Question: Thanks for your information and insights each week. I have to remark on your recent answer about How I Met Your Mother and Kitchen Confidential: "Somehow I don't think either CBS or Fox is banking on the Freaks and Buffy factor as selling points for either of these shows." I don't have your numbers and demographics, and I know that while it feels to me like Whedon fans are a large and vocal crowd, we are probably small in the vast millions of TV watchers. So I know that if the networks were counting on Whedon watchers as the main audience for these new shows, they would indeed be disappointed. However, I do think Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, and David Boreanaz are as strong "selling points" as any others in their casts, none of whom are known to me besides Neil Patrick Harris. If Whedon watchers won't make or break the show's bottom line, at the very least those names will attract a hefty number of (Whedon) viewers (like me) who wouldn't ordinarily be gunning for a ...
read more
Question: As a big fan of both Buffy and Freaks and Geeks, I can't help but wonder about this scheduling of CBS' new How I Met Your Mother (featuring Freaks' Jason Segel and Buffy's Alyson Hannigan) and Fox's new Kitchen Confidential (with Freaks' John Daley and Buffy's Nicholas Brendon). Both shows are airing on Mondays at 8:30 pm/ET. What I'm wondering is, who decided it was a good idea to do this? What are the chances that two shows would premiere in the same season, each featuring cast members from huge cult shows? Wouldn't it have been much better to put them at different times, allowing both networks to get fans of both shows for the premieres?
Answer: Somehow I don't think either CBS or Fox is banking on the Freaks and Buffy factor as selling points for either of these shows. (If anything, Alyson Hannigan's American Pie movie appearances are more promotable to the mainstream.) This is purely a coincidence, and as much as I like these individual actors, they're very much ensemble
...
read more
Nothing in common: Harry Earles and Olga Baclanova
Question: Is it true that there were plans at one time to remake Tod Browning's film, Freaks?
Answer: Apparently there was talk in the '80s about remaking Tod Browning's notorious Freaks (1932), but nothing came of it, and I for one think it's safe to say that was all for the best. There was also some chatter a couple of years ago about Leonardo DiCaprio starring in a movie that was sometimes described as a remake of Freaks, but that was just sloppy reporting. The project DiCaprio was considering was a film called Johnny Eck, based on the life story of Freaks star Johnny Eckhardt. He was the "Half Boy," and shortened his name when he began exhibiting himself as a human oddity. Eck's twin brother, who was physically ordinary, was his mana
read more
