Here's a trailer for The Descendants, a new seriocomedy from Sideways, Election, and About Schmidt (listed from great to greatest) director Alexander Payne. It's a Hawaii-set tale of a man who discovers that his coma-stricken wife was having an affair.
Yes, he's coming back. Also today: news from pilot season, the USA network just keeps getting weirder, and a Showtime series finds its villain.
Two of the most overly dramatic—and annoying—people on TV are celebrating birthdays today: CNBC's Jim Cramer is turning 55; Glenn Beck of Fox News turns 45. Good Morning America's new anchor, George Stephanopoulos, is 49. Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, is 59. Former Mets outfielder and failed financial guru Lenny Dykstra is 47. Actress Laura Dern is turning 43. Director Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) is 49. R&B singer Roberta Flack is 73. Actress Elizabeth Banks is turning 36. Tween star Emma Roberts is turning 19. Robert Wagner is 80. Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz is turning 60. Golfer Greg Norman is 55. And NYC restaurant legend Elaine Kaufman turns 81 today.
Hollywood know it's all in the title. What else after all, distinguishes a Saw 5 from a Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant?
Jim Cramer has a reason to be even more manic today: It's his 54th birthday. Recent Fox News arrival Glenn Beck is 44. Disney CEO Bob Iger is turning 58. This Week's George Stephanopoulos is 48. So is Alexander Payne, the filmmaker behind Election and Sideways. Restaurateur Elaine Kaufman is 80. Musical legend Roberta Flack is 72. Laura Dern turns 42. Actress Elizabeth Banks is 35. Robert Wagner is 79. Tween star Emma Roberts is turning 18. And swimming legend Mark Spitz is celebrating his 59th birthday today.
In a continuing creative victory for horse-geezered men around the world, HBO has brought Alexander Payne on board as the director of its new series Hung. Picked up by the network less than a month ago, the dark comedy is about "a well-endowed man ... who was once a high school sports legend, but is now plodding along in middle age as a struggling father and high school basketball coach. His luck begins to change, however, when he figures out a way to use his best asset." Or, as we hear creators Colette Burson and Dmitry Lipkin pitched it, "Kind of like Sideways, but with a huge dick where the pinot noir goes."
Alexander Payne's follow-up* to Sideways, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, is the Backdraft-meets-Boat Trip story of two firefighters who pretend to be a gay couple in order to receive domestic partner benefit. The fake firemen lovers in question are none other Adam Sandler and Kevin James, who, according to a Defamer operative, are either taking their field research very seriously, or just bouncy-shlong crazy and could care less who knows it:
