Posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2011 by Angie Han
We’ve got a lot of the usual news bits about casting, renewals, and so on in today’s TV Bits, but first, don’t you want to read about a possible racial slur in a decades-old episode of Fraggle Rock?
After the jump:
- A Texas man reports an offensive slur in a 1984 episode of Fraggle Rock
- Fox’s J.J. Abrams-produced Alcatraz changes showrunners
- NBC picks up Bryan Fuller’s The Munsters pilot
- Comedy Central renews South Park for like the next million* seasons
- Becki Newton heads to CBS’ How I Met Your Mother
- Lone Star actor James Wolk lands on ABC’s Happy Endings
* And by “million,” I mean “five.”
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Jim Henson‘s hit ’80s puppet TV series Fraggle Rock has been on the verge of moving to the big screen for several years. The Weinstein Company had the rights, a director, and a distinct vision of what they wanted, but years passed with very little movement save for a few scattered rumors. Deadline is now reporting the rights to the series reverted, were shopped around Hollywood, and went to the highest bidder: New Regency. They’re the same company currently swimming in cash thanks to another Eighties family TV show turned film franchise: Alvin and the Chipmunks. Maybe “another day” is finally here. Read more after the break. Read More »
There was a time when it looked like the new Muppets movie would have company in theaters from a new Fraggle Rock film. Cory Edwards (Hoodwinked) was set to write and direct the film for The Weinstein Company. But Mr. Edwards started to talk about how the Weinsteins wanted something different from what he was doing — an older-skewing, edgier movie — and over the past year the movie has stalled altogether. The last word we had came from the writer/director:
There’s nothing to report except that The Weinstein Company has everything they need to move forward, and the ball is in their court. They’ve talked about getting a new writer, which I’m willing to do. They’ve talked about starting over from scratch, which I’m willing to do. But I have not heard a peep from their camp in almost a year.
Now a new report suggests the movie isn’t dead, and that it will have musical numbers penned by unlikely artists: Jake Shears and Babydaddy of disco/glam-pop band Scissor Sisters. Read More »
It’s been almost a year since we heard any news about a Fraggle Rock movie. That goes for the director too. As more and more properties from the Seventies and Eighties get remade, rebooted or reimagined, the idea of a Fraggle Rock movie like a no-brainer. Now Cory Edwards, the director of Hoodwinked who has long been attached to Fraggle Rock: The Movie has posted an update to his blog about the film and it seems like the ball is totally in the court of the Weinstein Company. Read Edwards’ update after the break. Read More »
Last month we told you that Fraggle Rock director/screenwriter Corey Edwards had been told that The Weinstein Company has begun a wide search for a new screenwriter to come aboard the project after demanding the the script was “not edgy enough.” Edwards’ blog post caused a stir in the blogosphere and we now have an update on the situation.
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Director/Screenwriter Corey Edwards has updated his blog with a note warning Fraggle Rock fans that “there are some dark days ahead, my friends.” As it turns out, The Weinstein Company, who has been working with Edwards on a big screen Fraggle Rock movie, has begun a wide search for a new screenwriter to come aboard the project after demanding the the script was “not edgy enough.” Ugh…
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Even though Christopher Weekes‘ script The Muppet Man ‘won’ last year’s Black List poll of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, there was every chance it would never make it to the screen. Essentially a biopic of Jim Henson peppered with fantastical scenes starring The Muppets, it would require the involvement somehow of both the Henson company, who hold the right to his life story and Walt Disney, who hold the rights to his famous felt creations.
Luckily, the two companies appear to have come to an agreement and seem to be pressing ahead with the picture together. They have reportedly even agreed on the director they’d most like for the job. His name is Michael Gracey and this would be his debut feature after a slate of music videos and commercials, most famously the Evian spot with somewhat off-looking roller-babies that went atomic as a viral video.
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In a chat with MTV, Kermit-heir Brian Henson has given the world an update on the long promised Dark Crystal sequel and Fraggle Rock spin off movie. Both, he tells us, are progressing nicely and could be entering pre-production soon. Blimey. I’m not too disbelieving about the Fraggle picture but the perennially on-off Dark Crystal sequel… well, I’m hopeful anyway. We can say that.
The plan with the Fraggle film is to net a broader audience than the TV show. Here’s Henson:
It’ll have a strong musical component. It’ll be expanded to an older audience. Fraggle Rock’ [the TV show] was presented… for a pretty exclusively children’s audience. The feature film does expand it to be more accessible to a wider audience.
Adding songs to make it accessible to a wider audience? That’s a new one on me.
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