[Blog]

Permanent link to: <br /><br /><a href="http://www.chrisboylan.com/blog/archives/000245.php">Television, not Amber</a>

<p>Remember - there's a special new episode of "Arrested Development" tonight at 9:30 on FOX! Make sure you catch this show as it is absolutely hilarious. Jason Bateman is a wildly underrated comic actor and the show is suberbly written. I don't have enough space here to properly describe how funny this show is, but suffice to say, you can hear me laughing from the parking lot of my apartment complex. I'm not generally a loud laugher, but this show makes me cry - on par with <em>Curb Your Enthusiasm</em>, <em>South Park</em>, and <em>Andy Richter Controls the Universe</em>(no longer on the air) and a step above <em>The Simpsons</em>, <em>Scrubs</em>, <em>Beavis and Butthead</em>(now on MTV 2), and <em>Malcolm in the Middle</em>. Don't believe me? Then read <a href="http://www.nj.com/tv/ledger/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1079508951313360.xml">this review</a> in the Newark Star-Ledger.</p>

<p>Need further proof? Michael, the main character, has become the president of his father's company after his father was imprisoned for various embezzling schemes. In order to fix the company, he had to sell off all of his family's perks, including their cars and private jet. However, he was able to keep the pickup truck with extendable stairs on the back that led people up to the private jet. Thus, he and the family are now required to use the stair car as their primary means of transportation. Every time he has to drive somewhere, we see him get in the stair car and I lose it. What type of show has the balls to come up with a joke that stupid and keep it going the entire series? A great one (see <em>Everybody Loves Raymond</em> and Robert's insistence on touching food to his chin before eating it.)</p>

<p>In related TV news, also remember to check out <a href="http://www.fox.com/wonderfalls/"><em>Wonderfalls</em></a>, this Thursday and Friday on FOX. Deirdre tipped me off to this, and the quirky show has a lot of potential. It premeired on Friday, but they are reairing the premiere episode Thusday with a follow up Friday of episode 2. The main character is a wise ass college graduate who lives in Niagara Falls. For some reason, inanimate objects have begun to talk to her, and now she is compelled to do what they ask, usually something nice for a stranger. It's a bit hokey, but it also has the feel of one of those better X-Files episodes, where they would drop the alien ridiculousness and fool around at a carnival or something. </p>

<p>Even if you did see Friday's episode, you can watch it again with commentary this Thursday. Apparently, <a href="http://www.fox.com/wonderfalls/">FOX</a> will be running audio commentary with the episode by the show's creators. It's an interesting concept and I hope it doesn't get bogged down by too many people hitting the server at once. Even without commentary the show is watchable simply for the main character, Jaye, played by Caroline Dhavernas. She does a great job of making what could be a lame concept edgy and interesting. I swear I have seen her in something before, but all I could find was <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0245238/"><em>Lost and Delirious</em></a>, a little, unknown movie that I caught while unemployed last year and enjoyed much more than I expected. </p>

<p>Well, I clearly cannot give the proper amount of space to the Amber story now, so it waits for another day. Until then, take solace in the fact that I just threw 3 hours of good TV your way (Wonderfalls - Thursday and Friday, Arrested Development - Wednesday and Sunday).</p>

<p>For your troubles, here's another nugget: <em>Significant Others</em> on Bravo was funny after two episodes. Caught them during the can-Amber-stop-vomitting? marathon. It normally airs on Tuesdays, but its cable so it'll be on another 80 times.</p>

<p>P.S. Double your pleasure: <em>South Park</em> and <em>Chapelle's Show</em> are both new and worth watching tonight. So, it's ---</p>

<p>9:30 -- Arrested Development - FOX<br />
10:00 to midnight -- Comedy Central <br />
South Park<br />
Chapelle's Show<br />
The Daily Show<br />
Tough Crowd (anybody catch Greg Giraldo flipping out Monday? Awesome.)</p>

[Guest]

Hey Chris,
Arrested Development last night was golden. I was crying! Henry Winkler having a Fonz moment in the bathroom? James Lipton with the prison workers? David Cross doing Mission: Impossible acrobatics in the previews for next week? A SEEING EYE DOG TERRORIZING A PUBLIC PARK? I think I have a new favoirt sitcom. I'll let you know if Scrubs falls to second place in about three weeks. I know where I'll be on Sunday nights!

Laters,
Liz

[Chris]

If Scrubs falls? I was all over the Scrubs bandwagon a year or two ago, but much like Malcom in the Middle, I feel like I see the jokes coming a little too easily. It's still great, and I still love it, it's just that after awhile you simply get used to a great show and take it for granted. Plus, it seems like there isn't a ton of character development to string me along either.

Arrested Development is just hilarious. Watching David Cross, a.k.a. Tobias Funke, slowly sneak past a blind woman with (as you wrote) "Mission Impssible moves" was too much to bear. I almost vomited I was laughing so hard. Plus, SHE ISN"T BLIND!! This show is both hilarious and apparently suspenseful as well. I was not expecting a coherent plot as well.

Don't forget Wonderfalls tonight and tomorrow!

[dd]

I seriously thought Greg Giraldo was going to explode. I've seen him get kinda mad at Patrice for being a dumbass, but Greg Proops was tauting him. I can see where Giraldo was coming from, considering he's a writter for the show. I'd be pissed too, if someone was going to be on the show and didnt think to research the topics. That and Greg Proops isnt funny. Jim Norton is though. HIlarious.

Wonderfalls... glad they did a repeat of the first show last night cause i missed the first 15 minutes last week. The TiVo is all set for the future. Does anyone else think its weird that the lead character is supposed to be 24, yet looks 17?

[Chris]

Re: Giraldo

Especially since Giraldo had a well-reasoned and important thought. Proops is a jackass and just began imitating him (yes, imitating. Like how you try to win an argument when you're three). When moderates vote Republican instead of Democratic, it is because of people like Proops who have a knee-jerk response and begin crying when someone else proves them wrong.

For those of you who didn't see the show, Giraldo (a former lawyer) was arguing that in the Kobe Bryant case, bringing up the sexual activity of the woman after the alleged act was not only legal and relevant, but also completely justified. Proops began yelling that Greg thought she deserved it because of her actions, and that was not his point. Giraldo even defended rape shield (a victim's sexual past cannot be brought up in court) laws.

As Giraldo then pointed out, after being interrupted at least three or four times, was that the woman is claiming that she was physically injured by the Kobe incident, but she had sex with around two or three other men in the day or two after the incident before going to the cops. If you've had sex with four men in two days, then it's kind of hard to prove beyond a resonable doubt that marks on your body and injuries were caused by the first one. In this case her sexual actions are relevant, but her history is not. No one is talking about her past. However, her behavior after the incident is relevant.

Proops was being such a dick that I was glad Giraldo blew up. I was disappointed that Quinn didn't do more to support Giraldo when proops just began making noise so people couldn't hear his point. When stuff gets nasty, Quinn kind of wimps out, instead of putting people in their place like a host should.

Speaking of bad hosts, check out how much of a dick Dennis Miller has become: Dennis just isn't funny anymore.