Malcolm in the Middle creator (read: genius) Linwood Boomer turns 54 today, we here at the VC hope he is having a great day!
Sadly for Boomer his latest TV pilot The Karenskys wasn’t picked up by CBS this year. It could possibly still happen, however information is lacking, I for one would sure love to see it, so we can only hope other networks see sense!
October 9th, 2009 (0) Comments - Post a Comment
Justin is to start a competition to win a chance to meet him and visit the set of the new show he is producing Sons of Tucson.
There are few details currently, but it seems the competition with be through Twitter and you need to go follow Justin to find out how to take part. He’s recently moved Twitter accounts, you can now follow him at http://twitter.com/justinberfield (a faker got it at first) instead of his original account http://twitter.com/justin_berfield. Justin will conduct some sort of 5 question challenge with his followers with 1 ultimate winner. During the set visit the winner will have a photo snapped and posted on Justin’s Twitter account. Its being run by Justin’s management and not affiliated with Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox Television, J2TV or it’s affiliates. A background check may be required (yeah, weird right?)
We don’t know when the visit will take place or when the competition will start. We guess sometime later this year while the show is still filming. Its also unclear if its open to non-US residents.
On the topic of Sons of Tucson, Justin said on Twitter last month that re-casting had finished and that production was starting this month. They had been re-casting the older and youngest kids, THR announced that Matthew Levy has been cast as the older, the younger actor is still unknown.
Source: CelebrityLoop (Justin’s official forum)
September 5th, 2009 (1) Comments - Post a Comment
(Sorry, video has been removed)
Sons of Tucson is in short a family comedy about three brothers who hire a charming, wayward schemer to stand in as their father when their real one goes to prison. Its being produced by J2TV Justin Berfield and Jason Felt’s production company. They got legendary Malcolm in the Middle director/producer Todd Holland to direct (and executive produce) the Pilot, which you can watch in full above. Its written by Tommy Dewey & Greg Bratman and stars Tyler Labine (Reaper) as Ron the wayward schemer. They have landed with FOX and is set to premiere midseason (spring 2010) and will air Sundays at 8:30pm, which you may recall was Malcolm in the Middle’s original timeslot when that series premiered back in January 2000.
They have had to recast the older (Brandon) and younger (Robby) kid characters, and are currently running an open casting call, so if you look around 14 or 9 and are an aspiring actor its well worth checking out! Audition videos have been popping up on YouTube. Frank Dolce as Gary continues his part.
I managed to get a few quick questions in with Justin over Twitter. Why the recast? According to Justin its due to scheduling issues. Justin also confirms that Todd Holland will be directing the Pilot remake and the first two episodes, which is great news.
The trailer for those who can’t handle the full episode…
Early reviews have been positive to very positive. Justin and Todd have the potential to turn out a killer show, I’m pumped.
Thanks to Rye (for his continued updates)
Interview with Justin from the Arizona Daily Star
Berfield spoke to the Star last week from his Venice, Calif., office.
Was it a huge relief when Fox picked up the series?
“Yeah, it is always nerve-racking. You never know. You work really hard to put a show together, but there are only so many time slots.
“I was excited about this one because it got me back to Fox, which is where I was for seven years (with ‘Malcolm’). It is great to be back home and to have a show I think will really find an audience.”Do any of you have ties to Tucson?
“No. No ties whatsoever except that Tommy, Greg and I love Tucson. I haven’t been there in a little while. I’ll be organizing a trip for the guys and for all of us at some point.”
What were your first impressions when the series was pitched to you?
“I loved it. I loved the notion of three boys of three different ages having to make their way in their new lives.”
Why cast Labine as Snuffkin?
“Tyler is incredible. He is probably one of the funniest guys I’ve met or been around in a long time. He is great with the boys and a real leader.
“He is really, really talented, and we all had a hand in casting him in the show. The studio and the network are really excited about him. I can’t imagine anyone else playing Ron.”Any favorite characters?
“Being a former child actor and having grown up on television myself, I think all three of the boys are great. They are all fresh and really good. We were able to pull Frank Dolce off Broadway. He was in ‘Billy Elliot.’
“Davis Cleveland is playing Robby. He is very funny. He is a great kid, and his timing is incredible. Troy Gentile has been in several movies, including ‘Hotel for Dogs,’ and he is doing very well.”
August 21st, 2009 (29) Comments - Post a Comment
Todd Holland one of the main Malcolm in the Middle producers & directors caused quite a bit of controversy last month when he spoke on the Taking It to the Streets: LGBT Directors Get Political panel, sponsored by Outfest, a leading gay and lesbian film festival.
“my whole thing about being political is kissing my husband at the Emmys” and “just living honestly” was also a “political thing.” Later in the discussion Todd, citing the extremely competitive nature of the entertainment business, said that when young, gay actors ask for his advice on whether or not they should come out in Hollywood, “I say, Stay in the closet.”
Todd’s advise is based on personal experience, he came out later in life but his brother did so at a younger age and their parents reacted badly. However there was great shock and concern about his viewpoint.
A few days later Holland released a public apology through Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
“As an openly gay man in Hollywood, I know firsthand the tremendous challenges that people throughout the industry face in terms of being open about who they are. For people who know me, they know that I believe it’s important for people to live openly and authentically, and I am sorry for my poorly chosen words at Outfest. At the end of the day, I hope my comments do not prevent us from having honest, thoughtful conversations about the significant barriers that make being an out actor in Hollywood an ongoing obstacle.”
However he does not say he will stop advising young gay actors to stay closeted. Being young and gay myself I have a little insight into this however I’m certainly no Hollywood actor. Coming out should be a personal choice and done when people are ready, however if the people around you or the industry you work in won’t accept you, leave, its their loss.
Source: laweekly.com
August 18th, 2009 (13) Comments - Post a Comment
As most readers know, Linwood Boomer is the creator and main writer on Malcolm in the Middle (if you didn’t, even more reason to read on). Not only that but its partly autobiographical especially in the earlier seasons. However details on this are not widely known, so when I stumbled across John Murphy’s post it was a nice read. John went to school with Linwood in the early 1970s and references a 2006 interview with Linwood. Surprisingly Linwood’s experiences where grimmer than Malcolm’s.
At Serra, Linwood was a gifted-but-troubled kid who was on the periphery (read: outcast.) A San Mateo Times story recalled how classmates (or was it a teacher?) dubbed him “Mary” due to his shaggy hair….Linwood hung out in high school with other guys on the fringe. Their hair was a little longer and their clothes a little out of the norm. They were cynical; Linwood described himself as “anti-social” in high school. – John Murphy
Boomer says Malcolm is based on him, but the character is much more well-adjusted than he was in high school.
“I was more self-centered and antagonistic, so basically I took a belligerent jackass and turned him (Malcolm) into a charming eccentric,” Boomer says. “I was a troubled kid with very few social skills and did not connect to the people around me. I was not a sociopath, but I wasn’t social. I was always telling the principal he was stupid and arguing with my teachers. I would be horrified if my children ever did that.”
The full interview below is a must read.
Source: findarticles.com & Roguejourno
Highlander isn’t slumming in San Mateo
by Susan Young, Oakland Tribune, Apr 22, 2006If you live in the Highlands area of San Mateo and saw a strange man in your front yard, peeking over your fence, we hope you didn’t call the police.
Just last week, when the sun finally showed its face for the first time in ages, “Malcolm in the Middle” creator and producer Linwood Boomer was in San Mateo, cruising his old neighborhood and peeking over the fence to see his old backyard.
“I took my wife and my 12-year-old son and 2-year-old to see it,” Boomer says from his office in Hollywood. “The people were home, and I was going to knock at the door and tell them that I used to live there, but I chickened out.”
He drew upon his memories of living in that house to create the off-kilter family on “Malcolm in the Middle.”
The series shows the home as slightly rundown, so Boomer says his family was a bit taken aback when they saw the tidy neighborhood.
“They were surprised it wasn’t a slum, because of the way I talk about it, but no, it’s just a normal suburb,” Boomer says. “My childhood was not super-happy, so my memories and stories are colored by that, but we were not living in a slum.”
The Canadian-born actor went to Highlands Elementary School, where he was deemed “gifted” and put into special classes. He says that experience is what drove him to write about Malcolm, a gifted young man in a low-achieving family.
“My mom would never tell me what my IQ was, so when I wrote ‘Malcolm,’ I said his IQ was 165,” Boomer says. “My mom then told me that mine was never that high.”
Boomer says he grew into an antisocial teen, first attending Junipero Serra High School, a Catholic school he refers to as a “football for Jesus” type of school.
“It may have changed,” Boomer says. “But when I went there (1971- 72), my hair was about as long as Frankie Muniz’s is now (slightly shaggy), and I was given the name Mary because my hair was so shockingly long.”
He switched to Aragon High School for his junior and senior years, graduating in 1974.
Boomer says Malcolm is based on him, but the character is much more well-adjusted than he was in high school.
“I was more self-centered and antagonistic, so basically I took a belligerent jackass and turned him (Malcolm) into a charming eccentric,” Boomer says. “I was a troubled kid with very few social skills and did not connect to the people around me. I was not a sociopath, but I wasn’t social. I was always telling the principal he was stupid and arguing with my teachers. I would be horrified if my children ever did that.”
Boomer says he decided early on to cop to his past to his children.
“I couldn’t hold myself up as an example of anything except persistence and the ability to change,” Boomer says. “I talked about the stuff I did as a kid and told them to do better than me, behave better and be better than me.”
In the series finale of “Malcolm in the Middle,” Malcolm is named valedictorian of his graduating class.
When Boomer graduated, he didn’t even get a diploma.
“Instead of the certificate in a covered leather booklet, I opened it up and there was a notice saying that I owed the library $23.40 for an earth science book I lost,” Boomer says. “I paid my bill — I was working at Macy’s at the time and making good money, so it wasn’t that — and eventually got my diploma.”
Boomer bolted out of San Mateo and never looked back. He began his acting career on “Little House on the Prairie” as Adam, the husband of eldest daughter Mary, and began writing for TV after that series ended. After a relatively short career in front of the camera, Boomer began writing for TV and eventually sold “Malcolm in the Middle” to Fox.
“I never went to any high school reunions. I just kind of didn’t stay connected to the people there,” Boomer says. “When I moved (to Los Angeles), my grown up life started so quickly and my home is here now. But it was really interesting going back.”
During his recent vacation to San Francisco with his family, he decided it was time to go back to his old haunts.
“I was surprised at what wasn’t there, but was even more surprised at what was there,” Boomer says. “My mom hated to cook, so we went out to eat at Heidi Pie’s about five or six times a week for dinner. I drove past and was happy to see it was still there.”
So did he stop?
“Well, I would have, but when you have a 2-year-old napping in the backseat, you like to keep them doing that,” Boomer says. “If it had just been me and my son, I would have. So I guess I’ll have to go back.”
He’ll have time to do that now that the series has wrapped. Boomer says he even put himself in a cameo for the end.
“The work has been a very pleasant experience. The actors are level-headed and not prima donnas, the writers aren’t lazy and the scripts are always on time and the crew always prepared, so it has been uncommonly pleasant to be part of this series,” Boomer says. “But I’m 50 now, and less inclined to take on the work of a series.”
For a while, he says he’ll just be sitting in his back yard or driving the kids to school, and if an idea hits him, he may do another series.
“I like the job, working in television is easy money and a fairly pleasant way to spend your day,” Boomer says. “So I’ll never rule it out, but I’m not in any rush.”
But what about returning to acting?
“Well, when I did that little bit in the final episode, I remembered two things about my acting: it’s not really as creatively rewarding to me as writing and, more importantly, I’m not very good at it,” Boomer says. “I knew when I was shooting it, and I really knew when I was editing it. If that guy hadn’t known the director/ producer, and in fact was sleeping with him, he would have been fired.”
August 18th, 2009 (1) Comments - Post a Comment
Leading Writer/Producer on Malcolm in the Middle Al Higgins is supervising a new CBS comedy project called Things A Man Should Never Do Past 30. The project is inspired by Esquire contributing editor David Katz’s humorous book penned as a list of 500 rules of what a man shouldn’t do once he turns 30.
Higgins is set to serve as showrunner if the project is picked up.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
November 29th, 2008 (0) Comments - Post a Comment
Ron Corcillo, co-writer of the Malcolm in the Middle episode Future Malcolm, posted in our FORUM about his new web-based series appearing on Strike.TV called Daryl From OnCar. It stars Bob Clendenin, who appeared in the Hal Quits episode as Garkech. Daryl From OnCar is a tale of a renegade customer service rep who inflicts his will upon the life of an ordinary man.
Watch episode one on Strike.TV
Source: Official Site
November 29th, 2008 (7) Comments - Post a Comment
Linwood Boomer the creator of Malcolm in the Middle is currently working on a family comedy pilot he wrote called The Karenskys for CBS. It is set to star Sasha Alexander (NCIS).
The show centers on Emily Atwood (Alexander), who returns to her hometown when her husband’s job relocates them and is reunited with her large, eccentric family. Although she is comfortable with her family’s intrusiveness, constant arguing and impulsive behavior, Emily is aware that her husband is far less so.
Boomer is working with Gail Berman, the exec who shepherded Malcolm in the Middle during her tenure at Regency TV and as programming chief at FOX. Interestingly the script was being developed at CBS at the same time as Malcolm took off and was then put aside as Boomer shifted his attention. It came back to light as Berman was looking over old scripts. It’s nice to see Boomer go back to his Malcolm in the Middle roots even if this time its multi-camera!
Source: Variety.com & hollywoodreporter.com
November 23rd, 2008 (8) Comments - Post a Comment
Al Higgins one of the main Malcolm in the Middle writers and producers is working on a remake of the UK TV show Roman’s Empire and it will star Kelsey Grammer (Frasier). A pilot for ABC is currently being made.
The UK series told the story of Leo who cannot extricate himself from the wealthy family of his ex-girlfriend, whose father is the overbearing businessman Roman.
Source: Guardian
November 23rd, 2008 (0) Comments - Post a Comment
Last year leading Malcolm in the Middle producer and director Todd Holland was said to be working on a new TV drama called Miracle Man according to various reports it was picked up by ABC after a bidding war with FOX.
Miracle Man centers on a disgraced former televangelist, a man of no faith, who finds that God is using him to perform real miracles and change lives, starting with his own. However there has been a lack of any other news since last year. Hopefully the project is still going to happen.
Source: SciFi.com & miraclemanseries.com
November 23rd, 2008 (0) Comments - Post a Comment
![Buy Malcolm in the Middle - Soundtrack [CD]](http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/images/mitmcd.gif "Buy Malcolm in the Middle - Soundtrack [CD]")
![Buy Malcolm in the Middle - Season 1 [DVD]](http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/images/mitmdvd.gif "Buy Malcolm in the Middle - Season 1 [DVD]")
Forum – Latest| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Feb | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 | ||||
