Posts with tag AlysonHannigan
Posted Jun 28th 2008 1:08PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Standout Episodes, Episode Reviews
Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.
(S04E10) Well, it was a close call, with the top three candidates separated by two votes or less. So while I almost got to experience the
Buffy musical experience with "Once More With Feeling," or the fifth season episode "The Body," it was instead the silent episode "Hush" that came out on top. Now, understand that this is by no means an intention to say that the entire series can be fully appreciated by one episode. In fact, I have every intention of watching the whole thing. Maybe I'll even give you guys season-by-season updates as I go along.
What I did learn from this is even several years after it's end,
Buffy and
Angel fans are as passionate today as they are about their favorite shows when they were on the air. And it makes me even more depressed at the poor treatment Whedon's other television masterpiece
Firefly got at the hands of FOX. Maybe if it had been on UPN or The WB, it would have had a chance to develop as Whedon envisioned. But to the matter at hand. How does someone who's never seen a single episode of
Buffy or
Angel take an experience like "Hush?"
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush
Posted May 19th 2008 10:35PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E20) Wow, talk about a jam-packed episode. We saw major character development, flashbacks upon flashbacks, some issues resolved and others completely thrown into chaos, and a whole lot of funny talk of miracles.
Oh, and we saw Sarah Chalke,
as Carter Bays told me last week. That was just cherry on the sundae, though.
Since so much stuff happened, let's just get to it after the jump, OK?
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Miracles (season finale) - VIDEO
Posted May 12th 2008 11:44PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Episode Reviews
(S03E19) I'm going to be speaking to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas tomorrow afternoon, and I think that one of the first questions I'm going to ask them is if Britney Spears is going to be a recurring guest on the show. It's starting to look that way, based on what we saw tonight; the way things ended, I can just imagine crazy Abby popping up once or twice per season, just to make Ted's life miserable. And since Brit Brit established the role, I'd imagine she'd come back and reprise it.
And that's not altogether a bad thing. Once she becomes part of the fabric of the show, the episodes will be less about her presence and more about the story. Somehow (heh), Brit pulls off the nutty stalker role well enough, and maybe her acting will get a bit more refined the more she appears. At least I hope it does.
Why am I prattling on about Britney? Because there isn't much more about this episode that really stood out.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go - VIDEO
Posted May 5th 2008 11:57PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E18) You know how I keep saying that guest spots ruin the chemistry of
How I Met Your Mother? Well, that's not an absolute; sometimes, guests integrate well into the ensemble, or the story they're given is so good, that it just works. This week was one of those weeks. In fact, it was doubly good, since
both Sarah Chalke and Will Forte did a good job of fitting in, with Forte being his usual creepy-funny self and Chalke being... well, anyone who reads my
Scrubs reviews knows how I feel about Sarah.
What? I have respect for her acting ability! That's all...
Ahem... now, where were we?
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Rebound Bro - VIDEO
Posted Apr 28th 2008 11:11PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E17) Interesting ending to this one, huh?
I'll get to that after the jump, for those who are spoiler-phobic. This was an episode full of story and character development, and some glimpses into the personalities of all five members of the
HIMYM gang. And it was pretty damned funny. The show's starting on an end-of-season roll, and with some big emotional and interpersonal issues coming to a head right now, the last few episodes are looking very promising.
Now, about that goat...
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Goat - VIDEO
Posted Apr 21st 2008 10:42PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E16) Bless the peapickin' little hearts of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. All week, they've been setting us up, telling us about the return of Robin Sparkles, saying that we were going to get an episode full of eighties and nineties goodness, complete with James Van Der Beek, Tiffany, and Alan Thicke. We even
got a video (full video is after the end of the review) as a taste.
But all of it was a ruse. A week-long ruse to distract us from realizing what was
really going to happen in this episode. Since I don't want to spoil it for anyone, come with me to the after-jump portion of our review and then we can talk.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Sandcastles in the Sand - VIDEOS
Posted Apr 14th 2008 10:57PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E15) The original name of this episode was going to be "The Simmons Report," according to IMDb and Epguides. But, as we all know, there was a report in the episode, but it got a much different -- and much cooler -- name. In fact that little joke is one of a number of silly throwaway jokes that made this episode one of the funniest of the season. And what was interesting was, in the middle of all that goofiness, we got serious advancement of story in the deal. And, refreshingly, the story wasn't the relentless pursuit of the mother's identity. No, we find out more about Marshall's career and come a step closer to seeing why he became a bald mess by 2030.
Oh, and we also got to learn about the chain/circle/pyramid of screaming. I wish I knew about that when I used to be a corporate wage slave. It would have made my life a lot easier.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Chain of Screaming - VIDEO
Posted Mar 31st 2008 10:55PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews
(S03E14) First of all, let's get this out of the way:
TedMosbyIsAJerk.com works.
Of course it does. We've come to expect nothing less from Bays and Thomas, as they love to use the Web to further the
How I Met Your Mother brand. This site looks like it's fun: cheap 1996-era graphics and text, lots of exclamation points... there's even a song written by poor Anna, who still thinks Barney is Ted. Oh, and that Ted Mosby is a jerk.
It's not a coincidence that
HIMYM's first truly funny episode returning from the strike is Barney-centric. Even though Barney seems to be the most one-dimensional character on the surface, Carter and Craig have used him (and the very game Neil Patrick Harris) as a blank canvas, giving him all sorts of backstory elements that seem crazy... but somehow plausible. He used to be a hippie; he has a black gay brother; he slept with
Madeline Albright... it all seems entirely possible, doesn't it?
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Bracket - VIDEO
Posted Mar 24th 2008 10:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities, Episode Reviews
(S03E13) You know, I'll probably be the only person in the TV-review world who won't lead off his review of this episode with a picture of Britney Spears. Believe me, I had one up before I saw the episode (it's still there; I put it after the jump). But after watching it, I just couldn't do it; the episode is about the relationship between Ted and his tattoo removal doctor. Britney, as most people expected, was just there as an accessory. More on her in a little bit.
OK, now on to the episode... it stunk.
It didn't just stink; it was among the worst episodes of
HIMYM I've ever seen. It was corny. It was only occasionally funny. And it had sitcommy situations that would have made
Three's Company fans roll their eyes. I was tempted to channel
The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy and utter
his catch phrase, but this episode didn't even deserve that.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Ten Sessions - VIDEO
Posted Mar 17th 2008 10:12PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Casting
(S03E12) How I Met Your Mother has been making a lot of news lately, with
its timeslot change, its constant
bubble status,
the hiring of Alicia Silverstone, the subsequent
hiring of a certain young woman named Britney, and the resulting
departure of Silverstone and arrival of Sarah Chalke.
But what we haven't seen were actual episodes, thanks to the
writers' strike. Thankfully, the strike is over and Bays and Thomas managed to be one of the first to get new episodes on the air, just in time for St. Patrick's Day. And, while
HIMYM's returned with only a slightly-above-average episode, we inched ever so closer to finding out the solution to the show's main mystery. That's the least the guys could do after three months off.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: No Tomorrow
Posted Mar 12th 2008 4:21PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Video, How I Met Your Mother
If you don't have the time or the attention span to watch
The Daily Show, The ONN (
Onion News Network) is a good replacement. Or maybe you have lots of time and want to find more to add to your viewing schedule.
The Onion News Network does what The Onion does best: mocks the media. Their frequent video news releases are of
inane Breaking News, or of typical Onion stories such as
Christian charities raising money to feed non-gay, starving people. I find I enjoy the video version of The Onion even more than the print version because the stories are goofy, but so is the talent.
Anyway, the video after the jump is something I thought you guys would enjoy. It's a (fake) interview on a show called
Today Now! with a representative from the FCC who seems to be
stalking Alyson Hannigan.
Continue reading The FCC (hearts) Alyson Hannigan - VIDEO
Posted Nov 12th 2007 10:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews
(S03E08) HIMYM has always been at its best when it is shifting perspective and twisting time in a knot. This episode does both of those things. While neither plot was very earth-shattering from a creative standpoint, the time-shifting involved in telling the stories (along with some very funny sound effects in one case) made them both very funny.
Oh, and just as an aside, I'd like to finally welcome back Cobie Smulders and her character of Robin Sherbatsky back into the fold. She's been kind of on the outside looking in all season, but the she's been fully integrated back into the gang the last couple of weeks, and the show's much better for it.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Spoiler Alert
Posted Nov 5th 2007 11:33PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews
(S03E07) One of the grand unfolding mysteries we've been given this year by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas is "What the hell happened to Marshall and Lily?" I mean, every couple gets away from the hearts-and-flowers ideal that was pervasive when they got together, but it seems like Marshall and Lily lost more of it than most; Lily goes from flower-print-wearing kindergarten teacher to pearl-wearing hard-ass, and Marshall goes from youthful environmental supporter to balding corporate stooge. Something must have tripped them up along the way.
Well, tonight we're starting to find out what that is. It started with Lily's love of boots and Marshall's new corporate law job, and now its spreading to an apartment that's in a neighborhood that no one ever wants to live in. What's next? Sexual inadequacy?
Kids who deal drugs? Clinton-esque side nookie? The mind boggles at the thought.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Dowisetrepla
Posted Mar 23rd 2007 9:04AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, How I Met Your Mother, Cancellations
I'm in denial even as I write this.
Ausiello over at TV Guide has a scoop that appears to be about
How I Met Your Mother, although he's not naming names just yet. He says the comedy may not be renewed because some stuffed suit over at CBS doesn't get it. Or, to quote Ausiello directly, the bigwig thinks
HIMYM "is about as funny as a root canal." (What?!? You have to be dead if you don't find Barney funny) I wonder if this is the same decision-maker who keeps renewing
The Unit?Why do I suspect it's
HIMYM? Because Ausiello gives a big hint, saying that the show in question was passed over for a major promotion earlier this season. That sounds an awful lot like how
HIMYM got screwed out of the post-Super Bowl slot, doesn't it? Plus, there hasn't been any official word about a renewal for
HIMYM so even if I'm wrong, it wouldn't hurt to send some support to the show.
Fans, it may be time for a rally. CBS has a feedback button on the bottom
of its homepage where you can flood the network with love for Ted, Robin, Lily, Marshall and Barney.
*UPDATE: Here's the
online petition. (Thanks, e!)
[Thanks for the tip, Steven!]
Posted Sep 6th 2006 9:34AM by Brett Love
Filed under: OpEd, The Five
The preview for this weeks
Blade teased a kiss between Krista (Jill Wagner) and Chase (Jessica Gower). In celebration of that possibility, I thought now would be a good time to touch on other girl-girl kisses in our television history. Sometimes they are to make a statement. Sometimes they are a ploy to grab ratings. And every once in a while, it's just a natural part of the story. Here are the five that come to mind first for me.
Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) and Sharon (Mariel Hemingway) - RoseanneThis was an important moment in television. At the time, there was no L-Word, and two girls kissing was still a very controversial thing. Roseanne has her faults, to be sure, but standing up to the network to get this episode on the air is something to be proud of.
Ally (Calista Flockhart) and Ling (Lucy Liu) - Ally McBealThis one strikes me as somewhat the opposite of the
Roseanne kiss. There was much less statement, and much more ratings grabbing sensationalism in this lip-lock. In that regard, it worked very well. Of course, the gang over at Ally McBeal had plenty of practice. Along with Ling, Ally also kissed Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith) and Elaine (Jane Krokowski). But if I have to pick one, it's Ling every time. And yes, I was an
Ally McBeal fan.
Continue reading The Five: Girls kissing girls
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