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August 07 The Final Season of 'Monk' Is Upon UsA reminder that tonight kicks off the final season of "Monk," everyone's favorite obsessive-compulsive detective.
I'm hoping and expecting that there's still gas in the tank after such a long run.
And of course, I hope Monk gets to solve his greatest mystery: who killed his wife Trudy?
I'm sure I'll miss the show in a lot of respects, but I'm also looking forward to the time where Tony Shalhoub doesn't have an Emmy nomination slot on lockdown. I love the guy, but still...
And also maybe, just maybe, Tony Shalhoub's departure will open up space for James Roday of "Psych" to get some love.
"Psych" also premieres its latest season tonight.
- posted by Raoul July 20 Padma Is Working on A New SitcomWord's come out that Padma Lakshmi of "Top Chef" hosting fame is in a development deal to star in a culinary themed sitcom for NBC.
I loves me some Padma, at least as far as looking at her. (Sorry to sound like a sexist jerk, but it's true). But I strongly suspect this is a bad, bad idea.
On "Top Chef," Padma's role is really limited, and she's fine. There's not much challenge in saying, "Please pack up your knives and go."
Even then, she sometimes comes off as stiff and off-kilter. And now, she's supposed to be the centerpiece of a comedy?
My experienence watching her as an actor was seeing an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" where she guest-starred as a spoiled princess who got marooned on a planet with Trip Tucker. The role basically involved her acting haughty and then flirting with Trip. And the stench of her performance took a while to clear from my living room after watching it.
Unless she's been taking lots of acting lessons or has a natural talent for comedy that "Enterprise" just wasn't able to tap, I don't see this one getting much of an audience.
- posted by Raoul July 14 'Entourage' Kicks Off Its Latest SeasonEven though this parody of "Entourage" hits a little too close to the heart, I was really looking forward to the show beginning its season Sunday. I was even humming the show's theme song to myself every so often in the days leading up to it. Yeah, that's how I roll.
Overall, the episode itself didn't disappoint. It looks like the show is actually going to try to have a theme beyond whether or not Vince can do the movie. Independence. Everyone's looking for a little bit of it. Sloan is seemingly pushing E to get his own place. Johnny's star is still on the rise. Turtle's still dating Jamie-Lynn. Vince even learned how to drive, sorta.
But the biggest change is that Lloyd is standing up to Ari and demanding to be made an agent. Ari responded by saying that if Lloyd does everything Ari tells him to for the next three months, that he will. I think hilarity will ensue. In fact, sometimes I think "Entourage" should be spun off to a show called "The Agency" and just focus on the crazy goings-on at The Miller-Gold Agency.
Rex Lee, the Lloyd actor, does an interview with After Elton that talks a little about what should be on deck this season. Can't wait.
- posted by Raoul June 15 Letterman Apologizes for Palin Daughter JokeIt took a boycott threat, a scheduled protest, harsh words from Gov. Sarah Palin and some time. But David Letterman apologized for telling a joke about Palin's daughter being impregnated by Yankee Alex Rodriguez.
Thing of it was, the joke really wasn't meant to be about Palin's 14-year-old daughter Willow so much as it was meant to be about 18-year-old unwed mother Bristol. Not that it makes the joke any funnier or more appropriate.
A joke about Sasha or Malia Obama getting knocked up -- even a few years from now when they are of legal age -- would still be out of place.
Still, I sometimes wonder when a comedian will get up the gumption to say, "It's just a joke that bombed. Take out a loan and buy a sense of humor" no matter what the cost or network pressure.
- posted by Raoul May 11 An Ode to 'Everybody Hates Chris'Friday was what almost assuredly the last episode of "Everybody Hates Chris." It deserves, in my humble opinion, a little bit of a shout-out.
"Chris" has been consistently funny. It's also one of the few sitcoms that has an intact family whose members love and respect each other. With a functional and happy marriage. And one of the few sitcoms in which a chunky husband doesn't somehow score a wife who's about a thousand times hotter than he deserves.
The last episode, though, seemed like the tank was close to empty. For once, I didn't find much to laugh about Chris's looking to get a GED. And closing with a parody of the finale of "The Sopranos" seems a little dated.
Assuming a miracle doesn't happen, I guess I can be glad that we got the years of "Chris" that we did, and wish the actors and writers the best in finding new gigs.
- posted by Raoul April 17 Pssst! Start Watching 'Parks and Recreation' Before the Cool Kids Do When someone at NBC leaked the very negative focus group results of Amy Poehler's "Office spin-off" I was worried. Could the show really be that bad? I mean, it's Amy Poehler. She made a seal trainer funny! Anyway, when I saw the premiere of "Parks and Recreation" last week I was relieved to find it wasn't that bad. That's not the same as good...because last night's episode was pretty good.This show definitely owes a lot to "The Office," but it's to the early days of the show. (Cough: before it became popular.) Hey, remember when there were no office romances at Dunder-Mifflin and there was real tension between the Dundies and it wasn't all fun and games having a completely incompetent guy running the place? Noooo, you don't remember. Because "The Office" hasn't been like that in almost 5 years. But it used to be. Call me a crank, but I'll take an episode from the first season over an episode from the current season any day. Last night's episode of "Parks and Recreation" did three "Office"-y things well: 1) Rocked the absurd monologue, 2) took a bad plan and turned it into a disaster and 3) used minor characters to its major advantage. First things first, Amy Poehler's long addresses to the camera are vintage Michael Scott, i.e. she's kind of an idiot, but she also brings her own low-key "Oh, shucks" brand of humor into play. Some of her Leslieisms are freaking hilarious! "President Knope, this park is really awesome." And was that a picture of Madeline Albright on her desk?! Or was it her mom? It was a really bad idea to take the park idea to the public after, oh, three days of planning? (How much did you love Kate Spivak standing up and bitching about a lack of an environmental impact study? Hee.) But why make a public meeting bad when you can make it nuclear? Leslie's subcommittee = epic fail! She filibustered her own meeting! And the canvassing-turned-Rock Band subplot? Brill! The third thing that's oh so right about "Parks and Recreation" is Leslie's coworker Tom Haverford, played by "Human Giant" alum Aziz Ansari. It's hard to say whether Tom is fundamentally lazier or greedier, and he used his gifts to hilarious effect last night. Instead of canvassing along with the rest of the gang he got on the phone and lined up contractors for the pie in the sky park. Because is it ever too early to get a cut from the fence guy? Of course not. Oh, and bonus points for intern April. Obviously, I'm loving this show. If you need to get caught up, we've got both of the first two episodes streaming over on the main site. - Posted by Kate March 26 Charles in Charge...For Now It looks like Idris Elba will be sticking around our favorite Scranton office park, at least for a while. In tonight's episode, "Two Weeks," Charles and Michael will be butting heads. I'm glad that we've got some new blood at Dunder-Mifflin, though it's so strange to see Elba playing someone who's not Stringer Bell. (I cracked up last week when Michael was so incredulous that Charles came from steel, not paper. Remember how String ran that copy shop with an iron fist way back in season one of "The Wire?") Will Charles continue to be the consummate professional, or will he suddenly turn wacky? I loved the dissolution of the party-planning committee. Two way petting zoo? You pet the animals and they pet you back. Of course. What do you guys think, is Charles Miner a much-needed breath of fresh air for this show? - Posted by Kate March 20 'Party Down' AmusesToday Starz premieres its original series "Party Down," brought to us in part by Rob Thomas, the creator of "Veronica Mars." The premise is that we follow a catering company in L.A. serving various clients. Most of the catering company employees are wannabe actors or writers. So there are two main sources of humor: seeing the employees of Party Down deal with a job that they don't really want while they try to get the jobs they do and making fun of the clients that they get.
The show's sort of like a bastard offspring of "The Office" and "Entourage." It's set against the backdrop of L.A. and has the characters struggling to make it in the film industry, like "Entourage." Most of the characters on "Party Down" have some similarities to ones on "The Office."
Ron, the head of the Party Down team, is a bumbler pretty much reminiscent of Michael Scott. He's chockful of management-speak attempts to be PC that often fail. He tries to enforce strict discipline but it doesn't work so well. And he has a habit for getting himself into silly scrapes. He's played by Ken Marino, who "Veronica Mars" fans will remember as sleazy private eye Vinnie Van Lowe. Ron's true dream is to open up a branch of a chain restaurant that serves unlimited soup and salad.
Henry, the point of view character, is similar to Jim. He's a funny guy who takes in all the absurdity of his workplace and just rolls with it. He also has a thing for one of his co-workers. And he has funny hair. Henry worked at Party Down years ago. Then he left and got his 15 minutes of fame after being in a series of beer commercials where he'd say, "Are we having fun yet?" Then saw his career crash and burn after that. So now he's back, "retired" from acting and a little jaded about his experience.
Casey gets the Pam role of being the sweet, cute love interest who is also hip to the situation they're facing and who's involved with someone else. She's an aspiring comic, who unfortunately doesn't seem to get much of a chance to show off her comic talents.
Roman is similar to a non-buttkissing Dwight, an arrogant, abrasive, socially incompetent know-it-all. He has dreams of writing sci-fi and has written half of four novels, so in his mind that counts as having written two novels.
The remaining two characters aren't as analagous to "Office" workers, but they aren't so unfamiliar either. Kyle is a friendly, if clueless, guy who dabbles in a few things from acting to modeling to music. He's played by Ryan Hansen, who was Dick in "VM." And Constance, played by Jane Lynch, has had a number of Hollywood roles over the years, Maybe she's a cross between "Entourage's" Johnny Drama and Meredith from "The Office."
So mix these characters up and there's potential for fun, as you can imagine.
In the various episodes I watched, Party Down services a neighborhood association meeting, a young-Republicanesque club, an investment seminar, a porn after-party, a spoiled brat's Sweet 16. All of these were ripe targets. But in most cases, I think the show pulled its punches and didn't fully make fun of the guests of the week.
For "VM" fans, there are various guest shots, including the guy who played attorney Cliff and Papa Mars himself. Let's just say in the pilot episode, you get to see more of Enrico Colatoni than anybody but Mrs. Colatoni should. Later down the line, Kristen Bell is supposed to have a stint as the owner of a rival catering company.
I wouldn't have watched all the episodes I did if I didn't at the end fo the day enjoy them. And yet, I found myself wishing for something more ambitious on the part of "Party Down."
- posted by Raoul March 18 Will You Watch 'Better Off Ted'?
I'm sure you've seen one of the many, many promos on ABC for "Better Off Ted," the "Scrubs"-like zany comedy that is, in fact, airing after "Scrubs" tonight. I like a good half-hour comedy, but I'm a little worried about "Better Off Ted's" kitchen sink approach. Kitchen sink? Well, we've got "Scrubs'" direct address gimmick, Portia di Rossi (Hi, "Arrested Development!"), Phil and Lem, the "research nerds" (Hi, "Big Bang Theory,") a sappy wuv story (Ted's big crush on Linda could, sigh, be the next "Jim and Pam" thing) and dark workplace humor, like the HR lady commenting on the amount of paperwork involved after an employee suicide in those promos (shades of "30 Rock"). I also worry that absolutely no one in America right now feels like watching the goings-on at a big corporation where any idea is a good one so long as it's making money. Gallows humor! I don't think all the best elements of contemporary comedies mashed together into one! new! show! makes for great television, but here's to hoping you guys will disagree with me. - Posted by Kate March 13 No Beards or Moustaches in the Workplace
You know what I wish I could do? Go back 24 hours in time and Google "fun cooker." Now all you get is "30 Rock," but it had to come from somewhere. "Get ready for the fun cooker!" A tiny, portable microwave! (How does this not already exist?) I think this was my favorite episode of the season. - Posted by Kate March 12 Stringer Bell to Start Running 'The Office'Or at least, the actor who played Stringer Bell on HBO's "The Wire," Idris Elba, is going to start running "The Office."
I was listening to "Fresh Air" on NPR today when I learned this. Which was a double shock because a) you don't associate "The Wire" with comedy very easily and b) Idris actually has a British accent.
Anyhow, apparently he's going to be sent in from corporate to take over the Scranton branch and be a no-nonsense foil fro Michael for about a half-dozen episodes.
Seems like it's worth checking out.
- posted by Raoul February 16 L'Affaire McFlurry
"'It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the references to McDonald's in last night's episode of 30 Rock were in no way product placement. (Nor were they an attempt at product placement that fell through.) We received no money from the McDonald's Corporation. We were actually a little worried they might sue us. That's just the kind of revenue-generating masterminds we are. 'Also, the upcoming story line where Liz Lemon starts dating Grimace is just based on a recurring dream I have. 'Seriously, though, it's not product placement. 'Also, whoever is writing my Twitter account is pretty funny, but it's not me.'" - Posted by Kate February 13 I Want Jim and Dwight to Plan My Birthday Party
Dwight and Jim are by far the worst iteration of Dunder-Mifflin's cursed party-planning committee and have left everyone longing for the days of Oscar's welcome back gay Mexican fiesta. (Lemoñade!) From Dwight's grenade-like gray and brown balloons to Kelley's chiclet cake, it was an affair to remember. The stuff with Angela's cats, though? Man, that was just weird. She licked Princess Lady! I guess they've decided to make her full-on whackadoo.The Michael and Holly stuff just made me squirm. But I hope we haven't seen the last of Amy Ryan. - Posted by Kate February 02 What Happens After You Yell 'Fire'
The opening scene was great (Oscar in the ceiling! Angela "rescuing" one of her cats! Kevin smashing open the vending machine! Andy...being Andy!) but after that things got more than a little slow. This is always my problem with the one hour episodes. The jokes are few and far between, and then there are pauses where a laugh track would be if this was 1998. I could live with the Dwight vs. David Wallace story line, but the Pam and Jim indie flick You Made My Parents Get a Divorce By Loving Me Too Much was actually way, way creepier than seeing Jack Black make out with Cloris Leachman. I found it pretty hilarious the way the writers shortchanged the super-hyped celebrity guest stars. It can't be fun to be told, "Oh, hey, we got Jack Black for the Super Bowl episode. And Cloris Leachman. Oh, and Jessica Alba. You can write something for all of them by the end of the day, right?" - Posted by Kate January 30 Liz Lemon, Everywoman
"'I might accidentally roofie him,' Tina tells us of Hamm, who starts his three-episode guest arc one week from tonight. 'Jon's playing Dr. Drew Baird, and he lives upstairs from Liz Lemon. He's her neighbor that she naturally becomes smitten with and desperately tries to make advances toward, even though he is wildly out of her league.'" On a personal note, I certainly wish Jon Hamm was my upstairs neighbor. Or anyone but my real upstairs neighbor. Dude fell asleep while running a bath yesterday (?!) and flooded my apartment. No, I'm not kidding. Uhhhh, Calgon take me away? - Posted by Kate January 29 Legendary Stunt Casting: Frances Conroy on 'How I Met Your Mother'
"Conroy will appear on the CBS hitcom's 15th episode of the season, "The Stinsons," in which the gang discovers that Barney has a fake wife-and-kid on call should his mother ever come to town. (Apparently New York City's most eligible bachelor has told quite the white lie over the years, as mom Loretta's health ebbed and flowed.)" Hmmmm. We know that Barney's mom is just a bit, well, lax in the child-rearing department. And that she told Barney that Bob Barker was his father. I can't wait to see what happens next! - Posted by Kate January 28 Tonight: Paul McCartney on 'The Colbert Report'
Well, it's a long way from Ed Sullivan, but different is sometimes better. I really love watching Colbert interview people, whether it's someone deservedly famous like McCartney or, you know, the guy who designed that red and blue Obama poster. - Posted by Kate January 15 'The Office' Gets Down and Dirty
Andy and Dwight are gonna fight over Angela! Now, Dwight is a volunteer fireman, and a determined worker, intense, a good worker, a hard worker and terrific. Andy, well, he gets mad. Who will win? I'm putting my money on the lady. Angela's tough! - Posted by Kate January 09 Supersonic, Idiotic, Disconnecting, Not RespectingI've got a little Friday morning present for you "30 Rock" fans. Behold, the "Top That!" rap scene from what is perhaps the greatest forgotten movie of the 80s, Teen Witch.
I love Kenneth Ellen Parcell. Oh, and the lyrics are here. - Posted by Kate December 22 New 'Office' Contest = Non-Ironic Outsourcing
What? Seriously?! Let's think this through. There are some pretty stringent color palette-related design requirements for this T-shirt contest, plus you have to download either a Photoshop or an Illustrator template just to play. In other words, you probably have to be a graphic designer or a student because most people don't have the very expensive Adobe Creative Suite installed on their home computers. Bottom line, this contest is only open to people with a basic working knowledge of graphic design. These people usually get paid for their work, or expect to someday get paid. I'm sure the people who designed the T-shirts currently for sale at NBC.com didn't get paid in Schrute Bucks or Stanley Nickels, for example. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average yearly salary for a graphic designer is $48,790. Let's say, optimistically, that it takes a day to design a T-shirt. So let's divide that by 240 working days in a year. We get $203.21. NBC wants you graphic designers to do two hundred dollars' worth of work for assorted junk that sells for half that much. But, wait, what if you're just a talented amateur looking to make a splash? Well, there's always CafePress, where you could actually make some money off your T-shirt design. They have a base price for T-shirts, you sell yours for whatever you think they're worth and you get to keep the difference. You'd make at least $5 per T-shirt rather than the $0 NBC is offering. But, hey, free mugs! How can real money compete with a coffee mug you didn't have to pay for? Anyhoodles, if for some reason you guys want to be exploited, click here to enter the contest. - Posted by Kate |
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