Portlandia: Season One

                If you had ever told me that Fred Armisen could have held his own in a sketch comedy show, I would have disagreed with you based upon his roles on SNL and bit parts in other shows.   Along with the help of Carrie Brownstein and a bevy of guest stars, this show manages to become one of my favorites amongst the SNL alumni.  (Dare I say that I even like it better than “Parks and Rec”?)

                The first season consists of only six episodes, but what episodes they are.  The premise of the show is based around Portland, Oregon, which is a somewhat major city that is stuck in the 1990’s.   You know, the time of grunge and CDs. 

                This makes for a great amount of material, some of which is probably not that farfetched but some which is also not as true to life but that’s what great comedy is all about anyway.   Though it may sound trendy, this show does make me want to visit Portland. 

                The six episodes each have their own unique plot with little bits of fun mixed in.  I really feel like I want to write a review for each episode one day, but sadly, today is not that day.

                This show is just so clever and funny I don’t know how everyone isn’t watching it.  I mean, Portland, right?

Bored to Death: Season 1

                When you put Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifinakis and Ted Danson in any show, you know you can count me in.   Heck, I’m willing to give a show a try just based on Jason Schwartzman being involved.

                Bored to Death does not disappoint on any level.   Struggling writer Jonathan Ames (Who helped create the show and is a real dude) has problems after his first book is published and so he puts an ad out on Craigslist as an unlicensed private detective. 

                With Ted Danson as his mentor, George, and Zach Galifinakis as his best friend, Ray, Jason Schwartzman engages in hijinks a plenty as Ames in this comedy that can get pretty vulgar but doesn’t have that much sexuality in it.

                It’s just a straight out funny show and not only what it was I expected it to be in terms of how funny it is, but it even exceeded that level a little bit.   I immediately watched Season Two after I finished this season.  

Come Fly With Me

                This short lived BBC comedy takes what reality shows like “Airline” are about and takes them to that next level.    Only six episodes in length (sadly) I was uncertain what to expect going into this, but after seeing it I now only want to watch it again to look for things I might have missed the first time around.

                The comedy in this show is best described as the “one step above what you’d expect”.   Essentially, they have a skit like where they ask a guy about his luggage, if he packed it himself, if there’s anything flammable in it, if he’s carrying anything for anyone else, etc., and when he seemingly answers all of the questions wrong he still gets to go ahead and board the plane.

                The majority of these characters are also portrayed by the same two actors, which just makes it that much better.  (Those Brits love to dress in drag)  As I re-watch these episodes, pretending that they have more than just one Series of six, I will most likely adding more insights and thoughts, but for now, just do yourself the favor of viewing this wonderful series.  

Girls: Season One

                Maybe it’s because I subconsciously knew that this show won all sorts of awards, but I went into it expecting it to be a lot funnier.  I’m not trying to say that it isn’t funny, because it has its moments; it just isn’t as funny as I thought it was going to be.

                There is quite a bit of drama within this comedy, and I imagine it to be a sort of like a cruder version of “Sex and the City”, thought I’ve never watched that show so don’t take my word for it.

                I also read somewhere that this was supposed to be some sort of great insight into the female mind, but no matter how hard I try to rationalize with that notion I can’t help but feel this show is somewhat stereotypical.   Needless to say, I do not believe all women solve their problems by putting on pop music and dancing.

            This show is also very sex heavy.  It’s not necessarily a lot of nudity, per se, but it’s what the censors refer to as “sensual content”, which means people having sex with their clothes on.   This is one of the factors that make me not really like this show as much as I feel like I should.

            A lot of questions were left sort of unanswered at the end of the first season, and yes that has piqued my interest in the second season.   However, I am not going out of my way nor am I in any real hurry to see more episodes, which is a feeling I should probably have.  

Children’s Hospital: Season One

                This show is about ten minutes long, which includes all of the ridiculous recaps so it comes out as being something like four minutes of new content in each episode.    The first season is a whopping five episodes, so yes, you can finish it in about the same amount of time as it takes to watch a single episode of “House” or “Grey’s Anatomy”.   Only this doesn’t feel like forever when you watch it.

                Rob Corddry leads an all star cast in a hospital spoof because, well, the more I think about it the more I realize that there really are a lot of shows about hospitals for some reason.

                It’s funny in an odd way, a perfect fit for Adult Swim, and I guess I really did enjoy it after all because I’m ready to dive in to Season 2.

The League: Season One

                While this show has a fairly funny cast, it isn’t all that funny.   I found parts of it to be funny, but basing an entire show on the concept of fantasy sports is just silly to someone like me who has no interest in them.   Sure, this could be funny no matter what it was about, but isn’t that supposed to be the point?

                I remember watching this around the same time as “Workaholics” (and a lot of “It’s Always Sunny”) and afterward just thinking that I’d like to see more episodes of “Workaholics” but not this show.

                So even though this show wasn’t terrible, it’s not something I’m actively seeking out the second season for, nor would I watch the second season should the opportunity present itself somehow, so I guess that pretty much sums it up for me.

Orange is the New Black: Season 1

                The easiest and I believe to be the simplest way to describe Orange is the New Black is simply by saying that the people who made this show, simply took every element of every show you’ve ever liked (All of the good, none of the bad) and they put it all together to form this.

                OITNB follows main character Piper Chapman’s life in prison.   Once a normal, sort of spoiled rich girl from Connecticut, Chapman is named in a crime, confesses and feels as if she must do the time before she can move on with her life.

                The show goes back and forth between inside jail and outside jail, allowing it to not only flashback but show the things going on in her life that she is seemingly missing.   I’ve got to say it keeps the story going and also seems to reveal more than it really is. 

                From comedy to drama, suspense and just the idea of being in prison and getting caught up in the fish bowl, this show really does have it all. 

                For that, and other reasons, the concept of this show reminds me a lot of “Lost”.   It has that sort of quality where you will almost always be left on a cliffhanger, if not in the traditional sense then in a way which at least does make you want to watch the next episode immediately.

                I really honestly cannot wait for a Season 2.

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***BELOW THIS LINE OF TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS***

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                We end Season 1 with Piper beating the ever-loving crap out of her nemesis and this makes for an interesting Season 2 concept.    I really don’t like Jason Biggs and it might not just be his character on the show either.   I’d love to see Season 2 focus more on the crazy inside and less of the drama outside, but I have a feeling they’ll stick with the formula that has made this show so successful in the first season.

                People have compared this to “Oz”, which I’ve never seen, but really, how many other shows have taken place in jail?     

                I really loved every aspect of this show, with the characters you love and those you hate.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of “That 70’s Show” and thus never really cared for Laura Prepon following the series.   However, in this show she is simply brilliant.    If nothing else, this show will potentially start a hugely successful career for Laura Prepon.

                So what happens next?   Does Pornstache go away and we get another guard to deal with, or do we get to keep him somehow?   I think I’d feel robbed if we didn’t keep him next season, as he added a certain element of unintended humor. 

                Will new inmates enter the fray, giving Crazy Eyes a new romantic interest?   One can only hope, as I feel like Crazy Eyes was one of the better characters on this show.

                All I know is that I am eagerly awaiting a second season and Netflix may have just perfected television viewing.

New Girl: Season 1

                It’s not that “New Girl” isn’t funny… Wait, no, it isn’t really funny to me. 

                When I first watched the pilot episode, I couldn’t help but think how awful “New Girl” is.  I wondered why it had such a following and multiple seasons.   Did people really find this funny?  Am I losing my touch or what?   Perhaps it comes down to one of those “Am I just getting slower or are you just talking faster” ideas.

                “New Girl” follows the story of Zooey Deschanel, who basically finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her, so she moves out and has to find a new place, so she ends up living with three guys.   Her character has this off beat, sort of what you might call the quirky form of comedy, only it is painfully unfunny.

                I was trying to explain to my wife what I didn’t like about this show.   It’s not that the timing is off or the acting is bad, it’s just a combination of everything that makes this one incredibly terrible television cliché that, bottom line, is not funny.

                I was hoping that after the pilot it may have found its groove and decided to pick up more of a rhythm.   It did not.    Losing Damon Wayans Jr. was a major blow and, well, nothing about this show hasn’t been done before only those who did it first did it better.

                I understand what Zooey Deschanel is trying to do with this character: somewhere between some of her movie roles and maybe Liz Lemon, but it is simply not working. 

                Stick with movies because “Yes Man” was right on.

American Dad!: Series 1 (Season 1 & Season 2)

                I used Netflix to catch up with Family Guy (as well as re-watch some episodes) , Bob’s Burgers and The Cleveland Show.    Feeling like I should give this a second chance, I began watching American Dad again from the beginning.

                Back when American Dad first aired on Sunday nights on Fox with Family Guy and The Simpsons, I still had cable.    I remember watching the first season in “real time” (I DVR’ed them before that was cool) and thinking that this show just wasn’t very funny. 

                Now when I look at this on Netflix, it shows me the first 23 episodes of this series as being “Season 1”.   However, Wikipedia seems to believe that the first seven episodes are Season 1, while the next sixteen episodes are Season 2.   I’m not sure which is correct, but to keep things clear for this review and this review alone, I will stick with the words of Wikipedia.  

                So, from here on out, what Netflix calls “Season 2”, I will review as “Season 3” and so on, just adding one to what Netflix claims.   To see the complete list of American Dad episodes as chronicled by Wikipedia, my source on this for some reason, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Dad!_episodes

                Being that the first seven episodes of American Dad create the first season, I must stick with my original gut reaction and claim that these episodes are still not that funny.   Truth be told, I am in the middle of Season 5 (via Netflix, Season 6 via Wikipedia) and this show does get better as it goes on, but it just seems like these first few episodes are typical of the animated comedy.

                Also, with the characters and timing it just feels as if American Dad hadn’t really found their groove yet.    The first episode I really like comes on in Season 2, which is “All About Steve”.   Maybe it’s the sci-fi nerd in me or the way that Roger interacts with the guy he abducted once, but this is the first episode I really found to be worth watching in the series.

                The Second Season has some other bright spots near the end (Steve gets boobs, Steve and Klaus get locked in Hailey’s closet, that little dog and George Clooney), but overall, you know, I feel like these first 23 episodes are a one hit wonder at best.   In the world of music, you would not buy this album because there just isn’t enough overall good.    But as someone who has watched a number of episodes past this point, just remember:  It gets better.

The Muppet Show: Season One

The Muppet Show: Season One

                What you can find unbelievable now, looking back at the success of The Muppets, is that it isn’t until about halfway through the second season that they really get people coming on that want to be guest stars, so much as they have people coming on as favors to them because they happen to know them for some other reason within showbiz.    This is most obvious when someone like Paul Williams gets to host an entire show, as he did the music for The Muppet Movie (and appeared on screen in a cameo) and little else that I can remember.

                A lot of these guest star names are what older people will tell you “are lost on the youth of today”, but I honestly just believe that some of them just flat out did not live out the test of time.   Sure, they may have been popular back then but I doubt they had any real staying power and thus have been forgotten by most today.

                Stand outs for guest hosts include Vincent Price (of course), Mummanshanz (SPELL CHECK), Twiggy and Florence Henderson.

                In the third episode of this season, Scooter introduces himself to Kermit as being the nephew of the theater owner.   Yet, we are introduced to Scooter before that with some sort of angle about his dog wanting to be in the show.    What’s going on there?

                You can still get to hear a lot of music, even with the band going on strike, and Jim Henson is also a Muppet as part of one of the bands that plays in a few episodes.     They also do the song “I’m My Own Grandpa”, which I know nothing about other than it being sung by Tom Arnold in the movie “The Stupids” (And apparently it was older than this show, since they used it here and a lot of The Muppet Show music was not original) 

                I really did enjoy this season because not caring about most of the guest stars made it feel really special when someone I  did care about was the guest host and it also gave me a chance to focus more on the Muppets themselves.    If you don’t like this season, don’t worry—season two gets better.

<Cross-posted on eeveet and Not Quite A Mop>

Mike and Molly Season One

Mike and Molly Season One

                This show feels like a spinoff or some other show, but I’m pretty sure that it isn’t.   Mike and Molly are an overweight couple who meet via Overeaters Anonymous and go through the steps of any relationship only with a lot of humor mixed in.

                I heard that people don’t like this show because they feel that the two main characters are not attractive.    Sure, they may not live up to Hollywood standards of attractive, and one could even argue that this show is just a way for Fat America to not feel so badly about themselves, but really, this show is a comedy first and foremost.    Aside from that, we also have them going to OA meetings still and diets are always in the background of this show, which I think is healthy. 

                To me, saying “I don’t like watching fat people make out” would be like saying “I don’t like watching black people make out”.   So if you can judge someone by their weight, then where do you draw the line and say it based on skin color, sexuality or whatever else that the PC police immediately get offended by?   Some people need to think before they speak out on such matters.   This show is a half hour comedy and it’s funny.   That’s all that should matter.  

Family Guy Volume Nine

Family Guy Volume Nine

                The only reason why I wanted to review Family Guy- which continues to be funny, but also do more and more things that The Simpsons have done- is because with this being their ninth volume, I’m wondering why anyone watches it on Fox any more when the DVDs are uncensored.    It’s just become so second nature to hear them say the f-word that I’m wondering what it’s like when people hear it edited and why they choose censorship over the art in its true format.    Okay, gotta go.   Peter’s farting again.

United States of Tara: Season 3

United States of Tara: Season 3

                This third and final season did a lot of jumping the shark.   I didn’t like it as much as the first two (The first was still the best in my mind), but there are definitely worse things still being shown on television.

                Not only did we introduce a new character- played by Eddie Izzard, who had a forgettable failed show on FX- but they killed off Marshall’s first love.   Whilst I generally tend not to care about such things as being “jumping the shark”, the fact remains that something about Lionel’s death just fell flat.  It wasn’t the big tear jerking moment that they might have been hoping for when filming it.   In fact, it felt a lot like what I imagine the meeting going through, in the producer’s office with the actor who played Lionel.    Although one could argue that’s what life is anyway:  Being called into a producer’s office and being told “I’m sorry, we don’t have any story ideas left for you.   You will no longer be receiving financial support from us, but we wish you the best in your future endeavors”.  

                What’s more interesting than this season itself is what this season could have lead to had the show not been canceled.    At the conclusion of this season, we found Max driving Tara to Boston to get the best professional help possible.   On some levels, yes, that is as close to a happy ending as one could expect.    At the same time, though, just think of all of the doors that could possibly open for another season.   Forget seeing Tara and Max in Boston and the rest of the family members scattered—I want to see what happens after that.

                We’d start the fourth season with Tara and Max returning from Boston, fully believing that all of Tara’s alters are finally dead, her traumatic past left behind her and she is ready to move on and start anew.   Of course the family would have to come back for moral support.    Kate could break up with her older boyfriend who has an obnoxious child that isn’t hers.    Marshall could move back home, as could his Aunt and Uncle (and cousin) that he was living with in Texas.  

                With Kate having broken up with her boyfriend, she would come to the realization that she didn’t dislike children; she just disliked that particular child.    This would leave Kate feeling like she wanted a child.    With the kids growing up and moving on in their own ways, this could also lead to Tara wanting to have another baby since she seems well.    Marshall would need some kind of storyline having to do with movies or his sexuality or death or whatever, but he could be the voice of reason in ways, having spent three months with his infant cousin.  

                What would happen?  Would Tara transition again?  Would she get pregnant, and then transition to Buck while having the baby?    The possibilities are certainly there for them to have the breakout season they seemed to be searching for, but alas it doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

United States of Tara: Season Two

United States of Tara: Season Two

                It’s been a while now since Tara has had any transitions, and things seem to be going all right in the household.   But then Tara begins transitioning into Buck again- without fully being aware of it- and the season sends her on the proverbial downward spiral from there.

                The father gets angry and violent, the son gets a boyfriend and the daughter smokes a lot of weed.   It’s a quite eventful season, but also a rather funny one as well.   We’re seemingly closer and closer to solving Tara’s problems, yet they also don’t really seem to have an end in sight either.

                Though a lot happened in this season (Tara’s sister got pregnant by Patton Oswalt who is not the man she was getting married to!) the best episode was undoubtedly the one featuring the torando.   

Archer: Seasons One & Two

Archer: Seasons One & Two

                Once upon a time I was a member of Netflix (no longer am) and for whatever reason they recommended that I watch Archer.   Not only that, but they allowed me to watch the first however many episodes for free on their site.   This was before there was as much streaming as there is now.

                My initial imprint of Archer stands to this day.   This is a show about a spy agency, sure, but more than anything else it is a comedy.  It’s on FX, so they can say things like “shit” (Or maybe that’s just for the DVD, I have no idea really, I don’t watch television) and get away with a certain amount of partial nudity as well as glorious violence.

                The first season is mainly an introduction to our characters and a feeling out process for the show.   The episodes do have plots, sure, but for the most part it’s just about the humor.  

                In Season Two, we introduce the Wee Baby Seamus and Archer also gets cancer.   So, yeah, there is sort of some plot going on there, amidst all the humor and violence.

                Archer is vulgar.   Archer is bloody violence wrapped in gore.  Archer is crass.   Archer is something that no living person should ever watch based on all of the things- content-wise – that are wrong with it.   For instance, in one scene, someone is choking someone else during sex (no spoilers) and Pam shouts from the toilet, door ajar, “You’re making it kind of hard to drop a deuce!”   But at its core, Archer is still one of the funniest shows I have ever witnessed, animated or not, and the cast is simply terrific in backing that notion up. 

Futurama Volume Six

Futurama Volume Six

                I often wonder why The Simpsons has gone on for so many seasons on Fox, yet a show like Futurama, which has all the same elements, was cancelled after a mere four seasons.    I also wonder if it wasn’t the plan once upon a time for The Simpsons to quietly bow out of their timeslot and let Futurama take over, as The Simpsons sort of ran out of ideas and Futurama seemed to be, well, the future.

                Regardless, this is our second set of episodes from Comedy Central whilst Fox is putting out I don’t even know what animated shows.    In one episode, Bender has to go into witness protection and when he is found (or so they think it is him) he says his name is Billy West, which Fry appropriately scoffs at. 

                My other favorite episode is the last one, “Reincarnation”, in which the stories of various Futurama plots are told in three separate tales, each in a different style.   The first is old black and white, from the Steamboat Willie era of Mickey Mouse, which is okay but not my favorite.   The second is my favorite as it is told in eight bit and even pays tribute to certain Atari games I love such as Dig Dug and Adventure.    The third tale is done in a traditional American anime form, which is funny at best.

                In the future (Ahhh, the future of Futurama, the universe is exploding on itself!!) I wouldn’t mind seeing a Robot Chicken tribute to Futurama somehow, using all the finely crafted Futurama toys out there.   That’s just my suggestion.

                Volume Six is great though.   After seeing Volume Five and now this, I just wonder why they ever got canceled in the first place.  Such a quality show.

Dead Like Me: The Complete Series (including that movie thing)

Dead Like Me: The Complete Series (including that movie thing)

                The first season of this show is great.   It sort of jumps the shark when Rebecca Gayhart gets written off after the first few episodes and replaced with a blonde.   Plus, creator Bryan Fuller left so it went in possibly a different direction.  Who knows.   Regardless, for the first two seasons this is a really funny show about death and that’s a rare thing in the world of television.

                The movie however- which was done later on to possibly wrap up the series- really made me mad.   There was always this constant struggle where George couldn’t talk to people from her past, and now all of a sudden the rules no longer apply.   What happened to her opening her mouth and her mother hearing only gibberish?   I guess it’s okay to talk to her sister now if it means that the movie will be better than the actual show.  Oh, and I cannot forget the actress who played Daisy and how she wasn’t the same as the show.   Why bring back a character and not the same actor?   I don’t care if the actress was doing a different movie—write her out of the script and replace her with Daisy’s sister Maisy, an idea which wouldn’t have probably come out as bad as what happened here.

                In short, these episodes from the first two seasons are well worth watching, but do yourself a favor and skip the movie.   It will save you the time that I somehow wasted.

MODERN FAMILY Season One

Modern Family: Season One

                The focus of Modern Family are three intertwined families, which I take more as a sign of how different families can be in this day and age more so than (hopefully) the fact that we as a society can no longer have a sitcom based on a single family because it would not hold our attention in this ADHDTV world.

                One family is the supposed normal family with a mother, father, two daughters and a son.   Another family is a gay couple with an adopted daughter.    The last family is the father of someone from the other two families, his new wife (who is the lesser Selma Hayek) and then his stepson.    This character- Manny- is probably the most redeeming part of this show.   He is this ten year old kid who is probably smarter than everyone else combined and he knows it.   He is closer to the age range of the first family I described kids, but he is their uncle and the brother of their mother (who was Happy Gilmore’s love interest in the movie of the same name)

                I like this show- I find it amusing- and I feel that with the multi-character cast that they have going, it could go on for a long time.    Then again, the same could be said for Arrested Development and we all know how that turned out.

Sports Night The Complete Series Boxed Set

                The first season of Sports Night is brilliant, there is no denying that.   It’s funny, somewhat suspenseful in terms of events happening and, well, it just all around makes for good television.   While people might complain about the stroke of Isaac as being a cheap ploy for ratings, it did fit in with reality so I think it just so happened to work perfectly fine.   My only real complaint with the first season was the laugh track, but they did eventually get rid of it and, well, it’s hard to be an older show and not have a laugh track.

                My problem with this show comes in the second (and final) season, which oddly did not include show killer Ted McGinley (who was in the first season only as Gordon).    It seemed like the show lacked direction with the characters, such as they didn’t know what to do with Jeremy and Natalie so they split them up to date other people and create new storylines.   Talk about jumping the shark.    They also brought in new characters galore, while having the running theme toward the end of the season being whether or not they’d be bought out and dropped by CSC.  

                In some ways I’m glad Sports Night ended after two seasons because the way the second season was headed, a third season could have been disastrous.   Really, you should stop watching this show after the first season if you want to maintain any sort of respect for it.  Sure, the second season has its funny moments, but it also has an episode where Dana goes to dinner and comes back without wearing any underwear.   (Trust me, it’s more disturbing/”Why am I watching this?” than it is sexy) 

                From here, Aaron Sorkin went on to “The West Wing” and then eventually “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (which I loved, but I’ve never seen “The West Wing”), while Peter Krause went on to “Six Feet Under” and Josh Charles… Well, who knows what happened to Josh Charles.   Sometimes I wish they’d make a sequel to “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” with Josh Charles and Christina Applegate as the parents leaving their kids with a babysitter.   A cameo visit from Uncle Kenny would get me to watch for sure.   Hey, maybe the parents could be going to Uncle Zach’s funeral.  (Too cold/ too cold)

                I watched Sports Night when it was on originally and again later when it was on Comedy Central in reruns, but this is my first time seeing it since it was released on DVD.   It’s not quite as great as I remember it being, but nowadays nothing seems to be.