BuzzSugar

Now Available on iTunes: Your Childhood

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:30:42 -0700

If you were one of the people who turned my Hey Dude recast into a lovefest for '90s Nickelodeon, here's a bit of good news: As of today, you can download episodes of the show on iTunes!

The show, along with Clarissa Explains It All, Rugrats, and Doug (the good one, not the weird ABC one where they changed Doug's voice), is now available as part of Nick Rewind on iTunes, which exists specifically to feed our craving for nostalgia. No, really: “We hear from literally thousands of teens and young parents who say they want to see the shows that defined their childhood," one Nickelodeon executive said in announcing the service.

There's some slightly more recent fare in there, too (The Amanda Show, The Wild Thornberrys), but I'm most excited to go download some Clarissa. What about you? Will you be grabbing any of these episodes? And what shows do you hope Nick Rewind adds next? (My vote: Salute Your Shorts, then The Adventures of Pete and Pete.)

The Results Are In: Recast Hey Dude

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:30:21 -0700

Every other Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

There were some really great suggestions for last week's challenge, the recast of the Nickelodeon '80s hit Hey Dude. I had a feeling this recast would get a lot of folks who were kids during that era of television feeling nostalgic, and I'm so excited most of you remembered the characters! I had a great time thinking about new cast members, too, but mostly I just couldn't get the theme song out of my head all week.

I really loved the ideas of of Rainn Wilson as Mr. Ernst and Greek's Spencer Grammer as Melody that azulskies suggested. The more I think about it, the more Spencer looks like a young Christine Taylor to me, and they already have similar careers - both getting their starts on TV as the nice girl.

I thought that the somewhat nerdy Buddy Ernst would be tough to cast, but ladyelephant's suggestion of Haley Joel Osment is creative and I think it would work well. A young Freddie Muniz would be fun too, as bratty3000 pointed out. And I'm glad we all agreed last week that David Lascher was such a crush-worthy Ted McGriff, but I see kendallina's point that Ben McKenzie would give David a run for his money.

Thank you to everyone for your great suggestions! There was one cast that was right on with the innocent Melody and the rich girl Brad, not to mention a totally hilarious suggestion for Mr. Ernst that I just couldn't resist. Congrats to khowell!

To see who khowell picked, along with a new cast photo, read more.

khowell's cast:
Mr. Ernst - Stephen Colbert
Bradley "Brad" Taylor - Leighton Meester
Ted McGriff - Jared Padalecki
Melody Hanson - Jamie Lynn Spears
Benjamin "Buddy" Ernst - Seth Green
Danny Lightfoot - Wilmer Valderrama

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Recast Hey Dude and Win a Prize!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:30:21 -0700

Every other Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

For this week's recast I wanted to tap into that Nickelodeon era of programming aimed at teens in the late '80s and early '90s which included shows like Salute Your Shorts, Clarissa Explains It All and my personal favorite: Hey Dude! This teen comedy about a dude ranch in Arizona opened with the lyrics, "It's a little wild and a little strange/ when you make your home out on the range." Hey Dude had that Saved by the Bell mix of cheeseball plot scenarios and recognizable teenage stereotypes. It was kinda dorky but I loved every minute of it. "Singin'. . . Yippee ki yi yay! Yippee ki yi what?"

Who do you think could play city slicker-turned-rancher Mr. Ernst and his adolescent son Buddy today? Who would you recast as the teenagers on Mr. Ernst's staff for the summer: Ted McGriff (originally played by the handsome David Lascher), rich girl Brad Taylor (I used to be so jealous of her hair!), and the girl-next-door ranch lifeguard, Melody Hanson (played by a young Chrstine Taylor, now-wife of Ben Stiller)? Finally, remember Danny Lightfoot (Joe Torres)?

Leave your entry in the comment section below, and I'll pick one winner to feature Tuesday, April 29, complete with a "new" cast photo.

To see a list of characters to recast and a photo of the BuzzSugar t-shirt, read more.

Characters to recast:
Mr. Ernst (David Brisbin)
Bradley "Brad" Taylor (Kelly Brown)
Ted McGrif (David Lascher)
Melody Hanson (Christine Taylor)
Benjamin 'Buddy' Ernst (Josh Tygiel)
Danny Lightfoot (Joe Torres)

The BuzzSugar t-shirt

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Joel McHale and Ken Jeong Share Details About Community!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:00:29 -0800

Community is one of those shows where you know the cast has an awesome time together. So I wasn't all that surprised to hear stars Joel McHale (Jeff) and Ken Jeong (Senor Chang) fawn over one another when they recently sat down with reporters. I've been waiting to see these two cement their friendship on-screen too, and it sounds like I'll get my wish tonight. Both actors shared a few tidbits from the episode, plus thoughts on Chevy Chase, the possible Jeff and Annie romance, and their mutual admiration.

Joel on Jeff and Annie's kiss last week: I haven't seen any scripts where it'll be revisited, because I'll probably be arrested, but believe me it was good times. I mean it's Alison Brie from Mad Men!
Joel on Jeff's relationship with Britta: His first initial reaction was, hey there's a really hot chick. And she has like an endless, you know, she has all the denim jackets that you can find. And so I think that was his first reaction. And then at the complete rejection of him he was like, ah, a challenge. And then as he got to know her, she was so much more than he expected, which was she was a totally grounded cool person...So that intrigued him, and she really is I think the moral compass of the show.

To hear more from Joel and Ken, including what's in store for this week's episode, read more.

Ken on Senor Chang's constant power trip: There is something to be said about being in a room where you have students hanging on every word. And it's definitely, as a teacher I think it's an ego rush, you know. You're definitely feeding off of that. It's really the only time in life you get to have a room where people are hanging on your every word and learning from it, and you have a power to influence.
Ken on tonight's episode: You really get to see why Senor Chang has the chip on his shoulder that he does. And some of that involves love and some of that involves friendship, and you really get to see more of the back story of Chang...And it's the relationship with Joel. Joel is really the guy that sees how [Chang's] character comes to be, and why he's developed all these traits along the way.
Joel on working with Chevy Chase: It's like working with Nolan Ryan. He's older than everybody, he's got the best stories. He has worked way more than any of us, but he still throws it harder than any of us...We have a lot to learn from that guy and it's so weird to be walking around with this kind of icon and legend that, you know, you grew up with.
Joel on Ken: Ken he will invent comedy where there is not comedy. He creates it...He's a damn good performer and you pray to God you get him in your movie or your TV show because it's like having a secret weapon.
Ken on Joel: I'm amazed at how Joel handles everything. He's always just grace under pressure this guy, because we'll be working, you know, on a Wednesday or middle of the week, and then he's got to do the Soup or another show and it's just how he switches gears is effortless. I just marvel at that. I'm like dude, how do you do it?
Ken on Community hitting its stride: I think that my wife has a good theory about sitcoms...They're like fine wine, you give them a little bit of time, and they just keep tasting better and better......The audience gets more familiar with the characters, the writers get more familiar characters, and so do the actors.

Do you like the theory that comedies get better with time? I think Community has gradually improved week after week, don't you agree? (Don't forget to watch tonight!)

The Vampire Diaries: The Good, The Bad, (The Twilight Reference) and The Bloody

BuzzSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:15:00 -0700

Last night's Vampire Diaries was all about the formal wear, history and, swoon, some shirtless Salvatores. The series is doing a great job of slowly revealing the back story of the vampires in Mystic Falls while also progressing the romances and of course the brother-rivalry which has taken a pretty central spot so far.

Bonnie is still figuring out her powers, without much help from her friends or anyone else, but she's quietly becoming one of my favorite parts of the show. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much I care about Elena's aunt, whose love life might be causing some trouble for the Gilbert family soon. Check out my thoughts on the show if you just read more.

The Good:

I love, love, loved the scene of Damon reading Twilight - hilarious. He says that "this book has it all wrong" and laughs off Caroline's questions about his lack of sparkling in the sun.

Holy hotness. The Salvatore guys were all about showing off their bodies last night. No complaints here.

Finally Elena was a good friend and noticed that Caroline is covering up some serious wounds from Damon. Maybe Elena isn't quite clued into what's going on, but at least she's worried and the scene at the end suggests that Caroline might be ready to talk.

On that note, Elena is growing a backbone with Stefan. It's about time for her to demand that he be less mysterious, especially considering how much she has gone through. She deserves to have some transparency from the guy she is trusting her heart to.

No diary writing this week, no crows, so there's that.

The Bad:

I am getting into this show, for sure, but not quite ready to put any heart into the aunt's backstory and love life. There was a bit too much time spent on that last night. Speaking of which, am I heartless for just not being that into Jeremy's story? The end was sweet when Vicki finally came to her senses and kissed him, but still, lets get back to the Salvatore hotness.

As I mentioned last week - five people are found dead drained of blood out of one neck bite and the police say it's a Mountain Lion?

The Bloody:

Once again the show started with a scary scene, this time a nightmare. It seems like it's Elena's, but really it's Stefan - why is he sleeping at all? - anyway, this leads to...

Um, hey brothers, why so stabby? Well, at least that meant some serious six pack from Stefan and one of the best lines from Damon yet: "This is Jon Varvatos, dude. Dick."

The last bite of Caroline seemed pretty intense, but she didn't die thanks to Stefan who helped her out. Plus, her blood was spiked which meant Damon could finally be captured.

I can't imagine that Damon will stay locked up for long, but the Mystic Falls police department, mayor and news anchor know what kind of "animal" is draining residents of blood - the vampires are back. We're still piecing together what happened in the past, or what made the vampires leave for however many decades, but things are still getting more and more interesting as the plot unfolds. What did you like or not like about "Family Ties"?