Season two of HBO horror comedy Los Espookys is finally back Friday, Sept. 16. Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres created the show, about a group of horror fans who make horror their business. 

Los Espookys premiered way back in June 2019. The series shoots in Chile, and that nation’s strict rules about COVID-19 were the prime factor in the delay. “Their COVID protocols were a lot stricter than they were here, and so we were just kind of waiting to see, when will the border open, when will they allow people to leave their neighborhoods, when will people be allowed to gather in enclosed spaces?” Fabrega told B+C. “There was a lot more we had to monitor before we were able to go back.”

When Los Espookys was first announced, HBO described it as a “primarily Spanish-language show [that] follows a group of friends who turn their love for horror into a peculiar business, providing horror to those who need it, in a dreamy Latin American country where the strange and eerie are just part of daily life.”

Horror-movie aficionados, the main characters set up horror spectacles for those who want or need it, whether it’s someone hosting a haunted house, a quinceañera or some other get-together. 

Armisen initially envisioned the show set in Mexico City, and the creators were adamant that it be a Spanish-language show. Fabrega mentioned the frustration of seeing a show with all Hispanic characters, speaking English. She said there was “no pushback” from HBO at any point about language.

Torres added that the show was acquired “out of a very playful curiosity from HBO,” along the lines of, “we don’t know what this is gonna be, but it sounds like it could be fun.”

It helps having Lorne Michaels as an executive producer, which is typical of a comedy starring a Saturday Night Live alumnus such as Armisen. The producers say Michaels is pretty hands-off. He’s given it his “blessing,” said Torres, “and lets it be what it wants to be.”

Bernardo Velasco and Cassandra Ciangherrotti are in the cast along with Armisen, Fabrega and Torres. Armisen plays a valet parking attendant whose parking skills are the envy of many. 

Season two reviews don’t seem to have yet landed, but season one did well. The Guardian said: “Plenty of new comedies aim for originality, but few reach the heights of individuality than the charming Los Espookys (Sky Comedy) does in its debut. This Spanish-language series is an HBO import which feels quite unlike anything else on television, and it inhabits its own oddball skin so easily that it takes a moment to realise just how slyly surreal and clever it is.”

The creators are pleased with how season one was received. “People responded to it well and it got a nice little following,” said Fabrega. 

Torres said the pandemic saw a lot of people find a quirky older show they missed the first time around. Los Espookys too may find a broader audience down the road. “Many years from now, long after the show is shut down, people will be like, Oh my god, I stumbled onto this show and I really love it,” he said, mentioning the “quiet cult-following quality” of Los Espookys. 

Torres described the show as playful and surreal. Fabrega likens Los Espookys to “a live-action cartoon.”

“It’s very silly and leans into that,” she added, “without being self-serious.” ■

Showtime will share the pilot of comedy Moonbase 8 free after midnight Nov. 8, available on YouTube, Sho.com and Showtime.com, and on demand. At the same time, all season one episodes will become available for on-demand streaming or download on the Showtime apps and “partner on-demand platforms,” the network said, for subscribers. 

Moonbase 8 premieres Nov. 8 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker and John C. Reilly star in the space series. 

Set in the Arizona desert at NASA’s Moon Base Simulator, Moonbase 8 follows astronauts Skip (Armisen), Rook (Heidecker) and leader Cap (Reilly) as they attempt to qualify for their first lunar mission. While working vigorously to complete their training, a series of unexpected circumstances forces the astronauts to question their own sanity, trust in each other and whether or not they’re cut out for space travel.

Moonbase 8 is created, written and executive produced by Armisen, Heidecker, Reilly and Jonathan Krisel, who directs. The series is produced by A24 and Abso Lutely Productions. Dave Kneebone, Eric Wareheim, and A24's Ravi Nandan and Inman Young also executive produce.

Pasadena -- IFC will end its long-running comedy series Portlandia after its eighth and final season, the network announced Saturday during its Television Critics Association tour presentation.

The Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel-created series will return for its eighth season in 2018. The series has been the network’s signature show since it launched in 2011.

The show is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video. 

“There are very few shows that can be credited with both establishing and helping to define a television network, and that’s exactly what Portlandia has done for IFC,” said IFC president Jennifer Caserta in a statement. “It is a joy and a privilege to work with Fred, Carrie, Jon, Lorne and everyone at Broadway Video to create a show that was prescient in its satirization of modern culture while having a sensibility and state-of-mind that has only become more prevalent across its run.”

IFC said the season-six premiere of stalwart comedy Portlandia grew its target-demographic audience from the prior season's kickoff, and then nearly doubled its total audience with time shifting.

The network said the show's return on Thursday, Jan. 21, was modestly better (up 3% in adults 18-49 and up 15% in adults 25-54) compared with the season-five premiere on a live plus same day viewing basis.

Measuring live plus three day viewing, the audience grew to nearly 400,000 total viewers, up 87% compared with the L+SD figure (207,000), IFC said. The L+3 figures in key demos were 266,000 adults 18-49 (up from 137,000 on a L+SD basis) and 275,000 adults 25-54.

The episode, "Pickathon," featured a much-promoted guest appearance of rock band The Flaming Lips in a storyline that saw characters Fred and Carrie (Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein) use drones and virtual-reality helmets to remotely visit a Coachella-like festival. 

New York – Vice Media CEO Shane Smith endured the endless barbs of friends and colleagues as the recipient of the Center for Communication’s Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communications Wednesday, but the new media wonder boy got the last and perhaps the best word in as the luncheon fundraising roast for the non-profit journalism education foundation came to a close.

Smith has been in the news a lot lately – after being courted by several media outlets he decided to do a deal with A+E Networks that will essentially hand over the H2 network to Vice. Smith’s brand of gonzo journalism has had an outlet on HBO for about three years, and the A+E relationship should only increase his profile.

Smith endured the typical and not-so-surprisingly profane barbs of executives – former Viacom CEO and current Vice Media board member Tom Freston and HBO chairman Richard Plepler – colleagues and comedians at the roast. Among his colleagues – lawyer, restauranteur, comedian and writer Eddie Huang and comedian Clare O’Kane, each managed to squeeze out a few laughs, mainly among the younger set. Most of Huang’s comments aren’t suitable for a family web site, but he did score a few points showing some e-mail exchanges with Smith, if not for anything but showing the audience Smith’s current e-mail address. O’Kane, who said she was Vice’s latest diversity hire, got a few laughs at the expense of the stodgy cable company – “To all the cable executives out there: You’re blowing it and I hate you,” she said.

Saturday Night Live and Portlandia star Fred Armisen came as his IFC show Documentary Now! (and Vice parody) character Jeremiah. Former MTV Jackass Johnny Knoxville came sporting his trademark wild hair and made a few comments about Smith’s weight – “Shane is the only Canadian [disgraced Toronto Mayor] Rob Ford can call a slob.” There were numerous jabs at an infamous $300,000 bill Smith and his buddies ran up at a Las Vegas restaurant, but for the most part, despite a few profanities, the insults were patently less offensive than your typical Comedy Central roast.

Then it was Smith’s turn.

Smith ran a short video getting back at some of his roasters for the afternoon – on Clare O’Kane: “Who?” On Johnny Knoxville: “Ah, Johnny Nowhere.” On Rich Plepler: “He called me up the other day and said, ‘I want you to do an expose on Netflix.’”

 “Everybody likes to talk about disruption, until you actually disrupt and then they hate you,” he said in a slight nod to the roast. He noted that Freston, also a recipient of the award, said he was fired from Viacom shortly after he got it, so the honor must be a way for Fox to get rid of him and Vice Media (21st Century Fox co-CEO James Murdoch is on the Center’s board of directors.)

But then Smith got a little more serious.

Smith lauded the Center for its nurturing of young journalists, something that he said could ultimately help outlets like Vice but also serve to better society.

“Media is probably the greatest single industry you can pick to go into;  it has so much power and so much responsibility with that power,” Smith said. “Bringing young people in to change up what we built and what you guys have built up in the past is the most exciting thing we can do.”   

Over-the-top video streaming service Crackle will launch a new season of its hit series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on Nov. 6, the service said Friday.

Celebrities set to converse with series host/creator Jerry Seinfeld during the fifth season of the Emmy-nominated series include Fred Armisen (Portlandia),Colleen Ballinge (Hipsterhood),Bill Burr(Walk Of Shame),Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon),Kevin Hart (Think Like A Man Too), Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer)  and Ali Wentworth (In Living Color).

Previous episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee currently running on Crackle have featured such comedy legends as Jason Alexander, Aziz Ansari, Alec Baldwin, Mel Brooks, Louis CK, Larry David, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Seth Meyers, Howard Stern and Jon Stewart, among others, said company officials.