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The voice of Kevin Kline has been pleasantly popping up from time to time on the animated comedy show Bob's Burgers for nearly 15 years. His distinct (and distinguished) voice is perfect for his rich and elitist landlord character, Mr. Fischoeder, and he always brings a chuckle. But in the live-action scene, Kline has mostly been a dramatic force, especially in the recent series, Disclaimer. Of course, the Oscar winner has given great dramatic performances ever since 1982's Sophie's Choice, but it's always a treat when he busts his comedy chops in live-action. On that note, MGM+ announced today an eight-episode series order for American Classic, a half-hour comedy series starring none other than Kevin Kline.

American Classic comes from co-creators Michael Hoffman and Bob Martin. The series, which will debut with eight episodes, comes from Fifth Season as the studio with Mar-Key Pictures, Likely Story, and Anonymous Content producing. Kevin...

Smash is finally heading to Broadway.

In an announcement long awaited by fans of the 2012 NBC series, a stage musical adaptation is planned to arrive on Broadway during the 2024-25 season, with a lead producing team of Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Steven Spielberg. A top flight creative team is attached, including director Susan Stroman, composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, book writers Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and the TV series’ choreographer Joshua Bergasse.

Spielberg, whose original idea led to the NBC series, said in a statement, “Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage. We now have an incredible creative team, and I’m looking forward to completing the Smash journey which began with my producing partners over ten years ago.”

In addition to new music, the stage version...

After nearly two months in quarantine, you are probably running out of movies to watch and TV shows to binge.

If options on your Netflix queue are wearing thin, Hollywood stars are here to help. From directors and actors to newscasters and comics, Variety has surveyed tastemakers from the big and small screen to assemble a list of acclaimed films and venerable sitcoms — and everything in between — that are worth catching up on in the social distancing era.

From buzzy shows like “Tiger King” and “Unorthodox” to staples such as “Golden Girls” or “Mad Men,” here’s what Hollywood has been watching while staying at home.

Sandra Oh

“‘Tiger King.’ From a psychological perspective, and honestly an acting perspective, they’re brilliant character studies. It’s like when the ego hijacks everything, and reactivity hijacks everything. Also, the narcissistic need and desire to be at the forefront — it’s an...

Everyone has the power to create their own stories, but what if those stories were actually “real”? And what if the people in those stories are writing stories about you? It’s a heady idea, but one that the new metafictional film “Zoom” adopts head on to examine sex, drugs, and body-image insecurity.

Read More: Watch: Sex Doll Artist Alison Pill is Not That Kind of Girl in Exclusive ‘Zoom’ Clip

Alison Pill plays Emma, a sex doll manufacturer by day and cartoonist by night, who longs to look like one of the synthetic creations with which she spends her time, and takes her frustrations out on the page by drawing the ideal man, high-flying, well-endowed film director Edward (Gael Garcia Bernal) shooting a passion project in Rio de Janeiro about model-turned-novelist Michelle (Mariana Ximenes), who in turn, writes about Emma. Things go awry when Emma decides to rob Edward...

Canadian director and actress Sarah Polley, along with Noreen Halpern’s Halfire Entertainment, will adapt Margaret Atwood’s novel “Alias Grace” into a six-hour miniseries for Netflix. Deadline reports that Polley will write and produce the series while Mary Harron will direct the project.

Read More: Watch: Sarah Polley Interviews Greta Gerwig About Noah Baumbach’s ‘Frances Ha’ In 17-Minute Criterion Feature

“Alias Grace” follows the true story of poor Irish immigrant Grace Marks who, along with domestic servant James McDermott, was convicted of murdering her employer Thomas Kinnear and housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in 1843. While James was hanged, Grace received life imprisonment for her role in the crime. The conviction was highly controversial and Grace’s role in the murder was up for strong debate as to whether she took an active part in the crime or if she was simply an accessory. She was later exonerated after 30 years in jail.

Having survived some (really) wild adventures at Warehouse 13, Joanne Kelly will next brave (very) wild animals on CBS’ Zoo.

RelatedBig Brother, Zoo, Good Wife Creators’ Follow-Up Get Premiere Dates at CBS

TVLine has learned exclusively that the actress has landed the recurring Season 2 role of Allison, the Deputy Secretary of Defense who is actively seeking a solution to the animal crisis… and who shares a surprising history with Mitch (played by Billy Burke).

An adaptation of the James Patterson novel, Zoo was renewed back in October after emerging as last summer’s most watched scripted series (averaging 6.4 million...

Perhaps you've watched True Detective and thought, I wish Rachel McAdams had more to do. Or maybe you're watching Rectify and thinking, I love this, but my heart yearns for more Luke Kirby. Maybe the end of Degrassi: The Next Generation leaves you craving Canadian excellence. That means now is the time, finally, to watch Slings and Arrows.Watching True Detective squander McAdams was one among many irritants this season, especially since she's capable of adding texture and spark in even a smaller role. As Kate on Slings, she's the understudy who knows better — happy to be cast, sad that she's not really cast, and trying not to be bitter that the actual Ophelia is such a wreck. Her smarts and capability of course find her pairing off with Jake (Kirby), who's more famous but less theatrical. But there was a place, in Canada, in 2003, when McAdams was dazzling,...

William Shakespeare’s works have, over the years, been a rich source of cinematic adaptations, whether they’re direct works such as 1989’s Henry V, loose interpretations such as 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You, or somewhere in between, such as 2012’s Much Ado About Nothing.

One of the more popular of Shakespeare’s plays is Hamlet, which itself has seen numerous onscreen incarnations. Among the most recognisable soliloquies in the play is the “To Be Or Not To Be” speech, delivered by the titular character as he considers whether his life is worth living. Now, JoBlo has made a supercut of the numerous times the soliloquy has been delivered, putting together the whole speech by interspersing the numerous performers and contexts in which it has been said. The resulting video, which includes everyone from Charlie Chaplin to David Tennant, can be seen below, along with the monologue in its text form.

Behind the scenes at a competitive, ego-driven Shakespearean theatre company mind sound like the seeds for a slightly niche comedy, though it did once provide three seasons’ worth of comedy drama for Canadian TV series Slings And Arrows. Sony will be hoping for slightly more mainstream appeal with a new, untitled pitch that has Will Ferrell interested.Production company Mosaic has spawned the idea for a comedy that focuses on the intense, maddening world that lies behind the scenes of a top Shakespearean company. No other details have been released, but according to Variety, writers David Guion and Michael Handelman have been tasked with turning the concept into a script for Ferrell to star in.They’ve written on the likes of The Internship (which featured a brief cameo from the actor), Men In Black III and the upcoming Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb, so while their...

Along with today's news that Justin Lin is in talks to direct two episodes of HBO's True Detective, Variety reports that Rachel McAdams is vying for the female lead role alongside Elisabeth Moss.

While this is the first we're hearing about Rachel McAdams being in contention, Elisabeth Moss revealed last month that she had not been approached to star in the series, just days after a report revealed she was up for the female lead. However, a lot can change in one month, and it seems now that Elisabeth Moss is, in fact, in the running.

The role in question is, according to a July report, a sheriff from Montery, California who has a troubled past. Jessica Chastain was previously sought for the role in May, but she turned it down.

Variety also reports that Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Vince Vaughn are currently in final negotiations for the other three lead roles.

Scandal star Josh Malina’s picks for his favorite criminally underrated TV shows range from eerie French drama Les Revenants to British comedy Look Around You. See what else he thinks deserves more love below:

Slings and Arrows

This Canadian series created by Mark McKinney, Susan Coyne, and Bob Martin, focuses on the backstage antics at the fictitious New Burbage Theatre Festival. Each of its three seasons focuses on a production of a different Shakespeare play. The sharp writing makes for a show that is biting and funny and suprisingly complex.

Les Revenants

People long dead begin returning to a...

The winners of the 3rd Annual Cinema Tropical Awards were announced at a special event at the New York Times headquarters in New York City,celebrating the best of the Latin American film production of the year in five different categories:

- Best Feature Film

- Best Documentary Film

- Best Director, Feature Film

- Best Director, Documentary Film

- Best First Film

The Cinema Tropical Awards are presented in partnership with Voces, Latino Heritage Network of The New York Times and 92YTribeca, with the support of the Mexican Cultural Institute. Special thanks to Lucila Moctezuma and Mario Díaz.

Best Feature Film

- O Som Ao Redor / Neighboring Sounds (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil, 2012)

Best Director, Feature Film

- MatÍAs Meyer, Los ÚLtimos Cristeros / The Last Christeros (Mexico, 2011)

Best Documentary Film

- El Salvavidas / The Lifeguard (Maite Alberdi, Chile, 2011)

Best Director, Documentary Film

- JosÉ ÁLvarez, CanÍCula (Mexico, 2011)

Best First Film

- El Estudiante / The Student (Santiago Mitre, Argentina, 2011)

The films were selected from a list of Latin American feature films with a minimum of 60 minutes in length that were premiered between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012. The winners and final nominees were selected by a six-member jury panel from a list of fiction and documentary films compiled from the selections of a nominating committee composed of 14 film professionals from Latin America, the U.S. and Europe (see list below).

Fiction Jury

Dennis Lim writes about film and popular culture for various publications including The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He is the founding editor of Moving Image Source, the online publication and research resource of the Museum of the Moving Image and was formerly the film editor of The Village Voice. His work has also appeared in The Believer, The Oxford American, Blender, Spin, Espous, Indiewire, New York Daily News, The Independent on Sunday, The Guardian, and the film quarterly Cinema Scope, where he is a contributing editor. A member of the National Society of Film Critics and the editor of The Village Voice Film Guide (2006), he has served as a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee and he teaches in the Cultural Reporting and Criticism graduate program a New York University.

Matías Piñeiro is a filmmaker and professor at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. His first feature-length work, El hombre robado / The Stolen Man (2007), won awards at the Jeonju International Film Festival and at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. In 2009, his second feature, Todos mienten / They All Lie, premiered at Bafici (Buenos Aires Festival International de Cine Independiente), where it won two awards. It also won a prize at the Santiago Festival Internacional de Cine. In 2010, he was selected—along with James Benning and Denis Côté—to screen his third film, Rosalinda at the 11th Jeonju Digital Project. Piñeiro recently premiered his most recent film, Viola, at the Toronto Film Festival, and it's slated for a Us release in 2013. He earned a filmmaking degree from Universidad del Cine. His award-winning films have been screened around the world, including at Anthology Film Archives, Festival des 3 Continents, the Festival del film Locarno, the London Film Festival, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, the Museum of Modern Art, Rencontré Cinémas d’Amerique Latine de Toulouse, and the Viennale.

Frida Torresblanco served as a producer in Spain working on film including The Dancer Upstairs, directed by John Malkovich and starring Javier Bardem, as well as Susan Seidelman’s Gaudi Afternoon. She moved to New York City in 2002 to launch and lead Alfonso Cuaron’s film production company, Esperanto, where she served as Executive Producer and Creative On-Set Producer for The Assassination of Richard Nixon (directed by Niels Mueller, starring Sean Penn), among others. In 2006, Frida joined Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro to produce El laberinto del Fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth (Three Oscars & another three Oscar nominations; three wins & five BAFTA nominations; a nomination for the Palm d’Or and a Golden Globe). The Hollywood Reporter named Frida one of the 50 most powerful Latinos in Hollywood. She also produced Rudo y Cursi (directed by Carlos Cuarón, starring Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna). In 2010, Frida launched her new film production company, Braven Films, with partners Eric Laufer and Giovanna Randall. Her next project, Magic Magic, produced through Braven Films, will star Michael Cera, Juno Temple and Emily Browning.

DocuMentary Jury

Ryan Harrington is the Director of Documentary Programs at the Tribeca Film Institute where he oversees the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, the Tfi Documentary Fund, Tribeca All Access documentary program and the Latin America Media Arts Fund while developing other initiatives and programs that support non-fiction filmmaking. Recent Tfi successes include Give Up Tomorrow, If a Tree Falls, The Redemption of General Butt Naked, The Oath, Enemies of the People, Marathon Boy and Donor Unknown. Independently he is currently working on the feature doc Hungry in America, with filmmakers Kristi Jacobson & Lori Silverbush and Participant Media, that explores why so many people in the USA go without food, and what can be done about it. Harrington managed production for A&E IndieFilms, the theatrical documentary arm of the A&E Network, for four years. Throughout his time there he championed the Oscar-nominated films Murderball and Jesus Camp, and the Sundance hits My Kid Could Paint That and American Teen.

Paula Heredia is a director and editor based in New York. She was awarded an Emmy for the HBO documentary In Memoriam, NYC 9/11/01, and an Ace Eddie Award for the acclaimed documentary Unzipped. Her directorial work includes the documentaries George Plimpton and the Paris Review, Ralph Gibson, and The Couple in the Cage. Her dramatic work includes Having a Baby, Tras La Ventana, Slings and Arrows, and La Cena de Matrimonio. Her short film La Pájara Pinta premiered at the Lincoln Center Film Society LatinBeat Film Festival. Heredia’s editorial work can be seen in the HBO feature-length documentary Addiction, which received the 2007 Emmy Governors Award, and Alive Day Memories—Home from Iraq, executive produced by James Gandolfini for HBO. Her new edit, The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale and Jacques D'Ambois in China, will air on HBO this summer. Other editorial credits include: Modulations Cinema for the Ear, The Vagina Monologues, Finding Christa and Free Tibet. Paula’s work and creative process is featured in the book: The Art of the Documentary by Megan Cunningham. With partner Larry Garvin, she co-founded Heredia Pictures, heads the international committee of New York Women in Film and Television and serves on the board of advisors of Tribeca All Access and Clementina, Inc.

Chi-hui Yang is a film programmer, lecturer and writer based in New York. As a guest curator, Yang has presented film and video series at film festivals and events internationally, including MoMA's Documentary Fortnight, Robert Flaherty Film Seminar (“The Age of Migration”), Seattle International Film Festival, Washington D.C. International Film Festival and Barcelona Asian Film Festival. From 2000-2010 he was the Director and Programmer of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the largest showcase of its kind in the Us. Yang is also the programmer of “Cinema Asian America,” a new On-Demand service offered by Comcast and currently a Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute.

Nominating Committee

- Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Idfa, The Netherlands

- Hugo Chaparro, film critic, Colombia

- Lucile De Calan, programmer, Biarritz Latin American Film Festival, France

- Denis de la Roca, programmer, Abu Dhabi Film Festival

- Mara Fortes, programmer, Morelia Film Festival

- Erick Gonzalez, programmer, Valdivia Film Festival, Chile

- Elías Jiménez, director, Festival Ícaro, Guatemala

- Roger Alan Koza, film critic and programmer, Filmfest Hamburg, Ficunam, Mexico

- Janneke Langelaan, Hubert Bals Fund, The Netherlands

- Diego Lerer, film critic, Argentina

- Rosa Martinez Rivero, film producer, Argentina

- Christian Sida-Valenzuela, director, Vancouver Latin American Film Festival

- Hebe Tabachnik, programmer, Los Angeles and Palm Springs Film Festivals

- Sergio Wolf, film programmer, Argentina...

Exclusive: In a rare cross-border network collaboration at the development stage, the U.S.’ ABC and Canada’s Shaw Media have bought a half-hour comedy from Canadian writer-actor-comedian Bob Martin and former EntertainmentOne executive-turned-producer Noreen Halpern. The untitled project, a co-production between ABC and Shaw, is about a cartoonist who struggles to reconcile the idealized married life depicted in his comic strip with his own life — one that is populated by ex-spouses, children from three different marriages, and a wife who earns far more money than he does. Martin will write the script and executive produce with Halpern. Martin, repped by repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, starred in and co-wrote the Broadway musical Drowsy Chaperone, sharing a best book for a musical Tony with Don McKellar and getting a lead actor Tony nomination. In Canada, Martin was the co-creator with McKellar and star of CBC’s Michael Tuesdays...

Ben Elton has written a new comedy sitcom for BBC One. The funnyman - who has written TV shows 'The Thin Blue Line' and 'The Man from Auntie' - has penned a new pilot episode entitled 'Slings and Arrows', which tells the tale of a group of misfits who are determined to cause anarchy in a local council. David Haig will play council boss Gerard Measley in the show, which also stars Montserrat Lombart and Nathan Caton, according to The Sun newspaper. Should it be commissioned for a full series, it will be Ben's first in seven years, following on from a critical...

Smash certainly has its issues: weird narrative priorities, characters who don't really make sense, an unfounded insistence that Karen is made of magic and cakepops. But the one completely unimpeachable facet of the series has been the songs in the show's Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell. (And the one song from a different fictional musical; "The Higher You Get, the Farther the Fall" is just a terrific show tune.) According to NBC honcho Bob Greenblatt, season two will double down on musical numbers. He tells Variety that Smash is hiring additional composers and lyricists to help Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman write more tunes for next season, particularly ones for a rival musical to Bombshell. Please be like the faux Rent from Slings and Arrows, rival musical!

We scour the interwebs for the coolest movie news and more so you don't have to ...

Her biggest claim to fame so far has been as a Bond Girl in "Quantum of Solace," but Olga Kurylenko is set for even bigger and better things with her upcoming turns in "Seven Psychopaths" and "Oblivion." Check out Heavy's collection of the 20 hottest photos of the beauty who's currently turning heads on "Magic City."

He sure knows how to make things like all gothic and pretty, but can Tim Burton actually work with actors and, you know, tell a good story? Moviefone ponders whether the "Dark Shadows" filmmaker has ever really known what he's doing when it comes to "directing."

"Hulk very excited when 'Smash' begin, because Hulk still yearn for days of 'Slings and Arrows' and know every word to 'Chorus Line.' (Won't regret, can't forget what Hulk did for love.

Hulk very excited when Smash begin, because Hulk still yearn for days of Slings and Arrows and know every word to Chorus Line. (Won't regret, can't forget what Hulk did for love.) How you get Hulk to leave theater? You can't, it in Hulk blood! But Smash let Hulk down because only nominally show-within-show. If Hulk want to watch series about falling in love with scruffy bartenders or what happen when blonde lady overindulge in alcohol or how uptight brunette lady occasionally unlucky in love, Hulk happy to revisit to Sex and the City DVDs. Hulk find them soothing sometimes.But Hulk want more from Smash! Hulk convinced there inherent drama in staging a musical. Hulk even a little optimistic about Gossip Girl's Josh Safran taking over, because maybe Safran inject overlapping story lines Hulk enjoy so much. Hulk hoping see expanded relationship between Karen and Ivy that go...

I recently stumbled upon the Canadian sitcom Men With Brooms, which aired last year on the CBC channel in Canada. Men With Brooms wasn't picked up for a second season, making the 12 episodes of the first season the entire run of the series. That's a real shame in my mind, because as the show progressed it began to really develop into something special.

Men With Brooms was a sweet little sitcom about a group of friends who hang out in a bar and form a curling team. You know curling, that sport we try to care about during the Winter Olympics but can't because it's too boring? The one on ice with the stones and the brooms? It's all the excitement of hockey only without the fights, at one millionth of the speed and with no actual excitement.

The show is based off the 2002 movie of the same name starring...

The second series of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s brilliant, brilliant Sherlock is about to start tomorrow, and so my hand is forced: I must finally write about the first series. The reason I’ve put it off isn’t simple procrastination. The reason I’ve put it off is because every time I contemplate the notion of sitting down and writing about it, I am overcome with a dread that anything I write will reduce it to something smaller and boringer and less than the utterly fantastic thing that it is. I love these three movie-length episodes to a degree that’s sort of terrifying. I never tire of rewatching them. Every time I’ve imagined that this was the moment in which I would finally write about them, I used that as an excuse to watch them again, so it’s been like four or five go-rounds at least so far.

Not many of you like the title that’s been given to Die Hard 5. We’ve come to the rescue with a series of suggestions for Die Hard 6.

We were alerted yesterday to the fact that the makers of the Die Hard films might be having trouble coming up with titles for their ventures. This was demonstrated by the choosing of the name A Good Day To Die Hard for Die Hard 5, which reasonably answered the question, ‘could they come up with something worse than Live Free Or Die Hard’.

Bruce Willis has hinted previously that he’s aiming to make two more Die Hard movies, which means we’ve still got time to sort a sixth movie out. So, to all concerned with the franchise, we’d like to help. Our fine readers have been hard at work with suggestions for what to call the sixth film.

Whizbang Films has kicked off production on Cottage Country, which co-stars the lovely Malin Akerman, who drove fan boys wild as the second Silk Specter in Watchmen, and Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil‘s hefty and hilarious hillbilly Tyler Labine. As you can probably predict from the pairing of hot chick and schlubby dude, Cottage Country is a romance-centered comedy in which Labine and Akerman are a couple. More specifically, Labine plays Todd, a besotted young man whose looking to craft the perfect marriage proposal by taking his stunning girlfriend Cammie (Akerman) to his family’s quaint cottage. However, his plans are all for naught once his shiftless brother Salinger (Daniel Petronijevic) crashes their romantic weekend along with his dippy gal-pal Masha (the underrated Lucy Punch). Then, things turn dark when Todd’s mounting rage boils over into accidental fratricide, but Cammie sees no reason this needs to get in...

[1] Malin Akerman has signed on to star with Tyler Labine, Lucy Punch, and Daniel Petronijevic in Cottage Country, an dark indie comedy by Canadian director Peter Wellington. Written by Jeremy Boxen (Endgame), the story follows Todd (Labine) as he plans to propose to Cammie (Akerman) at his family cottage. However, Todd's plans are ruined by the arrival of his slacker brother (Petronijevic) and the brother's free-spirited girlfriend (Punch). The film will be Wellington's first feature since 2003's Luck. Wellington has been working primarily in television over the last several years, on shows including Rookie Blue and Slings and Arrows. The film is currently shooting in Ontario through late October for a 2012 release. [The Hollywood Reporter [2]] After the jump, Pacific Rim gets another star and John Hurt joins a project called Labyrinth that is totally unrelated to Jim Henson's Labyrinth. Bet you got worried there for a second that it would be a remake.

Two bits of casting news for you today: one from a Canadian, dark comedy, indie pic while the other is from the fifth installment in a big budget horror franchise. First up, is the addition of Malin Akerman (Watchmen) and Tyler Labine (Tucker and Dale vs Evil) to director Peter Wellington’s Cottage Country. The pair star as a couple vacationing at a family cottage where Todd (Labine) plans to propose, but is derailed by the arrival of his lazy brother and his hippie girlfriend. In less quaint and subtle cinema, the role of Leon Kennedy will be portrayed by Johann Urb (2012) in Resident Evil: Retribution. This is the latest addition to the cast of the fifth installment in the video game/horror franchise starring Milla Jovovich. The news of his casting comes via her Twitter account when she said, “And if u checked out my vid yesterday from the...

Welcome to Ology after dark, folks! It's sexytime, and so I give you Jennifer Lawrence in her underpants. This is the second time the 'Winter's Bone' star has done a hot girl photo shoot for a lad rag, and it's just as uncomfortable this time around. As a lady and an actress, I like to comfort myself with the belief that dumb people can't act well (see also: 'Slings And Arrows' Season Three). Jennifer Lawrence is a fabulous actress, therefore she can't be dumb. I also like to comfort myself with the belief that intelligent women can't take themselves seriously when they do sexy funtimes photoshoots, because seriously, who hangs out in underwear and high heels?

read more...

Welcome to Ology after dark, folks! It's sexytime, and so I give you Jennifer Lawrence in her underpants. This is the second time the 'Winter's Bone' star has done a hot girl photo shoot for a lad rag, and it's just as uncomfortable this time around. As a lady and an actress, I like to comfort myself with the belief that dumb people can't act well (see also: 'Slings And Arrows' Season Three). Jennifer Lawrence is a fabulous actress, therefore she can't be dumb. I also like to comfort myself with the belief that intelligent women can't take themselves seriously when they do sexy funtimes photoshoots, because seriously, who hangs out in underwear and high heels?

read more...

1. It's a novel premise: It's an office comedy, set in a sketchy security company, where the goal is to breach a company's security in order to expose its flaws. This allows for a mini-heist or two in each episode. Office comedy + heists = Amusing possibilities.

2. Christian Slater: He's had some serious bad luck with television shows, but this one is a comedy, which allows Slater to flash some of that wiseacre smarm that reminds us why we liked him so much in Heathers and Kuffs. Plus, now that Jack Nicholson is an infrequent presence in movies and television, someone's got to carry the Nicholson voice until Jay Baruchel lands another television gig.

3. The Black Guy: He's like the sassy black woman stereotype trapped in the body of a Dungeons and Dragons' geek. His Iq is 161, he does a mean Chewbacca impression, and his office pranks include turning a co-worker's car...

Strangers: Dr. Malcolm Crowe--Can you think of anything more dreary than a ghost following you around and trying to psychoanalyze you? Also, am I still allowed to like this movie? Despite the subsequent Shyamalan shyams?

Friends: George and Marion Kerby--Ah, that's better. I'd take two loose cannon alcoholic ghosts in evening dress over Bruce Willis and his hair piece any day.

Lovers: Caprica Six--One of my favorite part about Tricia Helfer's performance is that she combines sex and menace so flawlessly. With every kiss she looks like she's about to bite poor Baltar's face off.

Partners: Al--i always wanted an Al (and a Ziggy!) of my very own. Whenever I play pool, I think of the episode of "Quantum Leap" where Al and Ziggy plotted all the angles on the table for Sam so he could impersonate a pool shark. P.S. Is Scott Bakula's face here not...

Artistry thy name is Susanne Bier! The director's tour de force film is the frontrunner in the Oscar foreign language race, and since it isn't getting released until April, here's a little taste of Haevenen. Life is full of questions. The Bard's 'To be or not to be?' is a big one. And for those who stick with the latter state, the next concern is 'how to be?' Is it 'nobler in the mind to suffer/The Slings and Arrows of outrageous fortune;/Or to take Armes against a Sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?' Hamlet, Prince of Denmark's hallowed queries have been explored onscreen for centuries, from the sacrificial stand of lone ranger's like Shane and Marshall Will Kane in High Noon to peaceful protagonists such as Gran Torino's Walt Kowalski or Avatar's nature-worshipping Navi. The 'right' way of living remains ripe for cinematic interpretation,...

Two things up front. One: I loathe the theatre. The self-indulgence, the ungainly intensity, the often inescapable pathos and pretentiousness, all of it. As far as I am concerned, theatre plays should be quarantined and only released into the world when supervised by Mike Nichols and/or Emma Thompson.

Two: I've been around. Enough to be frustrated that the Centauri Republic had an Emperor and deeply unsettled by how hot Ziggy Sobotka was in "Generation Kill," to know that C.J. Cregg's codename is "Flamingo" and wish I could forget ever seeing Cy Tolliver torture Veronica Mars. I'm a TV whore.

So when I tell you that a series about theatre makes most of the above, and Simon Tam, look like idiot children, I want you to understand my full meaning.

Gushing lends itself to hyperbole, but I genuinely want as many people as possible to give this gem a shot,...

It doesn't always have to be about the best and the worst movies, which get all the attention around this time of year. There are always a few movies that were neither bad nor worthy of best of lists consideration. They're decent -- hell, they're better than decent. They're good, but not great movies, most of which would be perfect couch viewing on a snowy Friday night with your not-too-judgmental significant other. They're all flawed, in their own way, but if we only watched award worthy films every year, we wouldn't spend a lot of time watching movies, would we?

This is me not being a critic. This is me being a average guy with a wife and a kid, an alcoholic beverage, two hours to kill before bedtime, and a desire to relax and watch a movie.

These are the Ten Best Netflix Gems of 2010.

10. Green Zone: I...

We all know that all the three seasons of the Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows have been on DVD for quite a while. Now, Acorn Media, a film and TV series distributor, has announced that the complete series will come on High Definition Blu-Ray in North America on October 26.

This dark comedy from The Movie Network, a Canadian premium cable network, talks about a theatre festival.

In the fictional town of New Burbage, legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette). When Geoffrey arrives he finds that Oliver is still there, in spirit anyway, and with his guidance (and often in spite of it) Geoffrey attempts to reconcile with his past while wrestling the festival back from the marketing department.

Three – it’s the magic number. Gervais and Merchant couldn’t manage it with The Office and Extras (not including the specials), nor could John Cleese famously muster the energy for a third series of Fawlty Towers. But for those who do, the rewards can be great. Mitch Hurwitz’s comic masterpiece Arrested Development put in three terrific seasons before being axed, but to go out at the top by your own choice after three seasons...well that honour belongs to Canada’s surprise TV export, Slings and Arrows.

Set in the fictional town of New Burbage (basically a trans-Atlantic Stratford-Upon-Avon) and dealing with the frenetic farce of the theatre’s Shakespeare season, each of the three seasons dealt with a particular play (Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear) while simultaneously mirroring each plot within its own modern day story.

Cleverly utilising that traditional Shakespeare device – the ghost, the three series combined black...

Tonight's season finale of Being Erica exemplifies everything I love about the show: originality, a sense of drama and whimsy, and a solidly interesting, emotionally mature story about a woman. Did you ride here on a unicorn, show? Much as I love Erica, though, it's only my second-favorite Canadian series. That top honor goes to Slings and Arrows, easily one of my most beloved shows of all time. Rounding out the top three is Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is a total bubblegum pleasure -- or was back in the day. (Miss you, Craig.) But these are just my faves from our northern neighbor.

I found out two important things today. One, there is a dude who tried to raise his son to be a native Klingon speaker by speaking to him only in Klingon until the child was 3. And you thought your parents were, uh, quirky! And the second thing is the existence of this (via): Will Klingon Hamlet eclipse Slings and Arrows as my favorite pop-production of the melancholy Dane? Hell to the no. But it's almost comforting that it's out there, if as nothing else than at least as a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and our...

This sickly sweet romp through yet another American high school comes up trumps on its dazzling musical numbers

I am full of glee. Is this a good thing? This week, the New York Times ran a story on how an hour-long comedy on the Fox TV network "has become a cult favourite among the theatre community in New York." Most days, I like to imagine myself as part of that community, so this morning I settled in to watch all nine episodes of Glee. The aggregate effect of this is like gorging on fistfuls of marshmallows or Turkish delight: sweet, sickly and not entirely satisfying.

Set in the brutish environs of a midwestern American high school, Glee centres on the jocks, cheerleaders and musical-theatre geeks who constitute the Glee Club, an extracurricular society devoted to singing popular songs. Led by Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), a charismatic Spanish teacher with...

Many television viewers — and pop culture critics — are wondering just what's up with Fox's Fringe. Watchers of the show were caught unaware this past week, not realizing that the network was airing a new episode of the skein until they read about it the next day in various news outlets. Fringe simply wasn't in the listings. People's DVRs didn't pick up the show, because Fox was listed as running Game 7 of the World Series. People believed that the show would be absent one more week.

All of this is raising serious questions about how seriously Fox is treating the show, or indeed, if they're trying to kill it. The Thursday night time slot was their first error in judgment, but lapses in playing to the viewer base by neglecting to promote episodes and air times is something else entirely.

The impression left is that Fox used first-run programming as a backup to a sporting event.

Many television viewers — and pop culture critics — are wondering just what's up with Fox's Fringe. Watchers of the show were caught unaware this past week, not realizing that the network was airing a new episode of the skein until they read about it the next day in various news outlets. Fringe simply wasn't in the listings. People's DVRs didn't pick up the show, because Fox was listed as running Game 7 of the World Series. People believed that the show would be absent one more week.

All of this is raising serious questions about how seriously Fox is treating the show, or indeed, if they're trying to kill it. The Thursday night time slot was their first error in judgment, but lapses in playing to the viewer base by neglecting to promote episodes and air times is something else entirely.

The impression left is that Fox used first-run programming as a backup to a sporting event.

Seattle – Dalton Trumbo was one of the biggest names in screenwriting who for the longest time wasn’t allowed to show his name on the screen. He won two Oscars, but wasn’t allowed to step onto the stage.

At the peak of his career in 1947, he was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about communists in Hollywood films. Like other screenwriters before the Huac, he refused to answer the questions. Their decision to not name names got them blacklisted in the industry and sent to prison. After nearly a year behind bars, Dalton secretly returned to screenwriting. He used fake names and front writers on various project. It wasn’t till 1960 when his name accompanied Exodus and Spartacus that the blacklist was broken.

Trumbo is a documentary about the writer that was originally a play written by his son Christopher Trumbo. The play had actors reading...

“Eastwick” (9 p.m. Central Wednesday, ABC; two stars) is a typical ABC pilot, in that it looks expensive and has an attractive ensemble cast. It's the kind of show in which an small-town artist's home is, I think, meant to have a scruffy, bohemian vibe. So it of course looks like the lush, beautifully appointed lair of the richest hippie who ever lived. Everything about “Eastwick,” which is derived from the film and John Updike book of the same name, feels lavish and hollow. If not for the impish, unpredictable charm of Paul Gross ("Due South," "Slings and Arrows"), who...

September is here, and that means its time to get ready for some new television shows to debut, and for some favorites to return to the airwaves.

To ensure you're prepared, I'm running down the schedules of the major broadcasters, noting the scripted series I think are worth watching, and some I advocate you not waste time on. The Fall 2009 Preview is being divided into three parts. Today, ABC, CBS and NBC.

Part 2 will include Fox, The CW and Syfy. Part 3 will include HBO, Showtime, and the rest of the cable networks.

Please keep in mind that the premiere dates stated here are subject to change. Make sure you check your local listings for those shows you're most excited about.

ABC: Watch

Nathan Fillion is one of the most charming leading men in the business, and Castle is worth watching for him alone. Stana Katic found her feet by the end of season one,...

Actress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Polley emerged the big winner at the 2008 Directors Guild Of Canada Awards on Saturday - her movie Away From Her took home three honors, including Best Director. The movie was also named Best Picture, while Polley's husband David Wharnsby won the award for Best Picture Editing. Elsewhere, Best Television Movie Or Miniseries went to Dragon Boys, while the prize for Best Television Drama was awarded to Slings And Arrows.

TORONTO -- Canada's two premium pay TV networks attracted attention and honors Tuesday as their cutting-edge series led all nominees for the Geminis, Canada's TV awards.

"Slings & Arrows," a dark comedy about a dysfunctional theater company, grabbed 14 Gemini nominations, while sci-fi drama ReGenesis followed with 12. Both series air on the Movie Network and Movie Central, the country's two premium pay TV networks.

Slings, which airs stateside on the Sundance Channel, is in its third and final season.

Other multiple nominees in the Gemini hunt include the crime drama Intelligence and the news information series The Fifth Estate. Both of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. series earned 11 noms.

The CBC miniseries Dragon Boys pulled in nine noms, while rival CTV saw its telefilm Doomstown and comedy Robson Arms grab seven each.

Another CTV comedy, Corner Gas, earned six noms, while hit CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie surprised by garnering only two noms, in the direction and writing categories.

In the best dramatic actor category, Paul Gross and William Hutt of Slings will challenge John Cassini and Ian Tracey from Intelligence and Peter Outerbridge from ReGenesis.

The best dramatic actress contest will pit Martha Burns and Susan Coyne of Slings against Klea Scott of Intelligence.

Competition for Gemini hardware will be fought across 90 categories over four nights. Trophies in the news, lifestyle and minor drama and comedy categories will be handed out Oct. 15-17 in Toronto, while the more high-profile Geminis will be handed out Oct. 28 on the CBC network during a ceremony from Regina, Saskatchewan.

For the second year running, the CTV network is boycotting the news categories because, according to the network, its "participation in the awards is of little value."...

TORONTO -- Slings and Arrows, a comedy about a madcap Shakespearean theater troupe, was the big winner Saturday at the Geminis, Canada's TV awards.

The homegrown series won the trophy for best dramatic series, earning lead actors Martha Burns and Mark McKinney awards for best dramatic series actress and actor, respectively.

Other multiple winners Saturday included One Dead Indian, which earned the best director trophy for Tim Southam and the best writing award, shared by Andrew Wreggitt and Hugh Graham.

Ron MacLean repeated as the best Canadian sportscaster for his star turn on the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

The 21st annual Geminis were broadcast from Vancouver on the Global Television network.

Sundance Channel said Wednesday that it has acquired U.S. pay TV rights to the Canadian comedy-drama series Slings and Arrows, which focuses on the inner workings of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theater festival. Sundance has acquired rights to the first two seasons -- consisting of six episodes each -- and prebought rights to the yet-to-be-produced third season -- also six episodes. The deal marks the first series acquisition since Laura Michachyshyn joined the network as executive vp programming and marketing in January. Slings, which premieres on Sundance in August, is airing on the Movie Network, Showcase and Movie Central in Canada.