Grid Effect

Happy Friday kids, with the real start of college football twenty-seven hours away (Fuck this LSU trounces Mississippi State 45-0 bullshit), it looks to be a pleasant weekend. And Mad Men sent us into it on a high note. Really, outside of The Wire, there isn’t a series with better characterization.

Remember when I said Roger may not be a prick? Well, I was wrong. But at least he’s aware of his prickishness with the line, “After a man gets his name on a building, her develops a certain sense of entitlement”. I was really hoping for Don to respond with something like, “Gee, that’s great Rog’, maybe next time instead of getting drunk and hitting on my wife, we can do some coke and you can hit on my daughter. After all, I’m all about wish fufillment working alongside you. You sick fuck.” But no, he underplayed it and exacted one of the more subtle revenges I’ve seen anywhere: in person or on screen.

Anyways, enough gushing over a series probably none of you even watch. Onto the links…

I guess I should mention that Letterman is going to be on Oprah, given his hesitance do appear on anyone’s show but his own. I like Letterman, and I understand Oprah as an entity, but I’ll never understand why I should be interested in the relationship/rivalry between these two.

Wow, no one got a free pass on the production of Kid Nation. This reality show better end up curing cancer, otherwise it doesn’t sound like it was worth the trouble.

Rosie O’Donnell turned down the cameo offer from Friday Night Lights, I imagine she felt like she has pissed off the red states enough on The View. If she goes back to Nip Tuck, this development is inarguably a good thing.

David Spade and Heather Locklear will reunite on his CBS series, Rules of Engagement. I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to extensively read this article, I was a little to distracted by the fact that Rules of Engagement is still on the air.

How the crew of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia talked Danny DeVito into a third season. If you actually need to be told: this is satirical. I have no comment other than the website that is hosting this video is kind of strange. Its name is “Funny or Die”, and to give you an idea of how prominent sex is on the web, right next to its title (which inidicates humor as their primary objective) in the upper right hand corner, it says, “LOADS of girls”, I guess for those who like to laugh hysterically while they masturbate.

Apparently no one is content with Entourage these days, even writers for CBS Sportsline. Can’t say his complaints are unwarranted, but you know its a slow sports season when sports writers are critiquing a TV show as irrelevant as Entourage.

Finally, to end on some good news, South Park will be around for fifteen seasons. So expect it to be more topical and more controversial, though at this point we’re probably all immune to South Park “controversy”.

That’s it for the week, enjoy the football and we’ll be back on Monday to recap the merciful finale of Entourage.

Before we get started, I’d like to point out the Television Without Pity started recapping this series with this episode, but whoever “Couch Baron” is, he/she has assured us someone over there (probably the same person) will recap the previous five episodes as well.

Anyhow, this episode was done from the women’s perspective as much as the men’s. All three of Don’s love interests were featured: his wife, Rachel (who’s like a favorite character now) and Midge. Peggy may have discovered a calling, and Joan demonstrated why she carries herself with such a confident demeanor around the office. Still, I find it hard to sympathize with Joan, despite whatever she was reduced to as a result of having a vagina. She just seems entirely too catty and domineering, not only around the men, but also the women.

So how did Rachel become a favorite character? Well, the distance she kept from Don at their lunch (”I better not see this on my bill”) and the ensuing rehashing of it with her sister didn’t hurt. She just had this cool, calm demeanor about herself, and outside of his brother, she was the first person to fluster Don in any way. Don’s reasoning for inviting her to lunch were one, to hit on her (obviously); and two, to ask her questions about Israel because he needs insight into the best method of promoting cruise lines to the holy land. Because, you know, all Jewish Americans know Israel like the back of their hand. Her exit line after being invited to lunch under such ridiculous pretenses was fantastic to, and probably only attracted Don that much more to her: “I better not see this on my bill”. If you didn’t see the episode then you it probably just sounds like some throwaway line because it was so contextual, but it was damn hilarious for some reason.

We come to find out later in the conversation she has with her sister that by putting a chink in Don’s armor, he had put a chink in her’s, just a brilliant cat and mouse game. But she approaches it so cerebrally. Unlike say, Betty, who divulges way too much information to someone so distant. Even if it is her husband, she should know better. Shit, she should probably know better than Rachel and Midge for exactly that reason.

But one had to feel bad for her this episode. She is treated like a commodity in her own house, she at least subconsciously knows that her husband repeatedly cheats on her and even if she did, given the parlance of the times, there is little she could do about it. The diatribe she went on about wanting to whither away and disappear when her looks fade was also emblematic, as Don sits there, quiet as a stone and offers no reassurance.

As good as Rachel was in this episode, the highlight of it was the test study for the makeup line, as Joan happily rounded up all the female employees to try on multiple brands of lipstick while the male account managers looked on through one way glass. They cracked lame jokes, called Peggy “mouse ears” and gawked at Joan, as she seemed wise to their plan and modeled her ass for the audience, much to the enjoyment of everyone except Roger, whom we discovered was engaged in a tryst with the office matriarch.

But this laid the groundwork for some future intrigue, as Peggy stumbled into the position of writing copy by referring to a waste basket of tissues with lip-prints on them as a, “basket of kisses”. When the man inquires her further about what she did and didn’t like, she states, “I don’t want to be one out of a hundred colors in a box”. The man she was saying all of this to before being cut off by that wynch, Joan, seems to have had his hair blown back. When he goes to enlighten Don about his assistant who never looks her in the eye in order to avoid losing his sight to the earnestness, he refers to it as, “like watching a dog play the piano”. Now, something worth noting here, while this line is crude and demeaning, it’s also funny and relatively true, so it has this websites seal of approval.

Also, this whole development just speaks to how great the writing is. One, it paves the way for Pete to lose his shit when he finds out Peggy might surpass him on the food chain. And two, the dialogue is exceptionally insightful without being overwrought or clumsy. Everything everyone says is within their characterization, but nuanced and subtle.

Other notes:

-I’m not sure if Don is an anti-Semite, Jewish himself or, as Larry David’s enemy from the “Trick-or-Treat” episode might say, a “self-loathing Jew”. But the opening scene suggests he puts on a facade of the first, and is actually the third. I don’t know, it’s really hard to tell what he is remorseful about since we still only know so much about him. But judging by his reaction to the song at the end, it is definitely something. Maybe he would counter with Larry Davids line, “I may hate myself, but it has nothing to do with being Jewish”. Speaking of which…

-I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate Don’s disassociation with the rest of Midge’s lifestyle than to put them at an open-mic night. She likes fucking a wealthy, powerful ad executive, he likes fucking an attractive, loose brunette, beyond that they seemingly have nothing in common. Don’s butting-heads with the clown from Soho just accentuated that.

-Joan seemingly has Roger by the balls, but it appears no one, not even Don, knows about it. Whatever clout she may have is essentially worthless if its only behind closed doors. Still she seems pretty grounded about it. Or as much as Joan has ever seemed grounded about anything.

I am going to cut this short, but Thursdays have been my favorite TV day of the summer, and this is the only series I watch on Thursdays. So interpret that how you will. Looking forward to tonights episode.

I completely forgot about this, so just a quick impression of last Wednesday’s episode before the following one in ten minutes or so here.

This episode had its moments: Tommy’s lecture about race/ethnic relations in the NYFD, his reaction to hearing Janice was sleeping with her new boss, etc. But there were too many leaps of faith taking place. For instance, Janet’s new job. I am to assume she is being promoted so quickly because she is sleeping with her boss, who is exceptionally younger than her, but why must everything be so convenient? Can’t they find some logical way for her to piss off Tommy? It just seemed to preposterous, with him walking in there and immediately being intimidated. Remember Roger from season one? He was loaded, it didn’t really seem to bother Tommy. Just the fact that he was there seemed to bother him. On top of that, this has been an awfully abrupt recovery from postpartum depression. Really, like record setting. And is the kid still crying uncontrollably when Janet is holding him?

Also, Sheila is content with Janet/Colleen watching the kid all of a sudden? It seemed like she wanted to exclusively raise Elvis (whom by the way has now been named Wyatt by Janet, which I suppose is his legal name). And she is letting Tommy keep the money. I am reminded of the Seinfeld episode where George is ranting about Kramer going to a fantasy camp because his entire life is a fantasy. This, is my basic theory about Tommy Gavin.

Speaking of which, the fear of heights was out of left field, the theory over on TWoP is that Tommy is in a Tony Soprano-esque limbo, and we’re simply waiting for him to wake up. A sudden fear of heights seems like it would symbolize that. And, to be honest, that would be a welcomed twist. Because the more of this season I watch, with a few exceptional episodes, the more I want to forget it ever happened.

The entire Franco thing is completely implausible. If he’s going to plot revenge against anyone, why not Susan Sarandon? She did, after all, kidnap his daughter. Oh well, at least he has someone to spy on Natalie: her mentally handicapped brother. Classy.

Some things I liked:

-The AA meeting

-Lou plotting revenge against Artie Lange

…Along with what was mentioned in the first paragraph, I think that is it. Hit or miss, as always. I think its self-explanatory which category this falls in. Enjoy tonight’s episode.

Didn’t rewatch last weeks Rescue Me nor do I have much to say about it that would be considered constructive or even funny, so why not do one of these network previews I’ve been procrastinating on? Also, sorry for the late post. Again. I should do these things at night, but I enjoy my freetime and watching movies like Black Snake Moan, which wasn’t nearly as objectionable as the content would lead you to believe.

Click on these links see the previews for HBO, ABC and CBS.

Today we look at NBC, a network that experienced much critical success in 2006, but finished fourth in the ratings (a lowly fourth, at that) which lead to a front office change from the risk taking Kevin Reilly as chief of entertainment, to the brash, up-and-coming Ben Silverman, Who co-produces several other series’ including The Office and Ugly Betty. This conflict of interests, plus his rumored proclivity for reckless nightlife, and his relative inexperience have many in the industry curious as to how this all pans out.

Odds are, he’ll be considered a success since the ratings couldn’t get much worse. Meaning any slight improvement he will be credited with. I still firmly believe that the reason NBC has dipped so low in recent years is a lack of mainstream professional sporting events to use to market their products. Outside of one contract, for seventeen games a year with the NFL for Sunday Night Football, NBC has nothing. With that said, lets look at what they’re bringing to the table this fall.

(Again, these are just inital impressions. None of these shows have been screened or anything).

Chuck Mondays, 8 p.m. est.
Synopsis: A store clerk accidentally finds himself responsible for the nation’s security, and given he ends up dating the obligatory “strong female character” that is assigned by the CIA to protect him, I’m sure he’ll end up acting like a total pussy to boot.

Initial Impressions: See, this is the brand of show that could snag some cheap ratings. It has a terror plot, an attractive woman, is an hour long and is a “dramedy”. And, to be fair, its not something that this website immediately dismisses, but man does it look tacky. On their homepage, Chuck and some other hapless looking creature are standing behind a counter labeled, “Nerd Herd”. I guess Best Buy wanted too much money to borrow “Geek Squad” or whatever, so they used a phrase intended to disparage the socially awkward in middle school. Gimmicks like these are really unappealing.
Anyhow, it is created by Josh Schwartz (of OC fame), so that should help their ratings cause.

Bionic Woman Wednesdays 9pm est.
Synopsis: Based on a comic book. So naturally someone survives an accident and is physically altered in some way, decided to use her powers for good rather than evil. Which is bullshit. If any of us had supernatural abilities, we would use them strictly for material gain and self-preservation.

Initial Impressions: I’m not really familiar with the comic book or the original television series, so I’m not really an expert to comment on it, as I’m sure many of you are. But I will say this, if the Bionic Woman doesn’t turn out to be the kid from Freaks and Geeks in drag, I’m going to be very, very disappointed.

Journeyman Mondays 10pm est.
Synopsis: A man travels in time for the betterment of peoples lives all while dealing with his turbulent home life. Well, that is kind of selfish. Obviously, by rule of thumb, if one goes up then another must come down. Why should the life one made for him/herself be ruined because someone got a second chance in another dimension from some time leaping creep?

Initial Impressions: While it’s original (as far as I know, anyway, but it does sound an awful lot like Quantum Leap with domestication), it seems a bit contrived. Apparently his spousal quandary’s will stem from his “sudden disappearances” when he travels time. I mean, how many times can one claim to be “going to the store” before it starts to seem suspicious? Hopefully he eventually clues his family in on his predicament, because if I wanted to see someone using thinly-veiled lies to deal with a discrete lifestyle or just to get out of the house, I’d rewatch The Sopranos.

Lipstick Jungle
Synopsis: Three high powered women deal with the “trials and tribulations” of being high powered women. Because, you know, as a woman life is sooo much more managable being a McDonalds employee rather than a CEO. Or at least that’s what I’ve been led to believe.

(Note: The day and time was not listed on the webpage, link to it and tell me differently).

Initial Impressions: As typical as this formula is nowadays in film and television, there is a good chance I end up catching an episode, if for nothing else than to see if they do something with the characters other then have them sit around and sulk about their professional status or sit around and relish in their professional status. Not that I would know or anything, but I imagine independently wealthy, single women in New York do something that doesn’t involve complete narcissism and self-involvement. I’m sure of it.

It looks like that is it. There is another new series from NBC called Life, whose webpage I’ve been waiting ten minutes to load and refuse to wait a second longer. Since it still hasn’t, you’re going to have to investigate this one yourselves. Sorry.
In short, Life could be the greatest boradcast network series of the past fifteen years, and it looks like the new management still might leave something to be desired. Whatever, if these series’ bring in ratings to keep FNL on as a charity case, then do as you will, NBC.

Back later with a succinct Rescue Me recap.

Finally getting around to discussing this, it was a much more hectic day at work than initially perceived and we were apparently having network isues last night that I wasn’t privy to, because the webpage wouldn’t open. So, my apologies for those I may have mislead.

Anyhow…man alive. I know this show prides itself on its monolithic tone of comedy, but this episode was too one-note for me, almost to the point of being depressing. For those who didn’t watch it, the basic premise was that Murray was feeling inadequate as the band’s manager, so Bret and Jermaine hired a semi-professional actor to pose as a record executive that encourages Murray and his professionalism, but hesitantly refuses them a record deal. The actor, however, gets a little carried away with his craft, and does offer Murray a record deal, and high jinks ensues.

If you think about it, its kind of a tired comedy plot structure: One friend feels inept, and in an ill-advised manner the other friend(s) attempt to make the one friend feel better. And after a series of misunderstandings, he inevitably ends up feeling worse, but it concludes with some sort of life lesson which leads to all participating parties gaining some matter of perspective.

Now, was this better than most? absolutely. At least it had a couple songs that were decent (And I’ve refused to sit through any Lord of The Rings movies), Dave shared a charming tale of modern love with us and there were more subtle gestures, such as Murray’s “emergency band meeting” that included roll call. But the overall comedy bit just seemed to fall flat. Nothing really side-splitting came from the “Murray is depressed” storyline. It was still better than Entourage, but only by default.

Supposedly, this episode was supposed to air earlier in the season and was pushed back for whatever reason. With one episode left in their immensely successful pilot season, we’re certainly expecting them to send us off into the fall on a higher note than they did two days ago.

And in the penultimate season four episode, the writers decided to devote ten minutes of screentime to probably the worst guest supporting role this series has ever had, then another seven or eight minutes listening to Ari and his wife have the most cliche husband-wife argument I’ve probably ever heard. In the remaining five to ten minutes we had left, some things were brought into the fray, and none of it was particularly memorable. Such as a potential fictional terrorist attack, entitled bitching about having to fly commercially and Vince and Eric arguning yet again over what course of direction to take with his suddenly disinteresting career.

But the Anna Faris thing is what really sucked the life out of this episode. The show isn’t one for spontaneity, so the route they took wasn’t terribly surprising. Eric hits on Anna, Anna has a boyfriend and asks him to manage, Anna dumps said boyfriend, Vince bitches to Eric about “losing focus”, Eric defends himself, he pursues her romantically, she the part ways professionally and personally. And all in three episodes! The issue with these meta-romantic interests is that we all know they’re temporary. So why droll them out trying to in an attempt to develop chemistry? If Anna Faris’ career were going as poorly as it should be, then maybe it would keep me in suspense. But instead she has a steady stream of work, and I know she’ll be a footnote in Entourage history by the end of the season. At least she has enough self-recognition to realize she might be being mocked when someone is complimenting her on Scary Movie.

Now to the Ari subplot. Are we supposed to believe Ari isn’t perceptive enough to detect that his wife was being coy when she claimed to be “fine” with not traveling to France? Needless to say she got her revenge for him taking what she said at face value by purchasing multiple, expensive products. That’ll learn him to always second guess her. God, what a miserable marriage that seems to be.

Outside of that, there really wasn’t much to discuss. Set aside a couple late cameos. One from Sydney Pollack who’s making the rounds this year on HBO series (he also played the wife murdering former oncologist who befriended Johnny Sack in this seasons “Stage 5″ episode of The Sopranos, and another from Kanye West, who was compensated for by having his song “Good Life” played over the credits. Both of whom offered the guys a flight to Canne, but since Pollack had limited capacity, Kanye saved the day at the last moment. It would have been fantastic if he was somewhat self-deprecating and wore a shirt that mocked his “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” diatribe. But no, he made a few bad jokes, saved the day and that was that. Still, the guy writes some decent hip-hop music.

Next weeks episode looks entertaining. Which is all I want from this show. A half hour of mindless humor with an industry plot. And if they cannot piece that together in an episode set at the Canne film festival, then it might be curtains for this series.

Back later with a recap of a dually mediocre Conchords episode.

Caught up on some television last night including Hard Knocks and Mad Men. Both of which were entertaining, and the latter was insightful as usual, as we got further proof that Draper is probably, nay, definitely an anti-Semite. Is there anything left for this series to delve into? I think this pilot season is only eight episodes long, so I guess its safe to assume they’re not worried about tying up any loose ends. What those ends would be in the first place, I’m not sure. But I want to see something finalized.

Hard Knocks was, if nothing else, assisting us in our fantasy drafts, and we now know to avoid either Brodie Croyle or Damon Huard. But wait, we already knew that. Well, then, it looks like they’re intent on giving the ball to Larry Johnson over 400 times again, so make of that what you will. Honestly, Addai and Gore are better options with the 3 & 4 picks. I also like Westbrook, Henry and Bush more than LJ, but with fantasy drafts, particularly this year, everyone is guessing after Tomlinson and Jackson.

(Thus ends my bitter, off-topic rant)

But yeah, Hard Knocks: definitely entertaining. The lifestyle, the dedication, the unabashedly materialistic wives, are all on display. Herm Edwards seems entirely too magnanimous for how tempremental he can be. Honestly, he’s like Tony Soprano, but he has the makings of a varsity athlete.

Onto the links…

Kid Nation, the new series on CBS is being investigated for some sort of child endangerment. The show is essentially an orchestrated coed version of Lord of The Flies, so this doesn’t come as much of a shock (especially if you read this). But with the developments of such former child stars as Lohan, Spears, and even more archaic than that, Michael Jackson, one would think that parents would strive to keep their kids out of the limelight, not thrust them into it. I wonder how many of them convinced themselves there is something “academic” to the concept. In this case, “academic” would be a high-falutin euphemism for “exploitive”.

We didn’t watch the premiere of Anchorwoman and we never had any intention of doing so. But getting cancelled after on episode is a pretty unmerciful slap in the face. Anyhow, though the participants may not realize it yet, this is probably a blessing in disguise. The show sounded cringeworthy to us, to put it charitably.

American Gladiators is officially on its way back to the small screen. And if they’re looking for a host, I know Joe Theismann is probably looking for a national gig in any arena at this point. Particularly one that’s “visually interesting“. Apparently sarcasm, irony, these things didn’t exist in the 80’s.

Everyone is hopping on the “HBO sucks” bandwagon. I guess that’s what happens when one of the most critically and commercially successful series’ in the history of the medium (much less pay cable) ends its reign. But, with a sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Tell Me You Love Me (the borderline soft core porn, as all reports conclude) and Voyeur (Ironically enough, there is reportedly nothing pornographic about) all on the horizon, I’m not counting them down just yet. Also, does getting a divorce increase or decrease the likelihood of a seventh season of Curb? Then again, HBO did turn down Mad Men seven years ago. Is the statute of limitations up on that? can they still be held accountable? Speaking of which…

A Mad Men marathon is scheduled for September 2nd. I implore you people to watch this if you haven’t been already. If you’re planning on sitting around your television labor day weekend, there isn’t a better way to spend it.

This is a weird, if not innovative marketing strategy for NBC. Whatever. I fully support it, so long as it generates viewership for Friday Night Lights.
Also, should you not be satisfied with the product, their first season DVD is fully refundable, but amazingly enough it only cost $30 in the first place. Damn, that beats the snot out of paying $60 a piece for The Wire and The Sopranos. If you’re doing the math at home, that’s twice the price for 60% as many episodes. How can you justify not buying it?

God damnit. Look, I’m thrilled whenever actors from The Wire find other work, particularly work that pays. I never really bought into unconscious race discrimination in hollywood thing until I watched The Wire and saw the best ensemble acting I’ve ever seen, and then never saw any of that ensemble in anything else (with few exceptions). But if Lance Reddick (Lieutenant Daniels) is going to take a role on a primetime series, does it have to be on one I swore I would never watch? Fucking Lost. I guess it’s just beyond me. At least he’s being comparatively financially compensated, even if I don’t understand why now.

I can guarantee, however, that I will be seeing Michael K. Williams (Omar Little) and Amy Ryan’s (Bea Russell) new film, regardless of how obvious and cliche it looks.

That’s it for today, and probably this week. Have a good weekend and if you have a half hour to kill, I highly recommend the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode up on their MySpace page. This is the second time we’ve linked to it, so you know we’re being serious.

So, who isn’t a total prick at Sterling Cooper? We have Don/Dick abandoning his long lost brother (albeit for reasons vaguely understood), Pete whoring out his wife by guilt-tripping her about losing her virginity to the guy who can get his story published, Joan manipulating Peggy and bending her to her will, and all the other junior executives/account managers giving Kenny Karsgrove shit about getting his story published in the Atlantic Monthly. Oh, that’s who isn’t a prick: Kenny. And Peggy. And the jury is still out on Roger. But that’s it.

In the main plot this week, we got an explanation for why that fat man on the train kept calling Don, “Richard”. Well, turns out that is actually his name, and during the course of the Korean War and immediately after his service, Don somehow changed his identity. It is never made entirely clear, but we meet a ghost of Don’s former existence in Adam Whitman, his little half-brother that was lost in the mix of our protagonist creating a new life for himself.

After tracking him down from a picture of Don in the newspaper after he won some award, Adam is significantly younger and overly-anxious to rekindle their relationship. Don, however, has come to appreciate the new life he has built for himself (though were still not entirely clear on that, either) and feels like the revelation of a secret past could cost him his wife, his kids and most importantly, his career. His reaction to Adam is wholly cold and unnerving, but Don ends up showing more vulnerability than he has since probably the war when he pays Adam to get the hell out of his life ($5,000, probably about $30,000 today) and is brought nearly to tears. It was unexpected, and certainly caught the audience off guard, considering we never saw the money and we were under the impression what the camera was hiding was, in fact, a gun Don was going to use to kill Adam with.

In a way, this sort of redeemed him, as he was at least conflicted about his decision and got his brother out of whatever financial ruin he was in. Being a janitor in New York City, as evidenced by the squalor Adam was living in, wasn’t exactly affording him the most pleasant of lifestyles. In addition, were never really privy to the details of Don’s adolescence, other than he was raised by Adam’s mother who resented Don/Richard, and one of their aunts was intricately involved in their upbringing. Other than that, everything is pretty vague, other than Don’s father had high expectations for him. Whatever the reason he left, I’m almost certain it’s justified, despite the collateral damage. My guess is we’ve seen the last of Adam.

Sub-plots included Peggy losing her mind over how to handle Betty showing up to Don’s office, believing he is with Midge (who’s conversation with Don she eavesdropped on) she asks Joan for help, who in return extorts information of Don’s whereabouts in return, when in actuality, he was with Adam, which is even more damning. She is ruthless.

Pete… oh, Pete. Whatever good will you may have built with the audience in “Marriage of Figaro” was destroyed in this episode. Subliminally telling your wife to sleep with an ex-boyfriend publisher to get your story published in a magazine? Doesn’t this go against every traditional custom that he so desperately pines to embody? I guess if his peers are none the wiser, then no harm, no foul. I wish I could feel some sympathy for Trudy, though, who’s plight this episode was negated by her materialism two weeks ago.

Of course, Pete’s competitive spirit was just exceptionally pathetic. The entire office turned resorted to the proverbial catfight after Kenny’s story was published. I erupted in laughter when Carl tried to apologize for his catty competitiveness then Kenny just refusing to shake his hand and casually saying, “You lost”.

Definitely looking forward to tonight, and until Curb and Sunny kick off their sixth and third seasons respectively, this is handily the best series on television. It appears David Chase is in fact, the Bill Parcells of television.

Sorry for teh extremely late post, today has been like one of those days were if I was to get in a fender bender, someone might end up dead in the ensuing confrontation. On top of not having any internet access at work or my house (they’re a mile apart) and being backloaded with detail as a result, I never got around to rewatching this episode, so I’ll just give some brief, vague interpretations.

The episode simply meandered through the first fifty minutes until Tommy’s heartfelt lamenting on the rooftop with Mike. I’m afraid this was another episode in which all the scenes are completely interchangable. Look, I get the drama and the built tension they put into accentuating Mike’s loneliness, but can’t someone on this show have a personal problem and not resort to extreme resolutions? What’s funny about this is Mike’s plight seemed more genuine and founded in reality than 90% of the other character arcs we’ve seen on this show. But enough is enough, we need to see some coping skills out of someone at some point.

In a completely unrelated note, the opening scene with Leary and Gina Gershon certainly isn’t going to quell the “Leary is in love with himself” crowd. And it did seem kind of contrived, but my beef with the show isn’t Leary’s cock getting the soft core treatment, its that this episode lacked any kind of structure. And that is becoming way too common with this series.

For instance, a scenario with as much potential as Maggie going to an intervention for alcoholism, it just missed on essentially every note (sans Steve Pasquale as Garrity, who was in rare form). I’m note sure what it was either, it seemed like they might have been trying too hard with virtually every Gavin there. But more likely, its that they never followed up on it. I wasn’t expecting another intervention, but at least a mention of it outside the group. Hopefully this will be a regular setting, because like stated before, its rife with potential.

It really seems like I’m waffling with this series, but there is so much asymmetry to it that I’m not really sure there is a consistent perspective to have. The final scene epitomizes that. It was reflective and enlightening as Tommy began to drink while regaling the loss of his kid, but out of nowhere he jumps off the roof and lands on a stairwell that isn’t up to code and begins cracking. Why did they do this? Well, I’m not sure. It wasn’t meant to be a cliffhanger, since they immediately showed Tommy in the previews for tonights episode. I guess it was supposed to symbolize the detriment of his alcoholism, but either way I didn’t get it.

Anyway, I’ll finish out this season, and decide whether I cut this or Entourage from my weekly recaps, because I can’t handle them both.

Peculiar episode on Sunday. Definitely damn funny, but it was a first time for many things. Bret and Jermaine’s first experimentation with illegal drugs, their first opportunity (and presumable achievement) at a “man-man-lady” threesome (though I’m sure Mel has always been a viable option) and the first time the show completely disregarded any type of continuity.

A couple episodes ago, Bret was overly-squeamish about promiscuity, this episode he was gun-ho about a potential “lady-lady-man” threesome and running out the door of Mel’s apartment for emotionless sex? What gives? For the most part I don’t give a shit. Like stated about Entourage yesterday, comedies should ultimately be judged on the creativity of their humor, which Conchords is still excelling in, not on plot points. Look at a series like Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the pilot, Sammy, Jeff and Suzie Green’s child was an infantile boy (never shown on camera), in his first actual appearance on the series in “The Doll”, he had morphed into an 8-10 year old girl.

Still, that and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (whose first episode is up online, by the way) are the two best comedies still making new episodes. Just find a way to make me laugh, and all will be right with the world. I was just taken aback by it, but having an eager Bret in that situation made for better comedy that a timid one, so we here at Grid Effect applaud them for the decision.

But that misses the focus of this episode, as Kristin Schaal proved she isn’t better in small doses. From her interrogation of the “new fans” to her bathroom inspection of Bret (all while respecting his boundaries) she was definitely a highlight. It would be preferable if she was prominent in the last two remaining episodes. Speaking of Mel…

Am I the only one who watches these episodes worried about what’s going to happen to Dave? Seeing him cooped up in his crowded basement playing Solitary (or so it appeared) while his wife served dinner to two men that she wants to sleep with and their dates only solidified my concerns. Is it still a comedy if this guy slits his wrists? It was further explained how she cost him his career (which was hilariously inflected and delivered by Schaal), can’t they just divorce or something?

The musical numbers left something to be desired. Its at the point now where I’m just uncomfortable watching those if with a group of people. This time it was a mock anthem to “all the ladies of the world” and an acid trip parody. Yawn. But I’ve made my peace with the (in my admittedly unpopular opinion) sub-par music, and enjoy the other twenty-five minutes of the episode.

Other notes:

-I love how the only song they perform on for audiences on the show is that “Who likes to rock the party?” track. And we generally only here bits and pieces of it before they’re cut short, this time by the host of a world music night.

-Dave offered up the always bizarre wardrobe this show doles out. This time it was a t-shirt with a mouse screwing another mouse in a mouse trap from behind (that’s some redundant shit right there), and a blouse.

Maybe back later today with a review of that online It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode.

Well, to summarize this episode, I think an exchange between me and a friend at around the twenty minute mark pretty much sums it up:

Friend: Is this episode really long? It seems long.
Me: Yeah, but its only twenty minutes through, so in actuality its no longer than usual but rather it just seems that way because it’s really, really awful.

Honestly, did they really have to clear the air for Eric to eventually date Anna Faris? Can’t she just be? That boyfriend was so over the top, and so contrived (and the entire concept seemed to be for Faris to make a Randy Jackson comparison) that it never really struck me as funny, just dull and predictable.

As for the main plot, I tend to enjoy these episodes, but having Ari running around trying to clean up the mess left by Billy Walsh, only to have Vince back him (yet again) and for everything to work out favorably (yet again), is growing tiresome. Even for me, and I tend to defend some of the idiocy of this series, claiming its just a comedy, and plot shouldn’t really factor into the criticism. But when the episode isn’t even funny, that’s not an appilcable defense, because if its not funny and its not interesting, then why the hell am I watching it?

As for the Anna Faris plot, she looks like she could be the series’ new Mandy Moore, except she’s dating Eric instead of Vince, and she’ll get twice as much screentime. One thing that was funny was Eric complimenting her work on the first Scary Movie with a straight face. I will give them this, as far as on screen romances are concerned, they do seems to have a healthy amount of chemistry, at least comparatively speaking. But its blatantly obvious what’s going to happen, Vince is going to bitch about no longer being a priority because Eric’s attention will be focused on Anna’s career (or at least Vince will perceive it to be). Initially Anna will be oblivious to the rif she is causing until she stumbles onto it and is conflicted, she will then leave him professionally, and possibly intimately as well. I imagine she will altogether so her arc eventually ends on this series. The end.

Really, outside of Ari registering surprise that Eric had another real client, the episode was devoid of any and all humor. I can honestly concede that this was probably the worst episode they’ve done on this show, and that includes the dud of a season three premiere, “Aquamom”. In short, the funniest thing about that half hour were the promos for the upcoming season of Curb, so hopefully this isn’t a trend.

Well, Mad Men really put our loyalty to the test last night. One aspect of this series I like is that as an audience, we are probably collectively torn as to whether or not we even like Don Draper. Initially, he struck me as deplorable, but it dawned on me at episode’s end, we do not really have the full story. In hindsight it sounds like he and Adam had a shitty childhood, Don managed to escape it and Adam was collateral damage (too young to get out on his own). Either way, I’m glad they didn’t have him kill anyone. This isn’t Tony Soprano or Tommy Gavin, and I’d like it to refrain from delving into that unquestionably ambiguous territory.

Tracy Morgan: now guilty of a DUI. Damn, that 30 Rock sure has a deliquent cast if there ever was one. The mood on set is probably similar to all of those Brat Pack movies.

An illuminating interview with Flight of The Conchords.

Those incredibly shitty MTV reality series’ that star the preening dickwads from SoCal appraently do multiple takes. Wow. If your life is so absurd you have to literally pretend that it’s real, well, I think that speaks for itself.

Actually, to the contrary, one of them claims that, “They live exciting lives”. Yeah, if she keeps telling herself that maybe even she’ll start to believe it. The only time any of their lives will be exciting is when they’re explaining their downfall for some documentary series on VH! or E!.

Jeremy Piven would like to make an Entourage movie. Umm, aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves here? The series’ ratings are down like 25% or something, not exactly the time for discussion about movie adaptation.

Speaking of which, here is the song list for the Entourage soundtrack. Needless to say, though they all have had multiple tracks played over the four seasons, it doesn’t look like The Rolling Stones, The Doors or Kings of Leon wanted anything further to do with the series.

Real World castmates are now active racists. Well, actually, given the average Real World roommate nowadays, I doubt she was bright enough to realize how her demand that some Asian woman in Australia learn to “speak English” would be construed as racist. So maybe we should take it easy on the nitwit. But, then again, she could always be acting, and I can’t decide if that would be more or less abhorrent.

Claire Danes, shooting down the prospect of a My So Called Life reunion, probably for a couple reasons. One, she’s pushing thirty. Two, she’s the only person from that series that still has a career in showbiz. Though I am not sure why, if one were to look at her filmography, depending on one’s sensibilities, one might find it wildly unimpressive. Though I am fully intent on seeing Stardust at some point.

Yet another reason I cannot stand Law and Order. And people, I plead with you, if you’re looking for a decent crime drama, please, please, go watch The Wire. It’s absolutely impossible to convey how much better it is (it really isn’t, but time restraints are preventing me from doing so), so I’m just flat out begging you to trust me.

One consistency I have noticed is that the clowns who marry women noticeably older than them, I’ve never had much respect for in the first place. Still, what the hell is wrong with Jimmy Fallon? He’s going to feel like even more of a schmuck when he’s paying out half his money to a woman six years older than him in their divorce five years from now.

And finally, Curb on September 9th, and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia on September 13th, the latter of which is airing a full episode on MySpace.

Well, from the episode title I think it’s safe to conclude that Mathew Weiner is a fan of The Wire. This episode, more so than any of the others, focused on the generational divide between Don (Korean War), Roger (WWII) and Pete, whom not only never served, but is an heir to an unseemly amount of money from his mother’s side (which is even more noticeable when we meet his father).

There is so much to indulge in this series that I’m not even sure where to begin. Don was put on the backburner this week, and the episode revolved around Pete and Don’s wife, Betty. The former of which is struggling to make his own way in the world. He reminds me of a white collar Ziggy Sobotka from season two of The Wire.

If we were wondering why Pete is the way he is, the conversation with his thinly-veiled jealous father and overbearing mother explained just about everything: he has a modicum of intelligence but has never been able to exude it or be taken seriously because of his lineage, meaning everyone believes he’s simply been handed everything in life, which is essentially true. His father’s “no job for a white man” wreaked of insecurity, as he’s probably always been supported by his wife’s family, which, given the times, was probably perceived as emasculating, and he seemed to take entirely too much pleasure out of denying Pete the money for a new loft in the city.

Whose the driving force in the push for new quarters? Why his wife Trudy, of course, who has no shame in asking his or her parents for the financial support. Which certainly just sticks in Pete’s craw, he not only doesn’t want the apartment, but is strong-armed by his wife whom I’m sure his parents disapprove of, given her families modest wealth (they’re wealthy, just not Rockafeller wealthy). Her parents end up loaning them the money for a $30,000 apartment on Pete’s $3,200 annual salary (can anyone confirm or deny the deflation rates. A junior ad executive only made $266 a month?)

Anyhow, all this underminig drives Pete to circumvent Don and directly contact a client with an ad concept for Beth Steel (”The Backbone of America”) over drinks and close encounters with attractive women. Pete, believing he did something impressive, is immediately fired after Don catches wind of their rendezevous the night before (”go find a little brown box, and put your things in it”). Pete, conflicted and confused, retreats to his office and holds back the tears. Just an amazing performance from Vincent Karthheiser, by the way.

(Note: I rarely compliment the acting on this series, but the ensemble is second to none. Jon Hamm as Don, John Slittery as Roger, Rosemary DeWitt as Midge and Elizabeth Moss as Peggy all give subtle, nuanced performances. Conveying more with facial expressions and mannerisms than with actual language).

Anyways, Pete’s familial wealth bails him out again, only Roger tells him that Don went to bat for him and saved him his job. Pete’s ecstatic, even if in denial, because it seemed he wanted to keep his eventual inheritance discrete since he claimed in the pilot that the reason he was marrying Trudy is her father’s money.

Helen, the new harlot addition to the neighborhood (kidding), actually mustered up the courage to ask Betty for assistance in watching her kid while she attended a Kennedy rally (I liked the way Betty claimed, “We’re not sure who we are voting for yet”, implying that her vote is grouped with Don’s), where Betty somewhat cattily suggests that there will be several nice men there. Never mind the traditional mindset, the issue here is with Helen’s son, Jake, who is anywhere from 8-11 years old, and is completely fucking certifiable.

First he walks in on Betty as she is relieving herself, and refuses to leave until she physically removes him, then in his apology asks for a lock of her hair, which she gives him, either out of pity or fright, probably a combination of both. Anyhow, Betty concludes that being raised by a single mother is the dilemma, which may or may not be the case. Its significant because that is the immediate assumption.

Don is unaware of what transpired with his wife, but him and Roger conclude the episode with a frank discussion about “kids these days”, this is after a chastising from the president of the firm, Bert Cooper, who makes everyone remove their shoes before entering his office, and is rarely disturbed. He demands they keep Pete Campbell on staff because of his blood lines, and does it so without any burden of conscious, his unflinching power is disturbing yet unquestionable, as Don demonstrates more vulnerability than we’ve ever seen from him, “You’re saying Don’s more important to the company than I am”, then later with Roger, “Maybe I’m not as comfortable being powerless as you are”.

Both of these scenes and the dialog that accompanies them instill a sense of bitterness that was never there before. Hostility and disconnection? Yes. But Don has never shown so much resentment. At least its a semblance of what motivates the man.

This episode was, again, fantastic. It gave us insight to characters who before just seemed like such odd ducks, especially Pete, whose frustrated masculinity is disheartening but not entirely sympathetic. I’m not sure how much direct continuity there will be from this episode into tonight, but everything Pete says and does, and the dismissive nature in which Don treats him, will be understood.

Not exactly the follow-up most of us were looking for to one of Rescue Me’s better episodes in a while.

Predictably, as I’m sure you heard, Tommy did not kill his non-biological son. But the leap-of-faith had already been taken and soured the audience. Never-the-less, I give them credit for not completely ruining the show and just having Tommy sell his child to Sheila. Which, ultimately, is probably the best thing for Elvis (Sheila’s chosen name, I would have preferred to stick with Capernious, the name Grid Effect deigned him). Still, who the hell sells kids? Regardless of blood relations. Has Queens turned into North Korea?

Anyhow, outside of Tommy dealing with the fallout with his Janet, and Franco being torn between his loyalties to his daughter and Natalie, this episode was fairly low on the dramatics. But outside of Kenny it wasn’t particularly funny, hence the problem.

For starters, Janet ran over Tommy with her car with their daughter in the backseat. Not only is this a traumatizing moment for the kid, but a potentially deadly one for Tommy. Then for her to open her door and turn around to say, “I wasn’t driving fast enough” after Tommy said, “You could have killed me” is just too idiotic. It isn’t a feather pillow you’re hitting him with, Janet, it’s two tons of steel. People have died from a lot less. This is after she hit him with a frying pan during a scuffle in the kitchen. Classy. I think next week they accidentally tip over a trailer while arguing inside of it.

Of course this led to that unseemly hallucination scene with Tommy taking an axe to his walls. That was interesting. It seems that a lot of trouble in Tommy’s life stems from his inability to cope with death, of his friends, family and coworkers. But scenes like this are almost too grating. It did drive him to consume alcohol again, so I guess that’s a plot point.

Franco having to be lectured by Susan Sarandon about what he wanted in his relationship with Natalie like he was ten years old was kind of annoying. Honestly, is anyone that emotionally stunted? Also, it didn’t really seem like Franco was making the compelling of a case for why he proposed to Natalie, “I think she might be the one…she’s really cool” are not exactly ringing endorsements for someone you plan on marrying. But for now, that looks like the path he’s been talked into. One does have to admire he was considering marrying Sarandon just to appease his daughter, regardless of how short-sighted it is. I mean, she did kidnap his daughter in the first place.

Amy Sedaris (of Stangers with Candy fame) had a small cameo in this episode, as the quirky, talkative daughter of the new house captain, Hesh (as he was known on Sopranos, at least), but known on this show as Chief Feinberg. This led to a battle of wills between Kenny and Tommy as to who would take her on a date. In one of the more ambiguous endings this show has had, Tommy pulls some guy from a burning building while trying to ditch Sedaris on their date, only to have Gina Gershon, whom he was eyeing in the restaurant, come up and stuff her number in his shirt pocket. No word as to whether or not we’ll see Sedaris again. Maybe that’s who Kenny will end up having kids with.

Other notes:

-Mike is lonely

-Sean is going to try and rekindle his marriage with Maggie. Why? No idea.

Not that I’m not entertained by the series, but I’m certainly not interested in any of the running subplots. They seem to still be making it up as they go along, with no logical conclusion in site. I’ll still continue to watch because I’m a cheap whore, apparently, but it has nothing to do with Rescue Me still consistently being gripping drama.

This is probably the closest FoTC is ever going to get to Spinal Tap, so I hope everyone enjoyed it. That long haul from Manhattan, to LaGuardia, to “a central park” in Newark (originally thought to be Central Park in New York), proved detrimental to the sake of the band, and led Murray to question his abilities in talent management.

Some of the highlights include leather suits, Murray’s car falling into a pool, a women’s “North Jesrsey University” water polo team and an argument over sparkling bottled water. It wasn’t the best episode they have done, but at the very least it revolved around the band, as opposed to potential girlfriends. I asked for something like this last week and it was answered, so I guess there is little room for complaint. Still, it just felt a little tired to me. All of the humor was running jokes. With the leather suits shrinking and Murray’s objection to Bret and Jermaine trying to out “rock ‘n roll” each other, when in all actuality they’re just idiots.

The music was forgettable at best, though I liked the psuedo-lounge singing parody. Given that there was only one track, and the drive looked like it was going to break into one, they might need a season off to write some new material, should they bring the series back. I mean, the only song they performed opened with them saying, “Mermaid” in a peculiar voice for the first minute or so.

The highlight of the episode was clearly Murray. And more specifically his brief departure from the band, in which he actually cursed at Bret and Jermaine, despite their pleads not to (go fuck yourselves!). Between this and his phone conversations with his off-camera wife and Rhys Darby’s portrayal of the “responsible” band manager, the episode wasn’t a total loss.

In short, this episode raised more red flags about whether or not they can extend this relatively strong run into a second season. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, I’m going to watch them anyways, regardless of caliber.

Possibly back with some links or something later. It’s a really slow day.