Well, Undercover Boss got away from the food industry this week, unless, I suppose, you consider horse-meat yummy. After weeks spent in places such as White Castle and 7-Eleven, Boss found a way to escape neon lighting and get outdoors. We followed Bill Carstanjen, COO of Churchill Downs, Inc., “host of the Kentucky Derby,” as he doffed his suit and grabbed a feed bucket.
“I like to watch ‘em from afar,” Carstanjen said of the animals that help him lead his posh life. How convenient: a boss who’s “inimidated” by his meal ticket. Carstanjen spent a lot of time in READ FULL STORY »
Minute To Win It is a physical-stunt version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, complete with three “saves” — in this case, “three lives,” or three chances to screw up. A contestant must complete 10 one-minute competitions to receive $1 million.
The host here is Guy Fieri, the Food Network host who looks like a Rascal Flatts reject and whose pseudo-hipster enthusiasm almost ruins that great show-concept, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Fieri makes Howie Mandel seem like Sir Ben Kingsley.
Challenges include picking up paper bags with one’s teeth, keeping two feathers up in the air for a minute by blowing on them, and moving a cookie from one’s forehead into one’s mouth. It must be said, Minute has a curiously obsessive oral fixation. After saying that, it must be added that this obsession still doesn’t add a lick of interest to the show.
The first of two Minute episodes was up against 60 Minutes on Sunday night. I suspect most of America would rather watch Andy Rooney flap his gums grumpily for a few minutes than watch any contestant here contort his or her mouth for prize money. I don’t think 60 Minutes has much to worry about.
It was a mostly a game of “Remember This Sketch?” this week on Saturday Night Live.
Law made the most of his Broadway run in Hamlet. His opening monologue consisted of a tedious summary of the play. But a later sketch was better: He was made to audition for the role, with competing actors including Bill Hader’s fine Al Pacino, Bobby Moynihan’s Nathan Lane, and — best of all — Jason Sudeikis as a gnomically wise Sam Elliott.
Because the show acts as though its audience wouldn’t be familiar with any current event except perhaps who got kicked off American Idol this week, the cold-open featured a voiceover summary of the Eric Massa scandal, and then followed it with READ FULL STORY »
Jim Gaffigan appeared on David Letterman last night, and reminded me once again why he’s always reliably funny. He can do, as he does here, four minutes of material about hotel indoor pools and never leave you feeling he wishes he could throw in a four-letter word just to sell a joke:
I like Gaffigan’s on-stage personality as much as I like his jokes; that’s important for a stand-up comic, too.
Oh, and here’s some bonus video of last week’s host, Zach Galifianakis, shaving his beard off before the start of his final SNL sketch. Impressively fast razor-work during a commercial break, don’t you think?
‘Twas a far, far better edition of The Marriage Ref this week. That’s because the judge-panelists — Madonna, Larry David, and Ricky Gervais — used the ridiculous marital examples set before them (and us) as occasions to yell genially, at each other and the married couples.
Proving that adolescent drinking games can be hazardous to your health, Jimmy Fallon fell and cut his hand while conducting one of his “martini races” on Tuesday night against Chelsea Handler. The slip and fall Fallon took was impressive, as was the amount of blood he started leaking… as was Handler’s aplomb: “I just wanted to promote my new book,” she said, gazing sourly at Fallon’s wound:
Meanwhile, last night Jimmy Kimmel suggested to American Idol that instead of doing a bland “peppy” group number, they ululate about worshiping the devil, drinking blood, eating hearts and brains. Here’s the song:
I’d like to put up the best moment of all: the terrific moment during last night’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson when Craig began deconstructing late-night cliches — the host signaling to the band; doing a Leno-esque adjustment to his tie; railing against having to wear a suit (“like a f—ing mortician!”) just because “talk show hosts have been doing this since the 1950s, so I have to dress like this? It’s like the Amish!”…
… but of course CBS.com never makes Craig’s clips available at a sensible hour the next morning. By which I mean now.
Psych wrapped up its fourth season last night, and I swear, Psych fans, I did give this season a fresh look and another try. Much as I tried to muster enthusiasm, I have to say: This was one cheesy season send-off.
The hour was built around a gimmick — someone (supposedly the mysterious “Mr. Yin”) was committing crimes that contained homages to Alfred Hitchcock films. I guess we were supposed to think this choice of director wasn’t random because of a flashback early on, that showed a young Shawn sneaking off to a movie house featuring a Hitchcock festival. And I’ll give the show points for structuring one murder as a salute to a minor Hitchcock, Frenzy.
Guest star Ally Sheedy returned as serial killer Mr. Yang; she was wacko-good. See? I’m trying to be positive. I always enjoy Corbin Bernsen when he pops up as Shawn’s dad, often too briefly. Annnnd…
Well, what continues to irk me is the predictability of the wiseguy patter and the unoriginality of the show. The sarcastic/affectionate byplay between James Roday’s Shawn and Dule Hill’s Gus is old TV stuff; only the pop-culture references they spout are new — well, not new, but recent. And I mean literally old TV: I refer you to (and I’m limiting my examples to odd-couples-solving-crime shows from the ’80s, since Shawn likes to reference that decade quite a bit) everything from Crazy Like A Fox (1984-86) to Tenspeed and Brownshoe (1980) toHardcastle & McCormick (1983-86). And Roday and Hill are surrounded by character-types familiar from other cable shows such as Monk and The Closer, like the dumb, bumbling cops who are alternately angry or amused by the antics of the heroes.
Over the course of the season, there were a few episodes I liked. “A Very Juliet Episode” and “The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode” were both cute without being too cutesy, something that practically defines the dialogue in this series. Such as last night’s show, co-written (with Andy Berman) and directed by Roday, which described Shawn as possessing a “snarky eloquence.” See the trick? He says it before someone else (like me) does, so that must mean the show is self-aware, right? Right… self-aware to a fault.
Director Roday staged mini-reproductions of moments from Psycho, The 39 Steps, North By Northwest, and Rear Window. The Birds, Lifeboat, Marnie, and Vertigo were invoked. I liked his pre-credit overhead shot that revealed the murder as a disguised yin-yang symbol.
There was no MacGuffin in the plot, though — Mr. Yin was all too literal a threat. And the whole Abigail being put in danger by the villain was rather botched, visually; if you hadn’t watched the show before, you might not have recognized her initial re-entry into the episode.
Are fans disappointed that Shawn and Abigail seem to be breaking up? You tell me, please.
I’ll keep an open mind, Psych devotees: Count me front-and-center for next season.
This week’s Chuck, directed by star Zachary Levi, was a bold one for a series based on keeping secrets and keeping things light. The night began with Morgan “firing” Chuck as his best friend, since the latter had become so elusive and unavailable. Morgan just wants to hang out, eat Subway subs (which made their first appearance of the season here, I do believe), and play video games, like the pals used to. Chuck has to use his Intersect at new levels since he’s now a full-fledged agent. Other shows could keep these two together as cheerful chums for a long time, but Chuck likes to tinker with its genre… and with us.
