Random TV Insanity

Just a few random clips from shows that I've skimmed over in the past few weeks. Somehow, I forgot to post this clip from the season finale of SNL. Will Ferrel hosting (plus what might be Darrel Hammond's last show) gives them a perfect opportunity to revive Celebrity Jeopardy. As good as it's ever been.



This is a bit of an odd entry, especially if you've missed out on the Keyboard Cat craze. But for those that remember my discussion of it or have bore witness to it themselves, I'm sure you can appreciate Colbert Nation's take on it using an all too familiar injury. And just how much free time did Green Day have while they were at the studio?

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat
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Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Keyboard Cat

And over at Colbert's sister show The Daily Show, John Oliver comes unhinged over the strangest of things. Really, I just appreciate this for the goofball antics that seem to occur between Oliver and Jon Stewart anytime they talk to each other.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Scamalot
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

A Brief Primer on Leaving Comments

Now, don't get me wrong. I love a good comment as much as anyone. In fact, probably more than anyone. Nothing makes my day more than seeing that a post I've made has a comment attached to it. I almost always try to post a reply (for people that might stop back by), and I'm usually so thrilled that someone's dropped by out of the blue that I will visit their page(s) and even follow them if I so choose. But that doesn't mean that I'm not paying attention to what gets said. As such, I'd just like to make this clear for the official record:

1) Any and all comments are welcome, so long as they are the opinion of the commenter and don't contain any excessively vulgar or offensive language. I retain the right to loosen or restrict this policy as needed (although I doubt I'll need to).

2) I'm perfectly fine with links being provided in comments, so long as A) they are in some way related to the post and B) they are not blatantly obvious spam posts/links. Again, this is at my discretion, but it's fairly obvious when someone has or hasn't bothered to read a post prior to making a comment.

3) Along those same lines, I could not be bothered to care about a ridiculously long rant someone generates over... well, anything. Especially if it looks like they just did a mass search for related topics, then cut and pasted said comment into every place they possibly could. Especially if they do so anonymously.

In fact, while I love a good anonymous post as much as the next person, but it goes without saying that they may come under more scrutiny. I shouldn't have bothered with this, since I know that anyone that bothers breaking any of these rules won't manage to read this anyway, but I figured I'd just put it out there.

HouseTV: Wipeout Edition

I fought the urge to say "Big Balls Edition", accurate as it may be.

You know, I thought it might be a fluke last year when I took such immense joy in watching the TV show Wipeout. I figured that while I might still check it out now and then, it couldn't possibly be as much fun this season as it was last season. And then... I watched the premiere.

Holy crap. I don't know what primal urge this show taps into, but it most certainly does.



The reality/competition show is all about surviving a series of obstacle courses. But instead of taking the concept seriously (or faux seriously) like overseas hit Ninja Warrior, Wipeout relishes in the failure of its contestants. The course is designed for contestants to fall, stumble, and in some cases be launched into the air with hilarious results. In the end, two dozen competitors get weeded down to one winner, who walks away with the cash and most likely a series of bruises.

The key to the show may well lie in the editing and the bang up job of commentating done by hosts John Anderson and John Henson (with assists from Jill Wagner). Just see how they turn what would be a hilarious course run into a ridiculously hilarious course run:



But enough jibber-jabber. You can check out a rather informative article on the show over on the MSN website, check out the show's website on ABC.com (and watch the season 2 premiere there), and make sure to tune in and catch the show Wednesday night at 8PM on ABC.

(Note: For the net-impaired, ABC is apparently re-airing the premiere this Saturday at 8. Check it out then if you can.)

Yay, Trailers!

Okay, I know I just went nuts about how trailers give too much away sometimes, but that doesn't mean that I don't still sometimes like them. For one, I wouldn't even know the film Surrogates existed. And I feel like I'd be worse off for it.

SURROGATES trailer in HD


And of course, I don't care if it spoils half of the film or not. My life is fuller for having seen this trailer. The film is seriously not going where I thought that it would.

Sherlock Holmes Trailer

Abstract Thought of the Day

An early one, at that.

Calling Terminator: Salvation the "Number One Action Movie in the Nation", even if true and a standard advertising tactic, still feel a little cheap to me.

HouseTV: Sleestak Advisory

Holy Shnikes! Sci-Fi Channel is showing Land of the Lost all day long. All. Day. Long. Dinos and Sleestaks and blue screens... oh my!

Although for some reason, I keep expecting some lone Sleestak to elbow someone in the chest. That's right... it's an offhanded dig at Bill Laimbeer. Choke on it, Bill.

And wow... this show is a lot darker than I remember it being. And I love it.

My Brief (Spoiler-Free) Review Terminator: Salvation

The best thing about the film was the trailer for Sherlock Holmes that played before it. But in Salvation's defense:

A) The film wasn't that bad. Just not spectacular.
B) That trailer was, in fact, that awesome.
C) Salvation might have been okay if the trailers for the film hadn't spoiled what would be one of the largest plot points in the film.
D) In retrospect, the film reminds me of Blade: Trinity. I can think of no worse offense than that.

(Also, the trailer for the film Surrogates looked pretty spiff.)

Abstract Thought of the Day

Demon negotiation is a tricky business in the world of Shin Megami Tensei. And why on earth are so many demons disturbingly playful children who know grown up things they should not know? If you weren't helping me fight evil, I would totally leave you guys alone...

More Dollhouse, Please!

In a move that please and surprises me, FOX has apparently decided not to cancel the sci-fi drama Dollhouse and has renewed it for a second season.

While most will view it as a symbolic victory for the Joss Whedon produced show (given the horrifically poor treatment his last show Firefly received from the network), it also may be setting a new precedent for the network. Don't get me wrong; they do still seem to do things that don't make complete sense. But they seem to be showing a little more faith and support for shows that they would have just axed with no thought a few years ago.

But enough of all that postulating. If you're a fan of the show, make sure to show it support by buying the DVD set whenever it becomes available. And of course, make sure to let your friends and associates know about the show, too. And all you slackers that missed it now have a chance to play catch up before the new season. So no excuses.

Things I Slept Through on Cable #2

Okay, so I'm cheating on this one because technically I was awake the entire time it was on. But I fell asleep right afterward, and I wanted to talk about this thing the last time it was on.

Despite having seen what must be every episode of West Wing, I still myself inexplicably watching a handful of episodes when they air. So imagine my surprise and/or joy when I came in from work this morning and discovered that one of my favorite episodes of all time was on.

The episode in question is the fairly entertaining (and most likely technically inaccurate) "Shutdown". The episode follows picks up exactly where the last left off. President Bartlett, after being faced with Republican Speaker Haflie's attempt to alter the already agreed upon terms of the federal budget, not only rejects Haflie's terms but refuses to negotiate further. With this meeting taking place mere hours before the deadline to either have a budget or establish a continuing resolution (the legislative equivalent of a rain check), Bartlett's refusal to negotiate leads to an inevitable shutdown of all non-essential government.

I know what you're saying, but it's not nearly as crazy as it sounds. It's unlikely that what happens following the shutdown is in any way indicative of what would actually happen during a government shutdown, but it is interesting to see the downward spiral that takes place. Most of the White House staff gets sent home. Government services in general go to crap. The press coverage of it does damage to both parties almost equally.

One of the main reasons I enjoy the episode, though, is that in a series full of continuity and season long story arcs, the story here is fairly self contained. You could know almost nothing about the series, and you can still get the gist of what's going on with this episode. And for long time fans of the show, there are a lot of character threads being dangled around. Josh is on the outs with the administration, the President is on the outs with his wife and most of his senior staff (who can't quite grasp what he's aiming for by continuing the shutdown), and the President is on the outs with his wife (which, if you've ever seen the series, is exactly as bad as it sounds).

This, of course, sets up an inevitable TV land conclusion wherein everything gets neatly wrapped up and fixed by the end of the hour, but it was still a crazy week for them. And there a good handful of iconic images and moments strewn about. If you can't get behind the Commander in Chief strolling down the street towards Congress, I don't know what to tell you.

A Little SNL for the Weekend

Which I know is odd, since it came on last Saturday. But whatever. Justin Timberlake made yet another classic episode by hosting.

First up, a goofy, but oddly entertaining trip to Ellis Island. If only our great-grandparents truly dared to dream...



Weekend Update had a visit from some of the stars of the Star Trek film. As funny as this is, I know that somewhere, there are still nerds mounting protests. I weep on the inside.



And to close things out, a soon to be classic Digital Short. I think everyone went into the episode wondering if they would revisit the greatest white R&B group of our generation, and Timberlake and Samberg prove once again that no holiday is safe.



And yes, that is Susan Sarandon. I'm still impressed by the sheer star power that Samberg can wrangle in a pinch.

All in all, a good episode. Very hard to pull just a handful of items out, so wander over to the NBC.com homepage for more highlights, or just be on the lookout for a re-air.

Things I Slept Through on Cable

It's time to start a new feature that I like to call Things I Slept Through on Cable. It sounds crazy, I know. But I'm sure that I can't be the only one that has this happen to them. A bizarre combination of falling asleep on the couch, an abnormal sleep cycle, and a television always being on in the background results in a half-asleep, half-awake stupor wherein you aren't entirely sure if you saw what you saw or if you made it all up.

My most notable instance of this phenomenon occurred when I was just a child and fell asleep one early Saturday morning. You know that dream where you're in school, but you're naked? Try having that dream, only instead of being naked, you're Underdog. Yeah, that was a weird one.

And speaking of weird ones, let's move on to the subject of this serotonin induced stupor, a feature by the name of Dead Heat. One of the Encore channels coughed this one up two nights ago, and I can't even remember how I ended up on the channel. Actually, I do. Sick, sick, curiosity.

This film features Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo (I **** you not; he starred in a movie) as a cop duo on the trail of a mad scientist. Said scientist has found a way to reanimate corpses, leaving the police dealing with half-zombie, bullet resistant thugs committing crimes around the city. And if it ended there, it would be a straight up story.

But no! Things get even more odd around midway through the film when Trreat Williams' character, one Roger Mortis (I **** you not; that was actually his name) dies. And while in most buddy cop films, this would be when Piscopo would go on a Rambo/Bronson style rampage of revenge, that's not what happens here. Remember that A-plot I was telling you about before? See, the good guys have stumbled across the tech that's being used to reanimate goons, so what better way to turn the tables than to reanimate Mortis and have an undead cop to even up the odds?

I was only awake for 10 minutes of this film, give or take, so I can't say I really got the full impact of the plot. But if you can imagine my brain trying to fill in the blanks between the handful of images and sounds I did take in:

• Piscopo and Williams fighting what looked like a reject from a Toxic Avenger movie.
• Williams' Roger Mortis biting the proverbial big one during one such encounter (which at the time seemed out of place).
• The entire dialogue concerning reanimation (which I think I heard and reconstructed images of in my head).
• Piscopo noting, "You were under in that hot tub for over five minutes."

Only two things irk me about this film. First, I'm bothered by the fact that from what I've heard, it's not that bad of a film. I had to dig through IMDB just to verify that the film existed at all (and also to find the title so I could see if it would be on again). Sure, it appears corny as heck, but the film is so tongue-in-cheek with its subject matter that you can almost relish in it. Which in a way sucks since, secondly...

I fell completely asleep before it ended! So now I don't know how it ended, and on top of that it turns out it's one of those films that Encore only cycles through sporadically. So it may be on again in a few weeks, and it might never be on again. And it's not like I can just run down to the Blockbuster and pick it up. Nor should I since I think paying would decrease the enjoyment somehow.

But if you get a chance to catch it, give it a shot. It proves that Joe Piscopo sort of had a career, that Treat Williams did some weird stuff before he got around to Everwood, and it supposedly also features the late Vincent Price. So clearly, there has to be some merit to it, and I have to endeavor to see it, if only to see if the parts my subconscious filled in were in any way close to the real thing.

Go See Star Trek (No Spoilers Here...)

Five minutes in, I wasn't convinced. Ten minutes in, I still had my doubts. About 12-13 minutes in, it started to gel a little. Right around the time it got to the infamous "trailer scene", I still wasn't sure, but at least that scene wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed in the trailer.

But somehow, some way, over the course of two hours... the film won me over. And I don't mean this in the "it was all right" way that Wolverine did. No, I actually enjoyed this film a great deal.

People who have never seen a Star Trek show or film or whatever (and seriously, how many people can really fall into that category...?): go see it. It's as self-contained as a film based in Trek lore can be, and it's an entertaining ride.

Long-time Trek fans: go see it. It's different, but it pays enough homage to make you feel warm and fuzzy and tells a pretty interesting story.

"Fans" and other purists primed to gripe and whine: go see it. And turn off that part of your brain that will make you yell, "That would never happen!" or "That makes no sense!" at the screen. Suspend your disbelief and try to focus on the positive. Plus, no one wants to hear you screaming in the theater.

And that's that. Go see Star Trek. Because I saw it first thing today, and now I have to wait for someone else to see it so that I can talk about it. And I want to say things about it. Desperately.

My Current Distraction

Failing on the internet is hardly a new thing. And cute animal videos are certainly not scarce, either. But somehow, you put them both together, and it becomes an internet phenomenon that I can't get enough of. Play him off, keyboard cat!



But I know what you're thinking: will this work for anything? Hecks, yeah! Want to toss a fainting spell on Glenn Beck's show in there? Works like a charm.



Want to go old school? Then toss in an oldy but a goody like this poor kid getting booted (which is funny in retrospect because the kid was perfectly fine afterwards... sheesh...).



And what worse is that there are dozens of these things floating around the net now. And more being made everyday. A meme is born in Interweb City.

"We 'Bout to Get All Lysistrata Up In Here...!"

Here's an odd story. Women in Kenya have decided to launch a protest against the divisiveness of the coalition government. The form of said protest? A sex strike.

I find this intriguing for two reasons. First, the activist groups are so dedicated to this "shutdown" that they're even considering paying sex workers to steer clear of men. Secondly, it actually made me recall Lysistrata, which I hadn't thought of in years. Junior year Drama class may well end up being more beneficial to my world view than History ever will be.

My Spoiler-Free, Incredibly Short Review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Wow. Despite all of the mutant cameos and appearances, the film was actually mostly about Wolverine. Go figure. As a film overall, it totally rocked three years ago (which is when I would have cared about it).