Written by Jon Williams
Normally we’re
not in the habit of discussing major plot points like character deaths in
ongoing television shows—partially because we’d hate to give away spoilers, and
partially because we’d have to dedicate this space to Game
of Thrones on a regular basis. However, if you’ve been on the Internet
at all this week, it’s been impossible to avoid the news that the animated
series Family Guy has killed off one
of its most beloved original characters: the Griffin family’s intelligent
talking dog, Brian.
Brian was
voiced by the show’s creator, Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane voices several
characters in the show, but Brian spoke with his actual speaking voice. The
show debuted
on Fox after the Super Bowl in 1999 and originally ran for three seasons before
being cancelled by the network. However, a number of factors, including strong
DVD sales and high ratings for reruns, led to the show being brought back for a
fourth
season in 2005. The show has been in production ever since and is currently
in its twelfth season.
Family Guy has turned into quite a
success in its own right, but it also served as a launching pad for the career
of the multitalented MacFarlane. He has developed further animated shows with American
Dad! and The
Cleveland Show (a Family Guy
spinoff which has recently been cancelled after four seasons). He currently
serves as executive producer for the live-action sitcom Dads (starring Family Guy
voice actor Seth Green), which is in its first season, and is co-producing an
update of Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking 1980 science/astronomy series Cosmos.
He has also made the jump from the small screen to the big screen, writing,
directing, and starring (via voice, of course) in the comedy Ted,
about a boy who wishes his teddy bear to life and grows into adulthood with the
bear as his best friend. He is also an accomplished
singer, and provided an opening number for another animated hit, the Futurama
movie Into
the Wild Green Yonder.
Still, even
with all these other projects, MacFarlane is still most closely associated with
Family Guy, which now must go forward
without Brian Griffin. While this may not quite rank with the death of Colonel
Blake on M*A*S*H,
it still has some longtime fans up in arms. Hopes are high that the series will
find a way to bring him back at some point, but only time will tell.
SmartBrowse Family Guy on our homepage for the
complete collection of episodes on DVD (plus the hilarious Star
Wars spoofs), and SmartBrowse
Seth MacFarlane for a wide variety of titles from this multifaceted
entertainer.
Written by Kyle Slagley
I was rather an unusual child. While my peers were
referencing shows like Beavis &
Butthead, I was prattling on about dead parrots, African v. European
Swallows, lumberjacks, and knights who say “Ni!” For folks out there that
understand all (or any) of those references, the following announcement will be
very welcome news. * Nudge nudge wink
wink* Know what I mean?
On Wednesday, the five surviving members of British comedy
troupe Monty Python announced that they are indeed reuniting in the summer of
2014 for one night only. The show will take place at the London O2 Arena on
July 1st of next year, and according to Eric Idle will include
“comedy, pathos, music and a tiny piece of ancient sex.”
Sounds about right from the group who achieved legendary
status on a mixture of dry wit, absurd slapstick, and sexual innuendo. The July
2014 performance is a monumental event for the five members, who haven’t
performed together since 1980.
The members of Monty Python ( John
Cleese, Terry
Gilliam, Eric
Idle, Terry
Jones, Michael
Palin, and Graham
Chapman [1941-1989]) all worked on various British TV shows during the
1960s prior to the kickoff of their breakthrough series Monty Python’s Flying Circus in October 1969. Between 1964 and
1969, the six men collaborated in various combinations and eventually ITV
offered Gilliam, Idle, Jones, and Palin a series together, while at the same
time BBC offered Chapman and Cleese a show. Cleese would then invite Palin to
join the BBC show, the other three would follow, and Flying Circus would be the hilarious result.
Flying Circus ran
on BBC from 1969 through 1974. The series was introduced in Canada in 1970 on
CBC, but was pulled after Christmas that year. It would be another four years
before the show made its way to U.S. audiences on PBS in 1974, after the series
had finished for good on BBC.
Between seasons three and four, the group filmed their first
fully original movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Having left Flying Circus following
the third season, Cleese returned to film the movie. As I’m sure you know, the
film is a farce on the Arthurian legend and is full of bits that are still
staples in pop-culture. Holy Grail
was the group’s second feature film, their first being And Now For Something Completely Different, which was composed of
reshot footage from the first two season of Flying
Circus.
Though Holy Grail
is probably more widely known in the U.S., it was the group’s third film, Monty Python’s Life of Brian that is
often considered the best of the troupe’s work, and also one of the best comedy
films of all time. Funded by former Beatles band member George Harrison, the
film was released in 1979 and follows a man whose life parallels that of Jesus
Christ.
The troupe’s last film, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, was
made with a structure similar to that of their original Flying Circus days. A series of sketches loosely follows the
timeline of man from birth through death. Some of the best musical numbers in
the troupe’s repertoire came out of this film, most of which are available on
their album Monty Python Sings. The group freely
admits that by the time the project rolled around, their aim was to offend
“absolutely everyone.”
In recent years, the musical Spamalot has been the most visible
Monty Python work. Based on Holy Grail,
Eric Idle wrote the book for the hit that would star some of the biggest names
in Broadway theatre and ultimately be nominated for 14 Tony Awards, winning
three.
There is no word yet on whether the troupe’s one-off show in
July will be recorded, but I would be shocked if it weren’t. There have been
quite a few specials and shows over the years billed as “Monty Python Reunion”
events, but none of them involved every surviving member as this one will. If
and when Monty Python Live (mostly)
is released on video, you can be sure we’ll let you know.
For a complete listing of all our available Monty Python
titles and documentaries, click
here.
Written by Jon Williams
The biggest
buzz in the worlds of entertainment and pop culture this week surrounds Catching Fire, the second film in the Hunger Games series. The first
film was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2012, a year that was full of
them, grossing over $400 million in North America. The second film is expected to bring
in similar numbers at the box office.
If there’s
still anyone out there who’s unfamiliar, the films are based on a trilogy of
dystopian young adult novels
by Suzanne Collins dealing with a futuristic society that keeps its
citizens in line, in part, by requiring each District to submit two teenage
contestants to an annual reality show-type competition in which the winner is
the only survivor. The first novel and film follow protagonist Katniss
Everdeen, who volunteers for the Hunger Games in place of her young sister, who
is selected to participate. In Catching
Fire, Katniss is thrust into competition once again when the Games draw
contestants from past champions.
Interest in
all things Hunger Games is sure to be
at a fever pitch throughout Catching Fire’s
theatrical run. Be sure to have the first film, the music, and the audiobooks
on your shelves for patrons to enjoy, and visit our website to find more music
from the outstanding artists featured on the soundtracks.
Written by Jon Williams
Fans of
horror TV, rejoice! Although it’s too late for Halloween, word came down last
night that a team has been assembled to reboot the classic macabre 1980s series
Tales from the Darkside. The update
will air on the CW network as a half-hour series beginning in the summer of
2014.
The original
series was created by horror legend George A. Romero, who directed and
co-wrote the seminal zombie film Night
of the Living Dead in 1968. In 1982 he teamed up with Stephen King for the film Creepshow,
which was an anthology film made up of several horror stories. The success of
that film led to the idea of a horror-themed TV series, which became Tales from the Darkside.
The show
debuted in 1984 and ran for four seasons, with each episode telling a new story.
With new characters each week, the show had quite a large cast, featuring such
stars as Phyllis Diller, John Heard, Carol Kane, Darren McGavin, Jerry Stiller,
Abe Vigoda, Seth Green, Marcia Cross, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Christian
Slater, to name just a few. After its four-season run on television, the show
spawned a feature
film of its own in 1990, which starred Slater along with Steve Buscemi,
Julianne Moore, and Debbie Harry.
Tales from the Darkside certainly wasn’t
the first or only show of its type. It owed a debt of gratitude to The
Twilight Zone, the pioneering show of strange tales which originally
ran from 1959 to 1964. The format became quite popular in the ‘80s, with Tales
from the Darkside being joined by Steven Spielberg’s Amazing
Stories and a Twilight Zone
revival in 1985, and then followed by HBO’s Tales
from the Crypt in 1989.
Set to write
the scripts for the new series is acclaimed author Joe Hill—son of Romero
collaborator and original Darkside
contributor Stephen King (who had his own horror anthology show with 2006’s Nightmares
& Dreamscapes). This isn’t the only film work Hill has on tap—his novel
Horns
has been adapted into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple (which
premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and will
release theatrically in 2014), and his comic series Locke & Key is being
adapted into a film as well.
Written by Jon Williams
Earlier this
week, PBS aired a new documentary on Jimi Hendrix as part of its American
Masters series. Hear My Train a Comin’
explores the legendary guitar wizard’s life and career in his own words,
intermixed with previously unseen concert footage and conversations with
friends, family, and contemporaries. Its showing winds down a year-long
celebration of Hendrix that commenced on what would have been his 70th
birthday, 27 November 2012. The documentary is already available on both DVD
for classic rock-loving patrons who may have missed its original airing, or who
just want to see it again.
Although
Hendrix’s life and career were brief (he died at age 27 after only 4 years of
musical success), both are worth exploring. The incandescent performer’s
confident and flamboyant stage persona was a front for a quiet, shy personality
away from it. After working early on as a sideman
to such entertainers as Little Richard and the Isley Brothers, his career
began in earnest in 1966 when his manager began recruiting musicians to join a
band designed to highlight Hendrix’s talent, and thus the Jimi Hendrix
Experience was born. Their first album, Are
You Experienced? (currently out of print), contained such staples as
“Purple Haze,” “Hey Joe,” and “Foxy Lady.”
Despite such
a powerhouse track listing and a strong start in Great Britain (where it was
kept from #1 only by the seminal Beatles album Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), Hendrix’s career got off to a
lukewarm start in North America. The Experience’s first single, “Hey Joe,”
failed to chart upon its release. While the music fell short, Hendrix finally
managed to capture everyone’s attention with his stage antics. On the
recommendation of Paul McCartney, who saw Hendrix perform a blistering version
of “Sgt. Pepper” just three days after its release, the Experience was invited
to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival in California in June of 1967. At the
end of their performance, Hendrix famously lit his guitar on fire, making a
name for himself and cementing his place in rock n’ roll lore. This performance
(and more from the festival) can be seen on The Complete Monterey Pop Festival DVD
and Blu-ray
available from the Criterion Collection.
The Jimi
Hendrix Experience followed up Are You
Experienced? with just two more studio albums during Jimi’s lifetime. Axis:
Bold as Love was released later in 1967 to capitalize on the success of
the first album, and the first side of the original album had to be hurriedly
remixed after Hendrix left the master tapes in a taxi. The double album Electric Ladyland (also out of print),
released late in 1968, featured two songs greater than 13 minutes in length,
plus a cover of the Bob Dylan song “All Along the Watchtower,” which has become
one of Hendrix’s signature songs.
Hendrix’s
tragic death in September of 1970 at the age of 27 was a major blow to the
music world, which earlier that year had already experienced the breakup of the
Beatles. However, he left behind a treasure trove of unreleased materials,
resulting in a number of posthumous releases that continue to this day. Valleys
of Neptune, released in 2010, contained a number of previously
unreleased tracks Hendrix had been working on in preparation for a fourth album;
another such album, People,
Hell and Angels, was released earlier this year. Audio engineer Eddie
Kramer, who worked extensively with Hendrix during his lifetime, says this 2013
album has exhausted the supply of unreleased Hendrix studio tracks, but that
other live albums may eventually be made available.
Although Hendrix’s
career was cut short, his influence on rock music was undeniable, and interest
in his music remains very strong. SmartBrowse his name on our website to see
the wide range of CDs, concert and documentary DVDs, and other materials we
have available from and about this amazingly talented and transcendent
musician.
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