TVSquad

(S01E11) Wow! What an episode. Well, not the whole episode; the last two minutes. For the first time on Eli Stone, we got a glimpse of where the visions may be taking Eli. Also, if the vision of the future he had is on target, then the thing in his head, the aneurysm, is either not fatal as we've been told, or -- perhaps -- Eli will have the surgery and live many more years. At least until 2018. That's if we're to believe that the vision he had is the real future...

But first let's talk about the "Patience," this week's episode. I'm not really loving that title, but I guess it makes sense when you think about the totality of the show. Eli has one of his sensory hallucinations and finds himself in Times Square, New York City, in the middle of a huge rally. People are chanting a theme, "Live Brave," and there are signs and banners promoting the Live Brave movement. The man at the microphone is named David Mosely and he's being cheered.

Another installment from CareerBuilder's jungle office, and this one improves on the training seminar bit. The guy walking on hot coals and chanting "I will improve my pie charts" was hilarious. Give them an extra point for the knock-out receptionist too. It's late in the game, and we need those kind of details.

The wedgie as positive feedback, the falling guy screaming "I'll be a team playerrrrrrrrr", and the kicker line from the receptionist, "Mr. Watts will see you now. Please remove your shirt." were all very well done. As was the reaction from the nervous employee about to be evaluated. Still not up to working with chimps, but getting closer.

The strange work environment is something we've seen before, and I think it's been done better with the working with chimps series. This was still a good ad though. Nice location, and well acted. Really nice attention to detail with the net falling on the escaping employees.

I'm sure most of us that have been in the workforce for any length of time can feel for the desire to not be part of another training seminar. I particularly liked the guy at reception casually reminding the fleeing workers, "Sign out please." Nice touch. The lemming like ending was perfect.

Here's a sad story with a happy ending. Three Hollywood chimpanzees that had been routinely beaten into performing will live out their days on an animal sanctuary far away from their former trainer Sid Yost. The chimps had appeared on That 70s Show, The Craig Kilborn Show and a litany of other TV series, films and commercials.

The move to kinder, gentler pastures comes on the heels of a lawsuit that had been filed against Yost by the Animal League Defense Fund. Once the Animal League's allegations of cruel and unusual punishment were brought to light, Pam Anderson, Alec Baldwin and Bob Barker pledged never to appear on screen with chimpanzees again. (If they'd taken W.C. Fields' advice about kids and animals, they never would have in the first place.)

Despite their long history in comedy, I've never found primates of any kind to be inherently funny. I don't care how human they act, how many cowboy hats you put on them, or how many props you give them, they're just not that humorous. Of course, now I must contradict myself by saying that pretty much anything can be funny if it's placed in the right context, which is why The Chimp Channel, a program which ran on TBS for one season in 1999 and whose cast consisted entirely of chimps, sometimes made me laugh, despite my aversion to the idea of monkeys being a kind of comedic Holy Grail whose mere presence brings comedy to any situation.

In a nutshell, The Chimp Channel was a sketch comedy show with chimps, spoofing the television shows and movies of the day. Based on that premise alone it's no wonder the show only lasted one season, but the writing was actually quite solid and funny, and they were able to get some great performances from the animals. The series was actually much better than it had any right to be. I don't see how a show consisting of an all-chimp cast could have lasted very long, no matter how funny they tried to make it, but the TV landscape has seen more than a few shows like this one that were just too outlandish to ever find a wide audience. If you're lucky enough to catch these types of shows when they're on, they provide a nice respite from the mundanity of "normal" television fare. Also, it helps if you like chimps pretending to be characters from Star Wars.