The Prime Times: Big Names Edition

By on Sep 11, 2009 in In Brief |

Tonight’s top stories: As if I weren’t already excited about ABC’s new comedy Modern Family (previously previewed on this here blog), here comes the news that bona fide movie stars Elizabeth Banks and Edward Norton will guest-star in multiple episodes. Banks was on Scrubs, but Norton does television? What the what? Unfortunately, American Idol has more staying power now that Ellen DeGeneres is permanently filling the judge’s chair left vacant by Paula Abdul. But she’s one of my favorite comedians, so I won’t hold it against her too much. LeVar Burton was the subject of a recent NPR interview in which he talked about his roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Reading Rainbow (the latter of which came to an abrupt end two weeks ago). A lot of listeners called and emailed in to express their appreciation for Rainbow, and their words spoke volumes...

To Be Seen, Not Tasted

By on Sep 7, 2009 in Raves |

Why do we enjoy Top Chef so much? Aside from the fact that it’s one of the few respectable, legitimate competition shows, and aside from the fact that we are all gluttons for culinary-inferiority punishment, why do we watch a show in which we cannot participate? With So You Think You Can Dance, you can see the dances. With Project Runway, you can see the designs. But with Top Chef, you cannot taste the food. You must watch the judges reactions and rely on their appraisals. It reminds me of my chief complaint about food shows: there are only so many responses TV chefs can give when tasting their own concoctions. The head tilts up toward the heavens, the eyes roll back, the eyelids flutter. “Oh, oh. That is so good.” Or “Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.” Or “Yumm-o!” Or the old standby: “Mmmm.” (Really, Rachael Ray, could you vary it up a little?)  I...

High Expectations and Higher Education

By on Sep 2, 2009 in Previews | 1 comment

2009-2010 New Series Preview, Part 4 I was prepared to love Community, NBC’s latest venture into single-camera comedy. The premise is funny: a fake lawyer goes to community college to become legitimate and ends up becoming a fake Spanish tutor in a study group full of misfits. The actors (like Joel McHale and Chevy Chase) are all well-cast for their roles. The humor is, for the most part, fresh and unexpected. (For example, a slighted study-groupie tells the lawyer, “I thought you were like Bill Murray in any of his films, but you’re more like Michael Douglas in any of his films.”) And to top it all off, there’s no laugh track.  But for some reason, I only liked it. Incidentally, I can actually speak with authority about this show, because I have seen the first episode. (Being the minor-league TV critic that I am, I jump at any chance to preview new shows....

The Whore in the House of Prayer

By on Aug 29, 2009 in In Production |

Per usual, all five of the Emmy nominees for Main Title Design are stellar achievements—and nice counterpoints to the the title card some shows display in lieu of an actual sequence. But the most captivating of these year’s contenders is the one Digital Kitchen designed for HBO’s True Blood. Pulsating, lascivious, and kinetic, the sequence is a whirlwind tour of the South—its culture, its environment, and its seedy underbelly. I love so much about this sequence: the music (Jace Everett’s “Bad Things”); the rough-hewn, custom-made typeface; the frenetic editing; the images of life and death, the juxtaposition of religious and sexual ecstasy, et cetera, et cetera. See for yourself: And, if you’re interested in how Digital Kitchen developed this magnum opus, you may find Creative League’s “Making Of” article (from whence the title of...

Dostoyevsky Novels and the Dream Era

By on Aug 26, 2009 in In Production |

The A.V. Club recently posted an in-depth interview with comedian/actor Patton Oswalt, the voice of the rat in Ratatouille and the star of upcoming drama Big Fan (and, incidentally, a man whose first name is my middle!). His insights into comedy, acting, and fatherhood are all astute and articulate (if a tad profane). But the parts I want to share with you are those in which he expounds upon the state of television, in light of his guest-starring roles on shows like Dollhouse and Caprica. When asked whether he’d commit to being a series regular for a television show (an undertaking few movie stars are willing to make), he replied: Oh yeah. What’s really odd now—trust me, I love doing movies, but right now, television is the way Hollywood was in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The dream era I would have loved to have been part of in Hollywood then is happening right now, but it’s...

Re-married with Children

By on Aug 25, 2009 in Previews |

2009-2010 New Series Preview, Part 3 ABC has four new comedies in the pipeline, and three of them have unfortunately unfunny previews: Hank, The Middle, and Cougar Town. If producers do put all the best bits in the previews, well… the outlook for those shows is bleak. But the fourth, Modern Family, looks to be riotous, and it has been earning acclaim from television critics more reputable than I. (You know, the ones who don’t have to rely on previews to pass judgment!) Modern Family follows three couples (and their progeny) in an Office-like mockumentary way: a couple raising three children, a newlywed couple with a May-December age gap, and a gay couple with an adopted daughter. And, in a hitherto secret twist, all the couples are related. Many shows of this ilk require a few episodes for the viewers to really understand the characters and thus understand the humor, but...