Do we really need multiple nights of David Spade (he's currently appearing on Rules of Engagement on CBS)? TBS believes the answer is "yes" and is preparing to launch an animated series of Joe Dirt which is a continuation of the movie of the same name. Spade will be providing the voice of the title character, which makes sense since he starred in and co-wrote the original movie.
TBS is trying to create a Family Guy-like animated comedy. Expect a lot of toilet humor from the series, which is a staple of the movies from Happy Madison Productions. It's likely that this series will not disappoint the legion of fans of "The Adam Sandler Bunch".
The question I must ask is: does the movie really warrant a spin-off television series? While we're at it, did the original Deuce Bigalow movie really warrant a sequel? If this works out for TBS, we might be seeing Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo the animated series in a few years. You know it would happen.
This week, we're going to take a bit of a departure from the shows we normally cover. It's very rare that a show that puts out 76 episodes could be considered by anyone to be gone too soon, and yet I make the argument that 8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is that show.
I'm also not going to try and convince you that 8 Simple Rules was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, because it simply wasn't. It was a fairly standard, solid series headlined by a brilliant comic actor... and then it became something else.
If you live in the Los Angeles area, you know that all you have to do is spit in any random direction and there is a one in five chance that your loogie will hit a celebrity. If it does hit a celebrity, there is a one in three chances that he'll beat you into a bloody pulp and a one in two chance he'll actually face an assault charge for it.
Greg Benson, creator of the viral video empire Mediocre Films, decided to reward the random TV celebrities he ran into with a crisp one dollar bill. That's the difference between Hollywood and the rest of the free world. When we open our wallets for people on the street, we don't necessarily know that they are going to use it for drugs and/or alcohol.
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Updateanchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.
But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a David Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)
(S04E19) It wasn't until I saw George Segal that I realized how much I missed seeing him on TV. It made me long for the days when he and Finch made me laugh out loud and lament the fact that David Spade hasn't done anything funny since.
While the thought of Denny Crane being President of the United States is certainly funny, the idea that he would be chosen for his electability is ludicrous. Aside from the more obvious problems, the Republicans would never nominate a single man with multiple divorces and an embarrassing arrest record. Let's be honest.
As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with numbers 20-11, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1975-1985 that made it to the big time. This week, we focus on the SNL casts from 1986 to 2006.
Aside from the first season of Lorne Michaels' return to the show he created and the 1994-95 season, this period was a very successful one for SNL, introducing a slew of characters and sketches that fans of the show still talk about today. It also produced a good number of Not Ready for Prime-Time Players who went on to bigger things in television and the movies (and some theater as well). Sometimes those bigger things were movies or television shows based on characters developed on SNL.
When I first saw the email sent to me about this video I thought 'What the hell is John Walsh doing stripping on Comedy Central's The Showbiz Show?' Then, I looked closer and realized it wasn't America's Most Wanted host John Walsh, but Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh. Frankly, I think a stripping John Walsh may have been interesting.
However, Kate's appearance on the David Spade program is just as intriguing. In this unedited clip you'll see after the jump (You can view a shorter version of the clip on AOL's Top 5 Television page) Kate talks to David about her placement in Maxim's Hot 100 List (she placed 52) and strikes a chord for women's rights as she lambastes the entire random numbering system. At the end of the interview she decides to show the viewing public why she should be higher on the list than she is.
Hey, I say good for Kate for playing along with David on the show. I think there are plenty of actresses on the Hot 100 List who would be too stuck up to do what she does on the video. If anyone deserved a spin-off from Grey's it was her.
I've watched all five episodes of CBS' new comedy Rules of Engagement, mainly because I'm already watching Two and a Half Men at 9. I also watch because Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price are two sitcom actors that I like, and I'm always hoping they'll land in a successful show. But I've got to tell you, the show is barely above average. I chuckle once or twice per episode, mostly in reaction to Warburton's droll line readings. And don't even get me started on the bland "young" couple played by Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich and the sight of David Spade aging before our eyes as yet another version of Dennis Finch.
But for some reason, the show is attracting a pretty good audience. In the LA Times article Bob linked to yesterday, it was noted that Rules is holding on to much of Men's lead-in audience, averaging 13.5 million viewers per week.
While I love all of the stations and choices we have now, I sometimes wish we could go back to just having a handful of channels to choose from. It was so much easier back then: shows started in September and ended in May, and the summer was for reruns, specials, and going outside. But now it's hard to keep track of it all. We have 300 networks and 1000 shows that start, well, basically anytime they want to.
Like The Showbiz Show. The Comedy Central celeb/gossip/news satire hosted by David Spade returns on March 15. Head on over to TV Filter to check out some video with Spade talking about Britney Spears.
Also note that not only is this show returning for its third season, Spade also has a Top 20 show over on CBS, Rules of Engagement. Not a good time to be a David Spade hater. I've always liked the guy. (And if you didn't see it, he live blogged the Oscars last night.)
CBS is really promoting Rules of Engagement, the new comedy starring David Spade and Patrick Warburton. It seems like they're running an ad for the show on every other TV show that they have. But will this show be a success, or be just another midseason sitcom that gets pulled quickly?
I haven't seen the show yet, but the cast is funny. Both Spade and Warburton are funny no matter what they're in (I have no opinion of Oliver Hudson - not even sure if I've ever seen him in anything before). Warburton was funny in Seinfeld and The Tick, and Spade...well, a lot of people hate him, but I think he's a riot. Sure, he does one thing (horny, slightly sleazy guy with quirks), but he does it really well. Just Shoot Me wouldn't have been the same without his character, and I actually think that he's the reason 8 Simple Rules lasted so long after John Ritter passed away. The dynamic of the show changed and was actually improved somehow after Spade (and James Garner) were brought on board.
So will Rules of Engagement be a surprise hit, or will be just fade away into oblivion? (I guess there's a third option, the Yes, Dear option, where a show no one seems to watch or talk about somehow stays around for 25 years).
Snarky McSarcasm, or as we call him, David Spade, is returning with a third season of The Showbiz Show Thursday, March 15 at 10:30pm.
I have to ask you, TV Squad readers, does anyone still watch this show? I watched the first couple episodes and caught a few of the later ones, but ultimately I just can't bring myself to watch another show that pokes fun at celebrity excess. We've become so saturated with celebrity news and gossip that I can't stand to hear about it, even if the point of the show is to make fun of our obsession with it.
Also, it's difficult for me to get past the feeling that Spade doesn't seem that into what he's doing. When he did his "Hollywood Minute" segment on Saturday Night Live, that detachment worked to his benefit. His comical disdain for all things Hollywood is what made that segment so funny, but now that "comical disdain" seems to have grown into genuine bitterness. When I watch him now, I always feel like he wants to be somewhere else, and, consequently, so do I.
Have you noticed that there are some people in Hollywood who are able to keep their careers going, somehow staying in something resembling a spotlight, for years after they should have faded from the scene? You've got to give these people credit; without their determination, pluck, and do-anything-for-a-buck attitude, people like Kathy Griffin might have fallen off the face of the earth after a couple of years. In fact, I did a Five post about folks like this a few months ago.
David Spade was on that list. He's a funny guy, but never the most talented person in that hoary group of former SNLers. But he's been resourceful and scrappy enough to keep things going for more than 17 years. Which is the long way for me to say that Comedy Central has picked up Spade's The Showbiz Show for a third season, which will begin airing in February. In addition to his cable duties, Spade will have a role in the upcoming CBS mid-season comedy The Rules of Engagement. So, as you see, Spade just keeps on keeping on. I'd make an Energizer Bunny joke here, but it's not 1990, so I'll refrain.
Do we really need multiple nights of David Spade (he's currently appearing on Rules of Engagement on CBS)? TBS believes the answer is "yes" and is preparing to launch an animated series of Joe Dirt which is a continuation of the movie of the same name. Spade will be providing the voice of the title character, which makes sense since he starred in and co-wrote the original movie.
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on 
(S04E19) It wasn't until I saw George Segal that I realized how much I missed seeing him on TV. It made me long for the days when he and Finch made me laugh out loud and lament the fact that David Spade hasn't done anything funny since.
As AOL Television continues their look at the 
When I first saw the email sent to me about this video I thought 'What the hell is John Walsh doing stripping on Comedy Central's The Showbiz Show?' Then, I looked closer and realized it wasn't America's Most Wanted host John Walsh, but Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh. Frankly, I think a stripping John Walsh may have been interesting. 
At 8, NBC has new, supersized episodes of The Office and 30 Rock, then new episodes of Scrubs and Andy Barker, P.I. 
At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, followed by a new Grey's Anatomy and the premiere of October Road. 
I've watched all five episodes of CBS' new comedy Rules of Engagement, mainly because I'm already watching Two and a Half Men at 9. I also watch because Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price are two sitcom actors that I like, and I'm always hoping they'll land in a successful show. But I've got to tell you, the show is barely above average. I chuckle once or twice per episode, mostly in reaction to Warburton's droll line readings. And don't even get me started on the bland "young" couple played by Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich and the sight of David Spade aging before our eyes as yet another version of Dennis Finch.
While I love all of the stations and choices we have now, I sometimes wish we could go back to just having a handful of channels to choose from. It was so much easier back then: shows started in September and ended in May, and the summer was for reruns, specials, and going outside. But now it's hard to keep track of it all. We have 300 networks and 1000 shows that start, well, basically anytime they want to.
Snarky McSarcasm, or as we call him, David Spade, is returning with a third season of The Showbiz Show Thursday, March 15 at 10:30pm. 
Have you noticed that there are some people in Hollywood who are able to keep their careers going, somehow staying in something resembling a spotlight, for years after they should have faded from the scene? You've got to give these people credit; without their determination, pluck, and do-anything-for-a-buck attitude, people like Kathy Griffin might have fallen off the face of the earth after a couple of years. In fact, I did 
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