Today In Whaaaaaa?: "How I Met Your Mother" Star Primed To Lead "The Muppet Show" Comeback

Bryan Christian — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Word on the interweb street is that Forgetting Sarah Marshall and How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel has the inside track on reviving what we're pretty sure is the most popular variety show of the 1970's to feature a frog as its presenter other than The Sonny and Cher Show -- The Muppet Show -- after penning a screenplay for a new Muppet movie that wowed the folks at Jim Henson Industries.

In the movie... the Muppets reunite to save their studio with one last variety show.
Should the film go well, it opens up the possibility of a television programme, also written by 28-year-old Segel.
A source said: "Jason is a massive Muppets fan and is seen as the man to finally bring The Muppet Show back to TV.

Good to see this is one reboot that doesn't appear to be going dark. There's already one Meet The Feebles out there, after all.

[Daily Telegraph via Videogum]

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18 "Memorable TV Moments" That The Emmy People Missed
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Top Ten New Shows: #10 - "Knight Rider"

Bryan Christian — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:30:00 GMT

The new fall season is almost here. Starting next week, the cable and broadcast networks will begin rolling out their new shows to see if they take off like castaways on an island or singing casino managers. Here, then, are the top ten new shows we're most looking forward to seeing.

Back when we used to write for our sister blog Scanner, we subjected ourselves to the 2 hours of 2004-Maxim-back-of-book-style misery that was the Knight Rider reboot movie. And we stand behind what we said back then: should have made the new Michael Knight a woman. Then NBC could have gotten some new school, Galactica-style reboot juice AND had an excuse for the girl-on-girl action they only hinted at -- furtively, immaturely, and repeatedly -- in the backdoor pilot.

But, of course, they didn't. They went with some boring guy from a soap, and then even worse, they lost Will Arnett as the voice of K.I.T.T., and had to go with Val Kilmer, who God love him is still basically coasting off of Top Secret. (Well, come on; it was that good.)

Now, let's be clear: this doesn't make us upset or angry, certainly not as angry as this guy, because we've never considered the Knight Rider franchise to be sacrosanct or what-have-you. We're just a little steamed that we're not gonna get credited those two lost hours -- and however much we spend watching the reboot series -- the next time we buy a Mustang, considering how much Ford is backing this new show.

That all being said: even though we're not expecting much from the new KR series -- even with Gary Scott Thompson, former showrunner for our guilty fave Las Vegas, at the helm -- we've totally got to see it, if only to smell the smoke when it goes down in flames. Do we hate ourselves a little for that? Mmmm... could be. But dammit, if we don't keep Val Kilmer and America's car manufacturers solvent, who will?

Knight Rider (Wednesdays at 8PM EST) premieres Wednesday, September 24 at 8 PM EST.

TOP TEN NEW SHOWS 2008

#1. "Fringe"
#2. "True Blood"
#3. "90210"
#4. "Life On Mars"
#5. "The Mentalist"
#6. "Sons of Anarchy"
#7. "Do Not Disturb"
#8. "Eleventh Hour"
#9. "Kath & Kim"
#10. "Knight Rider"

The Remote Island : reboots

Today In Whaaaaaa?: "How I Met Your Mother" Star Primed To Lead "The Muppet Show" Comeback

Top Ten New Shows: #10 - "Knight Rider"