Untertainment Weakly (12-16-11)

By Jake

FX has renewed “The League” for a fourth season.  It’s a pretty good show, so this is good news.

Russell Brand will be coming to the FX network with an unscripted late night TV show.  Sounds terrible, right?

David Cross called making “Chipwrecked” the most unpleasant experience of his life, probably won’t make another shitty “Alvin and the Chipmunks” film.

“The New Girl,” what is easily this season’s the best new comedy, nabbed several big Golden Globe nominations, including Best Actress for Zooey Deschanel and Best Comedy Series.

Howard Stern has joined “America’s Got Talent,” replacing Piers Morgan.  Morgan wants to focus on his terrible, failing talk show.

Jane Fonda has joined Aaron Sorkin’s HBO newsroom drama as a cable news network CEO.

Louis CK released his new stand up special, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” on his website for $5 and has already made a profit.  It is extremely funny.

Movies Out This Weekend

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - You already know if you’re going to see this.  If you’re not sure, here’s a short test: are you really fucking stupid?  If you answered yes to this question, you are going to see this film.  I hate Guy Ritchie and these adaptations look unnecessarily flashy and stylized from the trailers that air during episodes of “Whitney.”

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - Here’s a test to you can take to tell whether you will see this film: are you a frothing at the mouth child stuck in a grown person’s body?  Have you read a book in 2011?  Do you only watch reality programing on TV?  Do you huff gold or silver spray paint?  If you answered yes, no, yes and yes to these questions then you are going to see “Chipwrecked.”  If you have really stupid children who are a nostalgic for something they have never seen, then you may also be seeing this.  I will never understand Hollywood’s desire to try to see the worst shit that we watched as children to our children.  Plus, they always make it live action instead of making it a cartoon.  I don’t need to see creepy live action Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Katy Perry hits--actually, I don’t need to see that animated either.  If you have a kid, take them to see “Hugo.”  If you don’t have a kid, watch “Showgirls,” it’s probably better than this movie.

Other Thoughts

I have spent much of this week playing video games or watching “King of the Hill” on Netflix.  I beat “Gears of War,” which I did not really enjoy all that much.  “King of the Hill” is actually a pretty solid show, which I readily admit after years of bad-mouthing it and straying away from reruns while in a hotel, motel or Holiday Inn.  It is a nice Texas companion piece to “Friday Night Lights,” which is one of the greatest TV shows ever made.  I probably enjoy “King of the Hill” more now than I did when I was a kid because I work with a bunch of hick idiots and this show satirizes that type of person.