Monthly Archives: September 2013

09.27.13
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 9/27/13

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Are you guys watching Brooklyn Nine-NIne yet? Get on that! It’s hilarious! Anyways, here’s what happened this week…

–Breaking Bad airs its final episode on Sunday! And the entire cast of the show, plus creator Vince GIlligan, were on Conan this week.

-Jimmy Kimmel and Kanye West may or may not be in a fight right now.

-A bunch of new shows debuted this week, including Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Crazy Ones, The Michael J. Fox Show, and a bunch of the shows that will probably be cancelled come next year.

-Not only is Kevin Smith making a Clerks III, but he’s also making a movie about a man who turns into a walrus. It’s called Tusk. I think Kevin Smith is the only person who thinks Kevin Smith is still relevant anymore.

-Jimmy Fallon continues being the best late-night host out there and sings with the cast of Sesame Street.  And has a lip-sync battle with Stephen Merchant and Joseph Gordon Levitt. 

-Vulture posted a super important list about pop culture milestones that define millennials. So, basically, that list is everything our blog is trying to be so maybe we should just quit?

-Colbert’s speech at the Emmys may have been sincere and lovely, but let’s see what happens when he gets back into character and still has two Emmys.

–The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway featuring glamorous actress Cherry Jones, adorable ray of sunshine Celia Keenan-Bolger, and everyone’s favorite Spock-Who-Isn’t-Leonard-Nimoy, Zachary Quinto.

-Seriously. Watch Breaking Bad on Sunday.

Coming Up Next Week:

-Remember that time I said I was going to review Netflix Original Series Derek? That’s still happening I promise?

-An postmortem on Breaking Bad. It will be sad, then happy, then sad again.

-We look at Homeland and Masters of Sex. 

09.23.13
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ICYMI: The Real Star of the Emmys Telecast

As we’ve said a million times at this point, the Emmys telecast was boring, weird and awkward all at the same time. But there was one man, one myth, one legend, who truly stole the show.

During a short promo for the telecast DURING the telecast, a random man found himself directly behind NPH and quickly sidled out of frame. The. Best.

(Full story at Buzzfeed.)

09.23.13
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Emmys 2013 Recap: Interpretive Television Dancing and Oh my God Everyone is Dead

YOU GUYS, YOU MADE JON HAMM SAD

Well, in lieu of a live-blog, here is our moment to moment Emmys recap, of the weirdest and most depressing telecast that has aired in FOREVER. If you read this even a little bit you will see I get way more confused and frustrated and way less diplomatic around 9:30. Not my fault. I blame whoever directed it.

One bit of full disclosure- because Ben was wrapped up in Breaking Bad, I had two Twitters and a live blog to man, and as a result, @PopCultInformed fell by the wayside. To see up to the minute tweets, you can check my personal Twitter, @ninastarner, because I am shamelessly self-promoting. Sorry, guys! Multitasking is hard!

Anyway, here we go…

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09.22.13
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Emmys tonight!

See, Miley? THIS is how you do it.

Don’t forget, I’ll be posting moment to moment recaps of both the red carpet pre show AND the Emmys telecast tonight! (I wish I could figure out how liveblogs work, but HTML is very confusing and everyone will be reading Go Fug Yourself or Vulture anyway.) Hopefully the telecast will be as excellent as NPH’s Emmy Instagram! 

EDIT: I’ll also be live Tweeting the event on our Twitter, @PopCultInformed, and if I have time, I’ll make some pithy comments on my own twitter, @ninastarner!

09.20.13
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Emmy 2013 Predictions: In Which Ben and Nina Argue About Hamm vs. Cranston

The man, the myth, the legend… NPH.

Nina: Hello loyal reader(s)!

Ben: Yep, that sounds about right.

N: So we figured, as your resident pop culture experts/creepy obsessives who eat potato chips and read Vulture at the same time, we should share some Emmy predictions with you before the telecast on Sunday.

B: I’m just saying, look forward to some badass Bryan Cranston/Louis C.K. speeches, and some impressive dancing/singing from a Mr. Patrick Harris.

N: Or Jon Hamm. Have some faith, guys. HAVE SOME FAITH. Shall we, Ben?

B: I don’t see why not.

Continue reading →

09.18.13
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A Piece of My Mind: FOX’s Tuesday Night Polar Opposite Comedy Hour

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How could two shows exist in the same hour that oppose each other as comedically and morally as Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine shines with promise, as Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher go head-to-head in this comedic detective show from the creators of Parks and Recreation. The show takes place in a detective precinct in Brooklyn, where Samberg is the great detective who doesn’t play by the rules, who clashes with Braugher, the new captain who goes by the book. It sounds cliche, sure, but the two leads bring a comedic spirit that defies such cliches, and  that could make for a wonderfully dynamic duo later in the series’ run.  I’d say only about 15% of the jokes fall flat in the first episode, which is pretty impressive for a pilot, and the supporting cast (made up of Terry Crew, Melissa Fumero, and Joe Lo Truglio, among others) brings a nice variety and energy that could make this a really tight ensemble show in the vein of Parks and Rec. These are characters who are fun, but not over the top. Silly, but not too silly. If you like Parks and Rec, you’ll definitely want to catch this. I suggest you give this show a look-see. Even those who don’t consider themselves huge Andy Samberg fans might see themselves cracking a smile every now and then.

Dads, on the other hand, is horrid. From the creators of Family Guy and Ted, the show stars Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, and some other actors who should be reconsidering their career choices. This show has been getting some “controversy” over some of its offensive humor. And yes, there is some of that here, that’s a given with the people who are running it. But that wouldn’t really matter as much if the show was actually funny or clever or something I didn’t roll my eyes at every 5 seconds. My God. Punchlines you can see from a mile away, a studio audience laughing after EVERY SINGLE LINE (I’m not exaggerating), not to mention really, really poor production values. It doesn’t seem like any care even went into the production of this show. Dads is the sitcom equivalent of fast-food; pre-packaged, with no value, and it leaves you with a sick feeling in your stomach afterwards.

So if it hasn’t become abundantly clear, I recommend you see where the comedic promise of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going, and don’t give Dads any attention whatsoever; the more we ignore it, the better.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads are both available to watch on Hulu, and air on FOX Tuesday nights from 8pm-9pm/ET.