A Fool's Utopia 10.01.09: Grading the New Sitcoms

Posted by Ron Martin on 10.01.2009

This week in one man's utopia we grade some of the new sitcoms of the fall. Also, we begin our countdown to Halloween with the first installment of a SEVEN DAYS CLOSER, talk Megan Fox on SNL, the Super Mario Brothers Super Show and actors with three successful sitcoms. Just another week in the utopia.

Anyone who has read my column more than three times knows that I am lover of the finer things in life; 8-bit video games, Taco Bell's Volcano Nachos and sitcoms. I love me the sitcoms. Perhaps that's why modern TV doesn't appeal to me. When I was growing up and certainly before my time, sitcoms were all the rage. When a network announced its new shows for the fall, there were at least five sitcoms on the list. These days we're extremely lucky if a network brings us two of these gems in a single season. Choosing to introduce humor into their one hour "dramedies" networks treat the sitcom format like it's the red headed stepchild of the TV world. Instead of forming their channels around these shows, they are thrown in as an afterthought bone to guys like me only to be cancelled half a season in.

Regardless of the above rant, there are several new sitcoms that have hit the airwaves in the last few weeks. I have taken the liberty of watching several episodes of these sitcoms so you, my readers, can choose whether or not you want to waste your time with it. I have even gone through the trouble of grading them! Do I ever stop giving?

The Cleveland Show



I'm not going to lie to you….at least not right now. I came in to The Cleveland Show with the preconceived notion that it was going to suck big donkey…er, big bear balls. The previews weren't very tantalizing, it got pushed back a year and I wasn't too thrilled with the lack of creativity on Family Guy. Things didn't look good and I wanted to bash the hell out of this show. Then I watched it. Honestly, it wasn't the best show ever, but it was pretty funny. There was very little of the toilet humor that Family Guy uses as a crutch. Each character actually added to the show and was funny in their own way. I actually liked all the insanely ridiculous neighbors – even the bear. Hell, especially the bear. That being said, I am skeptical as to whether or not McFarlane and company can keep up the good work. I fear someone on the staff is going to watch the show and say "Damn, there wasn't near enough poop jokes."

GRADE: A-


Community



There was a lot that I liked in this one, but there is also a lot that worries me. Joel McHale did a fine job and I enjoyed the references to The Breakfast Club not because of the timing (just a few weeks after the passing of John Hughes) but because of the situation. Like The Breakfast Club, these people couldn't be more different from one another than they possibly are. Joel McHale did a perfectly acceptable job as the lead (I had my worries) and there's no reason to believe that he won't continue to do so. Here's what worries me a bit about this – can they sustain the funny? Nothing here was laugh out loud funny, but it was funny enough to keep my interest and the interest of those around me had there actually been anyone around me. The supporting cast are all stereotypes at the moment. They will need to evolve as the writers and the actors become more familiar with them. Community will get plenty of attention being in that NBC Thursday lineup with The Office and 30 Rock, can they hold their own? So far so good, but it's easy to write a funny pilot. This has the feel of a show that might struggle to maintain the funny by midseason.

GRADE: B

Accidentally on Purpose



Like The Cleveland Show, from the previews I saw, I was ready to bash this show until it tapped out, but unlike The Cleveland Show, this one lived up to every expectation that I had. The basic premise is that Jenna Elfman, in her mid to late 30s hooks up for a one night stand with a 22 year old guy claiming the whole time that she "never does things like this." She gets knocked up and immediately decides shacking up with the guy and letting him be the father of her child is a good idea because apparently she always does things like that. Two episodes in and I am almost offended that this show is still on the air. The actors are just spewing convoluted lines to keep beating into us how different thirty somethings are than college kids. Even the can't miss cultural difference jokes are missing. Mostly, the whole premise of the show just sits wrong. An intelligent reporter goes out for drinks, has a one night stand with a 22 year old (neither has a condom because we all know 22 year old dudes never carry around condoms) and gets knocked up. She is just out of a relationship with a successful guy her age that still shows feelings for her. Shacking up with a 22-year-old at this point diminishes any respect we could have had for her intelligence. On top of that, how many 22 year old guys are wanting to give up their lives and be a dad with some chick they just had a fling with? With the main characters contradicting the caricaturistic qualities that are supposed to make the show funny right of the bat, how can we take this show seriously? One word description: Atrocious.

GRADE: F

Brothers



Michael Strahan is a charismatic guy, no doubt. Can he carry his own TV show? Brothers is just that experiment. Fortunately for Strahan, the creators of the show have his and the show's best interest in mind. Instead of making up some inane premise and telling Strahan to go out there and be the show, they've build a solid cast of veteran actors around him. For now, Darryl Mitchell, Carl Weather and CCH Pounder are telling all the jokes and forming chemistry around Strahan. Strahan has his fair share of lines, but like a rookie QB, his job in the game is to not make mistakes and let his teammates win it for him. By the end of this season, Strahan is going to be carrying his own with this cast. He's flashed signs of the good things that are to come. For once some TV execs are working this thing right and letting him grow. The show is better for that. It's got a trek ahead of it before it can be a hit, but the potential it there. It's probably right where it should be for a first run comedy starring a former athlete.

GRADE: C+

SEVEN DAYS CLOSER TO HALLOWEEN

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, as we creep closer to Halloween, it's easy for me to watch the days and weeks fly by without ever stopping to enjoy the season, which sucks because October is one of my favorite months of the year. From last Thursday until Halloween, I have vowed to do something Halloween related every day, no matter how small.

THURSDAY



I start off with a listening to the newly remastered Haunted Mansion promo CD. This was a record that was used in the 60s to promote the opening of the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland featuring two teenagers touring the house (one of the teenagers would go one to became very famous). If you've ever ridden the Haunted Mansion ride, you can almost picture the rooms as they travel through them, including the cemetery. There are several rooms featured that never even made it into the attraction. The tour and the full version of "Grim Grinning Ghost" made for a fine Halloween treat.

FRIDAY

Speaking of Halloween treats, I found new and unusual ways to eat candy corn. Either you love the candy corn of you hate the candy corn, there really is no in between. I am a member of the former group and had a head slapping moment when I saw these "gourmet puffy candy corns." Of course gourmet can be translated as "We can charge more because of this word." Despite what you might think, they're pretty good. They taste very little like candy corn and more like generic gummy flavor with a hint of candy corn. Trust me, this will not be my last run in with candy corn.

SATURDAY

Thanks to modern technology, I can spend my Saturday watching the same show that scared the crap out of me on Saturday nights when I was 8. Amazing.



SUNDAY



After the late football game (Colts over Cards in a game that was way easier than it had any right to be) and me bemoaning the fate of my fantasy teams (lost one game by 5 and was down 20 going into Monday night on the other one, though I did come back to win that one), I popped in Haunted Evening. It's Halloween's answer to The Christmas fireplace in your TV. Halloween has an answer for everything doesn't. The DVD switches from spooky scene spooky scene with scary enough sounds (but not music …and that's a plus). Below is my favorite of the scenes.




MONDAY



Lightning Pumpkins. This isn't the first year they've been around, but it's the first time I've actually paid good money to take them home with me. I was curious to see how the gummies would light up and disappointed that I didn't figure it out before I got home. IT'S THE TONGS! THE TONGS!! Nevertheless, there surely is something creepy about having your gummy pumpkin look you in the eye and illuminate before becoming a tasty treat. When you are out of pumpkins, the tong ensure that you can pretty much illuminate anything small enough to wedge in there before you eat it.


TUESDAY



While I awaited horny college students to fill up my bar, I downloaded a background from the greatest Halloween special of all time It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Now whenever my laptop boots up, I have instant Halloween gratification from the scene where Charlie Brown gets a rock. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how much more marketed It's the Great Pumpkin and the Christmas special have been since Charles Schulz died? Just an observation.

FIVE RANDOM DISJOINTED THOUGHTS

1. With all the to do about the f-Bomb being dropped on SNL did anyone happen to catch Megan Fox's performance? Brutal. I was wondering how Lorne Michaels would use her. The answer is – as a prop. The skits acting themselves around her while she stood off to the side and looked pretty. Even her "thank you" at the end was cut off by a third U2 song. Wow. I know it's the cool thing to gang up on Megan Fox (take that as you will) but there's a reason for that.



2. While watching shows for this article (and my own curiosity) I came across Kelsey Grammar's next attempt at a sitcom, Hank, choosing to pass over it. With Back to You officially a failure, Kelsey is trying hard to reach that 3 sitcom plateau. That used to be a kind of brain teaser I would ask people at work that would pass the time. How many people have had three successful sitcoms? Successful being defined as successful enough to be in syndication. The actor would have to have recurring role on the show (not just guest spots), SNL and variety shows do not count, neither does voiceover work (meaning cartoons). Back then I could only think of one (and it was a stretch) – Valerie Harper. She starred in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and Valerie (later she was replaced and the show became The Hogan Family). I know there are more, but for the life of me, I can't think of who they are at the moment. There is a jam of actors with two. I guess if you count Valerie Harper, you have to count Katherine Helmond for SOAP, Who's the Boss and a few seasons of Coach.

3. I got to say this or it will drive me crazy: Why have a 15 Items of Less line at the grocery store if you're not going to adhere to the rules stipulated by the sign? I was at the grocery store on my lunch hour today looking to grab a quick sandwich and mini bag of chips. I wanted to get and out. Instead a lady with an entire cart full of groceries – not 16 or 17 items, but literally a hundred dollars worth of groceries, got in front of me in the so-called "Express Lane." No one said a thing to her, they just rung her up like everything was cool, man. I don't want to insult the mentally disabled by calling the lady who took 50 items into the "15 Items of Less" lane retarded. Besides, it's not her fault – it's the stores for letting her check out in that aisle.

4. It's that time of year again. Time for all the talking heads on all the networks and ESPN to change their opinion of every team in the NFL every single week based on the previous week's performance. Ridiculous. After two weeks these guys were writing obituaries for New England, Dallas and Green Bay. Now all of a sudden, their contenders again because they won a week. It's amazing in less than a quarter of a season how many times a self-proclaimed "expert" will change their Super Bowl pick based on one week. Its actually ridiculously funny to listen to them spout off about stuff until you realize they don't know any more than you do but are probably getting paid 6 digits to talk nonsense on TV.

5. With The Cleveland Show now on the air, it looks like Family Guy is the third best Seth McFarlane cartoon. I just wish that the rest of the world would realize this.

--- Have you ever popped popcorn….on a stove? Do you remember when gummy worms were the only exciting gummy alternative to their bear cousin? Have you ever had to count hairspray as an expense? If you have, you may want to read on, it's time for RETRO

I'm perusing the shelves of a department store, always scoping out for good deals, when I overhear a college student saying (presumably to his girlfriend, but I can't back that up) "I didn't know the Super Mario Brothers had their own show." Naturally, my ears perked up and memories of Captain Lou Albano in red suspenders and cartoon Link on Fridays filled my head. The college kid passed in favor of a Bugs Bunny collection (not kidding), but as soon as they were clear, I booked down the aisle and what did I see? The Best of the Super Mario Brothers Super Show for just $7!



For those of you who remember the video game cartoon revolution in the 80s, it as pretty much started by Pac-Man. A whole slew of video games got their own cartoons in the early 80s including Q-bert and Frogger. Things died down as the arcade's newness wore off and we were introduced to home video game consoles. Naturally, a second wave of video game cartoons hit the airwaves in the late 80s/early 90s and this time it was the two Italian plumbers from Brooklyn that led the revolution.

The Super Mario Brothers Super Show ran in 1989 with reruns galore until I was well into and almost out of high school. It had the added dimension of live wrap arounds encasing the cartoon goodness in the middle. Who could possibly play one of the most iconic figures in video game history? Mr. Captain Lou Albano sans weird goatee and rubber band cheek piercing. It really was a decent piece of casting. Toss in Danny Wells to play the live action and voice for the cowardly Luigi and we're set.



The DVD I picked up unfortunately only has a handful of the Mario cartoon segments, and let me tell you – they are very much a product of their time and age group. I didn't remember any of the Mario cartoons being original, but almost all being parodies of various movies/TV shows. They revolve around our heroes from Super Mario 2 taking on Bowser and various minions from the first two Super Mario video games. Lots of Italian, pasta and plumbing references and puns. The three best reasons to watch these cartoons, however dated as they may be are to hear different remixes of the various stages of Super Mario music, to see how many Mario villains you can name (I love that Mouser has a German accent) and of course for the closing credits…



Man, that is still great even when I'm not stoned.



Forgotten Music Video

Shy lyrics

Kajagoogoo - Too Shy Video - Shy Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

Oh how I miss the classy broads waitressing in smoke-filled bar videos of the early 80s. If the name Kajagoogoo isn't enough to tip you off, the keyboard heavy chords should be enough to tell you that this part of the New Wave future back when I was too young to know what the hell that meant. To me, these were dudes with funny hair that I was sure I would probably have when I got older. As it turned out, my hair was funny in a different way – a hair metal and then grunge way. The only thing this video is missing is a keytar. The world needs more keytars.

Random Shot from Random SNES game I owned

23 YEARS AGO TODAY

October 1, 1986

#1 Song

Huey Lewis The News lyrics

Huey Lewis & The News - Stuck With You Video - Huey Lewis The News Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

"Stuck With You" by Huey Lewis

Huey vs. A shark!!

#1 Album



Dancing on the Ceiling by Lionel Ritchie

#1 Movie



Crocodile Dundee

I must leave you now.