Not So Sunny

Two years ago, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was the best comedy on television. It was my favorite program and showed so much promise. However, in the past two seasons, the show has fallen down a slippery slope. The jokes have gotten so take and over-the-top that I just can’t get through an episode anymore.

In the most recent episode I saw (“Mac and Charlie: White Trash”), the gang tries to get into a private pool only to be repeatedly turned away. There’s only so much you can do with this concept and the idea is painfully exhausted by the end of the show. Another thing that bothered me about this episode was the blatant theft of the cut-off jean idea from Arrested Development (which is one of the best TV comedies ever). Charlie struts around in his cut-offs to show how flexible and comfortable they are whereas AD’s Tobias has to wear them because he’s a never-nude.

It’s hard for me to say this but I think It’s Always Sunny should be canceled. The show is currently in its 6^th season, but hasn’t been truly funny since season 3. Like most cable comedies, seasons 4-6 are tough to get through.

The same thing happened with Entourage. The show was a real stinker from seasons 4-6 but made a triumphant comeback in the 7^th season. Hopefully It’s Always Sunny can follow suit. 

Jersey Shore Spin Offs

Pauly D (of Jersey Shore fame) recently started spinning tracks as a DJ. Now, he’s shooting his own spin off entitled Pauly’s Entourage. The show will focus on the DJ as he struggles to make headway in his new career. Hey, at least MTV’s getting back to the music right?

Wrong. Listen to Pauly D’s new (and only) song, “Beat Dat Beat.” I wouldn’t really consider it music – it’s more like assorted noise. I guess all you need to be famous these days is sharp hair and orange skin.

Reports also surfaced that Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jenny “JWoww” Farley were getting their own spin off too. However, in the past few days, MTV sources have revealed that JWoww will not be a part of the show because they feel it’ll be a bigger hit if Snooki’s flying solo. ZOMG! This is going to be DRAMAzing. 

Goodbye Boredom, Hello Stumbleupon

Have you ever sat at your computer, constantly refreshing the same five pages you frequent, looking for something new? Have you ever been so bored the internet that you actually considered starting that 10-page term paper you have due next week? Have you ever wondered what else there is to do on the interwebs? Surely you answered yes to one of these questions. With smart phones and WiFi, the internet is always at our fingertips, so it’s easy to feel jaded.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a life changing website: Stumbleupon. You make an account, choose your interests, and start stumbling. It’s that easy. With the click of a button, Stumbleupon takes you from site to site based on your interest. But don’t get too caught up – the website is really addicting. I’ve spent hours on it without even realizing.

Stumbleupon also offers a social networking feature where you can follow people and see their favorites. It’s a unique and different way of connecting with friends. If you don’t have a Stumbleupon, make one right now…seriously. And 

Jersey Shore

The season 2 finale of MTV’s Jersey Shore was last night. Now you might think that I would bash the show – maybe because it’s trashy television, makes people stupider, or is the antithesis of culture – but no, I love it. “How is this possible Mosi? We only read your blog because you’re a cynical asshole.” Well my friends, I’m still a cynical asshole, but let me tell you one thing: Jersey Shore is one of the most important TV shows ever made.

From a purely business standpoint, Jersey Shore is genius. The episodes cost almost nothing to make and consistently draw in 6 million viewers or more – a figure most primetime network shows don't even reach. MTV’s ratings are the highest they’ve been in eight years. After MTV canceled it's last real music program (TRL), everyone was on the network’s case. The deterioration of the brand caused people to stop watching. 

But with the introduction of Jersey Shore, viewership has soared. It’s not only a show, it’s a lifestyle. The GTL (gym, tan, laundry….yeah, I don’t get it either) trend has taken a life of it’s own, and viewers can’t get enough. People tune in all the time to see what’s going on with that skankopotamus Snooki, the 'roided-out Ronnie and his girlfriend Sammi (aka "the sweetest bitch you'll ever meet"), or the King of Sleaze: Mike "The Situation" (who is making an un-Godly amount of money for the level of talent he possesses). I don’t know how I was able to live without knowing who Pauly D was “smushing” these days, or how to get skin cancer as quickly as possible.

I find myself mesmerized by this show – I can literally feel myself getting stupider as I watch, but for some reason, can’t look away. It’s like eye crack. Jersey Shore may be the beginning of an irreversible trend of idiocy, but no matter how you slice it, the show’s a hit and will be here until (sadly) an even trashier and stupider show comes along. Jersey Shore has put MTV in a great situation. And as only The Situation could put it, “This situation is gonna be indescribable, you can't even describe The Situation that you're about to get into The Situation.” Eloquently put, sir. 

The Jackass Phenomenon

In three short days, Jackass 3-D has set several box office records. With a whopping $50 million dollar opening, it is beat Scary Movie 3 ($48.1 million) as the biggest October opening ever. Against a $20 million production budget and roughly $40 million advertising budget, the film will make its money back sometime around Thursday. Of course, the $3 3-D up-charge also plays into the astounding gross, but the studios predicted just a $30 million opening. Also, at $50 million, it’s already the fifth highest grossing non-fiction documentary ever (c’mon, its kind of a documentary). It might even break the $119 million mark set by Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are) produced under their Dickhouse banner (a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures).

However, the success of Jackass 3-D also resonates on a higher level. In these turbulent economic times, American audiences want to go see movies where they can turn their brains off and enjoy the physical humor. Notice I wrote “American” audiences, not all audiences. While one might assume the Jackass movies would fare well internationally (I mean they’re not exactly dialogue-driven), they perform far worse than most movies. Most films get 40-50% of their grosses internationally but the two previous Jackass movies have gotten 19.2% and 14%, respectively.

What does this say about American audiences? Are we stupider than the international crowd? Not necessarily. We just like the ball-busting, America’s Funniest Home Videos/Tosh.O type of painful, hard-to-watch humor more than other countries. The American audience has been so desensitized to pain and violence (mainly through videogames but also other media) that we need to resort to polar extremes to get our kicks. The Jackass movies continually push the envelope and give us the fix we need. So how many times do Americans have to see Steve-O get hit in the balls before we’ve had enough?  As long as they keep thinking of cruder ways to do it, I’ll keep buying tickets.

Carl Icahn puppeteering Lionsgate-MGM Merger

Since early this year, billionaire investor Carl Icahn has been trying to buy Lionsgate, the production company behind movies like the Saw franchise and TV shows including Weeds and Mad Men. With 20% of the company’s stock, Icahn is currently Lionsgate’s largest shareholder. He also owns a significant amount of MGM’s debt.

MGM, which is currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, originally announced a deal with Spyglass this week. The agreement would make Spyglass chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum the new co-CEOs of MGM. Icahn is now trying to block this deal and get Lionsgate to merge with MGM instead. He has interests in both companies and has been adamant and aggressive in his approach. What started as a hostile takeover of Lionsgate has turned into a grad scale bi-company clusterfuck.

MGM has been unable to make any new movies during its bankruptcy bout. The former media juggernaut owns titles such as the James Bond franchise, but the only major film its released this year has been Hot Tub Time Machine. While going through bankruptcy, the production company has been unable to finance or release any major pictures.

One movie that’s had an especially tough time during this phase is Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which MGM owns the rights to. Guillermo del Toro was originally slated as the director, but dropped out because funding fell through and the production was a total disaster. Warner Bros is now co-producing with MGM and Peter Jackson has stepped into the director’s chair.

After someone finally buys MGM, it will most likely serve as a stripped down production entity with no marketing or distribution department.

James Cameron's back at it

James Cameron and producer Scott Rudin are tentatively attached to develop a 3D Cleopatra biopic. Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the rights to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff’s biography, Cleopatra: A Life. They want Angelina Jolie to play the title role. Jolie is reportedly very interested and anxious to start filming. I personally think she would do an amazing job as the Egyptian pharaoh. She has the look and the star power to carry this film, which will surely be a huge production since Cameron doesn’t make movies for less than $200 million anymore.

However, the Cleopatra role has had some stigma associated with it in the past. Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra in Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 epic, Cleopatra. Taylor almost died of pneumonia while filming; she had to have a tracheotomy to stay alive. Also, the film almost bankrupt 20^th Century Fox. The original budget was set at $2 million but quickly swelled to $44 million ($300 million in today’s dollars, which is how much Avatar’s production budget was). Taylor fell in love with Richard Burton (who played Mark Antony in the feature) while filming, ruining both of their marriages. However, they were supposedly arguing and fighting for most of the film’s shooting, making it hard for everyone else to work. Although the film grossed $26 million (the most out of any film in 1963) and won 4 Academy Awards, Cleopatra is widely regarded as biggest production disaster in the history of cinema.

Jolie is hoping that Brad Pitt will land the role of Mark Antony. Let’s hope that this version of Cleopatra won’t have as many problems as the 1963 version did.

The Social Network

If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3^rd largest in the world. With over 500 million people on the social network, it’s not hard to see why Columbia pictures made The Social Network. Facebook has revolutionized the way we communicate with each other, but what’s more interesting is the story behind the glory.

The official story is that Mark Zuckerberg “founded” Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in 2003 with the help of his friends Dustin Moskowitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin. However, three Harvard students (Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and Divya Narendra) came up with the general concept and pitched the idea to Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg then went behind their backs and create the website himself; although, to his credit, he claims he never used any of their original coding. Zuckerberg had to pay the Winklevii (as he refers to them in the film) a $65 million settlement. He also had to pay Saverin – his best friend who he ultimately betrayed in favor of Napster founder Sean Parker – an undisclosed amount (reports say it was in the $600 million range). Zuckerberg is now worth $6.9 billion and his company is worth $25 billion. At 26 years old, he’s the youngest billionaire in the world and he’s already richer than Apple CEO Steve Jobs ($6.1 billion).

The Social Network goes over the court cases and leaves it up to the audience to decide who’s right or wrong. Aaron Sorkin’s script is pitch perfect. The crisp, quick dialogue is delivered flawlessly by the young actors. Andrew Garfield's acting stood out from the pack. He reportedly landed the role as the next Spiderman from his performance as Eduardo Saverin. The film is already receiving a lot of Oscar buzz and is currently considered the frontrunner for Best Picture. The screenplay is essentially a lock for Best Adapted Screenplay (the movie is based on Ben Mezrich’s book, The Accidental Billionaires). David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) also does a great job in directing this Adderall-fueled dream of cosmic proportions. He got everything he needed out of his young talent, while simultaneously capturing the film’s highbrow, Ivy League backdrop.

These kids are all geniuses and they live in their own bubble where financial success is meaningless unless you gain recognition among your peers. The reason Zuckerberg creates Facebook is so people notice him, not so he can make money. By putting the whole social sphere on the web, he sparked the social networking trend that has taken over the world. People love talking about themselves and Facebook is the ultimate way of doing so.

It might be a sweeping cliché but The Social Network really does define a generation. The “me-now” generation. My generation.

DC Makin’ Moves

In an earlier post I mentioned DC Comic’s restructuring and how they need to start building on their established franchises and start making new ones. Well, yesterday they announced that the final scripts for Green Lantern 2 and The Flash will be done by this winter so the films can go into production next year. The Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds is slated for a June 2011 opening. The movie has been tracking extremely well and director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale) is finishing up the final edits.

The Flash is a very popular superhero among comic book fans. David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) was originally slated to write, direct, and produce the film. He even penned a draft of the script. However, Greg Berlanti (No Ordinary Family) is now attached as the director/producer.

The movie has a lot of franchise potential, but choosing the right actor will be key. Some names that are currently being thrown around to play the superfast superhero are Neil Patrick Harris, Adam Brody, and Jerry O’Connell. Personally I think NPH would do a sensational job as Wally West.

Warner Bros will probably release GL2 and The Flash sometime in 2013.

Justin Bieber is hosting Punk’d….God save us

What’s worse than Punk’d or Justin Bieber? Justin Bieber hosting Punk’d. Ashton Kutcher just announced that he will be rebooting the series on MTV, but he’ll only act as the executive producer this time. Kutcher will producer under his Katalyst banner and he has chosen Justin Bieber as his successor.

Bieber (or shall I say the self-proclaimed “new Kurt Cobain”) might be the biggest tween superstar ever. He’s like a Jonas brother on pubescent steroids. His songs are not only adored by adolescents, they’re played in nightclubs all over the world.  The kid’s got brass and he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

You know what they say: if you can’t beat em, join em. Well I, for one, do not believe in this. Make no mistake about it, Justin Bieber is a monster. He’s already ruining music; will we let him ruin television? A movie career will surely follow and when that happens, the apocalypse can’t be far off.

So what does the Bieberfication of modern media mean? To put it simply: we’re all fucked.

Marvel vs. DC

DC and Marvel comics have been rivals since the 40s. These days, the rivalry continues on the silver screen. DC owns titles such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. They work under the Warner Brothers production banner developing movies around their characters. WB recently announced they are moving the DC Comics division from New York to their Burbank, CA lot. WB figured that if DC is going to try and rival Marvel’s upcoming schedule, they need a better communication channel with their production entity. Marvel has five huge projects in development (Thor, The Avengers, Captain America, X-Men: First Class, Spiderman 4) while DC Comics only has two (Superman 2 and Batman 3).

Marvel was bought for upwards of $4 billion by Disney in 2009. With the backing of Disney, Marvel will have loads of new opportunities. One exciting advantage of having the support of a media juggernaut like Disney is the licensing opportunities of using the comic characters in other ways than movies. For example, Disney can use them to make new theme park attractions. DC Comics, on the other hand, is part of the bigger Time Warner family. And although Time Warner will surely provide them with movie and television licenses, they’re not involved in several different areas of business like Disney.

In an effort to trim the fat from the old regime, DC fired three of its top executives: Richard Bruning (SVP and Creative Director), Cherly Rubin (SVP of Management) and Steve Rotterdam (SVP of Marketing and Sales). They want to start fresh when they move to LA.

Also, it was just announced that Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) will direct the new Superman reboot. Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) is producing under his Syncopy Production banner. Snyder directed Watchmen and Nolan helmed The Dark Knight, two DC comic releases. If they can keep big names like Snyder and Nolan in the DC family, they may be able to develop and release more huge titles in the future. Their next big release – The Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds – is due out in June 2011.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?

In a project that marries the top two trends of contemporary cinema (3D and vampires), Twentieth Century Fox is developing a movie based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This project is the hottest option material in Hollywood right now and Fox won a fierce bidding war for the rights to the story (the price they bought it for is still undisclosed). The film will be directed by Timur Bekmambetv (Wanted) and the budget has been set at about $70 million. Production is due to start in March.

This new movie has resounding implications for what drives consumers. Five years go, someone pitching a 3D movie about Abe Lincoln as a vampire hunter would have been laughed out of the room. But now that Twilight has ruined the American movie-going public, the big studios are salivating over the moneymaking potential of this story. Slap a 3D tag on it, charge an extra $3 and boom – a guaranteed cash cow.

The vampire fad will probably fade soon, but is 3-D here to stay? To answer this question, one must first ask, why do people like 3-D movies? Could it be that consumers like 3-D because it mimics the live action nature of theater productions? A more reasonable answer is that the 3-D effect makes each audience member feel like they are targeted and part of the show. Audience members see the same images coming out at them and each one feels like he or she is the only one that sees it that way. 3-D’s ability to break the fourth wall is what attracts consumers. 3-D movies have been around since the 50s but with these new technological breakthroughs – like in Avatar where James Cameron invented a camera that shoots in 3-D (it has two lenses that mimic the human eye) – the mainstream public has taken a greater liking.