Apparently there was some kind of viral game for AMC’S PRISONER remake going on at Comic-Con, and they were responsible for the skywriting:

AMC played their own little marketing game (Fox also did this with Fringe) at Comic Con to create buzz for their remake of the 1960’s cult classic The Prisoner.

Attendees were provided with cryptic puzzle cards, which when decoded drove participants to SeekTheSix.com where they were told to ‘seek the six’ in order to reveal the secret behind the campaign.

Not impressed.

Meeting Al Jaffee; breakfast with Pia Guerra; getting a copy of Comic Book Tattoo; and nattering at this man at the EW/Sci-Fi party!!!

That’s right, Dr. Lucien Sanchez, aka Matt Berry from GARTH MARENGHI’S DARKPLACE, no less. Simon Pegg overheard us lauding the rather bemused Berry for his epic portrayal, but indicated that he agreed with us. Hooray for Comic-Con! We love celebrities after all.

We’re sitting through the CHUCK panel right now. These TV casts are so funny and banter-y. Someone just asked if the two male leads would demonstrate a position between 68 and 70. They declined. We have never watched CHUCK and this panel will not persuade us to do so, but the actors all seem quite personable. They keep referring to the Nerd Herd…is that what we are?

Coming up next JJ Abrams will show some FRINGE footage…and maybe answer some “Star Trek” questions.

Luckily, we were able to amble right into Ballroom H on this occasion, but we’ve been hearing complaints from reporters at outlets such as Variety, the LA Times, and TV Guide about not being able to get into panels they were assigned to cover. We thought it was just us, but as we were told, “If there’s a secret password, I’d know it.”

The press list for the show numbers some 5000 outlets, so managing them is definitely no picnic, but the studios and networks that control access to their presentations may need to get a little more inclusive about certain things. Granted, press whining happens each and every year, but since it’s so clear that the entire show is now just a means to get publicity for every show on TV, with the increasing hubbub of the press scrum, perhaps it is time for a reevaluation.

In the meantime, although Tom told us not to live blog about how big the show is, with all the security and access issues, not to mention 100k people…this is bigger than the Super Bowl.

We received the following in our inbox and present without comment:

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma’s Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.

“My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country,” said Mr. Van Eeghen. “As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us.”

The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.

If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.

The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.com

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE:
This message and its attachments are confidential and may contain information which is protected by copyright. It is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the authorized recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to the authorized recipient), you must not use, disclose, print, copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone. If you receive this email in error, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete this message and its attachments from your system. Any content of this message and its attachments that does not relate to the official business of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries must be taken not to have been sent or endorsed by any of them. No representation is made that this email or its attachments are without defect or that the contents express views other than those of the sender.

The creator of ICE ROAD TRUCKERS is now making comics. Frankly we’d be more impressed with an ICE ROAD TRUCKERS comic along the lines of CMP’s epic PROJECT X series…bu you take what you can get, in this case CHOPPER ZOMBIE from Devil’s Due.

Thom Beers, best known for his television success with prime time mega hits “Ice Road Truckers,” “The Deadliest Catch” and “Monster Garage” has sped into the fast lane by announcing active development of his first feature based on his graphic novel “Chopper Zombie.” Created by Beers, the “Chopper Zombie” movie is anticipated to go into production early spring 2009, and will be produced by Beers and Original Productions’ President Philip Segal.

The graphic novel “Chopper Zombie” (www.chopperzombie.com) will be released at Comic-Con International next week (July 24-27, San Diego Convention Center, SDCC) by Devil’s Due Publishing and was penned by Beers and Todd Livingston (”The Black Forest”) with cover artist Scott Keating. According to the publisher, advance sales from major booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com have been brisk. Limited edition copies will be available at Comic-Con with “Chopper Zombie” landing in stores on July 30, 2008.

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The entire list is the length of a small novel but here are some noms of interest to our crew:

Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
Creature Comforts America • Don’t Choke To Death, Please
King Of The Hill • Death Picks Cotton
Robot Chicken • Robot Chicken: Star Wars
The Simpsons • Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
SpongeBob SquarePants • Inmates of Summer / Two Faces of Squidward

Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour Or More)
Blue Harvest (Family Guy)
Imaginationland (South Park)
Justice League: The New Frontier

In other news, MAD MEN led the pack with 16 noms (including Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series, which must be one of those categories they don’t ever talk about in public)– LOST got a Outstanding Drama nom, and Michael Emerson, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama. And most important of all, DEADLIEST CATCH got nominated in Outstanding Nonfiction Series! Congratulations to all.

DEXTER just got first-time Emmy noms for Drama and Best Actor and the show will also be at Comic-Con. We’re informed that Showtime has commissioned Shepard Fairey (OBEY) to create original art for DEXTER. You’ll be able to buy your own artwork based on the lovable serial killer at the Showtime site.

The DEXTER panel takes place Thursday July 24, 2008 -5:45-6:45 Room 6CDE with Kristin Dos Santos (E!) interviewing stars Michael C. Hall and Julie Benz with show producers Clyde Phillips and John Goldwyn plus a special guest.

Julie Benz will be also making an appearance before the panel at the Entertainment Earth booth on the convention floor right before the panel (3-5 pm July 24 ).

This story on Simon Oliver and Tony Moore’s Vertigo series EXTERMINATORS getting picked up by Showtime for possible TV development, by DEXTER’s Sara Colleton, is ironic because Oliver had originally developed the tale of a colorful team of bug-fighters as a TV pitch.

The deal with Showtime marks a full circle for “Exterminators,” which has been described as “Six Feet Under” in the world of pest control. The project, now in development at the pay cable network, is said to have been originally conceived by writer Oliver as a TV pitch.

In its Showtime incarnation, “Exterminators” will revolve around the Bug-Be-Gone crew, an extended dysfunctional family of exterminators whose greatest enemies aren’t the insects and rodents they meet and kill on a daily basis but rather their own self doubts, vices and inner demons.

This brings up yet again the entire foofaraw over “What is mainstream?” Was the EXTERMINATORS, which currently sells in the neighborhood of 6-7k, ever truly mainstream? Would comics shop retailers consider it MORE mainstream if it was a Showtime TV show? Would a licensed comic have sold more copies or less, if it was published by, say, BOOM! or someone else? Or even Vertigo?

Well, it’s official: Ian McKellen has completed the ultimate nerd trifecta, playing Gandalf, Magneto and now Number Two:

AMC announced today that acclaimed film actors Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, The Thin Red Line) and Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code) have signed on for the network’s reinterpretation of the highly influential 1960s cult classic, The Prisoner. AMC is co-producing the six-part mini-series with ITV Productions and Granada International, with a worldwide premiere slated for 2009. The Prisoner, AMC’s second original mini-series, combines a wide range of genres, including espionage, thriller and scifi, into a unique and compelling drama, and expands upon the network’s distinctive cinematic approach to creating high-quality programming.

Setting aside the fact that this is just dumb, we’ll still watch McKellen in the role originated by Leo McKern, because we’ll watch Sir Ian in anything. We’re a bit dissappointed that Cavaziel was cast as The Prisoner, though, because early reports had Christopher Eccleston in the role, and then the show could have been about an actor who is taken to a remote location to be questioned on why he resigned from a popular SF show. That would have been great!

EDIT TO ADD: Yes yes, we know there was a different Number Two in almost every episode, but it’s OBVIOUS that McKellen is going to play the McKern Number Two, now isn’t it?

Don’t forget, people: Set those DVRs for an extra hour (or two). Tonight’s season finale starts at 9 ET. And they are replaying the part of the finale at 8 ET, which contains extra footage from the press conference.

We’re supposed to get some answers to some big questions tonight (like who’s in the coffin from last season’s final episode), so here is a place for you to throw out your crazy Doc Jensen-like theories before the show actually airs this evening. Also, check out this LA Times story about how the LOST scripts aren’t quite what we see on the tube.

Be warned: There COULD be people posting spoilers in the comments, so read at your own peril.

Look for a LOST recap sometime tomorrow. As always, The Helper Monkey’s work schedule means not knowing whether he will get to see the broadcast live or have to wait until the wee hours of the morning.

Let the nerd countdown begin.

Posted by Mark Coale

Chris Ware has returned with another animated opening for THIS AMERICAN LIFE.

DATELINE covered the Michael George case on Friday and a complete transcript and video excerpt are up.

Lenora Ward: She knew our names. Immediately when we would walk in, she would light up with a smile. Many times, she would actually come around the counter to greet us.

But not on this early evening, just after 6 p.m. Tom and Lenora had thumbed through the bins and found their comic, but no one was there to take their money, not Barb or her husband Michael, the co-owner. Some teenagers in the shop weren’t being waited on either.

In addition to the expected lurid graphics, there are also some old photos of the store as it looked in the 90s.

Were the 90s really so long ago that that car looks like an LeSabre or something?

Your humble Helper Monkey had to stay up past his bedtime to watch tonight’s spooky episode, so let’s get right to it.

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Sadly, this week centered around everyone’s least-favorite castaway. Let’s see if we can find some stuff to talk about anyway.
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• Quick Stop has the Season 3 teaser we’ve been hearing about. Does anyone know what that music at the start is?

• Gawker yells: Stop Adapting The Wrong Comics and has this idea for a LOVE AND ROCKETS movie:

Who should star and direct? Even the visual style of the Hernandez brothers fits King of the Hill creator Mike Judge, and instead he is wasting years of his life on movies like the Luke Wilson-Maya Rudolph comedy Idiocracy. Judge is laboring on another television show in the interim, and when he decides to come back to the big screen L & R should be the reason. Casting a bunch of total unknowns for this would be a stroke of genius. My office will bill your office, Mike.

• Vulture, however asks a different question: Which Superhero Movie Will Suck?:

Why Hellboy 2 might suck:
We’re a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, but Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s comments last week that the new movie represents Del Toro’s vision more than his own didn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence. Neither did the trailer, which is so overstuffed with Pan’s Labyrinthine creepy-crawlies that Hellboy’s trademark wit gets lost in the shuffle. Most of all, this is the superhero movie we’re most looking forward to this summer — which makes us all the more nervous that, in the tradition of past so-called sure things Hulk and Spider-Man 3, it’ll be lousy.
Odds it won’t be super? 3:1.

• What is it like inside the LOST writer’s room? Noted fan magazine Popular Mechanics tells us:

CC: The writer’s room is a very lively place where every story point is debated and kicked around. We break the stories in their totality in the writer’s room down to really the very very kind of minute details of scenes, so, you know, you’re kind of harnessing the brain power of eight people in there, and that mind hive is very helpful in problem solving. And different people know more about various subjects, so, you know, one of our favorite pastimes in the room is we play this game…ah, what’s the actual title…? It’s Geek versus Jock.
DL: We have one writer, Brian K. Vaughn, who writes comic books, and then another writer, Adam Horowitz, who’s like a die-hard sports fan.
CC: Yankees fan. He used to sell hot dogs at Yankees Stadium.
DL: We’ll ask Vaughn an easy sports question, like how many innings are there in a baseball game…
CC: Or what is the color of the Carolina Panthers or what sport do the Carolina Panthers play…
DL: And then we’ll ask Horowitz to name two of the Avengers. And they will face off, and it’s fun to watch them, you know, try to answer questions outside of their specific area of expertise.

Well, that was quite the one hour of serialized episodic television.

Let’s just put the jump here and get on with it.

SPOILERS THERE BE
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Just a friendly reminder, LOST returns tomorrow in its new time slot: 10:00 (or 2200 if you prefer) ET.

In preparation, here are a couple interviews with the show’s producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

A/V CLUB

TV Guide interview conducted by Jimmy Kimmel

There are likely plot points discussed in these, so be forewarned if you’re one of those “anti-spoiler” types.

Look for the usual day-after recap by the Beat’s Helper Monkey on Friday morning.

Posted by Mark Coale

While waiting for the return of Lost, this should get you up to speed.

It looks like room will need to be made at Stately Beat Manor …

ADULT SWIM toys!

From the Kidrobot Discussion Board:

Adult Swim - Mini Figures
We’ve teamed up with Adult Swim to bring your late night to life. From Robot Chicken and Mad Scientist to Assy McGee, Carl and the Mooninites, ridiculous-ness in a box can be yours for just $7.95 a piece. 18 characters in all, including two secret chases. Badass!

Posted by Mark Coale

Yes, Michael’s back. The worst-kept secret in TV is finally out in the open. So, how did Michael become Kevin Johnson? Let’s discuss after the jump.

WARNING: There will be discussion about who did and did not die in tonight’s episode. You’ve been warned. No griping.

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Mark will be along with his usual summary but can we just say: “WE KNEW IT!”

ITEM! In case you haven’t heard, Kazu Kibuishi’s kids GN AMULET came out a few months ago, but it is already optioned and on the fast track, with Will Smith’s kids Willow and Jaden set to star as siblings who must traverse a strange world in search aided by a sinister amulet after their mother is kidnapped. Kibuishi comments on his blog:

I never imagined we would be moving so quickly on the film side of things. I better get the next few books done a little faster! Anyway, I’m really looking forward to meeting the Smiths. I’ve been a huge fan ever since the early Fresh Prince days, and seeing the kind of work they’ve been doing lately, I can see that we’ll be on the same wavelength on this project. This is going to be cool.

A total of five AMULET volumes are planned.

ITEM! According to a terse trade report, that Virgin Comics/Sci Fi Channel deal is paying off. The Sci Fi Channel is developing a TV series project around The Stranded, (left) one of Virgin’s Sci Fi branded comics. It’s written by Mike Carey and involves regular folks who discover they are really aliens,
ITEM! Speaking of the Sci Fi Channel, they are also developing a pilot for TRUE BELIEVER, a series created by Rosario Dawson and David Atchinson (OCCULT CRIMES TASK FORCE) about a comic book enthusiast who hires a former superhero to teach him about crime-fighting.

ITEM! Director James Mangold ( 3:10 to Yuma, Girl Interrupted, Walk the Line) has signed on the graphic novel express with French gn CYCLOPES by Alexis Nolent :

Variety reports that Warner Bros. has secured the rights to Alexis Nolent’s French graphic novel Cyclopes, set in a dystopian future where soldiers wear cameras in their helmets and broadcast what they see in real time. One soldier realizes that what he’s fighting for isn’t justice, but commerce.

Nolent is now a two-fer, as another one of his books, KILLER is being developed for David Fincher.
ITEM! More obstacles for the JUSTICE LEAGUE movie. It appears that the Australian government is refusing the film a 40% tax rebate which is offered to Australian productions of Australian films. Despite Aussie helmer George Miller and a few native actresses in the cast, the movie is under great suspicion:

Since Warner Bros suspended filming plans in January, citing uncertainty over the new incentive, opponents have argued that the offset should not be available for big-budget movies not developed by Australian filmmakers from inception.

The director of the equity section of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Simon Whipp, has lobbied against Justice League Mortal’s eligibility, describing it as an American story that will be performed in American accents.

Has this guy no desire to see Green Lantern up on the big screen? With a $200 million budget, the tax rebate was an important financial element of the film, which could be forced to shoot somewhere else. Miller was non-plussed with the decision : “A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking,” Miller said.

Cinematical has more analysis.

The problem seems to be that it is an American film, with American accents, and it will not do the Australian film industry any favors. But native director George Miller points out that the country needs movie franchises, even if they aren’t “recognizably” Australian, to boost production and bring in jobs. I can’t really say which side is right — it seems Australia is a bit miffed Warner Bros shut down production in January over uncertainty about the incentive, and they punished them for their doubts. (I’m really curious if X-Men Origins: Wolverine is getting that tax break. Everyone knows Hugh Jackman is Australian, but come on, that’s not going to be seen as a Down Under movie either.)

The film is also apparently called JUSTICE LEAGUE MORTAL.

Sun and Jin, before the island. what times those were.

For talk of Sun and Jin ON the Island and maybe more, read on, Macduff.

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And it’s not Alan Moore! It seems Simon Pegg is upset that McG is planning an American remake of their classic Britcom SPACED — without any input from the creators. Pegg lets loose on his website:

The fact is, when we signed our contracts ten years ago, we had neither the experience or the kudos to demand any clauses securing any control over future reversioning. We signed away our rights to any input in the show’s international future, because we just wanted to get the show made and these dark days of legal piracy seemed a far away concern. As a result, we have no rights. The show does not belong to us and, those that do own it have no obligation to include us in any future plans. You would perhaps hope though, out of basic professional respect and courtesy, we might have been consulted. It is this flagrant snub and effective vote of no confidence in the very people that created the show, that has caused such affront at our end. If they don’t care about the integrity of the original, why call it Spaced? Why attempt to find some validation by including mine and Edgar’s names in the press release as if we were involved? Why not just lift the premise? Two strangers, pretend to be a couple in order to secure residence of a flat/apartment. It’s hardly Ibsen. Jess and I specifically jumped off from a very mainstream sitcom premise in order to unravel it so completely. Take it, have it, call it Perfect Strangers and hope Balkie doesn’t sue. Just don’t call it Spaced.

See, it happens in TV, too. Pegg updates the site to reflect that he and Jessica Hynes will receive some compensation, but let’s face it, who really wants McG raising their baby?

More at Vulture.

Yes, we know, it was a Desmond episode. But how to describe what happened to Desmond last night in a tease without giving anything away until after the spoilers (since people seem to be sensitive about those things)?

Instead, we’ll give the pre-jump props to Daniel Faraday, the physicist who is now a lot more important to the overall plot of the show than we all thought after his introduction a few episodes ago.

MASSIVE SPOILERS await. You were warned.
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