Unfortunately season 3 of “Game of Thrones” is still months away from premiering but casting news is still being released for the anticipated new season. The hit HBO series is rumored to have cast the small but surprisingly important role of Roslin Frey with actress Alexandra Dowling after WIC discovered the credit on Dowling’s resume. Continue reading
Picture images of little kitties playfully spinning about with a meme tagging the photo “Calgon, take me away” or imagine a video of a massive St. Bernard so scared to go down a stairwell as his owner tries to lure him down that all he can do is cower and whine at the thought. These are the types of things you can view on the website icanhas.cheezburger.com. They are cute and they are funny.
Founder and CEO of Cheezburger Inc, which landed on The Wall Street Journal’s 2012 list of top 50 U.S. venture-backed companies, Ben Huh has a very simple philosophy: “We want people to make each other happy.” It seems to be working because, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company now has $32 million in venture funding. Cheezburger asks for user-generated content, which is reviewed by the employees and highlighted on the home page.
The website is so huge that Bravo has based a television series on it called “LOLwork,” and it’s basically a show about how to make the Internet funny. It highlights amusing animals, funny videos and the swift and nimble rise of Internet pop culture and the people behind the Web pages.
Cheezburger’s motto is to “make people laugh 5 minutes a day.” The I Can Has Cheezburger? website is not about cheeseburgers or food at all; it’s about funny cats, adorable dogs and kooky animals of all kinds. It highlights images and videos capturing our domesticated and loveable furry (sometimes furless) friends adorned with quick-witted grammatically incorrect captions. That’s it. But that seems to be enough.
The employees at Cheezburger work all day to understand what users want to see, so they research what is trending and put that on their website. It isn’t easy creating content that is not only funny but appropriate for all ages to view. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Huh says they want to avoid the “starfish” shots (this is when an animal is showing too much anus) and obeying the rule “absolutely no dead cats” (being sure there are no posts of animals that did not survive the highlighted incident) is a testament to their values and convictions.
Not only do they operate the website I Can Has Cheezburger but also Fail Blog, Memebase, ROFLrazzi and The Daily What — all of which offer different types of humorous content, not strictly animal-based.
Going from icanhas.cheezburger.com to the Bravo TV Network, “LOLwork” is quite a leap for this Seattle-based Internet company of 90 employees. While not all of the staff will appear on the show, the ones that do are quirky, charismatic and quite-curious computer gurus who create content, debate about what is and isn’t funny and argue, but this documentary is low drama. It’s more a tongue-in-cheek view of the world behind what we see everyday on our computers. The things happening behind the scenes are really happening in their lives and not scripted.
Their jobs are strange, their work is odd and that is just normal to these employees. They aren’t actors but they do know they are being filmed. So their “normal” may be a little over the top, and that is OK because they are all awkwardly entertaining.
Cheezburger is “a thesis about the Internet; (the Internet) needs it’s own platform for humor, so we are going to let people express their sense of humor and remix it to create something brand new,” explains Huh on Forbes.com. Huh was named Entreprenuer of the Year in media and entertainment for the Pacific Northwest region by Ernst & Young, reports The Seattle Times. With a network of online humor sites, the Cheezburger Network’s fan base is at 20 million users monthly.
Written by Casey Farley.
The first film review Casey ever wrote was on a McDonald’s napkin. It said E.T. = awesome! He was 5.
Season 3 of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is still months away (unfortunately) and with that news is on the upcoming season is still slow going. However, Entertainment Weekly has reported that Coldplay drummer, Will Champion is set to have a cameo as, unsurprisingly, a drummer in the upcoming new season.
Champion isn’t the first musician to cameo on the series, with Snow Patrol lead singer Gary Lightbody also having a small role in season 3.
There is no word yet on when we can expect to see Champion in the new series but with time, more information will be released.
Season 3 of the hit series is based on the third book, A Storm of Swords, in the A Song Of Ice and Fire trilogy written by George R.R. Martin. The season will focus on the first half the novel with season 4 concluding the third book adaptation. Like previous seasons, several new cast members have also been added along side Champion and Lightbody.
New cast members, most of which were announced at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con include:
Other new characters will include Vargo Hoat, the leader of the mercenary group “Bloody Mummers”.
“Game of Thrones” returns with its highly anticipated third season on March 31, 2013.
:::Obvious Spoilers Involving Season 3:::
Last weeks episode of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” may or may not have been a suprise to you with the death of two main characters in one episode. T-Dog, played by IronE Singleton, was killed by walkers while the much hated Lori Grimes, played by Sarah Wayne Callies, had a redemptive moment for the life of her and Rick’s child.
The day after the shocking episode aired, Callies spoke with critics and the Huffington Post about the implication of Lori’s death and why it was imperative for the show to move forward. It is important to note that Lori’s death is one of the few within the show that are caused by the person’s choice to die.
“I think the Lori death is very unique among the ones we’ve had on ‘The Walking Dead’ because it’s one that she’s chosen. It’s an interesting tone because it’s not surrounded by quite the same level of crisis and panic, althogh she’s clearly in a situation where things are going to go badly.”
In regards to being one of the most unlikeable characters (at least until the end of her character) described how that was the point from the very beginning.
“I loved Lori. I love Lori. She’s one of those characters that I think will live in my heart for a long, long, long, long time. I learned so much from her. [In] one of my first conversations with Frank [Darabont], we agreed that we wouldn’t do the TV version of this. Lori was not going to be some big busted, beautiful woman with flowing perfect hair who was standing by her man. We talked about doing the ugliest, dirtiest, most dangerous and sometimes unlikable version of this that we could. It was so exhilarating to be able to dig deep into the darkness of motherhood and the darkness of marriage … To work on a production that had the courage — even though some fans kicked up a fuss about it — to have the courage to say, ‘We’re going to tell this story a way it’s never been told before’ is remarkable. It’s the best work I’ve ever done on camera, and that’s because the material was so strong. It’s an experience unlike anything I’ve ever had, and I’ve learned so much from it. I love Lori so much. Her passion, her fire, her lack of vanity … [laughs] I love that woman and I am going to miss her.”
Her death, while shocking, was completely neccesary for the storyline to progress, especially for Rick and Carl.
“Frank and I talked a lot about the necessity of Lori dying, and we fought about it. Glen [Mazzara] and I talked about that scene a lot — what pieces had to be in place for Lori, for Carl and for Rick. In a way it was an intimate process, because Glen had lost his mother shortly before they started writing the season … The death of Shane. The death of Lori. Those, to me, were very difficult things to get around. I had spoken to Frank about that at a certain point and he goes, ‘I don’t need to kill you.’ And I said, ‘Due respect, sir, yes you do.’ [Laughs.] He said, ‘I’ve never had a leading lady argue her way off a show.’ And I said, ‘In the books, Rick goes nuts because his wife died. And I think the way he goes nuts is pretty cool, and I think you’re gonna do that at some point, so know that I’m a big girl when you make that call.’ I can’t wait to see those episodes afterwards and see what happens.”
Callies also spoke about how the scene was important for the cast members outside of the show.
“It was pin-drop quiet throughout that whole scene … there was a level of concentration and respect and focus from all 80 people who were there that was remarkable. It was also significant that the entire cast showed up. I finished the scene and I came out, and there was almost every single member of our cast that had just come to sit and watch and be there. It was difficult, I’ll be honest. Chandler and I didn’t really talk at all the week that we were shooting that because we couldn’t really look at each other without losing it. I love that kid.”
In case you were wondering who is the baby’s daddy, Callies explains there is only one way to tell.
“The only definitive way to tell in a world where there’s no paternity test would be if the baby has blue eyes, then the baby is Rick’s … both Rick and Carl have blue eyes, and it’s a recessive trait. Shane had brown eyes, and Lori had brown eyes. If it’s a brown-eyed baby, there’s no way to know.”
It was announced back in August that actress Jessica Gouw was set to portray Helena Bertinelli also know as The Huntress in the CW’s new series “Arrow.” Now we have a first look at the anticipated character.
The character will make her debut on the November 28 episode, titled “Vendetta.”
According to Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg,
“She is the dark mirror version of Oliver and it was a nice contrast to him because he’s pretty extreme. He goes a lot further than not only his comic book version but lots of comic book characters — most have a code of draws the line against killing… Oliver has taken the darkness inside with him and is doing something positive with it. She’s taken the darkness inside her and is seeking revenge and doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process.”
So far The Huntress will appear in two episodes but there is a chance for that to be expanded. Kreisberg added,
“It’s two episodes for now but we definitely hope we see more of her. We certainly set her up as an interesting foil for Oliver and we’re excited to see where else we can take her.”
“Arrow” stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Colin Donnell as Tommy, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, with Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance. The show airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Lionman Scarface and Shoulderpads Assumptive In Love Heat
AKA, Beauty and the Beast on the CW
Elena-
Boy, where to start with this piece of work.
Actually let’s start with me. I love fairy tales, and I love fairy tale reworkings. “Beauty and the Beast” was always a particular favorite of mine, probably because it dealt in consequences—everything that happened to the characters was a direct result of something they did. They don’t suffer misfortune, they suffer karma, and that idea has always resonated with me. Learning to take responsibility for one’s own actions and their consequences is effing hard, which is why some people have to get turned into a beast in order to appreciate that lesson.
Rachel –
I like fairy tales when they are as weird as possible. Turn them into cartoon musicals with anthropomorphic wall clocks? Gold. Reinterpret with Ron Perlman dressed as Lion-O in an 80’s hair band? THE BEST AND PUREST OF GOLDS. CW had a few choices to make when they decided to re-make George R. R. Martin’s (yeah…let that process for a bit) Beauty and the Beast, which ran from 1987-1989 on CBS. Let’s just say they haven’t impressed me with their choices thus far.
What I liked about the original (which I have dubbed Lionman and Shoulderpads in Love) was Vincent’s physical inability to be anything other than a Lionman. Sure, Catherine fell in love with him and learned to see into his heart and beyond his (totally hot) scary Lionface cleft lip, but there wasn’t any cure or magical potion that would turn Vincent into Ron Perlman. That is what made that show so addictive. Watching those two interact with each other around the apparently insurmountable species sexual incompatibility was addictive and cheesy. OK, mostly cheesy, but yelling at Linda Hamilton about how she’s just being a prude because hot lionman sex is something she should TOTALLY go for (your mom watches this show…haaa) is pretty much the best viewing experience ever. *
Anyway, it seems like the CW has gone the absolute opposite direction. The new Vincent is not beastly at all in appearance. The tiny scratch on his face is LAUGHABLE. The Beast is on the inside, and that is just boring. BORING BORING BORING. That is all the ex-boyfriends any of us ever had! I AM SERIOUSLY UNIMPRESSED, CW. There better be something else going on, like Catherine’s utter lack of likability being because she is the Beast in this version. That would be interesting.
But then there’s the plot…
Elena-
Oh, you mean, the “plot.” This storyline? Not so much about actions and consequences. Not at all about that, in fact. All these characters are complete reactionaries. Something happens to them, and they react to it. Unless there is a complicated backstory to be revealed later, the “detective” did nothing in her past that caused her mother’s murder, just like there is nothing in the beast’s choices that showed why he deserved to become a monster on the outside. Yes, the events that follow from those two life-altering moments are connected, but they are a string of events that derive from things that were done to the characters, not from some choice the characters made for themselves.
Just in the basic set-up, therefore, this fails as a reworking of the fairy tale.
But it fails in other ways, too. First of all, the beast is way too studly to make a believable beast, as Rachel pointed out. Even when he gets mad and kills things he just looks like manbearpig, and the rest of the time he looks like a tittybaby for being all emo about his one little scar. Wah, wah, wah. Go tell it to the one-legged man, so he can hump it on down the road. It’s no wonder she’s all, “Who WAS that hot beast that saved me in the woods? Oh, it’s you! Let’s bone.”
Rachel-
Can we also talk about how far-fetched it is that a super-hot and well-educated doctor guy who joins the army after his brother is killed in the 9/11 attacks (seriously, CW…WTF is WRONG WITH YOU?) would then be chosen for a super-secret Gamma Ray project in the first place? One of my favorite parts of the story is that Vincent the former Doctor, when asked what was done to him…has no idea. BUT YOU ARE A DOCTOR. Did they put the gamma rays up your butt? Was it a pill you swallowed? Did a withered old lady shove a rose in your face and cackle? YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME IDEA!
Elena-
Exactly. It would have made more sense if he had done it to himself, you know, performing illegal medical research. At least that way it would have been his choice and his consequences, instead of being victimized and hunted by these evil government agents. Yawn.
Rachel-
The script is so poorly written that the cliché lines “Needs a new decorator,” “Do you know what the definition of insanity is?” and “We are going to save each other!” ARE THE BEAST LINES. It’s like the writers let Yahoo! Answers write the script!
Elena-
I want to go back to the theory Rachel posed above, that maybe this entire show is a switcheroo and she is the beast, hence why he doesn’t need to be beastly. This idea makes so much sense to me that I hope it’s true, even though I think it might be unintentional.
See, her character seems like a pretty standard female lead, hence why I think her beastliness was not intentional…but she really set off a lot of my civil rights bells. She’s either totally corrupt or totally incompetent as an officer of the law, and either we are supposed to accept this because she’s like all cops or we’re supposed to admire her as the main character and overlook her flaws (like so much urban fantasy asks us to overlook completely bullying behaviors by the heroines, because that sort of thing is okay when you are 5 feet tall and 98 pounds). Sorry, no. Let’s look at a checklist from one episode of Detective Catherine behaving badly:
…this is our model cop heroine? Frailty, thy name is Catherine, indeed.
Look, I apologize for getting so serious, but it’s a topic that really matters to me, and I get up in arms every time I see a positive portrayal of cops behaving badly. That means people see the actions and don’t realize what the behavior is or write it off because she’s “really the good guy and not hurting anyone,” which makes it more likely that people will tolerate such behavior from public officials in real life…which is how innocent people end up imprisoned, bankrupted by asset forfeiture despite never being convicted of a crime, or on death row. What this show needs is Judge Dredd (or even just Rookie Anderson), clearly.
Anyway. I didn’t like her, found her to be vacuous and self-serving, and corrupt on a small scale that could grow exponentially because the only moral calibration she seems to make is whether following a law or protocol makes her feel good and acting according to her own emotions. The Law is above that! (Can you all see the annoyed Judge face I am making right now? Can you picture it?)
Rachel-
Yeaaaah, she’s lame. She’s too young to be a detective, and she has this super false way of speaking like every word in the script is a revelation to her brain. I’ll blame that on a combination of writing, directing, and acting. It’s like when Christian Bale went for the Batvoice and no one stopped him. Lana Lang decided to try a phone sex operator voice. It doesn’t work. Catherine also seems extremely physically capable. She throws three grown men around on a subway platform without mussing her hair. It’s the Buffy-effect maybe. Or maybe they did that because the writers wanted a strong female character that wouldn’t need constant saving from Vincent…even though she does actually need constant saving from Vincent. I like that they didn’t go the rape route like the original did (It was a “violent attack” with a sexual assault implication). I’m so sick of female protagonists in fantasy stories being raped. I’M SO SICK OF IT. So points to CW for leaving that the hell off the table.
I’m worried this show is going to turn into the capable girl gets all lame and helpless around her boyfriend and then when he hits her (it is INEVITABLE that he hits her, guys, accept it. He even screamed in her face that he would) becomes really dependent and apologetic a la Bella Swan. PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.
Elena-
It’s funny you bring up Bella Swan, everyone’s favorite robot bride impersonator, because I got very little sense of him except that he’s basically Edward Cullen. Creepy stalker protector with a saving people complex and a self-loathing hatred of the monster within. Got it. I had trouble believing his claim of being imprisoned there for fear of getting caught. He could totally be wandering around New York without attracting attention because he’s not a beast except when he’s upset (maybe he just gets really terrible sidewalk rage?). Everyone thinks he’s dead. Stay away from the military recruiting centers and the UN, and you’ll never run into anyone you shouldn’t. No need to stay in the rusty, filthy post-industrial loft unless you just LIKE being emo and tragic and broody (cough *Edward Cullen * cough).
(Speaking of his rusty filthy post-industrial loft with the crazy science experiments being run by his biochemist friend to try and cure him…LAMEST MAGIC CASTLE EVER. That is all.)
Rachel-
I miss the mist-filled NYC sewers full of libraries and homeless people in Renn Faire gear.
Elena-
Me too, and I didn’t even watch the original!
So let’s sum this one up: the fight scene was pretty bad, the dialogue was terrible, the plot was thin, and the murder investigation seemed tacked on. She should be something besides law enforcement, because then they wouldn’t have to do a murder of the week thing—news flash, Castle already has the market on the buddy-cop/we want to get nas-tay show.
I will confess that, for some reason I can’t explain, the last scene made me want to watch next week, just to see if some of these issues were pilot shakes. I think I’m a sucker for dudes who stand on top of buildings and stare torturedly into the night inwardly screaming about fairness and true love. But I don’t hold out much hope for redemption.
Rachel-
I might actually check it out next week just to see what the show looks like when it’s not a network executive-pleasing pilot. I highly doubt that Catherine will turn out to be the beastly half of this pairing (even though it would be AWESOME) just because the manbearpig has already flashed its CGI face to the audience. Maybe the CW will surprise me. I thoroughly enjoy The Vampire Diaries (yes, that’s right, I have eyeballs and ovaries. Sue me.), and they’ve done a lot to that show to make it genre subversive.
If not – may I suggest ABC’s Once Upon a Time. Another horrifyingly bad show with questionable costumes and a Beast who is oddly hot despite his moss-covered teeth.
ENJOY.
* Yes, Catherine has Vincent’s Lioncubbaby but that was only because she quit and the writers had to kill her off and still maintain a connection with the last two seasons. It’s the worst only because they never show them MAKING THE DAMN BABY. Which is all we ever wanted.
Arrow is the CW’s most watched series in three years. Who would have thought, of all the DC comics heroes in the DC Universe, that a Green Arrow series would become so popular? For the writers behind the show, this positive press means they’ve got to keep things interesting for the viewers and that means, keep the intriguing villains a-coming.
Garfield Lynns is the baddie of the hour. He’s usually a thorn in Batman’s side, but in an upcoming episode, he’ll tango with Oliver Queen. Haven’t heard of him? Keep reading for more clues about this villain, detectives.
For hard-core comic book fans, it’s pretty exciting to see old or obscure villains make it to television. You can even reminisce over past comic book appearances for the character.
Garfield Lynns will make his appearance in the tenth episode of Arrow and here’s the official episode synopsis as proof:
In episode 110, Oliver will meet Garfield — a firefighter who was horribly burned three years ago, and never recovered from the trauma. Since then, he’s been abandoned by his wife and kids, and he’s now described as a “bitter, vengeful shell of a man.” Meanwhile, the Starling City Fire Chief is also haunted by Garfield’s injury… since he’s the one who was forced to leave Garfield behind to burn.
If you aren’t yet a regular viewer of Arrow, you’re probably asking what Starling City is. That’s where Queen lives. It’s his Metropolis; his Gotham, so to speak.
Has your comic genius kicked in yet? Do you know the alter ego of Garfield Lynns? You may know him as the one and only Firefly. In his first incarnation in the comics, Firefly was a pyrotechnics expert who became a twisted arsonist because he believes he sees important visions in the fires he sets.
I do wonder what the costume folks will dream up for Firefly. Will he have a costume at all? Early versions of the villain in the comics sort of looked like Batman. He was dressed in black, with a full face mask and broad gliding wings. In another version, he wears a gold helmet, also covering his face entirely. It makes him look more like a hornet, or, well, a firefly. I’ve even seen him with buggy red eyes.
Garfield Lynn’s first appearance was in Detective Comics #184 in June of 1952.
Of course, Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen. You may wonder how tough an archer can be as a hero, but in the series pilot, Ollie was seen moving like a cheetah; a cheetah with huge muscles. The rest of the cast includes Colin Donnell as Tommy, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, with Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance.
You can catch the action on Wednesdays.
I can tell you one thing. 75% of my Facebook friends were watching The Walking Dead on the AMC network on Sunday, October 14th. I read plenty a status message regarding the show. So, it comes as no surprise that the return of the popular series to the airwaves shattered a record.
According to the official press release celebrating the momentous occasion, The Walking Dead is safely being called the biggest show of the fall. That’s especially true for Adults, aged 18 to 49. When season three erupted onto AMC, season three’s premier out gunned both cable and broadcast hits alike, including Hatfields & McCoys, Jersey Shore, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory and The Voice. Hey, Modern Family is a TV giant! This is a real achievement.
The 9pm premiere drew in 10.9 million viewers resulting in a new series king. The episode is now the highest rated in series history. It was also the biggest telecast for any drama series in basic cable history among all viewers. And listen to this. When The Walking Dead played an encore at 10pm, 3.5 million viewers tuned in. When it happened again at midnight, 850,000 viewers watched, making a grand total of 15.2 million viewers on a single night for the horror series.
The official byline for the show reads this way: In an uncertain world, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his band of survivors must not only fight the dead, but also face a whole new fear: the living.
Of course fans know that The Walking Dead is based upon the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. The series features actors Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, IronE Singleton, Melissa McBride, David Morrissey and Danai Gurira. It is executive produced by Glen Mazzara, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert with Greg Nicotero as co-executive producer.
I don’t know about your friends, but probably because a majority of mine live in the South, Norman Reedus’s Daryl Dixon is clearly a favorite.
The new comic book series, Arrow has hit the bulls eye over at the CW. The network has proudly announced that the ratings for their DC Comics flavored venture have been phenomenal. This is a victory for not just the CW, but for comic adaptations as well.
4.02 million viewers tuned in to the season premier of Arrow, starring Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Colin Donnell as Tommy, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, with Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance.
That’s a pretty impressive number and the news makes Arrow the most watched telecast on the CW of any show, on any night, in three years whole years. In fact, Arrow‘s premier was the most watched of any CW series premiere since the birth of The Vampire Diaries in 2009. Wow, has it been that long? Yes, it has!
If those aren’t enough statistics to get you excited, then take this! Arrow is also now the most watched show in a Wednesday 8PM time slot for the network in more than three years. Viewership for that time slot has doubled since last year.
Supernatural has its cult following, but Arrow, being the friendly super hero series that it is, also gave that CW series a bit of a leg up. Folks who tuned in for Arrow at 8, stuck around for watching Supernatural at 9, and this probably contributed to Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles’s show having it’s most watched episode ever! And those brothers have been fighting evil since 2005.
Suffice it to say, Wednesday of this week, was one big cause for celebration over at CW headquarters.
Arrow even managed to tie NBC’s original comedies in that time slot. That’s no easy feat. Animal Practice and Guys with Kids air on Wednesdays on NBC. I have to say, I’d rather watch Arrow, too, though. No offense, NBC.
From Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and David Nutter, the hard-hitting action series reinvents the DC hero. After being marooned for five years on a remote island, billionaire Oliver Queen returns home with a mysterious agenda and very lethal new set of skills that he uses in a war on crime.
If you missed the pilot, get on board with all the action. You can watch the season premier online!
I raise my glass to the execs over at the CW. It was a risky move to cancel Smallville and then bring in Arrow. You hope Smallville viewers will be faithful to the new hero in town, but you can’t be certain they will. Green Arrow also doesn’t strike me as a hero quite as popular as, say, Batman or Superman. So, I’m glad people are tuning in. I hope the lucky streak continues.
Arrow‘s good news may translate as good news for a Marvel flavored comic book TV series. I’m talking about Joss Whedon’s plans to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. to the small screen. We’ll see what develops!
By the by, David Nutter directed the Arrow pilot. He has done directing for two of my favorite series of all time; The X-Files and Space: Above and Beyond. He worked on Smallville and Supernatural as well, and more popular series, too many to list really.
While I was scanning the info for coming episodes of Arrow, I also noticed that episode seven, titled “Muse of Fire”, is directed by David Grossman. He’s been behind the camera for episodes of Buffy, Lost, and Dead Like Me.
Oni Press has a Weird Western graphic novel series called The Sixth Gun. These tales are being revamped for television and that means you may just catch them on NBC.
When I use the term Weird Western, I do so in a very loving manner. That’s the name many of us writerly and readerly types give to Westerns with a paranormal bent. Cowboys & Aliens, as well as Jonah Hex, would definitely fit into the category of a Weird Western.
The Sixth Gun is written by Cullen Bunn with illustration by Brian Hurtt. Here’s the description of Volume 1. Bunn and Hurtt are names to remember. another Oni book series of theirs, titled The Damned, is in development at Showtime. I’d say it’s time to break out the champagne.
During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time the Sixth Gun, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way.
The girl at the center of the madness is Becky Montcrief. I can definitely see where this premise would make for intriguing television. Just mix Deadwood with Supernatural and I think you’d hook an audience.
Universal TV, along with the production company of Oni Press, which is called “Closed on Mondays Entertainment,” has agreed to produce the TV adaptation of the graphic novel series.
Carlton Cuse, who worked on the endlessly popular series, Lost, and screenwriter Ryan Condal, are teaming up to make the show a reality. Condal is working on the script as we speak and plans to executive produce the series with Closed on Monday’s co-founder Eric Gitter and Andy Bourne. Carlton Cuse is also hard at work on the Psycho prequel TV series called the Bates Motel, which will star the lovely Vera Farmiga at the A&E network, and he’s busy co-writing Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain pilot for FX. He’s shaping up to be quite the TV rockstar.
Bunn and Hurt like to add a twist of the supernatural to their graphic novel work. The Damned, for instance, takes place in the prohibition era, which is interesting enough for good crime and drama on its own. They toss in a black market soul trade and an ancient family feud. You’ve got to love that.
I hear screenwriter Ryan Condal is also piecing together a Hercules project at MGM. That could be interesting.
If I had to play the casting game for The Sixth Gun series, I’d say, let’s cast Adrianne Palicki as the female lead. She isn’t exactly tied up doing Wonder Woman, now, is she? She’ll appear next on the big screen in the Red Dawn re-make opposite Chris Hemsworth. In fact, Carey Elwes was going to star in Wonder Woman as well. He could play a male lead. Do you think he’d fit in a Western? Kevin Kline could also work. He did appear way back in 1999 in Wild Wild West.
