Month: November 2003

Arrested Development on Fox

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

I first heard about Arrested Development through a promotional trailer sent to my TiVo. Arrested Development is a half-hour dark comedy on Fox which premiers this evening at 9:30/8:30c. Laurel Krahn, who writes for TVPicks.net, says this about the show:

Jason Bateman stars in this strange dark comedy. It’s received a lot of rave reviews and no wonder: it’s different than any other half-hour show on the air right now. Bateman and his son are the sanest members of a rich family. Quirky show with lots of voiceovers and I suspect it’s either so different that it’ll be cancelled real quick. Or else some of the schtick (like the voiceovers) and characters may just wear too thin too quickly. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi are very good in this. Well worth a look.

Fox doesn’t hesitate to emphasize that Jason Bateman plays the lead. And, though I’ve heard his name before, I don’t think I’ve seen any of his previous movies or shows that he’s been in. However, I think it’s a good sign that David Cross is in the show — he’s a 30-something comedian with a certain cynical view of the world. I wouldn’t say that he’s just another jaded comic, but he definitely looks at daily life with a grain of salt.

Ron Howard is one of the executive producers, if that means something to you — sure enough, Howard introduced the trailer. But, I’m still not sure about what role an executive producer has in a television show or a movie. In any case, perhaps this is a good sign for some people or a not-so-good sign for others — he was also the executive producer of Sports Night, Felicity, and The PJs (none of which were shows that I particularly liked).

But, Arrested Development looks interesting and I’ll give it a chance. It's on this evening (Sunday) at 9:30/8:30c.

Century Media — 20% Off Sale

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

From their newsletter, I’ve learned that Century Media is having a 20% off Halloween sale through midnight on Sunday (11/2/2003). For those not aware, Century Media is one of the foremost metal-specializing music labels. And, before you recoil from a “music label”, rest assured that they’re not members of the RIAA :).

Back in college, I used to muse about whether I preferred Century Media or Nuclear Blast as a record label (both were prominent metal labels of the time). But, Century Media bought Nuclear Blast a couple years back, so CM is now my one-stop metal emporium.

So, after checking reviews at Metal-Rules, I’ll probably stop by Century Media’s online store and pick up a few discs between today and tomorrow. And, with most of their discs already priced around $10-$12, the 20% off makes their prices even better.

A word of caution: last time I ordered from Century Media — which was admittedly back in February 2002 — their online store didn’t quite have their act together. At the time, I placed an order for about ten discs and it took about five to six weeks to get them all shipped to me.

And, it would have been one thing if they sent out an automated e-mail explaining that some of the titles were backordered, but they didn’t even bother with that. Still, it’s been about about eighteen months since then and I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they’ve improved their methods.