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On What to Watch/DVR This Week
Hey yous guys mixed up the dates
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On The King is Dead
Long may it rest. TAHM has been the butt of any "bad sitcom" joke for years, all the way through the meta- level with its inclusion in "Due Date." It's run it's full circle of relevance. Something that's safe for Middle America to love will soon follow, but maybe this time they won't employ a known womanizing drug maniac to star. Best news in all of this: Charlie Sheen's career is dead, or at least in remission awhile. The F-18 is grounded. Finally the unfunny creep character that he continues to play no matter what role he's in can be forgotten.
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On The Lost Roles of Bill Murray
Interesting to see these movies in the context of casting. There's a few here, though, where I really can't see Murray as doing better. I agree with B Carter about Roger Rabbit — Bob Hoskins' physique is a big part of that role as well. And Woody Harrelson's accent and general persona makes Larry Flynt a great character. It's better Murray picked up the phone for Kingpin that year. Tom Cruise is much better for Rain Man, too, because he was younger than Dustin Hoffman, which made for a better brotherly dynamic. Furthermore, in 1988, Murray was making Scrooged, which is an almost cultish Christmas classic (as is, incidentally, Bad Santa. Murray doesn't have the nastiness that Billy Bob exudes in that part). Matt Dillon was pretty ideal in Something About Mary, and Murray vs. Ben Stiller in that movie seems like it would have played out a little strangely. And Willy Wonka? Tim Burton's Willy Wonka? No way. And the reason is definitely his comedic proximity to Gene Wilder, I think. Murray's take might have been far too similar, and, seeing the remake, it's clear that Burton wanted to make something quite different. I didn't quite like Johnny Depp for the part either.
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On The Office Recap: "The Seminar"
This is a small point of contention, but I don't think that was Ryan on the cell phone that Kelly called during her part of the seminar. I think that was meant to be the actual adjunct professor that was an old hook-up of Kelly's. Otherwise a great re-cap of what I thought was probably one of their best episodes, showcasing a lot of the character talent and ensemble support. It almost doesn't matter who replaces Michael at the end of the season, it's still going to be an amazing comedic cast putting on a great show. Also, even though Gabe and Erin's dynamic looks a bit like Jim and Pam on the outside (flirtation at the front desk and all) the characters are unique enough (and, thanks to this episode, a bit more fleshed-out) that I'm still interested as a long-time viewer. Ellie Kemper is a tremendously funny new voice on that show especially.
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On How Will Republicans and Democrats Ever Agree on Tax Policy If They Can't Agree on TV Shows?
This is a sad state of affairs. Republican choices represent a grand total of FIVE reality shows, two multi-camera sitcoms, and only three major networks. They also prefer their police procedures to be conducted at sea, thank you very much. (Nice to see Modern Family's high spot though). Democrats have a good variety of channels (thanks internet), prefer the doc-style sitcoms (the wave of the future) and also support some more unique and innovative TV (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Community, Dexter). Is the Kardashian show forgivable here? I'm not entirely sure. Also, because the list shows opposing scores, you can make a couple points: Democrats are much less negative about the shows on the Republican list, for one. It seems Democrats are the majority of the ratings for some of the best programming on NBC and AMC as well. But there is some give from the Right. They score The Good Wife as high as The Mentalist and also like Friday Night Lights (though, inexplicably, not as much as Two and a Half Men). But Brothers and Sisters is the only other show that scores in the triple digits for Republicans. It reminds me of my very Republican dad, who used to politicize shows like Friends as "for liberals." And what the fuck is V anyway?
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On Is There Ever a Justification for Joke Stealing?
Moff, I’m with you on most of it except the idea that there’s a limitation to delivery of a joke. There are enough variables involved in any joke-telling that there really needn’t be as many similarities as there are in the allegedly stolen material. We could probably both agree that Mencia isn’t clever enough and his give-a-shit threshold is low enough, which makes him a bad comic and an asshole, though certainly popular with his audience, who either don’t know or don’t care. What bothers me is that Mencia has co-opted the whole thing for his image. In the documentary ”I Am Comic”, featuring lots of stand-ups giving their thoughts on the craft, Mencia speaks and is, as expected, remorseless on the issue that follows him around. “Of course I steal jokes, are you outta your fucking mind?” are his exact words. He later claims that all he needs to do is “put Mexican in the front” of a stolen joke and “it’s a hit, bitch!” Because Mencia has seen that there’s no legal precedent (yet?) for joke theft, he knows that the most he’ll suffer is a bad reputation. So he’s taken cues from professional wrestlers I guess and simply adopted the controversy into his persona. It’s kind of pathetic, the whole thing, especially knowing that really all it takes to be creative and unique and funny is hard work. But a comic like Mencia just isn’t willing to put in the effort.
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On Portlandia and Todd Margaret Coming to Your Laptop
what this meritocracy needs is a chart online: which funny TV shows are on cable only vs. on demand or Netflix-able, what's syndicated and not, etc. Then everyone can know what bills to stop paying to watch what they want to watch.