THE SARAH SILVERMAN SHOW (COMEDY CENTRAL) 
Arrived Thursday night at 10 30 on Com Central and I found it to be the most original, unique, laugh out loud funny show that I've seen in I can't remember how long. The setup is sitcom simple - Sarah lives with her younger sister (played by real life sister Laura) and they have 2 next door gay neighbors. Sarah begins a romance with a cop and that's about it. The pilot story was about how Sarah had to watch a show called "Cookie Party" alone, which she said would be "great, terrifying, challening...". There were dozens of great moments of Sarah just kind of playing off her persona - at one point an old black woman she'd never before in the grocery store shows her a picture of her grandchild, whom she says "I love most in the world." Sarah replies "That's 'cause you haven't met me, yet." She does this with both innocence and a knowing smirk letting us all in on her joke. These are funny, great characters and the show itself comes packed with invention, with Sarah singing (like in JESUS IS MAGIC) and extended hilarious animated sequences. This is a very big moment for Sarah and I think this show is going to quickly become known as special. If you don't believe me, check out Sarah's scene with her dog. The dog yawns and Sarah says, "What am I - boring you?" The bizarre argument between the cop and the unseen neighbor seemed to come out of nowhere and was so strangely funny. Right now, there's only an order for six, but my hunch is that THE SARAH SILVERMAN SHOW will be around until Sarah doesn't want to do it anymore. Thank Comedy Central for recognizing something truly special and funny.
GRADE: A +
While I'm already down this road, Sarah was a scream last week during her extended visit to the Stern Radio Show where she talked about everything from hating the sound of her own voice to her strange views on adoption. Great appearance.
Arrived Thursday night at 10 30 on Com Central and I found it to be the most original, unique, laugh out loud funny show that I've seen in I can't remember how long. The setup is sitcom simple - Sarah lives with her younger sister (played by real life sister Laura) and they have 2 next door gay neighbors. Sarah begins a romance with a cop and that's about it. The pilot story was about how Sarah had to watch a show called "Cookie Party" alone, which she said would be "great, terrifying, challening...". There were dozens of great moments of Sarah just kind of playing off her persona - at one point an old black woman she'd never before in the grocery store shows her a picture of her grandchild, whom she says "I love most in the world." Sarah replies "That's 'cause you haven't met me, yet." She does this with both innocence and a knowing smirk letting us all in on her joke. These are funny, great characters and the show itself comes packed with invention, with Sarah singing (like in JESUS IS MAGIC) and extended hilarious animated sequences. This is a very big moment for Sarah and I think this show is going to quickly become known as special. If you don't believe me, check out Sarah's scene with her dog. The dog yawns and Sarah says, "What am I - boring you?" The bizarre argument between the cop and the unseen neighbor seemed to come out of nowhere and was so strangely funny. Right now, there's only an order for six, but my hunch is that THE SARAH SILVERMAN SHOW will be around until Sarah doesn't want to do it anymore. Thank Comedy Central for recognizing something truly special and funny.
GRADE: A +
While I'm already down this road, Sarah was a scream last week during her extended visit to the Stern Radio Show where she talked about everything from hating the sound of her own voice to her strange views on adoption. Great appearance.
Lastly, for a great article that originally appeared on Sarah in the NEW YORKER, go here:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/051024fa_fact
On the subject of Howard, I recently caught a few of the ON DEMAND SHOWS - these deserve special mention:
SAL HARASSES GARY
I might've talked about this last time and I don't know if it's still available, but it's a perfect storm as Sal, Richard, Howard, Robin, Ralph and the E! crew conspire to make Gary really lose his shit. One of the funniest half hours ever.
GRADE: A +
On the subject of Howard, I recently caught a few of the ON DEMAND SHOWS - these deserve special mention:
SAL HARASSES GARY
I might've talked about this last time and I don't know if it's still available, but it's a perfect storm as Sal, Richard, Howard, Robin, Ralph and the E! crew conspire to make Gary really lose his shit. One of the funniest half hours ever.
GRADE: A +
BIGFOOT & HIS BAND
Bigfoot, the 8 foot whack packer, came in stoned and did a set with his band that had to be seen to be believed. I thought Artie was going to die from a heart attack he was laughing so hard. Truly theatre of the absurd.
GRADE:A
ARTIE'S WEIGHT GAME
Some ball busting fan came in, made a bunch of comparisons regarding Artie and his weight, then made the heavyweight get on the scale - 296 - his highest yet. Cut to the radio show, Artie missed a few days, claiming illness. I hope to God that's what it was - because Artie has been the best addition to the show in five years and he seems like a generally good guy and I hope he pulls it together and takes care of himself. But in the meantime, it's hilarious to see these guys breaking his balls constantly. At the same time, it's depressing because Artie deserves to treat himself better.
Grade: A -
Even though I very recently gave this poorly executed show a decent review for a couple of well done episodes, it seems it may be not enough to save this beleaguered program:
THIS ARTICLE WAS PREPRINTED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM www.ew.com
The bell tolls for 'Studio 60'
Feb 2, 2007, 05:44 PM by Gary Susman
Is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip back at deaths door? For a while, it appeared the show had been saved from cancellation, thanks to NBC's order for a full season's worth of episodes, a slight uptick in the ratings, and Aaron Sorkin's apparent recognition that his Monday night dramedy needed a change in direction. But this afternoon, there comes a press release from NBC that, if you read between the lines, suggests the series may be gone for good by the end of the month.
The press release announces the March 5 debut of the drama The Black Donnellys in Studio 60's timeslot. Now, that alone doesn't mean that Studio 60 is never coming back. But the same press release also notes that 30 Rock is giving up its space in March to Andy Richter's new comedy, Andy Barker, P.I., but is returning after just one month, on April 19. There's no fixed date for Studio 60 to resume; the release says merely that it "will return later this season on a date to be determined." Well, maybe it will, or maybe it'll come back in the summer to burn off the remaining episodes—or maybe NBC will air them only over the Internet.
Studio 60 gets a lot of flak on EW.com, including some from me in my TV Watch column, prompting some readers to ask why I write about the show every week if I hate it so much. I don't hate it, but I find it incredibly frustrating. All that talent—Sorkin, the blue-chip cast (led by Matthew Perry, pictured)—and all those lofty aspirations, marred by weak execution, lazy writing, dramatic issues that are hard to care about, and a lack of verisimilitude (these characters are comedy professionals, so where's the funny?). There are occasional laughs, and occasional moments of brilliance, but apparently not enough of them to keep people watching. Still, I (and many of you, I'm sure) keep tuning in every week, hoping that this will be the week the show finally lives up to its potential for greatness. Better hurry up, Studio 60; you may have only four more weeks to dazzle us.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PREPRINTED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM www.ew.com
The bell tolls for 'Studio 60'
Feb 2, 2007, 05:44 PM by Gary Susman
Is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip back at deaths door? For a while, it appeared the show had been saved from cancellation, thanks to NBC's order for a full season's worth of episodes, a slight uptick in the ratings, and Aaron Sorkin's apparent recognition that his Monday night dramedy needed a change in direction. But this afternoon, there comes a press release from NBC that, if you read between the lines, suggests the series may be gone for good by the end of the month.
The press release announces the March 5 debut of the drama The Black Donnellys in Studio 60's timeslot. Now, that alone doesn't mean that Studio 60 is never coming back. But the same press release also notes that 30 Rock is giving up its space in March to Andy Richter's new comedy, Andy Barker, P.I., but is returning after just one month, on April 19. There's no fixed date for Studio 60 to resume; the release says merely that it "will return later this season on a date to be determined." Well, maybe it will, or maybe it'll come back in the summer to burn off the remaining episodes—or maybe NBC will air them only over the Internet.
Studio 60 gets a lot of flak on EW.com, including some from me in my TV Watch column, prompting some readers to ask why I write about the show every week if I hate it so much. I don't hate it, but I find it incredibly frustrating. All that talent—Sorkin, the blue-chip cast (led by Matthew Perry, pictured)—and all those lofty aspirations, marred by weak execution, lazy writing, dramatic issues that are hard to care about, and a lack of verisimilitude (these characters are comedy professionals, so where's the funny?). There are occasional laughs, and occasional moments of brilliance, but apparently not enough of them to keep people watching. Still, I (and many of you, I'm sure) keep tuning in every week, hoping that this will be the week the show finally lives up to its potential for greatness. Better hurry up, Studio 60; you may have only four more weeks to dazzle us.
DIGITAL COUCH SAYS: Don't count on it.
SNL ( DREW BARRYMORE)
The opening IDOL parody was shamefully bad. Drew's monolauge was okay. The high point came early on, when Amy Poehler did an impression that echoed everything I've said about Dakota Fanning for the last 4 years. Amy was brilliant as the older then her years, robot-like Dakota. She also captured the bullshit hollywood speak that Dakota's been talking since she was 4. I remember when she was in I AM SAM, like 3 years ago (She was about 8) and she said "You turn around and you're working with Sean Penn - I mean, it's like wow - Sean Penn from Fast Times and Bad Boys - this guy is an American treasure! And then you look on your right and you see Robert Duvall - The Great Santini, Godfather - this guy is acting gold." I repeat, she was fucking 8. The rest of the show was just okay - a better entry in a horrible season. The sketches got more and more pathetic, such as the 100 year old sketch where Maya Rudolph impersonate Versaci's daughter for the 1,000th time. I think that sketch started over a decade ago. And Horatio Sanz made a slightly skinnier, unfunny cameo in it. He should've brought back "I'M CAROL!!!"
WEEKEND UPDATE is now completely unwatchable due to fucking unfunny Seth Myers, and all is lost.
Grade: D
Dakota Fanning sketch: A
Grade: D
Dakota Fanning sketch: A
MEATLOAF LIVE WITH THE MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (DVD)
This blog has been a bit MEat-Centric as of late - but I did watch this by accident the other day, so suffice to say that if you're a Loaf fan, this is a great addition to Meat's DVD cannon - (But why no official releases from the BAT 1 days (I know they have those shows on film) and a concert from the BAT 2 days (amazing shows.)
Meat's voice is decent, but the songs are needlessly stuffed with little extras to give Meat a chance to catch up vocally - yet it's still a great trip to hear these songs in this setting with a fulaccomplishedhed orchestra behind him. Probably the best moment on the disc is Meatloaf's rendering of BAT OUT OF HELL, which the band adapts to perfectly. This is probably the last time you'll ever hear Meat sounding this good, as it seem the Loaf is only effective these days in-studio. A theory I'll test out personally when I drive to San Diego in 2 weeks with my friend Steven to go see the MEATLOAF: SIEZE THE NIGHT tour - his only stop in CA.
Grade: B
I can't imagine a worse commercial than the one currently airing for MUSIC & LYRICS, the new romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Not only does it look nauseating, but the ads are in the annoying habbit of having them say a really lame joke then cutting away from it like they just showed us a flash of genius is more irritating then seeiHillaryary Swank "vibing" with the ghetto children in her intolerable FREEDOM WRITERS puff piece currently airing non stop on ON DEMAND.
THE OFFICE (NBC)
I obviously want to love this show. It's smart. It's funny - yet it's increasingly so over the top in a format that is not so forgiving. The beauty of the earlier eps and BBC show is that they were subtle. In this version, you have Dwight and Angela doing a bad production of GREASE 2 half the time, bringing the level of the whole enterprise down. Still, the Jim/Pam triangle continues to be compelling, and Steve Carell is more often then not right on the money as Michael.
Grade: C +
Grade: B
I can't imagine a worse commercial than the one currently airing for MUSIC & LYRICS, the new romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Not only does it look nauseating, but the ads are in the annoying habbit of having them say a really lame joke then cutting away from it like they just showed us a flash of genius is more irritating then seeiHillaryary Swank "vibing" with the ghetto children in her intolerable FREEDOM WRITERS puff piece currently airing non stop on ON DEMAND.
THE OFFICE (NBC)
I obviously want to love this show. It's smart. It's funny - yet it's increasingly so over the top in a format that is not so forgiving. The beauty of the earlier eps and BBC show is that they were subtle. In this version, you have Dwight and Angela doing a bad production of GREASE 2 half the time, bringing the level of the whole enterprise down. Still, the Jim/Pam triangle continues to be compelling, and Steve Carell is more often then not right on the money as Michael.
Grade: C +
30 ROCK (NBC)
Another winner as Alec Baldwin takes Liz Lemon on a date that isn't a date. But then I thought the ep got into weird territory by having Alec's ex show up and be so weird.....Pee Wee Herman guested and was funny for a minute, and Jane whatshername is getting better with every episode. Tracy Morgan's storyline with the hooker party was kind of funny, but I wish they'd make that guy 3 dimensional and put some meat on those bones.
Grade: B +
THE SIMPSONS (FOX)
I won't go into the ep, but suffice it to say, if you think FAMILY GUY, SOUTHPARK and all the other great new animated shows are the way of the future, you're right. But THE SIMPSONS is still really fucking funny and shows no signs of aging.
Grade: B
SOUTH PARK (COM)There was a hilarious SOUTH PARK repeat the other nite where the gang decides to become an agency and represent Token. They buy powersuits and cell phones and it was a real skewering of the representation business.
Grade: B
GENESIS: THE WAY WE WALK (CD)
Parts 1 & 2 - the shorts & the longs.
Released as 2 CDs back about eight years ago, I completely dismissed these CDs as overly produced. I remember SERIOUS HITS, LIVE by Phil Collins and how bad it sucked and how Phil had brought no passion but just these re-created studio perfect versions of his newer hits. But, because you can buy these CDs for about .11 cents a piece on AMAZON USED, I figured what the hell. And boy, was I wrong. The first CD has all the "shorts" - meaning the under 6 minute songs like Mama, That's All, Throwing It All Away, In Too Deep (sadly, no songs from ABACAB are included - like my 2 favorites Old Man On The Corner and No Reply) but just about every other hit is represented here. The shocker was the quality of the performances. Truimpassionedned vocals from Phil Collins make even drivel like INVISIBLE TOUCH sound golden. Then the second disc, THE LONGS, have the full HOME BY THE SEA, DRIVING THE LAST SPIKE, and one of my personal favorites FADING LIGHTS (a 12 minute Genesis masterpiece and the last recorded song ever by Genesis with Phil Collins fronting the band.) These are GREAT versions of these old songs.
Grade: A
Released as 2 CDs back about eight years ago, I completely dismissed these CDs as overly produced. I remember SERIOUS HITS, LIVE by Phil Collins and how bad it sucked and how Phil had brought no passion but just these re-created studio perfect versions of his newer hits. But, because you can buy these CDs for about .11 cents a piece on AMAZON USED, I figured what the hell. And boy, was I wrong. The first CD has all the "shorts" - meaning the under 6 minute songs like Mama, That's All, Throwing It All Away, In Too Deep (sadly, no songs from ABACAB are included - like my 2 favorites Old Man On The Corner and No Reply) but just about every other hit is represented here. The shocker was the quality of the performances. Truimpassionedned vocals from Phil Collins make even drivel like INVISIBLE TOUCH sound golden. Then the second disc, THE LONGS, have the full HOME BY THE SEA, DRIVING THE LAST SPIKE, and one of my personal favorites FADING LIGHTS (a 12 minute Genesis masterpiece and the last recorded song ever by Genesis with Phil Collins fronting the band.) These are GREAT versions of these old songs.
Grade: A
THANKS TO MARC FOR POINTING OUT THAT I DIDN'T REALLY GIVE WOLFGANG THE CONCERT PROMOTER HIS DUE IN MY FOLLOWING ARTICLE - MARC SENT ME THIS TEXT THAT SHOULD PUT WHO WOLFGANG IS AND MY RIDICULOUSLY IGNORANT DESCRIPTION OF HIM INTO BETTER CONTEXT:
"Wolfgang was Bill Graham, the man whose genius for bringing performer and audience together shaped the rock concert as we have come to know it. Born Wolfgang Grajonca in Berlin in 1931, he escaped Nazi Germany to grow up in a foster home in the Bronx and anglicized his name at the age of 18. Bill Graham, who would come to be known as the midwife of the modern rock concert, was smart and forward-thinking, an opportunist and a listener, fair and ferociously demanding, and he remembered his roots: in the 1980s he opened a small San Francisco club and named it Wolfgang's."
If you haven't heard about this yet - check out http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/Artists.aspx?s=a
NOTE: TO GET TO THE SHOWS, YOU MIGHT HAVE TO REGISTER - IT TAKES 1 MINUTE AND IS WELL WORTH IT - IT'S FREE AND ONE OF A KIND - DG
It's WOLFGANG'S CONCERT VAULTS. Wolfgang was a big concert promoter in the 70s and 80s - he keepsstreamableble archive of great shows at this site. If you know how to record from the stream to your computer (it's not that hard) - you can save these shows forever. (HINT - if you use MUSIC MATCH JUKEBOX, go to RECORDING OPTION, pick SYSTEM MIXER and then put the player volume all the way up - then start the show you want and hit start on your recorder. It'll record whatever sound is in your computer.)
There are some great Bowie shows, a fantastic Tracey Chapman acoustic show, and so much more.
The Phil Collins show is AWESOME. A total A plus. This particular show originally aired on HBO about 14 years ago, but now exists in it's original 2 hour glory. Phil sings every great song from his first 2 cds, FACE VALUE and HELLO, I MUST BE GOING. There are great versions of DONT LET HIM STEAL YOUR HEART AWAY, THE ROOF IS LEAKING, THIS MUST BE LOVE, THRU THESE WALLS and YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
Here's the show:
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/Artists.aspx?s=a
for a GREAT GENESIS show, go here:
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/ConcertDetail.aspx?id=200502622575
But the 2 CDS I just bought are WAY better and more definitive performances. *Genesiseis, not Phil.
You can also stream what's thought of as perhaps the best Springsteen concert ever recorded here:
It's the 3 hour Wonderland show from 78 - amazing.
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/ConcertDetail.aspx?id=3264993
Here's another great Bruce show from the TUNNEL OF LOVE TOUR:
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/player.aspx?ConcertID=51488993&StartTrackID=1
I'm getting real excited about the return of THE SOPRANOS in April.
REAL WORLD: DENVER (MTV)
A real bunch of retards. Colon liked this guy at OUTWARD BOUND where they work, and the bosses asked them not to date, since they work together. So Colin, even though she barely knows this guy, made this huge deal about the fact that she's never been told not to see anyone and this is horrible. Repeat, they don't even know each other! So this guy then quits his job to date Colon, and Colon is freaking out - saying she can't believe how happy she is. She actually says "Nobody can ever tell me what my heart can do. Nobody can ever tell me what my vagina can do." What? She said it. Nobody tells her vagina anything! This group of idiots aren't even that entertaining. MTV had really better up the casting for the next installment. Ah, the glory days of REAL WORLD HAWAI - seems like it'll never happen again.
Grade: D
THE RETURN OF BILLY JOEL.
Anyone who reads my blog knows how I love Billy Joel. On the 9th of this month, I think on the PEOPLE web site, Billy offers a free mp3 download of his first pop song he's written in 15 years - here's the story along with the link. I can't even think about how it's going to sound - I'm hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=159862007
It's the 3 hour Wonderland show from 78 - amazing.
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/ConcertDetail.aspx?id=3264993
Here's another great Bruce show from the TUNNEL OF LOVE TOUR:
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/player.aspx?ConcertID=51488993&StartTrackID=1
I'm getting real excited about the return of THE SOPRANOS in April.
REAL WORLD: DENVER (MTV)
A real bunch of retards. Colon liked this guy at OUTWARD BOUND where they work, and the bosses asked them not to date, since they work together. So Colin, even though she barely knows this guy, made this huge deal about the fact that she's never been told not to see anyone and this is horrible. Repeat, they don't even know each other! So this guy then quits his job to date Colon, and Colon is freaking out - saying she can't believe how happy she is. She actually says "Nobody can ever tell me what my heart can do. Nobody can ever tell me what my vagina can do." What? She said it. Nobody tells her vagina anything! This group of idiots aren't even that entertaining. MTV had really better up the casting for the next installment. Ah, the glory days of REAL WORLD HAWAI - seems like it'll never happen again.
Grade: D
THE RETURN OF BILLY JOEL.
Anyone who reads my blog knows how I love Billy Joel. On the 9th of this month, I think on the PEOPLE web site, Billy offers a free mp3 download of his first pop song he's written in 15 years - here's the story along with the link. I can't even think about how it's going to sound - I'm hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=159862007
TOP CHEF! (Bravo) (SPOILERS of FINAL)
Came down to a fiery and nail-biting conclusion last nite. For whatever it's worth, even though I seriously rooted for Marcel, he just kind of fell apart in the end. He lost his fish, screwed up his salad, and wasn't as great with the judges as his finopponentent. As for his opponent, he is such a bore that I can't remember his name. I also thought it was pretty disgusting how anti-Marcel everybody was, and it seems like Ella or Sam should've been in the final against Marcel, not the boring dude who won. If you don't watch this show, you should.
Grade: B +
Not that anyone's asking, but I fucking hate Katherine McPhee. First, she makes fun of Meatloaf to a packed room of reporters for being fat. Now that her cd's out (which i really hope goes nowhere) Meredithith Viera asked her if this is all happening because of IDOL. She said it's happening NOW because of Idol, but if not for the show, she'd still become very popular because it was her destiny one way or the other. Then they showed her a clip of the heavyset guy singing last night on IDOL (he was GREAT) and she laughed. The guy is a brilliant singer, and when they asked McPhee what she thought, all she could muster was "I don't want to be mean." That's true - I guess we all can't all be born beautiful. And why speak if the only thing that pops into your bullemia infected brain is to say something mean. I hope something happens to truly humiliate her this year in a truly vile way. At this point, nobody is more deserving of a Dirty Sanchez.
HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (DVD)
Re-watched this recently with a buddy - this is a horror film as if shot by Scorsesee circa 1979 - a chilling, realistic must-see.
Grade: A
And a plethora of extras in the new double disc edition with fine new 5.1 mix.
I'm sorry, rewatched THE DEPARTED - I still don't think it's great.
WINDY CITY HEAT (DVD)
Lastly, My friend Corey had not seen my favorite comedy of the last 4 years, WINDY CITY HEAT - the DVD boasts a slightly longer cut with tons of extras - but it's the movie that's the star of this DVD set. Still hands down the funniest movie I've seen in ages.
Grade: A +
Until next time...
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