Hey kids – welcome to another week of quarantine. Let’s start with what makes me happy. HBO Max has ordered a pilot and 5 episodes of one of my favorite old time tv shows, Head of The Class. Bill Lawrence, of Scrubs fame, is tapped to produce and he is bringing in the original production team of the 1986 show, Horizon Scripted Television. So we got a good brand here, with a reboot, with some proven funny people behind it – let’s see what happens. Am I going to go out and subscribe to HBO Max? Of course not – I don’t care how many FRIENDS reunions they do. I never liked that show.
Tyler Perry, who owns half of Atlanta, has set July production dates for two of his shows. Sistas and The Oval will go back to work in July, regardless who is left standing on this Earth. Will they shoot with masks on? Gloves? Who knows, Tyler Perry certainly does not care. Maybe he wants to start the movement of “Back to Work”, who knows. All we know is he has had enough of this sitting on his 100 acres of golf courses and sipping white claw. The man wants to work and make more money so he can get back into pissing contests with Elon Musk.
Fox has renewed Bob’s Burgers for it’s 11th season. I swear to God, has any animated series been cancelled since The Flintstones? It seems they all just go on forever. Now it looks like there was a coup against Beavis and Butthead!!
Remember when Dax Shepard was screaming at the top of his lungs to Hollywood – “I am so perfect for Joe Exotic from Tiger King!! I am perfect for that role! Please Hollywood cast me!!” ? Well as usual, no one was listening to poor Dax. And he is part of a Hollywood power couple too! So to ignore him says a lot of what they think about him. No Dax did not get the part – instead it went to real life crazy guy Nicholas Cage. Cage is executive producing as well, it is an 8 episode limited series project, with Imagine Television and CBS TV involved. Mmm, can’t wait for the crazy.
During the virtual press conference for his new Netflix special, 23 Hours to Kill, Jerry Seinfeld has said it just might be time for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee to end. 11 seasons, 84 episodes, I mean seriously, how many more people could Jerry possibly be interested in?
Perhaps taking a cue from Tyler Perry, or perhaps not, Chris Ripley says that the top tier sports, NBA, NHL and MLB will return to action late July, or early August. Chris is the CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group – the majority owner of most local sports channels in America. Just imagine how much money they are losing right now. Chris says the return will forego gate receipts, which means the return is good, but not great. No people in the arenas, but at least we’ll have something to watch besides FRIENDS reunions, yes I said it again.
Gov Andrew Cuomo has released some reopening guidelines for NYC, the Phase 4 of the plan, being the last facilities to open, and guess who are on that list. Yes, Broadway and movie theaters have been classified as Phase 4 facilities, which means they will be free and clear to open, absolutely dead last in the reopening phase. Congrats NYC – we won’t be going to the movies any time soon.
Disney says there are no projections for when the Marvel Universe will begin productions again nor will they guess when any will be released. One thing they did make clear, however, they will not make Marvel blockbusters and release them straight to streaming or VOD. “Blockbusters belong in the cinemas” so says Disney.
As Disney says that, they also say the films that are already made, will be looked at in a case by case basis to see how they will be rolled out. Smaller films like Artemis Fowl and Mulan are highly likely to be rolled out to streaming and VOD. If a movie has the right budget, they could be rolled out instead of being held over until theaters open.
Tom Cruise plans to shoot a movie in outer space with his fellow crazy companion Elon Musk. Crazy loves crazy. Talk about being bored. I thought I was bored. Yikes. Hope they don’t have to fight off our USA Space Army up there. Space used to be for scientists, now it’s for the rich crazies who already bought everything on Earth.
Taika Waititi has signed to direct and co-write a new Star Wars film. Now you know this comes from our new Lord and Master John Favreau. John gave his blessing and pushed for it and I hope it happens. Favreau has put together an amazing creative team of writers and directors for Star Wars and I’m sure his disciples will push forth and create amazing teams and disciples of their own, which could lead to a very promising Star Wars future. As long as John Favreau and Dave Filoni stay together and in charge, I have complete faith Star Wars, coming from this team, will be sensational. Kathleen Kennedy can go kick rocks.
CBS has renewed 18 series for next season. Including all of the NCIS shows. Mark Harmon, who is like 108 years old by now, Scott Bakula, LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell all got big fat checks to come back. I guess old people like watching old people. So next year CBS will look more of the same. Joy.
Follow Paul on Twitter @pauliek2003
