Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Breaking Bad Edition

I normally have a lot of Breaking Bad info in these pop culture roundups, but with the show recently returning for its final eight episodes ever (SOB!), there was more awesome info than normal this week. I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so sprinkled throughout the roundup is an abundance of links related to the show. And for the love of all that is holy, if you aren’t watching this show get to steppin’. You are missing out! So kick back and bring yourself up to speed on all the pop culture that you may have missed over the last two weeks. Let me be your pop culture curator.

• The Foo Fighters have a new album coming in 2014 – let there be much rejoicing.  I’d better start saving my pennies so I can finally see them live.

• N’Sync is rumored to be reuniting at the MTV VMAs on Sunday, which now forces me to watch the VMAs. I’m skeptical as I’m not sure what Timberlake gets out of this. But I do hope it happens.

 

• A bunch of people in Connecticut called 911 when their cable went out Sunday night. I can’t blame them – who wants to miss Breaking Bad?

• Jimmy Fallon is doing a Breaking Bad parody. This will be amazing.

 

• If you were worried about the fate of one of the characters in the season finale of True Blood, worry no more (spoilers, obviously)

• Kim Kardashian used Instagram to very effectively shame Katie Couric. Well played, Kimmie.

• The Huffington Post looks at the average caloric intake on The Gilmore Girls.

• This Treme cookbook sounds pretty tasty.

• Pro golfer Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky (daughter of NHL legend Wayne) are engaged.  Her ring is pretty impressive.

• Christina Hendricks wants to appear on Game of Thrones. Someone make this happen!

• Kelly Clarkson and a British museum are vying over a Jane Austen ring. I’m sympathetic to the museum, but Clarkson won the ring fair and square.

• It’s hard to get excited about football season when you root for the Bills, but I do love when the Manning brothers do commercials:

 

• More on Breaking Bad: 10 ways Walter White is like Scrooge McDuck and a pretty mindblowing theory (spoilers galore)

• Kevin Hart has a new animated webseries.

• This might necessitate a road trip: Joe Manganiello will star in the Yale Rep production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

• One of David Sedaris’ short stories is being adapted for the big screen.

• Bryan Cranston was in his high school chemistry club.

• Jeremy Renner: house flipper extraordinaire.

• This is an interesting casting rumor (emphasis on rumor) – could Charlie Hunnam play Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey film adaption? By the time this movie comes out, will anyone still care?

• Brad Pitt was allegedly deemed “too dumb” to serve on an art museum board.

• Comparing the make-up in Back to the Future to what the actors actually look like 30 years later (Thanks to Art for the tip!)

• The History Channel is doing a miniseries on Houdini starring Adrien Brody.

• CBS is developing a Wizard of Oz medical drama.

• Now You See Me is inexplicably getting a sequel.

• There is already an animated version of Badger’s epic Star Trek script pitch on Breaking Bad.

• Watch a bunch of librarians re-make “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys. Librarians are good people.

• Kanye allegedly turned down American Idol.

• TBS renewed a bunch of shows I don’t watch.

• Friday Night Lights, the movie? Make it happen!

• I’m all for being creative and finding a song that fits your personality, but this bride walked down the aisle to Buckcherry’s “Crazy Bitch.”

• HBO has released a trailer for the new season of Girls:

 

• NBC is clearly in the Jonathan Banks (Mike, Breaking Bad) business. After a guest appearance on Parks and Recreation, the actor will be a regular on Community.

A quick break for the depressing stuff:

• Writer Elmore Leonard has passed away after suffering a stroke. I never read any of his books, but I love Justified, which is based on one of his characters. R.I.P.

• Lisa Robin Kelly, who played Topher Grace’s older sister Laurie on That 70s Show, died. She was 43.

• Oscar nominee Karen Black lost her battle with cancer.

• Lee Thompson Young, who appeared on Rizzoli & Isles, was found dead of an apparent suicide.

• The stuntman who parachuted into the Olympics as James Bond has also passed away.

OK – back to the more lighthearted links.

• Blog fave Dean Winters (Dennis the beeper king on 30 Rock) is headed to the new Andy Samberg comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

• Oprah gives away cars when she is just a guest on a show. Mental note – get in the audience when Oprah is on a talk show.

• Justin Timberlake has released the track list for The 20/20 Experience Part Two.

• A trailer for the new season of Homeland:

 

• Lindsay Lohan will appear on Eastbound and Down.

• Jay Leno’s last night on The Tonight Show will be February 6^th. Believe it when you see it, Jimmy.

• Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper on Mad Men) will star in Lifetime’s Flowers in the Attic movie. Hasn’t that poor girl been through enough?

• Mark your calendars: the third installment of Adam Scott’s The Greatest Event in Television History drops on November 7^th. Nothing is confirmed, but speculation is that they are doing the opening credits from Too Close for Comfort.

• Ha! Billy Ray Cyrus does look like fat Mac:

 

photo from Uproxx

• Steve Carell will play a murderer in the upcoming Foxcatcher.

• Wrap your head around this: Sir Mix-A-Lot is 50.

• The collected wisdom of Chris Rock.

• If at first you don’t succeed….HBO has ordered a pilot from David Milch.

• Prince is now on Twitter, which given his method of spelling seems like a natural fit.

• Also now on Twitter is the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. You know I gave him a follow!

• This a teen who died of cancer turned down the opportunity to find out the ending of Breaking Bad. The first episode of the final season was dedicated to his memory. I hope they have AMC is heaven.

• The creator of Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 is back at ABC with a new show. No hard feelings, I guess.

• Tumblrs of the week: Mad Rock (a Mad Men/30 Rock mashup), Hot-Dog Legs and, of course, the robot generated Scenes from The Wire.

• Smalls from The Sandlot was arrested for headbutting a cop.

• The Red Clay School District broke a Lego Guinness world record. Congrats!

• A pilot for a mermaid comedy from a Sex and the City writer has been ordered by (shocker) NBC.

• The full cast and plot of The Expendables 3 has been revealed.

• Whoa – it’s Walter, Jr. from Breaking Bad:

 

Photo from Uproxx

 

• KISS bought an arena football team.

• A tweet from Sons of Anarchy creator and showrunner Kurt Sutter makes me very nervous.

• Illustrations of quotes from Orange is the New Black. Are you watching???

• The chicken fight from Family Guy was never one of my favorites, but kudos to these two stunt women for the live action re-enactment:

 

• Tina Fey is back with a new comedy.

• There is a Freaks and Geeks themed party in Brooklyn this Friday. I wish I could go!

• Last night in Boston there was a gourmet pairing of food and Pulp Fiction. I think I need to move to a bigger city.

• Timothy Olyphant will guest star on The Mindy Project, which I guess means I have to start watching The Mindy Project.

• This new trailer for season 3 of Revenge has piqued my interest:

 

• Marg Helgenberger is returning to CSI.

• Alfred Hitchcock would have been 114 last week. Slate created some infographics in honor of the incredible director.

• The Real World is heading back to San Francisco. I can’t believe this show is still on.

• Yup – this makes TOTAL sense- the director of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter may direct a Ben-Hur reboot.

• Curious where the coordinates from this week’s Breaking Bad really lead? Here’s the clever answer.

• The following sentence is not a Mad Lib creation: Rapper Coolio is auctioning off his royalties to finance his culinary career.

• The new channel FXX, which will show new episodes of The League and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, launches September. Use this handy website to find out if FXX is available on your cable system (Phew- it is for me!). The network is off to a promising start with a Parks and Recreation marathon.

• This slowed down version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is pretty cool:

 

• John Cena will be absent from the WWE for 4-6 months.

• Aaron Paul did a reddit AMA.

• Kanye will appear on Kris Jenner’s talk show.

• Someone on reddit has applied the rules of Zombieland to The Walking Dead.

• The house from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is for sale.

• Uproxx looks at fan favorite TV characters who started as extras. Gonzo was an extra?

• CBS is looking for “a male frat bro to do a keg stand” for their show Reckless. I might know some people.

• The great Dick Van Dyke thankfully escaped unscathed when his car burst into flames. That man is a national treasure.

• Game of Thrones has re-cast Tommen Baratheon.

• This Avril Lavigne music video is a little nuts:

 

• A film about killer squirrels? I am SO IN.

• The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro has offered to fully fund Woody Allen’s next film if he’ll make it in his city.

• As a big Double Dare fan back in the day, I had to check out this interview with former host Marc Summers.

• The White House Twitter account made a Mean Girls reference:

• Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty surprised a couple on their wedding day.

• My birthday is a month from today and I would sure like it if someone bought me this Breaking Bad Lego set.

• A short story by Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy) will soon be published.

• The lead singer of The Calling was kidnapped and beaten.

• Another pop culture roundup, another American Horror Story: Coven teaser:

 

• Demi Lovato will appear on Glee.

• Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad) will appear on HBO’s adaptation of Olive Kitteridge. Let’s hope this goes better than The Corrections.

• Seinfeld movie posters.

• The cast of Pitch Perfect is making a holiday album.

• Lauren Bacall will appear on an episode of Family Guy.

• Mark Wahlberg is down to take over Iron Man (hypothetically).

• Conan imagines Jack McBrayer as the newest drug kingpin on Breaking Bad.

• I’m surprised it took so long; watch a guy crowd surfs in order to “Come on Down” On The Price is Right:

 

• Bradley Cooper may star in a Lance Armstrong movie.

• Nick Swisher’s wife  Joanna Garcia Swisher (aka the other woman) will appear on Once Upon a Time as The Little Mermaid

• Lady Gaga and Perez Hilton are in a Twitter feud.

• Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones) adopted her direwolf.

• Benedict Cumberbatch had a message for the papzrazzi trying to get spoilers on Sherlock:

 

Getty Image

• Robin Thicke is suing Marvin Gaye’s family over “Blurred Lines.”

• The Heart, She Holler, starring Patton Oswalt, will be back for a second season on Adult Swim. It’s a rally weird show, but I kind of dug it.

• In this trailer for Fading Gigolo, watch Woody Allen act as a pimp for John Turturro. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.

 

• A Ron Burgundy autobiography will hit the shelves in November.

• Lifetime has renewed Devious Maids.

• I’ve always like Donal Logue, so I’m not surprised he helped a stranger propose. P.S. Terriers is now streaming on Netflix – do yourself a favor and watch this late great series.

• What if Breaking Bad took place entirely on Facebook?

• J.J. Abrams released a mysterious trailer on Monday.

Turns out it was for a book.

• Patton Oswalt and Bob Odenkirk have joined the cast of Kitchen Sink, which already had a pretty cool cast.

• Listen to the Breaking Bad theme played on meth lab equipment:

 

• Based on their success with the great webseries Burning Love, Yahoo is launching five new series.

• The Weinstein Company has signed an exclusive streaming deal with Netflix.

• Britney Spears has posted a mysterious countdown clock on her website.

• The Hillary Clinton miniseries may never go into production after Republicans threw a big hissy fit.

As always, we end with the mashups and supercuts

• Mean Girls mashed up with Book of Mormon

 

• Here are some super cuts of movie clichés. First up “You just don’t get it, do you?”

 

• Phone numbers that start with 555:

 

• Superheroes introducing themselves:

 

• Vulture put together a supercut of all of John Oliver’s explanations for Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show absence.

• Nerdist put together a Breaking Bad/Saved by the Bell mashup:

Dustin Diamond was available? I’m shocked.

• Behind Elysium (A Behind the Candelabra/Elysium mashup)

 

• The opening of Adventure Time done in Legos:

 

• Charlie Brown meets Smiths lyrics.

 

Another installment of a Seinfeld/Game of Thrones mashup:

 

• An 80s style sitcom spinoff for Jesse Pinkman.

• Ha! Thor meets Arrested Development in Thorested Development:

 

• A Fat Albert remix of “Blurred Lines”

• Breaking Bad recut as a romantic comedy:

 

• President Obama “sings” Demi Lavato:

 

• Listen to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in the style of other divas:

 

• TV superdad Sandy Cohen gives relationship advice.

• We Are Never Ever Gonna Cook Together (Taylor Swift/Breaking Bad parody)

 

• And finally – Walter White “sings” “My Way”