Posts with tag review
Posted May 16th 2008 1:19AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Office, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Episode Recaps
(S04E14) I performed tonight in Hartford, CT. Coming out of the comedy club, a woman who wasn't at the show checked me out. I heard her say
helloooooo in a guttural way, like I was a really good looking guy. A few seconds later, though, once she got a better look at me, she said, "Never mind." Then, she and her friends laughed for as long as I could hear them.
Apparently, I'm only good looking when someone is looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
I bring this up not to inform you that I'm unattractive -- my blogger profile photo does a better job of informing you of that than I ever could -- but rather because I didn't think I could be any more depressed than I was after that comment. I honestly thought their derisive laughter was going to be the low-point of my evening. Then I watched tonight's
Office finale...
Continue reading The Office: Goodbye, Toby (season finale) - VIDEO
Posted May 13th 2008 1:17AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E15) Do you remember what you were doing on May 16, 2004? Think hard, it's important. Seriously, that information could determine
exactly how you feel about tonight's episode.
On May 16, 2004,
The Sopranos aired an episode called "The Test Dream." Tony, reeling from an impending separation and problems in Mafia-town, went a little funny in the head and spent most of the episode engaged in the longest, most weirdly
symbolic dream sequence in the history of television (until, that is, the show broke its own record two years later). If you remember, fans of the show were pretty angry; my father, for instance, shot out his screen, Elvis-style.
Anyway, I'm going to guess that you either loved that episode or hated it. How you felt about it probably informs how you felt about tonight's
House. My own feelings about it are simple...
Continue reading House: House's Head
Posted May 9th 2008 2:22AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Office, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E13) Remember that movie
The Chase? Okay, you probably don't, but believe me,
it exists [link NSFW]. Anyway, Charlie Sheen takes Kristy Swanson hostage, and over the course of the movie some major league Stockholm Syndrome kicks in (like, really major league: they do it while he's leading the cops on a high speed chase). The lesson of the movie is obvious: if you kidnap the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she'll eventually fall in love with you.
I bring this up because I'm becoming scared that I might have lost perspective on
The Office. I've sincerely loved every episode that has aired since its return from the break. Now, here's the question: is this because the writers spent the entire strike doing brain push-ups? Or is it because
The Office is Charlie Sheen to my Kristy Swanson? My (glowing) review after the jump...
Continue reading The Office: Job Fair - VIDEO
Posted May 8th 2008 1:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, 30 Rock, Reality-Free
In
reviewing tonight's season finale of 30 Rock, Robert Bianco of
USA Today took the opportunity to bemoan how the show has declined in quality since it came back from the writers' strike. Essentially, his argument centers on how the show has gotten increasingly absurd, when the show's initial attraction was how the relatively-sane Liz Lemon reacted to the insanity going on around her. Now, according to Bianco, even Liz is getting wacky, screaming for her sandwich in "Sandwich Day," for instance, or getting entangled in one romantic situation after another. According to Bianco, the show is "ditching plot and character in a desperate, scattershot search for laughs, as if its new goal were to become a live-action version of
Family Guy."
Hm. Sometimes a critic picks up on subtle changes in a show others can't, at least not until it's too late and the show they loved is irreparably damaged. That might be the case here. But right now, I'm not quite seeing what Bianco is complaining about.
Continue reading Is 30 Rock going downhill?
Posted Apr 11th 2008 11:06PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E02) Let me start out by saying that
Sci Fi airing these episodes online at noon is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing that we all get to see our favorite show well ahead of time. It's a curse because it's smack in the middle of a workday for some (though at lunchtime) and at the start of a workday for others. There's no pausing or rewinding, so if you get a bad connection or miss something, you still need to tune in that night to keep up. Not that that's such a bad thing, really, but man it's frustrating.
Continue reading Battlestar Galactica: Six of One - VIDEO
Posted Apr 4th 2008 11:00PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E01) Starbuck is dead. At least the Starbuck as we knew her before the events of
'Maelstrom'.
Now don't go thinking I've revealed some sort of spoiler pre-jump here. What I said is merely an observation of how Starbuck appears in this episode and how others perceive her now. It's also from something Katee Sackhoff was told by Ron Moore (as
she mentioned in an interview). And can you really blame all parties involved for behaving quite a bit differently now, since then?
Continue reading Battlestar Galactica: He That Believeth In Me (season premiere) - VIDEO
Posted Feb 12th 2008 9:43PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Kyle XY, Episode Reviews
(S02E18) "Nothing ever happens on a Sunday." - J.T.As soon as J.T. said that line after telling Josh he was in charge of The Rack, we knew that something would indeed happen on this particular Sunday. What happened? A newbie makes tons of mistakes, there are a lot of customers, money is missing from the cash register, there is a fit between two enemies, two customers clash, a couple must reevaluate how truthful they are to one another, a father figure plays mastermind games, and someone from the past resurfaces! Not an ordinary Sunday indeed!
Continue reading Kyle XY: Between a Rack and a Hard Place
Posted Feb 8th 2008 12:45AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Lipstick Jungle
(S01E01) Earlier today, I gave you a take on what I thought NBC's new dramedy
Lipstick Jungle was like. The series, based on a
novel penned by
Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, premiered with a slightly revamped pilot and a whole lot of promos for Maybelline.
I won't rehash what I said in my
early look post since there weren't enough changes between the two versions of the pilot. The main change is the recast of Wendy's husband (Paul Blackthorne took over the role held by Christopher Wiehl); a good move if you ask me. Wiehl's performance in the pilot wasn't believable and strong enough. Blackthorne is more fitting in the role and will bring in a nice flavor to the show thanks to his English background.
Continue reading Lipstick Jungle: Pilot (series premiere)
Posted Feb 6th 2008 11:11AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Kyle XY, Episode Reviews
(S02E17) "This family means everything to me." - KyleThe boy without a belly button was put under the microscope this week on
Kyle XY. Okay, not a real microscope but still, the social worker asked tough questions to the Tragers and Kyle and visited the house to make sure Kyle was raised in a safe place. Because of this unexpected visit, the teens plotted and planned together in order to get rid of cases of beer and porn, hide Amanda and... take care of the tub situation. "Grounded" was pretty much a filler episode. The storylines didn't really move forward and there wasn't much new info revealed about the characters.
Continue reading Kyle XY: Grounded
Posted Jan 29th 2008 10:00PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Kyle XY, Episode Reviews
(S02E16) "We need to talk." That statement was key in this week's episode. Still learning about the world, Kyle didn't know what the statement could mean. For him (and Jessi), it meant that the other person wanted to...well, talk! But for the entire Trager family, it meant that Amanda was ready to call it quits. I was sure that she didn't want to break up but I expected her to reveal that something terrible happened to her while in the Big Apple.
Continue reading Kyle XY: Great Expectations
Posted Jan 14th 2008 10:21PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Kyle XY, Episode Reviews
(S02E14) For the past few months I've been working to catch up with this show, and over the weekend I finally caught up. I'm surprised at how much this show seems to have fallen under the radar, because it really is quite well done. It's got the sci-fi aspect to it, likable characters and spares us long waits for answers. I've got a few issues with it, but overall it's extremely entertaining.
This was an oddly placed episode. The last episode was in September, and while it ended with a cliffhanger (actually, literally), I think tonight's episode would have served better in September than now. It felt almost like a season ender, didn't it?
Continue reading Kyle XY: To C.I.R., With Love
Posted Dec 6th 2007 10:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd
More interesting than the actual series collection of
Chappelle's Show on DVD is the story behind it. For those yet unaware, in 2005, after completing two seasons of the show, Dave Chappelle walked away from a $50 million dollar contract to produce further seasons (despite having completed the filming of sketches for season three which were showcased in "The Lost Episodes"). The DVDs of Season 1 of
Chappelle's Show were among the best-selling of the time. What happened to make Dave walk away from that?
I'm getting ahead of myself. I enjoyed Dave Chappelle's style of humor and enjoyed watching the seasons of his show again. I found his recurring characters funny such as Tyrone Biggums and Lil Jon (recurring characters are a formula for success as evidenced by other sketch shows including SNL) and his humor always seemed to return to topics of racism, sexism, drugs and money (topics everyone can relate to). Hell, I've liked Dave Chappelle since
Robin Hood: Men In Tights.
Continue reading Chappelle's Show, the Complete Series - DVD Review
Posted Nov 25th 2007 10:50PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Dexter, Episode Reviews
(S02E09) It wasn't a big surprise to me that Doakes would be brought in as the prime suspect in the BHB case. All the elements were there last week, from Doakes taking the slides to the overly-obvious mention of Doakes' father being a butcher. I was, however, taken by surprise in a huge way when Doakes showed up on the dock at the end of the episode. Holy. Crap.
First let's get to some of the rest of the episode ...
Continue reading Dexter: Resistance Is Futile
Posted Nov 18th 2007 11:07PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Dexter, Episode Reviews
(S02E08) I have mixed emotions about this episode. At first, when the episode ended, I was flipping-out excited. Holy crap, what a turn the season has taken! Then I remembered last season and how, when Dexter's brother (who we didn't know was his brother yet) was introduced as the prosthetics expert, I made an easy prediction that came true. I see that happening here again, and in some ways I'm hoping it's a huge red herring.
Continue reading Dexter: Morning Comes
Posted Nov 17th 2007 11:02AM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
Last night on BBC One in the UK, the Corporation's annual charity telethon, 'Children in Need' raised £19million for underpriviledged kids around the country.
However, the highlight of the evening was a short Doctor Who segment, filmed specially for the telethon (as has become a tradition every year at this time), which bridged the final episode of season
four three, 'Last of the Time Lords' and the forthcoming Christmas Special, 'Voyage of the Damned'.
And it was a fantastic eight-minute segment of television, written by Steven Moffat, who also scripted the brilliant 'Blink' in season three, and featured none other than Peter Davidson, the fifth Doctor, playing the earlier version of himself alongside his modern-day counterpart, David Tennant.
Continue reading Doctor Who: Time Crash
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