Don’t know how I missed this, seeing as how Marvelous Mandi Bierly even mentioned it in her New Year’s Eve TV wrap-up yesterday: AMC is presenting a “Countdown with The Stooges” right now until midnight, wall-to-wall Three Stooges comedy interrupted only by AMC’s irritating commercials:
As I write, “Hoi Polloi,” the 1935, tenth short made starring Moe, Larry, and Curly, is being shown. It’s one of their best, in which two professors try to solve whether intelligence is inherited or learned, with the Stooges as their (really) unwitting subjects. Much finger-poking-to-eyeballs and squealing-pain yelps are occurring as I chuckle. There’s a lot more where that came from.
I don’t buy the old theory that only men like The Three Stooges, do you?
Happy almost-new year. I thought during this week of widespread TV reruns, I’d whet your appetite for some of the fresh stuff coming in January. I’ve already written a bit about Chuck, so here are four more new or returning shows I highly recommend. I’ll be writing about these in more detail once they premiere, but here are some shows you can program your DVR to record right now. (Guarantee: No spoilers ahead, other than details these shows’ producers have already made generally available.)
• Big Love (premieres Jan. 10, HBO) Can things get any more complicated in the Henrickson houses? Yes! Especially when you have ambitious connivers both at home (Nicki and Margene get on Bill and Barb’s last nerves real fast) and out in the world (two words: Alby Grant — and Matt Ross deserves an Emmy nom for his portrayal this season). Gambling! Corpses! Bill runs for political office!
• Archer (premieres Jan. 14, FX) A sneak-preview of the pilot for this cartoon spy show aired in September, and I’ll assert that subsequent episodes only get better. From the makers of Sealab 2021 and my beloved Frisky Dingo, Archer is crass, crammed with verbal and visual gags, and seems to have absorbed every spy genre from the Bond canon to The Man from U.N.C. L.E. to Get Smart. And smart it is.
24 (premieres Jan. 17, Fox) Jack is in Manhattan. Guess what else is there? You are correct: a terrorist threat. So is Freddie Prinze, Jr. No, that’s not a threat — he’s actually good, at least in the first four hours I’ve seen. And Katee Sackhoff, in the sort of high heels Battlestar Galactica geeks have previously only dreamt of, makes a formidable foe for… Chloe! Under threat of torture, that’s all I’ll say.
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand (premieres Jan. 22, Starz) I’m telling ya, this slashing take on Roman warfare and lust could very well prove the Not At All Guilty Pleasure of the season. Co-producers include Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert (Xena: Warrior Princess), and creator Steven S. DeKnight (Smallville, Angel). The violence is gleefully appalling (severed limbs, spurting crimson spray), the sex is unapologetically raunchy, the humor is bleakly funny. The glowing visual look of Spartacus is unique. Boy, I had fun — I think you will, too.
With the third-season premiere of Chuck less than two weeks away (Jan. 10), it’s time for you Chuck fans to help convert the masses, to keep your show on the air until Chuck defeats The Ring and walks down the wedding aisle with Sarah to the music of Jeffster!. (That is what you want, isn’t it?)
In that spirit, I’m throwing it open to you in the Comments section. Which five episodes would you say are essential for a newcomer to the show, to understand the mythology and the charms of Chuck? I’m using five as an arbitrary figure — I don’t want this to seem like homework. You can skip the obvious, such as the pilot — I’ll list that one for you.
And feel free to give the newbies more than five if you like.
Okay, I’ll start. I would say that some essential Chuck episodes are: READ FULL STORY »
With the arrest of Charlie Sheen — jailed on accusations of domestic violence — it’s happening again as the year draws to an end. Many readers are calling for celebrities to “realize that they are role models” and that famous folk should set an example for the rest of us impressionable people.
Oh, dear. If there’s one sub-set of human beings I don’t — and don’t think anyone else should — take cues from, it’s ordinary mortals with varying degrees of talent in movies, TV, music, and sports, who make loads of money and sometimes feel they’re above the law.
Commenters on EW.com and other entertainment sites seem compelled to insist that with great fame comes great responsibility, whether you’re the lucky co-star of Two and a Half Men or a mighty athlete like Tiger Woods or a baby-faced singer like Chris Brown or a brash up-and-comer like Adam Lambert.
(Which also raises the question: Why are so few women celebs roped into the they-should-be-role-models notion? Could it be because women are better-behaved? Or are the ones that do get in trouble, such as Amy Winehouse, arrested within a few days of Sheen for breaking up a British Christmas pantomime — a panto show for kids, for pete’s sake! — are so far beyond the pale no one expects them to be role models? Both reasons seem unlikely, don’t they? Is there sexism even in scandal?)
I’m not equating headline-making behavior that ranges from hitting a woman (Brown) to simulating sex on network TV (Lambert). The first example fills me with repulsed disgust; the second, amused bafflement.
But just because you admire the talent or the appearance or the whatever-allure of a famous name, why on earth would you imagine that he or she has any better sense of self-control, morality, or law-abiding instincts than anyone with lesser talent or worse hair? Making an actor, a singer, or an athlete your role model just sets him or her up to disappoint you, no matter how “nice” he or she seems. Idolizing celebrities to the point of outrage when they disappoint us infantilizes us. And remember this year’s most sensible phrase from a new celebrity, Adam Lambert: “I’m an entertainer, not a baby-sitter.”
Besides, if we all stopped calling for famous folk to be smiley saints, just think of the residual effect it would have for the good of the nation: Half the tabloid tv shows, websites, and newspapers would have to alter their agendas if their audience didn’t become huffily enraged when his or her favorite entertainer does not lead a totally virtuous life.
Am I wrong? Do celebs automatically get a Responsibility Membership Card the moment they make their first million or sign their first autograph?
Lots of people use the holidays to catch up on TV shows piling on their DVRs or TiVos, or plowing through episodes on DVD boxed sets they were given as Christmas gifts. Or they just flick on the TV and start watching the various marathons that a multitude of channels program during this period.
So I ask you: If you were given the opportunity to immerse yourself in one TV series for the rest of the weekend, which would it be?
Here, I’ll get you started:
• The Wire I know, grim stuff, and sometimes difficult to follow. But what better time than Christmas to remember the needy young people who populate David Simon’s brilliant HBO TV series, the kids who have to live among drug dealers and decide whether to resist or join them? What better time to watch what so many critics have called the TV version of a nice big fat novel, filled with vivid characters, raucous humor, and soul-stirring social criticism?
• Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared These two Judd Apatow creations wouldn’t take too long to watch — each lasted only one season — but they encapsulate the worldview of modern underdogs, of adolescence as one long commingling of pleasure and pain. Plus, thanks to the genius of Apatow’s casting, you get to see the career-making roles of the future stars of such shows as How I Met Your Mother, ER, Cougar Town, Bones, and… General Hospital.
• Battlestar Galactica I myself would love the time and opportunity to sit back and watch this great space-opera from beginning to end, to savor the way the show built its carefully conceived future and explored questions of faith and loyalty. Sounds like Christmas fare to me.
• Gilmore Girls I am proud to say I own the box with every episode, and I have to fight with my wife and daughters over which episodes to watch first and in which order. The greatest screwball-comedy ever produced for TV. Do not disagree with me.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly Who among us would not geek out on a Whedon-fest?
Okay, it’s your turn:
If you had time this weekend to watch one TV series, what would it be?
Fox is burning off four episodes of ‘Til Death tonight: It’s the only new prime-time network programming this evening.
Does anyone watch this sitcom? I have nothing against the show; it doesn’t make me laugh, but it’s not insultingly awful or anything. The only thing I ever held against the series is that Fox insisted on printing the apostrophe in “’til” backwards — I hate it when scores of people at a company don’t notice such a boneheaded grammatical error.
But I’ve always liked Brad Garrett even before Everybody Loves Raymond, when he was a good, aggressive stand-up comic.
‘Til Death was, in its original conception, the umpteenth show to try and recapture some of the old magic of The Honeymooners: Squabbling couple = big guffaws. Well, it didn’t work out that way.
I wish the actors in this series well; I hope they find other, better work elsewhere in the year to come.
But I’m curious: Are there any fans of this show out there? Did that backward-apostrophe ever irritate any of you? Do you agree that Brad Garrett’s a funny guy?
It’s that time of year to pass around praise to folks who don’t always receive enough attention over the course of the TV season. Here’s my list; when I’m done, I hope you’ll add yours:
Ellie Kemper in The Office As Erin, Pam’s replacement as receptionist as Dunder Mifflin, Kemper has steadily established a distinctive personality and comic rhythm. Kemper, who’s also written for The Onion and McSweeney’s, radiates a sly devilishness beneath a fine poker-face. At first, Ellie seemed a little dim and as skittish as a pony, but by now, she’s part of Michael Scott’s inner-circle of crazy. Ed Helms’ Andy has a crush on the perky-smiling, soulful-eyed Erin, and she’s proven crush-worthy in extracurricular activities such as this:
Adam Baldwin in Chuck Col. Casey could have been consigned to play the big doofus, the muscle-man straight-man to Chuck and Sarah. Instead, Adam Baldwin has grabbed the role, taken the writers’ clever cues, and made Casey a he-man with READ FULL STORY »
It just ain’t the holiday season until Darlene Love sings the great Phil Spector song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on The Late Show with David Letterman. She did last night:
I think this year’s performance is, if possible, even better than the past few years’. Love’s voice is all surging power and joy.
Better Off Ted is like witty Silly Putty: You can stretch it in any direction and it’s still fun. This week, we had two storylines: Linda comes up with a scented light bulb that so captivates execs at Viridian Dynamic that it dims the glow of Ted’s new, longer-lasting light bulb project. And we met Lem’s mom, played with wiggly, brainy authority by the terrific Khandi Alexander (CSI: Miami; NewsRadio), who withholds approval from her son and beds his colleague, Dr. Bhamba.
See? It was primarily a Linda and Lem show, but it was still terrific. The scented bulb required Linda the lowly product-tester to give a presentation to company executives. Her natural modesty and nervousness had to be squeezed out of her by Portia de Rossi’s Veronica, who told her she cares too much what other people think.
This theme dovetailed nicely with the Lem story, since he cared too much about what his brilliant mother thinks of him — he’s spent his career feeling he can never exceed her intelligence, and hiding from her his own inventions such as “a helmet that makes cheeseburgers” and (a very good sight-gag) popcorn kernels that pop warmly in your mouth.
It was, as usual, a great night for Veronica-isms, as when she told Ted, regarding the endearingly loopy Linda, “Get on that before the crazy outweighs the hot.”
Even better: In the instantly-immortal words of Veronica, “Facts are just opinions and opinions can be wrong,” thus concisely articulating the philosophy of bosses each of us has worked for since time immemorial, don’t you think?
On Wednesday, ABC is airing double-reruns of The Middle and Cougar Town. On a holiday week, this makes sense with shows a network wants to boost. And I have nothing against those sitcoms.
One question for ABC: WHERE IS THE TED MARATHON?! I mean, come on. Instead of rerunning the show on different nights at different times, to see if it picks up viewers, what is ABC doing? Burning off two new episodes of Better Off Ted on Jan. 1. On New Year’s Day, a Friday holiday. Gee, I’ll bet that helps the show’s ratings.
By the way, you can now get the first season of Better Off Ted on DVD. Well worth it, I’d say.
But back to my topics: Did you watch Ted last night, and what were your favorite lines?
And am I being paranoid, or is ABC just shoving Ted into an early grave?
