ComicCon2009

When the San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to allow every corner of television onto their floors, they weren't kidding. After seeing the roster of panels, I'm surprised the original panel from PBS's Washington Week didn't field questions from guys dressed in Transformer cosplay.

Apparently, Warner Brothers set up a panel for just about every television show that have in development including Patricia Heaton's new ABC sitcom The Middle, making it the most "fish out of water" selection for a panel at the geek confab.

And so did the geeks in attendance. The panel only drew around 75 attendees and studio heads ordered Heaton not to introduce the panel because the crowd was too small.

I imagine a lot of stalkers must love a place like Comic-Con. All of their most sought after celebrities are together in one place for easy pickings. It must be their Costco.

One star, however, decided to turn the tables on his fans and used his own costume to stalk and hunt down a few of his fans on the floor of this year's convention.

To make it even creepier, he dressed up like a clown. That slurping sound you hear is my spine falling out of its socket from uncontrollable shivering.

Even though TV Squad's very own John Scott Lewinski is fighting his way through hordes of overweight Rorschachs and pre-pubescent Chun Lis to get exclusive interviews and scoops on the newest TV news at the San Diego Comic Con, don't forget that our partners-in-crime from Cinematical are also there covering the latest flim-flam in film.

The movie side of the annual pop-culture cavalcade opened with one of the biggest names in the history of film and what could very well be one of the biggest names in the future of film. Director James Cameron screened a solid 25 minutes of his forthcoming sci-fi epic Avatar. Blogger Todd Gilchrist got a hint of the plot and special effects movie-goers can expect when the film hits theaters later this year and said it "promises to be both hugely entertaining and technically groundbreaking." Man, that's got me worried. That's what they also said about Titanic.

Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, better known to BBC and Adult Swim viewers as Howard Moon and Vince Noir of The Mighty Boosh, hit New York's Bowery Ballroom Tuesday to celebrate the release of the first three seasons of the show on DVD.

The pair will be doing shows in the states until July 29, including Friday at the "Mighty Boosh Bash" at 4th and B in San Diego (they'll also be at Comic Con 2009), a guest spot on Chelsea Lately Monday, and a MySpace Secret Show at the Roxy in L.A. on Tuesday.

The show is fairly new to Adult Swim, having debuted there in March, but judging from a couple of YouTube videos from the New York show, they seem to have developed a fanbase to fill the Bowery without much notice. We have some catching up to do Stateside, and the DVDs should help (stay tuned for my review of the three discs here). And since the Boosh was a stages show before it was a series, any of you lucky enough to be around for one of their stops will get to see a bit of the show's history.