• And so, here we are again, in what’s become an annual tradition here at News Askew — It’s time to take a look at the year that was 2006, including all the news, surprises, changes, and happenings in the world of View Askew Productions.

2006 started off in an exciting way — We were lucky enough to catch one of the first ever screenings of Clerks II in its final form — The film began 2006 in the can, but with a few tweaks to be made during two very private test screenings in New York and Los Angeles. “No Way It Gets An R!” proclaimed Kevin at the end of January, though eventually we would all find out together this amazing feat would actually take place.

By the start of Februrary, Kevin announced Clerks II was in the can in its final cut, and a month ahead of schedule, no less. This likely due to the fact that he worked all nighters editing the film as it was being produced. USA Today caught an early look at the film and began showering praise on it, which would become a common thread as the year went on – The critics would LOVE Clerks II. As the months rolled on, the awesome “Train Wreck” series continued to present online viewers with scenes from the film’s creative process — Which would continue up to, and beyond, the film’s release. The month also brought us the big annoucement that Vulgarthon would return to the homeland of Red Bank, New Jersey in May of 2006.

The Vulgarthon madness continued into March of 2006, where an unprecedented DAY TWO of the ‘thon was addded, giving fans who missed out on the fast-selling day one a chance to see the program again a second day (or appease those of us die-hard day one’ers who wanted to come back for more). March also was a HUGE internet milestone for View Askew Productions, as Kevin congratulated Ming Chen on his 10th anniversary with the company, along with a posting of the original e-mail that started it all off. Yes, viewaskew.com celebrated 10 years online in 2006! Also, amazingly enough, March also marked the demolition of the Mooby’s store constructed in California — Months before the film would actually be released in theaters. It’s of course common for sets to be destroyed immediately after filming, though it was sad to see such a public icon of View Askew go away so suddenly — It would have made a neat tourist trap, we’re thinking (plus we’d have loved to go get our “Cow Tipper” on out there). Finally, March marked the start of one of the most amazingly detailed and honest stories to ever hit an online blog — His saga of his life with Jason Mewes, “Me and My Shadow”. The multi-part story would become one of the most popular online blogs of all time (even gathering kudos from “Newsweek” magazine. MySpace, in fact, would be a favorite haunt of Kevin’s this year — Pages created for Clerks II invited lucky users to get their own name in the film’s credits simply by adding the page to their friend list in March.

Clerks II excitement was at at all-time high in early April when the official trailer made its online debut. This brilliantly cut together piece showcased just a sampling of what the film had to offer, but wisely kept many of the movie’s profane secrets and surprises under wraps. Commercials and clips would later sadly give a few more of the film’s twists away, but as with previous efforts, there was no possibly way to spoil some of the best stuff in the film in G-rated MPAA trailers and telelvision ads. On April 12, Kevin was honored by UCLA with the 24th Jack Benny Award For Comedy. The award celebrated Kevin’s outstanding contribution to comedy. Kevin wasn’t the only View Askew vet making news in April — It was also announced that Jason Lee would voice “Underdog” in a 2007 theatrical release, as he continued to enjoy huge ratings and critical success for his NBC show “My Name Is Earl”. And last, but certainly not least, we celebrated our own anniversary at the end of April, 9 years of bringing you the news. We’ll celebrate our 10th in 2007. Wow.

The big news of May was the announcement that Clerks II would be making a trip to the Cannes film festival — This prestigious honor was quite poetic as the original Clerks, as well as Dogma, had previously played at the festival. Other Clerks II news affected all of us — For the first time ever, a View Askew release date was pushed UP — Taking Clerks II from it’s previous August release date up to a new date of July 21st. Also, in a trifecta of great Clerks II news, we learned in May that Clerks II made it through the MPAA’s screening process without a single cut — And a surprising “R” rating. After that, we thought more good stuff couldn’t possibly happen in such a short time — It was just too perfect. We were wrong! Kevin claimed that this month marked one of the greatest moments in his career when Clerks II received an amazing 8 MINUTE standing ovation following its midnight screening in Cannes, where critics and audiences alike praised the film with a great deal of excitement. The video of this moment was captured and appeared on the online Train Wreck and in Zak and Joey’s fantastic “Back to the Well” documentary that would appear on the Clerks II DVD later this year. For the rest of May, positive reviews of Clerks II poured in. We ended the month with a coverage marathon at News Askew, live from the Red Bank Vulgarthon. We came armed with cameras, a laptop, and a WiFi connection to bring live updates on all the events at one of the greatest Askewniverse events ever.

Things calmed down a bit in June after the back to back Cannes and Vulgarthon screenings of Clerks II — However, halfway through the month we learned of yet another screening – This time in middle America, Missouri of all places, where the film yet again wow audiences, scoring well over the normal test numbers. Poster designs for the film showed up a week later, and we were in love with the character based teaser sheets. Classy, colorful, and eye-catching. Kevin, Brian and Jeff embarked on the biggest publicity tour for a View Askew Production EVER this month, travelling coast-to-coast in North America for several weeks to spread the good word about the newest member of the View Askew family. We really dug a post made by Kevin in mid-June as well, where he ALMOST detailed the secrets behind “Name”, a picture he famously ALMOST made — And also an amazing story regarding a “Pulp Fiction”-esque superhero flick. See the June 16th archive post for that one. Man, we wish Kevin would have got to write and/or direct that one. Press coverage of the nationwide blitz took up the rest of June, and we ended the month with our very own inside look at the Clerks II set — From our visit of the film’s final day of shooting in Leonardo, New Jersey.

With the Clerks II release looming, Kevin, Jeff and Brian continued to ramp up their nationwide tour promoting the film into July. A rare R-rated “red band” trailer also debuted online. Kevin began bringing Clerks II to several advance screenings at lucky theaters around the country, where audiences could get an early look followed by a Q&A session. In all our years doing this gig, we’ve never seen the man travel so much or work so hard — It was an impressive and, we imagine, tiring few weeks. Clerks II celebrated its official premiere at the Arclight in Los Angeles, on July 13, 2006. Our July marked the busiest in News Askew history, as we covered every article, review, and bit of Clerks II ink and video that we could scour. Check our archives to look back on one of the biggest press blitzes we’ve ever seen. July also proved once again that a View Askew Production couldn’t hit theaters without a bit of protesting — This time, from famous critic Joel Siegel, who very publicly denounced the film in a screening he attended, which THEN led to a very public battle with Kevin. Clerks II was released nationwide on July 21st, 2006. Reviews from critics and fans continued to be very positive, with the film scoring higher on famous review site Rotten Tomatoes than anything else posted at the time — An almost 80% “fresh” approval rating. The internet crowd made the film so popular that our site slowed to a crawl for a few days surrounding the release. The flick beat out the much more expensive, and higher profiled “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” opening weekend, and had the best return on investment of any film released. Kevin rounded out July in his first appearance on “At the Movies”, sitting in for Roger Ebert.

Kevin kicked off August by celebrating hus 36th birthday, and enjoying the financial and critical success of Clerks II. It was this month that we also learned his next intended project would indeed break into a new genre for him. Horror. This was revealed and confirmed at the Netflix Rolling Roadshow, which screened the original Clerks on a large inflatable screen in front of a capacity crowd in Red Bank, New Jersey. Kevin made a historical visit to Australia for the later part of the month, both to promote Clerks II’s release there and take a much-needed vacation. At the Edinburgh Film Festival, the film would celebrate taking the Audience Award to close out the month, with an amazing 78% of the audience’s vote.

DVD excitement was the order of the day in September, when we learned the highly-anticipated “Evening Harder” set would arrive before the year was out, along with the Clerks II Special Edition and Jeff Anderson’s directorial effort “Now You Know”. We’d have to wait until November for that goodness, of course. After a relatively quiet year, Ben Affleck started getting press for his turn as George Reeves in “Hollywoodland”. He was awarded the “Best Actor” trophy at the Venice Film Festival. Some rare but happy news for View Askew Productions in early September as well — Producer Scott Mosier got married. With late November release dates in store for Clerks II and Evening Harder, two west coast “watching parties” were announced for the discs — They were scheduled for early November. The end of September marked another new venture for Kevin — That of the professor. Kevin announced he’d be mentoring a UCLA class of film students who would create “mobisodes”, short-run programs on a weekly basis for the MTVu channel. The show would become known as “Sucks Less with Kevin Smith” and celebrate a successful semester in the closing months of 2006.

October blew in with another milestone for us here at News Askew – Our 20 millionth visit. This came and went quite quickly in early October, especially after we announced Kevin would be giving a signed pair of Vanns to the lucky winner. We also learned that Kevin would appear in Hawaii later in the month to receive another much-deserved honor, the Maverick Award. The relatively quiet October wound down with the web premiere of “Sucks Less” on October the 26th.

Things picked up again with November, off to an excellent start as “Catch and Release” celebrated a positive review (and kudos for Kevin) from the widely-read Hollywood Reporter. The Clerks II and Evening Harder viewing parties were held at a new venue for View Askew, Cinespace, to capacity crowds and rave reviews. More news on Kevin the actor, too — It was announced that Kevin would star in a pilot for the Showtime television network, “Manchild”. The pilot would be filmed in December, though no definite word on the series would appear for the remainder of 2006. With the biggest DVD release date in View Askew history on the way later this month, 3 simultaneous titles, we learned that many versions of Clerks II would appear exclusively in stores — Best Buy retail locations promised the coolest collectible of them all — A Mooby’s happy meal box with extra goodies inside. On November 28th, release day, a huge signing event was held at Stash Westwood with celebs and fans galore. We also rounded out the month learning that Clerks II inaction figures were in the planning stages, though at presstime, no release date or details have been announced.

And finally, there was December — This very month. Kevin began the month for a great cause – The “Hero Initiative”. He hosted an event featuring comic legends Stan Lee and Joe Quesada in Los Angeles, which we hear will arrive on DVD in early 2007. In the second week of this month, the “Manchild” pilot was filmed, with Kevin reporting the show to be hilarious, and a successful shoot at that. Will there ever be a View Askew themed video game? Kevin hinted to the fact he’d love to see one in the middle of this month. Two of our favorite View Askew vets, Affleck and Lee, both took Golden Globe nominations this month, Lee for Earl, and Affleck for Hollywoodland. “Sucks Less With Kevin Smith” closed down its inaugural semester with a successful season of shows on the web. We learned Kevin would appear in TWO MORE theatrical projects — A small role aside Bruce Willis in the new Die Hard flick slated for Summer 07, and a voice in the CGI-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. And finally, we coasted to the end of the month celebrating Christmas, and, of course, writing this wordy wrapup — If you’ve made it this far, congratulations.

So then, what’s ahead for 2007? First up, we’ll see Kevin’s big screen debut in a NON-Askew motion picture: “Catch and Release”. A lucky bunch of us got to take in the flick as part of the awesome 2006 Jersey Vulgarthon, and can all attest to Kevin’s triumphant command of the screen. Practically every laugh in the flick comes from Kevin’s ability to deliver a line with perfect timing — His character is the best in the film, by far. We’ll also see if Kevin can translate this success to the action realm, when he shares the silver screen with Bruce Willis in “Live Free or Die Hard” this July. We’ll also hear his voice as a character in the CGI animated “Teenange Mutant Ninja Turtles” flick. On the small screen, we’re hopeful for a full season order for the new Showtime series “Manchild”, in which Kevin will play a featured comedic AND dramatic role. The uncensored, uncut series would be the first of its kind for him.

View Askew Productions doesn’t have anything official on the books for production or release in 2007 YET — The latest rumors we’ve been hearing have Kevin scripting a new horror film right now, the first of its kind for View Askew. We’re hoping that it might start filming in 2007, with lots of news on casting, plot, and more. As for now, mum’s the word on the project. The “Ranger Danger” project is still in the loop as well, though we hear that one’s likely pushed back until at least 2008. But when you’ve been doing this (and been a fan) as long as we have, you know that all of this can change in a heartbeat. That’s Hollywood!

Kevin will also continue to make regular appearances throughout the country in his famous marathon Q&A gigs — Watch (or ask) a college near you about these. You’ll also have a chance to see him at various ComicCons throughout North America, and of course catch him at one of his awesome Secret Stash comic shops (one on each coast).

With Kevin breaking into more mediums that ever, including big turns in film and TV as an actor this year, along with continuing work as a filmmaker through View Askew Productions, we’re sure that 2007 is going to be the biggest year yet here at News Askew. As we move into celebrating our 10th anniversary as a website this Spring, we’ve got a lot of excitement and surprises in store for you as well. We thank you all once again for a fantastic 2006, and hope to see you back here again next year, and for many, many years to come. Happy New Year, and best wishes for a prosperous and successful 2007!