March 20, 2012 . No More Futurama on Comedy Central permalink ] [ trackback ]

Oh, it’s still airing (and they are making new episodes, as far as I know).  But I think I’m done watching any more episodes on Comedy Central.  I won’t go into how bad the new seasons are on Comedy Central (they are pretty bad).  But now I can’t watch the syndicated episodes from the first four seasons because Comedy Central has started modifying the episodes.

I just watched “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid” and realized that they cut the entire bit at the beginning with Bender and Zoidberg entering the pet show.  It’s annoying that they cut out a little of the episode to increase the commercial time, but that has been standard syndication practice for a very long time with other shows so it’s not surprising.  But then later in the episode, after everyone on Earth became stupid and Fry’s coworkers were suggesting what they should do, Bender said, “Hey, let’s all join the Tea Party!”

What?!!  The original was, “Hey, let’s all join the Reform Party!”  They are changing dialogue now?  Updating the jokes to make them more relevant?  I am not outraged because they chose the Tea Party (frankly, they deserve to be made fun of), I am outraged that they are modifying the original jokes for no real reason.  Doesn’t the Reform Party still exist?

Time to find my Futurama DVDs, I guess.

Posted at 2:05 am [ 0 comments ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
October 2, 2011 . Arrested Development – New Season? permalink ] [ trackback ]

As a big fan of Arrested Development, I have heard the rumors about a possible movie in the future.  But now the creator and cast say that a new season of the show is in the works!  According to the article, the 10 new episodes could air in early 2013.

Posted at 8:08 pm [ 1 comment ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
May 16, 2011 . YouTube on DirecTV permalink ]

I just accidentally discovered that DirecTV DVRs now support playing YouTube videos directly from the Internet!  Using the search function in an Internet-connected DVR, you can choose to search YouTube for results.  I doubt I will use it very often, but it is cool to know that the option is available.

Posted at 11:27 pm [ 0 comments ] | [ Comments Off on YouTube on DirecTV ]
 
December 1, 2010 . My Christmas List permalink ]

I know what I want for Christmas — a Lennie Briscoe action figure!

Too bad it’s not real.

Posted at 2:52 pm [ 1 comment ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
January 13, 2010 . Anime on Adult Swim permalink ]

Since Adult Swim is not airing any new anime shows currently, I decided to look at their schedule to see if they had any announced plans for new episodes or new series. After affirming that they are not airing anything new through February, I did a little Googling to see if any new shows have been announced, or at least if they plan on airing new Bleach episodes soon.

What I found is an article reporting that Adult Swim has lost the rights to Blood+ (no big loss) and Death Note (a shame, but I have already seen the entire series). However, they have announced that they have probably picked up three new anime series, but they have not said which.  As a side note, I watched the mini-Death Note marathon on Saturday night, not realizing that it was the last time the episodes will be aired on Adult Swim.

Clicking more links from Google, I found out that Adult Swim aired a bump that announced when they are airing new shows: Bleach on April 3, Venture Bros. on Aug. 22, a new unnamed show on Feb. 6 (obviously not on the current schedule), and another unnamed show on Sept. 25.

I learned one other thing: there is a new InuYasha series out called “InuYasha: The Final Act”, which covers the end of the story as written in the manga.  If you watched the original InuYasha series, you may have been disappointed by the end of the series.  Because there wasn’t really an end — the episodes just stopped abruptly mid-story.  Since this time around they have an actual end to the story planned out, I am hoping that one of the unnamed shows is this new series.

Posted at 11:54 pm [ 1 comment ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
October 10, 2009 . Two Sonic Guys permalink ]

I watched Stranger Than Fiction last night and noticed that two co-workers of the main character are the guys from the Sonic commercials.  I looked it up on IMDB and found out that the dark-haired guy, Peter Grosz (aka the driver in the commercials), is also a writer for the Colbert Report!

Cool stuff.  Now if only there was a Sonic nearby, I would actually try their food.

Posted at 1:04 pm [ 1 comment ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
June 18, 2009 . I Want To Dip My Balls In It! permalink ]

Finally, after over 15 years, MTV is releasing “The State” on DVD.  You can buy the entire series in one set, which releases in less than a month.  I just pre-ordered mine for a nice discount from Amazon.

“The State” was a great sketch comedy show on MTV.  Some of the cast members have gone on to create some other memorable shows, such as “Viva Variety” and “Reno 911”.  Comedy Central has another new show premiering next month with two other State alums, “Michael and Michael Have Issues” (starring Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter).  In fact, it was this new show that prompted me to check Amazon to see if any new “The State” releases were scheduled.

I have been waiting for this release for a very, very  long time.  I even sent Viacom an email years ago asking why they have not released the series on DVD or at least shown re-runs on Comedy Central (a natural fit, given the sensibilities of the show and the fact that cast members have had several shows on Comedy Central).  Of course, I never heard back from Viacom.

In case you are wondering about the title of this post, it is one of the more memorable repeat sketches from the show.  The main character in the sketch, Louie, spends the entire sketch praising items by holding up ping-pong balls and declaring that he wants to dip them in the item.  Juvenile?  Yes.  Hilarious?  Definitely.  Which pretty much sums up the series.

Posted at 11:07 pm [ 0 comments ] | [ Comments Off on I Want To Dip My Balls In It! ]
 
April 28, 2009 . Whoa! Julia! permalink ]

Somehow, this fact slipped under my radar for months: Keanu Reeves has signed on as Spike Spiegel in the live-action remake of Cowboy Bebop.

If you have never seen Cowboy Bebop, run out today and buy, borrow, or beg a copy to watch. Cowboy Bebep is one of the best anime productions ever made and has a very strong following. The strength of the show comes from the combination of great, believable characters, fun action sequences, and excellent soundtracks. What really solidifies Cowboy Bebop as my favorite anime are the over-arcing story lines that reveal each character’s past and then show that past catching up to them. And most of the time dedicated to those story arcs are spent on the main character, Spike Spiegel.

Unfortunately, that style does not translate well to a movie format. Although the characters can stand on their own, the movie will lack the story-telling magic that defined the success of the series. Instead, the movie will have to rely solely on the characters and a well-written, self-contained story. And in a live-action adaptation, that means that the actors must do a good job of matching the original character from the series.

So that means that the big question for the movie is: Will Keanu be believable as Spike? I guess we’ll find out when (if) the movie is released.

I also want to know: Who will be cast as Faye?

Posted at 3:39 pm [ 2 comments ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
November 11, 2008 . Vandread permalink ]

I recently finished watching an anime series that I rented from Netflix.  The series, Vandread, turned out to be pretty good, was fun to watch, and had a very satisfying ending (which is a rare treat for anime).

The main characters in the show come from two rival planets. The planets are rivals because only men live on one, and only women live on the other. For reasons unknown, they have become each other’s enemy. Of course, through some twist of fate, some men and women end up on a ship together and are forced to share adventures.

The premise sounds a bit goofy, but the interactions between the characters make them likable and add humor to the show. I don’t want to give anything away, but the main plot of the story ends up revolving around a new, shared enemy that threatens both planets. It is actually that plot line which makes the series so good, rather than just a silly show.

Much of the show has a traditional cel-shaded look, but there is also a fair amount of clean-rendered 3D animation, especially in the space-fight scenes. The show does it in a well-balanced way that doesn’t make the 3D shots seem out of place. In fact, some of the 3D action scenes are very well done, especially given that the show was released around 2001.

It was fun to watch, and I definitely recommend the series.

Posted at 3:37 am [ 1 comment ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
October 9, 2008 . Samurai Jack Movie? permalink ]

So I was reading an interesting commentary on the new Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series and it got me thinking: what is Genndy Tartakovsky, the directory of the (much better) original Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series, doing nowadays?  He also created Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack, plus was involved pretty heavily in the Powerpuff Girls series (in other words, he’s created a lot of great material).

His wikipedia page mentions that he formed his own animation company and they are working on a sequel to The Dark Crystal.  Honestly, I only know of that movie because The Crystal Method used a sample from the intro for their song Trip Like I Do (great song, great album).

Anyway, back to the point.  Although that new movie is his primary focus, a new production company has been formed, Frederator Films, which plans on first working on a Samurai Jack movie.  Genndy will write and direct it, and it will end the story of Samurai Jack.  For those that don’t know, the series never gave Jack a chance to get back to his own time and destroy Aku.  If you don’t know who Jack is or why he’s trying to destroy Aku, get your hands on the DVDs or click on over to the Cartoon Network site and watch some episodes for free!

Posted at 4:59 pm [ 1 comment ] | [ Post a comment ]
 
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