Results tagged “arresteddevelopment”

Mr. Show, Arrested Development, the stand-up stage, The Year One Super Bowl commercial from last night...you know who David Cross is by now. Currently he's filming a new series with Will Arnett for Britain's Channel 4, and come this summer you'll be able to soak up his wisdom in the written word when his book "I Drink For A Reason" hits shelves. Recently he told us about the Arrested Development movie, an upcoming Squeakel, and what he thinks of a law banning fans from talking to him. Tomorrow night he'll return to the stage, joining Zach Galifianakis, Janeane Garofalo, Demetri Martin, John Oliver and Paul F. Tompkins for “Stand-Ups Give BAC,” a benefit for the Brooklyn Autism Center.

At this point, it's hard to tell whether Ed Begley, Jr. is more famous for his decades of acting or his decades of environmentalism. Sure, he's logged over 200 appearances on stage, film and television, including his Emmy-winning breakout role on St. Elsewhere and his priceless turn on Arrested Development. But his funniest performance is arguably his self-effacing cameo as a hardcore green activist in the classic 1999 Simpsons episode "Homer to the Max", in which he's shown driving a nonpolluting go-cart powered by his "own sense of self-satisfaction." Off screen, he's embraced this role of ardent environmentalist with an infectious positivity and seemingly tireless commitment to reducing his own impact on an increasingly injured ecosystem. The many green improvements to his largely solar powered, energy efficient home have been documented in the amusing and informative reality show Living With Ed, and now a newly published book offers a wide range of changes readers can implement to make their lifestyles more sustainable. Called Living Like Ed, it's as inspiring as it is handy, and Begley will be at the Strand bookstore at 7pm tonight for a reading and book signing organized by Environmental Defense.

Thankfully NBC’s new version of the classically cheesy 1980s show Knight Rider (Sunday 9:00 p.m., WNBC 4) is not a remake, but a continuation of the old in this two hour movie/back door pilot. Of course, this means there are some changes, such as the presence of David Hasslehoff being reduced to a cameo, the two leads are ex-soap stars (the way the Hoff was), and horror of horrors KITT isn’t a Trans Am anymore thanks to a deal between NBC and Ford that product places a Mustang as the talking car (and Trans Ams aren't made anymore anyway). It has all the makings, save for being relatively Hoff-free, of being so bad it is good.

On Friday Gothamist visited the set of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead, a bizarre little indie shooting in the East Village. The movie is a sequel of sorts to Tom Stoppard’s hilarious existential comedy Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, but with “sexy vampires, the Holy Grail and Hamlet.” Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin), who appeared on some Arrested Development episodes, is a broke, frustrated ladies man who jumps at the chance to direct an off-Broadway play written by a pale, mysterious Romanian, played by John Ventimiglia, best known as Artie Bucco in the Sopranos. (Pictured above.)

, it's always a joy to see Bateman on screen, and he does some hilarious work as the obnoxious, wheelchair bound Ex. You want to punch him in his ascot-wearing face nearly every time he's on screen, and that's quite a feat for a guy who most recently played such a winning TV lead. In addition to Bateman nearly every other supporting part is filled by a solid comedic performer like Rudd, Charles Grodin, Donal Logue, Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler and Amy Adams. Each of them take totally throw away moments and sell them with such comedic sincerity. Also the plot line about career woman Sofia trying to adjust to being a stay-at-home mom is done with welcome deftness. It'd be great to see Peet in even more roles like this where her sensitivity and likability can shine through. Producers Ted Hope, Anne Carey and Anthony Bergman (ie. former nurturers of directors like Ang Lee, Nicole Holofcener and Michel Gondry) obviously understood that even though screenwriters David Guion and Michael Handelman as well as Jesse Peretz are just starting out in the biz, they all have the goods.

Yeesh, there sure are a lot of new movies out this weekend. Choose wisely and you will be well rewarded.

Don’t be alarmed by the synthesized arena-rock Muzak piped into the house before “Esoterica”, Eric Walton’s solo show of magic and mentalism. “Arrested Development” fans may get the feeling they’re in for a long night of cheesy, Gobian gimmickry, but any similarities begin and end with the tacky taste in music - a trait mysteriously shared by virtually all magicians.

- Santino Rice's collection

Everyone is talking about how Fox cancelled Arrested Development (again-- but this time for good.) The Mercury News article about the cancellation also includes some news that will break the heart of many a NYC-foodie:

- The Politicker reports that the D.A. Pennebaker documentary of the Ferrer campaign hasn't been happening for a while, because the crew wasn't "getting a film that was worth doing, as compared with what you just got off of every TV screen." Damn TV!

- Dogs dressed a pirates? It is so!

Desperate Housewives and Will & Grace both received 15 Emmy nominations today, proving that like every other awards organization, Gothamist just doesn't jibe with the voters. Sure, we're happy that Arrested Development, Scrubs, and Lost got some recognition. But there is no love for programs we'll actually stay at home to watch: Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls. Even The O.C., which faltered last season - you have to give Peter Gallagher some credit. And why won't the Academy acknowledge the brilliance of America's Next Top Model? But of course we'll watch because Gothamist we can't wait to see the expressions of the Desperate Housewives that don't win.

Everyone in New York, it seems, wants to make it big. But with so many people competing, work falls by the wayside, dreams get dashed and people get rejected. Which is the foundation for Jon Friedman’s Rejection Show, this Wednesday at P.S. 122. The show embraces the rejected material of professional and amateur writers, comedians, cartoonists, artists, and human beings, who display their creative “failures” live on stage. Of course many of the performers are contributors for The Daily Show, The New Yorker and even star on Arrested Development, so quit feeling sorry for yourself, even these guys have their critics. This week the show welcomes comedian Liam McEneany, cartoonist Matt Diffee, mayoral candidate Andy Horwitz and many more.

A few weeks ago, the NY Times Magazine ran a great excerpt of Steven Berlin Johnson's new book, Everything Bad is Good For You, which proposes that society has not been dumbed down by TV recently; in fact, if anything, TV watchers have become more skilled at juggling multiple storylines and ideas while watching shows like The Sopranos, Lost, Alias, E.R. or Twin Peaks, offering up the suggestion that a lot of TV drama has gotten better since the '70s and '80s. Of course, this was instantly intriguing and inspiring to Gothamist, as it reaffirms our position that our TV is one of our bestest friends (even if there's an implication that Law & Order's single narrative isn't brain-exercising - we happen to be wondering where an exterior was shot or which headline it's ripped from!). Personally, we think there needs to be a balance of complicated (most anything on HBO) storytelling along with simple (most any sitcom, as 30 minutes leaves you little time, Arrested Development not withstanding) or else our brain will explode and then how will we watch the next Will Ferrell movie? Read the article yourself here, and let us know what your favorite complicated shows are as well as the fluffy ones (high on our list: Anything on the Learning Channel!).

And in other substance abuse news, George Carlin is checking himself into drug rehab for wine and vicodin abuse.

In the TV categories, Desperate Houswives cleaned up with five nominations (all the MILFs are nominated, except for the MILFiest one, Eva Longoria!). Desperate Housewives is fun and everything, and God knows that Marcis Cross must have a TV show, but Gothamist knows why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association betstowed so much love on them: They want hot ladies in hotter dresses at the ceremony. That's why Debra Messing keeps getting nominated. Then it's a lot of the usual "HBO gets lots of nominations stuff." Meh. And with three nominations (one for best actor for Ray, one for best supporting actor in Collateral, and one for a TV role), the HFPA really wants Jamie Foxx to win SOMETHING.

The Smoking Gun had the documents from the lawsuit yesterday. And Gothamist on Liza with a Z.

Circa 7PM: We were pretty excited that Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers were off Red Carpet duty for E!, because if there's one word we don't care to hear on Hollywood-congratulates-itself night, it's "Missy!" But we have our new Missy: It's "Al," as in Al Reynolds, Star Jones' "fiance." Star, who took over E!'s red carpet hosting duties (with some fashion guy named Robert), kept referring to her upcoming marriage and fiance throughout the evening. Eh. And what Star lacks in the bitchiness that Joan brought, she does make up for it in being able to be "black" with black. But still, hearing about Star watching TV in bed with Al makes Gothamist tempted to scream, "Bring back Joan and Missy, those horse faced, plastic-surgeried bitches!"

Scott Lapatine, Stereogum.com

Bob McKee, Local Music Now

Gothamist doesn't know why we bothered with the 2005 Emmy Nominations because they were boring, except that we're ruthless TV watchers and awards show fiends, so we're painted into the corner. The actors, actresses, and programs nominated were all fine and very talented, but it's the same crew every year! James Gandolfini...Allison Janney...The West Wing...Will & Grace - which wasn't even as good as the subpar non-nominated Friends this past season...four writing nominations for the Sopranos...blah blah blah. David Chase has a death grip on the Academy, even with Cousin Tony! This is almost as bad as when Helen Hunt and Candice Bergen would...keep...winning...even after their characters and shows lost steam seasons ago. There was even a posthumous nomination for John Ritter! Yes, he's a great comic talent, but come on. There needs to be a way for newer shows to get their feet in the door, like Nip/Tuck, The Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Scrubs. But here are some nominations we were happy about:

If you're into the Grammys, Mary Huhn's article about how this year's nominations are hipper than usual may interest you, though the concept of hip is certainly a relative matter for the Grammys. And celebrity stylist Philip Bloch expects a lot of cleavage at this year's show, in spite of Janet Jackson. But CBS has 40 extra people on call to monitor the performance, to ready censor buttons, even though a CBS spokesperson says, "We're not going to use the technology to turn the Grammys into SpongeBob SquarePants. It will still be the Grammys." Oh, so it will still be lame? All right!

Something about a Ronnie: Run! Ronnie! Run!, that went straight to video and even Cross and Bob Odenkirk want it dead ("Run, Ronnie, Run Away") but features many Mr. Show character appearances. Gothamist gets our David Cross fix via Arrested Development.