TV
20 CommentsWatch Elijah Wood in the trailer for BBC America’s Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Douglas Adams is best known for writing the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but another one of his cult classic novels, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Agency, is getting a TV adaptation. Now, the trailer that was screened for fans at a Comic-Con panel in San Diego earlier this year has arrived online, and with it, a first look at Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood in action.
Described by Adams as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic," Dirk Gently’s is a comedic detective novel that has its roots in Doctor Who serials that Adams wrote. It follows a peculiar detective, Dirk Gently, as he solves unusual crimes, along with the help of Wood's character, Todd. The stories use events from Adams’ time at college, which he exaggerates into...
TV
3 CommentsGillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan return in new trailer for The Fall’s third season
Last season, The Fall ended with Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) cradling the body of sociopath Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) as he bled out after being shot — and upon the discovery that the girl he had kidnapped, Rose, was in fact alive.
The cliffhanger opened up quite a few questions, including whether or not Spector would survive and stand trial for the acts he had committed. Now, in the newest teaser trailer for the show’s third season, which can be seen below, some of those questions are beginning to get answered. In this trailer, we can hear a conversation taking place between Gibson and Spector as Gibson does laps in a swimming pool.
Their strange and twisted relationship is front and center as they talk about the hold they have over each other. It doesn’t provide too much...
Cover Story
Issue
21
August 18, 2016
Disney’s many, many attempts at figuring out the game industry
Dig deep into Disney’s 30-plus year game industry history.
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12 CommentsHarry Potter’s Rupert Grint to star in TV adaptation of Snatch
Sony Television announced today that it has plans to adapt Guy Ritchie’s acclaimed film Snatch into a series with Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint set to star.
Sony made the announcement during an upfront presentation for its streaming service, Crackle, according to Deadline, and confirmed that the series will be an exclusive for the company. Inspired by the 2000 film about a group of miscreant characters trying to steal a diamond in England that starred Jason Statham and Brad Pitt, the series will add a batch of new characters but keep the location and establishments the same.
Grint, best known for playing Ron Weasley in all eight Harry Potter installments, will play the charming, if not frustrating conman Charlie Cavendish. He’ll be joined by Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) and Dougray...
TV
6 CommentsHalt and Catch Fire's third season gets a surprise premiere following Fear the Walking Dead
Surprise album drops have been a thing in the music industry since 2014, but it looks like television networks are trying to get in on the hype, with AMC surprising viewers with an unannounced premiere of Halt and Catch Fire's third season.
The premiere debuted after Chris Hardwick's weekly night show, The Talking Dead, and the midseason premiere of Fear the Walking Dead. Television critic Alan Sepinwall had previously tweeted out his suspicions that the network was planning to do something with the return of the cult show. Sepinwall argued that the official programming block had Talking Dead scheduled for two hours and that just didn't make any sense.
Right before the show premiered at 11 p.m. ET, AMC's Jim Maiella tweeted out an image confirming the news, adding that fans of the...
TV
15 CommentsThe Strain showrunners on the only thing FX wouldn't let them show on television
In order for The Strain to be as effective as it is, showrunners Carlton Cuse and Chuck Hogan needed to know they had the creative freedom to push the boundaries on what they could show. According to Cuse, FX has for the most part been entirely accepting of their goriest, most violent scenes, but there was one moment they went back and forth on before Cuse and Hogan gave in.
"There were some issues over what we could show when Bolivar's penis falls off," Cuse said, referencing one of the more memorable moments from the show's second season. "There were some issues over how graphically we could depict that actual incident. There was even the question about, 'Well, what's left after?' If your penis falls off, what does the remaining thing look like?
"The absence of a penis can be as...
The Lost Boys gets the television treatment at CW
Last week, CW president Mark Pedowtiz said the network wasn’t interested in exploring any more superhero shows at this time to fill out its roster, but it looks like the network isn’t done exploring beloved franchises just yet.
The CW has acquired the rights to The Lost Boys, the underground vampire film franchise from the ‘80s, and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas is set to develop an anthology series for the network based on the characters, according to Variety. The series will span across seven decades, with each season representing a different decade. With that in mind, it looks like the CW has plans to keep the series going for at least seven years, although the network hasn’t confirmed if that’s the case.
Anthology shows are becoming increasingly popular at different networks,...
Streaming
10 CommentsThe Tick creator on taking his iconic funny superhero to a darker place
When Ben Edlund brought The Tick to television for the first time, it was a brand new world for the comic book creator. He didn't know what he was doing, and as such, relinquished a lot of the control he had over the live-action project in 2001 to the studio and more seasoned producers on the project.
Now, in the new renaissance of comic book adaptations and a mainstream culture willing to embrace and support the most obscure characters, Edlund is confident he'll be able to make the live-action adaptation of The Tick that he wanted to make more than a decade ago. Having worked for more than a decade in television now, however, Edlund is ready to tackle the series again.
"The experience that I gained from working on these other projects became crucial," Edlund told Polygon. "Before, I...
TV
19 CommentsMr. Robot creator says fans shouldn’t feel cheated by latest twist
Last season, Mr. Robot shocked some viewers by revealing that the titular character, played by Christian Slater, was the dead father of main character Elliot, played by Rami Malek. As a result, the man Elliot thought the he had been having deep, meaningful conversations with all season was nothing more than a figment of his imagination.
Not to be outdone, during last night’s episode, creator and lead writer Sam Esmail dropped another bombshell for fans. In an interview with Hitfix, Esmail said that while some fans groaned that they saw the twist coming as early as the first episode, he didn’t feel he cheated anyone with the revelation.
Warning: The following will contain spoilers for the most recent episode of Mr. Robot.
At the beginning of this season, fans learned that Elliot had...
Culture
5 CommentsLearn about the Stranger Things logo, then make your own
Stranger Things is a great show; you should go watch it on Netflix if you haven’t already, and the logo helps to instantly set the mood.
Curious about how that logo was created? This video, from our sister site Vox.com, goes in-depth about the mixture of practical and digital effects that went into the creation of that animation.
Pretty cool, huh? Now it’s time to make your own using this little tool that has taken social media by storm.
pic.twitter.com/BrFIzvBkj4
— Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) August 17, 2016
pic.twitter.com/V6xddZgDNC
— Elisa @ Tanagra (@ElisaRockDoc) August 17, 2016
And you thought today was going to be boring.
TV
20 CommentsMarvel’s Runaways is coming to TV, from the creators of Gossip Girl and The O.C.
Marvel Comics’ Runaways, the company’s unexpectedly popular series about a group of teenagers who realize their parents are all supervillains and subsequently rebel, will be getting a long-anticipated live-action adaptation on Hulu.
The video-on-demand service announced to Deadline today that it has a series order for a Runaways adaptation, to be showrun by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, creators of Gossip Girl. (Schwartz also created The O.C.) Show producers will include Marvel Television’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.
First hitting shelves in 2003, Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways followed the adventures of six teenage acquaintances who find out that the boring yearly get-together that their parents host was actually the yearly meeting of a secret society of...
TV
9 CommentsGame of Thrones' Kit Harington talks Jon Snow being the safest character
Jon Snow has been through hell and back, quite literally, in HBO's Game of Thrones, but actor Kit Harington says that he's probably one of the safest characters for now.
Harington spoke at length about the death and revival of his character last season in a profile for The Wrap, and said that one of the best parts about the entire debacle was that he figured his character would be pretty safe. As the show heads into the seventh season, Harington admitted that anything could happen, but considering what HBO and the Game of Thrones showrunners put fans through between the fifth and sixth seasons, he had a good feeling about Snow's fate.
"He could die next season, but I feel pretty safe this season," Harington said. "Because if I come back to life in episode two, it would be awful...
Streaming
4 CommentsTom Clancy’s Jack Ryan TV series coming to Amazon
Jack Ryan, one of the best-known characters in the Tom Clancy universe, is getting his own television series on Amazon. The company announced today that it has ordered a 10-episode season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, starring John Krasinski (The Office) as the titular CIA agent.
Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan follows an up-and-coming CIA analyst thrust into a dangerous field assignment for the first time. [...] The series follows Ryan (Krasinski) as he uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit with a new breed of terrorism that threatens destruction on a global scale.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan will be co-produced by Paramount Television and Skydance Television, with shooting set to take place in the...
TV
6 CommentsMr. Robot renewed for third season
Mr. Robot, one of the USA Network's most watched, critically-acclaimed series, has been renewed for a third season.
The network announced the renewal in a press release today, with NBCUniversal president of entertainment, Chris McCumber, hailing it as a "cultural zeitgeist." The show is midway through its sophomore season, and while reception hasn't been as strong as it was during its debut run, the ratings are continuing to hold. Most importantly for the network, which is trying to redefine itself after years of being the go-to place for reruns of Law & Order and other procedurals, Mr. Robot represents a shift in audience (finally securing the important 18-34-year-old group) as it moves forward with original programming.
The series has also received multiple awards for its first...
TV
4 CommentsReport: Robert Downey, Jr. and True Detective's creator team up on Perry Mason for HBO
Robert Downey, Jr. and True Detective's creator are teaming up for a project with HBO, and Variety reports that it's a reboot of Perry Mason, which had languished as a film project for about five years.
HBO is officially mum and so are representatives for Downey and Nic Pizzolatto, the True Detective showrunner. Downey is said to have long wanted a crack at Perry Mason, the classic courtroom drama that aired from 1957 to 1966. A film was set up back in 2011 but it never went anywhere.
True Detective had a strong first season, but its second was a critical disappointment, and there is no word yet on whether a third season is ordered. In January, HBO's president of programming said he regretted pushing Pizzolatto to write True Detective on a deadline instead of giving him more time to...
Streaming
19 CommentsAll six seasons of Community are now available on Hulu
Community has had a rocky broadcasting history. After three seasons on NBC, the network fired creator Dan Harmon, only to bring him back for the series' fifth season — which debuted to record low ratings. Harmon fought to save the show, but NBC eventually released both, and Community's sixth season aired on Yahoo Screen. Though it garnered critical acclaim, users complained about Yahoo's quality of service.
Now, though, all six seasons are in one place, with no problems. Hulu announced today that it has acquired the rights to the series, adding that subscribers can start streaming the show right now. The acquisition comes from a new licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Television, which owns the right to the series. The deal also comes with a few other shows that Hulu subscribers...
TV
5 CommentsPreacher showrunners teaming with Silicon Valley writer for AI comedy on FX
Preacher's Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are teaming up with Silicon Valley's Sonny Lee to write and develop a sitcom about artificial intelligence in the not too distant future for FX.
The show, Singularity, will focus on a world where artificial intelligence's capabilities greatly surpass those of the human race and how that affects every aspect of culture. While the premise of the series sounds entirely sci-fi, Lee told The Hollywood Reporter that like Silicon Valley there will be a level of satire that the show brings to the concept. Lee specifically reached out to Goldberg and Rogen because of how similar the tone of his show is to their apocalyptic comedy, This Is The End, which was released two years ago.
The magazine reported that Lee, Goldberg and Rogen landed the deal with...
TV
6 CommentsWatch the first footage from The Walking Dead's seventh season
Last season, The Walking Dead ended on one of its biggest cliffhangers yet, with the lives of most characters up in the air as the villainous Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) made his entrance.
In the first footage AMC has released from the seventh season, that question is still up in the air. Instead of giving fans a look at who might have survived and who perished, the 50-second clip follows the newest series regular, Dwight (Austin Amelio), as he cruises around. The scene will also reassure fans that despite Negan taking on the role of the main baddie this season, there will still be plenty of zombies to keep the cast occupied.
AMC debuted the clip during its special hourlong preview of the seventh season, which included interviews with the main cast, last night. During the event, the...
TV
28 CommentsSupernatural has no end day in sight
Supernatural has been on the air for 11 years, and when asked about the future of the series on the CW, president Mark Pedowitz said the network has no end game for the show.
"Creatively, the show is fantastic," Pedowitz said during the Television Critics Association conference. "If the ratings hold, the show could outlast my tenure in this chair."
The show premiered in 2005 and quickly developed a cult following, becoming one of the most popular shows amongst the target 18-34-year-old crowd and a go-to favorite for merchandisers like Hot Topic, who could profit off of the series' themes and characters. Starring Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, the series follows two demon-hunting brothers tasked with destroying evil entities across the country.
Both Ackles and Padalecki have been...
TV
7 CommentsNew PaRappa the Rapper anime debuts in Japan this month
A new animated series of shorts based on PaRappa the Rapper, titled PJ Berri no Mogu-Mogu Munya-Munya, will debut in Japan on Aug. 18, Fuji TV announced this week. Don’t expect an epic exploration of PaRappa and his pals, however; episodes are slated to be about 96 seconds long each.
PJ Berri, the DJing bear and close friend of PaRappa the Rapper, may be the star of the show, but expect characters like PaRappa and Chop Chop Master Onion to make appearances.
The pilot episode of PJ Berri no Mogu-Mogu Munya-Munya airs next week on Japanese variety show Hi Poul. Additional episodes will roll out starting in October. No word yet on whether they’ll make their way outside of Japan.
PaRappa the Rapper had his own anime series, also on Fuji TV, back in 2001. The animated series ran for 30...
TV
13 CommentsRocko’s Modern Life is returning to TV with a new special
Nickleodeon is bringing back Rocko’s Modern Life, one of its first original cartoons, nearly 20 years after the show ended. A one-hour TV special based on the irreverent, slice-of-life comedy is currently in development, according to Entertainment Weekly.
There are few other details about the return of Rocko’s, including when it will air and if it will reunite the series’ voice actors. Creator Joe Murray will co-direct, however, and he told Entertainment Weekly that the film will "comment on modern life in the 21st century."
Back in the 20th century, Rocko’s Modern Life represented a middle ground in its Nicktoon cohort of the adult-skewing Ren and Stimpy and the slow-paced Doug. Over 65 episodes from 1993-1996, Rocko dealt with absurd inventions, angry neighbors and his job at the...
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