1. "Little Britain USA"
Now honestly, this is some of the most repulsive shit I have ever seen. I'm not even going to make an argument for why, I'm just saying, jesus it's awful. It's like Norbit x "Monty Python" x "Tom Goes To The Mayor." If you like this, kill yourself. Between this, Russell Brand on the VMAs, and how shitty How to Lose Friends & Alienate People was, I'm ready to lobby for some kind of embargo on importing British comedy for the time being.

2. "Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger - London, New York, Johannesburg"
I think stand-up specials probably work best when it's just one night, or maybe two shows, edited together as seamlessly as possible. So I'm not a fan of the format for this, which kind of makes a big deal out of being shot in 3 different cities with different-looking stages and Rock in different outfits each time, and big showy edits that cut between him doing the same line in each city, or altering it to include the name of the city he's in. So much of Chris Rock's comedy is about the rhythms he gets into, the exact way he repeats stuff, that this kind of drains something essential out of it. Still pretty funny, although it's kind of like his last couple HBO specials where he realizes it's kind of his big grandstanding forum and tries to make too many mind-blowing "EVERYBODY THINKS THIS" proclamations.

3. "Gary Unmarried"
Adding this to "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Two And A Half Men," CBS has now officially staked half of their primetime comedy schedule on jokes about pathetic divorcees. It's a shame Paula Marshall is such a show killer, I've always had a monster crush on her and would watch her in any old crap every week.

4. "Kath & Kim"
Was there some kind of posthumous revision of Molly Shannon's SNL career that I completely missed? Suddenly the last year or two I see her getting to be the first female alumni to come back and host the show, headlining a new prime time show, and being listed as one of the top 10 cast members of all time. Wasn't she always annoying as frequently as she was funny, and constantly inflicting the worst running characters on the show? Anyway she could be good in a supporting role in a sitcom but I don't see her as a main character, but she's not the problem here so much as everything. Basically this has all the single camera comedy problems I detailed when talking about "Worst Week" a couple weeks ago, but even worse. Selma Blair doesn't really have any serious comedy chops, either. I always thought Mikey Day was one of the funnier people in the hack factory that is "Wild'N'Out," though, good to see him doing something else here.

5. "I Love Money"
Basically this is VH1's version of "Real World/Road Rules Challenge," but it's inherently better because of the demoralizing title that forces the participants to own up to their desperation (although "I Love Being On TV" would be a better title). I never was into "Flavor Of Love" or any of its spinoffs, though, except "Rock Of Love," and they only got the most annoying chicks from that show on here, so the only real eye candy is Hoopz, and the dudes from "I Love New York" are so disgusting it's amazing. Still kind of entertaining, but overall boring and I'm hoping the "Rock Of Love Charm School" show will be better.

6. "Pushing Daisies"
Still one of the best shows on TV, but the writers' strike cutting the first season short has kind of made the new season an uphill battle, both in regaining its audience and momentum, and in living up to those pitch perfect first 9 episodes with over twice as many this year. The first couple episodes have been pretty strong, though, I think making Emerson a more rounded character is going to pay off well.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 6:58 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.