TVSquad

As we mentioned in the New TV on DVD column this week, Andy Richter Controls the Universe: The Complete Series has been released, so all of you folks who really miss this short-lived show can watch the episodes over and over and over and get mad at FOX all over again for cancelling it so quickly.

But there's another thing that fans can do too, go to the web site that has been set up for the set.

The screen is scattered with office equipment (phone, stapler, pencils, etc) and each one moves or makes a noise. Roll your mouse over the phone and you'll hear a different clip from the show, and you can also get the code for a widget that you can put on your own web page. But the main part of the site is the "How Are You Feeling Today?" box. You pick your mood (angry, having some fun, sexy, in pain, etc), and click the "Give me a Richter moment" button and you get to see a scene from the show that illustrates that mood.

After the jump, a scene involving really small feet.

We've all heard about Alec Baldwin's angry message to his daughter, and like most of you, I didn't give it much thought.

However, while poking around our parent company AOL's news site, I found a link to this video (embedded below) in which Dora the Explorer, the bilingual chick who loves learning, receives a call from a very irate Alec Baldwin. I must say, Dora seems to take it pretty well. In fact, it's almost as if she's so preoccupied she has no idea what's being said to her.

Really, though, I can't blame Baldwin for getting upset. I'd be upset too if someone decided they'd rather hunt for treasure with their mother and a monkey than talk to me on the phone. I would suggest setting up an intervention with the Backyardigans; I'm pretty sure their credentials match Dr. Phil's.

(S18E09)

Homer: Why did you let that loser into our home?

Marge: I'll tell you why: Christian charity.

Homer: "Christian Charity?" What does a porn star have to do with this?

I was impressed with the overall holiday motif of this episode, especially the altered opening with snow, Christmas decor and Bart riding a snowboard (across dry pavement, even) rather than his usual skateboard.

Sorry I'm a few days late reporting this news, but I took some time off to volunteer at my neighborhood's annual Soup Kitchen and Hobo Scrub. This year I was on "soap and hose" duty, so it would have been total disaster had I not been there.

At any rate, if you haven't heard yet, Jane Pauley is suing the New York Times because she claims she was duped into being interviewed for an ad supplement which she thought was an actual interview about her bout with bipolar disorder. The ad supplement was for pharmaceutical companies, and Pauley is suing both the Times and DeWitt Publications, saying she was tricked and that she has never appeared in an ad or endorsed any product before. A spokeswoman countered by saying Pauley's assistant was informed that the interview would be for an ad supplement in the New York Times Magazine.

Hell hath no fury, as they say. The New York Post is reporting that a woman who had a one-night stand with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann was quite upset when the Countdown anchor hit the road after a session of sub par love making. The woman is so upset she started a blog about the ordeal, a blog that is apparently invite only. According to the woman, identified as "KarmaBites1" she and Olbermann met over e-mail, and after their night together he told her not to contact him again. You'll have to excuse my frankness here, but don't most guys say what they need to say to get laid and then make up excuses as to why they have to leave? "I'm sorry, but I have to go, I left a time bomb under my grandma and I only have ten minutes to dismantle it." Isn't this just part of the cycle of bitter relationships that culminates in a person growing old and eventually marrying anyone who's available and then having children through which they try to live vicariously to make up for the life they wish they had, smoking menthol cigarettes at youth sporting events and cursing at the coach between long wet coughs that sound like a draft horse choking on moist celery while a half empty flask of vodka rests at the bottom of their purse? Then again, maybe my grim view of human nature is misplaced. Perhaps I should see my doctor about upping the dosage on my medication. Either way, I hope we've all learned something today, whatever it might be.

[via Digg]

(S06E16)

Bart: Hey guys, just so you don't hear any wild rumors, I'm being indicted for fraud in Australia.

Homer: That's no reason to block the TV.

We get a rather dubious science lesson at the beginning of this episode when Lisa explains to Bart that the water in the sink and toilet always spins in the same direction due to the Coriolis effect. Usually the writers try to be scientifically accurate, but in this case they had to jump on the "water always flows one way in one hemisphere and the opposite direction in the other" bandwagon, or else Bart never would never have called Australia to see which way their toilet drains, and we wouldn't have ourselves one of those "Simpsons go abroad" episodes.

The live-action Underdog movie has been shooting in Providence, Rhode Island, and as part of the shoot, crews have had to gussy up the Statehouse and surrounding elements to make everything fit with the theme of the movie. That's par for the course when a film crew descends on your town, but the crew also replaced Rhode Island's state flag with a flag for a fictional city, and Governor Don Carcieri took offense and demanded that the flag be removed. I think someone forgot to tell the governor that the movie is based on a fictional character who exists in a fictional world, and is not, as he must have assumed, based on the true-life tale of a rhyming canine who can fly.

It has become clear from the last couple episodes of Wonder Showzen that the creators like to mess with people, whether it be people on the street or the people at home. Last week's episode, which was devoted entirely to a show-within-a-show called "Horse Apples," coupled with this episode which consisted of nothing but Clarence telling people on the street they could make better TV and then leaving the camera on them while they either stare blankly, pontificate, or get angry, both seem to stem from the same dadaistic mindset that made Andy Kaufman both hysterical and frustrating. This, I guess, is both a praise and critique of the show. On one hand, it's embracing the kind of "anti-everything" attitude a show like Wonder Showzen should have, but the gag doesn't feel especially new.

Stepping back and looking at this season as a whole, and disregarding the last two episodes, I think it was pretty solid, and if the show gets renewed for a third season, I would expect to see more great episodes with gags packed in so tight you have no choice but to watch episodes more than once to catch everything. I also expect more episodes like this last one, where they take a few risks and try something different so some guy can write some boring blog post about the philosophy behind it all. And honestly, I think that's great. Exceeding expectations is always cool, but when you flat out refuse to even try to meet expectations ... well, it doesn't make for great television, but I admire that kind of moxie.

The State University of New York at Purchase is in an uproar after a closed-circuit television station on campus aired a thirty minute show in which a white student decked out in blackface and another white student made jokes about blacks, gays, Jews, women... well, they pretty much ran the gamut. Billy Prinsell, the student who appeared in blackface, insists he was making fun of another host who had made fun of him, and that it was no different than what's seen on SNL or Chappelle's Show. While I haven't seen the offending show and couldn't speculate on whether Prisnell is racist or just grossly misguided, I don't think this story is uncommon to younger people who try to venture into satire for the first time. His comparison to Chappelle's Show is spot on, but not for the reason he thinks. When Chappelle gets impolitic, it's to expose a deeper truth. Mockery of other people is not automatically made defensible by slapping a "satire" label on it. It may seem like an easy way to be cutting edge, but this particular form of comedy takes a more skilled hand than people realize. When it's done haphazardly and without forethought, people get angry, and rightfully so.