I don't know if you could write this on Acid.

Quite an impressive stage show from SNL last night. I especially loved Jason Sudekis, he was just so on board. I've never been the hugest fan of this repetitive joke recurring sketch show concept, but that was like a live play of insanity.

Bermuda Triangle of Television

Series Name: Clone High
Television Network : MTV
Running Time : 22Minutes
Broadcast Run : November 2nd, 2002 - February 10th, 2003

Created by Bill Larence(Scrubs, Cougar Town), this animated high school comedy focused on an underground military experiment involving the cloning of various famous historical figures. Using the remnants of their DNA, the United States government created near perfect clones of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Ghandi, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, & John F. Kennedy. Our five main characters attended a modern public school system following their peers, who were also various incarnations of famous figures from history, from Jimi Hendrix to Julius Caesar.

While the show did have it's hand of historically inappropriately tuned humor, the series focus was on the adolescents and their relationships to one another. A major influence on the historical clones was the American school system itself. Ghandi was a horndog teenager who moved with the frequency of a Looney Tunes character. Abe was a self depricating lovestruck fool, willing to follow any agenda to be cool or fit in or get the girl. JFK's philandering with Marilyn Monroe was played up as he was always quick with a rude remark. Joan of Arc was another lovestruck fool, loving her best friend Abe, who's attention became singularly focused upon.

Bill Lawrence's comedy works best with animation, which is strange since his most popular shows include the aforementioned Scrubs and the currently airing Cougar Town. The voice list took actors from Lawrence's show Scrubs, the Mad TV cast, and eventual SNL alum Will Forte. Plus, any animated cartoon that gets Jack Black as part of it's rock opera episode dealing with the threat of the Clone High "drug" raisins is promptly remembered by all who've seen it.

MTV has a lot of great shows mixed in with it's cheaply crafted reality TV and interview shows. MTV used to be a fore-bearer for American animation, but since the ending of Clone High, [adult swim] has taken on that role. When I was over in Germany during the summer, it was a trip to see Family Guy & South Park airing late at night on MTV, a call back to a time of Clone High, Aeon Flux, 3-South, Beaveis & Butthead, and Daria.

MTV once had music. It also once had animation. Great animation. If you can find Clone High, if you can track it down, you will not be disappointed.

B+

Elite of the Elite : Community

Series Name: Community
Television Network : NBC
Running Time : 22Minutes
Broadcast Run : September 17, 2009 (2009-09-17) – present(27 & counting)

I dunno if I'm the first to say it, but Community is truly an elite show. A worthy successor to NBC's comedy line up, Community fits right in alongside the Office and 30 Rock, filling the niche of former NBC stalwart program Scrubs.

Follow Jeff Winger, disbard former lawyer who returns to community college to get an actual degree this time. After coning his way into a law firm, his position is eventually revealed to his higher ups(by recent cameo Rob Cordrey) and he is promptly fired. Joining Greendale Community College as the easiest and fastest way to returning to his high profile life of wheeling and dealing, Jeff takes Spanish to fulfill a language requirement. Here, he meets Britta Perry, a modern flower power child, whom he becomes infatuated with. He forms a Spanish study group with the sole intention of turning it into a date, before classmate and film centric Abed invites others to a group he wasn't even apart of. These include Troy, former local high school quarterback, Annie, former teen nerd with an adderall addiction, Shirley, a single woman with two kids, and Pierce, a near geriatric Chevy Chase who once wrote successful jingles and is known to himself as a genius.

Of course, over time, our main characters bond, mostly over their hatred of Spanish teaching Senor Chang, played by Ken Jeong. Overly needy Dean Pelton constantly tries to turn this lowly community college into an accredited University with usually woeful results. Also included is a character nicknamed Starburns, because his side burns are actually in the shape of stars, an older individual named Leonard who hates wearing pants to swim, and numerous other one shot cameos(like Jack Black, Owen Wilson, a disco roller bladder, etc etc)

I hesitated counting Community as an elite show, considering it's infancy in the grand scheme of network television, but last night's episode had three belly laugh out loud inducing moments. Any show that chloroforms someone, and then decide they should fake being chloroformed themselves to hide their mis-deeds. Even the bad episodes still deliver laughs to your funny bone.


Community is well on the verge of borderline cancellation at this point. Hopefully it can survive, as it does what few good comedies do. Converge heartfelt moments and interpersonal drama with interweaving hilarity that never has a dull moment.

Plus, it has a special spot in my heart as one of the shows I've done a spec script for. Perhaps my best one to be honest. I truly enjoy this program, and hope it continues for years.

A-

RIP : Greg Giraldo

News that broke earlier this week is that professional roaster, stand up comedian, and pass the bar lawyer Greg Giraldo died after an overdose of prescription pills. He was forty four and has four children who live on in his name.

Hopefully one of them is as hilarious as Greg. All the best wishes to the Giraldo family.

Channel Flipping : New Shows of Fall 2010 pt1

The 2010 Television season has left the starting gates! Let's check in with the potential new shows, shant we?

Show Title: Hawaii Five-O
Network / Time: CBS on Mondays @ 10:00 PM

Having never really seen the original Hawaii Five-O except for in repeats as a young child growing up, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the remake. Much like the A-Team, Hawaii Five-O is filled with updated nostalgia. Having only seen the pilot, the show runners do an excellent if ham-handed job of putting this "crack" team of special government agents together. After McGarrett(O'Loughlin, the Shield, Moonlight)'s father is killed by Buffy Cameoing James Marsters, he assembles a team including Entourage's nemesis to Eric Murphy's Scott Caan, Lost & Angel's Daniel Dae Kim, and Battlestar Hottie Grace Park. Scott Caan steals the show as the surly Danno, a single father who doesn't want to risk his life foolheartedly to search for McGarrett's father's killer.

A fun likeable cast, solid dialogue in the pilot, good action, and a paint by numbers plot make Hawaii Five-O  serviceable, however it is not Must See TV. Still, you could find quite a few more dishonorable ways to spend an hour of your time than with a quick call back to nostalgic youth. Still, without the remake factor, I doubt a show as paint by numbers would have been green lit.

Verdict?  Check it out. Half/Half Support

Show Title: No Ordinary Family
Network / Time:ABC on Tuesdays @ 8:00 PM

Much better than I expected. Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, and their two kids wind up crashing on a family vacation in a mysterious lagoon. Shortly after? Superpowers. So, well, they're an ordinary family, but not anymore. *Cue the mysterious music*

Well done, it reminded me of Heroes meets the Incredibles. Let's just hope it keeps the quality the film the Incredibles had and not dip into s2/3 territory for NBC's former Superhero flagship program. I still say the pilot isn't dead and he's gonna come back as the main "villain" of the series. As of now however? It's normal people, living normal lives, but now? They can make their lives easier with super powers.

Verdict? Check it out. Support it.

Show Title: Running Wilde
Network / Time: Fox on Tuesdays @ 9:30 PM

Developed by Mitch Herwitz for the ever hilarious Will Arnett, it revolves around a childhood lost romance between Arnett's Wilde and Keri Russell's Emmy. The problem? Wilde is the son of the CEO of a multi-billion dollar oil conglomorate, while Russel is an eco-terrorist who's spent six months living in Africa with her fiancee(The fantastic David Cross).

Not Arrested Development levels, but much better than Sit Down Shut Up. A solid show that is deserving of building an audience and a voice.

Verdict? Check it out. Support It

Show Title: Sh*t My Dad Says
Network / Time: CBS on Thursdays @ 8:30 PM

I like Nicole Sullivan. I like William Shatner. I like Will Sasso. I am not a fan of this. Generic characters, paint by numbers comedy... this was done better when it was called Titus. I shouldn't spend more time on this than the 22 minutes it takes to watch the episode and type out this blurb.

Verdict?: Don't Support it. Support it on twitter instead.

Need Your Passport : Summer Heights High

So, preface, the discontinuation in updates was a one time thing. I hope to catch up, but I'm not pressing myself to. I'm just going to swing back into the ol' schedule I had and figure things out from there.

Series Name: Summer Heights High
Television Network : ABC(Australia), HBO
Running Time : 27 Minutes
Broadcast Run : September 5th, 2007 to October 24th, 2007 (8 Episodes)

HBO/ABC1's Summer Heights High
Chris Lilley as Jonah

Ever heard of Chris Lilley? Filmed for and in Australia, Summer Heights High revolves around Chris Lilley protraying three completely separate roles. The first is that of teenage debutant and recent transfer from private to public school, Ja'mie King(not to be confused with Hollywood starlet Jamie King), who is a self indulgent pretty popular girl. She quickly befriends the most popular girls at the public school, but looks down upon them due to their not being able to afford private schooling.

The second is Mr. G, an aspiring theater director who Machiavellianly takes over control of the school's drama club for his own purpose. He crafts a play about a student who dies in a drug overdose during the school year. Despite having no contact with said student, he writes himself into the play as a counselor to the troubled teen. When the younger students can't perform the role to his expectations, he of course steps in and becomes the star of the show.

The final is my favorite of the three, Tongan student Jonah Takalua. He enjoys breakdancing and getting laughs from his friends and classmates. He can't read, and gets easily frustrated by things he can't understand. He routinely draws a picture of a penis with the word "tation" after word(as in dictation) in graffiti all around the school. Most of his teachers react negatively simply due to word of mouth, when most of his acting out is just seeking attention and crying for help without actively admitting his personal short comings.

While each plot thread throughout the series is well crafted and articulated, and an accurate depiction of school in general, and I assume of the system in Australia, the main draw of the show is the depth each character has and the changes they go through throughout the series. And if you thought this was a drama? This is anything but. It's down to earth comedy focusing on three parallel lives being lived out in a suburban high school, and c'mon. Wasn't high school horrible and hilarious at the same time?

Chris Lilley's diversity truly shines through. These three characters are completely different from one another, their stature, their posture, their dialect, their tone, it's a remarkable performance that rings true, even though it's a 32 year old sitting in class as a 16 year old. Truly reminiscent of HBO's "The Ali G Show," except with a linear story, Summer Heights High  is an amazing look at the process of acting.

B

You Gotta Pay For It : True Blood

Buy Your Own True Blood!

Series Name: True Blood
Television Network : HBO
Running Time : 54-56 Minutes
Broadcast Run :September 7th, 2008 to Present(36 Episodes)

The ultimate widespread guilty pleasure, True Blood has become the office water cooler show of the summer. From it's incredibly sexy cast to it's attacking hot button issues(Fangs are fags here, much how the X-Men are blacks in their movement for equal rights), True Blood has become a show that HBO can stake their reputation on. Increasing viewership and promotion for the series has given the series HBO's highest ratings since critical juggernaut the Sopranos.

Granted, True Blood has it's problems. It gets weighed down by melodrama and characters making decisions in the Lost sense(IE: One character makes a good decision based on the facts they know which rubs another character the wrong way, because they don't know all the facts, and as such, uninformed decisions are made from here out until all the facts are brought to the forefront, or in Lost's case, not brought to the forefront). But ultimately the shows theme of vampires coming out of the coffin hits strongest, and the best moments of the series are those not regulated to Bon Temps, the fictional location in Louisiana of our series protagonist. Whether it's the Fellowship of the Sun arguing against the Vampire Coalition on daily news outlets or vampire king Russel Edgington ripping out the heart of a newscaster on live broadcast television, these moments seem to outshine the rest of the show.

Anna Paquin is a servicable female lead in the vulnerable but extremely dangerous and deadly Sookie Stackhouse. She gets into a relationship with Bill, Stephen Moyer and real life fiancee, after Bill coerceres her to drink his blood during their first interaction. Over time, they develop a loving relationship, if not for the fact that it started out on a lie. Erik Northman(Alexander Skaarsgard, who should be Thor) eventually reveals the truth to Sookie, after long since alienating her from himself, which causes Sookie to reject both vampires and retreat to solitude in the latest episode.


I wanted to wait until the finale aired to give my opinions, and then give the finale some time to digest. Ultimately, True Blood is just another vampire soap opera, but it's done very well. It has a good mixture of comedy sparsed in(Like Jason, this season, trying his best to become Chuck Norris Jr.) and weighty almost apocalyptic moments(IE: The main villain from season 2, Russell disemboweling said news caster), and transitions from these moments without pause or problems. Airing on HBO allows the shows producers and Alan Ball to push the limits of television visually, whether it be the incredibly speedy vampires rushing from prey to prey, or the psychodelic after effects of dosing on a drop of V(aka vampire blood, an LSD like substance). It doesn't have the ball and chain of the CW and network television to dull True Blood's fangs.

If you've been caught up in the vampire craze from Twilight, or hopefully from the days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood is a fine collection to your vampire indulgence. If not, HBO is delivering a strong mythologically laced drama in a setting usually unseen on Network Television, although seen more often in the past few years. Plus, if you found Anna Paquin cute in the X-Men trilogy, you will absolutely find her scintillating in True Blood. People who don't want to see vampires explode into a goo of red innards or vampire-human relations may want to steer clear. Definitely not a show for children, or even teenagers really.

Season 3 of this drama finished airing Sunday night, September 12th. Don't expect True Blood to return until next summer, although Season 4 has been commissioned and will contain twelve episodes of blood sucking fang banging melodramatic hilarity. As long as Jason Stackhouse is around, the world will forever laugh with True Blood. As always, clips below the cut.

PS, I pose this question to you with my answer. Best possible TV gay couple of all time? I say Lafayette from True Blood & Omar Little from the Wire. Anyone else with anything better?

B+

Animation Domination : The Venture Bros.

Series Name: the Venture Bros.
Television Network : [adult swim]
Running Time : 20-22 Minutes
Broadcast Run : February 16th, 2003 to Present (55 Episodes[8 to air])

The Sopranos of late night animation, tonight marks the return of the Venture Bros., the series about personal failure and unrequited love. Remember watching the Jetsons and Johnny Quest and wondering what technological marvels awaited the human race? Hoverboards, flying cars, jetpacks, our world never got these and neither did the Ventures'. The only thing the Venture world got was an emotional robot that everyone likes to ignore and jetpacks that never worked quite the way we always hoped they would.

Which is exactly the premise of the series, an idealized world riddled with failed dreams, half hearted attempts at success filled with tons of self loathing and isolation. See, Dr. Thaddeus Venture was a boy adventurer, the damsel in distress during countless conflicts between his father's Avengers like team and numerous villains. This heavily scarred him, and rather than hold himself accountable for his actions, he points back to his father's treatment of him as his only excuse. He is protected by highly specialized field agent Brock Samson, his specialty? Dismemberment of living bodies, whether mythical, henchman, or scooby doo like monsters. He has two sons, twins Hank and Dean. Hank is the more adventurous, jock like of the two, while Dean is shy, lovestruck, and always on the verge of a nervous breakdown. They rent out a portion of their "compound" to Dr. Orpheus, a necromancer with a stubborn adolescent daughter whom is the eye of Dean's affections. They are routinely attacked by their arch nemesis, The Monarch, a man with countless faceless (most likely disillusioned teenage) henchmen who hates Dr. Venture for an unspecified reason. Although you could pick any, because Dr. Venture is quite the prick.

The reason this animation series excels where others fail is not only in the concept of failure, but of progression. Even while these characters constantly fail, they learn(sometimes) and change. Each season changes the landscape. The first season reveals how Hank and Dean have survived so much peril, they haven't. They're Hank and Dean version 13 or so, cloned off of skin scrappings grown from when they were babies. Season 2 introduced the bureaucratic nature of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, forcing the Monarch to sign paperwork to continue arching Dr. Venture and an attempted takeover of the villainous contingency. Season 3 focused on the addition of assassins and independent third parties outside of the United States government, causing Brock to question his sanity and leave the Ventures. The first half of Season 4 reunites Brock with the boys while setting up a conflict of taking down the secret league of assassins created during season 3. But even with this bizarre and large thematic motifs, the Venture Bros. excels in showing every day life in a setting that is anything but ordinary.

The show begins to air it's "New Season" tonight on [adult swim], or Cartoon Network to those uninformed. Tune in tonight at 11:30 PM EDT and find out what all the fuss from die hardly loyal Venture Bros. fans have known for years. That this is the best cartoon show, possibly of all time. And with all adult swim shows, you can check out the Venture Bros.(and other hits like Children's Hospital, Robot Chicken, & the Boondocks) on Adult Swim's Video Vault. Expect the new episode up sometime tomorrow? Until, click below the tag for the preview video for the new season! While these links below are youtube, the best place to find all things Venture is on Adult Swim's Video Vault.

A+

Bermuda Triangle of Television : Andy Richter Controls the Universe

See the World Through My Eyes

Series Name: Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Television Network : FOX
Running Time : 20-22 Minutes
Broadcast Run : March 19th, 2002 to January 12th, 2003(19 Episodes)

Like most Brilliant but Cancelled shows out there, today, I speak of Fox Television. Not to be completely unfair to Fox, while they have the most "Brilliant but Cancelled" shows by a fair margin, it also means they've given a fair number of these types of programs their opportunity on the air. But FOX and the words promotion don't really go hand in hand unless it's something eerie, like World's Greatest Police Dogs Biting Evil Humans or something that doesn't necessarily need advertisement, like American Idol. Shows on FOX in their infancy, their first two to three seasons are very susceptible to cancellation. If you need an example, just check out this quote from Peter Griffin detailing Fox's process of scheduling and canceling in just three years.

Andy Richter starred as the self titled lead Andy. He's an aspiring writer who's gotten a job writing technical manuals for a large corporate conglomerate. Feeling the dullness of his office life with his aspiring creative ambitions nipping at his heels, Andy concocts various potential scenarios for every major moment in his day to day life.Living in both the real world and imagination land(©South Park), rarely is he not off day dreaming, in a Zach Braff like trance. When alone and walking the hallways, he speaks to the long deceased racist original owner of the company, Pickering, who appears to him in his imagination much like many of the cut scenes and quick gags. Andy's idea of a dream or goal in life is to have two televisions in his bedroom, so when he lies on one side and wants to turn to his other, he could still watch TV.

He's surrounded by a group of friends: his meek but friendly partner on technical manuals as the artist Bryan(Jonathan Slavin, Better off Ted), friend and handsome so he gets everything easy PR man Keith(James Patrick Stuart, 90210), crush and Keith's girl, secretary Wendy(Irene Molloy, Grosse Point), and the snarky boss of the office, Jessica(Paget Brewster, Criminal Minds).

Sort of a Better off Ted meets the Office with a Scrubs like lead character, Andy Richter Controls the Universe reveled in brilliant irrelevance. Certain plots included Bryan worshiping a deity in the shape of a sheep, Jessica being shared by identical twins and using it to her advantage, and Andy and friends listening in on a woman's therapy session, only for Andy to exploit this information for a meaningless sexual relationship. A conventional sitcom with unconventional endings. A lighthearted yet oddly dark humored comedy romp.

The show reairs on HDNet, and that would be the best way to view the series. You can also buy the complete series on DVD. At the very least, netflix it if you can, or check out a few additional clips on youtube. As always, a few of my favorites are inside the link below.

B

Elite of the Elite : The Office (UK)

Series Name: The Office
Television Network : BBC Two & One
Running Time : 30 Minutes
Broadcast Run : July 9th, 2001 - December 27th, 2003(12 Episodes + Christmas Special)

The inspiration for the American version. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant bring their sensibilities to England's middle class at a paper company in Slough. Gervais, as David Brent, plays the mostly good intention but ultimately self absorbed branch manager. He's a guy who you question how he became the boss of anything. Fleshing out the rest of the cast in the office is overbearing and desperate for power salesman Gareth(Mackenzie Cook, Pirates of the Caribbean), and the pair of the lovestruck salesman Tim(Martin Freeman, Sherlock) crushing on secretary Dawn(Lucy Davis, The TV Set).

The Office is truly a home run program. Never before has awkwardness felt so genuine as watching David Brent dance on this television program. For fans of the UK show, the image above resonates and brings back the sympathetic emotional embarrassment and awkward silence that followed David Brent's attempt to resonate with his fellow co workers. It's spawned countless imitations, such as the American Office that has dominated NBC's Thursday "Must See" programming for six years now. None have done it better than Ricky Gervais.

In America, it's hard to talk about the UK's Office without mentioning the NBC version that has dominated NBC's Thursday Night "Must See TV" block for the past six years. The UK Office tells a story, a realistic one, and does it well. The US Office, having so many minutes to fill, never seems to truly move forward at the pace the UK Office does. With only 12 episodes and a two hour special movie years later, the UK Office covered the same plot of 100 American episodes. The US Office forces stunned silence in a "That's impossible! They'd surely all be fired!" kind of way. The UK Office only forces stunned silence in a "I can't believe he did that!" kind of way. It's a fine line to walk between believable comedy and Animaniacs comedy. The US Office zig zags as it straddles this line. The UK Office stays firmly in the believable real world scenario, even if it involves a man being given a large inflatable penis and having his shoe thrown onto the roof on his birthday..

While all the characters were at each other's throats at different times, there were moments where they all got along. Where they were all on the same page. And that only makes the embarrassing conflicts later that much more excruciatingly hilarious to watch. And the best part? You can catch episodes airing on [adult swim]! both on cable, and on your interweb compuboxport you're currently using. Stare through the series of tubes! Although apparently their net is confused, as the link they share to a full episode currently does not work. I've sent them an e-mail but we'll see. They update every week though, so another episode should be added to list shortly. And I'm sure the more savvy internet users among us can stumble upon it on this spiderweb called the internet.

As always, clips below the cut.

A