The Game S05E05

Despite some gems as ‘adding bacon to anything makes it delicious’, this is not a good show.

Bunch of guys, probably athletes, and their women living their lives. I know i’m jumping in part way through the fifth season, but I don’t know what”s going on. Crucially, I can’t be bothered to find out.

It’s not a very good show. Even the studio audience barely laughed. And that’s basically their job.

In the church scene we had a gospel choir which is always quite fun, with an enthusiastic pastor. But… it’s not good. It’s just not good.

The woman is wanting pregnant, so she changes churches to encourage God. And donates big dollars. I’m glad I don’t watch this show, and I won’t be bothering to find the first season. It’s unusual for me not to demand S01E01 for a new show, but I had low expectations for this show. Justified! BOOM.

Guy being a black stereotype in the cinema; sneaking food in and shouting at the screen. To try to seduce a black girl that’s he’s dating. But she is not interested. I do not blame her. He tries to learn about ‘the plight of the black woman’ so that he can seduce this young lady.

I shan’t be watching this show again. Live and learn. Apparently it’s a spin off. Spin offs tend to be worse than their original (The Cleveland Show, Joey) and this is probably another one on the list. Move on.

Threesome

Threesome was an all new and original comedy created for Comedy Central. This is highly unusual. Normally Comedy Central just brings us repeats of Friends, Scrubs, Two and a half men, and the like. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but merely highlighting how unusual it is for them to be creating their own original comedies.

And Threesome is actually quite original. The plot isn’t a classic rehash of so many others, so props for that. But it also isn’t very good. Described by ‘The Sun’ as sniggeringly adult humour, and sadly that seems to be the aim of the game.

With painfully obvious plot lines and gags that you can see coming a mile away, Threesome is maybe trying too hard. The actors aren’t the best, but they aren’t the worst. Alice (Amy Huberman) discovers she is pregnant after having had a threesome on her 30th birthday with her boyfriend Mitch (Stephen Wight) and their gay best friend Richie(Emun Elliott). Lordy lordy, Richie is the father!

Some of the funniest moments almost seem accidental in this show. Some of my favourite scenes are those when they must explain their non-traditional roles in the babies future, and the anticipation when you realise what they have to say next, and their listeners reaction. It’s not completely unlike Spaced, but not as good, and all the characters have had sex together.

The appearance of Pauline McLynn (A.K.A. Mrs Doyle from Father Ted) as Alice’s mum is great, and she is an awful mother but a good comic character. It actually makes you feel sorry for Alice. The characters are quite believable, but they’ve had to make too much of the adultness of the show, and so we spend too much time on the drinking, drugs and sex, and not enough on the lego, friendships and real life.

The show has to deal with 9 months in just 7 episodes, so it is always a little unclear just how much time is passing in any one moment. This leads to a handful of inconsistencies, but it is probably forgiveable. But i’m not happy about it.

All in all it’s not a bad show. I wouldn’t re-watch it, I wouldn’t demand you watch it, and I don’t think there should be a second season. But it’s not bad; in fact it is better than I thought it would be.

The Cafe

Set in a quaint English seaside town, Weston-super-mare,  and starring Ralf Little it seems pretty obvious that this is going to be a usual turbo-charged comedy. They eschew belly laughs for quiet smiles, making for a pleasant little show.

It is a lot more like real life than most shows, with gentle banter and bad jokes making the characters laugh more than the observer. It is not a challenge to draw parallels between The Cafe and The Royle Family, thanks to the sloo-o-o-ooow humour and Ralf Little.

It is very character-driven rather than bothering with that staple of the American show: storylines. Private jokes bounce between the characters, and we can only guess at the origins of these.

Our lead character is Sarah, home from London as a failure in the literary world helps to run the cafe with her mother and grandmother. Her best friend Brenda (Seeta Indrani) is the one we laugh at most, because she’s a moron. Her other friend is a human statue (Kevin Trainor), he’s very camp and rather annoying.

The cafe is going down the pan, despite their best efforts. But ultimately, having 3 customers or something simply isn’t going to be enough. Even if you’re charming and quaint, there is no alternative to cold hard cash. But it’s a feel good journey down the pan, if you’ve got the hours that feels like days to spend on it.

Funny As Hell: Comedy Tour

Six episodes, hosted by Jon Dore, as comedians take their time to entertain us. Few big names, but lots of big laughs. Some of the more recognisable names, at least to me, were Amy Schumer, Kate Micucci, T.J. Miller, J.B. Smoove and the whole series was closed by Tim Minchin. However, it was not the big names that impressed me most. In fact, one of the most instantly recognisable, J.B. Smoove, better known as Leon Black in Curb Your Enthusiasm, was the single worst comic in the whole show.

However I don’t want Smoove’s terrible part to besmirch the rest of an excellent show. And it was an excellent show. Jon Dore as host was great, and was the creator or co-creator behind many of the segues used between sessions. Many of the other comedians that i’d never heard of were also great. Being titled “funny as hell”, it was no surprise to hear a lot of humour that Jesus probably wouldn’t have approved of. The majority though was not being rude, blasphemous, crude etc just for the sake of it, but for its role in part of a bigger shtick.

There was quite a lot of musical performances which is always quite nice, and also a huge variety in performers. There were a healthy dose of both men and women, black and white, tall and short. It was a very very good show, and if you like stand-up and want to hear some stuff you’ve not heard before from people you’ve never heard of, then give this comedy tour a go.

The Deep: The Secrets of the Humpback Whale

Guess what secrets the Humpback whale is hiding. Go on, guess. Think maybe it’s got something up it’s sleeve? Maybe something to do with sonar and echolocation? Or perhaps it eats something a bit unusual? No? Then it must be to do with the way they live as families! No. The truth is, Humpbacks don’t have secrets.

This makes this documentary incredibly boring. And I like whales! If you don’t like whales, then this would be one of the single most boring documentaries ever. More boring than painting grass and seeing if the paint dries before the grass grows to an appreciable degree.

Some people watch whales. They can recognise the whales based on their patterns and behaviour. They’ve been doing this for 20+ years. I don’t envy them even one bit. Seriously, so dull. They swim about, they flap their fins. They occasionally do a big breach and cause a big splash. But that’s as exciting as it gets, and that’s really not exciting.

Impractical Jokers S01E07

Another great episode that made me laugh out loud. Big genuine LOLs. Right from the start, when they are analysing handwriting and Murr (James Murray) asks a man to slap him gently across the face with his pimp-hand I was loving this episode. Right through to the loser having to beg for toilet paper while sat on the toilet. Throw in Q (Brian Quinn) cheating to get one of his few losses, and Joe (Joe Gatto)’s scatting skills and you’ve got another absolutely excellent episode. Oh, and Sal (Sal Vulcano) is lame again, but bless him for trying.

One of the best shows on television. It shouldn’t be as good as it is, and if you were just to describe it I wouldn’t think much of it. But it just works. The chemistry between the guys, and the drive to embarrass one another just makes it absolutely hilarious. You should absolutely be watching this show.

 

Comedy Showcase: House of Rooms

Another surreal addition to the Comedy Showcase written by, and with the lead actor, Milton Jones. He lives in a shared house owned by his mother. He is somewhat in love with another room-mate called Alice (Cordelia Bugeja) but he seems to have a rival in the new room mate Paul (Colin Hoult). In addition, he is being bothered by a gas salesman wanting Milton to change his supplier.

It’s a very odd show, and I’d be a little surprised if it was picked up. I definitely preferred Chickens and Felix and Murdo to this, but it is easier to see how this could be drawn out into a full length show, whereas the other, better, shows seemed much more self-contained.

If you’re a big fan of Milton Jones then this show may appeal strongly to you, but as someone who isn’t particularly fussed about him, I think his humour is somewhat wasted on me.

Mike and Molly S02E13

Thankfully they have stopped making 60% of their jokes about the fact their main characters are fat. Now it’s like 25%. It’s still cheap humour, but less so than it used to be. Mike (Billy Gardell) is a policeman, and Molly (Melissa McCarthy A.K.A. Megan from Bridesmaids and Sookie from Gilmore Girls) is a teacher and they met at an overeaters anonymous meeting and now they’re in love, and living in Molly’s mother, Joyce’s (Swoosie Kurtz), house with Molly’s sister Victoria (Katy Mixon A.K.A. April from Eastbound and Down).

Victoria loses her license because she’s stoned. This is not an unusual state to find herself in. But as a consequence she requires lifts. As policemen who rarely do any actual police work, Mike and his partner Carl (Reno Wilson) find themselves as drivers for her.

When discussing their wedding plans with Mike’s mum Peggy (Rondi Reed), they manage to upset her by mentioning that Mike’s estranged father will be there too. What a kerfuffle.

It’s not a bad show, but it’s still a little hung up on making fat jokes. Oh no, Mike is arguing with his mum. He wants pancakes! Give the fat man pancakes! It’s not challenging in any way, and it’s not very rewarding. But it doesn’t actively upset me, so I still watch it.

 

Modern Marvels: Tiny Weapons

It’s not just computers that are getting smaller, but that is definitely an influence on some of these tiny weapons. With narration by Lloyd Sherr, Modern Marvels takes us on a tour of some of the smallest weapons in current use.

We see Deringers, tiny handguns like the one used to kill President Lincoln a while back. Not much has changed, but they are rather more accurate than the ones a hundred odd years ago.

We see how assault rifles and machine guns have got smaller and smaller, and look at the P90, which has the barrel start behind the trigger, allowing it to be a very short gun.

We see small hand grenades, small UAVs and the curious Davy Crockett system; a man-portable atomic missile. Could fire two miles. Could do damage over more than two miles. Wonder why that didn’t catch on…

And we learn that on this day (Jan 16th) Hitler moved into “history’s most evil man cave: The Fuhrerbunker”. Such a useful fact. What would Hitler’s man cave have looked like?

Last Man Standing S01E14

Ah Tim Allen. Voice of Buzz Lightyear, star of The Santa Clause, and of course, the main man in Home Improvement. Last Man Standing is basically Home Improvement, but even more so because he has to be EXTRA MANLY because instead of having three male children, he has got three female children. Women eh? What are they like? Always doing these womanly things. Not like men. Men know what they’re doing! Manly things, that’s how to spend your time.

So Tim Allen is Mike Baxter, the head of marketing or something at Outdoor Man, which sells stuff that every real man needs; guns, crossbows, camping equipment, fishing equipment. All that sort of stuff. His boss Ed (Hector Elizondo), trusts him to do what needs to be done, and he has enormous amounts of free reign. One of the main marketing outlets is online videos, where Mike just rants and rants about whatever that weeks story-line is, and vaguely links it to some product they’re selling.

This week Mandy (Molly Ephraim), the middle daughter, manages to get another ticket on her car, while Vanessa (Nancy Travis) finds out a neighbour has had a party without inviting the Baxters! Eve (Kaitlyn Dever), the youngest daughter, manages to damage Mandy’s car trying to move it into the garage! Maybe she’s not the perfect child after all?!

It’s a weak weak show. It’s very very traditional, and it feels like nothing has moved on since Home Improvement. The best thing about this show is that it’s very easy to fall asleep to. That’s something I like in some shows, because I really don’t mind if I miss some, or indeed all, of it.