1. The New Adventures of Old Christine
I had pretty low expectations for this, considering the undistinguished history of new shows starring Seinfeld alumni, especially since CBS tossed it out as a mid-season replacement, not even really in the middle season but in fucking March, which seems like a serious vote of no confidence. But this is actually pretty promising! Julia Louis-Dreyfuss's character has a lot of her usual mannerisms but isn't overly Elaine-esque, and the territory of divorce humor they're charting isn't too played out. And I like that the New Christine is kind of a normal 30something, and not an exaggerated trophy wife type, it makes the premise a little more believable. Andy Richter had a great cameo in a couple episodes, although a few episodes in when Wanda Sykes suddenly showed up as her best friend, it seemed like it was just to appease network notes demanding a sassy black friend. The ex-husband is played by Clark Gregg, who I've always liked despite him usually playing smarmy corporate types in movies like Hoot and In Good Company. He was also the guy in the last 2 episodes of Sports NIght who bought the network, and I always kinda wished I could see a 3rd season with him in the cast. Anyway, I kinda hope Old Christine makes it to the fall schedule, could turn out well. And at the moment, CBS Monday night is actually maybe the most solid 2-hour block of network comedy in a long time, maybe since NBC Thursdays' golden era. How I Met Your Mother is easily my favorite sitcom on TV right now, and King Of Queens and 2 And A Half Men are better than they're given credit for.

2. Yo Momma
I've had a couple conversations with people lately about how appallingly bad this show is even by the standards of MTV's usual attempts at comedies and game shows. I mean, trying to turn "yo momma" jokes into some kind of gritty 8 Mile-style competition with racially diverse crowds cheering the participants on is sketchy enough as a premise, but even the execution is pretty lacklaster, especially because Wilmer Valderrama is shockingly ineffectual host. As much as I loathe Punk'd and the way Ashton Kutcher hosts it, he at least has the obnoxious energy that MTV loves, while Valderrama has that mumbly, deer-in-the-headlights persona that you usually only get for long stretches of time on television when SNL decides to let a professional athlete host an episode. He makes it hard to believe that this guy is a professional actor who's usually pretty funny when in character, let alone the kind of pimp who's been romantically linked with every other starlet in Hollywood.

3. The Showbiz Show With David Spade
I thought I was sick and tired of basic cable shows with nonstop quipping about pop culture news, but I think I'm just sick and tired of Best Week Ever, because shows like this and The Soup are way better just for having an actual writing staff and a host instead of a dozen C-list comics ad libbing badly. Plus Spade kind of started that whole smartassing-about-celebrities school of humor with the Hollywood Minute, so he might as well get his own show in the format. My favorite bit is probably "couch trip," where they show a celeb repeating themselves in different interviews, so far the best one was a montage of Robin Williams making the same Brokeback Mountain jokes over and over, which was just frightening. The most fascinating thing about the show lately, though, is the fact that Spade himself has been implicated in the whole Heather Locklear/Richie Sambora/Denise Richards/Charlie Sheen scandal, and that they've actually done some funny bits about it. Also, it was pretty funny when they had Kid Rock parody his own sex tape.

4. South Park
Those episodes about Family Guy may have ruined FG for me forever. Or at least, I won't be able to watch it for a while without saying "You think that's bad!? What abou the time I was David Hasselhoff's car!?", etc. I love how explicit and ballsy it was compared to all of The Simpsons' half-assed little jabs.

5. Mad About You
Should I be embarrassed that I'm kind of nostalgic for this show? I go through phases where I'll watch certain syndicated old shows a lot for a month or two until I get sick of it again, and lately I've been catching this on Nick At Nite pretty often. It was definitely kind of an inconsistent show, and there are entire episodes where everyone seems to act out of character, and it's weird seeing the first season where there was a guy named Selby instead of cousin Ira, but when it was good, it was a pretty funny show. Also, Mad About You Aliens is classic.

6. VSpot Top 20 Countdown
VH1's old video countdown always had pretty boring hosts, and you could never really trust their rankings since it was one of those vague 'we base the lists on a variety of factors' deals which basically means the network gets to make up the list. So it's cool that they revamped it to be based entirely on viewer votes, and got Matt Pinfield to host. Even if his music trivia encyclopedia schtick is no longer as impressive as it was when I was a 13-year-old staying up late every Sunday to watch 120 Minutes, I still kind of like seeing him on TV.

Labels: comedy, TV, TV Diary, video

Since I got HBO last year I've finally caught up on most of the past seasons of The Wire (which I have a lot to say about, aside from it being one of the greatest series I've ever seen, but I'll save that for another time), and I'm real hyped about the 4th season coming in September. I have to admit that the end of the 3rd season with the (SPOILER ALERT) death of Stringer Bell kinda bummed me out, though, he was easily one of my favorite characters (also, he kinda looks like the GZA). I'm starting to wonder if he's gonna be back somehow, in flashback scenes or something, though, because my dad went to the "A Night at The Wire" charity auction on the set of the show recently and said that Idris Elba was there hanging out with the rest of the cast, and I heard he's hosting a show at some club in Bmore this weekend too. So unless he moved to Baltimore full-time (which is what Clarke Peters did), maybe he's still involved with the show somehow. Which would be cool, since the only other thing I've seen him in lately is the new Isley Bros. video.

Labels: The Wire, TV

Teddy Geiger - "For You I Will (Confidence)"
So my theory is that the RIAA created John Mayer's career so that he could be a younger, prettier Dave Matthews with less classic rock ambitions, but when Mayer went astray with his blues trio, they had to create Teddy Geiger as the new Mayer. I actually kinda like certain parts of this song, namely the way the verses kind of get these rushes of energy out of nowhere every couple bars and then pull back, but dynamics aside, pretty dull. Also the Laguna Beach chick looks weird. 4/10

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - "Dani California"
This whole video concept, which can be boiled down to "watch us dress up like bands from a wide variety of eras and genres that all happen to be playing the same drab alt-rock," has been done many times before, most recently by Morningwood and Bowling For Soup, but even lack of originality aside, this is a new low point for them. Especially because RHCP present all the different styles chronologically, with their current selves as the apparent pinnacle of 50 years of rock evolution. I'm still grappling with the fact that Californication is their biggest selling album. I mean, "By The Way" and a couple other recent singles were aight but why are these guys having so much better a late-period career arc than, say, R.E.M. or some other alt-rock institution that's become incredibly dull by now? 2/10

T-Pain f/ R Kelly, Pimp C, Too $hort, MJG, Twista & Paul Wall - "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)" Remix
For a long time I thought this song was kind of annoying and not as good as "I'm Sprung" and too much like that one Wyclef song, but it's slowly grown on me, especially because of this remix. R.'s verse is far and away the highlight, beginning by talking about how he wants to propose to a girl's ass, and ending by saying he wants to put his entire head inside her ass. 6/10

Kelly Clarkson - "Walk Away"
After a year and a half of dudes shamefully rocking out to "Since U Been Gone," Kelly Clarkson has taken it upon herself to show us all how silly we look singing along to her jams. I like that this is kind of in the slick, slightly cheesy production style of "Miss Independent" or, I don't know, recent Bon Jovi, which I kind of like better than the more earnest rock production of, say, "Behind These Hazel Eyes." Kelly's fashion choices are becoming increasingly questionable, but I applaud the right for women who have soft little bellies and not rock hard abs to bare midriffs in public. And that little hip swivel she does at the beginning of the second verse, oh my god. 9/10

Labels: hip hop, TV, video

1. American Idol
I'd been psyched about this week ever since I heard that the theme was the music of Queen, possibly my favorite singles band of all time. In fact, I'd said to J.G. while watching Idol maybe a month ago before knowing about it that a Queen week would be great for all of the non-R&B singers in the competition that sometimes seem to be struggling for good vocal showcases. I've been mostly OK with the last few weeks of eliminations, Mandisa was kind of a surprise but she never really stood out to me all that much, big voice but always predictable. Katherine being in the bottom 3 a couple weeks was pretty much the only time I've been really outraged so far. Right now my favorite is Elliott, just in terms of seeming like a really nice, dorky dude who happens to have a good voice, and I loved him doing "Somebody To Love." I don't see him going the distance but I want to keep him around a while longer, so I was pretty relieved when Bucky got eliminated this week when it was him and Elliott and Ace in the bottom 3 (although Ace's "We Will Rock You" was so terrible that I would've been pretty mad that he got to stay if anyone but goddamn Bucky had gone instead). Pickler's abbreviated "Bohemian Rhapsody" was a pleasant surprise, maybe her only impressive performance the whole season. Noone else seemed to point out when she sang the "stop me and spit in my eye" line directly to Simon, I thought that was a nice touch. I was kinda glad that noone tackled the unassailable "Under Pressure," but Chris sounded so good singing a couple lines of that in the medley on Wednesday that I almost wish he'd picked it instead of "Innuendo." I'm still kind of on the fence about how much I like Taylor, but he pulled off "Crazy Little Thing" well and his flubbed mic stand kick was hilarious.

2. Unan1mous
I've been pretty good about not getting sucked into the super-trashy reality shows in the past, but the Idol lead-in for this got me hooked. The whole thing just looks sleazy as hell, from the low low production values to the weird redheaded geeky host, who doesn't fit the tone of the show at all (apparently he used to host a show on Animal Planet, which makes way more sense). But the way they keep changing the rules and throwing curveballs at the contestants is great, there's no systematic, predetermined formula for how each episode is going to go. It kind of annoys me that the original prize money, $1.5 million, isn't really that impressive a figure to begin with for a big TV show, and the amount keeps shrinking (the dollars ticking away every second that they don't come to a unanimous decision), and was already chopped in half once because someone decided to leave without being eliminated. At this point I don't know if I'd really bother fighting tooth and nail for little more than half a mil. But then, with the way they keep changing the rules, I wouldn't be surprised if the big shock at the end is that the winner gets the original amount. At this point I'm sick of Steve, the trucker who almost convinced everybody to give him the money early on for reasons I still don't understand (he has 4 kids? is that all it was?), and is now acting all pissed and entitled now that the prize is slipping out of his fingers.

Labels: American Idol, TV, TV Diary

Black Eyed Peas - "Pump It"
This video makes me feel so bad for Taboo. Not only does he get only 2 lines in the entire song, but he's the only member of the group who doesn't have a cool superpower, unless you count when he karate chops the camera at the very end, which I don't. 6/10

Fall Out Boy - "A Little Less 16 Candles, A Little More 'Touch Me'"
A while back, I talked about how the Killers kinda dropped the ball with a shitty third video for a song that could've been much bigger with a different video, but it didn't really matter because they'd already sold a couple million records at that point. This is the same kind of deal. I didn't like FOB's first hit, but I like "Dance, Dance" and I like this, but man, this video is ass. Doesn't fit the song at all, truly laughable acting, cheesy Buffie/Blade/Underworld vampire hunter plot, a lot of really annoying sound effects and dialogue that interrupt the song, which is one thing I can never forgive with videos. I mean, sure, go crazy with the choreography and special effects if you want, but let me listen to the actual song. My Chemical Romance's big epic 3rd video was also kind of a disappointing but at least fit and enhanced the mood of the song. 3/10

James Blunt - "You're Beautiful"
I still hate this song, but I've learned to enjoy whenever the video comes on by narrating the action in a shrill imitation of James Blunt's voice. "I took off my shirt. I'm sitting on the ground, with my shoes. I'm very wet, I might as well just jump into the water." Try it, it's loads of fun. 3/10

Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX - "Touch It (Remix)"
It's a shame somebody had to die at all, but he at least could've died for a better video. It's a pretty entertaining spectacle, though, all the different guests and their names flashing across the screen, sometimes just people who aren't on the even on the song like Sean Paul show up and have their names flashed across the screen.The long long intro that involved both a tribute to Izzy and a silly skit with Spliff Star and a bunch of cheerleaders. And all the terrible terrible verses, maybe the non-rapper out of the bunch, Mary J., having the best verse of anyone, DMX's part rendered (more) incoherent by the censors (BLARGH BLARGH FORK IN YOUR EYE BLARGH BLARGH TOOTHLESS), Missy doing another stupid and slightly creepy verse about how she wishes she looked like Beyonce or Halle Berry or Nia Long. And Papoose managing through it all to still be the worst, like riding the beat never once occurred to him and he just had to do his cheesy conceptual rhyme about his fingers being the 5 boroughs. 4/10

Chris Brown - "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
I hated on this video a while back, but the song has really grown on me. And while the choreography is completely bizarre and embarrassing to watch, Omarion's cameo is funny enough to redeem even the unfunny DeRay cameo. 4/10

She Wants Revenge - "Tear You Apart"
I'm kind of fascinated by stuff like this and Louis XIV, and Morningwood, faux-indie bands that get across-the-board negative reviews, like critics and hipsters who fall for shitty nu-rock hypes all the time are just a little too proud of themselves for not falling for these shitty nu-rock hypes. This truly is horrible, but the Joaquin Phoenix-directed video is so over-the-top it's practically camp. There's a dialogue-heavy plot (note to Fall Out Boy: Joaquin Phoenix knows how to use subtitles instead of having people talk all over the song) about a girl who has a dick or some other dark secret that the guy who feels her up at the school dance is shocked and repulsed by. And when the high school lynch mob chases after her, the two wrinkly old douchebags from She Wants Revenge magically appear and rescue her to teach her how to be a happy hermaphrodite or something. 1/10

Missy Elliott - "We Run This"
Dave Meyers is the worst video director in the world when he's working with anyone besides Missy, but together they're pretty good. The first part of the video with "Bad Man" looks pretty amazing and makes me enjoy a song I never much liked on the album. The only parts that annoy me are when Missy's head is super-imposed on other people's bodies in ways that look really cheesy and unrealistic, but I guess that's all a part of her creepy "don't I look like Beyonce?" thing. 7/10

Pussycat Dolls f/ Will.I.Am - "Beep"
At first I thought I just liked this song because of the ELO sample but now I pretty much like the whole thing. It's obnoxious in a fun way like "My Humps" but is pretty well written, too. It's kind of hilarious how on their third single, they finally let a PCD other than the girl from Eden's Crush sing, and even then just a couple of the girls, a line each, Taboo-style, so they're not just glorified video chicks (which really, is what they are, one singer with a permanent crew of video chicks). And even then, the choruses handled by the other 2 girls are the worst parts of the song, they just totally fuck it up. I keep getting the feeling that Will.I.Am is paying homage in this to Q-Tip in the "Breathe And Stop" video, just because these are the only 2 videos I've ever seen where a rapper rides a bike through a room full of dancing chicks. 7/10

Labels: hip hop, R and B, TV, video

1. American Idol
As I mentioned a few weeks back, this is the first season of A.I. that I've committed to watching pretty regularly, and I've only missed one or two episodes since then. I always figured if I ever got really into it I'd get pissed about decisions or be really vehement about my favorites, but that hasn't really happened yet, although it started to creep in with this week's eliminations. For the most part, I've been pretty good at predicting who's going home, although it got a little harder as it got narrowed down to the 12 finalists tonight. Out of the 24 contestants that went to Hollywood, I don't really have any problems with who went home, although I felt like Brenna could've hung in there a little longer.

People I was glad to see go: David Radford, the boring teenaged crooner who clearly got a lot of encouragement performing in his living room but clearly was petrified of the thought of singing anything not Sinatra and hung in there way longer than he had a right to. No versatility or range of selections = people are gonna get sick of you fast. Also Patrick, who had a pretty good audition and seemed promising, but totally destroyed his chances when he sang "Come To My Window" and came off like the biggest male lesbian since Clay. I was also glad that Ayla got voted off tonight, since she never really impressed me with her singing, and had that really awkward body language of tall teenagers that makes for bad bad stage presence. Plus it was between her and Melissa, who I really like with her whole trashy hot chick look and husky vocal tone, even though she's clearly kinda hanging by a thread with the voters and people have been predicting she'd be gone every week so far. I hope she stays in for at least a little while longer.

I was a little mad that Kevin stayed in once again this week, even though he's even less versatile than the crooner kid. But I think everyone is overestimating his granny/pre-teen fangirl voting bloc, considering that he was in the bottom 3 a week or two ago and narrowly escaped elimination. So all he needs is another week or two of boring performances to get outta there. Also surprised that Bucky is still there, considering his singing never really impressed me, and his difficulty speaking seems to go way beyond just being Southern. Plus, Chris (J.G.'s favorite, along with Taylor) is holding down the token rocker dude position much more successfully. Gedeon wasn't great but probably deserved to stay longer than Kevin or Bucky.

Kelly Pickler is alright but I think also hanging onto her cutesy backstory/accent appeal and is one bad song choice away from elimination. Lisa Tucker had a lot of hype early on but she's faded into the background with some pretty boring performances, so time will tell with her. Katharine McPhee is definitely still the one to beat, and if the Kelly/Carrie tradition of cute white girls winning continues this season, it'll be her. I hope the Scientology rumors aren't true and she's not too psycho because she is really good and seems normal enough. Paris or Mandisa or pretty boy Ace might give her tough competition, though, and I'm rooting for the talented but ugly dude set (Elliott, Taylor and arguably Chris) to stick around and do well.

2. Project Runway
I don't really like this show but J.G.'s into it hardcore so I ended up kind of paying attention to it this season. But I have absolutely no ideas or opinions about fashion or clothing so I only really followed the people element and never really knew who was doing good work or not until they got the boot. Santino's antics and the token nutjob of the series were entertaining enough, though, and I was kind of surprised he got to the final three, although I'm kind of glad he lost because hey, he's probably going to remain more famous than the actual winner no matter what. I'm a little shocked that since the finale the other night I've found no discussion anywhere of the fact that Santino made his own music to go with his fashion show, which I thought was funnier than any of his other antics the entire seasno. Especially the "and the boys all blow you kisses" line that he seemed to repeat over and over. I was dying. Maybe he'll start selling CDs off his website, considering that he seems to be shilling everything else possible -- and by the way, is anyone else bothered by the fact that a professional clothing designer is selling an official line of Cafe Press shirts? That just seems wrong.

Labels: American Idol, TV, TV Diary

1. Roc
I remember when I was like 10 years old and my brother and I would go visit our dad in Baltimore and sometimes watch Roc with him. Roc took place in producer/star Charles S. Dutton's native Bmore (although most of it was shot a soundstage somewhere else, there were a fair amount of external shots of real Baltimore blocks), and ran 3 seasons, an eternity considering how quickly network TV tends to eat up and spit out shows this different from the norm. I think a lot of it went over my head at the time, but watching reruns on TV ONE lately, I've come to the conclusion that this is maybe the bleakest, most politically conscious black sitcom of all time. Some of the humor is so dark it makes the Bernie Mac Show look like the Cosby Show. Sometimes the issues and the seriousness of the plots kind of piled on to worsen the fact that the show's comedy often wasn't very sharp, but I have to admire the fact that they pulled no punches. To give you an example, I've seen 2 different episodes (one of them a two-parter) that revolved around Roc, a humble, law-abiding sanitation worker, being charged by the police of crimes he didn't commit, one of them being the murder of a drug dealer Roc had personal differences with. Can you imagine a sitcom tackling a plot like that, like, say, any show that's been on UPN the past 10 years? The cast was really strong, but again, the actual comedic element of the writing wasn't that sharp. But my respect for Orlando Jones went up a bit after seeing his name on the writing credits, considering I've always thought of him as kind of a hack.

2. The Corner
I caught this when BET ran it recently. The Corner is kind of the underappreciated middle child of David Simon's trio of Baltimore based crime dramas, an HBO mini-series that aired in 2000 after the cancellation of Homicide: Life On The Street, and was a precursor to The Wire, which also featured a few of the same cast members. It's also much more about regular folks than those shows, with no cop drama elements as it focuses on the subject of drug addiction. Charles S. Dutton once again repping his hometown as he directs a dramatization of Simon's book of the same name, which followed a Baltimore family and several people around them who were all being impacted directly or indirectly by drug addiction. Khandi Alexander in particular does a great job of depicting a mother and former addict who's so stressed out by trying to keep her kids out of falling into that trap that she ends up lapsing herself. It's really heartbreaking to watch and you're rooting for them all along the way, even though they're the kind of people that get demonized on the evening news here every day. The part that really brings it all home is at the very end of the last episode, when you not only get real-life epilogues of what's happened to each of the people in the story, but Dutton meets and interviews 4 of the real people that the main characters were based on. It just makes it that much more real, seeing them stand on a real Baltimore corner, talking in real Baltimore accents (which are woefully absent from the cast of most of these shows, since I guess people outside Maryland have no idea what a Baltimore accent sounds like or that such a thing even exists).

3. Random 1
I originally wrote about this show back in November when it first went on the air, because my buddy Mike works on the show as an editor. Apparently A&E probably isn't going to pick the show up for a 2nd season, I guess it's not as popular as Roller Girls and they need to make room for more goofy shit like the upcoming Rock Paper Scissors tournament show. It was kind of a cool show, but I can see how they didn't quite develop the sparks, conceptually, and in terms of host charisma, to make it one of those weird popular cable reality shows. Only a handful of the episodes took place in Baltimore, but one of the more recent episodes we saw was centered around a local couple that wanted to open a bar. So the guys on the show helped them get a permit and get started, and the bar turned out to be a place that's like 4 blocks from my apartment, called Ale Mary's, that I've walked by a hundred times since it opened a year or two ago. So that was kinda cool. We keep meaning to go check out that bar.

Labels: TV, TV Diary

1. Puppy Bowl II
We caught this while channel surfing last night, and, oh my god. Apparently Animal Planet airs this opposite the Super Bowl, which consists of a bunch of little puppies cavorting around a room made up to look like a footbal field. For 3 hours. I kind of admire what a ridiculous, amazingly simple idea it is. It's not even like a competitive tournament where the dogs race or show off weird skills. They just play around with no human inolvement. For 3 hours. And it's bizarrely watchable. And I won't even get into the Kitty Halftime Show. Oh my god. You can even buy it on DVD.

2. American Idol
Every season, I try to get into watching this regularly, but end up only catching a couple of episodes. So far this season I've been better about it, though, mainly because I watch a lot more network prime time lately, and now live with someone who'll watch it with me. But I'm glad that this week is the end of the auditions phase, because it's easily my least favorite part of the show and I kind of fail to see why it's so popular. I like seeing the people who can actually sing and the excitement of them getting to go to Hollywood, but for every one of those, there's 10 that suck and don't know it, or worse, suck and know it and audition anyway. And that's just the ones they show. It makes me feel kind of bad for the judges to comprehend how many people they have to listen to. I don't know if the early seasons were much different, but it makes me wonder if the William Hung phenomenon turned the auditions into a Gong Show atmosphere with people with weird non-singing talents or no talent just trying to get on TV for a minute. And it amazes me that they did some 2-hour episodes of that shit. I couldn't get through it all, it was greuling. I don't know if I'm rooting for anyone yet, but I'm looking forward to moving onto the finalist phase.

3. The War At Home
Has this been cancelled yet? I was kind of enthused about Michael Rapaport starring in his own series, because he's awesome, but this is pretty lame. Not only does it follow in a long line of foul-mouthed/transgressive FOX shows about trailer trash trying to recapture the lightening in a bottle that was Married With Children, but it's almost exactly like one of those previous shows, Titus, right down to the father/husband lead character addressing the camera in weird little scenes of him standing alone in a room somewhere that are spliced between shots of him interacting with other characters.

Labels: American Idol, TV, TV Diary

What's up with Anthony Hamilton being one of VH1's You Oughta Know "artists on the rise"? They do know that his last album went platinum and was on the Billboard chart for a gazillion weeks, right? At what point is someone an established artist these days?

Labels: R and B, TV

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.

Labels: comedy, TV, TV Diary

Oh man, so the ridiculous Chris Parnell rap about Chronicles of Narnia from SNL that I was raving about yesterday, you can see it here, and will probably think I'm stupid for being so hyped about it (via hiphopmusic.com).

Labels: comedy, TV

1. The Simpsons
It's been at least half a decade since I anticipated new Simpsons episodes or watched them regularly, and a few times I've scoffed at Hillary's assertions that it's still worth watching. But I have to admit, lately I've been catching a few new ones and watching reruns from more recent seasons, and I've actually been laughing. So it's still good, if not great, sometimes, I concede. Last week's Sideshow Bob episode was pretty good, I really never get tired of him. It also contained the most venemous Family Guy diss they've done to date. And an American Dad diss to boot! (The joke is explained here if you didn't see it.)

2. Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words
A new show on Bravo in which comedians read excerpts from celeb autobios to a laughing and hooting and hollering audience. It's pretty nuts, and sometimes they do pretty crazy things with the premise, like having different people read the lines of two celebrities back and forth, like Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson. And there was a really weird one where they juxtaposed Tommy Lee's Tommyland with a book by Stallone about muscle development. Really hilarious stuff.

3. Bones
J.G. watches this all the time, but I think it's kind of boring compared to House, which it comes on right before. But last week's Christmas episode was kind of inspired just because of the sudden celebrity cameo, which consisted of one character saying "you guys might recognize my dad, but don't make a big deal about it," and then a few scenes later, fucking Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top showing up as her dad for a breif scene with no dialogue. They never explicitly refer to him as the guy from ZZ Top or anything, but according to IMDB it really was him. I'm not sure if that's the definition of a classy cameo, or just a really weird subtle one.

4. Saturday Night Live
This past weekend's episode was alright, Jack Black was better than the first time he hosted, especially the pointing sketch. Is it just me or are they pushing Weekend Update further and further back in the show, because they know how many people wait to see it and then turn the show off after that? "Lazy Sunday," the weird digital short where Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg rapped about cupcakes and the Chronicles of Narnia was amazing, though. Chris Parnell is my favorite white rapper of all time.

Labels: comedy, TV, TV Diary

1. My Name Is Earl
This bullshit is supposed to be the best new show of the season? I figured there'd be something more to it than a bunch of jokes about mullets and how stupid rednecks are, but that's it. It's like a modernized and more smug Green Acres. Even Joe Dirt had more to it than this bullshit. I'm ok with actual southerners like Jeff Foxworthy doing this kind of humor because it comes from a place of familiarity, and King Of The Hill has proven it can be done with real warmth and intelligence, but I kind of doubt anyone involved in this show has a legit trailer trash background, it all feels like a bunch of smarmy clowning on stereotypes. Ethan Suplee (returning to sitcoms for the first time since the eternal classic Boy Meets World) is the best thing about this show, but that's about it.

2. Saturday Night Live
Accepting the premise that it's never great but rarely as bad as people say, this season has been pretty weak so far, even since Tina Fey returned from maternity leave (although Update is still the strongest part of the show week to week). Most of the good cast members from last couple seasons are still around (did anyone of significance leave at the end of last season? If Chris Parnell's still there he's being underused), but there's a lot of room being made for the 2 or 3 new guys, none of whom have made an impression (although few do on their first season). I was looking forward to last week's episode with Dane Cook hosting, partly because I think his stand-up is hilarious, and partly because I can't remember the last time SNL was hosted by a comic who was still primarily famous for his stand-up (and not, say, movies or sitcoms). It was also the first time in forever that they let host just do a stand-up comedy bit for their monologue, maybe since the infamous Martin Lawrence incident, after which they began making every monologue a scripted skit about how the host's monologue keeps getting interrupted by cast members. And they let Dane just do this thing for like 10-15 minutes, which was pretty cool, although I'm not sure if it totally made sense out of context of his stand-up act. It was at least less awkward than the horrible way they shoehorned him in for a 2-minute bit at the VMA's this year (although, why does he have to do the Superman bit at every opportunity? It's really not one of his best). He did an ok job with the sketches, the highlight being when he screamed "IT'S LIKE I'M BEING RAPED BY A WOOKIE!"

3. House, M.D.
Or just plain House, as they seem to call it most of the time. After a few years of not really following any prime time network shows on a weekly basis, living with J.G. has really pulled me into a lot of her favorite shows, and so far this and Veronica Mars are the ones I've gotten the most hooked on. House is like the constantly quipping secondary character in every other show, except he's the center of the show here and says everything possible to make himself unsympathetic, even at the end of the show when he's right and rubs it in people's faces, and yet completely likeable. Sometimes the plot contrivances are a bit much (at what point are they going to run out of rare diseases and bizarre ways they elude quick diagnosis?), but still, good show.

Labels: comedy, TV, TV Diary

Inspector - "Ska Voovee Boobie Baby"
This is possibly the greatest ska song I've ever heard, simply because the title is "Ska Voovee Boobie Baby". In the video, a pretty lady dresses and undresses and showers while a tiny ska band, who are all about 6 inches tall, serenade her throughout her apartment, standing in her medicine cabinet, on the soapdish in her shower, and so on.

Ricky Martin f/ Debbie Nova and Fat Joe - "Que Mas Da"
The Espanol version of "I Don't Care", which still sucks, but the lyrics at least sound a little less awkward in a foreign tongue. Amerie's part is replaced by some other girl singing it in Spanish, but then Fat Joe's verse in English is completely unchanged. Weird.

Thalia - "Amar Sin Ser Amada"
I've watched this video a hundred times and I'm still not sure if I even like the song.

Plastillina Mosh - "Mr. P Mosh"
Some kind of Mexican equivalent to Beck that got some college radio hype in the mid-90's with an album produced by the Dust Brothers. And for some reason, MTV Espanol is still playing their video from '96. I'm wondering if it was actually huge in Latin America and has some kind of modern classic status, or if noone actually likes it but they don't have many videos so they keep playing it. This is really some bullshit, though, just a couple of smirking dumbasses lazily lip syncing while a lady in a revealing dress with a totally creepy old-looking face dances between them.

Adassa f/ Pitbull - "Kamasutra"
Pitbull seems to be on constant rotation on MTVE, between this and "Toma" and the Ying Yang Twins' amazing "Shake" and the remix to Voltio's "Bumper" (maybe the only one of the 8 million reggaeton songs in rotation that I actually like). I like this one, Pitbull doing those ridiculous triplet cadences over the Coolie Dance riddim.

Labels: TV, video

Anthony used to do running commentary on videos on VH1 Classic, but he hasn't in a while, and now that the greatest video channel in the world is finally part of my cable package, I'm stealing the idea.

Robert Palmer - "Looking For Clues"
A 1980 new wave chestnut in which Palmer looks and sounds so much like Sting that it honestly took me a minute to be absolutely sure this wasn't some obscure Police video even though I know the Police catalog fairly well. He looks so ridiculously dorky and awkward bouncing around a blank white set in this that it's not surprising that when he stumbled upon a successful video concept that made him look suave and cool, he kept remaking it over and over.

Chicago - "25 or 6 To 4"
Apparently in 1986, following the departure of Peter Cetera, Chicago re-recorded one of their classic 70's marching band hits for the album Chicago 18 (how many bands have gotten up into double digits with numbered self-titled albums?), with big, harsh 80's overproduced drum machine beats that almost sound proto-industrial. And then, they shot this amazing sci fi video that takes place in the year 2036 in some confusing dystopian future version of Chi-town.

John Mellencamp - "Ain't Even Done With The Night"
John and his band dress up like some kind of R&B vocal group and lip sync with syncronized dance moves and finger snapping. This features one of the greatest moments I've ever seen in a music video, in which Mellencamp's saxophonist lip syncs his own sax solo with completely amazing facial gyrations. It's a good song, too! That recent Mellencamp best-of collection keeps calling to me every time I'm in a record store.

Labels: TV, video

The Boondocks
The comic strip's always been hit or miss with me, so I wasn't sure what to expect from the animated series, and so far I'm not crazy about it. What bugs me mostly is Regina King's voices for Huey and Riley, which are neither realistic nor particularly funny or used to good effect. It doesn't even sound like her, even. I can appreciate the logic behind using an adult woman to voice prepubescent boys in a cartoon, Bart Simpson-style, especially if the series does well and has a long run. It just doesn't work, in this case. The rest of the voices are better though, especially John Witherspoon (who tones down his usual schtick to the point that I didn't recognize him) as the grandfather, and the guest spots by Charlie Murphy and Ed Asner in the first episode. And I was pretty impressed with what they managed to get on the air. There were a couple bleeped curses and pixelated middle fingers and, disturbingly, full frontal grandpa, but they let the n-word fly along with guns and a lot of other stuff that would never get by in the comic strip (or probably on most other networks). I just hope the show turns out to be consistently funny and doesn't just trade on the shock value of statements that aren't actually that shocking to much of its audience.

Labels: TV, TV Diary

1. Random 1
As mentioned previously, I have a personal investment in checking this out just to see what my friend's been working on for the last few months. The first episode was promising and definitely set a tone. Like, the two main hosts/creators are out there trying to go nice things for strangers, all while bickering and cutting each other down, which accounts for the comedic element. It kind of bugged me that the intro voiceover characterized them as some kind of charitable organization that would be doing what they do with or without a TV show, which as I understood it is not the case. They alternate between two different cases per episode, and the difference between the two demonstrated the range of people they work with. One was a homeless amputee who needed a new leg, and the other was a Stanford-educated woman who wanted help getting a job with a nonprofit agency that does something good for society. The latter storyline didn't produce much drama, but the homeless guy, Bruce, was a pretty sad story and it did get a little emotional when they were actually able to do something for him. Plus it was one of segments that was actually shot in the Baltimore area, so we got to spot various recognizable places on the Jones Falls Expressway and York Road throughout the episode.

2. Everybody Hates Chris
Been watching it on and off, and it took me a couple episodes to really get into it, which was a little disappointing initially. All the Wonder Years comparisons had me excited, I still have a soft spot for that show. Plus I've always kind of been curious about the fact that Chris Rock, for all his reputation as a kind of daring, controversial comic, really has a clear affection for kind of wholesome mainstream comedy (see: Down To Earth, and to a lesser degree The President) that seems more sincere than just trying to sell out/soften up like Eddie Murphy. So it is kind of nice to see him indulge that sensibility with some success, even if it comes off a little too Malcom In The Middle for my taste sometimes.

3. CSI: NY
Gary Sinise forensic bbq.

4. The Colbert Report
I'm kinda mad at this show just because Colbert's "This Week In God" segments have been my favorite part of The Daily Show for the last couple years and now they have Corddry doing that and it's just not the same. Jury's still kind out on this, though. Been some really funny moments but it doesn't feel like it adds anything to TDS other than another half hour of similiar programming.

5. Movies 101
Though Inside The Actor's Studio may have given us a great target for satire and one of Will Ferrell's greatest impressions, fact is all of James Lipton's ridiculousness got in the way of what was a pretty good concept for a show. And Movies 101, AMC's kind of transparent rip-off of ITAS, cuts closer to what it could've been. I liked the one I caught w/ George Clooney, who comes across really well when he's just talking craft. I really wanna see that new flick he directed, I thought Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind was mad slept on.

Labels: comedy, TV, TV Diary

I'm gonna put in a plug here for Random 1, a new series debuting on the A&E channel this Tuesday at 10. It's a reality show in which the hosts/creators perform good samaritan type deeds for strangers, and it was shot all over the country and produced here in Baltimore. A good friend of mine works on the show as an assistant editor, so check for Mr. Bartolomeo's name in the credits. From what he's described of it to me, it sounds interesting just because, unlike a lot of these reality shows about helping people, they show what happens even when things go badly. There was an article about the show in the Baltimore Sun last week (bugmenot). New episode every Tuesday, but of course, it's cable so they rerun it throughout the week, and there's rerun times listed on the A&E website.

Labels: links, TV

Being a fan of Sports Night, I'm hyped about the news that NBC just bought Studio 7, a new series from Aaron Sorkin that once again revolves around the behind the scenes of live television (this time an SNL-type sketch comedy show). Even if it's a total thematic retread I'll be cool with that as long as it's anywhere near as well cast and executed.

Labels: links, TV

Lost
Now that J.G. and I live together, our TV habits have taken on more and more synergy, whereas before we'd just watch the shows we both already liked whenever we hung out. It's been a few years since I watched any network prime time show every single week, but she's got a few she keeps up on. She got me into C.S.I. years ago, but I'm starting to try some of the other ones and sort out what I like. I'd been kind of ignoring the Lost hype last season, just not interested in the premise or the descriptions, and got tired of the hatch talk all summer. But I watched a couple repeats, and by the end of the season premiere, I was pretty hooked. I think if it gets any sillier, I'll either tune out again or will become completely addicted.

Veronica Mars
Another one of J.G.'s favorites that I'm trying out. I guess it's pretty tired to bitch about TV teenagers being played by much older actors, but seriously, she was 24 during the first season and she's supposed to be in high school, that's just lazy casting. The first couple episodes I saw were kind of light and enjoyable, but then they started to get into all these heavy plots with date rape drugs and murder and shit, I hope when the new season starts they'll kind of restart the cycle and it'll be a little less heavy and more of a funny, slightly spooky girl detective show.

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
Easily my favorite non-Adult Swim show on Cartoon Network. Created by the same guy as Dexter's Lab and Powerpuff Girls but the animation style and the humor are kind of distinct and unique. Some of the episodes get a bit repetitive and shrill in search of a running gag, but it pays off big in some episodes (especially the one featuring a character named Cheese).

Labels: comedy, TV, TV Diary