West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review – 5/6/16

I watched quite a few things this week, so let’s get to it!

I’ve been in a stand-up comedy mood lately, and Comedy Central has been celebrating a month of new specials. First up, I caught Daniel Tosh: People Pleaser. If you’re familiar with Tosh, then you already know what you’re in for. His onstage persona is basically that of an asshole, and he brought that in full force here. It was mostly new material, though he did rework an old joke about Nadya Suleman (“Octomom”) into a joke about the 19 Kids and Counting Duggars. My biggest issue, I guess, is that I didn’t watch it when it premiered, so it was all kinda old for me. You see, I listen to Comedy Central Radio on SiriusXM in the car, and they’ve been playing clips from the special for about a month now (the special actually premiered at the beginning of April), so by the time I got around to watching the whole special I realized that I’d already heard all of the jokes. Even though Tosh’s humor isn’t for everyone, I think he’s a lot better at the Asshole Comic thing than, say, Anthony Jeselnik. If that’s your cup of tea, then check it out.

Next up, I watched Chris Hardwick: FUNcomfortable. This isn’t a popular opinion amongst the geek set, but I do not like Chris Hardwick. I had no problem with Singled Out/Shipmates game show host Hardwick, but I don’t like Hardwick 2.0 of the Nerdist empire. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way. The folks who listen to his podcasts tell me that his biggest flaw is that he makes everything about himself. I’ve never listened to a Nerdist podcast, so I don’t know about that, but I do know that I just don’t like his vibe. So, if I already knew I didn’t like him, why did I watch his special? Well, Comedy Central Radio had a town hall interview with him, moderated by Wil Wheaton, that aired several times over the weekend. I did a lot of driving, and ended up listening to parts of it 4 different times. And I came to realize that I actually had a lot in common with him, in terms of depression and anxiety. And it was interesting hearing about his alcoholism and how he decided to get sober. I think I didn’t like him because he just seems like he tries too hard, but the interview made me realize why. I kinda felt like I needed to cut the guy a break after that. I’m still not interested in his podcast, but I was willing to give an hour of my time to watch his special. And it was good. I’m glad I watched it. If you’re a fan of all the Nerdist stuff, you’ll probably love it. If you want to know more about Hardwick himself, though, I recommend checking out that town hall interview, which is probably on demand on the SiriusXM site. He seems like he’s in a good place now, and I’m happy for him for that. His comeback story is kind of amazing, going from TV host to producing mogul, so I’ve got to give him credit for what he’s achieved in this second phase of his career.

On the movie front, I watched The Boss, starring Melissa McCarthy. I already know that there are people predisposed to hating her and her movies, so you should probably just skip to the next paragraph. I, however, happen to be an unabashed fan of her films. I even liked Tammy. So, I was kinda surprised that I was disappointed by this one. In the film, McCarthy plays a Martha Stewart analogue who’s sent to prison for insider trading. Once she gets out, she partners with her former assistant to create a brownie empire. It’s not bad, by any stretch, but it wasn’t hilarious. I loved The Heat. Spy was incredible. This, not so much. It suffered from the fact that the funniest parts were spoiled in the red band trailer. Plus, and I had this same problem with Deadpool, I didn’t really feel like it had to be an R-rated film. Over the years, McCarthy has kinda become the queen of the R-rated comedy, so I guess the studio just said, “Well, let’s make another R-rated comedy for her”. That said, most of the “fucks” seemed forced (like they were just there to justify the rating), as well as all the other material that guaranteed the rating. She implies a tween is a lesbian, Tyler Labine is supposed to perform oral sex on a security guard. All the “edgy” stuff just felt out of place. Don’t get me wrong – I laughed, but it was at stuff I’d already seen in the trailer. Outside of that, the movie didn’t have much more to offer.

On “television”, I watched the Netflix series Love, on recommendation from my pal Chris Piers from over at The Robot’s Pajamas. Geeky Gus meets trainwreck Micky in a convenience store after they both get out of bad relationships. Over the course of 10 episodes, we try to find out if two damaged people can truly find love. The show starts Paul Rust (who’s also the co-creator) and Gillian Jacobs (Community), and is produced by Judd Apatow. In true Apatow fashion, the characters occupy this state of arrested development, where they’re in their 30s, but not quite “adults” because they’re just trying to figure their shit out. Gus has always been the nice guy, so he pretty much ends up in the “friend zone” when he meets Micky. Meanwhile, Micky’s a pretty, yet slovenly, woman who’s got an addictive personality. She’s addicted to alcohol, she’s addicted to sex, and she may be addicted to love. So, is Gus what she really needs right now? Can Gus handle a woman like her? Meanwhile, Gus kinda becomes my hero, as in the course of the series he sleeps with both Milana Vayntrub (Lily from the AT&T commercials) and Briga Heelan (Ground Floor, Undateable). It’s a great show, and I ended up watching the majority of the series in one night. I simply couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend it!

In movie news, we got our first look at the new Power Rangers movie suits, thanks to Entertainment Weekly. I don’t…hate them. Seriously, I actually kinda like them. They’ve not been without controversy online, though. First up, people don’t understand why the female Rangers’ breasts are molded into the suits. Or why the female Rangers’ boots have wedged heels. That said, I’m finding that most of the people with the biggest issues with them are folks who checked out of Power Rangers during the Mighty Morphin incarnation. We’re talking about a 20+ year franchise, being judged on its first 3 years. That’s not exactly fair. To me, these suits are a natural progression from the original movie suits from ’95. This is just an ’00s update of what we got back then. People are saying that they look like Iron Man, and I see that, but I think it makes sense. It’s not like they were going to be able to go the spandex route for the big screen, so folks should’ve expected some kind of armored form. The thing I like most, though, is that the Rita suit is starting to make more sense. Hers is clearly a damaged version of their suits, so was she the Green Ranger? They also look reminiscent of Lord Zedd’s design, so will he factor into things, too? You’ll see a lot of hatred about the suits online, but you won’t see any of that from me.

In TV news, it was revealed this week that Star Trek fans won’t be able to initially bingewatch the new Trek series when it premieres, as the episodes will be released weekly. I understand the reasoning behind this, as CBS probably doesn’t want people signing up for All Access for a month and then leaving once they’re done watching the show. That said, I’ve never been one to keep up with weekly streaming shows. I don’t know what it is about the platform, as I’ll watch weekly shows on “real” TV. Back when Yahoo Screen released Community on a weekly basis, I pretty much just waited til the end of the season and then binged all the episodes I’d missed. That’s probably what I’ll do with this show, if I watch it at all. I love Star Trek, but everything I’m hearing about this show’s distribution makes me sad. Creatively, it sounds like they’ve got a great team on the project (it was also announced this week that it’ll begin filming in Toronto in this fall), but it’s almost like CBS is hellbent on screwing up its distribution. It was also revealed why the show is debuting in 2017, and not this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise. Apparently, during the 2006 split between CBS and Viacom, CBS got the Trek TV rights, while Viacom retained the Trek film rights. As part of that deal, Viacom insisted that the new show couldn’t debut until 6 months after the film premieres, in order to avoid confusion in the marketplace. Now, in a world where DC Comics has a “Batman” show on TV, and batman in films, it’s clear that the audience isn’t that dumb, but I guess Viacom wanted to protect their investment in Star Trek Beyond.

In other CBS TV news, it’s really coming down to the wire on Supergirl‘s renewal, as CBS is scheduled to announce their fall schedule at the network upfronts in two weeks. Apparently, the show costs about $3 million per episode, and the network really wants to cut down that license fee. CBS doesn’t feel that the ratings justify the amount they’re paying to Warner Bros to air the show. So, now the rumor of the show moving to sister network The CW is picking up steam. The pro of the move means that the show would be on the same network as the other Berlantiverse shows Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. The con, however, is that The CW doesn’t pay high licensing fees, so that means some budget cuts would probably have to happen. For example, Calista Flockhart probably makes a nice piece of change on that show, so she’d probably be out. That’s just my speculation, though. In any case, CBS needs to make a deal quickly.

Over on NBC, Natalie Morales is out at the New York offices of The Today Show, and is moving out west to be the West Coast anchor of the show. She’ll also be the new host of Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live. Meanwhile, current Access Hollywood host Billy Bush is headed to New York to join The Today Show. This switcheroo is the beginning of some more ongoing structural changes coming to The Today Show over the next few months.

In comics news, USA Today announced that IDW Publishing will be releasing a comic based on the 80s cartoon M.A.S.K. Following the members of Mobile Armored Strike Kommand as they fight the evil agents of Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem (V.E.N.O.M.), it was basically G.I. Joe with transforming vehicles, and enjoyed a cartoon series and toyline. Since IDW seems to be in Hasbro’s good graces, having published years of G.I. Joe and Transformers comics, it makes sense that this series would end up there. Writer Brandon Easton and artist Tony Vargas are reportedly “putting a Fast and Furious spin” on the property. I’m not sure what to think about that. From what the creators say in the interview, it doesn’t really sound like M.A.S.K. Plus, I think fellow kids of the 80s would rather have a M.A.S.K. toyline than a comic, but maybe that will come from Hasbro’s Cinematic Universe.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

• The Russo Bros revealed that Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 & 2 would be renamed before their release, as they’re both 2 very different movies.
• Batman: The Killing Joke will be released digitally on July 23rd, followed by the Blu-Ray and DVD on August 2nd
• Sharknado: The 4th Awakens will premiere July 31st, featuring appearances by Baywatch‘s Alexandra Paul, David Faustino, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Stacey Dash.
• The Flash film lost its director when Seth Grahame-Smith stepped down. Now there are rumblings that James Wan might leave his directing post on Aquaman.
• Hulu renewed The Mindy Project for a 5th season
• Netflix announced a spinoff series for The Punisher, starring Jon Bernthal

The other night, I had the pleasure of joining Classick, and CJ from 3 Black Geeks, to do a Civil War preshow podcast. It was a great time where we talked about recent comic book movies, as the recent deaths of some celebrities. You should definitely check it out here.

I saw it last night, and I can say that Captain America: Civil War definitely had the West Week Ever. If you want to know why, then go see the film. I’m not gonna spoil anything here. Let’s just say that I went in Team Iron Man, and I left Team Iron Man. I’d love to know how you felt after you saw it. Sure, there are some similarities to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, so folks are gonna make some comparisons, but I’m not gonna do that here. I’m not sure if I’m ready to say it was the greatest comic book movie of all time, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Seriously, go see this movie this weekend!