A straight plot recap of "Mayhem of The Music Meister!" wouldn't even scratch the surface of what made it such a joy to watch (But, if you need one: The Music Meister is a villain who can control people through music. He falls in love with Black Canary because of her singing voice, but even though she falls under his control like everyone else on the planet - with the exception of Batman - she's ultimately his undoing because of her canary cry superpower); it was, even more than usually for this series, all about the execution. Whether you came for the promise of Doctor Horrible-esque superheroic musical comedy, fanboy-baiting with characters like Green Arrow and Black Canary taking the first step down the road that's already led them to marriage in the comics, or just plain fun cartoonery with dancing gorillas, it's fair to say that this week, Batman: The Brave and The Bold delivered something for everyone.

It wasn't just NPH's dulcet tones that made this week's long-awaited episode of B&B so much fun; everyone involved raised their game, whether it was writers Michael Jelenic and James Tucker offering some of the best dialogue of the series so far (Who doesn't love Batman when he gets all pun-laded and sincere?) as well as a plot that's so ridiculous it approaches camp perfection (Never mind Batman singing, the explanation of how he managed to hit those notes afterwards was hilarious), or regular voice actors Diedrich Bader, John Di Maggio and especially Grey DeLisle (amongst many others) shamelessly singing their hearts out as well as managing to deliver their between-songs lines with straight faces. Although the casting coup and nerd cache of NPH has been getting all the plaudits for this ep, everyone involved did an amazing job.

After this, it'll be tough not to see the regular lunacy of the series as something of a comedown - but, at the same time, it was the uniqueness of the whole thing that made it as special as it was. Still, considering every jail in Gotham City is fitted with a revolving door and staffed by unreliable guards, is it really too much to hope that we might see a reprise sometime next season?

NPH's episode, "The Mayhem of the Music Meister" premiered at Comic Con, where it wormed its catchy way into our hearts. UK and Canadian fans have already seen the episode in its entirety, but those looking to catch it on Cartoon Network in the US will have to wait until October 23.

[via Topless Robot]

Congrats on the Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs win guys, you deserved to have a category created just so you could win.

We've Neil Patrick Harris' guest-shot on the animated Batman show before, but the episode in question - "Mayhem of The Music Meister," one of the series' upcoming second season episodes, which start on Cartoon Network later this year - was premiered at San Diego Comic-Con today, and it's not just the best episode of Brave and The Bold so far, it might also be the thing that replaces Dr. Horrible in your heart. Sure, it may not have Nathan Fillion, but it does have a giant telepathic gorilla waltzing with Aquaman, a nefarious plot to become the richest man on Earth by uniting us all in a mind-controlled musical utopia, and more visual in-jokes about both comics and music than you'd think could be fitted into half an hour... Oh, and some songs that are - heresy! - catchier than the Whedon family's efforts.

We'll be bringing you the highlights of the panel, as well as our conversation with producers Michael Jelenic and James Tucker, soon. Batman: The Brave And The Bold returns later this year, and DVDs of the first season are released August 25th and November 12th.

After the game-changing events of last season's finale, fans that campaigned so hard to save their beloved geek idol fear that the show is selling out to Subway, that Chuck's new superpowers will rob him of his everyman appeal, and worst of all that we may have seen the last of the Buy More and the Nerd Herd.

Listen up, Chuck; I may just be able to save you. Just stay in the car.

The zesty tang of corporate whoredom was all over last season. Fans who cried "sellout!" when they heard about the show's dirty dealings with Subway obviously were not paying attention for the past two seasons. Chuck has always been the television-show equivalent of a NASCAR driver's jacket, and we've loved the show all the more for it. iPhones and foot–long subs have always served to bring us into Chuck's reality, not out of it. In a culture as logo-laden as our own, product placement merely gives the impression that these could be our lives, and we too may one day be tapped to be super spies.

When we last left our hero, he had upgraded to Intersect 2.0, the scene itself rife with subliminal and not-so-subliminal advertising. Did anyone else feel like they were watching a giant Hulu ad? After the upgrade, Chuck is new and improved, and now comes with Kung Fu grip. What other goodies does Chuck's new cerebral software come with? The possibilities are endless. But with great power comes great responsibility; not just for Chuck, but for co-creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedek not to fall into the Heroes trap of giving human protagonists superpowers and thereby removing all traces of humanity. Hopefully, Chuck's new powers will serve to trip him up in more hilarious and endearing ways, while allowing him to still save the day.

With Chuck and Morgan's departure from the Buy More, it's questionable how much we'll be seeing of the motley crew of Green shirts in the third season. While the antics of Jeffster have lost some of their appeal, I fear for the show if it departs completely from the land of discount electronics and fast computer repair. The show's sweet and simple premise, namely Chuck's perilous tango between his real-world dead-end job and the fantastical world of espionage and intrigue, is what keeps us watching.

It'll take more than following these guidelines to save Bartowski. He'll need help. We saw last season that the ratings of the show took a quantum leap with the arrival of several guest stars, from Dominic Monaghan to Scott Bakula and Chevy Chase. I propose that the best way to make the most of Chuck's second chance is to give us even more star power to fuel the third season. Here are a few suggestions:

Kristen Bell
Bell's comic timing is perfect for this show. We're all a little tired of the Sarah & Chuck sub-plot, and no cliché is more satisfying than a third party coming between our ambivalent lovers. As a clumsy and perky Buy More employee, Kristen Bell would not only look great in a green polo shirt, but would also steal the show and hopefully Chuck's heart. Half-way through the season Bell would be revealed to be a CIA agent working undercover, and could flex her Veronica Mars spy-girl muscles while stealing secrets and doing improbable stunts.

Alec Baldwin
Both Bell and Baldwin have most recently been working for NBC, so they wouldn't have to go very far for to spend some quality time with the network's pet project. Alec Baldwin would be brilliant as Agent Casey's West Point / CIA mentor, who returns to head up a delicate case and makes Casey jealous when his mentor takes a shine to Chuck.

Neil Patrick Harris
We all love NPH. He could appear to ward off the dreaded mid-season slump, save the ratings and re-invigorate the show. NPH would play a computer-genius / entrepreneur who has designed the world's newest AI search engine. The CIA hires NPH to design a special Intersect search feature, so that Chuck can access all those Government secrets on command.

Jonathan Pryce
We saw last season with Chevy Chase's character that putting a face to FULCRUM and having an identifiable super villain made the show that much more enjoyable. This time around, we need a new big bad, and I propose Jonathan Pryce. Pryce proved himself a worthy adversary as the Bond villain in Tomorrow Never Dies, has endless desk-jockey geek-cred thanks to Brazil, and no one wears a condescending smirk quite the same way.

It's also time for new blood at the Buy More. I volunteer Napoleon Dynamite's Tina Majorino, Freaks&Geeks' Samm Levine, and Nick & Norah's Aaron Yoo to be some new scruffy Nerd Herders.

Sadly, NPH won't actually be playing Dr. Horrible, since that would probably fracture the space-time continuum. Instead, he'll be playing the Music Meister, an amalgam of various DC Comics villains, who uses his ability to create music to dominate the world. Or something. He's a former band camp nerd who's become a megalomaniac. Mostly, the episode's plot is "just an excuse to have everyone sing," says producer James Tucker. Oh, like the Buffy musical episode then?

Here's your first look at NPH's look as a Batman villain:


[TV Guide Magazine]

Of course, Neil Patrick Harris might have got the job because he's a talented, charismatic actor with a string of Broadway credits in both dramas and musicals, including Assassins, Proof, and Cabaret. I suppose that's possible.

But as far we're concerned, he deserves the gig based solely on the strength of his work in Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog. Just check out the clip - that's some virtuoso acting and singing right there, and I don't even really like musicals:

Here's hoping his entire performance as host is just singing the entire Doctor Horrible soundtrack, maybe with some dramatic readings as Colonel Carl Jenkins from Starship Troopers mixed in for good measure. Throw in a climactic showdown between Dr. Horrible and former Tony Awards host Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and we might just have the superhero event of the summer on our hands.

Screen Rant is buzzing about a possible Neil Patrick Harris Flash, which we completely support 100% even though we know it will never, ever happen. Why? Because it's a brilliant idea, and because our dreams-coming-true quota was all used up when they cast Christian Bale as John Connor.

But NPH isn't the only blondie with his hand in the Flash pie. According to Think Mcfly Think, Scott Porter is in the racing for the role as well. You may remember Porter as Jason Street, the handicapped quarterback in Friday Night Lights. If Porter gets this role that would mean two FNL stars are now superheroes of sorts, with Taylor Kitsch as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

And speaking of Origins, what happened to the Ryan Reynolds as The Flash rumor? I assume gone with his Deadpool casting because, well, why would you want to be The Flash when you could be Deadpool?

While we're really sold on NPH as The Flash we have to toss in a few more members of Hollywood into the mix, and here are our suggestions for the man in the red spandex suit:

Ben Foster:


Why He's A Front Runner: This character actor is just dying for a lead role. He can pull of completely deranged sidekick (3:10 to Yuma) and sweet faced Angel (X-Men). I would love to see Foster put a little heat behind the eyes of The Flash and give him some depth.
Why He'll Lag Behind: He's just not big enough yet to star in a tentpole production, which is sad (and the same fate I forsee Topher Grace being handed for the Venom spin-off).

Ryan Gosling:


Why He's A Front Runner: Women love him (The Notebook) so it will drive the ladies into the theater, plus he has that hero look about him. He'll be cast as a big screen hero yet; Hollywood won't let that chin go to waste.
Why He'll Lag Behind: I could see this opportunity being passed up by Gosling; he's been rumored as so many other heroes before (Green Lantern, anyone?) that he may be sick of the speculation and say, "no thanks" ...which would be a huge mistake.

Besides the astounding fact that NPH made Saturday Night Live actually funny this week, it's great to pay tribute to the 14-year-old licensed doctor (who started the series at the ripe age of 16). It's an homage to the ultimate geek hero — plus everyone should have a little NPH in your week.

Little known Doogie Howser fact: In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "Help", Willow briefly mentions writing Doogie Howser fan-fiction in her youth. Which is probably the most amazing thing I've ever heard of in my life. Somebody, somewhere has to have created their own version of Willow's Doogie fanfic. Please point me to it!

Talking to Sci Fi Wire, Neil Patrick Harris' disappointment about that fact rivaled even your own:

Oh, God, I wish I could say there was going to be a Dr. Horrible sequel, but I know there's so many people involved in the creation of it that have a lot of other stuff going on right now... Mainly, Joss [is doing] Dollhouse, and he has another movie, Cabin in the Woods, that he's doing at the same time. So I don't know that anything would happen soon. But everyone has been super-enthusiastic about it, and I think that means that hopefully something will come.

That hasn't stopped Harris from wanting to work with Whedon on something else, however:

I'm in CBS' corner right now because of How I Met Your Mother, so I don't know that I'd be able to [appear on Dollhouse], but I think it's produced by 20th Century Fox, so, you know, they're sort of cousins... That would be fun! All right. I'll ask Joss! I like being a cousin in the Whedon family, so, whatever he wants me to do. Except porn.

Wait, the Whedon family makes porn together? I'm not sure how I feel about knowing that.

Harris Eager For Horrible 2, Dollhouse [Sci Fi Wire]

Explaining his plans about a possible DVD version of his web short, Whedon told TV Guide:

We're already working on some of the DVD extras, which are going to be the finest in all the land. We're actually going to do, in addition to the commentary, what we refer to as ‘commentary with an exclamation point'! A musical commentary that is a completely original musical, that is all commentary songs, and we're writing that now... We're just piling it on. We're like, we're going to make more fun of the idea of extras than anything else.

And where there's a DVD, there's sequel potential... maybe:

Whether this has any impact on the Internet is unclear to me. It will be something that hasn't been done. And although some people came up with a plan on how to monetize this right away, our first priority was to put this out. We do it for the fans, we do it as an advertisement for itself and for just this culture, this idea of people who are doing something smaller scale but hopefully in such a way they can reach a lot of people. And maybe then it can make us an eleven-ty kadillion dollars. Or maybe it won't.

Dr. Horrible, will be an "internet miniseries event," streaming for free on the show's official site. Part 1 will appear on Tuesday, July 15, and the the second and third parts will appear July 17 and 19. All three parts will disappear on July 20, but Whedon hopes to have all three parts available for downloading soon afterwards.

Exclusive: First Look at Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible" [TV Guide]