I'm...Ron Burgundy?

Terrible, just terrible. It is, however, hilarious.

I'm hoping this was a training video or done on purpose for some other reason.

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Push th' Little Daises

I recently started the now canceled ABC dramedy, Pushing Daises, and and have been really enjoying it. The show follows easy-going Ned, a pie maker with a unique talent. "Is it juggling?" you ask. No, juggling isn't that unique. What Ned can do, however, is bring dead things back to life with a mere touch. Upon discovering this ability as a young child Ned quickly learned that there were, indeed, rules that governed his actions:

Touch something once, it comes back to life.

Touch it again, it is dead forever.

Touch something and bring it to life but don't touch it again within 60 seconds and something else is randomly chosen to die nearby.

Ned is working with a local PI that accidentally caught Ned in the act of reviving/killing someone. The PI, Emerson Cod, uses Ned's ability to revive dead victims of crime and query them about the who and how they were killed then collects the reward when he 'solves' the crime. Easy money.

Amazingly, (amazing, I say!) in the very first episode Ned learns that his childhood crush was murdered on a cruise ship. Amazingly, Emerson is on the case! Amazingly, Ned revives her and just...can't...touch her that second time in the 60 seconds. So............

Ned now has his childhood crush back in his daily life and cannot touch her in any way or she will die instantly.

Oh, the drama of it all!

But seriously, it really does not come off as odd as it sounds. Is the show quirky? Oh, heck yes. One of the first thoughts I had watching the show was that it felt like Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me got drunk and had an awesome baby together. I patted myself on the back when I discovered Lee Pace ("Ned") had been the older brother on Wonderfalls and the show had the same creator as Dead Like Me. Seriously, I am that awesome - or I watch too much TV. One of those.

Granted, I am only 5 episodes into the series but if the remaining 1 3/4 seasons is as awesome I will be well pleased. And, yes, you saw that right: there were only two seasons. Two season! You can knock that out in a a few weeks through Netflix, Hulu, or your favorite torrent site.

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Parker Lewis Can't Lose

Ah, the early 90s. From 1991-1993 the then new FOX network ran a show called Parker Lewis Can't Lose. The show was basically a direct rip-off of the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off and I mean that in the best possible way. While I cannot claim to remember a lot of the specifics of the show since I was only 12, I do remember it being awesome.

I think of particular scenes every now and then and specifically think of it every single time I see Abraham Benrubi as Jerry on ER. I would like to say that what I remember most were the great story lines, the interesting characters, and sweet music. While all of these things are true, what I most remember are the shirts. That's right, the shirts. If you have never seen an episode, Parker Lewis wore the busiest, most colorful shirts you can imagine. Really, it was pretty impressive.

After the longest wait, Parker Lewis Can't Lose is finally making its way to DVD on June 30 of this year. I recommend it to anyone interested in mocking the early 90s while getting to watch a really good show.

Parker Lewis on Amazon.com

Parker Lewis on Netflix

Parker Lewis Wiki


Here is a mini-episode from season 1. What the folks at Miniepisode do is take an entire episode and edit it down to 5 minutes. While you do lose a lot of the side stories and character interactions, I post this here so that you can get a taste for the show - and the shirts!



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The IT Crowd

I've started watching a pretty sweet show called The IT Crowd. This show, like many rich deposits of comedy awesome, hails from England and concerns the daily routines of an IT department. It is pretty low budget, a lot over the top, and hilariously accurate in a completely inaccurate way. Did that last sentence even make sense? Probably not,but we press on!

As you may have guessed, the main cast members are nerds (not to be confused with a spaz). The first episode finds them getting a new department manager: a woman with a fake resume that knows nothing about computers. *insert hilarity here* Many hi jinks and shenanigans ensue, but we all learn a little about ourselves in the end. Well, I didn't realize anything about myself, but I did enjoy the episodes I've seen.

I recognize this show is not for everyone, but neither are bowls of sweet, sweet sugar (sorry, diabetics). It is even funnier for myself since I have a moderate background in computers and have been forced on many occasions to be the free IT guy to anyone that finds this information out. The shows comes extremely close to being ultra-cheesy but I think it never quite crosses that line.

I must take a moment to give what the kids call a "shout out" to Always go Right for turning me on to this show. One of the contributors there also has a review if you would like to read one that has actual structured sentences and not free associations and crazy make em ups. Below is a short clip from the first episode and a link to where you can watch the show for free...legally.


Video


Watch Episodes Now

Buy Season One

Put it in your Netflix Que


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"Castle": The Return of Awesome

Nathan Fillion is the man. No, really; there have been studies and everything. I first became acquainted with him on Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place as Johnny, the boyfriend of the ‘girl’ in the title. I personally thought he was funnier than Ryan Reynolds (you know, from Blade: Trinity and Van Wilder) and thought he was about that only thing that made Sharon (the girl) interesting. Oh snap! Yeah, I said it. He stood out enough to where I remember his character even today, but at this point he wasn’t yet ‘the man’.

Fortunately, our televisions weren’t forced to suffer on without him for long. Nathan reappeared on what some call one of, if not the, greatest shows to ever come on television. Of course, by some I actually mean myself and the people in my chat room, but I digress. I assure you that there is no deceit in my heart when I say that I am a big time Firefly fan. A spawn of the mind of Joss Whedon (whose brain only spawns pure, undiluted awesomeness), Firefly brought us Nathan as Captain Malcom Reynolds, the brash leader of group of smugglers and misfits. Ok, it’s basically a Western in space but way cooler (if that’s possible). I've been told by reliable sources that this description can lead to a "yeah, I'm not going to watch that" attitude. I assure you you will be missing out. It had this cool semi-steampunk feel. If you have never seen it I can’t stress enough how bad you need to go pick it up on Blu Ray or DVD right now. A lot of what made the show melt faces was Nathan’s comedic acting (though the show is not a straight up comedy) and facial expressions. At this point, Nathan is fully “the man’. I think Nathan with Joss Whedon is a perfect fit and can only hope they work together again at some point. Oh, wait……

Nathan next appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer for part of a season. Once again, he produced a fine performance and created memorable character. I really can’t say more without spoilers and I know at least one of you is still going through Buffy right now....because I am re-watching it with you. ;) If only this hadn’t been the end of the Fillion/Whedon era. Oh, wait again…..

After a short-lived series, Driver, for Fox (it really wasn’t THAT bad), Nathan has shown up here and there. I’m told he did a story arc on Desperate Housewives but I don’t watch that mess so I can’t comment. Right about this time, however, we had the writer’s strike. While we were stuck with a lot of re-runs and weird reality shows for a while, there was a pretty cool phenom where actors and writers would get together and make internet only short films, webisodes, and just generally interesting bits. Joss Whedon put together a weblog of several episodes with Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, you knew that), Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day (who, btw, is in a cool web show called The Guild). Basically, the weblog was the video blog of Dr. Horrible, a rising evil villain struggling between wooing a girl he sees at the laundry mat and fighting off his nemesis, Captain Hammers, played by Nathan. Um, since I forgot to write it earlier, the show is called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog. You can go to the official site and watch the episodes for or buy it on DVD or in iTunes – or you can just borrow it from me if you know me. Anyway, the awesomeness was thus continued.

This entire rambling preamble was for no other purpose than to set up the real point of this blog: Nathan is back. Brace yourselves.

Monday nights at 10pm on ABC you can catch Fillion as Richard Castle, successful mystery writer turned police tag-along. I’m a little tired from all this typing (yes, I am that out of shape) so I am just going to quote tv.com:

Meet Richard Castle: he's a successful murder-mystery writer who has just killed off his main character. However, it seems one of his fans liked his books just a bit too much when a copycat murderer starts running around killing people as described in Castle's books.

After being questioned by the police Richard joins forces with Detective Kate Beckett to solve this case. The two become partners begin working together to solve other murders in New York along with other detectives Tony Esposito, Kevin Ryan and Captain Roy Montgomery. They also work with medical examiner Lanie Parish. Richard's family includes his mother Martha Rodgers, who was a Broadway diva and his daughter Alexis.

Yeah, I know it sounds a little “Huh?” but so far I like the show. It has the elements of a mystery and a cop show. The chemistry between Castle and his partner is there but not overdone - yet. Some of the best parts are when Castle just takes over and interview or starts telling an elaborate theory to a mass of enthralled detectives in the precinct. I would say that Castle’s humor is similar to Capt. Reynolds from Firefly in a good way. I have only seen the first few episodes (since, well, that is all there is) but would count myself as a fan. So, what now? Well, I would vote you go to your Tivo and erase those old episodes of Blind Date so you can make some room for Castle. If you want to get caught up you can watch free episodes at the official site, here.

If you are already watching the show (or are a Fillion or Firefly fan) I would love to hear your comments.

HT below:

ABC Official Castle Site
Castletv.net
NathanFillion.org
Tv.com

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