Mon, July 17, 2006
Summer TV that's better than you think—3:57 PM
"Entertainment Weekly" had a cover at the start of the summer that touted something like 67 "can't miss" summer shows. That's insane. However, summer is not the reality/rerun/crapfest dumping ground it used to be. (Much to the surprise of many, your humble guide most definitely included.)
I tried It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Alicia. I really did. But I found it terrible. Hacky comedy, drearily slow plots, and line readings right out of junior high. Sorry.
However, Lifetime TV's late entry in the "mockumentary populated by idiots" category is not nearly as derivative as you'd expect. Lovespring International features Jane Lynch, Jennifer Elise ("Jan Brady") Cox, and the delightful Wendi McLendon-Covey (also of Reno 911!), and each episode is cleverly plotted and laugh-out-loud funny. (Mondays, Lifetime)
Lucky Louie is HBO's first multi-camera, live-audience sitcom, and it's riotously funny (though thoroughly inappropriate). I generally disparage shows that are on HBO just for the access to bad language, but Lucky Louie actually needs the naughty words, and thrives on them. It's the first sitcom to feature a full-on sex scene, and it's a hilarious scene. The ordinarily forgettable Jerry Minor (who formerly served as a cardboard cutout of a black person to increase the diversity in SNL sketches) is fantastically deadpan. (Sundays, HBO)
But the biggest surprise of all has to be Psych on USA. I caught up on the first two episodes yesterday on TiVo, and it's really funny. In case you haven't seen the ads, the main character, Shawn, has a photographic memory. He solves crimes so effortlessly that the local police department thinks he's psychic. So he has to play the part, with his friend Gus (Dulé Hill) as the other half of his detective agency. It's funnier (and less dopey) than it sounds, and the mysteries are entertaining and fun to follow. The good news is, you can get up to speed by watching the entire first episode on the show's website. Check it out. – you may be surprised. (Fridays, USA)
Joe Mulder — Mon, 7/17/06 5:05pm
Hey, me too.
I really liked Psych though, even if the second didn't quite live up to the promise of the pilot (but only slightly not quite). In any case, it's good.
And, anyone who's not watching Solitary on Fox Reality Channel and The World Series of Pop Culture on VH1 has no right to complain about summer programming. Hell, they have no right to own a TV.
Bee Boy — Mon, 7/17/06 5:16pm
Oh, yeah! I keep forgetting about that one. Is it the same one EW was touting as the TV adaptation of their many annoying Pop Culture Quiz issues? I remember Ken Jennings (my new lover/alter ego) mentioning it.
(And, yeah, I thought the spelling bee episode of Psych was slightly less compelling than the pilot, but since only the pilot is available online I was going to skip over that and hope that people who watched episode one and then three would be none the wiser. Thanks a lot!)
Brandon — Tue, 7/18/06 4:04pm
I just haven't enjoyed Lucky Louie very much. I want to - I'm a big fan of Louie CK. I watched the first two episodes, then watched another today based on your recommendation, Jameson. But the show just has too many problems. The writing is pretty good, but the poor quality of the acting is dragging it down. They're violating Rule #1 of putting together a sitcom around a stand-up comedian: Always surround him/her with above-average actors. The comedian(ne) should always be one of, if not THE, weakest actors on the show. And in this case, Louie is actually one of the best, if not top of the heap (probably because the supporting cast is mostly fellow comedians, and not actors).
And Laura Kightlinger is awful. Every line reading is stiff and cringeworthy. She's managed to pull off the Victoria Jackson-esque feat of going from bad to worse since leaving SNL.
One summer show I'll recommend - though with a caveat - is Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days on FX. Watched the first season in 2004 and liked it quite a bit. But I also know Spurlock's a divisive figure and not for everybody, so if you didn't like Super-Size Me (and I did), then you probably won't like this.
Bee Boy — Tue, 7/18/06 4:22pm
I enjoyed a couple episodes of 30 Days last year, but when those were through I scanned the upcoming episodes and all the premises seemed too contrived for me to stick with it.
I agree about Laura Kightlinger. When did she become Jocelyn Wildenstein, for crying out loud? Is this what happens when Jack Black breaks up with you, you go get a crazy amount of plastic surgery and lose your sense of comic timing? Thankfully, she's barely in the show.
The rest of the cast is pretty good. Jim Norton appears basically as himself, as does Nick DePaolo, whom I always find very funny. Plus, there are moments when Pamela Segall Adlon is talking that I can close my eyes and hear a foul-mouthed Bobby Hill. That's worth the price of admission right there.
I think some of the acting is due to a conscious choice to structure it like an old-fashioned sitcom. Not a choice I'd make, but it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the show. Lucky Louie is far from perfect, but it's better than I thought and it's been a fun summer distraction.
Bee Boy — Wed, 7/19/06 10:10am
For those of you who, like me, forgot to watch the World Series of Pop Culture, you can renew your right to own a TV by watching the episodes so far on VH1's "VSPOT" online video archive. (But it won't work on a Mac. Stupid VH1.)
Brandon — Wed, 7/19/06 2:02pm
Hmm. Perhaps our disagreement on Lucky Louie is just one of expectations. You called it a "fun summer distraction" - is it a show that you'd watch during the regular TV season? Since I'm always watching baseball games during the summer, I'm basically still in regular season mode, in terms of not needing any new content to fill my plate unless it's something good enough to make me squeeze it in.
Bee Boy — Wed, 7/19/06 3:07pm
That's a good question; my programming schedule is definitely more open right now. All my shows are on summer hiatus, and yet another TiVo drive failure has significantly reduced my chances for watching older recordings (like the ends of The West Wing and Veronica Mars and the whole last season of Alias – hooray for DVDs!).
But I'd probably still give Louie at least a half-season commitment based on the sex scene. That was so funny, and so well done, and so fresh in the context of the studio-audience sitcom, that I'd give them a little leeway after that. But I really haven't been disappointed much by the show (with the obvious exception of Kightlinger).
Pretty much any half-hour comedy that makes me laugh can have me as a viewer. There are so few, and there are so many times I need 22 minutes of entertainment (e.g., eating breakfast), that it's always good to have those shows around. Kandi episodes of Two and a Half Men – that's the threshold. Anything funnier (or more, um... enjoyable) than that, I'll TiVo it.
Bee Boy — Wed, 7/26/06 11:52am
Ha; I was re-reading some stuff from last year's Annual TiVo Gauntlet of New Fall Programming as part of my preparation for this year's unprecedented onslaught just a few short weeks away. (Really is there anything more entertaining than reading your own material, written long enough ago that you've forgotten the punch lines?)
Anyway, came across this, in a discussion of the value of sitcoms:
And here I've been: ignoring my own advice. Today when I get home, NewsRadio goes in the DVD player's "reserve" slots for next time I need a quick half hour. Sorry, Kandi.
Joe Mulder — Wed, 7/26/06 12:43pm
Hell no! I do this all the time.