NBC kicks off the new year by launching a new comedy from the producers of MODERN FAMILY. It’s hijinks in the White House on 1600 PENN and we talk to stars Josh Gad, Jenna Elfman and Bill Pullman on why critics have already elected this one a hit. Plus WALKING DEAD has a win and a loss, digital comics are red hot and we’re celebrating a birthday!
The thing about a great story is that it can be told so many different ways. That includes the Greatest Story Ever Told and, at this festive time of year, my mind turns to the Christmas Story. I recently had a flash of (possibly divine) inspiration: how would it work as a sitcom?
Hear me out.
It would focus on a middle-aged Jewish carpenter named Joseph back in Roman times. I’m thinking Tim Allen for the part. He’s got this hot young fiancée named Mary (Megan Fox?) who is saving herself for marriage but then winds up pregnant – and not by Joseph. Well, Joseph’s all set to break off the wedding when he gets visited by the Angel Gabriel. I’m thinking Morgan Freeman or possibly Chi McBride (who was so good in being the smart butler to a daffy, horny Abraham Lincoln in “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” that aired for about three heartbeats back in 1998).
Not only is it God’s will that Joseph take Mary as his wife but, according to the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, Joseph can never have sex with her. At all. This would be a recurring gag. Joseph gets hot and horny and has to leap into a barrel of cold water to cool down. Maybe steam rises from the barrel. Trust me, this joke will never get old.
So the Romans order a census and Joseph has to go to Bethlehem, the city of David (because he’s descended from David) and get counted. Mary’s “great with child” which means she’s about to give birth at any moment. Maybe they got a late start, maybe Mary can’t move so fast or has to stop often, but by the time they get to Nazareth, everything is booked up. Lots of room for comedy there. One innkeeper (I’m thinking Richard Lewis, although Richard Karn who was in Home Improvement with Tim Allen could do it and audiences might like that) agrees to let them sleep in the barn out back.
Nowhere in any of the gospels or anything else I could find mentions a midwife. You think you would. Mary’s midwife would be a pretty important role. No mention. So – who has to do it? That’s right – Joseph. Tim Allen as Joseph. Can you see it? Alpha male having to deal with childbirth? Tons of humor to be mined there.
So while Mary is screaming and Joseph is ready to faint, Gabriel shows back up. He waves his fingers, Mary’s labor pain goes away (Gabriel claims it’s a divine epidural) and then – lo! – a great light shines ‘round about them coming from Mary’s womb. Enter Jesus.
I’m going to take a little artistic license here and suggest that he’s like the eTrade baby or the babies in the Guess Who’s Talking movies. The adults don’t react but it lets Baby Jesus comment on what’s going on. I always found young Jesus to be a little snarky, what with the “Don’t you know I’m supposed to be about my father’s business?” Jesus can play all sorts of tricks on Joseph, too, like change his wine into water.
In addition to the Innkeeper, there’s all sorts of wacky characters who can be brought in – shepherds wandering the fields at night, three Wise Men bearing gifts (maybe Joseph has to convince them that Jesus is the child they are seeking), and Mary’s Cousin Elizabeth can come for a visit (is it too much to hope for Carol Burnett? And maybe Tim Conway could play Elizabeth’s husband, Zachariah.).
I was contemplating the title. Modern Family is a popular show so I was thinking Ancient Family or Holy Family, but that doesn’t catch the flavor. I think Sweet Jesus! works. It could be pitched to the networks but HBO or Showtime might be looking for an edgy comedy. Or we could get Seth McFarlane interested and take it over to Fox. He’d animate it. Bill O’Reilly could denounce it on his show and when he cuts away for a commercial, there’s an ad for Sweet Jesus! I love it.
So, what do you think, Hollywood? I think we have a winner here. Have your people call my people. Wait. I don’t have people. Maybe Michael Davis could be my people; he’s always putting together deals. Hey, Michael – want to be my people?
And as Tiny Tim was heard to say, “God bless us everyone!”
The popular podcast HOW STUFF WORKS moves to a new medium early in 2013 when the Science Channel launches the HSW television series. We talk to the guys behind it on how they are creating a hybrid reality show/situation comedy, plus doing an episode dedicated to comic book movies. Meanwhile, KOJACK gets closer to a reboot and DC says goodbye to THE SPIRIT.
Pulp Empire has announced the release of Doc Claus in trade paperback format for your reading pleasure. Doc Clause is available at Amazon and CreateSpace. (Ebook editions coming later this week) and features a cover by Teel James Glenn.
About Doc Claus: You may know him as the Man of Presents, but his friends know he is far more than that!
Doc Claus springs off the pages in five new adventures! With a bit of comedy and a bit of parody, our hero and his allies set out to protect the world… 364 days a year! And with the rest of the Holiday Patrol: Cupid, Easy, Remmy, Montgomery, Comet, and of course, the Missus, he may be the only defense against the most nefarious threats the world has to offer!
Doc and company star in five new adventures by a quintet of talented writers: Travis Hiltz (Horror Heroes), Terry Alexander (Modern Pulp Heroes), Robbie Lizhini (Presidential Pulp) and Pulp Empire newcomers M. H. Norris and Greg Daniel bring a book overflowing with adventures for the holidays and beyond!
Buy the print edition for a mere $10 at Createspace and Amazon. Digital readers can expect digital editions just in time for Christmas!
IDW Publishing, along with comic production house Hazmat Studios and film production company Blind Spot Pictures, have announced an Iron Sky movie tie-in graphic novel in March.
Drawn and colored by the team of Gerry Kissell and Amin Amat, the artists behind IDW’s best selling graphic novel Code Word: Geronimo, and Xbox’s comic game tie-in Alan Wake. The book will also feature original pin-up art by Miguel Angel Abad and Darren Douglas, and chronicles the battle against the return of history’s most notoriously evil villains, the Nazis, who unbeknownst to us, escaped to the moon following their defeat in World War II.
Movie Poster
“The graphic novel is a prequel to the hit sci-fi action film Iron Sky produced by Blind Spot Pictures, and focuses on how the Nazis ended up on the moon, and how Udo Kier’s character, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, became Der Uberfuhrer,” Kissell said. “Part steampunk and part comedy, the graphic novel was written masterfully by Alan Wake scribe, Mikko Rautalahti. who has a wicked sense of humor.”
The book will be 104 pages, with 67 pages of comic art with an additional 33 pages of production art, behind the scenes bonus material, and other exclusive material written by the film’s director, Timo Vuorensola.
A writer’s character coming to life is nothing new. It was done effectively on The Twilight Zone and Sharon Stone even portrayed a muse come to life to bedevil Albert Brooks. As a result, the premise behind the charming Ruby Sparks is not at all fresh but the approach is what makes this small film well worth your time and attention. That it is heartfelt and well-constructed is to be expected considering the movie comes from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who first caught our attention with Little Miss Sunshine. They have been missed.
Paul Dano is Calvin, an author who hit his first novel out of the park and has been struggling to remain commercially relevant ever since (think Jonathan Franzen). Then, finally, he creates a character, Ruby, who genuinely stirs his soul thanks to a prompt given him by his therapist (Elliott Gould). The pages flow easily for the first time in a decade. A week later, though, Ruby (Zoe Kazan) has come to life and is found sitting on his couch, ready to experience life. Ruby is 26, doesn’t own a computer and always roots for the underdog, something Calvin most certainly is.
What does one do when the woman of his dreams is made manifest? If he imagined her to life, can he or should he alter her to his exact specifications? And that is what propels the remainder of the film, a sitcom version of magical realism. Does he share her with the world, make love to her, or admire her from afar? His brother Harry (Chris Messina) says jump her after realizing she is the women Calvin has been writing about.
What starts out as a pretty funny comedy takes on serious tones as we progress and the shifting mood isn’t smoothly handled. It raises some interesting question and only partially answers them, leaving you somewhat entertained, somewhat dissatisfied. This is about Calvin growing up and we watch him flail all over the place despite a support system including his mom and his step-father (nice cameos from Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas). Calvin remains a mess, still in pain after breaking up with his last girlfriend (Deborah Ann Woll), and has a tough relationship with his lousy literary agent (Steve Coogan).
Dano and Kazan are wonderful together, ably supported by the deep, veteran cast. They rise above the film when the material gets weak or meanders but overall leave you entertained from beginning to end. This could have benefitted from a stronger script but still remains entertaining and thoughtful, not at all a bad combination.
The transfer to Blu-ray by 20th Century Home Entertainment is excellent and the disc comes with the standard assortment of special features. Most feel like they came from the press materials with little shot specifically for the disc. You get a handful of pieces ranging in length from three minutes to four minutes, never letting you delve deep into the film itself.
Warwick Davis will be making a foray into a new camp of sci-fi fandom in 2013 when he appears on fifty-year-old juggernaut Doctor Who. In an episode for the second half of this season, Davis will appear in an episode written by fifty-one year-old juggernaut Neil Gaiman, returning to the series after his Hugo-winning episode, The Doctor’s Wife. The BBC has not released the title, but revealed yesterday the episode will feature the Cybermen. Also starring in the episode will be Jason Watkins (Being Human) and Tamzin Outhwaite (EastEnders).
Davis casts a long shadow over science fiction and fantasy. Starting with his role as Wicket W. Warrick in Return of the Jedi, he’s enjoyed a long and varied career in many franchises. He played the title character in George Lucas and Ron Howard’s Willow, and was similarly titular in the horror franchise Leprechaun. He played Marvin the Paranoid Android in the recent Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film, appeared in the Harry Potter films as Professor Flitwick, and will be appearing in Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant-Killer.
Davis’ most recent triumph is the Ricky Gervais comedy Life’s Too Short, which recently completed a run on HBO. In it he played an exaggerated version of himself, separated from his wife and straining under a massive tax bill, all while he produces and films a documentary about himself which chronicles these travails. Davis shows remarkable comedic timing and ability to do physical comedy in the series, playing the perfect balance of a hateful, selfish interpretation of himself who you still feel sorry for when horrible things happen to him.
Keeping with the whimsical self-deprecating tone of the series, he’s released an iPhone app, PocketWarwick, which turns him into a 21st century Tamagotchi. You are responsible for keeping him clean and fit as progressively more lucrative acting jobs are sent by his agent, as you attempt to bring you little thespian up from Z-lister to the A-list.
It’s rather safe to say that an appearance on the longest running science-fiction show his history will go a long way towards that goal. At this rate, he’ll have that tax-bill sorted in no time…
After two previous attempts, Matthew Perry has broken the alleged “FRIENDS Curse” and struck comedy gold again with NBC’s GO ON. Matthew shares the secret of mixing comedy and drama and making it all work. Plus Andrew Lincoln and Chandler Riggs tells us how the cast of WALKING DEAD reacts when one of their fellow stars meets their fate.
While we’re almost halfway through the current football season, hard to believe, fans who cannot get enough of the sport should know that season three of The League is now out on home video.
We have two Blu-ray copies to give away courtesy of 20th Century Home Entertainment. The semi-improvised hit comedy is about a fantasy football league, its members, and their everyday lives.
To be a fan of The League, you don’t need to know much about fantasy football, or sports at all. You just need to have friends that you hate. The ensemble comedy follows a group of old friends in a fantasy football league who care deeply about one another – so deeply that they use every opportunity to make each other’s lives miserable.
Taco lost the Shiva Bowl in season three so what advice would you give him for the current season? The two best answers received by 11:59 p.m., Sunday, October 21 will be winners. The judgment of ComicMix will be final and the contest is open to readers only in the United States and Canada.
The box set includes the following Special Features:
We preview two new comedies from NBC – starting with Jimmy Fallon‘s GUYS WITH KIDS, featuring Anthony Anderson who is loving his return to comedy from LAW AND ORDER and THE SHIELD. Then there’s THE NEW NORMAL, a show that has already made headlines with one NBC affiliate refusing to carry it. Series regular Ellen Barkin has made her position clear on social media, but we gave her a little more space than 140 characters to explain why this show is important to us all. Plus more trouble with The Turtles reboot and DC’s ZERO issues look to be big, really big.
