NBC and Dan Harmon May Kiss and Make Up.....There's An Image, Huh?

Dan Harmon

News is emerging that Dan Harmon is in talks with Sony Pictures Television to return to Community.

The absurd postmodern sitcom created by Harmon has always struggled with low ratings, but has garnered a devoted following and critical acclaim. While its numbers are bad, they're not bad for NBC, who can't seem to find a hit with both hands and a flashlight.

Harmon created the show, and was the driving creative influence. After the third season, he was fired by Sony, who cited his continual lateness delivering scripts, amongst other creative differences. He had a public and ugly feud with cast member Chevy Chase (Chase himself left the show mid way through the fourth season) and according to Harmon, Sony never even fired him in person (he was told via an executive producer on Community that he was done).

A 13 episode fourth season was greenlit and shot, with David Guarascio and Moses Port as producers. Many long time fans of the show (including this writer) felt that fourth season was nowhere near as strong as the previous three.

Write Fan Fic? Amazon Wants to Help You Get Paid, Dawg

Yeah, you can't unsee this.

So, yeah, first off, let's get something out of the way here. I've written fan fic. I'm not proud of it, I didn't write very much, and it was a long time ago. If you know anything about me, you'll probably know what it was for. That's right, The Waltons. You can't know the thrill I got typing the words, "Goodnight, John Boy."

Up until recently, fan fic was the absolute literary gutter, just slightly above its more disreputable cousin, slash fic. The good fan fic was written by people that were talented writers, but fan fic really led nowhere, so one got the sense they were wasting their time. All the other kinds of fan fic are basically fan wank. That's where you get all that Star Wars meets Star Trek fan fic. Or Doctor Who meets The Dukes of Hazzard, etc.

But now, Amazon is taking things to the next level. They just announced Kindle Worlds, "a place for you to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games." Basically, they're starting a platform where people will be able to write fan fiction, submit it to Amazon, who will offer it for sale. They've gotten the license for properties owned by Warner Bros. Television Group's Alloy Entertainment. They produce shows like Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. I'm thinking that last one will get the bulk of the submissions, all of them dealing with suppressed sexual desire and intense longing stares. The brooding. Oh, the brooding.

"Star Trek Into Darkness" Review, Or Set Phasers To F@#*ing Awesome

When Star Trek was released in 2009, the JJ Abrams directed reboot of Gene Roddenberry's landmark series was given a new lease on life. After years of diminishing returns on TV and in theatres, many had thought that the franchise was all but dead.

But the reboot was accomplished with style and verve, the new cast managed to evoke the spirit of the originals without being impersonations. And JJ Abrams wowed with his confident handling of the material, managing to capture Star Trek's inherent adventurous qualities, but updating them for 21st century audiences.

Still, some Trekkers hated the film. It was criticized for bad science and a plot driven largely by coincidence and convenience (all those charges are true by the way, but most space opera is driven by those very same things, and I'd argue that most original Trek is driven by those things too). Finally, they really disliked what they called the Star Wars-ification of Trek. That Roddenberry's saga of peaceful exploration had been replaced by more action, more space battles and less of the "vision" that defined Star Trek.

Well, those people may not like Star Trek Into Darkness any better, but that is certainly their loss, because the sequel betters the 2009 film in almost every regard, delivering a film that is funny, thrilling, emotional, and action-packed.

Will We Learn "The Name of the Doctor" This Weekend?

This Saturday brings the 50th anniversary season of Doctor Who to a close with the airing of The Name of the Doctor. If you aren't excited by that sentence then I don't know what you're even doing on this site. Seriously. Doctor Who is incredible.

While the show runners have hinted that the finale will solve the mystery surrounding new companion Clara Oswald, the title also suggests that the viewers may learn the answer to the show's longest running mystery; Doctor Who? It's a plot point that has been set up by show runner Steven Moffat for a long time, most explicitly at the conclusion of the previous series.

That Funke Is Some Kind of Something

Arrested Development's new season begins on Netflix this month. I could not be more excited. And Mitch Hurwitz and co. certainly know how to use the interwebs.

Case in point, this little viral video of Tobias Funke's "Sizzling Reel":

That.....is.....amazing.

You can also go to Tobias' web page. It has the best title of all time, and you can see all of the range and versatility that the world's only analrapist can bring to your project.

"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Ordered to Full Series

In the no-brainer decision category, ABC has ordered Marvel Studios' first TV project, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., to full series.

Taking place after the events of The Avengers, and tying into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the series follows a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, led by Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who investigate "unclassified" cases. The series was developed by Marvel's current creative mastermind (and Avengers writer/director) Joss Whedon, who also directed the pilot episode. The pilot was written by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen.

The series will also star Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge. You can see the 30 second promo for the series below:

So, that looks pretty epic. Obviously this is a no-brainer for ABC, I mean who wouldn't want to tie themselves into probably the biggest franchise going right now? And for Marvel, it's another platform for them to integrate into. Although Whedon has said that the series will focus on the periphery of the Marvel Universe, I'm sure Marvel is looking at this as a cheap way and lower risk way to introduce characters that could conceivably launch new film franchise or bolt into existing ones.

Trailer Park - Grumpy General, Magic Butler, Not Bob Dylan and Gump vs. Pirates

Starting a new feature here on the Nerd Report that I'm calling Trailer Park. If you're like me, and you love watching trailers, even bad ones, you'll hopefully enjoy. So, let's dive right in!

First up is Ender's Game:

So, I've never read Ender's Game or any of the novels in that series. There's a few reasons for that, and only some of them have to do with Orson Scott Card's homophobia, which has cost him a number of things, inlcuding a job with DC writing some Superman stories. I will say that this trailer made me somwhat interested in the film, and as my interest level prior to this was absolutely zero, that's an effective trailer. It's very nice to see that someone has slipped Harrison Ford the Geritol he sorely needed. He still looks grumpy, but at least he no longer resembles the other dwarf; Sleepy. Also, man, they are pimping the Acadmey Award nominations in the cast, huh? Pretty shameless attempt to scream, "We're classy!"