NBC is rarely one to learn the right lessons from success, so how best to follow a thriving Will & Grace revival? Why, undoing any goodwill from The Office series finale, of course, and plotting an official revival for the 2018-19 season!
Jon Stewart said goodbye to The Daily Show last night in equal parts star-studded and quiet, personal fashion as former correspondents like Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Olivia Munn returned to pay their respects, while Bruce Springsteen closed out the slow with a performance — at Stewart’s request — of his 1999 song “The Land of Hopes and Dreams” and, for his fellow New Jerseyan, “Born to Run”.
Full disclosure: I missed the last 10 minutes of Vacation. Last night’s press screening started 20 minutes late, then began without any sound, which lead to a 10 minute delay to correct the technical difficulties. With an unbreakable engagement elsewhere, I had to sneak out right before the very last scene. So take this review with as many grains of salt as you’d like. If you think those final minutes might recontextualize everything that came before to transform a generally miserable comedy into a beacon of transcendent hilarity, so be it. Having sat through the previous 90 minutes, I’m of the opinion that nothing short of the long-lost missing footage from Orson Welles’ Magnificent Ambersons could have redeemed this dreadful film.
The new Vacation may bear the same name as the old Vacation, but it’s actually a sequel, taking place a few decades after the first ill-fated Griswold family trip to Walley World. The first trailer for this new version has arrived and while it has the same title and premise as its predecessor, it bends over backwards to let you know that Ed Helms is the same Rusty Griswold from 32 years ago, all grown up. Can we call this a rebootquel?
Ed Helms is slowly but surely turning into the face of rebooted films from the '80s. The 'Hangover' star has already signed up to lead a new reboot of 'National Lampoon's Vacation,' and now he's decided to step into the shoes of the late Leslie Nielsen to headline a 'Naked Gun' reboot for Paramount.
As Nielsen remarked in the original 'Naked Gun,' "it's like eating a spoonful of Drano; sure,