This was easily the break out comedy hit of last years television season.
It was smart, witty, and incredibly funny.
The Big bang Theory is a Comedy show about a group of lovable nerds sharing an apartment across the hall from an extremely attractive woman with normal intelligence. The main protagonist is Leonard, a timid scientist who instantly falls for Penny, the above mentioned woman, who doesn't seem to recognize Leonard as anything more then a friend.
What makes this show is Leonard's roommate Sheldon. He is essentially Mr. Spoke from Star Trek with a superiority complex. His cool logical and highly intelligent way in which he handles situations often, if not always, clash with those around him. Penny usually doesn't get him and Leonard often debates with him over the merits of normal human interaction in a way that is hilarious but doesn't insult the audience.
The surrounding cast really helps as well and the whole thing is a great commentary on the clash of intelligence versus common sense, the society of Nerd/Geek dome, and the struggles such people have fitting in to the world around them.
It really is quite funny, and if you don't laugh at least once an episode, I would question if you have a soul...
To keep a show like this going for as long as it has is an accomplishment.
To the uninitiated, Prison Break is the story of Micheal Scofield, a genius who launched an elaborate plan to break his wrongfully convicted brother out of death row.
Now in its fourth season, the writers have managed to keep things interesting. This season looks even more promising. Now that Micheal has broken out of two prisons, he has been tasked by a government agent to take down "the company", a clandestine group that is responsible for his brothers framing, his girlfriends torture, and the destruction of the lives around him as a side effect to the accomplishment of their goals.
The new set up keeps things interesting, and the confrontation with the company was inevitable, but hopefully this is the last season. As much as I have enjoyed the ride, the premise is still suffering from being over stretched. I am hoping for some sort of resolution to these characters, and a final outcome that frames all the seasons as some great television.
It is still consistently a quality show, and the new set up favors new viewers. I like the Suicide Squad/ Mission Impossible feel to the series now, and it has most definitely captured my attention over last seasons "we have to break out of another Prison now" premise that felt like a retread.
So give it a shot. It will keep you at the edge of your seat.
This has been a regular viewing of mine since its beginning.
And really, if Hugh Laurie wasn't so damn good at his job I would have dropped it years ago.
Unless you have been living in a cave infested with anti-television rabbits, you probably know the show already. But just in case you are, House is a medical drama about seemingly rare unpredictable diseases and illnesses cured by the genius Dr. House, the catch, Dr. House is an unapologetic extremely logical jerk.
Last season saw House's main team disband and the great lengths he put others through to find their replacements. House is probably one of the few shows that had no discernible negative impact from the previous years writers strike and had one of the more gripping season finals of any episodic show on the air.
The show is a guilty pleasure for me. I love how he crafts his games and plays with the people around him. He is one of those people you can't help but watch from a distance and would probably punch in the face if you knew him personally.
In some ways, House is the ultimate secular humanist and the show is great in that it shows the negatives of that strict philosophy. He is a man you can't argue with logically, yet somehow he challenges human nature giving us a glimpse on just how irrational humans need to be to coexist.
I fully expect House to return in full form this year. It's damn entertaining.
This show has been a mainstay of the Thursday night NBC comedy line up for years now and for good reason.
My Name is Earl is a great satirical riff on lower income Americans, or to be less politically correct "white trash", "trailer trash", or "rednecks".
To the shows credit, it never outright insults this community. The characters are more defined by their ignorance then by any stereotypical qualities that those with too much money may assign to them.
Earl is a likable character who is only trying to make up for a wasted life pursuing himself and making amends to those people he has hurt along the way. Accompanying him is his "slow" brother, whose good heart and loyalty makes up for any lack of intelligence and leaves him an endearing character.
The shows supporting cast really helps this show stand out, especially Earl's borderline insane ex-wife and her gentle "crab man" husband who provide Earl with prime examples of the life he left, whilst providing him the support of an extended family.
Now the above may make it seem like a heart warming family drama. But My Name is Earl is like taking the above and mixing in 10 pounds of crazy and a little dash of weirdness. Earl often finds that he has to jump through a lot of crazy, weird loops to make it up to his former victim. The show also excels at building it's own mythology, and makes the residents of Camdon County seem like they are part of their own little county, with rules and traditions that seem hilarious to the average viewer.
This show would have been higher on my list, but the last season seemed a little rudderless and direction less. How much the writers strike played into that has yet to be seen. But I look forward to this year bring the show back with a bang. If you haven't checked it out yet, give it a try. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
You can watch episodes and clips of My Name is Earl at Hulu : http://www.hulu.com/my-name-is-earl
This week I will be going over the top ten returning T.V. shows as ranked by me. Why should you care? Click on some absence ads while I try and find a reason for you.
Without further ado, here is number 10 on the list, Kitchen Nightmares:
As much as I abhor reality television, the celebrated stupid inducing dribble that it is, I find myself ever enamored towards this show.
Why? Maybe it is a passive interest in cooking I have. Maybe I like seeing what it takes to run a successful business.
Or maybe I just get off with somebody justifiably telling somebody else that they are a moron.
Seriously, I wish that every reality television show had at least one judge looking at these delusional people and saying, "Are you out of you freaking mind? No, you aren't any good, now get over it and do things right?" (American Idol does not exist in my world, so what where you saying.)
What is Kitchen Nightmares and why should I care? Every week we see Gordon Ramsey of "Hell's Kitchen" fame and one of the worlds top chefs go into a failing restaurant and turns it around into a successful business. Everything from interior design, menu, and advertisement is looked at and improved by his superior skills.The drama comes when some people are just to arrogant for their own good and conflict with Ramsey becomes inevitable.
The show does fall into all the reality television failures such as building drama where none exists, setting up needless cliffhangers, and shamelessly previewing what is to come in a misleading self promoting manner.
It isn't a competition, so you can watch any one episode and not have to worry about the rest. The "cast of colorful characters" changes every week so you get a little glimpse into how different people live all across the country. From a cooking standpoint, even though there are no recipes to be found you most definitely get to see a contrast between what works and what does not. And overall, after a few viewings you start to see your own local restaurants in a slightly different manner.
So if you like this:
Then I would most definitively recommend this for a couple of views.
I have to admit. I have mixed feelings about this film.
Needless to say, it will easily be remembered as one of the funniest R-rated comedies of this year, but I find myself with a little pain of disappointment. It's hilarious, it has great acting, but it could have been so much more.
Tropic Thunder tells the story of a group of famous actors shooting a gritty Vietnam film that is constantly derailed by their own egos and the typical Hollywood system. So the director decides that the only way to get a good movie out of them was to stick them into the middle of the actual Vietnam, something that a few of the characters fail to realize. What follows is a wonderful comedic romp, that satires the Hollywood industry rather well.
What is great about this film is the excellent performance from Robert Downey Jr. as a character actor that takes things too far. I thought it was a great turn for the character to actually be a voice of reason, yet seems strangely compelled to stay in character. Bravo, Mister Downey to play a comedic character with depth, not an easy accomplishment.
Another stand out is the surprise appearance of Tom Cruise playing an overly aggressive, over weight film producer. His role was unexpected because it was never advertised and he easily stole the scene every time his character graced the screen. I do admit that I found his dance number a little over the top, I think the film would have been a little better if his quirk was a little less cheesy and much more disturbing.
Ben Stiller does an excellent job of directing this feature. The movie looks and feels flawless, with all the comedic timing hitting at the right times and the music matching perfectly. The downside though is Ben Stiller's acting. Not that it is bad, its just the same character we have always seen from him. It doesn't detract from the film, but it doesn't really add anything either. I wish his character had some sort of personality trait that made him stand out a little more. It was tough though, when you have an excellent performance from Downey to compete with.
Jack Black is funny, but his character was almost forgettable. Because of the story arc he was given, it felt like watching a family sitcom where the crazy uncle shows up every once in a while to prove his existence. Though I must admit the satirical faux trailer at the beginning of the film done by Black is hilarious and highlights everything that is so wrong with a certain trend in Hollywood.
The biggest complaint I have towards this movie is its sheer amount of raunchiness. It is very much an R rated film through and through and doesn't even try and be something else. I am no prude by any stretch but there is a point where things go a little too far, and I found myself a little disgusted at a few scenes, unlike the good kind of crude humor where you laugh in spite of what you see (though this film had plenty of that too). I think there where certain things that went to far, but nothing really taking away from the movie experience. The same joke could have been funnier if certain things didn't distract from the joke.
Despite my negatives, the film overall is rather excellent and just plain funny. If you like to laugh, and have a thick enough skin, I highly recommend seeing this while it is still in the theaters. Movies like this reward going to see it in an audience.
I can't believe I never read this before. It's won a Hugo award for a category that was created so that it can win a Hugo award. It was up for a Pulitzer, and is the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Literary Works of the 20th Century.
Honestly, as a self professed Geek, I should have done this long ago. It's not like I have any aversion to the Graphic Novel form. Occasionally a comic will pass before my eyes if the story is promising enough.
But with the recent trend to adapting some of these higher end stories into film, I decided I would take the drastic step of actually reading one before the film came out this time.
And let me tell you something, if you had your choice of only reading one Graphic Novel in your life, you would most undoubtedly read Watchmen.
For the uninitiated, Watchmen is the story of an alternate 1985, where the existence of super heroes has lead to an American dominance in the Cold War. However this has lead to an increasingly desperate Soviet Union coming closer and closer to causing nuclear Armageddon. The tone of the people on the street is an increasing feeling of despair as the doomsday clock sits permanently at 5 minutes to midnight. Amiss all this, a seemingly random person is murdered. The character Rorschach, one of the last costumed vigilantes after their outlaw, decides to investigate, an investigation that has farther more terrifying consequences then he could have ever suspected.
Structurally speaking, the story is written very much like a season of the show Lost (and it has been cited as an influence on that show), in that as the main plot moves along through the story we are given flashbacks and details about the main characters past. However, unlike the aforementioned show, it never feels like filler and you come to appreciate it as you understand the characters actions and motives.
The first and foremost thing about this work is the great pain writer Alan Moore went to make the characters as human as possible. Each character is unique in its own way, but is oddly understandable. You can actually imagine meeting some of these characters, not as great figures, but as a normal person you may find in everyday travels. As you read this, you see and understand their struggles and can emphasize with their decisions.
The setting of the nature of the world around them translates well into our own time, not just the time it was publish. Fear and uncertainty plague the characters, with many of them asking whether or not humanity is even worth fighting for, a quintessential question of our existence being debated by people who have the power to change the world.
And essentially, that is the fundamental commentary of this book, Power. How it effects you, how you use it wisely, or how you can misuse it, and what happens when human flaws are entered into the equation.
Another thing to note is the sheer density of this book and the creative touches used to pack the pages full of extra content and reading that more then rewards those who wish to take a second or even third pass at it.
It isn't for the squeamish. It is pretty much the comic book equivalent of an R rated movie. It is a very mature story, and I wouldn't recommend it to any children anytime soon. Chances are they wouldn't get any enjoyment out of it anyways.
But, if you can, whatever you do, buy a copy of this book and read it. You will be rewarded.
Now I leave you with the trailer to the upcoming film adaptation to give you a little taste into the Watchmen world:
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