Planning meets primetime!

Fans of Greg Daniels, Amy Poehler, SNL, The Office, and surprisingly city planning and the Hoosier state have something to look forward to! Speculation has been all over the boards about Amy Poehler's TV show since she left SNL. It was originally slated to be a spin-off of The Office. Looks like they are keeping the mockumentary type concept, but situating it in a City Hall in fictional Pawnee, Indiana. One of the characters is supposed to be "charismatic city planner Mark Brendanawicz, whose outlook has been soured by 15 years of public service." Hey, that could be me! I'm looking for a contact name and number at NBC to try to get on as a consultant! Maybe my 10 years of small town Indiana government work is valuable in Hollywood?! Anyone have any leads? They say California is the place you outta be! I'm guess this will be must see TV in our house.

From e-online:

Amy Poehler Show Details Finally Revealed!

Thu., Jan. 15, 2009 4:42 PM PST by Kristin Dos Santos

The Untitled Amy Poehler Show, one of the most highly anticipated new shows of the season, still doesn't have a real title, but it does have scoop! For example, Amy Poehler says of the show, set against the backdrop of small-town government, "There is a scene in the show when they are trying to come up with a name for their council, and they say the name is crucial." Hee!

Seriously, though, we just heard from Poeher, her costars and producers, and here's what this show is all about...

The documentary cameras follow Leslie Knope (Poehler), a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana. In an attempt to beautify her town—and advance her career—Leslie takes on what should be a fairly simple project: help local nurse Ann Logan (Rashida Jones) turn an abandoned construction pit into a community park. Opposing them are defensive bureaucrats, selfish neighbors, real estate developers and single-issue fanatics—whose weapons are lawsuits, the jumble of city codes and the very democratic process that Leslie loves so much.

Leslie is alternately helped and undermined by her colleague, Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), who cheerfully exploits his government position for personal gain. She is also thwarted by her boss Ron Swanson, who is philosophically opposed to government in any form.

If they can pull it off, Leslie hopes that she also will have inspired her uninterested college intern April (Aubrey Plaza) and April's whole generation—all while moving one step closer to her ultimate goal: becoming the first female president of the United States.

Amy Poehler for president? Hell yes. But don't be fooled. According to cocreator Greg Daniels, this is not a grandiose enterprise: "If the setting is very ordinary, the characters can shine against that. I'm interested in doing character comedy. We're keeping the background really plain so the humor of the actors is set off nicely."

Indeed, it sounds like there's a definite Tracy Flick thing going on with Leslie:

According to Amy, "I think in most comedies the lead character suffers from not being self-aware. Leslie is an optimist, and she's really ambitious, she's hoping the place she is now is not that place she is going to stay. I think we're supposed to like her, but I do think she decides, she wants to run with the big boys, and you have to take the hits. It's going to be very easy to humiliate and be mean to me on this show. It's going to make you feel good. You'll see people be mean to me, you'll be satisfied."

No word yet on other actors or castmembers for those open roles, but I can tell you one star who won't be appearing. Amy's husband, Will Arnett, told us exclusively on Tuesday, "I will not do a guest spot on their show until they get a title. I will not do an untitled show! Sorry, that's just me, but you know, get a title, OK? Get a title! Disgusting."

Right? What should they call the show? Post your suggestions in the comments!

—Additional reporting by Natalie Abrams and Jennifer Godwin

Obama Inauguration on Hulu

Watch Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President streaming live on Hulu on Tuesday, January 20th, Noon EST! Now, if I can just find a way to watch the WE ARE ONE inauguration celebration featuring U2, Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp, among others, on Sunday. Unfortunately, it looks like this is just being broadcast on HBO.






UPDATE; Looks like this will be broadcast on an open channel, so people who don't normally subscribe to HBO can watch! I hope AT&T U-verse has this set up correctly!

New Heroes Webisodes: Hard Knox

Another new series of webisodes started Monday as part of NBC's Heroes. Unlike previous webisode series, this one featured main characters form the TV show.

Part Four:



Part Three:



Part Two:



Part One:

New Heroes Webisodes: The Recruit

New webisodes are starting today as part of NBC's Heroes. "Vol. 3: Villains" finished last night, with "Vol. 4: Fugitives" starts in January. Heroes has been good this season, but I hear the ratings are now. Syler, Hiro and Peter Petrelli are all great characters, but Nathan Petrelli changes sides way too often for my liking.

Part Five:



Part Four:



Part Three:



Part Two:



Part One:

The Wiggles cover U2?!

Who's a more over the top caricature? The Fly or Captain Feathersword?

We used to watch a lot of Wiggles. Every morning we'd watch The Wiggles and JoJo's Circus with Parker before starting our day. Parker's tastes have moved from the Wiggles to Speed Racer so we don't see much of those wacky Australian "brothers"and their friends anymore. We stopped watching around the time Greg Wiggle was replaced with Sam Wiggle.

I ran across this video today on Youtube. It's the Wiggles, featuring Sam and Captain Feathersword, performing U2's classic song "Angel of Harlem" for Australian TV. Very surreal and fun.

The Office Webisodes: The Outburst

NBC is all about the web episodes this season. First Heroes, now The Office. These could be pretty funny.

Episode 4 (final):


Episode 3:


Episode 2:



Episode 1:

Heroes: Destiny

Brand new Heroes web series was premiered on Monday. I thought Monday's episode was fantastic. Left me wanting more. The Office has a new webisode series premieres on November 20th, titled "The Outburst."

Episode 4:


Episode 3:



Episode 2:



Episode 1:

New Cars Toon cartoons start tonight

For all of you out there with pre-school and school aged boys (and girls!) you probably know all about the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. We at the Roach house are up to our eyeballs in Cars!

As our 3 year old neighbor told us a couple of weeks ago, Cars 2 is coming out in 2011. To keep kids and fans interested, Pixar has keep the toys and merchandising going strong. And suckers like us keep buying it! The latest is the Cars Storytellers book and toys from Target. Starting tonight, "Toon Disney" begins to air a series of short Cars cartoons, appropriately titled "Cars Toon." The first three which air this week fallow the general theme of "Mater's Tall Tales." I'm sure Parker will love these!

Monday, Oct. 27 (6:56 p.m. EDT)
Rescue Squad Mater. Mater is a fire truck that rescues Lightning McQueen from a burning building. When McQueen is rushed to the hospital, he discovers that Mater is a doctor, too.

Tuesday, Oct. 28 (6:57 p.m. EDT)
Mater the Greater. Mater is a famous daredevil who does all kinds of stunts. And Lightning McQueen becomes an unwilling participant in Mater’s greatest stunt ever.

Wednesday, Oct. 29 (6:57 p.m. EDT)
El Materdor. Mater is a famous bulldozer fighter in Spain. He’s so good, he’s able to fend off multiple bulldozers at once. Lightning McQueen joins Mater in this tall tale just as things are at their worst.

Check out a sneak peak on the Jim Hill Media website.

More NBC Webisodes

Ohhhhhh, Angela Petrelli is wicked in this one!



You've got to love Darryl. Dinkin flicka!

This week's NBC webisodes

More summer TV goodness: Heroes

New episodes of Heroes begins on Monday, September 22nd. Until then, we have the "Going Postal" Webisodes. It's been a long time since December 3rd, 2007 when the last episode aired. Let's hope fans haven't forgotten about this great show and it stays on the air a few more years.

The Office Webisodes

New episodes of The Office starting September 25, 2008! Hopefully these will hold us over till then!

Here's the first two:

Random Wednesday

Some funny ethnic stereotyping from Saturday Night Live.


2008 American Idol winner David Cook performing U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." It was just ok for me. Kind of pitchy. He played it safe.


New Barenaked Ladies kids CD called "Snacktime" is out now. How did I miss this?


How about the Top 10 Worst Films about Jesus?

Since my last political post, Obama has picked up 10 super delegates. The magic number is down to 46.

The track listing for the upcoming re-master/re-issue of U2's 1980 debut album, Boy, was finally leaked to the web. Most of the bonus tracks have already been released as part of the Compete U2 Digital Box Set on iTunes. I'm rather disappointed in this track list. There's really only 2 unreleased tracks, 1 unreleased mix and 2 unreleased live tracks. I would have liked to have seen more from their pre-Boy demos. Here's the track list for the second disc:

1. I Will Follow (previously unreleased mix)
2. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (single, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
3. Touch (B-side of "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" single, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
4. Speed Of Life (previously unreleased track)
5. Saturday Night (previously unreleased track)
6. Things To Make And Do (B-side of "A Day Without Me" single, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
7. Out Of Control (U2:3 version, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
8. Boy/Girl (U2:3 track, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
9. Stories For Boys (U2:3 version, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
10. Another Day (single, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
11. Twilight (B-side of "Another Day" single, also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
12. Boy/Girl (Live at The Marquee, London) (Also released on The Complete U2 digital box set)
13. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at The Marquee, London) (previously unreleased)
14. Cartoon World (Live at The National Stadium, Dublin) (previously unreleased)

Classic Marvel Cartoon Theme Songs fom the 1960s

After seeing Iron Man and all the recent hype about future Marvel movies, it's made me nostalgic for the old Marvel Comics characters. I just started reading "Tales to Astonish" a book about Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the characters and industry they created.

Here's a couple of fun YouTube clips of 1960s era Marvel character based cartoon theme songs. Parker loves the Spider-man theme song and can sing all of the first verse. Apparently, the Iron Man theme song made an appearance in the Iron Man movie, but I had never heard it before. These are all really cheesy, but fun.

















Bonus: A classic from my childhood, Spider-man and His Amazing Friends from 1981:


Bonus 2: A non-marvel character. This is the theme from "The Batman" from 2004, written by U2's The Edge.

Fall television

The fall television lineup starts this week. I'm actually looking foward to it more than I have in a while. After we get Parker fed, bathed, and in bed, about all I have energy for is a little mindless TV. None of the new shows have piqued my interest yet.

Heroes: Season premiere is tonight. Despite a very sub par season finale last year, I'm still interested in the show and the characters. Did Peter and Nathan Petrelli survive? Where did Hiro Nakamura land? Is Sylar alive? Who are Maya and Alejandro, introduced in the latest graphic novelette? Who is this Tekezo Kensei that's being hyped at the Yamagato Fellowship web site? Who is the character that Molly is more afraid of than Sylar?



Scrubs: Scrubs suffered last year with the late season start, but it's still one of the funniest shows on television. It has something that is lacking in a lot of sit-coms; both great wit and great heart. So, what does the future hold for J.D., Elliot and J.D.'s baby's momma, Kim? Unfortunately, Scrubs doesn't start for another month.


The Office: NBC has a great series of web exclusives showing how the characters "spent their summer." They answered a few questions, but really just whetted my appetite for more. What's the future of Jim and Pam? How will the Ryan/Micheal Scott dynamic play out? Dinkin' flicka!

Simpsons: Live action?

I saw the Simpsons Movie on Friday. Not too bad. not great either. I haven't really watched the show much the last 3 years or so. It just doesn't do it for me like it used to. I found this on YouTube this morning. Now THIS, could be entertaining. No idea where it came from, but it looks British.

Spider-Man coming to your mail box...

...as well as other favorite Marvel Comics superheroes; Captain America, Elektra, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Spider-Woman, Sub-Mariner, The Incredible Hulk, The Thing and Wolverine. This is part of the 2007 Commemorative US Stamp Program and follows on the heels of DC Comics Superheroes stamps in 2006. These are some of my favorite characters form when I was a kid. Ok, fine, they still are some of my favorite characters. Some of the choices do seem odd to me. Why Elektra and not Daredevil? And why Spider-Woman and not a more well known female character? Why The Thing and not the rest of the Fantastic 4? It is a little disturbing to see commercial characters on stamps. It seems like thinly veiled advertising to me. Is it a coincidence that four of these characters (Spider-Man, Thing, Silver Surfer and Iron Man) are featured in upcoming movies? Regardless, this set is pretty cool. So are the new Hasbro Marvel Super Hero Squad toys for the 3" crowd and so is the fact that Marvel's own Stan Lee will be on NBC's Heroes tonight. Excelsior!

You're on notice!

Check out the Steven Colbert "On Notice Board" Generator. Now you can call out those that you find objectionable with your own On Notice Board, just like on The Colbert Report. What out "Chicago Bears," you're on notice.

The Roach Approach

Anyone ever heard of these? It's a series of Christian children's DVDs called T"he Roach Approach". Much in the vein of "Veggie Tales." I discovered them while doing an eBay search, of all things. Parker is probably way too young for these, but they look cute. They originally struck my eye because one of my fraternity brother sused to call me "The Roach Approach."

The stories follow a family of roaches; 3,000 year old Grandpa Lou, Grandma Nana and their grandson, Squiggz. The grandparents entertain their grandson with inspirational stories from the Bible. What's even funnier is that my Mom wants Parker to call her Nana Roach.

The Office: Webisodes

Check out the web page for NBC's Emmy award winning "The Office". They have posted the first 9 of a 10 part webisode series highlighting the office accountants; Kevin, Oscar and Angela. In my opinion, "The Office" and "Scrubs" are the two most original and funny shows on television. The new season starts September 21st.