TVSquad

(S05E09) Remember that story about The Doors? The one where Ed Sullivan told them that they could only be on his show if they changed the lyrics of Light My Fire? They agreed, but when they went on Jim Morrison not only said the original lyric, but emphasized it. The message he was trying to send to Ed Sullivan and the network was that no amount of television exposure was worth selling out his integrity.

Watching Last Comic Standing tonight made me wish that Jim Morrison was still alive. And a stand-up comic. And on this show. I'd bet he'd have had something to say about jester costumes....

"Rogan Vs. Ant" sounds like a Japanese monster movie.

In this instance, though, I'm not talking about mutated monsters battling over Tokoyo, I'm talking about comedian Joe Rogan's recent accusation that comedian Ant, the openly gay judge on Last Comic Standing, steals jokes.

If that sounds familiar, it's because Rogan made the same accusations against Carlos Mencia not too long ago (and others have accused Mencia of stealing, as well).

I'm not going to comment on whether Rogan's allegations against either of these men are true, but I will say that no idea exists in a vacuum. If you're a comedian and you've come up with a funny joke or concept, it's likely someone else has thought of it, too. I'm not a comedian, but even I've had funny ideas that I later see pop up on The Onion, or Comedy Central, or any number of places. It's probably a comfortable delusion to think everything your brain concocts was pulled from some realm no one else's mind can touch, but that's just not how it works.

(S18E19)

Homer: What are you, a travel agent? 'Cause you're sending me on a guilt trip.

I've been watching a lot of early Simpsons episodes lately, mostly from the first five seasons. I know many fans cite the earlier seasons as the best of the series, but I tend to disagree with the notion that the show was only good up to a point and all subsequent seasons are a complete waste. It's easy to say "everything after season six is crap," but you're disregarding A LOT of episodes when you make a statement like that. I try to judge each episode on its own merit, regardless of the season.

It's certainly not wrong to prefer some seasons to others, as humor is always subjective, and, in the case of The Simpsons, I think there are numerous variables that come into play as to why some still love it and some abhor it. I won't go into that here, though.

(S02E16) One of the things I like so much about Everybody Hates Chris is that, at least on some levels, I can relate to what Chris goes through: I know what it was to grow up with not a lot of money, and I also know what it was like being one of the unpopular kids in school.

Of course, there are some things about young Chris' life I can't really relate to, such as living in a rough neighborhood. Gold chains have become popular in Chris' neighborhood, and so has "chain snatching," the art of ripping someone's gold chain right off their neck. Malvo returns in this episode, and when he tries to steal a chain from Vanessa (Jackee Harry), Chris warns her. Malvo, a career criminal, is none too happy about it and tells Chris to get him a gold chain by tomorrow.

Here's an epilogue to my post about the tiff between Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia that took place on stage at The Comedy Store a few days ago.

In a nutshell: Rogan and other comedians have been accusing Mencia of stealing material for some time, and the two men had a battle of words on stage with Rogan (and a couple other comedians) accusing Mencia of stealing material, and Mencia denying it.

On his Web site, Rogan wrote that he received a call from Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore (mother of Pauly Shore), asking him to explain what had happened. Later, he received a call from the club's manager telling him he might want to take a break from the club because of the tension between him and Mencia. He also told Rogan they weren't happy about him putting the video of the fight on the internet. Bottom line: Rogan has been banned from The Comedy Store, and Mencia will continue to perform there.

Carlos Mencia is not the first comedian to be accused of stealing material from other comedians --Denis Leary was accused of stealing from the late Bill Hicks, Dane Cook has been accused of swiping material from Louis C.K.-- but if all allegations are true, Mencia may be the one with the most evidence stacked against him.

I often wonder if "stealing" isn't sometimes confused with comics sharing a similar worldview. I'm not a stand-up comedian, but even I've seen funny ideas that have popped into my head appear on television shows, or in The Onion, or any other number of places. It seems that if you've thought of something, there's a good chance someone else has also thought of it.

I'm not part of the zany world of stand up comedy, but Joe Rogan is, and he's vehemently convinced that the majority of Mencia's material is stolen, and if the video below is any indication, comedians George Lopez and Bobby Lee also agree. Check out the clip to see Rogan and Mencia engage in a battle of words on stage at the Comedy Store. VIDEO CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE.

UPDATE: The YouTube video has been removed, so check it out here instead.

[via Digg]

(S02E04) Sadness is nature's spankings. - Clay Puppington

Those of us who have been watching Moral Orel since the beginning know that the show is more complex than it appears on the surface. The inner tensions within his own family and the other grown ups in Moralton were hinted at in the first season and have come more into focus this season. I'm not a television writer, but I imagine trying to meld the funny and the emotional into an eleven-minute amalgam can't be easy, which is why I think the "slow reveal" approach has worked so well for Moral Orel. In this episode, when Orel finds out his mother might have another family, the scene doesn't feel like it was suddenly sprung on us out of nowhere, because Bloberta's unhappiness and detachment has been part of the show's subtext since it first aired a year ago.

(S02E01) After a summer of anticipation, I was thrilled My Name Is Earl was back on the air beginning last night. I really enjoyed last season and am chomping at the bit to see how Earl Hickey continues to go about righting his past wrongs and crossing them off his list.

I managed to get a copy of the first three episodes of the new season of My Name Is Earl yesterday, and I watched the first episode "Very Bad Things" last night. After a successful first season and a summer of wondering how the show will evolve, I, at the very least, got a chance to get some perspective on how things will go.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E02) In 1990, Alice actress Linda Lavin directed a CBS Schoolbreak Special called "Flour Babies" about a group of high school students given sacks of flour which they were assigned to care for as if they were actual babies. Strangers with Candy used a similar concept for this episode, but instead of flour, the students are given actual babies. Jerri tries to talk her way out of it, insisting she's already had plenty of babies, just none she's carried to full term. Reluctantly, she accepts the baby and soon nicknames it "Dizzy" because it fell off her dresser into a laundry basket. Before all of that, however, there's a great opening scene with Noblet and Jellineck where they roleplay in the bathroom, pretending to be widows and then suddenly tearing each other's clothes off for some hot gay sex.

(S01E20) In this age where depictions of sexual fantasies which cover the entire spectrum from mildly titillating to mind-bogglingly depraved are available to anyone with an internet connection, a television episode about a kid swiping his dad's Playboy almost seems like something Norman Rockwell would have painted.

Those of us who grew up before the advent of the internet each have our own story about the time we first discovered our dad's hidden treasure of skin mags. I grew up on a farm and discovered my father's collection of Playboys from the '70s and '80s in an old wooden shed, resting inside a stack of dresser drawers. Like any boy who was too young to really be interested in sex yet, I found the magazines to be equal parts fascinating and repulsive. As much as our parents would try to protect us from such things, discovering those magazines was a kind of rite of passage for many young boys. You didn't know what you had found exactly, but it opened a window into the grown-up world you never knew existed. These days, that window no longer exists. In fact, the whole damn wall has been removed and replaced by an endless digital conduit of smut pouring out of the computer monitor of anyone with the ability to type the word "boobs" into Google's search field. An old copy of Playboy with nothing more than a nude female lounging next to a fireplace seems downright quaint.

Somebody has created a blog which points out examples in which Family Guy has stolen from other shows. The blog just went up recently, and I have to say I'm having trouble trying to figure out if he's serious about this or is just having a bit of fun with a show he doesn't like. I'd like to think it's the latter, because the examples he has given so far don't really stand up to scrutiny, at least not in my mind. Case in point: I'm fairly certain images of the Grim Reaper have been used in cartoons before, I don't think Family Guy stole it from South Park. Speaking as someone who enjoys the show but isn't blind to its flaws, I have to say there's a lot of examples this guy could have used that would have proved his point better.

However, maybe, just maybe, he actually does like Family Guy, and this blog is a way to satirize those people who nitpick at every detail of the show and call it a rip off, rather than accepting that Family Guy samples from the same pop culture grab bag as everyone else. I don't know, I'm still scratching my head.

[via Cartoon Brew]

While attending Earl Jr.'s (who is not really Earl's son) 5th birthday party, Earl and the gang reminisce about the old days where their life of petty crime brought them great joy. However, Earl's karmic convergence has led his "old gang" to express their boredom, but he reiterates the fact that he cannot go back to his old ways.

Earl then recalls the time years ago when he and his partner in crime Ralph stole the local favorite a Pops' Old Fashioned Weiner hot dog cart after accepting $200 from the competing Winky Dinky Hot Dog Chain. Earl decides to cross number 159 off his list by returning the cart to Pop, and helps Pops get back in business by passing out 2-for-1 discount flyers, but Ralph sets fire to the cart after accepting another bribe just as Pops gets going again.

Incensed by Ralph's actions, Earl demands that the Winky Dinky franchise owner pay $10,000 to replace the cart, but Earl backs off when the owner says he will tell the police about Earl's theft from years before. Earl now must do what he can to make restitution to Pops, even though it was Ralph who did the dirty deed.

Damn. I really liked these two. Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, 28, are accused of stealing a man's identity to buy a 2005 Dodge Magnum last June in Georgia. Terrell has been sitting in jail since January 10, and Derrell is expected to turn himself in soon on charges of forgery, theft by deception, and financial identity fraud. Wow. That's serious stuff. The brothers are from Memphis but they auditioned in Chicago last September. I wonder if they drove that stolen Magnum up for the occasion?

Such a waste of a good talent. Both of these guys sounded spectacular in their auditions on Tuesday night. And, what I really liked about them was that they "got it". That is, they auditioned together, as twins, but they also belted out separate songs to show off their individuality. The Brittenum boys understood that the twin gimmick wouldn't get them very far in the auditions process. They even told Seacrest that they didn't want to perform together, but against each other. I was really looking forward to a twin face-off.