Category: TV Comedies (Page 58 of 154)

Please, won’t you lend a television critic a hand?

June 4, 2009 /

The Television Critics Association has officially begun the gearing-up process for its 25th annual awards, which will honor the finest work of the 2008-09 season as selected by the association’s 200-plus member critics and journalists. One of those members is yours truly, and I figured I’d see what the readers of Premium Hollywood had to say about the nominations and who they’d like to see win the various categories. I’ll have to submit my votes by June 10th, but since the winners won’t be announced until August 1st (the ceremony takes place at The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, CA, with Chelsea Handler opening the ceremony), so speak up quickly. There are a couple of things I’m on the fence about, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts before I make my final selections.

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

* “Battlestar Galactica” (SciFi Channel)
* “Lost” (ABC)
* “Mad Men” (AMC)
* “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
* “The Shield” (FX)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY

* “30 Rock” (NBC)
* “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
* “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central)
* “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS)
* “The Office” (NBC)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA

* “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
* “Friday Night Lights” (NBC/DirecTV)
* “Lost” (ABC)
* “Mad Men” (AMC)
* “The Shield” (FX)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT MOVIES, MINI-SERIES AND SPECIALS

* Summer Olympic Coverage (NBC)
* “24: Redemption” (Fox)
* “Generation Kill” (HBO)
* “Grey Gardens” (HBO)
* “Taking Chance” (HBO)

OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

“Fringe” (Fox)
“The Mentalist” (CBS)
“No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” (HBO)
“True Blood” (HBO)
“United States of Tara” (Showtime)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY

* Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”)
* Steve Carell (“The Office”)
* Tina Fey (“30 Rock”)
* Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”)
* Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA

* Glenn Close (“Damages”)
* Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”)
* Walton Goggins (“The Shield”)
* Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”)
* Hugh Laurie (“House”)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING

* “Camp Rock” (The Disney Channel)
* “The Electric Company” (PBS)
* “Nick News” (Nickelodeon)
* “Sid the Science Kid” (PBS)
* “Yo Gabba Gabba” (Nickelodeon)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION

* “60 Minutes” (CBS)
* “The Alzheimer’s Project” (HBO)
* “Frontline” (PBS)
* “The Rachel Maddow Show” (MSNBC)
* “We Shall Remain” (PBS)

HERITAGE AWARD

* “ER” (NBC)
* “M*A*S*H” (CBS)
* “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
* “The Shield” (FX)
* “Star Trek” (NBC)

24, Battlestar Galactica, External Entertainment, External TV, Friday Night Lights, Lost, News, Saturday Night Live, TCA Press Tour, The Office, The Shield, TV, TV Action, TV Cartoons, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Reality, TV Sci-Fi

…but, on the other hand, IFC’s “The Wrong Door” is all right

June 2, 2009 /

Proof positive of the “you win some, you lose some” scenario, IFC has added “The Wrong Door” to its lineup, and unlike “Food Party,” it actually is pretty damned funny. You can possibly chalk a certain amount of that up to the fact that the sketch comedy series originally aired on BBC Three (everyone knows that comedy is 64% funnier when delivered in a British accent), but come June 9th at 11:30 PM EST, you’ll be able to determine for yourself if it’s just my Anglophile tendencies that are making me laugh. Or, of course, you could just check out a couple of clips:

And while this last one is sanctioned neither by BCC Three nor IFC, allow me to nontheless steer you toward this sketch about the inherent dangers of buying a star in someone’s name, which someone has kindly posted for your viewing enjoyment:

Sci-fi aficionados will hear that the producers have borrowed the theme from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” but most of you will just be thinking, “Holy crap, whoever heard of a sketch comedy series with these kinds of production values?” Yep, “The Wrong Door” looks great…and, even better, it’s actually quite funny. Sadly, there are only a half-dozen episodes, but the two I’ve screened left me chomping at the bit to see the other four.

External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies, Video

IFC’s “Food Party” is less than appetizing…

June 2, 2009 /

I’m all for off-kilter comedy, but getting through three episodes of IFC’s “Food Party” was damned near painful. The series, which appears as part of the network’s Automat line-up (which is loosely translated as the IFC equivalent of Adult Swim), is the brainchild of one Thu Tran, a Cleveland-based artist.

Here’s how the network describes the show:

“Food Party” is a mind-bending, non-reality cooking show with Thu Tran as your hostess, a cast of unruly puppets as culinary aides, and a cavalcade of fictitious celebrities as surprise dinner guests. Shot on location in a Technicolor cardboard kitchen as well as other foreign and exotic cardboard locations, each episode will or will not instruct you on how to prepare wild gourmet multi-course meals with ingredients you probably have on hand in your kitchen already, such as pretzel rods, eggs, narwhal lungs, bizarre plot twists, secret ingredients, and pizza. After all, you never know who might show up for dinner.

Each episode lasts about 12 minutes, and although I endured all three episodes provided by the network (“Thu Become One,” “Cave Duck,” and “Horrorsode”) in the name of TV criticism, it was such an excruciating experience that I feel obliged to warn off any who might consider watching it for themselves. While there’s certainly something to be said for the “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”-inspired look of the show, all I kept thinking while I was watching it was, “I don’t know a single person who would be able to sit through this without saying either ‘this isn’t funny’ or ‘this is gross.'” (The latter would almost certainly be uttered during “Horrorsode,” in which we see Thu’s water break, bear witness to all manner of disgusting liquids flowing forth from her nether regions, and eventually give birth to a pie filled with kittens.)

If you’ve ever watched “Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!” and thought, “You know, this would be great if it was just a little bit more out there,” then maybe you’ll enjoy “Food Party.” Personally, I found it ranging from terribly unfunny to legitimately disconcerting, but that’s me.

Feel free to make up your own mind by watching this clip from the show’s first episode:

External Entertainment, External TV, News, Reviews, test, TV, TV Comedies, Video

Blu Tuesday: He’s Just Not That Into You, Revolutionary Road and Weeds

June 2, 2009 /

After what seemed like an avalanche of Blu-rays during the month of May, HD consumers can finally rest their pocketbooks. The lull isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds – after all, studios continue to release catalog reissues every week – but those looking strictly for new titles have fewer options. For instance, last Tuesday brought us only one new release (the Renée Zellweger comedy, “New in Town”) – which is also why there was no new column – but this week offers up a slightly better selection to choose from.

“He’s Just Not That Into You” (Warner Bros.)

Though not quite an instant classic like Richard Curtis’ “Love Actually,” the Ken Kwapis-directed romantic comedy has a lot in common with the 2003 film. Both movies juggle several interweaving storylines (including some that end well and some that don’t), and both feature an all-star cast of actors. “He’s Just Not That Into You” isn’t as memorable, but it’s definitely better than expected thanks to a smart script and some standout performances by Ginnifer Goodwin and Justin Long. While the movie doesn’t appeal to the opposite sex in the same way as Curtis’ rom-com, it’s still an easier sell than most films like it due to the variety of male characters represented in the story. The Blu-ray release is far from extraordinary, but for fans of the genre, you could do a lot worse.

“Revolutionary Road” (Paramount)

I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t love “Revolutionary Road” quite as much as the other critics, but it’s still a solid period drama with fine performances from the hugely underrated Leonardo DiCaprio and the slightly overrated Kate Winslet. While the story is just as depressing as most of the award films Hollywood is producing these days, there are small moments of happiness sprinkled throughout that helps make what can easily be conveyed as an anti-marriage tale a little easier to swallow. There’s obviously more to story than that, which is why anyone who might have strayed from seeing the film in theaters (and judging by its box office receipts, that’s a pretty big percentage) should definitely give it a go on Blu-ray. The book by Richard Yates has been called one of the greatest novels in the history of American Literature, and while that’s certainly not true of the movie adaptation, it’s still worth seeing once.

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External Movie DVDs, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVDs

A Chat with “Harper’s Island” Victim #8

June 1, 2009 /

See, I told you this week’s victim interview would be posted in a timely fashion.

If you’ve been watching “Harper’s Island” all along, then this was probably the least surprising death of the series to date. It’s not that you necessarily saw it coming this week, per se; it’s simply that, due to an event in an earlier episode, you sensed that the character had been living on borrowed time, anyway. And while I don’t want to say that I’d actually been rooting for that time to run out, I have to admit that this was an interview I’d been looking forward to, due to the other credits found within this person’s IMDb listing…one of which will be returning to the airwaves next month.

Oh, but I’ve said too much. Let’s move onward before I give away anything else…

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External Entertainment, External TV, Harper's Island, Interviews, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

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