You might not know the name Ray Harryhausen, but you will know the Special Effects Titan after you watch this documentary about his illustrious career this Wednesday at 8p on the Sony Movie Channel.
Back in 1933, a 13 year old Ray went to see King Kong in the theaters and his life was forever changed. After he saw that movie, he decided that he wanted to make the creatures that like the big ape for the cinema. It was from then on, that he started making dinosaurs in his house and creating his own films with them.
Then after he got out of the military a chance meeting got him into the biz, and the movie industry was changed forever.
He came up with a new way to make Stop Motion look more real and because of that he inspired the greatest directors of our time. Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson all talk about how his work on movies like Mighty Joe Young, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts all influenced them.
But not only do you hear their stories, you hear Harryhausen’s story about how he made some of the most memorable Stop Motion movie creatures you have ever seen. You hear how he came up with the creatures and how he made them look as real as possible. Listening to his tales, is so cool to any fan of Hollywood movies. Because without his brilliance, who knows what films would’ve looked like. He changed them for them better.
One of the coolest parts of this documentary comes at the end when you see the actual size of these creatures. After hearing him talk about it, and seeing what he did you’d think they would be life-size, but in reality they are about the same height of a Barbie doll.
If you have seen any movie that you loved with a monster or a spaceship, then you are going to watch Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan on Wednesday at 8p on the Sony Movie Channel.
There are some days where it seems like the networks all go crazy and decide to pick up their shows all at the same time, and today was one of those days. Over at Syfy they announced that Haven is not troubled and will be back for a 13 episode 4th season. NBC wants to wet the ladies’ appetite of shirtless men with Chicago Fire sticking around for a full season. Then at The CW a new show has proven to be more of a beauty than a beast, so Beauty and the Beast will be around until the spring. Comedy Central likes to vacation at Brickleberry so much so that they said they are going back for a second trip. Finally USA sent out a notice to Burn Notice that they aren’t burning them yet because they will be back for season 7.
Now I am just waiting for CBS to announce already that want to continue to partner with Partners, the sitcom that gets better with each episode. They have really found their groove and they need to continue on for the full season. Out of all of the Monday comedies on CBS, I laugh more during that half hour than the other 3 combined.
We have seen In Memoriams to people we have lost throughout the year, and now TV.com has done one for all of the television shows that didn’t make it to 2012. Watching that montage brought a tear to my eye because I really miss V, Outsourced, The Event, Smallville, Sh!t My Dad Says, Hellcats and Rescue Me to name a few.
So take a few minutes today and take a look back at all the great shows we said goodbye to in 2011.
Thirty years after TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes debuted on television, it is coming back to TV this fall as Bloopers! According to Broadcasting & Cable the show has been sold into weekly syndication for 3 years with a 120 episode order. If you are not familiar with the show, they aired bloopers from TV shows and movies, and also played practical jokes on celebrities. Since it has been a while since the original series ended and video cameras are a lot more accessible to everyone they will be adding a segment for user-generated videos. What that means I don’t know, but we will have to wait until the show comes on the air.
They do not say who will host it, but why do I have a feeling that Ryan Seacrest will take over for Dick Clark and the late Ed McMahon? Could be because he keeps inheriting Dick Clark’s duties as host. If I could pick a host it would be either Jimmy Kimmel, Neil Patrick Harris or Tom Bergeron, but since all three of them have day jobs I doubt they are available. Who do you think would be a good host for this show?
BTW I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that Bloopers is coming back to TV. I thoroughly enjoyed the show as a kid and I know I will enjoy it even more as an adult. Is it wrong of me that I love to watch people screw up?
Tonight at 10p on TruTV you will learn why having friends is a not always a good thing on Impractical Jokers. Four friends torture each other by doing different pranks on each other. They will have a few tasks each show where they will do whatever they are told in ears to do. For example they will work in White Castle and say the different things they are told to to the customers and ot everything is nice. If they get a tip, they get points. If they get none, then they get no points.
By the end of the show the loser of the tasks will do whatever he is told to do and it will something he will totally hate. Like today when a germaphobe is forced to pick up dog poop with his bare hands. It ends exactly like you think it will!
If you are like me and love to torment your friends, then you are going to love this show tonight and every Thursday on TruTV at 10p! So enjoy and be grateful they are not your friends!
