I had a number of problems with Steve Carell’s final episode on The Office, “Goodbye, Michael”. There was the comedy void that is Will Ferrell’s guest starring role and everything revolving around that character. There’s also the lesser problem of the logistics behind Pam getting through security to say goodbye to Michael in the airport. That was a bit too much artistic license for me to embrace in 2011, but that’s minor. Still, I found myself more deeply troubled by that scene and I believe I’ve pinned it down to the characterization of Pam over the last couple seasons.

There was a time on The Office when Pam had some ambition. Initially this was in the form of her artistic pursuits, and Michael Scott was one of her big supporters here. When Pam had her first art show, Michael was the one to genuinely praise her work and give her a boost. Jim would of course also support her dreams, but Michael’s was more pure without the romantic angle coming into play. Pam’s artistic talents would pop up here and there, and overall she seemed to actually want to better herself. Eventually she would give art school a valiant shot only to come up short. No matter, she’ll soon be given the opportunity to try new things as a founding member of the Michael Scott Paper Company, where she found some small success in sales. After that short-lived side adventure, Michael would go to bat in order to bring Pam back to Dunder Mifflin as a full-fledged salesperson. This lasted for about a season until the writers figured out that having so many main characters have the same job didn’t lend itself to much story variety, so Pam determines that she’s largely failed at sales. She had apparently been making minimal commissions during this time and wanted more money. Side question: are we to assume she was a worse salesperson than Andy, who is consistently written as the most incompetent of the bunch?

Anyway, Pam needed a new job that keeps her in the office but she was all out of genuine ambition. She fabricated a bullshit job as the office administrator, which the office had gotten by without for years, and conned Gabe and other department heads into signing off on it, even to the point of giving her unearned wages. With that, she effectively returned to doing what she did as a secretary, minus answering the phone. She plans office games, procures odd pieces of equipment for the office, and negotiates new lease terms with the office park. But mostly, she finagled herself a job that the office never required before, all during a financial crisis to boot. Somehow she maintains a job that pays more and contributes less to the company. “Goodbye, Michael” features Pam supposedly going on a run to price out paper shredders, and perhaps she did indeed do that although I’m not sure why anyone has to leave their computer and phone to do that in this day and age. But the only thing the audience sees her do is skip work and go see The King’s Speech. Side note: at least she turns her phone off while in a movie theater. Seriously however, this might just be the last straw I have with her character. She’s not only settled into a farce of a job and zero interest in bettering her life in any way, but she’s also actively not contributing to her company. Granted, the employees of Dunder Mifflin waste a lot of time while on the clock, but it’s usually standard office environment distractions or under Michael’s misguided direction. Pam checking out and seeing a movie while claiming to be working is way too egregious for me. This is far, far from the Pam we fell in love with during the early seasons.

All this brings me back to the end of Steve Carell’s exit from the show. I wish Pam didn’t get to say goodbye to Michael. I don’t think she deserved it. Her con over her colleagues would finally not work out for her. She wouldn’t get to express her gratitude for a boss who gave her so many breaks and so much support that she ultimately squandered. What if she had missed this opportunity to say goodbye? It could serve as a wakeup call for how she’s wasting her life, wallowing in a meaningless and entirely expendable job without dreams of any kind. It might even motivate an actual story arc for the character. It can’t be worse than having her do the next-to-nothing that has occupied her time for the last year or so. Not having that goodbye would be sad from Michael’s perspective, and perhaps that’s not at all what this show – now or even in its early years – would do, but I think it would have been significantly more interesting. I just think the Pam and Michael relationship has lost its meaning in recent seasons and that wasn’t reflected here. Quite frankly, I’m not sure I buy that the current version of Pam truly appreciates who Michael Scott was to her. She’s affectionately supported him in his troubles with Holly, but I’m not sure that’s enough. I think Pam deserved to miss out on that sweet goodbye. She was asking for it with her downward spiral of indifference and apathy. Maybe that’s what she needed in order to remember his unconditional belief in her talent and potential. Maybe that would have lit something within herself, because the desires she once had have long since burned out.

Now this is spectacular news. Creator Jackson Publick has revealed the news that Adult Swim has ordered up a ton more of The Venture Bros. There’s seasons five and six coming up, a 60-90 minute special at some point and a special little 11 minute special scheduled to air this summer. That’s a whole lot of awesome!

Publick and Doc Hammer, the creative duo who have written some 98% of the series, officially returned to writing this week although Publick says they had a head start after coming up with a lot of great ideas back when they were wrapping up season four. They’re hoping to be in pre-production in June. Based on past schedules, we’re probably looking at a summer 2012 premiere for season five.

The short special due out this summer is said to be on the lighter side and something of a one-off, so I’d expect it to be similar to “A Very Venture Christmas”. It’s being produced and animated entirely in the US, between Astro Base Go! and Titmouse Studios (G.I. Joe: Resolute, among other things), unlike the regular series which is animated overseas. And since we know there are often writing and production delays with this show, Publick is upfront about having absolutely no idea when the long-form special might arrive or whether it’ll be a TV or direct-to-video project.

The news comes just as season four hits Blu-ray and the second half of the season reaches DVD.

There you have it. Come March 22nd everyone can find the complete fourth season of The Venture Bros on home video. That should help the time go by until the eventual fifth season, which to my knowledge hasn’t been confirmed but is basically certain. Of course, it probably won’t appear until 2012, but that’s how it is.

• The Venture Bros: Season 4 Vol. 1 (DVD, available now)
• The Venture Bros: Season 4 Vol. 2 (DVD, March 22, 2011)
• The Venture Bros: The Complete Season 4 (Blu-ray, March 22, 2011)

James McAvoy will voice the lead character, Arthur, who is Santa’s youngest son. He’s good-natured and clumsy, and the one member of the family still truly excited by the magic of Christmas. Hugh Laurie plays Steve, the elder son, who has made the holiday a high-tech and military-esque operation. Jim Broadbent will voice Santa Claus. Bill Nighy plays Santa’s father, Grandsanta, who longs for the days of his own reign over the holiday, and when things were simpler. Imelda Staunton voices Mrs. Claus and Ashley Jensen plays an elf in the Giftwrap Battalion named Bryony.

I’m not terribly impressed with this teaser, but it’s just that, a teaser. I can’t imagine this footage having a part in the movie, it’s just designed to get some attention and quickly lay out some of the premise, so I’m not too concerned. It is somewhat disappointing that Aardman’s trademark style doesn’t seem present. Even Flushed Away worked that in, going so far as adding fake fingerprint marks to mimic those occurrences in claymation. I still think one of the bigger questions about this movie is whether it can sufficiently differentiate itself from Disney’s Prep & Landing TV special from last year, which is getting follow-up shorts, since both involve really high-tech Christmas operations.

Arthur Christmas will be released by Sony on November 23rd, 2011.

This just needs to be shouted from the rooftops. Parks and Recreation returns with its third season on January 20th, now Thursdays at 9:30pm where it finally gets The Office as a lead-in. This show was rocky in its abbreviated first season but really found its characters season two and was always such a treat every week. I’d probably say it was my favorite of NBC’s shows last year. At the end of last season the show added Adam Scott (Party Down) and Rob Lowe to the cast while Paul Schneider’s Mark Brendanowicz left, who was probably the weak link in terms of the characters. He was stuck being too much of the straight man and love interest without much to do on his own. Adam Scott’s character comes in to sort of replace that position as a foil and potential romantic partner for Leslie while having a good reason to be part of the main stories. Plus, Adam Scott is hilarious, so I think the show is in good hands for another season.

Another aspect I particularly love about Parks and Recreation is that its created a real feel for the city of Pawnee and a sense that the main characters actually inhabit a place where things happen even when they’re not around. The writers have created a nice stable of secondary characters like the public access talk show host, the journalist, various other government officials, etc. that is really nice.

Parks and Recreation stars Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O’Heir and Retta, and again returns to television on January 20th. Watch it.

Good news, Adult Swim has picked up more Childrens Hospital, the live-action parody of medical dramas conceived by Rob Corddry. Outside of The Venture Bros, it’s the best thing Adult Swim has going. The show began life as a web series and stars the likes of Corddry, Rob Huebel, Ken Marino, Lake Bell, Megan Mullaly, Malin Akerman, Henry Winkler and Errin Hayes. Each episode traditionally has a couple significant guest spots and there are many recurring parts, too. It’s basically a who’s-who of Los Angeles’ comic actors. It’s also really damned funny, even with just a cursory knowledge of the tropes of medical dramas: rampant sexual affairs, constant crises in and around the hospital, super rare diseases, etc.

The second season, consisting of fourteen episodes, begins filming later this year for air sometime in 2011.

AMC’s unveiled a four minute trailer for The Walking Dead, it’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comics series of the same name. On top of that, we’ve got a firm premiere date of October 31st at 10pm. That’s right, Halloween night. Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) is the man spearheading the long-form tale of the zombie apocalypse. The show stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Emma Bell (Amy),  Steven Yeun (Glenn), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale) and Laurie Holden (Andrea).

The premiere will be an extended 90 minute episode written and directed by Frank Darabont with five additional episodes making up the first season. Episode 2 is written by Darabont and directed by Michelle Maxwell MacLaren. Episode 3 is written by Darabont, Chic Eglee and Jack LoGuidice and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton. Episode 4 is written by comics creator Robert Kirkman and directed by Johan Renck. Episode 5 is written by Glenn Mazzara and directed by Ernest Dickerson while the sixth episode is written by Adam Fierro and directed by Guy Ferland. If the initial season is successful we should expect to see season two expanded to a full thirteen episodes.

Given what we’ve seen in this trailer, Frank Darabont’s involvement, the cool plotting of the comics and the great casting, I think we’re in for a treat come Halloween.

So, in a general sense I love the setting and atmosphere of the show. I love stories that let us see passionate people at their jobs, and while Rubicon hasn’t gotten too involved in any specific assignment given to Will and his team, we do get Will obsessing over the crosswords pattern and what it might have to do with David’s death. We also get a glimpse at another analyst, Miles, and his inability to deal with the apparent ignoring of work he did foreseeing bloody conflict in Nigeria. Prior to the series opening, we get the sense that Will enjoyed the puzzles and patterns for their own sake, as a challenge and a distraction from his grieving over his late wife and child, but then a pattern emerges that affects his mentor and father-in-law. Suddenly the work means something. Meanwhile, Miles is too obsessed with the aftermath and results of his work to function properly on current assignments. He actually cares about the analysis he’s doing. The fairly abstract problem solving at the heart of the job proves compelling when the characters (and performances) are so passionate and involved in it.

On top of the crosswords puzzle, Will sees indications that he’s being followed after his first day on the job. As an audience, we know he’s being followed and watched so his paranoia and caution is completely justified for us. We also know that there is some sort of conspiratorial group of men with some sort of controlling agenda. We also see that the analysts have limited control over what data they receive for their assignments and again, what their analysis is or is not used for. As the personalized note on David’s chessboard said, these people are pawns. They’re small players in the grand scheme of things. Important perhaps, but also expendable and replaceable (as we see in David’s apparent death and even Tom’s). I’m extrapolating a bit, but we see that David has a host of superstitions that he acknowledges are silly but he still obeys them fully. This is David finding a way of exerting a sense of control over his life. The second episode provides a glimpse that Will might unconsciously see value in the same path, gripping the rabbit’s foot while being tailed through the streets and demanding that David’s broom (purchased to help avoid a curse) is returned to the office. A key theme of the show, it would seem, is the stifling and dehumanizing nature of an analyst’s job. They live secret lives far away from the levels of government with actionable power. Their purpose is to solve puzzles, find patterns, analyze the data and pass the conclusions on up the hierarchy. What happens before and after that, and even during to a certain extent, is beyond their control. Miles sees that sometimes this is all a fruitless exercise with the Nigeria situation, but cannot unconcern himself with it. Tanya takes to drinking after just two weeks on the job. Ed Bancroft’s mind was allegedly broken by the work. David took to controlling minute elements of his life through superstitious beliefs. Will has taken to a potentially dangerous investment in the crosswords puzzle and perhaps to a little superstition himself. What are these people doing to themselves, and for what?

At this point I have to highlight a recurring visual motif that I particularly appreciate. A couple times we see individuals dwarfed by highly geometric pieces of architecture. When Will first leaves the office before finding himself being followed, he walks passed a large building front with cross-cutting steel beams. The shots are composed with Will as a smaller figure at the bottom of the frame with the large metal pattern everywhere above him. At the end of the episode, even the men spying on Will are shown to be tiny figures compared to the large repeating window panes hiding the empty floor in which they’ve set up their stakeout. We get the sense that the conspiracy is vast and pervasive and pawns can be found on every side. To get ahead of the game, these pieces of architecture could also withstand the removal of one its elements without catastrophe. The same seems to be the case for the conspiracy.

Previous to this video we knew a few details about what’s coming up, including King Gorilla’s release from jail, another appearance from Professor Impossible and a Fantastic Voyage scenario. Of course, there’s certain to be tons of new SPHINX stuff seeing as that’s the current drive of the mythology. The trailer shows off a few new enticing tidbits, like the return of Hank and Dean’s past selves (read: clones). Oh, and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch will gargle and spit.

It all looks insane and ridiculous and hilarious as usual, so I can’t wait.

Meanwhile, The Venture Bros: Season 4 Vol. 1 will be hitting DVD on October 26th. There won’t be a Blu-ray until around March when the full season is released on disc.

The 5th season won’t have a ‘big bad’ like John Lithgow or Jimmy Smits but that doesn’t mean there aren’t new guest stars. The big two are Peter Weller (Robocop, Fringe‘s “White Tulip”) and Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You, The Bourne Ultimatum), along with Johnny Lee Miller, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Shawn Hatosy and April Lee Hernandez.

Dexter returns to Showtime on September 26th.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will return to FX on September 16th at 10pm EST for its sixth season. I can’t say I’ve seen any details on any specific things the new season will feature, but I’d expect Charlie, Mac, Dennis, Dee and Frank to terrorize Philadelphia with more offensive antics.

Here’s the blurb for Chew: Vol. 1:

Tony Chu is a detective with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he’s a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn’t mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. He’s been brought on by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases.

If you’re wondering how the FDA became so powerful, Chew takes place in a universe where the avian flu killed millions of people, which leads to the FDA having to enforce a prohibition on chicken. Of course, there might be more to this than meets the eye.

I’ll also join in with many others and ask for Ken Leung (Miles from Lost) to be cast as Tony Chu. It’s just so perfect.

Here’s a spiffy new photo for The Walking Dead featuring the whole main cast that debuts on AMC in October. The series follows a group of people struggling to survive in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse over the course of weeks, months and years. From left to right the characters and actors in the publicity photo are Emma Bell (presumably Amy), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale) and Laurie Holden (Andrea).

Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) is spearheading the project. He’s directing the first episode and writing the first three. Per AICN the other directors are Michelle Maxwell MacLaren, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Johan Renck, Ernest Dickerson and Guy Ferland. The other contributing writers are Chic Eglee, Jack LoGuidice, Robert Kirkman (creator of the comics), Glen Mazzara and Adam Fierro.

The Walking Dead is based on the comics series. The first season will consist of six episodes and premieres in October. Everything about this looks and sounds fantastic, and the comics are quite good in their own right (though Kirkman’s dialogue is a definite weakness), so zombie fans should be in for a real treat in a couple months.

Okay, so it barely qualifies as news, but Breaking Bad was renewed for a fourth season by AMC as its third ended with an incredibly suspenseful finale. I have no idea why the order is just being made now for the show, but it’s very welcome all the same. Breaking Bad is the best thing going for television right now, in my opinion at least.

If you’ve finished up season three, there’s a couple good interviews with creator Vince Gilligan about the last season and the future over at The Live Feed and AV Club.

Presumably we’ll be seeing season four on the air beginning March 2011.

If you look above, you can see the first production still of Andrew Lincoln as The Walking Dead‘s lead character Rick Grimes. In other news, Chandler Riggs has been cast in one of the most important roles, Rick’s son Carl. Hopefully the production has a strategy in place to deal with the inevitable growing Riggs will do between seasons, unlike Lost and Walt for instance.

Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) is the writer and director of the pilot and will continue to be the main creative driver of the series, which is based on Robert Kirkman’s comics series. The story begins with police officer Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital to find the world around him devastated by a zombie apocalypse. He sets off to find his wife and son, with events spiraling from there. Unlike most zombie stories that take place over the course of just a few days, The Walking Dead comics follows a group of survivors over the course of months, dealing with the long-term issues of a ruined civilization. So it’s not just about finding a safe house for a short time, but finding permanent residences, sustainable food sources, creating a working community, etc.

The series stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Laurie Holden (Andrea) and more yet to be announced cast members.

The Walking Dead will begin its six episode first season on AMC in October.

Here’s a variety of news bits about Disney and Pixar’s future slates that I’ve neglected to comment on in the last couple months that I’ve still wanted to point out. So here we go.

• Pixar’s The Bear and the Bow was renamed Brave, which was apparently the film’s early codename. The film is written and directed by Brenda Chapman (The Prince of Egypt). The movie’s logline: “In rugged and mythic Scotland, the impetuous, tangle-haired Merida (Reese Witherspoon), though a daughter of royalty, would rather make her mark as an archer. A clash of wills with her mother compels Merida to make a reckless choice, which unleashes unintended peril on her father’s kingdom and her mother’s life. Merida struggles with the unpredictable forces of nature, magic and a dark ancient curse.” Brave will be released on June 15th, 2012.
• Pixar’s newt has reportedly been canceled, or at least shelved for the time being. That project was being directed by Gary Rydstrom (Lifted).
• Monsters, Inc 2 is officially happening, and targeted for a November 16th, 2012 release date. Absolutely no details have been revealed, but my bet is on Bob Peterson being the director.
• Cars 2 has returned to its June 24th, 2011 release date after a brief delay to that December.
• Disney has seemingly revived Joe Jump as Reboot Ralph. This project has been in various stages of development for about a decade. It was originally shepherded by Sam Levine, but has undergone major changes as Rich Moore (The Simpsons, Futurama) stepped in with his own take on the material, hence the new title. Reboot Ralph is set for March 22nd, 2013.
• Disney’s King of the Elves, based on one of Philip K. Dick’s forays into fantasy, has been pulled from the release schedule for retooling. Like a lot of projects at Disney, we’ll probably see this one again, sooner or later.
• Discovery Channel will be premiering a special called Reign of the Dinosaurs that involves “top creative talent” from Disney and Pixar to bring to life the most recent paleontological discoveries while involving some kind of “Hollywood storytelling.” It’s not very clear what kind of special this is or what roles Disney and Pixar are playing. This is set for the 2010-11 season at some point.

With all that said, here’s the known schedule for animated films from Disney and Pixar:

• Toy Story 3 (June 18th, 2010)
• Tangled (limited – November 12, 2010, wide – November 24th, 2010)
• Cars 2 (June 24th, 2011)
• Winnie the Pooh (July 15th, 2011)
• Frankenweenie (November 2011)
• Brave (June 15th, 2012)
• Monsters, Inc 2 (November 16th, 2012)
• Reboot Ralph (March 22nd, 2013)

Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) is the writer and director of the pilot and will continue to be the main creative driver of the series, which is based on Robert Kirkman’s comics series. The story begins with police officer Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital to find the world around him devastated by a zombie apocalypse. He sets off to find his wife and son, with events spiraling from there. Unlike most zombie stories that take place over the course of just a few days, The Walking Dead comics follows a group of survivors over the course of months, dealing with the long-term issues of a ruined civilization. So it’s not just about finding a safe house for a short time, but finding permanent residences, sustainable food sources, creating a working community, etc.

The series stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Laurie Holden (Andrea) and more yet to be announced cast members.

The Walking Dead will begin its six episode first season on AMC in October.

AMC has ordered a new drama pilot according to a report by Deadline. Hell on Wheels takes place in the 1860s and explores the construction of the transcontinental railroad which propelled the development of the western United States. The project is written by Joe and Tony Gayton. No other details are known.

Hell on Wheels is the sixth pilot AMC has ordered, with Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Rubicon and The Walking Dead all going to series. The fifth pilot, The Killing, is in production now. AMC obviously has a big track record with its pilots, so it’s probably a safe bet this will go beyond the pilot stage.

True Blood kicks off its third season on June 13th.

Futurama is set to return with its sixth season on June 24th at 10PM EST on Comedy Central. The network ordered a total of 26 new episodes with the whole original cast returning. I’m assuming that order will be split into two seasons of 13 episodes apiece given that’s more of a cable standard. The action kicks off right from the end of Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder.

Conan O’Brien will begin his new show on TBS in November.

The headline basically says it all. The seventh season of Entourage will premiere on June 27th and lasts ten episodes. The overall story apparently involves Vince being involved in a new film that’s some kind of apocalyptic drama.

HBO’s Hung will also return on the same night.

David offered these comments alongside the announcement:

“After much soul searching – and by the way, it was nowhere to be found – I have decided to do another season of Curb. I look forward to the end of shooting, when I can once again resume the hunt for my elusive soul. I know it’s here somewhere or perhaps in the rugged mountainous regions of Pakistan.”

Already cast in the new show are Andrew Lincoln as lead protagonist Rick Grimes and Jon Bernthal as Shane, Rick’s police partner. Frank Darabont is writing and directing the pilot which goes into production next month around Atlanta. AMC has ordered an initial six episodes which are likely to cover the first arc of the comics.

The Walking Dead will premiere in October.

The speculation is over, Conan O’Brien’s future has been decided. Conan O’Brien will launch a new hourlong talk show on TBS in November that will air at 11pm, Monday through Thursday. Enough has already been written about this, so I’ll let other articles point out the major benefits of this move, instead of trying to rehash it all myself.

• Hollywood Reporter – Conan O’Brien heads to TBS
• The Star-Ledger – Why Conan O’Brien’s TBS move was the right one
• Entertainment Weekly – TBS honcho on snagging Conan O’Brien: ‘He can do whatever he wants to do here’

All in all, Conan’s move to TBS will guarantee him a national audience without having to court network affiliates, he’ll own his show, have more creative freedom, be the star of a network rather than the new guy trying to fit in, and he’ll have less ratings pressure because cable channels like TBS make money off not just advertisements but also cable licensing. It’s quite a smart, forward-looking move, and sure to continue the increasing strength of cable in contrast to the old stalwart broadcast networks.

I know one thing: TBS just got itself one new viewer.

Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal join the cast of The Walking Dead

Over the last couple weeks there have been a couple of cool developments with AMC’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comics. Firstly, even though the pilot hasn’t even begun production, AMC has ordered the show to series with a six episode first season set to air in October. The pilot script was reviewed by a few places earlier in the year and basically only covered the very first issue, so it seems likely that the six episode season will track the initial six issue arc. That begins with police officer Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital to find the world around him devastated by a zombie apocalypse. He sets off to find his wife and son, with things spiraling from there. Unlike most zombie stories that take place over the course of just a few days, The Walking Dead comics follows a group of survivors over the course of months, dealing with the long-term issues of a ruined civilization.

The other big news is the casting of Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers) as protagonist Rick Grimes, while Joe Bernthal (Eastwick, The Pacific) plays Shane, Rick’s partner on the police force. I haven’t seen tons of their work, but I’ve liked them in what I have. Plus, I trust the hell out of Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist), who’s writing and directing the show, to knock this out of the park.

So things are looking good for The Walking Dead as a TV property. Look for it on AMC come October.

Treme begins its 10 episode first season on Sunday, April 16th at 10pm following the fifth episode of The Pacific. I couldn’t be more excited to see it. There’s a great cast, amazing creative pedigree and a guarantee of great music.

The show has a large and impressive cast featuring Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Kenneth Williams, Stephen Graham, Aleksa Palladino, Paul Sparks, Paz de la Huerta, Dabney Coleman, Vincent Piazza, Anthony Laciura and Shea Whigham. To see who they’re all playing, check this post.

The Venture Bros creator Jackson Publick updated his blog with details regarding the second half of the show’s fourth season. If you recall, the fourth season was extended to sixteen episodes and then split in half, with the first eight airing last fall and the second planned for this spring/summer. Well as it always happens, production is taking longer than expected so new episodes are now set for the last part of that time frame, August. But the good news is that we’re getting a bit more than previously announced as the season finale will be an hourlong, though Publick says it’s possible that with the additional work the finale might not air until December.

The new pics reveal a few details about the new episodes, including King Gorilla’s release from jail, more SPHINX action, and an ever-more haggard and pathetic looking Professor Impossible. Does the image below look like a sign of a Fantastic Voyage scenario to anyone else?

The first eight episodes of season 4 will probably be hitting DVD between July and October while the second half would hit around March 2011. At that time the full season will be released on glorious Blu-ray (with a second soundtrack, please?). The big question for me is whether I’ll be able to avoid double-dipping on the first DVD set and then the Blu-ray…

Anyway, more of The Venture Bros coming in August. Can’t wait!

Several more pics follow the jump:

Fringe is currently on hiatus but will resume airing on April 1st with a mythology-heavy episode dealing with Peter’s past. Fans should know what that means.

Anyway, here’s some of the recent videos.

Beach Lane is about a celebrity author (Broderick’s character) hired by an irresponsible millionaire to run a struggling small-town newspaper in the Hamptons. Between the irresponsible millionaire description and being centered around another media organization, maybe it sounds a little too much like Newsradio, but we’ll see. This will similarly be a multicamera sitcom, not a single camera show like The Office or 30 Rock.

Lorne Michaels and his Broadway Video production company will be producing the show.

NBC has given Parks and Recreation an early order for a third season. This comes off news that the show’s current season will be extended to 24 episodes.

The early pickup was made in order to lock in the actors for the planned production schedule, presumably because some of them were facing other options that would conflict.

The show has been striking gold this season pretty regularly after a somewhat rocky six episode first season, so this is good news, if completely expected.

Parks and Recreation stars Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Paul Schneider, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt. It was created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur.

Plus, the biggest weakness in the comics is Kirkman’s often over-explanatory dialogue but Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) is writing, directing and producing the series, so I expect to see improvements in that regard. Kirkman doesn’t put enough trust in his artists to convey emotions and plot points, but I don’t think Darabont has that problem when it comes to the visuals his scripts are paired with. He certainly proved with The Mist that he can handle unrealistic horror premises in genuinely scary and believable ways.

AMC also ordered a pilot for The Killing, an adaptation of a Danish show titled Forbrydelsen. It follows three storylines stemming from the murder of a girl. The English version would take place in Seattle and is written byVeena Sud.

Here’s a plot synopsis for Forbrydelsen from IMDb:

The brutal murder of a young girl launches an extended police investigation. Detective Sarah Lund is supposed to leave for a new life in Sweden, but can’t bring herself to leave the case behind. The girl’s parents and friends struggle to cope with their loss. Troels Hartmann is campaigning to be mayor of Copenhagen, but struggles when links are revealed between city hall and the murder. Over a time span of twenty days, suspect upon suspect is sought out as violence and political pressures cast their shadows over the hunt for the killer.

It sounds like it could be extremely interesting to me. It sounds like a mix between the Five Days miniseries and maybe the Korean film Memories of Murder with a dash of the politics from State of Play.

If picked up, both shows would be targeted for 2011 debuts.

Trauma, Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit also received additional orders for the current season. NBC is attempting to ensure it has original programming when The Jay Leno Show disappears from the 10 o’ clock slot, although only the dramas will literally fill that time period.

Here’s a synopsis from the book that will help the clueless about what the Teapot Dome scandal was and what the series would cover:

In this amazing and at times ribald story, Laton McCartney tells how Big Oil handpicked Warren G. Harding, an obscure Ohio senator, to serve as our twenty-third president. Harding and his “oil cabinet” made it possible for cronies to secure vast fuel reserves that had been set aside for use by the U.S. Navy. In exchange, the oilmen paid off senior government officials, bribed newspaper publishers, and covered the GOP campaign debt. When news of the scandal finally emerged, the consequences were disastrous. Drawing on contemporary records newly made available to McCartney, The Teapot Dome Scandal reveals a shocking, revelatory picture of just how far-reaching the affair was, how high the stakes, and how powerful the conspirators–all told in a dazzling narrative style.

I regretfully haven’t yet watched When the Levees Broke, but I’ve explored the devastated neighborhoods of New Orleans by foot and helicopter, so that’s gotta count for something right? I’ll get to it eventually, and since it was so acclaimed I’m pleased to see more documentary work being done on the situation. Hopefully there’s more of a consensus by future generations on how much the federal government fucked up than there is now. (Yes, there’s lots of blame to go around, but if you don’t think the feds had a ton of responsibility, then you don’t understand the purpose of our federal government, simple as that.)

Boardwalk Empire will premiere in the fall.

Treme is David Simon’s much anticipated follow-up series after completing The Wire. Eric Overmyer is the co-creator and wrote and produced on the last two season of The Wire as well. Wendell Pierce (Det. ‘Bunk’ Moreland on The Wire) stars as a jazz musician with an ex-wife and new baby. Khandi Alexander (NewsRadio, Simon’s The Corner, CSI: Miami) plays the ex and a barkeeper. Melissa Leo (Frozen River) is a civil rights attorney while John Goodman plays her husband, a college professor. Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn) portrays another musician. Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon from The Wire) plays a Mardi Gras Indian chief. Rob Brown and Kim Dickens round out the main cast.

Treme is set to premiere in April on HBO, with unconfirmed reports saying the 11th.

Treme is David Simon’s much anticipated follow-up series after completing The Wire. Wendell Pierce (Det. ‘Bunk’ Moreland on The Wire) stars as a jazz musician with an ex-wife and new baby. Khandi Alexander (NewsRadio, Simon’s The Corner, CSI: Miami) plays the ex and a barkeeper. Melissa Leo (Frozen River) is a civil rights attorney. Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn) portrays another musician. Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon from The Wire) plays a Mardi Gras Indian chief. Rob Brown and Kim Dickens round out the main cast.

Treme will premiere in April on HBO.

David Milch and Michael Mann

David Milch (Deadwood, John from Cincinnati) and Michael Mann (Heat, Public Enemies)  are joining forces for a new HBO drama pilot called Luck. Per The Live Feed, the show is about the horse racing world, and would be told from the perspectives of a variety of characters who intersect at the racetrack. Milch is responsible for the creation and writing of the series while Michael Mann is set to direct the pilot. Both are executive producing. This echoes the setup of HBO and Terence Winter’s Boardwalk Empire which had big timer Martin Scorsese direct the pilot.

I can’t say I have any predilections towards horse racing, but then I don’t care about competitive surfing and found John from Cincinnati very interesting. If the characters and writing are good, the rest usually falls into place. John from Cincinnati alone gets me to watch this one if it goes to series. I regretfully haven’t really seen Deadwood yet, but I’ll get to it someday…

Here’s the most recent trailer for the miniseries:

The premiere date announcement also came packaged with the list of season six’s regular cast:

• Naveen Andrews (Sayid)
• Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert)
• Emile de Ravin (Claire)
• Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus)
• Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus)
• Matthew Fox (Jack)
• Jorge Garcia (Hurley)
• Josh Holloway (Sawyer)
• Daniel Dae Kim (Jin)
• Yunjin Kim (Sun)
• Ken Leung (Miles)
• Evangeline Lilly (Kate)
• Terry O’Quinn (Locke)
• Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana)

Picking up right where the pilot left off, the storyline given the most time is the burgeoning partnership between FBI agent Erica and Father Jack after they survived the V attack on the resistance meeting and they’ve become – all too easily – fully aware of the conspiracy at hand, if not its goals. The immediate problems posed to them are whether they can trust each other and agree on the foundations of the larger conflict and who, if anyone, else can they trust. Unless the audience was being thrown a half dozen red herrings, it seems like several other FBI agents and the elder priest may also be Visitors, or else they’re just mysteriously supportive and highly defensive of their cause. One way or another, we’re given the impression the people around the two central characters shouldn’t be confided in. There’s the start of what’s sure to be too many reveals of who has been a V all along and countless paranoia storylines. As if to drive the comparisons to Battlestar Galactica and its Cylon skinjobs home, Recka Sharma appears as a fellow FBI agent who seems unusually interested in learning who may be spouting crazy conspiracy talk against the Visitors. Could she be playing for the other side? Signs point to yes. Again. But with every single colleague of both characters suspicious in some way, there’s a point where you have to ask what the hell the Visitors are up to. What is the goal that requires having large-scale secret infiltrations of government and social services along with the above-board public relations blitz?

The major blown opportunity in this episode, however, was doing absolutely nothing with the background debate over whether the United States should establish diplomatic relations with the aliens hovering over its cities. This so-called debate is mentioned a few times but not a single pro or con is ever mentioned. The episode goes so far as to tease journalist Chad Decker doing a broadcast on this very issue only to cut away as soon as possible in order to keep anyone from saying anything even remotely of substance. See, it’s the politics and the bigger issues that I find potentially fresh and interesting here. Of course, the opening of diplomatic relations is a foregone conclusion, hell the pilot already had the V giving tours of its ships to teenagers. The government in this show’s universe doesn’t really appear to consider aliens to be of any conceivable threat or even incidental danger. I’m a given a more thorough security check at the airport than this government gives Anna when she comes to Earth. Anyway, even though is stuff is a bust Chad Decker is still one of the best characters the show is offering if only because he seems genuinely intelligent and thoughtful, and his plot involves some semblance of maneuvering ethical quandaries.

The teenage son plotline returns in perhaps even more embarrassingly awful ways than the pilot. He’s quickly made a peace ambassador for the V but almost as quickly starts punching out protesters out of an absolutely childish concept of indirectly defending Lisa’s (his V crush) honor. This kid and his friend are purportedly seventeen years old but they act several years younger, as if they’re jealous that their peers have already hit puberty and so find immature ways of compensating. Lisa is seemingly disgusted by his actions and the program decides to investigate whether he should remain, but no one really cares. This whole element of the show is dreadful. It reveals nothing about the conspiracy plot or anything substantial about any thematic material. We’re just watching a functionally braindead teen try to impress a blonde alien. There’s absolutely no chemistry between them, nothing to suggest either one should be interested in the other. It’s almost impressive how superficial and juvenile it manages to be.

There’s a mostly throwaway subplot with Ryan, the V traitor, seeking an old acquaintance, presumably another traitor, for help in healing a gash in his arm from the previous episode’s fight. This doesn’t really get anywhere except to point out that like everyone else, the traitors have trust issues too. There was an odd moment at the end, where his girlfriend notices an upside down picture in their apartment and upon inspection reveals a small note with a name and address. We suspect this was left by the acquaintance and Ryan tells the girlfriend that it’s just a friend, but what makes no sense is that she expresses no question about his not knowing what it was doing there, or more pointedly, why someone secretly entered their home and left a note! This is either more terrible writing where characters act nothing like real people, or she’s a card carrying V and is keeping tabs on him. I’m not sure which is the better option.

Ultimately, V‘s biggest problem is that it lacks any relevance to the world I live in. A world in which government is almost completely absent from a situation involving mass alien arrivals is one that I will never understand, nor relate with. On the microcosmic scale, individuals don’t act like real people either. V currently resides in a magical world devoid of politics, ideologies, trust issues, even an instinct towards survival. The latter two only seem to materialize once our protagonists have knowledge that the Visitors aren’t what they claim to be. I hate to use the phrasing since it’s somewhat nonsensical, but it’s shocking how a show in 2009 can try so hard to avoid all the themes and trappings of a post-9/11 world, when it so obviously should be about those very things.

Oh well. On the bright side, even before this news Whedon was planning to give the season’s thirteenth episode some resolution and finality, and that’s been reiterated again. I wasn’t really a fan of the “Epitaph One” episode that skipped into the future, or at least I didn’t like its execution, so I’m not concerned about possibly not reaching that stage of the plot again.

Whedon posted this over at Whedonesque:

Hmm. Apparently my news is not news.

I don’t have a lot to say. I’m extremely proud of the people I’ve worked with: my star, my staff, my cast, my crew. I feel the show is getting better pretty much every week, and I think you’ll agree in the coming months. I’m grateful that we got to put it on, and then come back and put it on again.

I’m off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking. Possibly that relaxation thing I’ve read so much about. By the time the last episode airs, you’ll know what my next project is. But for now there’s a lot of work still to be done, and disappointment to bear.

Thank you all for your support, your patience, your excellent adverts. See you again. -j.

Dollhouse will return to the air in December for back-to-back episodes on Fridays.

The Pacific premieres on HBO in March, 2010.

Treme is the new drama from David Simon (The Wire) and Eric Overmyer. It’s follows several characters in the Treme district of New Orleans as they rebuild their city and lives following Hurricane Katrina. The cast includes Wendell Pierce, Khandi Alexander, Clarke Peters, Melissa Leo, Steve Zahn, Rob Brown and Kim Dickens. Treme premieres on HBO in April.

Boardwalk Empire is the new period drama from Terence Winter (second most prolific writer on The Sopranos) about the rise of Atlantic City during the Prohibition era, and all the corruption that came with it. Martin Scorsese directed the pilot episode. The show has a large and impressive cast featuring Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Kenneth Williams, Stephen Graham, Aleksa Palladino, Paul Sparks, Paz de la Huerta, Dabney Coleman, Vincent Piazza, Anthony Laciura and Shea Whigham. Boardwalk Empire doesn’t yet have a specific release window.

How to Make It in America is from the producers of Entourage and is somewhat similar with a group of young men searching for success in a big city, although this begins in the earlier stages and takes place in the New York art scene. The show stars Bryan Greenberg, Victor Rasuk, Shannyn Sossamon, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Lake Bell, Luis Guzman and James Ransone. It also doesn’t yet have a specific release window in 2010.

HBO is also premiering it’s Band of Brothers conceptual follow-up called The Pacific in March.

I’m particularly excited for Treme and Boardwalk Empire given their creative pedigrees and fantastic casts. I’m very psyched for some new HBO dramas. How to Make It in America doesn’t grab me as a concept, but then, neither did Entourage and that provided a good amount of fun, at least for a while.

Other guest stars for the second season will include J.K. Simmons, Joey Lauren Adams, Steve Guttenberg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Thomas Lennon and Jimmi Simpson.

Party Down is about a catering company in Los Angeles that employs struggling/failed actors, comedians and screenwriters. The show also stars Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr and Ryan Hansen.

Season two will be ten episodes long and should premiere in April, 2010.