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Given that the character is known for his wild rages and tendency to yell the phrase "Hulk smash!," it's curious that Kenneth Johnson's 1970s TV series "The Incredible Hulk" should be as melancholy as it is. Series protagonist David Banner (Bill Bixby) is depicted as a lonely, tragic figure, hating the fact that he, when enraged, turns into a green monster (played by superstar bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno). Indeed, in the TV show -- unlike the original Marvel comic books -- Dr. Banner first started experimenting with strength-giving radiation after he witnessed his wife die in a car crash. He had heard the stories of certain people summoning great strength in emergencies, and wanted to give himself that strength permanently, using it to fight off the trauma and sadness he always carried around.

Then, once he managed to accidentally give himself Hulk strength, it immediately divided Dr. Banner from the rest of society.

The 1966 "Batman" TV series -- one of the best TV shows of all time -- wasn't shy about including shameless cameos. Early in the show's run, the producers invented an organic conceit that would allow famous people to literally poke their heads in for a moment to deliver a few lines of dialogue. While Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) were scaling the side of a building -- something they did often -- a celebrity guest would open a window to see who might be making noise on their outside wall. The series featured peek-ins from Sammy Davis, Jr., Jerry Lewis, Art Linkletter, Don Ho, and Dick Clark. 

Other notable stars also provided peek-ins, but many appeared in character, playing their roles from other hip TV shows at the time. Ted Cassidy, for instance, appeared as Lurch from "The Addams Family." Werner Klemperer had a cameo as Colonel Klink from "Hogan's Heroes.

I can't say if I fell in love with "Star Trek," or if it fell in love with me. 

Like many Trekkies, I came to "Star Trek" at an early age. Throughout the 1980s, reruns of the original series would air on my local station, and they would serve as a periodic video backdrop to our dinnertimes. As a child, "Star Trek" was merely an action-light, horror-heavy sci-fi adventure series, and my older sister and I would gleefully yell out when Spock (Leonard Nimoy) performed his notorious Vulcan nerve pinch, or when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) got to snog an itinerant babe. We would hide our heads from the monster of the week; like many, I was terrified by the scowling face of Balok, the Ted Cassidy-voiced puppet alien from "The Corbomite Maneuver". 

Perhaps unusually for a child, I wasn't powerfully drawn to action, fights, or explosions in my entertainment.

Charles Addams' very first Addams Family comic strip -- or at least a proto-version of the Family -- appeared in the pages of the New Yorker in 1938. In the strip, a vampire-like woman stands next to a large, bearded, brutish man at the foot of a staircase in a haunted mansion. Bats fly overhead and spider webs adorn the light fixtures. A creepy third member of the family peers down through a railing high above. Standing at the door is an eager, white-suited vacuum cleaner salesman attempting to hawk his wares. "Vibrationless, noiseless, and a great time and back saver. No well-appointed home should be without it," the salesman says. He is unperturbed to be in a haunted house, and presses on with his sales pitch, even though the manse has clearly never been swept. 

Charles Addams would revisit these creepy characters regularly, eventually settling on a core cast of characters.

Ah, "The Addams Family." They're creepy and they're kooky. Mysterious and spooky. They're all together ooky. And so on. The ghoulish Addamses were created by cartoonist Charles Addams in the pages of The New Yorker before Hollywood came calling, adapting Addams' comics into a TV series in 1964. The series followed a family of weirdos who live every day like it's Halloween, much to the confusion of the normal folks all around them. The original "The Addams Family" series lasted only two seasons, running between 1964 and 1966, but its impact and influence continued for decades. 

Sadly, the majority of the original cast of "The Addams Family" are no longer with us. But there's one main player who is still around. 

Read more: Actors Who Damaged Their Bodies Forever For A Movie Role

John Astin (Gomez Addams)

John Astin played Gomez Addams on the show. A former lawyer and frequent cigar smoker, Gomez...

Even non-Trekkies likely know the "Star Trek" episode "Arena". That's the episode wherein Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is chosen by a godlike alien species to go to Vasquez Rocks in California -- I mean a distant alien world called Cestus III -- to fight a lizard-like alien called a Gorn. The Gorn captain was voiced by Ted Cassidy and played by stunt performers Bobby Clark, Gary Combs, and Bill Blackburn. The fight between Kirk and the Gorn is notoriously cheesy, with the two performers making awkward and slow movements that are about as thrilling as watching two people wrestle with shopping carts at their local grocery store. 

In order to best the Gorn in combat, Kirk must employ some long-forgotten geological knowledge, creating flash powder and explosions from compounds in the local rocks. He constructs a rudimentary mortar cannon out of a bamboo shoot and manages to blast his foe...

This post contains minor spoilers for the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "The Inner Fight."

In the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks," titled "The Inner Fight," a mystery stands on the brink of being resolved. Throughout the show's fourth season, audiences have glimpsed a mysterious white UFO traversing the galaxy, idly obliterating numerous vessels in its path. Its pilot is not revealed, and it doesn't look like any ship previously seen on "Star Trek." In "The Inner Fight," Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) reveals that she still doesn't know anything about who might be controlling the UFO, but has learned details of its mysterious mission. At the very least, she knows the UFO will be attacking certain individuals in the Federation next, and it's up to her and her ship to track down the next target and protect him. 

In a very "Star Wars" twist, Captain Freeman's quest to...

Did you know that the Gorn have lips? 

Evidence presented in the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "Arena" might stand counter to that assertion, as the mask worn by (alternately) Bobby Clark, Gary Combs, and Bill Blackburn didn't have an articulated jaw or mouth. Indeed, the Gorn mask has been widely giggled at by Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. The fight between the Gorn captain and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is usually considered broadly campy, what with its stiffness and slowness. 

But the Gorn -- an aggressive reptilian species -- actually do speak their own language. In "Arena," the Gorn captain (voiced by Ted Cassidy) spoke to Captain Kirk using a miniature, hand-held translation device. He explained that the Federation had set up a colony on Cestus III, which was unknowingly a Gorn world. The Gorn, rather than negotiate or file a complaint, merely laid waste to the colony and killed everyone living there.

This post contains spoilers for "Hegemony," the season 2 finale of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

Although it takes place in a vast, exotic galaxy full of high-tech starships, strange aliens, holodecks, and food replicators, "Star Trek" has often functioned best when it's straining against a budget. Not that plain green monochrome skies looked good, or that styrofoam rocks added texture and dimension to the drama, but the franchise's writers tended to find more interesting stories when limited to six starship sets and a handful of dedicated actors. When the show did want to visit an alien world, the studio typically bundled the cast and crew onto vans and drove to a natural preserve just outside of Los Angeles to shoot. Kirk (William Shatner) famously fought the Gorn captain at Vasquez Rocks. The planet from "The Paradise Syndrome" was merely the Franklin Canyon Reservoir. The locations are well-known to SoCal residents.

This post contains spoilers for the season 2 "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" episode, "Subspace Rhapsody."

In the "Star Trek" episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", the Enterprise is sent to a distant, seemingly uninhabitable planet called Exo-iii to search for a missing doctor named Roger Korby (Michael Strong) who crash-landed there years before. 

Dr. Korby, it is revealed, was once engaged to Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett). Chapel reveals that she continues to serve on the Enterprise partially so she can look for him. Beaming down to the surface and exploring a vast network of underground catacombs, Kirk and Chapel locate Dr. Korby in the company of several humanlike androids. Exo-iii was once, many millennia ago, home to an advanced species of aliens that learned to quickly and accurately construct robot clones of themselves. Dr. Korby demonstrates the android-making machine by making a duplicate of Kirk. Of course, Dr. Korby's...

Although "The Corbomite Maneuver" was the tenth "Star Trek" episode to air on television, it was actually the first produced after the pilot episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." As all good Trekkies know, the ideal order in which to watch "Star Trek" is its production order. Broadcast order is for chumps and poseurs. 

In "The Corbomite Maneuver," the U.S.S. Enterprise is approached by a massive and mysterious alien spaceship, perfectly spherical and possessed of immense destructive power. The ship is called the Fesarius, and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) can only communicate with the Fesarius' captain, Balok (voiced by Ted Cassidy), via audio. Balok declares that he very much intends to destroy the Enterprise using his superior weapons. Thinking quickly, Kirk bluffs; he says that the Enterprise is equipped with an imaginary substance called Corbomite that would react negatively to a weapons attack and destroy both ships.

TV fans are mourning the death of The Addams Family star Lisa Loring. The actor, best known as Wednesday Addams, died on Jan. 28, 2023, at 64. Many fans may not know Loring was also a soap opera actor, appearing on the CBS drama As the World Turns.

The Addams Family and As the World Turns star Lisa Loring I Bobby Bank/Getty Images ‘The Addams Family’ star Lisa Loring went on to star in ‘As the World Turns’

Loring rose to fame as a child star thanks to her role on The Addams Family. After the show’s cancellation in 1966, Loring continued to pursue acting. Yet, like many child stars, she had trouble finding success.

In 1980, Loring went from primetime to daytime TV when she was cast on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns. According to Soap Hub, Loring played Cricket Montgomery. Cricket is the daughter of Lyla Crawford (Anne Sward...

Hollywood is mourning the loss of The Addams Family star Lisa Loring. The actor, best known for portraying Wednesday Addams on the 1960s TV series, died on Jan. 28, 2023. She was 64 years old, and her cause of death was a massive stroke. Take a look back at the life and career of the actor.

The Addams Family star Lisa Loring I ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images The life and career of ‘The Addams Family’ star Lisa Loring

Loring was born on Feb. 16, 1958, in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. After her parents divorced, Lisa and her mother moved to Los Angeles. At the age of three, Loring began modeling and acting. She made her acting debut in 1964 on an episode of the NBC medical drama Dr. Kildare.

Later that year, Loring landed the role that made her famous. On Sept. 18, 1964, The Addams Family premiered on ABC. Loring stole...

Lisa Loring is known for her pivotal role as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family. Sadly, Loring died in January 2023, but she left an unforgettable legacy that fans of the infamous macabre family will remember for years to come. So, who were Lisa Loring’s husbands? And how many kids did she have? Here’s what to know.

‘The Addams Family’ actor died at 64 years old Lisa Loring | Bobby Bank/Getty Images

Lisa Loring is well-known as Wednesday Addams from the original Addams Family sitcom. Before her iconic role, she was born as Lisa Ann DeCinces. The actor started modeling at age 3 and took on her role as Wednesday at age 6.

According to CNN, Loring’s friend Laurie Jacobson posted to Facebook that Loring died after she “suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure.”

“She had been on life support for three days,” Jacobson wrote.

Lisa Loring, best known for being the first person to play Wednesday Addams on the original "The Addams Family" sitcom, has died. She was 64. Loring began her career as a child, first starting out as a child model at age three before appearing on an episode of the 1960s TV series "Dr. Kildare." When Loring was six she landed the role of the gloomy child Wednesday Addams on "The Addams Family," which ran from 1964 through 1966. Loring would also return to the role for reunion specials, including "Halloween with the New Addams Family" in 1977.

"I learned to memorize before I could read," she said in regard to learning her lines. She went on to say:

"I didn't know how to read yet, I hadn't been to first grade, so [producer David Levy] wasn't prepared to see children that young, that he didn't know. But I had my hair down to here [indicates her waist], my mother put...

Original Wednesday Addams actress Lisa Loring has passed away at age 64.

Loring, who starred on “The Addams Family” from 1964-1966 for 64 episodes, died on Saturday after suffering a stroke.

Her daughter, Vanessa Foumberg, said: “She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” Variety reported.

“The Addams Family” cast in costume. Standing (L-r): Jackie Coogan (1914 – 1984), John Astin, Blossom Rock, and Ted Cassidy. Sitting (L-r): Lisa Loring, Carolyn Jones, and Ken Weatherwax. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Loring’s friend Laurie Jacobson also shared on Facebook: “It is with great sadness that I report the death of our friend, Lisa Loring. 4 days ago she suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure. She had been on life support for 3 days.

“Yesterday, her family made the difficult decision to remove it and she passed last night. She is embedded in the tapestry that is...

William Dozier's 1966 TV adaptation of "Batman" remains, even at this late date, the high water mark for all Batman media. 

Colorful, whimsical, surreal, and borderline kinky, "Batman" served as an arch satire of the conservative underpinnings of most mainstream comic book heroes. Batman and Robin, played by the legendary Adam West and Burt Ward, were depicted as simultaneously heroic and terminally square, eschewing vice and indecency in favor of painfully wholesome, all-American activities such as camping, chess, drinking milk, birdwatching, and engaging in proper hygiene. Batman and Robin were walking 1950s classroom scare films, living in a bizarre universe of costumed vigilantes and horny criminals. The brilliance of the show came largely from West and Ward, who were able to deliver some of the strangest dialogue ever written without once ever winking or cracking a smile. "Batman" is a comedy masterpiece. 

Of course, the most appealing aspect of "Batman" were its villains.

Following a widely-viewed Nov. 23 premiere on Netflix, fans of Tim Burton’s all-new “Wednesday” series were astonished to discover actor Victor Dorobantu was the body attached to Thing, a recurring character who takes the form of a sentient, severed hand.

The camera effect was achieved through a combination of Dorobantu’s natural dexterity — which is largely the byproduct of his day-job as a magician — and some tactful movie magic in post-production from visual effects supervisor Tom Turnbull and his team. But the real key to bringing Thing to life, both Dorobantu and Turnbull agreed, was the prosthetic tail-end of the hand, which perched atop Dorobantu’s wrist to complete the illusion of a detached limb.

“We call it a stump,” Dorobantu said in reference to the artificial wrist-piece “And we had four or five versions of it. Every scene had different ones.”

Depending on how Thing is positioned in a shot,...

It's been said that big things come in small packages, and few characters in pop culture embody (or should we say "disembody") the sentiment quite like Thing of "The Addams Family." Known as the severed hand servant and longtime companion of the family Addams, Thing has remained a vital member of the world of entertainment inspired by Charles Addams' original cartoons and has evolved into one of the most beloved characters in the family. Thing exists in an interesting space in the Addams family dynamics, serving as both a protective figure, assistant, and almost pet-like role. There's no other character in pop culture quite like him, who can say so much about a situation without saying a word.

Thing also has a fascinating history throughout nearly century-long portrayals of "The Addams Family" characters, undergoing several evolutions to become the cherished palm pal audiences adore the world over. The helpful hand...

If you've already caught Tim Burton's new take on "The Addams Family" on Netflix this holiday weekend, you'll know there's a clear frontrunner for the best part of "Wednesday." It's a scene in the show's fourth episode, "Woe What A Night," in which confidently macabre teen Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) breaks it down on the dance floor to The Cramps' "Goo Goo Muck."

It's a great moment that's at once kooky and graceful, spooky and fun -- basically everything you'd expect from the famous goth girl character. Now, a behind-the-scenes featurette shared via Netflix on Twitter reveals that Ortega herself put together the moves for Wednesday's dance. "I actually felt really insecure about this," the actor admitted. "I choreographed that myself."

Ortega clearly doesn't need to feel insecure, though, and not just because the dance sequence is a highlight of the show's first season. On her own Twitter account,...

American television has had its share of wacky pop culture families, but surely one of the most unique is the Addams Family. While they may share many of the same qualities as a typical nuclear family, the Addamses take the concept to absurd levels with their nonchalant dalliances with the gothic, the ghastly, and the supernatural. What's normal for Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, and the rest of this clan is the stuff of nightmares for the rest of us.

Nevertheless, that mix of sitcom family hijinks and horror is what makes "The Addams Family" so delightful and what has kept them haunting our magazines, TV screens, movie theaters, and more for decades. It seems that every generation since these characters were first unleashed on an unsuspecting audience in 1938 has its version of the Addamses that they grew up with, proving just how much pop culture staying power they have. So...

Gene Roddenberry left Star Trek’s third season to write a Tarzan film that never got produced, setting a tone for the next decade of his career. He produced the wretched Pretty Maids all in a Row and slunk back to television, first with the animated Trek and then a deal with Warner Bros that would see him produce the underrated Questor and Spectre along with a new science fiction film, seemingly designed to distance himself from the optimistic Sf albatross around his neck.

He cut a deal with CBS in 1972 to produce a 90-minute film, Genesis II designed to be a pilot for a potential series. He quickly reunited with many of the behind-the-scenes Trek team and got to work, creating a dystopia that began in 1979. We open in 2133 as Earth is recovering from nuclear war and mankind has been dramatically reduced in number. Apparently, the survivors didn’t...

Here's the early scene in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" that established the tone and style of the film, directed with perfection by George Roy Hill from William Goldman's brilliant and witty screenplay. Paul Newman's Butch Cassidy has the unenviable task of engaging in a knife fight to the death with the towering figure of Ted Cassidy- but he proves brains can be worth more than brawn.

Marc Buxton Dec 20, 2018

Get ready to meet one of the most important Aquaman villains of all time! Here's the history of Black Manta.

Black Manta has been a fan favorite villain for decades, and now, moviegoers are about to be introduced to one of the (if not the) most important Aquaman villains ever, when Yahya Abdul-Mateen II puts on the iconic helmet in James Wan's Aquaman movie. And it’s about time.

read more: Aquaman Villains Explained - Who is Orm, the Ocean Master?

But how much do you know about this unique villain? Join use as we delve into the ocean depths and discover the history of the enigmatic, helmeted Aquaman villain. It's a history that reveals three separate origins, infanticide, and torture. Intrigued yet? Well, hop onto the giant seahorse of history (what?) and read on...

The Early Days

In the Golden Age and early Silver Age,...

Felix Silla is best known for playing the hairy relative Cousin Itt -- opposite big stars like John Astin, Carolyn Jones and Ted Cassidy -- in the creepy and kooky '60s television show "The Addams Family." Guess what he looks like now!

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the classic TV series "The Incredible Hulk", Cinema Retro's Ernie Magnotta sat down for an extensive discussion with the show's creator Kenneth Johnson.

By Ernie Magnotta

Dr. David Banner—physician, scientist…searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. Then, an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now, when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs.

The creature is driven by rage and is pursued by an investigative reporter. The creature is wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. David Banner is believed to be dead. And he must let the world think that he is dead until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him.

Kids who grew up in the 1970s remember that narration well. Every Friday night at 9pm (until it...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What does it take to make a good prequel TV series? (And feel free to include an example of a show that got it right or wrong.)

Allison Keene (@KeeneTV), Collider

A prequel TV series is the most successful when it uses familiar touchstones but creates its own world. “Hannibal” is probably the best example of this, where there were characters we recognized but the setting, experience, and modern time period were completely Bryan Fuller’s (wonderfully so). “Bates Motel” has been another positive example, especially as it nears its end. The time period is again modernized, but it keeps a surreal and retro feel. And...

As things stand now, there are three Superhero Cinematic Universes. Disney and Marvel Studios have theirs, with all of its mystical phases (The McU); Warner Bros. and DC have theirs, with its ever expanding and contracting slate of movies (The Dceu); and Fox has the X-Men/Fantastic Four Marvel movie rights that grant them access to tons and tons of characters from those properties. There used to be a fourth, back when Spider-Man lived alone on Sony Island, but now- thanks to a special arrangement- he's essentially been assimilated into the McU.

Yes, Sony threw up the white flag, in a move that many fans wish Fox would copy and just "give" the X-Men and the Fantastic Four film rights back to Marvel. But...Why? Why would anyone want that? I've stated before that there are good reasons for the X-Men to stay segregated from the McU, since Marvel already...

1. “The Fall” Season 3 (available October 29)

Why Should I Watch It? The official follow-up to “The X-Files” was released earlier this year, when the ill-fated Season 10 debuted and managed to, at best, somewhat resemble the groundbreaking original series. But its true successor — one worthy of the Fox drama’s elite status — came even sooner. Gillian Anderson picked up a new badge and started going after baddies once more when “The Fall” debuted on BBC2 in the summer of 2013. Since then, we’ve only gotten one more season. But it was an absolute doozy, making the wait for Season 3 utterly unbearable. If somehow you haven’t watched yet, get on it. This is peak Gillian Anderson, peak cop drama and peak TV — period.

Best Episode: I hate picking finales — it just seems so easy — but “What is in me Dark Illumine” marks the culmination of everything that came before. [Spoiler alert] Stella (Anderson) finally...

There are some figures in film history who fade away along with the era in which they produce the bulk of their work. And then there’s veteran B-movie producer and director Roger Corman, still chipper than ever at 90. As a filmmaker, Corman was responsible for a string of vibrant Edgar Allen Poe adaptations in the early sixties (most of which starred Vincent Price). He also directed William Shatner in his best pre-“Star Trek” performance as a race-baiting lunatic in 1962’s “The Intruder.” But Corman more or less stopped directing movies in 1970 (with the exception of 1990’s “Frankenstein Unbound”) and shifted focus to producing a string of low budget genre efforts — several of which introduced some of the great American filmmakers still working today, including Martin Scorsese, Frances Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, and many others.

Read More: ‘Doomed!’ Exclusive Clip: New Documentary Explores Roger Corman’s Ill-Fated...

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As a new Star Trek TV show is planned for 2017, we select the show's top 25 episodes from its classic Original and Animated series...

The impact of Star Trek, a television series that altered the world's expectations and put an indelible mark on many cultures around the world, is often underestimated until you realise who it had an impact on and what they went on to achieve.

If you only ever watch 25 episodes or, rather, stories from the original(ish) run of Star Trek, these are they, at least in my opinion. The only rules in place being that this selection is drawn only from the series that just called themselves Star Trek (so that's what we now call Star Trek: The Original Series, or Tos and Star Trek: The Animated Series, or Tas), and two-part episodes count as one story... The more Trek-astute of you may realise...

One of the more surprising announcements of the year occurred right back in January when it was revealed that the "Gone Girl" team of director David Fincher, screenwriter Gillian Flynn and actor Ben Affleck were coming together again for remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers On A Train".

Itself an adaptation of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" series Patricia Highsmith's novel, the original film followed two strangers - a tennis pro seeking a divorce, and a mentally unstable socialite - who strike up a conversation. Each has someone they want to get out of the way, so the socialite proposes they 'swap murders' and thus the killings could not be traced back to them.

The new take would shift the action to a private plane with Affleck playing a film star in the midst of Oscar campaigning who is given a ride to La on the jet of a wealthy and dangerous stranger.

By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.

Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!

The new season of “Game of Thrones” is three months away, but HBO will be airing a special look behind the scenes on Sunday, February 8. In order to promote it, HBO put out a trailer that was — of course — peppered with tiny bits of Season 5. We get the Khaleesi, Cersei, the Freefolk, some random extras running around screaming, and a Sand Snake. Warning: Mild spoilers below the Gif. Image Credit: HBO It’s only a moment, but look at her majestically hurtling through the air. The very picture of her father. But who is it? Depends on how close to the books HBO is adhering. If they’re being loyal to the source material, it’s probably Obara or Elia. If they’re playing it fast and loose it could be Nymeria or even Arianne Martell. Hopefully it’s not Tyene. It better not be Tyene. You hear me HBO?...

Robert Redford movies: TCM shows 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' 'The Sting' They don't make movie stars like they used to, back in the days of Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, and Harry Cohn. That's what nostalgists have been bitching about for the last four or five decades; never mind the fact that movie stars have remained as big as ever despite the demise of the old studio system and the spectacular rise of television more than sixty years ago. This month of January 2015, Turner Classic Movies will be honoring one such post-studio era superstar: Robert Redford. Beginning this Monday evening, January 6, TCM will be presenting 15 Robert Redford movies. Tonight's entries include Redford's two biggest blockbusters, both directed by George Roy Hill and co-starring Paul Newman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which turned Redford, already in his early 30s, into a major film star to rival Rudolph Valentino,...

 

"The Addams Family" TV series is now fifty years old. Life magazine covered the casting sessions of the series back in the day and have just published rare photos from those sessions, many of which have never been printed before. The sheer perfection of the final cast indicates the value of those unsung heroes, casting directors. It would be inconceivable to associate other actors with the roles, but it is fascinating to look at images of those who were in contention. By the way, did you know that Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch, also doubled as the disembodied hand known as "Thing"??? Click here to read.

Last weekend was kind of a lull in the summer movie death match. Sure, Disney's mega-budgeted "Maleficent" and whatever "A Million Ways to Die in the West" was supposed to be opened wide, but neither one was exactly a juggernaut worthy of the bloody gladiatorial race. (And, somewhat predictably, their box office numbers bore this out.)

This week, there are a couple of new contestants: "The Fault in Our Stars," a Ya melodrama starring Shailene Woodley as a young cancer patient, and "Edge of Tomorrow," starring Tom Cruise in a nifty "Groundhog Day"-meets-"Starship Troopers" plot that has Cruise falling victim to an intergalactic time loop that allows him to die, again and again, on a battlefield against an invading army race. (Emily Blunt is a fellow warrior who has suffered similar effects.)

This is Cruise's second sci-fi movie in a row, following last year's big-budget video art installation "Oblivion,...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

Vinegar Syndrome has released another "Peekarama" double feature of hardcore retro porn from the 1970s. In the amusingly garish packaging, it promises both features are "Full Color, Widescreen" as though the productions were directed by John Ford. First up is Deep Roots, which has to be the only attempt to mingle Alex Haley's landmark bestseller and TV mini-series with the peculiar oral talents of Linda Lovelace. Such creative marketing has long been a mainstay of the porn business which always incorporated the latest social phenomenons into grind house productions. Remember On Golden Blonde and Romancing the Bone?  Deep Roots presents top-liner Jesse Chacan as Billy, a beefy, good-looking Native American guy who is bored with life on the reservation. He inherits a house in L.A. and decides to move there. The opening sequences actually boast some real production values and some relatively impressive camerawork as...

A Planet Fury-approved selection of notable genre releases for April.

John Dies at the End (2012) Magnolia Home Entertainment Blu-ray and DVD Available Now

Finally, a new Don Coscarelli movie! After years of waiting, the cult auteur comes back with a lively adaptation of David Wong’s popular novel. A drug that induces an out-of-body experience sends its users across time and other dimensions. When some of them come back not quite human, an otherworldly invasion is set into motion. Suddenly, college dropouts John (Rob Mayes) and Dave (Chase Williamson) find themselves in an epic battle to save the world. Coscarelli’s surreal visual flair and black comic bent are in full effect here. Hopefully, its critical success will ensure that the beloved filmmaker won't have to wait another ten years to make a film.

Special Features:

· Feature-length audio commentary by Coscarelli, Williamson, Mayes and producer Brad Baruh

· Seven deleted...

Compilation albums are great fun, aren’t they? I’ve talked at some length before about them, and how they can be hit or miss with their intended audiences. Silva Screen Records’ latest offering – Super Themes – is no different, but it does contain a lot of really great tunes that the cult fan will appreciate having in their collection. While there are some moments where you just want to know what the criteria was in order to be picked, some are really spot-on.

The two-disk set is chock full of goodies spanning the last 40-plus years of superhero television and movies, and much of it is great. From the swinging sixties we have jazz composer Neal Hefti’s surf guitar theme for Batman, which is one of those guilty pleasures every geek can enjoy. In fact, this rounds out the first seven tracks of the album, all of which are...

I don’t want to alarm you, but 2012 is almost half over. Fireworks are right around the corner, and then school starts up again. Before you know it, the kids will be moving out of the house, and you’re screaming at the neighbor’s kid whose Whiffle ball keeps landing in your yard. All we are is dust in the wind, man. Fortunately, some reliable TV friends are back to hold our hands through the rest of the summer. Matt LeBlanc checks back in, as “Matt LeBlanc” on Episodes. Louis C.K.’s show returns to FX better than ever...

Hanna-Barbera ruled Saturday morning television in the 1960s, cannily finding trends and adapting them to their pint-sized audience. Working in tandem with CBS Saturday morning chief Fred Silverman, they spotted a fad and capitalized on it. As the lids were galvanized by the super-hero trend which led to ABC’s surprise smash success with Batman in January 1966, it is little surprise that the fall 1966 cartoon season was festooned with colorful heroic figures. Among the dozen new series to debut that September there was Filmation’s earliest offerings: The Lone Ranger and The New Adventures of Superman, plus H-b’s Space Ghost and Dino Boy, The Super Six, and, notably, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles. The latter series was split evenly between the two properties, each offering something for its viewers. The former show was about boy genius Buzz Conray (Dick Beals), who constructed the thirty-foot tall robot improbably dubbed Frankenstein Jr.

Film Chest has announced plans to release three classic horror flicks on Blu-Ray, all remastered to HD for the first time.  Hit the jump to see the goodies. Poor Pretty Eddie is classic "hicksploitation" about a woman whose car breaks down on a road trip, leaving her at the mercy of a creepy mechanic, pervy sheriff, Elvis impersonator, and a motel owner named Bertha (have you ever met a normal Bertha?).  The flick has surprising star power: Leslie Uggams (Roots), Shelley Winters (A Place in the Sun), Slim Pickens (The Howling), and Ted Cassidy (The Munsters).   Dementia 13 was considered Francis Ford Coppola's first legitimate, mainstream film, even though it was produced by...

While the rest of you were watching the Golden Globes, Seth McFarlane was going back to mining his childhood for laughs. Boy, it sure seems like that new Hulk TV series is getting more and more inevitable, ain't it?

Useless trivia/weird coincidence of the day: the narration of the original credits were done by Ted Cassidy, who, although best known for saying "You rang?" as Lurch in The Addams Family TV series, had other connections to Marvel Comics-- he was the voice of the Thing in the Fantastic Four animated series from 1978, and the voice of Galactus in the series before that. And if that's not enough comics work, he also did the voices for Black Manta and Brainiac in Challenge Of The Super Friends.

Next to Vader this is the single coolest thing on the countdown in my opinion. When this came out every school boy in America was abuzz with the idea that someday, if we were lucky, we might get into a horrific accident and have body parts replaced by bionic hardware. That was the difference between Steve Austin and every other superhero out there- the possibility that someday he might really exist.The show ran from 1974 to 1978. 

For the uninitiated Steve Austin was an astronaut who crashed an experimental craft losing an eye, an arm and both legs. The opening of the show featured the crash, footage of an operating theater and this monologue by Oscar Goldman the man who became Steves handler: 

Steve Austin, astronaut: a man barely alive

Gentlemen we can rebuild him

We have the technology

We have the capability to make the worlds first bionic man

Steve Austin...

Back in the days after the dinosaurs died out, Saturday mornings meant all three networks would run children’s programming from as early as 7:30 until noon or so. Every fall, as we started a new school year, we eagerly anticipated what new animated fare there might be and were mesmerized by the cartoon antics of anthropomorphic animals, adventurous humans and some downright silly-looking monsters. The baby boomers born at the end of the generation were raised on this diet animated diet as it proved cheaper to produce than live-action fare.

Warner Home Video has collected a wonderful sampling of those shows in Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1 , going on sale Tuesday. There are 12 different series presented on two discs, providing me with five hours or reliving my childhood.

Back in the day, with few channels to pick from, we would watch these shows endlessly, repeated throughout the year and...

The original TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno is a huge part of the latest film about the mean green giant - he provided the grunts and roars for Edward Norton's angry alter-ego.

Ferrigno, who also plays a pizza-loving security guard in the new blockbuster, never got the chance to give The Hulk a voice in the original 1970s TV series or the much-maligned 2003 movie adaptation but he's more than making up for it now.

The 56-year-old bodybuilder says, "The (original) growl was done by Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch on The Addams Family."

Ferrigno's voice track was one of the last things to be completed for The Incredible HUlk, which hit the top of the U.S. box office at the weekend.

He adds, "I just recorded the voice for the film two-and-a-half months ago."...