Happy Black Friday! I haven’t been to sleep yet, because I had to procure the Taylor Swift Eras Tour book for my oldest when Target opened. Father of the year, buys his children’s love! (*sung to the tune of “Master of the House”, from Les Misérables*). Anyway, please forgive the typos.
Still not the biggest fan of Threads, but I’m happy with how this one’s being received over there.
Family Guy released another “holiday special” on Hulu, which is just setting you up to be disappointed, as there’s nothing special about these things. Since there’s so much lead time for animation, the studio didn’t realize that Fox was going to hold the series til midseason, so they had to get creative if they wanted their holiday episodes to actually air within the vicinity of the holidays. Just like the Halloween special, it’s just a normal, standard length episode, given an extra push by Hulu to make it seem more important that it is. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. It’s actually pretty funny. In fact, there’s a critique of Jeff Goldblum that almost makes you think you’re watching any season prior to 12. It’s that good! Anyway, unlike American Dad, Family Guy has never really been known for its Christmas celebrations, so this is pretty much par for the course. An enjoyable ride for a regular viewer, but certainly not anything worth adding to your To Watch List if you’re not a longtime fan.
Trailer Park
Watson (CBS, January 26)
This is just House. WHY IS EVERYTHING HOUSE NOW?! Seriously, I am so sick of the lead in every procedural having a team of millennials at their disposal, to help “crack the case”, because each of them brings some special talent to the table that only the lead can see. Plus, I’m not even a Holmes fanboy, but I’m borderline offended by how that whole thing was tacked on. First off, we know Holmes ain’t dead. He tumbled off a cliff and there was no body. The twist is Sherlock is gonna walk right into Watson’s office/penthouse apartment. If they don’t do it at the end of the pilot, a la Matlock, they’re gonna do it at the end of the first season finale. And, maybe I’m reading into things here, but could Watson have….maybe been Sherlock’s partner in other ways? I’m just saying Mr. Chestnut is a little too “fly” here for that to just go undiscussed. Anyway, I’d have preferred they just call it Black House. It’s on CBS, so that’s what that audience is gonna call it anyway. “Mildred! It’s time for Black House. Ya know, with the -” *does that Tinkerbell gesture Mr. Roper always used to do*
Dear Santa (Paramount+, November 25)
So, this is already out, yet I’ve heard no one say anything about it. I can’t remember if folks ever forgave Jack Black for seemingly turning his back on Kyle Gass and Tenacious D, or if we’re still in the thick of the fallout from that. In any case, this is a weird release strategy, as it’s streaming on Paramount+, but also available for purchase digitally. That doesn’t happen. Usually, when things are available for digital purchase, they’re not also available on a streamer, but rather get a limited theatrical release, a la everything Lionsgate does these days. This is like Paramount saying “We think there’s more of an audience for this than just our meager Paramount+ subscriber base, but not enough of one to justify putting this up against Moana 2.” Plus, it’s still hard to sell a movie about Satan, even as a comedy, to a good portion of this country, Jack Black or not. Still, I’d watch it. Looks cute. Plus, I love that I’ve been steeped in pop culture long enough that I’m starting to see The Matrix. For example, Hayes MacArthur, as the kid’s dad, is clearly in the “Judge Reinhold role”. And that cyclist at the end? That was clearly written with Bowen Yang in mind, even if they couldn’t actually land Bowen Yang. Trust me on these things.
The End (Theaters, December 6)
Well, if we learned anything from the reception of Joker: Folie Á Deux, it’s that a lot of folks fucking hate musicals. So, that’s one strike against this out of the gate. Not me, though. I love that shit. I do feel like this plot has been done to death, but I’ve never seen it done as a musical. I mean, we all know it’s probably gonna turn out that the world above is still thriving, in some Twilight Zone-esque twist, rather than being full-on Snowpiercer on the surface. There’s also some dark secret as to why they’re all down there, and only them. I also wondered if the concept of “Race” still matters in a society with only one black person, but then I noticed that middle aged black guy, so I guess there are two black people now? His Clarence Thomas looking ass didn’t look to pleased about that! I won’t see it in a theater, and it’ll probably go straight to something like Kino Lorber’s streaming service, but I’d definitely check this out if given the chance.
Links I Loved
Who’d have thought that, out of a trio of egomaniacs, Pras would be the member of The Fugees to fuck up the worst?! Yes, Mr. Ghetto Supastar himself is facing 22 years in prison for allegedly being a spy for foreign interests!
Will Around The Web
I had some thoughts about social media and parasocial relationships.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- Apple TV+’s Severance is launching an official companion podcast on January 7th because, well, of course it is. Everything has a podcast now. Anyway, this one will be hosted by series star Adam Scott and executive producer Ben Stiller.
- Speaking of Apple TV+, they have canceled plans for Wolfs 2, the follow-up to the George Clooney/Brad Pitt action comedy. Writer/Director Jon Watts has said the decision was based on Apple’s handling of the first film, where it was originally developed for a theatrical release, yet only received a limited theatrical release, with a pivot to a primarily streaming release. Clooney & Pitt had given up some of their salary to guarantee a theatrical release, so all parties were disappointed by that not taking place.
- Milhouse won’t be the same, as original voice actor Pamela Hayden’s final episode of The Simpsons aired this week. Formally retiring from the show, Hayden also voiced Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders, and Sarah Wiggum.
- There’s weird shit going on in influencerland, as YouTuber Rosanna Pansino took a break from her one-woman crusade against MrBeast to kick off the debut of her podcast Rodiculous by smoking a blunt containing her father’s ashes. This world, man…
- You’ve got to wonder if there was ever a creative vision behind Law & Order: Organized Crime other than “Keep Meloni on the hook til we get ease him back into SVU“, seeing as how the series just lost its SIXTH showrunner in FIVE seasons. That’s got to be some kind of record, right?
- Drake is suing Universal Music Group because he claims that the company inflated the number of streams for Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us” – ya know, the song where he calls Drake a pedophile. What’s insane, however, is Drake isn’t even suing for being called a pedophile. No, he’s suing because he doesn’t trust the number of people who supposedly listened to Kendrick call him a pedophile! So, we’re all clear on that, right? ‘Cause things are surely about to get VERY interesting!
So, Lindsay and I did something that I’m not sure we’ve ever done: We binged an entire series in one day. As you saw with Eric, it usually takes us quite some time to get through a show, if we even finish it at all. I mean, I’ve still got the last season of Schitt’s Creek I never watched, but I think I’m all full of Schitt at this point, while she’s already done a rewatch. So, that’s why I was shocked when we pulled this off. Last Saturday, we were just sitting around, and she suggested Only Murder in the Building, which I declined because I loathe Martin Short, while I’m unsure of my current feelings on Selena Gomez. So, that would leave me with only 1/3 of the main cast that I actually like. When she recommended another option – Ted Danson’s new Netflix series A Man on the Inside – I jumped at it. First off, there were only 8 episodes, s if we liked it, we could be done fairly quickly. Meanwhile, if we liked Only Murders, we’d be on the hook for multiple seasons, and I really didn’t want that hanging over me. Also, it was a reunion between Danson and creator Michael Schur, who had worked together on The Good Place. We were hooked after the first episode, and ended up finishing the whole thing by that night.
I’ll admit that I was almost put off the show immediately, in that way too many non-Disney studios seem to have gotten their hands on that de-aging tech, and the opening scene is a clip of a season 1 Cheers-era Danson giving his wedding toast. It’s creepy and not creepy at the same time. I mean, half of that is the creepiness of the tech, but the other half is the fact that real life 1982 Ted Danson looked like someone put a caveman in clothes, so it’s really a mixed bag. The purpose of the speech, however, is to convey how much Danson’s wife meant to him, and the love that they shared. Because the minute that scene ends, we see a present-day Danson wake up in a bed with an empty space next to him. A retired college professor, he’s been a widower for a little over a year, and he’s struggling to really find his purpose. That all changes, however, when he answers an ad in the classifieds: a local private investigator has been hired by a wealthy man because he believes his mother’s jewelry has been stolen by someone in the nursing home in which he had put her. The investigator needs someone to go undercover in the nursing home, as her “man on the inside” *insert Leo DiCaprio gif*, in order to solve the case. Over the course of the next 7 episodes, we watch as Danson infiltrates the home, but is surprised to find that he is welcomed with open arms. He makes friends, he works on his relationship with his daughter – strained since the death of wife/mom, and he helps the P.I. with the case. It’s got an amazing supporting cast, including Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz, as well as The Waitress from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (and Mrs. Charlie Day), Mary Elizabeth Ellis.
On top of just being an excellent show, a lot of it really hit home for me, given what I’ve been dealing with over the past 2 years. It deals with the impact of Memory Care on senior citizens, as well as what it truly looks like when someone is suffering from dementia. Also, how some folks reach a stage in their lives when they no longer have family looking out for them, so they acquire a “found family”. It also showed how it’s never too late to reinvent yourself and find purpose. I don’t know if we’ll get a second season, but I’m certainly gonna be there if we do. I just can’t recommend the show enough, and that’s why A Man on the Inside had the West Week Ever.
