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Marge Simpson: From TV Mom to Playboy Bunny

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Gossip

Description

It’s not a joke. Marge Simpson will soon be featured in a special three-page Playboy spread that showcases her various charms - and yes, she’ll be nude. The November spread will also offer an in-depth interview. It’s all part of the 20th anniversary celebration for , which is signed up to run on FOX for the next few years.

Playboy readers will still be treated to the usual, non-animated form of Playmate in the issue - Marge is just thrown in as an interesting extra.

Read More | E! Online

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Sneak Listen: Controversial Family Guy Abortion Episode

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Family Guy, DVD, Gossip, Spoilers, Video


The cast gathered recently for a live table read of the upcoming abortion issue, which has already made headlines in the media. So, did FOX’s animated prime time comedy tread very carefully around this hot-button issue? If you’ve got to ask, you just aren’t familiar with the show.

The episode, “Partial Terms of Endearment,” features a plot in which Lois Griffin (wife to title character Peter) becomes a surrogate mother for two friends. The couple goes on to die in a car accident, leaving Lois to ponder of the mysteries of life and possible abortion for the fetus she’s carrying. This story installment wouldn’t be dubbed “the abortion episode” if it didn’t feature Lois at least considering all her options.

Click to continue reading Sneak Listen: Controversial Family Guy Abortion Episode

Read More | E! Online

Judge Rules in Favor of Family Guy

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Family Guy, Gossip

Family Guy

FOX’s animated is not guilty of copyright infringement, per court ruling, for a song parody featured in one of the episodes.

The episode offered up a new version of Disney’s “When You Wish Upon a Star,” which subsequently launched a lawsuit from the major corporation in 2007. The ditty originally appeared in the 1940 flick Pinocchio. The Family Guy version, “I Need a Jew,” was perhaps a little less family-friendly…but it wasn’t illegal.

Despite the content of the song - “anti-Semitic lyrics” - a U.S. District Judge ruled that the lyrics of the song and tone of the piece was “strikingly different” from the original version. Since winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song after its film debut, “When You Wish Upon a Star” has been recorded by more than one hundred subsequent recording artists and orchestras.

Read More | MSNBC

South Park’s Last Hurrah: A Big Screen Sequel

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Animation, Comedy, Cable, Gossip

South Park

When Trey Parker and Matt Stone decide to pull the plug on , they won’t quietly fade from the scene with a single half-hour TV stint. These two comedy masters will say good-bye in a way the fans can appreciate (and spend a lot more money on): with another big-screen version of the show.

Don’t worry, avid Park fans, the show isn’t scheduling to end itself anytime soon. Parker and Stone are signed on with Comedy Central until 2011, at which time they may or may not decide to renew their contract.

“We talked about maybe some day doing a movie to sort of end it all, and that seems like the best idea,” said Parker to the press recently. “That’s been a big thought, to do the last show as a movie.”

Click to continue reading South Park’s Last Hurrah: A Big Screen Sequel

Read More | LA Times

Contract Delays May Mean Shorter Simpsons Season

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, The CW, News

The Simpsons

Fans can usually come to expect at least one of two things from any long-running program:

  1. A constantly-changing list of cast members. (You can refer to the franchise for examples.)
  2. Periodic contract negotiations.

So it should come as no surprise that America’s longest-running sitcom is once again dealing with matters of the financial kind.

Click to continue reading Contract Delays May Mean Shorter Simpsons Season

Read More | Variety

Family Guy’s Fate on FOX

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Gossip

Family GuyHome of the nation’s number one show, 20th Century Fox will soon be paying one of their writer/producers one of the biggest salaries in TV. Here’s the twist: that person doesn’t work on .

Seth MacFarlane, creator of and American Dad, will become the best-paid writer/producer on TV thanks to his new contract. The agreement ensures that Family Guy will remain on the air until 2012, but it also covers a few other projects still in the till. Under the terms of the contract, MacFarlane will continue to pen episodes of American Dad as well as The Cleveland Show (a planned Family Guy spinoff). “I get a lot of pleasure out of making show,” said MacFarlane to the press. “It’s a bonus to get getting paid well for it, and it’s a double bonus to be getting paid exorbitantly for it.” The amount in question remains undisclosed, though it is expected to soar above the $60 million, five-year contract offered to J.J. Abrams (Lost) in 2006.

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Read More | MSNBC

King of the Hill Renewed

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Renewals

King of the HillWell - it turns out the number 13 can, in fact, be lucky for some.

FOX has just announced that one of its comedic mainstays, , will be returning to the airwaves fall.  Not only will fans be getting a whole new 13-episode set of the program, the upcoming season will mark the show’s 13th year on air.

Although more half hours may later be ordered, the network apparently has what it needs for the time being.  The series did not suffer a production shortage due to the writers strike; most of the segments had already been written prior to the work stoppage.

The Sunday staple is positioned only behind as the longest-running animated series ever.  The 2008-09 year will mark the 19th year for Matt Groening’s creation.

Read More | Variety

South Park Episodes Available On Own Site

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Comedy, Cable, Internet

South ParkTired of piecing together videos of from YouTube?  Well, the creators of the show are too.

To alleviate all the wasted time spent searching, and are offering fans of the show an easier way to keep up with the series.  They are now making every single episode of the program available on one site.  And for free!  In a joint statement, the duo said: “We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time, so we gave ourselves a legal alternative.”

Although the shows are currently running ad free, expect that to change sometime in the near future.  Current episodes can also be found on the site though they will experience a short blackout period.

The site (which can be found here) has already had seen several million visitors since debuting last week.

Read More | Variety

This Week on TV (3/17-3/23)

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Kids, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, ABC, Cable, CBS, FX, FOX, NBC, The CW, America's Next Top Model, Dancing With The Stars, Lost, Survivor, The Bachelor

How I Met Your Mother

(You can view TV Envy’s Post-Strike Television Schedule here.)

MONDAY (3/17)

  • Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 8pm):  Tonight’s Season 6 premiere focuses only on the men.  I think it’s safe to say Julianne Hough won’t be making it a three-peat with .
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 8pm):  New episode.  “Sheldon and Leonard are asked to a physics conference to present their work together.”  I’ve always wondered - if this show were to air on any other day, would it be half as successful?
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8:30):  New episode.  “Ted decides to live life like Barney on St. Patrick’s Day.”  You don’t want to know what they use as their lucky charms.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS, 9pm):  New episode.  “Charlie teaches Alan how to break up with a woman.”  I hear hiring prostitutes can make a woman leave you.
  • The Bachelor (ABC, 9:30):  Season 12 premiere.  “Bachelor Matt Grant, a 27-year-old British financier, meets his 25 would-be soul mates.”  Apparently in America, you can finally afford to woo twice as many women as you can in the UK.

Click to continue reading This Week on TV (3/17-3/23)


TV on DVD: January 15, 2008

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Kids, Prime Time, Reality, Sports, ABC, BBC, Cable, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, Extras, Family Guy, DVD

Here are some of the options you can find on the shelves today.  This week’s selections include the recent Golden Globe winner for Best TV Comedy ():

Extras

  • Alex Haley’s Queen
  • ‘Allo ‘Allo (Complete Series Seven)
  • Criss Angel: Mindfreak (Season 3)
  • Dora the Explorer: Undercover Dora
  • Extras (Complete Series)
  • Family Guy: Blue Harvest
  • Frontline: On Our Watch
  • Frontline: The Undertaking
  • National Geographic: Incredible Human Machine (1975)
  • The New Adventures of Old Christine (Season 1)
  • The Rockford Files (Season 5)
  • Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (Season 3)
  • WWE: Armageddon 2007

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