Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Human Giant Hijacks MTV



We don't know how something as original, subversive, and hysterical as The Human Giant can be so successful, but apparently it is, because MTV is letting the group take over their network (and its sequel channel) for 24 hours this weekend starting Friday at noon. This sounds as crazy on MTV's part as parents leaving their six-year-old twins in charge of the house for the weekend, but you the viewer get to reap the rewards. Aziz Ansari assures that they have free reign to do whatever they want to do for 24 hours, including airing any show they want and inviting any guest they want, so of course they've invited a superteam of comic heroes like Bob Odenkirk, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Showalter, Jon Benjamin, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Jon Glaser, Eugene Mirman, Andy Blitz, and Rob Riggle, many of whom have already appeared on the sketch show. There will also be musical guests and, presumably, some Human Giant episodes or something. The Crazy Police will be on call in case, you know, things get too crazy.

Join them live at your television set for the full extravaganza if you can, because there's not a whole lot of 24-hour torrents out there.

Slow News Day: Eli Roth Fakes It, Berkley Breathed Makes New Opuses, Gary Cole Takes a Road Trip, and Bruce Plays the Piano

ITEM: Eli Roth is talking about following Grindhouse with a full movie of fake trailers, which he would call Trailer Trash. He tells Collider magazine that he wants to make something as ridiculous and over-the-top as Borat, and he wants to bring along Grindhouse buddies Robert Rodriguez and Edgar Wright. But he can say all he wants, and it will still be hard to get a studio to sign on after Grindhouse's sad, unfortunate B.O. numbers.

ITEM: Bloom County and Opus creator Berkley Breathed has had an Opus film gestating in animation development hell for many years now, but Gore Verbinski and Robert Zemeckis aren't waiting any longer. This website claims the directors are interested in bringing, respectively, his misfit animal tribute picture book Flawed Dogs and his sci-fi parenthood epic Mars Needs Moms to the big screen as CGI kiddie blockbusters. That sounds great and all, but whatever happened with that rumor about Bill Watterson hand-animating his own independent Calvin and Hobbes feature?

ITEM: The great Gary Cole and Jennifer Coolidge have signed on to join indie scream queen Agnes Bruckner playing a broken family trio in David Moreton's game show slash road trip comedy Say Hello to Stan Talmadge. Moreton worked with Coolidge before on an obscure gay-interest comedy called Testosterone, but pairing her with a cult character actor like Cole should easily open this up to a bigger audience.

ITEM: Speaking of cult actors, surely you haven't forgotten Bruce Campbell's recent stint as the suave new spokesman for Old Spice, and you'll be glad to know that the manly fragrance is airing a second chapter, which is even better than the first. Enjoy...

Friday, May 11, 2007

Night of 1000 Pilots



If you've like us, you've probably been wondering what the hell's going on with the multitude of long-gestating new Adult Swim shows, some of which were announced over a year ago. This weekend, they solve the problem once and for all by simply throwing up the whole batch. Six premiere episodes are online now, and will hit Cartoon Network in the upcoming regular Sunday night block. Make sure to cast your vote online to help along your favorites, or to put your enemies out of a job.

Included this adult-friendly baby shower are the superbly drawn Superjail, featuring the voice of David Wain as a Wonka-like warden of an unofficial, malevolent fantasy prison, Tony Millionaire's gloriously pessimistic comic-strip spin-off The Drinky Crow Show, featuring Mad TV and Office Space star David Herman and voice-over extraordinaire Billy West, David Banner's rap-happy tribute to Southern Gothic weirdness That Crook'd Sipp, the ripped-from-the-web Reboot knock-off Fat Guy Stuck in the Internet, and the iffy live/animation hybrid Let's Fish, starring 30 Rock's Scott Adsit and Brendon "Dethklok" Small. There's also a painstaking, sepiatoned short documentary about the voice of Space Ghost, George Lowe, which seems to only be included to hit an even six.

Fat Guy and Superjail have supposedly already been picked up for series, along with the upcoming Lucy, Daughter of the Devil, which aired its pilot early last year. Korgoth of Barbaria is still hanging in limbo. The non-inclusion of other rumored pilots like Western Times and Evan Dorkin's Tyrone's Inferno probably means they're dead and buried. Pour a little out for them, Drinky.