Previewing Are We There Yet? 2.x

For those that are wondering where did all the situation comedies you grew up go? Well they have gone to TBS. The one they isn’t brought to you by Tyler Perry, Are We There Yet? returns tonight for a second season with back to back episodes starting at 10:00 (and will probably be a better lead in for Conan than The Jay Leno Hour was, at least he won’t have to compete with them for guests).

Unlike the movie, the “There” in the title is metaphorical and the Kingston—Persons clan is still trying to get there. They may get closer with Nick’s new job as a sports reporter, but thoughts of interviewing Pete Carroll are quickly dashed when he gets his first assignment. And a wretch gets thrown in when Charlie Murphy (Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories) returns as Suzanne’s ex-husband. Also returning tonight is Ice Cube as her black ops brother who needs help throwing maybe the funniest bachelor party ever.

In the second episode tonight, the kids find Nick’s old box of VHS tapes and amazed to learn they actually let black people on network television in the eighties. The final scene includes the funniest scene you will see all week. Also showing up later this season is Sandy “Pepa” Denton, Wayne Brady, Toccara Jones, Michael Strahan, Lil JJ, and David Rasche who will know better as Sledgehammer! (And if you have never seen Sledgehammer! we cannot be friends).

Are We There Yet? airs Wednesdays at 10:00 and 10:30 on TBS.

You're Living in a Cartoon World

Some might wonder what purpose does The Ricky Gervais Show on television serve. Well first it is for those fans of Gervais that have yet discovered the wonders of the internet or just think you must have an iPod to listen to a podcast. Then there are people like me that listen to their podcasts while exercising and looks like a fool enough doing that, adding in laughing out loud randomly would actually make me look worse.

For those unaware of the podcast or the subsequent HBO animated version, Ricky Gervais (who also serves as his own person laugh track )and his The Office and Extras collaborator Stephen Merchant basically just make fun of radio producer Karl Pilkington, his absurdly bizarre theories and perfectly round head. This includes regular features where Merchant reads straight from Karl’s diary and Monkey News where Karl retells a story about monkeys doing amazing (and likely made up like being a winning horse jokey) things that then Ricky taunts Karl for believing.

If you listened to the podcast, the animated series doesn’t add much as it just takes the podcast and put it to quite literal animation with Karl looking like an adult Charlie Brown, Ricky looks like a modern day Fred Flintstone (both of which get mention, the latter mostly because Karl starts to believe The Flintstones was based on historical fact). But it is a find for anyone who missed the podcast or is just a Gervais fanatic. The DVD features all thirteen HBO episodes across two DVD. There isn’t much in the way of special features, there is a bonus Gala animation and you can view one of the episode storyboard.

The second season of The Ricky Gervais Show premieres January 14 at 9:00 on HBO. Below is a synopsis of The Ricky Gervais Show The Complete First Season which you can own it on DVD starting today (1/4):

From the creators of the smash-hit series The Office and Extras and based on the original record-breaking podcasts, comes the new animated comedy series, The Ricky Gervais Show. The series is an animated version of the original podcasts that earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most downloads. It is voiced by Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and colleague and friend Karl Pilkington whose offbeat musings inspire many of the storylines which include the merits of 20th century inventions; Karl’s suggestion for population control; how philosophy has evolved through the ages and not forgetting Karl’s perfectly round head!

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Warner Bros. for the purpose of reviewing the season.

The Truth Is You Can't Go Back so Enjoy it While You Can

Tonight sees the return of Greek for its fourth and final season on ABC Family. For those that are behind or just want to relieve it, Greek Chapter Five (which is the complete third season) is being released next Tuesday for your viewing pleasure. Chapter Four left off with the epic End of the World party which Rusty blew off his studies to attend, Casey poured her heart out to Cappie and even Dale attended.

I will not go into detail reviewing the individual episodes because I have already done so when the they originally aired (click the Greek Tag to get my thoughts) but season three did features some of the shows finest episodes including the Gotcha game (which aired ten months before the other show of higher learning Community’s paintball episode), Song-Fest and its fiery ending, and Father’s Day featuring Dwayne Wayne, Dr. Harold Abbott, Dr. Michael Mancini, and it took me a while to figure out who Papa Cartwright was until I realized he has since gone on to be Playstation 3 spokesmen.

This season even got some fresh blood, most notable Katherine, the Pan Hellenic president who was a thorn in Casey’s side turned confidant. Though it is weird rewatching the season now knowing that the actress playing the uppity task master is actually the accordion player for the hippie enclave Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero. But still doesn’t take away from her great one liners and her being shot with Cupid’s arrow (quite literally) in the Valentine’s Day episode). This was also a breakout season for Laura be it her expletive rants against her Pan Hellenic partners, commandeering the karaoke machine during sober weekend, or her secret torrid love affair (which hopefully get reignited next season). This season also featured cameos from Olivia Munn and an absurdly hot townie and Lea Thomson as Cappie’s mom.

The DVD itself features all twenty episodes from the third season with three of them getting the audio commentary treatment. Season premiere The Day After features executive producers Shawn Piller and Lloyd Segan. The Half Naked Gun gets chatted about by series creator Patrick Shawn Smith, Dilshad Vadsaria (Rebecca), Scott Michael Foster (Cappie), and Johanna Braddy (Jordan). While the season finale All Children… Grow Up is discussed by Smith, Foster, Amber Stevens (Ashleigh), and Aynsley Bubbico (Laura, who oddly enough doesn’t even appear in the episode).

Other extra includes a Gotcha featurette where the cast play their own game on the set, an interview with Nora Kirkpatrick (Katherine), a Hip Hop Music Video (so odd that it may actually be worth the price of admission), and two separate gag reels where you can see just how bad a putter Jake McDorman is.

Greek airs Mondays at 9:00 on ABC Family.



Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Shout Factory for the purpose of reviewing the season.

You're in Everyone I See so Tell Me Do You See Me?

I am not much into making niche lists, but if I were to make a list of the best pop albums of last decade, The Spirit Room by Michelle Branch would have topped that list. Not since Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View was there an album full of radio ready gems from start to finish. But I didn’t make such a list, so instead it will have to settle for number five on my list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the 00’s and this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.

Even though every track on The Spirit Room was pop goodness, Everywhere still stood out as the best the album had to offer. With an acoustic intro, crunchy guitars and pseudo religious undertones, the song had a chorus that just screamed to be screamed along with whenever the song came on the radio (possibly with the windows up if you were a dude). Another standout was the token power balled Goodbye to You which was great by itself, but will forever be linked to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer scene Branch cameod in for me.

Though the same age as Taylor Swift when she recorded her first album, Michelle doesn’t suffer from the high school sophomore poetry class lyrics that stricken Taylor’s first (and second) album. Sure songs like You Get Me (which was the theme to the underappreciated Sorority Life) bordered on girly cheesy with lines like “You’ve seen my secret garden where all of my flowers grow,” but most songs like Everywhere were wise beyond the seventeen years she had lived up to that point. Like Something to Sleep To, is a billowing song about longing that would have sounded less moving in the hand of others her age.

With most of The Sprit Room of the purely pop persuasion, it does end on a different not with Drop in the Ocean which sounded more like something that would be championed on an indie blog these days than a pop album in the early 00’s. At the time I was hoping that would be something we would hear more from Branch, but after one more album, she went country in the middle of the decade. Here’s hoping she finds her way back to her roots sometime this decade.