Best show on television.

[stray]

Edit: meaning there is no way David Cross could be unfunny.

Never watched Arrested Development (Just Mr. Show and his standup act), but yeah, this is what I was getting at.

[WayAbvPar]

Too much David Cross can get annoying, since he is just so fucking strange sometimes. AD spoons him out in perfect servings.

[voodoolily]

We listened to Shut up You Fucking Baby on the drive home from Seattle. It was perfect.

[HaemishM]

See, I liked Seinfeld but couldn't make it through one episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm (the one with the sandwich named after Larry David). Maybe it was his 'acting' or maybe I just didn't like the show. Maybe it's because I don't know any Jewish people other than the stereotypes they show on TV or schild, who is like no Jew on television I've ever seen.

As for Seinfeld's standup, it's decent but I never thought it was incredibly funny or profound. Watching "Comedian" was interesting though.

EDIT: As for Rome, yeah, really good, though I thought the lesbo sex scene was kind of done just for the sake of doing it. Or for the sake of showing that the Romans weren't so goddamn Puritanical/Victorian in their views on sex and sexual preferences. Either way, lesbos good. Definitely made up for the ginormous johnson of the previous week.

I think they have plenty of material for 2 or 3 good seasons of Rome, depending on where they choose to end Season 1. If it's with Caesar's death, then 3 would be about all you could do. If not, there's plenty of grist for that mill. The only disappointment I had with the last episode of Rome (not this past Sunday's, the one before) was that they didn't have a great big battle scene. But I suppose that's too pricey for TV.

Extras has been quite funny. I never watched the British version of the Office much, but the way he does uncomfortable situations is quite good. It's like a Brit George Costanza. Kate Winslet talking about the purple-headed womb ferret was just a classic line.

Womb ferret. Heh.

My Name is Earl is also comedy gold, especially paired with the US version of The Office.

I also Tivoed but haven't watched the Colbert Report from last night. Any early reviews?

[Llava]

RE: Colbert Report

Fuck yes.  This should be good.  He's off to a very strong start.

More ranty than the Daily Show, with less factual information.  But still goddamn funny.  Fantastic parody of O'Reilly at the beginning.

[voodoolily]

I also Tivoed but haven't watched the Colbert Report from last night. Any early reviews?

His battle with Stone Phillips last night was genius. Good show. But then again, you think My Name is Earl is funny, so you might not get it.

[Johny Cee]

Titus Pullo is a fucking riot.  He might be up there with Adam Baldwin's Jayne for "loveable amoral bastard" character.

As for the whole "Romans had different ideas about sex and intimacy" bit...   blah.  Honestly,  what we're watching is more "Modern American Collegiate" sexuality than anything classical.  Complete with the slutty chick massively compensating for attention/confidence/self-esteem/father-figure issues and lipstick lesbians.

Rome has only hinted at, or not mentioned: male/male sexual relationships, man/boy sexual relationships, issues of forced sexual activity between slaves/owners,  man/girl marriages, soldiers and rape of conquered peoples, etc.  Most of which wasn't particularly uncommon in the time period. 

Like any other HBO series,  Rome is about being racy.  Would I want to watch a show that true to life? FUCK NO.  I'm just tired of seeing the tagline. 

It's still good,  but I wish they'd drop more of the sex shit unless it's advancing the plot.  Pullo and Cleopatra,  or Octavian at the brothel, are good examples.  Almost ANY seen with Atia is not.

[HaemishM]

I also Tivoed but haven't watched the Colbert Report from last night. Any early reviews?

His battle with Stone Phillips last night was genius. Good show. But then again, you think My Name is Earl is funny, so you might not get it.

You watch your mouth.

I caught the first Colbert episode this morning and was in fucking hysterics. I GET it. With my heart, damnit.

[voodoolily]

My favorite part is the eagle swooping in at the intro and The W0rd. That shit is so funny.

[Pococurante]

I liked it.

The show won't last.  I was skeptical when I first heard about it some months back - seeing it in action last night just confirmed to me that as funny as Colbert is in doses there is not enough there to build an entire show that lasts multiple seasons.

What makes Daily Show work is the team and the politics.  Colbert Report is just Colbert riffing lines - better to add him to a lineup of standups.

Stone gets massive props for being a good sport.

[Yegolev]

"Ha-HA... canceled!"

[Llava]

I dunno.  Colbert seems to have an endless well of funny in him.  Plus it's not like they throw him in a room and say "Come up with tonight's show."  He's got writers just like the Daily Show does, I'm sure.

If there's a show on the way to the "cancelled" bin, it's Adam Carolla's.  He can be pretty funny on the radio, but he really needs someone there to bounce his rants off, someone to respond, because it's just not funny with him sitting in a chair talking about stupid shit.  The calls he takes seem to be from idiots, and it really feels like he goes out onto the stage each night with a scribbled note pad of what he's going to talk about:
"-Foreign guys at gas station
-Red arrows for left turn
Looks like a half hour of material to me."

[Shockeye]

I dunno.  Colbert seems to have an endless well of funny in him.  Plus it's not like they throw him in a room and say "Come up with tonight's show."  He's got writers just like the Daily Show does, I'm sure.

I'd rather see more "Strangers with Candy".

[Llava]

Oh, RE this week's Nip / Tuck

OMG

THE DRAMA STINGS MY EYES AND MAKES ME BEG FOR MORE

The show is so unbelievable it's ridiculous, but I can't help but keep watching and totally buying into all the drama.  I don't know why it works,but it does.

[schild]

I need to see the second season of Nip/Tuck. I bought it on a whim. Was impressed. Forgot about it.

[Margalis]

As I told my friend the other day, Nip/Tuck is good despite the plots, not because of them. The melodrama just never stops. There is Darth-Luke "I am your father" moment basically every espisode.

I would say the best thing is all the actors are good and the characters are believable, even though the situations they are in rarely are.

[Llava]

Just caught the premier of Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil on Adult Swim.

Done mostly by Loren Bouchard, one of the co-creators of Home Movies.  And I have to say, very similar comedic style.  I really enjoyed it.  H. Jon Benjamin (aka Coach McGuirk) is the Devil, and he continues to prove that there is no limit to how dry a delivery can be.

I thought Brendon Small was more involved with it, from watching it, but I didn't see his name in the credits.  It seemed that the voice of Lucy was done by Melissa.. Galsky?  However it's spelled.  She did the voice of, appropriately enough, Melissa on Home Movies and was also the show's producer.

So for a Home Movies fan like me, this is akin to a Second Coming.  I'm very happy about it.

[Margalis]

Except it's a third coming. Don't sleep on Dr. Katz!

[stray]

Katz was the shit. Couldn't get into Home Movies though.

[Llava]

Eh.  I don't know if Loren Bouchard or Brendon Small had anything to do with Dr. Katz.  It was just the same studio.

[stray]

Bouchard was creator, writer, producer, director, etc..

And damnit, it had 6 seasons and it can only be found on VHS 

[Llava]

Watching the Boondocks premier.

This show is fucking hilarious.

New sig.

[stray]

This show is fucking hilarious.

Squid Billies, however, is not.

I think someone actually created something to top Tom Goes to the Mayor in crappiness.

[Llava]

Bouchard was creator, writer, producer, director, etc..

And damnit, it had 6 seasons and it can only be found on VHS 

According to IMDB, he was only a producer.  And that's only in his bio, he's not mentioned at all on the Dr. Katz page.

Squid Billies, however, is not.

I think someone actually created something to top Tom Goes to the Mayor in crappiness.

Agreed.  Same creator as 12 Oz. Mouse which is worse than both of them combined.

12 Oz. Mouse works off the unfortunate and unreliable principle of "Random shit=funny?"

[stray]

Back to Boondocks though...

This looks to be one of the best things Adult Swim has ever produced (I know they didn't create it though)....Except this one is more than mere entertainment (I wouldn't say that ATHF has a "social message" exactly heh).

[HaemishM]

I'm torn between whether to laugh at Squidbillies or turn it off. It's almost funny in that "WHAT THE FUCK" sort of way.

12 oz. Mouse is just not. I can envision no scenario where I actually laugh at that show. It's like the scribblings of a stoned, ridalin-overdosed 4th grader.

I forgot to Tivo the Boondocks and Minoriteam premieres. I was too busy watching the Eagles lay an egg against the Redskins while the announcers jabbered about TO's latest fucktardery.

[naum]

I fully agree, and it's why the majority of my viewing is the HD channels. Usually far better than the SD content, even though there are about 350 less channels.

And a big thing to remember: almost no commercials on a lot of the HD channels.

Getting my new DirecTV HD dish + receiver installed tomorrow.

[Pococurante]

I forgot to Tivo (...)

Yahoo would like some quality time with your wallet.

[Sky]

How about that new Carlin special? Man, he's getting fucking dark. Still funny, though.

[stray]

How about that new Carlin special? Man, he's getting fucking dark. Still funny, though.

Yeah....I mean, I poke fun at you for being a little hippy-ish and all, but damn, there's such a thing as being too cynical.

Sad too, since he used to be a hippy himself. The man has lost all hope.

[Sky]

I can totally empathize with him. That's me as an old man. The sheer weight of the LCD in america will do that.

My girlfriend is insisting I move out of the ghetto, because I'm exposed to the worst of it daily. I say it centers me, but I'm starting to think she's right. It's hard to imagine the existance of some of these bottom feeding retards sometimes, I can't feel bad about murders in our once murder-free town...when it's all minorities from NYC killing each other. Shit, I cheer 'em on. (not meant to be racist, just the facts)

I actually don't see Carlin as cynical, just a realist.

[Merusk]

Carlin came of age in a time when people were about social progress and changnig America for the better of all people.  Women's Rights, Racial Minority Rights, the ERA and Martin Luther King JR. and he was a Hippie then.  It's easy to see how the weight of the conservative backlash and the erosion of the foundation of those social ideals would turn him into a dark, jaded, cynical fucker who just wants everyone to die. 

[stray]

I actually don't see Carlin as cynical, just a realist.

Hmm....He actually wants to worsen the world, not just perpetuate it.

Suicide TV, for instance....

And

More death, more destruction!

[Pococurante]

... a dark, jaded, cynical fucker who just wants everyone to die.

I took my wife to see him in concert earlier this year and I spent most of the time feeling bad for her.  Carlin's performance was mainly just gutter, not even particularly witty or insightful, and since he had not yet fully recovered from his health issues he was rougher than usual (as he read the longer routines out of his book currently on sale  )

I had to remind myself by pulling out my older recordings that he's really always been this "bad" - just bad in a way calculated to offend the current sensibilities of the times.  The current time being what it is he just has to try harder to shock.  The difference is his observational humor is gone - all that's left are the rants.  It was always the "you ever notice" kind of lines I loved the most.  Not being a stoned fifteen year old anymore it no longer amuses me to see how many times I can fit "twat" and "cunt" into a single run-on sentence.

Anyway I finally got a chance to see him perform before he dies.  I won't bother again.

[HaemishM]

I forgot to Tivo (...)

Yahoo would like some quality time with your wallet.

iTunes is now offering downloads of ABC and Disney TV shows. I'm all for that shit. Until they offer it for other stuff, I'll probably just BT the ones I've missed.

EDIT: I have the Carlin special on Tivo, just haven't watched it yet.