Showing posts with label tv review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv review. Show all posts

Twas the Night Before Bah Humbug

Twas The Night Before Christmas
1977 | TV-G | 60 Min | Holiday | ABC

Director: Tim Kiley

Writers: Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon

Stars: 
Paul Lynde
Foster Brooks
Alice Ghostley




'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a Christmas television special loosely inspired by the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore. It first aired December 7, 1977, on ABC.




The story is set on Christmas Eve in a New England town in the late 1890s. The Cosgrove family's home is in an uproar over the holidays. Clark Cosgrove is frazzled by the gift demands of his loud children. His wife Nellie runs into endless friction with Clark's formidable mother, who lives with them. Nellie's inebriated father and cat-loving mother arrive for the holiday, and tensions arise between the mothers-in-law. A German uncle has also arrived, but complications ensue when a traveling salesman is mistaken for the uncle. Adding to the tumult is a visit from a caroling neighbor (Anson Williams). 


During the night, Clark's mother-in-law's cat escapes from the house and winds up on the roof. Clark goes to retrieve the cat and creates a ruckus, waking the house. When the children ask if the noise came from Santa Claus, Clark initially wants to dispel the myth of Santa Claus. Instead, he appeases them by reciting A Visit from St. Nicholas.


'Twas the Night Before Christmas was part of a series of ABC television specials starring Paul Lynde. Most notably the 1976 production of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, relied on a sketch comedy revue format, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas retained a narrative format where Lynde and his castmates remained in character for the entire show. Lynde's casting as a relatively straight, dramatic lead fulfilled a longstanding wish of his for more serious roles.


This is so hard to watch Paul comes off as one big A-Hole! This special was so poorly received by both critics and the public - placing #30 in the Nielsen ratings - that it was never re-broadcast nor made available on VHS or DVD. Thanks to someone out there holding on to there old VHS struck gold by finding and posting this one to YouTube for the rest of us to see. Sadly the magic of the Halloween special was missing, leaving us with a lump of coal. I will leave a link below for the show so you can be the judge but you have been warned this one is a clinker!

1 Ninja Santa out of 5





Raw-dogging? Nope Just A Shrill Review

Shrill
2019 | TV-MA | 6 Episodes | Comedy | Hulu

Creators: 
Aidy Bryant
Alexandra Rushfield
Lindy West

Stars: 
Aidy Bryant
Lolly Adefope
Luka Jones

Synopsis:
Annie is a full-figured woman who wants to change her life -- but not her body; she is trying to start her career while juggling bad boyfriends, a sick parent, and a perfectionist boss.


This Hulu dramedy stars Aidy Bryant (HBO's Girls) as an overweight woman figuring out which indignities she will accept and which she will reject in a world that prizes thin bodies. I hate the term Binge Worthy but Shrill is just that. 


Shrill is a smart and funny show about an overweight 20-something writer navigating self-esteem issues so deeply ingrained she doesn't always seem to recognize they're there.  We see her bending over backward to excuse the disappointing behavior of her friend with benefits Ryan, a bearded slacker who makes her leave through the back door of his house so his roommates won't see her. And her high-strung mother takes her own mental derangement out on Annie through a constant barrage of passive-aggressive remarks about her weight.


 The six-episode series tracks Annie's complicated and messy journey toward reclaiming her space in the world and embracing who she is without apologies. Though billed primarily as a comedy, Shrill has a tender sort of humor and is unique in the way it allows Annie to be a multidimensional human being. I love how cocky she can be while exploring the many ways society at large can squash a person's individuality and confidence. It's that confidence that kept me wanting more. 


There is something about Bryant's bubbly charm that keeps you from putting down the remote, and although she can come off a tiny bit awkward in the show's more deeply emotional moments, this doesn't seem too out of place, considering that the character herself is only just beginning to be comfortable pursuing what she wants out of her life and the people in it. Not sure how Hulu felt about how Shrill was going to do only ordering up six episodes but I sure hope to get more in the next season.

Shrill is a fun and cute show that comes packed with a powerful message for those of us that struggle with self-esteem. 

4 out of 5 Stars


The Masked Singer Predictions



Ok so who is watching this major hit on Fox, The Masked Singer? I'm always grateful when a tv show comes along and the family fills in the living room to watch together and this silly show has done just that. From brainless judging and the fantastic costumes, The Masked Singer is something unexpectedly deep. And surprising fun you come for the costumes and stay for the hidden voice.


Of course, the show has given us much to talk about and the speculation throughout the house is bringing this family together in a fun way. And being a musical family we can hear the voice and know kind of who it might be but when we struggle a bit thankfully we can go back and listen to the clues. For example, the obvious one is the Peacock the clues:  He started in show business as a kid,  “Putting on a show is in my DNA,”. And of course the line “It’s probably been a while since your mom had a poster me on her wall.” And, he claims to be best buds with Michael Jackson. Finally, and the one that convinced my wife he pets the small dog statue in his intro most likely referring to Osmond’s hit  “Puppy Love”. But for me, it was clear that he was on Broadway with his moves and stage presence. SO clearly in this house, we all agree on Donnie Osmond.

It is the White Rabbit that still has us scratching our heads. My wife is an N'Sync fanatic and really wants to believe its JC from the band as do I, but I think he can sing much better so we are not 100%. And sure it could be Joey and why not he has made a career for himself doing reality shows.

So here are his clues. He’s spent most of his life onstage, but he was “never alone.” Now he “pops up here and I pop up there.” Synchronized singing is his forte. “This rabbit’s gonna win and you believe the last mask standing is gonna be me.” The Rabbit admits he was once part of a group. Let’s do a little process of elimination it’s certainly not Justin Timberlake or Lance Bass I mean come on JT is a little busy at the moment. Chris Kirkpatrick well I never thought he could sing so let's move on. That leaves JC Chasez, who hasn’t been around much, and Joey Fatone, who has.

So in this house, it is Joey Fatone.


The only other one I'm 100% on would be the Bee She’s had a long career, and never wanted to stop doing what she loves. She wants to reach a new generation and prove that she still has what it takes to create a buzz and in her video intro yet another clue a picture of tennis balls. She tells the judges later that she started singing “in the ’50s.”

Often called the “Empress of Soul,” Gladys Knight won Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour in 1952 when she was 7 years old. Then she created the Pips with her siblings and cousins, and they started touring in the late ’50s. Oh, and according to her Wiki page, she also loves to play tennis.

So for me Gladys Knight! You could just hear the soul in her voice and I could listen to her again!

The other one we feel strongly about is the Raven as Ricki Lake and here is why. She came out big like Broadway big as well, she took control of the audience and judges with her presence and Ricki was the star of Hairspray and Cry Baby so we know she can sing and carry herself on stage. And in her promo she did say All her life, she’s listened to “other peoples’ stories.” She calls herself a sunny person, and say she’s always found an audience. “No one talks like me.”  And recently, she suffered a tragic loss, and “like a phoenix, she’ll rise up.”. We also know that her ex-husband committed suicide last year that would tie into her tragic loss witch by the way I feel was unneeded in the storyline.


As for the unicorn, I said Tori Spelling but still not 100% on her but her back story would say so. The rest well I just don't know and I love it hell I could be wrong on all of them so far. So what are your guesses? And if you have not seen the show why not? Let me know in the comments lets talk The Masked Signer.


HBO's Camping Hits the Snooze Button

Camping
2018 | 30 Min | MA | Comedy | HBO


Creators: Lena Dunham, Jenni Konner

Stars: 
Jennifer Garner
David Tennant
Juliette Lewis



Synopsis:
A man's camping trip with his wife and friends spirals out of control. A U.S. adaptation of the British series, 'Camping'.


Camping should be a great show. The series has a phenomenal cast, and is the product of two writers, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, who gave us the runaway hit "Girls". Unfortunately, Dunham and Konner weren’t able to duplicate their previous success.



There are good performances and sharp jokes embedded in this campfire story if you stick around long enough to appreciate them. One of the better (or not) is Juliette Lewis as she relishes the opportunity, to derail Garner's scheduled-to-death outing provide Camping with some of its energetic sequences. All though at times it is hard to understand what Lewis charter was trying to do she is clearly here to drive this truck even tho its a Garner vehicle and for me that was the problem. 


Jennifer Garner, bless her, commits to the character. She does her best to be the person who seems to vacuum up the joy in any space she inhabits. Kathryn needn’t be likable for Camping to succeed, of course, however, Kathryn is all sharp edges, with no warmth or vulnerability to ground her. Despite Garner’s best efforts, the premise that a group of people would willingly spend this much time with her borders on unbelievable, especially on a weekend that’s supposed to be a relaxing getaway in the woods. Aside from their child, it’s hard to understand why her husband (his birthday is the reason behind the trip) is still with her. She is selfish, controlling, and cruel, blaming her abrasiveness on chronic pain and myriad illnesses real and imagined. She invents medical excuses for the fact that she and her husband haven’t had sex for two years. and the sexual tension plays off as a downer and unwanted tension that I think was to play off as a joke.


The cast at least offers some welcome and occasionally humorous insight, mostly due to the unbridled hippie magnetism of Lewis. She gets Carleen to cut her extremely long hair, she offers dangerous pills to the already teetering Joe, she enthuses to Joe’s daughter that being gay means that she’s likely headed for a great sex life. All Kathryn offers are screeches and accusations and physical ailment descriptions that not only make the other characters tense, but she can also kick up the blood pressure of the viewer, and not in a good way. In fact, I want to ditch both of them and make it a bro getaway instead.


I really wanted to like Camping but it's a waste of a fine cast and a dull setting. One possible upside for the series is that Camping might inspire people to go camping themselves, just to get away from the TV for a while.

2 out of 5 Stars


Hi, Cruel World

Kidding
2018 | 30 Min | MA | Comedy | Showtime


Creator: Dave Holstein

Stars: 
Jim Carrey
Frank Langella
Judy Greer



Synopsis:
Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, is an icon of children's television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America's impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him - who also anchors a multimillion-dollar branding empire. But when this beloved personality's family - wife, two sons, sister, and father - begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through the crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: a kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.


Right up until its final moments, Kidding, the Showtime series starring Jim Carrey as the Fred Rogers-esque Jeff Piccirillo (a.k.a. Mr. Pickles), brings back the dark comedy that has been missing through the past few years. The balance between the brightness of the show within the show, Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time, and Jeff’s slow breakdown over the death of one of his sons and his subsequent separation from his wife is mostly weighted towards tenderness. The essence of the lessons Mr. Pickles teaches is simply to be good to each other.


Jim Carrey's Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless mind was always my favorite of his that finally drug me into is world and seeing him in a dark role was so financing. For me, Carrey is a much better actor in a Drama setting rather than his early comedy roles. And Kidding has you sucked into his sad dark mind from the first few minutes until the dark end of season one. 


Kidding, when it works, which isn’t always, wrestles with the difficulty of goodness and the strictures of persona, of having to pretend to be happy when you are so unhappy and the difficulty of treating other people and yourself decently when you are so sad. You owe it to yourself to "binge" your way through Showtimes Kidding as its a breath of fresh air.


4 out of 5 Stars

That Time When Lucy Meet The Burtons

Lucy Meets the Burtons
1970 | 30 Minutes | TV-G | Comedy | CBS
Director: Jerry Paris
Writers:
Bob Carroll Jr.
Madelyn Davis
Stars:
Lucille Ball
Elizabeth Taylor
Richard Burton



Richard Burton, the movie star, escapes riotous fans by wearing a plumber's disguise. Lucy Carter mistakes him for a much-needed plumber and brings him back to the office to fix a sink. Lucy later finds a remarkable diamond ring in his discarded overalls. By the time Lucy discovers it is THE famous Elizabeth Taylor diamond ring, it is already stuck on her finger. The end result is a crescendo of comedy as Liz feverishly tries to get the ring off Lucy's finger. Ultimately, Lucy's arms are used as Liz Taylor's while Richard & Liz do a scheduled press party.


If this is your first trip to the Cave welcome and thanks for joining me during the Richard Burton Blogathon hosted by Realweegimidget Reviews. So warm up a Swanson's TV dinner and grab some sofa so we can talk about a time when TV was fun like the time when Lucy Meet the Burtons. As a side note, I had never seen Here's Lucy before this Blogathon and man I'm happy I signed up as this show is just as I Love Lucy. The best part of doing a Blogathon is finding these little gems that you normally would not look for.



This episode marks the return of original “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show” writers Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis. They were given very short notice to write the script but finished it in a little more than a week. This is was also the first time they’ve written for Lucille Ball since 1964. This show’s plot was built around the real-life publicity achieved when Richard Burton bought his wife Elizabeth Taylor a 68 carat Cartier diamond ring worth over a million dollars. 


I absolutely adore how this episode was written with great jab's like when the hotel manager tells Richard Burton that the Burtons have replaced Lawrence Welk and Liberace on the bus tour of the movie stars homes where Burton replies that it almost makes up for losing the Oscar that year. When Burton asks about leaving through the back door he finds out that the Elizabeth Taylor Fan Club is blocking his escape. The Hotel manager then says Membership to the club requires seeing National Velvet 10 times as Burton chimes in with "Try every day".  


When Elizabeth Taylor makes her first entrance, she can’t help but grin when she is greeted by applause, hoots, and whistles from the studio audience. It is interesting to note how Taylor was not used to stage work like Burton and had little experience with live audiences so it was quite touching to watch as she let the applause linger on a bit. Richard Burton said that he wanted to work with Lucy but the next morning he regretted it and had his agent call to retract the offer. But after he was asked to keep his promise he and Taylor agreed.


For their four days of work on “Here’s Lucy,” the Burtons were each paid $2,500 plus amenities: 
private air transportation, separate limousines, separate trailers, separate bungalows at the Beverly Hills Hotel and separate security guards but really that's not a lot, right? 




When you combine two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, two of Lucy’s finest writers, one red-hot sitcom director, and the biggest bling in La La Land it is no wonder why this episode is so popular and one that I'm glad I found the time to watch. Here's Lucy has been a fun show to binge watch on a rainy day. And thanks to The Richard Burton Blogathon I have watched a few other episodes like this one with Vincent Price "Lucy Cuts Vincent Price".  They just don't write good tv comedy anymore. This show is a laugh out loud knee-slapping good time. 

If you are a Burton fan and have not seen this wonderful show you owe it to yourself to check it out soon!!! Lucy Meet's The Burtons is a true TV classic!


4 out of 5 Stars!



Blood is thicker than whiskey.


The Ranch
2017 | Color | 30 Min | Comedy | TV-MA | Netflix


Creators:
Jim Patterson
Don Reo

Stars: 
Ashton Kutcher
Danny Masterson
Debra Winger
Sam Elliott

The son of a Colorado rancher returns home from a semi-pro football career to run the family business.

Did Kutcher just jump the Shark? Part 3 of what has to be one of my most favorite things on TV just got deep! And I'm not sure where I stand on this.

We pick up after Heather drops the bombshell of being pregnant we quickly get a visit from Abby's parents and it is the last thing Colt needs -- and they all end up at church together on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure what it is this time around is it the pregnant and the tension it brings with Addy? Or is it Rooster not being around as much leaving the over the top sex jokes far and few. There just was not a lot of laugh out loud moments this time around. In fact, some of it felt pushed on you by the laugh track. What is going on here everything I have loved so far has been taking away from me. Even Sam Elliot looks bored at times. I'm not saying the chemistry is gone but after 10 episodes I no longer felt fulfilled. I was no longer waiting for more and more like depressed.


This season we are subjected to pro-life, run away moms, and deportation and that is ok because I really liked the heart and soul of part 3's story line with Colt getting a second job to support the baby and how the family stays together so as a drama the show was great. Unfortanly that is not what I came for I came to laugh my self-silly and feel great walking away from a five-hour investment. 


I'm still a fan just not sure if I will continue to tell all my buddies this is the show to watch this time around. I'm invested into the well being of the Benett family just not sure I like the direction we are headed. I guess time will tell or in 6 to 8 months when part 4 happens. In the mean time, I can only give this season a cold...

2 Smokin Hot Chicks out of 5