Category — Non-Fiction

If you’ve been paying attention (and why would you be?), you know by now that I lurve stand-up comedy. While stand-up on teevee can never compare to seeing a brilliant comic at a live show, there are some classic stand-up specials from the likes of Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, Chris Rock and others, that many of us peasants would never have seen if it weren’t for TV. Tonight, Ricky Gervais is trying his hand at joining that esteemed echelon of televised hilarity.

Gervais has already proven his mettle in the sitcom format, with the original The Office and later, Extras. Apparently, he’s new to doing actual stand-up comedy, so I guess he’s taken the “go big or go home” approach, by beginning his foray with an HBO special that was taped at Madison Square Garden. That’s one way to go.

The teasers for the special that I have seen look pretty effing funny, but that is what they’re meant to do. Still, I’m pretty excited for the special tonight, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to not suck. Check out Ricky’s special, Out of England: The Stand Up Special tonight at 9p eastern and 10p pacific on HBO. You already know I will be, and therefore that makes it cool.

Considering my typical blog fodder is complaining about shows like America’s Got Talent and Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, it wouldn’t seem likely that I ever watch something that doesn’t cause my eyes to vomit blood and my brain cells to flip me off. Well, it turns out that I do.

That up there is a kind of old picture of Keith Olbermann. He’s one of the top dogs over on MSNBC, along with the inadvertently hilarious Chris Matthews, the extremely uncharismatic David “Ape Face” Gregory and, of course, Rachel Maddow. Sorry, I don’t have a joke/comment for her, since she’s quite bright and I pretty much like her. Watching all of the election coverage over the past several months has practically made the MSNBC anchors my BFFs. What? I’m sure if you asked them, they’d all agree.

Keith’s  nightly news show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, is a staple in my teevee diet. Keith matches Bill O’Reilly in arrogance, but trounces him in all other areas, like charm, wit, logic, reasoned thinking… You know, these kinds of things. In short, I like Keith’s arrogance, since I usually agree with him anyway, and that’s way more than I’ll ever be able to say about Bill O’Reilly, who is simply an awful awful man.

Plus, MSNBC news has finally gained some traction in the ratings and has been giving The O’Reilly Factor and the rest of the Fox News bunch cause for pause, forcing “Papa Bear” to resort to an on air whine-fest full of conspiracy theories about cooking the numbers. Real mature.

So, get a dose of Keith, Chris, Rachel or even David Gregory, next time you turn on the picture box. Okay, seriously, not David Gregory, but any of the others will do. Consider it intellectual penance for all the time you wasted watching The Girls Next Door.

Current TV and Twitter have teamed together to present you, Hack the Debate!

If you’re not on twitter, you’re probably thinking right now wtf is Twitter? And how does that somehow relate to television, TVRevival? Basically, we’re all gonna watch the debate, right? Right. Current is gonna broadcast the debate with live comments (or “tweets” as the twitter aficionados say) scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Don’t agree with what Palin or Biden is rambling on about? Tell them, hell, tell the world by entering your two cents on the #current feed. So if you’re mildly curious to know what actual people and not broadcast tv talking heads think about the debate, by all means join in the discussion!

Al Gore thinks this is awesome btw.

And since I’m pluggin hack the debate, I guess I should join twitter for real. TV Revival on Twitter, if you’re so inclined to follow my infrequent tweets…

Season 6 of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” is in full swing, and just in the nick of time. You may remember Bill Maher for being fired by ABC after some controversial 9/11-related comments on his old show, “Politically Incorrect,” back in 2001. Now though, both on “Real Time” and in his HBO stand-up specials, Maher has been able to be more controversial than ever. And, after the Democratic and GOP conventions, Bill and his panelists have already had “Maher” than enough to talk about. Sorry.

In case you missed the first episode of this season of “Real Time,” it’s available On Demand; and the second episode, which just aired Friday night, should be up soon too. If you can’t wait that long, HBO is rerunning it loads of times over the next few days.

Be sure to program your DVR to record the next new episodes, which air live every Friday at 11pm eastern. And, if you don’t have HBO, to that I say “seriously???” I would suggest you at least find a friend who does enjoy the splendors of the Home Box Office, and force him/her to watch “Real Time” with you. It sure beats “Fox and Friends.” Of course, if you disagree with that statement, then, well, wow. We’re pretty much done here.

(Picture source: www.salon.com)

I love that “Intervention” is back this summer. Yes it’s sad and heartbreaking, but it is so interesting that I simply cannot look away.

And after reading this interview, it looks like The Washington Post loves this show too. I love that the show is getting press, since it truly is raising awareness with each episode. Plus, at the end of each show, they offer a hotline for the families who have a loved one struggling with addiction. Some episodes even explain how seeing “Intervention” prompted them to contact someone.

According to the post, it turns out that Sam Mettler, the creator of the show, ended up getting a contact high. As Jezebel points out, I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about the safety of the camera men before. Maybe it’s because, I’m just in awe of what is happening on the screen, I forget that there’s an actual guy with a camera there having to witness crazy drug abuse behavior first hand! He really is putting himself in danger while making the show. I’m sure they take precautions, but seriously people are unpredictable.

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I would spotlight some earth-friendly programs.

Sundance has The Green , which airs every Tuesday in the primetime slot. It has a variety of programs that focus on global issues, including segments made by the Sierra Club.

Green Energy TV seems to be a sort of youtube site for Green related videos.

Their motto: “an Online Television Channel that is dedicated to airing green videos for millions of viewers around the world. Though having been launched only in January 2007, Green Energy TV now has viewers from 154 countries and 6 continents going to greenenergytv.com to watch green videos”

I really like this pedal powered tv clip, watch it below:

I hope they can figure out how to harness nuclear fission power or solar power to power my tivo. Cos I don’t know if I could pedal long enough to enjoy even a 30 minute show!