Wake Up And Smile: Will Ferrell Reminds Everyone How Great His Bush Is

Bryan Christian — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:26:00 GMT

PLUS: the make your own Muppet tool that isn't, which Lost star is showing up on Chuck, the guest stars that will get murdered on all those CBS crime shows this November sweeps -- and the Spike Jonze Gap ad that was too weird to be used. And BREAKING: William Shatner is even more of a jerk than we'd realized.

-- Is it cynical to think that Will Ferrell's return to SNL as George Bush had less to do with Jason Sudeikis (the current go-to Bush in the cast) being busy playing Todd Palin and more to do with that whole "bringing my Bush impression to Broadway in January" thing? Well... yeah. Also: who cares? Ferrell's the best Bush impersonator this nation's had -- the only one who's tapped into both the sublime idiocy and also the weird, pitiful self discipline of the man -- and we'll be happy to see it every chance we get between now and January. And then we'll never want to think of who's been running the country the last eight years as long as we Christing live.

-- OK, well, we should hvae seen this one coming. William Shatner was, in fact, invited to the wedding of George Takei. So all that weird angry moaning he's been doing? Hmm... if evil Bill Shatner has facial hair, does balding Bill Shatner signify a complete and total idiot?

-- Normally if there was a "Make Your Own Muppet" tool out there where you can design and order a personalized Muppet, we'd be yammering about it non-stop, showing you our various attempts at bio/felt-engineering and changing our bio pictures to ones made to look like us, blah blah blah, basically we'd drive you nuts about it. Well, good thing for you that the FAO Schwartz Muppet Whatnot Workshop is kind of underwhelming, limiting you to endless variations on the extras from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show that you barely remember and never allowing you to actually make one that looks like someone real, like yourself. Sure, you can do some bobblehead-type level characters, but we tried to make one of us and wound up with a more homuncular version of Don Music. We're, like, 85% sure that we don't like that.

-- Lost's late great Charlie, Dominic Monaghan, will play a remarkably similar character on Chuck: a rock star in the middle of a strange and deadly conspiracy. Monaghan says he took the role because he wanted to work with creator Josh Schwartz; our guess is he's hoping that having basically the same role will give him the same shot with Yvonne Strahovski that he had with Evangeline Lilly.

-- Now that it's handily won the premiere season, CBS has announced its plans for November sweeps. Guest appearances we'll keep an eye out for include The OC's Melinda Clarke returning as that goth-y kinkstress on CSI, Lucy Lawless dropping by CSI: Miami, and Eric Braeden from The Young and the Restless making an appearance on... what? Oh, like you never stay home and watch soaps sometimes?

-- And, because it's Friday, and we'd all like to do this sort off thing now and again, have a look at the funny and mildly unsettling ad that Spike Jonze directed for The Gap, wherein everyone in the world joins in and trashes an outlet of the monolithically powerful hoodie purveyor. That they ultimately rejected, by the way. We're kind of with The Gap on this one, actually. What do you guys think?

Come and Get Some Juicy "Chuck" Spoilers

Ben Kallen — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:25:00 GMT

Executive Producer Josh Schwartz just gave Chicago Tribune TV critic Maureen Ryan a bunch of scoops about the spy comedy's new season, from a 3-D episode to meeting Captain Awesome's mom. Here's what's coming up on Chuck:

-- In the big Christmas episode, some guy will hold everyone hostage in the Buy More.

-- Arrested Development's Tony Hale will play the Buy More's new assistant manager.

-- The episode that airs right after the Super Bowl will be broadcast in 3-D.

-- Captain Awesome's parents will be played by Morgan Fairchild and Bruce Boxleitner, which sounds about right.

-- Ellie and Awesome will prepare for their wedding (whether it actually happens or not, we don't know).

-- We'll also meet Sarah's dad, played by the great Gary Cole.

-- As we mentioned a while ago, Jordana Brewster will play Chuck's ex-girlfriend, Jill -- the one who cheated on him with frenemy-turned-fellow agent Bryce, who's also back this season.

-- Other various good guys and bad guys will be played by John Larroquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, The O.C.'s Melinda Clarke, and somebody named Nicole Richie.

The new season starts September 29.

Photo: NBC

Previously:
Jordana Brewster To Try On Some Chuck

The Remote Island : Melinda Clarke

Wake Up And Smile: Will Ferrell Reminds Everyone How Great His Bush Is

Come and Get Some Juicy "Chuck" Spoilers