It's taken a while but "The State" veteran David Wain has cracked the mainstream. Having made his directorial debut a decade ago with the cult classic "Wet Hot American Summer," Wain took a while to get anything going again, but came roaring back with two films in two years, anthology "The Ten" and Paul Rudd/Seann William Scott-starrer "Role Models," the latter of which became something of a sleeper hit.
He's back again, reuniting with co-writer Ken Marino and star Paul Rudd for "Wanderlust," hitting theaters this weekend, but it looks like Wain has some small-screen plans too. In an extensive profile in the New York Times (which also reveals that the creation of "Wanderlust" was inspired by Lukas Moodysson's excellent "Together"), Wain reveals that a spin-off of "Children's Hospital," the celebrated Adult Swim comedy series he developed with Rob Corddry, is in the works.
The series, which stars Corddry alongside Marino, Lake Bell, Malin Akerman, Rob Huebel, Megan Mullally, Erinn Hayes and Henry Winkler among many others, has already spawned two other TV shows, "NTSF:SD:SUV" and "Eagleheart," which were both based on fake commercials that aired during the first season. But there is more to come as Wain and Corddry are planning another series, based on the fake "Newsreaders" news magazine show that went behind the fictional scenes in two particularly meta episodes of "Children's Hospital." Details are still thin on the ground, but it will likely see the return of Mather Zickel, who plays the show's host Louis La Fonda.
Elsewhere in TV news, another set of funny people, namely "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" writer/stars Rob McElhenney and Rob Rosell, are gearing up for another project, with their first network sitcom, "Living Loaded," going to pilot at Fox shortly. And according to Deadline, they've just added a big name, in the shape of Donald Sutherland. The show will topline "She's Out Of My League" and "Cloverfield" star Mike Vogel as a hard-living blogger who becomes a NPR radio host, with Sutherland as his father, who also happens to be the manager of the local station. The single-camera show sounds promising, given the "Newsradio"-y premise and the writing talent involved, and Sutherland is a great addition.
And in tentatively related funny-people news, two Playlist favorites, actor/comic T.J. Miller ("Yogi Bear," "She's Out Of My League") and director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who previously worked together on the excellent short "Successful Alcoholics," have set up "Mash Up" at Comedy Central. The show will be a half-hour blend of stand-up and sketches (which will be based on the material of the comedians appearing), and initially piloted last year in a special airing on March 11th. Miller will host, while Vogt-Roberts will direct. The actor is a busy bee at the moment, as he's also starring in Fox pilot "Little Brother" with John Stamos, and will next be seen on screen in "Seeking A Friend For The End Of the World." [Deadline]
And finally for the small screen, despite recent reports that eccentric, rarely-clothed actress Paz de la Huerta had been axed from HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," where she played the erstwhile mistress of both Steve Buscemi and Michael Shannon's characters, showrunner Terence Winter told Vulture that he wouldn't rule out a reappearance from the actress. He said at the WGA Awards on Sunday night that, "On 'The Sopranos,' too, we had so many people that came and went, sometimes you wouldn't see somebody for an entire season, and they popped back. As long as you're not dead on the show, you can always come back. Even if you are [dead]! Dreams, flashbacks, anything can happen." Not exactly a promise, but hope for fans of Ms. de la Huerta all the same.
