The Point – May 18th, 2009
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Transcript
Hello, it's Mike Raub. Welcome to The Point where all parts of pop culture come together. Well, this is a day where your favorite TV shows fates are decided and, wow, late? The Governor called. Somebody wake up Joss Whedon and Chuck, hurry!
Meanwhile there's Singing, Dancing and Something Green on Broadway and an eighth trick. It's Monday, May 18th, 2009 and we get to The Point right now. This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. It was the summer of 1984 and buried at the bottom of your movie listings with a little something called The Toxic Avenger.
Chances are maybe even in the area where you were it didn't even show up in any theaters. Probably the larger cities got to see this, but only for a few days in the movie disappeared into obscurity. At least for a little while. Late the next year, 1985, Toxic Avenger was revived as a late midnight movie engagement
at the famed Bleaker Street Cinemas in New York City. From there the popularity grew and, well, there was no stopping The Toxic Avenger. Well, first of all, The Toxic Avenger movies have been around for 20 years and The Toxic Avenger is the only movie with a young boy's head getting squashed by the wheel of an automobile that was made into a children's environmentally correct Saturday morning cartoon show called
The Toxic Crusaders. And I grew up on Broadway musicals. That's all I did is, you know, being a gay married man, I've wept through many Judy Garland CD or Barbara Streisand CD. That's Lloyd Kaufman, the man behind Troma Video and the brain behind The Toxic Avenger.
Right now, Toxie is enjoying another revival, this time a full-blown Broadway musical. But that's not the first time he's been on stage. Actually, some fans came to us and wanted to make Toxic Avenger the musical. And I let them do it for free. I gave him a free license in Portland, Oregon.
And then I think they did OK. And then another group came and did a Toxic Avenger musical in Omaha. And then that one actually made some money and the producers of this show got wind of it. And they, these are big shots.
They did Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and obviously Bon Jovi and Joe Joe's won every award you can win on Broadway and off Broadway. And John Rando is so these very, you know, creative and big time producers then got wind of it. So that's kind of how it got going.
The road to getting Toxic Avenger on Broadway was an unusual one and one that gave Lloyd an appreciation for piracy, believe it or not. In a way, it was through sort of just letting people have a free license, not charging for everything and almost like letting. And I'm not as against piracy as most people.
I mean, I'm against it when it's just greed. But to some extent, being an independent filmmaker, piracy helps us get our movie out. It's like free advertising. And in the case of Toxic Avenger in Portland and Omaha, and I think there was another Toxic Avenger musical like or maybe it was the same one from Omaha.
But that, you know, that if nothing else, it helped keep Toxie in the public mind. So why why these guys had no money. So why charge it? Now we have a really talented group who are doing it and we're all going to make money. So how cool is that?
Later on more with the people bringing Toxic Avenger to the Broadway stage and who knows, maybe even to a stage near you. It's Monday, May 18th, 2009. Here's what we're talking about in pop culture this week. I'm not even sure the most faithful really believe this was going to happen, but it's
true. It looks like Dollhouse has been renewed for a second season by Fox. This according to a report over the weekend for the Hollywood Reporter, the sources say that there'll be a 13 episode order going to Joss Whedon for a second season of Dollhouse. Now while Dollhouse finished with fairly low ratings, a 1.0, they say, in the valuable
18 to 49 age demographic. It does great success in streaming online and a DVR recording. Of course, both those done with massive campaigns from Dollhouse fans right here online. And there's other good news as well to start out your week. It looks like Chuck has been renewed from NBC.
There's a limited number of episodes and some budget considerations for next season, but hey, it's going to be back on the network. So that's a good thing. A lot of other announcements are coming fast and furious. Some of the ones who've gone by the wayside looks like the unusuals is canceled for maybe
ABC. Scrubs is back for at least six episodes, mostly with the original cast, Zach Braff, Sarah Chalk. Everybody said they'll be back for those six episodes to help transition into what might be a different sort of Scrubs series involving the interns and other characters.
And that would debut sometime in 2010. In the meantime, other casualties? Well, Cupid has gone from ABC. It looks like the curse of Nathan Fillion has ended with a second season of Castle now for sure.
Coming on ABC. A couple more casualties. Well, looking over on the CW network, things still don't look good for Reaper. There's been talk of a syndication deal or maybe some sort of way to keep the show alive in some capacity.
But right now, it looks like the end of Reaper will be the season and series finale on May 26th on the CW. Dark Horse Comics and G4 are on a search for the ultimate Comic Con fan who will get the opportunity of a lifetime. At least that's what they're hoping it will be.
The chance to appear on G4's special coverage of this year's San Diego Comic Con. The winner is chosen as a special correspondent to G4's coverage of the San Diego Comic Con on Attack of the Show. His personal join Olivia and Kevin and Blair and all the regulars direct and live from the convention all that weekend.
And there's a lot more involved too. You get airfare and a whole bunch of other cool prizes. To get in, you gotta submit a video. There are details available online. The video deadline though is June 22nd, so you better get working on it.
By the way, the video has to show exactly how much you love pop culture. That shouldn't be that hard. Get all the details at gfortv.com. Folks with the New York Comic Con have announced that they're going to be doing regular happy hours in New York City.
This will be open to any comic fans, creators, and professionals and the first one takes place this week coming up on Wednesday, 5.30 to 9.30 at the Dave and Busters in Times Square. How these work is? Well, everybody just comes along, sits around, talks about comics, and enjoys themselves. The event is free, however you do have to pay for your apps and your drinks.
There's some drink specials and some deals going on as well. You never know who you're going to run into, plus there's some great prizes available including gift cards to Midtown Comics, Pariant Comics, signed by Joe Cassata from Marvel. There's variant DC Comics as well. Stuff from Dave and Busters and some other cool prizes too.
Now they'll be happy hours all summer long. There's another one on June 10th, July 15th, and August 19th as well. And again, they take place on a Wednesday. For complete information and the list you can get it right now as well as a lot of other info about what's going to be taking place in New York, not far from right now.
NewYorkComicCon.com is the place to go. In addition to bringing back Dollhouse, renewing Fringe, and making plans for the Human Target series, Fox has also gone to Warner Brothers TV. For another interesting show, it's called Past Life. It's a reincarnation drama.
Fox has ordered some episodes of this based on a team of detectives who use regression therapy and reincarnation to help solve crime. Your best bet right now is you'll probably see this as a mid-season replacement next year on Fox. Alright, so you finally caved in and you finally got Twitter.
You picked your favorite Twitter app. You've got it on your phone. You've got it on your computer. And you've got about three friends so far. Well, if you want to try to be really cool, there's a whole list of interesting people
you can follow. It's an article called 100 Geeks You Should Be Following on Twitter. Can't be more specific than that. It's in the latest Wired. You can get the information and the list at Wired.com.
There are complete Twitter IDs and links for some interesting people including Will Wheaton, Felicia Day, Neil Gaiman, and a lot more. And of course, if you want to be ultra cool, you can follow us. Look for me at MikeRob, R-A-U-B at Twitter. We'll see you there.
Believe it or not, Jay Leno's final Tonight Show episode is coming up faster than you might think. It takes place on NBC on May 29th. And Conan O'Brien, who takes over the show just a few days later on June 1st, will be Jay's last guest.
By the way, this marks O'Brien's 17th appearance on the Tonight Show. Other guests that week include Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wanda Sykes, and Billy Crystal. Crystal was Leno's very first guest on the Tonight Show. Back in 1992, guests there won't be a tearful bed middler piano medley.
In the meantime, NBC has also renewed last call with Carson Daly for another season, promising more outdoor segments on that show late nights on NBC. Disney Central has announced in a bunch of new shows that are either on the way to the network or in development there, one of real interest is Ugly Americans. It's an animated half hour.
Now listen to this. It's set in an alternate universe, New York City, where creatures from horror, fantasy, and science fiction all live among us. It centers on a human social worker who works for the Department of Immigration and helps new citizens, which I assume are the creatures, adapt to living in the city.
David Stern from The Simpsons helped develop the series along with illustrator Devin Clark. Meanwhile on the way also from Comedy Central, some more interesting things. There's Michael and Michael Have Issues. It's a show with Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter in a kind of a different narrative and sketch comedy format.
Their Secret Girlfriend, which contains two 11 minute episodes back to back about a guy who has a bunch of different girlfriends and tries to keep them secret from each other. There are also unnamed series involving Jeff Dunham, Andy Dick, and another one called Ghost and Aliens about two slacker guys who decide to discover the truth about ghosts and aliens.
Again, some of these are working titles. Some are just in development and some, like Ugly Americans, are on the way in the very near future to Comedy Central. It's like the 90s all over again on the heels of the new blockbuster Star Trek movie, Dynamic Forces and QVC are getting back together again for a special collectibles show coming up
tonight that is Monday at 1 a.m. Eastern time on QVC. The broadcast will contain collectibles from the new movie, including many things autographed by actor Simon Pegg. They're also going to be comics, DVDs, toys, and many, many, many unique things all available and you can see them all at qvc.com or again, get your wallet and get ready to tune in tonight.
1 o'clock Eastern time, check your local listings in your area for the Star Trek collectible show on the QVC Shopping Network. And by the way, here's an item that may or may not be on the program, but it's kind of interesting, you know, with the movie, of course, lots of different licenses. It's out there for all sorts of interesting and oddball Star Trek products.
Our favorite Star Trek fragrances. They're two available for men. One is called Tiberius, of course, after James Kirk. But my favorite is the red shirt cologne, named so because tomorrow may never come, they say.
There's also a pond fire perfume for women. If you'd like more information, do a Google search for GenkiWare, G-E-N-K-I-W-E-A-R. Shouldn't be too hard to sniff out after that. Bill and Wang are expanding their graphic novel line with three new nonfiction graphic novels set to come out later this year, starting with the Vietnam War done by former Marvel
creator Dwight John Zimmerman. That'll be available on the 15th of September. There's also going to be a biography of Trotsky done by comic creator Rick Geary and a biography of Che Rivera done by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Cologne. That's known for a lot of their great work at Harvey, including Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Nothing like that in this one, though. It's going to be serious. And again, there are all three graphic novel sized books retailing for about 20 bucks each. They'll be available, like we said, in the fall. Keep an eye on Amazon.com for these releases from the company Hill and Wang.
Yes, it's true. He popped the question and you're going to hear a lot about this in the weeks to come. Archie is getting married, at least for one issue. It's a story of the century. According to the folks at Archie Comics, it takes place at Archie number 600 at set to
hit comic stores later this summer. It's Archie Gets Married and it's a several part story beginning with one called The Proposal. No word yet on exactly who Archie's going to marry. By the way, the story is by our buddy Michael Usselid. Art is by legendary Archie artist Dan Goldberg.
So it's going to look great. And it takes place in Archie number 600 in comic stores right around the 19th of August. Again, the first part is here. There'll be more announced soon. Get complete details on Archie.com.
There'll be a series of comics based on the Stormhawks animated series beginning this summer. A Stormhawks special edition comic book will be sold at various conventions all throughout the summertime. And then there'll be a release in a trade paperback in September. An ongoing series of graphic novels is planned after that.
The special edition features three Stormhawks stories and lots of great artwork by many different creators. The show, of course, has been on Cartoon Network for a while in its second season and has a huge following. But no word yet on whether these special editions will be free or sold as premiums at conventions.
Hey, great news for Kung Fu Panda fans. It looks like Nickelodeon is going to air a new CG animated series based on that film. They've ordered 26 episodes to premiere on the network sometime in 2010. And it's not only that, but they're also doing, of course, already the Penguins of Madagascar series, all part of a partnership between Nickelodeon and DreamWorks.
More announcements are on the way, including the voiceover actors. No one's been announced yet is taking part in Kung Fu Panda the series. But we expect to hear that sometime in the next few weeks from Nickelodeon. Keep your fingers crossed this will be better than DragonBall Z, a consortium of companies from six different countries are getting together to produce a $30 million live action feature
based on the anime series Bubblegum Crisis. The companies involved come from Singapore, Japan, Australia, Canada, China, and the UK. And they'll base it on the original 80s animated series shown on TV in a lot of different parts of the world, including the US. Of course, it's way too early in the game for any casting choices on the Bubblegum Crisis
movie. Flash Rebirth continues to be big news for DC Comics with a sellout again of issue number one. The second printing is gone. There's another third printing variant on the way of the series.
That'll be in comic stores more than likely around the first part of June. In the meantime, you may not have heard, but they've decided now to expand this to another issue. It'll run six issues. Jeff John's story to continue one more issue with number six.
Issue number three is available in stores on June 10th as well. Four and five are still to come. And number six will be in stores in September from DC Comics. Your weekend box office sure looked pretty interesting at the top of course was Angels and Demons, but you know, not that far behind was Star Trek.
Angels and Demons came in with an estimated $48 million and right behind it, Star Trek second weekend brought them $43 million. And if you keep a track of the other races, well, that puts a total of about $147 million in the box for Star Trek. Not that far behind Wolverine sitting right now with a total of $151 million in ticket
sales. Watch out. The worst smarter than you food fascists are on the march once again. In the latest in the long line of totalitarian pronouncements, Center for Science in what he believes as the public interests.
Michael Jacobson is begging the US Senate to tax soft drinks and eventually everything he thinks people shouldn't eat because the stuff drives up health costs contributing to obesity and diabetes. That may be true, but the American Beverage Association's Susan Neely correctly notes taxes are not going to teach our children how to have a healthy lifestyle.
This is getting silly. So is putting seven or eight dollars worth of taxes on each pack of cigarettes. That's really screwing people engaged in lawful behavior. And no, I don't smoke cigarettes. Thank you.
I'm sure that even with a brief examination, I could find all types of risky behavior that Michael Jacobson engages in, starting with his dangerously invasive self-righteousness. Freedom of choice is an integral part of the American psyche. We can argue that secondhand smoke denies others of their freedom of choice, but secondhand hamburger does not.
We can debate the effect that so-called bad food has on health costs, but the bad food list constantly mutates and our public health system is so dangerously screwed up, this is a wholly separate issue. I have no problem with making health information public, but denying us of our freedom of choice is the work of a dictator.
We don't need stormtroopers like Michael Jacobson to tax us into becoming a clone of his self-righteous ass. This is Weird Susan Inside the Gold Mind. I'm Mike Gold, On The Point. I'm ready if you are, let's take a trip now back to…
1991! Over 200,000 metric tons of food was sent from the US to Mexico in an effort to aid in near famine. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney ordered 4,000 more US soldiers to Kuwait to replenish the troops there.
10,000 protesters marched through the city of Bucharest calling for the resignation of the Romanian president. In the movies, everyone was paying attention to dances with wolves. There was not enough attention being played to a movie that really is one of Sylvester Stallone's best.
It was called Oscar. Second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies were there as well as the second mannequin. There was one good cop and a biopic with Val Kilmer the star. The subject, Jim Morrison and the Doors. TV, tonight episodes of The Golden Girls.
There was Alf and Empty Nest on NBC. And over on ABC, the premiere of the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. The title song from Sheena Easton. For your eyes only can see me through the night. On the radio, a lady who we sometimes forget was a pretty good artist before the crazy
struck is Paula Abdul. And Rush Rush. Oh, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,
na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
