Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts

5 Worst Actor Transitions From Television To Movies

Monday, June 1, 2009

It's common knowledge that success in Television doesn't always translate into success on the silver screen. But it doesn't always stop those from trying. Here are the worst transitions from TV to Movies.

5. Roseanne - Hollywood could even recognize she was made for Television yet box office poison but it didn't stop her from trying. Her first leading role in a feature film (She-Devil) even made her costar Meryl Streep look like a b-movie star. Society doesn't mind watching her offend people for free, but when you have to pay $10 and eat stale popcorn, people will think twice.

4. Cast of Friends - There was much anticipation by viewers for each of the cast members to make their feature film debut. Each initial project was a HUGE failure. The only cast member who figured out the correct path to make it to film was Jennifer Aniston who married Brad Pitt. I'd hate to see a world where Pitt was homosexual, married Matt LeBlanc. The horror.... the horror. It doesn't look the Hollywood is banking on the remaining cast anymore. But beware, someone... somewhere is writing ED part 2... be afraid, very afraid.

3. David Caruso - For 15 years you'd played supporting roles in movies with success. But they were minor roles for a reason. Somehow you land a starring role in the popular television show NYPD Blue and that movie itch was stronger than it ever was. So you bite the hand and leap to the big screen. The good news is the starring roles don't fade away, the bad news is the movies are as bad as your crappy one liners. Caruso, you've been given another hug by Television, we recommend you don't blow it.

2. Bronson Pinchot - Ironically it was movies that made him what he was. His small role as Serge in Beverly Hills Cop paved the way to his major television success as Balki Bartokomous in Perfect Strangers. 150 episodes later he left Television to conquer the big screen. After a few film failures (Second Sight, Blame it on the Bellboy) he made a few attempts back to Television. Learning that people loved Balki, not Bronson, he was reduced to voice over work and even a run on The Young and the Restless. Of course let's not forget VH1 Reality TV which is nail in the coffin to a legitimate career. Sorry Cousin.

1. Shelley Long - So you're on one of the most popular Television shows in history (Cheers) and you're considered one of it's contributing factors. Do you (a) stay on and help keep it a success or (b) let it go to your head and try to force the next step? If you're Shelley Long you take B. Also if you're Shelley Long you prove to critics that a great show can prosper without you and that you're comedic talents aren't strong enough to keep a movie audience entertained for 90 minutes. Don't worry Shelley, as long as they keep making straight to DVD Brady Bunch movies then you'll keep getting work.

Read more...

20 Things You Didn't Know About LOST

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Season Five just aired for the highly entertaining and ultra confusing ABC's LOST. There is so much we still don't know. We can't look into the future (unless we find the island) to figure out what's next, but we can do a little research and find some behind-the-scenes things. Here are 20 things you probably didn't know about LOST.

20. Jorge Garcia was cast as Hurley after J.J. Abrams saw him in "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

19. 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 all added together equal 108, the total of minutes left to enter those very numbers into the computer each time, and the number of days that the castaways spent on the island before the Oceanic Six were rescued.

18. Charlie's shoulder tattoo reads, "Living is easy with eyes closed". This is a lyric from the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles.

17. The rocks used in the waterfall cave set are made of rubber so that the sound of the actors, and crew members walking about are not picked up on camera.

16. The part of Charlie was originally written for someone much older, but when Dominic Monaghan auditioned, the writers and producers loved him so much that they set about re-writing the part to Dominic's strengths.

15. The shirt that Sawyer wears that has a fish on it is from an actual restaurant. One of the show's creators went to Humpy's in Alaska and liked the logo so much he wanted to use it on the show. They didn't get permission to use it until much later so they took the logo from the site and made their own. No one at Humpy's knew how it got onto the show until much later.

14. ABC picked up the show before there even was a script. J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof had only turned in an outline and based on this ABC picked up the show.

13. When Jin is at the house of the person he is meant to kill, Hurley is on the television behind him. If you look (extremely) carefully you can see that he is wearing the grey shirt that he is wearing when the television cameras show up at the petrol station later on in the series.

12. Originally, Michael Emerson was only cast for a few episodes in season two. The producers were so impressed with his performance that they cast him as a regular and rewrote the part of Henry Gale/Ben to feature him more prominently.

11. In the original description for Kate, she was a slightly older woman separated from her husband, who went to the bathroom in the tail-section of the plane. However, that idea ended up being used for the character Rose.

10. The character of Sawyer was originally meant to be an older, slick, suit-wearing city con artist from Buffalo, NY. However, when Josh Holloway forgot a line at his audition and subsequently kicked a chair in frustration and loudly swore, the writers liked the edge he brought to the Sawyer character and decided to write Sawyer as more of a Southern, darker grifter instead.

9. John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher who described the human being as "tabula rasa" - translated as "unwritten sheet" or "empty canvas" - at birth. It's obvious that the creators of the show were inspired by this when creating the character Locke.

8. Yunjin Kim originally read for the character of Kate. The producers felt she was not what they were looking for in Kate, but decided to create a new character for her, along with a spouse.

7. Josh Holloway was trying to cover up his Southern accent while shooting several of his first scenes in the first season. It wasn't until producer J.J. Abrams told him that the reason they cast him was BECAUSE of his accent that Holloway changed it. There are still some scenes left in the pilot where he doesn't use his Southern accent.

6. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje came up with his own character's name, "Mr. Eko", while he and the writers were developing the character.

5. Forest Whitaker was originally cast in the role of Sawyer, but opted out of the role to direct First Daughter.

4. Jennifer Jason Leigh was approached to play the part of Libby, but she declined.

3. Ethan Rom is an anagram for "other man".

2. Matthew Abbadon is an anagram for "what bad boatmen".

1. Originally, Michael Keaton was cast as Jack. In the first draft of the script Jack was to be killed by the monster after they arrived at the cockpit. ABC told the producers that they shouldn't kill off the hero so soon in the series and the script was changed. After the change, Michael Keaton backed out of the role since he did not want to commit to a regular series.

Read more...

10 Worst Infomercial Products Ever

Friday, May 8, 2009

There are those nights we just can't sleep. We try everything to get those winks until we surrender to our insomnia and make our way to the TV for a little late night programming. What happens to all our favorite stations at night? They punish those who are up with horrible infomercials. From face creams to foot eggs, we can't escape their 30 minute product shows. Here are 10 of the worst infomercial products on television.

10. Chia Pet - It's a pet rock with moss. We get it... go away!

9. Hair In A Can - There are 100 different products for hair loss, none of which work. But if you think putting a little graffiti on your head is the missing piece to getting the babes again, you might wanna look at #10. You could be the first Chia Moron.

8. Big Mouth Billy Bass - Thanks for littering our garage sales with this crappy product for the next 20 years.

7. Flowbee - Conceptually this appears to be a great idea. It eliminates all the hassles of getting your hair cut. Yet there is just one problem, everyone comes out looking like Pete Rose.

6. Free Government Money Books - If they offer a free punch to the face of the spokesman, we'd all consider buying the book. Other than that you have to be a disabled singled mom born on a reservation under a full moon for anything of the 'free money' to come your way.

5. The Clapper - We'd rather you call us in from the other room and ask us to shut off the TV than have you walk around the house all day clapping. You're making us shell-shocked during the credit of Leno.

4. Thighmaster - This launched the beginning of 100 different crappy fitness products and for that, we can't forgive it. You, Mr. Thighmaster spawned Tony Little... to Hell with you!

3. Anything Richard Simmons - If we have to watch another infomercial with Richard Simmons screaming and jumping with old and fat people, we are going to stab him to death with Ginsu Knives and clean him it up with a Shamwow. You'll know when it happens because we'll announce it on a Mr. Microphone (Google it).

2. Rejuvenique - It's as if Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees sold out to the man and decided to kill people via their ignorance.

1. Snuggie - One day a guy put his robe on backwards and said "I want a Porsche".

Thanks to Big Stupid Idiot

Read more...

10 Things You Didn't Know About M*A*S*H

Friday, April 10, 2009

If you didn't grow up watching M*A*S*H either during its run or via syndication, then you didn't have a TV. One of the greatest shows on Television, even with it preachiness. It ran for 10 years, but how much do you know about the show? Here are 15 things you probably didn't know about M*A*S*H

15. On "Sesame Street" (1969), Big Bird's teddy bear is named Radar. This is in homage to Radar O'Reilly's teddy bear.

14. Klinger was only going to appear in one episode. However, he proved so popular that he became a regular.

13. First American network series to use the phrase "son-of-a-bitch".

12. Klinger's attempt to be thrown out of the army by wearing women's clothing was inspired by the comedian Lenny Bruce, who received an honorable discharge from active service in the Navy by dressing up as a WAVE officer (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency service).

11. The filming location for the exteriors of the 4077 M*A*S*H camp is today known as Malibu Creek State Park in Malibu, California. Formerly called the Fox Ranch, and owned by 20th Century Fox Studios until the 1980s, the site today (early 2001) is overgrown with foliage, and marked by a rusted Jeep and an ambulance used in the show, as well as a small sign. The state park is open to the public. It was also the location where How Green Was My Valley (1941) and the "Planet of the Apes" (1974) TV series were filmed.

10. Gary Burghoff's left hand is slightly deformed, and he took great pains to hide or de-emphasize it during filming. He did this by always holding something (like a clipboard), or keeping that hand in his pocket.

9. The character of Spearchucker, played by Timothy Brown, appeared in episodes 1, 4, 5, 9, 10, and 11 in the first season, until it was discovered that there were no Black surgeons in Korea at the time.

8. McLean Stevenson, who played Lt. Col. Henry Blake, died of a heart attack on 15 February 1996. The next day, 16 February, Roger Bowen, who played Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the movie, died of the same cause.

7. Jamie Farr and Alan Alda were the only two cast members to have actually served in the US Army in Korea. Both of them did their tours of duty after the 1953 cease fire.

6. Tom Skerritt was approached to reprise his role as Duke Forrest on the series but he declined, because he felt a TV version of the movie would be unsuccessful.

5. Radar's teddy bear, once housed at the Smithsonian, was sold at auction July 29, 2005, for $11,800. (It was originally found on the Fox Ranch, where the series was filmed, and became part of the show.)

4. By the time the series ended, three of the regulars were promoted: Klinger (Jamie Farr) from Corporal to Sergeant, and Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) from Lieutenant to Captain. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel when he was shipped back to the US following Margaret's Marriage. (Farr and Christopher also saw their names move from the closing credits of the show, to the opening credits.) Radar O'Reilly was temporarily promoted to Second Lieutenant, but disliked officer's duties, and asked Hawkeye and B.J. to "bust" him back to Corporal.

3. Throughout the run of the series, any "generic" nurses (nurse characters who had a line or two, but were minor supporting characters otherwise) were generally given the names "Nurse Able", "Nurse Baker", or "Nurse Charlie". These names stem from the phonetic alphabet used by the military and HAM operators at the time. During the time period of the Korean War, the letters A, B, and C in the phonetic alphabet were Able, Baker, and Charlie (since then, the standard has been updated, and A and B are now Alpha and Bravo). In later seasons, it became more common for a real character name to be created, especially as several of the nurse actors became semi-regulars. For example, Kellye Nakahara played both "Able" and "Charlie" characters in season three before becoming the semi-regular "Nurse Kellye"; on the other hand, Judy Farrell (then Mrs. Mike Farrell) played Nurse Able in eight episodes, including the series finale.

2. While most of the characters from the movie carried over to the series, only three actors appeared in both: Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly) and G. Wood (General Hammond) reprized their movie roles in the series (though Wood appeared in only three episodes). Timothy Brown (credited as "Tim Brown") played "Cpl. Judson" in the movie and Spearchucker Jones in series.

1. This television series, set during the Korean War, lasted eleven seasons. The actual Korean War lasted only three years.

Read more...

  © Blogger templates Newspaper II by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP