"Warning! Warning! Epstein's Mother Approaching!"

Two beloved TV icons are heading up to The Gates together, but they'll live on in perpetual reruns...

Robert Hegyes, best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican sweathog Juan Epstein on Welcome Back Kotter has died at the age of 60. Epstein was famous for always trying to pass off notes to get out of class, always signing them "Epstein's mother."

Who was Dick Tufeld? Why the immortal voice of the Lost in Space robot, that's who! Tufeld was also the voice of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and did voice work in numerous other Irwin Allen shows, including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. 


Thanks for some great times, fellas. You will be missed.

Tall, Gold and Fickle - Oscar noms unveiled...

The glitter cannons have fired their first salvo upon the unsullied of Hollywood - it's nomination day! Some surprises, some snubs and a whole lot of forecasting to be done! Grab a knife and your lobster bib and let's get cracking!

Very surprisingly, Michael Fassbender was not nominated for Shame. The Academy evidently wanting you to keep your clothes on.

No Charlize Theron for Young Adult?!? What the what, Liz Lemon?!

Kung Fu Panda 2 for Best Animated, but no Tintin?


No Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin...

Rather surprisingly, no nom for Andy Serkis' work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes - a bit of a setback for the motion-capture movement.

No Kirsten Dunst for Melancholia. In fact, no nothin' for Melancholia - Lars von Trier is still persona-non-grata.

Nothing for David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method.

No Supporting nod for Drive's Albert Brooks.

Nice to see Rooney Mara nominated for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but no Picture nom and nothing for David Fincher. Nice to see Jeff Cronenweth's cinematography get the attention it deserves.

Amazing to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close score a Best Picture nomination over Bridesmaids and Dragon Tattoo.

A great day to be Terrence Malick, scoring both Directing and Best Picture nods.

Wonderful to see Gary Oldman nominated for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.


Jonah Hill - Oscar nominee!!!

Nick Nolte...Oscar resurrectee!


There you have it. My gut reactions predict:

Picture: The Artist
Director: Scorsese, Hugo
Actor: Clooney
Actress: Streep
Supporting: Plummer
Supporting: Octavia Spencer

Place your bets, host a fancy lunch and start your engines... The Oscars air on Sunday, February 26th.

You're going in the hole! Alcatraz debuts tonight!

Don't forget that Fox debuts Alcatraz this evening, the latest from J.J. Abrams, with a 2-hour pilot (8:00 PM Pacific). A detective teams up with an Alcatraz historian to find and catch inmates from the infamous prison who went missing 50 years ago but are reappearing today, apparently unaged. Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill, Robert Forster and Sarah Jones star.

Entertainment Weekly gave Alcatraz a pretty good review, it's certainly worth checking out the premiere.

Battlestar Portlandia!

In case you've been busy, IFC brought back Portlandia for its second season premiere last Friday. While the first episode was a bit lackluster, tonight's episode sounds fan-frakkin'-tastic!

This week finds Fred and Carrie abandoning jobs and all semblance of routine to cloister themselves away on the couch devouring the entire Battlestar Galactica series. Raise your hand if you've been there! Don't try this at home unless you have the requisite free time and lots of black coffee.

Expect some BSG cameos and more than a little recognition!

Friday the 13th is lucky: Fringe returns!!!

No spoilers here, so you don't need to worry about me revealing that ------ ----- ----- is a major component to get excited about, now that Fringe is back from it's mid-season holiday hiatus. This Friday night at 9:00 Pacific, things get cooking, and don't be surprised if we find ourselves looking at a very similar dynamic to what went down last year: Fox appears very iffy on renewal for another season ("The show's not profitable"), which only made the Fringe gang even more creative and risk-taking as the season reached its climax. If you're a fan, WATCH THIS FRIDAY!!! Send a message to Fox that we support one of the strongest shows there is. Friday's episode is titled, "Back to Where You've Never Been." If you've never seen Fringe before, wow - do I ever envy you. The surprises you have in store are more than worth observing.

What's a hybrid? The vehicles of Mad Max: Fury Road

It's been a long time since George Miller unleashed Max, including two Happy Feet movies and Babe: Pig in the City. Here's hoping that this long gestation period helps rankle George's dormant dark side.


Have a gander at two of the vehicles recently spotted in Africa, on their way to the Mad Max: Fury Road production. After weather and an eroded landscape caused delays that would have crippled the budget, Miller opted to move production to Nambia where   shooting will get rolling in April. The good news is that Bane himself, Tom Hardy will star, along with Charlize Theron. According to Hardy, "It's a relaunch and revisit to the world - an entire restructuring...not to say that it's not picking up or leaving off from the Mad Max you know already, but it's a nice re-take on the entire world using the same character, depositing him in the same world but bringing him up to date by 30 years."

The vehicles look promising. And Hardy's energy should push this into orbit, assuming Georgie can get a handle on the production mayhem. At the very least, he can always drive over it.

You think this is funny?! Goodfellas TV series!

The cats over at AMC behind such hits as Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead are developing a series version of Martin Scorsese's 1990 classic mob saga. Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote both the original book (Wiseguy) and the screenplay for Goodfellas is on board to write the TV series with Homicide: Life on the Street producer Jorge Zamacona. Irwin Winkler will executive produce.

Chronicling the rise and fall of Lucchese "associate" Henry Hill, Goodfellas is classic stuff. I do not envy those casting this project, as the characters are so indelibly drawn, it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else tackling those roles. Stay tuned.

DGA noms tilt the weathervane

The Director's Guild has spoken, declaring their five nominees for the 64th annual DGA Award:

• Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
• Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
• Alexander Payne, The Descendants
• Martin Scorsese, Hugo
• David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

So often the DGA mirrors the top Oscar films with the best shot at glory and nearly always sets the stage for the Academy's Best Director nominees. Which means no nods for Steven Spielberg (War Horse), Terrence Malick (Tree of Life), Bennet Miller (Moneyball) and Tate Taylor (The Help). 

Many people had speculated that Nicolas Winding Refn would be a dark horse candidate for Drive, or that Lars von Trier would overcome his reputation and get a nod for Melancholia. 

As it stands, the biggest surprises are Allen (his first DGA nom since Crimes and Misdemeanors in 1989) and Fincher, whose Dragon Tattoo continues to slowly gain momentum. 

The DGA is a larger voting group of 14,000, compared with the Academy's tighter director's branch, numbering around 400. While I haven't had the pleasure of seeing it yet, my gut tells me this one's going to Marty for Hugo. Long passed over for work like Raging Bull and Good Fellas, to essentially reinvent himself in his golden years with a populist fable about youth that honors the history of cinema...? Plus, everyone likes Marty. That's where I'm putting my marker.

The winner will be announced January 28th. 

Benedict Cumberbatch joins Trek 2!

How much more does one man need to do to become a fully declared genre God? Benedict Cumberbatch, star of Britain's Sherlock, P.J.'s The Hobbit (voicing Smaug). Frankenstein (on stage for Danny Boyle), Spielberg's War Horse and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (inhale, take a breath...) has now joined the cast of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek sequel!

Reliable sources have Cumberbatch playing the villain, stating that Cumberbatch "blew them all away" with his audition. Star Trek 2 starts filming in mere weeks.

Take up residence at Downton Abbey!

Spent New Year's getting addicted to the absolutely splendid UK series, Downton Abbey. I must admit to being off the PBS rotation for a while (since last winter's Sherlock), so I missed Downton in its original airing. But Downton Abbey has continued to be one of those shows you keep hearing mentioned, and ever since their six Emmy win (including best miniseries), there's a feeling of missing the boat. Now I know why.

Downton Abbey is just superb on all counts. The creation of writer Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), Downton Abbey may evoke some heavy sighing by some, quick to dismiss it as another Upstairs, Downstairs. Filmed at Highclere Castle in Berkshire, Downton Abbey is a ferociously addictive saga that follows 16 characters - the titled family living on the estate and their service staff - through the early years of the 20th Century and their many anxieties, longings, schemes and hopes.

This is a wonderful drama on all counts. I am reluctant to give away much of any detail, as part of the delight of this treasure of a show lies in discovering who everyone is. But I will admit to being completely in awe of Jim Carter as Carson, the butler - of Brendan Coyle as Bates, the mysterious valet. These are characters who are firmly part of an everlasting pantheon now. I find myself all caught up in the trials and tribulations of Lady Mary and her sisters to a beyond-Kardashian degree. I love the machinations of O'Brien and Thomas, and I can't get enough of Maggie Smith as "The Dowager Countess." I'll just say that if you've been lamenting the quality of broadcast television, and have any fondness at all for period pieces such as Remains of the Day  and A Room with a View, you are in criminal peril the longer you miss out on this superb show.

Season 1 is available on disc and the 2nd season premieres on PBS on January 8th, this coming Sunday night! Downton Abbey is a triumph!