**Trailer Time**: “Crazy Stupid Love” and “Attack the Block”

Crazy Stupid Love

Since Steve Carell is about to wrap up his stint on The Office, chances are we will start to see his talents showing up and more and more on the big screen. He is lined up for several projects already, but the next time you will probably see him is in this summer’s Crazy Stupid Love, alongside such big names as Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Here is the first full-length trailer for this comedy-drama:

Chris’ Take: I liked the tone of the trailer, although it looks like it has the potential to be uneven. It addressed serious relationship problems with oddball humor, yet it looks like it will take the time to actually take a good serious look at the underlying issues that lead to them. Steve Carell looks like he will be playing his normal slapstick/insecure guy, while Ryan Gosling seems to be taking a turn from his recent serious roles. Julianne Moore again shows that her roles will land all over the map, so I look forward to seeing what she will do with this one as well.

Attack the Block

One of the most talked about films from the SXSW Festival was Attack the Block, which recently picked up distribution in the U.S. This British film looks like it will take the tone of other horror comedies like Shaun of the Dead, and pit ghastly beasts against slackers and kids from South London. Besides Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul), there are no recognizable faces in this trailer, but here it is in all its glory:

Chris’ Take: With the recent influx of alien invasion films, I think this one will be a breath of fresh air because it won’t take itself that seriously, while still trying to pay homage to the genre. I think that’s what made Shaun of the Dead successful, and I think that’s why audiences at SXSW loved it.

The Hangover: Part II

I already posted this trailer last week, but thought I would share it with you guys again because the MPAA just decided, “Hey, we might have dropped the ball on this one.” Apparently, after giving this trailer their stamp of approval, they pulled it from playing during Source Code because it was deemed too offensive and vulgar. Take a look and decide for yourself:

Will Ferrell Not Joining “The Office” Full Time

Several fans’ hopes were lit up when they saw Will Ferrell show up at the end of last week’s episode of The Office. To add to their excitement, Ferrell told US Magazine at the Comedy Central Awards on Saturday that things were “looking good” for him joining the show full time after Steve Carell‘s exit.

Sadly, that is not the case. Paul Lieberstein, the show’s producer, immediately came back to NYMAG and said, “Will was joking — but he commits to his jokes so fully that we’re hoping he’s with us long term, just as a bit that won’t end.”

He essentially just put the audience in a glass cage of emotion.

This is no surprise, since Will Ferrell’s cameo was announced back in January and was touted as a four episode arc. Just days before that, Greg Daniels, the show’s executive producer, had told Pittsburgh’s Post Gazette that Michael Scott‘s replacement would be someone who is a regular (i.e. Darryl, Dwight, Andy, Jim etc.). Plus, it would be really hard to imagine Ferrell sticking to a full time tv character.

No matter how much we would like to see that happen.

So, enjoy Ferrell on The Office while you can. He is next set to appear on the episode airing on Thursday April 14 on NBC.

Great Odin’s Raven! Will Ferrell to Appear on “The Office”

The end of this season of the NBC TV show, The Office, is gearing up to potentially be one of the best yet. Not only do we know that Michael Scott will leave by the end of this season, but along with that comes the mystery of who will replace him. Now, to make matters even more interesting, Will Ferrell is confirmed to appear in a 4 episode arc during the events leading up to Michael’s departure.

Sweet Grandmother's Spatula!!!

The Wrap, and several other sources, reported this last night, and apparently he will appear in three episodes before Michael leaves and one after. He will play another branch manager, who is equally, if not more, inappropriate than Michael.

I think this is great. I think the rapport between Carell and Ferrell will be comic gold. It has been a while since Michael has done anything incredibly outlandish. He has had his moments this season where he was inappropriate, but not to the painstaking point of incredibly awkward, like he would do in Seasons 1-3. I hope when these two unite on the screen, we can return to some great gut-busting flubs in office management.

Rumor has it they are going to start a Dunder Mifflin branch war and brawl in the streets.

What do you all think? Is Ferrell a good fit for the show? You can read more about the rest of this season here.

Will Michael Scott Be Leaving “The Office” Before the Season Finale?

By now,  just about everyone has heard that Steve Carell, who plays the character Michael Scott on NBC‘s The Office,  will be leaving at the end of the current season. But, during a recent interview with Pittsburgh’s Post Gazette, Greg Daniels, the executive producer of the show, is saying that it will happen a couple of episodes before the season finale. So, this means that sometime in late April, Michael Scott will leave the show.

Daniels said that giving Michael the boot before the end of the season would give viewers a chance to feel things out without Steve Carell. It also might have something to do with the fact that he will probably get a huge ratings boost for not one, but two episodes. Additionally, he said that the potential candidates would be Daryl, Dwight, Andy and potentially a few more. The person who chooses the successor to Michael Scott will be Kathy Bates.

Who has been playing less and less interesting roles since Misery.

He also mentioned that Amy Ryan, who was Michael Scott’s love interest in Season 5, will be returning a couple of episodes before that. 

Let's hope he doesn't find her like this.

These rumors, that actually seem pretty solid coming from Daniels’ mouth, lead me to believe that Michael might leave the show to be with Holly and depart the show on a high note. It would be hard at this point to imagine him leaving the show for some other reason, but I could be surprised. I hope they pull this off well, since the last couple of seasons have been kind of a drag, with the exception of a few episodes here and there. I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

 The next episode airs Thursday, January 20 on NBC.

Steve Carell to Produce Mail Room Comedy on NBC

According to Deadline.com, Steve Carell will not be straying far from television after his departure from The Office at the end of this season. NBC has bought a new single-camera project that will be written by Carell that revolves around a small town post office and the eccentric group of friends that frequent it. The show, which as of now carries the temporary title of The Post-Graduate Project, is based on Carell’s time that he spent as a mail carrier before he launched his acting career.

I think this is a great project for Carell to undertake. Based on the writing that he did for 40 Year-Old Virgin, he has proven that he has a knack for relatable comedy. From interviews and stories, it is clear that he is a very down-to-earth guy and this seems like a great way to channel that into a show that has both depth and humor, like The Office was in its second and third seasons.

What do you think? Will this be another successful project for Carell? Or should he just stick to acting?

Fall TV Premiere Wrap Up (Part I)

There was a time two years ago when I only watched two shows on a regular basis, The Office and Lost. Now, thanks to DVR, DVD, my fiance, my brother, and Netflix here is the list of shows that I watch regularly:

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, The Office, Modern Family, Eastbound and Down, Supernatural, Glee, House, Entourage, and Mad Men. I am probably leaving some out and that is not including some of the stuff my fiance watches that I hope will be in exchange for some Maryland Terrapins basketball time this winter.

Here are my thoughts on each of the season premieres that I have seen so far. I will try to keep this brief.  

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Season Premiere Review: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Chris’ Take: This has been the funniest openings to an It’s Always Sunny since Season 3. Seasons 4 and 5 featured hit or miss episodes, but the first two episodes of this season have been hilarious. The story arc with everyone becoming romantically entwined for the wrong reasons has been engrossing and side splitting. There are now story threads that seem to be working over a couple of episodes rather than disappearing after one episode and it is working for the show. I hope it keeps this up.

The Event

Series Premiere Review: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Chris’ Take: After all the hype, it kind of delivered, but only at the end. After watching one of the most convaluded flashback and present timeline conglomerations ever conceived in one episode, obviously borrowing heavily from Lost, it ended with a mysterious event (Hey! I get it now!) While I don’t care about any of the characters enough yet, I am interested in seeing a couple of them fleshed out, but something tells me that the majority of them will remain two-dimensional, and will only change through unconvincing plot twists. Still, the ending was enough to keep me wanting to see what exactly happened and I finished it OnDemand just in time to realize that I missed the first half of the second episode and didn’t have it on DVR.

Running Wilde

Series Premiere Rating: *1/2 out of 4 stars

Chris’ Take: I was thoroughly excited to know that Will Arnett and Mitchell Hurwitz were collaborating on this show. It promised the return of a GOB character to tv and I thought what could go wrong? What we got was a mess, struggling from the start to force the humor and make changes throughout the episode that didn’t seem to make sense for the characters. While the show garnered a few laughs, it was not enough to satiate my desire for more. I will watch one or two more episodes to see if it was just the pilot setting the stage for something better, but I don’t see it going that way. I am guessing this show will be cancelled rather soon.

30 Rock

Season Premiere Review: ** out of 4 stars

Chris’ Take: This premiere had a lot of potential, coming off the season finale that featured Jack’s marriage, Matt Damon and the departure of Kenneth (about as much of a cliffhanger as this show could have). Matt Damon did return to reprise his role, but it was very unfunny and added almost nothing to the story. All the gags seemed to fall flat, with the exception of Tracy hallucinating about seeing Kenneth and having him throw himself in front of a car to prove he was real. If the rest of the episodes are this stale, I think this show will run its course in the next year or so, but I like Tina Fey and crew, so I hope that is not the case.

The Office

Season Premiere Review: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Chris’ Take: I had a lot of anticipation about this new season, with all the Michael Scott replacement rumors, but obviously that story arc will not happen until later. I was mildly amused most of the time and enjoyed the return of Jim and Pam’s pranks, but it didn’t seem to flow, especially the opening sequence which was zany, but not that funny and had nothing to do with the story and very little to do with the characters themselves. I did like how they didn’t worry about building up the romance between Gabe and Erin because it didn’t really need to be explained, it just was. I still hold out hope that this will be a very interesting season and look forward to the next episode.

Eastbound and Down

Season Premiere Rating: *** out of 4 stars

Chris’ Take: While this wasn’t necessarily Kenny Powers at his funniest, it certainly introduced some hilarious secondary characters, especially his “side kick” who wasn’t his “side kick”, Aaron (Deep Roy).  I liked how Kenny is now transported to a small country and not only has a social barrier, but also a language barrier. This season probably will not be as funny as the last, but it is certainly off to a great start.

I have not watched the House or Modern Family premieres, but when I do, I will write a short excerpt on those as well.  Let me know your thoughts on the new seasons of your favorite shows in the comments!

My 5 Most Anticipated Fall TV Shows

There has been an incredible increase in quality TV in the last decade.

 

Even though there have been some incredible efforts to decrease its quality.

 

A lot of that can be attributed to HBO and Showtime having a little bit more freedom with what they can do, but it can also be attributed to shows like “Lost” and “Mad Men“, that proved that shows that require patience for a bigger payoff can build a large fan base as well. As a result, the amount of shows that I watch consistently has also greatly increased, which can also be attributed to the great inventions of DVR and Netflix (and the not so great deployments where I had nothing to do but watch tv). That being said, there is a long list of TV Shows that I am looking forward to, but here are the Top 5.

#5 “Modern Family”

Premieres at 9pm 22 September on ABC

This is arguably the freshest comedy on TV right now and rightfully deserved the Emmy for best comedy series this year. I am interested to see where it goes from here. I put it no higher than #5 because I am worried that it will be trying too hard this season instead of having the nice flow that the first season had.

#4 “Boardwalk Empire”

Premieres at 8pm 19 September on HBO

Martin Scorcese produces this new series on HBO about the beginning of the Prohibition Era in Atlantic City. Steve Buscemi stars as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the Atlantic City Treasurer who is equal parts politician and gangster. He runs the city through backdoor deals and rum-running money. This show has a lot of promise with a lot of talent attached to it. While I love Steve Buscemi, I am not sure if he can pull off the tough gangster that the show plays him up to be. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

#3 “Eastbound and Down”

Premieres at 1030pm 26 September on HBO

Kenny Powers is back for a second season that has been a long time in the making. The foul-mouthed, washed up major league pitcher takes his antics to Mexico after being too embarassed to return to his hometown. He ends up playing on a Mexican baseball team owned by Michael Pena and apparently has a new love interest. Hopefully, with as long as they have had to write only seven episodes that Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, and Danny McBride can deliver another hubris-filled humor romp.

#2 “The Office”

Premieres at 9pm on 23 September on NBC

The seventh season of “The Office” will be Michael Scott‘s swan song (probably an ungraceful one). Rumors about who will replace him have been flying all around and have not landed yet. Either the producers and writers want to keep the audience guessing or they really don’t know. Either way they have done a great job creating a mystery that will surround the entire season and will keep me watching.

#1 “Dexter”

Premieres at 9pm on 26 September on Showtime

After last season’s shocking cliffhanger (which I will not mention here for anyone who hasn’t watched it), I cannot wait to see where they go with this show. Dexter is unpredictable and just when I think they are starting to get cheesy, they completely flip the show upside-down. With Dexter at what will probably be his most unstable this show has the most potential out of any this Fall.

What are some shows you are most looking forward to this fall?

Yet Another Change in Michael Scott Replacement Rumors

At this point, the rumors about who will replace Michael Scott on “The Office” have changed as much as my girlfriend changes her nail polish.  Coincidentally, she was also the one that tipped me off to the new rumor from Perez Hilton‘s blog (so this may or may not be accurate) that Harvey Keitel is not going to be replacing Michael Scott as previously mentioned. These were the talking points about the rumors from Office Insiders (un-named):

– Harvey Keitel is not being seriously considered to replace Steve Carell.

Mr. White says, "I don't know what you think you know, but you're wrong."

– The first half of the season will highlight Michael’s last year as boss and highlight potential successors on the show.

– Ricky Gervais is going to make a guest appearance at some point.

– The writers aren’t sure yet if the new star of the show will be the boss of Dunder Mifflin‘s Scranton branch.

This is what one of the sources says:

“You’re looking for someone who can start stories. Someone whose judgment isn’t necessarily one where when an issue comes up and a boss with a correct judgment would quickly settle it and then you have no episode. You’re also looking for somebody who considers the rest of the office his family.”

That’s all that was really listed in the rumor. While I am excited to find out who will replace Michael Scott, the changing rumors don’t give me hope that the writers have a solid plan for what direction the show will or should go. I would like to know that the writers have a definite plan and that they are setting up the season finale early in the season. But, it doesn’t seem like that will be the case, especially since the season premiere is less than two weeks away and they don’t know who will replace Steve Carell. Although, if this transition is done right, I think this could be the best season since Season Three.

What are your thoughts about this? Are you disappointed that Harvey Keitel will most likely not fill Steve Carell’s shoes?

Another Michael Scott Replacement Rumor

So, for all of you that are following the major changes that will occur in “The Office” this season, there is another update about who will replace Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, as the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin at the end of season seven. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paul Lieberstein, the producer of “The Office”, is saying that he wants Harvey Keitel to replace Steve Carell. Here is what he had to say:

” [Harvey Keitel] is probably the only guy who can do it, and he’s doing TV now…That’s what a very smart/eager man once called a ‘win-win-win.”

He then went on to say:

“”I haven’t started any talks with his people, but Harvey would do a great job—a very different energy,” Lieberstein says. “And we don’t want to bring in another Michael, having someone play a very similar character because we have such a high regard for Steve.”

World's Best Boss?

Well, Harvey Keitel would definitely bring a different energy to “The Office”, but, in my opinion, I don’t think that energy will work for the show to continue on for more than a season. I mean, Harvey Keitel is great, I mean who doesn’t love Mr. Wolf? But, if they are going to have a more serious boss, I think it will take away from a lot of the comedy of the show. Apparently, Paul Lieberstein is serious about getting Keitel to replace Carell and I don’t think it will work out well, but who knows, maybe Mr. Wolf will find a way to “fix things” again.

What are your thoughts?