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At some point in 2011, the world agreed that Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper would be indestructible forces who bathed in Oscar nominations. Did you know if Cooper scores another Oscar nod in a leading category next year, he ties Marlon Brando's record for four consecutive Best Actor nominations in a row? Kind of cool and chilling, right?  The important thing is you can now watch Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence fail us in the 2014 dud "Serena." It's on Netflix now. What was it about, you ask? Well, it concerned a timber merchant whose life spirals when he learns his wife, after her miscarriage, can't bear children. For Depression-era South Carolina, both stars look incredibly posh. Let's watch this mess together, shall we? Here are five other questions you can get answered via new streams on the web.  Remember that time Angelina Jolie starred in a Clint Eastwood movie? "Changeling...

“Bridesmaids” and “The Heat” director Paul Feig (above, who looks a bit like a more sophisticated Andy Dick) has written and plans to direct a new spy movie franchise centering around a female James Bond for 20th Century Fox. Since Feig has spent most of his time in comedies, the spy franchise will be a comedy, but not a parody of the spy genre ala “Johnny English” or “Get Smart”. The funny thing is, “Susan Cooper” is being described as a “realistic comedy”. I’m not sure what that means exactly, or how it relates to the idea of a female James Bond/spy character. In any case, the search is now on for a female lead for the film. I’m guessing they’ll want someone in their early ’30s or late ’20s who can do action and stick around for sequels. A few years ago I would automatically think Sandra Bullock,...

Let me make one thing clear: I really liked the remake of Battlestar Galactica. Seriously, I did. Ok? Now that that's out of the way, here is this week's hypothesis:

TV Remakes Are Bad Mojo.

It's not that I think producing series that have already been made shows a lack of originality or ambition (which I do). It's not that rehashing shows from the past reduces the chances for new; unique ideas to succeed (which it does). It's not even that I intensely dislike almost all of the TV that has ever been remade (before you set your Tweet to stun, see the BSG comment above).

I claim that TV Remakes are bad juju, because I have done the research, and it is simply, conclusively, unquestionably, factually true. Skeptical? Here is a chart laying out the historical success/failure rate of TV Remakes, show by show:

Notes: I have run...

Don Adams, the comedic actor who won three consecutive Emmys for his role as Agent Maxwell Smart in the hit comedy series Get Smart, died yesterday in Los Angeles; he was 82. The actor died of a lung infection at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and had apparently been in ill health for the past year, after suffering a broken hip. Adams began his Hollywood career after World War II, working as a stand-up comedian and writing and performing for television. Changing his last name from Yarmy to Adams, reportedly because he wanted to be called first and not last at auditions, the actor provided the voice of animated character Tennesee Tuxedo, and his numerous appearances on talk shows provided him with the opportunity to star in Get Smart. A spy spoof created after the surging popularity of the James Bond films, the show wasn't something that interested Adams initially, until he found out that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry had written the pilot. As the snappy but not-quite-intrepid secret agent Maxwell Smart, he was paired with the much smarter and much sexier Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), and his standard line "Would you believe?!" became a national catchphrase; fans will also remember Smart's infamous "shoe phone" and the agency names CONTROL (the good guys) and KAOS (the bad guys). Adams became an instant star, and the show ran from 1965-1970, winning the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy award in 1968 and 1969. Adams himself won three Emmys and received a fourth nomination. After the series ended, Adams continued to make numerous television appearances, and even starred in a Maxwell Smart movie, The Nude Bomb (1980), after the show became a hit in syndication. In the 80s, Adams also provided the lead voice for the popular animated series Inspector Gadget, which spawned another well-known phrase, "Go, go, Gadget!" After a failed attempt to revise the Get Smart show in 1995, Adams worked mainly offscreen, providing Inspector Gadget's voice and others for various animated shows. Adams was married and divorced three times, and had a total of seven children from the three marriages. --Prepared by IMDb staff...