Conan O'Brien pilot ordered by TBS (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – TBS has ordered a half-hour comedy pilot from Conan O'Brien's Conaco, which produces his late night series, and Warner Horizon Television.

The untitled, multi-camera sitcom is about a man who quits his job and returns to his old neighborhood, where he reunites with his former best friend.

The show will be executive produced by O'Brien, David Kissinger ("Eagleheart," "Andy Barker, P.I."), and "Conan" executive producer Jeff Ross, along with the pilot's writers, Ben Wexler ("Still Standing") and Ross Novie and Jay Rondot (both of "Secret Girlfriend").

Wexler will also serve as the showrunner.

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Jason Momoa eyes breakout film role in "Conan" (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jason Momoa may not be a household name from Hollywood yet, but neither was Arnold Schwarzenegger when he took on the title role of "Conan the Barbarian" in 1982.

Nearly 30 years later, Momoa could see a similar starmaking trajectory if moviegoers embrace him as the new, 3D incarnation of "Conan the Barbarian," due in theaters on Friday. If there's one person who hopes they will, it is Momoa.

"Conan (is) going to give me star status," he told Reuters of his hopes for a movie that breaks him out of the pack of Hollywood actors. "It's going to put me in leading man roles."

Based on pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery fantasy stories, the "Conan" reboot begins with the barbarian's early years when, as a young boy, he witnesses the destruction of his village and the death of his father.

As an adult, Conan embarks on a personal mission to avenge the death, which then turns into an epic battle to save an entire nation from a supernatural evil.

Unlike Schwarzenegger who, at 35, was a body building champ but a relative newcomer to Hollywood movies when he took the "Conan" role, the 32 year-old Momoa has 12 years of work under his belt. But only his hardcore fans, including followers of HBO series "Games of Thrones," likely know he's got the acting skills, not to mention the muscles, to wield Conan's weapons.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Momoa was raised by his single mother in Iowa, where he never felt like he fit in with his exotic looks inherited largely from his native Hawaiian father. After high school, in an attempt to "get to know my father better" Momoa went back to Hawaii where his looks became an asset. Modeling gigs followed, then came an opportunity he could never have predicted -- a gig on "Baywatch."

"I was 19 and folding t-shirts in a surf shop," Momoa told Reuters. "And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a lead role on 'Baywatch Hawaii.' I didn't even know how to act."

That led to another Hawaii-based show, "North Shore," which only lasted a year and after that, a dry spell.

"It took me five years to get an agent after 'Baywatch,'" said Momoa. "No one would take me seriously because it was 'Baywatch.' I lived in the shadow of that for a long time.'"

WARRIORS AND WARLOCKS

Eventually he landed the role of the dreadlock-wearing warrior Ronon Dex in the Sy Fy Channel TV series "Stargate: Atlantis," where he was quickly embraced by sci-fi fans. The show lasted on TV for five seasons.

His career took another fortuitous turn when he was cast as the powerful warlock Khal Drogo on HBO's "Game of Thrones," based on the popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels. After premiering earlier this year, "Thrones" became an instant hit with fans and critics, earning 13 Emmy nominations.

"It was the first project in my life where I was like, 'I have to have this, no one is gonna take this from me,'" said Momoa. "It was the first thing I've ever fought for."

Momoa's 6'3" frame and muscular body make him a strong choice for roles as tough guys who battle evil, and his exotic looks give him an eerie resemblance to Howard's original drawings of Conan.

But the actor, who is married and has two young children with actress Lisa Bonet, said it was being a father that made him connect with the Conan character.

"Conan's father is killed in front of him and as a father, if someone messes with your family, your children, you're gonna get primal on them," said the actor. "You're gonna go feral. It resides in everyone," Momoa said.

Clearly, going primal is one thing Momoa can do. His face bears a striking scar from a 2008 bar fight where, he said, "I took a pint glass to the face. It took a 140 stitches to put my face back together."

But those days are gone, he said, and the actor is focused on his future. Besides "Thrones," Momoa is currently shooting a villainous role opposite Sylvester Stallone in next year's crime thriller, "Bullet to the Head." He also has a couple of projects in the works with Bonet.

Though his career is moving at a faster pace now, Momoa paused to reflect about first seeing himself on the big screen in "Conan," complete with the physical transformation which included an additional 25 lbs. of muscle.

"There's moments you look at yourself," he said. "And wow, it's kinda cool."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Capsule reviews: `Conan,' `One Day' (AP)

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

"Conan the Barbarian" — No one ever turns into a giant snake. That, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with this remake: The knowing sense of big, ridiculous fun that marked the 1982 original is gone, and in its place we get a self-serious series of generic sword battles and expository conversations. Fight, talk, fight, talk, fight, talk, then an enormous throw-down followed by a denouement that dangles the possibility of a sequel (dear God, no) — that's the basic structure here. And yet, despite seeming so simplistic, director Marcus Nispel's film is mind-numbingly convoluted. The fact that it's been converted to a murky, smudgy, barely used 3-D doesn't help matters. While the original "Conan" — the movie that signaled the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bona fide movie star — looks extremely dated nearly 30 years later, it still functions just fine as both an epic adventure tale and an admitted guilty pleasure. There's very little that's pleasurable in this new "Conan," aside from allowing us to ogle the muscular, 6-foot-5 physique of up-and-coming action star Jason Momoa. Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang and an over-the-top Rose McGowan co-star. R for strong bloody violence, some sexuality and nudity. 102 minutes. One star out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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"Fright Night" — Yes, this is a remake of the 1985 horror comedy. No, there is no originality left in Hollywood. But at least this "Fright Night" stays true to its origins by having a bit of cheeky fun, and the way it contemporizes the story is really rather clever. Once again, a vaguely nerdy teenager (Anton Yelchin) thinks his mysterious and seductive new next-door neighbor (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. No one else believes him except for his even nerdier childhood pal (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But the setting makes this premise make sense. Craig Gillespie's film takes place in the overly developed suburban sprawl outside Las Vegas, where people come and go and those who do live there often sleep all day and work all night. The barren wasteland of abandoned houses — if they were ever inhabited in the first place — is the perfect place for a bloodsucker to lay low. Farrell is clearly thriving doing showy comic parts, between this and "Horrible Bosses." And the strong supporting cast includes Toni Collette as Yelchin's skeptical single mom and David Tennant in a scene-stealing turn as an alleged master of the supernatural. It all works well enough that it makes you wish it weren't in 3-D, which adds a suffocating layer of dimness, which doesn't exactly help engage us given that so much of the film takes place in the dark, at night. R for bloody horror violence and language, including some sexual references. 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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"One Day" — Maybe it was all more resonant, more poignant on the page: the many highs and lows and major life shifts that occur during the decades-spanning friendship/romance between Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess). But here they feel so cursory and rushed, it's as if we're watching a filmed version of the CliffsNotes of David Nicholls' best-seller. The central conceit is this: Em and Dex meet after a long night of post-college graduation partying on July 15, 1988. "One Day" keeps coming back to that one day, year after year, and checks in with them as they date other people, forge careers, share awkward dinners and basically wait around until the inevitable July 15 when they'll be together. Big, weighty moments are thrust before us — and these should be serious hanky moments — but since the emotional groundwork hasn't been laid for them, we're not moved. We're just not there yet. Emma and Dexter feel more like ideas, types, rather than fleshed-out characters, so the supporting players who supposedly play crucial roles for them barely register either. It's a handsome misfire, though. And it's all the more curious coming from Danish director Lone Scherfig, whose last film was the excellent "An Education" (2009), which was nominated for three Academy Awards including best picture. PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity, language, some violence and substance abuse. 104 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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Review: New `Conan' is a barbaric bore (AP)

No one ever turns into a giant snake in the new "Conan the Barbarian."

That, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with this remake: The knowing sense of big, ridiculous fun that marked the 1982 original is gone, and in its place we get a self-serious series of generic sword battles and expository conversations.

Fight, talk, fight, talk, fight, talk, then an enormous throwdown followed by a denouement that dangles the possibility of a sequel (dear God, no) — that's the basic structure here. And yet, despite seeming so simplistic, director Marcus Nispel's film is mind-numbingly convoluted. The fact that it's been converted to a murky, smudgy, barely-used 3-D doesn't help matters. At one point, I scrawled in my notes: "Incomprehensible underwater serpent attack." There you have it.

The script is credited to three writers, based on Robert E. Howard's Conan character, but everyone involved would probably prefer that you not think of this as a remake.

Remakes have become Nispel's bread and butter in recent years. The longtime music-video director also made the 2003 version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the 2009 version of "Friday the 13th." But while the original "Conan" — the movie that signaled the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bona fide movie star — looks extremely dated nearly 30 years later, it still functions just fine as both an epic adventure tale and an admitted guilty pleasure.

There's very little that's pleasurable in this new "Conan," aside from allowing us to ogle the muscular, 6-foot-5 physique of up-and-coming action star Jason Momoa. If you're into that kind of thing, that is — he is a spectacle to behold, albeit in a romance-novel cover-model kind of way.

"I live. I love. I slay ... I am content," Conan says to the innocent Tamara (Rachel Nichols), whom he's been tasked with protecting. Not quite as poetic as one of Schwarzenegger's most famous lines: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women," but at least we know he's confident enough to avoid suffering an existential crisis. Good for him. He also doesn't evolve, though, which doesn't make him terribly compelling. It didn't seem possible for there to be even less characterization than there was in the original "Conan," but voila.

Once again, the Cimmerian warrior is on a mission to avenge the deaths of his father (Ron Perlman, who's in no way being put to his best use) and the rest of his village. He's after the evil warlord Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), who's after the Mask of Acheron, which resembles a dried-up octopus. But it can spring to life and provide unlimited power to the wearer with the help of some drops of pure blood — which Tamara has. Hence, she's in demand.

Khalar Zym is aided in his quest by his half-witch daughter Marique, played by an over-the-top Rose McGowan in the kind of daring, skin-baring outfits she used to wear on the red carpet when she was still dating Marilyn Manson. Marique tries out her burgeoning supernatural powers in a battle with Conan himself, but when it comes time to fight Tamara as part of the film's climax, it's all mano-a-mano. Why? Because it's sexier for them to be writhing around on the ground with each other.

If only the rest of the movie had such an unabashed sense of camp, we might have been onto something.

"Conan the Barbarian," a Lionsgate release, is rated R for strong bloody violence, some sexuality and nudity. Running time: 102 minutes. One star out of four.

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Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G — General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

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