Live from NBC ...Political rantings, TV Reviews, and MORE

Well here's yet another post that is coming to you straight from the halls of NBC Studios in Burbank. I've been filling in for an assistant the last few days in comedy development, so it's been an interesting change of pace, although it can get pretty slow at times.


Yesterday though I did get to work on The Tonight Show, which turned out to be a pretty great edition of the show, relatively speaking, at least. Classic show guest and Johnny Carson fave Joan Embry was on with her usual menagerie of wild animals, the highlight of which was probably the gigantic python they brought out, which had to be one of the biggest snakes I have ever seen, and looked about ready to crush anything that moved. The sloth and armadillo were pretty sweet as well. Then I have to give props to, of all people, Melissa Etheridge. Yep, Ms. "Come to My Window." Not only can the woman rock, but she has a pretty inspirational story, having survived cancer over the past year. She seems genuinely humble, and her raw emotion and desire to overcome her situation translated into her musical performance, which was some old-school John Mellencamp-style classic rock that made the entire audience stand up and cheer in the midst of the music. Gotta love it.

Otherwise things are okay at work. I still need to adjust my sleeping schedule better because I am just not getting enough sleep. The thing is I don't really feel tired at night, for the most part. Lack of energy, yes, but not tired like I want to lie down and go to sleep tired. Just in the morning I feel totally out of it. Man, the concept of waking up and feeling refreshed and ready to go has been pretty foreign to me for say the last few years. How does one achieve this? The last time I remember waking up and being totally energized was back in the day waking up at like 6 am for my weekly dose of cereal and Saturday morning cartoons. What happened, I ask you?

Hey, interesting to see how low Bush's approval ratings are lately. As is evidenced by the dead-on impersonator who appears on Leno, many of us cannot help but think of Bush as a complete moron, and even his former supprters seem to be having their doubts lately. Personally, I think that the Bush administration could be on the verge of a huge scandal (even more so than what's transpiring at this very moment ...), because I think it seems obvious to many that this whole CIA leak thing originated from somewhere very close to the top of the administration, and that it was done to help lend one more means of justifying the war in Iraq and giving it legitimacy in the minds of the government and the press. The fact that Bob Woodward is now testifying that a high level administration official originally tipped him off as to the CIA operative's identity points to the fact that this could be another Watergate-type affair if the public ever learns the whole truth behind what transpired. I think that it's pretty clear - Bush had his own agenda for going to war, and he was grasping at straws to explain to the public why were sending our troops there. It's funny though, we didn't really need alterior explanations for the first Gulf War - everyone pretty much knew that it was a strategic war that was being fought to prevent a rogue nation from getting ahold of valuable resources, namely oil. So why the subterfuge this time? Honestly I don't understand, but I guess the main reason was that as we can see, the real war on terrorism, undoubtedly the country's real top priority at the time, was being neglected in favor of the dismantling of Saddam's regime. The sad part is that Bush's war was so confusingly justified that people like John Kerry were at a loss to un-justify it to the public. But in the beginning, you had these Niger reports that conveniently pointed to WMD's being sold to Iraq, all courtesy of insider leaks that obviously had a manipulative agenda. But in this day and age conspiracies like this rarely work (Clinton couldn't even keep his sex life a secret), and eventually, the truth will come out.

Okay - TV REVIEWS:

MY NAME IS EARL - Wow, "Joy's Wedding" probably my fav episode thus far in Earl's short life-span. Had some good laughs, good characterization, and a good little plot to boot. Up until this point I have not really found much appeal in The Crabman, but I finally came around this episode and found him to be hilarious. My grade: A-

THE OFFICE - Easily the most improved show on TV. And it's funny, think of classic shows like Seinfeld or The Simpsons -- they weren't that great in their first or even second seasons. At this rate The Office could keep improving exponentially, and become a classic in its own right. And hey, the ratings are up too. Dwight is to this show what Kramer was to Seinfeld, and like I've been saying he is totally owning this show as of late. My grade: A -

VERONICA MARS - I know, this is almost a week late, but last week's ep was another great one, with classic pulp villainy in the form of movie-star gone bad Aaron Echols, and his twisted son Logan, and an ever evolving mystery that is worthy of comparison to Chandler and Hammett. For those who think this is a teen show akin to The OC, think again. Sure, there's teen soap aspects to the show, but this is a moody, gritty, and superbly done mystery show. My grade: A

GILMORE GIRLS: Hmm, this ep was a little too soapy for me. For one thing I was not a fan of Rory's "please, hire me" act at the newspaper. Working as an entry level assistant right now, I can tell you that no boss would hire someone who just barges into their office and demands a job, no matter how much of a TV cliche it may be. The Luke-has-a-daughter stuff was kind of interesting, but also pretty over the top for this show. It does set up an interesting dynamic though. Still the best pure character drama on TV, and the dialogue, as always, was bursting with wit and charm. My grade: B

WWE RAW: I watched and bittersweetly enjoyed this Monday's tribute to Eddie Guerrero. Apparently a lot of others did too, as it drew a huge rating, topping many of the broadcast network's offerings that night. Man, it is still unbelievable to think that Eddie is gone, but the deafening chants of "Thank You, Eddie" that rang out throughout the stadium on Monday were inspiring and moving, as were the brutally emotional testimonials from Eddie's friends and coworkers. To see men with nicknames like "The Crippler" and "The Animal" break down in tears while describing Eddie's heart and character is not an easy thing to watch, especially in the case of Benoit, usually stone faced and stoic, who could barely contain himself as he paid tribute to his best friend. But the performers still went out and put on a spectacular show, with a number of inter-promotional matches that were a treat for fans and a nice tribute to the man affectionately known as "Latino Heat." Viva La Raza indeed.

- Oh, on one other note, so I'm talking to a fellow page who started recently and he is telling me that Arrested Development is crap and one of the worst shows on TV. WHAT?!?! How can you work in TV and not appreciate this show? Okay, I understand if it's not quite your cup of tea, but come on, at least acknowledge its genious. I mean, Elvis isn't my cup of tea exactly, but I'm not gonna go and say he's crap. The fact is that Arrested was better-written, acted, plotted, smarter, and flat-out funnier than any other comedy on TV from the last few years, and its a tragic shame that it's cancelled. 'Nuff said.

Oh, and by the way what's up with no new STELLA on Comedy Central? I need my fix of surreal absurdist whacked out comedy, dammit all.

- Alright, that's about it for now ...

FINAL THOUGHTS:

- Will anything actually happen on LOST tonight?

- Will it draw a ridiculously high rating regardless?

- I saw in Newsweek that there is some new trend in middle schools and high schools for kids to actually hang themselves and then untie the ropes or whatever just as they begin to lose conciousness. And apparently a lot of deaths have resulted from this moronic practice. No kidding. Well, I guess I'm at that stage where I can look at these kids and ask: "What in God's name is wrong with these kids today?" In my day we used to play some Super Nintendo when in need of a nice surge of adrenaline or play sports, or whatever .. pretty much anything except freakin' hang ourselves. Seriously, who does that?

- Yesterday Al Roker and Jesse "The Body" Ventura came in to give pitches at NBC!!! "Well ya know somethin', Gorilla?" Jesse Ventura flat out rules, and could kick Ahnold's ass to boot.

On that note - later.