How Times Have Changed...

[D'Snowth]

Remember back in the old days when big A-list movie stars were considered "too big", "too expensive", and even "too important" to even consider doing work for television? Like how if series were adapted from movies, the cast from the movie never reprised their roles for television, and yadda-yadda-yadda.

But lookie at what goes on today, like who replaced Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men? Wow, Ashton Kutcher. And look who's been given new TV shows recently as well... OMG, Jim Cavezel, and, can it be? Maria Bello. Just to name a couple.

So, I wonder what happened? I mean, if big movie stars are "too big", "too expensive", and "too important" to do television work, why are they all suddenly popping up on the small screen on their own shows? Oh yeah, I forgot, Nostalgia Critic explained that once sorta...

MR. LICKBOOT: We've GOT to have... moneeeeeeeeeeyyyy...
NC: Wow! Sounds like the producers for this movie!

But yeah, I'm sure it's greedy producers behind that. I mean, it's true, people who make TV shows anymore don't even care what the premise is, or what the show is supposed to be about (and at the same time, they probably don't even know what it's supposed to be themselves), they just want the big names and the famous faces to bring in viewers. That really seems to be the case with Cavezel and Bello's new shows, from the previews, they seem to be a couple of new crime dramas, and I swear, if you've seen one crime drama on TV these days, you've seen them all. They're a dime a dozen.

It seems like only ONE new show recently has actually gone the opposite direction in casting a relatively unknown in the lead, something TV shows haven't done in ages, and that's Suburgatory. I forget what her name is, but she seems like a promising young talent, assuming she's not going to eventually tarnish her image, ala Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan, but then again, one of the first things you see in the promos for this show is, shocker, a pack of condoms, so, never mind.

 

[Drtooth]

Let me put it this way...

When has Ashton Kutcher had a movie that did well? When was the last time he even did a movie? I still think that casting him in 2.5 Men was just to tick Charlie Sheen off. You see, Ashton hasn't been funny since That 70's Show... and even then, that was due to solid writing. Now, I haven't seen the new episode yet, but I doubt he's going to be all that good in it. Other than Punked, Dude where's my Car? (which sucked, BTW), and That 70's Show, his career wasn't exactly blooming and blossoming. Every movie he was in got bad reviews and bad B.O. receipts. There was some bad Guess Who's Coming to Dinner remake that was done with the opposite races or something... that bombed. Can't remember anything else but Open Season, and I don't want to get into that.

Now, as for Jim... uh, well, he had one film on his resume that was unfortunate. it was his most famous role, but in a very unfortunate movie... the Mel Gibson anti-Semitic ego piece biblical "snuff film" (Stan of South Parks words, and I don't disagree) Passion of the Christ. Now, I could have a long discussion about biblical epics and why the old ones are greater than anything they could do now... but Passion was an unfortunate movie on many levels, especially since it was the start of Mel's Anti-Semitic downfall. This was years before the drunken "Jews arrr the reasssson fer all the worl'zzz warzzz... (HIC)" incident. And that may have hurt his career, just being associated with a bad biblical film AND Mel Gibson.

Mel was thrown out of The Hangover 2 by the actors and most of the writers, and his terrible "The Beaver" movie was just... it was pretty much of Gigli-an proportions of disaster.

And I never heard of Maria Bellows until this point.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'll just say this... Maria Bello is definitely one of the ultimate... um... well, let's just say the acronym rhymes with Milford, without the "ord"...

But looks like Zooey Deschanel's got a TV show now too... and apparently, it's supposed to be a rip-off of that TBS sitcom My Boys... then again, I think Zooey's movie career wasn't doing too well as of late; I've heard she's even tried to shopa round a movie of her own (like a look into the lives of a group of circus freaks or something), but no studio would finance it.

 

[Drtooth]

But looks like Zooey Deschanel's got a TV show now too... and apparently, it's supposed to be a rip-off of that TBS sitcom My Boys... then again, I think Zooey's movie career wasn't doing too well as of late; I've heard she's even tried to shopa round a movie of her own (like a look into the lives of a group of circus freaks or something), but no studio would finance it.

I don't even think I've heard of her until this year... and the only movie I recall her in is "Our Idiot Brother" which was released by Weinstine... and I'm not going to say anything else and let everyone else connect the dots.

Oh... and she sang some of the music for Winnie the Pooh. Actually, she sounded pretty good (but the Backson song was the best).

I hope her show does well ONLY if that means that the lead in doesn't ruin Raising Hope's ratings. I LOVE that show. Took me a couple episodes, but I really am glad the My Name is Earl creator managed to get a new show on the air.

Still, I wonder how the love for Ashton on 2.5 Men is going to last. I swear half the people tuned in for the gruesome post Charlie details. I think they should've just wrapped up the darn thing and put Big Bang in their place.

You know, now that I think of it, Alec Baldwin was having a tough time in movies lately, but 30 Rock managed to give him a nice bump in his career... he's one of the funniest people on that show (funnier than Jenna or Tracey are, anyway). heck, I don't think I even cared much for Alec Baldwin until I started really watching 30 Rock.

 

[D'Snowth]

I don't even think I've heard of her until this year... and the only movie I recall her in is "Our Idiot Brother"
Oh... and she sang some of the music for Winnie the Pooh. Actually, she sounded pretty good (but the Backson song was the best).

She was also in Elf (and sang in that one too), Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, Yes Man, (500) Days of Summer, and a few others.

 

[Drtooth]

Doesn't sound like she really had a super stellar career. Elf's probably the only really successful movie of the bunch. Of course, 5o0 Days of Summer was kinda an indie-ish film anyway.

But it appears that her show got good enough ratings from the premiere.

 

[newsmanfan]

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Zooey was also in that strange, postmodern "Oz" thing on SciFi Channel, "Tin Man." Haven't heard her sing, but she's not much of an actress yet; her ethereal blue eyes are about all she has going for her in my book. We'll see. Her sis is better, and has improved while on "Bones". Time will tell.

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[D'Snowth]

Despite having a bit of a nasally twang, Zooey has a great voice, and can sing really well, IMO; though I do kind of agree that as an actress, she is a bit of a female equivilant of Steve Carrell, Bob Crane, Vince Vaughn, and those other guys who are always usually stiff and wooden in their performaces, and hardly give any enthusiam or charisma in their characters.

Even in Elf, the only time she added any kind of oomph in her performance was when she discovered Buddy was in the women's lockerroom while she was in the shower, other than that, even when things got more situational in the movie, she still seemed to retain a deadpan calmness.

Blue eyes, and nice looks may very be the only reason she keeps getting acting roles, but who knows.. I'd actually be interested in seeing this screenplay of hers involving the lives of circus freaks, just to see what kind of movie she could come up with... somehow, in my mind, I'm envisioning some kind of strange, yet artsy, Burton-esque film, a little darker than Pee-wee's Big Adventure, but not as dark as most of Burton's other work.

 

[newsmanfan]

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See, now that sounds cool...kinda Diane Arbus-y.

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[D'Snowth]

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See, now that sounds cool...kinda Diane Arbus-y.

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Oh lord... ><

I don't know about THAT, lol. I mean I did see the movie once, mainly because I'm more familiar with her actor husband Allan (Sidney Freedman on M*A*S*H).. now that I believe goes on my list of one of the freakiest/creepiest movies of all time, lol.