“Jenny from the Block” is headed to Hollywood: On Thursday, TV industry spies spilled that singer/actress Jennifer Lopez is close to sealing a deal to serve as a judge on the upcoming 10th season of American Idol.
On Aug. 11, PEOPLE Magazine quoted another source who said FOX executives ceased negotiations with the notoriously-demanding 41-year-old mother after growing disenchanted with her impossible requests. Quite the contrary, TMZ.com tipsters say. Not only has the “Waiting for Tonight” hitmaker not overwhelmed Idol producers with her diva demands. The show may finalize a deal with Lopez as early as next week.
“It’s been typical negotiating,” the A.I. source says.
When companies want to take their movie properties to the small screen, but can’t keep on the original actors, or match the special effects budgets of the original, they often turn to cartoons. You just get a couple of voice actors who sound vaguely like the originals, and get all the animation done by starving Koreans. That way the budgets is the same, regardless if it takes place in New York, or deep space. Plus, you can market it to kids, and they’ll watch any crap, right? Even if your property was originally strictly adult, just put a family friendly coat on it, through in some multicultural token characters, and you’ll make bank! Or, more accurately, you’ll make shit. Like these 12 examples.
12. Back To The Future: The Animated Series
Considering how low budget the animation was for this show, it was backed by some pretty serious talent. It had live action bookends, starring Christopher Lloyd, and with Bill Nye doing experiments. Biff and Clara from the movie both returned to do voiced on the cartoon. That’s some pretty serious talent for a crappy kid’s show based on a movie. In an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic, the cartoon more or less ditched Marty, instead focusing on Doc’s kids: Jules and Verne. And the DeLorean was somehow back. And could take them anywhere, and anywhen. And was voice activated. And could fold into a suitcase. So, standard cartoon stuff, more or less. Silly time travel, a facade of educational content, and hijinks.
11. Kong: The Animated Series
In the decades between the dreadful 80s King Kong and the Peter Jackson remake a few years back, someone let the property get spun off into a cartoon — one which made the movies seem realistic by comparison. It starred a clone of King Kong and his human friends, attempting to track down 13 Primal Stones in order to defeat a mad scientist, and stop the unlocking of a demon. That’s right, demon. Not only that, but Kong was mind linked with the hero of the show, allowing the two to merge into either Mega Kong, who was even larger, stronger, and knew martial arts, or into the hero’s body, so they could transport Kong easily. I’m not quite sure how they went from “giant ape marauds around New York” to “mystical battle between good and evil over fate of Earth”, but I want some of what they’re smoking.
10. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures
Another series that managed to get some pretty heavy hitters on board, at least for the first season. Continuing the only role in which he’s ever shown emotion, Keanu Reeves voiced Bill, and Alex Winter and George Carlin were both on-board too. They continued to have grossly historically inaccurate trips across the timeline, in order to make sure that events happened when they were meant to. While History Majors doubtless had seizures from watching it, it got even worse on the second season, when ownership switched to DIC. The actors all changed, animation got worse, and now they could travel into books, television shows, and into the human body.
9. Highlander: The Animated Series
By my count, the Clan MacLoed has produced at least four immortals: Conner MacLoed (from the original movies), Duncan MacLoed (from the tv show), Colin MacLoed (from the anime), and Quentin MacLoed (from the cartoon). There’s something in that Scottish water, I swear. Being a kid’s show (and having a budget counted in nickels), the animated series forwent the most crucial part of the whole Highlander mythos: decapitations. Instead, it took place in a post-apocalyptic world, where all the immortals (barring the bad guy) had sworn to pacifism in order to preserve humanity’s knowledge, and they then “share” it with young Quentin by both grasping the same sword. That’s right, they osmose the information, which Quentin uses to try and defeat the big bad. The series had some promise, but was far to weighed down in trying to keep things kid friendly.
8. Little Shop
This is where this list really starts to take a turn for the worse, where we go from okay and occasionally humorous, to absolutely horrible and unfunny. Little Shop, a prequel to Little Shop of Horrors, but without any of the horror. Junior is now a pre-historic plant, which can rap. That’s right, it’s a musical, starring a giant, rapping, talking, hypnotising, venus fly trap. And now he doesn’t eat meat, so no murder either. Just lots of hamfisted stories about a 12-year old nerd, the girl he pines for, and a neighborhood bully. Each and every episode made sure to hammer home a special lesson that cartoons always do so poorly.
7. The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura
What could be more annoying than Jim Carrey’s stupid catchphrases and slapstick? Having someone else try and emulate them in a cartoon. Three shows, based on three barely mediocre films starring Carrey. Three different actors attempting to do his schtick, and just coming across utterly insufferably. These shows completely lost the already limited charms of the films they were based on, and instead just tried to amp up the “zany” mishaps and hijinks, without any regard for, you know, humor. Somehow Ace Ventura and The Mask both lasted three seasons, but we can remain thankful that Dumb and Dumber only went on for one.
6. Police Academy: The Series
What do you do with a set of movies known for raunchy comedy, nudity, drug use, and general neglect for authority? Make a children’s cartoon from them! And cut out all the good parts, like everything mentioned above, hire poor imitations of the original actors, and add a squad of talking police dogs. It always struck me as bizarre that you would take a set of movies so obviously not aimed at young kids, and make a Saturday morning cartoon out of them. Sure, it was the 80s, and everyone was much more chilled about nudity, but I really don’t get how this project ever got off the ground. Where they expecting to pull in kids who had seen the movies? Or stoners who were somehow up at 8AM on a Saturday morning. The Venn Diagram for that has to be pretty small.
5. Spaceballs: The Animated Series
God-fucking-damnit, Mel Brooks, what is this shite? You used to be the funniest writer on screen or stage, and now you let this happen? Ugh, I expected so much more. The entire freaking show was animated worse than a Newsgrounds Flash video from 2002, and was so puerile 12-year olds were bored by it. Non-stop poorly done T&A jokes make up almost the entire series, with Star Wars prequel skits that were well past their use-by date long before the show debuted. Instead of razor-sharp comedic timing, and brilliantly crafted word-play and slapstick, it’s just tripe. I had such huge hopes for this series, which Brooks dashed, leaving me forever bitter.
4. Star Wars: Ewoks and Droids
For all that George Lucas has done right, he’s done just as much wrong. Time after time, Lucas is his own worst enemy, ruining the very empire he founded. Ewoks were the most reviled and annoying characters in Star Wars (until Jar Jar Binks, anyway), yet Lucas decided they were perfect for a cartoon — one with magic, giants, fairies, monsters, and witches. Pretty much anything from Smurfs or Gummi Bears was used. We can at least partly blame this show’s existence on two TV movies about Ewoks that Lucas made, which were somehow successful. Droids was a cringeworthy show, chronicling, in poorly animated fashion, the adventures of R2-D2 and C-3P0 in the time between ep III and IV. It had Anthony Daniels doing C-3P0’s voice, which was pretty cool, but was otherwise a clusterfuck of suck. You think Lucas would have learned after the Christmas Special.
3. Stargate Infinity
Want to see someone go from fanboy to full rage mode in about one second? Ask a Stargate junkie about Stargate Infinity. From the starting music, you know it sucks, and from there it only goes downhill. Set in the year 2025, a Stargate team are framed by shapeshifters, who opened Earth’s gate to let in their invading comrades. The team then ventures around the universe, gathering evidence to clear their name, and learning about other cultures! Learning! Yay! Christ, what a crapfest. The character designs embody the worst of early 2000’s cartoon styles, with unnecessary angles and stupid haircuts everywhere.
2. Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos
I don’t care what the internet says, Chuck Norris if a flaming dickhead. He’s racist, homophobic, believes the second coming is just around the corner, and that Texas should start a revolution. I know everyone loves to wank over his beard and roundhouse kicks, but that doesn’t make him any less of a prat. Karate Kommandos was a vanity project, casting Chuck Norris with a team of “ethnically diverse” heroes — all of whom were the worst sort of stereotype. Not really surprising, that. Of course, every episode had to end with a monologue from Chuck, explaining the hamfisted morals of the story, because the only children who watched it were those too stupid to understand it for themselves.
1. Rambo and the Forces of Freedom
How did this get made into a cartoon? I can accept that every Rambo film after the first completely changed the character. No longer a mentally disturbed vet, constantly freaking out and terrified, he became a one-man killing machine. How does that make a cartoon — especially in the 80s, when death wasn’t allowed, and morality tales were required? Forces of Freedom was essentially a GI Joe clone, right down to the competing black/white ninja. Each episode had a lesson for the kids, violence was only used as a last resort, and no-one got hurt. Just like the R-Rated movies! YAY!
“Indeed, it’s been quite a year for the actress: The two biggest hits of her career. A Best Actress Oscar. A tabloid firestorm. A new baby. EW examines her rising status in Hollywood, and how, thanks to the intangible chemical reaction that creates stardom, she’s always had a knack for making audiences fall in love with her. “From the minute we saw her in Speed, she just had this quality that people want to be around,” says Bradley Cooper, who costarred with Bullock in last year’s All About Steve. ‘It’s like being around a source of light.’”
-After it’s premiere in Venice – Natalie Portman is getting early Oscar buzz for Black Swan….
Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband has some interesting plans for the Hollywood legend’s eternal rest, Darling.
Sadly, the past few months have brought significant health challenges for the last surviving member of the glamorous Gabor Sisters. It all started in July, when Zsa Zsa broke her hip after falling from her bed during an episode of her favorite TV show — Jeopardy. Damn that Alex Trebec! Zsa Zsa, 93, has been hospitalized several times since then and returned to a Los Angeles medical center just this week after her spouse found her unconscious in their Hollywood home.
But Frederic von Anhalt isn’t wasting precious time praying for his wife’s recovery. Instead, he’s busy planning to have the Hungarian-born screen icon’s remains plastinated once she kicks the bucket!
“My wife has always dreamed that her beauty would be immortal,” Frederic — who once claimed to have fathered a baby with late pin-up Anna Nicole Smith — explained to German newspaper Blid this week. “I would like to show the plastinated body of Zsa Zsa Gabor in the context of a scene in one of her films.”
Frederic added that he would like German anatomist Gunther von Hagens to perform the procedure on Zsa Zsa. Von Hagens is famous for his worldwide exhibitions showing plastinated human bodies with just muscles and tendons still intact.
Trout-lipped actress Lisa Rinna has done a Demi Moore – stripping down to her bikini and posting a picture of herself on Twitter. Mrs. Kutcher started the trend earlier this week when she showed off a set of MySpace Circa 2005-esque snaps of her amazing 47-year-old bod clad in just a bikini. Now the former Days of Our Lives star, also 47, has joined the club of “Moms Who TwitPic Their Two-Pieces.”
Tough act to follow, but with the first season of her TV Land reality series Harry Loves Lisa set to premiering Oct. 6, Lisa could use the publicity. So she’s up to the challenge.
“Doin’ the Demi! Power to the 47-year-olds! She is my idol!” Lisa Tweeted Thursday afternoon.
Who gets your vote for Best Bikini Body Over 40? Demi or Lisa?
Stylistas Rejoice: On Wednesday, Swedish retailer H&M confirmed reports that the brand will be teaming up with famed fashion house Lanvin for its next design collaboration. The announcement came after H&M bosses spent more than a week teasing consumers with a host of videos hinting at who the next possible celebrity guest designer might be.
The line of menswear and womenswear designs will be unveiled through a special film, which will be available for public streaming online at www.HM.com. The full collection launch will come three weeks late for Fashion Fans in North America. Lanvin for H&M goes live in the rest of the world on Nov. 23.
The gig is quite a coup for Lanvin and its artistic director Alber Elbaz — who has provided red carpet looks for every Hollywood starlet from Katie Holmes to Jessica Alba. Womenswear designs will be crafted Elbaz, while Lucas Ossendrijver is taking the wheel to carve out some stylish threads for the guys.
“H&M approached us to collaborate, and see if we could translate the dream we created at Lanvin to a wider audience, not just a dress for less. I have said in the past that I would never do a mass-market collection, but what intrigued me was the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public,” Elbaz says. “This has been an exceptional exercise, where two companies at opposite poles can work together because we share the same philosophy of bringing joy and beauty to men and women around the world.”
The Lanvin collection hits H&M stores in North America Nov. 20.
The retailer has previously hosted collections designed by Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Commes des Garcons, and Sonia Rykiel.
Hooray for The Smoking Baby! Aldi Suganda attracted international attention earlier this year when cameras in the quiet Indonesian fishing village of Musi Bbanyuasin caught the two-year-old gleefully indulging his chain-smoking addiction. Well, we are happy to annouce that Aldi is no longer campaigning to be the pint-sized poster child for lung cancer. The boy who smoked about 40 cigarettes a day kicked the habit after receiving intensive specialist care, a child welfare official said.
Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy was smoking two packs a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied. Desperate, Aldi’s parents turned to the media for help. And that’s just what they got. Accompanied by his mother, the boy left his village on Sumatra island in July to undergo treatment in the nation’s capital.
“He has quit smoking and the most important thing is he doesn’t ask for cigarettes anymore,” National Commission for Child Protection Secretary-General Arist Merdeka Sirait said Thursday.
An extra on the set of the upcoming action blockbuster Transformers 3 is hospitalized in critical condition in Indiana after being seriously injured during a stunt gone wrong on set this week.
Authorities in the Chicago suburb of Hammond, Indiana say the crew was filming scenes in Lake County late Wednesday using several vehicles and drivers when something went awry and an object went sailing through the windshield of one of the vehicles, striking the driver, Gabriela Cedillo, 24.
Cedillo — a native of The Windy City — suffered serious head injuries after being struck during a stunt involving multiple vehicles and drivers, The Chicago Sun-Times reports. Indiana State Police say the car hit a concrete barrier and was dragged several before coming to a stop. According to fellow extra Blaine Baker that the car was being towed by another vehicle when the accident took place yesterday.
“The cable between the two vehicles broke,” Baker ells Chicago’s ABC affiliate WLS-TV. “It whipped around and sliced through the woman’s car and sliced through her skull, apparently.”
“Oh You Fancy, Huh?” Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is putting his rumored $40,000 per episode Jersey Shore salary to good use. He isn’t investing in stocks and bonds — but he is the proud new owner of a 2008 Bentley coupe! Red sticker price? About one hundred thousand smacks.
Who cares about saving for a rainy day when you’re attached to the most-talked about abs on TV?
With a host of endorsement deals under his belt, a clothing line, and a stint on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars in the works, Sorrentino is expected to earn approximately $5 million by the end of 2010.
Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron has been cast as a thieving conman in Warner Bros.’ upcoming heist-themed blockbuster, Art of the Steal.
The former Disney actor, 22, has been roped in to play a criminal who executes a series of elaborate heists while leading a double life as an upstanding citizen, studio executives told trade paper Variety on Thursday. Zac will also produce the drama under his Ninjas Runnin’ Wild production company.
