Monday, May 16, 2011

Upfronts 2011-12: MacFarlane hits Bedrock

There is a lot of "Yabba dabba don't" in the Twittersphere greeting news that Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has been given the green light to reboot The Flintstones. Word broke first on Deadline and Fox president Kevin Reilly made it official Monday in New York at the network upfront.
The new animated series will go into production soon and be ready for 2013, Reilly told advertisers. MacFarlane has been a Flintstones fan for years, saying they were one of his earliest inspirations.
The Flintstones premiered over 50 years ago in the fall of 1960 as TV's first prime time animated comedy. MacFarlane says he plans to update the series with cell phone and iPad gags. I'm guessing he'll voice Fred; he's half way there already as Peter Griffin.
Years ago I interviewed Joe Barbera in his office at Hanna-Barbera Studios at the foot of Universal Studios in Los Angeles. At one time, H-B owned Saturday mornings, airing hit shows on all networks.
Now Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera and even that studio are gone. (Although The Smurfs, one of their creations, are back in theatres this summer.)MacFarlane had to pry the modern stone age family away from current rights holders, Warner Bros., who are partnering with Fox on this venture.
MacFarlane's Sunday animated comedies Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show were recently renewed for 10th, 7th and 4th seasons. Think about that--American Dad has been on one season longer than the original Flintstones run, or, uh, six years longer than Outsourced. Why, God, why?

Thursday, January 6, 2011

It's Fall Preview time. Which of these new network shows are you most looking forward to seeing?

Hawaii FIVE-0 32 (36%)
Shattered 19 (21%)
S#*! My Dad Says 18 (20%)
The Event 15 (17%)
Law & Order: Los Angeles 14 (15%)
Lone Star 13 (14%)
Nikita 13 (14%)
Blue Bloods 13 (14%)
Men with Brooms 13 (14%)
No Ordinary Family 12 (13%)
Outsourced 11 (12%)
Chase 7 (7%)
Hellcats 6 (6%)
Mike & Molly 5 (5%)
Raising Hope 4 (4%)
Running Wilde 3 (3%)
Detroit 1-8-7 5 (5%)
Undercovers 7 (7%)
Better with You 2 (2%)
The Defenders 8 (9%)
My Generation 4 (4%)
Body of Proof 6 (6%)
Outlaw 2 (2%)
All For One with Debbie Travis 5 (5%)

Votes: 88

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Departing Series I Will Miss the most

Lost 19 (27%)
The Border 12 (17%)
Law & Order 9 (12%)
24 7 (10%)
Ugly Betty 5 (7%)
Scrubs 4 (5%)
FlashForward 3 (4%)
Ghost Whisperer 3 (4%)
New Adventures of Old Christine 3 (4%)
Numb3rs 2 (2%)
Melrose Place 2 (2%)
Cold Case 1 (1%)
Heroes 0 (0%)

Votes: 70

Saturday, June 5, 2010

It's Save Our Show Time. Which Show would you save?

Being Erica 40 (26%)
18 To Life 30 (20%)

Chuck 25 (16%)
Medium 25 (16%)
Human Target 18 (12%)
V 17 (11%)
Little Mosque on the Prairie 16 (10%)
Ghost Whisperer 14 (9%)
Parenthood 14 (9%)
Numb3rs 13 (8%)
FlashForward 13 (8%)
Sons of Tucson 9 (6%)
Mercy 8 (5%)
Trauma 6 (4%)
Heroes 6 (4%)

Votes: 149

Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday, April 12, 2010

Favourite Olympic Sport

HOCKEY 37 (54%)
CURLING 18 (26%)
SKICROSS 15 (22%)
SNOWBOARDING 14 (20%)
FIGURE SKATING 10 (14%)
SPEEDSKATING 10 (14%)
BITCHING 9 (13%)
BOBSLED/LUGE 7 (10%)
MOANING 7 (10%)
SKI JUMPING 6 (8%)
COMPLAINING 4 (5%)
ALPINE SKIING 4 (5%)
BIATHLON 3 (4%)
CROSS COUNTRY 1 (1%)

Votes: 68