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.)

Where Are They Now: Freaks and Geeks Edition, Part Two

Read Part One here.

Joe Flaherty (Harold Weir): Comedy legend Joe Flaherty quickly jumped onto a recurring role on The King of Queens, and is now apparently hosting an Adult Swim-style animation showcase called Uncle Joe’s Cartoon Playhouse for some obscure Canadian station called Bite TV (you can watch a promo here) . The pilot has already been picked up for series, and may be imported to the States soon. He’s also currently filming a wacky kiddie camp flick called Summerhood with Christopher McDonald. Meanwhile, the latest edition of Shout Factory’s SCTV discs is a best-of compilationfeaturing new commentary from Flaherty.

Becky Ann Baker (Jean Weir): Becky is a longtime character actor who’s had no problem racking lots of dramatic roles since playing Sam and Linday’s pleasant, rosy, and frequently embarrassing mother, from multiple Law & Order appearances to a starring role in last year’s controversial Death of a President. She does however appear in the low-budget teen comedy Gretchen, also starring Stephen Root, which made the festival rounds recently and will hopefully land on DVD soon.

Sarah Hagan (Millie Kentner): Playing the uber-geek on Freaks paved the way for Hagan to play a recurring, D&D-loving uber-geek on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final season, until she was eaten by a mega-vamp. Since then, she landed a juicy role on a (probably angst-filled) episode of Grey’s Anatomy, and now she’ll be appearing in a small supporting role with Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, and Rachel Dratch in the middle-aged dance party Spring Breakdown, which is set for release early next year.

Dave “Gruber” Allen (Jeff Rosso): Dave was belting out comedy classics semi-professionally long before he treated our boys to his smoking acoustic Alice Cooper covers, as the naked half of the LA live staple Naked Trucker and T-Bones, which has now of course blossomed into an over-advertised, cameo-plastered cable variety show. He’ll also team up with Zach Galifianakis in a new concert film by Jon Brion, another mainstay of Hollywood’s live music (and sometimes comedy) scene. No word yet on whether his minor cult classic Comedy Central series Higgins Boys and Gruber will ever see the light of day on DVD.

Steve Bannos (Frank Kowchevski): Kowchevski, who also wrote for the show, continued roaming high school halls in the Nickelodeon series Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide (Declassified to its true fans), but recently left for a role in the amusing but quickly cancelled Ted Danson group-therapy sitcom Help Me Help You. Meanwhile, his good buddies Paul Feig and Judd Apatow have been keeping him more than busy with quick and easy film roles in 40-Year-Old Virgin, Unaccompanied Minors, and the upcoming Drillbit Taylor, and he’ll also appear with Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Will Arnett, Rob Corddry, Andy Richter, Andy Daly, and a ton of other hilarious people in next year’s anticipated Semi-Pro.

Stephen Lea Sheppard (Harris Trinsky): After scoring a major (and friggin’ hysterical) role in The Royal Tenenbaums, this king-of-the-geeks seems to have willfully withdrawn from acting to focus instead on writing werewolf-themed role-playing games, meaning he’s closed the gap more than anyone here on the difference between his character and his real life activities. (EDIT: Oops, Sheppard himself just informed us that he actually works on Exalted, which is a mythical fantasy RPG. No werewolves. Sorry to misinform, and our thanks to Stephen!)

Tom Wilson (Coach Ben Fredricks): Known a million times better for shouting at Marty McFly than for wooing Haverchuck’s mom, Wilson’s had no trouble keeping hella busy maintaining a hella bizarre resume, from providing all manner of voices for Spongebob to nabbing supporting roles in grating Hollywood shitfests Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector and Zoom. He also joined Steve Bannos on the short-lived Help Me Help You. But more importantly (to him, anyway), he’s been pushing himself as a live comedian with his own…special brand of…musical…er, comedy… which you can watch at his personal web site, and even buy his new CD Tom Wilson is Funny!, although we’re a bit more partial toward his other hobby, painting pop art.

Jake Kasdan (Director/Consulting Producer): Kasdan, who directed the pilot and most other key episodes, has continued to follow his famous father’s footsteps, directing Orange County and The TV Set, the latter of which opened in limited theaters today, and whose lead character is openly based on Judd Apatow. The film follows the trials and tribulations of working with network heads on a labor-of-love TV show, which is based heavily on real-life experiences behind the scenes of Freaks, and also possibly from Kasdan’s failed Alan Cumming pilot based on his fantastic debut film, The Zero Effect. Now Kasdan is filming his next movie, the absolutely delicious sounding musical bio-pic spoof Walk Hard, co-written and produced by Apatow.

Judd Apatow (Director/Writer/Executive Producer): Apatow has gone on to become literally the biggest name in contemporary comedy. Maybe you’ve heard of him. After following up Freaks with the similarly themed, similarly beloved, and similarly cancelled Undeclared, Apatow tried to get two other series off the ground, Life on Parole and Sick in the Head (working with Freaks creator Paul Feig on the latter), before giving up on TV altogether and instead making The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which made about a trillion dollars and is frequently called the best comedy of the century so far. Meanwhile, he continued exerting the producing muscle he exerted on Freaks, the Larry Sanders Show, and the Ben Stiller Show into film, producing all of the Adam McKay/Will Ferrell vehicles and fleshing out his Apatow Productions company into a machine gun of comic quality. He has now set up no less than seven upcoming projects, including all the ones we’ve already mentioned in other sections of this feature, plus the Adam Sandler vehicle You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, which Apatow wrote with Sandler and Robert Smigel. His next project as writer/director, Knocked Up, comes out this summer, and will surely blow you away.

Paul Feig (Writer/Producer/Series Creator): Feig quickly fell into directing after the end of the series, with the indie melodrama I Am David, as well as many episodes of Arrested Development and the American Office. Last Christmas saw the release of his critically panned family holiday flick Unaccompanied Minors, filled with several friendly faces to F&G fans and comedy fans in general. Next he’ll direct Stargirl, based on a teen-friendly novel about a popular high school boy and the quirky underdog girl who loves him. If that’s not familiar territory, what is?

Next week: Arrested Development

Do You Superbad?

Superbad, somehow only the second most anticipated Judd Apatow related comedy of the year, has gone and got itself an official movie site. Right now you can download a screensaver and stare at a countdown clock, but word on the street is that the place will soon become as happening as the high school keg parties depicted in the film. And oh yeah, there's also the first trailer. Nothing super bad about that, provided you have a functioning US driver's license to get through Sony's creepy childproof digi-lock.

The film, directed by Undeclared vet Gregg Mottola and written by the great Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, releases August 17. Star Michael Cera also has Jason Reitman's Juno and the sketch film Parental Guidance Suggested coming later this year, and his new web series, Clark and Michael, premieres this month at CBS.com. The latter is a mockumentary following Cera and best friend Clark Duke living the high life based on an indefinite pilot greenlight, and features everyone under the sun, including Arrested Development pals David Cross and Tony Hale, plus Andy Richter, Patton Oswalt, Tim and Eric, and Superbad co-star Jonah Hill, who will match Cera's gusto with appearances in the surefire hit Evan Almighty and the Danny DeVito comedy One Part Sugar, as well as lending his voice to the star-studded CGI Seussage fest Horton Hears a Who. You also may have caught him in the premiere episode of Human Giant, and you'll see him the aforementioned other Apatow production, Knocked Up. Hey, who needs college?

Where Are They Now?: Freaks and Geeks Edition, Part One

Here's a new feature at the Comedyblog where we track all the members of certain circles to see what they're up to. We'll start, appropriately, with Freaks and Geeks, the infamous starting point for a new generation of actors, and the point where Judd Apatow started his climb to becoming arguably the biggest name in contemporary comedy. It also happens to be one of the greatest and most lamentably cancelled shows in history. Part Two comes tomorrow.

John Francis Daley (Sam Weir): After starring with Ryan Reynolds in the box office bomb Waiting… and the quickly cancelled culinary comedy series Kitchen Confidential, John is getting back on the horse with The Call, a recently announced pilot about a group of paramedics who “save other people’s lives while screwing up each other’s.” Meanwhile, 5-25-77, the long-delayed autobiographical story of a bunch of nerds seeing Star Wars for the first time, is finally due to be released “as close to 5-25-07 as possible,” according to Patrick Read Johnson, the writer and director portrayed by Daley in the film. Daley will also appear in an episode of Michael Cera’s web series Clark and Michael, premiering on CBS Innertube later this year.

Linda Cardellini (Lindsay Weir): Her dramatic turn in Brokeback Mountain has sent her over to the other side, becoming a regular on ER and starring in a new chapter of the long-running Lonesome Dove series. But comedy fans surely recognized her in the premiere episode of the fantastic new sketch show Human Giant. Oh, and she also shows up on Robot Chicken from time to time, probably getting dry-clay-humped by Scooby Doo.

Samm Levine (Neal Schweiber): Levine has become the king of quick and hilarious TV cameos, from Undeclared to Entourage to Family Guy to Veronica Mars, and occasionally dips his toes into the film scene as well, whether it’s being the creepy pool kid in Club Dread or providing geeky tech explanations in the less-than-well-received horror flop Pulse, a film for which he was the only actor who bothered to show up for the commentary track, a fact he’s more than ready to be self-effacing about. Levine also stars with Seth Macfarlane and Alexis Bledel in the short film Life is Short, hitting festivals around the country starting this month, and has supporting appearances in two upcoming features, the Amanda Bynes tweener laffer Sydney White, and the gay-themed dramedy Anderson’s Cross.

Martin Starr (Bill Haverchuck): Starr has kept relatively busy basically taking extra work in all manner of TV and movies, almost exclusively playing characters with numbers after their names. But this summer, he’ll join Segel and Rogen in Knocked Up, playing a nappily bearded roommate which leads to the funniest beard jokes you’ll ever hear in cinemas. Then he’ll join Tom Arnold in the questionably titled Good Dick, and then it’s back to numbers playing Dude #5 in Seth Rogen’s Superbad. Superbad’s Michael Cera has also thrown Starr a guest spot on his new web series Clark and Michael, which also features John Daley.

Jason Segel (Nick Andopolis): Several years after FOX decided he was too wild and subversive to topline Apatow’s original vision for Undeclared, Segel is now making a good living out of starring in the blandly enjoyable traditional CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, with the bonus privilege of getting to pretend to fuck Buffy babe Alyson Hannigan. He also has an occasional recurring character on CSI, so take that, FOX. Segel is also one of the already legendary Roommates in Apatow’s upcoming masterpiece Knocked Up, and he’ll work with Apatow yet again when he stars in his own script for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, playing a jilted ex-lover who tries to escape his depression through a Hawaiian vacation, only to discover his ex visiting the same island with her new boyfriend. Apatow will produce with first-time director Nicholas Stoller, a Strangers with Candy writer who also worked with the pair on Undeclared. And the girlfriend’s played by Lake Bell, whose Veronica Mars featured Samm Levine! Small world!

James Franco (Daniel Desario): Now much better known for his superhero vendetta than for sharing porn with clueless geeks, Franco is keeping more than busy with a multitude of overblown melodrama projects in the works. However, he still shows his proud comedy roots here and there, writing, directing, and starring in the wholly bizarre-looking direct-to-video chimp flick The Ape, and also recently sighted at Sundance in the Bruce Lee send-up Finishing the Game, starring alongside MC Hammer (multiple exclamation points and question marks). He recently finished filming Camille, a darkly comic adventure about a thief and his deadly sham marriage, also starring Sienna Miller and David Carradine. And now, most exciting of all, he’s filming The Pineapple Express, his return to both producer Judd Apatow and co-star Seth Rogen, in a stoner action buddy comedy written by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg, and directed by indie hero David Gordon Green.

Seth Rogen (Ken Miller): Where to start? The monotone schlub who arguably got the biggest laughs on the series went on to getting the biggest laughs of Undeclared as well, and even picked up writing a few of the show’s best episodes. That talent got him a gig on Da Ali G Show, and then Apatow cast him as one of the leads in the gargantuan-mega-hit 40-Year-Old Virgin, where he was so funny that studio heads quickly cast him as the only mildly amusing character in You, Me, and Dupree, and now he’s on his way to becoming an A-list headliner with his critically lauded performance in Knocked Up. Apatow is also turning his writing career with high school chum Evan Goldberg into a second career, producing their scripts for the autobiographical Superbad, John Hughes’ kid-comedy Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson, and The Pineapple Express, which will star Rogen and Franco. That’s three Rogen scripts within a year of each other. He’ll also have smaller acting roles in Fanboys and the family fantasy The Spiderwick Chronicles, as well as lending his voice to Horton Hears a Who along with Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Superbad star Jonah Hill. That’s almost as busy as Green Goblin Jr. up there!

Busy Philipps (Kim Kelly): Joining the cast of insanely popular teen soap Dawson’s Creek has made Busy a constant mainstay of various television, lending voices, like many of these guys, to Seth Macfarlane’s various animated projects, and headlining the girly UPN sitcom Love, Inc., which wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been due to the involvement of several Upright Citizens Brigade favorites. Now that it’s been cancelled, she’s joined Cardellini at ER. Strangely enough, Philipps actually developed the story line for Blades of Glory, currently the #1 movie in the country. Yes, it was Kim Kelly who thought of two dudes skating together. These freaks pop up everywhere.

Slow News Day: Apatow Appoints M.C. D.A., Ferrell Orders HBO, Starship Lands Friedlander, Birdman Takes a Bow

ITEM: David Krumholtz, a nice-guy character actor frequently utilized by Ed Burns and Judd Apatow, is following Jason Segel's plan and writing himself his own movie for generous Judd's Apatow Productions. Attorneys at Raw follows two lawyers who decide to become rappers. Here's hoping Judd keeps a close watch on that dumb-ass plot. Meanwhile, Krumholtz has been cast in the other, more foolproof musical Apatow comedy Walk Hard.

ITEM: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's previously announced pilot, P.E., has been picked up for series by HBO, and simultaneously stripped down to untitled status. The show follows a former athlete lowered to coaching high school gym. Ferrell is expected to make frequent guest appearances, but the show is otherwise officially uncast.

ITEM: Judah Friedlander, best known for nerding it up in American Splendor and 30 Rock, has joined the cast of the still dubious Starship Dave, joining Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, and Ed Helms in the sci-fi comedy written by MST3K's Bill Corbett and directed by the man who brought you Norbit (and refuses to take it back).

ITEM: The third and final season of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law will hit DVD shelves on July 24, featuring deleted scenes and a digital comic book. We're not sure what a digital comic book is, either. If you're keeping score, this show's cancellation brings Adult Swim's surviving original lineup down to one.

Adam Sandler Returns to Funny After 10-Year Absence

When you hear that Adam Sandler is working on a movie about an Israeli spy who fakes his own death to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a hairstylist, it doesn't exactly merit excitement. Fantastic, a film that will allow Sandler to ham up both a gay accent and an Arab accent in one big sloppy run.

But when you hear that Sandler wrote the screenplay with Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel...well, that changes things entirely. That's cause for a celebration.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan starts filming this summer, after Smigel finishes a quick rewrite, and Columbia Pictures hopes to have it ready for next summer.

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Larry Sanders' Awkward Farewell

The New York Times has posted an extensive piece on Garry Shandling, including details of an upcoming box set called Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show, which will contain 24 episodes pulled from all six seasons of the seminal HBO series. While it's disappointing and messy to see the first season DVD followed up by a hits collection instead of further complete releases, fans can be partially consoled by Shandling's intense involvement in tricking out the four-disc collection, namely with a series of hand-held interviews with many of the show's stars and guests, including Jeffrey Tambor, Rip Torn, Jerry Seinfeld, Alec Baldwin, Jon Stewart, David Duchovny, Carol Burnett, Sharon Stone, and Tom Petty. But don't expect a lot of dull trips down memory lane... Instead, Shandling uses the tool as a peace offering for many of the actors, since he's withdrawn from social life since the end of the show and feels he owes an apology to the folks he's been ignoring. Many are former close friends he's meeting, on camera, for the first time in years, and the footage sounds strange and fascinating, from a semi-vindictive boxing match with Baldwin, to an awkward conversation with his violently estranged fiancée Linda Doucett.

There's also a new documentary on the set, which brings the total feature count to eight hours.

The Sanders Show, which followed the behind-the-scenes foibles of a late-night talk show of the same name, paved the way for single-camera, laugh-track-free comedies, and practically invented the "meta" style later seen in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Extras, allowing actors to play blown-up versions of their public image. It also launched Tambor and writer/producer Judd Apatow to new levels of notoriety.

Arnett and Fischer Answer Casting Call

Will Arnett and Jenna Fischer have signed on for supporting roles in two hotly antipated comedies, Semi-Pro and Walk Hard. Arnett will play a sports announcer for Will Ferrell's ill-fated basketball team, while Fischer will play a June Carter type to John C. Reilly's pseudo-Cash in Judd Apatow and Jake and Kasdan's musical biopic spoof. Both films are set for release in 2008.

Arnett has been keeping mad busy since the unfortunate Arrested Development termination, with The Brothers Solomon, Hot Rod, Blades of Glory, and Spring Breakdown all in post-production for release this year. He's also attached to star in Dax Shepard's epic hot-tub-salesmen tale Get 'Em Wet, and as the titular role in Ali G Show writer James Bobin's Jeff the Demon. Last April, it was also announced that he had sold a pitch to DreamWorks for The Ambassador, in which he would star as the son of the Vice President, who makes an ass of himself overseas as an American representative. That one's to be written by Michael Schur, currently writing for the American Office.

Which brings us brack to Office star Fischer, who's currently in the midst of that show's third season, as well as starring in another Reilly vehicle, Quebec, as Seann William Scott's character's wife. She also has small roles in, um, The Brothers Solomon and Blades of Glory. Small world.

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Judd Apatow and Dan Mazer's Secret

Judd Apatow, a man who apparently can't fry his morning bacon without attaching his name to three features, has signed on to produce the directorial debut of Dan Mazer, best known for his writing on Borat and its father TV series, as well as on Comedy Central's Dog Bites Man.

Both are being tight-lipped about the project, only explaining that it's a "broad, out-there comedy.

Untitled Out There Project will probably start filming after Mazer finishes work on Borat's follow-up, Bruno. He's also doing a rewrite on New Year's Steve, about a family who tries to outdo each other with the most ridiculous New Year's resolutions they can think of.

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Hard Times Ahead for John C. Reilly

Jake Kasdan's previously announced Walk Hard will begin filming in January. Kasdan and his former Freaks and Geeks collaborator Judd Apatow co-wrote the script, which will star John C. Reilly as folk star Dewey Cox. Reilly will sing himself, as he did in Chicago and A Prairie Home Companion.

Kasdan recently finished The TV Set, which is slated for theaters next April. Apatow has more projects in the works than the Comedyblog has room to name.

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