Yes, Jimmy Kimmel brought Nadya Suleman onstage last night to play a Valentine’s Day version of The Dating Game. The result was, as you might suspect, pretty weird and surreal. The Octomom kept making these shrieking laughs:
Suleman said she hadn’t been on a date in ten years.
Questions included, READ FULL STORY »
Could NBC come up with a less user-friendly website than the one the network has created for its Olympics coverage?
Granted, I’m no tech genius by any stretch, but only after switching to a different laptop and trying a third browser have I been able to view NBC’s fiercely guarded, churlishly few videos of the Games thus far… and most of those that I can access move with a tediously slow, herky-jerky motion.
Anyone else having this problem?
At a time when TV is overrun with irony, sarcasm, and hip knowingness, one of the things Smallville does well is innocence and earnestness. The episode “Warrior” was a good example of this.
Comic-book conventions are usually played for cheap laughs (look at all the geeks!), and while the beginning of this hour had a little of that, the central plot — a boy steals a copy of Warrior Angel #0 and becomes a superhero himself — managed to play this out straightforwardly, frequently with a pleasing sense of youthful wonder. It was fun to see the kid turn into a young man (the latter played by Carlo Marks) capable of super-feats but still a gawky pre-teen at heart. The cleverly written (by Bryan Miller) episode had Chloe getting a tad turned-on by Stephen Swift’s muscles, only to become sheepishly embarrassed once she figured out she’d been crushing on a boy who was more turned on by an Xbox than by a blonde inviting him up to her place. (Well, Carlo Marks did play Chloe’s fiance in the “Apocalypse” episode… )
In addition to the reappearance of the Warrior Angel comic in Smallville, there was the return of Zatanna. She figured in the plot as the source of Swift’s Warrior transformation — it was the result of a curse Zatanna’s father had placed upon the heretofore unopened comic book, one designed to result in the hero turning into the villain Devilicus (the most frightening thing about that metamorphosis was an alarming increase in hair-gel).
Zatanna is a tricky character to pull off in live-action TV, mostly because her costume is so — well, as Lois derisively referred to her, “Lady Fishnets.” But Serinda Swan really has a handle on this character by now; she plays her smart but not too smart-alecky, and her crisp dialogue with Clark made Lois’ jealousy plausible. And speaking of costumes: What’s the verdict on Lois Lane as Wonder Woman — or is it, as one Commenter suggests below, Xena, Warrior Princess? (She does refer to herself as “this Amazon princess,” but I do see the Zena resemblance, and the episode was called ‘Warrior’… ) Nonetheless, I come down on the side of less Amazonian than simply cute, a quality that suits this Lois well.
I guess when you direct the episode, as Allison Mack did, you get to put yourself in the final scene: The heck with Clark and Lois — Chlollie was in full effect, as Oliver guided Chloe in shooting an arrow, his arms enfolding her. One imagines that after the closing credits, they pulled out a boomerang arrow that would… well, fill in your own Valentine’s Day/Cupid’s arrow joke here.
Oh yes, my suggestion: Watching Smallville on Friday and Supernatural on Thursday, I thought, why the hell doesn’t the CW pair up these two shows on one night, as they used to be? Vampire Diaries may be more successful (in terms of numbers) than both, but I’ll bet ratings would increase for those two other shows if you brought their fan-bases together again; Vampire can hold its own by now, anyway. (This assumes, of course, that both Supernatural and Smallville will be back next season.)
What do you think of my idea? And what did you think about “Warrior”?
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What I mean is, given the competition this Thursday night — a Survivor two-hour premiere, new episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, and Grey’s Frakkin’ Anatomy — why am I wondering whether Supernatural, which is having a terrific season, is even going to get higher ratings than Fox’s new, super-lousy Past Life?
Tonight’s episode, entitled “My Bloody Valentine,” looks like READ FULL STORY »
Friday Night Lights wrapped up its fourth season a big winner: It succeeded in turning the East Dillon Lions into a team to root for, tying story lines for some fan-favorite characters, and introducing key personalities that will carry the series into its next season. And, oh yeah: Somebody kicked a 46-yard field goal to win the big game!
The Riggins brothers’ car stripping scheme READ FULL STORY »
Last night on The Late Late Show, the newly be-Twittered Craig Ferguson hosted Carrie Fisher, always a genial loose cannon. Her opening salvo to the host? “I’ve been Twittering you backstage, without a lubricant.”
Between stroking Craig’s leg, giving him the (pixilated) finger, and bad-mouthing a producer for her one-woman show Wishful Drinking, Fisher was really on a roll. The following clip captures some of the high points of her low humor:
Lest you think the mighty Fisher is a heedless vulgarian, I’ll point out that she plays with language, in her novels, memoirs, stage shows, and TV appearances, in amusing ways.
And Craig appreciates that kind of give-and-take; he’s as interested in the derivation of the term “druthers” as he is in a pun on Balzac.
Craig also said last night he suspected he was going to “get tired of the Twitter thing” pretty fast. I think the only solution to this is to Twitter him immediately (@craigyferg ) and express your opinion on this.
What did you think of Fisher’s happily ribald Late Late Show segment?
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Oh, that’s right: You weren’t going to watch anyway, were you? Not with a Leno tradition of jokes like this, uttered during the final Jay Leno Show opening monologue:
“Guys on Viagra had erections that lasted longer than [this show].”
“People say, what has changed the most in five months? I’d have to say, Heidi Montag, probably.”
“We were on the air five months. It seems like just yesterday I was telling NBC, ‘This is not going to work.’” (Not funny, and not true: Leno gave a press conference before this series started saying that he might not beat new episodes of scripted dramas scheduled opposite him, but that he would probably beat them when they were in reruns. Didn’t happen.)
Leno started to introduce “a look back” at all he’d done during The Jay Leno Show, but unlike Conan O’Brien’s farewell show, which ran a series of O’Brien’s best Tonight Show bits, all of Leno’s “memories” were just new, unfunny taped bits, such as a bit of manipulated tape that made it look as though Kanye West slapped Leno and stalked off-stage.
Donald Trump showed up via satellite to yell (what else?): “You’re fired!”
Guest Ashton Kutcher assured Jay that this entire past five months “was a punk,” and added — weirdly — that even Conan O’Brien was in on the joke, “acting all angry, doing an Irish accent.”
Leno told guest Gabourey Sidibe that Precious is “so good, some people think it’s a documentary.” Whaaa?
The only semi-spontaneous moment seemed to occur at the very start, when a man in a black leather jacket lingered in front of Leno as he did his usual opening meet-’n'-greet with audience members, and said something in Leno’s ear. Who knows what he said? It may have been funnier than the hour that followed.
Leno re-takes his prize, The Tonight Show, next month. Looking forward to it?
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What is up with 24 and its female characters so far this season?
• Chloe might as well not exist, for all the screen-time Mary Lynn Rajskub is getting. (Techie Arlo now gets the kind of sarcastic lines Chloe used to deliver, as when he said dryly to Dana Walsh, walking off to make a phone call last night, “No biggie — just unsecured nuclear materials.”)
• 24 Emmy winner Cherry Jones has been reduced to a series of tedious speaker-phone conversations about those tedious U.N. peace talks over which the President is presiding.
• Katee Sackhoff — well, where to begin? Her READ FULL STORY »
David Letterman said last night that his Super Bowl commercial confused his mother: “My mom called and said, ‘David, who was the guy with Oprah and Jay?’”
Biff Henderson also expressed a certain loyalty to Leno. (About three minutes in here.)
A bit later Letterman noted that after the idea was conceived and broadcast, “People thought it was really hot stuff. So I’d like to thank the actors who played Oprah and Jay Leno.”
One of the best parts of last night’s show was seeing Sandra Bullock — who demonstrated that she can catch and throw a football while in high heels — needle Dave.
After showing some amusing pictures taken at an awards show of Bullock open-mouth-kissing Meryl Streep, Dave said with mock-severity, “Well, I guess that’s the kind of thing you people do out in Hollywood,” Bullock shot back, ”Oh, I suppose you’ve never kissed a woman before, Dave.” (Occurs about 2:30 in here.)
Glad Bullock has reaped an Oscar nomination even if I haven’t seen The Blind Side, if for no other reason than it means she makes sparky TV appearances such as this one.
Did you watch Dave last night?
Late Show producer on Leno-Letterman-Oprah Super Bowl spot: Jay wore disguise to taping
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