Now I gave up on the show around the time Everybody Hates Chris moved to Mondays, but I may have been a little too hard on The Class considering that it is by far the funniest new show about a chance reunion this season. Speaking of In Case of Emergency, I gave it a second chance and actually laughed less at the second episode. So for those keeping track at home, in two episodes, there has been a total of one laugh. But anyways. Back to The Class, the show is doing something really cool next week and here's a press release and some pictures courtesy of Warner Brothers and CBS:
GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE HIT COMEDY SERIES “THE CLASS” AT CBS.COM
Attention, fans! It’s time to go to class. “The Class,” that is. Warner Bros. Television and CBS Interactive invite viewers to experience, for the first time ever, a pair of live events that will provide a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the process of producing an original episode of a major network television series.
First Stop: The Table Read
On Monday, January 15 at 11:00 a.m. PT, fans can go to www.cbs.com to watch a live webcast of the cast, producers and writers of “The Class” participating in a “table read” of an upcoming episode. The table read marks the first day of production on a half-hour multi-camera comedy, offering the actors their first opportunity to work on scenes together and giving the director, writers and producers instant feedback on how the episode is received by an audience. The table read is traditionally followed by rehearsal on Tuesday, leading to the first complete rehearsal performance of the episode on stage on Wednesday. And CBS.com will be there, too.
The Run-Thru: Halfway There
“On Wednesday, January 17 at 1:00 p.m. PT, fan can catch a second live webcast at www.cbs.com to watch the run-thru. Traditionally, this full-episode rehearsal process takes place behind closed doors, but this exclusive event takes viewers directly inside the world of this fresh new comedy series—live and uncut.
The Class”—from comedy kings David Crane (“Friends”) & Jeffrey Klarik (“Mad About You”), along with veteran director/executive producer James Burrows (“Taxi,” “Cheers”)—follows a group of former third-grade classmates whose lives become inextricably bound together after they reunite 20 years later. The series stars Andrea Anders, Jon Bernthal, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Heather Goldenhersh, Sean Maguire and Jason Ritter, and it comes from craneklarik productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
Don’t forget to watch “The Class” Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on the CBS Television Network.
I’m not entirely sure who or what Ego Trip is, but they were behind what could have been the best or worst new show of the year. With a name like The (White) Rapper Show there really wasn’t going to be much between. Luckily for those that like to be entertained, it closer to the best side of things. The show takes ten rappers from all around the world of the Caucasian persuasion and has them battle it out to be the next big white hope.
Naturally the auditions are first as host MC Serch of 3rd Bass (who are for some reason missing from iTunes) with the help of producer Prince Paul try to narrow the group of a hundred to the ten that would make the show. With people like the old Jewish dude and the oversized chick who kept on rapping about her kootchiepop, that task didn’t seem all that hard and Serch made it seem. Well maybe it was condidering there were not ten white rappers worth picking from what I saw. Surprisingly one of the chicks had the gull to inform Serch that Vanilla Ice is her biggest influences considering he dedicated a whole song lampooning the future two time Surreal Lifer.
Even big surprise was the same girl, G-Girl, ended up in the final ten and made it into Tha White House (yes that is what they are calling it and there are White Trash cans inside too) in the South Bronx. And looking at the other nine, she may just have a chance of winning. The stand out contestant, and not in a good way, is John Brown. For all you college students out there that still enjoy drinking games, here’s one that will get you messed up quick, take a drink every time Jon Brown mentions “King of the ‘Burbs” or “Ghetto Revival.” No word on why the King of the ‘Burbs would want to revive the ghetto or whether or not John Brown is a sheriff or not. And it doesn’t seem like his housemates like him that much as Persia stuck her, um how do I want to put this, her self pleasuring devise in dude’s face. And he also got into a war of words with Sullee. Now that’s surprising, a dude from Boston named Sullee and he likes to throw down after too many beers. They really are breaking down stereotypes on this show.
Other contestants include include 100 Proof, the Kid Rock one of the group. Then there’s Ohio’s own Dasit although I have never once heard anyone call Toledo T-Town and I even lived with a wannabe rapper from Toledo. He’s also the first one to go so he better not ever bring that weak stuff to my homies in Yompton (Youngstown for those not in the know). Jon Boy may have the most unfortunate rap name of anyone that doesn’t have “Lil” in their name. Jus Rhyme, well I really don’t remember anything from him in the first episode. $hamrock can be best recognized as he’s the only one with those ridiculous grillz in his mouth. Rounding out the house is Misfit who hits the rap trifecta of wack being white, a chick, and British but she will uncertainly be kept around for awhile on account that she’s hot.
Verdict: All of the contestants are closer to Kevin Federline than Eminem but they are all so loony there’s bound to be a can’t miss moment every episode. And despite al the silliness there a sense of responsibility like when Persia drops why too many N-Bombs and is punished for it and they get a history lesson for Rock and Hall of Fame inductee Grandmaster Flash (surely the Flavor Flav guest spot is inevitable). And hey, at least it is more entertaining than just dudes singing karaoke.
I had my review of Ego Trip’s The (White) Rapper Show all ready to go but I had to put that on the back burner once again because my favorite oversized dome made it into the news again. It was reported today that Big Head Barry failed a drug test. Take that all you Bonds backers who said he never failed a drug test because he will forever have one on his resume. Well that and already admitting to using The Cream and The Clear in his grand jury testimony. Although it’s an odd time for this to be released considering that the season ended about four months ago but that is because he failed the test six months ago. As always Major League Baseball is on top of things. And taking a page out of George Bush’s playbook, the buck stops somewhere over there when Big Head Barry blamed the failed test on something he took out of former teammate Mike Sweeney’s locker. So we can add thief to liar and druggie. Well unless he lied about being a thief because guess who didn’t test positive for the drug that was stolen out of his locker: Mike Sweeney.
This wasn’t the best week for oversized domes as surely you all know by now that the original Big Head, Mark McGwire was rejected in his first try into the Baseball Hall of Fame garnishing on 23.5 percent of the 75 percent needed to get in. I never understood the argument for McGwire getting in because even if you took away the cloud of steroids out of the equation he was a mediocre at best player who just had about three great years which were based mostly on the number of home runs he hit. He couldn’t much else and was at times a liability on the field. Other oversized domes didn’t fair as well as McGwire as former Surreal Lifer Jose Canseco only got 1.1 percent of the votes while the first steroid admitter, the late Ken Caminiti received just two votes. Also not receiving enough votes to stay on the ballot for next year (you need at least 5 percent of the vote) was Joey Bell at 3.5 who I’m surprised has avoided all the steroids talk as he is a known cheater who sent a bat boy through the air ducts to steal his corked bats from the umpires.
In non baseball news, THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING! Okay it’s not the Redcoats, it just David Beckham who signed on to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy. This is notable for two reasons, one I find this quote by Becks funny, “I've played now for two of the biggest clubs in the world and played at the highest level for 15 years, and now I think that I need another challenge.” What challenge is that, a less superior league? How is that a challenge? The second is that he will presumably bring along his wife best now on this side of the pond as Posh Spice, whom not only I once met, I also royally irritated her in our meeting. Fun times.
A quick programming note: The Knights of Prosperity, or as I like to call it Let’s Rob Mick Jagger will be on tonight following the Presidential Address at 9:25 so set your alarm clock, VCR, or if your cool enough, your Tivo. If you end up missing it, you can always check it out at ABC.com. And don’t forget to check out my contest on how to win a Knights of Prosperity T-Shirt.
But today I don’t want to talk about entertaining shows like Let’s Rob Mick Jagger or Ego Trip’s The (White) Rapper Show which I’ll be talking about tomorrow. Earlier this week I summed up In Case of Emergency as the least funny show since Four Kings. But there are some shows debuting this year that are so bad that there is no way you can get me to watch them. Topping that list is the Jennifer Lopez driven Dance Life. Just when I think the J-Lo era is finally over they give her and her uber-lame husband their own reality show. Thanks MTV, this better not lead to another crappy album from her.
Next up on the now way I’m ever watching list: Gay, Straight or Taken. What’s worse is this is on Lifetime. So this is what woman do for entertainment? Not only that, wasn’t this a Fox reality show called Playing it Straight at one point? Speaking of ripping off other show, there is I Love New York. What brain trust thought this was a good idea? Didn’t these people learned form The Bachelorette which killed off The Bachelor franchise? Not to mention Flavor Flav is a star, New York, not so much.
Which leads me to tonight’s premiere of another show you won’t ever catch me watching: Armed and Famous. Yeah, why not in the middle of the War on Terror deputize a bunch of publicity seekers who will only mock the profession of protecting us? I have a sinking suspicion that this was the very reality show Jordan McDeere passed on for NBS. But surpisingly it wasn’t picked up by Fox, nope this stinker will air on CBS. And the cast makes the Surreal Life Fame Gamers look like actual A-Listers: Erik Estrada looks like he is trying to beat his Surreal cast mate Trishelle for shaming themselves for the most reality show, LaToya Jackson is a sixth rate Jackson after Michael, Janet, Joe, Tito and Germaine, Jack Osbourne is also the least interesting in his family, Jason Acuna known to drunken frat boys everywhere as Wee Man, and Trish Stratus who left wrestling for this trash. Oh and I have pictures courtesy of CBS:
Want more, head over to Ficken Chingers where Angie has amateur pictures of Wee Man and Jack as she lives in Muncie, Indiana where the show was film. Somehow she didn't get any camera time herself even though I know she watched My Name Is Earl this past week and should have had plenty of suggestions on how to get on a reality cop show. But anyways. For those interested in the show, and I can’t imagine anyone outside of Muncie would, the show airs tonight at 8:00. Me, I'll be watching quality programming like Friday Night Lights and Beauty and the Geek at that hour. Oh and don’t forget Let's Rob Mick Jagger after Bush’s speech. Oh and for those that din't catch it, the title for this post is from a Weird Al song.
We all have our reality guilty pleasures; some enjoy watching dudes singing karaoke while others enjoy watching rich kids talk about how hot they are. Some people somehow find enjoyment on watching people sitting around a house and do nothing 24/7. Me, my reality bane is watching has been celebrities humiliate themselves in the hopes that they may become relevant again. And no show has been better at humiliating celebrities than the six seasons of The Surreal Life that takes singers and actors from our formative years and sticks them in a house with reality stars and other people that are less famous. Now much like the show it ripped off, The Real World, The Surreal Life is bringing back some of it’s former contestants for The Surreal Life Fame Games.
As seen with the “game” played in the first episode, the show is about how much fame one has or what they will do to hang onto it. In the inaugural game, the ten Surreal Lifers had to be picked by a group of thirty random people to get a picture taken with. Who had Vanilla Ice getting the most photos? But anyways. Then the bottom three with the least amount of pictures would then have a mini game where the two losers would be banished to the “B-List” which, let’s face it, would be an upgrade for pretty much everyone in the cast. But they let the non-losers pretend they are still on the “A-List” in the lavish part of the house where the “B-List” part looked more like a low rent motel.
Ironically the biggest fame seekers, the token reality star, none of them were selected for these games. Instead the contestants were primarily made up of the token actor from the eighties and the token rocker or rapper. From season one we get Emmanuel Lewis (Webster). From the second season there is Vanilla Ice (Ice, Ice Baby), Traci Bingham (Baywatch), and Ron Jeremy (porn). After Jordon Knight (NKOTB) dropped out for personal reasons Brigitte Nielsen (Red Sonja) is the lone representative from season three. Chyna Doll (wrestler) and Verne Troyer (Mini-Me), who replaced Knight, are from season four. Pepa (Push It) is the only one who survived the infamous season five. Then C.C. DeVille (Poison) and Andrea Lowell (Playboy TV) are from the latest season.
Wait, no Flavor Flav? How can VH1 do a reality show without Flavor Flav?
Back to the game, I’m really not sure what the rules of the game are. Supposedly someone gets kicked off the show until there is only one celeb left. But all that happened was two contestants, Chyna and Mini-Me, were banished to the B-List but weren’t eliminated, or so I took from it. And instead of all the other celebrity editions game show, the person the wins gets to keep the money, and is not playing for charity which is something cheap. Couldn’t they have at least gone halfsies?
Verdict: Complete and utter trash. And I’ll be watching every week despite the disturbing Brigitte and Chyna hookup in the first episode. Go Webster! The Surreal Life Fame Games airs Sundays at 9:00 on VH1 and will most likely be repeated contantly throughout the week and will probably have twenty marathons before Groundhog’s Day.
After Let’s Rob Mick Jagger, my second most anticipated new show of the year was I’m From Rolling Stone. I got my very first Rolling Stone way back in 1993 with the iconic Cindy Crawford cover with her holding her boobs sparking a trend that still goes on today. Needless to say, with that as my first issue, I’m still a loyal subscriber to this day. And that is why I was so excited for the premiere of this reality show as it follows six interns with one getting a contributing editor job at the end of the summer. Yes summer, as in last summer, and there is one of the cons to this show in that it can’t be to hard to find out who won.
Although another is that after one episode, I really don’t care to do the easy research to find out who won as most of the interns are not all that interesting. The only two that stand out, and not by much are Peter Maiden, the resident drunk (hey, this is still a reality show on MTV), and the rebel without a clue Russell Moore who was so brazen when Jann Wenner called to tell him he got the internship Moore said he didn’t want it afterwards only to say he was just kidding. Of course that was better than Krishtine de Leon who butchered Wenner’s name. How do you apply for a job for the most well known music magazine in the world and not know the Founder, Publisher and Editor of the magazine? Maybe it’s me, but I make it a point note to know any potential bosses name.
Rounding out the contestants is Krystal Simpson, the bright-eyed one with the least amount of world experience. Colin Stutz is your token modern day hipster who wasn’t that memorable from the first episode. And if I were to make a preseason pick on who gets the contributor job I would put my money on Tika Milan who seems the most dedicated of the bunch. The first episode was basically just them getting the call as well as getting their first assignment which was then critiqued by Executive Editor Joel Levy.
Verdict: The first episode was a snore fest but hopefully now that the introductions are over with things will start to pick up. I’m From Rolling Stone airs Sundays at 10:00 on MTV.
In other music news, the latest crop of inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced today with R.E.M., Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Patti Smith, and The Ronettes all entering the Hall on March 12. Interesting to see which, if any, former Van Halen front men will show up and/or perform. Not to mention it wasn’t too long ago when Eddie Van Halen announced that he replaced original bassist Michael Anthony with his son Wolfgang. I’m sure to have a full recap of the festivities whenever it airs on VH1.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube (but no (Expletive Deleted) in a Box; when it first aired on SNL it was funny, when you’re the 1000th blog to feature it, not so much). I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Okay, I’m a big history guy so whenever you get a video like this I’m watching it over and over again. It hard to quibble with the selections (okay, maybe a little: no Springsteen, Prince, or Beastie Boys). This video just missed the cut off for The Best Videos of 2006 list but it’s already the video to beat for 2007’s list. Now this is where I link the video in iTunes but there is only one problem, you can’t buy the song. Yeah you can get it if you buy the U218 Singles greatest hit package, but the problem is, I already own all the other songs on the album. And record companies wonder why people still resort to staling songs.
Surely everyone has seen what boils down to as a commercial for the cheesy nighttime General Hospital show, but this version is a much better fit for the song (rumor has it the lead singer of The Fray wrote this song after having a talk with a depressed kid who then went home committed suicide one day) and so transplanting hacks with actually people is a vast upgrade.
This video seemed to escape me when it was originally released a couple months ago even though Eisley is one of my favorite bands in recent years with their album Room Noises, which happens to be the first album I ever reviewed on this site (see: You Humor Me Today) and landed at number four on my Best Albums of 2005 list. Some cool effect throughout the video. The band is currently working on a follow up that should be out this year so look out for that and surely it will be reviewed here whenever it is released.
Just a quick story, when I listen to iTunes I usually have it on shuffle which occasionally pops up some great songs that I haven’t heard in a while. Yesterday it shuffled on Santana featuring Musiq with Nothing at All and I forgot how much I loved the song. In fact if I were to ever try out for some lame karaoke show, this would be my audition song. Well either that or When Doves Cry because you haven’t lived until you have heard my drunken rendition of When Doves Cry.
One last thing I forgot to mention during my TV post was that Showtime send me some promo stuff for The L Word which fourth season starts tonight. Unfortunately they didn't let me check out the first episode like they did for Dexter but they did point me in the way of this not all that safe for work video: The Most Awesome Make-Out Montage and it definately lives up to its title. And if you order Showtime now and you can get an exclusive designer top from The L Word collection (retail value $179). Keep in mind this is more of an offer for chicks, but check out that offer here.
Starting a new weekly segment today where every week (no set date, just sometime during the weekend, maybe Monday at the latest) I discuss my favorite things that happened on television the past week. In honor of this new segment I have a new contest:
Win a Knights of Prosperity T-Shirt
Now this isn’t one of those Café Press shirts I’ve made myself, this is an official shirt like the ones worn by the cast straight from ABC (see at right, click picture to enlarge and sorry guys, Sofia Vergara not included). ABC is even throwing in cookies as part as the prize package. Here’s how to win: I’m not really sold on the title for this post to be called 57 Channels and Only This Is On so what I need from you is to send me a better name for this segment (ScooterKSU@aol.com; Subject: I Want to Rob Mick Jagger). Now for those that want the shirt but don’t think they can come up with a better title, all you have to do is tell me what pop culture reference 57 Channels and Only This Is On is referencing (be specific, I'm looking for two key phrases) then out of all the entries I will randomly pick one person to win the prize packet from everyone who sends an e-mail. Also anyone who plugs this contest on their blog will get a bonus entry into the contest (but you must e-mail me to let me know you have done so to get an entry). This contest will run until January 17 and the winner will be e-mailed shortly after.
* Fine Print: This contest is open only to those in the US and Canada. Also the only shirt size available is Large. Want more chances to win Knights of Prosperity swag? Swing over to >Ducky’s brand new website to win the contest he's running as well as the TV Addict who is also running one. And don’t forget to watch Knights of Prosperity Wednesdays at 9:00 or you can always stream the latest episode for free at ABC.com.
Now for my favorite moments on television for the past week:
Best Quote of the Week (Friday Night Lights, Coach Taylor’s wife to the failing Tim Riggins): “It’s my job to make sure you don’t grow up stupid; it’s bad for the world.” (Every teacher across the country should hang this quote up somewhere in their classroom.)
Friday Night Lights: Finally they gave my boy Landry an actual storyline this week with trying to tutor Riggins and by tutoring I mean reading Of Mice and Men to him everywhere including the weight room. And will I go to hell because I laughed that Landry wanted to call his band Stigmatlingous? In other news I never thought wheelchair sex could be so hot.
My Name Is Earl: Quite possible the funniest half hour on television since the My Name Is Earl pilot. As funny as it is to see Earl cross things off his list, seeing what he does to get such things on his list may be funnier. For this episode I’ll start at the end because there has been nothing funnier on TV this season that Randy getting shot out of the tree with a tranquillizer gun. Someone needs to send a clip of that to Tony Kornheiser quick.
Other great scenes from the episode are too many to name, but it was great to see former guests including the one-legged woman, Earl’s ex who thought he was dead, the gay dude (anyone else notice he was circling around the block with the naked dude with the snake scene), the cop who’s badge Earl stole, the voice box dude and we even learned how the mailman lost his eye. The only person missing was Ralph (Giovanni Ribisi); you know Ralph wouldn’t miss a chance to be on Cops. We were even introduced to some other Camden County locals including local celebrity Timothy Stack (who just so happened to write the episode) and Mimi from The Drew Carey Show. I can’t wait to see how Earl crosses her off his list for stealing her cop car.
If you missed the episode or just want to see it again, NBC.com has started streaming episodes of the show, so head over there to see it.
In Case of Emergency: It’s not a good sign when The Class is the funniest new impromptu reunion show of the season. In fact I haven’t laughed this little since Four Kings (the one lone laugh “Is there any chance your fiancée is a chick?”).
This most likely won’t be a weekly segment in these posts, but the best promo of the season goes to this Supernatural one that aired multiple times during the Beauty and the Geek premiere. It may come to a shock to some of you but I’m a huge Johnny Cash fan and this is just a great use of God’s Gonna Cut You Down (they need to get whoever made this promo to do one like this for Veronica Mars):
Next Week’s Pick of the Week (Yeah I need a better name for this too): Awesome, I Shot That (Saturday 9:00 VH1): The Beastie Boys gave out a bunch of camcorders to fans to film a concert. Surprisingly they got back all the camcorders which make up this concert film. You can also buy the unedited version of the concert on DVD.
Rarely does anything live up to the hype, most recently we saw this with the dismal performance of internet failure Snakes on a Plane. And after making fans wait for over fifteen years, there is no way Chinese Democracy can possibly live up to the hype even if it turns out to be the best Guns N Roses album. But finally after eight months of waiting to see it, Let’s Rob Mick Jagger (also known as Knights of Prosperity) more than lived up to my expectation. And what a pedigree the show has most importantly that it’s from the guys who brought us the second best show this decade, Ed which means it’s being produced by Worldwide Pants, David Letterman’s production company. (All pictures courtesy of ABC)
Then on the other side of the camera you have Donal Logue, one of the funniest men comedic actors around but recently has been stuck in roles that don’t fully represent his talents, but his janitorial turned crime boss Eugene is right up his alley. No annoying kids or improbably hot wife here. And his crew is all top notch too including standout Rockefeller Butts because, well, his name is Rockefeller Butts. His Barry White like delivery makes all his lines automatically funny. The other stand out in the cast, for an entirely different reason, is the gun toting token hot chick who quickly goes to the top of the hottest token hot chick on television today. I don’t really care that her accent is so thick that I can’t understand haft the things she says. Any bets on which other Knight will get lucky with her first (my money’s on the intern)?
Other Knights include Eugene’s toilet cleaning buddy Squatch who apparently isn’t too fond of foreigners (token hot chick excluded) which leads us to the Indian taxi cab driver Gourishanker who is more than happy to throw insults back to Squatch. But it’s Gourishanker who recruits the naive intern who thinks the crew is working on the Jimmy Fallon starring Taxi 2: Step on It. Now I don’t really like doing lists except for award shows but there were a lot of great moments from the first episode I just had to share them:
- “Wisdom? Who do you think I am, Morgan Freeman?”
- The generous of the Incredible Bongo Band’s Apache throughout the episode
- Eugene’s grand entrance
- Everyone’s reaction to Eugene’s “Let’s rob Mick Jagger” proposition
- “I don’t get it, why Mick Jagger? Why not some other celebrity like Alex Trebeck, Willem Defoe, James Wonder Beek, or Jeff Conoway?” “Who?” “Kenicki”
- “Whoa, whoa, Gory-what did-you-just-call-him? Yeah I’m just gonna call you Gary”
- “Issue one, that name sucks.” And there own ideas for their name
- Being criminals with bright orange shirts (win one here)
- “Then why didn’t you think of it Pocahontas” and basically every racial slur Gary and Squatch hurl at each other
- Mick’s indoor penalty kicks
- Squatch’s photo hat.
- Gary’s favorite part of a woman
- Bridges of Madison Country: Wasn’t that a movie?
- The token hot chick’s back story in Colombia
- The guys’ response to the token hot chick’s asking to join the gang: “Mi Casa Su Casa Baby”
- Instead of changing out his janitorial clothes, Eugene puts duct tape over his name
- The token hot chick packing heat. A lot of heat. “What are you, criminals or children?”
- “If either of you come near my Maria again I will humpty dumpy you punks”
- The reveal of Mick’s security while the musak version of Start Me Up plays
course it looks like Mick won’t be the other target as there will be plenty of guests for the Knights to rob including Bob Saget Ray Romano, Sally Jessie Raphael and… Screech? And of course with Letterman involved that means Regis Philbin, along with Kelly Ripa, may be targets. Hopefully Letterman himself or sidekick Paul Shaffer (who wrote the theme song) will eventually become targets. But if the original target Mick Jagger doesn’t get nominated for Best Guest Star in a Comedy Series at next year’s Emmys that will be the biggest sham ever.
Verdict: Now this is must see TV. It may not be as funny as My Name Is Earl but it’s by far the funniest new show this season. Surely it will take a while for them to rob Mick Jagger because even though they were smart enough to steal the key they weren’t smart enough to steal the key to the storage locker. Knights of Prosperity airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on ABC but you can watch an encore of the first episode tonight at 9:00 or you can watch the most recent episodes at ABC.com.
Before I get into this post, let me first say that no, I’m not the Scooter from the show. My lucky knee high socks are white with three neon green strips at the top. Also when I sport a beard I look more like the dude from The Notebook (or so I’ve been told). But if there are there are any Playboy models who want to jump on the hang out with dudes named Scooter bandwagon, shout a holla. Now back to your regularly scheduled post.
The first season Beauty and the Geek was one of the best reality seasons in the history of television. Richard Rubin set a very high bar for the Geeks while Lauren Bergfeld did the same for the beauty. Which led to a very steep drop off in the second season mostly because the contestants had an idea of what was to come as well as it seemed as if more than a few beauties faked their dumbness just to get on to the show. But after watching the two-hour premiere of the third go around, it looks like they did a better job casting because these girls all seem clueless led by Megan Hauserman, who has Playboy Model (guys check out the Google search box on the sidebar, I know you are gonna search eventually) as her credential, and Cecille Gahr, Bikini Model. But my favorite job has to be Jennylee Berns who has UFC Ring Girl on her résumé. And I swear I have seen her on one of MTV’s fifty different dating shows. Round out the beauties are Andrea Ciliberti (Beauty Pageant Queen), Erin Gipson (Voice Teacher), Nadia Underwood (Sorority Girl), Sheree Swanson (Former Hooters Waitress), and Tori Elmore (Model).
As for the Geeks, none of seem like they will dethrone Richard as the geekiest ever but overall this could be the geekiest of all the season. The crop definitely eliminates any thoughts I’ve had being a nerd myself when they have characters like Drew Sawa who informs us all a bit a trivia that I doubt anyone else knew in that Trekkie is like the “N” word to Star Trek fans who instead prefer Trekker. His explanation of this was only made funnier when his partner kept on calling the show “Star Track” and “Star Truck.” But it’s Singer for a Star Wars Band So Long Princess Nate Dern who steals the show. And sorry the band has yet to show up on iTunes. But hopefully we get to hear more songs from him throughout the series. Then there is Piao Sam (only Kissed One Girl) who like to go by Pi and even has a gang-like hand sign that resembles the Greek letter. But it was another Geek who bragged he knows Pi to over a hundred places. Other Geeks include Matt Herman (MIT Graduate), Niels Hoven (Had a Perfect SAT Score), Alan “Scooter” Zackheim (Harvard Graduate), Mario Muscar (Owns 25,000 Comics), and Sanjay Shah (Virgin) who, despite being a huge fan of rap music was under the impression that “bootie” was referring to a pirate’s treasure.
For some reason they tweaked the elimination round this year in that the partners stay in the room while the other answers the questions while all the other pairs watch from upstairs. But more puzzling is that they went from three questions each to just two. Both seem like change for the sake of change and in no way makes the show better. As for predictions, I’ll have to go with my boy Other Scooter and Megan to win. But more importantly Andrea wins my Girl I’d Most Want to Have Dirty, Dirty Sex With Award.
Verdict: After a sophomore slump Beauty and the Geek is back in fine form. It looks like I may have to bump Friday Night Lights back into the taping category at lest for the Geek’s seven week run. Beauty and the Geek airs Wednesday at 8:00 on The CW.
Be sure to check back tomorrow on my thoughts of Let’s Rob Mick Jagger which more than lived up to expectations. And don’t forget to check out my contest to win your own Knights of Prosperity T-Shirt. Also if you missed the show, head over to ABC.com to stream the episode for free or tune in this Friday at 9:00 when ABC will repair the pilot.
Some last thoughts and list of 2006. First looking back at this blog, here are the top five post of the past year by page views (a big thanks to MTV for rerunning the first two seasons of Beauty and the Geek that brought in about 100 searchers for each marathon it ran) :
One cool addition to iTunes this year was the ability to add your reviews to each album. Unfortunately there isn’t a minimum amount of word you must write as many reviews on the site are less than a sentence. But then there are people like me who write lengthy reviews for others to read and I copied the ones I do for this site can add them on iTunes. Here are the top five most helpful reviews I put there (click the review title to read it on my site or click the album title to go to its iTunes page where you can buy it or just give me another helpful vote if you like):
As for the artist that made the most impact in the last year here are the ones that showed up most on my Best of lists (for those lists, click on the Best of 2006 label at the bottom of this post):
1. KT Tunstall (Best Songs - 11, 31, 97; Best Albums - 2, 28; Readers Poll - 11) - Tunstall started the year garnishing a rare [Extreme] rating on my Terror Alert Scale and even through in an acoustic album late in the year to boot. Yeah her music has been co-opted by some crappy television shows but that in no way takes away the fact that she produced one of the best pop albums in years.
2. Johnny Cash (Best Songs - 2, 52; Best Albums - 7; Best Videos - 1; Best Mash Ups - 1, 8; Reader’s Poll - 15) - As a long time fan, A Hundred Highways was a great swan song (although Rick Rubin says there may be one more after it) giving a song that not only stands up with any song from the American Recording era, but with anything his back catalog with God’s Gonna Cut You Done.
3. The Killers (Best Songs - 10, 94; Best Albums - 48; Best Videos - 6, 12; Reader’s Poll - 4) - I gave the guys a lot of crap this year on not living up to their own hype, but they did give us the best rock song of the year and two iconic videos.
4. Rhymefest (Best Songs - 25, 68; Best Albums - 10) In a year that wasn’t kind to hip hop (maybe Nas is right) with the failed comeback of Jay-Z and Lupe Fiasco not living up to the hype, this MC, who helped Kanye West write Jesus Walk, just may be the one to resurrect hip hop, well that’s if people start listening to him.
5. Gnarls Barkley (Best Songs - 1; Best Videos - 3, 19; Best Mash Ups - 4, 14, 23; Reader’s Poll - 1) No one has done so much with just one song, a song that is inching closer and closer to the top of the One Hit Wonder pantheon.
Since 1996 I have made a CD of my favorite music from the past year and here is the CD I have made from this past year but I like to put songs in reverse order as so they are counting down to the best song. This CD clocks in at 78:07 (for links to the songs and the full top 100 check out: The 100 Best Songs of 2006).
1. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray 2. Save Room - John Legend 3. The Saints Are Coming - U2 & Green Day 4. Nothing Left to Lose - Mat Kearney 5. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol 6. Smile - Lily Allen 7. Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks 8. Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira & Wyclef Jean 9. Fidelity - Regina Spektor 10. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield 11. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall 12. When You Were Young - The Killers 13. I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie 14. Hurt - Christina Aguilera 15. Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers 16. One - Mary J. Blige & U2 17. How to Save a Life - The Fray 18. Boston - Augustana 19. Waiting on the World to Change - John Mayer 20. God’s Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash 21. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Looking ahead 2007, I'm predicting Lily Allen to be the break out star of next year. Her first single Smile has gotten some buzz behind it so look out for the release of her album stateside later this month. Just remember when she is huge, you heard it her first. Although keep in mind I haven't correctly predicted the next big thing since Hootie and the Blowfish.
My other prediction is the demise of American Karaoke as it will get thrashed in the ratings by Let's Rob Mick Jagger (be sure to check out my contest and watch the show tonight at 9:00 on ABC). Okay maybe wishful thinking but before the latest crop of karaokers hit the stage I had a chance to her a couple of Katharine McPhee's new songs and, well, I'm less than impressed. She's trying to be Mariah Carey but the only problem is that Mariah Carey is still around and does a much better job at being Mariah Carey. There was one decent song out of the bunch, Love Story and you can take a listen for it yourself below.
Very rarely do I ever do I start watching a show after it’s started, twice to be exact. The second time was when I stayed tune to watch the post-Super Bowl Alias. They had me sold with Jennifer Garner prancing in her underwear to Back in Black so I instantly queued the seasons I missed and watch them at mass. Unfortunately the show didn’t live up to the hype and I have yet to see the last season. But the only other show that I started watching during its run definitely lived up to the hype and that is why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.
The main reason why I skipped the show in its initial run was mostly because of the horrendous movie of the same name with Dylan McKay and Pee Wee Herman in his first acting appearance since, well, he opened the Video Music Awards. So there was no way after wasting and hour and a half of my life watching the movie would invest a whole hour every week for the a serialize version. But after all the praise the show received, I got a second chance when FX bought the syndication rights and started airing the show from the beginning around the start of the fifth season.
So every weekday for two hours I watch obsessively until I was fully caught up in about two months. And then the withdrawal started, going from ten episodes a week to just one was a big jolt. What really drew me into was the writing with it’s overly sarcastic characters and enough pop culture references to keep you scouring the internet each week to figure out the one’s you didn’t catch. The writing was so good it was even able to hind Sarah Michelle Gellar’s sub par acting skills (and before anyone what to argue that fact, go rent Simply Irresistible, The Grudge, or any of the Scooby Doo movies, then try to argue). And while all the fanatics fawned over the Buffy/Angel pairing, I gravitated more to Xander and the follies of his love life. Although sometimes those follies hit too close to home but luckily I never ran into a Vengence Deamon (that I know of).
But what drove the show year in and year out were the annual Big Bad’s who would make Buffy’s life miserable every year. It seemed that every Big Bad was badder than his or her predecessor. Well until we got to the nerd trio in season six, but what they lacked in scariness they definitely made up in comic relief. And who would have guessed in season six that Andrew would be the most entertain part of the last season as well as a great guest spot on Angel the following year? Thanks to the greatness of the Big Bad’s, one of the best scenes ever was the closing season of season seven’s premiere with Spike being haunted by all the other Big Bad’s.
Speaking of Spike, there is another great aspect of the show in that you never knew when a character would pop up again. Not even death kept some characters from making more appearances most notable Harmony who was actually more entertaining dead than alive and of course the previously mentioned Andrew who went from an obscure character from season one’s brother to the best part of the last season.
Unfortunately it’s not all fond memories for the show as Buffy remands the main reason why I avoid spoilers when I learned way too early that Tara would die causing Willow to become the Big Bad at the end of season six somewhat ruining that season for me. But the good definitely out weigh the bad with some iconic episodes like Hush where everyone on the show lost their voice for most of the episode. It’s weird to think that the show is now a decade old (well technically it will in March) but the episodes have aged well even with all the pop culture references and that is why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the first induction into the SHoF for 2007. Unfortunately the Buffyverse has been on hiatus since Angel ended a year after Buffy and a Faith based show and Spike centered movies have since failed to go past planning stages but it was recently announced by Joss Whedon that he will doing a season eight of the series in comic book form so look out for that.
As I write this, you can currently get all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at Amazon.com for 19.97 (that’s $0.91 per episodes of seasons 2-7) and below are my three favorite seasons. You can also download the first two seasons at iTunes.
Since 1996, long before I had a blog, I have made of my favorite songs from that year once it concluded. Sometimes songs near the top of those list haven’t stood the test of time while some songs near the bottom have over the years have become some of my favorites. This year I took a list of 162 songs that caught my ear the past twelve months and came back with my top 100 using a complex racking system that makes the BCS look like Middle School algebra. So here are the songs that you should have been listening to this past year:
On Monday, January 15 at 11:00 a.m. PT, fans can go to www.cbs.com to watch a live webcast of the cast, producers and writers of “The Class” participating in a “table read” of an upcoming episode. The table read marks the first day of production on a half-hour multi-camera comedy, offering the actors their first opportunity to work on scenes together and giving the director, writers and producers instant feedback on how the episode is received by an audience. The table read is traditionally followed by rehearsal on Tuesday, leading to the first complete rehearsal performance of the episode on stage on Wednesday. And CBS.com will be there, too.
“On Wednesday, January 17 at 1:00 p.m. PT, fan can catch a second live webcast at www.cbs.com to watch the run-thru. Traditionally, this full-episode rehearsal process takes place behind closed doors, but this exclusive event takes viewers directly inside the world of this fresh new comedy series—live and uncut.
(Red Sonja) is the lone representative from season three. Chyna Doll (wrestler) and 
