But Where Was Topanga ...?

More craziness in LA.

So Friday was a big goodbye bash for longtime NBC page Mary, who is leaving LA and heading back home. But anyways, a large flock of pages assembled at Hollywood hotspot Barney's Beanery for the occasion, and a good time was had by all. But two things are of note to you, the curious reader:

1.) Even though I've been to the Beanery twice before, it wasn't until this weekend that I realized that - holy crap - Kendall from MTV's Road Rules works there as a waitress! Man I guess those checks from all those Real World / Road Rules challenges have yet to come through, but still, pretty crazy to be nudged out of the way in the crowded aisles by such a famous face, carrying a tray of drinks no less. I mean, I never usually watched Road Rules, but I did actually watch that season that she was on a few years back because of the great cast. Craziness.

2.) Guess who else was there? Well, some of you may remember a little show called BOY MEETS WORLD. Who am I kidding, if you're between the ages of 15 and 25, you know all about the fabled adventures of Corey Matthews, Shawn, Topanga, and Mr. Feeney. So yeah, BEN SAVAGE himself was at Barney's, just chilling out and chatting up his cousin (!), who happened to be one of our own NBC pages. Watching Fred Savage's little brother cracking jokes to a group of humble nbc pages? Yes, I would call that surreal.

What else?

Saw a free screening of CINDERELLA MAN at Universal. Excellent, excellent movie, maybe my favorite of Ron Howard's so far. Incredible acting by Russell Crowe and Paul Giamati, a classic but still inspired story based on real events, and some of the best and most intense boxing scenes I've ever seen on film. Some interesting historical context is given, and the film hits all the right emotional beats. Sure, it was predictable and a tad formulaic at times, but after the downer that was Million Dollar Baby, this was the boxing film, and the inspirational story, that I was ready and willing to see. Definitely worth checking out. My grade: A -

Met up with former Overexposed writer and current MTV Films intern Dan W for lunch today. Man, I have so many O/X sketches just lying around that could be filmed if some actors and crew were handy. I mean, the fact that such potential classics as The Translyvanian Zoning Board sketch remain unfilmed is, truly, tragic.

Why I watched tonight's return episode of THE 4400 is, like many of the show's plot points, a mystery. For some reason I keep feeling compelled to watch this just to see where they're going with it, since for all the show's faults they do set up some intriguing mysteries. But man, the acting, with a few notable exceptions, is totally bland, and the plot seems to blatantly rip off elements from a plethora of other sci-fi stories, movies and TV shows, including but not limited to The X-Files, Rising Stars, Terminator 2, Lost, X-Men, Planetary, Back to the Future, The Twilight Zone, and, god help us, K-Pax. But that ending wasn't bad, I'm a sucker for time-loop stuff, and sure it was right out of T-2, but kinda cool nonetheless. My grade: C

Looks like X-Men 3 could be in the hands of Rush Hour's Brett Ratner after the sudden departure of director Matthew Vaughn. I say let's give the guy a chance. The Rush Hour movies aren't bad, and the Ratner-directed pilot episode of FOX's fall show Prison Break looks kickass.

And let the hype machine for Batman Begins commence. I was VERY skeptical at first, but the reviews pouring in are overwhelmingly positive, if not downright gushing. And some of these are coming from hardcore fans like the guy who did the Batman: Dead End fanfilm. Now I officially cannot wait for this movie. More Bat-Mania to ensue in the coming days.

Oh by the way, this came as a huge surprise to me since I haven't really been watching any Comedy Central lately. But I'm reading some EW and I see that the comedy troupe STELLA, comprised of some of the comedic geniouses behind MTV's THE STATE and the hilarious WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, is getting its own, all-new scripted show starting this month! Whoah! Michael Showalter, David Wain, and Michael Ian Black on my TV on a channel other than Vh1? Sweeeeeeeet. Now PLEASE let this be a step towards getting The State released on DVD.

Tommorow:

CB for the Tonight Show, which means I'm escorting WILL FERELL to his dressing room. Now I am not a diehard Ferell fan like some of my friends. I wasn't crazy about Old School (thought Anchorman was much funnier) and never liked many of his SNL sketches like the cheerleaders. But there is no denying that the man is a comedic force, and the only proof you need of that is the legendary in it's own time COWBELL SKETCH, which is simply one of the funniest things ever.

Unless I join the witness protection program ...

Later.