Anyways ... Veronica Mars, The Simpsons, The Inside Man, and More!

And I'm back.

Once again I just want to remind people though - the whole beauty of the blog-o-sphere is that it is the perfect medium for quick, spur of the moment, instantaneuous, unedited, unfiltered writing. And that's what I'm doing here. I'm not writing essays, columns, or well thought out arguments. I'm just writing as it comes to me. So please, don't read too much into anything I'm saying here, and realize that when the situation calls for it, you will get the occasional rant of doom ala my last entry. That's what the blog is for -- don't put much stock in it.

Let's roll.

FOX Sunday Night TV:

Malcolm in the Middle: Decent episode ... stuff with Hal and his poker-playing friends was funny, but the Malcolm/Dewey and Reese subplots were kind of bland. This show REALLY needs to do a few final episodes that are centered around Malcolm. Remember how he IS the title character? Remember how back in the day all the best epsiodes were centered around him and his escapdes? Like I've always said, this show deserves tremendous respect for what it's accomplished, but I want to see it go out with a bang. My grade: B -

King of the Hill: Wow, first off, gotta say that I'm very happy to see that this show is coming back for one more year. Now let's see if FOX will do the right thing and put it back on at 8:30 pm where it belongs and deserves to be. But yeah, tonight's ep was yet another outstanding entry that had a number of big laughs and a great premise (Khan tries a get rich quick scheme after getting fed up with his going-nowhere career). Vintage King of the Hill here, and ya gotta love the fact that the end is not quite as near as was once thought. My grade: A -

However ... damn, if only those Futurama rumors had proven true! For a few days, it looked like Fry, Bender, Leela, Zoidberg, and the rest were headed back to TV, and oh man would that have been amazing. But as of now looks like it's not gonna happen. Oh well, at least that show went out with an amazing and fitting final episode - even if it was continually screwed with by FOX. Long live Futurama!

The Simpsons: FINALLY, the event I had been waiting for -- RICKY GERVAIS WRITES THE SIMPSONS! Would it be the brilliance of The Office meets the brilliance of old-school Simpsons? Or would it be an odd clash of styles that continues the show's slide into mediocrity? Well, after hearing some negative reviews I lowered my expectations and braced myself for the worst. But wait! After a half an hour of continuous laughs, hilarious Gervais-isms combined with vintage Simpsons humor, and a coherant plot that was both funny, inventive, and heart-filled ... well, I am a believer! Gervais did it, by gum! I know this episode already has some haters - but screw 'em --- this was THE SINGLE BEST SIMPSONS EPISODE IN YEARS. Sure, there've been some pretty good eps this season, and every so often the sho has managed to pull out some old fashioned goodness ever since the decline began almost a decade ago. But at first, the show was still FUNNY, but NOT the show that we all remembered. Then it was just not funny, at least not consistently. But this was great. Lots of memorable dialogue, lots of great character bits, and even a song that was a match in comedy heaven -- Free Love on the Free Love Freeway meets Who Needs The Quickie Mart. Sure, the mix of styles was a bit awkward at times - Gervais' dialogue seemed trasnplanted from The Office rather than organic within the Simpsons universe. But it was still funny, so who cares. And the best thing was that for the first time in YEARS, I got that old urge to call up friends and say "Did You See The Simpsons?" as was commonplace in the glory years. Not as good as Season 3 to 8 quality, but far beyond much else we've seen in the teen years. Good stuff, good stuff - and I am pleased to give this episode a grade of A.

Family Guy: This ep was pretty freaking hilarious. Again, not much substance as has been the case of late, but the jokes were hitting on all cylinders tonight. "No, that's the Brady bunch. No that's Street Fighter." A Street Fighter joke! Yes! And that's all I got to say about that. My grade: B+

MORE TV STUFF:

Veronica Mars:

This past Wednesday's episode was great - a tight mystery and tons of intriguing advancement with regards to the overarching season-long mystery. Logan is quickly becoming less of an outright villain and more of a multi-dimensional character whose motives are not quite clear cut. The Terrence Cook mystery is deepening nicely, and it's always great to see Ken Marino (of The State and Wet Hot American Summer fame - he was the "I Wanna Dip my Balls In It" guy), as a sleazy rival P.I.. Gotta love Charisma Carpenter as the sultry femme fatale with more going on than meets the eye, as always. And man, the show is just bursting with details, plot points, and clues that you just can't wait to see come together as the tapestry unfolds. This is a MUST-WATCH, and for all of you who are busy on Wednesdays watching the almighty LOST - fret no more - Veronica Mars moves to TUESDAYS in a few weeks, so all will be right with the world - that is, assuming people watch this show and it gets renewed, as it must, so it can find the success on the CW that a show of this quality rightly deserves. My grade: A

- Speaking of The State - why has Michael Ian Black been reduced to appearing in cheesy TV commercials? And also, when will the STATE come out on DVD? In this lifetime, please.

- Ah, sweet validation. You've got to love a publication with as good taste as Entertainment Weekly - whose latest TV-centric issue served as a nice reassurance that prominent publications like EW are capable of realizing the good stuff that people like me contantantly advocate to the brainwashed and oblivious masses. Among EW's top 10 dramas on TV were 24 (#1~!), Lost (#5), Gilmore Girls (#7), and yes, Veronica Mars (#9). In its Top Comedies were The Office (#2), sitting alongside other no-brainers like The Simpsons and The Colbert Report. Also included in the mag's list of the 84 Best TV Shows were Smallville, Conan O'Brien, Prison Break,and hey, even the dancing craziness of Ellen was included. Yeah, NBC's gotta be happy (And we are ...), as The Office, Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, Battlestar Galactica, Law and Order, Conan, The West Wing, Will and Grace, and Dr. Who all made the list. Sweet, we have EW's two best comedies. NBC wins.

But yeah, all the doubters who think I'm nuts for my support of Gilmore, Veronica Mars, or for my unbridled enthusiasm for all things 24 need only turn to this week's EW to see how right I am, baby. Because they just proved that they have pretty darn good taste.

Movies:

THE INSIDE MAN:

Ah yes, the Spike Lee Joint. So it's a joint, not a film. Should I have different expectations going in? Not sure, but I do know that even from the commercials, you could tell that this would be a fairly, um, commercial movie as far as Spike Lee Joints go. So when I saw it at a free universal screening this weekend, it did kind of play out as Spike Lee does The Usual Suspects, which made for an odd juxtaposition of great character moments over a heist plot that never really quite comes together. I mean, take a look at the cast - you can't go wrong. Denzel does here what Denzel does best - the protypical Denzel character of too-cool-for-school law enforcer who is a straight-shooter but doesn't quite play by the rules - an Everyman who happens to moonlight as a badass man's man with a ready and willing wife/girlfriend/groupie waiting breathlessly for her man to finally come home (here it's literally - Denzel's girlfriend spends the WHOLE movie lying in her bed in her underwear sweatily anticipating the moment when her other half gets home for some lovin' ...). You have Jodie Foster in full on high-powered lovable bitch mode, shwoing once again why she's A-list all the way. You have Clive Owen doing a friggin' GREAT job as the lead criminal - a morally complex guy who's in it for the thrill of the chase. And man, even the supporting cast is bigtime. Christopher Plummer reeks of gravitas as an elderly bank mogul whose business is the sight of Clive Owen's robbery. And geez, they even got WILLIAM DAFOE of all people to play a pretty minor role as a cop under Denzel's command. Talk about a loaded cast - this is a who's who of acting greatness, an acting all-star team if you will. If only the plot could live up to the cast. Don't get me wrong, this is a highly enjoyable movie - the dialogue is sharp, over-the-top, classic heist-movie material. The movie is filled with classic Hollywood exchanges that could only ever occur in movies. It may not be your cup of tea if you find that kind of thing cheesy - but if you live for the exchanges in movies like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard, you'll be in heaven with this one. And Spike Lee really puts together a number of great moments here. So many scenes are, on their own, awesome. Especially, believe it or not, when Lee's trademark social commentary is involved. Deride it if you want, but this movie really shines when it's making a statement about post- 9/11 New York and the state of our culture in its aftermath. One scene, where a young kid is playing a violent videogame where you get points for pulling heists and brutally killing gangstas - and the kid shows it in admiration to Clive Owen's character - is just hilariously brilliant. And as a kind of statement film about post 9/11 urban American life, this really works as a film - and it nearly does reach a certain kind of greatness. But the plot and characters are kind of barely there, unfortunately. We never really figure out who Jodie foster's character is supposed to be, or what her deal is, and that lack of info proves pretty irritating as the movie progresses. The twists and turns of the heist are at first riveting, but soon become meaningles once it becomes clear that the movie isn't really going anywhere except to a Usual Suspects-style "Oh! I just realized how he got away with the crime!" moment that never proves all that interesting or surprising. And the motivation and reasoning behind Clive Owen's heist never really resonates. The direction by Spike Lee is a little overdone, with some out-of-place, gimmicky camera shots and some oddly cartoonish scenes of hostages reacting in terror to their captors. But again, as a character study, and as a collection of moments, this is a really fun film, filled with A-List talent and well worth seeing in my opinion. I really enjoyed it, and was willing to overlook some of its shortcomings for the sake of seeing such an all-star cast act their way through so many interesting, funny, and thought-provoking cinematic moments.

My grade: B+

Alright, back to work tommorow means the need for sleep is calling.

Tommorow: Jack gets medieval on former-girlfriend Audrey Raines on 24!
Lincoln Burrows heads for The Chair on Prisonbreak!
Hey, that's all I've got. It's Monday, what else is there to look forward to?

Later, folks.