BuzzSugar

Jennifer Garner Heads Back to Work on the Small Screen

BuzzSugar — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:00:35 -0700

Jennifer Garner has much to smile about these days as she embarks on a new chapter in her professional life: producing TV shows at ABC Studios. Garner starred in ABC's Alias for five seasons (and she'll probably always be Sydney Bristow to me), and now she's reuniting with the network for a first-look production deal.

As producers, Garner and her partner Juliana Janes aim to develop female-driven material like Grey's Anatomy. Garner says she and Steve McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, "have a great relationship and have been talking about doing something together for some time now. It's been over three years since the finale of Alias." Garner also noted that she's excited to "get back into television wearing my producer hat."

It remains to be seen whether or not Garner will be in front of the camera as well as behind it, but I hope she does some acting. I miss Alias and I enjoyed Garner more in the small-screen role of Sydney Bristow than in any of her movie roles.

Do you think Garner should stick to TV projects instead of movies?

Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:30:41 -0700

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! For all the Alias fans!
In the second season finale, this little piece of information becomes critically important:
What ice cream flavor does Francie not like?
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What's Your Favorite JJ Abrams Series?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:43:07 -0700

Tonight's premiere of Fringe got me thinking about creator/executive producer JJ Abrams and his pretty stellar track record on television.

In the past decade, Abrams has created or co-created four shows (Felicity, Alias, Lost, and now Fringe) and executive-produced two others (Six Degrees and What About Brian). Many of those shows had ratings success and/or significant buzz, and all of them (well, except maybe Six Degrees) had vocal fan followings. While we wait to see how Fringe will stack up, which is your favorite of Abrams's series so far?

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Spies and the BuzzSugar Who Loves Them

BuzzSugar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:30:03 -0700

Spies are the coolest of the cool. The secret-holders and protectors. The smartest and often the most spry. It's no wonder many of us want to be them, or you know, make out with them. This weekend's spy comedy Get Smart reminded me that there are so many spies I love. To see my favorite spies from TV and movies, just hit "Start."

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Buzz In: Which TV Shows Overstayed Their Welcome?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:30:07 -0700

While some of you longtime Simpsons fans were celebrating the show's 20th-season renewal this week, just as many of you were saying the show should have quit while it was ahead. I've already read one story musing that the end could be near for the show, and some people think that's coming, oh, seven or eight years too late.

We talk a lot around here about shows that get canceled before their time, but what about shows that just hang on too long? Frankly, as much as I love Alias, I wish it had wrapped up earlier. What other shows should have been canceled sooner than they actually were? Sound off below.

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What's Buzzworthy? Addictive TV Shows

BuzzSugar — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 07:30:00 -0700

Despite all those great reasons to keep the TV on, it really is starting to feel like we're in the summer TV doldrums. The good news: It's the perfect time to catch up on favorite series on DVD. Some series are so addictive, they're meant to be watched straight through; recently, I powered through each of the first two seasons of "Weeds" in about three days each. Shows like "Alias" and "24" are also best watched straight through, without annoying reruns or pesky commercials.

For this week's Buzzworthy challenge, I want to know which TV shows have kept you glued to the set for days and nights on end. Simply use BuzzSugar's cool bookmarking tool to grab your favorites from around the Web, and tag them with the phrase addictive TV. I'll post some readers' picks here next week. You can also now make a list of your picks. Here are mine:

24 - Season One	Weeds - Season One
Weeds - Season Two	Alias - The Complete First Season

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Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat Score HBO TV Show

BuzzSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:30:13 -0700

Don't say you don't make friends on the derby rink. Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat, recent costars in Whip It, have scored a deal to write and produce a TV show for HBO. Another costar from the movie, Sean Tillman (AKA Har Mar Superstar, pictured here), is also collaborating.

The show, called Stitch 'N Bitch, will be about "two painfully cool hipster girls as they relocate from Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood to Los Angeles' Silver Lake enclave in hopes of becoming artists." It sounds obvious who these characters will be based on - both women fit that 'painfully hip' description, but there isn't a confirmation yet that they'll be starring. I'd love to see them in the roles, but also hoping this isn't one of those projects that will cause scheduling conflicts for the Arrested Development movie!

Link Time! Janet Jackson to Open Up on TV About Michael

BuzzSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:30:09 -0800

Janet Jackson will be talking about her brother in a new primetime special - TV Squad
The Real Housewives of New Jersey are invading NBC's Mercy. Seriously. - The Ausiello Files
Ryan Seacrest is letting regular people grab money from celebs for his new show Bank of Hollywood - Vulture
Here's a guide to all of the guest stars during November sweeps - TV.com
George Clooney's top 10 movies - Rotten Tomatoes
CBS picks up five more episodes of Accidentally on Purpose - HitFix
Michael Jackson's This Is It takes No. 1 on Billboard - Rolling Stone
Listen to a preview of Adam Lambert's new album - Best Week Ever
Colin Hanks to play "Jack" to Bradley Whitford's "Dan" - Collider
Twilight's Rob and Kristen finally talk about each other. Check out snippets from the interview - PopSugar
Sigourney Weaver and Alia Shawkat sign on for Cedar Rapids - Zap2it
Prepare for the onslaught of skinny jeans: Kings of Leon are creating their own limited-edition clothing line - Spinner

Caption It: Which Caption Should Win?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:30:15 -0700

For last week's Caption It challenge, I picked your brains with this photo of Jennifer Garner, Ricky Gervais, and Rob Lowe in The Invention of Lying.

As usual, there were lots of clever one-liners but it's time to narrow them down!

"I suppose you're dorky enough looking for my German version of The Office."
"What do you mean it's not classy to drink Budweiser? It's the king of beers!"
"Why do you look like Clark Kent? Halloween is a month from now!"
"Syd, I refuse to believe that for the third time this month, your alias is to go on a date with an attractive man, no matter how many beers I drink!"

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures

Whip It: A Rollicking Good Time

BuzzSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:30:56 -0700

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, roller derby comedy Whip It, is not unlike the actress's persona: cute, fun, and with a whole lot going on.

Ellen Page stars as quiet 17-year-old Bliss Cavendar, whose mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wants to make her the queen of small-town Texas beauty pageants. Bliss meekly goes along with the idea, her voice too small to tell her mom she hates the contests. But one chance visit to nearby big city Austin and everything changes. Bliss admires some intimidating derby girls, and after sneaking off to a match, decides to try out. What follows is a fast-paced, highly entertaining girl-power anthem.

To read more about what I did and didn't like about the movie, just read more.

The movie is perfectly cast; Page plays a shy teen easily, never giving up her sweetness even after she adopts the moniker "Babe Ruthless" and gets repeatedly knocked into the rink sidelines. The team who welcomes her, the Hurl Scouts, is a motley crew: Eve and Zoe Bell don't become much more than background players, Barrymore is an ebullient if minor supporter ("Smashley Simpson"), but team captain Kristen Wiig is one of the hearts of the movie. With a part bigger than the trailer implies, Wiig (I never get tired of the derby names: "Maggie Mayhem") emerges as a mother figure when Bliss's relationship with her own mom is strained. It's nice to see her playing straight for once, and besides Page, Wiig is really the only multi-faceted derby girl.

That's not to say that the derby girls aren't anything special. Beautiful, tough, and impossibly cool, maybe you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley, but you'd definitely want to be invited to their party. Juliette Lewis looks every part the queen bee - aggressive and sexy, she'll push you in a locker before you know what hit you. And naturally, there's a love interest, musician Landon Pigg - but he's kind of an afterthought, which I liked. By not giving in to the cliche that a girl gets everything she wants when she finds her passion, it strengthens the movie's pervasive girl power idea.

The movie isn't just about derby; it's a coming-of-age tale too, and Bliss didn't come from a shaky foundation. Alia Shawkat (yay, Maeby!) plays the hilarious and supportive BFF who doesn't exist just to cheer Bliss on from the sidelines. She's got her own thing, and is too confident to be left behind when Bliss gets wrapped up in her new life - a refreshing departure from the typical best friend character. And Harden isn't merely a strict parent caricature; she may want something completely different for her daughter, but her caring nature shines through.

It's not all success on skates, though. Sometimes the portrayal of the derby world gets to be an overzealous glorification. Sure, it's an amazing outlet for a lot of people and one of the few contact sports that really belongs to women, but the movie pushes the sexualization of the players a little too far. It's already sexy that the women play such a powerful sport, so it's not really necessary to do close-ups of the actresses' bare flesh to show the bruises.

There are a few things you could criticize about Barrymore's direction; for instance, Shauna Cross's screenplay is really quite funny, but some of the actors' lines fall flat. Also, the roller derby scenes have such potential to be exciting, and they could have been even more epic. Then again, this is Barrymore's first outing as a director, and it's still what you would expect from her: a fun-loving, freewheeling confection of a movie with a killer soundtrack.

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight