Page Six with the New York Post is now confirming what I told you four and five months ago: Rashida Jones will be on NBC’s still untitled comedy project created by Greg Daniels (The Office, King of the Hill) starring Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari:

Jones, who had a role on “The Office” for a year, was just hired by that show’s creators and NBC to star in the new show that will be headed by “Saturday Night Live” alumna Amy Poehler. Aziz Ansari is also slated to be onboard. Jones was sorely missed last season after she left “The Office,” where she played a romantic interest of John Krasinski’s character.

Other than confirming what we already knew of Jones on the cast, we still haven’t heard any confirmed details on when this series will actually hit or what it will focus on. The target date had been right after the Superbowl, but Poehler’s pregnancy had introduced enough delay to put that in question.

Hopefully Jones will be a little more lively in this role than she did as Krasinski’s downer girlfriend on “The Office.” What do you think of her potential?

NBC is bucking its usual trend of releasing “The Office” webisode series in the off-season with its launch of “The Outburst,” an online mini-series featuring most of Scranton’s finest paper sellers. Over the summer we had Kevin’s story of trying to land a fraudulent bank loan to pay off his gambling debts, but now we get to follow Oscar and his angry phone call that sparks a frenzy to discover the meaning behind it. I had the chance to watch an advance copy of the webisode series and it was easily the best one “The Office” has put out so far. Watch the first installment in the “Outburst” series below.

Keep checking back here for each week’s installment of “The Outburst.”

Things aren’t looking good for my beloved “Pushing Daisies” on ABC. The mid-season schedule has been revealed on ABC’s website and PD is nowhere to be found, neither is “Life on Mars” or “Dirty Sexy Money.” Expectations remain hopeful though that ABC could decide to rest on 13 episodes for PD’s season and pick back up next season.

“Scrubs” appears to have successfully made the transition from NBC to ABC and will appear Wednesday’s at 8pm. I’ll probably end up watching “The Goode Family” just to fill the time between “Scrubs” and “Lost” that night as well. I’m just glad “Lost” won’t be airing at 10pm anymore!

Mondays
8:00/7:00c - “The Bachelor” (New Season)
9:30/8:30c - “Samantha Who?”
10:00/9:00c - “True Beauty” (New Series)

Tuesdays
8:00/7:00c - “Border Security USA” (New Series)
9:00/8:00c - “According to Jim” (New Season)
9:30/8:30c - “According to Jim” (New Season)
10:00/9:00c - “Eli Stone”

Wednesdays
8:00/7:00c - “Scrubs” (New Season)
8:30/7:30c - “The Goode Family” (New Series)
9:00/8:00c - “Lost” (New Season)
10:00/9:00c - “The Unusuals” (New Series)

Thursdays
8:00/7:00c - “Ugly Betty”
9:00/8:00c - “Grey’s Anatomy”
10:00/9:00c - “Private Practice” (New Time Slot)

Fridays
8:00/7:00c - “Wife Swap”
9:00/8:00c - “Supernanny”
10:00/9:00c - “20/20″

Saturdays
8:00/7:00c - “Saturday Night Movie”

Sundays
7:00/6:00c - “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
8:00/7:00c - “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
9:00/8:00c - “Desperate Housewives”
10:00/9:00c - “Brothers & Sisters”

Source: FutonCritic

Update: Cate Blanchett’s version of the “Button” poster has been released. You can see it for yourself below, but, um, kinda creepy.

Maybe it’s the idea that he’s growing younger as he grows old that has Brad Pitt freaked out, but he’s not doing a very good job of hiding it. Here’s the first poster for David Fincher’s (Zodiac, Se7en, Fight Club) “Curious Case of Benjamin Button” starring Pitt as Button whose appearance grows younger as he ages. From the trailer released this looks pretty awesome and I’d expect nothing less from the match of Fincher and Pitt.

Click Here to Continue Reading »

Despite reports last week to the contrary, Brooke Shields is claiming that her NBC drama, “Lipstick Jungle” now in its second season, has not been canceled:

“They thought that because My Own Worst Enemy has been shut down that the same thing had happened to us, and it’s not true,” she told reporters at Sunday’s Kidsfest in NYC.

“They’re not breaking down the sets,” she added. “We’re still working. We still have more to do, so it’s erroneously presented that we’ve been canceled, thank God.

“Our bosses are saying, ‘You’re not canceled, don’t worry. We’re just trying to figure out how to make this make sense.’”

Hmm. Just because your production keeps working doesn’t mean 100% that you’re not canceled. Should her studio keep working they may be doing so in the hopes of changing NBC’s mind or even finding a new home. Shields’ blind optimism doesn’t stop there though:

“I mean, we’re basically No. 1 if you look at DVR. And you look at all that. So the public is watching it.”

Basically they’re not No. 1. Basically.

Source: US magazine

The interwebs are whispering that this is Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” I say it’s not. Depp’s role will most likely be part in the capture animation mode along with the rest of what’s down the rabbit hole. The photo looks more production art, especially the face, though the hands and hat look kinda real. Perhaps it is real and they did him all up to use as a reference for his CGI component and maybe my dog will finally bring me a beer from the fridge. I doubt it.

The first official trailer for JJ Abrams’ reboot of “Star Trek” will be released later today, but in the meantime I’ve got a surprisingly high quality bootleg of the Trek trailer. I missed Bond’s latest film this weekend, so I didn’t see this trailer in theaters either, but even from the smaller version this looks like it could be pretty awesome. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Update: The kosher copy has been released, so I’ve replaced the bootleg. My biggest beef: why couldn’t Quinto do something to sound like Nimoy?

No surprise this weekend as James Bond debuted with his biggest box office opening ever with just over $70 million for “Quantum of Solace”. Even with Bond’s domination at the top spot, “Madagascar 2″ picked up another $36.1 million for a two week total of $118 million in movie earnings. Not bad for an animated kids’ movie!

Disney’s “HSM3″ still hasn’t managed to break the $100 million mark after four weeks in release. I’m really surprised that this teeny bopper sensation didn’t carry a stronger presence. It’s still a difficult argument to make that Disney shouldn’t go on with a fourth, fifth, and so on.

For those looking for a great adult comedy, skip “Zack & Miri” and check out “Role Models” with Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott. I highly recommend it if you’re not offended by rough language.

Domestic box office movie earnings this weekend, Nov 14 - 16, 2008:

1. “Quantum of Solace” $70.4 million [$70.4M total]
2. “Madagascar 2″ $36.1 million [$118.0M total]
3. “Role Models” $11.7 million [$38.1M total]
4. “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” $5.8 million [$84.3M total]
5. “Changeling” $4.2 million [$27.6M total]
6. “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” $3.2 million [$26.5M total]
7. “Soul Men” $2.4 million [$9.4M total]
8. “The Secret Life of Bees” $3.1 million [$29.9M total]
9. “Saw V” $1.7 million [$55.0M total]
10. “The Haunting of Molly Hartley” $1.6 million [$12.6M total]

Looks like those Mayans didn’t have a lot of faith in our economy these days either. With the long awaited end of the Mayans’ “Long Count” calender on December 21, 2012 quickly approaching it only seems right that we’d get an “end of the world” apocalypse movie to celebrate that whole end of days thing. Enter “2012″ and its teaser trailer.

Directed by Roland Emmerich’s, 2012 stars a healthy cast with John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Thomas McCarthy, Woody Harrelson, Chin Han, Morgan Lily and Beatrice Rosen. Watch the teaser trailer below, then head on out and start stocking up on the canned goods.

Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. 2012 is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

Source: Filmonic

Judd Apatow is going to start reminding me of Tarantino if he keeps up with numbering his films on the posters. Anyway, here’s the poster for Apatow’s newest film, “Funny People”, which he both wrote and direct and stars Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann.

If you’re looking for hilarious then this will be your movie. “Funny People” stars Adam Sandler as a comedian dying of an incurable blood disease! Hilarious, right? A young death from a suddenly onset incurable disease. I can barely type right now as I’m doubled over…

While the subject doesn’t sound “hilarious” to me, but was described that way by Apatow, Sandler has already proven that he can handle serious, morbid topics with his great performance in “Reign Over Me” with Don Cheadle. Seth Rogen will be Sandler’s protege, hand-picked as an upcoming comedian trying to learn from Sandler’s well established character. Then there’s Leslie Mann who was cast because Apatow doesn’t do a movie without her.