Songs Of Blog!

NORBIT (In Theaters)
A truly vile, incompetent, hateful piece of shit.
Grade: F


PRISON BREAK (FOX)
You're still the one, baby.
Grade: A


THE OFFICE (DVD - SEASON 1) (AMERICAN VERSION)
Recently re-watched the first season of the American version - a pretty good batch of episodes. While the pilot was more of a direct copy, the second episode, written by BJ Novack, was "RACIAL DIVERSITY DAY." That was probably the first season high water mark and set a standard for the show. I remember season 2 being pretty great as well. It's a shame this season had such a strong start and such a weak middle. The last batch of eps have been the pits. But this first season set is a good one. Though, you realize while watching it that it will simply never come close to the brilliance of BBC version.
Grade: B


I LOVE NEW YORK (VH1)
Bye, Bye, Mr. Boston. A ho-hum installment.
Grade: C


STUDIO 60 (NBS)
Yawn. (sigh.) Bullshit. (sigh.) Yawn.
Grade: D


FAMILY GUY (FOX)
Awesome. I just remember laughing all the way through.
Grade: A


SONGS OF BLOG
I'm starting a new program on the Blog. Songs of the Blog. So every blog will have one or two links to songs that I love. Enjoy.

call me what you like - this is a great old dramatic song.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sn7d7gZj_qc

A great Billy Joel song rendered live:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GaNbU7dMN7s

THE SIMPSONS (FOX)
Is on somewhat of an upswing. The last few episodes have been hilarious. This last ep, spoofing Michael Apted's 42 UP series was great.
Grade: B +


THE SURREAL LIFE GAMES (VH1)
Every now and then - this show gets it just right. This particular episode that employed the ingenious contest of having the celebrities have to pick out hookers from non-hookers was hilarious and exciting. The stuff between Emanuel Lewis and Verne was truly - surreal. And suddenly this show is looking very good again. Emmanuelle Lewis is really a character.
Grade: A


LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD (MAX)
Somewhat underrated, this comedy, written and directed by Albert Brooks, was hilarious in spots, dull in others, then really built to a very satisfying third act. Unfortunately, he completely copped out in his ending and gave us maybe one of the worst endings of all time. The funny thing is, it could've been a great ending but was completely undermined by some half-ass crawl on the screen explaining the movie away. Still - this has some nice moments.
Grade B -

(for some reason, I reviewed this twice - decided to leave both reviews in, so later in the blog you'll see me repeating myself)


Jeremy Piven and Mariah Carrey are both interviewed in this month's PLAYBOY. Mariah sounds insane and Piven sounds like an asshole.

Is there a cure for feeling ugly?


EBERT & ROEPER (SYND)
Had a weird half hour where Kevin Smith was doing the reviews with Richard via-satellite - it looked like NIGHTLINE. Funnier still was when Richard gave a thumbs up to WORDS & MUSIC and Kevin threatened to fly into the studio and strangle him.
Grade: A

THE HONEYMOONERS IN COLOR (ALN)
Okay - I don't know what network ALN is - but that's what shows on my cable box. First, THE HONEYMOONERS is probably my favorite sitcom of all time. It started as a sketch on THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW in the 50s, and the characters of Ralph and Norton became so popular that they cut a deal to do a 3 camera sitcom filmed in front of a live audience (very new stuff at the time.) This lead to what's widely known as the CLASSIC 39 - the only season of 39 eps they filmed in B&W. These are the reruns you'll usually find on late night tv - of the 39, probably 33 are the funniest things you'll ever see. They were near-perfect. I grew up on them and now own the full set. Later in life, they started finding all kinds of HONEYMOONERS additions. After the one season, Gleason went back to his variety shows and continued The Honeymooners sketches with only Art Carney remaining the fixture - the wives kept changing. At one point, there were quite a few new Honeymooners episodes done, and about 15 years ago, they were cleaned up and restored into what's known widely as the LOST episodes. Of these, many are really great and funny - one classic hour had Ralph and Alice trying to adopt a baby. After those runs, THE HONEYMOONERS returned yet again in the 60s - in color, with Ralph and Norton and yet another pair of tv wives. These episodes were an hour long and featured at least 3 musical numbers per episode. These are the eps that are playing now on whatever ALN is. I'd never seen these before, and am finally getting a chance to take a look at them now. They're not very good - Ralph is skinny, the guys are much older, the jokes are quite stale and the musical numbers are ridiculous - thought both Jackie Gleason and Art Carny can both sing very well. But the problem is beyond that. If you're a big HONEYMOONERS fan and want to see sort of the official "ending" - you're best off with the reunion specials that aired in the late 70s and early 80s, which took the action back to Brooklyn. But in these eps, Norton and Ralph win a songwriting contest, become famous songwriters and travel to a different exotic locale in every episode, which are chock full of guest stars. I guess if you're a completist, you need to see this - but otherwise, taking the guys out of Brooklyn and away from the roots of the show proves a deadly mistake. And the whole vibe is just sort of over. I'd stick to the classic 39 and some of the lost episodes. These are really dreadful, though - it must be said that it's some kind of pleasure to see Gleason and Carney years later still doing the same old schtick.
Grade: C -

LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN A MUSLIM WORLD (HBO)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NR19PloL-4Y (to see trailer)
Has a great beginning - Albert Brooks plays himself and is talked into going to Muslim territories to find out what makes them laugh. Albert wrote, directed and produced. And while this film didn't get any attention - it's not bad at all. It's overlong and only about a third of the jokes connect (I'm being generous) but the larger scope of the movie was compelling and original. A noble failure.
Grade: C +


20/20 (ABC) "Self Help Rip Offs"
At the top of this special, the reporters all but said that 99 percent of the people in Los Angeles who ask you for money are total fucking crooks. Then they produced their hidden camera footage. I'm never opening my wallet again.
Grade: B