Monday, April 25, 2011

VH1 Mob Wives

VH1 has recently begun airing Mob Wives, possibly to try and take back the trashy reality TV crown they used to hold in the mid-2000s with shows like Flavor of Love, Rock of Love and The Surreal Life. This time instead of relying on celebrities who need a career boost, they've traveled to Staten Island. I'm not sure, but I have a hunch that Staten Island is practically it's own country. A country of orange skinned people with jet black hair and strange accents. Mob Wives is train wreck TV, and it's hard to look away. It's the new guilty pleasure generating buzz and controversy.

The show follows around four women whose husbands or fathers are in jail for mob connections. Obviously drama unfolds. The show may already hold the record for the most bleeped out curse words on television. One of the cast members, Drita, was recently on a radio show to promote the show and dropped some F-bombs, which got the host fired. Renee and Drita will most likely be the big stars, as they seem to bring the most, uh, "colorful commentary" with Renee being the most dramatic. It's basically Jersey Shore with older people. Except they are scarier than the Jersey Shore cast.

I'm pretty sure all four of these women could have successful MMA careers if the show doesn't work out. Or when their 15 minutes are up.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Dundies Return on The Office


The Dundies returned on last night's episode of The Office, the final episode before Steve Carell's farewell next week. This episode was perfect from start to finish. It managed to blend tons of comedy with a funny, yet emotional ending. This may go down as the best episode of the season, and one of the greatest episodes of all time. It was that good! The episode was written and directed by Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly Kapoor on the show for those who don't know. So props to her for a perfect episode!

The cold open was one of the best we've seen in a while. It had Michael Scott and Deangelo Vickers (Will Ferrell) going to people's houses early in the morning to tell them they've been nominated for Dundie Awards. First was Jim & Pam's house, then Stanley's. Stanley of course threatened to call the cops if they didn't leave. The best was Meredith's house, which Deangelo remarked that it "Reminds me of Katrina." It was complete with barbed wire and an open door, then with Meredith walking up the driveway looking like she just got back from a drunken night at the club. It concluded with Michael hilariously throwing eggs at Toby's house. The Dundies themselves were as funny as the first time, way back in 2005. Watch a bit of them here, and see Michael's impersonations of Angela, Jim and Phyllis:


The rest of the episode was just as funny, and by now you should be going to the NBC website to watch! It concluded with the entire Office singing a special version of the "Seasons of Love" song from Rent - 9 million 986 thousand minutes . You can watch the clip here, it's a must see:

This set up Michael's farewell very well. Next week is sure to be bittersweet, with the special 50 minute episode titled Goodbye, Michael. For more of The Office, visit Life In The Office and Office Tally.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Scream 4 Review

This will be a short, and spoiler free review of Scream 4. Some spoilers if you click on "read more" down at the bottom. This new Scream movie takes the idea of the original into the modern world, spoofing the Saw franchise and the recent love affair with horror remakes. As someone who hates the Saw movies, I appreciated the spoofs. Scream 4 probably has the most comedy of the four films.

The film brings back Sydney (Neve Campbell), Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette) and introduces a bunch of new characters, all set in the town of Woodsboro, the location of the first movie. It is once again directed by Wes Craven.

The movie as a whole is not as good as the first Scream or Scream 2, but I would definitely put it ahead of Scream 3. The opening is clever and lives up to the other films' memorable openings. The new cast members are alright, with Hayden Panettiere as Kirby being the stand out character.

You'll find references to the first three Scream films throughout this one. It's definitely worthy of going to see and at times it's as clever as the first. Scream 4 is a solid addition to the franchise, and one of the better horror films of recent years. Just remember the main rule of remakes courtesy of Sydney: Don't fuck with the original! Some spoilers below, so stop reading if you don't want to know:

Friday, April 15, 2011

Will Ferrell on The Office

Last night Will Ferrell made his debut on The Office as new boss Deangelo Vickers. Ferrell fit right in and was a natural, but did anyone really think he wouldn't be? I'm pretty sure he is only going to be on for the four episodes he filmed this season, and not the permanent boss. They will most likely make us wait until next season to find out who it will be, but Will Ferrell seems too busy. You never know though.

I had a few favorite parts, especially all The office members trying to get Deangelo to like them. Andy tried hard to be funny since Deangelo expected that of him and did crazy things to do so. Jim and Pam trying to use their baby to get him to like them stood out as well. Kelly, or as Deangelo called her, "that Native American chick" tried flirting with him. A great scene came when they all had to go meet with him in the conference room and Michael was left to walk into his office alone, realizing he was not going to be their boss much longer. It sets his going away up well.

Parks & Recreation followed and had yet another amazing episode packed with laughs. Starting with Ron pulling his tooth out at a meeting, then revealing to the camera the tooth had been pulled out by a dentist the day before, and he just wanted to fuck around with everyone and make them freak out. The episode was based on Andy and April having an impromptu wedding, with Andy wearing a Colts jersey, which was actually perfect. We met April's sister, who is exactly the same as her, as well as her weird friend Oren who provides a lot of material without actually saying anything, especially for Leslie and Ben. You're missing out on some good laughs if you're not watching Parks & Recreation.

30 Rock had a strong episode as well. The highlights being Jenna's storyline. Her "Jenna Babies" line of dolls fail because they are being used to smuggle drugs in from Mexico. They then cut to two girls who are bouncing off the walls in the middle of the night, presumably due to the dolls.

Check out the two minute replay of The Office (which doesn't do the full episode justice):
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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Celebrity Apprentice

If you haven't been watching Celebrity Rehab on NBC, currently in it's 4th season, then you've obviously and sadly missed the Meat Loaf meltdown with Gary Busey. Who knew Meat Loaf could give such a good screaming match over paint? I never got into the original Apprentice much, but this is pretty entertaining. You really can't go wrong with people like Gary Busey, LaToya Jackson, and Lil' Jon. Tonight is NeNe Leakes' turn to flip out on someone, as she yells at LaToya Jackson.

Any time you get all these people with these big personalities it's bound to have some good TV. The tasks they have to do are pretty interesting too. And every episode is bound to have Gary Busey saying something that you think you might understand, but really don't.

I think either Star Jones, LaToya Jackson [yes, LaToya] for the women or John Rich or Lil Jon' for the men will end up being the final four.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Charlie Sheen's Tour Kicks Off

Charlie Sheen has kicked off his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour in Detroit and it was a total disaster. People were walking out and booing, shouting for refunds. Sheen responded to one guy by saying, "I've already got your money dude."

Really, the joke is on the people who purchased tickets. I guess it isn't such a smart idea to spend a hundred dollars or more to watch a drug addict on stage? One person said they paid five hundred dollars to go opening night. If you want to watch a drug addict for free just turn on Celebrity Rehab and Cops or find a shady alley somewhere. 

Not Winning, I guess the trolls won out this time.