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Flight of the Conchords co-creator to direct the Muppets
by Brad Trechak, posted Jan 29th 2010 7:03PM
James Bobin has signed on to direct the new Muppet movie. Bobin co-created the television version of Flight of the Conchords (as opposed to the band itself, which was co-created by Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie).
So it's a writer who has predominantly worked in television who is directing a movie about a group of characters who became famous from a television show. The movie itself is co-written by Jason Segel, star of How I Met Your Mother, who is rumored to be a Muppet-maniac. I'm still waiting for his Broadway production of Dracula, the Puppet Musical.
As a Muppet fan myself, I'm happy about this piece of news. I have enjoyed Bobin's work on Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords without being aware of his involvement. I just hope Bobin shows love and respect for the franchise and we don't end up with another Muppets' Wizard of Oz.
No suspense this year: How I Met Your Mother is renewed
by Allison Waldman, posted Jan 26th 2010 10:35AM
If you have ever worried that How I Met Your Mother might be canceled by CBS before the identity of "mother" is revealed, this bit of news should bring you great relief. CBS has renewed How I Met Your Mother for a sixth season. I give all fans of the comedy permission to join me now in a hearty "Hooray!"In all seriousness, this is great news. Two years ago, a renewal for HIMYM wasn't a sure thing. The decision wasn't made until well into the spring. So, clearly, CBS has a new attitude about the Carter Bays-Craig Thomas creation, not to mention liking their work enough to give Bays-Thomas a rich new contract and the opportunity to make another sitcom.
Right now on Cinematical
by Kona Gallagher, posted Jan 23rd 2010 11:00AM
The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:- This is pretty exciting: Cinematical gets to interview Harrison Ford about his new role in Extraordinary Measures.
- I kind of feel as though Tooth Fairy is the kind of movie that you already know whether or not you're interested in regardless of what the reviews say. Either you're into the idea as The Rock with wings, or you're not. You know?
- Well this sounds interesting: "a science-fiction/fantasy historical fiction family adventure based on the Caldecott award-winning children's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabaret." Here's the kicker: it's going to be directed by Martin Scorsese.
- Here's the review to go with the interview about Extraordinary Measures.
- Who would you rather see star alongside Cameron Diaz in the upcoming film, Bad Teacher? Bradley Cooper or Jason Segel?
Review: How I Met Your Mother - Jenkins
by Joel Keller, posted Jan 19th 2010 1:02AM
(S05E13) This was one of those episodes that seemed like it would be more fun than it actually was. The stories seemed to be potentially amusing, and there were some funny moments. But this was definitely on the lower side of the ledger as far as this season's episodes are concerned.
Which one of the stories did I like better? Hm... the Jenkins one, but only by a little bit. It was fun seeing Amanda Peet playing someone who was even more alpha male than Robin, and envisioning Peet doing some of the things Marshall described Jenkins doing wasn't exactly unpleasant. Oh, and it introduced us to Big Fudge, who I hope plays more Skee-Ball as the seasons go on.
Review: How I Met Your Mother - Girls vs. Suits
by Joel Keller, posted Jan 11th 2010 8:42PM
(S05E12) After I wrote my gushing preview of this episode, I went back and re-watched it, hoping my first impression was correct. It turned out that it was, but for a very different reason than I thought. The 100th episode of HIMYM didn't have everything that makes the show such fun for its fans: there was no time-shifting, and not a lot of misdirection. It just told two straight-ahead stories that were really funny and gave us confidence in how things are going to play out going forward.
Oh, and it had a song-and-dance number that was fun as hell.
'How I Met Your Mother' 100th Episode Cast Interviews - VIDEO
by Maggie Furlong, posted Jan 6th 2010 4:00PM
Congratulations, 'How I Met Your Mother'!The Emmy-nominated show is hitting a huge milestone -- their 100th episode -- and they're celebrating rather appropriately with a big song-and-dance number and plenty of guest stars (Mon., Jan. 11, 8PM ET on CBS). AOL TV visited the set while they were shooting the big show to get the scoop on what to expect straight from the stars and creators. What we ended up getting was so much better ...
The highlights? Neil Patrick Harris dishes about Barney's big musical performance; Alyson Hannigan reveals she's "kind of obsessed" with one of the big-name guest stars; Cobie Smulders talks about the Barney-Robin relationship aftermath; Josh Radnor teases how close we'll get to meeting Ted's future wife, the show's long-awaited 'Mother,' in this episode; and Jason Segel admits that just reading the episode's script made him emotional: "I almost started crying!" Awww.
Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were not as forthcoming, though. "We might as well spoil it," Bays says with a grin. "As of right now, Ted dies." OK, that's so obviously not the case, but maybe Marshall and Lily will be making a big life change soon ... or, if you listen to Jason Segel, maybe not. "Marshall would be a fantastic father, he'd love the kid. It's literally the logistics of Jason Segel, holding a baby, that they're afraid of."
Yep, they're all just as funny in real life. There's a reason the show has lasted this long ... watch our set visit video to see it all.
Review: How I Met Your Mother - Last Cigarette Ever
by Joel Keller, posted Dec 15th 2009 12:09AM
(S05E11) You know you have a good episode going when Harvey Fierstein is cast as one of the female character's "smoking voices," and that's only the third funniest thing that week.Sure, it was great to hear Harvey's painful-sounding voice coming out Alyson Hannigan's mouth after a few days of smoking. It seems like it would fit well with her character; you know that she's only a few years from calling people "dollface," whether she's smoking or not.
But what carried the episode was seeing a new side to the gang that we haven't seen before, and how they all deal with it. Oh, and it was also good to see some new footage of Ted's kids, even if they're both visibly older.
Review: How I Met Your Mother - The Window
by Joel Keller, posted Dec 7th 2009 11:29PM
(S05E10) I'm really starting to think that Carter Bays was telling the absolute truth when he told Mike Ausiello that the writers threw the Barney-Robin relationship into the trash heap. He wasn't being coy about a future plotline; I get the feeling that the writers wanted Single Barney over Relationship Barney and wanted to make sure they got there as quickly as possible.Why else would we see an entire episode of Barn trying to get laid while wearing Marshall's old overalls? Here's the problem, as others have mentioned: we've seen how much of a good guy Barney can be. So seeing him back to his old tricks seems a bit emptier than it used to, doesn't it?
Review: How I Met Your Mother - Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap
by Joel Keller, posted Nov 23rd 2009 11:19PM
(S05E09) Let me start off by stating that any HIMYM episode involving the famous slap bet between Marshall and Barney is going to be funny. Just the act of Jason Segel's exaggerated slapping and Neil Patrick Harris' equally exaggerated pratfall in reaction is enough to get me rolling. I just wish the slaps weren't telegraphed so much in advance.You have to remember that tonight is a sequel to the original Slapsgiving from two years ago. As sequels go, it's not bad; not as good as the original but satisfying nevertheless. But you knew at some point, Marshall was going to say "That's four!" and Barney was going to rub his face. So we have to examine the journey to get there. That journey started off well, but got a little predictable. Still didn't make the slap itself any less funny.
The Show Girl Talks Slap Bets at 'HIMYM,' Romances at 'Better Off Ted' & More - VIDEO
by Maggie Furlong, posted Nov 20th 2009 1:10PM
You've got questions? I've got answers. I'm The Show Girl!Today, I've got scoop on the new season of one of the funniest, most underrated shows on TV: 'Better Off Ted.' Find out the fate of Veridian's star-crossed lovers Ted and Linda, why Phil will romance Ted, how Portia de Rossi will go from playing Veronica to Lindsay Fünke ... and if you don't know any of these people, maybe I can convince you to meet them and catch up before season 2 begins.
I also hit the set of 'How I Met Your Mother' armed with your questions about Twitter and slap bets. Who are the stars Tweeting with? You might be surprised. And is it hard to hit your co-stars? Not according to Jason Segel. (Awesome.)
Want more? Email me TV questions at TheTVShowGirl@aol.com -- who knows, I might just give you an answer on the show. Now watch, enjoy and come back next week for more. Until then, happy TV watching!
Review: How I Met Your Mother - The Playbook
by Joel Keller, posted Nov 17th 2009 9:40AM
(S05E08) Could it be that, after the whole season five build-up to the Swarkles relationship, everyone would more or less go back to normal by episode eight of season six? It seems that way, and I don't know how I feel about it.Relationship Barney wasn't that pleasant to watch. Some of his patented awesomeness tried to come through but he was increasingly becoming a content guy, which is no good for comedy. But to see him immediately snap back to the way he was pre-Robin was equally jarring. Maybe that's the way it has to be for Barney ... I don't know. But, as funny as the exploration of Barn's playbook was, it felt like the last two dozen or so episodes never happened.
Oh, and it seems like Robin's quickly moving on too, so it's not all on Barney ...
Review: How I Met Your Mother - The Rough Patch
by Joel Keller, posted Nov 9th 2009 11:30PM
(S05E07) During most episodes of HIMYM, you tend to forget that this whole show is told from the perspective of Old Ted, who's telling his kids the longest, most boring meet-up story in history of the world. Bob Saget's narration often just goes in one ear and out the other, like the background music. But there are some episodes where the storytelling aspect of the series is firmly in place, with the exaggerations, changes, and bad memories often associated with this activity.
This was one of those episodes. Was Barney really that fat? Was Robin really that haggard? Did Archisexture really accidentally "fly" into Ted's VCR? Of course not. But those whoppers from Old Ted were what made this episode so entertaining. That and Alan Thicke. But Alan Thicke always makes things entertaining; he's Alan Thicke, for crissakes.
Review: How I Met Your Mother - Bagpipes
by Joel Keller, posted Nov 3rd 2009 11:04AM
(S05E06) The thing that always amazes me about this show is that how Old Ted is perfectly content to tell his kids about all the tawdry things he or Barney did back in those heady days of the mid-to-late-'00s, but every so often he realizes who he's talking to and substitutes a clean term for a dirty term. I'd imagine this inconsistency is done on purpose by Bays/Thomas and their writers; why have Old Ted pull back on his stories unless there's a laugh to be had?This is how we got the references to "sandwiches," for instance. And this is how we got the running joke about bagpipes tonight. I liked how it was just a joke in the background and didn't really reference any major story. The major stories, though, were both pretty funny this week.
Review: How I Met Your Mother - Duel Citizenship
by Joel Keller, posted Oct 19th 2009 11:58PM
(S05E05) Sometimes an episode of HIMYM is full of "mythology" advancement. Sometimes it explores the romantic relationships between the characters. Sometimes there's a goofy website or video to accompany the episode. But sometimes, HIMYM just tells one or two semi-isolated stories. Last year, many of those episodes weren't all that great. But this season is different; everything's been funny, including the mostly silly episode we got tonight.
Which reminds me... I have to figure out where to get a hold of some Tantrum. That stuff is more powerful than 12-Hour Sudafed.
How I Met Your Mother: The Sexless Innkeeper
by Joel Keller, posted Oct 13th 2009 12:07AM
(S05E04) Let's get this notion out of the way right here: Couples "dating" other couples isn't exactly a new idea in the sitcom world. Countless comedies have had the episode where the lead couple is blown off by another couple they really like, and they go through the same process that a someone goes through when he or she is jilted after a first or second date. This week we saw all of that.But, it was done with some funny touches, not the least of which is a photo montage, website, and music video (embedded after the jump) that gave the tired story a unique spin. And there was enough other fun stuff packed into this episode to make you forget that the main plot has been done since at least the days of Sam and Diane.
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