"Futurama" has lived more lives than any other show since the dawn of the current millennium. It has been saved from cancellation several times over the years and has maintained a very loyal following, even in the periods where no new episodes were making it to air. It's a credit to what creator Matt Groening accomplished, even going back to some of the earliest episodes. It's actually in one of those early episodes where we get one of the initial flashes of hidden brilliance that helped make the show what it is.
The third episode of "Futurama" season 1 is titled "I, Roommate," and it is a pivotal one. Fry is such a slob that he is forced by the rest of the Planet Express crew to move out of the offices where he's been crashing. He decides to take up an offer from Bender to move into his place, only...
The third episode of "Futurama" season 1 is titled "I, Roommate," and it is a pivotal one. Fry is such a slob that he is forced by the rest of the Planet Express crew to move out of the offices where he's been crashing. He decides to take up an offer from Bender to move into his place, only...
- 5/25/2024
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Is it fair that some of television's most emotionally wrenching and nightmare-inducing moments came from supposedly light entertainment?
When we tune into a sitcom, cartoon, or low-conflict drama, are we expecting to be hit over the head with unspeakable tragedy and menace?
It's almost like biting into a Klondike bar and tasting spicy tobasco sauce instead.
Still, if you can memorably crush the audience's heart while still keeping with the show's spirit and tone, you can create television history.
Going through the list of sobs and shudders, I had to eliminate some classic TV moments because they were either "Goodbye Episodes" (and Goodbyes are just sad in general) or because they were on a show that wasn't exactly safe to begin with.
(Sorry, Roseanne, All in the Family, Scrubs, and M*A*S*H -- you were never light!)
Otherwise, here are ten of the heaviest moments from light entertainment,...
When we tune into a sitcom, cartoon, or low-conflict drama, are we expecting to be hit over the head with unspeakable tragedy and menace?
It's almost like biting into a Klondike bar and tasting spicy tobasco sauce instead.
Still, if you can memorably crush the audience's heart while still keeping with the show's spirit and tone, you can create television history.
Going through the list of sobs and shudders, I had to eliminate some classic TV moments because they were either "Goodbye Episodes" (and Goodbyes are just sad in general) or because they were on a show that wasn't exactly safe to begin with.
(Sorry, Roseanne, All in the Family, Scrubs, and M*A*S*H -- you were never light!)
Otherwise, here are ten of the heaviest moments from light entertainment,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Michael Arangua
- TVfanatic
Bollywood has a long history of producing hilarious comedy movies that have left audiences in stitches. From slapstick humor to witty one-liners, these films have made us laugh and entertained us for generations. Here are 15 iconic comedy movies in Bollywood that you shouldn’t miss:
Awara Paagal Deewana (2002) – An action comedy film starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, and Paresh Rawal. Gol Maal (1979) – A classic comedy starring Amol Palekar and Bindiya Goswami. Chupke Chupke (1975) – A hilarious film about a man who pretends to be a driver to win over his love, starring Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) – A dark comedy that satirizes corruption in Indian society, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani. Andaz Apna Apna (1994) – A cult classic about two men who try to win over a wealthy heiress, starring Aamir Khan and Salman Khan. Hera Pheri (2000) – A comedy about three men who get caught up in a kidnapping plot,...
Awara Paagal Deewana (2002) – An action comedy film starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, and Paresh Rawal. Gol Maal (1979) – A classic comedy starring Amol Palekar and Bindiya Goswami. Chupke Chupke (1975) – A hilarious film about a man who pretends to be a driver to win over his love, starring Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) – A dark comedy that satirizes corruption in Indian society, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani. Andaz Apna Apna (1994) – A cult classic about two men who try to win over a wealthy heiress, starring Aamir Khan and Salman Khan. Hera Pheri (2000) – A comedy about three men who get caught up in a kidnapping plot,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Desk Editorial
- GlamSham
Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone Demand Kevin Spacey’s comeback to Hollywood(Photo Credit –Instagram)
Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone have come out supporting Kevin Spacey, demanding the actor’s return to the Hollywood industry. The disgraced actor, who was accused of sexual harassment by several men in 2017, has been out of work ever since.
Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham joined Neeson and Stone as they defended Spacey after the premiere of Spacey Unmasked. This Channel 4 documentary featured new allegations against the House of Cards actor.
Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone Defend Kevin Spacey
In statements given to The Telegraph, Neeson and Stone called for Spacey’s return to acting, citing his talent and achievements in the industry. “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault, and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will,...
Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone have come out supporting Kevin Spacey, demanding the actor’s return to the Hollywood industry. The disgraced actor, who was accused of sexual harassment by several men in 2017, has been out of work ever since.
Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham joined Neeson and Stone as they defended Spacey after the premiere of Spacey Unmasked. This Channel 4 documentary featured new allegations against the House of Cards actor.
Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone Defend Kevin Spacey
In statements given to The Telegraph, Neeson and Stone called for Spacey’s return to acting, citing his talent and achievements in the industry. “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault, and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Jashandeep Singh
- KoiMoi
Update: In his first mainstream television interview in years (excerpted by THR), Kevin Spacey sat down with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation to address what’s being seen as resistance (by some) to his return to acting. While he acknowledges those who have supported him, such as Neeson and Stone, he blames fear for the fact that many have only reached out to him privately rather than publically. “But there are also people that I’ve spoken to who, they love me, they believe in me. They’ve stood with me in private… but they’re afraid to stand up. And I’ve been very fortunate that people have been honest with me about that. And I think that’s a shame, that we’ve come to a place as a society where people are afraid to say what they believe and what they feel because they’re afraid they’re going to get canceled too.
- 5/17/2024
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone joined with Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham in expressing support for Kevin Spacey’s return to Hollywood this week. Their comments come on the heels of newly surfaced allegations against Spacey in the recent Spacey Unmasked documentary.
“Kevin is a good man and a man of character,” Neeson told The Telegraph, adding he was “deeply saddened” to learn of new accusations against the House of Cards actor.
Spacey has not worked in Hollywood since several men accused him of sexual misconduct beginning in 2017. In 2022, a New York jury deemed he was not liable in the assault of actor Anthony Rapp, and last summer, he was acquitted of nine charges brought against him in London. Several other lawsuits have been dropped as well, and Spacey has denied all allegations. This month, however, 10 more men came forward with alleged abuse in Spacey Unmasked, a two-part Channel 4...
“Kevin is a good man and a man of character,” Neeson told The Telegraph, adding he was “deeply saddened” to learn of new accusations against the House of Cards actor.
Spacey has not worked in Hollywood since several men accused him of sexual misconduct beginning in 2017. In 2022, a New York jury deemed he was not liable in the assault of actor Anthony Rapp, and last summer, he was acquitted of nine charges brought against him in London. Several other lawsuits have been dropped as well, and Spacey has denied all allegations. This month, however, 10 more men came forward with alleged abuse in Spacey Unmasked, a two-part Channel 4...
- 5/17/2024
- by Zoe G Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kevin Spacey is facing another sexual assault trial in the UK next year, but today the two-time Oscar winner saw some major star power in his corner.
Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone and Stephen Fry have come forward with unequivocal support for Spacey as the much-accused actor has been back in the spotlight via new Channel 4 docuseries with even more allegations of severe misconduct.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him,” Taken franchise star Neesom told the Telegraph today. “Kevin is a good man and a man of character. He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humour. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera.
“Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly,” Neeson, no total stranger to controversy himself, concluded.
Basic Instinct star Stone told the UK broadsheet: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work.
Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone and Stephen Fry have come forward with unequivocal support for Spacey as the much-accused actor has been back in the spotlight via new Channel 4 docuseries with even more allegations of severe misconduct.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him,” Taken franchise star Neesom told the Telegraph today. “Kevin is a good man and a man of character. He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humour. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera.
“Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly,” Neeson, no total stranger to controversy himself, concluded.
Basic Instinct star Stone told the UK broadsheet: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work.
- 5/16/2024
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson and more actors are coming to the defense of Kevin Spacey and calling for his return to the industry at large. Spacey has not worked in Hollywood since being accused by several men of sexual misconduct starting in 2017. The two-part documentary “Spacey Unmasked” recently aired in the U.K. and is now streaming on Max and features previously unheard of testimonies about Spacey’s alleged sexual misconduct, including a claim that he allegedly groped another “House of Cards” actor on set.
In statements given to The Telegraph, Stone and Neeson were joined by the likes of Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham in their calls for Spacey’s return. Abraham himself was accused of sexual misconduct during the production of the Apple TV+ series “Mythic Quest,” which reportedly led to his firing.
“I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius.
In statements given to The Telegraph, Stone and Neeson were joined by the likes of Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham in their calls for Spacey’s return. Abraham himself was accused of sexual misconduct during the production of the Apple TV+ series “Mythic Quest,” which reportedly led to his firing.
“I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius.
- 5/16/2024
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
“We judge ourselves by our ability to make a difference. Not noisily or with sanctimonious complacency, but deep inside, in that still small place where we really talk to ourselves.” – Stephen Fry
Writer, actor, comedian and doer of good, Stephen Fry lives in his London SW1 flat and his Norfolk house when not traveling. An England conservationist through the Healthy Planet charity, Fry has given his mother an adopted hectare of Cambridgeshire Fen, a project restoring more than 9,000 acres of fenland habitat in Cambridgeshire, helping to conserve one of Britain’s most beautiful and biodiverse areas.
As a compassionate, Fry works with others to transform the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder, as the Special Ambassador to Equilibrium - The Bipolar Foundation. Every year Stephen is delighted to invite all his Terrence Higgins Trust “Friends for Life” and “Associate Friends” to his summer Gala Dinner and to a special Christmas...
Writer, actor, comedian and doer of good, Stephen Fry lives in his London SW1 flat and his Norfolk house when not traveling. An England conservationist through the Healthy Planet charity, Fry has given his mother an adopted hectare of Cambridgeshire Fen, a project restoring more than 9,000 acres of fenland habitat in Cambridgeshire, helping to conserve one of Britain’s most beautiful and biodiverse areas.
As a compassionate, Fry works with others to transform the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder, as the Special Ambassador to Equilibrium - The Bipolar Foundation. Every year Stephen is delighted to invite all his Terrence Higgins Trust “Friends for Life” and “Associate Friends” to his summer Gala Dinner and to a special Christmas...
- 5/10/2024
- Look to the Stars
Daniel Cockburn will write and direct an adaptation of Mark Vonnegut’s memoir “The Eden Express” from executive producer Stephen Fry. Daniel Bekerman (“The Apprentice”) will produce.
Per an official logline, “The Eden Express” follows “Mark’s 1970 quest alongside his girlfriend Virge, leaving his famous father’s [Kurt Vonnegut] house in Nixon’s America to go west in search of a better way of life on a British Columbia commune — ‘Eden’ on earth. However, as this new utopia comes into focus, Mark starts to hear voices and see wild visions that give him ominous instructions, marking the start of his journey with bipolar disorder.”
“A core endeavor in the production of ‘The Eden Express’ is to redefine the depiction of mental health on screen,” said Bekerman in a statement. “We hope to achieve this by bringing the audience as close as possible to Mark’s authentic point of view — to build a robust,...
Per an official logline, “The Eden Express” follows “Mark’s 1970 quest alongside his girlfriend Virge, leaving his famous father’s [Kurt Vonnegut] house in Nixon’s America to go west in search of a better way of life on a British Columbia commune — ‘Eden’ on earth. However, as this new utopia comes into focus, Mark starts to hear voices and see wild visions that give him ominous instructions, marking the start of his journey with bipolar disorder.”
“A core endeavor in the production of ‘The Eden Express’ is to redefine the depiction of mental health on screen,” said Bekerman in a statement. “We hope to achieve this by bringing the audience as close as possible to Mark’s authentic point of view — to build a robust,...
- 5/9/2024
- by Jack Dunn
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes Competition selection The Apprentice producer Daniel Bekerman is lining up the memoir adaptation The Eden Express with Stephen Fry on board as executive producer.
LevelK holds global sales rights and will do a soft lauch in Cannes.
You Are Here director Daniel Cockburn will write and direct the feature based on the memoir of the same name by Mark Vonnegut, son of Kurt Vonnegut, depicting the former’s 1970 quest alongside his girlfriend Virge to live on a British Columbia commune in search of a better life during Nixon’s America.
However he starts to hear voices and see wild visions giving him ominous instructions,...
LevelK holds global sales rights and will do a soft lauch in Cannes.
You Are Here director Daniel Cockburn will write and direct the feature based on the memoir of the same name by Mark Vonnegut, son of Kurt Vonnegut, depicting the former’s 1970 quest alongside his girlfriend Virge to live on a British Columbia commune in search of a better life during Nixon’s America.
However he starts to hear voices and see wild visions giving him ominous instructions,...
- 5/9/2024
- ScreenDaily
In the "Futurama" episode "A Fishful of Dollars", Fry (Billy West) remembers that he had 93 cents in his savings account when he was cryogenically frozen in 1999. After a thousand years of .25% interest, however, that amount had grown into a fortune of 4.3 billion dollars. Thankfully, inflation hasn't kept pace, and Fry is suddenly one of the wealthiest people on the planet. As anyone with abrupt access to a massive fortune might, Fry immediately begins to squander his riches on frivolous things. He buys the Mona Lisa merely so he may use it as a clay pigeon for skeet shooting. He tries to recreate a slobby, 20th-century apartment just as he remembered it. Most notably, he buys an ancient can of anchovies at auction, a valuable commodity indeed, given that anchovies went extinct many years before. The anchovies, still sealed, are guaranteed to be edible.
Unbeknownst to Fry, however, the anchovies are...
Unbeknownst to Fry, however, the anchovies are...
- 5/9/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
While we eagerly await Lena Dunham’s next full-on creative venture, she’s made the rare excursion into a lead role not written and directed by herself. Paired with Stephen Fry, she stars in Treasure, a road-trip dramedy from German filmmaker Julia von Heinz. Ahead of its June 14 theatrical release from Bleecker Street and FilmNation, there’s a first trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “A father-daughter road trip set in post-communist Poland, Treasure follows Ruth (Dunham), an American music journalist, and her father, Edek (Fry), a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While Ruth is eager to make sense of her family’s past, Edek embarks on the trip with his own agenda. This emotional, funny culture clash between the two is a powerful example of how reconnecting with family and the past can be a treasure.”
Find the preview below:
The post Lena Dunham and...
Here’s the synopsis: “A father-daughter road trip set in post-communist Poland, Treasure follows Ruth (Dunham), an American music journalist, and her father, Edek (Fry), a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While Ruth is eager to make sense of her family’s past, Edek embarks on the trip with his own agenda. This emotional, funny culture clash between the two is a powerful example of how reconnecting with family and the past can be a treasure.”
Find the preview below:
The post Lena Dunham and...
- 5/7/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Lena Dunham is back acting, this time alongside Stephen Fry for a poignant father-daughter road trip dramedy.
Dunham and Fry co-lead the upcoming feature “Treasure,” written and directed by Julia von Heinz. “Treasure” centers on a father (Fry) and daughter (Dunham) who opt to road trip through Poland while revisiting their family’s history. Fry stars as Edek, a Holocaust survivor returning to post-socialist Poland in the 1990s. Dunham plays music journalist Ruth, who learns more about her father along the way.
Dunham also produces the film, along with writer/director von Heinz and Fabian Gasmia. Thomas Jaeger, Antoine Delahousse, and Marius Wtodarski co-produce. The film is adapted from Lily Brett’s novel “Too Many Men.”
“Treasure” marks von Heinz’s third and final installment in her “Aftermath” trilogy, which centers on the aftermath effects of the Holocaust on subsequent generations. The German director previously helmed “And Tomorrow the Entire World” and “Hanna’s Journey.
Dunham and Fry co-lead the upcoming feature “Treasure,” written and directed by Julia von Heinz. “Treasure” centers on a father (Fry) and daughter (Dunham) who opt to road trip through Poland while revisiting their family’s history. Fry stars as Edek, a Holocaust survivor returning to post-socialist Poland in the 1990s. Dunham plays music journalist Ruth, who learns more about her father along the way.
Dunham also produces the film, along with writer/director von Heinz and Fabian Gasmia. Thomas Jaeger, Antoine Delahousse, and Marius Wtodarski co-produce. The film is adapted from Lily Brett’s novel “Too Many Men.”
“Treasure” marks von Heinz’s third and final installment in her “Aftermath” trilogy, which centers on the aftermath effects of the Holocaust on subsequent generations. The German director previously helmed “And Tomorrow the Entire World” and “Hanna’s Journey.
- 5/7/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Heading into Cannes Yellow Veil Pictures has boarded worldwide sales and will handle North American distribution on Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky’s stoner comedy Rats!
Inspired by the DIY filmmaker scene that came out of Austin, Texas in the 1990s the feature centres on Raphael, who after being busted by an overzealous police officer becomes embroiled in the world of drug kingpins, ecoterrorists, mallrats, and proto-soundcloud rappers.
Set in 2007, Rats! Is set to a score of Epitaph Records bands like From First to Last, The Blood Brothers, and Thursday, as well as an original song by Ka5sh featuring Lil B The BasedGod.
Inspired by the DIY filmmaker scene that came out of Austin, Texas in the 1990s the feature centres on Raphael, who after being busted by an overzealous police officer becomes embroiled in the world of drug kingpins, ecoterrorists, mallrats, and proto-soundcloud rappers.
Set in 2007, Rats! Is set to a score of Epitaph Records bands like From First to Last, The Blood Brothers, and Thursday, as well as an original song by Ka5sh featuring Lil B The BasedGod.
- 5/3/2024
- ScreenDaily
Deborah Williams, the head of the UK’s Creative Diversity Network (Cdn), is stepping down after eight years.
Williams joined the network in 2016 and has since helmed the Diamond initiative, a landmark data reporting project with buy-in from all the UK broadcasters that has analyzed the diverse make-up of thousands of TV shows. This initiative has been used to forge multiple reports on diversity while holding up a mirror to TV gatekeepers, and it has sparked much debate.
Williams, who has won a number of awards and has been a regular at festivals, was also a key player in the likes of the Doubling Disability target, which aims to double the number of disabled people working behind the camera on UK TV shows. The Cdn also put on a number of training programs for producers and broadcasters under her leadership.
“The Cdn Board wishes to thank Deborah for her service...
Williams joined the network in 2016 and has since helmed the Diamond initiative, a landmark data reporting project with buy-in from all the UK broadcasters that has analyzed the diverse make-up of thousands of TV shows. This initiative has been used to forge multiple reports on diversity while holding up a mirror to TV gatekeepers, and it has sparked much debate.
Williams, who has won a number of awards and has been a regular at festivals, was also a key player in the likes of the Doubling Disability target, which aims to double the number of disabled people working behind the camera on UK TV shows. The Cdn also put on a number of training programs for producers and broadcasters under her leadership.
“The Cdn Board wishes to thank Deborah for her service...
- 5/1/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
"Futurama" is no stranger to out-there stories, but sometimes, even this show needs an excuse to break the rules. That's where the anthology episodes come in: installments featuring three seven-or-so-minute-long themed segments where the status quo of the show doesn't apply.
"Futurama" inherited this formula from co-creator Matt Groening's previous series, "The Simpsons." However, "The Simpsons" developed a consistent formula for its anthology episodes: "Treehouse of Horror," where the Simpsons family (and friends) are put through parodies of horror/sci-fi stories (from "The Twilight Zone" to "Death Note"). "Treehouse of Horror" has been an annual "Simpsons" tradition since season 2, but the series isn't constrained by this. A handful of "Simpsons" episodes are anthologies of a different flavor (see "Simpsons Bible Stories" in season 10 or "Tales from the Public Domain" in season 13).
"Futurama," though? The sci-fi show doesn't have an equivalent tradition, perhaps as part of the show's efforts to not compete with "The Simpsons.
"Futurama" inherited this formula from co-creator Matt Groening's previous series, "The Simpsons." However, "The Simpsons" developed a consistent formula for its anthology episodes: "Treehouse of Horror," where the Simpsons family (and friends) are put through parodies of horror/sci-fi stories (from "The Twilight Zone" to "Death Note"). "Treehouse of Horror" has been an annual "Simpsons" tradition since season 2, but the series isn't constrained by this. A handful of "Simpsons" episodes are anthologies of a different flavor (see "Simpsons Bible Stories" in season 10 or "Tales from the Public Domain" in season 13).
"Futurama," though? The sci-fi show doesn't have an equivalent tradition, perhaps as part of the show's efforts to not compete with "The Simpsons.
- 4/28/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
With all the versatility of myriads of shows popping up in the media literally every day, the nostalgia for good old days (and their series) is still the undoubted winner — and fans have proved yet once again.
Around a week ago, a heated discussion was provoked by one user’s simple question about everyone’s most rewatchable show — and, judging by the amounts of mentions, two particular TV series reigned over the community.
The first choice made by most of the fans was an animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama, the first season of which got its release back in 1999. The plot follows sluggish pizza-deliverer Fry who, after being accidentally frozen, wakes up a thousand years later, in 2999 — and then he still gets to work at a delivery company, but alongside extraterrestrial mutants.
Despite being more than 25 years old, Futurama is far from being forgotten at this point — the 12-season-long show still...
Around a week ago, a heated discussion was provoked by one user’s simple question about everyone’s most rewatchable show — and, judging by the amounts of mentions, two particular TV series reigned over the community.
The first choice made by most of the fans was an animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama, the first season of which got its release back in 1999. The plot follows sluggish pizza-deliverer Fry who, after being accidentally frozen, wakes up a thousand years later, in 2999 — and then he still gets to work at a delivery company, but alongside extraterrestrial mutants.
Despite being more than 25 years old, Futurama is far from being forgotten at this point — the 12-season-long show still...
- 4/27/2024
- by benjamin-patel@startefacts.com (Benjamin Patel)
- STartefacts.com
J.K. Rowling’s popular adventures of ‘The Boy Who Lived‘ will be given new life! Pottermore Publishing and Audible have teamed up to produce a series of full-cast recordings of all seven Harry Potter books!
We learned of the unexpected announcement via Variety. The production will include a cast exceeding 100 actors, similar to an audio drama but on a vastly larger scale.
Production has not started yet, but a teaser video from the official Harry Potter YouTube channel shows off the audible recording studio. Rather than recording lines separately (like we see with a lot of voiceover work), it would appear that several cast members will be in the room at one time.
This sort of environment can change the performances is several ways. The dynamic allows actors to play off each other’s performances in real-time. These new audiobooks could possibly be the most perfect adaptation of the Harry...
We learned of the unexpected announcement via Variety. The production will include a cast exceeding 100 actors, similar to an audio drama but on a vastly larger scale.
Production has not started yet, but a teaser video from the official Harry Potter YouTube channel shows off the audible recording studio. Rather than recording lines separately (like we see with a lot of voiceover work), it would appear that several cast members will be in the room at one time.
This sort of environment can change the performances is several ways. The dynamic allows actors to play off each other’s performances in real-time. These new audiobooks could possibly be the most perfect adaptation of the Harry...
- 4/27/2024
- by Mike Phalin
- Pirates & Princesses
In the "Futurama" episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", the blustering misogynist Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) takes control of a space-bound restaurant and pilots it through dangerous areas of space, merely because it's more adventurous that way. Naturally, the restaurant is damaged during its voyage and crash lands on a distant, uncharted planet with the Planet Express crew. They discover on the uncharted planet a race of nine-foot-tall Amazon women clad in animal skin bikinis and carrying clubs. The Amazonians rarely see men on their planet and are not exactly sure what men are supposed to be good for.
This premise, of course, is cribbed from any number of pornographic male fantasies stretching back at least to the publication of H. Rider Haggard's "She" in 1886. There is a streak of colonialist fiction that dramatized faraway places (that is: far away from Western Europe) as Edenic locales where women wear...
This premise, of course, is cribbed from any number of pornographic male fantasies stretching back at least to the publication of H. Rider Haggard's "She" in 1886. There is a streak of colonialist fiction that dramatized faraway places (that is: far away from Western Europe) as Edenic locales where women wear...
- 4/21/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Building a literate nation.
Celebrity supporters
National Literacy Trust has 29 known supporters, including Coldplay, Stephen Fry, and Judi Dench
Areas of work Literacy Read more about National Literacy Trust's work and celebrity supporters. Related articles Stars Deliver For Literacy CharitiesGoldberg, Keitel Trading for CharityStars Pushing the Envelope for LiteracyStephen Fry And Coldplay Push The Envelope For CharityStars Push The Envelope For Charity
Feature your company alongside thousands of celebrities, charities & causes →
Copyright © 2024 Look To The Stars. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this via email or in your news reader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright, and we would be grateful if you would contact us.
Celebrity supporters
National Literacy Trust has 29 known supporters, including Coldplay, Stephen Fry, and Judi Dench
Areas of work Literacy Read more about National Literacy Trust's work and celebrity supporters. Related articles Stars Deliver For Literacy CharitiesGoldberg, Keitel Trading for CharityStars Pushing the Envelope for LiteracyStephen Fry And Coldplay Push The Envelope For CharityStars Push The Envelope For Charity
Feature your company alongside thousands of celebrities, charities & causes →
Copyright © 2024 Look To The Stars. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this via email or in your news reader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright, and we would be grateful if you would contact us.
- 4/11/2024
- Look to the Stars
Good news, everyone: The Futurama gang will be back on the delivery route this summer.
The 10-episode Season 12 will arrive Monday, July 29 on Hulu; new episodes stream weekly. This comes after the animated comedy was renewed for Seasons 13 and 14 back in November.
More from TVLineMarch Madness 2024: How to Watch Iowa vs. UConn in the Women's Final FourTVLine Items: The Circle's A.I. Catfish, Love on the Spectrum Renewed and MoreTVLine Items: Suits Rewatch Podcast, Tic Tac Dough Reboot and More
The upcoming installment finds the occasionally heroic crew embarking on “mind-bending adventures involving birthday party games to the death,...
The 10-episode Season 12 will arrive Monday, July 29 on Hulu; new episodes stream weekly. This comes after the animated comedy was renewed for Seasons 13 and 14 back in November.
More from TVLineMarch Madness 2024: How to Watch Iowa vs. UConn in the Women's Final FourTVLine Items: The Circle's A.I. Catfish, Love on the Spectrum Renewed and MoreTVLine Items: Suits Rewatch Podcast, Tic Tac Dough Reboot and More
The upcoming installment finds the occasionally heroic crew embarking on “mind-bending adventures involving birthday party games to the death,...
- 4/4/2024
- by Keisha Hatchett
- TVLine.com
One thing that quickly became clear in the early "Futurama" episodes is that not every member of the Planet Express crew has the same importance. The show largely revolves around the big three of Fry, Leela, and Bender, with Professor Farnsworth right behind them. In a separate tier are Amy, Hermes, and Zoidberg, who are usually present in any given example but only rarely get their time in the spotlight. Amy didn't really lead the A-plot of an episode until season 7's "That Darn Katz," for instance, although the early seasons' "Put Your Head On My Shoulders" and "Amazon Women in the Mood" also give her some interesting material to work with. Zoidberg also rarely gets to be the main character, although he can take solace in how he still gets way more focus than poor Scruffy.
Hermes, meanwhile, is a character usually stuck hanging around in the episode's B-plot.
Hermes, meanwhile, is a character usually stuck hanging around in the episode's B-plot.
- 3/31/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
In the third episode of "Futurama," called "I, Roommate," Fry (Billy West) is still sleeping at Planet Express, not yet having found a place to live. Fry is a slob, however, and his filthy detritus and unsanitary lifestyle become a nuisance for his coworkers. "Someone's been leaving food around," Hermes (Phil Lamarr) says at a company meeting, "and it's attracting owls. And I, for one, am tired of cleaning those owl traps."
Owls? Yes, it seems that by the year 3000, owls will have replaced rats as New York City's most prolific species of warm-blooded vermin. The owls are rarely addressed directly on "Futurama," but filthy alleyways and garbage-strewn streets are always lousy with owls. From the looks of the animation, they are northern saw-whet owls, although their precise species has never been clarified. Weirdly, the owls are a joke unto themselves, and no one ever makes puns or gags at their expense.
Owls? Yes, it seems that by the year 3000, owls will have replaced rats as New York City's most prolific species of warm-blooded vermin. The owls are rarely addressed directly on "Futurama," but filthy alleyways and garbage-strewn streets are always lousy with owls. From the looks of the animation, they are northern saw-whet owls, although their precise species has never been clarified. Weirdly, the owls are a joke unto themselves, and no one ever makes puns or gags at their expense.
- 3/23/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the very first "Futurama" episode, "Space Pilot 3000" (which is full of hidden clues), the dim-witted Fry (Billy West) awakens in the year 2999 after being cryogenically frozen for a millennium. Fry immediately encounters a bizarre future world he doesn't understand. He is informed that, in the 30th century, human beings are implanted with career chips that will determine their professional fate for the rest of their lives. Fry is told that he has been selected by the computer to be a delivery boy -- the same profession he held back in 1999. Fry, terrified by the prospect, flees into the streets of New New York, the city built on the ruins of Old New York.
Fry is disoriented by what he sees. Aliens and robots stroll the sidewalks, and spacecraft whiz past overhead. He spots a few suicide booths on street corners. Most impressively, he sees a vast, tall network of...
Fry is disoriented by what he sees. Aliens and robots stroll the sidewalks, and spacecraft whiz past overhead. He spots a few suicide booths on street corners. Most impressively, he sees a vast, tall network of...
- 3/17/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
It’s natural that, while you may want to stay on the cutting edge of prestige TV drama and join in all those “How great is Shogun?!” conversations of the moment, there are also times when the world makes you want to shrink down to the size of a Subbuteo player, step into a book illustration from a copy of Thumbelina you owned as a child, and go to sleep underneath a single feather inside a walnut shell.
Those walnut shell moments demand a TV accompaniment that isn’t noisy or confrontational. There should be no difficult thoughts there, just a gentle tide of ‘everything’s okay-ness’ lapping at your brain’s shore. These British TV shows all provide exactly that sense of comfort. Please recommend your own picks below.
The Good Life
Stream on: BritBox (UK & US)
Tom and Barbara, Jerry and Margo. Repeat those names as a mantra...
Those walnut shell moments demand a TV accompaniment that isn’t noisy or confrontational. There should be no difficult thoughts there, just a gentle tide of ‘everything’s okay-ness’ lapping at your brain’s shore. These British TV shows all provide exactly that sense of comfort. Please recommend your own picks below.
The Good Life
Stream on: BritBox (UK & US)
Tom and Barbara, Jerry and Margo. Repeat those names as a mantra...
- 3/14/2024
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Much has been made of the 1989 pilot for "The Simpsons," which told the bittersweet story of how the dog Santa's Little Helper joined the family, but it's clear that "Futurama" delivered an even stronger first impression ten years later. "Space Pilot 3000," which begins with pizza delivery guy Fry falling into a cryogenic chamber and waking up a thousand years later, introduces us to a new futuristic world that has a lot of cool technology, sure, but is definitely not a utopia. There are suicide booths on every corner, angry drunken talking robots, and no shortage of delivery jobs that still don't pay as much as they should. Fry still finds a better life in the fourth millennium, but it's a major adjustment.
In one of the early drafts for the pilot, Fry's adjustment to this new world (and this new cast of characters) was made even harder, because the circumstances...
In one of the early drafts for the pilot, Fry's adjustment to this new world (and this new cast of characters) was made even harder, because the circumstances...
- 3/11/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
All signs point to Apple TV+ launching an ad-supported plan sometime in the near future.
Apple TV+ is one of the only major streaming services on the market that does not offer an ad-supported streaming plan. Estimates have pegged Apple TV+’s subscriber base at between 40 and 50 million customers, and with nearly every other subscription video service that size now providing an ad-supported streaming plan, it seems like only a matter of time before Apple TV+ launches a plan with ads. That possibility looks more like an eventuality than ever, as Business Insider reports that Apple has hired Joseph Cady, a television advertising executive with 14 years of experience.
Cady’s most recent job was EVP of advanced advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. He’s expected to work closely alongside Lauren Fry, an executive hired last year by Apple as head of video ad sales. Apple is unlikely to follow Amazon...
Apple TV+ is one of the only major streaming services on the market that does not offer an ad-supported streaming plan. Estimates have pegged Apple TV+’s subscriber base at between 40 and 50 million customers, and with nearly every other subscription video service that size now providing an ad-supported streaming plan, it seems like only a matter of time before Apple TV+ launches a plan with ads. That possibility looks more like an eventuality than ever, as Business Insider reports that Apple has hired Joseph Cady, a television advertising executive with 14 years of experience.
Cady’s most recent job was EVP of advanced advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. He’s expected to work closely alongside Lauren Fry, an executive hired last year by Apple as head of video ad sales. Apple is unlikely to follow Amazon...
- 3/11/2024
- by David Satin
- The Streamable
In this brave new world of "Star Wars" fandom, it's almost unfathomable that there exist elements within the various films, novels, comics, and TV shows that don't have some sort of backstory or origin point. While obviously this stems from the huge fanbase for "Star Wars" loving the fictional universe so much that they wish to study and know absolutely everything that's in it, this trend also originated out of an inherent idea popularized by creator George Lucas with the very first movie in the franchise back in 1977 -- the implication that we're seeing a small part of a larger world, and every planet, ship, and creature we see (whether in the foreground or background) has its own history and story.
It's a powerful implication, and one that's essential to constructing a wholly fictional universe. Yet, of course, it's mostly hogwash -- or at least it used to be. While...
It's a powerful implication, and one that's essential to constructing a wholly fictional universe. Yet, of course, it's mostly hogwash -- or at least it used to be. While...
- 3/9/2024
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
"Futurama" is set a thousand years from our present. The show begins in the year 2999, as the world of tomorrow celebrates a happy New Year, and has since moved forward to correspond to the year the episode was aired — the latest, semi-satisfying season 11, reviewed by /Film here, was set in 3023.
This means that the show is set in New New York City (in the state of New New York). In "Space Pilot 3000," while our everyman hero Philip J. Fry slumbers in cryogenic suspension for a millennium, the metropolis outside is destroyed twice by alien invaders. Late in the pilot, Fry, Bender, and Leela find themselves underground in the ruins of old New York City; the place Fry once called home is the foundation upon which his new one rests.
Despite the thousand years of destruction and rebuilding, New New York still has a Statue of Liberty (though who knows if...
This means that the show is set in New New York City (in the state of New New York). In "Space Pilot 3000," while our everyman hero Philip J. Fry slumbers in cryogenic suspension for a millennium, the metropolis outside is destroyed twice by alien invaders. Late in the pilot, Fry, Bender, and Leela find themselves underground in the ruins of old New York City; the place Fry once called home is the foundation upon which his new one rests.
Despite the thousand years of destruction and rebuilding, New New York still has a Statue of Liberty (though who knows if...
- 3/3/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
"Futurama" is first and foremost a comedy, but by setting events a thousand years in the future, it invited itself to have the kind of worldbuilding you'd see in more straight-laced science fiction. The writers aren't just out to make their audience laugh, but to invest them in a futuristic world.
The "Futurama" writers are learned science-fiction nerds themselves. Series co-creator David X. Cohen has degrees in physics and computer science, while David A. Goodman, who wrote the "Futurama" episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," (which featured most of the original "Star Trek" cast) went on to write for "Star Trek: Enterprise." Since the writers are nerds, they know how obsessive nerds think and engage with media by overanalyzing it.
The creators of "Futurama" admit they've even relied on fans to preserve the series' continuity, checking the "Futurama" wiki rather than rewatching episodes themselves. An audio commentary track for the series premiere,...
The "Futurama" writers are learned science-fiction nerds themselves. Series co-creator David X. Cohen has degrees in physics and computer science, while David A. Goodman, who wrote the "Futurama" episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," (which featured most of the original "Star Trek" cast) went on to write for "Star Trek: Enterprise." Since the writers are nerds, they know how obsessive nerds think and engage with media by overanalyzing it.
The creators of "Futurama" admit they've even relied on fans to preserve the series' continuity, checking the "Futurama" wiki rather than rewatching episodes themselves. An audio commentary track for the series premiere,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Bender (John Dimaggio), the drunken alcoholic robot on Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" is fueled by alcohol. Indeed, if Bender doesn't have a cocktail once or twice a day, he begins to rust, his batteries begin to run down, and he behaves as if he's drunk. Of course, consuming too much booze also makes Bender behave like he's drunk, so it's a careful balance to ensure he's functional. If that seems unclear, don't worry. The characters on "Futurama" don't quite have a grasp of it either. When Bender claims to have seen a werewolf car (!), Fry (Billy West) responds by saying "You've been drinking too much, or too little. I forget how it works with you. Anyway, you haven't drunk exactly the right amount."
Early in the series, Bender had more of a "drunken" voice, with actor Dimaggio giving the character a slightly raspier effect as well as a slight,...
Early in the series, Bender had more of a "drunken" voice, with actor Dimaggio giving the character a slightly raspier effect as well as a slight,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The 2009 "Futurama" movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder" -- the show's fourth and final -- was, one might recall, supposed to the be definite end of the series. "Futurama" was notoriously canceled in 2004 thanks to flagging ratings, but gained new life through DVD sales. The series was initially resurrected in the form of four straight-to-video movies released in 2008 and 2009, a quartet that was intended to signal the franchise's farewell. Of course, when those four films also sold well, Comedy Central stepped in and resurrected the series for a second time. As of this writing, the show has been canceled and resurrected a third time. New episodes are currently on Hulu.
Of course, the makers of "Futurama" didn't know in 2009 that they would come back, leading them to give the finale of "Green Yonder" an appropriately epic feel. The story of "Green Yonder" deals with cosmic energies, extinction, and the mass...
Of course, the makers of "Futurama" didn't know in 2009 that they would come back, leading them to give the finale of "Green Yonder" an appropriately epic feel. The story of "Green Yonder" deals with cosmic energies, extinction, and the mass...
- 2/25/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
When Australian writer Lily Brett published her novel Too Many Men in 2001, critics marvelled at the light, comic tone she had managed to strike in a novel about the lasting impact of the Holocaust, passed down from one generation to the next. Families have their customary jokes; they squabble over the dinner table; they may be funny characters but, underneath it all, there is a consciousness of pain. That’s not an easy balance to strike, as a writer or as an actor.
So when Julia Von Heinz came to adapt Too Many Men as a film – now called Treasure – she found an ostensible dream team in Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham, playing camp survivor Edek Rothwax and his wisecracking adult daughter Ruth on a homecoming trip to Poland. Here are two actors who are equally at home in comedy and drama, two actors who are also accomplished writers and...
So when Julia Von Heinz came to adapt Too Many Men as a film – now called Treasure – she found an ostensible dream team in Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham, playing camp survivor Edek Rothwax and his wisecracking adult daughter Ruth on a homecoming trip to Poland. Here are two actors who are equally at home in comedy and drama, two actors who are also accomplished writers and...
- 2/17/2024
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
After several years working in German TV and locally-oriented film projects, Julia von Heinz had a significant breakthrough with “And Tomorrow the Entire World” — a taut, punchy political thriller with a youthful spirit of anti-fascist revolt, vigorous enough to land a Venice competition slot. Its success evidently raised the status of the director’s long-held passion project, an adaptation of Australian novelist Lily Brett’s semi-autobiographical 2001 title “Too Many Men,” which reckoned thoughtfully with her parents’ experience as Auschwitz survivors, and the hereditary nature of trauma. It emerges here, in somewhat simplified form, as “Treasure,” a watchably meandering vehicle for Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry to wrestle out father-daughter conflicts both trivially universal and hauntingly specific to history. The urgency and dynamism that marked von Heinz’s last feature are largely absent; for a story of such particular and searing sorrow, it feels rather mild.
Premiering in an out-of-competition Berlinale slot,...
Premiering in an out-of-competition Berlinale slot,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Set in 1991, not long after it suddenly became much easier for Holocaust survivors and their descendants to visit sites like Auschwitz-Birkenau, German-French co-production Treasure follows a father and daughter (played by Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham) making exactly this kind of voyage of remembrance. It’s adapted from the comic-tragic novel Too Many Men by Australian Lily Brett, and directed by German director Julia von Heinz, whose well-regarded previous two films (Nothing Else Matters and And Tomorrow the Entire World) also explore the aftermath of the Holocaust on later generations. So, as a package, Treasure would seem gifted with the raw material needed to make a compelling, inherently interesting work.
Alas, the film is an inept, ill-made mess — or as my grandmother would call it, a mishegoss, so muddled and misbegotten it’s hard to perform an evidential postmortem, based strictly on one viewing, of where it all goes wrong.
Alas, the film is an inept, ill-made mess — or as my grandmother would call it, a mishegoss, so muddled and misbegotten it’s hard to perform an evidential postmortem, based strictly on one viewing, of where it all goes wrong.
- 2/17/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry joined filmmaker Julia von Heinz for a press conference for new tragic comedy Treasure, which debuts this weekend in the Special Gala section at the Berlin Film Festival.
As well as Dunham and Fry, the drama stars Zbigniew Zamachowski and is based on the bestselling book Too Many Men by Lily Brett. Treasure is set in 1990 following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Music journalist Ruth (played by Dunham) and her father Edek (played by Fry), a Holocaust survivor, go on a tour of his homeland of Poland. Their journey takes them to Warsaw, Łódź, Krakow and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Ruth wants to explore her family’s history while Edek accompanies his daughter primarily to keep an eye on her. Only when the two visit the family’s former home and meet the Polish family who now live there does Edek’s attitude start to change.
As well as Dunham and Fry, the drama stars Zbigniew Zamachowski and is based on the bestselling book Too Many Men by Lily Brett. Treasure is set in 1990 following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Music journalist Ruth (played by Dunham) and her father Edek (played by Fry), a Holocaust survivor, go on a tour of his homeland of Poland. Their journey takes them to Warsaw, Łódź, Krakow and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Ruth wants to explore her family’s history while Edek accompanies his daughter primarily to keep an eye on her. Only when the two visit the family’s former home and meet the Polish family who now live there does Edek’s attitude start to change.
- 2/17/2024
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
When Lena Dunham first read the script for Julia von Heinz’s “Treasure,” it hit home.
The “Girls” creator’s grandmother had just died at 96, and Dunham found herself thinking a lot about her heritage. “Treasure,” based on the 1999 novel “Too Many Men” by Lily Brett, follows Ruth (Dunham), a journalist who travels to Poland with her Holocaust survivor father (Stephen Fry) to confront their family’s tragic past. Not only did Dunham agree to star in the film, but her production company, Good Thing Going, signed on as well.
Both Dunham and her producing partner, Michael P. Cohen, are Jewish and found the story “incredibly resonant for both of our families,” Dunham tells Variety at Berlin Film Festival, where “Treasure” debuts on Saturday night.
“We both looked at each other after we read the script and went like, ‘This is something we’re going to be proud to tell our children that we made.
The “Girls” creator’s grandmother had just died at 96, and Dunham found herself thinking a lot about her heritage. “Treasure,” based on the 1999 novel “Too Many Men” by Lily Brett, follows Ruth (Dunham), a journalist who travels to Poland with her Holocaust survivor father (Stephen Fry) to confront their family’s tragic past. Not only did Dunham agree to star in the film, but her production company, Good Thing Going, signed on as well.
Both Dunham and her producing partner, Michael P. Cohen, are Jewish and found the story “incredibly resonant for both of our families,” Dunham tells Variety at Berlin Film Festival, where “Treasure” debuts on Saturday night.
“We both looked at each other after we read the script and went like, ‘This is something we’re going to be proud to tell our children that we made.
- 2/17/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
After taking a look back at House II: The Second Story (a favorite of mine since childhood), House of 1000 Corpses (which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year), the awesomeness of Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, the leg smashing in the Stephen King adaptation Misery, three separate moments from John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China, the “Jason vs. Tina” battle in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, and the “all hell breaks loose” sequence from the start of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake,
Directed by David Twohy, who also crafted the screenplay with Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat, Pitch Black has the following synopsis: A deep space transporter crash-lands on a desolate planet circled by three suns. Among the survivors are pilot Carolyn Fry, mystic Abu `Imam’ al-Walid, cop William J Johns and convicted criminal Richard B Riddick, and their first...
Directed by David Twohy, who also crafted the screenplay with Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat, Pitch Black has the following synopsis: A deep space transporter crash-lands on a desolate planet circled by three suns. Among the survivors are pilot Carolyn Fry, mystic Abu `Imam’ al-Walid, cop William J Johns and convicted criminal Richard B Riddick, and their first...
- 2/17/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Voice actor Billy West plays several of the lead characters on Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's 31st-century sitcom "Futurama." His voice for Fry, he has said, is essentially how he sounded when he was in his 20s. He also voices the elderly Professor Farnsworth, the incompetent lobster Dr. Zoidberg, the blow-hard Shatnerian space captain Zapp Brannigan, and the severed head of Richard Nixon. He's also played a wide variety of store clerks, alien slugs, terrifying robots, and North Pole elves in his tenure on "Futurama." There is nothing, it seems, he can't do.
It also takes a great deal of professionalism to be so silly. Voice actors, especially prolific ones, have to recall how dozens of characters sound in a split second, able to call up whatever voices a scene needs. In West's case, he likely has to have conversations with himself, using two or more unique voices in a single scene.
It also takes a great deal of professionalism to be so silly. Voice actors, especially prolific ones, have to recall how dozens of characters sound in a split second, able to call up whatever voices a scene needs. In West's case, he likely has to have conversations with himself, using two or more unique voices in a single scene.
- 2/15/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
When you're making a show that lasts over 25 years, there will inevitably be some material from early seasons that don't age as well as expected. Comedy is the quickest to age and the quickest to age poorly, they say, so we should probably go easy on older sitcoms when they can't fully escape being products of their time. While early "Futurama" has aged better than most sitcoms from 1999 — thanks to how most of the woes it satirizes are still around today, but worse — there are plenty of moments that the creators regret. Case in point: "In-a-Gadda-Da-Leela," the 2010 episode where Leela and Zapp find themselves alone, naked, in an unknown planet.
"That one didn't age well," co-creator David X. Cohen said in a 2023 interview. "But we failed to avoid it. I would say it's a better description than that we didn't avoid it." He doesn't clarify exactly what "it" is here,...
"That one didn't age well," co-creator David X. Cohen said in a 2023 interview. "But we failed to avoid it. I would say it's a better description than that we didn't avoid it." He doesn't clarify exactly what "it" is here,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
In the "Futurama" episode "War is the H-Word," Fry (Billy West) and Bender (John Dimaggio) discover that they can get a 5% discount on ham-flavored chewing gum if they have a military I.D. Feeling that they would never be drafted into any kind of foolish military conflict, the two sign up for the armed services and absquatulate with their gum.
And then the war came.
Fry and Bender are immediately drafted into a bizarre battlefield excursion they're told very little about. They are trained to fire guns and be generally boorish and sexist, as their commanding officer is the irrepressible misogynist Zapp Brannigan (West). Fry's and Bender's much more capable friend Leela (Katey Sagal) joins the army in disguise (she puts on a beard) just so she can make sure the two dopes don't get blown up on day one of combat. It won't be until they are shipped to...
And then the war came.
Fry and Bender are immediately drafted into a bizarre battlefield excursion they're told very little about. They are trained to fire guns and be generally boorish and sexist, as their commanding officer is the irrepressible misogynist Zapp Brannigan (West). Fry's and Bender's much more capable friend Leela (Katey Sagal) joins the army in disguise (she puts on a beard) just so she can make sure the two dopes don't get blown up on day one of combat. It won't be until they are shipped to...
- 2/10/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
(Welcome to Under the Radar, a column where we spotlight specific movies, shows, trends, performances, or scenes that caught our eye and deserved more attention ... but otherwise flew under the radar. In this edition: J.A. Bayona's "Society of the Snow" is an existential triumph, Jodie Comer delivers an unforgettable performance in "The End We Start From," and "Fallen Leaves" tells a timely love story amid war.)
The new year brings us the first installment of "Under the Radar" in 2024 and, with January having drawn to a close, it's worth looking back and taking stock of how no matter how much things change, the more things stay the same. You know how all our bright and optimistic New Year's resolutions are already aging like milk, despite our best intentions? Well, that's kind of like how Hollywood tends to approach the month of January -- except maybe without the "best intentions" part.
The new year brings us the first installment of "Under the Radar" in 2024 and, with January having drawn to a close, it's worth looking back and taking stock of how no matter how much things change, the more things stay the same. You know how all our bright and optimistic New Year's resolutions are already aging like milk, despite our best intentions? Well, that's kind of like how Hollywood tends to approach the month of January -- except maybe without the "best intentions" part.
- 2/5/2024
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
Voice actor Maurice Lamarche is one of the preeminent elder statesmen of his craft. He started his career in stand up, finding he was a talented mimic, moving into animation in 1980. He appeared in hit shows like "Inspector Gadget" and "Transformers," really hitting his stride in 1985 playing Ego Spengler in "The Real Ghostbusters." He cycled through the KidsWB canon aggressively in the late '80s and early '90s, appearing in "Taz-Mania," "Batman: The Animated Series," "Tiny Toon Adventures," "Freakazoid!," and "Animaniacs" wherein he employed his spot-on Orson Welles impersonation to voice the power-hungry mouse the Brain. His largest sampling of voice caricatures came from his work on the 1994 series "The Critic," where he voiced celebrities ranging from William Shatner to Elizabeth Taylor (but only when she was belching).
In 1999, Lamarche became one of the regulars on Mat Groening's and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" where he played Kif,...
In 1999, Lamarche became one of the regulars on Mat Groening's and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" where he played Kif,...
- 2/4/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Who doesn't love Dr. Zoidberg? Everyone! Everyone doesn't love Dr. Zoidberg. At least that's one of the running gags of "Futurama," the undying sci-fi sitcom created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Dr. Zoidberg, voiced by Billy West, is a pathetic dumpster-dwelling lobster monster whose body is lousy with parasites and who sprays his peers with ink when startled. He's grievously awkward and doesn't have any friends. What's more, he's a terrible doctor, completely baffled by the anatomy of the mammals he works with; his diagnoses tend to be for fish-related ailments like fungi.
Naturally, the "Futurama" writers love writing Zoidberg scenes. It's actually astonishing how much humor the "Futurama" writing staff has been able to mine from having a big lobster on the show. There are more gags and jokes about sea life than one might think. For example, when Zoidberg vomits, he ejects liquid from both his...
Naturally, the "Futurama" writers love writing Zoidberg scenes. It's actually astonishing how much humor the "Futurama" writing staff has been able to mine from having a big lobster on the show. There are more gags and jokes about sea life than one might think. For example, when Zoidberg vomits, he ejects liquid from both his...
- 2/4/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
One of the funniest "Futurama" characters is the newscaster Morbo (voiced by Maurice Lamarche). A green-skinned alien with an enlarged head (a design speculated to be based on the invaders from the 1957 B-movie "Invasion of the Saucer Men"), Morbo is implied to be an advance scout for an invasion of Earth — and does a terrible job hiding it.
In almost every scene he's in, he loudly proclaims his hatred for "puny Earthlings" and intent to conquer them: "All humans are vermin in the eyes of Morbo." His co-host, the cheery Linda (Tress MacNeille), always laughs off Morbo's blatant threats and hatred for humanity. The episode "The Prisoners of Benda" best encapsulates their dynamic with a five-second cold open:
Linda: "Tonight at 11"-
Morbo: "Doooom!"
So, Morbo's character is a pretty one-note joke, but it's a very funny joke. Most of this comes down to his booming voice ("Viewers trust a...
In almost every scene he's in, he loudly proclaims his hatred for "puny Earthlings" and intent to conquer them: "All humans are vermin in the eyes of Morbo." His co-host, the cheery Linda (Tress MacNeille), always laughs off Morbo's blatant threats and hatred for humanity. The episode "The Prisoners of Benda" best encapsulates their dynamic with a five-second cold open:
Linda: "Tonight at 11"-
Morbo: "Doooom!"
So, Morbo's character is a pretty one-note joke, but it's a very funny joke. Most of this comes down to his booming voice ("Viewers trust a...
- 2/3/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
The premise of David X. Cohen and Matt Groening's "Futurama" is pretty simple. On New Year's Eve in the year 1999, a feckless and directionless pizza delivery boy named Fry (Billy West) accidentally falls into a cryogenic freezing tube and remains suspended for a thousand years. He awakens just as the world rings in the year 3000, and eventually takes a job working for a distant nephew named Professor Farnsworth (West), who owns a space-bound delivery company of his own. He also develops a crush on an impatient cyclops named Leela (Katey Sagal). The world of the year 3000 is replete with sci-fi trappings familiar to any fan of the genre; there are robots, aliens, space travel, and ineffable technologies.
The central joke of "Futurama" is that, despite all of humanity's advancements, human beings are still dumb and petty and concerned with their selfish creature comforts and base impulses. Fry may have been whisked into the future,...
The central joke of "Futurama" is that, despite all of humanity's advancements, human beings are still dumb and petty and concerned with their selfish creature comforts and base impulses. Fry may have been whisked into the future,...
- 2/3/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
On Tuesday, Cody Fry’s record label, Umg-owned Decca Records, had promising news for the soulful pop singer: His single “Things You Said” had blown up on Douyin, (TikTok’s separate mainland Chinese counterpart). Fry was excited, readying a plan to capitalize on an unexpected viral moment. The excitement ended within hours, as Fry saw news of an open letter from his record label, claiming they hadn’t renewed their licensing agreement with the social platform and that all of the company’s music would be removed the following day.
- 2/2/2024
- by Ethan Millman
- Rollingstone.com
Lucy Fry (the Wolf Creek TV series), Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale), Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks), and comedian Matt Rife (Natural Selection) lead the cast of the psychological horror film I Live Here Now, which recently made its way through production with first-time feature director Julie Pacino at the helm. Utopia represents the worldwide rights to the project, and Screen Daily reports that they’ll be launching distribution sales at the European Film Market, which will be held during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival later this month.
I Live Here Now sees Fry taking on the role of a woman who finds herself trapped in a remote hotel where the violent echoes of her past come alive, blurring the lines between her darkest nightmares and the waking world.
In addition to Wolf Creek, Fry’s credits include Vampire Academy, Mr. Church, 11.22.63, The Darkness, Bright, Night Teeth, She’s Missing,...
I Live Here Now sees Fry taking on the role of a woman who finds herself trapped in a remote hotel where the violent echoes of her past come alive, blurring the lines between her darkest nightmares and the waking world.
In addition to Wolf Creek, Fry’s credits include Vampire Academy, Mr. Church, 11.22.63, The Darkness, Bright, Night Teeth, She’s Missing,...
- 2/2/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Utopia will launch worldwide sales at EFM on Julie Pacino’s directorial debut I Live Here Now, which has wrapped production and features a cast of Lucy Fry, Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’sTale), comedian Matt Rife (Natural Selection), and Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks).
The psychological horror follows a woman (Fry) who finds herself trapped in a remote hotel where the violent echoes of her past come alive, blurring the lines between her darkest nightmares and the waking world.
“I am thrilled to unveil this deeply personal project with Utopia,” said Pacino. “I Live Here Now explores fear and discomfort through the...
The psychological horror follows a woman (Fry) who finds herself trapped in a remote hotel where the violent echoes of her past come alive, blurring the lines between her darkest nightmares and the waking world.
“I am thrilled to unveil this deeply personal project with Utopia,” said Pacino. “I Live Here Now explores fear and discomfort through the...
- 2/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
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