(S07E08) Last week, I wasn't thrilled with the CBS Monday night sitcom schedule. In fact, I thought all four shows were a bit off, and more than a few readers thought I was off the rails for speaking my mind. Fortunately -- for me -- this week's shows were back on track and I have only good things to say. That's especially true about Two and a Half Men. Seven years into the show, an episode like this one stands out as very original and really funny.
This was also the episode in which Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer guested as Chelsea's old college roommate. That's not a spoiler; that's in the picture. More about the show -- including spoilers -- after the jump.
Last week on The View, Sherri Shepherd showed off her new body, clad in a bathing suit, and now it seems there was more to her remake than just good health and looking better. Shepherd's Lifetime sitcom, Sherri, will premiere on October 5, and you just know it's her intention to score a big time success. Lifetime has had this in the works for months. This is the network's first fully-owned sitcom, so you gotta believe the net has a lot of faith in Sherri.
The show is based on Shepherd's stand-up, which is the same formula that worked for Roseanne, Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond), Tim Allen (Home Improvement) and a half-dozen other comics, and the exposure Sherri gets from The View won't hurt at all.
The same demographic that watches The View tunes in to Lifetime shows like Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives. Oh, and don't forget the Lifetime movies. Ladies love Lifetime.
In a way it's hard to talk about this since we can't read the article that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is talking about (it has been removed from the Playboy site), but if it's 1/10 as disgusting as she says, then she has a right to be angry.
If you haven't watched The Real Housewives of New York City, then you're missing ... well, a lot of really annoying women doing stuff. But you are also missing out on some great wisdom. In the clip below from last night (also at the link above), Kelly explains to her friends her philosophy about going on a date, which apparently includes not eating salad and using the word "like." A lot. Try to keep track of how many times she uses it.
I believe that if everyone would stop using that word so much they would seem 94% more intelligent.
Rare is the episode of reality television that ends without a character seen having shed tears, made a vigilant declaration, or used pop psychological jargon lifted straight from the self-help section (see "I'm a very sexual person," "We share an energy," and "There's more to me than people might think").
For me, that phony vernacular of new age buzzwords that culminate in testimonials of poorly-worded self-expression are simultaneously the best and worst elements of a reality show. Naturally, that's what made Starting Over one of the few reality shows I could not only tolerate, but adore.
Remember when rock 'n roll was to blame for teenagers being out of control? What about when John Lennon's quote about The Beatles being as big as Jesus drew the ire of the church and resulted in deejays advocating the destruction of LPs and singles?
Dr. Aune, who's written Women and Religion in the West, and is a teacher at the University of Derby (that's in the U.K.), doesn't know if Buffy has also affected young men. Her research doesn't address if boys are abandoning the church, too, so I guess they're safe.
This is no joke, although it does sound like a good way to promote a book that would otherwise be ignored. Mentioning Buffy is a good way to let the world know that Dr. Aune wrote it.
Have you ever noticed that men are often the butt of jokes on television? Whether it's the goofy, lazy husband on sitcoms or the incompetent, oversexed guy on TV commercials, men are often shown in a bad light (I know, I know, woman only make 70 cents for every $1.00 a man makes, but it's almost Father's Day so let's talk about this, OK?). AskMen.com has a list of the 10 worst male-bashing commercials on television.
According to a new study (PDF link), women are more likely to stream TV shows from network web sites than men, and they're more likely to time-shift their TV viewing with a personal video recorder. While both of these activities may seem like the geeky domain of guys with thick glasses, there's a pretty simple explanation. Men are more likely to watch sports, which is far more time sensitive than most other programs. If you took any group of folks and divided them up into heavy sports viewers and people who watch, well, pretty much anything else, you'd probably find that group B spends more time with the PVR too.
The study from Solutions Research Group found that 15% of women watched a streaming network TV program last month, while just 11% of men did. And women time-shift about 56% of their television viewing, compared to 42% for men.
The study also looks at other digital lifestyle activities like video game usage, online shopping, and downloading movies from the internet.
This Monday, August 6 at 9:00 p.m., VH1's new series, The Pick-Up Artist, debuts.
Mystery, reknowned woman picker-upper, is the center of the new reality series. Mystery takes in six dorky guys and tries to transform them into babe magnets. One man is eliminated during each episode, with the champion going home with $50,000.
According to the paperwork I got back yesterday, I'm a man. Because of this, I'm pretty much conditioned not to care about anything that appears on Lifetime.
Still, I figured it wouldn't kill me to at least watch the first episode of Army Wives, a new original dramatic series that focuses on the lives of several women living on an Army base, rather than judging it without seeing it.
You know what? It's not that bad. Admittedly, the show is geared toward women and is at times a bit too "touchy feely" for my tastes, but I can tell a good series when I see one, and this one has potential, as long as people give it a chance and don't completely ignore it just because it happens to be on Lifetime.
Orel:Gee, Doughy, your parents really do love you after all. They give you money and they don't ever want anything in return, not even you.
This episode was written by former Mr. Show writer/performer Scott Aukerman, along with Neil Campbell and Paul Rust. It wasn't until about one third through the episode I realized this was the first episode that wasn't tethered to some kind of religious ideal. The only "religious" aspect occurred when Orel decided he had to ask his mother if it was morally acceptable for a woman to accept gifts from a man if she doesn't actually like him.
In fact, the popular '80s sitcom will be introduced with a marathon running from noon until 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. The series will then slip into its regular Monday night slot at 7:00 p.m.
Kate and Allie focused on two divorcees who decide to move in together and help raise each other's children. The series starred Jane Curtin (Allie) and Susan Saint James (Kate), and while I watched it a lot growing up (my mom loved the show), I think I was a bit too young to appreciate it. One of the things I love about having a Tivo is recording those old shows I only vaguely remember to see how good they really are. Lately, I've been watching a lot of Alice, but now I'll have to add Kate and Allie to the lineup, too.
Funnyman Graham Norton will be hosting a new reality pilot for Lifetime.
The new show will serve as a kind of popularity contest in which an audience of women vote off one woman at a time from a group of seven as they answer challenges and tackle different challenges. The Hollywood Reporter article doesn't go into much detail than that, so it's hard to say exactly what the hell the point of the show is supposed to be, other than showing women at their most judgmental and catty. Oh yeah, and the show was originally called Judgment Day, which probably isn't a good sign, either.
Norton will still appear in TV in the UK. The Graham Norton Show, his BBC2 series, hits BBC America on June 2. Previously, he hosted So Graham Norton, a Channel 4 series that was adapted into an American version which ran on Comedy Central for a short time.
An acquaintance of mine used to ask me if I ever listened to The Sound of Young America, and I told her I didn't like it. As it turns out, I had it confused with some low-rent internet podcast with a similar name I cannot recall at the moment.
Anyway, Jesse, the fellow who helms Sound of Young America, recently had a couple great interviews with some very funny women. First, he interviewed Anne Beatts, who was the first female editor of National Lampoon, wrote for Saturday Night Live when that show first started, and created Square Pegs. Major TV nerd points to those of you who remember Square Pegs.
Actor and comedian Matt Besser of Upright Citizens Brigade is producing a new broadband series for TBS.com, and he's looking for some pictures of sexy ladies to use in one of the episodes. Somebody writing on behalf of Besser, or perhaps Besser himself writing in the third person, has the details on his MySpace page. He's looking for "MySpace self portraits," those photos shot in just the right light and at just the right angle to make one appear far sexier than they do in real life. The pictures used will be part of a montage at the end of the episode.
Until Besser's new online series is launched, you should check out some of his prank work over on Prank.com, a site created by artist Joey Skaggs. The site was launched April 1, naturally.
Last week on 
Rare is the episode of reality television that ends without a character seen having shed tears, made a vigilant declaration, or used pop psychological jargon lifted straight from the self-help section (see "I'm a very sexual person," "We share an energy," and "There's more to me than people might think").
Remember when rock 'n roll was to blame for teenagers being out of control? What about when John Lennon's quote about The Beatles being as big as Jesus drew the ire of the church and resulted in deejays advocating the destruction of LPs and singles? 
Have you ever noticed that men are often the butt of jokes on television? Whether it's the goofy, lazy husband on sitcoms or the incompetent, oversexed guy on TV commercials, men are often shown in a bad light (I know, I know, woman only make 70 cents for every $1.00 a man makes, but it's almost Father's Day so let's talk about this, OK?). AskMen.com has a list of the 
According to 
This Monday, August 6 at 9:00 p.m., VH1's new series, 
According to the paperwork I got back yesterday, I'm a man. Because of this, I'm pretty much conditioned not to care about anything that appears on Lifetime.
(S02E15) 
Recently, Bob made an aside about 
Funnyman Graham Norton will be hosting a new reality pilot for Lifetime. 
An acquaintance of mine used to ask me if I ever listened to 
Actor and comedian Matt Besser of Upright Citizens Brigade is producing a new broadband series for TBS.com, and he's looking for some pictures of sexy ladies to use in one of the episodes. Somebody writing on behalf of Besser, or perhaps Besser himself writing in the third person, has the details on 
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
