New Kids! New Edition! New Duet!
In what could be the greatest collaboration since Superman and Batman formed the Justice League, the reunited New Kids on the Block have teamed up with the reunited New Edition to save the worldor at least make thirtysomething suburban moms swoon.
“Donnie Wahlberg had this idea for a few months, looking for that one track for all of them,” producer Nadir “RedOne” Khawat tells People. “And I think we found it.”
The track, “Full Service,” was recorded last week and is set to appear on NKOTB’s upcoming album.
“It sounds very universal and melodic and has both sides in it: the R&B, which is New Edition, and the pop side for New Kids,” adds RedOne, calling the song “very uplifting.”
Whaddya think: Is “Full Service” going to lift up the oldsters to the top of charts or over the shark? Comment away…
Guess who’s returning to Smallville
Stop reading now if you don’t want to be spoiled regarding the beginning of season eight of Smallville. We already know that the new season takes a different direction, as Lana Lang goes part-time, Lex Luthor is gone and Doomsday is in. At least Allison Mack is staying.
Spoilers after the jump …
The Justice League returns to Smallville at the beginning of next season. They are searching for the missing Clark Kent. For those who are unaware, Clark was buried in ice when the Fortress of Solitude collapsed on both him and Lex at the end of last season.
Justin Hartley (a.k.a. Oliver Queen/Green Arrow) is locked in for 12 episodes. Aquaman, Black Canary and the Martian Manhunter (Alan Ritchson, Alaina Huffman and Phil Morris) are also slated for appearances.
“This season’s theme is “double identities,” says Kelly Souders, who will be running the show with Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer after the departure of series’ creators Al Gough and Miles Millar. “It’s about the Superman identity emerging as Clark Kent tries to maintain a normal life - or the appearance of a normal life.”
Nine biggest Super Friends mysteries - VIDEO
Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.
Even when I was a little kid, there were some things about the Super Friends (or Superfriends or Superamigos, or whatever they were calling it) that didn’t sit right with me. Maybe it was because the confluence of superpowers all in one place just boggled my young mind. Maybe it was the mysterious change from Wendy and Marvin to the Wonder Twins that made me scratch my tiny noggin. Not sure. But those mysteries continue to fascinate me, even into adulthood. It’s just that those mysteries are more sophisticated:
1. How did the Super Friends have time to hang out at the Hall of Justice? Every one of the SFs lived in different parts of the country: Batman and Robin were in Gotham City, for instance. So, did B&R commute from Gotham to Metropolis a few times per week? Did they use the Bat Plane or the Batmobile most of the time? Did they claim the mileage on their taxes?
2. Come to think of it, why was the HOJ in Metropolis? Did all of the Justice League just give in to some (pretty forceful) arm twisting from Superman? Did Supe consider how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be for the rest of the SFs to get to the HOJ? I mean, even in the Seventies, fuel for Wonder Woman’s invisible jet wasn’t that cheap. Almost every one of the other SFs were mere mortals with a particular power, which means they had to use a mechanical method of transport: Batman had a car, plane and motorcycle; WW had that plane; Aquaman swam; Green Lantern and Black Falcon Vulcan… walked (we never really know, do we?).
Superman, however, could instantly fly to wherever he needed, no plane or helicopter or other vehicle required. Why did he require everyone to come to him? Perhaps they didn’t like to speak up at the meetings.
3. Why did the SFs always seem to be standing around waiting for the computer to pop up with a problem? After all, there had to have been disasters to avert and evil people to defeat all over the planet. You’d think that the only person manning the computer at the HOJ would have been a dispatcher of sorts, letting the SFs know what’s going on by radio. But it seemed like we saw a lot of the SFs just standing around or playing chess while chaos was going on. For a bunch of superheroes, they weren’t a very proactive group, were they?
4. Did the SFs get a tax break on the Hall Of Justice? That’s an awfully big complex there, and it was right in the middle of Metropolis. Did the government own it and lend it to the Justice League? Or did Superman own it and lease it out to his Justice League LLC? Since the SFs never got paid for their work, I can’t see how they ever paid property taxes on the place. Heck, I don’t even know how they paid for maintenance; that huge computer must have blown a vacuum tube at least once a month.
5. Why didn’t we ever see the SFs’ alter egos? Wasn’t the whole point about all of these characters that they had to live life every day trying to shield their powers, only to unleash them when disaster calls? If you just watched the Super Friends, you’d never know that Superman was Clark Kent, Wonder Woman was Diana Prince, Batman was Bruce Wayne and Green Lantern was … whoever he was at the time (he’s had a number of alter egos).
6. Did the Wonder Twins ever try changing into something else? Zan was always a form of water. Jayna was always some sort of animal. Was this something that they just knew to do from birth? Or did they at one time try to turn into something else and just failed? Did Zan try to be a ring of fire, or Zayna be a machine gun? I always wondered why they limited their transformation possibilities so much. Seems like a lack of ambition to me. Pheh. Typical teenagers.
(By the way, one of my favoirte Scrubs jokes is when J.D. and Turk do their Wonder Twins thing and Zach Braff ad-libs “form of… an ice menorah!”)
7. Were Penguin and The Joker too good for the Legion of Doom? These are Batman’s two most vexing enemies. Yet they only made occasional appearances on the Super Friends, and almost never with the Legion of Doom. The only one of Batman’s enemies that made it was The Riddler. It makes me wonder why. Did Joker and Penguin look down on the LOD? Maybe they thought their plots were pointless and silly. Or maybe they thought that meeting in a swamp was de classe. Not sure. Maybe the LOD didn’t like them.
8. Didn’t the EPA go after the Legion of Doom for having their HQ in a swamp? Every time that Darth Vader-looking thing rose out of the swamp, I wondered how many birds were being scattered, how many alligators would fall off the roof, and just how many rare orchids were torn to pieces. OK, I never worried about any of that. But still, it makes you wonder why the government, even if they couldn’t snag any of the LOD on their various crimes, couldn’t have at least gotten them for building in a designated wetlands region.
9. Why didn’t anyone have pants? Didn’t it get cold in some of the places where the SFs and their enemies fought it out? I mean, look at what Wonder Woman had to wear … a bodice, a pair of boots and some bracelets! Didn’t anyone get cold?
Oh, and the LOD was even worse, as this old ad from the Cartoon Network points out:
Dana Delany back on Wisteria Lane next season
We learned yesterday that ABC’s Desperate Housewives will be back for season five next fall, in its same time-slot of Sunday at 9 p.m. I’m sure creator Marc Cherry has stocked up on Tums in the past few years, as the series waffled between must-see and mediocrity. Right now, it’s somewhere in the middle, although I’ve made a point to watch every week, so that says something right there.
ET Online is breaking news tonight that Dana Delany will be returning to the series in the fall. Although no storyline has been as compelling as the murder intrigue that super-charged season one, the mystery surrounding Delany’s Katherine Mayfair this season has been mildly interesting.
We know it has something to do with her daughter, Dylan (Lyndsy Fonseca) and ex-husband, Wayne (Gary Cole), who struck up a relationship with Dylan in recent weeks. I must admit, I’m curious enough to make sure the DVR records when the season finale rolls around.
Delany told ET Online today that although her mystery will be solved in the finale (and in Sunday’s episode, Katherine mentioned selling the house and moving away), her character will indeed be back next season. I’ve been a big fan of Delany’s since she played Nurse Colleen McMurphy on China Beach in the 1990s. She’s starred in numerous movies over the years and currently has four feature films in the works.
In recent years, she’s also voiced the part of Lois Lane in the animated Justice League and Batman series. Let’s face it, once you’ve been Lois Lane, everything else is just secondary.
This is also a good place to mention a six degrees thing between Delany and Housewives co-star Teri Hatcher, who played the part of Lois Lane in the 1990s TV series, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Hmmm…any other Superman connections among the Housewives?