Showing posts with label The Loop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Loop. Show all posts
Monday, July 02, 2007
Be more constructive with your feedback, please
I haven't watched "John from Cincinnati" yet, and may not get to it until tonight (please hold your comments until I do a post), but spoilers for, in order, "Flight of the Conchords," "Entourage" and "The Loop" coming up just as soon as I go to my Nana's for a cup of tea...
The "Rhymenoceros vs. Hiphopopotamus" video was easily my favorite "Flight of the Conchords" moment to date. I've probably watched it a dozen times since I first watched the screener of this episode, and it's likely going to achieve Turk Dancing/"Lazy Sunday"/"Dick in a Box" status where I keep watching the damn thing and quoting it ("They call me the Hiphopopotamus; my lyrics are bottomless...") long after the rest of the world has tired of it. (It's not up on YouTube yet, but you can watch an older concert version that's not nearly as funny; Bret's rapping skills have improved, and the use of synthesized beats instead of acoustic guitars works much better, parody-wise. UPDATE: Still not on YouTube, but HBO.com has it.) Same basic concept as "Lazy Sunday" -- nerdy white guys trying to be hardcore rappers without the lyrics or life experience to back it up -- but executed perfectly. Each time I watch it, I notice new funny things, like Bret's goofy dance while Jemaine is doing his first Hiphopopatmus verse.
And where I felt the first episode was strong on the music and weak on the jokes and the second episode was the opposite, this one was a good melding of the videos and the non-musical script. Loved Murray's fear of New York (and him not realizing that handing out those reflective vests was inspiring all those muggings of New Zealanders), the camera phone, Bret just assuming Jemaine was dead and renting out the apartment, the entire running gag with the murdered monkey, the reveal that Bret was on the double-date with Jemaine and Lenny Venito, more accent humor ("he may be dead" vs. "he maybe did"), Mel getting all worked up over the idea of Jemaine getting raped in prison, pretty much all of it. Next week's show isn't as good (it's basically a rehash of the pilot), but this one gives me hope that this show can be more than just a simple pleasure.
Though I had seen that episode a few times, I felt like I needed to watch it again to cleanse the taste of "Entourage," which did one of their worst episodes ever. The Drama/Turtle storyline exemplified all the worst aspects of the show; like Turtle's that much more of a prize than Colleen Camp? (And was that a fatsuit or has she just put on a lot of weight since the last time I saw her in the mid-'90s?) The Vince plot was yet another boring case of everything working out perfectly for our hero, and while E and Vince disagreeing on the quality of "Medellin" (and based on the editor's comments, I think we're supposed to believe E is right) has some potential, E ain't funny, and never has been. Just a bad, bad half-hour of television.
Finally, we say farewell to "The Loop." Well, sort of. My DVR was misbehaving all night, and the third episode is unwatchably pixellated, so I'll have to track that down by other means. Still, two amusing episodes before that, with Sam again in drag, Darcy perfectly matched with Derek Tricolli (who shouldn't make me laugh and yet does), Meryl molesting a drunken Sam (girl is kinky), the completely random Mark Cuban cameo (and does Cuban really fly coach?), and more. "Reaper" is better, but I'll still miss this silly, crude little show.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
The "Rhymenoceros vs. Hiphopopotamus" video was easily my favorite "Flight of the Conchords" moment to date. I've probably watched it a dozen times since I first watched the screener of this episode, and it's likely going to achieve Turk Dancing/"Lazy Sunday"/"Dick in a Box" status where I keep watching the damn thing and quoting it ("They call me the Hiphopopotamus; my lyrics are bottomless...") long after the rest of the world has tired of it. (It's not up on YouTube yet, but you can watch an older concert version that's not nearly as funny; Bret's rapping skills have improved, and the use of synthesized beats instead of acoustic guitars works much better, parody-wise. UPDATE: Still not on YouTube, but HBO.com has it.) Same basic concept as "Lazy Sunday" -- nerdy white guys trying to be hardcore rappers without the lyrics or life experience to back it up -- but executed perfectly. Each time I watch it, I notice new funny things, like Bret's goofy dance while Jemaine is doing his first Hiphopopatmus verse.
And where I felt the first episode was strong on the music and weak on the jokes and the second episode was the opposite, this one was a good melding of the videos and the non-musical script. Loved Murray's fear of New York (and him not realizing that handing out those reflective vests was inspiring all those muggings of New Zealanders), the camera phone, Bret just assuming Jemaine was dead and renting out the apartment, the entire running gag with the murdered monkey, the reveal that Bret was on the double-date with Jemaine and Lenny Venito, more accent humor ("he may be dead" vs. "he maybe did"), Mel getting all worked up over the idea of Jemaine getting raped in prison, pretty much all of it. Next week's show isn't as good (it's basically a rehash of the pilot), but this one gives me hope that this show can be more than just a simple pleasure.
Though I had seen that episode a few times, I felt like I needed to watch it again to cleanse the taste of "Entourage," which did one of their worst episodes ever. The Drama/Turtle storyline exemplified all the worst aspects of the show; like Turtle's that much more of a prize than Colleen Camp? (And was that a fatsuit or has she just put on a lot of weight since the last time I saw her in the mid-'90s?) The Vince plot was yet another boring case of everything working out perfectly for our hero, and while E and Vince disagreeing on the quality of "Medellin" (and based on the editor's comments, I think we're supposed to believe E is right) has some potential, E ain't funny, and never has been. Just a bad, bad half-hour of television.
Finally, we say farewell to "The Loop." Well, sort of. My DVR was misbehaving all night, and the third episode is unwatchably pixellated, so I'll have to track that down by other means. Still, two amusing episodes before that, with Sam again in drag, Darcy perfectly matched with Derek Tricolli (who shouldn't make me laugh and yet does), Meryl molesting a drunken Sam (girl is kinky), the completely random Mark Cuban cameo (and does Cuban really fly coach?), and more. "Reaper" is better, but I'll still miss this silly, crude little show.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Live or on tape?
Quick spoilers for, in order, "Entourage," "Flight of the Conchords," "Meadowlands" and "The Loop" coming up just as soon as I check the Urban Dictionary definition of "ungumly"...
After last week's Colombian hijinks, "Entourage" returns to America for some half-predictable, half-not adventures. On the predictable side, we have Drama going to absurdly anal lengths to keep his new condo pristine while throwing Vince a welcome-home bash. On the not-so-predictable, we have the very real possibility that "Medellin" sucks, and that Vince's career could go the way of the Affleck if Walsh can't salvage it. I expect everything to turn out well in the end, simply because that's how this show always works, but I've always thought it would be an interesting diversion to spend a period with Vince's career on the skids and the other guys having to survive without their meal ticket. Not really wild about the Ari subplot, which reminded me of that episode from earlier this year where his old college buddy came to visit. It was just filler, something for Piven to do early in a season that doesn't seem to have much room for Ari.
While "Entourage" has become a diversion, at best, "Flight of the Conchords" keeps rattling around in my head, making me smile or laugh at random (and sometimes inopportune) moments. Where I thought the pilot was stronger on the songs than the action, this one has the opposite appeal. Bret's "Boom King" song was amusing (and reminded me, oddly, of "Here Comes the Hotstepper," though I'm sure there's a more contemporary inspiration), but the real fun came from the way he began to treat the sign-holding gig as a major career (I particularly liked him getting a Bluetooth and not knowing what it was for) or Jemaine and Murray's love of The Tape. (And loved the deadpan exchange, after The Tape broke: "Does this mean I'm not in a band anymore?" "I'm afraid not, Jemaine.") We're only in episode two and already there are good running gags, like New Zealand's inferiority complex towards Australia, or Bret's hair-helmet (seen here on the mannequin Jemaine was trying to turn into his new bandmate). I'm really very fond of these guys and this show.
My thoughts on "Meadowlands" are going to be extremely brief. Where "Conchords" has taken up residence in my brain (the catchy songs help), I find that I've forgotten nearly everything about "Meadowlands" only a couple of weeks after I first watched this episode. All that really remains is the cross-dressing almost-rape and its aftermath. I guess weirdness for weirdness' sake can be interesting in the moment, but it has no shelf life.
Finally, Fox just can't wait to get "The Loop" off its airwaves, dumping three episodes onto its Sunday lineup, with the final three coming next week. (Last week's Entertainment Weekly had a full-page ad for the show, tied to the Stride Gum product integration plot from the third episode; clearly, the whole deal was money well-spent by the Stride people. I think Fienberg is still going around saying "ungumly," but I didn't even know it was a real brand until I saw that ad.) While I'm not going to miss the show overall, season two has given me a newfound appreciation for Joy Osmanski as Darcy -- her "Music Man"-style song 'bout the alley out back in the first episode was brilliant. I hear there may be some minor retooling happening on "Reaper" -- maybe it's not too late to find a part for her there.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
After last week's Colombian hijinks, "Entourage" returns to America for some half-predictable, half-not adventures. On the predictable side, we have Drama going to absurdly anal lengths to keep his new condo pristine while throwing Vince a welcome-home bash. On the not-so-predictable, we have the very real possibility that "Medellin" sucks, and that Vince's career could go the way of the Affleck if Walsh can't salvage it. I expect everything to turn out well in the end, simply because that's how this show always works, but I've always thought it would be an interesting diversion to spend a period with Vince's career on the skids and the other guys having to survive without their meal ticket. Not really wild about the Ari subplot, which reminded me of that episode from earlier this year where his old college buddy came to visit. It was just filler, something for Piven to do early in a season that doesn't seem to have much room for Ari.
While "Entourage" has become a diversion, at best, "Flight of the Conchords" keeps rattling around in my head, making me smile or laugh at random (and sometimes inopportune) moments. Where I thought the pilot was stronger on the songs than the action, this one has the opposite appeal. Bret's "Boom King" song was amusing (and reminded me, oddly, of "Here Comes the Hotstepper," though I'm sure there's a more contemporary inspiration), but the real fun came from the way he began to treat the sign-holding gig as a major career (I particularly liked him getting a Bluetooth and not knowing what it was for) or Jemaine and Murray's love of The Tape. (And loved the deadpan exchange, after The Tape broke: "Does this mean I'm not in a band anymore?" "I'm afraid not, Jemaine.") We're only in episode two and already there are good running gags, like New Zealand's inferiority complex towards Australia, or Bret's hair-helmet (seen here on the mannequin Jemaine was trying to turn into his new bandmate). I'm really very fond of these guys and this show.
My thoughts on "Meadowlands" are going to be extremely brief. Where "Conchords" has taken up residence in my brain (the catchy songs help), I find that I've forgotten nearly everything about "Meadowlands" only a couple of weeks after I first watched this episode. All that really remains is the cross-dressing almost-rape and its aftermath. I guess weirdness for weirdness' sake can be interesting in the moment, but it has no shelf life.
Finally, Fox just can't wait to get "The Loop" off its airwaves, dumping three episodes onto its Sunday lineup, with the final three coming next week. (Last week's Entertainment Weekly had a full-page ad for the show, tied to the Stride Gum product integration plot from the third episode; clearly, the whole deal was money well-spent by the Stride people. I think Fienberg is still going around saying "ungumly," but I didn't even know it was a real brand until I saw that ad.) While I'm not going to miss the show overall, season two has given me a newfound appreciation for Joy Osmanski as Darcy -- her "Music Man"-style song 'bout the alley out back in the first episode was brilliant. I hear there may be some minor retooling happening on "Reaper" -- maybe it's not too late to find a part for her there.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sunday night funnies (and weirdos)
Damn. Busy night of TV. It's the summertime, and yet there are five different shows I ostensibly follow, including one that's airing two episodes a week until Fox gets it the hell off its airwaves. Brief spoilers for, in order, "Entourage," "Flight of the Conchords," "Meadowlands" and "The Loop" coming up just as soon as I get fitted for prosthetic nose and mustache...
God love Doug Ellin and those magnificent bastards at "Entourage." Not only did they finally give us a glimpse of Vincent Chase, working actor, but they threw in a Martin Landau-as-Bob Ryan shout-out! (For your poor people who missed it, Vince reveals that E has been reading Bob's autobiography -- titled, of course, "Is That Something You Might Be Interested In?" -- on the set of "Medelin.") That joke alone is going to buy this show, oh, at least two or three weeks of goodwill from me.
I wish they had stuck with the mockumentary format for the entire episode, as most of the best jokes (like Nicky Rubenstein trying to explain why he was bringing cocaine to Colombia) came out of that framework, while the bits that broke it (like the guys discussing the rules about who could and couldn't have sex with Sofia Vergara) could have easily been cut.
As for our first extended look at Vince acting, I thought they took the right approach, giving us just enough of a taste -- and in the middle of a movie that's supposed to be a mess -- that it doesn't matter how silly he looks in the Pablo Escobar make-up. All in all, not a bad start to season four, though I wish Ari could have been involved more somehow (maybe as part of the machinations to get Gaghan).
I have to say that I may already feel more affection for new lead-out show "Flight of the Conchords," but that's largely because I have a strange sense of humor. A character whose hobby is building a bicycle helmet that resembles his hairdo? A robot-themed music video featuring a "binary solo" where the guys sing nothing but 0's and 1's? Lyrics like "You're so beautiful, you could be an air hostess in the 60s" and "You could be a part-time model, but you'd still have to keep your regular job"? New Zealand's raging inferiority complex compared to Australia? That's my kinda show, even if I felt like the musical numbers upstaged the regular scenes in the premiere. (In other episodes, the reverse is true; of the four I've seen, none of them manages to get the balance just right.) "Tenacious D" aired during a period in my life when I didn't have HBO, so I can't do the obvious compare/contrast, but I'm definitely amused by the newbies.
My weirdness tolerance is different when it comes to dramas. When you're being weird for the sake of laughs, I'm happy, but weirdness for the sake of dramatic tension -- or, worse, weirdness for its own sake -- gets old with me in a hurry. So I'm not sure I'll make it to the end of the first season of "Meadowlands," with its elaborately-choreographed neighborhood dance numbers, its high-functioning autistic teenage fetishists, its deliberatey opaque flashbacks, psychotic cops, etc. But it's an interesting start; I'll give it a few weeks to see whether there's an actual show here or just a collection of randomness and homages to "The Prisoner" and David Lynch.
Two more episodes of "The Loop" to confirm my belief that this was a mercy cancellation. Still some funny stuff -- most of it involving Joy Osmanski, both with and without a Bedazzler -- but I watched both episodes blaming my lack of laughter on fatigue, and then I put on the "Robot Chicken" ode to "Star Wars" and laughed practically from start to finish. (It's an apples and oranges comparison, I know; I make it just to note that I was capable of laughter tonight, and "The Loop" really helped me achieve it.) Plus, I have no idea why they didn't just dump Sam's brother while they were canning the two roommates.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
God love Doug Ellin and those magnificent bastards at "Entourage." Not only did they finally give us a glimpse of Vincent Chase, working actor, but they threw in a Martin Landau-as-Bob Ryan shout-out! (For your poor people who missed it, Vince reveals that E has been reading Bob's autobiography -- titled, of course, "Is That Something You Might Be Interested In?" -- on the set of "Medelin.") That joke alone is going to buy this show, oh, at least two or three weeks of goodwill from me.
I wish they had stuck with the mockumentary format for the entire episode, as most of the best jokes (like Nicky Rubenstein trying to explain why he was bringing cocaine to Colombia) came out of that framework, while the bits that broke it (like the guys discussing the rules about who could and couldn't have sex with Sofia Vergara) could have easily been cut.
As for our first extended look at Vince acting, I thought they took the right approach, giving us just enough of a taste -- and in the middle of a movie that's supposed to be a mess -- that it doesn't matter how silly he looks in the Pablo Escobar make-up. All in all, not a bad start to season four, though I wish Ari could have been involved more somehow (maybe as part of the machinations to get Gaghan).
I have to say that I may already feel more affection for new lead-out show "Flight of the Conchords," but that's largely because I have a strange sense of humor. A character whose hobby is building a bicycle helmet that resembles his hairdo? A robot-themed music video featuring a "binary solo" where the guys sing nothing but 0's and 1's? Lyrics like "You're so beautiful, you could be an air hostess in the 60s" and "You could be a part-time model, but you'd still have to keep your regular job"? New Zealand's raging inferiority complex compared to Australia? That's my kinda show, even if I felt like the musical numbers upstaged the regular scenes in the premiere. (In other episodes, the reverse is true; of the four I've seen, none of them manages to get the balance just right.) "Tenacious D" aired during a period in my life when I didn't have HBO, so I can't do the obvious compare/contrast, but I'm definitely amused by the newbies.
My weirdness tolerance is different when it comes to dramas. When you're being weird for the sake of laughs, I'm happy, but weirdness for the sake of dramatic tension -- or, worse, weirdness for its own sake -- gets old with me in a hurry. So I'm not sure I'll make it to the end of the first season of "Meadowlands," with its elaborately-choreographed neighborhood dance numbers, its high-functioning autistic teenage fetishists, its deliberatey opaque flashbacks, psychotic cops, etc. But it's an interesting start; I'll give it a few weeks to see whether there's an actual show here or just a collection of randomness and homages to "The Prisoner" and David Lynch.
Two more episodes of "The Loop" to confirm my belief that this was a mercy cancellation. Still some funny stuff -- most of it involving Joy Osmanski, both with and without a Bedazzler -- but I watched both episodes blaming my lack of laughter on fatigue, and then I put on the "Robot Chicken" ode to "Star Wars" and laughed practically from start to finish. (It's an apples and oranges comparison, I know; I make it just to note that I was capable of laughter tonight, and "The Loop" really helped me achieve it.) Plus, I have no idea why they didn't just dump Sam's brother while they were canning the two roommates.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Loop: Hockey monkey in drag
"The Loop" began its Summer Burn-Off Theatre run tonight with two episodes, and fortunately I watched both of these episodes a few weeks ago, pre-"Sopranos" finale frenzy. Spoilers coming up just as soon as I put my Tusk of Aag up for eBay bid...
I dealt with a lot of my issues about the new season in my column from earlier this week, but I'll expand on a few points:
It's still an amusing show, but I liked it better last year (and even then it was a very uneven comedy). I'm of course letting myself be influenced by having seen Harrison in the pilot for "Reaper," which is awesome, but I think by the time this Burn-Off Theatre run ends (and I'll be stunned if all 10 episodes air) and "Reaper" debuts in the fall, we'll all be okay with how things went down.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
I dealt with a lot of my issues about the new season in my column from earlier this week, but I'll expand on a few points:
- I was all in favor of dropping the hottie roommates in favor of more time for Philip Baker Hall and Mimi Rogers and Joy Osmanski (aka Sam's assistant Darcy), but I feel like what's happened is that the scripts are structured the same as before, with the roommates' roles being reassigned at random to Hall and Rogers. While I have no problem hearing Hall deliver lines like, "I've done things you can't even draw!," it makes the show feel more sitcommy to have Russ and Meryl suddenly acting as Sam's wingmen.
- Also sitcommy: the resolution of the smashed car subplot in the second episode. Once I realized the show was going to That Place where Sam would start smashing up the car that Russ bought him, I had to mute it for about 30 seconds, just because I felt so bad about the show doing something so predictable and conventional. (If it turns out there was some kind of final twist near the end of the scene, I apologize.)
- While the show's still filthy -- witness Sam getting the Tusk of Aag stuck in a very uncomfortable place -- it feels like a dumber, lazier level of filth, as opposed to the hand job or dog proctology gags from season one that were so beautifully set up.
- Was there some kind of market research that showed that fans (all five of us) wanted more of Derek The Douche? Was he Peter Liguori's favorite character? I'm baffled by his regular prominence.
It's still an amusing show, but I liked it better last year (and even then it was a very uneven comedy). I'm of course letting myself be influenced by having seen Harrison in the pilot for "Reaper," which is awesome, but I think by the time this Burn-Off Theatre run ends (and I'll be stunned if all 10 episodes air) and "Reaper" debuts in the fall, we'll all be okay with how things went down.
What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post
Monday, June 04, 2007
'Loop' link
Today's column is a two-fer, with a review of the Summer Burn-Off Theatre run of "The Loop" (allegedly set to begin on Sunday, but, as mentioned below, I'll believe that when I see it), and a brief preview of tomorrow night's "Shield" finale:
Click here to read the full post
To read the full thing, click here.The next time someone at Fox complains about my annual mockery of the net work's unreliable new schedule announcement, I'm going to say, "Then what about 'The Loop'?"
A year ago, the three-tiered schedule for the 2006-07 season that Fox announced had "The Loop," a comedy about a young guy named Sam trying to balance his ambitious career with an age- appropriate level of partying, re turning in the spring and airing after the "American Idol" results show. But when spring and the results show came, it was " 'Til Death" that got the plum timeslot. "The Loop," meanwhile, got consigned to Summer Burn-Off Theatre status, and star Bret Harrison moved on to "Reaper," a new show on the CW's fall schedule. So much for schedul ing.
And even the summer schedule has been written in crayon. The show was set to come back this coming Sunday, then got pushed up to tomorrow night, and then, shortly before this column went to press, got pushed back to Sunday at 8:30 and 9:30 again. (If you care, you may just want to record all of Fox primetime for the next week just to make sure you don't miss it.)
Thursday, May 18, 2006
'Loop' with Liguori
"The Loop" is back! "The Loop" is back! More filthy humor! More made-up curse words! More dogs placed in harmful situations! Woo-hoo!
Oh, I'm sorry; are there other elements to the Fox schedule? It's just so rare to see a show I like this much with ratings that bad (the result of a lousy timeslot) not only get renewed, but get placed into an awesome timeslot (after the "Idol" results show). Of course, that didn't exactly save "Arrested Development," but I'll take however much extra "Loop" I can get.
More on the rest of the schedule after the jump, and I should say that the Cone of Silence has been lifted from the first half of the "Grey's" finale (Monday 9-10), last night's "Lost" has taken its place. What can I say? It's been a bizarre week. At least I know who got voted off of "Idol," which I'll get to in a bit. Anyway, onto the sked:
As usual, Fox is going with a two-pronged schedule, without and then with "Idol." And, as usual, I don't expect all of these shows to stay in these timeslots -- or, in some cases, even to air -- but this is allegedly what they plan to do:
THE FALL:Overall, a more stable schedule than Fox usually tries out. I think they've finally realized that they just have to hold tight through all their usual fall problems (baseball pre-empting half the schedule) and wait for "Idol" and "24" to come in and save the day. Some specific thoughts:
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM PRISON BREAK
9:00-10:00 PM VANISHED
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM STANDOFF
9:00-10:00 PM HOUSE
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM JUSTICE
THURSDAY
8:00-8:30 PM ‘TIL DEATH
8:30-9:00 PM HAPPY HOUR
9:00-10:00 PM THE O.C.
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NANNY 911
9:00-10:00 PM TRADING SPOUSES: MEET YOUR NEW MOMMY
SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED: AMERICA STRIKES BACK
11:00 PM-MIDNIGHT MADtv
MIDNIGHT-12:30 AM TALK SHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN
SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM FOOTBALL OVERRUN (COMEDY ENCORES)
7:30-8:00 PM FOOTBALL OVERRUN (COMEDY ENCORES)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM THE WAR AT HOME
JANUARY ON:
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM STANDOFF
9:00-10:00 PM 24
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL Performance Show
9:00-10:00 PM HOUSE
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM JUSTICE
9:00-9:30 PM AMERICAN IDOL Results Show
9:30-10:00 PM THE LOOP
THURSDAY
8:00-8:30 PM ‘TIL DEATH
8:30-9:00 PM HAPPY HOUR
9:00-10:00 PM THE O.C.
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-10:00 PM THE WEDDING ALBUM
SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED:AMERICA STRIKES BACK
11:00 PM-MIDNIGHT MADtv
MIDNIGHT-12:30 AM TALK SHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN
SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM COMEDY REPEATS
7:30-8:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM AMERICAN DAD
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM THE WAR AT HOME
- "American Dad" after "The Simpsons"? Really? Is that the absolute best they can do? I understand that cartoons always play much better in that timeslot than live-action (the cartoonish "Malcolm" excepted), but "American Dad"? Can't they just leave it behind "Family Guy" so I don't have to pay any attention to it? ("Family Guy" has its moments, but "Dad" is all of Seth's worst tics without the good ones.)
- Not exactly a shock, but "The O.C." returns. And without a significant cast member. The geniuses at "Access Hollywood" sent out a press release yesterday revealing that person's identity right in the subject line. I won't be as inconsiderate, but if you want to know, click here. I also like how Josh has completely backtracked on the "Muppet Babies" quote he gave me and Fienberg back in January.
- Like ABC, Fox is being dumb enough to schedule back-to-back new comedies on Thursday at 8. As much as I worry about how "The Office" might get dinged by "Survivor," I think it and "Earl" are going to wipe the floor with the newcomers, good or not.
- So not only is "Vanished" another season-long kidnapping serial (ala NBC's "Kidnapped"), but it comes fresh with its own stultifying conspiracy story (ala "Prison Break"). If I take the No-Doz now, will it still keep me awake by the time I have to watch the pilot?
- "Standoff" has a bunch of actors I like (Ron Livingston, Gina Torres) and a premise that's going to need perfect execution (hostage negotiation partners are secretly, then overtly, dating).
- Eva Pigford, working actress: the former "Top Model" winner has a small supporting role on "The Wedding Album."
Click here to read the full post
Friday, April 14, 2006
The Rusty Trombone
And no, I'm not just using that subject line to drive up traffic. Not at all. Never. Never. That's really the title of last night's finale of "The Loop." You can look here if you don't believe me.
Not much to say about the finale, in which Sam tried to balance going to a Dandy Warhols concert and crunching the numbers for a merger with a Dutch airline except to kneel at the altar of Philip Baker Hall and his ability to slay me with his delivery of lines like "It's time to sneak one past the Dutchies on the left-hand side" and "The Dutch may have their fingers in their dikes, but they're sure to find out if our airplanes have gone queer."
Bye, "Loop." I'll miss you, brave little show. Click here to read the full post
Not much to say about the finale, in which Sam tried to balance going to a Dandy Warhols concert and crunching the numbers for a merger with a Dutch airline except to kneel at the altar of Philip Baker Hall and his ability to slay me with his delivery of lines like "It's time to sneak one past the Dutchies on the left-hand side" and "The Dutch may have their fingers in their dikes, but they're sure to find out if our airplanes have gone queer."
Bye, "Loop." I'll miss you, brave little show. Click here to read the full post
Thursday, April 13, 2006
You can't do that on television
(Haven't seen "Lost" yet, so this entry will present comments, in order, on "The Loop," "South Park," the "American Idol" results and "House.")
Why is "The Loop" first in the batting order today? No particular reason, except I liked that picture the best -- and it wasn't even from last night's episode, or even last week's. I'm capricious; sue me.
With only one episode to go and ratings so bad that it's almost certainly not coming back, I've realized that I'm really gonna miss this show -- not just because it's often funny, but because I remain in awe at the shit they're able to sneak past the censor. Two weeks ago (the episode pictured above), the writers set up an elaborate scenario where one of Sam's friends had to give him a hand job (off-camera, but still) to save his real job. Last week, they figured out an excuse for Mimi Rogers' character to stick her hand up a dog's ass (off-camera, but still). Last night was fairly mild in comparison, but it did have Sam getting his pubes disintegrated (semi-off-camera, but still), not to mention one female roommate referring to the other's snooch being visible (to her, not to us, but still).
Matt once had a long talk with the Fox censor, specifically about why "The Simpsons" seemed able to get away with so much. His response was along the lines of, "If I think it's funny, I'll let it slide." The thing that separates "The Loop" from your standard tasteless Fox comedy is that it's a smart tastless comedy, not a stupid one. The writers earned that hand job joke, just like they earned the dog joke (which also involved a wireless thumb drive that could still transmit so long as Sam kept his laptop right next to the dog's butt), etc. They put in the time and thought to set them up properly, so it wasn't cheap. (Well, the snooch joke was a little cheap, but I'll give it to them.)
Tonight's season (series?) finale -- titled "The Rusty Trombone," don't forget -- features a Very Special Guest Star who would have been a lot more special a year and a half ago (if you want to know, Google "Brett Harrison" and "roommate"). It's no "Arrested Development," but "The Loop" deserved better than Thursday burial.
Over on Comedy Central, "South Park" pulled off the double-switch. Since everyone was assuming they would do another Terrance & Philip stunt like they did with part two of "Who is Cartman's father?," they did it again, and after a minute or so of that to scare away the most gullible, they got back to "Cartoon Wars."
Not sure this needed to be a two-parter, though. Most of the points got made last week, and the only new touches were the presence of Bart Simpson (and he's done things much worse than decapitating Jebediah's statue) and Trey and Matt's acknowledgement that "Family Guy" may have some advantages over them: "At least it doesn't get all preachy and up its own ass with messages." Oh, and were all the people in the Al Qaeda video supposed to be recognizable? Dubya was obvious, and I spotted Carson from "Queer Eye," but it was late and I was too tired to freeze frame and study carefully.
Not much of a stunner on "American Idol." Bucky wasn't going to win, but inside his own unchallenging box, he's been more entertaining than Ace for a while. But we're now in that stage of the competition where the middle-of-the-pack contestants are in bigger danger than the awful people. I wouldn't be at all stunned to see Elliot and Katharine go before Ace, followed by a Paris boot before the inevitable Chris/Taylor/Pickler final three. Then again, Elliot and Kat seem better-equipped than most to kick ass on Great American Songbook Night (featuring the dessicated remains of Rod Stewart), so maybe they'll snare enough casual voters to hold off the latest object of Paula's obsession for a week.
And then, there's "House" (or "Maude," I forget). Good to see the doc and friends all clean up nice -- House's double-take at Cameron in the red dress was a nice touch -- and seeing House playing cards in that tuxedo, I couldn't help but wonder how much more fun "Casino Royale" would be with Hugh Laurie sipping the vodka martinis instead of Daniel Craig. ("The Gun Seller," the Laurie-written book I mentioned a month or two back, is basically a James Bond parody, which may have also put the idea in my head. The Bond movies are practically parodies of themselves, anyway.)
So of course, I make a comment in yesterday's blog about John C. McGinley generally getting more dramatic material to play than Laurie on a night when Laurie gave his most interesting performance since "Three Patients." House's patients have occasionally died in the past, but it was always because he found out too late what was wrong; to him, the unsolved mystery is worse than the unsaved patient.
After last week's Foreman-centric episode, this one started off looking like a House vs. Chase dynamic, with the cock-blocking at the party and Chase's bitching about House's Esther obsession. But they dropped that theme about a third of the way through, which is a shame; Chase's petulance and his longer history with House usually brings the funny. My eyebrow raised at Chase's reference to House having assistants before him, which made me wonder: what exactly is the chronology of House's time at Princeton-Plainsborough? It was unclear to me in "Three Patients" exactly when House suffered his leg injury, and as I recall, the episode implied that he wasn't on staff there at the time, but got the job out of pity (or to stave off a malpractice suit). I could be wrong, but the fact that Esther was his patient 12 years ago and someone who worked with both Chase and House knew about it started the mental gears turning.
Like I said, I'll get to "Lost" later today, and I'm annoyed that I gave up on this season of "Amazing Race" in the very week that I hear there was finally an episode with some good challenges and suspense. Meanwhile, links: Wednesday's column, in which I detail the stunning way by which ABC turned "Commander In Chief" from a show that was going to be around for years into something that likely won't be on next year's schedule; and today's column, where I revisit "Everybody Hates Chris." Click here to read the full post
Why is "The Loop" first in the batting order today? No particular reason, except I liked that picture the best -- and it wasn't even from last night's episode, or even last week's. I'm capricious; sue me.
With only one episode to go and ratings so bad that it's almost certainly not coming back, I've realized that I'm really gonna miss this show -- not just because it's often funny, but because I remain in awe at the shit they're able to sneak past the censor. Two weeks ago (the episode pictured above), the writers set up an elaborate scenario where one of Sam's friends had to give him a hand job (off-camera, but still) to save his real job. Last week, they figured out an excuse for Mimi Rogers' character to stick her hand up a dog's ass (off-camera, but still). Last night was fairly mild in comparison, but it did have Sam getting his pubes disintegrated (semi-off-camera, but still), not to mention one female roommate referring to the other's snooch being visible (to her, not to us, but still).
Matt once had a long talk with the Fox censor, specifically about why "The Simpsons" seemed able to get away with so much. His response was along the lines of, "If I think it's funny, I'll let it slide." The thing that separates "The Loop" from your standard tasteless Fox comedy is that it's a smart tastless comedy, not a stupid one. The writers earned that hand job joke, just like they earned the dog joke (which also involved a wireless thumb drive that could still transmit so long as Sam kept his laptop right next to the dog's butt), etc. They put in the time and thought to set them up properly, so it wasn't cheap. (Well, the snooch joke was a little cheap, but I'll give it to them.)
Tonight's season (series?) finale -- titled "The Rusty Trombone," don't forget -- features a Very Special Guest Star who would have been a lot more special a year and a half ago (if you want to know, Google "Brett Harrison" and "roommate"). It's no "Arrested Development," but "The Loop" deserved better than Thursday burial.
Over on Comedy Central, "South Park" pulled off the double-switch. Since everyone was assuming they would do another Terrance & Philip stunt like they did with part two of "Who is Cartman's father?," they did it again, and after a minute or so of that to scare away the most gullible, they got back to "Cartoon Wars."
Not sure this needed to be a two-parter, though. Most of the points got made last week, and the only new touches were the presence of Bart Simpson (and he's done things much worse than decapitating Jebediah's statue) and Trey and Matt's acknowledgement that "Family Guy" may have some advantages over them: "At least it doesn't get all preachy and up its own ass with messages." Oh, and were all the people in the Al Qaeda video supposed to be recognizable? Dubya was obvious, and I spotted Carson from "Queer Eye," but it was late and I was too tired to freeze frame and study carefully.
Not much of a stunner on "American Idol." Bucky wasn't going to win, but inside his own unchallenging box, he's been more entertaining than Ace for a while. But we're now in that stage of the competition where the middle-of-the-pack contestants are in bigger danger than the awful people. I wouldn't be at all stunned to see Elliot and Katharine go before Ace, followed by a Paris boot before the inevitable Chris/Taylor/Pickler final three. Then again, Elliot and Kat seem better-equipped than most to kick ass on Great American Songbook Night (featuring the dessicated remains of Rod Stewart), so maybe they'll snare enough casual voters to hold off the latest object of Paula's obsession for a week.
And then, there's "House" (or "Maude," I forget). Good to see the doc and friends all clean up nice -- House's double-take at Cameron in the red dress was a nice touch -- and seeing House playing cards in that tuxedo, I couldn't help but wonder how much more fun "Casino Royale" would be with Hugh Laurie sipping the vodka martinis instead of Daniel Craig. ("The Gun Seller," the Laurie-written book I mentioned a month or two back, is basically a James Bond parody, which may have also put the idea in my head. The Bond movies are practically parodies of themselves, anyway.)
So of course, I make a comment in yesterday's blog about John C. McGinley generally getting more dramatic material to play than Laurie on a night when Laurie gave his most interesting performance since "Three Patients." House's patients have occasionally died in the past, but it was always because he found out too late what was wrong; to him, the unsolved mystery is worse than the unsaved patient.
After last week's Foreman-centric episode, this one started off looking like a House vs. Chase dynamic, with the cock-blocking at the party and Chase's bitching about House's Esther obsession. But they dropped that theme about a third of the way through, which is a shame; Chase's petulance and his longer history with House usually brings the funny. My eyebrow raised at Chase's reference to House having assistants before him, which made me wonder: what exactly is the chronology of House's time at Princeton-Plainsborough? It was unclear to me in "Three Patients" exactly when House suffered his leg injury, and as I recall, the episode implied that he wasn't on staff there at the time, but got the job out of pity (or to stave off a malpractice suit). I could be wrong, but the fact that Esther was his patient 12 years ago and someone who worked with both Chase and House knew about it started the mental gears turning.
Like I said, I'll get to "Lost" later today, and I'm annoyed that I gave up on this season of "Amazing Race" in the very week that I hear there was finally an episode with some good challenges and suspense. Meanwhile, links: Wednesday's column, in which I detail the stunning way by which ABC turned "Commander In Chief" from a show that was going to be around for years into something that likely won't be on next year's schedule; and today's column, where I revisit "Everybody Hates Chris." Click here to read the full post
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The more you watch
(In this fantabulous edition, in order: "The Office," "My Name Is Earl," "The Loop" and "The O.C.")
Sometimes, spoilers can mess you up on things that have nothing to do with plot. Take this week's "The Office" -- or, rather, this week's "The Office" parodies of NBC's "The More You Know" campaign. It seems like everywhere I went on Friday, be it in the physical world or this strange virtual one, someone was going on and on about the fake ads. So when I actually got around to watching them, the surprise -- which I think was half the fun -- was gone. Still, anything involving Mindy Kaling going on and on about Kelly's love of Ryan is always funny, even if you know it's coming.
And the episode? More cringe-y than it's been lately, but still great. I watched the rerun of "Health Care" last week because Marian hadn't seen it, and the Michael then vs. the Michael now is a very different animal. The hair and makeup people have him looking better (his hairstyle last year, which you could see in Michael's blow-up birthday card to himself, made it look like he had really bad plugs), and while he's still a self-involved loser, the writers have figured out a way to make him a little more sympathetic without ruining the joke. (Again, "40-Year-Old Virgin" was like a great instruction video for them.) Best moments: anything involving Angela and Dwight, especially Ryan's stunned non-interview in response to that horrific "cookie" discussion; Jim getting Pam into trouble with the supermarket manager; Oscar randomly twirling around on the ice rink; and Michael inevitable wooing his own wife. (Maybe Nancy can give a Golden Globes speech next year that she claims Steve wrote.)
"My Name Is Earl" was pretty good, though during the alleged hostage crisis, I kept waiting for Harold Perrineau to start running around the motel yelling, "WALT! WALT! WAAAAAAALLLLLLTTTTT!!!!" Also, today's comedy equation: Joy + Breaking & Entering + Baby Bjorn = Funny.
This was probably the best episode of "The Loop" so far -- or, at the very least, the first one to be more funny in the non-work side of Sam's life. You have to admire the elaborate steps they took to set up a situation where one of his friends had to give him a hand job (though the dad side of me had a hard time fighting the "won't someone please think of the children!" reflex at the thought of this airing on a broadcast network at 8:30, 7:30 Central), and this was one of the few times I've seen a sitcom find a new laugh in the tired unrequited crush device. More comedy math: Dog + Zipline = Genius.
Finally, lots to like about "The O.C.": Summer finally, finally, finally telling off Marissa for being a selfish, spoiled, self-destructive skank; Seth and Kirsten realizing they don't spend enough time together, taking steps to remedy the situation, and having meaningful follow-up to the intervention; and Ryan talking the talk and walking the walk about ditching his savior complex. It was like the entire episode was devoted to answering fan complaints about the last two seasons. Well, most of it, I think. If I could stay awake during the Sandy scenes, I might have noticed some kind of meta-groveling there, too, but it's just so freaking dull, I can't bear it. I know it's hard to find stories for the one happily-married couple on a soap opera that's already focused on the kids, but I'd rather hear Peter Gallagher sing at The Bait Shop every week (maybe he can jam with Death Cab) than suffer through much more of this.
I'll post the "Sopranos" episode four review first thing in the morning (assuming NJ.com puts it up in a timely fashion). Click here to read the full post
Labels:
My Name Is Earl,
The Loop,
The O.C.,
The Office,
The Office (season 2)
Friday, March 24, 2006
More this and more that
Comments about the last post reminded me of a bunch of other things I watched this week, including:
"24": A friend tried to kill my rediscovered buzz for "24" by pointing out that it's a show that plays much better in DVD-style marathons than on a weekly basis. This is the first time I had to wait more than a few hours to watch a new episode this season, but I still enjoyed it for the most part. The thing is, I've been watching "24" for so long that I feel like a magician's assistant who knows how all the tricks work. It's really hard for the show to surprise me, so the entertainment comes from the presentation and the forward momentum of the story. So when they dropped that big twist about Audrey allegedly selling the blueprints to the French hottie, it wasn't exactly a shocker. Nina turning traitor-- that was a shocker. This was more of a mild "Huh? Wonder where they're going with this?" But I enjoyed the rest of the episode, particularly Jack finding a method other than kneecapping someone to get the info he needed. Plus, the presence of Desmond from "Lost" as the German spy guy had my mind wandering to all kinds of potential Jack lines on Craphole Island: "TELL ME WHERE THE BALLOON IS!" "TELL ME WHERE THE GUNS ARE!" "TELL ME WHAT THE POINT IS!"
"Everybody Hates Chris": Not the funniest episode they've done (even the montage of Rochelle yelling at everyone up to and including herself wasn't that hot), but the inherent sweetness and honesty of the show buys it a lot of points from me even when I'm not laughing. Plus, who doesn't love to see Jimmy Walker die while eating porkchops?
(Speaking of Jimmy, a pointless biographical anecdote you can skip if all you care about are the TV reviews: During one Social Studies class late in 12th grade, our teacher Mr. Lucibello was explaining the LeCompton Compromise or some other kind of historical pact, and, as it often does, my mind started to wander from one vaguely-connected subject to another, until finally, for reasons I can't remember, I was thinking about Jimmy Walker. I started to laugh, and Mr. Lucibello asked me to tell the rest of the class what was so funny. "You don't want to know," I said, which he took as a sign that it was something that would really embarrass me, and since we'd been trading sarcastic barbs all year, he insisted I tell him and the class what was making me laugh. So I told him, in exhaustive detail, how I got from the lesson to Jimmy Walker, and by the end of it, his face was buried in his hands and he said, "You're right; I didn't want to know that." So now, whenever Marian or I start laughing at something only tangentially connected to what we're talking about, we just say "Jimmy Walker" to explain it. Anyway, back to TV...)
"The Loop": Is it bad that the funniest parts of the show tend to be the made-up profanity ("Jack-rammers!")? And why did all the commercials promote an entirely different episode (with Thesis dressed in some dorky cowboy outfit) instead of this one? And is it possible for Philip Baker Hall to swing a samurai sword around and grunt in every episode? Please? And why am I still asking questions? I don't know, do I? .... ahem... Sorry. I think I still like what the show's trying to do -- the fast pace, the use of music, the work vs. play theme -- more than I like the show itself. Brett Harrison, Mimi Rogers and Hall are all great, but the non-work scenes are really hit or miss. The sandwich storyline never really clicked until they found a way to tie it into the Hong Kong plot.
"The O.C.": After forgetting to record it last week, I figured we were quits for good; I had only been watching out of habit and old loyalty, and once the run got interrupted, I had an excuse to stop. But since I was taping "The Loop" in another room already, it was easy to let the VCR keep going for an extra hour and watch "O.C." in the background while I was doing something else. As multi-tasking wallpaper, this episode wasn't too bad, I suppose: Kirsten and Ryan actually interacting like family, Seth doing sand-floor to block Summer's punches, Ryan figuring out that he needs to stop playing white knight, and, especially, Marissa stuck in her own subplot that none of the other characters wanted any part of (which meant I could fastforward through all those scenes without worry of missing a good Summer one-liner). Maybe this'll turn out like me and the later years of "NYPD Blue," where I'm watching to be a completist and grading on a big curve.
"Saturday Night Live" repeats on E!: They've been showing the later parts of the Hartman/Carvey/Myers years, so I've gotten to see classic sketches like Chris Farley auditioning for Chippendale's and Michael Jordan doing advertisements for his own brand of hardcore porn and something to help girls with that not-so-fresh feeling. My only complaint: due to music rights, they had to remove Van Halen's "Beautiful Girls" from the immortal Schmitt's Gay commercial parody, and it's not nearly as funny with generic Van Halen-sounding guitar riffs. It's an outrage. An outrage! Click here to read the full post
Labels:
24,
Everybody Hates Chris,
SNL,
The Loop,
The O.C.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Well, I just cracked up Mimi Rogers...
... by asking her whether her marriage to Tom Cruise in any way informs her performance in Fox's upcoming comedy "The Loop." A bad question turned into a good moment. For more on that, hit (say it with me now) the press tour blog.
Matt's last press tour dispatch ran today (mostly about the WB's ratings). I'm very badly jet-lagged, but I stayed up to watch the damn Golden Globes. Best speech by far, was Steve Carell's tribute to his wife, the lovely and talented Nancy Walls. Click here to read the full post
Matt's last press tour dispatch ran today (mostly about the WB's ratings). I'm very badly jet-lagged, but I stayed up to watch the damn Golden Globes. Best speech by far, was Steve Carell's tribute to his wife, the lovely and talented Nancy Walls. Click here to read the full post
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