TVSquad

You have to love a Daily Show segment that includes a random reference to an 80s one hit wonder band in the middle of a story about new gas emission standards. (Video also here.) Though I am curious as to how many people watching even got the reference to another band, Queen.

(S01E13) How about that opening sequence? Before the credits, the entire cast gets to take a shot at a locomotive big guy on PCP. He throws Elliot through a window, knocks out a kid getting off the elevator and even takes a taser shot to the gut from Olivia before Fin takes him out with a chair to the back of the head. Anyway, the entire action sequence was a pretty elaborate way to write Christopher Meloni out of this week's script.

And, how unusual was this episode? The first 40 minutes had us thinking the detectives were investigating their usual child porn case, but then suddenly Olivia passes out?!? That's when the episode takes a turn from child porn to a much headier subject of chemical companies testing their products on humans. Wha? It took me a little while to catch up with the detectives as they spouted out their theories on why people in a low-income apartment building were being gassed. For a while there, I thought the theory was hair-brained and another of Det. Munch's theories. But it just kept going.

(S01E04) Is the bar in Jericho asking patrons to pay money for the food and drink they're consuming during this crisis? I ask that because in the opening scene of tonight's episode, the power goes out and the woman behind the bar tells everyone to go home. And I'm thinking, wait a second...the world might be coming to the end and the only comfort these small town citizens can find is with each other, and the bar is making them go home at 9:30? Shouldn't this bar be sort of a meeting place, since it has food and drink and a television?

(S02E12) This is an early review.

Bob Balaban plays Tom's father in this episode, and I must say he was the perfect choice. He and Tim Heidecker, who plays Tom, have the same kind of soft-spoken, halted delivery, and it seems perfectly natural they would be father and son, even if Walt doesn't seem to care much for Tom.

The episode opens at the airport with Tom waiting for his father's flight to arrive. We assume he's visiting his son, but actually it's just an eleven minute layover (which is, funny enough, also the length of the episode). Tom doesn't let his father's lack of time keep him from making a minute by minute itinerary, which includes a father/son embrace (tentative). Tom's father sells fish coolers called "Coldinizers" and he doesn't want to miss his flight, else he lose all his sales on the Eastern seaboard. Tom insists they have time to do everything on the list, however.

MTV announced that Pimp My Ride will return for an all-new season on June 15. Musician Xzibit returns to hosting duties, popping collars along the way, but instead of West Coast Customs, the garage taking charge will be Galpin Auto Sports (GAS). According to the press release, some of the makeovers will include a limo and an ice cream truck.

I have conflicting feelings about this show. Occasionally, there will be something genuinely cool, like a really unique paint job. The rest of the time is just absolutely craziness -- like, beyond "let's throw in a pool-table"-craziness. Sometimes this is part of the fun, but it gets to be a little too much after a while. "We heard you like bunnies... so we turned your truck bed into a petting zoo! WHOO!"