Being at home during a pandemic forced us to find new ways to entertain ourselves. One of the ways that’s worked best for us is playing games online. So, in that spirit, we’re kicking off a new series at The Flickcast called What We’re Playing. 

Each week we’ll highlight a game we’re playing at home. For the first installment of What We’re Playing, we turn to an old favorite: Dungeons & Dragons. 

D&D was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and first published in 1974. Since then its popularity grew considerably. Even with a slump in the late 80s and early 90s, D&D is still played by millions of people around the world. That popularity has exploded even more during the last year or two. You can probably guess why.

If you’re not familiar, or have never played, you may wonder “What’s D&D?” For that we turn to Wizards of the Coast, the company who publishes the game. From their official D&D website:

“The core of D&D is storytelling. You and your friends tell a story together, guiding your heroes through quests for treasure, battles with deadly foes, daring rescues, courtly intrigue, and much more.”

Sounds fun, right? Traditionally, D&D is played by a group of friends sitting together at a table. One person is the Dungeon Master, or DM. This person creates and runs the game, spins tales of adventure, plays all non-player characters (or NPCs) and generally is the go-to for all rules and what happens during the campaign.

The players (not the DM) create characters of their own and rollplay them during the game. You can choose from a variety of character occupations including fighter, ranger, rogue or wizard and races such as human, elf, dwarf or halfling. Then, once characters are created, players explore dungeons or ancient ruins, interact with NPCs and creatures like Orcs or Giants and even, yes, fight an actual dragon.

That’s how it’s usually done . . with everyone together around a table. But what if getting together isn’t possible?

The Beverly Hills Cop franchise might not seem like a natural fit for a TV series, there are only so many jokes you can make about a fish out of water. Yet somehow the news that the creator of The Shield and Eddie Murphy are on board makes the concept worth looking at.

We actually heard Eddie Murphy talk about this potential project in a Rolling Stone interview about a year ago, but it seemed more like a pipe dream than an actual factual project. That just changed as Vulture picked up the scoop that Shawn Ryan has joined with Murphy to get this show off the ground:

Multiple industry insiders tell us Ryan, Murphy and Sony Pictures Television have partnered on a small screen adaptation of the massively successful film franchise, and that broadcast networks began hearing their pitch on the spin-off this afternoon. And here’s the kicker: In addition to his main role as an exec producer, Murphy has agreed to an on-camera role in the show.

The potential show would follow Axel Foley’s son as he leaves Detroit to escape from his Father’s shadow. Of course the best way to escape Axel Foley’s shadow is to go to Beverly Hills, a town that he has not had any impact on what so ever. Silly premise aside, the core concept is inoffensive enough and leaves the door open for returns for Axel and every one’s favorite Judge, Reinhold.

Stay peeled to The Flickcast for any updates on this show as it should find its home sooner rather than later.

In case you were not aware, there is a brilliant modernization of Sherlock Holmes on TV right now. Sherlock, the BBC series, tells the tale of the titular detective in a modern London, complete with text messaging, internet teleconferencing and Watson’s blog!

CBS, excited by the prospect of the most famous detective’s ability to work in a modern setting, has set forth on their own take on a 21st century Holmes, and they just nabbed their Watson.

According to Deadline the role of Sherlock’s faithful aide is being filled by a rather surprising choice:

Lucy Liu is set to play Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick in CBS’ drama pilot Elementary, whose tweaks to Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic include switching Watson’s gender to female. The project, written by Robert Doherty, is set in present day and stars Jonny Lee Miller as eccentric Brit Sherlock Holmes, a former consultant to Scotland Yard whose addiction problems led him to a rehab center in New York City.

On one hand, the concept of Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu running around New York as Holmes and Watson actually sounds crazy enough to work. On the other hand, we might be reaching a point of Sherlock Holmes overload, with a TV show and movie series already very much alive.

We at The Flickcast have our fingers crossed that this adaptation goes just bug nutty enough to work along side Sherlock, not against it.

With the recent resurgence of fairy tale themed shows such as NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s own Once Upon a Time, the Disney-owned company is now prepared to launch their second fabled show in the form of a live-action retelling of the children’s classic Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

The pilot will be written by Jonathan E. Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho with Steinberg acting as executive producer with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile. It is also speculated that the series, if picked up, will air after the networks already highly successful Once Upon A Time. This version of the tale is intended as a period piece and will feature a hardboiled princess who develops a connection with a wild beast. No word yet on casting.

As if one Beauty and the Beast show wasn’t enough, the CW has also ordered a reboot of the CBS-produced version which ran on the network from 1987-1989. It starred Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Vincent, a lion-faced creature who wanders the New York sewers and occasionally quotes Shakespeare.

Sherlock Holmes is a popular character these days, between a popular film franchise and an acclaimed BBC TV show, there are several ways to enjoy his particular brand of inductive reasoning. So popular in fact that BBC has ordered up a third round of Sherlock episodes, according to the trustworthy official twitter of show creator Steven Moffat.

Add that popularity with a recent trend of taking quality foreign programming  and re-purposing it for American audiences and it will come as no surprise that CBS has ordered their own Holmes pilot as well. Elementary is planned as a modern take on the classic detective, putting Holmes in the middle of New York City.

This is not the first time a network wanted to put a Holmesian character on the mean streets of the big apple. Law and Order spin-off Criminal Intent was originally conceived as a way to put a detective like Sherlock in the Law and Order universe. That worked well, but the character was only loosely based on Holmes, it will be interesting to see how the character fits into the CBS style drama mold.

Smallville was a smashing success, lasting for a decade and keeping the worlds most well known super hero relevant during one of his weakest eras. The CW would love to rekindle that flame with a brand new hour long drama chronicling another DC comics super hero.

Deadline is reporting that the CW has ordered a pilot for a new series based on Green Arrow, the Robin Hood-ian hero who uses impeccable marksmanship and goofy arrows to thwart villains.

The CW is finalizing a deal for a pilot order to Arrow, an hourlong superhero drama based on DC Comics’ Green Arrow. It is written and executive produced by The Green Lantern co-writers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim and Fringe and Vampire Diaries alum Andrew Kreisberg. I hear that David Nutter will likely direct the project, which takes the comic book character, created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, and sets him in a new world with an original story that is not based on the comics, published by DC Entertainment.

Green Arrow is no where near as well known as Superman, but timing might be just right for the archery themed hero. With The Avengers coming out this summer featuring Marvel’s main bowman, Hawkeye, people might ready to accept Green Arrow as the lead in his own show.

Bryan Singer is determined to relaunch a classic show from his youth. First, he was connected with attempts to bring Star Trek back to television, and more recently he has talked about rebooting Battlestar Galactica as a feature film. Well, third time seems to be the charm as a Singer directed Munsters pilot has been ordered by NBC.

The Hollywood Reporter reports:

“[The Munsters] is billed as an imaginative reinvention of the classic comedy series as a visually spectacular one-hour drama.

Singer will executive produce alongside Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies), who also is writing the Universal Television-produced project.

Fuller and NBC first made an attempt to revive the 1960s CBS sitcom last year, with the network ultimately passing. His newer version is said to be an edgier and slightly darker take exploring origins of Herman and Lily Munster (originally played by Fred Gwynne and Yvonne De Carlo) and how they arrived at the famed 1313 Mockingbird Lane address.”

Singer does have good experience in the TV world, he also executive produced and directed the pilot of the hit show House. However, it is the other executive producer that inspires the most intrigue from us. Bryan Fuller’s Pushing Daises was an incredible show, packed with larger than life characters and situations. If anyone can turn The Munsters into a “visually spectacular one-hour drama,” odds are Fuller is that man.