Category: tv

Now I’ve heard everything… FoodTV just showed a commercial using a song by Kosheen. I thought I was the only person in the world who knew who they were (ok, only other person in the world, since I heard them through a friend). It’s a good album, feel-good lyrical techno. It’s no Mezzanine, but it’s good.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is fab-u-lous. We watched out first episode this morning (while I languished on the couch with a headache), and it was great. Haven’t seen it? Ok, these five gay guys, each with a diffferent specialty (there’s the host/personal grooming guy, fashion consultant, food guy, and decorators) take on a poor boorish breeder (best gay insult ever) and turn them into fashion-conscious renaissance men by showing them that there are finer things in life than fast food and Wal-Mart deck chairs.

The guy on this episode was so into it. He was trying to do something nice for his wife, who was tired of his old t-shirts, poor personal grooming and their mess of a house. She went away, and the fairy-god-queers (they call themselves the Fab Five, and they are faboo) went to work, teaching poor Adam all about spa treatments, cooking, furniture and keeping it together. While there were moments of really funny cattiness, the five guys were there to help (unlike the mean-spirited American version of What Not To Wear), and were overjoyed at the progress Adam made.

It was funny, cute and educational… It’s definitely going on the Season Pass list! Oh, and yeah, I should probably apply to be a victim on the show. I could use the help.

It’s a day of confessions. Here’s confession number two. I love Big Brother. I haven’t watched Survivor since season 2. I don’t normally like network TV reality shows. There is just something about Big Brother that makes me watch. It’s so evil, and like the MTV series The Real World and Road Rules, is an interesting look into the collision of the private and public persona. I know I’m putting way too thought into this, but I can’t help it. It’s great fun watching people try to play each other.

The losers are those people who aren’t honest with themselves. It doesn’t matter if they’re dishonest with other people. If they’re honest with themselves, they can handle the game and the pressure. If they can’t handle themselves, they lose.

The other great morality lesson from these shows is gossip. Everything you say in these cramped quarters could come back to haunt you. Every catty thing you say behind someone’s back is overheard by someone else, and will eventually make it back. It’s funny to see that season after season, people get caught doing it, and are shocked when things they say come back to doom their chances of winning anything.

It’s not too late to jump in! It’s only day three! Join in my guilty pleasure! It’s not bad, it’s just silly.

A great article on teevee on what’s great about The Wire. I agree 100%. It’s an amazing show. It’s everything Homicide was in its heyday (the Luther Mahoney era) and more. The way Jimmy stuck it to Rawles this week was the funniest, most evil thing I’ve ever seen on TV and I could not stop laughing. If you like TV that doesn’t tell you what to think, or need everything spelled out for you to enjoy a show – watch it. You won’t regret it.

Thank goodness for TiVo. There’s now so much good stuff late on Friday night that I can’t believe trying to keep up without having TiVo handle it all for me. Let’s go over the list:

• Ali G: It’s hard to say which show is funnier, but Ali G is one of the two funniest half hours on TV. The things he gets away with saying because of his outrageous accents are just brilliant. Submersive and somehow innocent, it will knock you on your funny bone, snap its finger in your face and show you its drawers as it walks away.

• Penn & Teller: My wife hates Penn & Teller, but loves this show. They take the things no one else is willing to take on (but everyone is pretty sure is BS, but either doesn’t have the time or the stones to say so) and debunks them in the funniest possible way. The bottled water one last night was absolutely priceless.

• Real Time With Bill Maher: I don’t really like Bill Maher. Really, I don’t. But, the panels are usually interesting. Paul F. Thompkins’ segments are very funny, and he’s committed to showcasing stand-up comedians. Sarah Silverman was really funny the first show, and Eric Idle was awesome last week. Worth watching for those alone (especially because you can fast forward through the other parts.

This is my middle-of-January-don’t-wanna-talk-about-a-war Entertainment Review. I think this will end up being my favorite TV Shows of the past year or so (since I have an awful time-based memory, Silver Spoons might show up along side Buck Rogers). You may also accidentally get a restaurant review sprinkled in. Here they are in the order I think of them:

1. The Wire: This has got to be my favorite show of the last year or so. It felt like the first couple seasons of my all-time-favorite cop show, Homicide. Each episode was tight and gripping, and the characters were just the best. I hope it makes a come-back next season, although I would understand if it didn’t.

2. Boomtown: I hope this show survives. It’s my favorite, and I think the best drama on network television right now. Again, the characters drive the show, and they’re all perfectly played. Donnie Wahlberg has been a big surprise and done a great job playing the honest but tempted husband. The last show where he told Fearless about his wife’s attempted suicide was just heartbreaking. And Neal McDonough (I know I butchered that… sorry) is on fire as McNorris. He was great in Band of Brothers but he’s done a great job of making me forget him in that role and embracing the drunken jackass he plays on the show.

3. Cheng’s: Accidental restaurant review ahead. We went out to Cheng’s, our local upscale Chinese restaurant last night with a couple from church. We decided to be oh-so Iron Chef and try something new. We started with chicken in lettuce rolls, which were extremely tasty. The chicken was chopped very fine and mixed with a light soy-based sauce, pine nuts, a few pieces of green and red pepper and then rolled in lettuce with scallions. Yum-may. Then, we got four entrees to share: Filet Mignon with Spicy Black Pepper And Macadamia Nuts, Crispy Duck with Ginger Plum Sauce, General Tsao’s Chicken and Beef With Broccoli. Can you tell which ones Jen and I ordered? First, the Filet Mignon was awesome. I expected the traditional little filet with the other stuff around it. Nope, it came out in bite-sized chunks mixed with macadamia nuts, green peppers, onions and scallops in a really tangy pepper sauce. It was awesome. The pepper kick stuck around for a few seconds after each bite, but wasn’t unpleasant, and the meat was extremely tender and cooked to medium on the inside. It was definitely the hit of the night. The crispy duck came in a cube, with what looked a little like (you guessed it) duck sauce around it. There were small pieces of breaded duck at the bottom, then topped with fried duck skin, some melon slices and thin strips of red pepper. The skin was perfectly crispy. It wasn’t tough or chewy at all and was a great complement to the rich and tender duck. Great dish. Their General Tsao’s Chicken isn’t as spicy as some of the other local choices, but it was very good. I think I’ll still go to Oriental Express for my General Tsao’s.

4. Firefly: Even though Fox short-sightedly cancelled this brilliant show, I’m holding out hope it’ll get picked up somewhere else. By the Buffy guy, it’s a great combination of sci-fi, western and witty dialogue that kept me coming back every Friday night. It had all the humor that Buffy had in its first couple seasons and some spot-on storytelling.

5. Andy Richter Controls The Universe: Like The Family Guy, this brilliant sitcom just hasn’t found the audience it deserves on Fox. The Zoomanism episode alone was worth renewing the show for. I think it really just needed to chance for people to find it. Unfortunately, I think it’s gone as soon as Fox can find a replacement for it.

6. The Sopranos: I don’t know what everyone was complaining about. I loved this season. They got away from some of the violence and let the characters move around a bit. The last four episodes where some of the best of the entire series.

7. Chapelle’s Show: Ok, this one’s new, and I’m not sure they can keep it up, but the first episode was one of the funniest half hours I have ever seen. The black white supremacist sketch was one of the ballsiest things I have ever seen on TV. I almost wet myself laughing. Definitely try to catch the show next week (and knowing Comedy Central, you can probably catch the first episode a couple hundred times between now and next Wednesday).

8. Smallville: The show is a liii-iiittle on the cheesy side, but it has such a wealth of things to work with, that it’s worth watching every week just to see how they’re going to develop Clark’s character. What’s great is I think the show could continue almost forever. Unlike other teen series that die after High School ends, there’s enough in the Superman story to keep the show going with new supporting characters into college and even the Daily Planet afterwards. Jen got me hooked on this one.

9. Full Metal Challenge: Max’s faaa-aaaavorite show. He’ll watch each episode over and over again and then go recreate all the games. I love it just to see how these homemade cars do it every week, and to cheer on the little Chilean car. I’m sad the season’s over, but I’m sure next season will be even better.

Whew… that was fun. Next time, movies?