Grid Effect

Well, we’re going to quickly go from overloaded to material-less on the back end of the week here in about ten days. With South Park having one more episode before it goes on hiatus, The Office being plum out of new episodes and being one of the earlier victims of the writer’s strike, and It’s Always Sunny airing its season finale last night … we’re down to Survivor and FNL as the only two series’ we watch at the end of the week, and we have no idea of how much longer the latter will be on board for.

They are expected to have fifteen of the twenty two episodes completed, and their are rumors it might be canceled regardless, but also rumors that ESPN might pick up the series. We’re generally opposed to all of ESPN’s original programming and anything that doesn’t involve PTI and actual sporting events, but we can get on board with the World Wide Leader for this one.

Anyhow, this is neither here nor there. Let’s get to the topic at hand and that’s IASIP third season finale, and a helluva finale it was. Bring back some cameo’s (The waitress, Rickety Cricket), put the bar up for auction on a dance marathon, then see who can withstand the competition and come away with probably the most outstandingly depraved bar on the east coast.

Glenn Howerton was in particularly rare form this episode. From letting the engaged woman drop when she stated she would never sleep with him (after holding her up when Charlie “went limp”), to knocking over The Waitress to dropping the engaged woman’s fiance, it was one of his better performances yet. Especially his response after each person he leveled, particularly the waitress’s:
Waitress: I trusted you Dennis Reynolds!
Dennis: (Smug, amused, self-satisfied expression) Why?
This brief exchange pretty much encompasses their entire relationship.

Actually, all the characters were in rare form last night. Charlie’s psuedo-dance of seduction he rehashed from eighth grade, which actually won him the “dance off” against Dennis, after Dennis beat Mac’s elbow thrusts. Frank was a bit of a side character, but it didn’t stop him from manipulating the contest and determining the winner (after Dee did all the dirty work).

When you see them posed like this, it probably means someone died, and they inadvertently benefited fromit.

And seeing Dee come so close to winning the competition, only to fall short so everyone can disregard everything she says again was almost painful to watch. But, just like her counterparts, it’s hard to feel any sympathy for her with the way she treats Matt (rickety cricket).

There wasn’t really much to the episode other than just putting them in another absurd situation, yet again as a result of Charlie’s illiteracy (It’s ‘prize’, not ‘pride’ Charlie, can’t you see the ‘Z’”?) and have them act it out. Physical comedy played a huge role in this episode, more so than usual, and what would you expect from an episode that revolves around a dance marathon? We probably could have done without the Sklar brothers playing the DJ’s, but they would have just thrown in a couple no names to do the same exact annoying shtick, so either way it doesn’t really matter. We did somewhat enjoy their Entourage cameo though.

Good episode, great season, and they’ve gotten progressively better. which is admittedly somewhat easy, since all they have to do is lower the bar on basic moral standards. The only really bad episode we watched was the hour long special, which in no way needed to be an hour. But this was a great ten episode season and we can only hope the writer’s strike doesn’t knock this series out of commission as well, but we understand if it does.

Back with FNL and Office recaps later.

Great, great episode of IASIP this week. We needed some more zaniness with fewer caricatures like we got last week, and really, the overall tone of this episode seemed less harsh than usual, even though Dee beat up a chronically masturbating homeless man, and Dennis extorted money from non-expecting pedestrians while posing as a cop, that is small potatoes compared to previous episodes.

First off, because it was the first thing I noticed about this episode, the “What are you looking at Dicknose?” t-shirt that Mac was wearing before throwing on the Guardian Angels garb, was ripped straight from Teen Wolf. Stiles is wearing it when he and Scott Howard (let it be known that I originally thought Michael J Fox’s character’s name was “Marty”, before verifying with IMDB) are looking for his misplaced bag of marijuana in his parents garage. Jesus, just when I think this show couldn’t come up with anymore obscure references, they throw in a “What are you looking at dicknose?” t-shirt.

Mac and Dennis’s physical comedy was great this episode. This series, more than anything else we’ve ever watched relies heavily on non-verbal comedic approaches, and that was accentuated this episode. Mac working the Guardian Angels suit and Dennis impersonating the hard ass cop had me in stitches. Charlie doing Serpico (in the rerun afterwards, he began doing an “Attica” chant) and everyone’s contemptuous reaction to it was a notch below, but the outfit was so reminiscent of the classic Pacino film that I couldn’t help but laugh at it.

The vintage cop car looked real, and amidst all the great scenes packed into this one episode, the initial one at the hot dog stand stood out. Particularly when they told the vendor that Charlie was a pedophile and he threw him a nasty look, and it was a quick glance, but Charlie had a look of befuddlement like, “why is this guy staring at me like that?” Frank throwing the cop lingo around with such familiarity was probably the funniest thing Danny DeVito has done on this series. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m going as a Guardian Angel for Halloween next year, that or Omar Little. Gotta wear the beret.

Special Agent Jack Bauer was a little odd, but since Dennis is the closest thing on the series to a sociopath, or on any comedy for that matter, it makes sense he develops an attachment to a junkyard cat that was born in a pool of gasoline. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen Dennis sacrifice his own best interests for something he values sentimentally. Hopefully they don’t make a habit of writing his character like this, at least the cat ran away.

FNL recap later.

Kind of impartial to this episode. I think the same principal that applies to The Office applies to this series as well, only its exaggerated by about ten times. We can only see so many examples of ill-advised decisions within the same story thread.

For instance, we went from a typical story: the gang finds a kilo of coke and wants to use it to their advantage. But it spins into these three different stories with (even for this series) outlandish results. Never would I think Dennis would allow himself to be pimped by Frank, or that Charlie and Dee would resort to using their own drugs to “keep up” with the white collar crowd, or that Dennis and Mac would allow Dee and Charlie and to sell the coke in the first place.

It had its moments, Dennis’ dancing music was off the charts and the impersonation of the pimp-prostitute mentality was hilarious, regardless of how far-fetched. And Charlie with the jockeys, the stable version of Charlie work, and the horse (particularly when he cut him loose in the streets of Philly) had me rolling. Much like the half hour episodes, it was overloaded with screaming matches and frivolous arguments that turn into hilarious justifications, but for a full hour with one episode, it just got too tedious. The ending was a little too heinous, even for my twisted sense of humor.

I’m sure they just wanted to test the waters here, but sticking with what you know is generally the safe play. Another full hour and I might just become too engaged and begin trying to embody these people, and that’s something we all should avoid.

Back with an FNL recap later.

If there was ever a scene signifying how self-involved and morally corrupt these characters are, it was the scene where Dennis and Dee force the sex offender to move out of town with a preteen kid threatening to accuse him to the cops. This, we can all agree on, is hilarious. No one has any empathy for sex offenders, right?

If Dennis’ problems were by chance, Mac’s soon became self-inflicted by his weirdo father. This, is one character I could do without. The only time a peripheral character has bothered us on this series is Artemus, because, well, what the hell was she? I never really understood the humor to an overweight struggling actress who dresses garishly. That was the extent of her character, and I still don’t understand it.

The issues with the one bland character aside, this was a great episode. Dennis’ vanity being directly threatened always makes for a decent plot, and his will to protect it never (at least for me) grows old. The park scene had me in stitches, it must be hard to find a set of rugged looking, blue collar fathers watching their kids on a playground, but they utilized it well. Also, it was good to see Dee give as good, if not worse, than she gets.

In the same vein as Dennis, a motivated Charlie is a dangerous Charlie. He will literally, betray his mother to get what he wants. I could probably watch him scream in horror for an entire half hour and still find it amusing. He’s done so twice I can recall, once last night and once in “The Gang goes Jihad” episode where the fence was built around the back of Paddy’s.

Other highlights:

-The music they played in the car was appropriately funny.

-The gang’s obsession with cannibalism

-The entire scene towards the end with Charlie and Mac in Dennis’ car assuming his father is killing all the people on his list.

The Mac and Frank storylines, with few exceptions, didn’t do much for me. Mac has Freudian dad issues Frank is horny, we get it. But still, the episode kept up at a decent pace and never felt dull, even when it was unfunny. An hour long episode (note singular conjunction) next week. Looking forward to it.

FNL recap later today. Sometime before 9. Presumably.

These Thursday’s are really taking a toll on my retnas. And I wake up too groggy to articulate a detailed post for any one episode of television last night. So because I’m running in a bit of a hurry today and it’s entirely too time consuming to thoroughly write about both comedies plus an additional post about Friday Night Lights, I’m just going to turn this post into an overview of all of last night’s series, but still write a full recap next week for Survivor and the season finale of Mad Men. I feel like this is appropriate, considering The Office wasn’t exactly a comedy last night and IASIP was just the web episode on MySpace that’s been available for the past two months.

First off, however, Mad Men ended its inaugural season as strongly as they opened it. Though it appears as though I spoke too soon about the cause of Peggy’s weight gain, since she’s pumping out kids like a God damn house finch now. Seriously, I suppose given the lack of education about the times, Peggy could have gone through nine months or so of pregnancy, and not realized a person was growing inside of her, but it seems unlikely. All I can say is, this was just an all-around bad episode for Pete, who not only has a child he’s unaware of, but also has to work alongside Peggy for the account given to him by his father in-law with the promise that Pete would impregnate his daughter. It’s the least comeuppance he should have to endure after, you know, failing to successfully blackmail his boss.

Still, it looks like the Draper marriage is on the rocks, and Betty’s actions were vexing, though completely warranted. I’m actually surprised she had the foresight to communicate to her husband through her shrink. Seriously, to discover your therapist is reporting everything you air in private back to your spouse is some humiliating shit. I mean, if the shoe was on the other foot, can you imagine the repercussions for everyone involved if the same thing happened to Tony Soprano? Heads would roll, baby.

On Survivor, well, lets just say that while I enjoyed the episode I hated it all at the same time. It seems the common consensus is to only enjoy Survivor when everything you want to happen goes according to plan. And while I understand everyone’s displeasure with what transpired, it really isn’t so distressing. Did Aaron get completely had by some random game “twist” and two shortsighted, otherwise irrelevant little girls? Of course. But this isn’t so much more unjust then having players mutiny for no apparent reason.

One thing I can’t understand, is how were James and Aaron so incapable of pointing out the gaping holes in their logic? Not before the challenge, but certainly after PG and Jaime obviously through it? For instance, what if the merge is at eleven, or nine, or any number other than ten? What then? Because those two nitwits and there virgin accomplice isn’t any match for any three contestants on Fei-Long. Speaking of which, is anyone surprised that the guy virgin is being led around with nary a protest by a woman who’s willfully ignorant to his best interest? Neither are we.

Of course there are plenty of other oversights on there part. For instance, even if they are lucky enough to merge at ten, putting there grand scheme into effect, what happens when Frosti and Sherea opt to align with the other five members of Fei-Long, instead of the original three at Zhan-Hu? It’s not like Sherea was really identifying with anyone there, what is her incentive to return? So she could join a group of four other individuals, go to a tie in the first tribal council after the merge and hope to stay? If I were her, and though I can’t stand the woman, I would stay with the Fei-Long alliance, and by the time they’d have to vote anyone out, at the very least Jean-Robert would go before her. This is all speculation, but speculating is all PG and Jaime are basing their entire game plan around.

Really, the very least those bitches could have done was vote out the participant asking to leave and keeping the one that wanted to stay. This is about as irredeemable as it gets for any Survivor contestants I’ve ever seen, the twist works assuming you’re not dealing with complete schmucks. Though I will agree it put the four swapped players in an unfair position.

Remember when I said The Office was delving too much into the dramatics? Well, they went full throttle with the melodrama last night. And to be honest, I kind of enjoyed it. I have always gone into an episode of The Office expecting to laugh, but when they’re constantly walking the line between drama and comedy, it was more disjointed and uneven than anything. This episode proved that when the series commits to dramatics, it’s actually quite rewarding. Especially when what little humor there is, is actually derivative of the story. The two highlights were Dwight knocking Jim’s stuff onto the floor after Jim confided to him over “lost love” while he was moaning, followed by Jim and Pam’s rapturous glee; and Dwight saying about Mose’s bad dreams, “He hasn’t been the same ever since the storm” followed by one of Jim’s obligatory reactionary stares at the camera, both admittedly had me in stitches.

I’m really, really disappointed this wasn’t in last night’s episode.

Otherwise this episode had virtually no material worth discussing. I found Michael’s financial woes tedious and boring, and regardless of how she might have recovered, Jan was pretty scornful tonight. Also, if we’re going to be taken on an excursion to Schrute’s Beet Farm, then we need more Mose. If you’re looking for more insight, go here.

And finally, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was damn funny, but since its been available to the public for some time now, and since I haven’t watched it in well over a month, more than a paragraph sounds like too much effort. But yeah, damn funny. I really never thought we’d see Mac’s love tranny again. The series isn’t big on continuity, and we’ve gone well over a full season without a reappearance (he/she was featured in a late season one episode). This was another episode in which Dee took it on the chin. First by not fully fitting the killers “type” of victim as “young, attractive, blond”, then by finding out she’s been leading on a psychopath. Again, she needs to find some female friends, and not that creepy Artemus, whose almost as unsettling as the McBoyles. Definitely a quality episode, a vast improvement from last weeks.

Recap of last week’s Friday Night Lights later today.

Helluva evening of television last night, obviously we’ll get to much of it later next week. For now, here’s the least of it in text, kind of.

You know, one almost has to assume that at least either Rob McElhenny (sp?), and/or Glenn Howerton and and/or Charlie Day are fans of Arrested Development, because this isn’t the first time I’ve watched an unknowing character date someone who’s mentally handicapped. Then again, since it turned out Dee’s boyfriend wasn’t actually retarded, I suppose that’s a slight modification.

This photo instills more fear than any horror picture I’ve ever seen.

Dee’s dalliances were only half the episode. The other half featured Frank and Mac trying to start a band while rotating front men between Charlie and Dennis. I can’t think of four people more ill-suited to form a band, forget that they can’t play any instruments, the personality issues might be a little too temperamental to stay together. I did like how each member had their own concept as to what the band should look like. Charlie wanted the soul searching, introspective Bob Dylan image, Mac wanted the death metal, head banging persona, Dennis wanted the David Bowie gender ambiguous style of the 80’s, and Frank wanted to dress in vibrantly colored suits and name the band the “Pecan Sandies”.

Obviously, this didn’t go anywhere. Somehow they filled Paddy’s to the brim and much to Charlie’s worst fear, managed to bomb in front of a large crowd. Twice. I suppose Dee’s “hot local rapper” boyfriend was the reason, in which he proved on stage that he wasn’t mentally challenged.

A few highlights from the episode were Mac and Charlie revealing to Frank that they paid for the hotel room they destroyed with his credit card. Charlie “baring his soul” to Mac and Mac completely ignoring him, coupled with Charlie wanting to be behind a curtain or divider of some sort while on stage. Other than that, it was a fairly bland episode. Nothing entirely unpredictable, really. Just five morons acting insanely.

If you watched the rerun episode following it, however, then you saw the episode “100 Dollar Baby”, which, not to take away from the bulk of the episode, had the funniest two minute sequence in the history of the series when Mac and Charlie meet him at his apartment and greet him by throwing a plastic trash can at his head. Now that, is classic television.

A recap of last night’s The Office and last week’s season premiere of Friday Night Lights later today.

The comedies over the past four or five days will be sharing posts in order to shorten the amount of time I spend writing here while I should be working, or at least pretending to work. We’ll have a post later tonight or early tomorrow reviewing the latest episodes of The Office and South Park as well.

But first thing is first, It’s Always Sunny got back on the right track last Thursday after a derailing of sorts the week before. For the most part, I though these episodes were more abnormal than anything I’ve seen from them in three seasons, which counts for a lot with this series (The “diaper time” thing was especially unsettling). Meaning, the gang seemed acutely oblivious about their goals.

I probably preferred the “Selling Out” episode, simply because the writing and acting seems at its pinnacle when they’re all backstabbing each other for marginal personal gain, but the “famous” episode had its high points. Namely, Dee getting the short end of the stick yet again, and the issues with excessive perspiration afflicting Mac instead of Charlie. However, little could be done to top the reintroduction of Charlie Day’s wife playing the manager at a local generic restaurant chain, and Dennis’ callous indifference towards her. Just a great hour of comedy.

In Curb, well, it seems that we’ve hit a rough patch. Last night’s episode entitled “The Freak Book” had a few absolutely laugh out loud moments, but they were intertwined with too much monotony, and frivolous yet unidentifiable arguments. I really didn’t understand the need to stretch Larry’s conversation with the bartender to over two minutes, considering they didn’t even reference it past the exchange with Ted Danson immediately afterwards. This, among many other mind-numbing scenes, had me checking the clock every five minutes.

Larry being ostracized, much like the freaks in his book.

It seemed this episode wasn’t going to be salvageable, until Larry caused an absolute semi-drunken scene because of the car service while Ted was opening his presents. Him and Jeff laughing hysterically at the freak book reminded me of Mac and Charlie in their penny suits after they stole Frank’s money. This along with the Jon McEnroe “partying” scene that had me in stitches (A similar scene with Johnny Mac takes place in Mr. Deeds with the tennis pro playing himself and showing Adam Sandler “The real New York”. Still remains the only noteworthy scene in that movie) almost saved the entire episode and earned a positive review.

As a side note, I wonder if Larry David inserted the Heather Mills joke as a way of empathizing with Paul McCartney, another uber-rich celebrity going through a very public divorce. The last time I can recall them using an off screen voice as a plot device was in the first season episode, “The Interior Decorator” with Diane Keaton leaving a couple phone messages. The Heather Mills voice was particularly awful, just a harpy, unmerciful thick British accent. Maybe the two of them will start a club, ” The borderline billionaires being taken to the cleaners in a divorce for no apparent reason” club. While I would hate giving up that much money I earned, I would love to be a member.

Still enjoyable, just not what it once was. Either way, it’s a good way to wind down at 3am after driving for eight hours.

Back later with more comedy recaps.

This is what happens when you bring a man widely responsible for Daddy Day Camp to direct two of your episodes. Not to say these episodes were terrible or tame (anything but), but the jokes and situations seemed to resonate less than they have in the past.

For those who don’t know, the director of Daddy Day Camp is Fred Savage. Better known as Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years. After these two projects, jumping into a series as explicit as IASIP seems very Bob Saget-esque. And these episodes were anything other than straight and narrow. One did a satire on sweatshop labor and in the other Charlie befriended and got engaged to a twelve year-old, whom he assumed was twenty-one because her father (a woman dressed like Kim Jong-Il) had her tending bar.

This is the downside to this series, because at its ceiling, there is seldom anything funnier on television (see the “dumpster baby” and “Hostage” episodes from this season). But when it bombs, it tends to look like tonights first episode, “The Aluminum Monster vs. Fatty McGoo”.

It had its moments with the steam whistle, Charlie stealing mounds of clothing from a store while pretending to listen to Dee when she was feeling inadequate that her friend from high school owned the store they were shopping in, Dennis’ reaction to Dee claiming he had peaked, his description of himself to Judy Greer, Charlie Day’s physical comedy when Mac offered him a piece of jerky. But it wasn’t consistently laugh out loud funny like the four preceding it were. Still, I’m not going to complain too much, anytime an episode revolves around a series of lies and deceit its generally a half-hour well spent, despite how many dry spells the episode had where I felt more uncomfortable than humored.

The second episode, “The Gang Solves The North Korea Problem”, was an improvement, but still seemed like it was lacking something. I think when all five characters pair off, or are preoccupied with different things, the episode suffers. Certainly they all have their own agendas, but when those agendas are in different arenas, it seems almost like the writing gets too disjointed and they don’t know what to focus they’re efforts on.

They look innocent enough, but they’ll rip your heart out for a 5-spot.

There was still plenty to enjoy about this episode. Including the American Idol parody, Dee’s constant failure and discouragement (she took it on the chin this hour and I almost started to feel bad for someone on this show, she needs some girl friends), Charlie’s thoughts on kissing, the “enriched beer”, the duster jacket, Charlie and Dennis trying to knock down the “Private” (not pirate) door, followed by Dennis letting out a boastful “Nice” when he spin-kicked it and Charlie subsequently threw his entire upper-torso into it. But again, one too many dry spells where bits seemed to either fall flat or drone on for too long. When something drones on this series, it only lasts around a minute and a half, but they talk at such rampant speeds it seems never ending.

Really, while I wouldn’t completely write these episodes off, I wouldn’t recommend anyone unfamiliar with the series to start with them, nor would I expect anyone who watched the series for the first time last night to continue to watch. Just a (very small) bump in the road, I am fully confident we get back to the constant funny next Thursday. I’m not sure how I’m going to adjust to only one new episode in three weeks.

Damn, so how do I convey something that was twisted, heinous, inappropriate and hilarious without sounding like I need to be committed myself? I know, I’ll go on a preamble about how I do not agree with any of the actions of the characters, but am highly amused by their callous indifference to those around them.

There, now that I can write with impunity, how about the gang celebrating the death of one of their parents? Huh? Was that fucking hilarious or what? Nothing like following up tripping on acid and treating an infant found in a dumpster as a commodity, with kidnapping two college students and figuring out how to screw over your awful, deceased mother/ex-wife. This show, obviously, is merciless.

The first episode, bluntly titled, “Dennis and Dee’s Mom Is Dead” really emphasizes how these are people you’d rather watch than encounter. They’re so self-absorbed, the woman’s death only inspires Frank and Dee to enact revenge against their ex-wife/mother by hoping to coerce Dee’s biological father out of the fortune she left him. To which he turns the tables and ends up marrying the two of them while they’re trying to prove they’re a real couple, and confiscates the video of Frank on Dennis’ estate, left to him by his mother under the bylines that he never let her ex-husband on the property.

The physical acting is kind of what carries this episode. The mannerisms and reactions of Dennis, Charlie and Mac while searching for new friends to live on their “legacy” really accentuate the awkwardness I’m sure their unsuspecting victims were feeling. It would have been nice to see Dee in on this scheme, but who has time for that when pining to dig up your mother for the jewelery she was buried with?

The second episode was actually tame in comparison. In “The Gang Gets Held Hostage”, the McPoyle’s, supposedly exacting their own revenge for the debilitation of their cousin last week at Eagles camp, burst into the bar (the two main ones and the sister with the uni-brow). This episode just revolved around how self-involved each of the characters are. They each, at one point or another, sold each other out to save their own ass.

Speaking of which, there were a number of parodies in this episode. Most notably with Die Hard when one of the McPoyle’s fell off the roof. Also, Dee running around the bar forming “alliances” with Charlie and Dennis in a satirical reference to Survivor (appropriate since the reality show’s 15th season premiered last night); and a psuedo-parody of the movie Hostage with Charlie and Frank climbing through the vents (or at least that is what it reminded me of, seems a tad obscure compared to the other two references).

This episode is also nominated for the most horrifying scene in television history, when Dennis attempts (and succeeds) at seducing the deaf-mute sister of the two brothers. Her only response to anything in this episode is to stick her tongue in a lizard-like fashion, and she does so here. Then with the McPoyle busting into the room and asking what’s going on, and Dennis saying “nothing”, then the McPoyle replying, “It doesn’t look like nothing, but for the record I’m into it”. Ugh. I almost died from laughter or disgust.

In addition to most horrifying scene, the arguably the funniest scene in this series’ history was in this episode. And it was nothing more than Charlie and Mac talking in the bathroom while the deaf-mute looked on. From Charlie’s dismissal, to determining whether or not the deaf-mute can read lips, to arguing over the Frank’s will, I was in stitches.

Anyhow, it ends when they find out there were no cops haggling on the phone, then discover the guns in question were rubber and the entire thing was a practical joke. It is actually satisfying to see a group of scumbags duped by an inbred family, restoring some justice in the world.

Note: With so much quality television on Thursday nights (IASIP, Survivor, Mad Men and The Office), we’re moving the links up to Wednesday or Tuesday. Sorry for the late notice, enjoy the weekend.

Great night of television yesterday. Mad Men managed to deviate from the mainstream even more last night, while still putting on a commercial facade. Pete finally erupted (which I imagine he’s going to eventually do with that gun), Peggy confronted Joan, Betty returned to the private sector and Don extorted a raise out of Roger. We’ll get to that next week. Right now its time to synopsize the most heinously funny sitcom on television.

For those who are unfamiliar with It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (IASIP), the series about four twenty-something slackers running a bar with no ambition and no interest beyond the self (though their efforts are usually counter-productive) premiered in Summer of 2005. Mac (Rob McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Dee (Kaitlin Olson, the only recognizable face of the bunch as Cheryl’s sister on Curb) made up the original cast, and Danny Devito was added as the fifth character (Frank) for the second season as Dee’s and Dennis’ father. Basically, he had faith in the cast so he decided to ride their coattails. And they needed some celebrity endorsement so they did the same to him. The merger was mutually beneficial.

Its also a bit of an underdog story, as it was created by the three male leads with a home camera and presented to the head of FX, he offered them a pilot based on the strength of the episode they spent less than $100 creating.

If there is such a thing as an obscure basic cable comedy series, then It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is it. It will probably never be nominated for any major awards or develop anything beyond a cult audience. But if there were an award for pushing the envelope, then there isn’t really even a close second. For the time being, it’s the only series that I feel condemns me to hell for watching, but yet I tune in anyways. Either I’m disconcerned about living in eternal damnation, or the series is really, really funny.

For instance, the season three premiere is entitled, “The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby”. Now, it’s kind of self-explanatory, but it ventures off on three separate paths. The primary story is Mac and Dee attempting to raise the baby they found in the dumpster (At Mac’s insistence but Dee’s sacrifice). The secondary storylines are Dennis exacting revenge against an environmentalist hippy, Sage, who embarrassed him; and Charlie and Frank dumpster diving based on a trip to a landfill where they found an “Ali-Baba Sword”.

To kill the suspense, it all comes to a head when Charlie (who earlier discovered Frank was actually his father and not Dennis and Dee’s, it’s a long story), becomes convinced that the baby they found is actually the love child of Frank and Charlie’s long-time crush. He confronts her with the kid (stolen from Mac and Dee) concealed by one of his dumpster jackets and in a makeshift body carrier, prompting her to call child services, who walk into their bar with Mac and Dee painting the kid because Latino babies are a hotter commodity in advertising than white babies (this after trying to take him to a tanning salon), Charlie and Frank are arguing over the Ali-Baba sword, waiving it frantically above the kid who is then sitting in a carrier on a barstool, and Dennis regaling how he tricked the hippy into chaining himself to a tree, freeing himself to sleep with his girlfriend.

The second episode entitled. “The Gang Gets Invincible”, has a much more succinct plot. Basically Mac, Dennis and Dee (in drag) decide to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles (an NFL team) while Frank and Charlie tailgate for it. When the tryouts are moved from Lincoln Financial Field to a neighboring high school, the two separate parties discover they are in the presence of the McPoyle’s, a rivaling, incestual family from episodes past.

Frank, getting carried away with memories of his horrific Woodstock experience, looks to redeem himself by dropping acid. Not wanting to feel isolated, he slips some in Charlie’s beverage(”Oh, thats-what-all-those-little-pieces-of-paper-were-floating-around-in-my-beer!!!”). The tryout portion is somewhat tame and is essentially a series of the three characters getting their ass kicked. The highlight of it was Dennis likening himself to a Gazelle in an internal monologue while running a passing route. The camerawork was almost artistic in that scene.

Obviously the first episode proved more entertaining than the second, but they both are an offbeat choice to what is usually predictable, mundane humor that we get from the broadcast networks. It’s not for everybody, the five characters are regularly screaming and rarely is there a moment of levity. And if there ever is, its for something even more proposterous that they can all agree on. The series will be airing four more weeks of back-to-back new episodes, then will air one new episode, followed by one repeat from a previous season. I definitely recommend giving it a tumble.

Back later to close out the week with some links.

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.

I have some good news, FX has renewed It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for a third season. This comes as somewhat of a surprise after two seasons of paltry ratings (despite improving dramatically from season one to two), but the new season will be for fifteen episodes, and increase of five after its sophomore effort and eight more than its pilot season. Danny Devito has also agreed to stay with the series through at least six seasons, assuming it has that brand of longevity. If you have never seen the series, as it is somewhat obscure over on FX, here you can watch some clips and read more about it.

As a side note, there has to be a way they get some cameos from professional athletes in the Philly area. Seeing the reactions of Charlie, Mac, Dennis and Dee if Allen Iverson would stumble into there rathole bar would require suspending all disbelief, but prove to be absolutely hilarious.