Hooray – it’s almost Thanksgiving, though honestly I am more excited about the 4 day weekend than the actual holiday. I’ve been running around way too much in the last week and I really just need a few days to relax and get myself back on track. I’m looking forward to just sleeping in and taking it easy and watching a shameful number of movies. I’ll enjoy the turkey dinner and the moment to reflect on all that I’m thankful for (which is a lot), but I’m really ready for some R&R. The last two weeks have kicked my butt.
Before you head off to spend some time with your loved ones and eat some stuffing, get yourself up to speed on the world of pop culture with your biweekly pop culture roundup. It’s on the long side this week, so there’s plenty to keep you occupied over the long weekend. Plus you never know when you’ll have to make small talk with a relative and there is a little bit of something for everyone in this roundup. So pour over this collection of links before the tryptophan kicks in.
- GQ has a great interview with Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad.
- Someone indexed every death in the Game of Thrones books (so far):
- Whew – Paramount will block the proposed It’s a Wonderful Life sequel. There is a God
- NOOOOOO!!!!!!!! They are remaking Road House. It has better include the line “I used to f*ck guys like you in prison” or it will be complete sacrilege.
This week in Ron Burgundy news:
- Great news – Paramount has moved up the release date for the film by two days.
- Will Ferrell will host the 6pm episode of SportsCenter on ESPN December 6th – in character.
- The Channel 4 gang sang “Afternoon Delight” at the Australian premiere:
- 12 fun facts from a visit to the Anchorman 2 edit bay.
- Hot Topic is turning Black Friday into Burgundy Friday.
- I’m actually super bummed that I won’t see this – Burgundy will call a pro curling event in Winnipeg.
- Emerson University renamed their communication school after Burgundy – for one day.
- Burgundy took over Conan last week and sang a campaign song for Toronto Mayor and crack enthusiast Rob Ford:
- Ron Burgundy tries to understand Doctor Who.
- There was a live reading of the original Anchorman to raise money for charity.
- Baxter got his own movie poster:
- I wrote earlier this week about an unexpected death on Family Guy; fans didn’t take the development well and 40,000 of them have signed a petition demanding the character be brought back.
- The new Britney Spears album is streaming on iTunes.
- This article looks at how Friends decided to pair off Monica and Chandler.
- The Mindy Project is going on hiatus due to low ratings. Other shakeups at FOX – Dads has been removed from the schedule despite receiving a full season order and Brooklyn Nine-Nine is moving to 9:30 (in The Mindy Project’s old slot).
- The Monty Python reunion show sold out in 43 seconds. The gang is now doing 5 shows instead of just one.
- The actor that plays King Joffrey says he’s retiring from acting once he’s done on Game of Thrones.
- Bruce Springsteen is releasing a new album in January 2014. Happy day!
- EW looks at 12 big changes made in the film adaptation of Catching Fire.
- The forthcoming The Walking Dead spinoff may be a prequel.
- Netflix is bringing back The Killing for one more season. This show has nine lives!
- FXX has struck a deal that will allow episodes of The Simpsons from the first 24 seasons to be streamed on-line.
- This isn’t a pairing I would have come up with: Oprah and Diablo Cody are working on a new HBO comedy.
- This one is for my mom: FOX Japan is going to air the first 10 season of NCIS non-stop and in order over 10 days.
- Stevie Nicks is apparently having a good time over on American Horror Story: Coven since she is sticking around for another week.
- Sadly, Jessica Lange will be leaving the series after next season.
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland will go on hiatus.
- Jeopardy! recently poked some fun at the Houston Astros’ terrible season in one of their answers.
- Chris Hemsworth and his wife are expecting baby number 2.
- Kelly Clarkson is pregnant.
- James Franco and Seth Rogan did a parody of Kanye’s video for “Bound 2”:
Surprisingly, Kim and Kanye (neither known for their killer sense of humor) apparently found it funny.
- The Hollywood Reporter did a lengthy eye-opening feature on the treatment of animals in Hollywood.
- George Takei is now in the fragrance game.
- The Heat may not be getting a sequel, but two minor characters will get a spinoff.
- Sigh…..CBS is going forward with How I Met Your Dad. That horse is dead – stop beating it.
- Winona Ryder indicated Beetlejuice 2 might happen.
- Anjelica Houston wants to be on Downton Abbey.
- Lauren Hill will perform her first show since being released from prison.
- Orphan Black returns in the US on April 19th.
- FX has picked up The Strain for series.
- Arcade Fire is asking their fans to dress up for their new tour.
- Chris Brown has been sent to rehab.
- Outkast may reunite at Coachella this summer.
- Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are starring in a new special on E!
- Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA taught a class at the University of Toronto.
- Scarlett Johannsson’s voice work in the upcoming Spike Jonze film Her cannot be considered for a Golden Globe.
- An Underground Railroad miniseries is coming to FX.
- In a Q&A with Chef Mario Batali, he revealed that he ordered 200 pairs of orange Crocs when he heard that they were retiring his signature footwear.
- The person behind the Seinfeld 2000 Twitter account made a music video for Arcade Fire’s song “Here Comes the Night Time.”
- AMC has ordered two new drama pilots.
- The Purge 2 will be released June 2014.
- Zach Braff may have pulled off the greatest photobomb of all time:
- A Star Wars burlesque show now exists.
- Sutton Foster and Amy Sherman-Palladino are reuniting for a Broadway show. (R.I.P. Bunheads)
- Once Upon a Time has cast an actor from Covert Affairs for a guest role.
- Watch Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul read the Breaking Bad finale for the first time (spoilers if you aren’t current):
- Wilmer Valderrama has joined the cast of the From Dusk Till Dawn TV show.
- Dave Chappelle sat down for a rare interview with a local news station in Minneapolis.
- You can watch the pilots of HBO’s new comedies Ja’mie: Private School Girl and Getting On online.
- A&E has officially renewed Longmire for a third season, which makes me happy.
- You can explore Middle Earth in Google Maps.
- For those of you that can’t get enough of Jennifer Lawrence (and who can?), here’s a photo of her in junior high.
- Mad Max: Fury Road will be released in 2015.
- Adam Brody (The O.C.) and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) are engaged.
- I wish this is had happened when I was just there – a kid dressed up like Harry Potter and tried to find the Hogwarts Express in Penn Station.
- Wait….George Brett had something to do with Lorde’s hit song “Royals?”
- Batkid is back on the case, this time rescuing Pitbull from the Joker on Good Morning America.
- Tori Amos is releasing a new album and going out on tour in 2014.
- U2 has released a new song for the movie Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
- Kanye West may have another album by next summer.
- Something to buy your favorite Game of Thrones fan for the holidays: A Dragon Egg Cookie Jar.
- Well here’s a headline you don’t see every day: “Photo of Rick Springfield’s Buttocks Shown to Jury, Which Start Deliberating Today in Injury Lawsuit.”
- I’m not a Doctor Who fan, but the series was honored with a Google Doodle last week in honor of its fiftieth anniversary.
- The Doctor Who 50th anniversary special drew 10 million viewers in the UK. The special also had plenty of Easter eggs for the die-hard fans.
- USA network has cancelled Necessary Roughness.
- More Doctor Who: The BBC created an interactive map that allows fans to explore the time travel adventures of all 11 Doctors.
- The surviving members of the Beastie Boys penned an open letter explain their dispute with toymaker GoldieBlox. Their song “Girls” has since been pulled from the commercial.
- Willie Nelson’s tour has been put on hold after a bus accident involving his band.
- James Franco and Chris O’Dowd are on their way to Broadway.
- Wiz Khalifa and Adele are collaborating? Interesting.
- According to this graphic, many Sesame Street character have mental disorders.
- Once Upon a Time co-stars Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas are expecting a baby.
- Jon Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift and Prince William performed “Livin’ on a Prayer” at a gala.
- Anna Gunn and Jacki Weaver will appear in the U.S. adaptation of Broadchurch.
- You can now watch a short film, Aningaaq, which sheds light on the other side of Sandra Bullock’s call in Gravity.
- I like The Vampire Diaries, but all the relationships can be confusing. TV Guide has a relationship roadmap for the show to help keep everything straight.
- Watch Robert DeNiro’s audition for the role of Sonny in The Godfather:
- Empire has a Q&A with George R.R. Martin, who should spend less time giving interviews and more time finishing the damn book series.
- Well….that was short lived – MSNBC fired Alec Baldwin.
- Lifetime has renewed Witches of East End.
- Comedy Central has picked up @midnight for 40 more weeks.
- The Friday the 13th franchise will release a new film in 2015. True story – though I am a horror fan, I’ve never seen any of these movies.
- Kevin Spacey gave Woody Allen a Netflix subscription.
- Pitbull and Ke$ha co-star in a new music video:
- Sadly, Angelina Jolie did not buy Brad Pitt a heart shaped island for his 50th birthday.
- Tumblrs of the week: Upworthy: Springfield and Histagrams
- The Broadway musical Matilda is headed to the big screen.
- Patton Oswalt’s new comedy special will air in January on Epix.
- Javier Bardem offered Blackbeard role in Peter Pan origin movie.
- This is fantastic – a guy live tweeted a couple breaking up.
- Jennifer Love Hewitt got married and gave birth to a baby girl.
- Journey guitarist Neil Schon and White House crasher Michaele Salahi are getting married on pay-per-view. Don’t be giving Kimye ideas.
- Vulture has a roundup of all of Ruxin’s putdowns on The League.
- Frankie Munitz has suffered a second mini-stroke. The actor is 27 years old.
- Michael Chiklis is developing a TV show based on his comic book Pantheon. Show of hands – who knew Chiklis had a comic book? Me neither.
- I’m not one to tell people how to spend their money, but $27,000 for a Magic: The Gathering card seems like a bad investment.
- A J.R.R. Tolkien biopic is in development.
- Jimmy Fallon will host SNL in December with musical guest Justin Timberlake (shocker!)
- SyFy has bought the horror project The Woods from the co-creator of Chuck.
- Mad Men has a Christmas album, available only at Target.
- Flavorwire interviews Joel Hodgson on 25 years of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are developing the DC Comic’s Sleeper.
- Baz Luhrmann may direct a Napoleon miniseries for HBO.
- The A.V. Club looks at what it is like to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser.
Trailers:
- Every new trailer for HBO’s True Detective makes me more and more excited for this show:
- A teaser for the new Chicago Fire spin-off, Chicago PD:
- Sherlock Season 3:
- The obviously NSFW trailer has arrived from Lars von Trier’s upcoming film Nymphomaniac
- Season 3 trailer for HBO’s Girls:
- A trailer for Devil’s Knot – yet another film about the West Memphis Three:
- Another trailer for one of the movies I am most looking forward to this winter, American Hustle:
- Kellen Lutz stars in Hercules: The Legend Begins:
- A new trailer for Muppets Most Wanted:
- Wait….we’re getting another A Haunted House movie? Who asked for this?
- Norman Reedus (Daryl, The Walking Dead) will have a supporting role in The Crow reboot.
- ABC Family has released its 25 Days of Christmas schedule.
- An actor from Smash will be making a guest appearance on The Good Wife.
- Rolling Stone has a list of 50 things Millennials have never heard of.
- HBO is developing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon for series.
- Cary Elwes is writing a Princess Bride memoir. I’ll be reserving my copy ASAP.
- Some deleted scenes from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption:
- I always knew It’s Sunny in Philadelphia was ahead of its time. Does this mean kitten mittens are next?
- Whoa – Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle album was released 20 years ago. I am feeling old.
- The Wolverine sequel will be based on an existing comic book plotline.
- Mia Waskiowska and Johnny Depp are both returning for Alice in Wonderland 2.
- Sundance Channel may adapt A Visit From the Goon Squad.
- Aaron Paul has joined the cast of Fathers and Daughters (also starring Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried).
- Kevin Bacon’s daughter is Miss Golden Globes 2014.
- Clint Eastwood’s daughter married Jonah Hill’s brother and immediately wants an annulment.
- Boogie Nights almost went directly to video.
As always, we end with the mashups and supercuts:
- Mad Men without the smoking:
- Reaping Ball – a Hunger Games/Miley Cryrus mashup:
- The Wolf of Bedford Falls (It’s a Wonderful Life re-cut to look like The Wolf of Wall Street):
- A Rob Ford/New Jack City remix:
- A Rob Ford/Chris Farley mashup (Farley would have been amazing playing Ford on SNL):
- Team Coco put together a supercut of season 3 of Conan:
- The Sesame Street gang did a Hunger Games parody:
- And finally……a Dawson’s Creek/The Walking Dead mashup, Governor’s Creek:
The blog is probably going to take a few days off for the holidays, unless I just can’t help myself. Best wishes for a very happy Thanksgiving and Hanukkah!!!!