Comedy

Faux Reality – A Look at The Joe Schmo Show and Burning Love

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

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The world of reality television is loaded with many shows that stretch the word “reality” to its very limits. But, what if you knew the show you were watching was staged?

The Joe Schmo Show is a “reality show” that is almost entirely staged and the audience is in on the ruse. A real person is cast as the “Joe” while all of the other contestants are actors. The show is meant to be ridiculous so as to always keep the “Joe” wondering if what they are seeing is real or fake. On this season of the show, the fake reality show that the producers have concocted is called The Full Bounty and is supposedly going to find the next great American bounty hunter. The premise is so insane and potentially grounds for so many lawsuits that you would have to be a bit nuts to buy it in the first place but no matter because television (more on that later). This season the show surrounds a guy named Chase who is clearly good-hearted but also isn’t above getting his hands dirty to do well on the show.

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Impressed by Derek

/ Katie Man / 6 Comments

Derek is a television show on Channel 4 about Derek Noakes, a man who works at a residential care home. The show was written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Ricky stars as Derek. As of writing this, 3 episodes of series 1 have aired.

Derek is compelling television. Before watching any of the episodes, I had a lot of expectations. For one thing, Ricky Gervais has been tweeting about the program daily, saying that it is his best work yet. For another, it stars Gervais as a man with a mental disability and Karl Pilkington as his best friend and janitor at the care home. Honestly, the premise sounds like someone is taking the piss (to use one of my favourite English phrases.) The promo photos all have Gervais with a greasy haircut and an underbite. Karl, too, looked ridiculous in the photos. Gervais has him dressed up in this long janitor-dress with the “ugliest haircut on the face of the planet” (to quote the character Derek).  To me, the show just looked silly and borderline offensive. It looked like a Ricky Gervais star vehicle and a good excuse to make Karl Pilkington look stupid.

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…But Nobody I Know Watches That…

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Written and conceived by Raphael Saray

I implore you for true tolerance. To strip away pre conceived notions. You may be offended when I say Fox News. Its very existence may cause you to shudder or “like” an anti-Fox Facebook page. Many people in my sphere of influence’s relationship with Fox News comes from Daily Show clips and Colbert Report skewering. But one show has never been touched by them and if you like Jon, Stephen, or even Bill Maher you may enjoy this particular “news” program. Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld has  probably been my consistent favorite tv show for the past few years. It’s on Fox News at 2 am. Continue reading →

Roundtable # 14 – Television Do-Overs: The Big Fat Spoiler Edition

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In this edition of the Roundtable we attempt to talk about the things on TV we wish had gone a bit differently.

Kerri: So, I asked you both to think about shows/characters/story-lines, etc. that didn’t work for you on television. In these cases the specific thing was such a problem that you would have wished the creators had never done it in the first place or could go back in time and correct the problem. Would anyone like to begin with one of their picks? Continue reading →

Issues with Archer: Why I Don’t Get a Show That Everyone Loves

/ kwoloszyn / 98 Comments

When I sat down to watch the first episode of the new season of Archer with a group of friends this past week, one of my friends said “I thought you didn’t like Archer”. And while I don’t outright hate the show I tend to stay silent while the rest of the room is laughing up a storm. The claim that I don’t like the show or maybe even hate it got me thinking, what is it about Archer that makes it difficult for me to warm up to and is that my fault or is something wrong with the show? Continue reading →

Roundtable #13 – CanCon Edition

/ kwoloszyn / 10 Comments

In this edition of the Roundtable we talk about quintessential Canadian television, what that means and if we watch. 

CanTV

Kerri: I thought we should start this edition of the Roundtable by talking about our picks for the most “Canadian” of Canadian TV shows. Any picks?

Katie: Hockey Night in Canada, Just for Laughs, Mr. Dressup, Degrassi

Kerri: My picks are Hockey Night in Canada, Trailer Park Boys and Degrassi.

Jane: Road to Avonlea, Twitch City, Slings and Arrows

Kerri: And the big question, of course, is why are these shows so Canadian? Continue reading →

Girls Season Two Premiere: Cleansing Rituals, Unsexy Sex and Donald Glover!!

/ Jane Walker / 1 Comment

The last time I wrote about Girls I wondered and hoped that the series would prove to be more self-aware than its characters. It did. After watching season 1 (twice) I can say, cautiously, that I am a fan of these ladies. I say cautiously because I constantly go back and forth between my love and hate of the characters. Currently, I love most of them but I will get into that later. Creator, writer, director, producer and actor Lena Dunham presents her four leads in all their flawed glory. She doesn’t demand that we empathise with them and she doesn’t demand that we condemn them either. She asks that we look at them as real humans and that includes ugly moments like Marnie dumping Charlie mid-sex, Jessa seducing her ex out of spite because he was happy with someone else and Hannah’s realization that her fear of aids might actually be a secret desire to contract the disease. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #11 – Television New Year’s Resolutions

/ kwoloszyn / 1 Comment

In this edition of the Roundtable we share some television New Year’s Resolutions with you. Happy 2013, everyone!

Katie’s Resolutions: 

3. I, Walter White, will remove myself from the drug game. Otherwise, I will surely die.

2. We, the writers of Parks and Recreation, will stop using Ann Perkins as whatever plot device we require. We will either take the time to develop her properly, or use her less frequently.

1. I, Katie Man, will never again watch an episode of Mad Men on my iPhone. No matter how much I want to watch the new episode over my lunch break, I will wait until I can watch it on a proper sized screen. Gotta respect good product.

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Yearly Leftovers – my favorite bits and bites from 2012

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Sick of making leftover turkey sandwiches? Read some of my leftover TV favorites from 2012! A smattering of things that I haven’t had a chance to write about that I’ve loved over the past year. No lists, no numbers, just some of my favorite stuff. 

Gravity Falls’ title sequence – It seems that more and more that title sequences for television shows are becoming short, efficient works of art.  I can’t think of a show that has a title sequence that is quite as brilliant as the one for Gravity Falls. Every episode begins with a beautiful sequence, animated to look like a time-lapse film, that takes us through the weird and wonderful town of Gravity Falls. The title sequence smartly recalls the title sequences of Twin Peaks, The X-Files and even Northern Exposure but its frenetic pace, quirky music and in-jokes tell us exactly what we are getting ourselves into.

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