lonely island-related stories
Posted Aug 8th 2007 12:46AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews
Achtung! A quick message before the actual review... Those of you who haven't read the comments to Brigitte's "
TV Squad Daily" posts, you must do so, because, well, you'll see when you get there. Those of you who already do read the comments may have noticed that a very common typo in her
Monday post prompted a weird "John" vs. "Jon" discussion among the readers. Here's the thing: do you all pronounce "John" and "Jon" differently? I've never consciously made a distinction between the two and now I feel bad for calling myself a Jon Stewart fan. Please excuse me as I silently weep in a corner.
Okay. Moving on.
Continue reading The Daily Show: August 7, 2007
Posted Jul 27th 2007 3:39AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Industry, Lost, Celebrities, Heroes, Casting
Alright, kids. The Paramount panel. This is what Comic-Con is all about - big, marketing juggernauts produced by massive corporations. I'm sure a handful of indie comic producers turn in their graves at the thought of what Comic-Con has become, but you can't deny that it's all about the passion. There's something beautiful and deeply sincere about true fans connecting with the creators of their obsessions. The love of good storytelling and making life more bearable through sharing in an aesthetic experience can't be besmirched by even the crassest of capitalist gestures, and there's free stuff. Nothing wrong with that.
The Paramount panel was loaded with tidbits - mostly for the film, not TV, buff. (You can check out TV Squad and Cinematical scribe Kevin Kelly's live blog from this afternoon's event
here.) However, some of our TV friends have made the jump to the big screen -
SNL's Andy Samberg,
Alias and
Lost creator J.J. Abrams and
Heroes' Zachary Quinto.
Continue reading Comic-Con: Paramount Pictures Panel Report
Posted May 20th 2007 12:25PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Episode Reviews
(S32E20) I'm not a crazed Zach Braff fan, but I'm familiar enough with his work on
Scrubs and
Garden State. As the weird fantasy sequences in
Scrubs have shown, Braff and the bizarre totally work. So, I was disappointed that he didn't play any outrageous characters in this episode. He was always playing some version of himself. Even in the "Prom Committee" sketch, when he had the chance to portray some completely out-there character, he played the
Garden State kid with the Natalie Portman headphones. Oh, well. At least he didn't blatantly stare at the cue cards all night.
Also, there was so much Maya Rudolph love in this episode, it sort of felt like
she was hosting. I wonder if this is a sign that she's planning on leaving after this season? This then leads me to wonder if Darrell Hammond, who only appeared two or three times in this episode, is ever going to leave.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Zach Braff/Maroon 5 (season finale) - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 25th 2007 12:32PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Late Night, OpEd, Saturday Night Live
(S32E16) I know nothing about football. I know nothing about Peyton Manning. He's an athlete, right? Okay. I didn't expect much from him, since the majority of sports-related guests of the past have done poorly. To my surprise, Peyton did relatively well. I think this was partially due to the fact that the writing did not demand too much from him. Although this was a smart move to not make Peyton look like an idiot, it resulted in a mediocre episode.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Peyton Manning/Carrie Underwood - VIDEOS
Posted Feb 11th 2007 12:31PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Late Night, OpEd, Saturday Night Live
(S32E13) I'm not very familiar with Forest Whitaker's work, but I'm well aware of his new-found status as one of the biggest actors in Hollywood. He recently won multiple awards for his performance in
The Last King of Scotland, so I knew that he could act. Whitaker didn't do such a spectacular job on
SNL. He was good, yeah, but not spectacular.
However, the writing this week was really something else. It was a lot weirder than usual, I thought. For the most part, I liked it. I see that they've cut down on a lot of the more formulaic recurring character sketches, which is a massive improvement. Plus, none of the those recurring sketches are accompanied shitty little theme songs! Remember the days of "Debbie Downer" and "Carol"? Thank goodness those are over.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Forest Whitaker/Keith Urban - VIDEOS
Posted Dec 21st 2006 9:30PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV Royalty, Industry, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities
The guys from the Lonely Island comedy troupe have been three of the most important additions to the
Saturday Night Live family in a very long time. Andy Samberg is now one of the most recognizable faces on the cast, and Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have lent their writing expertise to some of the most famous sketches of the past few seasons. For example, the "
SNL Digital Shorts", like the wildly popular "Lazy Sunday", were these boys' doing.
Well, it sounds like the guys are thinking about putting their talents to LP form. Samberg recently said that they'd like to try to create an entire album of their now-famous style of hip-hop knock-offs. I'm not sure if I'd jump at the chance to buy a collection of songs like "Dick in a Box", but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't think about it.
Posted Dec 17th 2006 9:02AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Late Night, OpEd, Saturday Night Live
(S32E09) Justin Timberlake's first hosting gig was absolutely fantastic, so I had high expectations for this episode. Although it wasn't as funny as his first time, I was still very pleased with the result. Actually, Timberlake was better than most "proper actor" hosts. I have a feeling that he'll be returning to host many more times in the future. The man's already established a few recurring characters and I can see him becoming an
SNL favorite. Look out, Alec Baldwin, JT's on his way.
I was kind of surprised that there was no sketch, let alone mention, of the crazy overuse of the phrase "I'm bringing sexy back" and every imaginable variation of it. Heck, Timberlake didn't even perform it. Perhaps it was for the best, because I know "SexyBack" would have been stuck in my head for another ten weeks or so.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Justin Timberlake - VIDEOS
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