MetaFilter posts tagged with comedy and scifi

The Strange Art of Picking a TV Title

reenum — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:19:51 -0800

How TV show titles are picked, aka why "Friends" wasn't named "Across The Hall".

Promising TV Series That Weren't Picked Up

reenum — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:47:50 -0800

The Internet often discusses shows that died before their time. Splitsider looked at "10 Promising TV Series That Weren't Picked Up". Television Without Pity also has its "Brilliant But Cancelled" blog, taken over from the original site. Previously

"Don't steal from this show! That's like taking pants from a hobo!"

Rhaomi — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:42:23 -0800

After Kad & Olivier sign off and the Satisfaction production logo fades, viewing audiences are oftentimes treated to a cold open of an empty talk show set... one that quickly becomes the impromptu dance floor for a shameless Frenchman making an absolute giddy fool of himself while lip-syncing pop songs alongside a menagerie of... wait, *what*?! That's right. The Late Late Show's Craig Ferguson appears to have a not-so-secret French admirer -- one who's not above ripping off both his opening titles and his signature dance sequences (including the iconic animal puppets): "ABC" by The Jackson 5, "Flashdance" by Irene Cara, "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, "Waka Waka" by Shakira, "Men in Black" by Will Smith, "Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!, "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, and "Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells)" by Tino Rossi. Luckily, Ferguson's sense of showmanship is more prodigious than litigious -- he responded to Arthur's "homáge" by booking a pair of translatlantic crossover shows, with Arthur visiting LA that week and Ferguson flying out to Paris just last month. Video of both shows (plus lots more) inside! Arthur visits The Late Late Show:

Monologue - Tweetymail - Michael Sheen interview - Casablanca outro - post-mortem Later: Craig chats with Conan about the crossover

Unfortunately, there's no comparable coverage of Craig's visit to Ce Soir Avec Arthur... but there is one whopper of a trailer. See also Craig's take on the trip. More dancing intros! - "I Melt with You" (featuring the Mythbusters) by Modern English (previously) - The infamous Doctor Who cold open, initially blocked due to copyright (previously). Also: Craig shows off a Dalek

Others: "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett "Look Out, There's a Monster Coming" by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band "Chant of the Wanderer" by The Sons of the Pioneers "Dracula's Lament" by (and featuring!) Jason Segel "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins

Lots more previously (broken links fixed in this comment, except for "I'm Yours" here) Miscellaneous bits The saga of Geoff Peterson, the robot skeleton sidekick built by Mythbuster's Grant Imahara:

Construction montage - introduced with (what else?) a musical open - interviewing Grant - bonding time - a trip to Vegas - a vocal upgrade

The show's increasingly bizarre Twitter/email jingles:

Techno - Hair Metal - Eurotrash - 80s Pop - Western - Retro Sci-fi - Bollywood - Keytar

*ding dong* Who's that at the door? The story of Secretariat! (An idea also borrowed by Arthur) Wavey and Nadine reunite - Raffling Chris the Leatherboy - Corky the Recession Puppet - HD Wavey vs. Crap-o-vision Wavey - "Sid the Rabbit" rants about the censors - Jimmy Fallon's Friendship Sweater A fun interview round-up from kmz - The Late Late Show on TVTropes - Every episode opening segment in (rough) chronological order

"It was my skirt and my husband and your glass floor."

zarq — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:30:34 -0800

Last month, the BBC's Comic Relief Night (Red Nose Day, previously) featured the premiere of a two-part mini-sketch from "Doctor Who" penned by current showrunner Steven Moffat: Time and Space. Previous minisodes, also for charity: * Dimensions in Time: Parts 1 and 2 (1993) * Doctor Who and the Curse of the Fatal Death: Parts 1 and 2 (1999) * Born Again (2005) and * Time Crash (2007)

Q to the E to the D

Rhaomi — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:46:21 -0800

Futurama has always been a haven for geek humor, but last week's episode "The Prisoner of Benda" pushed things to the next level. First hinted at in an American Physical Society interview with showrunner David X. Cohen (previously), staff writer and mathematics Ph.D. Ken Keeler devised a novel mathematical proof based on group theory to resolve the logic puzzle spawned by the episode's brain-swapping (but no backsies!) conceit. Curious how it works? Read the proof (in the show or in plain text), then see it in action using this handy chart. Too much math for a lazy Sunday? Then entertain your brain with lengthy clips from the episode -- including two of the funniest moments in the series in the span of two minutes.

PIGS... IN... SPAAAAACE!

cog_nate — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:38:22 -0800

Pigs in Space appeared in over 30 Muppet Show episodes and spoofed contemporary science fiction television series. Most of them are now on YouTube or other video streaming sites. Links inside. The Headlight on a Motorcycle (from Episode 203: Milton Berle) Mid-Course Correction (from Episode 205: Judy Collins) Miss Piggy's Important Job (from Episode 207: Edgar Bergen) The Captain's Controls (from Episode 209: Madeline Kahn) Boredom (from Episode 214: Elton John) Inspection (from Episode 216: Cleo Laine) Jettison (from Episode 218: Jaye P. Morgan) Out of Swill (from Episode 222: Teresa Brewer) Long John Silverstein (from Episode 223: John Cleese) Chopped Liver (from Episode 224: Cloris Leachman) Electric Toaster (from Episode 303: Roy Clark) Snacko Waves (from Episode 305: Pearl Bailey) Outlines (from Episode 307: Alice Cooper) Dissolvatron (from Episode 314: Harry Belafonte) Dummo Rays (from Episode 315: Lesley Ann Warren) First Pigs on Koozebane (from Episode 319: Elke Sommer) Invisibility Pills (from Episode 324: Cheryl Ladd) Dearth Nadir (Not the full clip (and in German -- Schweine im Weltall!) -- from Episode 402: Crystal Gayle) M.A.M.M.A. (from Episode 407: Dudley Moore) Best Sketch Nomination (Not online -- from Episode 412: Phyllis George) Star Wars (from Episode 417: Star Wars) Weight Problems (from Episode 420: Alan Arkin) Force Field (from Episode 423: Carol Channing) Gas Lighter (from Episode 424: Diana Ross) The End of the Universe (from Episode 501: Gene Kelly) First Mate Loretta (from Episode 502: Loretta Swit) Rat Attack (Not online -- from Episode 503: Joan Baez) Meteor Storm (from Episode 509: Debbie Harry) The Creature from Crab Nebula (Not online -- from Episode 512: Melissa Manchester) Quiet Day (Not online -- from Episode 513: Tony Randall) At the Dance (from Episode 515: Carol Burnett) Battle Robot Monster (Not online -- from Episode 523: Linda Ronstadt)

Futurama

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 20:56:13 -0800

Futurama is probably coming back.

Makes Keanu look like Olivier

Pretty_Generic — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 19:10:45 -0800

Straight outta Belgium, it's "The Matrix: The Beginning". This is a see-it-to-believe-it occasion. [20m WMV; Trailer for those with a lower tolerance for this sort of nonsense; Main site]

Make it so, for fuck's sake.

Pretty_Generic — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 16:43:19 -0800

Juvenile NSFW Star Trek video [Windows Media via B3ta]