NeilPatrickHarris-related stories
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 11:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Reality-Free
Oscar roulette is usually played when it comes time to figure out the nominations. However, this year there seems to be a wheel of fortune spinning with the names of possible hosts for the show. Of course, the
folks running the show have intimated that they might want to have a few stars sharing the duties. Historically, that hasn't worked out too well.
The other day when
Hugh Jackman removed his name from the running, I asked you for your ideas and told you that I like Kathy Griffin. Jimmy liked George Clooney and Justin Timberlake. Sancty suggested
Neil Patrick Harris.
Continue reading Who'll host the Oscars? The oddsmakers like Billy Crystal
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 11:04AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E06) The thing that always amazes me about this show is that how Old Ted is perfectly content to tell his kids about all the tawdry things he or Barney did back in those heady days of the mid-to-late-'00s, but every so often he realizes who he's talking to and substitutes a clean term for a dirty term. I'd imagine this inconsistency is done on purpose by Bays/Thomas and their writers; why have Old Ted pull back on his stories unless there's a laugh to be had?
This is how we got the references to "sandwiches," for instance. And this is how we got the running joke about bagpipes tonight. I liked how it was just a joke in the background and didn't really reference any major story. The major stories, though, were both pretty funny this week.
Continue reading Review: How I Met Your Mother - Bagpipes
Posted Oct 20th 2009 1:09PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
I never heard of Vic Mizzy, but he was a professional songwriter who specialized in TV themes.
Vic Mizzy passed away on Saturday at the age of 93. I may not have recognized his name, but I know Vic Mizzy's music... and I've had his tunes in my head for decades.
Mizzy was the man who wrote two classic TV themes,
Green Acres and
The Addams Family. And they really were classic. To this day, I remember every word and can sing them at the drop of a hat (if you were wearing one and decided to drop it).
Mizzy had written songs that the likes of Dean Martin and Doris Day recorded, even the great Billie Holiday. But those TV themes are his legacy. That's not a bad thing. Mizzy made music that people remember because they were catchy themes attached to quirky series. And his songs were perfect because in 90 seconds or so, he captured the gist of the sitcom. Think about it:
Continue reading The Addams Family, Green Acres and Vic Mizzy
Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:58PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews
(S05E05) Sometimes an episode of
HIMYM is full of "mythology" advancement. Sometimes it explores the romantic relationships between the characters. Sometimes there's a goofy website or video to accompany the episode. But sometimes,
HIMYM just tells one or two semi-isolated stories. Last year, many of those episodes weren't all that great. But this season is different; everything's been funny, including the mostly silly episode we got tonight.
Which reminds me... I have to figure out where to get a hold of some Tantrum. That stuff is more powerful than 12-Hour Sudafed.
Continue reading Review: How I Met Your Mother - Duel Citizenship
Posted Oct 13th 2009 12:07AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E04) Let's get this notion out of the way right here: Couples "dating" other couples isn't exactly a new idea in the sitcom world. Countless comedies have had the episode where the lead couple is blown off by another couple they really like, and they go through the same process that a someone goes through when he or she is jilted after a first or second date. This week we saw all of that.
But, it was done with some funny touches, not the least of which is a photo montage,
website, and music video (embedded after the jump) that gave the tired story a unique spin. And there was enough other fun stuff packed into this episode to make you forget that the main plot has been done since at least the days of Sam and Diane.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Sexless Innkeeper
Posted Oct 5th 2009 11:22PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E03) Well, it seems like Bays and Thomas are batting about .750 to this point in the season. Of the first three episodes, they made solid contact on each one, only really missing with the "double date" A-story of last week's episode. This week stood out not just for the fact that it was a heavy Brobin (Rarney? I'm still trying to find a nickname I'm comfortable with) episode, but it showed that even Ted can see the dark sides of the cartoons and balloons perspective he brings to relationships.
Oh, and I've seen the Robin nostrils-flaring look. It's different on every woman, but it means the same thing. It means: Run like the wind! No time to go back for your things! Run! Hopefully, Barney will get less of this look and more of "You're an idiot."
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Robin 101
Posted Oct 2nd 2009 11:31AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Spoilers Anonymous, Reality-Free
This is
Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at
TV Squad where we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our
tips form or by emailing us at
tvsquad at gmail dot com, or call and leave a message at
(775) 640-8479. Your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.
This week we have spoilers for:
90210, Bones, Desperate Housewives, Ghost Whisperer, Glee, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Law & Order: CI, Lost, Supernatural, The Mentalist and Ugly Betty. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)Continue reading Spoilers Anonymous
Posted Sep 28th 2009 11:36PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E02) If there was ever an episode that demonstrated how creative Bays and Thomas and their writing staff can be, it's this one. Not only did we bend time and space -- Ted even had an alternate universe-ish goatee -- but we got a doppelganger and an elaborate fantasy about hiccup disease thrown in for good measure.
What's interesting about it is, the bending-time-and-space A story, while fun to watch, turned out to be not much different than what we may have seen in the past. The B story was much more entertaining, and it gave us some insight to how the two currently active
HIMYM relationships are going to run for the time being.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Double Date
Posted Sep 21st 2009 8:33PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E01) Fans of
How I Met Your Mother had reason to worry that, with last season's ratings success, the funny little show that they'd been watching for four years would get away from what made it fun.
Fungible timelines, comedic head fakes, the burgeoning relationship between Barney and Robin, and Ted's eternal search for The One were all there last year, but the show's syndication-friendly embrace of more self-contained stories forced a lot of that into "subtle reference" territory. But
the fourth season finale reassured fans that Bays and Thomas are going to continue to explore these issues, even as the show approaches its 100th episode and beyond.
The fifth season premiere does a good job of reinforcing this. Everything's there, including Indiana Jones' bullwhip. And it's funny, to boot. And as Bays and Thomas assured me,
the location of the Mother revealed in the finale is reinforced... sorta.
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Definitions (season premiere)
Posted Sep 21st 2009 1:27PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Video, Celebrities, Emmys, Reality-Free, Joss Whedon
In case you missed our
live blog of the event and you haven't been checking around the Interwebs, Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris did a quick skit starring his character Doctor Horrible from
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The sketch guest-starred Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer and a couple of other cast members. Oh, and by the way, that particular Internet series
won an Emmy itself.
One can only wonder if Joss Whedon had a hand in the sketch. It certainly seems that way. The sketch used his sort of style and humor, particularly the bits where the screen was "buffering".
Fortunately, and perhaps in appreciation of the existing rabid fanbase of anything Whedon-related, a clip of the segment has already made it to YouTube (so TV Squad itself cannot be sued for taking someone else's intellectual property. You hear that CBS?). Hopefully it remains up there for a little while. The clip of the Dr. Horrible appearance at the Emmys follows after the jump.
Continue reading Dr. Horrible's Emmy appearance
Posted Sep 21st 2009 10:32AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, OpEd, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
I know people complained about this when the nominations came out, but for some reason, it just irked the hell out of me when Jon Cryer won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy.
Not that I don't think Cryer deserved an Emmy. No, he does a great job as the uptight Alan Harper on
Two and a Half Men. And, after all the failed shows and pilots, the man once known as Duckie deserves recognition for the fine actor his is... just not as a supporting actor.
Continue reading Cynical Emmy rant: Jon Cryer... supporting actor?
Posted Sep 8th 2009 2:32PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Judges, Reality-Free
Oh sure, now that she's not there anymore, they miss her. Sounds like a familiar story, but this is
American Idol.
Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell are missing Paula Abdul at the judge's table. They're in the midst of the audition process, using guest judges like
Neil Patrick Harris and
Kristin Chenoweth, and Randy confessed that he's looked over for Paula during the process and wondered, "Where's my P?"
Simon, who seems to have a lexicon all his own, said that he misses Paula, too. But in his bizarre way with words, he compared the new
Idol atmosphere as different, like "comparing a carrot to a banana."
Continue reading So now Simon and Randy miss Paula
Posted Sep 2nd 2009 4:25PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: American Idol, Celebrities, Judges, News and Gossip, Casting
I'm not a giant fan of guest judges on
American Idol. I don't mind when musicians come in during the later rounds to mentor the contestants, but guest judges during auditions just kind of throw off the dynamic of the judging. However, recent judges like
Kristen Chenoweth and
Neil Patrick Harris are awesome enough that I totally don't mind them showing up.
Avril Lavigne and
Katy Perry? Well, that's an entirely different story.
FOX has announced that the "I Kissed a Girl" singer will be guest-judging the final two days of the Los Angeles auditions along with Lavigne, who from what I remember from 2003, is an angry Canadian. If I was asked to think of two people that I would enjoy watching less, I would be hard-pressed to come up with anyone. Wait, okay.
Heidi and Spencer Pratt would be worse, but that's just a given, right?
Continue reading American Idol tries to annoy me to death with guest judges
Posted Aug 29th 2009 11:35AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
How do you pump up the viewership for a music award show on a network that used to be all about music but lately has been all about reality TV and nasty scandals? Well, apparently MTV has decided to go retro and keep it funny. To promote the upcoming
2009 Video Awards, MTV has created a West Side Story parody, not too different from the brilliant solo turn by
Neil Patrick Harris at last June's Tony Awards.
The commercial is a mixed bag. Taylor Swift proves that she has the real goods as a singer, doing the toughest part of the "Tonight" quintet. Ne-Yo's dance turn is more of a salute to Michael Jackson than an homage to composers Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. And Katy Perry's rooftop bit reinforces the fact that she's funny and playful.
Continue reading MTV's star-studded West Side Story parody
Posted Aug 27th 2009 10:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Celebrities, Judges
Could the departure of Paula Abdul from
American Idol actually result in a revitalization and renewal of the Fox monster hit? I ask that question because in the past couple of days, guest judges have been announced to sit in Paula's place and I'm absolutely psyched by the choices. The other day it was
How I Met Your Mother star
Neil Patrick Harris. Today,
Pushing Daisies' Kristin Chenoweth has been snagged as an American Idol guest judge. She's currently filming auditions in Orlando, Florida.
Continue reading Kristin Chenoweth on board as American Idol guest judge
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