Search This Blog

Random Acts of TV Watching

Your friendly bloggers SB and TW watch a lot of television, far more than we blog about because, hey there is only so many hours in day and we have other jobs.  That being said, "Random Acts of TV Watching" will be the place where we post one-off thoughts on things we've seen or other things that occur to us during our dedicated time in front of the glowing box. 

Glee: Season 3, Episode 1: The Purple Piano Project

As TV Watcher and I discussed earlier, it seemed pretty clear to me that Quinn flicked the cigarette that started the fire on the purple piano outside after Blaine's intro to WMHS (which for some reason spurred Santana to dance like a ho, she's gay and she knows that he is, so what gives?).  I get that Sue tasked Santana and Becky with destroying the pianos and Mr. Shue clearly sees that Santana's loyalty is compromised, but why is she being blamed for setting the fire?  Did she pour gasoline on the keys?  They did look a little wet...Let me know what you think in the comments!

Revamped Two and a Half Men

I was one of the 28 million people that tuned in last night for the Charlie Sheen/Harper-less debut of Two and a Half Men. I have been a fan of the show for years, it appeals perfectly to the raunchy adolescent boy that lives within me.  Charlie Sheen's boozy, misogynistic mimbo was a LARGE part of that attraction. Jon Cryer's ability to play off of and react to Charlie Sheen made up the rest. Angus is also a funny kid, but not enough reason to watch a show.  Like much of the television watching portion of America, I was curious to see how well the show would fare with Cryer now having to now play off of Ashton Kutcher.   I can respond with a resounding , "eh."

The show was fine. The only truly funny parts in the season premiere came during the opening scene which featured the much discussed funeral of one, Charlie Harper. From the visual sight gag of Charlie's classic shirts and shorts combo hanging up next to the casket to the nasty, STD ridden women populating the "mourning" attendees heckling Alan about wanting to spit on Charlie's body, it was clearly a cathartic process for the show's writers and Chuck Lorre -- one final chance to stick it to Sheen and say goodbye to this character that drove them crazy for years. Then the show, just went on.  Kutcher was fine, definitely working the puppy dog cuteness (though I think he looked kind of homeless with the nasty, stringy long hair). But really, this show is just another comedy, perhaps edgy for CBS tastes but there was definitely a lack of the saucy bite that infected EVERY episode of the Sheen era.  How many big penis jokes can the writers make between now and the season finale?  I understand why the show needed to go on, (a) its a cash cow for CBS and (b) out of pure spite to Charlie Sheen, there was no way Chuck Lorre was folding up his flagship and going home. But, I can't see this show continuing on beyond this season.  The 28 million viewers will fall off next week, and fall off even greater after that.  The show will be helped by the weak competition on NBC (The Playboy Club is certain for the chopping block) but I think Dancing With the Stars will ultimately be the final nail in this show's coffin. 

In the battle of Keep or Delete, this one is definitely a Delete.

How I Met Your Mother: Episode 2

I watched HIMYM last night and basically enjoyed both episodes, although I know a lot of other people didn't.  My issue is with the whole Victoria thing.  She cannot be the mother.  Sorry folks. I've seen a lot of speculation on the blogs, but they are throwing another red herring at us.  Among other things in the show's mythology we know that: (i) the mother was in the econ class that Ted mistook for his architecture class, (ii) she was Rachel Bilson's roommate, and (iii) Ted meets her at Barney's wedding.  This has led to a lot of speculation that the mother is Barney's half-sister (the one that John Lithgow references at the dinner that Barney comes to...).  If you take these three things we know, Victoria cannot be the mother.  Oh well.  Sound off below!

Up All Night/Free Agents

I think NBC's new series Up All Night is smart, well written, amusing and features a strong core cast with great chemistry. I will likely not watch another episode.  I know that seems contradictory but its not, not when you think a little about the subject matter at hand and my particular circumstances. I am a father of a young boy; I am Will Arnett three years later.  I understand not being able to find the right cheese in the supermarket and creepy old ladies that appear everywhere and ogle your child.  My body is more "Body by Dunking Donuts" than "by Nordic Track" but in almost every other way -- I am Will Arnett.  And, my wife is Christina Applegate (metaphorically, not literally).  So, I don't want to watch an accurate depiction of the more horrible parts of early parenthood, not when I went through the real thing such a short time ago. I think other people are going to agree with me.  The show is DEAD-ON accurate in how it handles the first few months of caregiving for new life ... what person in their right mind would want to relive that so soon thereafter. And, if you don't have kids, I think you're going to find the show boring, or at the least unrelateable. So, who is the audience here?  Standing Blogger and I decided its people with older children who remember vaguely what it was like to have an infant but that enough time has passed to find others suffering through it, funny. Like sadistic grandparents or co-workers with kids about to go off to college.  A niche audience to be sure but I hope it succeeds ... because in 15 years, I'll be ready to watch reruns of the show and laugh.

Free Agents is a hot mess. It wants to be a raunchy workplace comedy with a river of heart and sentiment.  Except, its on broadcast TV and once in its regular time slot, it'll be on before the kids are asleep so how edgy will it be?  Can it be?  If Up All Night is too realistic, Free Agents is its bizzarro world opposite. I work in a fairly relaxed environment and I can tell you, we have never had a full company meeting where Agenda Item #1 was all of the sexual positions I employed the night before.  That's not to say that on a pay-for-cable channel, they couldn't have gone further and made it outrageously funny .. but , that's not the circumstance.  It has to be either edgy or not, brash or not. You can't wink and nod at the audience expecting them to use their imagination to fill in the blanks of debauchery that might have been, if only it weren't for the damn corporate censors and/or sponsors.  Move it SkineMax and unleash the show for what it wants to be. Or else, cancel it.

Survivor, Season 125

To be perfectly honest, I haven't watched Survivor since 2001, but it  was major staple of my senior year of college.  Ethan was a hot, Jewish soccer player from Massachusetts and I went to school in MA, so he was a kindred spirit.  But anyway, I've seen the promos and CBS keeps hyping the return of Ozzy.  Has anyone else noticed that he looks alot like Joey Lawrence?  Whoa!