So, I’m not entirely sure if I’m supposed to be posting this or not, but it was sent to me by CBS yesterday as promotion for Monday’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, so I guess this is me “promoting.”
Enjoy Sandcastles, a new song from 80s Canadian Pop-Legend Robin Sparkles. A clip from the video is available on her MySpace page.
Check out the show Monday for, presumably, more.
Stunt casting!
Kind of a perfect episode last night on the HIMYM front, no? What worked so well with the Britney stunt-casting was how her roll was so easily replaceable. It worked because she didn’t need to be there and was utterly forgettable. Had things been reversed and she played the Sarah Chalke character it would have been an unmitigated disaster for reasons aside from the fact that she is clearly a horrible actor. Most sitcoms put the guest star front and center. I respect HIMYM for dropping her into the background (to and extent).
But that is not the most interesting thing about Monday’s episode. Clearly the noteworthy addition was the fact that we might have “met the mother.” There were certainly a few clues, the most significant being Stella’s declaration that she “went out on St. Patrick’s Day,” where we, the audience, know the mother happened to be. What is interesting about all of this is the fail-safe the series’ creators have build into the show. As of right now they don’t if they are coming back next season. If Moonves decides to pull the plug in a month or so, all of the groundwork is laid for an easy wrap-up. Now, if things get carried out for another season (or even another two) they are also in great shape because nothing is in stone, it can all just be written off as coincidence.
If you have the time I encourage you to check out Whitney Matheson’s Pop Candy Podcast from two weeks back where she talks with series co-creator Carter Bays about the show’s future and plans on how they hope to reveal “the mother” (with varying degrees of vague response).
You can’t have a sit-com, in this age, about young people living in an apartment. You can try, but people won’t watch it. Whether its last season’s Four Kings, or the dreadful Happy Hour on FOX, there will always be sit-coms produced in this model, but for the foreseeable future they simply won’t stick. Instead, the newer three-camera comedies that are succeeding all seem to be fairly conceptual (they also seem to be on CBS, for some reason). If ‘degree of conceptuality’ is proportional to a shows success with the public, then no series will have a bigger audience this season than CBS’s [natch] new comedy The Class. Here’s the set-up:
A guy throws a party for his fiance. The two of them were in the same third grade class, but met years later and fell in love. His idea is to invite all of his classmates from third grade to the party. About a dozen show up. When his fiance arrives, she’s shocked by his effort, feels smothered, and dumps him in front of all these now-twenty-somethings. We’re left with eight characters who kind of know each other and all the hilarity that these connections can produce.
That’s the show, and dare I say I liked it? A lot*. Keep reading by clicking below…
Programming note, before I get started: I missed Lovespring International last night (the new comedy series on Lifetime) as my DVR became confused by a few too many bookings. Who programs a new series for 11pm? That’s Daily Show/Adult Swim/reruns of Seinfeld territory. I mean, I’m a young male, the chosen demo, surely the “women’s network” wouldn’t want to squander our viewership, right?
Anyway.
CBS has been airing this sit-com starring Julia-Louis Dreyfus called, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and it seems to be mildly successful. By mildly successful I mean it’s attracting viewers, got renewed, and has garnered, if not favorable reviews, then non-negative reviews, which is about all you can ask out of a mainstream sit-com (wow, I just reread that sentence and feel kind of depressed).
Last night’s episode had to do with Old Christine going to her son’s something at school, and how the kid finally met New Christine, who he really liked. Honestly, I laughed a few times, and if the transitive property is to be believed, I guess this means I liked the show. It should be noted, however, that my continued watching hinges mostly on the fact that it is summer and there really isn’t a lot else on the dial (my TV has a dial, does yours?).
Months ago I declared laugh tracks obsolete. While I still feel this way, two track-infused shows has crept into my TV lineup, How I Met Your Mother and now The New Adventures of Old Christine. I guess we can focus this blame on CBS. HIMYM (which looks almost dirty when abbreviated) relies frequently on editing in its jokes making a live audience an impossibility, but there isn’t any reason TNAOOC (what?!) should rely on canned laughs.
While I’m not wholly enthusiastic about it, the biggest selling point for the new HBO comedy Lucky Louie (aside from Louis C.K.’s Pootie Tang connection) is its use of an actual LIVE studio audience. I don’t care if you want to put a three-camera show on the air, but at least respect you viewers enough to give them actual laughs.
Remember Kevin Spacey? Remember how awesome he was? Usual Suspects, L.A. Confidential, Midnight and the Garden of Good and Evil were all good if not great movies. In the mid-90s people LOVED Kevin Spacey, but as soon as the American Beauty thing died down something happened. I’m not going to say it was Pay It Forward, but it was. I saw that movie in the theater on a double-bill with Space Cowboys, which is completely irrelevant to my point about Kevin Spacey, but is quite funny nonetheless.
In short, Kevin Spacey has become a bit of a punchline. All that being said, I think he will make an AMAZING Lex Luthor. But that’s not all, click below for more…
