Fallout TV series rumoured

Bethesda may be bringing the post-apocalyptic Fallout series to TV according to a recent trademark filing…

The Fallout series, right from the beginning, has had a highly detailed world and complex lore. It’s had a myriad of memorable characters and each game has been responsible for eating hours and hours of people’s spare time. In fact, there probably enough subject matter in there to make not only a film or two, but perhaps, and entire TV series.

Well, it looks as though Bethesda also thinks along these lines, and through a recent discovery by a Bethesda community forum member, it’s been revealed that the publisher has placed a trademark filing (filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office) for the Fallout name which relates to "an ongoing television programme set in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world."

This is interesting enough, and the thought of a Fallout TV series will no doubt cause fans to go all wobbly at the knees. However, what’s even more interesting, and lends even more credence to the rumour, is that the patent was filed on January 8. The very next day Eric Todd Dellums, the man behind the DC Wasteland DJ, ThreeDog, tweeted that people could expect to hear more from his character.

So, does this mean that the TV series is, indeed true, and if so, will it be based on Fallout 3, and set in the DC Wasteland? Or, is there still a chance that Fallout 4 is on the cards?

Well, let’s take a step back. Of course Fallout 4 will happen. How could it not? Both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas were huge sellers, and Bethesda would be foolish to even consider not making another in the series. The question here is when it’ll happen. Now that the TV series rumour has kicked up, it may not happen as soon as expected, unless a new game arrives in tandem with the TV series as a cross promotion.

A Fallout TV series, on the other hand, would be a little more touch and go. For one, American TV has shown that it’s not exactly fond of Sci-Fi shows in the last couple of years, with some potentially great ideas being canned left, right and centre, and the cost to produce a show based on Fallout would be higher than your usual TV budget. Well, it would be if it was done any justice.

If it does happen, will Fallout 3’s DC Wasteland be the setting? It would certainly make sense. Fallout 3 was the more successful of the two recent releases (the older games were based in California and the west coast) and a show depicting the capital city in a post apocalyptic setting may well garner more interest.

Its early days, and a simple patent filing doesn’t really mean all that much on its own. Plenty of filings have been made in the past based on pure possibility, but nothing has ever manifested, so we’ll have to wait and see.

What is certain is that a TV series based on the Fallout license would be a very ambitious endeavour, and if done right, could be very interesting. We’ll bring you more news as it comes. Oh, and if you’ve missed/don’t play the games and you’re sat there wondering what Fallout actually is, have a look at the Fallout 3 trailers below and find out.

Ryan Murphy talks American Horror Story season 3

AHS co-creator Ryan Murphy spills the beans on some of what's in store for season three...

Week in, week out, we’ve praised Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s American Horror Story for its cast, innovation and stylistic experimentation. Never content to rest on its laurels, the anthology series has showed no sign of running out of ideas thus far, and according to Murphy, season three is not about to buck that trend.

Speaking at a screening of the season two finale, Murphy let the assembled press in on his plans for the next run of American Horror Story. Here are the choice morsels of what he had to say:

On Jessica Lange’s role in season three:

The thing that I really wanted to do next season was something that’s funnier. I love this season and I think it was successful, but I really miss that Jessica Lange as Constance stuff, and I know she missed it, too. The only thing I’ll say about [season three] is that it’s a mixture of several cities, and it’s really about female power. I got Jessica to do it because I did everything she asked, which was the location, and I also told her that she would have complete hair and make-up and the best designer gowns, ever. She said, “Please don’t put me in a wimple again, ever!.” So, she’s going to play a real glamour cat lady, in season three.

[...] I come up with the story and, obviously, it’s always now crafted around Jessica, for the most part. Before I talk to anybody, I go to her and tell her what the story is and what the character is, and then she has input. This year, she said, “I would like to work with X, Y and Z.  Will you please meet with these people?”  So, I’m doing that.  I will say that, for season three, we’re going to have some actors from season one, who will return.

On the setting and tone of season three:

The season that we’re just about to do is another thing, like the asylum, that I was always really interested in, as a kid. [It’s] more historical in nature.

I’m also interested in getting into a horror romance. That’s certainly something that’s going to be in the water for season three. I think you’ll see a very different tone in season three, but that’s the joy of the show. As a person, right now, I do feel lighter and maybe want to embrace something a little bit more fun.

[…] There will be time periods, and there will also be different cities. I love that. The great heroes of this show are our brilliant production designer, our brilliant costumer, and our DP, who are all coming back. They’re just great, and I know they really enjoy the research.

Will Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters be returning?

Yeah. […] I’m talking to a lot of people. A lot of people like to do this show because they like to jump in the waters. It’s a four-month commitment. It’s not nine months. Some people are doing movies. Some people have committed to doing plays. So, we’re going to have some new people come in, and some old people will come back.

On season three’s promised romance:

There is going to be a definite return to a youth element, which I certainly liked from season one, but I like the star-crossed lovers from different tracks thing. This season had a couple of strong romances, but the romances were more like friendships.

Robert F. Chew, Proposition Joe on 'The Wire,' Dies

Robert F. Chew, who played the shrewdly calculating Propositon Joe on "The Wire," has died. He was 52.

Chew died of apparent heart failure in his sleep at his home in Northeast Baltimore, his sister, Clarice Chew, told The Baltimore Sun. The actor, who also appeared in "The Wire" creator David Simon's series "Homicide" and miniseries "The Corner," also taught child and adult actors with Baltimore’s Arena Players.

Among his students were the young actors who played students and corner boys in the devastating fourth season of "The Wire."

"To the beloved Robert Chew, a man who was real Bawlmore, and created the iconic character of 'Prop Joe,' may you RIP. "A teacher & friend," tweeted Chew's "The Wire" co-star, Wendell Pierce.

Another co-star, MIchael K. Williams, expressed his condolences and retweeted a link to a scene of himself and Chew.

Chew was best known for playing the wise, low-key Proposition Joe, a pivotal figure in the Baltimore drug trade. He could make men kill with a sidelong glance and a few well-chosen words, but avoided dirty work himself.

"Robert was not only an exceptional actor, he was an essential part of the film and theater community in Baltimore," Simon said in an email to The Sun. "He could have gone to New York or Los Angeles and commanded a lot more work, but he loved the city as his home and chose to remain here working. He understood so much about his craft that it was no surprise at all that we would go to him to coach our young actors in season four. He was the conduit through which they internalized their remarkable performances."

Chew's passing comes a month after the death of another "The Wire" veteran, Donnie Andrews. Andrews inspired Williams' character, Omar Little, and played one of his protectors on the show.

Stephen Colbert's Sister Seeks Same Congressional Seat as Mark Sanford

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, the sister of Stephen Colbert, is expected to run for the same South Carolina congressional seat as disgraced former Gov. Mark Sanford.

South Carolina Democratic Party executive director Amanda Loveday confirmed to TheWrap Friday that Colbert-Busch is expected to file Tuesday to run as a Democrat in a special election.
While her brother's fame may help her, his SuperPAC probably won't: The comedian announced last month that it would donate its $773,704.83 to charities supporting Hurricane Sandy relief, wounded veterans, and clean-government groups. Colbert has previously mounted two mock runs for president.

Among Colbert-Busch's opponents is Sanford, who famously disappeared for a week in 2009. Reporters were told that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but it soon emerged that he was actually carrying on an affair.

Colbert-Busch is running in a challenging district for Democrats: Republican Tim Scott won it by 62 percent in November, but was named to take Jim DeMint's U.S. Senate seat last month after DeMint announced he would step down.

The director of business development for Clemson University's Restoration Institute, Colbert-Busch has had a life marked by tragedy. Her father and two of their brothers were killed in a plane crash in 1974.

Nineteen at the time, she dropped out of school at the University of South Carolina to live with her mother and the then-10-year-old Stephen, according to a profile in The Post and Courier newspaper. She began dating and eventually married a man who later ended up on "America's Most Wanted" in connection to a securities fraud case. She has since remarried.

The newspaper said she was also sitting in a building across from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, as hijacked planes slammed into the twin towers.

Inauguration Day: Who's Going, Who's Not

Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Sony CEO Michael Lynton won't be on hand to watch Barack Obama's second swearing in. Neither will Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Denzel Washington, Ben Affleck or Samuel L. Jackson.

Those notable names in entertainment were among the 1.8 million people who swarmed the National Mall in 2009 to watch the first African-American president take the oath of office. But with that history already made, turnout at the second inauguration is expected to be much lighter. Even though high-profile supporters including Beyoncé, will.i.am and Harvey Weinstein are expected to attend, many won't make the trek from Hollywood to the nation's capital.

It doesn't help that Monday's ceremony coincides with the Sundance Film Festival, or that the industry's mood may be more somber this time around because of the Newtown, Conn., shootings a month ago.

“Sequels rarely have the luster of the originals,” Mike Cornfield, a political science professor at George Washington University, told TheWrap. "Add to that the downbeat mood in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre -- an event that the entertainment industry is being indirectly blamed for -- and it's no wonder that the Hollywood presence will be smaller and quieter than in 2009."

Not that Hollywood is abandoning the Commander in Chief: Among those who will be there for Obama, Part 2 are Presidential Inaugural Committee co-chairwoman Eva Longoria, Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, "Bold and the Beautiful" producer Colleen Bell and BET CEO Debra Lee

So will "The Wire" veteran Wendell Pierce, Jessica Alba, Malin Akerman, "White Collar" actor Matt Bomer and political-consultant-to-the stars Donna Bojarsky.

One of the night's hottest tickets is the Creative Coalition’s Inaugural Ball. The nonprofit advocacy organization for arts and entertainment has held its biggest fundraiser on Inauguration Day for the last 15 years. Guests expected this year include Tim Daly, Johnny Galecki, Paula Abdul, Melissa Leo, John Leguizamo, Marlon Wayans, David Arquette, Taraji P. Henson, Alan Cumming and Evan Handler. The Goo Goo Dolls will perform.

They can expect more elbow room in Washington than people had in 2009. The Associated Press reports that attendance is expected to drop by at least a million, with city officials predicting between 600,000 and 800,000 spectators at Monday's spectacle. (Because Inauguration Day falls on a Sunday, Obama will be privately sworn in then, before taking the oath publicly on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.)

Even Obama seems to understand that people might not find him so novel anymore.

Ricky Gervais: 'Twitter helped me write Derek'

Ricky Gervais has revealed that he finds using Twitter useful when he's writing and that it helped him finish his new Channel 4 comedy series Derek.

The Office creator claimed that he used the social networking site as an editing tool and that it had aided him getting to the "essence of scenes".

"These Derek episodes were coming in at 40 minutes and I was getting depressed thinking I couldn't get them down to 26 minutes," said Gervais.

"The compression on Twitter made me start thinking about the words I don't need."

Gervais has nearly 4 million followers on Twitter and said that he enjoyed having debates with people on the site, claiming that his only irritation was "witlessness".

Talking about arguments he has on the site, he said: "I want to do two things on Twitter: explain what freedom of speech really means and what the burden of proof is.

"I do like getting into fights with people who think the earth is 5,000 years old. I will never get bored of people like that.

"Sometimes a retweet is funnier than a reply. My favourite one was 'everyone's entitled to their opinion, so shut up about your atheism'. I just retweeted that. Brilliant."

Alicia Keys to Sing National Anthem at Super Bowl

Oh, say, can you see, Alicia Keys singing the National Anthem?

Sure, you can -- on Feb. 3 at the Super Bowl.

"Girl on Fire" singer Keys will take her turn at belting out "The Star Spangled Banner" on football's biggest night, the NFL said Friday.

Keys follows in the footsteps of "American Idol" favorite Kelly Clarkson, who belted out the song at last year's game. Other talents to handle National Anthem duties include Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera, the latter of whom botched the lyrics at the 2011 Super Bowl.

"Single Ladies" chanteuse Beyonce Knowles will perform at this year's halftime ceremony.