Say "It's still funnier than 30 Rock" and that statement might actually have some weight. Otherwise, that's like going to a Robin Williams stand-up show and saying "he's still funnier than Jeff Dunham".
The writers of SNL were on fire this week. Not because of the actual show (though it was very funny), but because they actually managed to make me question whether Charles Barkley was reading from a script. If it wasn't for knowing that SNL is a scripted show and thus Charles Barkley was reading from a script, I would have sworn that they just threw him into every script and let him say whatever he wanted, and that's awesome.
To get an idea of what I mean, here he is on the Daily Show (Barkley needs to be given his own show where he gets to talk about whatever he feels like talking about): http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-31-2006/charles-barkley
Rashida Jones's character might not have a plausible reason for hanging with the Parks Department, I might not have a plausible reason for hiding outside Rashida's house in her bushes. Some things you just have to roll with.
BlargBarfWords!
Community continues to prove it's one of the best sitcoms in years. The entire episode was top-notch. From the creepy Human Being mascot (and the racism in creating it ("Get me a Desmond Tutu with enough cream to turn it into a Lou Diamond Philips.")), to Brita's softening toward the girls ("(Crying) I've peed alone my whole life." (and especially the part where Shirley hugs her instead of Annie)), to Troy and Abed rocking the end credits (as always), I really love this show!
P&R takes after the office in more ways than one. One of those ways is the absolutely massive shift in quality from S1 to S2. Just like The Office, which was stiff in the first season but evolved into smooth (?), great humor in the second, so has P&R. It astounds me how much this show has become golden. The opening segment with all of Leslie's embarrassing purchases heard by Tom was freaking hilarious ("Who's your man-pillow shaped like?-->"Daniel Craig."), Jerry's continued dislike by everybody is becoming a great take on The Office's relationship between Michael and Toby ("Okay, everybody just pretend that Jerry was never born."), and Paul Sheer knocked it out with his guest Appearance (Kaboom it!). Seriously, freaking huge improvement.
Speaking of Micheal and Toby, were they great in The Office or what!? That Michael would stoop so low to make up with Pam as to be nice to Toby shows how much he wanted the situation to end. Of course, it couldn't end without Michael telling Toby to go to hell once it didn't work. Dwight's entire thing with the Mallard (or what did Kelly call it? Professor Featherstein?) is a brilliant sub-plot (especially the twist ending). Also, I knew that Pam's reaction to Michael boning her Mom would be worth seeing. Jenna Fischer nailed it, especially the No's right after she figured it out (second also, Michael telling her something like "It's okay" is great").
I know Videogum is all "30 Rock is the best!", but I honestly don't see it. Every season I tune into two episodes of this show (the first one, and one halfway through) to give it a chance, and it always ends up strictly sub-par to me. If I need to waste a half-hour (and I do, with Sunny being on 30 min. after that) and there isn't something more interesting on, there are certainly much worse things I could watch, and it gets an occasional laugh from me, but I can't really see why the rest of Videogum thinks it's so brilliant. Is it something I would have had to be with since the beginning to get?
Sunny for me was a bit of a disappointment this week. The episode was strictly average, with nothing good or bad really coming out of it. It felt like a less than great sequel to "The Gang Gets Invisible" mixed with the story structure of "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell", but with none of "The Gang Gets Invisible"'s brilliance (of course, that episode had the McPoyle's, so it's a bit of an unfair comparison). Maybe it just seems disappointing compared to the last two episodes utter greatness, but I still feel it's probably just a meh episode.
Peace out, Ya'll!
Phew! I'm glad Gabe thought the movie is alright. I mean, I know we all have our own opinions, and regardless of whether Gabe likes a movie or not, that shouldn't mean I should care, since all that matters is whether I liked a movie, but it still makes me feel bad when Gabe dislikes something I like.
Anyway, I'm a little surprised at the number of people who don't realize that Walt isn't a rascist. At least not in the "bad" way that ends with families crying. He's an old curmudgeon set in his ways, but he certainly doesn't hate minorities. It's more that the Hwong ridden neighborhood represents the end of his time, of his world, and the beginnings of a new one. In other words, he feels like he doesn't belong anymore (very much like Archie Bunker in those respects).
His relationship with Thao isn't supposed to represent an old man gets "saved" by a youngun. It's supposed to show Walt that he does belong, that his values and ways still mean something. His relationship with the Hwong family next door is supposed to show him that he has more in common with the Hwong than he does with his own family (Ok, that's kind-of "saving", but it's still worth mentioning).
Also, come on guys! Who knew that Clint Eastwood had such great comic talent. I can't prove it, but I swear that all the grunting and grumpy-old-manness was done on purpose. Clint Eastwood was using his reputation to screw with the audience and get some jokes in.
Well, that's enough of Professor Gran Torino.
I nominate Little Nicky. Adam Sandler has made many terrible movies, but few are as painful as Little Nicky. Mike Nelson of MST3K couldn't handle it, and I used to like it because I was a stupid, stupid kid. I guess it's like when your a baby and you can't really be scared of anything because you don't know what fear is. At that point, I didn't know what true "Deep Hurting" was. I do know.
I agree. Louis CK is much better than that airplane bit. Though I liked the joke he did after.
On Topic: Man, I felt really sorry for Louis when he told his story. As soon as he said his line I already dreaded the conclusion. You know how sometimes you wish someone wouldn't tell a story so it wouldn't be true? That's how I felt about Louis. I didn't want to believe he could be so unbelievably lame. I can only imagine the utter embarrassment that followed for him.
Community is immediately great. I can't really say more without gushing but hopefully it manages to keep up the quality. I strangely felt good seeing that chick that's in yogurt commercials as a cast member. You know, good for her on landing a real acting job.
P&R did pretty well last night. I stopped watching the first season halfway through, but since it wasn't horrible (just underwhelming) I decided to give it a second chance (plus Louis C.K. is going to be on).
The Office is as it's always been, so that's good.
I'd be remiss not to mention Sunny. I felt the lawyer brought down the episode. Sweet Dee had a great story that was cut short to accomadate his scenes, which weren't funny to begin with. Still, the rest of the time it's classic Sunny. I especially liked the ending. Call me a fag, but it warned my heart to see that even thought the Gang from Paddy's are horrible people, they're still some version of a loving family (even if bent beyond belief).
I stayed around for Archer. It's decent, so I'll check it out when it premiers in January. Mostly, it just makes me miss Frisky Dingo.
I can't believe how far she went. Realize that she probably didn't have an assistant for this. She had to cut up construction paper into letters and glue it to that large book, that she probably had to make. She probably didn't 100% remember what the Punky outfit was, so she had to carry a photo of herself when she was 10 around and constantly reference it, possibly (if she had enough not shame) showing it to clerks and asking them to help her look for whatever clothing/accessories she couldn't find on her own. She probably even made up that background. She then bounded around like an over-excited 10 year old girl, though she is a 33-year old woman, all for a video for her fans (which are who, guys who actually watched Punky Brewster!? Is that an actual large number!?).
These are not the actions of a sane woman who is grateful for a time in her past but can let it go. These are the actions of an (temporarily) insane woman (who is fairly attractive and probably otherwise nice but still).
Basically just The Simpsons, I assume. It's hard to ask for Gabe's opinion on Cartoons since I don't think most people (him included) would consider any of the shows you mentioned as Cartoons (in the sense that most people think of Cartoons as "those shows for kids"). I think it would be more accurate to ask what other Animated shows Gabe likes (Animated shows for kids are called Cartoons, Animated shows for adults (or at least easily enjoyable by adults) are called Animated Shows). Also, I wouldn't diss Gabe for not liking Futurama or any of those other shows. They simply don't mesh with his style of humor as much as Golden Era Simpsons.
Let's be fair here, Golden Era Simpsons meshes with everyone. There are very few people who wouldn't connect with an episode of GES. At it's best, that series managed to have a joke for every demographic. The other shows simply don't have the same appeal as GES. Futurama mainly appeals to nerds (especially males between 15-30), Southpark appeals to people with perverse senses of humor, King of the Hill appeals to..., and Family Guy appeals to idiots. None of those shows come close to appealing as widely as GES.
For the record, I agree with you that Futurama is a marvel of television and I enjoy it more than any other show. But in the end, it probably won't leave it's mark quite as much as The Simpsons left its (since Futurama is for nerds while GES is for everybody). At least, if Star Trek is any indication, it'll be a well-loved cult treasure (actually, it already is, but it'll prove its staying power if dudes aren't getting laid in 50 years because they can quote entire episodes and dress up as Omicronians at Conventions (just like Star Trek).
Sort-of is correct. But to be fair, I'd like to make some points in Billy's favor.
1st of all, Billy was originally supposed to do both voices but Nickelodeon didn't want him to for some reason (maybe both voices for Billy was more costly than 1 voice for him and another for John K).
2nd, John K got fired for exceeding deadlines and being sort of a dick to the executives, not for anything related to his voice work. He expected Billy to go along with him to his new production company after his firing, but Billy had made it clear in the past that theirs was a working relationship and he had no loyalty to John K past the paycheck.
That last one makes Billy sound like a dick. What I mean is that Billy isn't friends with John. John screwed himself over by succumbing to artistic vanity, not realizing that he was getting paid to make the show for Nickelodeon, not for himself. Billy saw no reason to lose his job just because John K threw away his.
Recent developments suggest that FOX will be airing it again (thus they'll definitely be able to foot the bill). Comedy Central will likely go the Adult Swim route by getting to air the show sometime later (New Family Guy and American Dad air on Adult Swim a week after their FOX premiers).
One of the actors (likely Maurice Lamarche or Phil Lamarr) has anonymously commented that the 75,000$ figure is a complete fabrication. FOX was trying to make the actors look like the bad guys by making up a figure they thought was absurd. This backfired on them since most fans think the actors deserve much more.
To be fair, he only sang the opening song (a remix of the main theme with Rat Pack style lyrics) and on that note I'd say that McFarlane, as awful as his shows are (and he probably is), he has a great Lounge Lizard singing voice. The song is actually damn good.
Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCtFjXBAdD0
Gabe, I know this is a minor complaint, but could you make it so that I don't have to press Enter 3 times in order to space paragraphs on this site. Literally every other site and word program only requires two presses. You really can't expect everybody to go into VideoGum Mode (3 presses, 3 presses, 3 presses) when they come here. Or at least add some sort of edit option? Please?
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