The latest news from Hollywood

TV
From pothead to…dentist? Weeds‘ Kevin Nealon will voice the lead character in Nick at Nite’s upcoming Glenn Martin DDS, a Claymation comedy set to bow in summer 2009. Martin follows a dentist who uproots his family for a perpetual road trip from hell. Catherine O’Hara (Best in Show) has also joined the show and will voice Jackie Martin, the dentist’s wife. Glenn Martin comes courtesy of Michael Eisner, the former chief exec of Disney who now has his own production company…. Gee, here’s an original idea: Fox, like ABC and CBS before it, is looking to adapt the cult British comedy Absolutely Fabulous for U.S. audiences. The network has commissioned a script from former SNL writer Christine Zander, who plans to stick with Ab Fab‘s basic premise about two vodka-swilling female friends in their 40s (original series creator and star Jennifer Saunders will exec-produce with BBC Worldwide America). With any luck, history won’t get in Fox’s way as it tries to make this version stick. CBS made an attempt at an Ab Fab-inspired comedy in 1995 called High Society starring Jean Smart, but it was short-lived; around that time, Roseanne Barr also wanted to develop an adaptation with Carrie Fisher for ABC, but it never got off the ground. ”I’ll admit, it’s daunting,” says Zander, who’ll get exec-producing help from Arrested Development veteran Mitch Hurwitz. ”I want to be as close to the original as possible, and not have it be watered down and tame and stupid. My mission is to keep it intact as much as I can.” — Lynette Rice, with additional reporting by Dan Snierson

Music
To commemorate their 20th anniversary, the Smashing Pumpkins aren’t just touring this fall — they’re also coming to a movie theater near you. If All Goes Wrong, a 105-minute documentary chronicles the seminal alt-rock band’s 2007 reunion/reformation (with two of the original four band members) for an epic 19-concert stint in Asheville, N.C., and San Francisco. The intimate film, which features interviews with Billy Corgan, his cohorts, fans, journalists, and musicians like Pete Townshend, will screen in 40 cities across the country for one day only: Nov. 6. For those who prefer a couch trip, Wrong will be released Nov. 11 on DVD in a two-disc set that contains 19 live songs (six of them new) from the San Francisco shows. — DS

Movies
Perhaps it’s redemption for being kicked out of the prestigious Drama Centre London a week shy of graduation, or maybe it was just too juicy a part to turn down. Whatever the reason, this year’s outrageous host of MTV’s Video Music Awards Russell Brand will play drunken jester Trinculo in Julie Taymor‘s adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The British-born comic will appear opposite Helen Mirren, who stars as Prospera (Taymor’s version of Prospero), and Alfred Molina as Sebastian; Jeremy Irons (King Alonso), Geoffrey Rush (Gonzalo), and Djimon Hounsou (Caliban) are also in negotiations to join the cast. Taymor (Across the Universe) has directed the Bard’s island-set play twice on stage, but in November, she plans to take her shoot to Hawaii. Is that the only place that Forgetting Sarah Marshall star Brand makes films? — Nicole Sperling

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