Didn’t we tell you that Twin Peaks’ Agent Dale Cooper and Parks and Recreation boss Chris Traeger would make a great team? Well, if you still have any doubt, allow us to direct your attention to Charles Pieper and David Koenig’s wonderful “Peaks and Recreation,” which re-cuts Twin Peaks‘ credits in the style of Parks and Recreation’s intro. Not only does the video mash up two of our favorite TV shows, but it solves the problem of Twin Peaks’ tortuously long opening. (Sorry, David Lynch.) Ponder Audrey’s similarities to April after the jump. Read More »
Soon we’ll get to see what Harry Potter star Rhys Ifans will look like in his reptilian get-up as Spidey’s archenemy in Marc Webb’s upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man. Ifans will star as The Lizard — or in his human form, Curtis Connors. A brilliant scientist who loses an arm, Connors tries to regrow his lost limb, but the experiment goes awry. He finds himself transformed into a reptilian humanoid, which we got a glimpse of this week — first in the form of a soon-to-be released Pez dispenser, and some new concept art. If the sketches bear any real resemblance to the eccentric Notting Hill actor’s costume, then yep: he’s a giant, creepy lizard.
We felt inspired to look back at a few of cinema’s ugliest screen villains. Movie heroes’ hideous enemies have ranged from really repulsive men to vile creatures. Note the amount of horror or sci-fi on our list. Too often films attempt to make the villain attractive. Click through to see which baddies were beaten with the ugly stick, renew your appreciation for old-fashioned, unpleasant-looking villains, and then add your picks below. Read More »
Inspired by this amazing Daria photo shoot from deviantART user SoDespair, we decided to scour the Internet for some of the best ’90s-inspired cosplay that we could find. The super meta part in all this is that even though what we now call “cosplay” has been around for ages (you might know it better as “playing dress up,” only really, really well), its soaring popularity took off in the US during the 1990s, thanks to an increasing interest in Japanese anime. Since then, film and television fans have combed through pop culture’s most colorful characters to come up with what are, in many cases at least, truly incredible costumes. Some cosplayers truly transform their roles by staging a scene straight out of the past, while others can be admired for their spot-on caricatures no matter where they flaunt them. Click through for our roundup of seriously ’90s cosplay, and let us know in the comments which costume gets your vote. Read More »
Polaroids have been immortalizing actors on the sets of their latest project for decades now. The retro form of photography is generally utilized for makeup or continuity purposes, and on occasion, serves as a catalogue for on-set shenanigans. Actors such as Johnny Depp, Audrey Hepburn, and Jason Schwartzman have all mugged for (or in some cases, ignored) the camera in between takes, blurring the line between their fictional characters and reality. We’ve unearthed photographs from a few cinematic gems, both old and new, that provide an intimate glimpse at life on set of projects like Taxi Driver, The Office, and more. Venture behind-the-scenes with a collection of our favorite shots after the jump. Read More »
In case you were wondering why fans of both The Hold Steady and Friday Night Lights have been losing their shit all week, here’s what happened: the band’s frontman has announced plans to release a solo album called Clear Heart Full Eyes, an homage to the show that was recorded in Texas and whose title is a play on FNL‘s most memorable catchphrase (“Clear eyes, full hearts can’t lose”). The news got us thinking about how wonderful it would be if our favorite programs were scored by bands we love, which led us to compile the following wish list of TV shows and the musicians who were born to soundtrack them. Add your pairings in the comments. Read More »
There comes a time in a TV show’s life when the plot line takes a turn for the literary; a fictional character hunkers down and authors a book. Some are guidebooks, others are self-help books, but they all share one crucial quality: they’re not real. These authors don’t exist in real life, so how could their books? Well — sometimes, just sometimes, our real world is graced with a fake book’s tangible, published, purchasable presence. But, not always — so we’ve gathered some awesomely fake books from TV that you can actually buy, and a few others that we hope will be available one day. Because, well, who wouldn’t want to read Liz Lemon’s Dealbreakers: A Girl’s Guide to Shutting it Down from cover to cover? Or proudly display Cosmo Kramer’s The Coffee Table Book of Coffee Tables on their own coffee table? Read on for some fake TV fiction, and let us know your other favorites.
There has been no shortage of terrible TV-show spin-offs over the years. Remember Joey, which followed the least interesting character on Friends? How about Joanie Loves Chachi? The surfeit of awful derivative series make it that much more depressing when a spin-off we really, really want to happen never makes it past the pilot stage. After the jump, we take a look at 10 spin-offs that sounded promising but never made it to primetime. Tell us which ones you’d add in the comments.
On TV, as in life, there are good cops and bad cops. But, to paraphrase Tolstoy for the millionth time, while most of the good cops we see on primetime are fairly interchangeable fair, valiant types, every bad cop is incompetent, corrupt, or otherwise dysfunctional in his own way. Sometimes that’s just the way the character is written; other times, confusing writing or direction turns officers who are supposed to be heroes into bumbling fools. After the jump, inspired by Grimm‘s unintentionally dense detectives, we round up TV cops you would never want to have on your case.
From the sexy vampires of True Blood and The Vampire Diaries to zombies (The Walking Dead), werewolves (Teen Wolf), and haunted houses (American Horror Story), TV is all about the dark side lately. But, while each of these shows features elements of the supernatural, they’re not all actually scary. In fact, over the years, horror — which generally lends itself best to film — has taken a back seat to comedy, drama, and even sci-fi to become one of television’s most neglected genres. Since it can be hard to give yourself a good scare on the small screen, in anticipation of Halloween, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite frightening TV shows of all time. If you’re looking for some seasonal viewing, many of these series are available to stream on Netflix or Hulu, and some are even free to watch on YouTube. Tell us what we missed in the comments.
A few days ago we pointed out Matt Needle’s fantastic Phrenology Discography project, a series of colorful illustrations featuring the silhouettes of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, John Lennon, and Elvis. Today, after spotting an equally stunning Breaking Bad poster that he designed over on Best Week Ever, we realized that we needed to investigate Needle’s TV-inspired work a little further. After the jump, find his delightful odes to a few of your favorite series, which are all available for purchase on his website.
