You what they say – 12 million people can’t be too far off. This new run of episodes of AMC’sWALKING DEAD is breaking even the records they set a few months back. we talk to showrunner Glen Mazzara and cast member Steven Yeun on what it’s like at the center of this success storm. Plus bad news for the DEXTER comic and the LOBO movie.
It’s a little bit of sports, a little bit of science fiction and all action. SyFy is set to debut ROBOT COMBAT LEAGUE with man-controlled machines battling to survive. Series host (and WWE Superstar) Chris Jericho, explains why the new reality show is really a wave of the future. Plus Valiant offers a comic book bargain, and everyone on the net is asking Who Is Writing GREEN LANTERN?
God bless the deranged maniacs at the Warner Archives and their desire to not let anything be forgotten. As part of their exponentially-growing manufacture on demand DVD program, they’ve added to their already impressive list of animated releases with a 2-disc release of Hanna-Barbera’s The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley.
Martin Short has had a wide and varied career in comedy, and inamongst appearing on SCTV, Saturday Night Live and his film career, he created a character named Ed Grimley. Formed from equal parts of sight gags from his SCTV days and a voice he used to do to annoy his wife, Ed caught on with America during Short’s SNL run. When NBC and Hanna-Barbera looked for a way to compete with CBS’ Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, the hyperkinetic Mr. Grimley was tailor-made.
Featuring a mini-reunion of the SCTV gang, the series features Martin in the titular (a word you want to hear more often, and so seldom do) role, with Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, with Joe Flaherty reprising his SCTV creation Count Floyd. Jonathan Winters rounded out the crew, adding in his comedy genius.
The comparison to Pee-Wee is easy to make on the surface, but at its base, Ed’s show was a surreal take on a sitcom, as opposed to the kids show parody of Mr. Herman. Ed has no desire to find adventures; he’s more than happy practicing his triangle and enjoying the company of his neighbors at the palatial Freebus Arms. But adventure seeks him out, and before you can say “Uncle Balfour’s favorite Mantovani record” he’s running n a horse race or getting a new identity after testifying in a robbery trial or being whisked to Kansas via a hurricane.
Ed Grimley was one of the last shows made at Hanna-Barbera before their purchase by Turner, and was one of its last truly original works. With character work and story direction by Scott Shaw! the show had a unique voice that stood above the sadly dying world of Saturday Morning cartoons. It’s popped back up on Cartoon Network on occasion, but thanks to Warner Archives, fans can get their triangle on whenever they please.
We’ve got more, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, this time talking with stars Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann and others on how they worked at bringing familiar characters to life. Plus comics sales kick off the new year in a BIG way, and Zelda comes out of retirement to give Dark Horse Comics some big news.
We begin our look at the new film, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, first talking with creators Kami Garcia and Margret Stohl, then director Richard LaGravenese who moved the project from book to film and actor Jeremy Irons who steps into a key role. Plus Marvel tries its hand at the romance game and the JLA movie hits a road block.
We aren’t trying to be cute in saying that NBC’s CHICAGO FIRE seems be be heating up the network’s Wednesday nights. Series star Eaamon Williams and creator Derek Haas talk about how the series keeps it real – and safe – plus the comeback trail is getting crowded with new material on TOMB RAIDER, Ralph Bakshi and The Thunderbirds!
I’m going to exercise a point of personal privilege this week and write about a friend. Her name was Mary Ellen McGarry and I just received word that she died. Mary Ellen was a great soul, a giant heart, a wonderful talent, and a large personality. She filled a room three times over.
Out of all the people I’ve ever known, only my late wife, Kim Yale, had as outgoing and, at times, boisterous a personality. One of my nicknames for her was “Boom-boom” because her laughter and her voice could boom across a room and, indeed, across Lake Michigan.
And, lord, she could laugh. Loud, infectious, and riotous. I loved to make her laugh. I would get her going so hard that she would start hitting me to make me stop which, of course, only made me try harder.
In the summer of 1971 we worked as apprentices together at a summer theater, which meant we worked like dogs for very little money. It was a strange summer. The theater was located at a college so we all lived in dorms on campus. For Mary Ellen I made up a musical comedy, Tritzing to Tibet, based on the climbing of Mount Everest by Edmund Hilary. I should explain that it has less to do with historical fact than the central conceit of the movie, The Producers, in that any show that bad has to be a hit. I took all the events that happened in 1953 and, in an absurd breach of artistic license, moved them to 1937 so I could have an opposing chorus of Nazi mountain climbers.
Every night, just before curtain went up on whatever show we were doing, I got over to her in the wings and, sotto voce, sang her a new song from the show. I should also mention that in addition to not writing music I don’t even read music. The only purpose of the whole exercise was to see if I could reduce Mary Ellen to tears with laughter. Okay, so there’s a slightly sadistic side to me.
The thing is – over the years, any time we would get together, Mary Ellen insisted on hearing some or all of those godforsaken tunes. The last time was at a reunion last year for alums of the Loyola University Theater Department (where we first met). Mary Ellen had lung problems and at that point was in a wheel chair and had to constantly have oxygen. It didn’t slow her down an inch. And she wanted me to sing some of the songs from Tritzing to Tibet.
I demurred. To be honest, I was afraid that if I got her laughing too hard I might literally kill her. Boom-boom would have none of that. She knew her own limits and she knew what she wanted and, by god, I would sing. I did and she was right.
She was also incredibly brave. Her lungs were giving up on her but she was told that, with a lung transplant, she might live longer. However, she was also teaching kids at that point. She loved it but, if she got a lung transplant, she would have had to give it up. We all know kids are Petri dished for diseases and she would likely have caught those germs and her new lungs could not have taken it.
Mary Ellen and I had a long talk about it on the phone and she was clear and firm. She would not give up what she loved so much. I had to respect that. I still do.
So many people loved you, Mary Ellen. I hope you knew that.
There’s so much more to you than I can begin to recount here. I will carry your voice and your laughter and your spirit in my memory and my heart all my days. I will grieve the loss of you and that’s alright. Those we love who have died are worth the tears we shed for them. I will celebrate your life because you were so filled with it.
It took a project like THE FOLLOWING to lure Kevin Bacon to series television, and he tells he just why he made the move plus James Purefoy talks about why his serial killer character is so hard to hate. And have you heard about BAR RESCUE? The hit SpikeTV series is heading into it’s third season and host Jon Taffer explains what we may have missed. Plus ENTOURAGE is headed to the big screen and John Byrne heads back to DOOMSDAY.
THE FOLLOWING has exploded onto Fox primetime, and we begin our exclusive look at the show that everyone is talking about. Creator Kevin Williamson along with actors Anna Parisse and Shawn Ashmore talk about just a few of the ways the series stands put from the rest of TV, plus as 30 ROCK prepares to say goodbye, we talk to cast member Grizz Chapman who thinks the exit might be a little premature. And did you hear that the old X-MEN Movie gang is getting back together?
The Farrelly Brothers have broken the comedy barrier in a number of films, but with so much unrated material posted online daily, is it harder to be raunchy funny on the big screen? That was one of the challenges they faced with MOVIE 43, and our exclusive preview continues with a look at that challenge – plus she was DOCTOR WHO’s River Song, but can she pull off Black Canary in ARROW?
Martin Short has had a wide and varied career in comedy, and inamongst appearing on SCTV, Saturday Night Live and his film career, he created a character named Ed Grimley. Formed from equal parts of sight gags from his SCTV days and a voice he used to do to annoy his wife, Ed caught on with America during Short’s SNL run. When NBC and Hanna-Barbera looked for a way to compete with CBS’ Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, the hyperkinetic Mr. Grimley was tailor-made.
