I didn’t see Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey because I don’t like seeing Lee Pace, who I’m pretty sure played Eyebrows the Huge, outside the comforting confines of a Bryan Fuller show. OK, that’s not completely true — I didn’t see The Hobbit because it looked like the first third of a turd dangling from a dog’s butt, but the point remains the same: Lee Pace = The Pie Maker and/or Aaron from Wonderfalls, and occasionally what’s his face from The Fall. Despite my snobbery for two shows that lasted a total of 35 episodes, however, it’s tough to not get excited for an AMC drama created by a Breaking Bad producer and starring Pace.
Lee Pace is set as a lead of AMC‘s drama pilot Halt & Catch Fire, from Breaking Bad executive producer Mark Johnson. Also starring in the pilot, written by Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers, is Mackenzie Davis. Set in the early 1980s, Halt & Catch Fire dramatizes the personal computing boom through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer, and a prodigy whose innovations confront the corporate behemoths of the time. Their personal and professional partnership will be challenged by greed and ego while charting the changing culture in Texas’ Silicon Prairie. Pace will play the visionary, the confident and powerful Joe MacMillan. (Via)
AMC must figure they’ve had so much success with resurrected corpses, why not hire the guy whose most famous role involves him, well, doing exactly that? Speaking of coming back from the dead, Ron Livingston, of Office Space and Band of Brothers fame, will join the cast of Boardwalk Empire, as “Roy Phillips, a wealthy out-of-town businessman who catches the eye of Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol).” Thankfully, he looks nothing like Michael Pitt, so there’s a chance he may survive the season. I can’t think of a terrible segue here, so just jumping into the news:
Martin Short is is wrapping up a negotiation to join NBC’s John Mulaney comedy pilot, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. The ensemble comedy was created, written by, and stars stand-up comedian Mulaney and is based loosely on his life. Short will play Mulaney’s boss Lou Cannon. He’s a game show host, and Mulaney writes jokes for him. (Via)
Were this anyone but Mulaney, I’d criticize the premise of the show as 30 Rock-lite, with Martin Short playing a broader, wackier Jack Donaghy, which would fit into whatever idea the powers that be at NBC have hacked up and called a network goal today. But when you’ve co-created Stefon and crafted the definitive Law & Order stand-up bit, as Mulaney has, you’re allowed a lot of leeway. Plus, I like arguing that Three Amigos is an excellent movie with the same kind of passion other people have for Almost Famous, which brings up casting item #4.
Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) has been cast as the lead in ABC‘s drama pilot Reckless. Written/exec produced by Chris Black and directed/exec produced by Martin Campbell, the thriller centers on David (Fugit), a resourceful problem solver who, when his wife Sarah (Eloise Mumford) is unjustly imprisoned during a political uprising overseas, resorts to entering a world of political intrigue, dangerous alliances and high emotional stakes in order to get her out. (Via)
A “resourceful problem solver”? I bet he thinks outside the box, too. Lastly, Kathy Bates done gone killed herself.
Oscar winner Kathy Bates is nearing a deal to join FX’s American Horror Story as a nemesis to Jessica Lange. Bates will play the best friend of Lange’s new character, who turns into her enemy. (Via)
So, to recap:
Indeed.
(GIF via)
