0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/18/2015
When portraying a real-life figure in a biopic — especially one that’s fresh in recent memory, such as Steve Jobs — how important is it for the actor playing that role to resemble the actual person? Apparently, that’s not an issue director Danny Boyle is concerned with for his upcoming movie about the Apple co-founder, […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/16/2015
After a certain point, a movie project stops and starts so many times, you can’t help but wonder whether or not it’s really going to happen. The attempted remake/reboot of The Crow is a great example of this. A new version of James O’Barr’s comic book goth avenger has been in the works since 2008, […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/13/2015
Saturday Night Live is taking a three-week hiatus after the March 7 episode hosted by Chris Hemsworth. (Here is Jeremy Klumpp’s recap.) Yet it seemed a bit strange that the show was going into its break without announcing who the next guest host would be when returning on March 28. One weekend later, we know […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/12/2015
Netflix debuted its latest exclusive series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt last weekend. Taking a plunge into sitcoms seemed like a nice change from the hour-long dramas that the network has mostly produced. The series was originally produced for NBC, but ultimately ended up at Netflix, which ordered two seasons.
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/11/2015
Nearly 18 months after FXX canceled his show Totally Biased, comedian W. Kamau Bell will be back on TV and arguably with an even better gig. Bell will host a documentary series on CNN titled The United Shades of America, in which he will “explore the far corners of our country” and its subcultures, according […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/10/2015
Like the cultural phenomenon the Sharknado franchise has become, the cast for the third chapter in this epic trilogy continues to grow. A week after Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban won the role of our nation’s president, and ESPN’s Michelle Beadle successfully hashtagged her way into the production, Sharknado 3 may have […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams got to give it up after a Los Angeles jury ruled that the two songwriters copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up” for their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines.” (That joke was terrible, wasn’t it? We apologize.) Thicke and Williams have to give up $7.5 million, to be exact, […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
You can’t have a good superhero movie or TV show without a great bad guy. The villain might even need to be better — in terms of character and intrigue — than the hero. Sometimes, that can be taken too far, as with the bad guys in the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman movies. […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
When I imagine a former boy genius who’s become a “get off my lawn” recluse because he’s disgusted with the world, George Clooney isn’t the first actor to come to mind for such a role. Director Brad Bird obviously disagreed, casting him as the lead (although Clooney probably casts himself these days) in Tomorrowland. Here […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
A month ago, after Brian Williams had taken himself off NBC Nightly News while the network conducted an investigation into the truthfulness of his involvement with a helicopter attack in Iraq back in 2003, I wrote that the anchor was trying too hard to give himself gravitas as a newscaster. More than that, Williams was […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/9/2015
The superheroic Super Bowl wager between Chris Pratt and Chris Evans has now been settled. Though Evans’ New England Patriots defeated Pratt’s Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, both actors agreed to fulfill the terms of the bet. There were no losers here. In early February, Pratt visited Christopher’s Haven in Boston dressed as Star-Lord, while […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/6/2015
Superhero TV shows are a hot commodity now with the success of Arrow, The Flash and Gotham. (OK, Gotham technically isn’t a superhero show.) And CBS is ready to get into the game with a series based on DC Comics’ Supergirl. Supergirl actually has some cred behind it, as executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
How much of stand-up comedy is based on crowd reaction and interaction with the audience? Obviously, the material itself is extremely important. But a comedian won’t know how those jokes will play until trying them out on people. (This applies to any art form, really. The audience tells you what’s working and what isn’t. And that […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
There have been lots of discussions over the years about the perils and merits of shows that reset everything at the end of each episode, ignoring long-term implications and character growth in favour of a regular status quo. It’s a particularly interesting debate within comedy shows, as some have done very well with extensive use […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 3/5/2015
The Daily Show was already going to be a different program in the next six to 12 months, with Jon Stewart announcing his departure. But the rest of the on-air staff will have some new faces as well. That said, I am ecstatic to announce that I’m about to make another great show over
