As you’ve probably seen from our odes to Pee-Wee Herman and our awestruck glares at Chris Brown these past couple of days, the Hulu Blog is unveiling an everyday feature called The Green Room. It’s what Hulu editor Rebecca Harper, assistant editor Ben Collins, and the expansive Hulu universe think is must-watch material on Hulu and all over the Internet every day.
And, don’t worry, we’ve already had Chris Brown come in to ceremonially ruin our carpet. It looks terrible.
We’ll bring you our videofied take on the news. We’ll have interviews with some TV people you love. We’ll try to provide interviews with some TV people you hate, too.
Other days, mostly Mondays, we’ll just reveal our genuine, collective crush on Christiane Amanpour’s reporting. This love is unending and knows no bounds. We’re trying to rein this in a little, we promise.
And there’s no better launch day than today, the same day Hulu released the A&E series “Why I Ran.” It’s about evading the police in your 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass, and it’s the only show on TV where we get to see criminals say the phrase “warm and fuzzy.”
There is no better show on television. We hope The Green Room can be to TV blogs what “Why I Ran” is to tire-less cars tumbling down the highway.
Emailus. Tell us what to cover. Hop on our very green couches and make a horrible mess. Chris Brown would want you to.
While R&B star Chris Brown came to ABC’s “Good Morning America” this morning, ready to move on from his past — he pled guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna two years ago; the restraining order was just “relaxed,” as his interviewer Robin Roberts put it — it was clear that the world hasn’t quite forgiven all his sins. The 22-year-old was on GMA to promote his new album, “F.A.M.E.” (Forgiving All My Enemies), but Roberts kicked off the interview (below) by asking Brown about the easement on the restraining order, claiming it was in response to the Tweets flooding in.
Although Brown managed to keep his cool during this segment, things took a surprising turn after his first scheduled musical performance. According to insiders, once the song finished, he “stormed into his dressing room and started screaming and tearing the room apart.” By the time security arrived, a window in Brown’s dressing room was smashed, and Brown stormed out of the building — with no shirt on.
Following the incident, Brown reportedly posted the following on Twitter: “I’m so over people bringing this past s**t up!!! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for there [sic] bulls**t.” The post was later removed from Twitter, replaced with a message for his Team Breezy fans: “… This album is for you and only you!!! I’m tired of everyone else!! …”
Brown is still scheduled to perform in the elimination round of “Dancing with the Stars” next week — for now — but it’s more than likely DWTS host Tom Bergeron will skip the probing questions for the live show. Still, Brown’s behavior today left us wondering: has Brown truly moved on from the past? And are we ready to, as well?
He can’t move on until the media moves on…… 2 years would seem enough but I still hear people harping on Michael Vick. I’d like some parity for Roethlisberger and Favre etc.
[...] you’ve probably seen from our odes to Pee-Wee Herman and our awestruck glares at Chris Brown these past couple of days, the Hulu Blog is unveiling an everyday featured called The Green Room. [...]
The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway debuted on HBO Saturday night to mostly tepid reviews. A lot of critics said that Pee-Wee’s stage show wasn’t updated enough since its initial run in 1981, that it wasn’t trying to say anything at all.
I’m going to have to ask those reviewers to please quit ruining my dreams.
I would hand off my child to Pee-Wee while he is recollecting all of his arrows at a busy archery range. I’d leave Pee-Wee and my dog in a hot, locked car with the windows up for hours while I wandered around a mall. If he ran for Senate under the campaign slogan, “EVERYBODY GETS A FREE BAZOOKA!” I’d risk imprisonment to vote for Pee-Wee twice.
I trust him endlessly. That’s why I have no idea whether or not this show was as tremendous as I thought it was on Saturday night.
Many people are confused as to why I like this dude so much. His character is very weird—Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was a Tim Burton movie, after all—and people get hung up on the big fish story that had become of his early-90s imprisonment.
So, when people ask why I have the love of a thousand Disney movie climaxes, I have a very reasonable explanation for them: I have no idea why I like this dude so much.
I’m confused, too. And that’s part of why I like him so much. He seems to be a genuine diversion when everything seems way too big, way too confusing. Like, say, childhood. Or massive earthquakes and ceaseless war.
He’s simple yuk-comedy with potential to be a lot more. He’s like Mr. Rogers, if Mr. Rogers occasionally threw his shoes at you.
This is going to sound sort of Stockholm Syndrome-ish, but I’ll say it: I’m just glad he’s back. And I’ll say it since it’s not creepy at all.
Because here are a bunch of old women talking to him on The View. Watch how subtly he doesn’t respect their program.
Ben Collins is an Assistant Editor at Hulu. You can email him here or reach him on Twitter @globesoundtrack.
[...] you’ve probably seen from our odes to Pee-Wee Herman and our awestruck glares at Chris Brown these past couple of days, the Hulu Blog is unveiling an [...]
Michael Imperioli has been your mobster and your intrepid TV detective. That’s probably how you know him — as Christopher from “The Sopranos,” or as Det. Fitch, the guy pinning down Michigan criminals as they try to make a beeline out the door of an interrogation room in “Detroit 1-8-7.” He’s tremendously proud of that show right now. It just finished its first season on ABC. The season finale was just posted on Hulu. It’s the only thing on TV right now that works like “NYPD Blue” worked, in that unrelenting, not-quite-so-perfect way procedurals should be. It fills a hole, it has great purpose, and he loves it.
But it’s not his magnum opus. That’s where “The Hungry Ghosts” comes in, an expansive window of how Michael Imperioli looks at the world in the eyes of five characters. It’s a film he wrote and directed with a few friends and some great funding, and it was well-received on the festival circuits in 2008. To mark its premiere on Hulu, we called Imperioli to talk about how he feels about “Detroit 1-8-7” after one season and “The Hungry Ghosts” a few years later.
Hulu: Now that the first season of “Detroit 1-8-7″ is over, have you had a chance to look back at it and see how it looks as a whole, and how the show’s grown?
Michael Imperioli: I’m really pleased. It’s really funny, because I think it took some time in finding out what the show is. And I’m really pleased that the direction that the writers took. It’s half character-focused and half procedural. Toward the end of the season, we put a lot more into the characters, more into the city. We wanted to extract stories from the vibe of the city and not superimpose the crime of the city on it. I think, in the end, we did a very good job that, and we did a good job of doing justice to the feel of the city.
What I think sets “Detroit 1-8-7″ apart is that it’s not quite as tidy as usual procedurals. There’s actual character development. A lot of procedurals have a whole episode and take 30 seconds at the end to advance whatever relationships are between the characters. This show cares where its characters are going.
I think it’s much more character-driven than other shows like this. It shows what happens on both sides of the law — going into their lives and seeing what their personal lives are like to see why someone might have done something. There used to be more shows like this, like “NYPD Blue,” “Hill Street Blues.” There’s a history of that in the past. “Colombo,” even. In recent years, the procedural element of it, the technology of it has kind of taken over. It’s much more interesting to me — the procedure of solving the crime — than the courtroom side of it. I find that very interesting. Some people might find that very boring.
There’s a tendency for Detroit-related shows and art to be poverty tourism, where they use the name itself as a scare tactic. But “Detroit 1-8-7″ seems to have a pretty good feel of the city.
Before the show started, I hadn’t been to the city. I had just seen the pilot script. The pilot of the show was shot in Atlanta. I think we all initially wanted to do it in Detroit, but we were very concerned about weather. There’s a very small window of time in which we could shoot. There’s lot of snow in the Midwest, and then they weren’t really sure where they’d shoot it if it got picked up. So we went to Detroit to investigate, and we found out that it was the only place where it really belonged. Some people got a little upset because they had no idea what they were making. They thought we might be exploiting the negative image. But when you’re there, you find out it’s just a label and a misconception. There are a lot of problems there, but there are a lot of problems everywhere. There’s a much richer life that’s going on there, and I think we did a very good job of letting people know about it.
Hulu is now streaming “The Hungry Ghosts,” a film you wrote, produced and directed, and it comes off as a very personal film about your beliefs at that time in your life. You’ve had a couple of years to look back on it since it came out. Is there anything you’d change in the movie because of something you’ve experienced since then?
No, no. I made the movie I wanted to make. I was lucky to have the freedom and assembly of talent to put this together just how I wanted to.
This movie comes off as sort of a magnum opus of sorts. It’s sprawling and big and has big moral points in it. Do you think writers and directors are capable of a few projects this big in one lifetime? Absolutely. Hopefully as I grow and mature and change as an artist, these expressions are going to change. And hopefully you’re still as passionate about your work as you were in the past. I was very, very fortunate that I had some friends who financed the movie and was able to make it the way I wanted.
The way “The Hungry Ghosts” is broken up into vignettes can pose a real challenge in keeping the film moving forward. It’s usually very hard to get momentum in such a segmented sort of movie, but this has a great pace. Were you conscious of this while making it?
You’ve just got to use your instincts while you’re editing and just try to imagine the movie as a whole as you’re writing. I didn’t really look at other movies to give me any ideas, but you’ve got to keep a certain balance.
There’s a very distinct media saturation element in the film — about how affected we are by what’s been deemed acceptable in mainstream circles. Well, this film, to me, is really about the characters and the story. That should be the first thing. I can’t predict how it’s going to be received. That was an interesting thing with “Detroit 1-8-7.” I was in Detroit during a very interesting period of time, right after the show started airing, and there was an immediate response from the people of the city. They’d see me at a restaurant and tell me how much they liked it. I got almost immediate feedback. Some people felt a very strong connection to the show. I think they felt that it was a certain quality, that the country might be able to perceive Detroit in a positive way. And that’s very gratifying.
Man I love Detroit 1-8-7 its positively one of the top 5 best shows on all of t.v. & by far the best cop show on t.v. I really hope some how they will renew but like NBC there cancel happy every year when they need to fire people like who ever sets up ABC’s line up cause their idiots they set up all their new shows up to fail by not promoting & getting their new shows out there like I never seen previews on t.v. for it & gave it a bad time/night & gave it no good lead in with one of their established shows. I really hope some how that ABC gets smart & gives this show another season for people to find it & gain an even bigger audience!
Detroit 187 is absolutely the best program that I have seen in decades. Nice to see the truer side of police work and the personal relationships between the characters. I am truly hoping they won’t cancel this show, there is so much more that could be done with it and I’ve grown to care for the characters. When I watch a program it is to be entertained, to watch the creativity of the writers come to life, too much air time is wasted on reality shows with their scripted reality. I hope everyone will contact abc or sign the petition to keep this show going. Given time it is destined to be a classic.
If the “Dexter” vs. “How I Met Your Mother” matchup in the Elite Eight of Hulu’s Best in Show is any indication of how testy the Final Four is going to be, we’re going to need to provide some padding. The Showtime staple barely edged out Barney Stinson and friends in the closest vote to date.
And to ensure that we’re giving you all the time you need to cast your vote in the last round (which kicks off next Monday, March 28), we’re extending Best in Show through April 3, with the grand champion announced on Monday, April 4. So will it be “Community” or “Chuck” versus “House” or “Dexter?” Hitfix.com Senior Editor — and his 5 percent of the vote — is here to dissect the madness of the third round and help break down the Final Four.
Hulu: “Chuck” is getting a substantial late push after barely surviving its Round 2 matchup against “Supernatural.” Do you now think this show has a legitimate chance to overtake the juggernaut that has become “Community” in the next round?
Alan Sepinwall: “Chuck” had an easier match-up this time. In the real world, Modern Family is much more popular than Supernatural. Online, though, sci-fi, fantasy, and other genre shows tend to arouse more passion, so I’m not surprised the “Chuck”/”Supernatural” race was much tighter. I really don’t know how “Chuck”/”Community” is going to go. “Chuck” is a show whose fans love it so much they helped save it from cancellation two years ago, but “Community” has as obsessive and fiercely loyal a fandom as any comedy I’ve seen in a long time. My gut says “Community,” but in a squeaker, and I’d put the winner of this match-up as the favorite for the final round.
Going into the tournament, did you think the Final Four would shape up basically like this? Is there any show that has shocked you by its lengthy run? “Community” seemed a fairly obvious call from its bracket, and I figured either “Chuck” or the winner of the “Fringe”/”Supernatural” Round 1 matchup seemed likely to come out of that bracket. I’m a little surprised “House” has done so well, though pretty much every match-up has pitted it against a show with a smaller (albeit sometimes more vocal online) audience. The real shocker to me, though, was “Glee” not getting out of Round 2. Everyone I know who saw the bracket as constructed figured it had the easiest path to the Final 4 of any show, given the draw and the size and passion of the Gleeks.
Should “The Office” take notice of its sound thumping in the Elite Eight? Does this forebode a nasty turn in critical reception when the show is left Michael Scott-less?
I’m having a hard time finding people who don’t think the show should end when Steve Carell leaves. Though at this point, I almost feel like the show has the potential to be better in the short term without him, as it’s been getting a little tired the last few years.
“Dexter” vs. “”How I Met Your Mother”" was one of the closest votes in the history of Best in Show. Was it tough to narrow down these shows when the criteria for greatness — one a gritty, pay-TV slasher; the other a standard network comedy — is so disparate?
Once we got out of the first round, there were a lot of apples and oranges comparisons that had to be made. In that case, I just went with the show I was still enjoying more, regardless of the very different styles they offered.
How big of a coup is this “Dexter” win for Showtime? Could its un-PC, violent — but gorgeously written and well-acted — show could build up enough name recognition to beat a funny, all-ages comedy that most people know and a lot of people like? “Dexter” fandom has done a very impressive job of mobilizing itself. It helps, I think, that lots of people watch the show on DVD rather than Showtime, which would mean their most recent exposure to the show was the Emmy-winning season 4 with John Lithgow, rather than the murkier season 5 with Julia Stiles and company. But if you look at the Final 4 as a whole, the only show left that’s a mass-appeal hit is “House”; everything else is a show with a small, crazy-passionate audience.
With your Elite Eight choice of “Mad Men” gone, which of the Final Four shows do you think most deserves the title of Best in Show? Definitely “Community”, with “Chuck” second and the other two off in the distance.
Whatever.
I ran a script voting for Chuck but it’s not like there weren’t Community fans doing the exact same thing. So alls fair. I’m sure plenty of people were doing the same thing for Dexter.
Is is just me, or does it seem obvious that some Chuck fans have set up a voting script that just continually refreshes and votes for their show?
Next year, Hulu should set the voting so that you have to use either a Hulu or Facebook account to vote and you can only vote once. That way it’ll help cut down on people on that sort of thing
Neither Community or Chuck holds my interest for very long. Both of those shows are shows I’d watch if there’s nothing else on at the same time. So my vote is whichever wins in th a coin flip.
It’s interesting that you House MD. in a voting Match-up with Dexter. Nothing against House Md. I like the show. However, I love Dexter and watch it regularly. Isn’t it kind of an unfair to have a match-up to vote for a show [that would be Dexter] that isn’t even available on hulu.com even with a Hulu Plus subscription? Or is this the promise of things to come and has hulu.com entered in to a partnership agreement with Showtime? Is this data gathering to decided which shows hulu.com with bring back to this fall season line up?
Inquiring minds would like to know! If you brought Dexter to hulu.com it would be fantastic.
Chuck? Really? The premise is worth a 2 hour movie…maybe…well, at least its worth a SNL sketch…Community is best of the lot now but Modern Family is number 1 seed…
Gotta give it up for Chuck… it was great in first two seasons, but got handicap by lower budget as a result of on going struggle for renew, but they managed to keep it interesting and exciting.
Having saying that, Community win in overall quality. Unfair advantage, yes? No matter what the reasons behind, the degrade in quality is obvious since season 3 of Chuck.
I love Chuck and Community, but I have to go with Chuck for two reasons:
1) the storyline from episode to episode is stronger. I look forward to it more each week than Community because of that. Community is usually very funny, but the episodes don’t have as much continuity as the quirky romance/spy goings on of Chuck n the gang.
2) Community has already been picked up for next season while Chuck is somehow still on the bubble that it is on every season. I don’t know if it winning the Hulu best of show will make any difference to the network, but you’d think they would at least be aware that it did win and that would mean something. Of course, I sometimes wonder if the networks are in touch with reality at all.
Its a shame that NBC is so stupid with its best shows. Almost cancelling Chuck, getting rid of Conan, and putting Community in a crappy timeslot. Chuck and Community would be way more popular if NBC knew what they were doing.
As far as this bracket goes, although Chuck and Community are both awesome, Community is way awesomer. Vote Community
I hate that Community and Chuck have to face each other. While I agree that Community is far and beyond the best of the four shows left (the best sitcom on television actually), I’m sympathetic to the plight of Chuck fans. NBC has done very little to get these two gems the audience it deserves. So while I’m disappointed Community won’t win (especially since it’s DEFINITELY the best of the four), I understand why the rabid Chuck fans will be voting around the clock all week to see their show through. Just a little bit of deserved recognition for either show means so much to us supporters. Glass Half Full: I did get to watch my show take down the most critically adored comedy on TV (30 Rock), one of the four faces on “Sitcom Rushmore” (The Simpsons), and the “staple” and ratings champ of it’s own Thursday lineup (The Office), and it felt GREAT! Now how about a single, solitary nomination next awards season for the most underrated, ignored, and disrespected shows on TV. Viva Community!
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He can’t move on until the media moves on…… 2 years would seem enough but I still hear people harping on Michael Vick. I’d like some parity for Roethlisberger and Favre etc.
[...] you’ve probably seen from our odes to Pee-Wee Herman and our awestruck glares at Chris Brown these past couple of days, the Hulu Blog is unveiling an everyday featured called The Green Room. [...]