So, this week I’ve been watching Maron on Netflix. If you’re not familiar, it stars comedian Marc Maron and it’s basically the same formula as Louie. The difference, however, is I find I relate to Maron more than Louis CK. I’ve never listened to Maron’s podcast, but I’ve heard a bunch of his bits and I find him really witty. He also has this self-loathing streak that’s kind of brave for him to be putting out there in public. So, I guess Maron has a vulnerability that I don’t see in Louis. It’s interesting they both ended up with the same kind of show, seeing as how they’re contemporaries and also had a longstanding rivalry. I’m sure it’d be easy to just write off Maron as a rip-off of Louie, but I think there’s more heart to it.
I never thought I’d have to do this, but I may have to strip a prior winner of West Week Ever status. If you remember, last year I bestowed the honor upon iCarly‘s Jennette McCurddy and Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons. It seemed like a cute internet love story, as he had posted her as his “Woman Crush Wednesday” choice on Twitter, and they eventually ended up dating. Well, they didn’t live happily ever after, as McCurddy explained on Pete Holmes’s You Made It Weird podcast. She admitted that she only dated Drummond for the publicity and said that he was a bad kisser. Listening to the podcast, she doesn’t really come off as malicious, but she still aired their business in public. Drummond, seemingly, retaliated by “leaking” a racy photo that she’d sent him. He’s denying having anything to do with the leak, but she’s pretty certain that he’s the one who did it. Who knew that a celebrity relationship would end like this?!
This week, it was announced that Batman would be returning to next-gen consoles in Batman: Arkham Knight. I own Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, but still haven’t gotten Arkham Origins. I won’t be following Bats into this latest game, however, as it’s not going to be released on the 360, and I’m not planning on ever getting a PS4 or an XBone. Sucks, ’cause I’d really like to drive the Batmobile, as you’ll be able to do in this installment. Oh well, I’m sure I’m sure I know someone who’ll end up buying it and I can just play theirs.
I swear I never set out to talk about Arsenio every week, but he keeps giving me material. I’m not sure if this has happened in other markets, but I noticed that our CW affiliate kinda cut some of his support once the second season was announced. You see, they had created a sort of “black bubble” to boost his viewership. When the show launched, its lead-in was syndicated episodes of The Middle. Someone at Channel 50 realized it had nothing in common with Arsenio’s target demographic, so in January, they started airing Judge Mathis at 10 . It was weird to see court shows that late at night, but I eventually got used to it. To ease folks out of Arsenio, they aired Cosby Show reruns after his show. This created said black bubble, as the shows were aimed at black viewers. Well, the bubble burst this week, as they took off Judge Mathis and now air Seinfeld in the 10 PM slot. I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish, as the Seinfeld audience isn’t the Arsenio audience any more than The Middle‘s audience was. They had created a nice little nest for Arsenio and now they’ve gotten rid of it (though the Cosby episodes are still the lead out). I wonder what the grand plan is for that 10 PM slot.
Speaking of odd programming choices, it was announced this week that Conan O’Brien will be hosting the MTV Movie Awards. This is most certainly a step down for someone who once hosted The Tonight Show. These aren’t even the fabled Video Music Awards that we’re talking about here – these are the MOVIE awards. Sure, Conan has always wanted to be hip, but the MTV crowd ain’t his audience. And it’s not like it was a contractual obligation from the network, as his show is produced by Turner while MTV is a Viacom network. Like the Arsenio scheduling, I wonder what the endgame is here.
I stumbled across Upload with Shaquille O’Neal on Tru TV. Funny enough, everything on Tru TV is blatantly fake, but I gave it a chance because of Shaq’s cohosts – comedians Godfrey and Rachel Feinstein. I love both of them for different reasons, but it was painful to see them in this show. What is Upload? Basically, it’s Tosh.0 hosted by Shaq. And it’s even worse than it sounds. Since Shaq’s a lummox, Godfrey and Rachel are there to do the heavy comedic lifting, but they’re not given much to work with. Anyway, avoid this show at all costs!
Speaking of bad television, last week Jim Parsons hosted what may be the worst episode of Saturday Night Live that I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t just unfunny, but it was weird in an uncomfortable way. He kicked off the show with a song and dance number about how he’s “not that guy” that he plays on The Big Bang Theory. Then, he spent the next 90 minutes essentially being that guy. So, I think he failed on that goal. I can’t say that I’m expecting better with this week’s host, Lena Dunham.
Anyone who’s ever been to this site knows that I eat this kinda stuff up:
I probably would’ve liked it more had he spliced in some PR footage for the visuals. It’s kinda weird watching him as he belts all those songs (especially when he kinda Britta’d some of them). Still, it’s pretty impressive.
Links I Loved
Thundercats LIVE! Was The Stuff of Nightmares – Double Dumbass On You
15 Things You Might Not Know About Star Wars – UnderScoopFire!
Jackie Robinson and the Mythic Black Superhero – Snoopy Jenkins
One’s career seems to be on the decline, while another seems to be on the way up. One seems like a moron, while the other is more of a Maron. Only one, however, had the West Week Ever.
Who had a week like Lupita Nyong’o? Sure, Adele Dazeem jokes aside, everyone was talking about Lupita’s award-winning performance in her first role. Now everyone’s speculating on what she’ll do next. Well, history and Oscar haven’t been kind to my people. Cuba went from Jerry Maguire to Boat Trip. Halle ended up doing The Call – from WWE Films, mind you. Octavia did a guest stint on CBS’s Mom. While an Oscar usually means the sky is the limit, for a black actor it usually means the limit is the sky. I haven’t seen 12 Years A Slave yet, but I hear it’s powerful. So, enjoy your week, Lupita, ’cause it’s only a matter of time before you’re cast in A Haunted House 3 with the Wayans Bros. For now, however, let’s enjoy Lupita’s win by crowning her as having had the West Week Ever.
fantastic stuff comparing Maron to CK. I have only checked out a bit of his pods but I liked what I heard, and Iike his standup. I know Corey is a big fan, and he actually just told me something interesting the other day: that Fred Armisen Weekend Update character that used to sit there with an army jacket and a newspaper and talk in unintelligible circles was based on Maron. Crazy.
I could tell from watching Sam & Cat (with my kids of course) that McCurdy was the kind of person who would sell out someone she dated. She just seems like she’s a lot in real life like her Nick character.
I suppose I’m more surprised that MTV thought that O’Brien was compelling enough to Millenials to hire for any award show hosting duties on their network. I don’t know who watches that show. I suspect that Arsenio would be a likelier choice, especially given the increase in nostalgic rehashes from today’s Hollywood.
Didn’t expect a Marin mention. You are truly a pop culture equal opportunity maven. Oh, I can’t even watch court shows at night…does something to my diurnal rhythms.
@Howie – I’ve always loved Sam’s character ’cause I could see her future: she’s the girl who goes to the college party and just drinks out of random cups. Passes out in the bathtub. Anyway, it was funny to hear her say “shit” a ton on a podcast. Went against her Nick image.
@James – yeah, he just doesn’t seem relevant. Even though he corralled social media to his favor during the Team Coco days, Fallon took what he did and did it better. It’s like the death knell of a once promising career.
@Ponderiss – I try to be equal opportunity! I’m all over the place :-p I agree with you about court shows at night. It’s just weird and it feels like I’m late for work or something.
There’s also Gabrielle Sidibe (although she was only a nominee). From Precious to Tower Heist.
@Jenn – yeah, Gabrielle Sippycup’s career ain’t doing too well, either.
So much agreement on the Parsons SNL episode. It was just painful. I won’t be watching Saturday because this week ended SNL for me this year.
McCurdy/Drummond romance: I’ll say “quelle surprise” at that.
Arkham Knight: At least the original devs are back, and I hope it can run on my PC
Arsenio: the last time I watched was when Ming-Na Wen of Agents of SHIELD was on. I think local syndicators want a stable late-night lineup, but I don’t how long Arsenio’s going to last.
Conan: he’ll at least be good for one viral video moment.
Lupita Nyung’o: maybe she’ll be picky about her roles and stick to indie features?