Category — Comedy

After “Cowboy Bebop”, Shinichirō Watanabe next television series was “Samurai Champloo”. The 26 episodes focused on the misadventures of an unlikely trio: Mugen, the hilarious theif, Jin, the restrained samurai, and the feisty young girl, Fuu. They unite after Fuu rescues Mugen and Jin from execution and she demands they help her find the samurai who smells of sunflowers as her reward.

I saw the Japanese series when it debuted in America in 2005 on Adult Swim. The tone of the series fluctuated between comedy and action, much like “Cowboy Bebop”. However, this time around we get to see the world of the samurai, if said samurai was into hip-hop and likes to get funky all the time.

Check the opening credit sequence below:

If that wets your whistle, buy the “Samurai Champloo” dvds today.

FX has a new show called “Sons of Anarchy”.

It stars Charlie Hunnam (”Undeclared”) as Jackson ‘Jax” Teller, a member of a California biker gang that skirts the law and fiercely defends their right to ride on their own terms.

Watch the season premiere tonight at 10pm on FX.

M.A.S.H. is one of the most celebrated television shows in the history of the planet. In my mind, its fans are dead-on right to give it rave reviews.

Years after its final telecast, I still remember how impressed I was with the acting and the writing, principally by Larry Gelbart. From Alan Alda as Hawkeye to Harry Morgan as Col. Sherman T. Potter, the cast was a marvel of ensemble acting in a comedy.

The funny thing is I hated the movie (directed by Robert Almtan and starring Elliot Gould). I found the writing predictable, not funny, and overdone by half. Even though Gould and Donald Sutherland are among my favorite actors, I didn’t think either were able to overcome the bad lines they were given to recite.

But go figure. The movie was released in the fall of 1970 when anti-Vietnam sentiment was high, and was an instant hit. Ring Lardner Jr. won the Oscar for Best Screenplay and the film was nominated for Best Movie. Sally Kellerman also received a Best Actress nomination for her role as Hotlips.

Judge for yourself. Rent or buy the DVDs—both of the film and the TV series. I will. I want to see if my memories stand up to the real thing.

Buy the “M*A*S*H” - Season 1 dvd today.

Vince & Co are back for season five of “Entourage”. I wasn’t a big fan of this HBO comedy at first, but once the Medellin subplot arose, I was hooked!

Season five is supposed to focus on Drama coming to terms with his budding tv career, the failure of Medellin and lack of funds, and how Ari Gold is supposed to sorta all this crap out for Vince.

Catch the season premiere on HBO on September 7th, 10pm ET/PT.

ABC’s “Private Practice” will finally emerge from its post-strike hiatus on October 1st (9/8c). I actually found myself liking this show as a guilty pleasure. I’m wasn’t the biggest Addison fan when she was “Grey’s Anatomy”, but I warmed to her on the spin-off.

And who can resist Taye Diggs’ charm? Seriously, it’s quite difficult. Even Tim Daly (”Wings”) sorta wore me down with his silly homeopathic medicine and skirt-chasing ways. I connect most though to Amy Brenneman’s character. She is the resident therapist who can counsel everyone else, but hasn’t got a clue when it comes to her own lovelife.

Another reason I liked this show was for its lighter tone. They really tried to play up the sunny california, everything’s groovy stereotype in this show. If you’re looking for “ER” style gore and melodrama, this might not be the show for you. Granted, there were a few tense moments, but this cast of characters are simply more engaging than the current batch on Grey’s (prolly due to the lack of Mere whining). “Private Practice” is a welcomed alternative for the tv fan who wants a dash of hospital melodrama mixed with romance and comedy.

It may be hard to believe, but “I Love Lucy” is still funny—as millions who have seen it on TVLand (I still call it Nick at Nite) can tell you. Back in the 50s, it was the first television show to feature a woman it its main role. (Hey, it was even eponymous.) My folks never missed an episode of “Lucy”–or the Ed Sullivan show. In the days before cable, almost everybody watched these shows. They used more slapstick than most contemporary shows, but it was good slapstick.

I didn’t know that producer Desi Arnaz (Lucy’s husband at the time the show first aired and who played her Cuban bandleader hubby, Ricky Ricardo) invented the re-run. He did it during Lucy’s (Lucille Ball) pregnancy. In those days, you couldn’t say “pregnant,” you had to say “expecting.”

Watch the old episodes closely and you’ll catch references to Phillip Morris cigarettes, the show’s sponsor. In one of the funniest episodes from this memorable early TV comedy, “Lucy Does a TV Commercial,” Ms. Ball dresses up as Johnny the Bellhop, the Phillip Morris icon.

“Home Movies” is a hilarious cartoon about three eight year old kids (Brendan, Melissa, and Jason) who love to remake popular movies with their home video camera. The low-fi spoofs, especially the ones that feature original music by Scab*, are beyond ridiculous with the homemade costumes and props. Brendan is always the director and takes harshly to criticism, despite his young years. Still, my favorite moments in the series are the scenes where I find myself cracking up at Coach McGuirk, the kids’ soccer coach who is one the most immature adults ever put to screen.

Coach McGuirk in his “element”:

Actually, most of the adults on the show are generally acting crazy. Brendan and his friends simply sit back in awe. Brendan’s mom, Paula, is always saying inappropriate things in front the kids about how she really needs to get laid or is fat. Brendan assumes the role of friend or parent and always consoles her. Same thing goes for Melissa’s Dad who is an eccentric single parent. As for Jason’s family, they’re so weird he’s ashamed of them and avoids them at all costs.

Watch random episodes of “Home Movies” on AdultSwim, which airs on Cartoon Network. Or own the gang’s cinematic masterpieces on dvd. Beware, sadly, only the first season was done in squigglevision.

*corrected

Home Movies - Season One

Alan Ball, the creator of “Six Feet Under”, has a new HBO show about vampires living openly in the present day called “True Blood”.

From Alan Ball’s interview on HBO.com:
“It’s based on a series of books written by Charlaine Harris, and it takes place in a world where vampires have made their presence known to humans. They’ve come out of the coffin, so to speak, because of the development by a Japanese biotech firm of synthetic blood for medical purposes, which the vampires claim fulfills all of their nutritional needs. So they’ve organized, and they’re struggling for assimilation and for equal rights.”

The series focuses though on Anna Paquin’s character, Sookie Stackhouse. She’s a telepathic waitress who befriends one of these newly outed vamps in a small Louisiana town. Hmm, I guess that could prove interesting. However, those faux TruBlood beverage ads confused the heck outta me until I realized it was plugging HBO’s new show. Will viewers be able to tell when Ball is being serious or funny? Will he be able to balance the horror elements with the satire of society?

All I know for sure is vampires are no stranger to the television series format, see “Angel”, “Forever Knight”, or CBS’s now cancelled “Moonlight”. Thus, I’m sure a few fans of the genre will be tuning in on September 7th when the series premieres to weigh in on Ball’s take on the vampire mythology.

“The Riches” may be the best television series nobody’s seen. Minnie Driver is better in it than any movie I’ve seen her in and Eddie Izzard looks better in civilian clothes than in drag.

But that’s not the point. It’s the plot and the spiky dialogue that gets you. Like many good novels it’s about the American Dream—the one we sell through advertising. But the Malloy family doesn’t get there through hard work or by being born with a silver key in hand. Instead, they are a family of “travelers,” (think gypsies or tinkers) who break away from their larger “family,”which was a wandering band of scam artists who live outside the law.

The Malloys stumble upon the Riches family, who have been killed in a car wreck. So what do they do? They discover the very well off Riches are about to move into an elegant home they have purchased, site unseen, over the Internet—and they simply step into their lives. Then, the fun really begins.

Start your Tivo or pick up the first season DVD. Remember, as Bob Dylan said, “To live outside the law, you must be honest. But then he hadn’t met the Riches when he wrote that.

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” returns to F/X on September 18th (Thursdays at 10pm), which pleases me to no end. It’s been called “Seinfeld” on crack, but I say the gang is much darker than those cynical New Yorkers.

The gang consists of four slacker friends who own an Irish Pub in Philly. Being the lazy, selfish people they are, they end up having to let Dennis’ Dad, Frank (Danny DeVito) come help run the bar and keep things afloat. The kicker is that Frank usually ends up being the real instigator of their troubles (see. “Bums Making a Mess All Over Town” from last season where he uses an old cop car to extort hot dogs out of a street vendor).

Each episode essentially is them getting into the most insane situations. For example, Dee and Dennis get addicted to crack (on purpose) so they could claim welfare (instead of like, y’know, getting a job), Charlie pretends to be a war vet on a dare, or like on episode two where they decide to give underage kids alcohol as a public service! And that’s just off the top of my head.

Still, I think my favorite scene is still Dennis and Charlie coming up with “Day Man” in Charlie’s dingy apartment. The performance of the song to a stunned bar crowd (and the subsequent booing) was priceless!

They say there will be more songs and a sequel to “Day Man” in the new season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. Yes! More David Bowie-esque outfits! Maybe more of Danny DeVito on drums too!

The season 3 dvd comes out on September 9th, so I can finally delete the episode containing DayMan from my television. I’m telling you, these seasons are highly rewatchable (maybe that’s where they get the “Seinfeld” comparison). I def don’t regret owning the season 1 & 2 dvd set. Take my advice and watch these episodes so as to acquaint yourself with the hilariously demented minds of the Paddy’s Bar gang.

Related Sources: Pajiba Comic-Con highlights