TVSquad

(S35E03) Drew Barrymore is energy. Pure, almost-scary energy. It's disorienting to watch when one is bleary-eyed and staring at a tiny TV in the wee hours of the morning, but this trademark makes for consistent television-viewing. While the quality of Saturday Night Live's writing may waver from episode to episode, every time Drew Barrymore returns, one can safely expect absolute enthusiasm and a palpable willingness to step back and laugh at herself.

All right, little Ms. "I Extra-Love Female Empowerment," prepare for me to work that ego.... Especially when one compares her to the typical "hot girl" host (see: Megan Fox's SNL premiere), Barrymore doesn't box herself in and offers a lot more opportunity for fun characters. Would someone like Fox ever be willing to bolo it up to play Nina Wilkes Booth? I doubt it.

Uber-humorist John Hodgman has a wit that hasn't been seen since the likes of Robert Benchley. His uncanny ability to turn his know-it-all prowess and droll delivery into brilliant comedy deserves scientific study.

I'm not saying he needs a complete autopsy. Maybe just a little exploratory brain surgery that doesn't do any permanent damage to the neurons and synapses that allow him to conjure long lists of hobo names and an incredibly detailed history of the American lobster. Trust me, there is a hilarious global warming cure in that noggin somewhere.

So after watching his brilliant and funny performance at the White House Radio and Television Correspondence Dinner (Speaking of which, didn't we just have one? How many of these damn dinners do they need? Are television reporters experiencing a major shortage of grilled chicken?), a lingering but obvious thought occurred. Why does this man not have his own television show?

It's not every night that a TV viewer gets to witness history in the making, but that's what happened on Friday when Tony Hawk did an amazing in-studio skateboard trick on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Not only does the audience look stunned, but fellow guest Justin Long looks like he's about to freak out. Well done, Tony. (Video also here, for now anyway.)

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today: on TV Squad Daily:

• Melanie Brown loves to talk about her recent ice-cube proposal.
  
• Drew Barrymore is dating the "I'm a Mac" guy?
  
• David Schwimmer won't be part of any Friends reunion. And I finally realized what he reminds me of.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

Based on some of the comments on the Popwatch blog, I already know this clip is old, but since it's new to me, it's probably also new to many other people.

And also, anything with Sam Rockwell is worth checking out at least once.

Rockwell plays Batman, though he's not the dark, mysterious hero we're all familiar with. Actually, he does everything in his power to ruin things for Robin (Justin Long, the "Mac" in those Mac/PC ads) as Robin tries to woo a lady (Callie Thorne of Rescue Me) at a local restaurant.

We've speculated about this many times here at TV Squad, but now we have word from Ed himself, Tom Cavanagh, that season one of the show is coming to DVD.

In an interview with Collider.com, Cavanagh says:

"Yeah, I guess they're talking about it. Last I heard was they were close on season one. The stumbling block as it's like a lot of the time is the music rights. They were fortunate enough because of the clout they had as Letterman's producers to get a lot of great music as one-offs. Of course, when you put those on a DVD that becomes a whole different thing."

Bill Gates is the guest on The Daily Show tonight. John Hodgman, aka "the PC guy" in those Apple commercials, is a correspondent for the show. Will the two meet?

It's hard to say. Maybe as a visual, but I wonder if Apple would allow Hodgman to actually be on the show when Gates is there and interact with him in a way that would spoof the commercials? Not that it wouldn't be great advertising for Apple, but they probably want to control these things a bit more. This appearance is just a commercial for the new Windows Vista, so maybe they don't want any competition from Apple, even if it is "implied."

Besides, would Gates even find it funny? Even though Hodgman is "the PC guy," the ads are still ads that say Macs are better. I'll be watching though, just in case something does happen.

[via TV Tattle]

The "Get a Mac" ads, featuring the PC and Mac personified, are doing very well in the States. The American ads, as most of you know, star John Hodgman as the nerdy PC and Justin Long as the hip Mac. It looks like Apple is continuing to try and recreate the success in various other countries, including Japan, which I posted about a few months ago. The latest in this line of commercials hails from the UK, where the PC and Mac are played by Robert Webb and David Mitchell, stars of the British comedy Peep Show. You can watch the ads here.

When it comes to the American commercials, I always like the PC better because I'm a Hodgman fan, not because I dislike Long or the Mac. However, in a few of the UK commercials, the Mac actually sounds kind of mean. I feel like if I were to try and check my e-mail on the Mac and accidentally type my password incorrectly, he'd laugh at me for several minutes and then make a snarky remark about my hair.

[Thanks, Tom!]

If you have ever watched the Mac ads featuring John Hodgman and Justin Long and wondered what their Japanese counterparts must look like (and I'm sure everyone has), look no further! Yes yes, the Japanese have their own versions of the ads, starring members of sketch comedy group The Rahmens (I don't really know who they are, but I've read that they're like Japanese comedy's answer to Wes Anderson... whatever that means). The ads are pretty much the same as the American ones, but, y'know, in Japanese and with different actors. I like the original ads better, but, I must admit, the Japanese PC works some pretty sweet hip movements when he's rocking out to his iPod. Look out, Hodgman.

Our weekly roundup of what's going on at our sister blog (we cover the small screen, they cover the bigger one), Cinematical.

• Erik has news about a possible Mr. Show movie.
• Every Monday, Cinematical has a movie poll. This week: what classic movie character would you like to see return in a movie?
• Rob Corrdry is...The Donor!
• So who the hell is going to play the villain in the next Batman flick? Ryan Phillippe as Two-Face? Heath Ledger as The Joker? Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin?
• Martha doesn't like Justin Long, the guy from Ed who currently stars in those Apple commercials. He might play Bruce Willis' computer hacker son in Die Hard 4.
• And here's news about that fire that occurred on the Pinewood Studios set of Casino Royale.

When it was announced that Microsoft signed on The Daily Show contributor Demetri Martin for some ads, many accused the company of trying to copy the success of the new Mac ads featuring Martin's fellow TDS contributor, John Hodgman. Well, in actuality, Microsoft has utilized the talents of several TDS correspondents for quite a while now. Samantha Bee, Rob Corddry, and Ed Helms have already done various video segments and appearances for Microsoft.

Still no word on which company has called dibs on Jon Stewart.

John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise and 'Resident Expert' on The Daily Show, is starring in the new advertisements for Apple. Hodgman plays a PC. With his hair combed the way it is and his glasses and suit, he kind-of resembles Bill Gates, doesn't he? Just like on The Daily Show, Hodgman plays it totally straight and it's pretty darn funny. Either he's a PC with a cold, or he has to restart, or he can't talk to the hot Japanese girl who is talking to the cool Mac. Interestingly, the super-hip Mac is played by Justin Long, who has played some memorable geeky roles in Galaxy Quest and Dodgeball.

Check out all the ads here. My favorite personal favorite is 'Viruses'.

Anyone who knows me knows how much of a huge Ed fan I was. I even wrote an essay about it that got me more mail than anything else I've ever written.

So, it's really great to not only see Tom Cavanagh coming back to series television (in the it-looks-a-lot-like-Ed-from-the-commercials show Love Monkey). But the good news doesn't stop there: Ed's best friend is back too. Josh Randall, who played Mike Burton on Ed, is the guy who's Courting Alex on the CBS sitcom. (Hey, both on CBS - maybe Cavanagh and Randall can have lunch in the CBS cafeteria). And let's not forget Ed's love Carol Vessey: Julie Bowen is a cast member over on ABC's Boston Legal (and has a recurring role on Lost). And Michael Ian Black's Stella over on Comedy Central.  

Now we just need Lesley Boone (Molly), Jana Marie Hupp (Nancy), Rachel Cronin (Shirley), and Justin Long (Warren) to get regular gigs on TV and fans will be all set.