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Seanh76
Reviews
Life After People (2009)
the series?
I am not sure that the series doesn't just use snippets of the original show, I have seen some episodes where I think I saw the same thing on the show. It is entertaining, and shouldn't be taken too seriously. I have a problem, as many have already argued, that the scenario for the absence of humans is not given any thought. Therein lies the problem with the show and series, you can't really speculate on what happens the hour, week, month after people if you don't explain what happened to neutralize humans around the world at the same time. If we do become extinct, it would more likely be phased out. Anything drastic enough to destroy us all would certainly destroy other forms of life too. Anyway, sometimes when channel surfing, this is about the best thing on, and worth a watch or two.
Run for Your Life: Down with Willy Hatch (1967)
rare treat of dramatic acting from Rickles
Just happened upon this episode on a rerun. The premise is Rickles' character is a washed up comedian. He finally gets a shot at redemption after suffering a nervous breakdown on stage. The scene where he is trying out different jokes to a dead-still audience is great. Spoiler alert: However he cannot deal with the crowd's response and has a subsequent breakdown. Very poignant acting on Rickles' part, and although it was somewhat in character as far as being a comedian, it was believable as a portrayal of a broken man. Have seen other comedic roles Rickles had in dramas but this was a rare time he played a dramatic character and it was great.
Family Guy: I Dream of Jesus (2008)
shades of "cartoon wars"
Family guy is a guilty pleasure at best, the writers obviously suffer from ADD, which partly makes the show watchable. A couple years ago, South Park aired an episode ripping Family Guy and writers/manatees("Cartoon Wars"). In a rather odd form of flattery, Family Guy has since replied by airing remakes of South Park shows. This show where Jesus becomes a celebrity is bordering plagiarism against South Park episodes, particularly "Mexican Staring Frog of Sri Lanka", in which 'Jesus and Pals' plays for ratings sweeps. The surfing bird is just overkilled to being sickening. Repeating something stupid can be funny, if given the proper timing. If it goes too short, the joke is not understood, if it goes too long, it overplays its humor. I would think this is an elementary rule that any television writer would understand. But I obviously overestimate the ADD manatees!
Not Necessarily the News (1982)
brings back nostalgic memories of early-mid eighties
This was back in the day just around the rise of VHS/beta. SO HBO was still the premier channel to get latest release, which at that time was about three years after box release. This show did a lot of dubbing and re-editing so that political figures were saying comedic lines. The sniglet series was also hilarious, and Rich Hall wrote several books containing sniglets. For example, he gave a definition to the act of shaking out only two pills from a bottle, and defined the dirt that the vacuum cleaner can't get at the edge of the floorboard. There were also commercial parodies, one for a hearing aid which drowned out yelling wives and grandchildren. A great show and was not only ahead of its time compared to the daily show, but funnier, too.