Dr. House is one of the most interesting and complex TV characters of the last decade. Originally a thinly veiled medical Sherlock Holmes, House has become one of the best formulaic Doctor shows that is always willing to shatter it’s characters in exciting and unexpected ways.

Fox announced yesterday that the current season of House will in fact be it’s last. Despite strong ratings the show continues to be increasingly expensive as each season passes, and like 24 before it, Fox wanted to cut costs and end the popular drama before it grew to stale.

This news will be no surprise to the creative crew of the show. Fox originally wanted to end the series last year, but brought the show back for one more season. The team behind the show have already gone on record that they will end the series with some sort of satisfying conclusion.

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The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a lot like the Golden Globes. It is an honor in and of itself, but it is often awarded to someone whose project has a large advertising budget. This causes many cynics out there to feel it has no merit at all, but at the end of the day it is an honor and is part of the fabric of Hollywood.

The 2,459th star to adorn Hollywood Blvd is officially going to The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Just in time for the 500th episode airing in two weeks, Groening will be honored with a star devoted entirely to him. A previous star honoring the Simpsons themselves already lines the famed street, close to where Groenings own star will soon be located.

Groening has forever left an indelible mark on society.   Voted the “Best Show of the 20^th Century” by Time Magazine, the [Simpsons] has left a path of catch-phrases (Homer’s “D’oh!” and Bart’s “Eat my shorts”) and societal commentary. It has also given birth to a theme park ride and United States postage stamps, personally designed by Groening. He served as producer and writer during the four-year process of the long-awaited hit feature film The Simpsons Movie, released in July 2007.  

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First, Chronicle‘s trailer goes viral, attracting over 8 million views on Youtube. Then they try to capture lightning in a bottle by releasing “flying men” in NYC. That’s right, taking a page straight out of the marketing of Skyline, the studio sent out a few cameramen with Thinkmodo to make the people of New York City experience what it would be like to see some flying heroes in action.

Attaching a camera to a few custom RC planes shaped like people may not sound like a whole lot of fun, but it certainly looked cool. We’ve got to hand it to the marketing team for Chronicle. Between the trailer and this plan, they seem to know exactly who their audience is, and how it is to reach out to them.

To that point, Fox hosted a contest yesterday for a college to get a special screening of the film before it hits theaters. For those that don’t go to one of the lucky schools, here’s a little something to tide you over until opening day. Youtube sensation DeStorm, along with MysteryGuitarMan, has made a video answering Fox’s question, “What would YOU do with telekinesis?” See DeStorm’s answer HERE.

Chronicle, the found footage thriller about a trio of high school students who gain super powers, opens in theatres everywhere February 3rd. Check out the “viral” campaign to convince New Yorkers that men can fly after the jump.

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In a weekend that had tons of free-range beasts, moviegoers had the choice of watching Sam Worthington hang out on a ledge, Vampires take on genetic Werewolves, or Liam Neeson just take on wolves. And it looks like the man and his “particular set of skills” continued to dominate the hearts of men and women everywhere, by bringing The Grey to the #1 spot this weekend with an estimated $20 Million.

Close behind the dramatic man vs. beast tale was the fourth installment of the “Kate Beckinsale in leather” films known as Underworld. Not a terrible second weekend for the flick, as it raked in $12 Million, just halfing its take from last weekend. In the third spot this weekend, Katherine Heigl continues to make mens’ stomaches turn with her One for the Money ”comedy”, which only made $11.7 Million this weekend.

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This past weekend we saw the release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D, the most recent in a string of classic films getting a 3D face lift.  The next big re-release is only a few weeks away with the first of the Star Wars 3D updates. Lucas is starting with Episode One, and is moving on through the franchise with a new re-release every year.

Even though the prequel trilogy lives in infamy among most film fans, the impending arrival of a Star Wars film on the big screen still holds some weight. In advance of the February launch a new set of five posters has hit the web, each with a wildy different design and most of them actually pretty cool.

It is gratifying that the posters excise the existence of Jar Jar Binks completely, although it would have been nice had Jake Lloyd received the same treatment. The upcoming 3D versions of these films represents the greatest perk of the 3D post conversion era we live in.

To have an opportunity to watch classic films on the big screen again in new and exciting ways is an exciting proposition. Hopefully lesser films like the prequel trilogy don’t ruin it before we get back to the original trilogy.

You can see the whole set of new posters after the jump.

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There are 50 scripts out there somewhere, 50 episodes of a TV series that most fan boys can’t wait to see. The Star Wars live action show has been discussed for years, Lucas has the scripts ready but is waiting for technology to be cost effective enough to make a show that looks like the prequel trilogy every single week.

That is a daunting goal, and requires a bit of a waiting period while the world of digital effects catches up. In the mean time small tidbits about the show keep getting dropped like bread crumbs leading us through the forest. In a recent sit down with IGN, Rick McCallum let slip that the working title of the show is Star Wars: Underworld.

What we know so far about the show, is that it takes place in the twenty year gap between Episode III and Episode IV and will revolve around bounty hunters. This is a very intriguing concept for a show, showing the rise of the Galactic Empire from the perspective of the criminals who thrive under it’s rule. It is also very encouraging to hear McCallum discuss the darker nature of the scripts.

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2011 might go down as the year Hollywood finally figured out how to make a great prequel. Between the “X-cellent” X-Men: First Class and Rise of the Planet of the Apes we have seen two high profile franchises recieve a much needed quality boost back into the lime light.

The most impressive part of this movie is the performance of Andy Serkis as Caesar the ape. Millions of words have been written on the subject of his brilliant digital performance, and every single one of them speaks the truth. We are seeing the line between animation and performance blends so much that it is almost impossible to tell the difference.

This Blu-Ray presents the film, and a whole bunch of features that help you understand what exactly went into the astonishing effects work on the film. Of all the films that have come out in the last few years, this is one of the most worthy of a great set of features.

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The Simpsons are the kings of prime time animation. Lasting an astounding twenty-three seasons and counting, The Simpsons is an institution that has spanned generations. So the collecting of these episodes is something that fans have enjoyed since the earliest days of TV on DVD. Fox has been releasing these sets for over a decade now and we find ourselves in an interesting era of the show.

Most people consider these early and mid 2000s seasons of the show to be the worst era during the impressive run. The show seemingly was stale and the spark was missing. At the end of the day the show survived and has since rebounded to become a relevant, often hilarious show.

One of the things I was most excited about when I dug into this set was the plethora of special features. The Simpsons sets have always set the standard for insightful and worthwhile special features, anchored by the amazing cast and crew commentaries that have accompanied every single episode since season one, making over 300 episodes worth of anecdotes, insights and inside knowledge of the creation of an institution.

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Family Guy is a popular show. It has legions of fans who have made it an institution. Once it gets dark outside you can almost certainly find an episode on TV somewhere, and it’s popularity doesn’t seem to be waning. I personally feel it’s hit and miss style of throwing everything on the wall and seeing what sticks makes for an inconsistent show. But credit where credit is due I watch the show all the time, and digging into this set was a generally very pleasant experience.

The show continues on in this ninth volume, which is anchored by one of the better episodes Family Guy has ever produced. ‘And Then There Were Fewer’ is clearly the gem of this collection as it is the inspiration for the box art and menu screens. The set also has some pretty solid special features and, annoyingly, an episode from The Cleveland Show.

Interestingly though this set doesn’t follow along with any typical season order. It includes the end of the eighth season and the beginning of the ninth. I am not sure when the show jumped off of season based sets, but this odd organizational decision makes for a rather frustrating time when looking for specific episodes from specific seasons.

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There is only one thing that George Lucas doesn’t want to make a dime off of, only one thing he wants to see disappear and never brought up again. That would be the horrible, no good, very bad Star Wars Holiday Special which details Chewbacca’s attempt to get home to his family on life day. While we wont get a chance to see the special officially released anytime soon, Chewie is getting back into the holiday spirit.

The cast of Glee welcomed the wookie on set to film his appearance on next week’s Christmas themed episode. One of the series’ stars Matthew Morrison, who is also directing the episode, recently revealed on the Jimmy Kimmel show that the episode will be paying homage to the previously mentioned Star Wars Holiday Special and the Judy Garland Christmas Specials too.

“We called up George Lucas and he gave us Chewbacca. There is only one guy who can officially be Chewbaccca, and he lives in Northern California and they flew him in,” Morrison said. “We had Chewbacca for the day, and it was just great, and we were all taking pictures with him. This is a guy who has been doing it for 12 years.”

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Arrested Development is one of those series not really appreciated in its time. When it was on the air originally, it had rather low ratings and was cancelled by Fox after three seasons. It was a great show but sadly, a lot of people just didn’t “get it.”

Since its original run, the show has enjoyed newfound success in reruns as well as on DVD and Netflix and has attained cult status among those who appreciate great TV. There’s also been talk of a movie version of the series for years as well and now it seems those plans are finally coming to fruition.

But wait, there’s more. According to reports the show’s creator, Mitch Hurtwitz, plans to bring the Emmy-winning series back to television for 9 or 10 episodes before making movie. That’s right, a new series and a movie. Awesome.

Hurwitz didn’t say where the potential series would air but reportedly the two front runners are Netflix, which is looking for original programming, and Showtime, whose new entertainment president David Nevins used to work at Imagine TV and served as an executive producer on the original series.

Original series star Jason Bateman also confirmed the news on Twitter. “It’s true,” he posted. “We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”

Pretty sure he’s not the only one.

When we first brought you news of Kiefer Sutherland’s impending return to TV in the Tim Kring created show Touch, it wasn’t a sure thing the show would make it to the air. The show was just a pilot and even with the people involved it had not been officially picked up by Fox.

Now, that’s changed. The show has been officially picked up to series for midseason with a 13-episode order. In case you’re not familiar with Touch, Sutherland plays a father who discovers his autistic, mute son can predict events before they happen.

Naturally, once Sutherland’s character knows what’s going to happen through his son, he’s obliged to take action. What kind of action?

Well, we will have to wait to find out for sure but the smart money is on seeing some 24-like action as Sutherland’s character is forced to take care of business at all costs. Anyway, we’re happy to see this show is going forward because, believe it or not, we kinda miss 24 and all its over-the-top wackiness.

Click through for the full press release from Fox. Look for Touch to hit the air next March.

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