Pajiba

Keanu would suck as James "Speed" Racer, but a cool ass Mark V will make it all better!

Dustin, I support you in boycott of anything Lohan-related unless absolutely needed.

And you know she just said that to get a rise out of people -- cram the pie hole, Missy.

YES. THANK YOU.

Also: get your hands off my Welsh poet, woman. Humph.

can we organize a worldwide boycott of paris hilton, too please? every time I see her picture I feel my blood pressure go up as I am forced to swallow my rage.

I liked Sports Night back in the day. Granted, the writing was stiff and akward and hackeneyed, but it was otherwise a fun little treat that time forgot. I never watched the West Wing, but I had assumed by all the fanfare that Sorkin's talents were finally being trimmed and honed and, once I heard about Studio 60 coming out, I was excited to see how far he had come.

Honestly? It's like he moved backwards. One of my least favorite Sports Night moments is where Jeremy gives an intensely over-long and melodramatic speech about why hunting bothers him.

All of the dialogue in Studio 60 feels like that speech over and over, back and forth between characters throughout the entire hour. I want to like it, I really do. But hackeneyed and ham-fisted are not only still there, but it's cheesier and wordier and more "look at me, look at me, I'm writing DRAMA" than ever.

And yet, I can't stop watching it. Someone help me.

First, amen brotha to Lohan-less writing. She sucks...or blows....or...I just hate her. Yes, and Parasite H. too, peace pipe. LOVE the shout out to Alex from Everything is Illuminated (my 4 fave words....."officious seeing eye bitch"). And, quite frankly, in view of some of the drek on TV, I would personally welcome a TV adaptation of "Shakes the Clown," just to relive the joy of some kid pissing on Bobcat weekly.....

Oh, and Faces of Death were FAKE?????????? OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!!!

I pretty much agree with the above comments, in that "Studio 60..." isn't quite living up to the expectations that I had going into the show, but I do feel that it is a show that needs to grow into its own. For some reason I just think that given another season or so, this has the potential to become one of the best shows on television.

(As an aside, above commentor Mitch Clem, is that you, Mitch, of NN2S and SARC? Just wonderin'!)

Mitch Clem NAILED it! I think I've been watching Studio 60 because I felt I had to, not so much because I have enjoyed it. It sits on the Tivo for about a week before my fiance and I can make ourselves sit down and be lectured. Watching Studio 60 just makes me want to Netflix the West Wing DVDs and see what all the hype was about.

About 5 years ago one of my friends bought Faces of Death 1-5 on eBay and a group of us all sat down to watch the tapes. I ate pizza through the entire thing, none of that crap bothered me at all.

Is that bad?

I should probably be embarrassed to be correcting you on this, but it's Hood of Horrors, not House of Horrors.

Publisher's Note: Noted and corrected. You are totally right, though I'll let others judge the level of embarrassment you ought to feel.

This is the weekend I have been awaiting since June-- I finally get to see BORAT, and November's my favorite month anyway.
Yay for me.

Seth, it took me a good five minutes to place the Big Ben/Parliament line, but it was so worth the effort. In my defense, I was so blindsided by the Faces of Death hoax revelation that I couldn't really think clearly. I'm so bummed. I suppose that next you guys are gonna tell me that Mikey from the Life cereal commercial didn't die from eating Pop Rocks and Coke.

In the spirit of remaking tv shows and other movies into "new" movies as noted in this post- I give you the latest from Variety. That's right- they are turning Castlevania into a movie!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953168.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Thank you Dustin.

Maybe if she would just not speak, act, or leave her home she'd be less annoying, but until then, I fully support your moratorium on all things Lohan.

OMG...

Faces of Death wasn't real? Now I'm pissed I didn't watch it...even the idea of it freaked me out when I was a kid.

Another of my childhood illusions, shattered...

If "Studio 60" can recover from the godawful "The Wrap Party" episode I'll be happy. I've liked that show from the beginning but that episode was simply terrible. It left no cliche unturned; the Midwest parents that were clueless about entertainment history, the ball player writing his # on the ball (for his girlfriend's BOSS for cripes sake), the "things sure haven't changed" plot with the old writer, the powerful woman who doesn't have any friends, the diamond in the rough comedian that "just needs discipline" and on and on. That episode was nearly a parody of what had come before. I really hope Sorkin pulls his head out of his ass and drops the pretension down a couple notches or no one is going to care when it gets yanked.

Rob, maybe you'd feel differently if your little brother was STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF AFGHANISTAN!!

Kidding. That episode probably set a record for cliches, which is pretty impressive, given Sorkin's track record.

I'm with Ray and Rob. When we were supposed to buy that the parents had never heard of Abbot and freaking Costello, I almost threw my glass at the TV. What a world Aaron Sorkin lives in: everyone is either a brilliant, ethical asshole or functionally retarded.

Nate Corddry in the lobster suit was funny though...

I watched the first Faces of Death and thought it was funny. My buddy and I laughed all the way through it. Especially the "monkey brains" bit.

However, never did get a chance at any of the rest.

Now there's no reason as I've been told it's all fake! First wrestling, now Faces of Death! When will it end! Hurry May 18!

Just a quick question, and this may be totally wrong, but on a local radio station yesterday the DJ announced that Fox only sent 700 copies of "Borat" out to theaters. Is this true? Damn, I can't wait to see this movie.

Cody: It's actually around 800 (or 837 per BoxOfficeMojo, if you want to get technical). Fox backpedaled last week and slashed the number of theaters for the release. Meanwhile, The Santa Clause 3 is on 3,500. Insert questions of theodicy here.

I guess I'm just a boring old slag, but I'm not really excited about Borat. I think a think a lot of it is because we got episodes of Da Ali G Show years ago on Showtime (Canadian version), so the character's shelf-life has kind of expired for me. To me, it's a lot like Trailer Park Boys-- which has been around for a long time up here. In 2002 they weren't new, but buzz was spreading. Now I think people are getting tired (or at least I am) of the constant coverage and sole in-character interviews. I completely understand why it would be done, but perhaps you can see why at least some people might lose interest. They had a movie come out a few months ago up here, and as far as I know, it's done well. I admit that I don't pay as much attention to home-grown movies as I could, I enjoy our music more, but that's neither here nor there.

Point being, if their movie had come out a few years ago, say 2003, I probably wouldn't have rolled my eyes. Now, they've ventured into self-parody I feel. The moment they jumped for me was the shootout in the church during the Christmas special. I know that sounds like it brings the funny, and thinking back on it, maybe it did. This was never a show that cared about not offending people, and the characters are portrayed as lovable dimwitted underdogs. However, I remember thinking, 'Hmmm, I think I liked it better when they were shooting ventriloquist dummies in the head, and weren't so 'aware' of themselves.' Sorry if that sounded pretentious, I'm fumbling through my point. It feels now like it's trying to live up to itself, without necessarily having anything new to say anymore. And this is how I feel watching Borat these days. Whether you laugh at that type of humour or not, you know he's always going to bamboolze someone with some kind of remarks about pubis. Of course, I wouldn't say this without giving credit where it's due: I've laughed at Borat, I've laughed at TPB, hard. The nut-satchel? Holy cow! And hell, where's my television show, what right have I to bitch?

So maybe the ongoing popularity of Borat (and TPB for that matter, but I'd argue there's decline in popularity in the making), says a lot more about my own short attention span than anything else I guess, because it looks like the film is being really warmly received by intelligent people, as well as the types of people who share a lot of the same tastes as me; it sure as mad bloody hell beats Tim Allen, I would never dispute that.

Does anyone feel this way, or at least see the potential for this to happen? I know there's going to be a Bruno (nicht-nicht) film at some point, so maybe this will come up again then. Or am I just a sad-sack who's trying to justify her reasons for being so?

I love Studio 60. Period. And yes, I am one of those Vanity Fair reader/viewers who is, demographically speaking, worth 5 non-Vanity Fair-reading viewers.

(You'd have to have seen the episode I'm referencing to get it, which is one of the great things about Studio 60, it being so incredibly self-referential that its own possible demise has already been covered, argued against and declared further proof of the idiocy of the suits in charge at NBC should it come to pass.)

I don't care WHAT the dialogue is about, and I sure as hell don't care how long the speeches are; if Sorking is writing it, I am in fucking HEAVEN. I would willingly pledge myself to the sponsors of Studio 60, pledge my undying financial support of them ALL -- I will ONLY buy cars advertised during Studio 60, I will ONLY eat food advertised during studio 60, I will ONLY frequent establishments.... well, you get my point.

I LOVE STUDIO 60.

lohan can do a lesbian scene, hate to admit that i would be there. any man with a love of unknown , young milkbags will be there!!

i wouldnt say they're unknown, pasadena. they've made a few debuts of their own, hah.

Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley in a film about Dylan Thomas? I think I might throw up now. Good thing the poor man's dead--he'll never know the lengths to which his life is becoming a vehicle for media-whoring twits.

Bonnie, I agree. When Keira was cast in Pride & Prejudice, I gave her a chance. She's English, after all. BUT, Lohan in a movie about DT????? But hey, for all we know he might enjoy the sad irony of it all.

As for Borat, nothing can stop me from seeing this movie. It's just going to be TOO good. I have been waiting for some downright mean political satire since the Daily Show started to suck. Thanks Borat.

M, I kinda sorta agree.

The Trailer Park Boys are, let's say, extending their mandate by making a movie. (To be fair though, they are not trying to "open up" the show, or portray the characters in "greater depth". Snerk. The movie is exactly like the show, but longer. There is little evidence of more money.)

SBC is likely doing the same thing with Borat. If it's any comfort, I read somewhere this will be the one and only Borat movie. We can only pray he has the discipline to move on.

No more Lohan - either in print or in films - is she all that good? I just rented Prairie Home Companion and next to Streep and Tomlin, she looked like some producers girlfriend who HAD to be given a part. Now she has whored her way into Bobby and god knows what else. Why is that stalker after Duff - she is not nearly as annoying and we don't have to look at her in every damn thing.

M, I agree completely.
Borat, sadly, was already old for me as a senior in high school when my entire graduating class (of 70, mind you) were dreadfully desperate to be the prophets foretelling the the popularity of Da Ali G Show and of the Borat character. Consequently, those of us not obsessed with being trendy in the underground fashion had to endure terrible impressions over and over again from people who are not Sacha Baron Cohen. Every time I watched the show itself and watched the Borat sketch, I laughed in spite of myself; I wanted to like it but it had stopped being funny for me before I had even seen it.
That's obviously nothing against the actual quality of the humor in the show and in the movie, but I'm simply not as excited to see it. My loss, I suppose.

I just read that Adrienne Shelly was murdered last week, and I'm very sad about it.
Hexed is a favourite movie of mine, and it will be sad to watch now, but it's gorgeous and I do recommend it. Not only is Ms Shelly adorable in it, but the gorgeous Claudia Christian plays a raving loon, which is fun.

Even though many others have beat me to stating this obvious fact - YES! Please can someone do something about this Lohan/Hilton problem?

I am one of the few who also does not think the Borat phenomena makes a lot of sense. I agree that it appeals to many who are obviously smart, witty and have great senses of humor. I, on the other hand, can do little more than chuckle at the (many) skits I have seen - it just seems so juvenile! I have yet to see the movie, but I don't know how to justify paying to see it in the theater.

And finally, again echoing earlier sentiment, I am so shaken to discover the "Faces of Death" series was faked. Insane!

Thanks for this wonderful blog, and to all the amazingly intelligent bloggers. It's such a nice change from "1st, bitches"! Ugh.