Sarah Chalke and Josh Radnor in How I Met Your Mother by Monty Brinton/CBS
Since there seems to be some division in the office today on Monday night's CSI-style Two and a Half Men, I'll respectfully part company with Cheers & Jeers and give the episode a tentative thumbs-up.The tweaking of the theme song with a little taste of The Who? Sweet. The graphic CSI-shots following all manner of food down Jake's gullet into his stomach, culminating in the mother of all fart jokes? Genius. Yes, I've previously come out against flatulence humor in general — and in particular on Boston Legal — but keep in mind that where young Jake is concerned, this is the epitome of humor, and watching his bubble of gas from the inside was inspired. And what about the moment when the CSIs look for traces of semen in the crime scene of Charlie's bedroom (!) and the room lights up "like a Jackson Pollack painting." Very funny, in classically grody Two and a Half Men fashion.Less inspired: every joke involving the word "hoo-hoo." Again, comes with the territory here, but...
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In only two weeks on the air, Saturday Night Live is back in its sweet spot, right where it wanted to be during the long strike hiatus: smack-dab in the center of today’s political dialogue. Barack Obama made a cameo in the last episode before the strike, Mike Huckabee showed up for an aw-shucks appearance in the middle of last week’s Weekend Update, and this week, in an opener that’s likely to become part of the all-time SNL archives, it was Hillary Clinton’s turn. She who inspired last week’s classic Tina Fey slogan, “Bitch is the new black,” which I’ve already bought as a T-shirt for a friend (not an endorsement, mind you, of anything but great comedy).In a life-imitates-art moment, the real Senator Clinton gave SNL a shout-out during last Tuesday’s debate in Cleveland, in an awkward attempt to piggyback on the show’s parody of media bias favoring her rival: “I just find it curious if anybody saw Saturday Night Live, maybe we...
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"Are you feeling the feeling that I'm feeling?" I hope so, because I'm enjoying this show so much that I might turn into Mel II. When Bret and Jemaine finished singing those lyrics, Mel and Murray were two of three people clapping in the audience. Saturday Night Live's Will Forte played Ben, a dry cleaner and semiprofessional actor whom the duo asks to tell Murray that he's from a record company and to give him a rejection call to boost his spirits about the direction of the band. We all need a little rejection to feel better, right?When a brainstorming session to elicit a larger audience is going slowly, and Bret's idea to hand out free pencils at each gig gets nixed, the first song of the evening was presented in a video scrapbook to "Cheer Up Murray." The well-meaning guys sang about Murray's helluva good English bulldog, his wife having met someone on the Net, and that his friends are Bret, Jemaine and Greg. (Have we heard about Greg before?) Forte was perfectly cast as he match...
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Before we get started with this week's 30 Rock debrief, a moment of silence, please, for the just-passed Prince Gerhardt, one of sitcomdom's hardest to look at, most unsettling and, thus and alas, funniest creations. [Silence]Yes, Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens served up a memorable majesty on a very strong, very laugh-out-loud funny installment of the Rock . Still, I cannot help but fear that his character may have offended anyone out there who employs a prosthetic baby hand and suffers from a malady that prohibits the production of joint fluid as well as the metabolization of grapes. NBC may get letters.Also, big props to Reubens' fellow guest stars, Isabella Rossellini (really letting loose as Bianca, Jack's now-tortured ex) and SNL's Will Forte, as the prince's steward.What really impressed me as a (aspiring) comedy writer was how 30 Rock deftly handled Lemon's "date" with Jack. Lesser shows would have "gone there" in that final scene, and really jacked up the "tension" between its two...
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Campus Ladies' Christen Sussin, Carrie Aizley and (inset) Cheryl Hines
Curb Your Enthusiasm player Cheryl Hines is going back to school — the fictional University of the Midwest — as executive producer of Oxygen's new improvised comedy series, Campus Ladies (premiering Jan. 8 at 10 pm/ET). Starring Carrie Aizley and Christen Sussin as Joan and Barri, two middle-aged housewives in search of the wild college years they missed the first time around, Campus Ladies represents one of Oxygen's most daring endeavors ever. TVGuide.com spoke with Hines about the series' origins, May-December sex and whether Curb fan
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Backstage at Saturday Night Live, Will Forte is washing some makeup off his face in his dressing room. He apologizes profusely as fellow cast member Seth Meyers extends his comparatively dry hand to say hello, giving Forte a moment to finish cleaning up. You'd never see that kind of teamwork between the respective candidates they've so deftly portrayed during this political season. (That's Forte as President Bush and Meyers as Senator Kerry). With Election Day nearly upon us — and Forte's face now clean — the duo tell TV Guide Online about the nifty impressions you'll get to enjoy all over again on Saturday Night Live's Presidential Bash 2004: The Great Debates. The NBC special, which skewers everyone from Gerald Ford to the present-day nominees, airs tonight at 10 pm/ET.
TV Guide Online: What personality traits have became shorthand for impersonating Bush and Kerry?Seth Meyers: I found a couple things about Kerry:
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