Results tagged “willarnett”

Weekend Update, the longtime staple of Saturday Night Live that sends up the news stories of the week, began last night with a breaking exclusive of its own: co-anchor Amy Poehler had just given birth to a baby boy. Alongside husband Will Arnett, Poehler delivered her first child "Archie" early Saturday evening. Archie Arnett came in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce and both mother and child are reported to be in good health. Poehler was not expecting to miss last night's show and had been rehearsing up until Friday. Her delivery means in all likelihood that her final episode of SNL was last week, where Poehler got the opportunity to shine with a rap number alongside a dancing Sarah Palin on a night that scored the highest ratings for the show in fourteen years.

Another Will Ferrell sports flick will inflate this weekend, capping off a nationwide “Funny or Die” promotional tour that brought him to Radio City Music Hall Sunday night. The movie is Semi-Pro, which stars Ferrell as Jackie Moon, owner of the 1976 Flint Michigan Tropics, a team in the maverick ABA basketball league. To keep his career alive against all odds, Moon initiates off a series of increasingly desperate publicity stunts to attract fans – behavior that does sound awfully familiar.

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.

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television:

THEATER: A revival of Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Gaslight has just begun at Irish Rep; some may remember the award-winning 1944 film version starring Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury. The chilling study in domestic domination to the max concerns a diabolical husband who, not satisfied in exploiting his wife’s savings to buy their house, plots her murder. But while he’s out the police inspector comes in to warn the poor bride that her husband is suspected of another “black-hearted murder” committed fifteen years ago... in the very same house! - John Del Signore

Blades of Glory (directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon): "Will Ferrell the Serious Actor" is a good thing, but oh how we adore "Will Ferrell the Clown." The off-kilter mannerisms, the flamboyant costumes and the tendency to flash his hairy belly for cheap laughs are hallmarks of a great Will Ferrell movie and they're all there in his newest, the figure skating spoof Blades of Glory. Ferrell plays Chazz Michael Michaels, otherwise known as "sex on skates," who ties the single men's skating world championships with the effete, former child prodigy, Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder). The two rival skaters get into a tussle on the podium and get tossed out of skating for good. However, a loophole pointed out by Jimmy's stalker persuades Chazz and Jimmy to get back on the ice, this time as the first men's skating pair. The premise is slight to say the least, but all the better for giving screen time to mercilessly mocking the over-the-top world of skating. Practically every skating great either has a cameo (see Ferrell ogling Nancy Kerrigan's butt) or a reference in the script (we learn Oksana Baiul is as cold in bed as she is on the ice). Plus the film is filled with instantly quotable supporting performances.

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

- Awesome truck photographs from lucky dog on Flickr

of making" because, hey, it's a $30,000 dress. But this week's issue has a story about missing Pabst Blue Ribbon in Brooklyn - something for the very struggling masses - as well as a story making a deal with a grandma to have her help out with the deposit on a Brooklyn brownstone - who wouldn't agree to have a baby quickly and live with your grandmother for a hunk of Park Slope real estae? And then there is New York's "Cultural Elite" section, where they name their favorite New Yorkers and various entertainment offerings in TV, music, movies, etc. - which is amusing to see, if only to learn that TV critic John Leonard loves Mary Louise Parker a hell of a lot and that Jack White is good theater. So, next week, we expect not to relate so much.