Seriously? OMG! WTF?

One of the Emmy nominees for best animated program is the episode of "South Park" that’s said to have angered Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes.

The episode called "Trapped in the Closet" implies that Cruise is gay and makes fun of Scientology.

Cruise’s fellow Scientologist Isaac Hayes reportedly quit because he was upset with the episode. And when it came time to rerun it, Cruise allegedly called Comedy Central and demanded that it be pulled. It was, even though Cruise’s people denied he asked for it.

Access Hollywood 

Do you think the Emmy voters knew the premise behind this episode when they selected it?

Still rooting for Family Guy, but a little part of me is saying Go South Park! 

This is not funny: Jon Stewart and his hit Comedy Central cable show may be poisoning democracy.

Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart’s faux news program, "The Daily Show," develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.

That’s particularly dismaying news because the show is hugely popular among college students, many of whom already don’t bother to cast ballots.

Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris of East Carolina University said previous research found that nearly half — 48 percent — of this age group watched "The Daily Show" and only 23 percent of show viewers followed "hard news" programs closely.

To test for a "Daily Effect," Baumgartner and Morris showed video clips of coverage of the 2004 presidential candidates to one group of college students and campaign coverage from "The CBS Evening News" to another group. Then they measured the students’ attitudes toward politics, President Bush and the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.).

The results showed that the participants rated both candidates more negatively after watching Stewart’s program. Participants also expressed less trust in the electoral system and more cynical views of the news media, according to the researchers’ article, in the latest issue of American Politics Research.

"Ultimately, negative perceptions of candidates could have participation implications by keeping more youth from the polls," they wrote.

Washington Post 

It isn’t a comeback for The Comeback, but hey, at least it’s something. On the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Katey Sagal confirmed that Futurama was returning to the tube. "It is going to be on Comedy Central," she said, "and they are making 16 or 13 episodes, I’m not sure." Hey, this had better not slow the progress of the Simpsons movie!

TV Guide 

SOUTH PARK creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working on a Broadway musical about Mormons.

The as-yet-untitled show will also be co-created by Avenue Q writer Jeff Marx.

He told Bang Showbiz: “Trey and Matt were over with me in London recently and so far we’ve written about four songs but we’ve got loads more ideas.

“The show is going to have nothing to do with their show, South Park, or my musical. It’ll be something totally new and it’s going to be something totally different.

He added: “It’s going to be about Mormons and it’s going to be really funny… we hope.”

The South Park creators are no strangers to poking fun at organised religions.

They most recently attacked former cast member Isaac Hayes and his Scientology beliefs.

The star’s character, Chef, was depicted as a paedophile and killed off after he quit the show complaining that Parker and Stone actively promoted intolerance and bigotry.

It is believed his outrage stemmed from an episode aired last year which mocked fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise.

Avenue Q – which has recently opened in London’s West End – is an adult musical inspired by a number of puppet based children’s TV shows, including Sesame Street.

The Sun 

 Next entries »