Borderline Fantastic

I’m not sure I want to watch. It’s not even in Jersey. It’s getting recorded on my DVR, but my DVR is just about full and it’s getting shipped back to Verizon next week. Should I watch? If you do watch it, what did you think?

During the premiere, Craig Robinson said something about someone having to wait until Season 8. I had to stop and think, have there really been 6 seasons already? I guess it’s possible, but still seems crazy. I actually wrote about it around this time for Season 4.

I’m not a huge reality show watcher. At least that’s what I tell people, to seem like less of a loser. Sort of like people who say, ‘Oh, I don’t have a TV.’ Those people think they are cool by not having a TV. I hate those people. But it’s similar. Off the top of my head I only watch Real World and Celebrity Rehab. I think that’s it, but I will not be surprised to be proven wrong. When the summer comes along, I’m on board for LCS.

Season 1 will always be my favorite. They all had to live in a house and you got to see how horrible comedians are to live with. I loved every second they spent in that house. They were hilarious and fought with each other constantly. The only problem with Season 1 was that the winner wasn’t funny.

I didn’t have a ton of hope for Season 7. Craig Robinson is the new host. While I love him on The Office, he has never struck me as an outstanding stand-up. Although, Bill Bellamy hosted for two seasons, so I can overlook the host.

The premiere was outstanding and it was obvious why: the judges. I’ve complained in the past about the judges they’ve picked. For the 4th season, it was the bookers for The Tonight Show, who were, no surprise, terrible. They’ve gone with comics in the past, sometimes with different ones in each city (I hope they don’t change for next week), but no group ever clicked like this one.

The judges are Andy Kindler, Natasha Leggero, and Greg Giraldo. Just Giraldo and I was in. I’ve seen Kindler a lot on Letterman. I’d only ever heard Leggero on Doug Benson’s podcast (I didn’t find a site for the podcast, so I’ll link to his MySpace). All three were equally excellent as judges. Why? Because I always agreed with them. Even when they’d laugh hysterically at something really stupid, I was right there with them. I had to agree with those that were just stupid funny, weren’t worthy of moving on. I was really hooked when at the performance, when there is a crowd, some of the jokes left the audience silent. Yet at the judges table, they were cracking up. It helps that they have the judges mic’d during those performances. I know immediately that Natasha Leggero agrees with me.

As for Craig Robinson, I’m curious to see him perform when they get to the competition part. He is so quiet. The people trying out with a lot of energy were just running all around him in his interviews after their auditions.

I won’t be waiting 6 days to watch episode 2, like I did the premiere.

I love Friday Night Lights. Despite the fact that the show has so many holes in the plot and starts off slowly every season (except for the 1st). The past two episodes have been incredible. I won’t get in to any spoilers because I don’t have much to add and I only know a handful of people who watch the show.

This clip won’t be up for more than a few weeks I guess, but it’s worth it as a reminder of why I love the show. Remember, the show is about football, right? I knew Tim’s line about halfway through Becky’s rambling. But I loved Becky’s rambling and his response. So watch.

Catching up on my links from the past month. Letterman did a Close-Up Magic Week. Each night was excellent, here is one of them:

How do I see more magic? Do I need to go to Vegas? The last time I remember seeing any magic was at Post-Prom where they hired one of these close-up type guys. That was almost 10 years ago. They drive you nuts trying to figure out how they did everything.

If you don’t like this show, you don’t like TV. If I were to meet someone who had never seen a TV before I’d give them Breaking Bad, right after they had a look at The Wire and Arrested Development.

Another average outing from SNL. This sketch with Steve Harvey hosting Who Wants to be a Millionaire was the only thing that really got me.

One other good bit: During weekend update one of the writers talked about how crazy the idea of girl scout cookies is.

A couple of good segments on CBS Sunday Morning. The one on Decisions was pretty good.

This story on the Google Doodles was great. The logo changes are probably my favorite thing about Google.

I usually try and check out any new show that looks moderately interesting. The good is that I will find a gem long before anyone else catches on. The bad is that I might get wrapped up in an average show that turns out to be quite addictive (see Lost, Gossip Girl). I often stumble upon something terrible and the question is how long until I turn it off.

Last night’s show was Romantically Challenged. I threw it on the DVR because, well, I’m not sure. I saw no redeeming quality in the previews. Maybe I just hadn’t seen a new show in a while. I made it about 4 minutes in. I was really done during the first scene. I can’t even fault the terrible acting because they didn’t have much to work with.

While I’m wasting my life watching these sorts of shows, what I really mean is that I’m wasting my life because I should be able to write a decent sitcom. At least one better than most that make the air. I can’t write a sitcom because I think it has to be good. Although I’m not sure I could come up with jokes this weak. I just keep quiet if I don’t have something funny enough to say. You can’t be silent in a sitcom. I’ll just have to package it as a drama.

I couldn’t find the show on Hulu, but ABC’s site might have some clips.

Last night on The Rachel Maddow Show, she talked about how she was mentioned in a Scott Brown fundraiser email claiming she would be running for the Senate against him in 2012. A producer came on to interview Rachel. I’ve watched a lot more of her show this week since there has been so much going on. Stephen Colbert is the only person I can think of who seems to have as much fun being on TV.

I got upset for a split second when I saw it wasn’t Seth & Amy. Then I thought, ‘Jerry who?’ Maybe Seinfeld, he’s been around lately. Yep, it was, and it was spectacular.