Alright, nerds. Pack it in— podcasts are over. They had a good run, but now they’re gone the way of professional wrestling, comic books, and the entire Internet and they’re too mainstream to be fun anymore. Why? Because ABC has released the trailer for its new TV show, Alex, Inc. about Alex Blumberg, the founder of Gimlet Media.

Well, there’s one thing that seems to be keeping podcast diehards safe— if you watched the trailer, you would have little to know idea what a podcast is. Instead, you will experience 3 minutes of a pleasant Zach Braff vehicle (he’s also producing and directing) in which the former Scrubs star keeps taking generic risks, and not playing by other people’s vague rules, and trying to create something unspecified-yet-great despite some sorts of obstacles. (For the record, Blumberg quit his job at This American Life to create Gimlet Media and find success with the likes of StartUp, even though this trailer seems to operate on the premise that trying to earn a living doing radio is itself folly.)

Seriously, this commercial could be about pursuing a career in any creative medium and barely change a word:

“What’s the first show about?” An eccentric investor yet to be convinced asks on the stairs of his private jet.

“A guy like me!” responds Braff/Blumberg, with his wife and children. “With a family like them. He could succeed, he could fail. I promise you— people are going to love to watch him try.”

“I’m in!” Announces the investor, now convinced.

Well, if it doesn’t turn out to be the most sophisticated of stuff, it’s neat at least to see a Member of the Tribe play another person of Jewish descent on television. And maybe now you’ll have an easier time explaining to your aunt what a podcast actually is.

Alex, Inc. doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but you can watch the trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=148&v=j91FK6K-8Dg

Image from YouTube.

The post Zach Braff is Alex Blumberg appeared first on Jewcy.

Zach Braff’s new film, ‘Wish I Was Here,’ is the viral media gift that keeps on giving: first there was the (controversially) crowd-sourced fundraiser on Kickstarter, then there was the much-hyped Sundance debut, then there was the teaser trailer, and now—finally!—the full-length trailer, featuring a dog called Kugel and a rabbi who thinks personal happiness is overrated.

Braff—who wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the film—appeared on the Today Show this morning with co-star Mandy Patinkin to promote the trailer (which features a new song from Garden State darlings The Shins, written specifically for the movie).

The casting of the Homeland star, it seems, was bashert: the two actors bumped into each other on the streets of New York, and Braff had to work up the courage to approach his childhood idol. “I’m so shy around famous people,” he explained. “But with Mandy I’m a lifelong fan… I was like, ‘C’mon, get your courage. You have to go talk to Mandy Patinkin.'”

A few months after the initial encounter, they ran into each other again. “We were at Fairway having breakfast,” said Patinkin, “and he said ‘I got this movie.’ I read it, I wept like a baby when I read it, it was about family, it was about my sons and the connection to my sons, everything I wish for in a story; if you love somebody, tell them… you only get so many [days], don’t waste it. He asked me and I went, ‘What, are you kidding?!’ He took one of those little selfies and we were off and running.”

Patinkin plays Gabe Bloom, the ailing father of Aidan Bloom (Braff), a thirty-something actor who is flailing spiritually and professionally. Highlights from the trailer include: a dog named kugel! A very old, mean rabbi who doesn’t care about happiness! An adorable child who thinks “hairy balls” is cursing! Jim Parsons holding a mask! The release date is July 18.

Image: Today.com

Related: Network Jews: Saul Berenson from Showtime’s Homeland
Zach Braff On His New Role In “Bullets Over Broadway” And Being An Emo Kid

The post “I Wept Like a Baby”: Mandy Patinkin on Reading Zach Braff’s Movie Script appeared first on Jewcy.

The teaser trailer for Zach Braff’s new Kickstarter-funded film, Wish I Was Here, has just been released. It contains very little dialogue (there is one notably twee line at the beginning—Braff’s character tells his daughter she can buy any costume wig she likes as long as it’s “unique and amazing, like you”*), and it doesn’t reveal much about the plot of the film, but the sound and aesthetics are pretty much Garden State redux—which is either the most amazing or worst thing on earth, depending on your feelings about Garden State.

Kate Hudson is cast as Braff’s wife, Mandy Patinkin as his ailing (possibly dying) father, and there are lots of lovely, sun-dappled shots of Los Angeles/California. At one point, we see Braff looking uber-serious as he follows a kippah-wearing man (rabbi?) down a hallway. And it’s all scored by The Shins’ “Simple Song,” from their 2011 album Port of Morrow.

The movie will be released on July 18.

Compare and share, guys:

WISH I WAS HERE

GARDEN STATE

*Does anyone actually talk like that?

Related: Zach Braff On His New Role In “Bullets Over Broadway” And Being An Emo Kid

(Image: Youtube)

The post WATCH: Teaser Trailer For Zach Braff’s New Film, “Wish I Was Here” appeared first on Jewcy.

Just two months after his recent YouTube pitch for Yeshiva University, actor Zach Braff, who had a “strong Conservative/Orthodox upbringing,” is entering the big league of Jewish theater: Woody Allen on Broadway.

On April 10, the former Scrubs star will make his Broadway debut in “Bullets Over Broadway” as David Shayne, a struggling writer who casts a mobster’s ditsy girlfriend in one of his plays in order to get his show produced. The musical adaptation of the 1994 Oscar-nominated film is not Braff’s first experience acting in a Woody Allen production: at 18, his first movie role was as Woody Allen and Diane Keaton’s son in “Manhattan Murder Mystery.”

In a recent essay in The New York Times, Braff reflected on his journey to acting, highlighting his theater bona fides and emotionally taxing childhood:

I was a melancholic child. Worried, anxious. I never felt as if I belonged anywhere, as if I were a foreign exchange student living among the other kids, who seemed predestined to love sports. Add to that alienation the fact that my parents were going through a divorce, and I was truly treading water. But in that junior high school auditorium, I felt like I’d discovered a secret I didn’t even know was being whispered. There was a place where I might belong: It was the Theater, and I was sold.

Best known for nine seasons as Dr J.D. Dorian on Scrubs, Braff is also famous for writing, directing, producing, and starring in “Garden State,” the 2004 movie set in his home state of New Jersey. His upcoming April premiere brings a new kind of Jersey Boy to Broadway–the Jewish kind.

Related: Zach Braff’s New Movie, “Wish I Was Here,” Has A Release Date!

The post Zach Braff On His New Role In “Bullets Over Broadway” And Being An Emo Kid appeared first on Jewcy.

Variety reports that Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded movie “Wish I Was Here” will be in movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles on July 18. (If you’re perturbed by the idea of a rich movie star soliciting squillions of dollars for a major film project via the internet poor, you’re not alone.)

Here’s the unofficial IMDB synopsis of the movie, which stars Kate Hudson and marriage-officiant extraordinaire, Mandy Patinkin(!):

Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He winds up trying to home school his two children when his father can no longer afford to pay for private education and the only available public school is on its last legs. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn’t find.

Do we detect lightly Jewy undertones from the “conservative/Orthodox”-raised filmmaker? Let’s hope so!

The post Zach Braff’s New Movie, “Wish I Was Here,” Has A Release Date! appeared first on Jewcy.

OK, here’s something perplexing. And kind of cute? Look, I’m not sure what to think, but this new video brings Zach Braff, Purim, and Yeshiva University (!) together, ergo, it is compelling and essential viewing.

In the 30 second clip, Braff talks about being a doctor and a lawyer and an ordained rabbi. It ends with the hashtag #nowherebuthere (YU’s tagline), which is pretty close to the title of Braff’s new film.

Happy Adar 1, everyone!

The post Zach Braff Promotes Yeshiva University In New Purim Video appeared first on Jewcy.

Whether or not you think Zach Braff’s Kickstarter campaign last April was a bit bogus for an actor of his stature, I am pleased to report that we will be seeing him back on the big screen in the near future. Thanks to crowdfunding support from his adoring fans, Braff completed the rest of his film, and it’s now headed to debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

Braff emailed his backers (he reached his goal of $2,000,000) on Wednesday to announce that the film would debut at the highly acclaimed festival:

“”It is quite an honor,” he wrote. “It means so much to me to premiere this film at the very same festival where I premiered Garden State exactly 10 years ago.”

Wish I Was Here, co-written by Zach and his brother Adam, tells the story of a struggling actor married with children, still trying to find purpose in his life. The star studded cast includes Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, and of course, his main bro, Donald Faison.

Best part? Even if you didn’t donate to his campaign, you can still follow Braff’s every Wish I Was Here move by joining the production community! Braff posted a message on the film’s new website, where he will add his videos, playlists, and photos from the set.

Now the only question is…Team Kate or Team Natalie? We shall see how the on-screen chemistry compares.

The post Zach Braff’s ‘Wish I Was Here’ to Debut at Sundance appeared first on Jewcy.

With a great-looking, talented, and very Jewish cast, the trailer for Tar, which premiered at the Rome Film Festival last year, is finally here. À la I’m Not There, the film portrays poet C.K. Williams with various actors throughout his life. Directed by 12 NYU film students (team work!), Tar stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Zach Braff, but there’s still no release date. Whatever, we’re still excited for it.

Watch the trailer here:

The post Watch: Trailer for ‘Tar,’ Inspired by the Life and Work of C.K. Williams appeared first on Jewcy.

Zach Braff, who made a post-Garden State splash in April when he announced plans to fund a sequel to his 2004 coming-of-age-for-real-this-time epic via Kickstarter (it was successful), is headed to Broadway, Vulture reports. And not just any old Broadway show—a musical, directed by Woody Allen, adapted from his 1994 film Bullets Over Broadway.

Here’s the film’s trailer. Just picture Cusack as Braff, and you’re all set.

(Photo credit: CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

The post Zach Braff Cast in Woody Allen-Directed Broadway Musical appeared first on Jewcy.

Two weeks ago, somewhere in our nation’s capital, seven young Jewish men and seven young Jewish women got together for a Shabbat dinner. But it wasn’t just any dinner—it was the now infamous Craigslist Shabbat dinner, organized by seven very confident young Jews who took to the ultimate online personals section to find their besherts. We spoke with Elissa*, one of the seven lucky “chosen” female attendees, about her experience.

So, you’re a chosen ‘chosen one’—mazel tov. How did you find the Craigslist ad? And why did you decide to apply?

I honestly thought the entire thing was a joke. I’m fairly incompetent using the Internet (I just found out that there were articles written about this before it happened), and when my former college roommate posted this on my Facebook wall, I thought, ‘How ridiculous.’ He (ah, liberal arts education) and I decided to apply purely out of curiosity and because we thought it would be hilarious. Never did I ever think this would actually take place, that I would be invited to join, or that I would go. I’ve never met anybody on the Internet (I meet enough creeps in real life), I’ve never been on a blind date, and I’ve never dated an American Jew. So this was way out of my comfort zone.

How long did you spend on your application? Did you take it seriously or just fire something off?

It probably took me longer to read the posting than to write a response. My ‘application’ began with “Dear circumcised gentlemen” and ended with “Pick me and make my bubbe kvell.” I used Maimonides and Zach Braff in the same sentence and told them they better not be schmucks. They asked for a picture so I sent one of me at a prayerbook vending machine in Jerusalem. 

How did you find out you were selected?

A few days later, I got the ‘acceptance’ email:

Following strip bingo night with the local Hadassah chapter, we carefully reviewed your application, engaged in Talmudic discussion over the merits of your presence at our Shabbat dinner table, and Googled the hell out of you.

On behalf of Seven White Single Jewish Males, I’d like to stomp on a glass and wish you a Mazel Tov! You are officially one of the seven chosen people.

The challah is practically in the oven, the gefilte fish are swimming about, the Manischewitz is on ice, and you’ll want to give up your birthright for this lentil soup. We just need to know by noon tomorrow, how much herring to cover in wine sauce.

Also, if you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions, please let us know too. For the sake of inclusion, all food will be kosher.

We also trust that you will use your discretion, and keep this in the family (of 14).

This invitation is non-transferrable, unless you are transferring it to Bar Refaeli or Elena Kagan.

David Ben Gurion

Clearly, I’m not keeping this in ‘the family’ (that’s how Jewish genetic diseases started, after all), but this whole experience was too absurd not to share.

So how did the actual event go down?

I love a good story and routinely get myself into strange predicaments, but I truly didn’t know how to handle this and was debating whether or not I should go. It started to get even more surreal as the plans were being made. The guys were extremely vague and secretive in their communication with us. They continued using the alias David Ben Gurion and waited until the last minute to provide us with an address (they were contacted by several media sources and were understandably worried about guests showing up to the dinner unwelcome), and I started to get freaked out.
 
I demanded that they meet me in a public place first (it turned out that I was the only one with this requirement), and established a “safe word” with a friend who, if I called or texted, would either come to my rescue or notify the authorities. Not to be outdone, the father of one of the chosen Jewesses even hired a bodyguard to be on call a few blocks from our location. I was still extremely anxious (it’s part of my heritage, okay?), although the guys did their best to quell my fears before the event. Their mothers clearly raised them right.
 
The dinner took place at a very nice apartment, and at first we just sat around having drinks and discussing the absurdity of the situation. Our hosts admitted they sifted through hundreds of responses to the ad—one enthusiastic woman offered to fly in from the Midwest and a group of “Protestant Princesses” even reached out to them. It was kind of a hilarious ego boost, except that I learned just how much they gleaned from a simple Google search of my name. Excuse me while I reconsider my relationship with the Internet.

According to the ad, the group of male hosts included five good-looking guys and two ugly guys. Was that true?

Well, disappointingly, there were only five guys there—two of them ended up not being able to make it—and six of us Jewesses (one bailed at the last minute). We joked that it was the ugly guys who had dropped out. One particular guy and I had our differences: he made a joke early on about it being good that we had all met on “Craigslist and not Schindler’s list,” to which I responded, “Too soon.” From that moment on, he seemed to openly dislike me. Oh well.
 
The quality of the company overall ended up being quite enjoyable, though, and I think that’s what counts the most. No one was remarkably schlubby or nebbishy, though the fresh babka was the biggest turn-on for me. Yum.
 
Tell us a little about the dinner. How was the food? How were the other chosen ladies?
 
The dinner itself was surprisingly comfortable. The guys cooked and served a delightful multi-course meal, the wine was flowing, and the people were funny and interesting. I was honestly shocked. I don’t have many Jewish friends and am not yet part of a Jewish community here in D.C., so it was refreshing to be around people with shared backgrounds and experiences.
 
And the other girls were lovely. We all engaged each other and it never felt like one of those catty reality shows where the women are competing for the men or vice-versa. Having gone into this half-expecting to be murdered by a serial killer (and yet I went, sigh) or be so bored that I’d try to gouge my eyeballs out with a Shabbat candle, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not often that a bunch of guys cook, clean, and entertain a group of ladies completely of their own accord. Note to gentlemen everywhere: this should be done more often.
 
The evening was so “normal” in fact, that during dessert we joked that we needed to do something to spice it up, like perform an impromptu brit milah at the dinner table.

So, did you hit it off with any of the guys? Was your beshert at the dinner?

The dinner ended up lasting more than five hours, at which point us Jewesses all left together (we’re all still in touch and actually got another dinner party invitation—so, to be continued!). Interestingly, no phone numbers were exchanged across the genders at the actual event, though three of the girls were later contacted by three guys and are seeing each other again. Yentl the matchmaker would be so proud!
 
Personally, I did not find my beshert that night (and later met up with a French goy I’ve been casually dating…oops. My mother would be so disappointed). While I met some great people, my first foray into Jewish dating didn’t end up successful in the traditional sense. I guess it’s back to the land of the uncircumcised for me for now. Oy.
 
That weekend (after Shabbos ended, of course), I sent the guys an email thanking them for not being serial killers and for hosting a lovely evening, and they sent the chosen few a “shaynem dank” email:

Thank you for indulging our Shabbat fantasies. It was the ultimate double mitzvah. We had a great time hosting you, and may these experiences be fruitful and multiply. Never forget.

*Last name omitted so her mother never finds out.

(image via Shutterstock)

The post Tales From the Craigslist Shabbat Dinner appeared first on Jewcy.