I’m always excited for NBC’s Thursday night comedy line-up, but lately something is missing. While Parks and Recreation has become one of the funniest shows on television, The Office just isn’t what it used to be, 30 Rock is winding down, and Community is on “hiatus” with no return date in sight.

However, the Community cast and crew is still hard at work filming. Joining the lineup of the already all-star cast and guest stars is Giancarlo Esposito, known best for his spectacular performance as Gus in AMC’s Breaking Bad.

In Community, Esposito will guest star as Gilbert, a long-time employee of Pierce’s deceased and super racist father Cornelius Hawthorne. Not much more is known except that Gilbert has some news concerning Pierce’s inhertiance, which should be sure to cause some hilarious hijynxs for our favorite students at Greendale Community College. Esposito is an amazing actor but we’ve only really seen him as super serious Gus, so it’ll be interesting to see him take on a more comedic role.

So far, there’s no concrete details on if, or when Community will return to NBC. And while it’s awesome that remaining epsiodes are still being shot and could just end up straight to DVD, I hope the show comes back on the air. In the meantime, we’ll just have to make do with little tidbits of news like this, as well as the rest of the Thursday night lineup, which is still pretty funny.

As is the usual practice almost anywhere were column inches or post counts matter, writers such as myself take to their keyboards and make lists. I am no exception and, with a great deal of difficulty and toil, have managed to cobble together a list of what I think are some of the best things of 2011.

I don’t really want to bore you with a lot of explanations as to why I picked what I did. Suffice it to say these picks are mine and mine alone. Also, they are not in any particular order, mostly because I find it hard to rank them that closely. Or, I was just too lazy.

Either way, here you go.

Movies

Drive
The Artist
Attack the Block
X-Men: First Class
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Descendants
Thunder Soul
13 Assassins
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hugo

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Even though this is technically a blog, we like to think of ourselves primarily as writers here at The Flickcast. Many of us have even been paid to write over the years and you can bet that pretty much everyone here has one or two screenplays, comic books or other literary works they are currently working on. It’s just the nature of things.

So, when the Writer’s Guild of America announces the nominations for outstanding writing for Television, we take notice and bring you all the details. That’s especially true when the top nominees are shows we really like.

One such show is Showtime’s freshman drama Homeland, which received 3 nominations including best drama series, best new series and best episodic drama. Homeland tied with perennial favorites Modern Family, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire for the most nominations.

In addition to Homeland, Game Of Thrones, The Killing, New Girl and the Matt LeBlanc comedy Episodes all received nominations with Showtime getting a first time record of six for its shows. You may be wondering where Mad Men is in all of this?

Sadly, as the fifth season of the show was delayed, it didn’t make the cut for eligibility for this year’s awards. That’s probably okay as it gives a few other shows, like Homeland and Game of Thrones, a chance to shine. Can’t have Mad Men taking up all the awards, now can we?

The winners will be announced at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 19, 2012, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York. Click through for the full list of nominee.

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Last night, those in the Los Angeles area were treated to a nice surprise. The hip folks over at Cinefamily’s Silent Movie Theater premiered the full miniseries of Adult Swim’s newest live action comedy, The Heart, She Holler. Opening to a packed house, the show definitely hit it big with this audience, incest jokes and all.

The show comes from the Vernon Chatman, the brilliantly twisted mind behind shows like Wonder Showzen and Xavier Renegade Angel. If you think you know anything about how Adult Swim picks their new content, you don’t know anything about this show. Here’s a brief synopsis that does little-to-no justice to the madness of the show.

Boss Hoss Heartshe owns 98.5% of Heartshe Holler and keeps the other 1.5% in a hidey hole.  Upon his death, the hole is opened to reveal a secret son, Hurlan. Watch as his blood grubbing heirs Hurshe, the coquettish daughter closest to Hoss’ heart and nether regions and Hambrosia, Hoss’ other only child with a fearsome ability to scorch eyeballs with her mental powers, wrestle for every sort of supremacy that power provides. Their miseries and mysteries collide in this first-ever Adult Swim six night miniseries event.

Think Twin Peaks meets Passions with a really sick spin.

We got the chance to sit down with comedy-flavored renaissance man and star of the show, Patton Oswalt, about what to expect from the show, who he doesn’t want to watch the miniseries, and what his problem with DC Entertainment is. Take a look at what he had to say after the jump.

Catch the premiere of The Heart, She Holler on Adult Swim Sunday, November 6th at 12:30am, followed by new episodes every night next week, and repeating every day this month.

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We love how Batman and Bruce Wayne have been portrayed over the years. Whether it’s whimsical and lighthearted as played by Adam West and Diedrich Bader, or dark and mysterious as played by Kevin Conroy and Christian Bale.

Now we’re getting an interesting look for the first time, as Ben McKenzie portrays Bruce Wayne as a pompous, young playboy. At least that’s what we’re getting in this brand new clip from Warner Home Video’s Batman: Year One.

Taken straight from Frank Miller’s Year One story arc from 1987 in which we follow the years from when Bruce Wayne donned the cape and cowl and decided to fight crime. Here, we get a far less confident and mysterious Bruce Wayne, and much more of the billionaire playboy philanthropist that we never got to see.

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Warner Home Video seems to be an unstoppable juggernaut of quality animated content over the past few years. From getting their start with Justice League Unlimited to continuing in the trend with several major DVD and Blu-Ray releases a year featuring some of our favorite DC characters, there doesn’t seem to be a stop to how good these animated adaptations can get.

And the hits keep coming this month, as they release an adaptation of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One comic in a feature-length film. You can expect this one to get pretty gritty, considering the source material, as well as some of the huge names they have for the cast.

Batman: Year One is based on the landmark 1987 DC Comics titles from 12-time Eisner Award winner Frank Miller and illustrator David Mazzucchelli. The film depicts young Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham City in his first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante. The playboy billionaire chooses the guise of a giant bat to combat crime, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon (who is already battling corruption from inside the police department), inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a crooked political system that infests Gotham.

Primetime television stars Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Ben McKenzie (Southland, The O.C.), Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) provide the core voices for Batman: Year One.

Check out the exclusive clip, as well as how to get your hand on the film early after the jump.

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Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• Now that Transformers 3 has made some of the most money in theaters this year, a few people are claiming that Michael Bay ripped himself off with re-rendered scenes from The Island.

• Who needs new formulas when we’ve got something as classic and plentiful as the Final Destination franchise. Here’s an example with the newest trailer for #5.

• Ladies, swimsuit season is right around the corner, and with these Monster Bikinis, you’ll definitely be the talk of the geeky town.

• Forbes recently uncovered that Sarah Jessica Parker is the highest paid actress in Hollywood. The weird part is that she’s only payed in sugar cubes and carrots…

• Sad to see a few favorites on this list, but here are the top 10 biggest flops of 2011 so far. (We still have to get through Captain America)

• Jon Hamm is a man of many emotions, and you can see them all in the Jon Hamm Emotions Challenge!

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Some of the best scripted TV isn’t found on free cable anymore, it’s found in shows like The Killing, Game of Thrones and dozens of other shows found in the high cable channels like AMC, HBO, FX, and Showtime. One of those epic dramas is AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Hitting their fourth season on July 17th, Breaking Bad is getting as hard-hitting and inexplicable as ever as we follow the downward spiral (or eye-opening rebirth) of Walter White. For those who still haven’t gotten the chance to catch the show, here’s a brief rundown to bring you up to speed.

Breaking Bad follows protagonist Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Anna Gunn) and teenage son (RJ Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years to live. With a new sense of fearlessness, and a desire to secure his family’s financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime, where he ascends to power. The series explores how a fatal diagnosis, such as White’s, releases a typical man from the daily concerns and constraints of normal society and follows his transformation from mild family man to kingpin of the drug trade.

The first trailer for the fourth season has finally hit the web, and we’ve got it for you. Check it out after the jump and be sure to stick to AMC as the next season premieres on July 17th.

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It’s nice to see talented actors who deserve recognition and more work get both. One such actor is Emmy winner Bryan Cranston, who currently stars in the AMC TV series Breaking Bad as a High School science teacher who decides cooking meth is a better way to make ends meet.

Now, Cranston is poised to further expand the diversity of his work and is all but cast as the bad guy in the Len Wiseman directed remake of Total Recall. Colin Farrell is starring in the sci-fi action movie, which is a retelling of the film made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990 original.

In case you’re not familiar with it, Total Recall centers on a man haunted by a recurring dream of a visit to Mars. As he investigates, he remembers being a secret agent who fought against the evil administrator of Mars.

The new version is said to be closer to Philip K. Dick’s short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale on which both movies are based. Cranston is perfect for the bad guy and will do a terrific job in the film.

AMC is at it again with a new, intriguing show that looks to take its place among their best offerings such as The Walking Dead, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The new show, called The Killing, is based on a successful Danish television series called Forbrydelsen, and tells the story of the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation.

It “ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victim’s grieving family, and the suspects.” It also “explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they’ve moved on, their past isn’t done with them.”

We’ve got a new trailer for the show to share with you today which looks pretty darn interesting. Check out the first look after the break.

The Killing debuts on  April 3rd on AMC.

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With shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead on its roster, AMC has become one of the leading TV networks for drama these days. Now, the network is at it again with a new show called The Killing, which hopes to take its place alongside these other great shows.

The series, which is based on a successful Danish television series called Forbrydelsen, tells the story of the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation. It “ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victim’s grieving family, and the suspects.”

It also “explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they’ve moved on, their past isn’t done with them.” Hmm, could be interesting.

The series premieres on Sunday, April 3rd on AMC. Until then, check out a much larger look at the show’s poster after the jump.

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As we approach the end of 2010, we will naturally see list start to appear. List of best movies, best TV shows, best video games, best gadgets and tech and a whole lot more. In fact, you’ll see a few lists from us pretty soon too. It’s just how this end-of-the-year thing works these days.

Until we start to roll out our own lists, we have one for you to kick things off. This one comes from the American Film Institute and highlight their picks of the best Movies and TV programs for 2010. When you read over their selections, most of them pretty much make sense.

Most of the films and most of the TV programs listed here are among our favorites as well and all are of a high quality. Of course, on every list there’s always some items that don’t seem to belong. However, we won’t disparage the AFI’s list, we will just counter with a list of our own (or three) soon.

Here are AFI’s picks:

Movies

• BLACK SWAN
• THE FIGHTER
• INCEPTION
• THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
• 127 HOURS
• THE SOCIAL NETWORK
• THE TOWN
• TOY STORY 3
• TRUE GRIT
• WINTER’S BONE

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