Cuz Mama I'm Hard to Handle Now ... (UPDATED)

And so it continues ...

I't's almost midweek and things are really moving slowly here in NBC-land. But it was a pretty eventful weekend, so let's get to it.

First off, a shout out to Dan "Eye of the" Kaiser, who on Friday put on a great improv show over at the Empty Stage theater in LA. A delegation of NBC pages went to check out his performance, and though we got there late and almost didn't get in, we eventually managed to squirm our way inside and a joke and smile was had by all. The comedy was sandwiched (um, so to speak ...) between some quality dinner and a trip down to the Santa Monica area where a kickass 80's coverband called Fast Times played hard and fast and ensured that my hearing would never be the same again. But they played a mean "I Wanna Be Sedated."

Saturday I went to a free screening of 40-year Old Virgin at Universal, and ...

The 40 Year Old Virgin Review:

Won't go into this one too in-depth (again, so to speak ...), but basically, I thought it was pretty hilarious. I had very high expectations for the movie going in, because I am a huge Judd Apatow fan. For the uninformed, Apatow is the comedic genious behind one of the best TV shows ever, Freaks and Geeks, and it's spiritual succesor, Undeclared - both tragically short-lived. I am also a fan of Steve Carell, and Carell was great in the movie - definitely the most well-rounded character he has ever played, and he proved himself a great actor, not just a great comedian, in this movie. He is believably dorky but not to the point of being a total caricature - and oftentimes Carell's character is clearly portrayed as being, in many ways, less screwed up than his more, um, experienced coworkers / friends. Speaking of which, the supporting cast is great as well. Paul Rudd stole the show in Wet Hot American Summer, and he is great here as well. Why isn't he in more high-profile movies? Seth Rogan, the Apatow veteran, was his usual wise-guy self, but his typically wryly witty character was a perfect fit for the movie. Catherine Keener, another favorite of mine since I saw her in Being John Malkovich, and she was once again great here and very likable. Anyways, so the cast was great, and the movie did a good job of balancing character-based, situational humor with some crazy, off the wall stuff (everyone busting into Age of Aquarius at the end, for example, was friggin' hilarious). So yeah, this was a consistently funny, cleverly written, well-acted comedy that also had some actual heart and character, despite having its share of crazy and over the top moments. And it made ma laugh, a lot, so it gets my whole-hearted recommendation. My grade: A -

Oh yeah, so after the movie, and despite being totally exhausted, my friends and I finished what we started last week and watched the second half of The Office Season 2 on DVD followed by The Office Special, which wraps up the series in epic fashion. Truly five-star TV, people. I am now officially dying to see Ricky Gervais' next venture, Extras, which if it even half as good as The Office will officially be pretty damn good.

But wait, that was not all I did this weekend. No, because Sunday myself, fellow page Big Mean Sean Green, and a few of his college buddies journeyed to a little California town in the middle of nowhere called Davore, to the Hyundai Pavillion, to see, live, in concert ...

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS~! AND ...! THE BLACK CROWES~!

Now this was a pretty huge event for me, as I would consider Tom Petty one of my top 5 all-time favorite musicians, and I had never before seen him in concert. So it was truly awesome to witness Mr. Petty bust out nearly all of his greatest hits - everything from Mary Jane's Last Dance, to Don't Come Around Here No More, to American Girl, to Running Down a Dream, to Freefallin' ... all the big ones were there. Plus there was some cool other stuff thrown in, like a new song called Melinda, and even some stuff from The Traveling Wilburies (the 1980's-era supergroup which consisted of Petty, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne), which was pretty sweet to hear live. The ampitheater-in-the-middle-of-nowhere atmosphere was great, and suited the concert. I had heard that Petty is sometimes distached and out of it during shows, but he was animated and into it all night. Plus, the Black Crowes were great as well. It was like watching VH1 Classic, cuz man are those guys old-school, looking like they just stepped out of a time machine from 1975. But the dudes can still rock, and they did - just no-holds-barred, classic rock, pure and simple. The only disappointment was that for some reason they didn't play the one song that everyone knows by them (Hard to Handle), but oh well, Tom Petty was there to make up for it by breaking out nearly all of his classic rock anthems. Overall, great show. Rock n' roll, baby.

What else?

AT WORK:

With the Tonight Show on hiatus, and Ellen and Carson Daly yet to start their seasons, things have been reaaaally slow lately. which was evidenced by the fact that today, for lack of anything else going on, I spent like an hour an a half completely re-writing the bulletin board on the wall of the NBC Ticket Office. This project was met with some mixed reaction, but hey, sometimes it just beez that way.

Oh, and yeah, it's that time again. The assignments that I applied for and didn't get a few months back are once again open for application. So today, for the second time, I applied to work in NBC's development department. Kind of awkward, but I made sure I brought my A-game and typed up an all-new cover letter featuring a bunch of bullet-pointed paragraphs explaining why they should pick me for the job. All that effort probably raises my chances of getting the assignment to about 1 in 30 billion. Let's hear it for the little guy!

Got some pilot episode DVD's of My Name is Earl and Book of Daniel, the two NBC shows which I am most curious to see and still have yet to view. If these two are bad, then let's just say NBC may be in some trouble. Stay tuned to future blog entries for my over-unders on which new NBC shows will fail and which will succeed.

RANDOM STUFF:

- I have a profile on MYSPACE now. So if you're on myspace.com, make me your friend! Especially if I know you, then you have no excuse. God forbid if users on myspace.com look at my profile and think I'm a total loser due to lack of friends.

- Damn, that Tommy Lee theme song is growing on me! "Take Me Awaaaaay ..." I hated it when I heard him play it on Leno, but it is so ... damn ... catchy. But yeah, unbelievably, Tommy Lee Goes To College still = NBC's best show.

- Speaking of which, caught the Comedy Central Roast to Pamela Anderson. Thanks to the likes of Adam Corolla, Sarah Silverman, and Courtney Love, it was freaking hilarious. Catch the rerun if you can.

Alright, that's all for now - so check yo'self, before you wreck yo'self.

P.S. - whoever signed me up for that Cowboy Troy mailing list ... (and I have my suspicions) ... that was not appreciated. Not cool, man. Not cool.

UPDATE:

- Just watched the pilot episodes of My Name Is Earl and Book of Daniel, two new NBC shows. Oh man, talk about disappointment. Of all the new NBC shows I had pretty high expectations for these two, both of which have extremely offbeat premises that promise something different from what you usually see on TV. Unfortuanately, both pilots were very flawed and I can't see either being a critical or ratings success. Let's see ...

My Name Is Earl: Okay ... great cast, innovative premise, clever script. But this is supposed to be a comedy, and it just was not that funny. There was maybe one line that elicited an actual chuckle from me. The early previews I saw of this show made it seem so smart and funny ... unfortuantely it only seems that way. On its surface this show posits to be the next Malcolm in the Middle or Arrested Development, but it lacks the magic and tight plotting of those shows, and most of all, it lacks the laughs. The good news is, there is potential here. But that potential will likely never be reached as lack of mass appeal and lack of overwhelming critical support cause this show to get the axe early on. My grade: C+

Book of Daniel: Oh, wow. This show is BAD. First of all, not sure of the lead actor's name, but he overacts like crazy, and has a ridiculously melodramatic delivery he gives to every line, as if he was in a Star Wars movie or something, when in fact he is in the religious version of The OC in New England. This show tries to deal with social / religious issues through the eyes of a priest and his family, but is so heavy-handed and predictable that just about every character is instantly annoying within 5 minutes of being introduced. The problems that the family faces - drugs, alcohol, teen sex, a gay son, a scandal involving a corrupt brother-in-law - are all ripped right from about ten other shows, and so many different angles are thrown at you that it's all a little much to take in one episode of a show. They have problems, we get it. The cast is very bland and forgettable, and all are cut from old and offensive stereotypes, right down to kindly African-American maid who dispenses sage advice to the family. Oh, lord. But the kicker is that Daniel, the main priest guy, talks to Jesus. And this Jesus is apparently a stoner hippie who speaks to everyone , but only Daniel sees him because he is the only one who "wants to hear his voice." Ayyy ... I want to go reread a few volumes of Preacher just to get this crap out of my head and replace it with some Garth Ennis-penned goodness that should be required reading for everyone involved in this fiasco. Oh yeah, Jesus may not be real, either. See, whenever Daniel takes one of his pills, he can't see Jesus anymore, so Jesus may just be the hallucination of a crazy person. Yeah, that'll go over well. Kudos I gues for at least trying something different ... but you know how people say sometimes you just throw stuff against a wall and see what sticks? Well this one ain't exactly sticking. My grade: D

Alright, enough NBC bashing ... Someone important could actually be reading this. If so - yeah Tommy Lee Goes to College - NICE JOB NBC! Also, Conan O'Brien freakin' rocks! Oh yeah, NBC News kicks the asses of CBS and ABC News, and that's a fact! I'll even go out on a limb and boldly state that MSNBC is, by far, the best cable news network! Do ya feel the NBC love? Good. Bing-bong-bing, baby.