Flippy - I Rant, You Read
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Good TV, Cheesy TV, and Expected To Be Good TV
Okay, I’ve spent enough time being oddly vindictive, so now I’m going to talk about my first true love, television. Leigh-Ann and I had to make an agreement to not get involved in too many new tv shows, as we also have lots of returning favorites. Tonight, we watched two of the four we were allowing ourselves - “The Class”, which reunites members of a third grade class for a party; and, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”, which is basically a behind-the-scenes look at a show like Saturday Night Live. We liked them both, a lot. In fact, if there had been two episodes available from each show, we would’ve plowed right through those two. “The Class” is a bit odd, a bit funny, a bit sad, a bit nostalgic (I’ve had contact with two friends from elementary school in the last month), and quite addictive. “Studio 60” is the new Matthew Perry show. I loved the writing - it’s smart, it’s serious, it’s funny. The Amanda Peet character, as the new head of the network, is awesome. I hope they keep her character the same as in the first episode - calm, cool, collected, and smart. It’s nice to have a female boss on a show who isn’t a bitch. The other two new shows we’ve allowed ourselves haven’t aired yet - “30 Rock”, the Tina Fey/Alec Baldwin show; and, “Ugly Betty”, that seems to be some worldwide phenomena. They’ve both gotten excellent reviews and I’m really looking forward to them.
Now for the cheese - omigawd, have you seen any of “Celebrity Duets”? It’s the ultimate in reality cheese. Semi-famous people (Jai from Queer Eye, Hal Sparks from Queer as Folk, Lucy Lawless, Carly Patterson (Olympic gymnast and terrible singer), Cheech Marin (nice funny dude with a lousy voice)) pair up with current and has-beeny singers for duets. Wynonna sounds great. Jefferey Osbourne sounds great. Dionne Warwick sounded like she’d been smoking some dope backstage. The big surprise for me - Dennis DeYoung from Styx was pretty awesome. Beware, this show definitely requires TiVoing because fastforwarding through the dull parts is a necessity. Oh, and the judges are Marie Osmond (okay, although a bit snarky), Little Richard (totally wacked out, but funny) and David Foster, who is surprisingly nice and fairly constructive, but he so needs to shave that old drunk man stubble. He doesn’t look drunk or dirty, but the stubble is icky on him.
More reality - the new “controversial” Survivor isn’t the least bit controversial, but I enjoyed the first episode a whole lot more than I’ve enjoyed most first episodes of Survivor. It’s easier to tell people apart, and the Asian guys are totally hot. Also, they voted off the most annoying person (so far) on show first. That almost never happens.
Nip/Tuck has returned and is just as warped as it’s always been. Still, mighty compelling tv. Sean and Julia having fits about having a “handicapped” child is incredibly stupid. It’s not as though the kid is going to have brain damage. The baby will have Ectrodactyly, which affects the child’s hands & feet - anecdotally known as lobster claws. As lousy as it is, it’s not the big deal that Sean & Julia are annoyingly making it. Bree Walker made a guest appearance on the show and you know what looked gross about her? Not her hands, but her face. She has gross plastic surgery face. Weird balloony lips and a bad facelift. When will women realize that unless you’re Angelina Jolie and you naturally have those lips, they just make you look like a circus freak. Plastic surgeons should refuse to do that to people, or they should be sued for malpractice.
“Weeds" has been pretty fabulous this season. Fewer problems with the annoying Botwin boys, the cool DEA agent, etc. My only complaint is that Celia is more mean, less funny this season. If they can fix that, I’m pretty happy with how the season is going.
Whoo hoo, and Veronica Mars is coming back soon. If there’s any show you watch this season, make it Veronica Mars. Or, The Amazing Race. I love that show. Vicarious travel is just the kind of travel I like.
See, isn’t that better than me whining about a hockey player who has retired? My apologies for that, it won’t happen again, although I’m not deleting it either.
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