Dollface Review (Hulu)

The formula for a group of girls just hanging out is familiar enough that there’s even a show called “Girls.” This show is more about wit than exploring the feminine mystique but it comfortably straddles both lines. The show cleverly avoids the “Sex and the City” traps of women being defined by where they are in relationships by having the lead character (Kat Dennings who spent several years screaming out loud for something better to do on “2 Broke Girls”) in recovery mode from a long-term relationship for the first few episodes. Dennins’ character, Jules, just got out of a relationship with Jeremy (Connor Hines) who never seemed like a keeper from the first minute we see him.



Her being with him in the first place suggests that she might have never had broad horizons, which is a good jumping-off point from which this show can spring. A magical talking cat (this show breaks the fourth wall reminiscent of “Man Seeking Woman” but only as an occasional gag and not the entire premise of the show) suggests that Jules needs to connect with her female friends so Jules decides to re-spark her relationship with former bestie Madison (Brenda Song) who IIRC introduces her to Stella (Shay Mitchell). Sadly, Stella and Madison are both sophisticated women who are up to date with the latest app. With only four characters taking up most of the screen time (a couple love interests, Jules’ would-be sister-in-law, and Jeremy, and two coworkers are also in the picture) it is one of the biggest flaws of the show that Stella and Madison have little to tell them apart at this stage.

Fortunately, the fourth leg of this quartet is  Izzy (Esther Povitsky playing the exact same role as “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) who wants to fit in so badly that she steals her coworkers’ names. Izzy is, without a doubt, the big scene stealer with her unhinged anxiousness.  Just wait until Izzy gets caught up in a pretend three-way for just a few seconds to see how wonderful she is.
The show has that classic everything-comes-crashing-down-at-the-end comedy structure and sometimes (when the fancy dinner party gets derailed by a stripper, for example) it works but the level of punch isn’t consistent in a way that gives me confidence in the writer’s ability to nail such complex plots that shows like “It’s Always Sunny”, “30 Rock” or “Seinfeld” can consistently land.  Some might say it’s early in the show’s run and shows often get funnier over time as character beats develop, but the show is already starting out with strong characters and character beats don’t fix plot mechanics.

On the whole, the show is about women  being of value to one another and what they bring to friendships. If the Bechdel test ever was an accurate measure or effective use of encouraging a fresh female perspective to sitcomdom, this might very well be it.

Year-End Round-Up: Top 25 TV Characters of 2014

My Annual Top 25 TV Characters of the Year list (last year's list can be found here):

1. Andy Daly as Forrest MacNeil in "Review"-In his tragically misguided (and quite hilarious) quest to push the boundaries of human understanding, Forrest turned himself into the ultimate human punching bag: He suffered the heartbreak of divorce, developed an addiction to cocaine, awkwardly made his way through an orgy, and came to the realization that he might have  pedestrian racist tendencies. On the flipside, he saw space (with the corpse of his late father-in law in tow), enjoyed a brief marriage to Maria Thayer, and rediscovered how important his family was to him. 

"Review" was one of the year's most enjoyable roller coaster rides and Forrest's discombobulation was shocking, disturbing, and extremely fun. Andy Daly, who has carved an admirable career for himself in straight man and supporting roles, has found his niche here.

Source: HollywoodReporter

2. Richard Jenkins as Henry Kitteridge in "Olive Kitteridge"-Olive's downbeat personality would give the show's tone Ingmar Bergman-like levels of depression if not for Richard Jenkins’s kind-hearted Henry acting as a counter balance. Jenkins’s presence here was enormous. The kind and gentle nature of Henry Kitteridge shines so powerfully, that his absence was acutely felt whenever he was not in the room.

3. Stephen Colbert as Stephen Colbert (with a silent t) in "The Colbert Report"-Colbert's epic cameo-saturated swan song capped off a nine-year run in which he was second to none at the intersection of comedy and politics. Brash and ambiguously oppositional, Colbert used his whip-smart improv ability when conversing with with chief political and academic figures of the era to produce some of the most memorable, hilarious and insightful interviews of the past decade. Because he was on every night, it was easy to take "The Colbert Report" for granted, but we can be thankful that Colbert and his prolific team have produced a Fort Knox's worth of comedy gold on reserve.

4. Nick Sandow as Joe Caputo in "Orange is the New Black"-Although he might have morally erred in the series finale with Fig, Caputo stepped up at Litchfield to become a hypothetical source of hope among the administration that Piper (and the audience) thought would never appear. It remains to be seen whether he will be trampled by the system like his predecessor, but for now Caputo is riding high and in a show like "Orange is the New Black," which tugs at the viewer's emotions, Caputo's ascension and (mostly) noble intentions were strangely cathartic.

5. Vera Farmiga as Norma Bates in "Bates Motel"-This mercurial woman's son will grow up to become the iconic knife-wielding serial killer. Although we know that Norma will eventually become her son's toy skeleton, the relationship dynamic was fascinating because it only hinted at dysfunction while leaving the primary impression that this is a passably healthy mother-son relationship with an extra-doting mother.  The unexpected surprise of "Bates Motel" is that "Psycho" was never a character piece and this show is a slow simmer. In another wayward season in which Norman doesn't overtly become a knife-wielding maniac, Norma pulled a "House of Cards" on us and slowly crept up the social scene of White Pine Bay. 


6. Clive Owen as Dr. Thackery, The Knick- Owen's brilliant portrayal was not particularly far removed from Hugh Laurie's curmudgeonly doctor on "House" except Thackery's backstory and emotional complications didn't get any analysis. What fascinates me about Dr. Thackery is that he's not so much a hero or an anti-hero as he is just a crusty opium addict who happens to be in charge.
 7. Chris Parnell voicing Cyril Figgis in "Archer"-Cyril finally developed some backbone. He stood up to Archer and ran a Central American country with more efficiency than the dictator who came before him (and quite probably whoever will be running that country after him). Attorney, accountant, field agent, military strategist, is there anything this guy can't do?

8. Karen Gilliam as Eliza Dooley in "Selfie"-This cancelled-too-soon show had a great pairing at its center in Eliza Dooley and Henry Higgs. Together, the two personified the changing landscape of etiquette in the media age occupying extreme ends on the spectrum between too much or too little reliance on your cell phone. Naturally, the social media-obsessive was the more fun character and Karen Gilliam goes to town with the role. I'll brushing aside the questionable plot hole of how Eliza managed to amass such a strong Twitter following so quickly and focus on how  Gilliam hit perfect notes as an aloof Millennial with an inflated ego and all the requisite vulnerabilities of a TV romcom lead.

9. Katja Herbers as Helen in "Manhattan"-I've always read "Manhattan" as a show about brainy outsiders at heart and Helen is no different. She's a woman in a man's club and is (secretly) Dutch, but she mixes that peripheral perspective with a swagger that makes her stick out in a good way. Her no-nonsense demeanor allowed her to cut through the BS (a trait that's useful for a drama set in the repressed '50s). She was not just refreshingly unapologetic about her sex life, but always could be counted on to stir up the pot. 

10. Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot in "Gotham"-In its first half-season, "Gotham" has had its share of flaws for such an ambitious comic book adaptation, but the show deserves a lot of credit for bringing back a potentially campy character and fleshing him out. Ultimately, you could see Robin Lord Taylor's Penguin fitting in with one of Batman's better adaptations. Hid performance was rich with nuances from the physical to the tics that slyly hint at a sociopathic mindset.

Source: Mashable.com

11. Yael Stone as Morello in "Orange is the New Black"-We came in to the season thinking of Morello as the sweet but impressionable romantic and soon learned that she was Litchfield’s own version of Kathy Bates in Misery. And yet, even though we knew the other side of the story, it was hard to stop seeing her as a sweet well-intentioned character. The show challenges us to look closely at society's miscreants and reassess whether they really are bad apples. Morello’s storyline fell into the middle of all that with heartbreaking poignancy.

Source: ABC/Bob D'Amico

12. John Cho as Henry Higgs in "Selfie"-John Cho is rapidly climbing up the list of most underrated TV actors and "Selfie" was another home run for him. As Eliza's other (platonic) half and counterpoint in the culture wars, Cho's Henry Higgs (like Eliza Dooley, he's modeled after a "Pygmalion" character) isn't just a straw man for stodgy old luddites who are unable to get with the times. Higgs is a thoughtful man with a critical eye towards the latest app and an old-school sense of etiquette and style. He might even be classified as suave. Cho deserves a lot of praise for breaking the mold of Asian-American stereotypes as well.

13. Jim Jefferies as himself in "Legit"-Jefferies and his sitcom fall under the category of "Goshdarnit, I like this guy!"Jefferies doesn't do much of anything except hang out and fuel his two roommates' moral depravity but he has an amicable style that wins me over because the show is so tonally congruent with his style of comedy. The show's second season saw Jefferies grapple with death, friendship and love a little more than the first, while still hinting at a slow evolution.


14. Ramon Franco as Fausto Galvan in "The Bridge"-With his casual sloppy attire and his penchant for buying boats, Fausto Galvan does not conform to the typical image of a mob boss, but he's a brilliant tactician and knows how to intimidate an enemy. As a childhood friend of Detective Ruiz, Galvan is also an ever-present reminder of another direction Ruiz's life might have taken in the show's morally ambiguous world. I, for one, enjoyed the show's more Fausto-centric view of Juarez.

15. Mark Feuerstein as Dr. Hank Lawson in "Royal Pains"-Even if "Royal Pains" isn't one of the most respected shows on TV, Hank Lawson deserves praise for being such an uplifting and relevant character. He's just a desperado concierge doctor equipped with a scalpel, lightning-quick diagnostic skills and the mysterious ability to constantly be around some of the rarest medical emergencies ever recorded. He was my #2 character last year (and yes, I pretty much copied and pasted his entry from last year as well).

Source: Edna.cz

16. Ashley Zukerman as Charlie Isaacs in "Manhattan"-It was partially due to a strong ensemble of characters that "Manhattan" made its way onto my viewing schedule this year. Charlie Isaacs is the hot-shot alpha male of the bunch with his dashing good looks, a smoking hot wife, and (considering this is Los Alamos) his brains. Because my basis of comparison for this show is the 1989 film "Fat Man and Little Boy" and there are inevitable similarities between Charlie and the John Cusack's character who was heavily colored by 80's conventions, I see Charlie as a rebellious bad boy of sorts. Charlie was also an interesting character because he seemed destined for adultery until the plotline was sidestepped (his marriage fell apart and his wife cheated first) making him, in essence, an individual of "good" character.

17. Annaleigh Ashford as Betty DeMilo in "Masters of Sex"-The practical-minded ex-hooker was a curious foil to Michael Sheen's Dr. Masters last season as he only paid her begruding respect despite his supposed sexual tolerance. Nonetheless, DeMilo dealt with Masters with swift resolve and dangled the use of her brothel as a bargaining chip. In an expanded supporting role this season, DeMilo provided some of the heart-rending ups and downs. Her marraige fell apart while she succumbed to the temptations of Sarah Silverman's Helen (to be fair, Silverman in a 1950's accent certainly would be hard to resist). Nevertheless, she showed a touching solidarity with Dr. Masters simply by showing up for work when everyone else abandoned him.  
 
18. Olivia Cooke as Emma Decody in "Bates Motel"-The first season left me wanting to see more from Emma Decody's POV. She is quietly drawn to the tumultuous Bates family but it's clear that she exists on the periphery of their trials and tribulations. The show's second season gave us a better glimpse inside Emma's world. It showed us a character who's relatively comfortable in her own skin as a disabled teenager but who's also self-aware of her desire to belong. Her relationship was also one of the sweetest examples of teenage romance on television.

19. Kat Dennings and Beth Behr as Max and Caroline in "2 Broke Girls"-Part of what keeps "2 Broke Girls" among the most comfortable shows on television is the chemistry between Max Black and Caroline Channing. They're rat-a-tat dilaogue is a stylistic throwback to the days of vaudeville. Caroline lobs the set-up and the acerbic Max hits it out of the ballpark. The humor isn't necessarily the most sophisticated on TV but the chemistry between the two best friends of circumstance is immense.


20. Kristen Schaal voicing Mabel Pines in "Gravity Falls"-Between "Bob's Burgers", "BoJack Horseman" and this (not to mention the countless gigs she's involved with that I'm not watching), Schaal deserves all the praise she's getting and more as a voice-over actor. She has a unique voice that creates a recognizable comic personality (in this case, the overexcited child) and has shown enough versatility with it to create three memorable and distinct comic characters. Mabel Pines' never-ending positivity is just infectious on and, on a visual level, her sweater designs and stickers are the show's Easter eggs.

21. Emily Rios as Adriana Mendez in "The Bridge"-Daniel Frye, Adriana's partner-in-crime, occupied a high spot on last year's list and while that entry was a way of honoring the touching Frye/Adriana relationship, I didn't anticipate that Adriana would become so much more fleshed out this year. While the Frye and Adriana are still one of the underrated crime-fighting duos on television, Adriana became a fully realized character in her own right. Her response when Galvan's goons victimized her was one of the dramatic high points of the season and a poignant reminder that no one is really a passive spectator to this conflict. It also helps that I have a soft spot for reporter characters.


22. Megan Stevenson as AJ Gibbs in "Review"-Stevenson does so much with every facial reaction and stilted smile as Forrest's sidekick AJ Gibbs. The result is a mercurial character that makes a very strong impression with very little screen time. With "Review" renewed, the increased presence of AJ Gibbs as sole host of the show is on the top of my anticipation list for this coming year in television. 

23. Aaron Paul voicing Todd in "BoJack Horseman"-Satirizing the empty lives of the Hollywood rich and famous, "BoJack Horseman" is largely about characters going nowhere and repeating the same patterns, and no one is staying still faster or as consistently hilariously as Todd. His severe ADD ensures that nothing will ever get done as long as he's around. Todd bounces off others with supreme comic ease as evidenced by his teaming up with Quentin Tarantulino to produce a movie that morphed into a bimonthly snack subscription followed by a business partnership with Mr. Peanutbutter that produced some of the most absurd ideas to ever hit animated TV. It is also Todd's childlike need for approval from BoJack that keeps the tone of the show positive.

Source: Yahoo Screen

24. Cecily Strong as The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party in "SNL"-As someone who is generally sober in situations where other people are drunk, I know the experience all too well of talking someone who thinks they're the most interesting person and is on a different planet regarding their definition of interesting conversation. So yes, this character certainly resonates with me on a personal level. A shout-out here to my other Weekend Update favorite: Kate McKinnon's economically depressed Russian version of a Borsch Belt comedian.

Source: NY Post

25. Eliza Coupe as Nina Whitley in "Benched"-Coupe is the rare stunningly beautiful actress who can dive into the part of a flawed woman so thoroughly that you actually believe she would have trouble getting a date. Coupe charms her way through the series in a way that makes you forget this has been done before in many screwball comedies before and after her. Through Nina Whitley's slow learning curve at adapting to the upside-down world of public defending, I have learned more about the nuts and bolts of the legal system (and its shortcomings) than from many a pedestrian legal drama.

Runners-Up:
Aimee Carrero as Lucia, The Americans; Alison Pill as Maggie Jordan, The Newsroom; Andre Holland as Dr. Algernon Edwards, The Knick; Barbara Rosenblat as Rosa Cisneros, OitNB; Demian Bichir as Marco Ruiz, The Bridge; David Harewood as Saperstein, Selfie;  Franka Potente as Eleanor Nacht, The Bridge; Frances McDormand as Oliver Kitteridge, Oliver Kitteridge; Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein as Toni and Candice, Portlandia; Kate McKinnon as Olga Povlatsky, SNL; Keegan Michael Key as Mark, Playing House; Kimiko Glenn as Brook Soso, OitNB; Leslie Bibb as Dakota, About a Boy;  Minnie Driver as Fiona, About a Boy; Natasha Lyonne as Nicky Lyons, OitNB; Olivia Munn as Sloan Sabbath, The Newsroom; Parvesh Cheena and Hong Chau, Dinesh and Lora, A to Z; Sarah Silverman as Helen, Masters of Sex; Zoe Kazan as Betty, Olive Kitteridge









Here's a list of all shows I watched this year, for reference (that aren't in my Top Ten):
About a Boy (NBC) , Americans (FX), American Dad (TBS), American Horror Story (FX), America's Got Talent (Fox), Awesomes (Hulu), Bad Teacher (CBS), Bad Judge (NBC), Black Box (ABC), Blacklist (NBC), Broad City (Comedy Central), Brooklyn Nine Nine (FOX), Benched (USA), Crazy Ones (CBS), Chicago PD (NBC), Comedy Bang Bang (IFC), Conan (TBS), Colbert Report (Comedy Central), Daily Show (Comedy Central), Deadbeat (Hulu), Family Guy (Fox), Finding Your Roots (PBS), Flash (CW), Fugget About It (Hulu), Gotham (Fox), Glee (Fox), Gravity Falls (Disney), Ground Floor (TV Land), Hannibal (NBC), Houdini (History), Halt and Catch Fire (AMC), House of Cards (Netflix), Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central), Key and Peele (Comedy Central), Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel (NBC), Late Night with Seth Meyers (ABC), Larry King (Hulu), Librarians (TNT), Louie (FX), Marry Me (NBC), Mulaney (Fox), Madam Secretary (CBS), Mindy Project (Fox), Modern Family (ABC), Mother Up! (Hulu), Mysteries at the Museum (History Channel), NCIS: LA (CBS), Newsroom (HBO), New Girl (Fox), Nathan For You (Comedy Central), Playing House (USA), Portlandia (IFC), Red Band Society (Fox), The Strain (FX), Saturday Night Live, Tonight Show (NBC), Turn (AMC), Under the Dome (CBS), Video Game High School (YouTube), Veep (HBO), Vikings (History Channel), The Voice (NBC), Web Therapy (Showtime), The Wil Wheaton Project (SyFy), Welcome to Sweden (NBC)

Additionally, my top 12 TV shows can be found at Examiner.com this year.
They are:
1. Archer, FX
2. The Bridge, FX
3. Orange is the New Black, FX
4. Review, Comedy Central
5. The Knick, Cinemax
6. Manhattan, WGN
7. Olive Kitteridge, HBO
8. Selfie, ABC
9. Late Night with John Oliver, HBO
10. Quick Draw, Hulu
11. Masters of Sex, HBO
12. Silicon Valley, HBO
Runner-Ups: 2 Broke Girls (CBS), A-Z (NBC), Bates Motel (A&E), Bojack Horseman (Netflix), Crossbones (NBC), Finding Your Roots (PBS),  Legit (FX), Portlandia (IFC), Royal Pains (USA), Suburgatory (ABC)





Additionally, I had the honor of participating in Cory Barker's end-of-the-year round table at TV Surveillance, where I contributed thoughts on the best performances in 2014 on TV, the best new TV show, the worst TV show and the best performances.

I also have just been hired at TV Fanatic and contributed to all their year-end slideshows including best plot twist, most underutilized character, best breakout character, and several more.

In short, I've now analyzed 2014 in TV to death at this point, but being included on Cory Barker's year-end roundtables and TV Fanatic's year-end polls have been a goal of mine for four years so I'm quite pleased. Some people want to build mountains or create great paintings and I just want to watch a lot of TV and discern obscure categories within that medium.

Catching Up on Two Broke Girls

It's a well-known fact that we don't love everything we watch on TV. There are shows that qualify as hate watching where the unpleasant aspects of the show are outweighed by the positives so we take the good with the bad ("Studio 60" is a popular choice here and although I'm in the minority, I view "The Americans" that way). There are also guilty pleasures where you realize that the viewing isn't particularly wholesome but you can't help getting caught up in the hooky nature of the subject matter. Lastly, there's the sort of campy viewing experience like watching an episode of "Batman" or (at least I'd argue) "Glee" where you're watching the show ironically.


Enter "Two Broke Girls" which stars Kat Dennings (Max) as a foul-mouthed lower class waitress and Beth Behrs (Caroline) as a trust fund baby and MBA who's financial assets have been suddenly dissolved. The two work as waitresses at a diner and team up as roommates and business partners to jump start a cupcake business from no capital with Caroline as the brains and Max in the kitchen.




Photo Courtesy: WilliamBruceWest.com

In no way does this show qualify as good TV. When the show premiered, the critics were so offended by the lazy racial stereotypes (particularly the Chinglish-speaking diner owner pictured on right, and the libidinous Central Asian fry cook), they derailed a press conference in the show's first season lobbing accusations of racism at the show's co-creator Michael Patrick King. Three seasons in, the show does not appear to have made any great tonal changes.

The best one can say about the racial stereotypes is that their screen time has been reduced, but that's less worrisome than the pace of the humor. The show feels like a 2010's version of vaudeville. The entirety of the plot or any character development is secondary to the never-ending routine in which Caroline, the straight one, sets up a joke, and Max delivers a one-liner without any situational awareness over whether it's the time for a joke or not. This isn't just a comedy structured around the laugh track: It's a comedy that is flat-out addicted to the laugh track. Nothing is more important than preventing 30 seconds from going by without getting laughter which results in a fairly low hit-to-miss joke ratio and undermines any attempts at a larger truth underneath the jokes.

In spite of all this, I can't deny I frequently enjoy this show. Curiously enough, I find it's a combination of all three things (hate watching, guilty pleasure, and irony) that keeps me glued:

Hate Watching: In spite of the show's shallow style of joke telling, there's something resonant to the premise. The two protagonists have a relatable problem being out of money with Caroline and Max arriving at poverty from two different perspectives. Additionally, whereas past comedies about the lower class ("Roseanne", "All in the Family", "The Jeffersons") have come off as pretty depressing, this show has a pretty fun take on poverty with characters who don't feel down about their lot in life. At the end of the day, I might even suggest the show is important.

Guilty Pleasure: The show qualifies as a guilty pleasure because there's something refreshing about watching an old-school sitcom with easily set-up jokes. It's a change of pace and it's comfort food. It also helps that Kat Dennings and Beth Behr are great actresses and can transcend hacky material.

Ironic Watching: The show's bad elements are so outrageous and misguided that they're just fun to laugh at. Again, part of the key here is Dennings and Behr: They deliver the jokes with a sort of punctuated wink. There's a self-awareness (and quite often with Behr, a visible giggle) that they know how awful some of the humor is.

At the end of the day, "2 Broke Girls" is weak but it's weak with style, consistency and heart.

A list of things more vulgar than 2 Broke Girls

"2 Broke Girls" creator Michael Patrick King has gotten a lot of flak for being vulgar and crass with his show. I watch "2 Broke Girls" regularly (this is something I have to keep secret from my other TV critic friends lest I lose face) and don't find it very vulgar at all. Even more important to note here is that I'm particularly sensitive to vulgarity and can think of a long list of TV shows and films I either find too vulgar to enjoy or enjoy despite the vulgarity (which I view as a distraction). So in defense of Michael Patrick King, here's a rough list of things more vulgar than "2 Broke Girls":
South Park-Duh
Party Down-Particularly Kyle who regularly speaks about sex in very vulgar ways and talks about dicks and female anatomy a lot. One episode takes place at a porn award ceremony and the episode's climax (no pun intended) is Ron's (Ken Marino) penis getting mutilated
Entourage, Eastbound and Down, and The League-The male characters greatly objectify women
Adam Sandler films-They generally have a thematic sweetness and some films like Click or Mr. Deeds are marketed as family films. However, Click has Adam Sandler farting in a guy's face, a father-son conversation about the size of his penis that made me cringe, and a gross-out scene of Adam in a fat suit
Judd Apatow films such as Superbad, Knocked Up and Funny People-The makers of Superbad prided themselves on using the F word more (yes, that's how great literature works, you juvenille nitwits. Maybe if you rewrite Taming of the Shrew as Taming of the Bitch, the Nobel Prize Literature Committe will come knocking at your door) than any other film and that wasn't even the half of it. Knocked Up is about a guy who's life's ambition was to create a website that supplanted Mr. Skin. And watching Seth Rogen plow into Kat Heigl, why in the world did I have to watch that?
"Funny People" starred Adam Sandler as a thin doppelganger for THE Adam Sandler and his routine consisted of a lot of dick jokes and there was kind of a disturbingly fetishistic sex scene with Nicole Parker in which she wanted him to recite his catchphrase during sex. Note, I think two of these three movies are excellent (and Superbad is awful) but they are far more vulgar than 2 Broke Girls.
Get Him to the Greek-All I can say is that a friend of mine watched this film with his wife and in-laws and he felt massively uncomfortable.  As for me, this is one of the very, very few films in which I walked out of a theater.
Weeds-Justin Kirk's kind of a one-track mind ladies man who talks about sex with women in pretty vulgar terms. One episode deals with Nancy's son discovering masturbation in pretty graphic (read: gross) detail (it involved socks and bananas).
Bruno and Borat-I loved Borat in spite of some mixed-up sexual undertones (is an underlying thesis of the film that the more 3rd world you are, the less refined attitudes you have about sex?) but the naked wrestling scene was a bit too much for my eyes. All the talk about anuses and vagines and whether they're tight or not was a little gross for me.  Bruno, on the other hand, scarred me so much. Do not go anywhere near that movie, people, if you have any uneasiness about seeing men having sex with each other.
Ace Ventura-When I was younger, this grossed me out. I should try it again.

Lastly to show I am not completely prude, films/tv shows that talk of sex or show sex in ways that fall on the classier spectrum:
Todd Philips films (The Hangover, Old school)
Dodgeball
Adam McKay's films (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers)
Kevin Smith's films
30 Rock (Hazel comes close to being gross but Kristen Schaal is too funny)
Pretty much every single TV show in the 90's
My Name is Earl and Raising Hope
Austin Powers series (although Spy Who Shagged Me had a few gross-out moments)
James Bond films
It's Always Sunny
Flight of the Conchords
Dumb and Dumber, Stuck on You-Since I mentioned Ace Ventura above. Haven't found the Farrelly Brothers that bad
The Coen Brothers comedies
Bridesmaids
Jack Black's films
Pineapple Express, Cyrus-Since I picked on Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen before
Key and Peele, Portlandia, Kids in the Hall
Juno, Young Adult

Playing GM of television: 2010-2011 Season

I saw this post by Andy Daglas the other day, in which he plays out a hypothetical scenario wherein he can trade TV characters from show to show as if he were a sports GM.
http://www.chicagonow.com/the-vast-wasteland/2011/12/hot-stove-tv/

1.    Sheila Shay (Ana Gasteyer) from Suburgatory to Revenge in exchange for Nolan Ross

Ana Gasteyer will fit right into the Hamptons and imbue the melodrama with a little bit of humor. Nolan Ross will move across the street in Sheila's place and give Tessa a more competent partner-in-crime than the overly affable Malick. Against the monotoned Dahlia and the Dahlia-like girls at her new school, Tessa needs all the help she can get.

2.      Tate (Evan Peters) from American Horror Story gets sent to In Treatment in exchange for Adele (Amy Ryan). Constance (Jessica Lange) gets loaned out.

Tate needs someone effective to help cure his problems. Ben (Dylan McDermott) clearly can’t do the trick and is secretly enabling Tate’s ghost-murdering ways. On Dr. Paul’s (Gabriel Bryne's) turf, Tate will finally get fixed and if you throw Constance in for a few guest spots, it’ll be a fun family session. 

In the meantime, Dr. Ben needs some help himself. The striking Adele will jump in and fix the damage and, yes, the two will probably either bang or have an emotional affair, but that's the best thing that can happen to him. His marriage to his wife is clearly in trouble. His first thought when his wife wanted to move because of possible ghost sightings was to throw her in an institutionalize her. 

 3.      Annie, Senor Chang, and Pierce get sent from Community to Glee in exchange for Sue Sylvester and Quinn Fabray (pre-wheelchair)

Abed and Troy need a more superficial and acerbic girl (possibly one who they might have more sexual tension with) to pal around with. With the temptation of Annie out of the way, Jeff doesn’t get the scarlett letter for bedding a barely legal coed, and Annie, as a peppy student assistant to Mr. Schu, gets better storylines to people closer her age. Plus, most of the guys will have crushes on her and the potential shipping combinations will be mind-boggling.

Meanwhile, Sue is getting tiring with her redundancy in trying to destroy the Glee club. As a pregnant P.E. teacher, she becomes the gang’s new nemesis, while Pierce boasts an attribute even deadlier than what Sue had: Crankiness. He won't even let Mr. Schu get through half a song without telling him to shut up, throwing some old-timey racist insult at one of his students, and boring them with stories. 

Lastly, Sr. Chang will be Michael’s crazy uncle who will have a Holly-Holliday-like 3-episode arc as Mr. Schu’s substitute upon a bad case of food poisoning. Chang gets fired once it’s discovered that he doesn’t have substitute teacher credentials but it will have been a fun ride.

4. 3-Way Trade: Jonothan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) of Bored to Death goes to Community, the rights to  John Goodman go to The Office, and Ryan Howard and Kevin Malone go to Bored to Death

Community needs a nerdy intellectual guy like Ames for a foil. A professor a few years younger then Jeff Winger who thinks he's six times smarter than him will irk Jeff. He'll also majorly crush on Britta and never ever get anywhere close to winning over her affections.

I don't want whatever character John Goodman plays to go over to The Office but just John Goodman and his comedic gifts and allow the Office writing staff the opportunity to mold a good character for him. I've never been in love with Goodman but I think with his bellowing, hefty frame, he could be a tough guy akin to Idris Elba's character and I could trust him to restrain the manic unpredictable energy that the writers have tried to infuse every manager with post-Michael Scott (Will Ferrell is an unusually bad example).

Lastly, maybe the only guy in the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin with a master's degree needs to figure out what to do with himself since he can't be a temp forever and still is too fearful of going to Thailand. So he moves to this hipster enclave of Brooklyn where people get him and works on writing a tell-all novel about his rise and fall from temp to CEO to temp again of the world's zaniest paper company. And the show goes all meta- because he will meet Steve Carell and Greg Daniels and try to persuade them to star in a TV show based on his book. Kevin Malone will also, by some coincidence too crazy for me to even come up with a plausible explanation for (although the Office writer's room will know how to handle this perfectly, transitions of power that make no sense seem to be their specialty lately), end up in Brooklyn too where he will reunite with long-lost brother Zach Galifianakis.

5. Twofer from 30 Rock gets traded to New Girl in exchange for Winston, Frank from 30 Rock gets traded to Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23 in exchange for Eli

I'd hate to see Winston leave the gang, but realistically, the chemistry between the other three is strongest, and the fussy Twofer might bring in a little more of a clash with the other roommates. Can you imagine the hidden resentment a law school dropout like Nick would have for a guy with the command of the English language that Twofer has? Winston wouldn't be the complete antithesis of Tracy Jordan that Twofer was designed to be. He wouldn't be the polar opposite of Tracy, but he'd add a lot of life and personality to the 30 Rock writers room

Meanwhile, Frank was born to play the combination  tambourine-playing health-inspecting simultaneously-creepy-and-non-threatening guy next door that Eli currently inhabits and Eli is the perfect compliment to Jenna who needs a stalker on top of his game.

6. Free agent Josh (Lonny Ross) from 30 Rock gets picked up by Up All Night

I've only seen two episodes of Up All Night, but it's a show about a TV show and Josh and his sex addict of an agent need another crack at a television show, so Josh becomes faux-Oprah's sidekick

7. Howard and Raj get traded from Big Bang Theory to 2 Broke Girls in exchange for Oleg and Han Lee. Stuart will be signed to a full-season contract.

Two Broke Girls has two strong leads with two appalling secondary characters while Big Bang Theory has...er, well, basically the same thing, but what if we could take Howard and Raj and exchange them for walking stereotypes Oleg and Han-Lee. As Daglas pointed out when he made an almost idential trade, said, we need a Lenny and Squiggy for this Laverne and Shirley. I don't think Oleg, Han Lee, Howard or Raj combined could equal one Squiggy in terms of mating desirability, but Raj and Howard would be a massive improvement over Oleg and Han Lee. Raj would keep his mouth shut a lot more than Oleg, and Howard would come onto the girls plenty, but at least Max will know how to handle him. She'll probably punch his lights out, which is what Howard would need. The caveat, Howard has to break up with Bernadette (maybe temporarily).

In the meantime, Han Lee will put a face on the restaurant that the guys and Penny order their Chinese food every other night, while Oleg will serve as the pervy landlord super.

Because you'll need to round out the gang, comic book geek Stuart will return to school to get a higher degree and become a lab assistant and fill out the three's lunch table conversations.




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Revolving Door of TV Openings: 2011-2012 Edition

Here's my annual look back at which  TV and movie stars have come back to TV in the 2011-2012 season. The idea of this list is to show how expansive the revolving door is and just how many familiar names and faces make it back to our airwaves every year. The list is created by looking at the rosters of all the TV shows to debut every year and all the additions to existing casts and adding any names to the list that I personally recognize. Of course, that makes this all very subjective. I recognized Annie Potts and Leslie Bibb from the GCB cast list because I recognized them from Ghostbusters and Talladega Nights, respectively, but you might recognize Jennifer Aspen from her role on Rodney or a 4-episode stint on Glee (which I didn't).

If they're a movie star and primarily known as that (Anjelica Huston, Dustin Hoffman, and Jessica Lange were making their TV debuts but there was no way I was leaving them off this list), I label them as such and if they're known only for one movie (again, that's subjective), I list that one movie with an (M) around it.

I try to note when their last project was and the year beside the project means when they're last show went off the air. A * means recurring role, an (A) means animated, a (TR) means a talk or reality show, and a (C) means creator. An animated role is far-less demanding then a live action role and often doesn't preclude them from further projects. Also, keep in mind, a person doesn't have to have left a previous show project to work on a new show like Stephen Merchant and Rickey Gervais adding "Life's Too Short" to their talk show on HBO.

I try to document just when their last TV gig was too:

Amanda Peete, Bent (Studio 60 2007)

Amber Head, Playboy Club (Hidden Palms, 2007, Zombieland [M])

Annie Potts, GCB (Ghostbusters (M), Dangerous Minds, Law and Order SVU* 2009)

Anjelica Huston, Smash (M)

Ashton Kutcher,  Two and a Half Men (Movies, That 70s Show 2006)

Brittany Snow, Person of Interest (American Dreams 2004)

Catherine Tate, The Office (Catherine Tate Show 2004 [C])

Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? (Chelsea Lately [TR])

Christina Ricci, Pan Am (M)

Claire Danes, Homeland (My So-Called Life 1995, Temple Grandin 2010)

Colm Meany, Hell on Wheels (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1999)

Connie Britton, American Horror Story (Spin City 2000, Friday Night Lights 2011)

David Hornsby (A), Unsupervised-Creator (It’s Always Sunny*)

Dylan McDermott, American Horror Story (The Practice 2004, Big Shots 2008)

Debra Messing, Smash (Will and Grace 2006, The Starter Wife 2008)

Dennis Farina, Luck (M)

Dianne Ladd, Enlightened (M)

Diedrich Baker (A), Napoleon Dynamite (Drew Carey Show, Outsourced 2011)

Dustin Hoffman, Luck (M)

Garrett Morris, 2 Broke Girls (SNL, Jamie Foxx Show 2001)

Hank Azaria, Free Agents (Simpsons [A], Movies, Huff 2006)

Hector Elizondo, Last Man Standing (Monk 2009)

James Spader, The Office (Boston Legal 2009)

James van der Beek, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (Dawson’s Creek 2003)

Jason O’Mara, Terra Nova (Life on Mars 2009)

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story (M)

Jill Hennessy, Luck (Crossing Jordan 2007)

John Goodman*, Community (Roseanne, Normal Ohio, Damages* 2011)

Jonah Hill (C), Allen Gregory (M)

Jeffry Tambor, Bent (Arrested Development 2006, Welcome to the Captain 2008, Archer* [A])

Jessica St. Clair, Best Friends Forever (Best Week Ever)

Jon Heder (A), Nepoleon Dynamite (M) 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (SNL, Seinfeld, New Adv. Of Old Christine, 2010)

Justin Long (A), Unsupervised (M)

Kat Dennings, Two Broke Girls (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist [M])

Katherine McPhee, Smash (American Idol [TR])

Kathryn Hahn, Free Agents (Movies, Crossing Jordan 2007)

Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law (The Office 2011)

Kelsey Grammer, Boss (Frasier, Back to You, Hank 2011)

Kiefer Sutherland, Touch (24 2010)

Kristin Chenowith, GCB (West Wing, Pushing Daisies 2009, Sit Down Shit Up, 2010, Glee* 2011)

Laura Dern, Enlightened (M)

Laura Prepon, Are you There, Vodka? (That 70’s Show 2006)

Leslie Bibb, GCB (Talladega Nights [M])

Leslie Mann (A), Allen Gregory (M)

Luke Wilson, Enlightened (Movies)

Maria Bello, Prime Suspect (Movies)

Matt Walsh, Veep (Upright Citizens Brigade, Dog Bites Man 2006)

Mandy Patinkin, Homeland (M)

Maya Rudolph, Up All Night (SNL 2008)

Maulick Pancholy, Whitney (30 Rock 2011)

Nancy Travis, Last Man Standing (Almost Perfect, Becker, Bill Engvall Show 2009)

Nick Nolte, Luck (M)

Rachel Bilson, Heart of Dixie (The OC 2006)

Regnald vel Johnson, Heart of Dixie (Family Matters 1998) 

Ricky Gervais (C), Life's Too Short (Extras, Ricky Gervais Show [TR])

Stephen Merchant (C), Life's Too Short (Extras, Ricky Gervais Show [TR])

Ted Levine, Luck (Monk 2009)

Tim Allen, Last Man Standing (Home Improvement 1999)

Will Arnett, Up All Night (Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Running Wilde 2011)

Will Forte (A), Allen Gregory (SNL 2010)

Zooey Deschanel, New Girl (M)