News

Ah, Christmas. It’s a time of family get-togethers, going into debt, and TV and movie studios trying their best to cater to everyone. Unless you’re on the Hallmark Channel, and it’s pretty obvious you’ve got one specific demo you are targeting with extreme prejudice.

Over the years, many Christmas-themed movies and TV specials have danced across screens, both big and small. Some of them are classics like A Muppet Christmas Carol, or It’s a Wonderful Life. Others go out of their way to try and be extreme in their counter-programming, like Silent Night, Deadly Night (which has somehow made six total films over the years…good lord).

And then others are just so odd and unexpected that they deserve their own list, and that’s what we’re doing today. I’m not sure this list should be counted as Nice or Naughty; we’ll say...

Tubi opens June with an intense WWII drama “Inglourious Basterds.” Allied officer Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) assembles a team of five tough Jewish soldiers to spread fear throughout the Third Reich. They have one assignment: assassinate Nazi leaders. Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed the unconventional war drama. Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, and Christopher Walz co-star.

Watch the trailer of “Inglourious Basterds”:

The network is also streaming the original documentary “Mystery Unsolved: The Adnan Syed Story” on June 7. The murder of teenager Hae Min Lee was the focal point of a “Serial” podcast, which questioned if boyfriend Syed was her killer. After serving 22 years in prison, Syed was released, still proclaiming his innocence. Now, he may return.

Another streamer original, “Magic Carpet Rides,” arrives June 14. It centers on a social influencer torn between sharing her budding romance or honoring her boyfriend’s request to keep their life private.

Check...

Julian Fellowes hasn't heard yet whether his series "Downton Abbey" will be picked up for a fourth season in the U.K. But he's pretty sure it will be.

"We are being very sort of coy about it," Fellowes said at a "Downton" event in London, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "We don't know. We haven't had a commission. But I think it would be pretty odd if there wasn't."

Adds executive producer Gareth Neame, "We hope to have some news in a few days."

Related: Famous fans of 'Downton Abbey'

"Downton Abbey" just finished its third season in the United Kingdom and brought big ratings to ITV1. Fellowes says that counting delayed and digital viewing, the show brought in "just under 15 million viewers." Its over-the-air average was 9.7 million viewers, making it the biggest of the show's three seasons.

A Christmas special is set to air on ITV in December.

Are you watching PBS' Call the Midwife? If not, you're missing out. In an effort to lure you, I explore the charms of the delightful ’50s drama and its breakout character, Miranda Hart’s awkward and hilarious Chummy Browne. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Call the Midwife: Miranda Hart’s Chummy Browne Steals the Show," in which I praise both the British period drama and specifically, fall's breakout TV character, Miranda Hart's Chummy. Miranda who? Miranda Hart might not be well known in America, but that is about to change, thanks to her role in PBS’ period drama Call the Midwife, which airs Sundays at 8 p.m. (Check your local listings for details.) In fact, her disarming performance turns clumsy midwife Camilla Fortescue-Cholmondeley-Browne (or Chummy for short) into this season’s breakout character. Based on the memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife...

Four Seasons And A Christmas Special!

... Community returned from hiatus yesterday and its ratings flopped. Oh wait, sorry, I'm just used to writing that. Actually, the first episode back for Community set a season high for ratings with a 2.2 in the adult demo, even though only 4.75 million viewers tuned in. What's even more telling is that Community was the number-one show of the night among 18-34 year olds, even beating American Idol in that demo. So does that mean Community is getting a fourth season?...  More >>...

David Cross discusses the 2nd season of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret premiering January 6th

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is the Lost of half-hour comedies. It's a twisting gut punch of absurd hilarity that builds and builds in its attempt to take it one more step over the edge. And creator/star David Cross has certainly done that with Season 2.

Returning to IFC on January 6th, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret brings six all-new episodes of this raucous series, which retraces the wrong-headed steps of a pathological liar as he attempts to sell an energy drink to a country that just isn't interested in them.

Forget about Arrested Development. The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is the new obsession you should be obsessing about. We recently caught up with David Cross to chat about this series, his passion for fart jokes, and...

Downton Abbey

Acclaimed period drama "Downton Abbey" has been commissioned for an eight-part third season according to ITV.

The new run will be set in the early 1920s and continue to chart the fortunes of the Crawley family and their servants.

The current season, set around World War I, finishes this Sunday in the UK. A Christmas special airs late next month. [Source: BBC News]

Top of the Lake

"Mad Men" actress Elisabeth Moss has scored the lead role in BBC Two's six-hour mini-series "Top of the Lake" which Jane Campion, Emile Sherman and Ian Canning will produce.

Moss plays a detective investigating the disappearance of a 12-year-old pregnant girl, who is the daughter of a local drug lord.

Campion directs from a script she co-wrote with Gerard Lee. Shooting begins in January in New Zealand. [Source: Daemon's TV]

The CW

The CW Network have announced mid-season return dates for their various shows. "The Vampire Diaries...

A Christmas special of Comedy Roadshow will air on BBC One this year. The programme, hosted by Michael McIntyre, features performances from various stand-up comedians. BBC One has now announced that a one-hour episode will air during the festive period. McIntyre said: "Having visited 12 of my favourite cities, I'm thrilled that my Comedy Roadshow is coming home for Christmas. "It's such an honour for the show to be on Christmas Day and to be introducing some of the biggest (more)...

Pudgy dolls that sparked a 1980s craze may return to TV screens in an animated film special

The production company making a live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film for Paramount has bought the screen rights to the pudgy, wrinkled dollies that provoked punch-ups between parents at the height of their popularity in 1983.

Original Appalachian Artworks, which owns the brand rights to the Cabbage Patch Kids, has sold TV rights to Galen Walker, who is said to be developing an animated TV film special. A Christmas special aired on ABC in December 1985 to high ratings; that same month, Newsweek featured the toys on their cover.

The Cabbage Patch Kids were first created in 1978 by Xavier Roberts, before going into mass production four years later, when the original cloth faces were changed to plastic. But their popularity waned in the 90s, despite innovations to the brand, including the Talking Cabbage Patch Kid,...

The BBC has announced that it has renewed Outnumbered for a fourth series. The partially-improvised comedy, which has aired on the BBC since 2007, focuses on two parents struggling to keep their children under control. The cast includes Claire Skinner, Hugh Dennis, Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez. The BBC has now revealed that six new episodes will air later this year, although a return date has not yet been set. A Christmas special of the show will also be broadcast. The announcement was posted on the BBC (more)...

The BBC has announced that it has renewed Outnumbered for a fourth season. The partially-improvised comedy, which has aired on the BBC since 2007, focuses on two parents struggling to keep their children under control. The cast includes Claire Skinner, Hugh Dennis, Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez. The BBC has now revealed that six new episodes will air later this year, although a return date has not yet been set. A Christmas special of the show will also be broadcast. The announcement was posted on the BBC (more)...

A Festive and Irreverent Fundraiser Event for this Holiday Season.

Montreal, December 10th, 2010 – Forget about gravy, gift-wrappings, political scandals, general dissatisfaction and modern life. This is DJ XL5’s Christmas gift to you, Christmas Zappin’ Party – with an exclusive video participation from Mc Gilles – on December 26th, at the majestic Théâtre Plaza.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hezINO-wA7Q

DJ XL5 presents a festive program of films excerpts, trailers, music videos, commercials, short features and TV samples edited in the manner of zapping from one TV channel to another, making you forget your troubles by submerging you in a universe where good sense and logic don’t necessarily apply. An international overdose of twisted Season’s greetings. From DJ XL5’s original, spider-filled vaults of genuinely surreal VHS and forgotten cultural junk comes a joyfully irreverent and gently blasphemous Zappin’ Party. The final product is a kind of “culture jamming” or “media barrage,...

Filed under: Reality-Free, TV News, Stay Tuned

Hey 'Doctor Who' fans, guess what you'll find under your tree -- or, rather, on your television, this holiday season?

A Christmas special penned by lead 'Doctor Who' writer Steven Moffat, that's what. In a press release, BBC America calls the one-off outing a "Dickens-inspired adventure," which is appropriate enough, given that the special is titled 'A Christmas Carol.' It airs 9Pm Et on Christmas Day.

"It's all your favorite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters. And the Doctor. And a honeymoon. And ... oh, you'll see," Moffat said in a statement from BBC America. "I've honestly never been so excited about writing anything. I was laughing madly as I typed along to Christmas songs in April. My neighbors loved it so much they all moved away and set up a website demanding my execution. But...

Here’s some good news for Doctor Who fans, who I will call Whosiers from here on out*: there’s sort of going to be more Doctor Who every year but not really! Let’s break down that confusing sentence, shall we?

Writer/Producer Steven Moffat recently told UK’s The Guardian that the upcoming series of Who will be split into two, smaller series, and broadcast more frequently throughout the year. So instead of one thirteen episode series, and a Christmas Special (the way the show has been broadcast for the past four years), the upcoming season will break down like this:

Seven episodes, with what Moffat describes as a “game-changing cliffhanger,” ending around Easter. Six episodes, starting in the Fall, leading up to Thanksgiving. A Christmas Special.

The hope is that this would continue, and though we’ll still only be getting thirteen hours throughout the year,...