At Last: Rifftrax vs. Sharknado, This Summer!

It's been nearly 15 years that SyFy, when it was called the Sci-Fi Channel, cancelled Mystery Science Theater 3000. Maybe the channel was afraid Mike, Tom Servo and Crow would eventually riff on some of its original movies, starting with Mr, Stitch. From that moment, many fans hoped that one day, Mike and the bots would get their revenge.
That day will come July 10th.

Nine months ago,  SyFy aired the cheesiest movie ever made on cable: Sharknado, where Los Angeles is attacked by a water spout filled with sharks. Our only hopes to survive: Tara Reid and Ian Zierling.
Of course, this is even dumber than Mega Python vs. Gateriod, and that doesn't include having Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in the movie.
So what happens? Sharknado gets popular, very popular. Granted, it could be because people wanted to mock it with extreme prejudice. Then, two weeks after it aired on SyFy, it was shown at 200 Regal Theaters in midnight showings which just about sold out. Yes, people paid money for this. Were there people who heckled the movie in the theater, too?

Well, this summer, the Rifftrax gang will have its chance. It'll have a live show where they target Sharknado July 10th, three weeks before the sequel escapes to SyFy. Expect a lot of American Pie and 90210 jokes in this production, and maybe some Wizard of Oz jokes. If you bought the Wizard of Oz riff, you notice they ask during the twister scene "where are the sharks". This may have been a hint that the movie had been in their cross hairs for some time. Maybe they're curious how it holds up against Birdemic, where people use coat hangers to battle attacking video game birds.

Edited to add: Conor Lastowka, one of the Rifftrax writers, has an explanation on why it's taking on Sharknado, although some are worried it's like shooting sharks in a barrel: it's just like a summer blockbuster, only with 98% less budget and star power--and it came from TV. Anyway, here's his Tumblr post that will say it better than anyone.

Fathom Events will have this at hundreds of theaters nationwide and Canada. It will be shown again on July 15th, but tickets will be on sale starting May 2nd.

Meanwhile, Rifftrax will spend April Fools Day riffing on nature shows for the National Geographic channel betwen 8 and 11 PM East and West, with another go-around between 11 PM and 2 AM.

MST3K, The Home Game: How It Changed The World

Satellite News, the go-to website for fans of MST3K, recently had a post about an upcoming conference that will discuss the cultural impact of the TV show.
That's right: a bunch of scholars will talk about how some guy and two robots mocking movies changed the world as we know it.

It's run by the Southwest/American Popular Culture and American Culture Association, and will take place next February in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The official title is "Mystery Science Theater and the Culture of Riffing", although it will take up other topics, too. The guy in charge is Rob Weiner of the Texas Tech University Library. He compiled a book of essays called In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing.
And people thought earning a degree on studying Buffy the Vampire Slayer was unusual.

One of the proposed subjects in this conference is "MST3K, the Home Game". This aired twice on SyFy (when it was the Sci-Fi Channel) on January 25th 1997. Roger Corman's "The Day The World Ended" was shown, and people could send in their riffs through IRC's, or Internet Relay Chat rooms, that the network set up. They even had a commercial to show how it worked:



Those who circulated the tapes, or were smart to tape it when it aired (like me), have copies of both versions. It was available on YouTube, but not any more. People interacted with the movie by pretending to be Mike, Servo or Crow, then got to read their riffs on TV. It was quite a treat for those who were probably adding their own riffs while watching MST3K, or any bad movie.
For the most part, the riffs in the "home game" came about ten seconds after the action. If they syched up better with the movie, it would have been funnier. Then again, this was 1997 technology, a long way from Twitter. The fact that SyFy did this at all was still a big deal. It mixed TV watching with internet chat rooms. That's not too far off from watching Conan or Breaking Bad with your TV and iPad for a "second screen experience".
Nowadays, we tweet while watching TV, and some of those tweets are shown on TV, even during news shows on CNN or MSNBC. You can easily say "MST3K: The Home Game" made this possible.

The special also had features on a new set, and new episodes that were about to premiere a week later. The home game was only a taste of the new era to come. It may have also convinced some people that they could make their own versions of MST3K, if they only had a couple of robots or stuffed toys. Somehow, this led to iRiffs, Josh Way and Incognito Cinema Warriors XP. That, of course, is a good thing. Someone has to maintain the new tradition of severe movie criticism, usually as you're watching the movie. Again, "MST3K: The Home Game" made this possible.

SyFy's decision to have the home game was a sign that they wanted to have MST3K on its lineup after Comedy Central let it go because it had South Park, and didn't need funny bots anymore. It's too bad they didn't try it again as the technology improved. Maybe they could have had viewers riff on all of This Island Earth.

The conference is expected to discuss other MST3K subjects like comparing Mike and Joel (which nearly broke the internet around the Holidays 20 years ago), who was the best evil sidekick, and how riffing can be connected to Frank Zappa ("is that a Sears Poncho?"), Shakespeare and Monty Python. There's even a proposal to see how riffing affects spy movies, Christmas movies (maybe including Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny and that annoying Talking Christmas Tree), Hercules movies, and just movies that were forgotten for good reason. Despite all these subjects, a panel on MST3K: The Home Game should be on the agenda. It gave viewers a chance to mock a bad movie, see their comments on TV, and decide they can make their own version for mass consumption or something cool to download on YouTube.
And, in a way, it would also lead to seeing viewers' comments being shown on certain TV shows, thanks to today's social media.
Too bad we can't have a new version of MST3K: The Home Game today...with the target being Sharknado. Then again, we still have Rifftrax.

This Week In Cable: The Future Is Conan...and Wrestling?

It's been a very interesting week in TV, and it's only Tuesday.

Then again, having Conan O'Brien return to TV in an unexpected place would be the biggest TV story of the year. Nearly everyone was certain he'd return to late-night TV on Fox. After all, it has everything except late-night success during the week. The network itself started with a late-night show with Joan Rivers in 1986, then went on to prime-time slowly. With the prestige of 24, The Simpsons, American Idol and House, plus sports, having Conan would be the final piece of the puzzle.
Sure, the affiliates weren't sold on having Conan at 11 PM, because he wouldn't be as lucrative as endless repeats of Seinfeld, Two and a Half Men and Family Guy. Still, Conan almost had to go to Fox, because it's his only chance to make NBC regret the day it dumped him for Jay Leno. Maybe, if Conan's lucky, all of Fox's stations will air him at 11 PM by 2013. He'll understand. He has no choice.
At least, that's according to entertainment "experts".

Then we find out he has found a new home....on cable....TBS.
Wha? Who? TBS? Didn't they have wrestling at one time? They say they're "very funny", but it's just cable...not Fox, where he's supposed to be.
To be honest, I didn't believe it either, when Conan mentioned it on his Twitter feed. I thought it was a joke.
It wasn't.
So, what does this mean? Has Conan failed? Does this mean he'll never defeat Jay Leno, and make Jeff Zucker weep? Have we, as a nation, failed?
Or maybe we should look at it another way....Fox blew it!!
Or, its stations did.

I can't help but think Fox was too confident Conan would make a deal with them, and get used to the idea that only 70 percent of the nation would want him at 11 PM. This was based on one belief: we are Fox, and Conan going to cable would be a further humiliation that a wildly successful live tour could never erase. Thus, Conan will call us any....
Then, in the words of Homey the Clown, "I don't think so. Homey...or Coco..don't play that"

TBS has a lot to offer: a salary about the same as NBC, 100 percent coverage at the flip of a switch, he owns the show, web presence, anything he likes.
As for the guy who's already at 11 PM, George Lopez, he's all for it, because Conan's fans may stay for his show, too.
Also, West Coast viewers can see Conan at 8 PM, if they have the HD feed.
We sometimes forget cable is beating regular TV in many ways, especially creatively. Mad Men, True Blood, The Tudors and Rescue Me, anyone? While it's also doing well with late-night comedy, especially Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, having someone as big as Conan O'Brien would be...all together now...the final piece of the puzzle.
Conan's tour now serves as the prelude to his new show on cable, while the network prepares to promote the heck out of it. Maybe TBS will even sell ads for the show to Fox affiliates...around 11 PM, during a repeat of Seinfeld.
Now, if only I can get an "I'm With Coco" button and a TBS hat. I do have a homemade t-shirt that will serve the same purpose, though.

Now, the inexplicable....

Syfy will be ending its "reality" wrestling show WWE NXT this fall, which hopefully means SyFy will imagine greater by sticking to sci-fi.
Nope. It will be the new home for Friday Night Smackdown starting October 1st. Thus, Friday nights, the home of Battlestar Galactica, the Stargate shows and Sanctuary, now give way to Jack Swagger, Edge and Beth Phoenix.
Unless you can introduce some wrestlers that look like minotaurs, aliens or N'avi, this is a terrible idea for the network. Wrestling has pulled in a lot of viewers for SyFy, but it shouldn't end its traditional Friday fare for the WWE. Thursdays with a Sunday repeat would make more sense.
Also, what happens to MyNetwork TV now? The only original shows it has are Smackdown, Deal or No Deal, which may be on its way out, and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. Aside from that, it was reruns and movies. The affiliates would go back to being independents, and no one would notice.
Remember when the channel figured to be something new with tele-novelas in English and reality shows? So much for those days.
The Smackdown move is really a setback for a a network that no longer exists, and cable channel that should be living up to its name.

Comic-Con: Warehouse 13, or the Treasure of South Dakota

Imagine a warehouse in a remote part of America, which contains very special artifacts that can cause major damage if used in the wrong hands.
Now imagine two federal agents who suddenly find themselves working there, and being tasked with finding other powerful artifacts.



That's the premise of Warehouse 13, a new show that may be Syfy's next big thing. Former Buffy writer and producer Jane Espenson is credited with creating the show with Brent Mote, and also writing the pilot with Davis Simkins. Simkins and co-executive producer Jack Kenny were there at Comic-Con to talk about the show. They both said they go through a lot of research coming up with incredible artifacts, whether it's a 45 RPM record that plays a song so soothing it's used to rob banks, or a special compass from the 16th century that could case someone to teleport.
"We approached each story," he said, "from a more personal aspect in terms of what would be a character be experiencing or going through.". In the latest episode, "Claudia", the artifact, a 16th century compass, figure in a teenager's desperate attempt to save her brother from a terrible accident that put him stuck between dimensions for 12 years.

Unlike most sci-fi shows, W13 also presents characters who are more than meets the eye. At first glace, Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) may look like a Secret Service agent who doesn't take life seriously. In fact, McClintock says he doesn't take life too seriously, either. However, we find out Eddie is special because he can feel "vibes" that warn him when something's wrong. When he was a kid, he felt a vibe before his dad, a fireman, died. "It's what caused him to grow up to be someone," he says "who metaphorically keeps trying to save his father by saving the world."

His partner, Myka Bering (Joanna Kelly) is a by-the-book agent who often clashes with Eddie's laid-back style. "She's very structured," Joanna explains, "This girl likes things done a certain way, likes rules, likes regulations, makes her feel in control." However, we also learn she lost someone she loved in an unnamed event in Denver. The pain is still there, which is why she prefers to stay in control. Once she gets more involved with W13, she learns how to work with Pete. It's not long before she breaks a rule or two if it gets the job done.

McClintock admitted he was worried when it looked like someone else would becmoe Pete on the show, but Kelly calmed him down just before they auditioned together. Their read-through, which even included a couple of flubs, convinced the producers to hire them as the leads.

The leads are impressed with how much SyFy is backing the show, and so is Saul Rubineck, who plays curator Artie Neilsen. "Syfy doesn't have six or seven shows to take our place," Rubinek says. "If we were on a network, we dip in the ratings, GONE!
We're not like that. They're invested in the show, we know that"

Rubinek also revealed W13 has a history that extends back thousands of years, and that Artie may have a few secrets of his own. He's also pleased with the newest cast member, Allison Scagliotti. She's none other than Claudia, the girl who begs Artie to save her brother. She turns out to be a scientific whiz kid that will be a big benefit to W13.
She admitted she was pretty impressed with Rubinek after meeting him. "I learned from him every day," she says, "even still now the show has wrapped and we're still bouncing ideas off each other." She's also impressed with the set, and Artie's office, which she says could have been designed by Jules Verne. But she is also proud that the show's fantasy elements are still down to earth "(W)hat makes us different," she says, "is that we've blended these action and fantasy elements with real people and real places and artifacts that could have been in your attic."

Mark Stern, the head of Sci-Fi, was also there. Kenny used this chance to ask if the show would get a second season, and asked the crowd to help. Stern said that he loves the show, and the cast is amazing. he also said it's the public's decision on whether a second season is coming. Judging from the latest ratings, they'll also be around for some time to come. He also said that next year, the panel should be at Ballroom 20.

The show will also have one other Whedon alumnus: Mark Sheppard will be on the show as a member of the organization that runs the warehouse. We'll also meet an adversary who thinks there shouldn't be a warehouse at all.

Warehouse 13 airs Tuesday nights on SyFy