Blog Posts by Tara Ariano

Coming back around again. (20th Century Fox Film Corp., Universal: Courtesy Everett Collection)With "Parenthood" a (moderate) hit for NBC, networks are continuing to reach further and further back into the feature-film vaults for properties with TV potential. Earlier this year, the story was that the 1993 film "The Firm" would be adapted as a drama series; this week, there's buzz around the 1984 feature "Romancing the Stone" and 1980's "The Blues Brothers."

Turning a successful movie into a TV series is nothing new (see also: "M*A*S*H," "Private Benjamin," "Alice"), but what makes these projects notable is the tremendously large gap between the movies' release and their adaptation for another medium. But I guess the math checks out: The TV development executives of today were probably the kids being babysat by movies in heavy rotation on middling pay-TV channels of 1988 or so.

Audiences have been growing more accustomed to seeing beloved superheroes getting a bit intense and morally ambiguous ever since "Batman Begins." And though '90s animated TV mainstay Captain Planet might seem like such a goody-goody that he couldn't possibly even HAVE a dark side, this franchise reboot for Funny Or Die, starring Don Cheadle, proves otherwise. (And yes, that is "Community" star Gillian Jacobs as one of the Planeteers.) Headphone warning: Language is NSFW.

If this is the sort of thing we can expect from Cheadle in "Homeland," I am IN.

Jay Leno hasn't really been big with the 18-34 demographic since he was...in it. And that whole flap where he screwed over Conan O'Brien last year only resulted in Leno's losing even MORE ground with that crowd. But on last night's episode of "The Tonight Show," Leno made an attempt to reach out to twentysomethings by doing a comedy bit with a performer that hipsters suddenly really love: Miss Piggy of The Muppets.

Apple has aired some memorable TV ads over the years, from the "1984" homage in which the Macintosh made its worldwide début to the long-running campaign starring Justin Long and John Hodgman. I still have a special place in my heart for the original "Think Different" spot (I can't not smile at Jim Henson when he pops up amid geniuses the likes of Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein — exactly where Jim Henson belongs, by the way), and so does AdFreak, which has marked the occasion of Steve Jobs's resignation from the company he founded to edit him into the pantheon. Snif.

Actors have day jobs, but with an eye on a paycheck, a fun day's work, or an Outstanding Guest Actor Emmy, they moonlight in TV guest roles, too. Here are a few performers (and one non-performer) who will soon provide their Guest Services.

Not Roger Sterling (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com)Actor: John Slattery
Day Job: Roger Sterling on AMC's "Mad Men"
Guest-Starring On: "The Simpsons"
Role: Unknown!
Pros: Slattery is a great comic actor (as we were recently reminded when he guested on "30 Rock" last year).
Cons: We don't get to see his face?! That's the moneymaker!

Fox's unstoppable animated comedy "The Simpsons" is about to return for its 23rd season (which, yes, means that there are college seniors who were born AFTER the show premiered), featuring a guest-voice appearance by Kiefer Sutherland. Who seems to be playing a very Jack Bauer-esque character EVEN THOUGH he's already voiced Jack Bauer for a past "Simpsons" episode, in 2007. Then again, he'd already played an army colonel on the show in 2006, so I guess we don't have to be so strict about continuity. Here's the first promo:

[Via Give Me My Remote]

Previously on The Set:

- Street Artist Banksy Creates Dark Opening For 'The Simpsons'

- Neil Gaiman to Guest-Star on 'The Simpsons'

- Michael Cera Will Guest-Star on 'The Simpsons'

It's rare for a talk show to book two unrelated guests whose sensibilities fit together like puzzle pieces, but that's what happened last night on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Both Will Forte and Amy Sedaris seamlessly incorporated physical comedy into their interviews...but only one made Fallon literally fall out of his chair.

First up was Forte, who told the tale of a drunken bachelor party that ended with him waking up beside a stranger's pool, in a very awkward situation.

Hat tip to Boing Boing for unearthing this marvelous 1950s-era PSA, in which actor Raymond Massey GENTLY but FIRMLY urges the American public to be wary of fraudulent "medical" cures. Sorry, folks, but there are no Z-rays, and music can't cure cancer. Not even Outkast's.

Can we update the expression "doorbell doctor" for the Google/infomercial age? Because I think we need it.