ham) venture to lands like Bedrock, a Fairy Tale Village and the fantastical Make-a-Point Land, hoping to get the series renewed, all the while outrunning enemies hell-bent on keeping them off the air.

In scenes aired at Comic-Con, the film skewers shows like “The Flintstones” and “South Park,” with gross-out humor that managed to make me wince a few times (and that’s saying something!). The executive producers hope strong DVD sales will get the series renewed, so they begged the Comic-Con audience to not share it online .. shortly before a live table read of a not-yet-produced 3D sex scene from the film that was to graphic to recount on this blog.

George Clooney and Jason Scott Lee were going to do it in the 1990s. Kevin Smith was writing a screenplay for it five years ago, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jet Li rumored to star. Now Seth Rogan is hoping to star in and get “The Green Hornet” on the big screen … if he can just get past the directorial and casting issues. 

Grand-nephew of the Lone Ranger (give yourself 10 points if you knew who that was without going to Wikipedia), the Green Hornet was a masked crime fighter from the 1930s who appeared on radio and television and in comics. The series’ one redeeming cool factor – and the likely motivation behind why this project endures—is that Bruce Lee played Kato in the 1960s television series.

On the plus side, there probably won’t be a lot of “Green Hornet” fans for Rogan to upset when he goes comedy with it. (BTW, Kids today love heroes from their grandparents’ era! Just look at how well Will Eisner’s ‘The Spirit’ did at the box office when it was released last year.)

Rogan is writing the script with longtime friend and collaborator Evan Goldberg, and the action-comedy is set for a June 25, 2010 release. Hong Kong action star Stephen Chow was slated to both direct and star as Kato, but walked away from the project in December. Columbia recently announced director Michel Gondry will helm the film, and there’s “buzz” about Nicholas Cage and Cameron Diaz joining the cast. Since last weekend’s Comic-Con unveiling of Black Beauty – that would be the Green Hornet’s car – rumors are starting to swirl that Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo is up for the part of Kato.

In “World War Robot,” a graphic novel by Ashely Wood (“Tank Girl,” “Judge Dredd”), the human race is divided over religion and politics, waging war between Earth and Mars, with giant robots making the battles more intense. During Comic-Con, Jerry Bruckheimer closed a deal with Wood to secure the feature rights, Variety reports.

A “World War Robot” game for the iPhone/Touch is already in the works with Newtoy.

In January, io9 interviewed the other half of “World War Robot,” Jon Gibson, who discussed the graphic novel and its impressive toy line, designed by Wood and produced by Bigshot Toyworks and Threezeronline.

So what`s the storyline of World War Robot? What`s it about?
A dwindling band of humans and robots battle it out in what`ll probably end humanity as we know it – on Earth, Mars, and the Moon. Badass battles, really intense human/robot drama, plus it gets kinda political. And we`re attempting a little experiment with a different kind of humor. This war is the tail end of the worst things imaginable – epic catastrophes. So the comic is also dosed with a bit of “desperation comedy.” Like laughing while you`re crying.

What comes after that? Further plans for the World War Robot?
It`s all leading up to the release of the first WWR toy, a figure called Bertie that rocks. It`s 1/6th scale, stands 14 inches tall, and has an amazing 43 fucking points of articulation! That`s more moveable joints than grandma!

What`s it like working with Ashley?
Ash is so fucking talented. We`ve been trying to do something together for years on the comic front. He used to do a page-strip for me every month when I edited Play Magazine about 6 years ago – a spin-off of his incredible “Popbot” series. We`d met at E3 while he was working on art for Konami`s Contra: Shattered Soldier, and the rest is robot history.

Sony has released its first trailer for Ruben Fleischer’s “Zombieland,” an action-horror-comedy set in a world overrun by – you guessed it – zombies.

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) doesn’t have fears. If he did, he’d kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they’re about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other.

Also available in high definition at Apple.

“Zombieland” is due out Oct. 9.

Fox is premiering the first season of it “Fame”/“High School Musical”/ “mockumentary” hybrid “Glee” will be Wednesday, September 9. One of the characters to watch is Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), who refuses to let a slight speech impediment get in the way of her singing. TPTB at Fox have wisely paired it with the premiere of the popular “So You Think You Can Dance,” which, I think, highlights a far more talented crop of young people than “American Idol.”

To watch the pilot episode that ran last spring, click ” title=”fox.com/glee” target=”_blank”>fox.com/glee.

It was grouper that brought down L.A. chef Suzanne Tracht on Bravo’s cooking competition, “Top Chef Masters.” The owner of Jar (8225 Beverly Boulevard), who chose Sova food pantry as her charity of choice for the show, won her slot in the second episode by defeating three other chefs, but was the first of the six chefs to be eliminated in the championship round (she lost by ½ a star). 

To check out Tracht’s take on Chanukah fare, visit ” title=”http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters” target=”_blank”>http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters.

Over on “More to Love” aka “The Bachelor with more curves,” Luke has met the 25 women who were view for his heart and said so long to five of them. One of the remaining 20 is Tali, 26 (whose weight is listed as 190, although for a show that is supposed to be about more inner beauty, I can’t understand why we should care how much she weighs.) She is originally from Israel, now lives in New York and works as motivational speaker, which will probably come in handy as sone of the other girls on the show have little no self-esteem. Whether Tali makes it to the finals remains to be seen, however, upcoming scenes show Luke telling her something to the effect of “you knew starting this that you wouldn’t be the only girl I was seeing.”

The show airs Tuesday nights on Fox.  For more information and to watch the first episode, visit ” title=”http://www.usanetwork.com/series/royalpains/” target=”_blank”>http://www.usanetwork.com/series/royalpains.

It must be in the air.

Our ” title=”opined” target=”_blank”> opined about the role of teacher accountability and the need for teachers unions to participate in the changes that are around the corner:

Now that politicians are speaking up for students, their next task must be to engage California teachers in meaningful discussions about how to shape accountability in ways that make sense in the classroom. Student scores are obviously part of a teacher’s job, but they should not be the only issue, or even the single most important one. Nor should low-performing teachers be summarily fired, but tenure robs administrators of the authority to compel improvement. If union leaders want a role in these discussions, they’ll need to abandon their hidebound positions and take a place at the reform table.

Today the New York Times Teachers Unions and Change–Again Read More »