Let’s take a look at some of the best television has had to offer. Continue reading
comedy
In the fall of 2000, at the start of its sixth season, Madtv added Stephnie Weir to their cast as a featured performer. A Texas native and Chicago transplant, former Improv Olympic and Second City performer, Weir was ready for the big time.
During her six year tenure on the show, Weir created characters like Dot, an average yet hyperactive young girl, whose twin (usually played by Alex Borstein) was overwhelmingly brilliant. The comparison of the brilliant sister and Dot’s upbeat normality offered moments of comedy gold. Another recurring character was Dr. Kylie Johnson, a Harvard grad who seemed to be able to handle any medical situation, from infertility to puberty to breast augmentation. Dr. Kylie’s frequent references to her past party life and subtle yet pointed digs at her patients’ shortcomings made her likable as well as hilarious. Weir’s impersonation of Anna Nicole Smith, another recurring character on the show, allowed her to truly run amok. She took Smith’s drug-fueled public persona and amped it up to Brobdingnagian proportions. Continue reading
It’s practically heresy to admit it in critical “cineaste” circles, but this is the truth: I like Romantic Comedies. When done well: There’s romance! There’s comedy! What’s not to like? Continue reading

She’s blonde. She’s pretty. She’s upbeat. She’s sweet. And she may be the most transgressive fictional character on screen right now, big or small. Her name is Leslie Knope. And I love her.
Confession: when Parks and Recreation first hit the airwaves in 2009, I didn’t quite get the show—or its central character played by Amy Poehler. I wanted to like it more than I did. It came with great auspices (Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, both of The Office), so I watched it, but something didn’t quite work for me.
I thought Leslie was a little too broad (starting with her joke of a name) and bordered on the silly. She was so happy. She didn’t seem all that smart. She couldn’t “read a room”. It felt like the creators were making fun of her, a comic technique that always leaves me cold. (If you don’t love your protagonist, why should I?) But as the show found its footing and improved (an oft reported ascension), and as the creators and Poehler refined and deepened the character, I started to see Leslie as something utterly fresh and new on television. Continue reading
I am so sick of Weinergate. It’s time for the next Congressional penis to go postal and wag about in an inappropriate manner!
Anyhoo. Continue reading
So it has arrived. The dreaded heatwave season.
I was an October baby. I was born outside Boston, brought into the world as the leaves were turning and the frost was coating the ground at night. Continue reading
Hilary Winston, a writer for the show Community, finally gets her revenge. For a while, she kept it all inside waiting and biding her time, hoping to release the proverbial Kracken on her ex-boyfriend and finally the time has come. Continue reading
Underpants are important. Continue reading
I have been told I’m too literal minded. Continue reading