This line of Ann’s came into my head today while I was sitting around and I just started laughing to myself, like an idiot.
You know what’s risky? Letting your son go on that church thing.
In an endless loop of Arrested Development and I like it.
I finished my Terriers re-watch yesterday, so onto the Breaking Bad re-watch. Here we go.
I started re-watching Terriers today. This show was so good. Miss you.
I accidentally watched the second season premiere of Raising Hope a couple of nights ago and I kind of liked. I proceeded to download the first season and I’m running through it pretty quickly. It’s pretty decent.
I’ve got a couple of thoughts to expel, and they all have to do with television. Let’s start with the unimportant stuff.
New fall shows! So far, they pretty much suck. I know, I know; they’re just pilots. But, they should at least be entertaining. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m pretty particular in my taste, so I think after viewing a pilot, I can make a decent assumption on the behalf of myself. Of the slew of new programming, so far I’ve watched Up All Night (NBC), New Girl (FOX), 2 Broke Girls (CBS), Whitney (NBC), Death Valley (MTV), and The Playboy Club (NBC). Some okay-looking shows I haven’t seen yet that I plan on watching include Terra Nova (FOX), Person Of Interest (CBS), and Pan Am (ABC). There are a bunch of shows like Free Agents (NBC), Hart Of Dixie (CW), Ringer (CW), and Prime Suspect (NBC) that I probably won’t even bother watching because they look absolutely retarded. From what I’ve seen so far, the only shows that I care for are Up All Night, Death Valley, and New Girl, somewhat. I’ll keep watching these shows until they bore me, which may be one more episodes or may be never, because I think they all have potential. Plus, how can I not watch Will Arnett?
Now, onto the important (to me) stuff. (Un)employed, the sitcom that I have been working on with my friends since February, is going to be going through some changes. We’ve taken way too long to finish it, but it may be for the better. Earlier today, I read that MTV had picked up a show called Underemployed, an ensemble comedy from Craig Wright, described as such: “On the eve of their college graduation, best pals Sofia, Daphne, Lou, Raviva and Miles believe they’re destined for greatness, and are set to dazzle the world with their brilliance. A year later, cold reality has set in and the group struggles, often comically, to stay optimistic through dead-end odd jobs, terrible bosses, romantic mistakes and major life changes.”
When I read this, I said, “Holy mother of fuck.” I told the other guys involved in the show and Mike, essentially the creator and head writer, told me he threw up. He cursed us for dragging out feet. I read on to find that the show was picked up back in February and was only just recently optioned, which only made me feel a bit better, seeing as we didn’t even start working on (Un)employed until February. Any other person might read this, curse their luck, and then start on something new, but we have to finish our pilot. We are legally obligated to finish our pilot because we received funding from Kickstarter. I wish it were as easy as returning the money, but that’s not how it works.
I guess it’s a defeatist attitude to want to quit when we’ve come this far, but I am kind of a pessimist. We’re going to continue on with the pilot, but we’re going to change the name and maybe some other stuff. We’re still going to try to make the best show that we possibly can and we want to finish up soon. After the pilot, maybe we will continue, maybe we’ll create something else, or maybe we won’t do anything, as we sit, wallowing in darkness, empty and soulless.
The internet (or maybe just Tumblr… and Twitter… but that pretty much is the internet) has been abuzz with talk off the new NBC “comedy,” Whitney. There’s been backlash against the show before the pilot even aired, based on the endless, annoying ad campaigns and the preview clips that NBC made available. Since then, there’s been backlash against the backlash, a phrase I nicked from Matt. People are seemingly upset that other people care about television shows and are spouting the timeless advice of “get over it.” I’m here to tell you that hating things, especially shitty TV shows, is important and encouraged, as long as you’re doing it for the right reasons.
Personally, I think I have relatively decent taste in things, in comparison to other people that I know, anyway. Some have referred to me as an elitist, especially in terms of my music taste. I don’t mind this distinction at all; I’m extremely picky about most things. I don’t understand why the idea of weeding out shitty things in order to find the really good ones is supposed to be bad. Elitism gets a negative connotation in several circles, politics and media criticism being a couple, but I have no problem with it.
It’s probably safe to say that I watch a lot of TV. My day job offers me a lot of free time, which I take advantage of by watching shows on Netflix, Hulu, and through other means. I love good comedies and I love good dramas, some of my favorite shows being Seinfeld, Chappelle’s Show, Louie, The Wire, and Breaking Bad. I should also probably say that I can’t stand Whitney Cummings’ stand-up. At all. I don’t find most female stand-up comics funny, which you may find sexist, but I also don’t find most male stand-up comics funny, either. Elitism, maybe? I think I just have specific taste.
I’m generally open enough to give most new shows, or even some old shows that I’ve never seen, a fighting chance. I saw the ads for Whitney and I thought that they were terrible. I saw the preview clips for Whitney and I thought that they too were terrible. I’ve seen Whitney Cummings tell jokes and, you guessed it, I thought that they were terrible. But I still decided to download the pilot and give it a chance. Maybe the writers are good or maybe the other actors are interesting and prop up the show with a seemingly weak lead. Unfortunately, none of this happened.
The show has a laugh track. Strike one. The show isn’t funny. Strike two. That’s all the strikes, I need, really. The plot wasn’t interesting. The show doesn’t do anything to stand out from other shows. The supporting cast are caricatures, standing in for Whitney and Chris D’Elia (who I don’t really mind, and had a decent turn on Workaholics) to bounce jokes off of. I’m fine with this “girl power” revival thing that network TV seems to be doing, (Kat Dennings, Zooey D, Whitney, etc.) as long as the shows are good, and not just vehicles for people with vaginas.
I’m by no means a professional critic, but I think I’ve watched my fair share of shows. Enough to know, simply from a preview, that a show will be something I’ll hate before I even see the show. This is why, I believe, I have no problem with people shitting all over this show before the pilot aired. People know themselves, they know what they like and especially what they hate. So, in conclusion, Whitney sucks, educated hatred of media is fine, and having good taste is an admirable thing.
I would like to reiterate to everyone how goddamn good this show is. That is all.
