Category: Television

“Too Funny To Fail” OR How To Kill A Series With One Sketch

admin

entertainment-2011-08-dana-carvey-show-breastfeeding-clinton-still.jpg

Sometimes it’s just as instructive to study fabulous failures as it is to study successes. Case in point Too Funny To Fail, the interesting new documentary on Hulu about Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey’s short-lived sketch comedy series on ABC.

It was the mid-1990s, and Carvey had just come off a successful long run on SNL as well as the Wayne’s World movies. He received a sweet deal from ABC with carte blanche to make his own sketch show—basically, his own version of SNL (at least…that’s what ABC was expecting!)

Continue reading ““Too Funny To Fail” OR How To Kill A Series With One Sketch” →

“The Tick” Review: An Adam West Superhero in a Zack Snyder World

admin
arthur-and-the-tick
Griffin Newman as Arthur and Peter Serafinowicz as The Tick

Amazon’s new TV series The Tick is a tribute to/critique of the superhero movies exemplified by the work of Zack Snyder adapting DC Comics properties; think Watchmen more than Batman v Superman. How did what was supposed to be a wacky satire (in the mold of the 2001 Tick series from FOX) become somewhat of a gritty-yet-goofy statement on contemporary comics culture? And how well does that work for this new Tick?

Let’s start with the original pilot from last year, and work our way through the current chunk of Season 1 now on Amazon. Spoilers abound!

Continue reading ““The Tick” Review: An Adam West Superhero in a Zack Snyder World” →

Pickle Rick, Interrupted

admin

pickle-rick-interrupted.jpg

I have finally seen the much hyped “Pickle Rick” episode of Rick & Morty. In it, Rick turns himself into a pickle (non-anthropomorphic except for his face) in order to get out of going to therapy with his daughter and the kids. He finds himself swept down a drain, using his mouth to tear neural tissue from live rats and build himself an exoskeleton, fighting a vaguely Eastern European crime syndicate thingie, and then back to the hated therapy he was trying to avoid.

There are a lot of strong emotional beats in “Pickle Rick.” I would even say there are moments of genius. But the episode—the third one of Season Three—marked a turning point for me in terms of the series as a whole. And it wasn’t a particularly good one. Let me explain.

Continue reading “Pickle Rick, Interrupted” →

What Is The “Multicamera Comedy” And Why Is It Dying?

admin
new-odd-couple.jpg
“The Odd Couple,” shot on multicam

With the recent cancellations of 2 Broke Girls, Dr. Ken, and Last Man Standing (and perhaps The Odd Couple as well if we take Matthew Perry’s word for it) we just might be seeing the death of the multicamera comedy in favor what is increasingly becoming the industry standard: the single-camera comedy.

But what exactly is a multicamera comedy? It sounds like it has more cameras than merely a single-camera comedy, so isn’t it better? I’m a big TV sitcom nerd, so you’re going to hear me briefly pontificate on this topic. Get ready.

Continue reading “What Is The “Multicamera Comedy” And Why Is It Dying?” →

When You Grow Out Of Your Favorite TV Series

admin

I wanted to address a phenomenon I’ve noticed with myself & that perhaps some of you have experienced as well. There are some favorite TV shows that “age well” for me, and that I can pick up again at any time—and then there are others that “had their shot” but now time has passed and I can’t get into them anymore.

Case in point Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Love-love-loved this show when it was first-run, was totally obsessed with it. Bought all this BTVS merch, read the fan-fiction, kept Buffy-themed wallpaper on my computer screen, etc. Never missed an episode, went into withdrawals between seasons.

Continue reading “When You Grow Out Of Your Favorite TV Series” →