71 posts tagged “television”
I feel like Sally and Bobby Draper right now. Abandoned!
After last night's stellar season three finale, I can't wait until August when "Mad Men" comes back. All I have to look forward to right now is "Lost," and I'm only half as excited for that show as I currently am for the "Men."
*Spoilers*
There are so many more questions in this season finale than there were last year. Will Betty be happy with Henry Francis? What will become of the old Sterline Cooper clan? What about Sterling Cooper Draper and Pryce?
What I think was great about the episode, "Shut the Door. Have a Seat" was that I found myself rooting for all of the characters. Usually, I find most of them despicable (Pete Campbell as the au pair rapist, Peggy as Duck's bangmaid, Betty as a cold-hearted B of a mother). Yet, last night, I was so happy for all of them. It was great to see them come together at the end and avoid a corporate takeover (even if poor Ken Cosgrove and Paul Kinsey didn't get lifeboats).
I don't know what I'm going to do to pass the time over the coming months until "Mad Men" comes back. I think I may just have to drown myself Richard Yates' books (in my opinion, a serious "Mad Men" influence) and buy season 3 on DVD when it comes out.
This week, the 20th anniversary edition DVD of Say Anything was released. Say Anything was Cameron Crowe's directorial debut and the first in a line of Crowe movies to utilize a kick-ass soundtrack to play with the viewers' emotions (I still can't hear "The Wind" by Cat Stevens without thinking of Penny Lane twirling alone on stage).
To commemorate the release of the movie, the band Lloyd Dobler Effect (and a slew of Lloyd Doblers) took to Time Square.
I love Say Anything, but always wondered what the appeal was about this movie. It's got a typical high school movie plot (boy from the wrong side of the tracks likes a girl from the right side of the tracks), yet I think the character of Lloyd Dobler is what really makes people love this movie. He's a loveable loser you can't help but root for. Plus,I think the other attribute is that the characters don't talk like they're from a high school movie.
However, my favorite John Cusack role is and will always remain Walter "Gib" Gibson from The Sure Thing. I feel like this Cusack character doesn't get enough love. He's a real guy's guy. The kind of guy who doesn't mind if you puke in his car. He may be rough around the edges, but he definitely comes through as a romantic in the end.
ABC debuts the sci-fi remake "V" tonight, starring Elizabeth Mitchell from "Lost."
This intrigues me. Especially because I learned to love Juliet on "Lost" and will basically follow Mitchell anywhere at this point. It starts tonight at 8 p.m. I need my sci-fi mix while "Lost" is still on hiatus.
I've seen a lot of commercials for the HTC phone lately and was struck by the music in the ad.
I believe it's the opening keys from Nina Simone's "Sinnerman." I wonder if the tagline, "Quietly Brilliant" had anything to do with their selection of music.
American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert released what his new album cover will look like this week.
Via Twitter, Lambert confirmed that this album cover is "deliberately campy." It kinda looks like the entire 80's decade threw up all over the page. Usually, someone that has released many albums can be "deliberately campy" once they have maintained success. However, I find it strange that he's coming right out of the gate with this cover. Who knows. It might be just what the music industry needs!
I watched the latest Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" installment and thought the show was as clever as ever. However, in the opening segment, Lisa calls "different face" Hubert Wong an "asterisk" which confused me.
I thought Lisa was using the typographical symbol as a swear, but here she was referring to baseball players who use performance enhancing drugs (which makes sense in the context of the episode with Wong using a tutor).
I'm an idiot. And I might still call people asterisks anyway.
I'll admit it. I've never been the biggest fan of "30 Rock". I've resented the fact that this show is on the air, getting Emmy love, when "Arrested Development" and "Pushing Daisies" are cold in the grave.
However, after finally giving in to the hype and watching the show, I now actually appreciate "30 Rock". Even though I feel like I've heard most of the jokes before, it's still better than most of what is on television. And Tina Fey is funny (although, I imagine that Liz Lemon is a lot like Tina Fey in real life -- which is awesome!).
Last Thursday's season 4 premiere entitled "Season 4" was pretty hysterical. My favorite part of the show comes in the first 30 seconds when Liz sings the "Cheesy Blasters" song.
In recent years, I've learned that I would rather watch a show loosely-based on the writing behind "Saturday Night Live" than SNL itself.
Entertainment Weekly's Josh Wolk recently wrote an article on the magazine's web site, posing the question of whether Community is a "success" just because it's funnier than most of what's on television right now.
It's actually a question I've been pondering myself. While I am DVRing Community tonight, I don't necessarily think it's the funniest show on television right now (that award goes to Modern Family, which isn't really breaking down any comedy barriers, but still entertains me each week).
Community is a show that has some great one liners and funny moments, but ultimately doesn't appear to have the longevity of a storyline for people to tune in each week. Nothing happens. There is no ultimate goal at the end (for example, Earl of My Name Is Earl was trying to get through his list). While this works for some shows like The Office (or in my opinion, doesn't work any more), I don't know if Community will make it in the long run. It's literally a show about nothing (and Seinfeld already has done that).
I think I keep watching because of my love for Joel McHale. However, like the article mentions, I'm afraid that the show is also going to venture into "Will they or won't they?" territory with Jeff and Britta. What started as a fresh premise might turn into the usual stick we see on television. I would much rather see Jeff wreaking havoc on the Community College by being his smarmy, manipulating self instead of trying to be a better person because of Britta. I'll have to watch The Soup to get that, I suppose.
Nearly everyone who has a news show has been talking about the David Letterman scandal lately (either it's a dry news spell, or people actually care about how many staffers Letterman has had a relationship with). I find Letterman's admission strange, but not something worth getting into a debate over.
ABC's "The View" is no stranger to talking about "hot topics." After all, the show was pretty much founded on the idea of women's gossip around a sewing circle. Yet, on today's show, Barbara Walters scolded Joy Behar for speculating about how Letterman's wife feels about this controversy. Walters said, "It's none of your business." Suddenly, Walters is only stating "the facts" about news. Behar went on to say that 99 out of 100 things she talks about on the show are none of her business.
Five minutes after Walters said this to Behar, she told the audience that after the break they were going to get Kate Gosselin on the phone to talk about Jon being a deadbeat dad (I'm paraphrasing). This made me wonder if the producers of "The View" had a contract with "The Soup" because the irony/comedy here writes itself.
"The View" clip wasn't available, but here's a clip of Gosselin hocking her first morning sympathies on "The Today Show":
So naturally I'm wondering how Kate Gosselin's business is "The View's" business. The phone call segment on "The View" (which wasn't much different than the "Today Show" segment) was basically an airing of dirty laundry within the Gosselin household. I also find it strange that the media still thinks we care about this. I never cared to begin with.
Does anyone take Walters seriously as a journalist anymore? Even Behar made a joke about the mediocrity of the show. Can anyone name one female journalist who strictly states the facts and doesn't add an emotional slant to her reporting? I certainly can't think of one. I would love to see a fresh female face who strictly states the news and leaves it at that.
I was watching Jay Leno's revamped "The Jay Leno Show" the other night and came across the funniest skit I've seen in a while. It starred Australian comedic duo Hamish and Andy, and it involved "ghosting" -- where you follow closely behind someone walking in front of you. They've made it into a pretty hilarious competition.
This video takes a while to get into the competition, but it's well worth it. It also explains the rules and techniques of "ghosting."
I guess I related to this skit because sometimes when you're walking down a sidewalk and someone is walking in front of you (SLOWLY), you tend to "ghost" them accidentally. And it's completely awkward. This makes a game out of a social mishap people are always trying to avoid.
Hamish and Andy's "ghosting" also reminds me of something Andy Sandberg would do on "Saturday Night Live." It would probably involve a digital short or something. The only difference is that this is actually funny.
