When it comes to the film adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway sensation In the Heights, it looks like it won’t be long now. Continue reading
Category Archives: A Piece of My Mind
A Piece of My Mind: Disney’s Top Eight Pop Covers of All Time
Why Top Eight? Because MySpace. Obviously. Continue reading
Who Should Join Jennifer Lopez in Bye Bye Birdie Live!?
Five Visions I Have For The Return of That’s So Raven
HOLY SHIT, friends! This was one of those monumental moments you know will be immortalized in many #TBT posts from now until eternity. Yesterday on The View, co-host Raven-Symoné announced that her 2003 Disney Channel sitcom That’s So Raven would be getting a brand new reboot/spin-off/sequel! Oh snap, indeed. Continue reading
Parks & Recreation Finale Recap: With the People You Love
When you watch Parks & Recreation episodes on Netflix with the subtitles on, they describe the upbeat, peppy theme as “triumphant music.” (Sometimes, I need to watch Parks & Recreation while I blow-dry my hair, hence this discovery.) Triumphant seems like a great word to describe this little series that could – a series that, while always beloved by critics and Internet denizens alike, was constantly on the verge of cancellation, but which was eventually allowed to exit gracefully on its own terms. As much as I wanted this show to go on for years and years, I’m happy it went the way that it did. This is how you do a finale. (I’m looking RIGHT at you, How I Met Your Mother. Yeah. I’m still mad.)
A Piece of My Mind: Should We Care About the Tony Awards Anymore?
Last night, the Tony Awards committee made the decision to remove the Sound Design categories from the annual awards celebrating Broadway, a figurative slap in the face to an essential design component of the theatre. Sound designers create the soundscape of a show, and a good sound design can make or break a show. This award was first introduced in 2008, and showed a huge progression for the Tony Awards, showing that they were in touch with the artists who are creating the shows of today. But by removing this category, something is becoming evidently clear about the Tony Awards organization: they’re completely out of touch with the theatre world. And this leads me to my next point: should we even be watching the Tony Awards anymore?
A Piece Of My Mind: How I Met Your Mother’s Finale Was Everything We Never Wanted
How I Met Your Mother is over. We saw them meet, and it’s over. But was that really the ending this whole time? Did we really wait nine seasons for the biggest anticlimax of all time? Why did they do this to me?! Is this a super distasteful April Fools joke?!? As you can tell, I have a lot of questions.
A Piece of My Mind: How I Met Your Mother’s (Impossibly?) High Expectations
How I Met Your Mother aired its penultimate episode this Monday, wherein Robin and Barney actually made it down the aisle, pre-wedding tantrums notwithstanding. And, with that, the big conflict of this season has found resolution. We still have one episode left – the hour long, series finale – and we still don’t know exactly how Ted meets The Mother (who, at this point, remains nameless), nor do we have any answers to, I don’t know, about a million questions the show has left open-ended (thankfully, an intrepid Buzzfeeder rounded up the 51 most important questions). This show has been frustrating, complex, and, in its best moments, incredibly rewarding for its loyal viewers, which makes its fans wonder – can the big ending possibly live up?
A Piece of My Mind: The Muppet Movies, from Worst to Best
What are the ingredients to a good Muppet movie? I would argue that these are the five essential rules to making a solid film with our furry, fuzzy felt friends;
-Original songs.
-Make us laugh.
-Celebrity cameos who actually have something to do.
-A human is not the main character.
-Give us something to truly care about.
With Muppets Most Wanted being released this past weekend, this is as good a time as any to reflect on the Muppets. They’ve been delighting audiences for decades, whether it was on TV in The Muppet Show, on one of their many film soundtracks, or on the silver screen in an impressive eight films as of this writing. But do all eight of those Muppet films hold up? So yes, from worst to best, here are my thoughts on all eight theatrically released Muppet films;
A Piece of My Mind: FOX’s Tuesday Night Polar Opposite Comedy Hour
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.
