Yesterday at TCA, the CW announced that its previously announced musical chair show – first known as Extreme Musical Chairs, and now called Oh Sit! -- would be moving forward, with a 10-episode series planned for the summer. Are you laughing already? You are laughing already.
Colin Firth will star in The Railway Man, an adaptation of British officer Eric Lomax’s book of the same name, which recounts his torture by the Japanese during the construction of the "death railway" during World War II. Usually we'd make an attempt at some lighthearted commentary here, but, you know, "death railway." Grade: A- [HR]
The Carrie Diaries — Candace Bushnell’s young-adult Sex and the City prequel revolving around Carrie Bradshaw’s senior year of high school — has officially been picked up for the CW, with Gossip Girl’s Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage producing. Great news for people who love sexy puns about the rigors of the college application process. Grade: B+
[Deadline]
It’s been a decade since the book was released and almost as long since producer Scott Rudin first attempted to turn it into a movie, but, finally, an adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections is just about actually happening. If all goes as planned, it'll be an HBO series directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written with Franzen. The project is nearing a pilot order with Anthony Hopkins in talks to play the Parkinson's-addled patriarch of a troubled Midwestern family. In related news: Freedom the movie! Coming 2027! Grade: A [Deadline]
Stellan Skarsgard says Lars Von Trier has cast him as the lead in Nymphomaniac, an exploration of female sexuality from ages zero to 50. According to Skarsgard, “Lars called me and said 'Stellan, my next film will be a porno and I want you to play the lead in it.’” Also, "I want you to sit uncomfortably next to me, Kirsten Dunst–style, when I say something inappropriate while promoting it at a film festival,” Von Trier did not add. Grade: A- [HR]
Josh Groban's reign of terror continues: after respectable, self-deprecating turns on Glee and in Crazy, Stupid, Love, he'll take on the role of Andy Bernard’s (Ed Helms) brother on The Office for an undisclosed number of episodes. (Stephen Collins and Dee Wallace were previously been cast as the Nard Dog’s parents). Grobanites, unite and take over! Grade: B [Deadline]
Shawn Levy may vacate the director’s chair on Fantastic Voyage, a remake of the 1966 sci-fi adventure about scientists who shrink themselves and travel, in a tiny submarine, inside their fellow scientist’s body to save his life. Levy is at odds with Fox over whether to cast an A-list star (he wants to, they don't), although he’s currently trying to court Will Smith as a last ditch effort. And somewhere, Coolio’s all like “And nobody thought to call me …” Grade: C [HR]
