TVSquad

(S05E07) During most episodes of HIMYM, you tend to forget that this whole show is told from the perspective of Old Ted, who's telling his kids the longest, most boring meet-up story in history of the world. Bob Saget's narration often just goes in one ear and out the other, like the background music. But there are some episodes where the storytelling aspect of the series is firmly in place, with the exaggerations, changes, and bad memories often associated with this activity.

This was one of those episodes. Was Barney really that fat? Was Robin really that haggard? Did Archisexture really accidentally "fly" into Ted's VCR? Of course not. But those whoppers from Old Ted were what made this episode so entertaining. That and Alan Thicke. But Alan Thicke always makes things entertaining; he's Alan Thicke, for crissakes.

(S04E18) Here's why I sometimes wish I was a sitcom writer: While breaking down a story to use for an upcoming episode, someone brings up the idea of names for Canadian sex acts. Then what occurs is what I would imagine to be one of the all-time funniest brainstorming sessions, where the table of writers just blurts out names like "Musty Goaltender," "Squatting Eskimo," and "Old King Clancy." Then someone comes up with the idea of having Barney find those phrases on a cheesy website, so more hilarity ensues as the website gets created, with the added joke that clicking each phrase generates a picture of an angry Alan Thicke explaining that the site is out of order (My favorite: "Thicke mad. Thicke smash!")

I mean, the cascading jokes on that website alone (see what happens when you right-click on Alan Thicke or click on the words "crack a brown pop," for instance) made this a silly but funny episode, where we find out how funky Canadian sex acts are and also find out how Ted might be able to use his douchery for good.

Would you say that Arsenio Hall's show was a bomb? Yeah, neither would I.

But The St. Peterburg Times lumps Hall's show into a group that includes Magic Johnson, Chevy Chase, Pat Sajak, and Alan Thicke. They all hosted late night talk shows that never quite made it. And when I say never quite I made it, I mean they were gone in the blink of an eye. But Hall's show lasted about 6 seasons, and if I remember correctly was quite popular with younger viewers and gave Carson, Leno and Letterman some good competition in that demographic. I also don't agree with another statement, that Jon Stewart's talk show "sucked." I kinda liked it.

So will Jimmy Fallon's show be another short-lived show that couldn't compete? Or is it a different time now? A lot of people thought that another Jimmy, Kimmel, wouldn't last that long either. But it looks like he's here for the long haul.

Have you been missing those references to Scherbatsky's Canadian life? If you know what I'm talking about then you'll be overjoyed to know that on April 21, How I Met Your Mother will be all about Robin Sparkles, Robin Scherbatsky's alter-ego teen singing star. The entire episode is planned as a flashback to the 1980s 1990's when Robin became a one-hit wonder with the song "Let's Go to the Mall." Well, it turns out that wasn't her only song. Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, How I Met Your Mother's co-creators, composed a ballad. "Sandcastles in the Sand" was the flip-side of "Let's Go to the Mall." It's supposedly in the style of a power break-up ballad, like "Foolish Beat" and "Toy Soldiers."

Reunions are hot, you know? On February 12, for example, Oprah reunited (most of) the kids from The Cosby Show, with Bill appearing via satellite. Well, never one to let a good idea go to waste, NBC jumped on the theme. They recently had a Family Ties reunion on Today, so now the morning show is commencing tomorrow with a series of more "Together Again" features. Tune into 8:00 a.m. hour each day so you don't miss a thing!

Remember the South Park episode where manatees were creating jokes for Family Guy by pushing random balls into a hopper? I'm starting to think that the producers of reality television are taking the same approach. How else do you explain the planned CBS show The Singing Office?

Based on a popular Dutch show, the premise involves going to an office and making everyone sing. The five best singers from two offices are flown to Los Angeles for a showdown where the teams perform. The audience votes and the winning office takes home the cash. I can only imagine that we were only a couple random balls away from So, Roadcrew Flagmen Think They Can Rollerblade? Not even the prospect of Alan Thicke as host is enough to get me to watch this mess.

Don't waste another minute on some other show at 11:35 tonight, check out Nightline. Kirk Cameron will be on to tell viewers how and why he became a Christian Evangelist. Seems he became very religious during his Growing Pains days, around the age of 16, and it changed his life. He's now co-head of the "Way of The Master" organization, hosts a weekly TV show and stars in the Left Behind movies and other films/TV shows.

Cameron has been married to his former Growing Pains co-star Chelsea Noble for several years, and they have six children.

Here on TV Squad we already covered the launch of In2TV, a new service that lets you indulge your nostalgia for old shows via the magic of streaming video. Last night, I got to indulge in a little nostalgia first hand at the In2TV launch party. I am the worst person to send to events like this; I'm a lurker, too shy to talk to anyone and not the best with a camera, but as the only L.A.-based member of TV Squad, it was my honor to check out the scene.

The  event took place at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills. Gabe Kaplan took the stage, made a few jokes about the new Welcome Back, Kotter movie and showed off the In2TV concept. He was a good sport and even brought out a paper airplane to put on his head, joking that it didn't stick as well as it used to (aw, Gabe, you're thin on top but we still love you.)  He introduced George Lopez who gave a heartfelt tribute to Freddie Prinze, showing clips of the comic's career and snippets of episodes from Chico and the Man. Somehow, in George's speech, he managed to reference the fact that he has one kidney and his wife gave it to him (is there anyone who hasn't heard this story yet?) He announced the In2TV Influencer Award and handed the strangely shaped trophy to Freddie Prinze Jr. Freddie made a brief speech, then Jose Feliciano was brought to the stage to play the Chico and the Man theme (with just a bit of "Light My Fire" thrown in). The crowd was full of old favorites from the TV days of long ago. After the jump, a few familiar faces.