Sarah Silverman iTunes Sneak Peek
“Sarah’s back, and it’s kind of a big deal. This season, she finally lives out her dream as a contestant on Cookie Party, loses Doug after being caught in ‘unlawful human-initiated interspecies relations,’ and continues her on-again, off-again love affair with God. In every episode, Sarah learns something a little new and a little disturbing about herself.” — iTunes Store
Episode Summary
Get a sneak peek of the new Sarah Silverman Program episodes coming to Comedy Central and iTunes this October.
HBO greenlights new show from Mr. Show
Wow, I Watch Stuff is reporting that Bob Odenkirk and David Cross have signed on for a new HBO sitcom, which really blows my mind. I feel as though Mr. Show was a momentous program in comedy, one that continues to go overlooked as a groundbreaker for many lesser current shows.
Anyway, enough of my rants, check out the details at I Watch Stuff,
Vermont town voted Simpsons home
The US town of Springfield, Vermont, has beaten 13 rivals and will host the premiere of the film about the animated family The Simpsons. The show is set in a fictional Springfield because its creator, Matt Groening, spotted that it is one of the most common place-names in the US.
Vermont was chosen in an online vote after 14 towns submitted videos to argue why their town should win.
The premiere is on 21 July, ahead of national US release on 27 July. Vermont’s Springfield beat rivals ranging from Oregon on the west coast to Massachusetts on the Atlantic.
The town of just over 9,000 residents got 15,367 votes, beating the Illinois entry by 733, according to USA Today, which conducted the poll.
The other contenders were in the states of Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee.
“We’re so excited,” said Patricia Chaffee, vice-president of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce in Vermont. “We came in at the last minute, and for us to win, we feel like the underdogs, which makes this so big and so great for us,” she told USA Today.
The video entry from Illinois featured the general manager of the local power plant, Todd Renfrow, whose appearance is similar to that of Montgomery Burns, the villain and power plant owner in the show.
Over in Kentucky, a scene was filmed portraying creator Groening in a courtroom, hearing how the cartoon was based on their town.
And Senator Edward Kennedy was recruited for the recording by Springfield, Massachusetts, even though he is regularly mocked in the series. Before the vote, Tim Farley, executive director at the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau in Illinois, said: “We always really did think we were the one.
“The similarities between the cartoon and Springfield are really uncanny,” he told Reuters. But he said that whatever the outcome, all of the towns were “winners”.
“It’s made a lot of Springfields more popular than they may have been before,” he said.
[From the BBC]
Simpsons Movie Posters
Several Simpsons Movie Posters have leaked onto the net by way of this (I think) Russian website. I’m a sucker for anything Simpsons, especially anything related to the upcoming film, so I had to give this a mention.
To make this post even more all inclusive, here are a few additional Simpsons stories I’m excited about:
Acceptable TV
I’ve been hearing a lot about Acceptable TV lately, which is a project from Jack Black, Channel 101, and VH1 that will essentially air sketch comedy skits that the audience can choose to either keep or knock off the air.
iTunes has a free download of the first “tutorial” on how to make your very own show for the series.
Ian Svenonius’ Soft Focus
Vice is busy cooking up a lot of great online shows, and my favorite so far is Ian Svenonius Soft Focus. Check out the first episode where he interviews the fantastic Will Oldham.
[link for RSS users]
IGN’s Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances
Click here for IGN’s Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances list. I’m not sure I could even begin to rank them, but Sonic Youth, Ricky Gervais, and Rodney Dangerfield would be among my list. I was surprised to see how little, if any, attention was paid to Metallica’s brief appearance on the show’s debut last Sunday night … I guess, like the band themselves, the appearance was more of a joke than anything else.
John Kricfalusi & Ren and Stimpy Lost Episodes
IGN talks with Ren & Stimpy creator Jon Kricfalusi about the brand new DVD release of the Lost Episodes. The new set includes the episodes recently produced for Spike TV,which in my opinion are completely insane and some of the craziest television shows I’ve witnessed.
Adult Swim Streams 24/7
The Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim has announced that they will be streaming full-length episodes for free online starting Monday March 27th. This is fantastic news for fans, based on the fact that those without DVRs and Tivos often have trouble catching their favorite AS shows with such late programming schedules.
Truthfully, I haven’t been as much into the newer shows they’ve recently debuted (Boondocks was a very large disappointment) but the brilliance of Aqua Teen and Tom Goes to the Mayor (pictured above) will never cease to amaze me.
“Weeds” on Showtime
My favorite new television program this year by far has to be Weeds on the Showtime network. As luck would have it Comcast Cable offered my household the channel for only an additional 5 bucks a month, and we jumped at the chance. Turns out most of their programming is garbage, but this show made it all worth it.
Mary-Louise Parker is definitely not bad for the eyes, and she plays a upper middle class housewife that turns to selling pot around the community to make ends meet after her husband suddenly passes away. Kevin Nealon turns out some good performances as her reefer addict accountant, and Romany Malco (who was fantastic in The 40 Year Old Virgin) also does fine work.
I don’t want to reveal too much but hopefully the completed first season will be released on DVD soon for those in need — the show’s website is also well done and ahead of the game with cast podcasts and downloads.