Daniel's TV Blog

There are certain types of humor that's easy to do. Nannyisms is one that comes to mind. That's when you immediately contradict some you just said. If you watch any episode of the show The Nanny you will see this kind of dialog.

• The Nanny: "I'm going on a diet starting now. No more dessert."
• The Nanny's mom enters. Mom: "I brought chocolate cake!"
• The Nanny: "Oh, give me a piece!"

That's a classic Nannyism. Another cheap sitcom trick is Plate Glass Window Humor. That's when a character points out the fabulous new plate glass window that was just installed. Moments later Urkel crashes through it on his new Segway. Wa-wa. Here's a good example of Plate Glass Humor used ironically in The Simpsons:


But last night 30 Rock used a variation of Plate Glass Humor I call "The Dead Executive." It starts like this.

• Executive: "I'm going to give you that big promotion/job/account/raise. But don't tell anyone. It's our secret until I meet with the board of directors."
• Schmuck: "Yes sir, I won't tell anyone.

Then the executive dies. Or in 30 Rock's case, he slipped into a coma. It was a funny episode otherwise.

Labels: 30 Rock

HIMYM is proving to be the solid second best comedy on TV right now. They can't beat 30 Rock with Debra vs Deborah on MILF Island or the Subway Hero. We will be quoting that show for decades. "Love means going to Burger King to poop." Last night How I Met Your Mother had the hilarious follow up to Let's Go to the Mall by Robin Sparkles from last season. This time it was Sandcastles in the Sand, a great spoof of crappy breakup songs. Special guests James Van Der Beek, Alan Thicke, and Tiffany. Check it out at http://www.myspace.com/RobinSparkles or here:



More surprising was the hook-up between Barney and Robin at the end. I was not expecting that.

Labels: HIMYM

Yesterday I was having lunch with FoDtvB, Sean. He was claiming how predictable LOST has been this season. I disagree, but maybe because I'm on my third glass of wine by the time it starts. I'm a big alcoholic these days. But it is true how predictable TV can be if you look for it. Last summer I watched a bunch of Eureka episodes. The pattern becomes really obvious really quick. It's always the person/technology/experiment that was mentioned in the first act which seems to have nothing to do with the story that is responsible for the current madness, like the dry cleaner or the weather forcaster.

I've been catching up on Medium and that show is really predictable. Why is she dreaming about a dentist killing a hooker when she working on a case of a man accused of killing his wife and burning her corpse? Duh, the dentist altered the hookers dental work to fake the women's death. That was a two parter and I figured it out half way through part 1. Another two parter had Allison dreaming of a girl kidnapped 10 years ago and held in the basement with a second woman. The only problem is, the other girl was never missing according to her mother. Duh, the other young women was in on the kidnapping. I shouldn't had fast forwarded through part 2 of that one. Then there was the cougar narrating her murders in Allison's dreams but the detective says the killer was really strong and not likely a women. I guessed it was a gay man using the cougar's book to seduce and kill straight guys and I was right. I was a little amazed that I guess that one right. Anyway, Allison is always right and no one ever believes her, just like in this great episode of MADtv:

Labels: Medium

I had some fun this morning with the TV Guide website.

Labels: TV Guide

Labels: Runco

I watched the premier of Battlestar Galatica twice last night. I watched the east coast feed at 7:00 at home and then went over to Chris and Jeff's for a big viewing party at 10:00. I really love the direction of Baltar's character this season. He's being built up to be a Christ-like character. We all know that had a happy ending. Apollo is keeping out of the cockpit this season. I'm happy because he looks hot in pin-stripes. Of course the final four Cylons have stuff to deal with. But the return of Starbuck is the biggest mystery. She is missing time, missing memories, and flying a brand new ship.

When you look at the original series, there's one big story that has yet to have any parallels in the new series. That was a two part episode called "The War of the Gods". The Ship of Lights was the home of the angel like beings who were called the guardians of the universe. They would abduct our favorite characters and turn their uniforms white. When they returned to the fleet, they had no memory of them but they knew a little more information on how to find Earth. Also they brought Apollo back to life after being killed by the mysterious Count Iblis. This sounds surprisingly like Kara's recent experience. I think it would be very cool to never see the Ship of Lights directly, just the mysteries they leave behind.

Labels: Battlestar Galactica