Your (Heart-Shaped) popWire for July 10, 2009 (Updated for Macca!)

By popGeezer | July 10, 2009
This entry is part 32 of 43 in the series This Week In Pop-Culture History

 

Here’s hoping that we are out of the two-week long ”bad news cycle” that we’ve been mired in.  If so, then now is a great time for the silly, silly world of useless news on the popWire!!

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1. McCartney – “Late Show” – Wednesday July 15th

Returning to the historic Ed Sullivan Theater for his first network TV broadcast since February 9, 1964, when 74 million Americans were swept up in Beatlemania, Sir Paul will visit Lord Letterman for his very first “Late Show” appearance.  Sweet freakin’ jebus, Conan’s gonna get slammed that night.

2. HBO & the BBC’s co-production, “The Special Relationship“, is a TV-movie about the bromance between Tony Blair and Bill “Bubba” Clinton.  It’s written by Peter Morgan, who wrote “The Queen”, “The Deal” and “Frost/Nixon”.  So, of course, Michael Sheen will return as Blair.  Dennis Quaid is on board to play Bill.  Julianne Moore just dropped out of the project, and she was to have played Hilary.  Moore’s scheduling conflict allowed reality to set in where Secretary of State Clinton is concerned.  The very talented, but more visibly “accessible”, Hope Davis will now play Hil.

3. Robert Plant is now a Commander of the British Empire (CBE).  Let that sink in…  Robert Plant is a CB-frickin’-E.  Have you ever read Hammer of the Gods?  We’re all very old now, and I still love them bad, bad boys.

4. The long-running lawsuit between the heirs of “Superman” co-creator Jerome Siegel and DC/Warner Brothers got a heck of ruling this week.  The family, co-holders of the Superman copyright since a 2008 ruling, is only entitled to seek cash from DC’s part of the “Superman Returns” money, and not a chunk of the entire WB take.  Also, if Warner does not put a new Supes film into production by 2011, the family can seek damages.

5. Relativity Films and SNL Studios are putting a “MacGruber” film into production.  The SNL character and recent Pepsi pitchman, played and created by Will Forte, will share the big screen with sketch co-star Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe and (allegedly) Val Kilmer, in a “Rambo” meets “Apocalypse Now” action send-up.

6. In other news that puts money in Lorne Michaels‘ pocket, “30 Rock” syndicated repeats are coming to Comedy Central in 2011.

7. “Leverage” returns to TNT on Wednesday, July 15th for its second season.  Look at Beth, at the left, and spike my traffic!!  Thank you.

8. “Moneyball“ is getting another at-bat over at Sony Pictures.  The film adaptation of the non-fiction book about Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane was put into turnaround the night before shooting was to begin in June, but now Aaron Sorkin has been summoned from the bullpen to “close” a new draft of the script.  Starting director-producer Steven Soderbergh’s been sent to the showers, with no new director attached yet.  But original slugger Brad Pitt is still committed to the project.  Play Ball!

9. They’re down to the wire for casting the lead in Warner’s big-screen version of DC’s “Green Lantern“.  The trio in the hunt for the role of Hal Jordan, hard-living devil-may-care test pilot turned intergalactic super-cop, includes Ryan Reynolds (perfect), Bradley Cooper (toolish, but acceptable) and Justin Timberlake (?!?!?!?!?!?).  “Don’t be sad, ’cause two out of three ain’t bad.”

10. Did King of Pop Michael Jackson martyr himself to save the compact disc??  In the two weeks following MJ’s death, he’s sold over 1.2 million physical units of music.  It’s an unprecedented event, one of many related to his death.  And no more event is stranger than the announcement that a Chinese developer will build a small-scale replica of Neverland on an island near Shanghai.

11. The rumors are true, Wolverine Vs. James Bond is coming to Broadway!!  Sort of.  The play “A Steady Rain” begins previews September 10th, for a late September opening, and it stars Tony-winner Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig – in his New York debut.

12. And since you’re now visualizing naughty things anyway… here’s Bruno plugging his new movie, opening today, on “Dave” last night:

13. popGeezer.com officially endorses Television Without Pity’s TUBEYs as its preferred web-based faux-Emmy competition for the 2008-09 TV season.  It’s looking highly likely they’ll not be any 2009 CooPop’s, or another pG.com based big competition.  But, it is possible that we’ll use the Emmy season as an excuse to run a TV-centric new round of popGeezer Hall of Fame voting.  Watch the skies for details!

14. In December of 2008, the annual “Blacklist” of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood included a dramedy called “The Beaver“.  It’s the story of a man so shattered by the death of his wife, he becomes emotionally attached to a beaver puppet he wears on his hand.  At one point, director Jay Roach and star Steve Carell were in the mix.  Now, Jodie Foster has signed onto direct, and co-star as the ill-fated spouse, and her one-time “Maverick” co-star Mel Gibson will take the lead.  [Insert your Gibson/Beaver joke here.]

15. The BBC has not set a specific date bas of yet, but it has announced the next Doctor Who special – “The Waters of Mars” – will air this fall. 

16.  In more sci-fi TV news, ABC has announced the premier date for “Defying Gravity“, Sunday August 2nd, and the show will then air on Sundays at 10/9 central.  Thirteen episodes of the show – a massive co-production of the BBC, FOX, the CTV’s “Space” channel, and more.  The series, starring Ron Livingston (“Sex & The City”) and Laura Harris (“24″, “Dead Like Me”), has an… interesting premise.  It’s the story of a multi-national mission into deep space of our solar system, where the crew are monitored by both Mission Control and an international TV audience.  Yes, this sounds an awful lot like FOX’s own failed pilot for “Virtuality”.  This show, based on a 2004 BBC faux “documentary” of such a mission, may be slightly less high-concept than “Virtuality”, but it does have a big pre-sold global TV market, so odds are ABC may stick with airing all thirteen hours.

17. For those readers who’re familiar with your popGeezer’s ancestral origins, then you’ll enjoy this little “flashback” to the future!  Our hometown’s twenty-eight year dormant free-form FM power station, WZZQ, may be about to rise like an online phoenix.  Click over to zzq102.com to learn more. 

 18. Yes, Quentin Tarantino has re-cut his WWII Nazi-killing romp, Inglourious Basterds, following its decent reception at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  And despite the excising and inserting of several sequences, the final film will actually be one minute longer than the Cannes version when it hits theaters on August 21st.

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19. And finally…  Shoots hoops?  Check.  Sneaks a smoke?  Check.  Digs “Entourage”?  Check.  Scopes out the heart-shaped honeys?  Double check.  Who’s manly enough to hang with the G8’s now, bro?  Barry-O in the house, y’all!!!

[plus, doesn't Sarkosy look like a proud poppa, or at least an approving Senior frat brother?]

 

 
 
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One Response to “Your (Heart-Shaped) popWire for July 10, 2009 (Updated for Macca!)”

  1. popGeezer Says:
    July 11th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    Warner decided. It’s Reynolds. Good call, WB.

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