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Buzz News Roundup, 3/30

BuzzSugar — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:30:31 -0700

Jackie Chan's Karate Kid remake will be titled Kung Fu Kid. - The Huffington Post
Columbia Pictures is acquiring screen rights to The Limit, with Tobey Maguire attached to star in the story of rival Grand Prix drivers. - ComingSoon
Kathleen Turner will join Californication as Charlie's boss. - Entertainment Weekly
No, ER will not be getting a spin-off. - TV.com
Sacha Baron Cohen's upcoming movie Bruno has reportedly received an NC-17 rating after its first review by the MPAA panel. - E! Online
ABC will only air six episodes of new comedy In the Motherhood this season. - Variety
Gemma Arterton will star opposite Sam Worthington in the Clash of the Titans movie. - ComingSoon
Israel is joining France, Russia, and Chile by making its own version of The Office. - The Guardian

First Look: In the Motherhood

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:30:24 -0700

I'm not a mom, and yet for the past few weeks, I've found myself laughing out loud at the ads for In the Motherhood, ABC's new mommy comedy that premieres on Thursday. There's something refreshing about watching a group of very imperfect moms muddling through life together, especially when they're played by such funny ladies.

The show is based on an online series of the same name that incorporates stories from real moms. In this version, Megan Mullally plays Rosemary, a single mom of a teenager who's freewheeling, nontraditional, and prone to inventing her own parenting rules on the spot. Cheryl Hines plays her best friend, Jane, a recently divorced working mom of a pre-teen and a baby who relies on a "manny" (Horatio Sanz) to keep her life running. Rounding out the trio is Jessica St. Clair as Emily, Jane's younger sister, who sees herself as a supermom with a super marriage. Put the three of them together, and it adds up to laughs - plus some surprisingly frank talk about love, sex, and the less-than-rosy sides of being a mom.

Whether or not you have kids, do you think you'll check out this series when it premieres on Thursday? To watch a couple of clips from the first episode, just read more.

Which New Spring Show Are You Looking Forward to Most?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:30:37 -0700

This Spring is filled with lots of good, new, intriguing TV! Castle already got underway this week, and tons of other premieres are in the lineup for the coming weeks. So, what show are you making room for on your schedule?

Castle, Cupid, The Unusuals, Better Off Ted, and In the Motherhood photos copyright 2009 ABC, Inc.; Parks and Recreation photo courtesy of Flynet; Kings photo courtesy of NBC; Harper's Island photo courtesy of CBS; and Sit Down, Shut Up photo courtesy of Fox

ABC Launches Thursday Comedy Lineup in March

BuzzSugar — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:30:05 -0800

ABC revealed some major changes to its comedy lineup today, and maybe the biggest news of all is that the network will be challenging NBC head-on by launching a Thursday comedy block of its own.

Starting March 26, Samantha Who? will air at 8 p.m. Thursdays, followed by the new comedy In the Motherhood. That means Samantha will be battling My Name is Earl, while Motherhood will have a head start on its major competitor, the new Amy Poehler show, which premieres April 9. The new comedy block means Ugly Betty will take a hiatus (though ABC says it will return once the comedies have finished their runs).

There are a couple of other changes in the works, too: Scrubs will move to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. starting March 18, leading into the new series Better Off Ted at 8:30 p.m. (That makes way for the Dancing with the Stars results show to take over Tuesdays in the Spring.)

What do you make of the news? Do you think ABC's comedies can take on NBC's? And will you miss Betty?

Web Series About Motherhood Heads for ABC Primetime

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:30:41 -0700

Have you ever watched In the Motherhood on the web? I saw a few clips of it earlier this year, and while I don't really fit into the show's "by moms, for moms" demographic, it's pretty cute and funny - especially Chelsea Handler as an imperfect, wisecracking mom. (Never would have thought of that casting!)

Well, now a version of the show is coming to primetime. ABC has picked up 13 episodes of the series and will likely premiere the show mid-season. The series follows three very different mothers, played online by Handler, Leah Remini, and Jenny McCarthy. Handler is apparently in for the ABC version, but Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines are in talks to play the other two moms. The writers from Bad Mother's Handbook are moving to this show (guess this means Bad Mother's Handbook is dead?), and it's not clear whether it will still be based on real moms' stories.

I always love it when funny ladies get together for projects, and I think a Handler-Mullally-Hines combo has the potential to be insane. So even though other online series that have moved to TV have been less than successful, I'm tentatively pretty excited for this project. What about you? Do you like the casting? To check out an episode of In the Motherhood, just read more.

Source

ABC's Fall Schedule: My Take (With Video!)

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:30:24 -0700

I just finished watching ABC's upfront presentation to advertisers, where the network's executives went over the schedule that was announced this morning and showed clips of the new shows - including Life on Mars, pictured above. The presentation gave me some insight into what ABC's thinking with its schedule, which only includes two new shows for the Fall:

Basically, Fall 2007 was so nice, ABC wants to do it twice. "By far, we had the best Fall in decades," entertainment president Stephen McPherson said, "and then came the lovely strike." So the network is mostly doing it over, bringing back the majority of the new shows from last year.
That doesn't mean ABC isn't actively developing shows for later in the year: They've picked up 20 pilots, split pretty evenly between comedy and drama.
McPherson promoted a few of those shows in his presentation, including Four Play, the new comedy from Will and Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick. If the show is as funny as those two were just talking about it, we'll be in for a treat.
Also funny: clips from ABC's remake of the Web series In the Motherhood. It reminded me a bit of Bravo's Significant Others if all the characters were moms battling bratty children.
On the downside, the presentation ended with clips from Wipeout, the game show with people falling and running into things. The voiceover dared me not to laugh. I didn't laugh.

To see what I thought of the new shows - Life on Mars, reality show Opportunity Knocks, and animated series The Goode Family - and see clips and pictures of them for yourself, just read more.

Life on Mars
I was pleasantly surprised at how faithful the trailer for this BBC remake seemed to the original - and maybe I'm warming to Jason O'Mara as time-traveling detective Sam Tyler after all. Here's a video and pictures:

View 9 Photos ›

Opportunity Knocks
This traveling game show seems family-friendly almost to a fault. It definitely reminded me of the Saturday morning game shows of my childhood. I see it as more a companion to America's Funniest Home Videos, though, not necessarily anchoring Tuesday night.

The Goode Family
This animated series about a family of vegan, politically correct, recycle-happy folks from King of the Hill's Mike Judge could either be hilarious or unbearable. From the clip, I was actually leaning toward unbearable. What's your take?

View 6 Photos ›

Oh, and here's a Scrubs-on-ABC promo, just because:

Motherhood: A Harried-Mom Tale That Often Feels Tired

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:30:20 -0700

When you have a parenting movie set in New York, you should know better than to expect a warm-'n'-fuzzy story about the joys of having kids. In fact, Motherhood is out to prove that mothers have it rough.

The film follows Eliza Welsh (Uma Thurman), a Manhattan writer dealing with a cramped apartment, busy husband, and side-street parking while raising her two kids. A day in her life feels like a really, really long 24 hours. Eliza runs around frantically trying to prepare for her 6-year-old's birthday while composing an essay for a parenting magazine contest and squeezing in a sample sale with her mommy friend Sheila (Minnie Driver). We know that Eliza was once a great writer, but when she had kids, she decided to give up her job to raise her family. Now, she's a shell of her former self in frumpy clothes and messy hair. Simply put, Eliza is dealing with the classic parent conundrum: how do you care for your kids and still retain something for yourself? The answer? It ain't easy.

For more about what I mean, read more.

Eliza doesn't try to feign martyrdom. In fact, she often whines about her plight in a way that screams, "I'm angry, dammit!" And at first, you're angry for her too. (No woman deserves to put up with all that she does.) But as the film goes on, Eliza's bitterness knocks you over the head, and you have to you wonder - is she like this every day? Yeesh.

Luckily we have Eliza's friend Sheila for some needed comic relief. Sheila is the cool single mom to the more neurotic Eliza - she mouths off cheeky one-liners and uses her son's motorized bath toy for her "alone time." Jodie Foster also delivers a hilarious cameo as a celebrity mom swearing at the paparazzi on the playground - aka, herself. Both women keep Eliza's "what-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong" storyline from wearing too thin.

Mothers will probably identify with either Eliza or Sheila but what about the rest of us? While the actors perform well and the movie provides laughs for those who can relate (read: parents), most of the jokes don't feel fresh, and you've probably seen similar setups on shows like The Middle or In the Motherhood or any of the other dozens of family comedies in recent years. Props to the filmmakers for giving mothers their due, but if you're not one yourself, an hour and a half with Eliza may be enough to make you rush out of the theater and buy birth control.

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Halloween is around the corner! Take a peek at these festive TV pics and 10 fun film-inspired costumes. Plus, don't forget to vote in my scary movie bracket!
Speaking of spooky stuff, are you pumped for New Moon? I am - despite all those spoilers. Check out the brand new TwilightSugar.com (you can win a DVF bag!) and what the stars from the film (including Robert Pattinson himself) looked like before they hit it big.
So You Think You Can Dance judge Adam Shankman got another gig directing a Rock of Ages movie, and he helped narrow down the dancers on SYTYCD. Finally, we have our list of the Top 20!
Do you care about albums by American Idols? I'm mixed, yet I'm kind of liking Adam Lambert's music video.
Melrose Place is being revamped. No surprise there, since many of you have said that you're not into it - but what returning shows have let you down?
I spoke with the lovely Paula Patton for Part 1 of my exclusive interviews with the cast of Precious. Check back next week as I talk to the director, Lee Daniels!
New movies this weekend include Amelia, Cirque du Freak, and Motherhood. None of 'em knocked my socks off, but if you go this weekend, be sure to tell me what you think - and if you have any annoying audience members like these Buzz readers did!

Photo courtesy of The CW