Aaron Sorkin, fresh off the draft of the Facebook movie presumably, has signed on to do a rewrite of the Moneyball scriptto get things back on track. Uh...holla! This is awesome. Sorkin + sports + strategy + jargony insider stuff = the dream. Also, Brad Pitt speaking in Sorkinese might be my new most-treasured fantasy.
The Moneyballmovie has been tough to get off the ground: The book, while fantastic, never screamed "make me a movie," unless you really and truly love statistics. Then Steven Soderbergh abruptly left the project when he and the studio disagreed on the direction (ho, ho) the film was taking. But the power of baseball endures! All is not lost!
I actually doreally and truly love statistics (math majors in the haaa-ooowwws!), so I was going to see Moneyball no matter what, but now I'm actually excited. There's a really human story at the center of all the business and strategy in the book, and Sorkin's calling card is weaving emotion and narrative into otherwise dry material. Here's a clip from Sports Nightin which Dan describes one of his favorite sports moments of all time, and if Sorkin's Moneyball can capture some of that enthusiasm and raw devotion, it will trump Bull Durham as my favorite baseball movie.
Who's with me, PopWatchers? Are you going to step up to the plate on this one, or are you going to stay on the bench? More baseball metaphors, you say? Oh, there are so many I just can't get the bat off my shoulder.
ABC's revival of The Superstars premiered last week, and it's on again tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who dabbles in both ballroom dancing and dropping by our office, is currently in first place with his partner, freeskiing star Kristi Leskinen. (He's the "celebrity" and she's the "athlete," which must really boil his blood, so it's a good thing he's in the water.) I watched the premiere out of devotion to my fake DWTS boyfriend, assuming it'd be incredibly lame. The whole thing is basically an advertisement for Atlantis Resort and Casino disguised as a giant obstacle course, so it's already ridiculous just on principle. And it is pretty dumb, to be honest, but in a totally benign, Wipeout-y kind of way -- so stupid it's oddly calming. At one point, I realized I was willingly spending my life watching 16 random people "white water raft" down a man-made lazy river and thought to myself, "Why would you do this?" But maybe a better question, especially during these troubled times, is "Why wouldn't you do this?" After all, silly self, it's Maks. [BIG SPLASH.]
Anyone else tuning in to Superstars tonight? Joanna Krupa and Terrell Owens are back because Jennifer Capriati got injured, so maybe Joanna can completely wig out on T.O. again for being too big and slow to navigate his behemoth body through a complicated barricade. Just be sure to hit mute whenever Ali Landry appears on-screen. God, her voice is annoying.
I'm not doing a great job selling this show, huh? Should've just left it at "I mean why not?"
ABC Family has a crazy new gymnastics series called Make It Or Break It. On the second episode, which aired last night, Payson (the blonde) and Emily ("some indie aging Hannah Montana type," according to her hot Pizza Shack coworker, who gives me a Christian-from-Clueless vibe but less gay) thwarted a group of scary gas station hecklers merely by tumbling towards them. It's officially ABC Family's best action scene in recent history...unless you're partial to the recent sorority dodgeball showdown on Greek.
Anyone else watching Make It Or Break It? Candace Cameron Bure (TV's Deej) plays the brattiest gymnast's dad's girlfriend, and Peri Gilpin (Roz from Frasier) is another girl's mom. And Payson practices her arm flourishes -- complete with "I'm so jazzed" facial expressions -- while lying in bed. I do believe you may need to tune in.
"How very"...encouraging. After months of speculation, Winona Ryder said in an interview appearing in the July issue of Empire that a sequel to the 1988 cult film is in the works. "I swear to God," she said. "But for some reason Dan [Waters, writer] and Michael [Lehmann, director] don't want to talk about it." Maybe you shouldn't be talking about it then, lady! Oh, but she went on. "There is a story, and Christian [Slater] has agreed to come back as a kind of Obi-Wan character."
This just got good. When I first heard rumors of a "new Heathers," I imagined a pointless remake along the lines of Footloose or the recently announced Girls Just Want To Have Fun. But a sequel? I love Heathers more than I love BBQ Corn Nuts, but how exactly might a Heathers sequel work? If J.D. has become an Obi-Wan type, will Shannen Doherty play a droid who manages a vintage shop specializing in late-'80s fashion hats? Will the teen queens abandon croquet for Wii Croquet?
Who else would be psyched for a freaky-sounding Heathers sequel? Or Wii Croquet? I'm digging Wii Croquet. You could choose which Heather (or Veronica) you wanted to be. And which color. Except red. Heather Chandler is always red.
Mr. T emerged from TV Land obscurity to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and sing during the seventh inning stretch at the Chicago Cubs game last night. The southpaw's huge rainbow lob fell well outside the strike zone (his throwing style is similar to his speech: halting and mildly humorous), but he did deliver a fairly solid rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" that included the line "For it's one! Two! Three strikes you out..." and one of his vintage "uhhhhhhrrr" growls. I'm not sure what Mr. T's old school buddies think of the Southside native showing up at Wrigley to support Chicago's cuddily Northside team (or of his billowy red, white, and blue Zubas). But White Sox fans had the last laugh anyway: Not even T's rally cry of "I pity the Pirates!" could prevent the Cubs from losing the game 10-8.
Monday Night Football is about to undergo another facelift. (And a hair implant.) Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden will replace noted bald man and flying phobe Tony Kornheiser (Pardon the Interruption) in the ESPN booth, beginning this August. Kornheiser, an award-winning newspaper columnist who routinely half-joked about his on-air shortcomings since joining the program in 2006, cited his fear of flying as the reason for his resignation.
But the shakeup continues a long exercise in broadcast-booth Sudoku, as jumpy networks pursue creative casting to win higher ratings. (Remember Dennis Miller?) Kornheiser never really seemed comfortable in a crowded booth with Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski, and the Gruden hire is the anti-gimmick. Though he has no major experience in broadcasting, Gruden is photogenic, articulate, and he knows his stuff, having led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFL title in 2002-03. But unless he regularly puts Jaworski in a headlock to stifle his analysis, Gruden should have no impact on ESPN's ratings.
Really, who's ever watched or not watched a sporting event based on the announcer? Especially a telecast as ritualistic as Monday Night Football. Seems obvious, right? The only people who seem not to understand this are the network execs tasked with wringing one more dollar from their broadcasts. They're doomed to a quixotic quest to recapture the 1970s ratings juggernaut when Howard Cosell and Don Meredith routinely jousted in the press box. But those days of (three-network) television are long gone. If they really want to increase ratings, maybe ESPN and NBC, which airs Sunday Night Football, should start thinking outside the box again. (Since the NFL switched its marquee game from Monday to Sunday night in 2006, the games have collectively drawn an additional three million viewers each week, according to Nielsen.) My suggestion this time: No commercials in the fourth quarter. Think that's crazy? Heck, World Cup soccer eschews commercial breaks altogether. Substitute the endless breaks with a small Budweiser icon in the top-left corner of the TV screen, and let the big uglies play. People just might stay up and tune in.
Of course, I could be wrong. Will Gruden-for-Kornheiser make any impact on your football viewing? Are there any sports announcers that compel you to turn off your favorite team? Would a commercial-free last quarter encourage you to stay up for the end of games? PopWatchers, you are on the clock!
Perhaps, like me, you spent most of your weekend clutching a Daily Racing Form and screaming so loudly at the television that your neighbors may or may not have considered dialing 911. Some might call it insanity. I call it Kentucky Derby Fever. But while the romping victory by mega-longshot Mine That Bird in the race known as "the most exciting two minutes in sports" was awfully entertaining -- thanks in large part to jockey Calvin Borel's effusive, emotional ride back to the winners' circle -- it was Rachel Alexandra's jaw-dropping win on Friday in the Derby's distaff counterpart, the Kentucky Oaks, that makes for can't-miss video. I could go on and on for 1,000 words why horses are the planet's most awe-inspiring creatures, but really, the video below says it all. (Side note: Borel also rode Rachel Alexandra to her big win, making him only the seventh jockey in history to record an Oaks-Derby double in the same year.) After the jump, check out Mine That Bird's unlikely win, as well as four other stretch drives that have taken my breath away in recent decades, then list your own favorite horse-racing moments in the comments section below.
Is the following an adorable Danish polita ritual (that would totally be considered sexual harassment in the U.S.) or a rare deleted scene from Love Actually? You make the call. I'm busy packing up my life in order to transport it to Scandinavia.
Before we get to those names, here's a quick refresher course for anyone too young to remember the glorious slab of network cheese that ABC drizzled on Americans back in the Carter era. Each week, a strange group of professional athletes would show up at some beach resort in snug nylon shorty shorts and tank tops (this was before Richard Simmons' heyday, mind you) and compete in an even stranger assortment of sporting competitions: paddling a rubber float the length of an Olympic swimming pool, the 100-yard dash, weightlifting, and, the coup de grace, the obstacle course -- a Rube Goldbergy gauntlet that looked as ornate as the Obama girls' new White House swing set.
The actual events were pretty uneventful. No, what made the show catnip to any kid watching at home was the eclectic group of guests gathered at this televised cocktail party: Lou Ferrigno, Mark Gastineau, O.J. Simpson. It was like the Olympics if the Olympics were run by Larry Flynt. Soon, there was even a celebrity pseudo-spin-off called Battle of the Network Stars, which was hosted by Howard Cosell and always seemed to involve Gabe Kaplan to a weirdly obsessive degree. The premise of that show was to pit the stars of the big three networks' biggest prime-time shows against each other. An awesome premise, which is almost impossible to imagine today. I mean, can you even picture McSteamy throwing a javelin against Ben Linus from Lost? Their agents would keel over!
Today's biggest and juiciest bit of Hollywood casting news was the announcement that the Dark Knight himself, Christian Bale, would be joining Mark Wahlberg in the ring for David O. Russell's boxing flick, The Fighter. And while I'll admit that I'd watch that trio of boldfaced talents tackle just about anything, the news didn't really come as surprise to me. Why? Because I'm obsessed with HBO's great documentary boxing series, Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7. The show, which airs on Saturday nights, is basically a promotional lead-up to the May 2 fight between Filipino fireplug Manny Pacquiao and Mancunian muscleman Ricky Hatton. But it's also unexpectedly moving. Especially the bits that deal with Pacquiao's trainer -- a sweetheart of a guy who's fighting a battle of his own, one that he suspects he won't win, with Parkinson's Disease.
But back to Bale and Wahlberg. On last week's episode, the two Hollywood stars were caught briefly by the camera standing ringside watching one of the fighter's spar. But they weren't just watching, they were staring, studying. It didn't take a Ph.D. to do the math. Anyone who knew that Wahlberg was slated to star in The Fighter, and also knew that Brad Pitt and Matt Damon had fallen out of the project, could've put two and two together: Bale was now the guy. So now it's confirmed.
I suspect that Bale will bring out the best in Wahlberg, an actor who can be great when he's surrounded by actors better than himself and not so great when he's not. That is, if the toxic combination of Bale and director Russell (two legendarily intense tantrum throwers) can be tamed.
In the meantime, I'm going to keep watching Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7 -- not just because I'm looking for more cameos from Bale and Wahlberg, but also because it's one of the best shows on cable right now.
Have you seen the show? What do you think? And what do you think of the Bale/Wahlberg teaming?
In case you missed it, 
Today's biggest and juiciest bit of Hollywood casting news was the announcement that the Dark Knight himself, 
