May 2010

There were 33 posts published in May 2010 (this is page 2 of 5).

2009-10 TV Wrap Up: Everything But Lost Edition

Most of the shows I care about have finished their seasons by now, and since the Lost series finale probably warrants its own post, I thought I’d take a look back at all the other shows that I was watching over the past season. Spoilers will probably be dropped.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7

Curb already was just about as good as TV comedy gets these days. Expectations for the new season couldn’t have been higher, after an amazing sixth season that introduced some terrific new characters to the show. And then we found out that it was going to be the Seinfeld reunion season. But Larry David and his people pulled it off. The amusing portrayals of the Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards were a lot of fun to watch, especially with all the other great characters the show has at its disposal. My only criticism: more Leon, please. I can’t wait for 2011’s season eight.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 5

It is easy to forget this show, since FX likes to power through its seasons in just a few months. Sunny‘s season ended way back in December, right around when they came out with their direct-to-DVD movie. This latest season was a little uneven, with a fair number of episodes that fell a little flat. However, there were some really great episodes too, such as “The World Series Defense.” The show keeps pushing just how horrible its main characters are, and how disgusting Frank is, usually with comic results. Sunny kept me coming back for more, and I can’t wait for the next season, so if that’s not a success, what is?

Archer Season 1

Keeping with the FX theme, Archer maintained the Frisky Dingo tradition of short seasons, going only ten 30-minute episodes before forcing us to wait a year for more. But that’s OK, because it also maintained the Frisky Dingo tradition of being really funny. It took me a little while to get used to H. Jon Benjamin’s voice coming out of character that looks so different from the kind he usually plays, but really this show hit its stride quick and maintained it for the duration. I hope it has a long, healthy run.

Community Season 1

After a somewhat slow start, Community eventually developed into my favorite show on Thursday nights. The blend of off-the-wall comedy and satire is really good, and the whole cast has a great dynamic. This is a show that has made my roommates stop in my doorway and watch until the commercial break. As far as I know, my whole family loves it. Now that the season’s over, this is probably the show I will miss the most until the fall. That is assuming NBC survives that long.

Parks and Recreation Season 2

This year Parks and Rec developed into something worth watching. When it’s at its best, you could compare it to The Office at its prime. And even when it’s not, it is still better than The Office is today. I really like the writing on this show, I love that they were able to parody both the Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy and the Mark Sanford scandal. Hell, I love how all the characters say “Mark Brendanawicz” the same way whenever they need to talk to him. A number of great guest stars this season too, including Louis CK and Rob Lowe. The show got demoted to a mid-season replacement next year, it deserves better.

The Office Season 6

Remember how Seinfeld bowed out when it was on top? And Friends didn’t? And how Friends turned into a weird mostly romantic show with only occasionally good comedic episodes? Well, The Office decided to take the Friends path. This season was all about Ross and Rachel – I mean Jim and Pam – getting married and having a baby. Along the way we are given a new romance between Andy and Erin, and of course Michael has his troubles with women too. Don’t get me wrong, they had to do the Jim and Pam stuff, they were committed to that well before this season. But they needed to make more room for the rest of this funny cast. There were a few gems over the past year, but not enough to make you come back to the show if you had given up on it and certainly nothing to bring new fans in.

30 Rock Season 4

My gold standard for network comedy going into this season did not disappoint. They recognized that Jack is a really great character and gave a lot of the season to him, which was a very wise move. Liz got caught up in romantic troubles, which were funny mostly because of how terribly they all turned out. Tracy, Jenna, Kenneth and the rest of the cast got a little less to do, but still managed to keep me laughing. I mean, how can you not laugh at Jenna starting a relationship with a man who impersonates her? Or Tracy’s attempts to reconnect with the common man? Great stuff. The show also brought in a ton of great guest stars, including Michael Sheen and Julianne Moore. I would have liked to see more down with the Danny character, but the cast was already too big for a half an hour show anyway. Great stuff.

What else is there? South Park is in its mid-season break. Breaking Bad still has a while to go, but waiting to post this until June 13 seemed silly. Of course Lost ends on Sunday, in an event that seems to blanket all of ABC that day. I’m looking forward to see how that turns out. I’ve given up on Fox shows at this point. I mean, sure 24 ends on Monday, but does anyone really care? Even when this latest season picked up, it was no where near what the show was in its prime. Is there anything else I’m missing out on?

I Feel Happy!

Here’s a funny dialogue thanks to Craig Calcaterra at Hard Ball Times. I love his daily recaps of the previous days box scores. Here’s what he got from an inside source:

Bench Coach: Need to pinch hit. Send up Tuiasosopo.


Hitting Coach: What about Griffey?


Bench Coach: Ah, he’s a freakin’ corpse.


Griffey: I’m not dead.


Bench Coach:What?


Griffey: I’m not dead.


Hitting Coach:’Ere, he says he’s not dead.


Bench Coach: Yes he is.


Griffey: I’m not.


Hitting Coach: He isn’t.


Bench Coach: Well, he will be soon, he’s very ill.


Griffey:I’m getting better.


Bench Coach: No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment.


Griffey: I think I’ll go for a walk.


Bench Coach: You’re not fooling anyone, you know.


Griffey: I feel happy. I feel happy . . . 

Good stuff, good stuff indeed.

Go to Google

Today is the 30th Anniversary of gaming classic Pac-Man. Google has a tradition of changing its logo in honor of notable dates, but today they raised the bar. Their logo has become a playable version of the game, complete with classic sound effects and even two player. Check it out.

Today is also the 30th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. Missed opportunity, Google.

T3: Greatest Giants

As I get ready to leave San Francisco for the summer I figured I’d take a look at the rich history of the city’s beloved ball club, The San Francisco Giants. Now I’m no expert on the team or anything, but in my brief time as a Giants fan I think I already have a pretty good feel for the Giants that have truly had an impact on Giants fans. I decided to just do players from the San Francisco years, since you’d probably need at least a top 20 to include all the great players from the Giants’ years in New York.

10. Matt Williams
The number ten spot could’ve gone any which way but I decided to go with “Matt the Bat”. In addition to winning 3 gold gloves and making 4 all-star teams, Williams hit over 20 HR in nearly all of his years with the Giants. In fact, he was on pace to 60 HR in 1994 before the players’ strike shortened the season. Giants fans were pissed when Brian Sabean’s first move after becoming GM was trading Williams to the Indians, but luckily one of the players received in that was trade was Jeff Kent.

9. Tim Lincecum
Yeah it’s still very early in his career, and who knows how he’ll turn out with that crazy delivery combined with his tiny stature. But few players in recent years have caused as much of a stir and are as flat-out fun to watch as “Big Time Timmy Jim”. It looks he’ll be staying in San Francisco for at least a few more years, but hopefully someday the M’s will be able to experience the awesomeness of their native son, Tim Lincecum. So far he’s won 2 Cy Youngs, which is already more than any other player has won in a Giants uniform, here’s to hoping he racks up a few more.

8. Gaylord Perry
Perhaps baseball’s only Hall of Fame “cheater”, Gaylord Perry was famous for doctoring baseballs, and was probably the only modern pitcher that managed to turn it in to an art form. Perry managed to form a volatile 1-2 punch with Juan Marichal that rivaled the Dodgers’ famous Kofax/Drysdale combination. As a member of the 300 win and 3000 strikeouts clubs, Perry racked up some of the most impressive pitching statistics in history. The only reason he’s not higher on this list is the fact that he only played about 5 notable seasons with the Giants.

7. Jeff Kent
Though Jeff Kent’s 6 seasons may make his time in San Francisco seem a little brief as well, he was nonetheless an integral part of the 1997, 2000, and 2002 playoff runs. Kent managed to win the NL MVP in 2000, and is currently the all-time leader in home runs for second-basemen. Kent recieved quite a bit of hate from fans while spending his last few years with the Dodgers. But with his return to AT&T Park last Summer it seems all is forgiven, and there’s probably a good chance that he could be the next Giant inducted into the Hall of Fame.

6. Orlando Cepeda
I don’t really know a whole lot about Orlando Cepeda, but he is one of the few SF Giants Hall of Famers, and there is a freakin’ statue of him outside of AT&T Park. Cepeda won the 1958 Rookie of the Year and continued to make the all-star team each year from 1959-1964 while playing for the Giants. Just one of the many great Giants to play first base for the team, and an integral part of those great ’60s Giants teams.

5. Barry Bonds
Easily the most controversial player in Giants history, and probably one of the most maligned players of all-time. Barry Bonds was indeed a dick, a ‘roider, and therefore not as naturally gifted as his superhuman statistics would indicate, but he was still undeniably one of the greatest players of his era. Giants fans still have an unabashed love for Bonds, which I’m starting to understand with having Milton Bradley playing for the M’s this year. Sometimes it’s just fun to root for someone who only cares about winning, and couldn’t give a shit about anything else.

4. Will Clark
Will Clark is just awesome. “Will The Thrill” was quite simply the face of the organization from the his rookie season in 1986 through the 1989 World Series run up until he was traded in 1993. And it’s no wonder that “The Thrill” is still one of the most beloved players in franchise history, as he embodied the hustle, spirit, and grit that one hopes for in every baseball player. Sure his career statistics weren’t exactly Hall of Fame caliber, but his time with the Giants was truly golden.

3. Juan Marichal
The ’60s were an era of great pitching, with Kofax and Gibson being at the forefront. However it was the Giants’s own Juan Marichal that actually garned a greater number of wins during the decade than those two legends. This high-kicking Dominican was famous for his pinpoint accuracy that often resulting in throwing close to batters heads. Marichal is also well known for one of the most heated moments of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, when he got into a fight with Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro and ended up beating him with his bat.

2. Willie McCovey
For some reason I tend to think of Willie McCovey as the Giants’ equivalent of Edgar Martinez. He might not have the same recognition as a certain centerfielder that he played alongside, but Giants fans love him so much that they named a piece of geography after him. McCovey won Rookie of the year in 1959 as well as the 1969 NL MVP and stands alongside Mays, Bonds, and Mel Ott as the only career Giants players belonging to the 500 home run club, which is more players than in any other organization.

1. Willie Mays
This shouldn’t come as any surprise at all as the numbers speak for themselves. With 660 career home runs, 3283 hits, 338 stolen bases, and a lifetime batting average of .302, Willie Mays might very well have been the greatest all-around player to ever play the game. He won 12 gold gloves, 2 NL MVPs, was a 24-time all-star, and is responsible for the most famous “Catch” in the history of baseball. There simply will never be anyone quite like Willie “The Say Hey Kid” Mays.
Honorable Mentions:
J.T. Snow
Chili Davis
Kevin Mitchell
I’m guessing I’m going to be spending a lot more time this summer watching the Giants than the M’s so…
Go Giants!

Lethal Whitford


For whatever reason I tuned into the premiere of Fox’s latest action/comedy The Good Guys earlier tonight and figured I’d give you my initial reaction. From the creator of Burn Notice a show that I’ve never really had any interest in comes The Good Guys a supposed comedic throwback to the buddy cop genre. Colin Hanks stars as the straight laced by the books cop while Bradley Whitford plays the washed up rebel, constantly reminiscing of his glory days. Performing a job primarily consisting of petty burglary cases, things escalate when they get themselves involved in a complicated international drug fiasco. Kooky situations ensue right? Well The Good Guys may have a couple laughs but unfortunately it falls flat far too many times.

I like the pairing of Hanks and Whitford but there’s something missing here to separate it from any other cop show. Bradley Whitford is by no means to blame as he gives an amusing and energetic performance as the greasy macho type. I think the big problem here is this show doesn’t know how much of a comedy it wants to be or how much of just a straightforward cop show. It sits in a weird middle ground and I’m of the opinion that with a premise like this “You either go big or go home.” Make it absolutely ridiculous, TV has had enough tongue and cheek cop shows already. I could only imagine how awesome this could be if it was handled by perhaps Adam McKay and WIll Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions (those guys by the way actually have a buddy cop movie due out this summer.) Something more in the mindset of Eastbound and Down. That would be a cop show worth seeing.

This show hardly deserves a third paragraph of myself reviewing it so I’ll wrap it up. The Good Guys needs to find some kind of niche or dynamic that makes it work but I doubt it will. Solely based off the pilot it feels like a funny sounding project being handled by the wrong people, therefore it will most likely fail.

C.A.T.: Marquee Moon

Television – Marquee Moon (1977)

Since John took it upon himself to resurrect Classic Album Tuesdays, I figured I’d join in on welcoming back the CAT This week I’ll take a look at an album that I’m surprised I never mentioned on the blog before, considering it’s always been one of my all-time favorites ever since I first heard it back in the summer of 2005.

Television came out of the New York CBGB scene that produced artists such as Talking Heads, Patti Smith Group, and The Ramones among others. None of those bands have a whole lot in common, but Television may have been the most unique out of all the artists to come out of that scene. Where a lot of the New York bands where in favor of rejecting the instrumental complexity of the “arena rock” bands of the time, Television embraced their musical prowess and yet managed to create a sound all their own.
On their debut Marquee Moon, you can certainly hear traces of the punk aesthetic that a lot of their contemporaries where exploring. But I think at the heart of it, Television where less angsty young rebels and more just a bunch of disillusioned guitar nerds. And what they created with Marquee Moon is if not one of the best, certainly one of the most influential guitar albums ever recorded. I mean you can hear the influence of Television on the guitar work of everyone from U2 to The Strokes.
The dueling guitar work of Richard Lloyd and singer Tom Verlaine relies on a very clean sound combined with these very un-rock n’ roll musical scales that give the songs an almost etherial sound. This approach culminates on the album’s title track, a nearly 11-minute jam that is probably one of my favorite songs of all-time, despite the fact that I rarely enjoy listening to rock musicians “jam”.
Hey, this week I did an album from 1977 and last week John did one from 1976, maybe next week someone should do one from 1978. Just a thought.
Favorite Tracks: “See No Evil”, “Marquee Moon”, “Guiding Light”