Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone. It was a great day, with unseasonably warm weather such as we never remember in a pre-global warming world, so thank you greenhouse emissions! We took a total internet vacation for the weekend so are just now returning to this wonderful, fact-filled world.

We got about 45 minutes into the Prisoner remake before deciding it was completely misguided and had no idea what made the original compelling — namely mood, tone, storytelling, suspense, etc etc. Adi Tantimedh has a nice dissection of the rather muddled theme of the remake:

Why remake a popular story if you’re going to toss everything that people liked about the original under the bus? The catchphrase and key theme of the original show was Number Six’ weekly decree, “I am not a number, I am a free man!” In an interview in last week’s New York Times, the writer of the remake said he felt the need to modify that sentiment into something more, moderate, less individualist, more… community-minded.

So the credo of the remake is, “I am not a number, but I want to be a member of a nice community that gets along with each other!”

Still trying to figure that one out.

Anyway, back to the trenches. Keep those, links, tips, and inside info coming!

As previously mentioned, Sunday night, AMC premieres the first episode of their reimagining of The Prisoner. To support this, there’s quite an extensive website up. They are also serializing a PRISONER graphic novel by M. Scott Veach, Mitchell Breitweiser and Hugo Petrus. The story is a prequel, exploring the background of the Village. Be forewarned, as Comics Alliance reveals, it’s actually a MOTION COMIC, but instead of taking existing art and awkwardly attempting to move it around, Terry Gilliam style, it was planned that way and stays in a flat-plane animation style. Palatable.

The new series debuts on AMC Sunday night at 9 pm. It stars Jim Caviezel as Number 6 and Ian McKellen as Number 2. While we’re neutral on the need of this remake, we’ve got our DVRs set.

On the PLUS side, you can watch all the ORIGINAL Prisoner episodes on the AMC website, and the site for the original series is top notch. We just can’t get enough of these production photos! More in the jump.
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As widely reported yesterday, Joss Whedon’s latest TV series, Dollhouse, got the axe from Fox yesterday. The show had gotten one reprieve, but low ratings had led it to be pulled for the crucial November sweeps, so the cancellation has zero surprise factor. On the good news front, all 13 of this year’s episodes will be aired — including the one directed by cartoonist John Cassaday. With one less show to run, Whedon may make more Dr. Horrible shorts, or continue his interest in “binge drinking,” as he wrote on Whedonesque.

Now call us naive, but why does anyone even bother trying to do quirky, intelligent programming on network TV any more? While Dollhouse undoubtedly needed a network budget, it would have been a hit on SyFy, AMC or Bravo. No wonder Time’s Jeff Bewkes says “multichannel TV” (once known as cable) is beating the nets to a pulp. .

I’m sure The Beat will have more on this later in the week but don’t forget that the new version of The Prisoner starts on Sunday. And, as a tie-in, the Thomas Disch novel is back in print too.

[It’s been a big month for artist John Cassaday. The final issue of PLANETARY shipped after a years long delay, marking the end of a 10-year-long chapter of his career. Even more importantly, he’s currently in Los Angeles prepping to direct an episode of Dollhouse, the Joss Whedon-created show about Echo, an unwilling spy who is forced to use a technology of shifting personalities.

What does it take to direct dramatic TV? What’s it like to work with Joss Whedon? Is Cassaday leaving comics? Read on for the answers!]

The Beat: Directing? Why directing? How long has this been going on? Was this your childhood goal?

John Cassaday: Directing has always been half the dream for me, the other half being comics. Friends I had growing up would tell you exactly that. I always knew what I wanted, which was to be a visual storyteller…to tell those stories the way that I saw them… I believe there’s a tangible cross-section of thought here. When I read a comic script, I often see the scenes behind a camera—the shots, the movements and sound, the actors… At times, I’ve read screenplays and see the comic page. These things blend in my mind, so I do my best to shape them into what is needed. I believe in cinematic storytelling, whether it’s on a comic page or on film.
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According to an article in the Sunday New York Times, The Twilight Zone turned 50 years old last Friday.

It’s easy to mention “To Serve Man” or “Time Enough at Last” as your favorite episodes, but what are your favorite “hidden gems?”

Here are a few of mine:

- “Long Live Walter Jameson” - Just how old is Kevin McCarthy’s history professor?

- “Back There” - A time traveler (Russell Johnson aka the professor from Gilligan’s Island) tries to save Lincoln.

- “Will the real Martian Please Stand Up?” - Which diner patron is part of an alien invasion?

- “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank” - A rural man (James Best aka Roscoe P. Coltrane) shows up at his own funeral.

- “Steel” - Lee Marvin takes place of his robot boxer in a fight likely to kill him.

Tip of the hat to Peter Sanderson for pointing out the article on his Facebook.

It might not be new (since the Star Trek movie reboot has been out for a few months now) but there was no way after seeing these in the grocery store tonight that there was not going to be a post on THE BEAT about them.

I mean. Seriously. Star Trek Eggos.

(tip of the hat to the always-right Kurt Busiek who posted this on his Facebook page.)

Congratulations to Michael Emerson, for his Emmy win tonight, for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. You can keep your Don Draper. I’ll take Benjamin Linus as the best character currently on series television.

How long ’til Lost starts again?

We know that one will not be enough, so here is another.

This Austrian TV classic was around on Twitter the other day after Art Brut’s Eddie Argos first pointed it out. While America is wallowing in the torpor that is Melrose Place and can’t get a bus ticket out of Cougar Town, you begin to wonder if what we really need is a show about a dog that can play pool and assist with autopsies.

“Inspector Rex” has been on for a dozen years (more or less) in Austria, where it is extremely popular, although the pooch recently moved to Rome, where presumably, he steals spicy meatballs. In Australia, the show is said to have “A cult following.” Probably because of stuff like this:

During a scene in which Stockinger claims that Moser “doesn’t understand women at all now”, Moser tells Stockinger, “Don’t say that word. Every time you say ‘woman’ he [Rex] runs off with my laundry”. Stockinger asks him what Rex does with it, to which Moser replies, “He washes it”.

If that doesn’t convince you that this is the greatest TV show of its time — based on the opening credits alone– then this brief scene is sure to sway you — and also prove that some dogs can act better than many humans.

This week’s New Yorker contains many things comics … a cover by Ivan Brunetti, a print ad for the Vertigo Crime Line (props to DC for outside-the-box marketing) and a story on HBO’s upcoming series Bored to Death in Brooklyn. The show is notable because it is written by sometimes comics scripter Jonathan Ames, and the cast includes characters based on some of Ames’ friends…including one based on his THE ALCOHOLIC collaborator, Dean Haspiel, portrayed by comic (of the other kind) Zack Galifianakis.

Galifianakis, who plays a comic-book artist named Ray, said, “I bike to the set every day.” He was walking a bit stiffly, and he reached down to rub his right knee.

“What happened to your knee?” Thirlby asked.

“I don’t know how it happened,” Galifianakis said. “It just slowly started getting painful and then more painful.”

“You need to go to a doctor,” Thirlby said.

Strange. Unknown, perhaps to the writer, or maybe even Galifianakis, the REAL Haspiel sustained a broken knee many years ago and walks with a bit of a limp. Even more oddly, the story continues…

The next scene was outside Ralph’s Meat Corp.: Schwartzman is running down the street with a limping Galifianakis (his knee injury had to be written into the script), and they bump into Thirlby.

Odd. Is this a reverse King Mob/Grant Morrison-like case of real life spilling into the fictional? Will Galifianakis soon start taking off his shirt at parties and talking about webcomics? Developing.

Via PR, STARZ and Eagle One Media are making motion comics for Street Fighter and Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which will be broadcast on the Syfy channel and then be available for download via the usual suspects.

Will people actually want to sit around their TV watching motion comics in HD? Hm.

Eagle One Media announced today details of an agreement with Starz Media’s Manga Entertainment to make animated motion comic productions of Street Fighter, based on the CAPCOM video games, and Voltron: Defender of the Universe, based on the worldwide popular anime TV series, available for broadcast and digital download distribution. Both motion comic series will be broadcast on the Syfy Channel over several weeks beginning September 28th during Manga’s popular Ani-Mondays programming block. Following the Syfy broadcasts, the motion comic episodes will then be made available for purchase with Starz Digital Media’s distribution partners by digital download through outlets including: iTunes, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Store.
 
Animated motion comics utilize the storyline and dialog from existing published comics and with the addition of voice-over, special effects, music, and animation, creates a fast paced video adaptation for the viewer to enjoy through various medium.  Previously, Eagle One Media’s animated motion comics had only been available for purchase on DVD.  Aside from its animated motion comics based on Street Fighter and Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Eagle One Media has also produced such content based on The Terminator and the Micronauts properties.

After years of development, the Midnight, MASS TV show — based on the Vertigo comic from long ago– is back on again, set to broadcast on NBC, albeit minus the “Mass” part of the name.

Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts are on board to write the project for Warner Bros. TV and studio-based Jinks/Cohen Co.

“Midnight,” which has received a script commitment with penalty from the network, revolves around Adam and Julia Kadmons, a sophisticated, sexy, globe-trotting husband-and-wife team who solve mysteries and crimes of the supernatural.

John Rozum’s “Midnight, Mass.” has been among the most heavily pursued of DC Comics’ properties for a TV series adaptation by sister company WBTV.

According to the piece, over a dozen attempts at developing the show have been made over the years.

A high five to comic creator John Rozum, who developed this idea over a decade ago.

Rumors that The Walking Dead, the immensely popular comic created by Robert Kirkman with art by Tony Moore followed by Charlie Adlard, was on its way to becoming a TV series have been around for a while. The rumors gained a lot of momentum when Variety announced that Frank Darabont is near a deal to write and direct an adaptation for AMC.

Joel Stillerman, AMC’s senior veep of programming, production and original content, said the project appealed to the cabler because of “the quality of the storytelling” in Kirkman’s work. The series will stay faithful to the tone of the original novels, he said.

“This is not about zombies popping out of closets,” Stillerman said. “This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world (in ‘Walking Dead’) is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

The deal is said to be quite lucrative for Darabont and producing partner Gale Ann Hurd.

We would plug in to this idea! Call us nuts.

How much work did the Lost brain trust put into their (last?) Comic-Con panel presentation? A lot, according to an article in today’s NYT.

“Is it too late for when Carlton and I come out onstage for there to be giant towers of flames?” Mr. Lindelof said (mostly) facetiously.

Tip of the hat to Peter Sanderson, since we saw the story first from his Facebook link.

Posted by mark coale

A special report by Zena Metal

Lost, Lost, Lost, Lost, mother’effen Lost! Arguably one of the greatest—and most heavily expounded upon—TV shows of the last millennium held its annual panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and being that the forthcoming season will also be the series’ last, both stars and creators upped the ante with lots of free giveaways and a ton of surprises.

- Actors Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Michael Emerson, Nestor Carbonell, Dominic Monaghan, plus creators Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse all graced the dais while ducking questions about Season 6.

- Comedian Paul Scheer presented the Lost creators with a painting of the pair with a polar bear. Wanna see? There’s a Web site, of course.

- You can also enroll at Lost University.

- Folks were also buzzing about the V remake, starring Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell.

Non-Lost Highlights:

- Some fresh dirt from the True Blood panel.

- My Chemical Romance frontman and UMBRELLA ACADEMY creator, Gerard Way, was out and about. Here’s some news he announced at the Dark Horse panel.

- The IRON MAN 2 panel was a star-studded affair, featuring leads Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson. For more details on the film footage shown, check out this post.

- Proving that he truly is the nicest guy in comics, Jim Lee gave out cookies at the WildStorm panel.

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 34

That is all for me, thank you and goodnight.

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Aquino

Will THIS be what kills San Diego?

Nah. We wouldn’t give ‘em the satisfaction.

Swing on by and meet David “Bud Bundy” Faustino and Corin Nemec (TV’s “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose”), stars of the hit raunchy online “reality” series from Sony’s Crackle.com.  Got any spare change? These actors are starving for a network deal. 

“Star-ving” is coming soon to DVD. 
 
THURSDAY, 7/23 
Signing at the Sony Pictures Entertainment Booth 
11:00 am to 12:00 pm

  
 Please stop by – no RSVP needed.

We don’t usually run full press releases for movie/tv/video game channels or whatever, but we’ll make an exception for the BBC:

As previously announced, in support of BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere of four Doctor Who Specials, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russell T Davies at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, moderated by Los Angeles Times television critic, Robert Lloyd on Sunday July 26, 10:00-11:00am PT.

In addition, two autograph signings have just been added to the schedule with writer/executive producer Russell T Davies signing at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) on Saturday July 25, 10:30-11:30am PT. He’ll also join executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn to sign in the official autograph area on Sunday, July 26, 12:00-1:00pm PT.

Also just added is a chance for fans to party alongside The Mighty Boosh cast with creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown as they DJ the night away at Fourth and B (345 B Street) on Friday, July 24, 11:00pm. Tickets are $5 in advance/$10 at the door and currently available at Ticketmaster and Club Box Office. Guests must be 21+ for admittance.

Earlier that day, The Mighty Boosh cast will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, Friday, July 24, 4:45-5:45pm and the following day is a newly added autograph signing session with the cast at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) on Saturday, July 25, 4:30-5:30pm PT.

BBC AMERICA’s highest rated show ever, Torchwood will have just completed the five-part special, Children of Earth. The show makes a return visit to Comic-Con with a panel featuring star John Barrowman, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, moderated by Rich Sands, senior editor at TV Guide and tvguidemagazine.com on Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT.

As part of the same panel, Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT, catch the talent from BBC AMERICA’s most buzzed about new sci fi drama, Being Human. Creator and writer, Toby Whithouse, plus lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, talk about the inspiration for the show and what it’s like to play three twenty-somethings with secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. All four panelists will be signing exclusively at the BBC AMERICA booth, Saturday July 25, 3:00-4:00pm PT.

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CN and AS have a huge slate of events and panels and signings, with Star Wars, Batman: The Bold and the Brave, Ben 10 and other smashes, but all we’ve got eyes for are the Mighty Boosh guys — Noel Fielding, Julian Barrett, Michael Fielding, Dave Brown, Richard Fulcher — who will be paneling, signing, and spinning at a Mighty Boosh party Friday night. Other fan events include a picnic with Tim and Eric, and a Robot Chicken roller skating party.

And oh yeah, our beloved Venture Bros. crew will be there, including Doc, Jackson, James Urbaniak and Michael Sinterniklaas.

All lies below the jump!

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Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the brain trust behind Lost, gave a presentation recently and they were asked if the show would have a comic book spin-off, as so many shows created by comics-friendly Hollywood writers seem to have. The answer would seem to be…”No.”

Q: My question is about the fate of Lost, because I know it ends with season 6, but do you think because of Bryan Fuller with Pushing Daisies continuing it in a comic book, and I love Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk (Damon’s comic) and with Lost it has a disjointed timeline and it comes together in the end, do you think that you’ll do any spin offs in a comic book form?

DL: We feel that if we hold anything back for the final season of the show, it will be bad. People have come along this far, and they need a conclusion.

Losties will find much else of interest (and spoilerish stuff) in the interview, including confirmation that Brian K. Vaughan has left the writing staff.

Q: What’s Brian K. Vaughan like?

DL: Unfortunately he has left for greener pastures. When he first came on the show Jorge Garcia was ecstatic because he’s a huge fan of his work.

This was probably a smart move on BKV’s part, because when people start asking what you are like at TV show panels, it’s sort of an indication that you may just have greener pastures somewhere.

Technorati Tags: Brian K. Vaughan

This is so not comics, except for the fact that it has captured the imagination of Twitterers over the last week or so! Today at 5 EDT on the National Geographic channel, perhaps the most riveting TV show of all times is airing: The Whale that Exploded . The story is so Apollonian in its purity and wonder that scarcely more than a bare, expository sentence is needed to hint at its marvels:

In January 2004, the carcass of a 50-ton sperm whale explodes in a Taiwanese city center. NGC examines the physics and the biology of this 100,000-pound animal whose body was destroyed by its own internal forces.

Our first guess was that the whale stopped to eat at Waffle House prior to the incident, but apparently that was not the cause of these internal forces. Or, as the caption to the above photo puts it:

Car with whale innards splashed on it post-explosion. On the way to Tainan University for research, the whale exploded due to volatile gas build up in the abdomen.

Look, how often do you see the terms “Sperm whale,” “innards” and “volatile gas build up” in ONE SINGLE STORY????? You owe it to yourself to watch. You’ve earned it.

Danielle Corsetto’s cartoons CNN appearance was canceled last night, but Becky Cloonan did appear on MTV the other night. So that’s a net win for us, right?

Webcomicker Danielle Corsetto wrote to tell us that the above cartoon (all of it) will be featured briefly on CNN’s Situation Room tonight at around 6:57 pm EDT.

Nerd-culture cable channel G4 and Lucasfilms are teaming for the inevitable: a live showing of the Lucasfilms panel from San Diego. In addition, G4 will broadcast live from the show floor on Saturday, July 25th for three hours, starting at 4 pm ET/PT.

According to PR, It’s the the first-ever, exclusive television broadcast of a San Diego panel. The Star Wars Spectacular! will air Saturday July 25th at 2:00 pm ET/PT, with new footage, breaking news, surprise announcements, guest stars and so on.

Traditionally, details surrounding Lucasfilm’s primary panel presentation are closely guarded secrets, with only 6,500 lucky on-site fans allowed access to the wealth of coveted information from a galaxy far, far away. But this year, G4 – the network that delivers all of the latest and greatest news on comic books, games, technology and pop culture – is offering TV viewers the one-of-a-kind opportunity to share the excitement with an exclusive broadcast of the panel. G4’s Attack of the Show hosts Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn will join Lucasfilm’s Steve Sansweet and a galaxy of guests from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and beyond – including supervising director Dave Filoni, and voice talent from the show – to provide an insider look at the Star Wars universe, with never-before-seen footage and a LIVE table read of an exclusive new Clone Wars script.

In addition, fans are invited to participate in the panel itself by submitting Clone Wars questions through a special G4 micro-site. Questions will be answered during the live presentation by Dave Filoni and other Clone Wars creatives!

2009’s Comic-Con International also marks another Lucasfilm milestone – the launch of the all-new Star Wars Stories Project. Fans of the Saga will have the unique opportunity to become a part of the Star Wars universe by contributing to Lucasfilm’s own historical archive. Soliciting movie memories and nostalgia, the Star Wars Stories Project invites fans to share their own tales of fandom through video testimonials. In addition to online submissions, fans will have the opportunity to record their stories at Lucasfilm’s pavilion on the Comic-Con floor.

Fans are invited to upload their fan stories at http://g4tv.com/comiccon