The flameout of "Jezebel James"

Even if the end was inevitable - because the show was in many ways just bloody awful - this is still an awfully harsh fall from grace for the creator of the often sublime "Gilmore Girls."

After airing only three episodes (over just two weeks) of the only seven episodes ordered, Fox has indeed already pulled the plug on Amy Sherman-Palladino's new show, "The Return of Jezebel James." To give credit where it's squarely due, this news was broken by TV-obsessed Michael Ausiello here.

There were a number of factors going against this show from the outset, but though it pains me to say it, the biggest problem was easily Parker Posey. It wasn't that she's not Lauren Graham - because there can of course only be one of those rather perfect human specimens - but a whole other problem.

Posey could keep up with ASP's rapid-fire dialogue, which hasn't seemed to slow down much at all, but in order to do so she had to adapt the mannerisms of a meth addict, which along with being thoroughly annoying just didn't gel too well with her New York book publisher persona. Lauren Ambrose fared better by playing it a little more cool, but still ended up often looking nothing but awkward.

The second big killer was that laugh track, which is easily the worst I've heard in many years (though I don't watch many sitcoms.) Why do networks still use this? It never sounds real, and when it's turned up very loud in all the wrong places - as on "Jezebel James" - it just points out how unfunny the show really is.

If I can digress a bit, it was great to see Sarah Chalke on "How I Met Your Mother" - another show that should just dump its laugh track - last night. Britney was, as I guess should have been expected, just pretty darn awful, but Chalke was just as charming as she's always been on "Scrubs." Could she be the secret "Mother" in this puzzle? Probably not, but that would indeed be pretty friggin cool if so.

But, getting back to "Jezebel James," the real shame here is that buried beneath all its obvious faults was the foundation for a pretty good show. The relationship between these two sisters with almost entirely different views of the world could well have developed into something very interesting, but for once at least I can't blame Fox: The gap between potential and payoff was just too wide with this one. R.I.P. Jezebel James.

The "Cadillac" of movie casts?

I've recently added Blackfilm.com to my morning reading list (in place of the froggy site Cinempire.com, which has just fallen off precipitously of late), and it's definitely a welcome addition.

As might be expected, they tend to track the minute details of movies that others pay little attention to, as they're doing with the rather fun-sounding "Cadillac Records," which is quickly attracting quite an A-list cast.

The newest addition is Gabrielle Union, who I'll admit to being smitten with ever since "Bring It On." She'll play Geneva Wade, the girlfriend and later wife of Muddy Waters, being played by the great Jeffrey Wright.

Written and directed by first-time feature (but long-time TV) director Darnell Martin, the story is about Leonard Chess, the legendary founder of the South Side Chicago blues label Chess Records, who will be played by Adrian Brody. Also confirmed for the biopic are Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon, Beyonce Knowles (heard of her?) as Etta James, Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, Columbus Short as Little Walter and, easily one of my favorite actors working today, Mos Def as Chuck Berry.

Mos Def as Chuck Berry? It just doesn't get much cooler than that, so definitely keep your eyes on this one. Peace out.

Sam Raimi visiting the "Monster Zoo"

Even if he has been rejected by Ellen Page, Sam Raimi still seems to be having a boatload of fun since unshackling himself from the "Spider-Man" ship.

After directing the Universal thriller "Drag Me to Hell," which he's co-writing with brother Sam (and which Page pulled out of, to be replaced by Alison Lohman), he'll next take the producing reins of (and maybe direct, who knows) a crazy creation called "Monster Zoo," an upcoming graphic novel by Douglas TenNapel.

Now, one of the many problems with having to work for a living is that I don't get to sit around and read comic books all day, so I must confess I wasn't familiar with that name before reading the report this morning. I've included, however, courtesy of Amazon.com, the cover of "Monster Zoo."

So, what is "Monster Zoo" about? Well, thankfully, the title pretty much says it all: It's the story of a young boy who discovers his local zoo contains critters much more frightening than the ordinary collection. The tale is apparently set in motion when an ancient idol is unearthed and transported to the zoo, where its spirit awakens and starts to mutate the caged animals (of course.)

This just all sounds like tons of fun to me, and here's what the creator himself, Mr. TenNapel, had to say about it in getting geeked up on his own blog:

Raimi’s movie A Simple Plan is among my favorite all-time films. It’s nice to be in business with people who love telling stories…about creatures, comics and underdogs. Amen, brother.

Amy Sherman-Palladino is - finally - back!

A hearty huzzah to always-welcome reader Jeremy, who clued me in to the fact that Amy Sherman-Palladino's new series, "The Return of Jezebel James," will finally hit the airwaves this Friday night at 8 on Fox (with two back-to-back episodes, no less.)

Now, it's been a while since I've talked about it, but I've made no secret of my love for ASP'S "Gilmore Girls." For six years or so (not counting the last, rather disastrous season), it was just about the funniest and smartest thing on TV, and packed with beautiful women to boot, so why not tune in week after week?

Thankfully, though a half-hour comedy (probably saddled with a laugh track, sheesh), "Jezebel James" seems to mine many of the same issues, and it's headed by two veritable babes as well, if I may be so blunt.

Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose lead the cast as two estranged sisters. In the pilot episode (of which I've included a short YouTube preview below), Posey asks Ambrose's character to move in with her and, rather more importantly, I'd think, carry and have a child for her. "Gilmore Girls" fans should note that Scott Cohen, a k a Lorelai Gilmore's paramour Max Medina, will also be a "Jezebel" regular.

In a preview at the great Gilmore Girls News site, doubts were raised about whether or not Posey can keep up with ASP's signature quick and (hopefully still) witty dialogue, but I'm hoping they're wrong. Definitely tune in to find out (or if, like me, you have to work on Friday nights or - even better - actually go out on the town, set your TIVO/DVR.)



Mitchell Hurwitz's coming back too!

I suppose this means that any movement toward an "Arrested Development" movie is, for now at least, on hold, but let's just focus on the positive for the moment.

The good news is that the "AD" creator is coming back to Fox with an animated adaptation of the short-lived Aussie comedy series "Sit Down, Shut Up." Though I've never heard of it, it apparently revolves around the lives of seven staff members of a dysfunctional high school in a small northeastern fishing town (sounds like perfect Hurwitz territory already.)

I'm a little skeptical about the animated thing, but it's certainly what Fox thrives on, so here's hoping that Hurwitz can come up with a winner if and when this finally comes to fruition (and that, of course, all hope is not lost for an "Arrested Development" movie somewhere down the line!)

Fun with posters ... and a trailer

OK, I'm bringing it back to movies now. Though these two posters are, I suppose, both somewhat related to kung fu, they really couldn't be much more different. My impressions: The one for the Jackie Chan/Jet Li flick "Forbidden Kingdom" looks a little bit queer (not that there's anything wrong with that, of course), and the tagline for Jody Hill's "Foot Fist Way" is enough to reinforce my belief that the flick, coming in June, will be a real sleeper hit this summer. Enjoy!



And, lastly, here's the final trailer for Pixar's next summer offering, "Wall-E," also scheduled to hit in June. Unlike what we've seen thus far, this clip offers a look at the second half of the flick, after our hero has left his cleanup job on Earth. I'm still more than a little skeptical that a flick with little to no discernible dialogue will be much of a hit with the tykes, but it looks simply beautiful, so here's hoping I'm wrong. Peace out.

There will be blood - on an epic scale

Paul Thomas Anderson is a truly maddening filmmaker to me.

He's managed to make two of my favorite flicks in "Boogie Nights" and "Hard Eight," but also two other that just drive me crazy. I still have no idea what he was going for with "Magnolia," even though I forced myself to watch it a second time to see if there was somehow something I missed (there wasn't.) And "Punch Drunk Love," despite the best efforts of Adam Sandler and Emily Watson, was only intermittenly charming at best.

But what all his movies have, whether you like them or not, is passion. He clearly throws himself into his projects completely, which means it can often take a short lifetime for him to make a movie (it's been five years since his last, "Punch Drunk Love.") Now, however, he finally seems to have found a subject epic enough to fit his talents and an actor who similarly gives everything he has to each performance.

Due early in 2008, "There Will Be Blood" is based on the Upton Sinclair novel "Oil," which I will be reading before this comes out. Set in the booming West coast oil fields at the turn of the 20th century, it will star Daniel Day Lewis as rugged prospector Daniel Plainview, who becomes an independent oilman after hitting it rich with the strike of a lifetime. I hope this plays wide enough for me to see it, or is playing in some kind of limited run when I hit NYC for my family's annual trip at year's end, because this just looks like the perfect melding of subject, director/writer and actor. Here's the poster and a glimpse of what's to come with the trailer (I concede that this may be months old to some of you, but it's new to me, so here goes):



More "Jackass"? Yes, please

Surely there have been greater crimes of omission than teasing us with Don DeVito getting his tooth pulled by a truck in the trailer for "Jackass Number Two" and then not including it anywhere in the movie or DVD, but that was one that really grated my cheese. Now, however, it seems that lovers of that and all other kinds of jackassery will soon get more.

According to the great /film blog, Johnny Knoxville and the boys are filming new scenes to add to the 40 minutes or so of leftover footage from "Number Two" to make a "Jackass 2.5" in time for a straight-to-DVD Christmas release. And yes, they promise the infamous tooth pull will indeed be included.

Wiest joins the 'Jezebel'

I can't think of a midseason replacement show I've tuned in to since, well, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but "The Return of Jezebel James" is one I'll definitely give more than one chance.

After all, it's the new series from "Gilmore Girls" creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and hubby Daniel Palladino. This time they've cooked up a half-hour sitcom for Fox about two estranged sisters (Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose), one of whom (I'm not sure which) just happens to be carrying the other's baby. Now comes word that the always very likable Dianne Wiest will be joining the cast in a recurring role as their mother. Extremely girly, yes, but it will hopefully also be thoroughly entertaining.

A golden opportunity from the Film Guild

The Macon Film Guild has been bringing arthouse flicks to the big screen here in Macon for years now, but they've really hit a high point with their next two screenings.

It starts this weekend with "The Lives of Others," which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. I was all set to rent this on DVD to see how it could have possibly beat out my favorite movie of 2006, "Pan's Labyrinth," when I got the guild postcard and decided to hold out.

The movie, as far as I can tell, is about a Stasi agent (the late Ulrich Muhe) who is charged with spying on the private lives of German citizens until he finds out some unseemly truths about the people he's spying for and has second thoughts. I'm surely not doing it justice, so come out and see for yourself at the Douglass Theatre. Screenings will be at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Hopefully I'll see you there at the first show.

Coming next month will be "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," Ken Loach's IRA movie starring Cillian Murphy (not Ciaran Hinds, as I posted earler before being corrected by always-welcome reader Carrie Lofty.) It won the Palme D'Or at Cannes, and like all of Loach's movies, will certainly be a very entertaining piece of agitprop. Mark your calendar for screenings on the second Sunday of October. Peace out.