I Am A TV Junkie

The Daily Beast on TV Showrunners, Fans & "The Twitter"

Go read this story from Jace Lacob (Televisionary) at The Daily Beast where he talks to showrunners Dan Harmon and Hart Hanson (and Shonda Rhimes, but I don't watch those shows) about interaction with fans on, as Craig Ferguson calls it, the Tweety Box (which is not, I repeat not a euphemism for something you'd use to masturbate).

Caught my eye because I follow both of them on Twitter and they spend so much time tweeting each other I was surprised they had time to read other people's tweets.

However, I was kind of surprised to find out that these very pleasant men (or so it seems from their output and what I read) get harrassed by people who think they have much better ideas for the characters these men created than they do.

People, it's just TV. I love it, too, but you must chill. I little reality check might be in order. I provide that for you later in this post.

Check this from the article (I left the links so that you could follow along):

Ask Hanson about Twitter-based personal attacks and he’ll tell you about the follower who told him that she hoped Hanson’s dog would die or others who comment on Hanson’s family, whom he’s careful to shield from the public eye.

“I realized these rude people were encroaching upon my personal life—my own fault, mind you—for opening the door,” he said. “Which lead me to ask: why leave that door open?”

In the past, Hanson has been known to hit back, responding with sarcasm, which he regrets, such as in this exchange:

@Rosie_not_Rose: Brutal honesty - your writing of Brennan lately pisses a lot of us off. Have you forgotten what she was like in seasons 2/3?

@HartHanson: Brutal honesty: I don't give a rat's ass what you say.

“That made me a bully,” said Hanson, of such responses.

More of this, and bonus clips ('cuz yous loves the clips) after the jump.

3 Clips -- Worlds Collide for Joel McHale With KLG and Hoda on Today

I'm pretty sure that's a bottle of Jameson's that Joel's opening, and anyone in his position would do the same. I'd need plenty of alcohol if I had to be on TV with these two.

Since I had to watch this online (our fourth hour of Today is pre-empted today in San Diego for a police officer funeral) I figured why not post it?

And, it's after the jump, along with a Community promo for this week (Hilary Duff as a bad girl) and, if I can find it, a relevant clip from Joel's other job at E!

Video -- Your First Look at "New Look" Drew Carey on NBC's Community

Okay, your actual first look was last Thursday here at this link, but let's not quibble. Plus that was just a still and this is video.

And that clip is after the jump.

Drew, you look great. Probably feel a lot better, too. I remember when I went from 325 to 215 it was like not carrying around a petite woman all the time.

Rob Corddry (from Children's Hospital and my Twitter RTs) also guests. Hey Rob, that Kate Walsh bit last night? Classic. Too quick, but very funny.

Video -- Betty White Raps Anthropological on Community

And you can see the trailer for Betty's new movie, You Again, when you click this link.

Video -- Community Returns with a Twittersode, Betty White and Next Week Drew Carey

And new cast pics, natch. But about the Twitter component of tonight's show, from the press release ...

Leading into the season premiere of COMMUNITY, NBC and Sony Pictures Television will debut a COMMUNITY “Twittersode ”Thursday, September 23 at 4:00p.m./PT (7:00p.m./ET). This event marks a first-of-its-kind digital marketing effort between NBC, Sony Pictures Television, and the characters of the comedy series COMMUNITY. 

Just prior to the East Coast premiere of COMMUNITY, an exclusive "Twittersode," comprised of 80 tweets, will unfold between everyone's favorite COMMUNITY characters. The “Twittersode” will act as a prequel “scene” just prior to the premiere episode and will focus on events leading up to the start of the characters second year at Greendale Community College including, making arrangements for their first meet up of the year as well as preparations for their first class, Anthropology 101.

The entire “Twittersode” event will be presented at www.NBC.COM/CommunityTwittersode

You can also watch the “Twittersode” unfold by following the character handles at:

http://twitter.com/annieedisonGCC

http://twitter.com/jeffwingeratlaw

http://twitter.com/abedstweets

http://twitter.com/troytbone09

http://twitter.com/brittafeed

http://twitter.com/shirley_GCC

http://twitter.com/hawthornewipes

http://twitter.com/alexosbourneGCC

http://twitter.com/greendaledean

http://twitter.com/senorchang_gcc

http://twitter.com/oldwhitemansays

http://twitter.com/anniesB00Bs

If you’d like to tweet about COMMUNITY and our “Twittersode” please use the hash tag  #NBCCommunity

And of course, they're Betty White as a new prof teaching Anthropology, because you can't shoot a TV show anymore without hiring Betty White. It's a California law.

More, including Drew Carey, after the jumperoni.

Forbes Blog on The Soup and McHale with Show Creator K.P. Anderson

Just a taste, click here for more of it (from Lacey Rose, follow her on Twitter at this link):

How does the audience break down, male vs. female?

I’m not sure as of this last year, post-Community. Because of all of the times they shoot a-hole [The Soup host turned prime-time star Joel McHale] with his shirt off in [NBC's] Community, it’s probably even more female now. We were at about a 65-35 split, female to male. But I go on tour with Joel and, oh man, every girl I ever dated in high school apparently lives in every town and is in love with the guy I write for. Really, it’s just lines around the corner for the last three or four years. When you’re down in the mines working you don’t realize what the fruits of your labor are doing up above. We shoot 50 weeks a year and prior to touring with Joel, we really hadn’t been out and about asking about the show. I remember doing a show in Phoenix at a round dome and after the show I came back out to say that Joel will be up at the top to sign t-shirts so line up if you’re interested. This whole theater stood up and nobody moved. When the lights came up it was just women. And I thought, ‘this has got to come off [yanking at his wedding band]… oh, wait, they’re not here for me.’ [laughs] It was insane.

As it is a rule here never to turn our backs on the word "shirtless" I present for only five more days that episode of Community, at this link.

Community returns on September 23 at 8 pm on Thursday on NBC, against the most crowded Thursday night network lineup I've seen in years.

The Soup never leaves. Thank you, TV Gods.

Joel McHale Talks to The Advocate: "I’m Constantly Tweezing"

Hat tip to Towleroad, which gets name-checked in the piece. Yes, I'm jealous!

The Advocate's Brandon Voss asks Joel (seen above with pal Seth Green) if he worries that losing his looks would result in the loss of his gay fan base, and Joel replies:

Yes, so I’m constantly tweezing, but I don’t really work out anymore. I just run after my two little sons and stop eating. And out of the 10 or 11 houses on the cul-de-sac we live on, about seven of them have gay couples in them — I’m not joking. They’re all in fantastic shape and their houses look terrific, so I have to keep up.

Oh Joel, you'll never be able to keep up with the Gay Joneses, you've got kids and a wife and two shows on TV and live dates around the country. Plus there's saving for the kids' college, money that could be used for laser hair removal or calf implants or (and you know this is coming, we ALL know it's coming) ... hair plugs.

Face it, it happens to all of us. We gays have the disposable income to deal with such things, however. Most of us don't have to shove our hard earned cash into some 529 plan for our kids' tuition.

Maybe a third job? How about that stool next to Kathie Lee during the 10 am menopause hour of the Today show?

Video -- Has It Come To This? Conan Accepting Handouts From NBC Colleagues?

Apparently so. Community's Joel McHale makes the offer on last night's Tonight Show.

Watch it by clicking here. Then watch part two of the interview at this link.

And of course, Soup's on tomorrow at 10 eastern, Community at 8 tonight on NBC.

Check out Chevy Chase's appearance on The Soup from last Friday at this link.

Video -- The Jersey Shore Beatdown: What Happened Before The Punch?

 

Most compelling and most disturbing coming attraction I have ever seen on television, period.

Now, don't get the wrong idea from my headline, it is never okay to punch anyone in the face, male or female, unless you're a boxer or UFC fighter or Chevy Chase in this past week's episode of Community  (watch it at this link) or defending yourself in a physical attack ... but still, there had to be something that was said by someone before this right cross (MSNBC story with clip) from NYC high school gym teacher Brad Ferro.

And now there is word about what happened beforehand from the police report which as a matter of public record was released to the press and discussed in the Newark Star-Ledger report at this link. Apparently Ferro had been cut off by the bartender because he had one too many and attempted to nab the drink Snookie ordered at the Beachcomber Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights, a community that I'm sure by now is just sick and tired of being connected to the guiltiest of guilty pleasures on the tube today.

And Snookie, as you know if you watched the first three hours of Jersey Shore, is not a girl who will put up with shit like that.

Click the link and you'll see that the bar is having a special event -- viewing party -- for the airing of this week's episode when Snookie gets flattened by this lout, buffoon, person who shouldn't be allowed to teach kids in my opinion. His mom and dad must be soooo proud. And the show itself? So appropriate for the peace on earth goodwill to men season, huh? Apparently, though, it doesn't matter what season it is ... the ratings jumped this week by 50% and should go even higher this coming Thursday when the punch heard 'round the world is set to happen. MTV will air an anti-violence PSA after the show. It had better be a long one and a good one.

More after the jump.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Craig -- World's Collide Edition with Joel McHale, 1000th Ep Tweet-A-Thon

You know how you think that all your favorite TV people probably live near each other and hang out together? Well, in this case it's true.

Revelation: Joel was recently at Craig Ferguson's home. From what I gather from Tuesday's show they live in the same neighborhood. No stalking of Craig or Joel allowed, however. Stressed people are not as funny and I don't need to know them, I just need them to be funny on my teevee.

I love when my TV worlds collide.

Joel interview parts one and two here, email segment here. (Hover over the filmstrip graphic and Apture will bring it to you).

Significant email segment here, it provides English usage education and reference to Manville, NJ, the SNL/Mike Myers "If it's not Scottish, it's crap" sketch and Craig's comments on Saudi Arabia.

Have at it, and remember that Craig's 1000th episode airs on December 15th. Once again, LipSyncingScot (Malinky2Stoatir at YouTube, the kind soul that provides my Craig clips) and the gang at Facebook are doing a Craig Tweet-A-Thon for that auspicious event.

FB members can click here for the details.

Other NBC Comedies Benefit From Pam & Jim's Wedding (but are nicer and kinder and I like them more)

As you may remember, I broke up with The Office this season. Unlike many people who break up with others, I didn't see fit to continue to honor my commitment to attend Pam and Jim's wedding last night, so I just stayed out of the way.

(The picture? I thought you guys might like it. Always thinking of you.)

(I'm sure it wasn't so incredibly cringeworthy as usual -- of maybe not, who can tell -- but I figure you should only show up to the party if you put in the time and I hadn't so I just watched infoMania from current on my DVR during that time).

However, I did catch up with Parks & Recreation and with Community (now at its new 8 pm slot on NBC Thursday) and there were some really funny bits and some lovely moments. I have clips after the jump.

I was reminded of such when I read TV.com's Conor Griff today in a piece titled, "Parks and Recreation: Too Good for Deathwatch" which also mentions our friends at TV By the Numbers today:

It's possible that audiences have dismissed Parks and Recreation after its inconsistent start last season. I was skeptical at first, because it seemed to be an inferior carbon copy of The Office. But I was wrong, and since it returned a month ago, every episode has been great. While P and R does use the same documentary-style format as The Office, and a shared sense of humor, the shows are very different. Amy Poehler's character of Leslie Knope is not a female version of Michael Scott, and the tone of the show, unlike The Office, stays away from "look how stupid these people are."

Instead, the tone is more "look how mean these people are," in the vein of Arrested Development or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And that tone is actually better! Last night's episode started with a politician confessing to an affair. "All I can say is, I wasn't just having sex," he says, "I was making love. To a beautiful woman. And her boyfriend. And a third person whose name I never learned. Furthermore, it was wrong for me to say I was building houses for the underprivileged, when I was actually having four-way sex in a cave in Brazil." This incites a contest at the Parks department to see who can dig up the most dirt on a co-worker. It turns ugly quickly and hilariously.

Go there and read the rest, it's a good piece.

And about those ratings, click over to TVByTheNumbers.com for all that statistical goodness.

Community actually gave me an ah-ha moment last night with Abed's explanation why he waited 26 hours for the test he was recruited for by Annie. He makes complete sense to me now.

It was a warm moment in an NBC comedy, which thanks to the events on P&R discussed above by  me and TV.com isn't as rare as it used to be.

I get that it's the comedy meme of the decade, the cringe-inducing thing and all, I just don't love it all that much.

Watch the Abed revelation and the Officer Dave scene from the end of Parks & Rec that matched it in that lovely, gooey warmth (ew, did I say that?) after the jump.

Louis C.K. is a great addition to the show, even if he's only recurring. And the Mark Sanford-inspired Parks & Rec subplot featuring the councilman was genius.

Hey gang, 30 Rock returns in less than a week now. Are you kvelling? Me too.

Video -- Community: So It's the Bill Murray Role, As Long As It Isn't One I've Seen Already

I read a couple of reviews of Community before last night's premiere that seemed to speak disparagingly about how Jeff Winger is a role tailor-made for Bill Murray and how in the pilot script there's even a reference to such.

So?

In my book there is absolutely nothing wrong with a new comedy series that serves me up a character that could be considered for the Bill Murray oeuvre, and if someone I really enjoy like TV's Joel McHale is playing that character all the better.

And like all the comedies we love it's not just about Jeff Winger. You can click over the jump for an example of some great ensemble work from the cast (more of that please) and click here for the Bill Murray moment clipped out by Hulu. As usual, after my clip runs you can click the correct link and watch the entire pilot over again if you like.

This is the kind of character comedy that will only get better with time and your familiarity with the relationships. Lower the thermostat on your brain's immediate gratificiation centers and learn how to watch TV again after being fed the tawdry fireworks of reality TV and tabloid-style news coverage and you'll find your way.

Missed Some Fall Premieres? iTunes Will Hook You Up For Free

Just got the weekly email from iTunes.

Free downloads for new Fall shows Community, The Beautiful Life TBL, 90210, Melrose Place and Parks & Recreation.

I can recommend three of these shows (not the three represented in the montage above), but since they're all free why not just download them and throw them on you iPod and when you find yourself stuck somewhere you'll have something to watch.

And I am sure next week that there will be more free downloads of new stuff, so check back with them as shows premiere.

Fall Preview Video -- In Which I Take On TV.com's Five Most Promising Shows of the Fall (and how they missed one)

Okay, first things first, Tim Surette is apparently TV.com's editorial king of the hill, he gets to choose two. I'm just sayin', not trying to rile anything up (though Richard Lawson is getting to be my favorite writer there).

Lying, I love stirring up office politics where people I don't even know work.

Also, they missed one show, but we'll get to that later.

Okay, five shows that TV.com thinks will make it, and I agree with four of the five -- Modern Family (Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet pictured left), Cougar Town, Flash Forward (top of post, Joseph Fiennes and John Cho in action) on ABC and Glee on Fox (Lea Michele below right) -- and I could be convinced of the fifth,The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies on CBS, I have a soft spot for her, if CBS would send me screeners like they used to.

Ahem. Throat clearing very loudly. Cough. Cough. Hacking cough.

(Then again, ABC isn't really forthcoming with their stuff, either. Cable channels love me, broadcast not so much.)

Of course we've all seen Glee, though you get another chance Thursday night at 8, if you can stand to have a crawl of Twitter messages from the cast, creators and others (fans?) running under it the whole time.

I can't.

Can't watch the Twit-ty rerun of the first season finale of Fringe for the same reason. Of course, I can just throw the DVD in the machine.

About Glee, Lawson says:

Glee is wickedly funny in the same gonzo way that Popular was, with strange cutaways and almost-cartoonishly manic characters who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Oh, and it has musical numbers! Big, beautiful, clear-voiced pop numbers sung passionately and without any of that irksome irony that's been laid on too thick in most of the things people deem “smart” these days. The cast, led by Broadway vets Matthew Morrison (South Pacific at Lincoln Center) and Lea Michele (Spring Awakening), is attractive and majorly, earnestly talented. And hey, it's nice to see that it’s so gay-friendly, considering that it’s on Fox.

Yeah, what he said, Sean Hannity. And you too O'Reilly you lying sack.

Sorry, can't ever resist the opportunity, you know.

If there was one show I think they missed, it's Joel McHale's Community on NBC. Hey, that gives me an idea -- if you'd like to see either a) the NBC Fall Preview Show which includes clips of Community or b) yet another show where Joel McHale introduces TV clips, you can kill two birds with one stone and watch the NBC Fall Preview 2009 hosted by McHale.

It's the Hulu embed after the jumperoo. Click over, enjoy the lush self-promotion. I'll also include the video widget from the ABC Flash Forward website that you can click around on to find a bunch of clips from and about the show.

Just one more week until actual real Fall TV shows start. Not to diss the Summer stuff, but there just isn't the sense of urgency about Royal Pains and Burn Notice for me that there is about Fall shows.

Don't you think?

TV.com Reviews NBC's Community, Watch it Now at Facebook (Only 53 Hours Left)

Conor Griff at TV.com:

Community stars Joel McHale as Jeff, a successful lawyer who must go back to community college to obtain an undergraduate degree. The Daily Show's John Oliver, as school administrator Ian, asks him, "I thought you had a bachelor's from Columbia?" To which Jeff replies, "And now I have to get one from America." This joke works better spoken aloud, provided you know how to spell both the country (more Os) and the school. If you're willing to ignore the totally implausible fact that Jeff got a law degree without a bachelor's, the show gets good thereafter.

Note to Conor, it is actually possible to get a law degree without a bachelors. My ex-brother-in-law got a medical degree without a Bachelor's degree also.

So, if you are a Facebook member you can see the pilot for the next 53 hours and some, and then it goes away. To Hulu maybe? I dunno, but I imagine that it will pop up again somewhere before the premiere date, September 17 at 9:30.

Click here for the Facebook page for the show.

My review later on.

Video -- Joel McHale on His Community Character: "He's Trying to Be a Better Man"

He also talks about his co-star Chevy Chase in this clip below.

Community premieres in the Fall on NBC, if there's one left by then. Let's hope so.

And please, if the pilot does well Ben Silverman, do not put out a press release calling Joel the King of Comedy. That shit just comes back and bites you in the ass.

Hey, are we gonna do an over/under on how many Soup eps Joel does once the show gets its back nine picked up?

Clip after the jump.

Video -- NBC Picks Up Community, McHale Reportedly Ready to Do Two Shows at Once

Joel, thanks for that but don't do this just for me. Your wife and kids will miss you.

Seriously.

My info on Joel's sked, btw, comes from a commenter on my last Joel post from Friday but I'm asking for sourcing from the commenter and I'll get that to you.

And let me reiterate, I love ya Joel, but not in a "showing up at the guard gate of your home with duct tape and the second season of The Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD" kind of way. There's no need to be stockpiling cash or weapons or building a Star Wars-type defense system for you and the family.

You know what does piss me off? That Hibberd's story at the Reporter calls this show a comedy featuring Chevy Chase but doens't mention Joel, the lead.

(Seriously, I'm not a stalker. Really, I swear.)

Anyhow, the surprise casting news in this is John Oliver from The Daily Show as the student advisor you'll see in the clip after the jump.

And there are many more clips at the NBC.com link above the clip after the jump, too.

And don't forget Yvette Nicole Brown as the sassy large woman of color named Shirley. Because we all have a sassy large woman of color in our lives. Well you do if you're attending a community college. In America.

More on other NBC pickups in the days ahead including Parenthood, 100 Questions for Charlotte Payne, two medical dramas (Trauma and Mercy -- because they expect that one of them will fail?) and Jesse Alexander's Day One, for midseason.

(Kings and Merlin were originally scheduled for midseason this year, weren't they? Is that worth mentioning?)

Trailer for Community after the jump.