Category — 2000s

“The Sarah Silverman Program” is back on Comedy Central, and the second season is off to a strong start. I’m hoping more poop songs will abound as the season progresses.

The show seems to already have hit its stride in the latest installment, entitled “High, It’s Sarah.” As you may have guessed, this episode is all about “Sarah” (played by Sarah Silverman) getting really, really stoned with “Brian” (played by Brian Posehn). I wonder if these two did any research for their roles. Sounds like a real stretch for them both.

Of course, in the reality– if you can call it that– of this series, way more ridiculous and funny consequences follow than would ever happen to any of us real people after too many bong rips. If only life had writers, no weed laws, and occasional cameos from Eddie Peppitone. If you missed this when it aired a couple of weeks ago, try to catch a rerun of it or the other two episodes that have aired since then. Com Central is pretty decent about second chances. And third, fourth and fifth chances, for that matter.

Technically, this is the second half of the second season that is airing right now. I know this because I just checked to make sure the first season is available on DVD, only to discover that both the first season and “Season Two, Vol. 1″ are available, which is news to me. It’s now about to become news to my credit card company, because I’m off to buy them both. Toodles!

[Picture source: www.JewishJournal.com Seriously.]

One of the only reality television shows that I like is “Project Runway“. Why? Because they actually make something at the end of each episode, the contestants have amazing talent (for the most part anyway), and who doesn’t just love Tim Gunn and host Heidi Klum! I love her friendly german accent during eliminations, it’s so cute even the contestants who are cut can’t get mad at her.

“I am sorry, you are out. Auf Wiedersehen!”

And last season’s winner, Christian Siriano was hilarious (as was Amy Poehler spot on impression on SNL) or FIERCE as he would say.

With the legal hub-bub over whether the next season will be shown on “Lifetime” or Bravo, the television show rushed into the latest season over the summer and I totally missed it. Bravo re-runs “Project Runway” like no other, but I never managed to watch any of the eps saved on my TiVo HD DVR. Luckily, Design-Bitch has a nice photo wrap-up of the season five finale.

Here’s the massive list of episodes I watched this weekend in my pathetic effort to free up some much needed space on my DVR box:

The final four episodes of “Doctor Who”. The season finale was rewarding since the Torchwood gang, Rose, Martha, and Sarah Jane Smith all made appearances. The poor Doctor, he’s all alone again.

Robin Tunney and Simon Baker in"The Mentalist"

The first two episodes of “The Mentalist”. Simon Baker is cute and does a good job on the show, but somehow I feel it’s too darkly themed for the CBS crowd.

The “Personae Non Grata” episode of “Law and Order” from last season. Yeah, I keep shows forever and they re-run L/O all the time. But this time it was worth it and not just for the Jeremy Sisto scenes.

Law & Order (2008)

A mother poses as her daughter on the girl’s Bspace (i.e. myspace) page to con a guy into giving her $60,000…oh and getting said guy to commit murder later on. And then turns out, she’s more than just a sociopathic manipulator (well, duh). She’s a bonafide murderer! She killed the daughter she was impersonating like two years before! And buried her in her unsuspecting boyfriend’s cellar. That’s just plain demented, L/O.

The first three episodes of this season of “Lipstick Jungle”. Boy is that dialogue terrible. But that Kirby (Nico’s boy toy) is cute and the fashion designer character, Victory Ford, is actually funny and realistic.

Victory Ford

And can you believe Wendy got fired over insurance fraud?! Oh well, I never liked Brooke Shields character all that much. It was a bit over the top with the “world is falling down around me” camera effects on Wendy. She’s all melodramatically standing in the street alone (in NYC?), looking up at the sky as she realizes her life is pretty much screwed.

“Eleventh Hour”, cloned babies, Rufus Sewell as quirky scientist, tough FBI agent Marley Shelton…zzzzzz.

I like to give my undivided attention to “It’s Always Sunny”, so I finally got to watch the “Mac and Dennis: Manhunters” episode. It was crude beyond belief - gorilla mask/teabag pranks, cannibal jokes, and Frank confusing his life with the plot of Rambo:First Blood. Oh, how I missed the “Sunny” gang so much. I plan to watch the rest of the season tonight.

Col. Shepherd and Dr. McKay in "Stargate Atlantis"

Next, I watched the latest eps of “Adventures of New Christine”, “Heroes”, “Stargate Atlantis”, and “Sanctuary”, which is actually way better in the second episode. That pilot was redundant, but once the show focused on a specific story and no exposition, I liked it.

Gee whiz! How the heck is my DVR still at 69%?! Oh wait, because I still have entire seasons of “Burn Notice”, “Psych” and “New Amsterdam” on there!

Time for Sunday lunch, your weekly hearty hate stew, and this one will really stick to your bones. Or chill them. This week’s topic: MTV’s “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,” the grandest exercise in televised narcissism I have ever seen. Keep in mind, I watch these shows so you don’t have to.

The gist of the show is you have a bunch of imbeciles competing– yes, competing– to become Paris Hilton’s best friend while on camera and only until the end of the taping of the finale episode, but not in any legitimate sense.

Naturally, this leads to a cast of sycophants participating in activities like “always looking hot,” doing whatever Paris tells you to without complaint, seeing who can party the longest, etc., all while providing a truly endless supply of compliments and adoration to one Paris Hilton. Most noteworthy of all aspiring BFFs is Onch, below.

First of all, that is a dude. My estimation was that what Chris Crocker was to Britney Spears, Onch is to Paris Hilton, so you can imagine my surprise when I learned that Chris and Onch had some sort of feud that I don’t quite understand or care about, sometime last year.

Anyway, this show is pretty unbearable, but if you’re in the mood to yell at your television, this just might be for you.

[Picture source: MTV.com]

Last night, FX premiered its new sitcom, “Testees,” following a new episode of the already successful series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” To cut to the chase, after viewing the first episode of “Testees,” I am not a fan.

“Testees” was created by Kenny Hotz, of “Kenny vs. Spenny,” which you probably never saw. (You didn’t miss anything.) “Testees” is about two guys, Peter and Ron, who live together and work together.  By “work together,” I mean they participate in clinical studies for pay, and the idea is that hilarity ensues. It doesn’t.

In last night’s episode, Peter (the curly haired one on the left, above) is given a drug that, apparently, makes him pregnant. Yes, the first episode of “Testees” is an even less funny version of the movie Junior. I didn’t think it was possible to make a less funny version of Junior.

Anyway, I’m going to go ahead and tell you to skip this one. It tries too hard to be edgy, and ends up being juvenile and vulgar, instead. Considering that this appraisal is coming from a person who still giggles uncontrollably every time someone says “butt cheeks,” you can rest assured that this show is truly crude, and in a bad way. Worse yet, it’s crude in an unfunny way.

All of the jokes are about as subtle as the poor attempt at double entendre that is the title. (”Testees?” Get it? Because they’re “testees” in clinical tests, but “testes/testis” also means “balls!” Hilarious!)

Save the space on your DVR and record something better, instead.

[Picture source: FXnetworks.com]

Nathan Fillion of “Serenity” and now “Desperate Housewives” fame, stars in ABC’s newest midseason replacement, “Castle”. Yes, it’s another cop procedural. Yes, it’s a story of opposites attract. And if you ask me, it totally ripped it’s premise from the pages of Basic Instinct: mystery novelist’s books scarily similar to actual murder cases. Lucky for us, it’s a comedy drama, so it has a lighter tone and considerably better acting!

Check the television pilot trailer:

Source: Pop Candy

“Kath & Kim” with Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. A US version of the Austrialian series (haven’t they figured out they usually don’t work out?) - 8:30/7:30 on NBC

The original Las Vegas version of “CSI” premieres at 9pm followed by the premiere of “Eleventh Hour” with Rufus Sewell in the role originally played by Patrick Stewart on the BBC version.

On ABC, after new episodes of “Ugly Betty” and “Grey’s Anatomy”, we’ve got the series premiere of David E. Kelley’s take on the original BBC show “Life on Mars”. This remake wins the award of the stuffing as many talented film actors as possible into one show (after firing 90% of the actors from the original pilot) to make it look good: Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol, Lisa Bonet, and Jason O’Mara as the time-traveling cop Sam Tyler.

If you haven’t visited ABC today, check out the 1970s computer terminal re-design they put up in honor of the new show. Or if you’re lazy, just look at the screenshot on TV Squad. Watch the “Life on Mars” promo below to get the gist of the show.

I have no idea how I’m gonna watch (or even DVR record) all these shows tonight!

Yesterday, we watched all the Sarah Palin/Tina Fey skits in succession (thanks to the wonders of DVR technology!), which made the latest skit even more hilarious! Last saturday’s episode of “SNL” sent up the VP debate. Tina Fey continued her astute Sarah Palin impression, while Jason Sudeikis took a stab at Joe Biden, and Queen Latifah was the best as the book-plugging moderator, Gwen Ifills. Thanks to Hulu, you can relive these comedy skits over and over.

Keep the political parodies coming SNL writers! They’re making Saturday Night Live funny again, if only for a few minutes for these hilarious cold opens.

If you saw the Emmys a couple of weeks ago, I hope you and your cats enjoyed it, because you were the only ones watching. However, you and the cats also bore witness to Bryan Cranston winning for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his role in a really cool show, “Breaking Bad.”

Indeed, the dad from “Malcolm in the Middle” beat out Don Draper at the lowest rated ever Emmys, television’s highest honor, wherein television people celebrate themselves for like seven hours. On television. My feelings are torn, since I like both “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” but I figure Jon Hamm will get ‘em next time.

Anyway, AMC has been rerunning the first season of “Breaking Bad” after the “encore” airings of “Mad Men” every Sunday, and you can even pre-order the first season DVD if it turns out you love it, so check it out. The show is about a high school chemistry teacher (Cranston), who turns to cooking meth for extra cash, after he learns he is dying of cancer. He’s got a pregnant wife and a “special needs” son, so I can’t say I blame him. Desperate times, and all that.

Meth lab hijinks and drug dealings provide a nice chaser to the rampant alcoholism and womanizing of “Mad Men,” so kudos to AMC on nailing their first two forays into original programming. I, for one, can’t wait to see more.

Sunday nights are fast becoming my busiest TV night of the week. My DVR’s red “recording” light was already winking at me for a good chunk of the evening before, thanks to my old love “Mad Men,” my new love “True Blood,” plus all the old standbys like “60 Minutes” and “American Dad.” But as of last week, “Dexter” has returned to Showtime with new episodes. Consider the ante upped.

I’ve been a fan of this show since its beginning two seasons ago. It doesn’t spare on the high concept premises and story lines, but is still written elegantly enough to avoid becoming a joke. Michael C. Hall has proven his acting mettle beyond my expectations in his portrayal of Dexter Morgan, considering how hard it is to believe that this is the same man who played David Fisher all those years not so long ago.

Tune in to Showtime Sunday nights at 9pm to check out “Dexter.” I like the show so much it’s actually inspired me to read the book on which this series is based, called “Darkly Dreaming Dexter,” by Jeff Lindsay. I know right? I’m going to read an actual book! With pages and everything!

I fear I may have blasphemed by daring to mention the “B” word– book– on the interweb, and on a blog about teevee, at that. As an act of contrition, I’ll subject myself to a new reality show, get drunk and rant about it on here, later.

Oh, dear. “Paris Hilton Is My New BFF” started this week. Sounds like a fresh batch of hate stew a-brewin’.