TV Diary
1. The Jeff Johnson Chronicles
On Rap City they used to have this guy they called Cousin Jeff come down to Da Bassment every once in a while to discuss serious issues affecting the black community with Big Tigger in between videos, which was always a little awkward. But now BET has given him his own show where it's all issues all the time. I particularly liked the episodes about sex and how hip hop has effected people's sexual attitudes. I mean, bloggers and critics are constantly coming up with armchair rants about that issue, but for me it's a lot more enlightening to hear actual rappers talk frankly about it, and a lot of them kind of take themselves to task. Plus there was this one weird part with Lil Scrappy and his mom, who used to be a pimp/madame.
2. The Comedians of Comedy
I caught the movie doc version of this on Showtime a while back, which was filmed last year and is different from the Comedy Central series that was filmed on a later tour this year. I think the movie version was a little heavier on actual standup footage and was more consistently funny, the series seems to have a lot more of Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn being whiny, hateful comic book guys. The first episode had a lot of footage from their show at the Recher Theatre in Towson, MD, which I used to live down the road from. I wish I hadn't flaked out on that show, I heard it was good. Zach Galifianakis is definitely the funniest guy in the group, though, that late night show he had on VH1 that was cancelled after like a month was good. Maria Bamford is really good too, it seems to me like she has a really great comedic mind beyond just being the girl who does the funny voices. That bit where she sang OCD affirmations to herself to the tune of "I Will Always Love You" was amazing.
3. How I Met Your Mother
Now that the semester's over and I don't have a Monday night class, I can finally watch this, and it's pretty good. By the end of the 90's, the whole attractive-young-white-urbanites sitcom format had run out of steam, but it's actually kind of refreshing to see something like that again that isn't a Friends/Seinfeld rerun, and they kind of do something different with formua. I think it's the Bob Saget narration. Also, Doogie. And it's nice to see Nick from Freaks & Geeks in something again.
4. Everybody Hates Chris
Still not totally into it, it's just a little too Malcom In The Middle, y'know? But it's alright, albeit too cutesy, and like MITM, the dad is the most consistently funny character, and is also underused. And for the first time recently I noticed Chris Rock committing that old sin of every sitcom created by a comedian, recycling a joke from his standup routine. But it was the "big piece of chicken" bit and it was used well.
5. Twins
At the beginning of the season this got a lot of bad reviews as one of the worst new shows starring a couple of sitcom has-beens, Cousin Larry from Perfect Strangers and Darlene from Roseanne. But I have to say, this is actually pretty funny and has sharp dialogue that actually isn't all snappy putdowns and one-liners, although there's still some tired comedic tropes (like two dumb blonde characters). In a season where people are starved for a decent sitcom, I'm surprised people are giving a free pass to flawed but ostensibly "different" shows like Everybody Hates Chris and My Name Is Earl but giving this one a hard time.
On Rap City they used to have this guy they called Cousin Jeff come down to Da Bassment every once in a while to discuss serious issues affecting the black community with Big Tigger in between videos, which was always a little awkward. But now BET has given him his own show where it's all issues all the time. I particularly liked the episodes about sex and how hip hop has effected people's sexual attitudes. I mean, bloggers and critics are constantly coming up with armchair rants about that issue, but for me it's a lot more enlightening to hear actual rappers talk frankly about it, and a lot of them kind of take themselves to task. Plus there was this one weird part with Lil Scrappy and his mom, who used to be a pimp/madame.
2. The Comedians of Comedy
I caught the movie doc version of this on Showtime a while back, which was filmed last year and is different from the Comedy Central series that was filmed on a later tour this year. I think the movie version was a little heavier on actual standup footage and was more consistently funny, the series seems to have a lot more of Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn being whiny, hateful comic book guys. The first episode had a lot of footage from their show at the Recher Theatre in Towson, MD, which I used to live down the road from. I wish I hadn't flaked out on that show, I heard it was good. Zach Galifianakis is definitely the funniest guy in the group, though, that late night show he had on VH1 that was cancelled after like a month was good. Maria Bamford is really good too, it seems to me like she has a really great comedic mind beyond just being the girl who does the funny voices. That bit where she sang OCD affirmations to herself to the tune of "I Will Always Love You" was amazing.
3. How I Met Your Mother
Now that the semester's over and I don't have a Monday night class, I can finally watch this, and it's pretty good. By the end of the 90's, the whole attractive-young-white-urbanites sitcom format had run out of steam, but it's actually kind of refreshing to see something like that again that isn't a Friends/Seinfeld rerun, and they kind of do something different with formua. I think it's the Bob Saget narration. Also, Doogie. And it's nice to see Nick from Freaks & Geeks in something again.
4. Everybody Hates Chris
Still not totally into it, it's just a little too Malcom In The Middle, y'know? But it's alright, albeit too cutesy, and like MITM, the dad is the most consistently funny character, and is also underused. And for the first time recently I noticed Chris Rock committing that old sin of every sitcom created by a comedian, recycling a joke from his standup routine. But it was the "big piece of chicken" bit and it was used well.
5. Twins
At the beginning of the season this got a lot of bad reviews as one of the worst new shows starring a couple of sitcom has-beens, Cousin Larry from Perfect Strangers and Darlene from Roseanne. But I have to say, this is actually pretty funny and has sharp dialogue that actually isn't all snappy putdowns and one-liners, although there's still some tired comedic tropes (like two dumb blonde characters). In a season where people are starved for a decent sitcom, I'm surprised people are giving a free pass to flawed but ostensibly "different" shows like Everybody Hates Chris and My Name Is Earl but giving this one a hard time.
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on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 at 10:36 AM.
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