That’s what the writers of America’s Next Top Model may be eating soon if their over one week long strike has to continue much longer. Of course, I call them writers, while their screen credit (if they get one) reads “Story Producer”. This is a sly way of not calling a writer a writer and therefore denying them the opportunity to be organized by the Writers Guild.

This intrepid group of “Story Producers” just want the same protections that other writers of primetime shows get. With Top Model scheduled to begin September 20 as one of the linchpin shows of the new CW network (the product of a merger between UPN and The WB), it is not inconceivable that a show as highly rated as this one can afford to take care of its people. I was out on the picket line with them today, to show my support. It takes an incredible amount of conviction to pull off a work stoppage for what you believe in and I wholeheartedly applaud their efforts. I will return later in the week to stand up and march with them until they can get their bosses to sit down and negotiate with them.

In the meantime, there are many other sites that have the full story. Here is a link to E! Online. Here is the official WGA July 21st press release. If you google “top model strike”, you’ll find plenty more coverge, but here is the best source of all, with statements from each of the writers, pictures and even video of the strike, a myspace page they have set up. They tell their story better than I ever could.

And if you see them out there, honk to show your support! Or pick up a sign and join in! I did.

This is really another shameless plug for more of my work that you should buy. Above is the cover of Issue 141 of Looney Tunes which hits the stands next week. There was a black and white preview copy at the DC booth at Comic-Con. I’m very happy with the way this story turned out. It’s part of a “Looney Fables” series I started several years ago. This one is titled Bunny and the Beast. For you Lola fans, she plays Bunny. I’ll give you three guesses who plays beast. The cover is by Scott Gross and the story was drawn by Leo Batic.

By the way, this story is a no-go. You can’t win ‘em all.

Here is a line I wrote for Snagglepuss that made it into Yogi’s Treasure Hunt: “How cruel! How barbaric! How Hanna-Barbaric, even!”

Well, this is Hanna-Barbaric news straight from Comic-Con: Warner Home Video has a whole slate of cartoon DVD’s on the schedule for 2007. I’m not at liberty to release any of the titles as they aren’t carved in stone yet and the marketing folks don’t want to get people’s hopes up, only to have to disappoint later, like this year’s announcements of Quick Draw McGraw and Wally Gator. As soon as I know anything definite, I’ll pass it along. Punt, even!

The title of this entry is gross and disgusting, unless you’re familiar with Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog. And anyone who attended the Robert Smigel panel Friday night is now very familiar with him.

Triumph is the brain-child of SNL turned Conan O’Brien Head Writer, Robert Smigel. Made from a commercially available hand puppet that his wife had bought for him, Smigel turned a one-shot appearance at the Westminster Dog Show into a recurring character. Friday night, he brought down the house as Jerry Beck attempted to introduce the evening, only to be interrupted by Triumph, who called him the biggest nerd in the place. He then turned on a pretty girl, shouting, “What the hell are you doing here?” And to a portly fan on the aisle, he proclaimed, “Look at this guy! He’s in love with the Fantastic Four… food groups!” Triumph then proceeded to incite a riot by having the audience follow him to the room next door to interrupt a Klingon play, only to find out that they had already vacated, much to his dismay. He warned us not to tip them off and he would try it again next year. I think I can say with some certainty that not many Klingons read this weblog.

After that, Smigel got down to the actual reason he was there, promoting the DVD release of his Saturday TV Funhouse cartoon compilation. He showed some of his favorites, including The Cluckin’ Chicken, The Disney Vault and The Ambiguously Gay Duo. He also screened three shorts that the network has pulled and will never air again, like The Michael Jackson Show, the opening of which is a parody of The Yogi Bear Show.

He also showed Fun With Real Audio, where he takes on hypocritical religious leaders like Robert Schuller and Pat Robertson and finishes with a tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas, which Smigel sincerely called the best program ever made. He even had Schulz’s widow, Jean, in the audience.

He finished with scenes from his very short-lived sitcom which starred Adam West, Lookwell, and a pilot for Fox that never aired for a show that was a parody of the Bozo show that used to run in Chicago.

Smigel, who actually called himself the biggest nerd in the room, seemed to have so much fun that he promised to come back next year. That should be a good one… for me to poop on!

Robert Smigel and Jerry Beck. If you look carefully at the lower left corner of the picture, you can see a piece of Triumph!

Yesterday was the big Pinky and the Brain/Animaniacs panel.  When I say big, I mean bigger than big!  The room was packed and by some estimates as many as 300-500 people were turned away.

Representing the voice cast were Rob Paulsen (Pinky, Yakko), Maurice LaMarche (Brain) and Jess Harnell (Wakko) and voice director Andrea Romano.  For the writers, we had Peter Hastings, Gordon Bressack and myself.

They ran clips from the bonus material on next week’s releases of the DVD’s of both shows.  Rob performed the “Countries of the World” live, doing the last verses in double-time.  Jess sang the “States and their Capitals” (both songs written by Randy Rogel) and Maurice proved to the crowd that he provided the burps for the Great Wakkaroti.  The audience couldn’t have been more appreciative and the last few minutes of the panel were devoted to questions and answers from them.

After the panel, we were taken down to the Warner Bros. booth to sign autographs.  Several people actually said it was the best panel they had ever attended!  I wouldn’t go that far, but as a writer, who only gets to meet the fans once a year, it was very graifying to see how much enjoyment we had brought them with our work.

The picture above is from the signing.  That’s Andrea Romano on the left, Peter Hastings in the middle and me on the right.  The picture below is Jess Harnell handing the picture across Rob Paulsen’s face and finally, Maurice LaMarche on the right.

Thanks to the folks from Warner Bros. Home Video for arranging this event.  There’s only one way to sum this up and that is to quote Pinky… Narf!!

… if you survived the biggest crowd ever on Preview Night.  Here is a picture of the hall before the doors officially opened.

There are lots of things to talk about, but I know that a bunch of people are waiting for this:

This is a picture of me with the Master Replicas Kermit the Frog photo puppet.  It is actual size, as am I, and is made from the original patterns and covered in antron fleece, the same material the Muppets use… to cover Kermit, not me.  It is called a photo puppet because it has an armature inside to pose him for pictures, and there is no opening for a puppeteer to place their hand inside.

Now, the fact that Kermit is coming out soon is not news to most people reading this weblog.  But Kevin Eslinger of Master Replicas, pictured at left, has allowed me to be the first to announce officially who the next character in the line will be!

Get ready…

Here it comes….

The next Photo Muppet will be:

The Great Gonzo!  Terry Angus is already working on the prototype (he also built the Kermit prototype that I saw at Comic-Con last year).  After Gonzo will most likely be Animal.  I will talk to Kevin again before the end of the Con to find out what Gonzo will be wearing and also to see if he has a firm date for Kermit to ship.

There is plenty more to report, but I’m turning in right now.  Turning into a pumpkin, that is.  Tomorrow, Jerry Beck’s Random Cartoons panel and me on the Pinky and the Brain/Animaniacs panel.

Sleep tight and dream of Muppets! 

I guess this one wasn’t that hard to figure out, since everyone who sent an e-mail got it right. Here is a quote from Justin Karguth, who was the one who figured it out even before I asked:

Hey cool beans! That’s the motel from My Name is Earl that you are standing in front of.

If you’ve never seen the show, I highly recommend it. It’s a very smart show about very dumb people. The characters are really well-defined and the actors are great. Jaime Pressly, who plays Earl’s ex-wife Joy, was just nominated for an Emmy.

Above, you can see the frame grab from the opening titles of the show, the pose I was trying to copy. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the reference photo with us when we took the picture, but we’re pretty close. Jason Lee was standing further to the left and they had a much wider angle lens.

As for the location, I’ll just say it’s in the San Fernando Valley. I know that’s not much of a clue, but if it becomes a tourist spot, they won’t be able to film there anymore. Here is a little bit of trivia. The guy who owns the place has been remodeling it ever since they started using it. Earl’s room, 231, is the only one that still has a plain door knob on it. The rest have all been changed to key card locks. The interior of the motel room is on a soundstage, as the real one looks very different than the one on TV. But the view out of the room is identical to the actual location.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to send in a guess and I’ll see you all at Comic-Con!

Here are a couple more things of interest coming up at the San Diego Comic-Con International. Being a relatively new blog, I’m going to try something for the first time and take this show on the road. I will be trying to blog from the Con each night. If I am successful, you’ll have new things to read each day. However, if the blog seems to sit here like an unchanging lump, then I wasn’t able to get it to work and I’ll be back with you when the convention is over. In the meantime, for those attending, check these out:

The character above may be Puerto Rico’s favorite comic strip, but the guy that writes and draws it is one of my favorite artists. If you’re not familiar with David Alvarez, now is the time to get familiar. David has been drawing for DC and Looney Tunes for some time now. He’s going to be at the Comic-Con for the first time this year and you can meet him at the Alias Enterprises booth. He may also be at the DC booth, but that schedule is not set yet.

Scattered among this text are two covers which he drew for Looney Tunes, each based on stories I wrote for the issues. If you click on them, you can get a better look at his great work. And here is a bonus page from another story I penned, titled The Legend of Littlefoot, which Dave drew. This will really give you an idea how expressive and animated his work is. He really makes the stories come to life.

Dave’s comic strip Yenny is about a girl that would like to be a fashion model, but her feet are too big! It’s very funny, the artwork is amazing and you can see some examples of it here along with all kinds of other Yenny stuff, including comic books, which Dave will be signing at the Con.

I’m sure most of my readers are also readers of Cartoon Brew, so forgive me for plugging this as well if you’ve already seen it over there. Jerry Beck is hosting a panel on Thursday where they are going to premiere the short I wrote and he produced, Hornswiggle. Here is the official description: RANDOM CARTOONS SNEAK PREVIEW - Clips, interviews and production art from the new Nickelodeon Frederator series called Random Cartoons. Meet the creators, and get cool stuff! Sneak preview clips from various cartoons including Mind the Kitty; Adventure Time; Moobeard, the Cow Pirate and Hornswiggle. Thursday July 20, 2:30pm in Room 2

From that description, it sounds like they’ll only be showing clips of each short, but I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t even seen Hornswiggle yet! And as if that wasn’t enough incentive, Jerry will be giving away those buttons that are pictured above.

All that, and right after this panel, you can come and see me on the Pinky and the Brain/Animaniacs panel. Have I mentioned that one yet? Don’t answer that!

It’s been a couple weeks now and only two people have commented on the new picture in my masthead. Therefore, it’s time to play nobody’s favorite game… Where in the World is Earl Kress?

Yes, once again, there are no prizes, but the winners will share the title of Mr. or Ms. Smartypants. Considering 50% of the people that already commented got the answer to this one, maybe it won’t be too hard. For a bigger and better look, click on the picture directly above. Depending on the number of responses, I’ll either post the correct answer on Tuesday… or drag this thing on until after Comic-Con. So, if you don’t want to be tortured, you’ll send in responses pronto!

Your favorite weekend pastime is stalking celebrities, but you’re tired of hanging out on Sunset Boulevard and in Beverly Hills alleys. What can you do? This weekend, go to the Burbank Hilton Hotel where there is not one, but two different events chock-full of your favorite Hollywood types.

The first one is called The Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show and ran for many years at Beverly Garland’s hotel in North Hollywood, but now houses itself at the aformentioned Hilton. Some of the stars attending today and tomorrow are Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Linda Blair, Stella Stevens, Carol Lynley and Gary Coleman. You can see the entire list if you click on their logo on the right. Be warned that the celebs charge as much as $20-$25 for their autographs, whether you bring your own pictures or buy theirs. Some of them will pose for a picture with you for free while others charge ten dollars for a photo-op. And for two bucks, Gary Coleman will punch you out.

And as if that isn’t enough excitement for one weekend, the Game Show Congress is also in session. Go to see Wink Martindale as Speaker of the House, and Peter Marshall as the Senate Majority Leader. The object of the weekend is for them to get a bill passed by President Merv Griffin.

Okay, I made that last part up. But there really is a Game Show convention taking place. Last night, I went to a performance of What’s My Line? Live. It was a recreation of the TV Quiz show of the same name and has been playing for a long time at the Acme Comedy Theatre. This was its farewell performance. The highlights were Betsy Palmer as a panelist and Shirley Jones as the mystery guest. Betsy Palmer was better known as a panelist on I’ve Got A Secret, another Goodson-Todman production, but she had appeared on the original What’s My Line? as well. One of the contestants had also been on the show in 1955. It was a very fun evening. They have more events going on today and tomorrow and you can find out about them by clicking the picture above.

After you’re done there, stop by my place for a little Three Card Monty Hall.