Grid Effect

Did you like Tenacious D? The rock duo headed by Jack Black that pretended not to take themselves seriously but sort of did? Well, if you liked them, you might want to avoid Flight of the Conchords. It follows the same premise, two hapless faux-musicians attempting to reach an esteemed level of acclaim with their band, despite how unrealistic the prospect may be.

Certainly some people who enjoyed Tenacious D will also enjoy the Diji folk rock interpretation, but whereas Jack Black brought an unprecedented (some might even say obnoxious) level of energy to their performance, Flight of the Conchords is much calmer, even sedated by comparison.

To summarize, Flight of the Conchords tells the tale of two New Zealand natives, Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement (whom since they are playing themselves, I can only hope they’re doing a parody) in New York City, trying to get their Diji folk rock band of the same name off the ground, as of now they have a fanbase that consists of one fan: Mel (Kristen Schaal), whom after the first episode, appears to have a slight obsession with the two Kiwis. She is married, and forces her husband to help stalk them for two and a half hours.

In the episode there were three songs performed that are interlaced with the plot of the episode, one at a party, in which Jermaine breaks into a mock love ballad that contains such lyrics as, “You’re so beautiful, you could be a waitress/an air hostess in the 60’s” or “You’re so beautiful, you could be a Part. Time. Model…but you probably have to keep your normal job”. We come to find out the next morning that said girl is Bret’s ex-girlfriend, Sally.

The two other songs are duets, one performed after Sally breaks up with Jermaine and Bret feels his friend has chosen his ex over him entitled, “I’m Not Crying” and the other is for a music video shoot in which there manager, akin to but not nearly as bad as Stephen Merchant on Extras, Murray (Rhys Darby) uses his cell phone to shoot it. Its a futuristic song in which robots have overrun the human population (”We no longer say ‘yes’, we say ‘affirmative’, unless there is a colloquial situation to use ‘yes’”) that futures a “binary solo” of Bret just reading off zeroes and replacing a zero with a one each time (”00000001, 00000011, 00000111, etc.)

Even though I was fascinated by the show and had nothing but good things to say about it, I was dreading having to write this entry because the humor is hard to convey if you do not have any frame of reference. If you read this, someone listing off numbers might seem trite and easy, not especially funny. But the humor comes in the stylization and tone of the series. I likened it to Tenacious D earlier, which follows a similar premise, but the episode I watched had the symmetry and understated style of an Arrested Development episode. Which, if you’re a regular reader, then you know that is much appreciated around these parts.

Some choice lines outside of the ones mentioned before:

Dave (there only other friend): I don’t know how you do things over in England.
Bret and Jermaine (Simultaneously): New Zealand.
Dave (calmly): Look I don’t really give a shit.

Jermaine: Depending on the street, you would definitely be in the top threeee/ good looking girls on the street.
Bret (Barratone): Depending on the street.
-Jermaine and Bret, “You’re so beautiful”

Jermaine: I think I know where I went wrong with Sally. I think, when you turned on the light, she was a bit startled, and she decided she was uncomfortable.
Bret: Yeah, or it could be that we used to date (revealing for to the audience that they dated).
Jermaine: Yeah its partially that you used to date but also becaused you turned on the light.
Bret: It’s mostly that we used to go out. For six months. And not so much the light.

Since the inception of Grid Effect, this series is probably the highest recommended new series we have reviewed (short of maybe Friday Night Lights). Judging by the TWoP message boards virtually no one watched the series premiere on Sunday, but everyone who watched it (critics and audiences alike) seemed to enjoy it immensely. If you have nothing else going on at 10:30pm on Sunday nights, I strongly suggest doing yourself the favor and tuning in.