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You’d Think There Would be Tons of TV News Following Comic-Con … Think Again, Pajiba, Think Again


The Daily Trade Round-Up / The TV Whore
July 30, 2008

Trade News | July 30, 2008 | Comments (38)

So yeah, there were a lot of TV panels during Comic-Con and although I wasn’t there, I’ve read extensive coverage on most of them and … well … it sounds like I didn’t really miss much. Some pilot screenings, some spoilers and, uhm, yeah. So carry on, folks, nothing to see here but a slightly-lighter-than-normal Round-Up filled with knick-knacks of info.

We’ll start off by noting that HBO has canceled “Tell Me You Love Me.” You may recall that this was the it’s-not-porn-it’s-HBO show about couples in therapy dealing with their dark issues and having lots of explicit and unerotic sex. The network had previously renewed the show, but the creator claims that this cancellation decision was because she and her staff weren’t able “to find the direction of the show for the second season.” Dunno if that’s true, or if the HBO folks finally realized that the low-ratings show wasn’t worth spending more money on, but since I had bailed on this show well-early into Season One, the news doesn’t much befront me.

Interesting casting news from the allegedly deeply flawed “Life on Mars,” which is being entirely retooled for its midseason launch. Colm Meaney has been dropped as a 1973 detective, and has been replaced by Harvey Keitel. A shame, as far as Colm goes, ‘cause I like him. But word has it that Keitel might be better suited for the role, as the character is apparently a bit brutish and dark. So Keitel’s first regular TV role (I believe) could turn out to be a little interesting. Perhaps.

You know, this AMC remake of “The Prisoner” is definitely moving in the right direction, as they’ve now added Lennie James to the cast to play one of the residents of the Village where Jim Caviezel’s character is dumped. With Ian McKellen also signed on as Number 2 (the guy who apparently runs things at the Village), it really sounds like this six-hour miniseries could be something solid.

Meanwhile, Fox has announced that it’s given a pilot commitment to Ryan Murphy, the guy behind “Nip/Tuck.” His pilot, “Glee,” will be an hour-long comedy focused on the worst high-school glee club in the country, and the network apparently digs the show enough that they’re hoping to see a finished pilot by the end of the year, and Murphy’s hope is that it could be paired up with “American Idol.” Part of me is inclined to say “meh,” but the other part of me is so happy that it’s neither an Americanization of some foreign show nor a cop/lawyer/doc show that I find myself hoping it works out ok.

NBC and the NFL have decided to move online this year, as “Sunday Night Football” will stream live on both NFL.com and NBCSports.com, concurrently with its live network airing. This bodes well, insofar as the league will hopefully start streaming other select games some day in the not-too-distant future (though certainly not all of the games), giving those of us without DirecTV a little bit of love (although, realistically, I’m not holding my breath). As for these “Sunday Night Football” streams, they’ll offer extras not available on TV, like the ability to see from different camera angles. Unfortunately, it sounds like you’ll still have to listen to Al Michaels and mother fucking John Madden — get rid of them on the stream, and then you got a fucking internet product, son!

Those of you on the other side of the pond, tell us about “Skins.” BBC America is going to start airing the show, which features Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy) in a dramedy about adolescence, next month. It’s apparently won some awards, and was even nominated for a BAFTA. If the British Eloquents say we should tune in, you’ll be able to find it on Sundays, starting on August 17 (where, after its 9 p.m. premiere, it will slide to the 10 p.m. slot and unfortunately face off against “Mad Men”).

Speaking of “Mad Men,” AMC spent a well-publicized $25 million on advertising for the Season Two premiere and it appears that it actually worked (the fuck-ton of Emmy nods probably didn’t hurt any, either), as the premiere pulled in almost 2 million viewers, just a touch more than the average 900-odd thousand Season One viewers. That averages out to about $13 per viewer and, if the numbers keep up (while not huge, even by cable standards, that’s still a solid showing for a newbie to original programming like HBO), it looks like it’ll be money well spent. And if you’re not watching the show yet, seriously, for shame. Because that Jon Hamm, well he’s got an extraordinary nut sack.

“An extraordinary what-now,” you ask. Well watch this damn commercial for yourself:

Come on Pajibans, let’s get “extraordinary nut sack” into regular usage. “Mmmmm, that Christian Bale, he’s an extraordinary nut sack.” “Dude, my cousin is such an extraordinary nut sack — listen to the stupid shit he did last night….” “Mom, I’m hungry! Can I grab an extraordinary nut sack out of the cubbard?” See folks, it can be used so many ways.


theTVwhore.jpg
Seth Freilich is Pajiba’s television editor. Yesterday’s earthquake was not an extraordinary nut sack, although it did scare the extraordinary right out of the nut sacks of a few East Coasters who have never been through a little shake before.


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Comments

Love it! My fifteen-year old saw that commercial yesterday and had exactly the same reaction -- in fact, at first she thought the voice-over guy actually said "nut sack". We were both doing double-takes, and thankfully the DVR came to the rescue (LOVE the rewind button).

So "extraordinary nut snack" has already been in our houshold vernacular for a day...

Posted by: Grover at July 30, 2008 8:50 AM

Glad you held up alright in the quake. Since pajibans are the only folks I "know" in the SoCal area, I thought of you all immediately. In good old Massachusetts I've only ever felt one quake, and it didn't feel good.

Posted by: elizabeth at July 30, 2008 9:00 AM

I've read nothing but bad about the "Life on Mars" copycat. Having heard about Harvey Keitel, extraordinary nut sack that he is, I might have to at least check it out. Supposedly Gretchen Mol is also up for a role.

Posted by: Cindy at July 30, 2008 9:14 AM

My husband and I saw this commercial and died of laughter, we played it back with TIVO like 20 times. I've done my part and posted it on my friend's myspaces like a 14 year old.

Posted by: Melina at July 30, 2008 9:15 AM

Posted by: Cindy at July 30, 2008 9:22 AM

I love it. You can use it as a noun ("Have you seen Iron Man? Downey Jr. is one extraordinary nut sack!"), a verb ("You kids better shut the fuck up back there, or I'm going to come and extraordinarily nutsack you little shits!") and an adjective ("I took my kids to see Wall-E, and they all thought it was Extraordinary Nutsack!").

Posted by: Jeremy at July 30, 2008 9:22 AM

That's a shame for Ryan Murphy. The execs refuse to pick up his pilot on the man who gets a sex change operation, one that sounded quite promising, but they are smitten with a show about a glee club.
That disturbs me. It disturbs me more so than the extraordinary nut snack.

Posted by: Kamikaze Feminist at July 30, 2008 9:23 AM

but the creator claims that this cancellation decision was because she and her staff weren't able "to find the direction of the show for the second season."

Least. Surprising. News. Ever. They weren't able to find "the direction of the show" after the first freaking episode. This show was awful. Every scene was the same. The couple that couldn't conceive only ever talked about their inability to have a kid. The couple that didn't have sex only ever talked about how they didn't have sex. The sex addict woman just talked about her old boyfriend and needing to get laid.

The show was lame and tedious.

Good riddance.

Posted by: ajax19 at July 30, 2008 9:35 AM

can't.... stop... myself....

cupboard. it's cupboard. I'm really sorry. I try never to do this. Unfortunately, I am, on occasion, an extraordinary nut sack.

So, Prisoner sounds good....

Posted by: Anastasia Beaverhausen at July 30, 2008 9:36 AM

I don't know. I would have been more impressed with the nut sack commercial if it wasn't CGI. There's nothing like knowing those are real dominoes nutsacking.

RE The Prisoner: It's only a 6 hour miniseries? Damn. That means Gandalf will be Number 2 the whole time. Half the fun was finding out that Number 2 had been nut sacked, and there was a new Number 2 for the next episode.

Posted by: BWeaves at July 30, 2008 9:36 AM

Mol.....meh

I realize she's done other things, but in my mind she will ALWAYS be the biggest wet rag of a girlfriend ever to grace the big screen.

Posted by: WestCoastPat at July 30, 2008 9:41 AM

Keitel or no Kietel, the American "Life on Mars" is gonna suck like a supercharged Electrolux.

The original played up the atmosphere of 1970s policing, which featured rampant misogyny, contempt for gays, the disabled, etc., hard boozing, chain-smoking and physical brutality towards suspects, among other anachronisms. And from what I've read (and I've also watched a brief clip), the network has all but eliminated that...and what the fuck is left? Wide ties and sideburns?

The BBC original (the first run, at least; I missed the second) was absolutely riveting. I'm probably not even going to tune in for the American retread, because what I've seen has left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Posted by: Jerce at July 30, 2008 9:54 AM

Extraordinary Nutsacks in entertainment:

"The League of Extraordinary Nutsacks"
Guaranteed $50 mil opening because of the title.

"Monty Python's Extraordinary Flying Nutsack"
For you whimsical ones out there.

"Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Extraordinary Nutsack"
I could go on forever.

"Unsolved Extraordinary Nutsacks"
Ok...maybe there's a line to be drawn here.

Posted by: Mike R. at July 30, 2008 9:55 AM

Wait... you're talking about TV stuff at Comic-Con and you don't even talk about the panels that got the most people, to the point where they stopped letting people into a 4,000-5,000 people sized room?

Oh come on... they showed us awesome stuff for Battlestar and there were 2 Joss Whedon panels that were extremely fun. Someone even asked Eliza -during the Dollhouse panel- if her spine would light up if Tahmoh (Helo) slept with her. She didn't understand until he whispered into her ear what they meant. Facial expression was PRICELESS.

Posted by: Vi at July 30, 2008 9:55 AM

Befront? Am I showing my "casual Pajiban" lining?

Posted by: phaeolus at July 30, 2008 10:03 AM

Thank you Pajiba! I am DVR-less and I NEVER pay attention to that commercial until the very end when I suddenly perk up and say, "Did he just say 'nut sack'?" It's been happening for weeks now. Who gave that idea the green light? Somebody who is now unemployed, I suspect.

Goddamn, that's an extraordinary nut sack.

Posted by: Cara at July 30, 2008 10:08 AM

I'm not British, but I did spend the last two days working my way through Spaced, The Mighty Boosh, and old episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. (What can I say? Canadian TV sucks.) Skins is lovely, but it does make it a bit awkward for me to watch 'About a Boy' again.

Because damn. The boy got mighty fuckable.

Posted by: Mara at July 30, 2008 10:17 AM

But word has it that Keitel might be better suited for the role, as the character is apparently a bit brutish and dark.

You know, I just saw Layer Cake, and I think Colm Meaney could handle a role that is a "bit brutish and dark." His last name is Meaney.

Posted by: tamatha at July 30, 2008 10:22 AM

I second the question from above - will there be only 1 Number 2?

Posted by: Brian at July 30, 2008 10:25 AM

Would any of us have paid attention to the snack commercials if they hadn't seemed to say "extraordinary nutsack?" I think it was intentional, and also brilliant. I almost bought an nutsack at the store the other day, to see for myself if it really was extraordinary. I suspect it'll just be kinda salty.

Posted by: Girlnone at July 30, 2008 10:25 AM

If they've taken out all the 1970s environmental stuff, then Life on Mars will suck. All that will be left will be the father storyline. I love Colm Meaney: too bad he won't be there to add some colour, still is it realistic to have an irish-born cop in the US in the 1970s?

Posted by: PaddyDog at July 30, 2008 10:26 AM

Salty is to be expected, Girlnone. A hairy nut sack is an entirely different matter...

Posted by: Grover at July 30, 2008 10:31 AM

Chocolate salty balls!


erm... sorry. carry on.

Posted by: nancy at July 30, 2008 10:50 AM

Mike R: You forgot all the sequels.

"The League of Extraordinary Nutsacks: In My Pants"

etc. etc.

Posted by: BWeaves at July 30, 2008 11:25 AM

Has anyone seen the NEW commercial? They changed the tag line.

I was wondering if the tree huggers were trying to be funny but it looks like they honestly didn't get that everyone would hear "Nut Sack". It makes me giggle...

Posted by: amanda47 at July 30, 2008 11:27 AM

Skins is lovely, but it does make it a bit awkward for me to watch 'About a Boy' again.
Because damn. The boy got mighty fuckable.

That is bizarre, I just watched About a Boy for the first time in years last night...I refuse to acknowledge that sweet little Marcus grew up. It's like seeing your younger male cousins for the first time in months post ball-dropage and their voices got all low and shit. Freaks me the fuck out every time. And I'm the oldest of 23 cousins, so it happens a LOT.

Posted by: Julie at July 30, 2008 11:56 AM

Not a British Pajiban here, but an Irish one, and thus I have all the same channels and then some, so I was blessed with first-run Skins. I've gotta say, meh. Like, really and truly, meh. The teenagers in it talk and act like they were written by a committee of 40-somethings who don't know that much about kids, but know that they like "drugs", "sex" and this new "electronic music".

And the show itself is kinda dire - continuity and characterisation are non-existant, the plots are clichéd beyond belief (or else outlandishly ridiculous) and the whole thing smacks of a "shocking" veneer to disguise the complete lack of show underneath. The music is often quite good, the people are pretty and most of the actors try their little hearts out, but that (and random cameos from the likes of Bill Bailey and Harry Enfield) are about as much as it has going for it. If you want a genuinely good teenage show from the UK with honesty and heart, download the UK version of As If. Beyond that, this is mildly diverting but nothing more.

As for Life On Mars, I didn't really watch much of it, but I'd hula naked down Grafton Street if they actually keep the ending unchanged from the BBC version. And having watched Intermission, I can vouch for Colm Meaney's ability to play hard and dark characters, in particular hard and dark and ethically questionable policemen.

Man, I really want to get home from work and watch that commercial now. Extraordinary nutsacks? What the Jesus...?

Posted by: Shay at July 30, 2008 11:57 AM

The Extraordinary nutsacking video is gone. Where can I find it?

Can I get an Extraordinary Nutsack wallet like the on Sam Jackson has in Pulp Fiction?

Posted by: Brian at July 30, 2008 12:28 PM

I'm really not convinced that they did call them nut snacks on purpose. It's such an obvious leap (or more like a baby step, really) that it seems they must have done it intentionally. But the commercial (now that I can really study it...thanks again Pajiba!) is so bland and lame with the nuts falling down like dominoes and all that. No sarcastic voiceover guy. Pure sincerity. Usually commercials that get sassy are sassy all the way through. Or perhaps I am just lame, not sassy. No! I'm sassy, damn it. Stupid nut sacks! Now I'm questioning my own sassiness.

Also, I checked out the plot summaries for Skins on wikipedia (give me a break I'm on vacay here) and it seems pretty soap opera-y.

Posted by: Cara at July 30, 2008 12:37 PM

The new version of the commercial aired last night, amanda47, and I have to say it was mighty disappointing.

Posted by: Lisa at July 30, 2008 12:42 PM


I'll bet Justin Long has an extraordinary nutsack.

Posted by: Drake at July 30, 2008 12:48 PM

"You forgot all the sequels.

"The League of Extraordinary Nutsacks: In My Pants"

etc. etc."


BWeaves, I think you're onto something here...though I'd be cautious. I mean LEN isn't exactly the second coming of entertainment. We need to test audiences responce to the first Nutsack installment, and hope that reaction doesn't go cold. Such a climate would shrink our chances of having another go at this potentially rollicking romp.

Still, it's a thought...something that'll have to be thought out long and hard and...we all knew this was going to lead to a dick joke at some point. No? Just me then?

Posted by: Mike R. at July 30, 2008 12:56 PM

Tell Me You Love Me is cancelled? Now what the hell am I supposed to diddle my dinkle to when I spend the night in a seedy hotel with free HBO, continental breakfast, high-speed internet access and conveniently located to all major restaurants and shopping outlets? Yeah, there's a few kinky passages in the Good Book, but I've always felt guilty about doing that type of thing...

Sigh... Fare thee well, uncomfortable, all-too-realistic sexual scenes and snooze-worthy dialogue. Fare thee well... [sob!]

Posted by: Skittimus Maximus at July 30, 2008 1:26 PM

I'm not really sad to see Tell Me You Love Me go. It was pretty boring, and depressing as hell. And despite the fun of soft core porn, the brief glimpses in the show were definitely lacking in extraordinary nutsacks.

Posted by: katy at July 30, 2008 1:42 PM

Skittimus, do not dismay...do they not still have Real Sex? I mean if you're really that hard up for softcore porn, check if they have Skinamax at the hotel. Or, worse comes to worse, there's always Sex and the City reruns...you know, if you're absolutely desperate to rub one out. *shudder* Why did I just say that?

Posted by: Mike R. at July 30, 2008 1:56 PM

They should have followed the nut sack commercial with one for teabags.

Posted by: Tarn at July 30, 2008 3:26 PM

Question: Does this AMC adaptation of The Prisoner mean that the movie adaptation David Peoples was supposedly writing and Christopher Nolan was supposedly directing in limbo?

Posted by: Sean P at July 30, 2008 5:48 PM

I'm an American, but I watched Skins in time with both seasons. It's completely outrageous, and some characters are caricatures, but you grow to feel for some of them (Chris, in particular, I loved). The show switched focus each episode to the POV of different characters, so that was interesting. The music is great. The show even spawned a concert/party tour. There's a lot of sex, drugs, and raves. The show's party scenes became infamous, allegedly spawning tons of copycat "Skins Parties" acroos Britain.
But if nothing else, I will always love the show for the season 1 finale. First, there's the Sid aspect that closed the show- awesome. And then there is the fact that they did something dramatic and life-changing to one of the main characters- and then dealt with the reprecussions in season 2 (instead of just explaining it away)! It sort of reinvented the dynamic of the show too.
Another brave step- the show focused on kids at a British college, which only lasts 2 years. So after 2 seasons/2 years, they have decided to completely replace the main cast.
The show was also innovative with a lot of on-line stuff they did.
Of course, I'm 22 and I still watch the disney and nickelodeon channels, so you might want to disregard my opinion.

Posted by: meghan at August 1, 2008 9:46 AM





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