Tag: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Years of Hope, Days of Madness. | HBO 2.0.

“I can start the story fresh, and at the same time there will be all these events that happened in between that will provide additional storytelling energy.” Don Draper’s destination? 1969. Apparently, Matthew Weiner and Mad Men have a five-season, ten-year mission, and will jump a year or so ahead after every season. (As noted here, Season 2 picks up on Valentines Day, 1962.)

Also in TV news, HBO announces its upcoming slate, which includes Treme (“Trah-May“, a.k.a. David Simon in Nola), True Blood (Alan Ball does Southern Gothic), more Curb, a Scorsese project, and — alas — absolutely no Deadwood.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, Awaken Your Fear.

You heard it here first: Barack Obama’s campaign has abandoned its message of hope, and, with Larry David, is now waging the politics of fear: “David is…quoted threatening the Dartmouth students who are undecided between Obama and Edwards. ‘Okay, alright,’ he said. ‘If you don’t vote for Obama, I’m never doing the show again.’” Sigh, it’s a sad day…no wonder Cheryl left him. Still, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Which reminds me, in case you missed Senator Clinton’s Hail-Mary Giuliani-ism of Monday, Ted of The Late Adopter posted it in an earlier comment thread. Said the Senator, speaking of Gordon Brown: “I don’t think it was by accident that Al Qaeda decided to test the new prime minister. They watch our elections as closely as we do, maybe more closely than some of our fellow citizens do…Let’s not forget you’re hiring a president not just to do what a candidate says during the election, you want a president to be there when the chips are down.” Hard to call that a message of change. In fact, take out that weird stab at “our fellow citizens” who haven’t swarmed to Clinton’s candidacy, and it sounds like all the usual terror terror terror garbage we’ve been hearing from the GOP for years.

Development Arrested.

Bad news for the Bluths: Despite its critical acclaim and multiple Emmy wins, Fox has cut Season 3 of Arrested Development from 22 to 13 episodes. I caught up with the show recently on DVD, and it’s definitely the funniest thing on TV this side of Curb Your Enthusiasm. That being said, it doesn’t exactly reward casual viewing, so I can see why it’s having trouble at its current slot. Well, maybe it’ll find a more suitable home on one of the cable networks.

Vamps of all kinds.

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers has a fatal attraction problem with Scarlett Johansson in the new trailer for Match Point, directed by…well, someone unexpected. (By way of Listen Missy.) Also in the trailer bin are looks at the “remake” of Broadway’s The Producers (What? No Larry David?) and Underworld: Evolution, the unnecessary sequel to a truly terrible film. Seriously, if everyone just sent Bill Nighy $10 rather than seeing this latter flick, the world would be a better place. Catsuit-Kate notwithstanding, he’d be the only reason to sit through this drek.