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.