Prove that you’re a winner by checking out parts I, II, III, and IV.
9. Home Movies (1999, UPN; 2001-2004, Cartoon Network)
Eight-year-old maverick director Brendon Small makes movies in his basement with the help of his regular crew, Melissa and Jason. He also plays a little soccer on the side, although his team never wins–no doubt due to the fact that their coach, McGuirk, is a washed-up alcoholic. Home Movies is the funniest show ever to appear on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Comprised of hilarious, rambling conversations, witty movie parodies, and really cool original songs, Home Movies also boasted an excellent round-up of regular guest stars, including Jonathan Katz, Emo Phillips, Mitch Hedburg and Louis CK. But more than anything, it was the repartee between Brendon and his friends, teachers, and nemeses that really made the series so funny. For the record, John McGuirk is my favorite animated non-Simpsons character ever, and a personal hero of mine. The last episode of Home Movies was the saddest TV finale I’ve ever seen. The episodes are still funny on DVD or re-runs.
This is one of my favorite episodes: Brendon directs the school play (a take on Grease), convincing McGuirk to play the male lead (as well as drive his car onto the stage).
Check out parts I, II, and III.
8. Salute Your Shorts (1991-1992, Nickelodeon)
A salute to Salute. Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts only ran for two seasons–a grand total of 26 episodes–but in my impressionable young mind the show seemed to last forever. It’s weird to me now that at the same time I was trying to cultivate some kind of hipness–buying my first albums (Nevermind, Out of Time, Dirty, Doolittle, Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits) and starting to reach beyond comic books and genre sci-fi and fantasy to read “adult books” (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Kurt Vonnegut)–I was also hopelessly addicted to a show as goofy as Salute Your Shorts. But I was. I watched it every afternoon, delighting in the kids’ adventures at summer camp. I was particularly intrigued by pranksters Budnick and Donkeylips (I was thrilled when Budnick turned up in Terminator 2. Really). I also watched Nickelodeon’s Hey Dude, which I considered to be a pale imitation of Salute Your Shorts (a little research shows that Hey Dude actually began its two season run a full two years before Salute Your Shorts first aired). I’m not sure if I finally did get too old–or perceived myself too hip–to watch Nickelodeon, but it seems to me like Nickelodeon has been on a slow decline since the early nineties and the demise of shows like SYS and Ren and Stimpy.
Before you check out the episode below (which I know you’re psyched about), find out what Donkeylips (aka Michael Bower) has been up to. Apparently he’s a rapper now; unfortunately the section of his fantastic website (you really should go there now) devoted to “My Rap Music” (via “Media,” via “Audio”) only contains “One Mic” by Nas–still an awesome song, though.
Make yourself proud by checking out Parts I and II.
6. Arrested Development (2003-2006, FOX)
Smart and self-referential without too much clever winking at the audience, Arrested Development was the ultimate meta-sitcom of the mid-oughties. The saga of the Bluth family was brought to life by possibly the best cast on TV ever. Jeffrey Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show) played George Bluth, the scoundrel pater familias to a family of oddballs; when George’s financial shenanigans led to the Bluth Company’s possible downfall, good son Michael (Jason Bateman, Teen Wolf Too) stepped in to take responsibility for the company. Of course, this was no easy task–Michael had to deal with his harridan of a mother Lucille (Jessica Walter, Play Misty for Me) and his selfish siblings: G.O.B. Bluth (performed with genius skill by Will Arnett), twin sister Lindsay (Portia de Rossi), and idiot baby Buster (Tony Hale)–not to mention his wacky brother-in-law, Tobias (David Cross–more on him on a second). At the same time as he must deal with both the besieged family business and his crazy kin, Michael is also trying to win World’s Best Dad with his son George Michael (played with brilliant understatement by Michael Cera, my wife’s big crush) who is secretly in love with his cousin Maebe (Alia Shawkat). Zaniness ensues. Don’t believe me? Check out the compilation of chicken dance scenes below:
Arrested Development was brilliant and hilarious, but ultimately it was for the better that it was canceled after three seasons–to be honest the premise had more than worn thin, and characters as one-dimensional as the Bluth’s couldn’t survive for too long. It was great while it lasted. We’ll always have the DVDs (until DVD is supplanted by some superior form of media archival material).
Before we go, I must make mention again of adorable Michael Cera, who will no doubt be the numba one stunna this summer in Judd Apatow’s Superbad. Check out the trailer:
7. Mr. Show (1995-1998, HBO)
So. Originally I was not going to put any HBO shows on this list. It just didn’t seem fair. But I had to make an exception for Mr. Show, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’s acerbic and esoteric take on sketch comedy. How could I not include it? I love this show. Any clip will do–I just happen to particularly like this episode–(William Van Landingham III–jut the name cracks me up)–but if you like this and haven’t for some reason seen Mr. Show before, go ahead and just follow the whole Youtube thread, or better yet get the Mr. Show DVDs. Unlike other sketch comedy shows that rely heavily on topical situations and flash-in-the-pan pop culture references, Mr. Show‘s weirdness remains fresh and funny today (and presumably tomorrow).
From “Monk Camp”:
So. David Cross. I love the guy. He’s hilarious. But here’s something kind of weird: I find that a lot of message board trolls and internet weirdos absolutely hate this guy because–get this–he’s an asshole. Of course. Of course he’s an asshole. That’s kind of his gig. Shut Up You Fucking Baby! was hilarious. Tobias the analrapist was hilarious. He’s great in just about everything he’s on, from Biblioklept Salute alum Wondershowzen to future alum Home Movies (hold your breath for Part IV!). I’ll leave it at that. I don’t really need to defend the guy. Check out Mr. Cross’s “Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy.”
And as not to undersell Bob Odenkirk (who is separately but equally funny) check out his new show Derek and Simon:
The last episode of Bob Barker’s 35 year run as host of The Price is Right airs twice today on CBS–once at 11:00am (i.e. right now) and once more at 8:00pm. Like many of you, I’m sure, I spent many a “sick day” at home delighting in silly contestants in ridiculous homemade T-shirts spin wheels and flip numbers, all under Mr. Barker’s encouraging guidance.
The show will continue, but a new host has not yet been announced. Isn’t this a mistake? Shouldn’t they just cancel the show? I just don’t see the throwback sets and campy feel of Price working without Bob Barker. But who can say for sure.
Possible replacement hosts for The Price is Right:
Ryan Seacrest
Michael “Heckuva job, Brownie” Brown
Candace Bergen
Mel “Sugartits” Gibson
Any other candidates?
_______________________________________________
UPDATE (SPOILER WARNING!)
Okay. We just watched Bob Barker’s finale and here’s what happened (again–spoiler warning! Quit reading if you plan to watch this on your Tivo or whatever!).
It turned out that the whole thing was just a dream–and in a clever kind of po-mo twist, the whole series actually took place in a snow-globe. Also, Bob killed Laura Palmer. Sort of. The last shot is kind of ambiguous–it just blacks out on Bob while that kick-ass Journey song is blaring. Mysterious.
Judd Apatow is a freaking genius. Freaks and Geeks is the only TV show I can think of to portray teenagers with any sense of realism. Set in a suburb outside of Detroit in the very early 80s, this show followed the awkward trials of Lindsay Weir, former mathlete turned “freak,” and her brother Sam, destined “geek.” Apatow handled the series with a remarkable blend of pathos and humor, but the best thing about the tone of the series was the complete lack of either schmaltzy sentimentality or undue glamor that plagues every show about teens. There are no rose-colored glasses here, no simple answers, and the endings are more often than not ambiguous–but that ambiguity is somehow more satisfying than a traditional happy ending.
5. Undeclared (2001-2002, FOX)
After Freaks and Geeks was canceled after one short season, Apatow gave TV another shot, switching to a new network and a new format. He brought along some of the actors from Freaks and Geeks, including Seth Rogan, who became a writer/producer on the show (Seth went on to co-star in Apatow’s blockbuster The 40 Year Old Virgin, and is the unlikely leading man in Apatow’s summer offering Knocked Up, which looks really, really funny). Set at the non-existent University of North Eastern California in the early oughties, Undeclared was based around a group of college freshmen trying to navigate their way through the tribulations of a new school full of new people. The show focused on Steven, a nerdy kid with the potential to reinvent himself in his new environs. He manages to hook up with fellow dormer Lizzie, despite her older boyfriend (Lizzie’s psycho-obsessive older boyfriend, played by Freaks and Geeks star Jason Segel, provides for one of the show’s funniest plots). Steven’s quest for cool is of course impeded by his father (played by folkie Loudon Wainwright III) who, after a nasty divorce, has embarked on his own quest for cool (midlife crisis style)).
Later this week in the salute–is David Cross a dick? What do you do when the series that filled the Buffy-sized void in your pop culture heart is canceled? And does Nickelodeon really suck now, or have we just gotten older?
We here at the Biblioklept are not above watching TV–in fact, TV is one of our favorite distractions from getting our assigned reading done. What follows is an incomplete list of some of our favorite TV shows that are no longer on air. Some were canceled too early, others probably benefited from getting off the air when they did. All were fantastic.
In no particular order:
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2001, the Warner Brothers network (“the WB”); 2001-2003, UPN)
My dad and brother turned me on to this show. Their initial attraction had to do with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s provocative attire. For my taste, Buffy (the show) had just the right balance of pop culture savvy and teen-drama kitsch. The show got particularly good when the Scoobies (Buffy’s crew’s nickname for themselves) went to college. Speaking of college, academia in the early oughties responded to the show with a field of cultural studies sometimes referred to as “Buffy studies.” So there.
A few scenes from “Once More, with Feeling” (in this episode, the Scoobies are put under a spell where they communicate by singing Broadway musical style).
Buffy creator/mastermind Joss Whedon directed the “Business School” episode of The Office a few months ago, which was very funny. The Office is really funny, but NBC should wrap it up next year before it starts to totally suck. While I’m voicing unsupported opinions, let me also go ahead and aver that the US version of The Office is superior to the British one (no knock on Gervais).
2. TV Funhouse (2000-2001, Comedy Central)
When will TV Funhouse get a DVD release? It amazes me that all the seasons of Air Wolf got collected on DVD, but this manic treasure remains uncollected. But I digress before I begin.
Robert Smigel’s Saturday Night Live shorts are funny in their own right, but the eight episodes he made of TV Funhouse are literally breathtakingly funny. I had a small but debilitating stroke due to a lack of oxygen resulting from laughing so much at the Anipal’s mischievous antics. The show featured plenty of cartoon shorts, like the ones you can still see on SNL, and those were pretty funny, but the best bits of TVF involved the adventures of the Anipals, a gang made of puppets and real animals. The best episode was a two-parter where the Anipals went to Atlantic City, where they met Robert Goulet and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Hilarity ensues. Not for children.
Check out “Fetal Scooby-Doo” (because I couldn’t find the Anipals).
3. Wonder Showzen ( MTV 2005-2006)
“Chinese Girl Baby Atlantis”
Again, not for children. Wonder Showzen kind of upped the ante for what you could do with kids on TV. This show features some of the darkest, nastiest satire on consumer culture I can think of. The final episode of the first season is almost an art prank. Entitled “Patience,” it truly, truly tests the audience patience, occurring in three acts: the first slowed down to incomprehensible goo, the second at a normal pace, and the third sped up.
Or better yet,watch a whole episode–check out “Cooperation” from the second season, (yes that is John Oates, Devendra Banhart, Rick Springfield, and Corin Tucker singing “War Doesn’t Solve Anything”)
Later this week: Part II, in which we look at some of Judd Apatow’s beautiful flops and speculate that it was probably a good thing Arrested Development was canceled after three short seasons.
I promise to start writing about books again next week–but for now, I’ve got to share this: Patrick Stewart on Ricky Gervais’s Extras talking about the script he’s writing. I was literally on the floor laughing. (Caveat: My wife was neither on the floor with laughter, or laughing out loud; nor did she seem to think that I should be laughing at all, let alone on the floor).
The Sarah Silverman Program debuted on Comedy Central last night and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I like Silverman’s comedy, but I didn’t really think much of Jesus is Magic, her concert movie from a year or two ago–it felt stretched out, and her best bits, while still vicious and incisively stupid, felt somehow neutered and flat.
The Sarah SilvermanProgram is a big improvement. It’s a half-hour comedy based on the life of a fictional, orphaned Sarah Silverman, who is cared for by her younger sister. In the first episode Sarah goes nuts on cough syrup, inspiring a psychedelic spree reminiscent (and worthy of) Pee-wee’s Playhouse. In the mayhem that ensues, Sarah’s sister meets a police officer played by Jay Johnston (of Mr. Show fame); Sarah’s sis then blows off Cookie Party night to go on a date with said cop. Cookie Party was my favorite part of the show. It’s a contest show where people call in and vote for cookies. After Sarah’s sis skips their weekly standing date, Sarah gets into the cough syrup again; more mayhem.
There’s something in the tone and pacing of TSSP that’s a little bit deviant from the standard ironic tropes of satire; Sarah’s vision of a sitcom is a corroded mimesis of “hip,” “ironic” comedy–willfully stupid, infantile, scatological, zany, crushingly narcissistic, truly antisocial, coming off like an egotistical in-joke between Sarah and herself. Sarah’s songs, jokes, gestures, and non-jokes all add up to a truly bizarre, fun, and funny show.
A clip of the show (not last night’s, but all I could find on Youtube):
And here’s Sarah telling a famous joke in The Aristorcrats:
In tonights episode of The Simpsons, Lisa and Moe go to a writer’s seminar called “Wordloaf” in Vermont. Is this a real thing? I googled, but I found nothing.
Moe has been invitedto Wordloaf by Tom Wolfe, who loves Moe’s book of poetry, Howling at a Concrete Moon. What Wolfe and the other writers at Wordloaf don’t realize is that Lisa has engineered Moe’s book, editing it together from Moe’s fragmented notes of despair, and giving it its title. Disappointment, betrayal, and humiliation ensues. Also, I think Homer might’ve eaten a donut or something.
Authors Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections) and Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) also guest star. By the way, biblioklept is coming down here, officially, in complete disagreement with Jonathan Franzen’s opinions on “difficult writing.”
Thomas Pynchon’s non-image makes a brief cameo. By my count this is his third appearance on the show.
Overall, despite jokes about grading papers and grad school and several obscure literary references–all things so dear to my heart–this episode was not so funny.
Biblioklept 