Well, why not? Animal Planet’s explored other monsters before so why not do a series on zombie animals? The network’s just picked up the rights to IDW Publishing’s The Other Dead graphic novel and will be creating a series based on the zombie animal property.
Created by Joshua Ortega and Digger Mesch, The Other Dead is “set in Louisiana during the ‘next Hurricane Katrina’ and features an eclectic cast of characters thrown together into a nightmarish world of undead animals and unrelenting storms.”
“The entire creative team could not be more excited about this partnership, and the timing for The Other Dead series could not be more perfect,” said Ortega. “Zombie animal meets Animal Planet? Sounds like we have some serious undead fun ahead of us.”
“Our stylistic and creative ambitions as a network happily found their echo in the pages of The Other Dead, says Kurt Tondorf, vice president of development at Animal Planet. “We’re rabid about bringing Josh and Digger’s bold, wry and unrelenting vision to life.”
“This is an intriguing choice for Animal Planet as the network further branches out into different, dynamic genres,” says Rick Holzman, executive vice president and general manager of Animal Planet.
Cassie (Tichina Arnold), Chuck (Erica Ash), and Reggie (RonReaco Lee) in ‘Survivor’s Remorse’ (Photo Courtesy of Starz)
Starz has given the original series Survivor’s Remorse a second season order following the show’s successful debut on October 4, 2014. Episode one drew in 1.3 million viewers and based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews and viewer numbers, Starz has already greenlit the show for an expanded season two. Season one consists of six half-hour episodes, and season two will be made up of 10 episodes.
“We’re thrilled with the overwhelming critical acclaim Survivors Remorse has received and we look forward to continuing our partnership with such an all-star team,” said Chris Albrecht, CEO of Starz.
The series is executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Tom Werner, Mike O’Malley, Paul Wachter, and Victor Levin.
The Plot:
Survivor’s Remorse follows Cam Calloway, played by Jessie T. Usher, a basketball phenom in his early 20’s who is suddenly thrust into the limelight after signing a multi-million dollar contract with a professional basketball team in Atlanta. Cam, along with his cousin and confidant Reggie Vaughn, played by RonReaco Lee, move to Georgia to start Cam’s journey to success. The two confront the challenges of carrying needy family members and their strong ties to the impoverished community that they come from. Cam, Reggie and an unforgettable group of characters wrestle with the rewards and pitfalls of stardom, love, and loyalty.
The cast also includes Erica Ash as M-Chuck, the sister of Cam Calloway; Teyonah Parris as Reggie’s wife, Missy; Tichina Arnold as Cassie, Cam’s mother; and Mike Epps as Cam’s Uncle Julius.
Marvel and Disney are busy at work on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, an animated series that will premiere in 2015 on Disney XD. The new series will feature the lead characters from the blockbuster movie: Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Drax, and Gamora.
Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television, made the announcement of the start of production at the New York Comic-Con.
“The movie and franchise quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. We’re looking forward to working with the great team at Marvel Television to deliver an engaging animated series that fans can enjoy each week,” said Marc Buhaj, Senior Vice President, Programming and General Manager, Disney XD.
“This is a very exciting time for the Marvel Animation Studio as we get to explore the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe by developing the first-ever Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy animated series,” said Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television. “After starring in the biggest movie of 2014, everyone wants more of Star-Lord and his crew – now they’ll get it.”
The series will be executive produced by Alan Fine, Dan Buckley, Joe Quesada, and Jeph Loeb.
In addition to announcing the beginning of production, Marvel showed off a poster and test footage from the 2015 series while at the NY Comic Con:
Zombies are the new vampires, but FX’s launching of The Strain this summer proved the bloodsuckers aren’t ready to completely fade from the small screen and that a new show featuring the fanged ones isn’t doomed to fail because audiences have moved on. With Dracula Untold, Universal’s hoping the most famous of all vampires will be a draw in theaters, even if the story being told is an origin tale set in 1462 and minus any real vampire action.
Dracula Untold focuses on how Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula which means “Son of the Dragon”) went from murdering innocents to thirsting for human blood in order to save his people. It attempts to make Vlad a sympathetic figure who only impaled thousands of men, women, and children on stakes as a means of stopping further bloodshed. He loves his gorgeous wife (Sarah Gadon) and their young son, dedicates his life to keeping his people safe, and is even willing to turn into a monster to stop the Turks from destroying his country. He’s not a bad guy, just a misunderstood one in this new take on Vlad’s morphing into Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The Story:
After decades of war against the Turkish army, Vlad’s Transylvania is finally at peace. He’s ready to put away his shield and armor for good and spend quality time with his family. Alas, the peace is short-lived as Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper) demands Vlad turn over 1,000 boys to be trained by the Turks as child soldiers. Vlad’s torn between turning over the boys in order to keep the peace or making a stand against Mehmed’s demands. Among the children Mehmed demands is Vlad’s own son and if he doesn’t turn over his child, his country will be drawn into a war they can’t possibly win.
Fortunately for his country, earlier Vlad had stumbled upon a deadly creature living in a cave, and for some reason, he believed he could convince this powerful beast to give him strength enough to defeat Mehmed’s army. Vlad strikes a bargain with the master vampire (Game of Thrones‘ Charles Dance), earning the strength of hundreds of men, the power to heal himself, and the ability to travel as a bat (and control the winged creatures). The catch? He’ll feel an urgent, insatiable need to drink human blood. But if he can turn back the Turks and refrain from drinking blood for three days, he’ll be able to return to his human, non-blood-craving self. However, if he drinks the blood, he will become a creature of the night forced to feed on humans forever.
The Bottom Line:
Dracula Untold is actually a father/son tale with the father sacrificing his soul to become a vampire in order to save his child. It’s a simple story at heart and could be quite compelling if told well. Unfortunately, Dracula Untold feels like a whitewashed version of Dracula, minus any real bloodshed (despite the numerous battles) and menace. Vlad’s just a misunderstood nice guy who happened to find the idea of allowing his enemies – and even his subjects – to die slow, agonizing deaths impaled on stakes a just price to be paid in order to avoid the need to kill thousands more. He even throws his country into war to save his son, collateral damage be damned. And if he is forced into drinking blood and living a life hidden from direct sunlight, that’s just an unfortunate part of the bargain.
Dracula Untold marks the feature film directorial debut of Gary Shore, who does a decent good of creating the foreboding atmosphere and staging the many fight scenes. Although it appears Shore’s been studying 300 and wanted to try and replicate and then outdo some of its visual effects, overall the action scenes are well staged and better than might be expected after watching the pre-release trailers. And while there wasn’t much of a campaign by vampire fans to see an origin story on the big screen, Dracula Untold‘s not as much of a disaster as you might expect it to be – again – simply from watching clips or reading the synopsis. Luke Evans handles both the dramatic scenes and the action scenes well, and he appeals to both sexes. So while Dracula Untold won’t go down in history as one of the better vampire movies ever made, it’s not a horrible way to spend two hours if you’re really into the genre.
GRADE: C+
Dracula Untold is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of warfare, vampire attacks, disturbing images, and some sensuality.
Taylor Swift performs on ‘The X Factor’ on Fox – Photo Credit: Ray Mickshaw / FOX
Billboard’s named Taylor Swift the 2014 Woman of the Year, with the seven-time Grammy winner to be honored at a ceremony on December 12th. The 9th Annual Billboard Women in Music Awards will take place at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
This will be the second time Swift has earned the award and the first time the award will be presented to the same artist twice. Other previous winners include Reba, Pink, Fergie, Katy Perry, Beyonce, and Ciara.
“As one of the most influential artists of her generation, Taylor Swift has seen incredible success on the Billboard charts,” said Janice Min, co-president and chief creative officer of Guggenheim Media’s Entertainment Group. “Over the course of her career, she’s charted 60 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 — the most of any female artist since her debut in 2006. We are tremendously excited to be honoring her as the 2014 Billboard Woman of the Year for the second time.”
The Woman of the Year award is presented annually to a female artist “who has shaped and inspired the music industry with her success, leadership and innovation over the past twelve months.”
A&E Network’s new documentary series Dogs of War spotlights the connection between veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and shelter dogs trained to help them out. The docuseries will premiere on November 11, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT, with the show moving to Sundays at 10pm on November 16th.
The idea of partnering a dog desperately in need of a forever family with a war veteran was the brainchild of Jim and Lindsey Stanek who created the Paws and Stripes organization. Jim Stanek’s a three-tour veteran who came home suffering from PTSD. A service dog was too costly so he and his wife decided to adopt unwanted dogs and train them to assist veterans. The dogs come from kill shelters and are trained at little or no cost to the veteran they’re paired with.
“This series is full of raw, real and intensely emotional moments that don’t often get a spotlight in mainstream media,” said David McKillop, General Manager and Executive Vice President of A&E. “Each veterans’ story of survival is humbling and we are proud to create a series that captures the light at the end of the tunnel for these heroes.”
The Dogs of War Series Details:
“This real life series chronicles the fog of PTSD that many veterans find themselves in after serving in combat, and the service dogs that bring them out of it. In each hour, one veteran is matched with a dog adopted from a shelter that has been trained in rehabilitation. Together they take an emotional journey out of darkness, through rigorous training and emotional support, so the veteran can integrate back into normal life. Dogs of War is the crossroads where a veteran condemned to a life of isolation, and an abandoned dog condemned to a shelter, come together to rescue one another.”
Executive editor Jerry Ceppos (Oliver Platt), editor Anna Simons (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and reporter Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner) discuss a story in their newspaper in KILL THE MESSENGER, a Focus Features release. (Photo Credit: Chuck Zlotnick / Focus Features)
“I’m going to tell you the whole truth. I’m going to introduce you to people you should talk to and then you will be faced with the most important decision of your life,” says Norwin Meneses (Andy Garcia). “Oh yeah, what’s that?” asks Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner). “Deciding whether to share it or not,” replies Meneses, a drug lord who is about to give reporter Webb the story of his career in the dramatic thriller Kill the Messenger.
After receiving a tip about a drug dealer, journalist Gary Webb stumbles onto a major story of how the crack epidemic began on the streets of America. Webb’s search for the truth leads him to Nicaragua and back to Washington D.C. where it seems that the CIA was aware of all the cocaine smuggling into the U.S. and used the profits to arm the rebels in Nicaragua. Ignoring the warnings from Meneses, CIA officers, and Fred Weil (Michael Sheen) – a politician who’s already tried before to shed light on this government scandal – Webb continues his research and prints his story.
Webb earns high praise for his reporting, but his fame is short-lived as a major smear campaign is launched by both his media competitors (they don’t want to be shown up by a second-rate reporter) and the government.
Based on a true story, Kill the Messenger is an intriguing film that effectively captures one journalist’s search for the truth as well as the desire for a great story and just how life changing it can be. It’s in the same spirit as such films as All the President’s Men and The Insider only, unfortunately, nowhere near as well written and engaging.
Jeremy Renner gives a striking performance as reporter Gary Webb, a man who stumbles across a career-making story that just might be too big and dangerous to tell. The film has a solid supporting cast with Oliver Platt as Webb’s boss Jerry Ceppos, Rosemarie DeWitt as Webb’s estranged wife Sue, Andy Garcia as the drug lord, and Ray Liotta as John Cullen aka Webb’s “Deep Throat” source.
The best part of Kill the Messenger is the first half when the film focuses on following Webb as he collects his evidence and travels all over to interview drug lords and CIA officers. It captures perfectly the tension and magnitude of the story Webb is trying to uncover. However, the biggest problem with the movie is in the second half of the film when persecution and paranoia take over Webb’s life. It completely changes the momentum and tone of the film, effectively ruining the pacing. Also, the subplot of Webb’s struggling marriage and the boring backstory of his infidelity just detracts from the heart of the film.
Still, with Renner’s strong performance and a provocative look into the government’s “turning a blind eye” to the drug smuggling in the U.S., Kill the Messenger is a decent drama and worth checking out.
GRADE: C+
Kill the Messenger is rated R for language and drug content.
Professional dancer Julianne Hough during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon (Photo by: Douglas Gorenstein/NBC)
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon asked Dancing with the Stars‘ Julianne Hough to help him come up with a go-to dance move. Apparently the one Madonna gave him he isn’t comfortable doing, so Hough tells him, “When in doubt, stick it out!”
Will Smith headlines the heist film Focus from writer/directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and Warner Bros is showing off a teaser trailer at the 2015 release. Smith’s co-stars in the drama include Rodrigo Santoro, Margot Robbie, and Gerald McRaney, with WB planning a February 27th theatrical release.
The Plot:
Will Smith stars as Nicky, a seasoned master of misdirection who becomes romantically involved with novice con artist Jess (Margot Robbie). As he’s teaching her the tricks of the trade, she gets too close for comfort and he abruptly breaks it off. Three years later, the former flame—now an accomplished femme fatale—shows up in Buenos Aires in the middle of the high stakes racecar circuit. In the midst of Nicky’s latest, very dangerous scheme, she throws his plans for a loop…and the consummate con man off his game.
ABC has two ratings winners on their hands with the new fall shows black-ish and How to Get Away with Murder and the network has faith the ratings of both series will continue to soar, giving both shows full season episode orders. According to the network, How to Get Away with Murder had the biggest debut of any new fall series while black-ish was the #2 series debut (and the #1 comedy).
Created by Pete Nowalk, the cast of How to Get Away with Murder is led by Viola Davis and includes
Billy Brown, Alfred Enoch, Jack Falahee, Katie Findlay, Aja Naomi King, Matt McGorry, Karla Souza, Charlie Weber, and Liza Weil. black-ish was created by Kenya Barris and features Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara Shahidi, Marcus Scribner, Miles Brown, and Marsai Martin. Laurence Fishburne is a recurring guest star.
The black-ish Plot:
Like any parents, Andre “Dre” (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) Johnson want to give their children the best. But their offspring’s childhood is turning out to be much different than theirs. They now realize at least two things: there is a price to pay for giving their children more than what they ever had, and these loving parents are totally unprepared for the fallout.
Dre considers himself the family patriarch and when he looks at his life – he sees a beautiful wife and four kids living happily in their colonial home in the ‘burbs. But when he looks a little closer — have the trappings of success brought too much assimilation for this black family? The world he sees has a much different lens than the one he would like his family to look through.
He may disagree with some of the liberal viewpoints of his bi-racial wife, Rainbow, an anesthesiologist. But they are in agreement that they want to successfully raise their family in a better situation than what they had. Much to her husband’s wonderment, she believes their children can exist in a colorless society. She takes pride in that her husband will break down barriers by becoming the first black senior VP of his ad firm. She is also looking forward to the salary increase that will follow.
Dre’s father, affectionately referred to as “Pops” (Laurence Fishburne), has an affinity for velour tracksuits and going to the racetrack. He can be quite the curmudgeon and takes every opportunity to offer his opinion on family issues. But when Pops offers his usually curt and spot-on old school wisdom, it is difficult to disagree with him.
Dre’s son Andre Jr. asks to be called “Andy,” and then announces that like his schoolmates, he wants a bar mitzvah for his 13th birthday — and their family isn’t Jewish. When the boy says he wants to play for his school’s field hockey team instead of basketball, Dre has to wonder: would he rather Andre play basketball because it is a black-ish sport? Or could it be Dre wants his namesake to like the sport he prefers?
Zoey, 15, has everything going for her. She’s pretty, popular and super smart. However, she is dripping in privilege and unearned entitlement. Zoey’s idea of success is rooted in material things, rather than hard work. The definition of accomplishment for Zoey? To have 100,000 Instagram followers.
Rounding out the family are six-year-old twins, Diane and Jack. Diane is gifted and talented. She thinks she has all the answers but has yet to develop a filter to put them through. Although she is one minute older than Jack, she likes to think she is smarter than her twin brother by ten thousand minutes. Young Jack is more of the sensitive type and idolizes his dad. He is quick to give his father a compliment, even if it does come out a little awkward.
Dre is sincere about honoring his family’s past, while also embracing its future. As he defines what the American dream means to his family in a multi-cultural world, one idea keeps surfacing. It appears that in this melting pot called America, we are all a little um, black-ish.
How to Get Away with Murder Plot:
Annalise Keating (Academy-Award Nominee Viola Davis) is everything you hope your Criminal Law professor will be – brilliant, passionate, creative and charismatic. She’s also everything you don’t expect – sexy, glamorous, unpredictable and dangerous. As fearless in the courtroom as she is in the classroom, Annalise is a defense attorney who represents the most hardened, violent criminals – people who’ve committed everything from fraud to arson to murder – and she’ll do almost anything to win their freedom. On the surface, Annalise seems like she has it all – a successful career and loving husband, Sam (Tom Verica) – but her relationship with a local Philadelphia detective, Nate (Billy Brown), will force her to confront secrets about her life she never saw coming.
Each year, Annalise selects a group of the smartest, most promising students to come work at her law firm. The students vying for this coveted position include Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch), a wide-eyed, likable boy-next-door recently accepted off the waitlist; Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King), a confident, ambitious overachiever born knowing how to “lean in;” Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee), a sly, sophisticated heartbreaker used to getting any prize he lays his eyes on; Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza), a quiet, sensitive idealist who’s easy to underestimate and Asher Millstone (Matt McGorry), an entitled know-it-all born into a world of Ivy League educations and country club memberships. The students all work under two of Annalise’s dedicated associates: Frank Delfino (Charlie Weber), a local Philly boy done good, and Bonnie Winterbottom (Liza Weil), a sweet, observant team-player with a hidden edge.
Early in the first season, Wes will become entangled with his mysterious neighbor, Rebecca (Katie Findlay), after she becomes the main suspect in the murder of a beautiful university coed. Annalise’s involvement with Rebecca’s case will challenge her students’ values, convictions, and dreams, as she teaches them the dark truth about the law and our justice system. It’s worth it though. Working for Annalise is the opportunity of a lifetime, one that can change the course of our students’ lives forever, which is exactly what happens when they find themselves involved in a murder plot that will rock the entire university.
