Slow News Day: If You Hate Edgar Wright, Ed Helms, Todd Phillips, and Matthew Broderick...DON'T Read This. DON'T.

ITEM: Edgar Wright, currently touring the country with his so-called "secret" Hot Fuzz Q&As, has revealed that Fuzz is the second film in a planned trilogy of genre exercises, and that he and Simon Pegg are already in the early stages of the final entry. Now he's telling Rotten Tomatoes that he might be interested in developing his hysterical Don't faux-trailer into a feature film that would maintain the same level of European-style horror confusion for 90 minutes. Could Don't be the elusive third film? Probably not, if Grindhouse's numbers don't pick up this week...

ITEM: Speaking of poor numbers... yes, the rumors are sadly true. Andy Barker, P.I. has not only been unceremoniously canned, but the remaining episodes have been immediately ripped from the schedule, and the final two, arguably the best of the series, will air instead this Saturday night while no one's watching (but remember, you can watch all six episodes on NBC's website at any time). Meanwhile, Raines is still at large.

ITEM: Time for the Daily Apatow News Break. Ed Helms, of The Daily Show and The Office, will co-write and star in A Whole New Hugh for producer Judd Apatow, based on an original pitch by Helms and TV writers Jake Fleisher and Ian Berger. It's the story of a depressed failure who gets a much needed ego boost when his friends pitch in to give him a fake success story. Helms just finished off a small role in another of Judd's films (Walk Hard), which seems to be the only prerequisite to getting your own Apatow Production these days. He'll also appear (as previously reported) in Starship Dave and Evan Almighty. Meanwhile, the long-delayed sci-fi comedy First Time Caller, now known as I'll Believe You, is finally due to release this September, and features Helms as well as Patrick Warburton, Fred Willard, Chris Elliott, and Helms' former co-correspondent Mo Rocca.

ITEM: Todd Phillips, probably still kicking himself for leaving Borat, is producing The Chadster, and is all but confirmed to direct as well. If so, he'll be working for the first time on someone else's screenplay, instead of with his own writing partner Scot Armstrong. Chadster is written by British filmmaker Michael Samonek, and involves a Best Man whose position is challenged when the groom's long-lost former best friend shows up with a bag full of wacky hijinx. No word on the stars, but if it isn't Owen Wilson, Jon Heder, or Seann William Scott, we'll be damn surprised. Meanwhile, word on the street is that there's a new draft of Old School Dos floating around...

ITEM: Sherwood Kiraly will adapt his own quirky novel Diminished Capacity into a family dramedy, to be directed by Oz's Terry Kinney. It's the story of a brain-damaged man, the high school sweetheart he can't remember, and his Alzheimer's-impaired uncle, all traveling to a Cubs game in hope of getting some quick cash off a rare baseball card. Doesn't sound too shabby, actually, especially when Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda, and Virginia Madsen have just signed on board. See if you can guess who plays who... (hint: Alan Alda is old.)

Slow News Day: Kimmel Forever, AndyRichter.com, God's Debut, Coogan's Doo Doo, 1 Trailer for the Price of 10

ITEM: Quickly stunting rumors of his impending doom, ABC has signed a deal with Jimmy Kimmel to keep him on through 2010, which may include bumping up his start time to compete with Conan after Leno's departure in 2009.

ITEM: NBC will post the entire first season (a half-order six-episode run) of producer/co-writer Conan O'Brien's anticipated Andy Barker P.I. on its website before the TV premiere next month, following a similar move by FOX for The Winner. The sixth episode will be exclusive to web viewers.

ITEM: The previously reported improv game show Thank God You're Here will premiere on April 18, taking the Friday Night Lights spot, and they've added Fred Willard, Jason Alexander, Tom Green, Fran Drescher, and Tom Arnold to the already impressive guest list.

ITEM: Variety reveals that Steve Coogan is working with up-and-comer Charlyne Yi on adapting her Kaufmanesque, kid-friendly variety show The Doo Doo Show, but they have no details on what exactly that means. Will it be a movie, a series, or another live incarnation? We have many more questions than answers.

ITEM: There's a strange-ass new trailer for The Ten (#7 on our 30 Most Anticipated Comedies of 2007) that takes the well-worn comedy teaser concept of "pretend you're dead serious, and just when the audience is fooled, reveal the big stupid comedy" to an almost dangerously ambiguous level...if that's even what they're going for. You can check it out right here:

Richter Finally Barks Up Right Tree

You may remember Andy Barker P.I. from last year's pilot season announcements, where it was being developed as a mid-season replacement for NBC and subsequently never spoken of again. Fortunately, it's been thrust back into being, premiering on March 15 while 30 Rock takes a short hiatus until April 19, at which point Barker will either jump to a new timeslot, or be tossed in the trash like the much-lamented Andy Richter Controls the Universe and the not-so-lamented Quintuplets.

Richter plays an accountant who moves into a mall office formerly occupied by a private investigator, and decides to indulge himself by taking on cases from the detective's belated customers. It also stars Arrested Development's Tony Hale, and most excitingly reunites Richter with former staring contest partner Conan O'Brien, who will serve as executive producer, and co-wrote the pilot episode with Jonathan Groff.

The show's website used to feature a clip, but it's been removed. We tried to do some detective work of our own to track it down, but the search was fruitless, so you'll just have to wait until March.

There's still no news on Conan's other pilot, Haskett's Chance, which would follow a seedy, dishonest politician who gets a second chance on life when he's killed and reincarnated as a homeless man. The (unproduced?) pilot features Cary Elwes, Dylan Baker, and Missi Pyle, with Tim Blake Nelson directing. It's also been announced as a drama, but between O'Brien involvement and Elwes' terrible acting, there's bound to be a few laughs in there.

LINK

This Week in Funny - 1/15/07 - 1/21/07

Monday, January 15:



The cast of Little Miss Sunshine on The Ellen Degeneres Show
Amy Sedaris on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

Tuesday, January 16:

New on DVD: Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt’s The Animation Show 1&2 Box Set (click here to buy)
New Campus Ladies: “Safety First” (Oxygen)
Tracy Morgan and Jim Gaffigan on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC)

Wednesday, January 17:



Series Premiere The Naked Trucker & T-Bones Show: “Demo Tape” (Comedy Central)
Tina Fey on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)
Naked Trucker & T-Bones on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

Thursday, January 18:

New My Name is Earl: “Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck” (NBC)
New The Office: “The Return” (NBC)
New Scrubs: “My Musical” (NBC)
New 30 Rock: “The Head and the Hair” (NBC)
Harry Shearer on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)
Chevy Chase on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)
Tony Shalhoub on Live With Regis and Kelly

Friday, January 19:



Season Premiere Monk: “Mr. Monk Meets a Friend” w/ guest star Andy Richter (USA)
Season Premiere Psych: “Forget Me Not” (USA)
Sarah Silverman on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)

Sunday, January 21:

New Extras: Episode 2.2 with David Bowie (HBO)

Live Comedy Watch:



1/15: Rob Corddry at the UCB Theater in LA
1/16: Zach Galifianakis and Matt Besser at the UCB Theater in LA
1/16-1/19: Tenacious D in Australia
1/17-1/19: Ricky Gervais at Festival Theater in Edinburgh, UK
1/17 Fred Armisen at the UCB Theater in NYC
1/18 Human Giant at the UCB Theater in LA
1/19 Jim Gaffigan at Lyric Opera House in Baltimore
1/20 Jim Gaffigan at Taft Theater in Cincinnati
1/20 The Tomorrow Show at the Steve Allen Theater in LA
1/21 Free ASSSSCAT show at the UCB Theater in LA
1/21 Free ASSSSCAT show at the UCB Theater in NYC