Is there anything that Jane Lynch can't do? The comic actress -- who some people are already declaring is a shoo-in for the Primetime Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama series for Glee -- has veered into a new venue.
In addition to her television characters, Jane's brilliant performance as Sue Sylvester, her semi-regular shrink role, Dr. Freeman, on Two and a Half Men, Constance on Party Down, she's now doing commercials.
Yes, the latest triumph for La Lynch is a set of XBox 360 commercials that are all about fun.
(S03E09)"I had a plan, I did, but it just didn't work out the way I thought it would."/"What? You thought he'd (Hank) do a good job of being in charge?" - Karen to Becca
Remember watching Friends and feeling that great sense of heavy letdown when you realized that week's diversion of reality would be a "Joey-heavy episode"?
That describes this week's Californication to a tee, except the great sense of heavy letdown doesn't quite sit on top of your soul with the girth and grim sadism of an evil sumo wrestler.
This is the age of personalized entertainment on demand. It's also the age of talking wads of meat and animated fart jokes. Finally, all of that can now come together on your home DVD player.
Adult Swim fans can now go online and create a disc full of their favorite episodes from the channel's top shows with the Build Your Custom DVD tool.
For $20, you get 110 minutes worth of space to build a DVD. You can choose any of the available episodes from such series as Venture Brothers (right), Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021. After arranging them in your preferred order, you give your DVD a name, description and cover art before paying for it and burning your unique creation.
The "All Seth, All the Time" block of animation on FOX is getting stronger every week. I think this may have been the most wholly satisfying episode of The Cleveland Show we've had yet. The show finally knows what it is, the characters are settled in and established, and it even knows where it's going to derive its humor.
There's a sweetness to The Cleveland Show that is more reminiscent of King of the Hill than either of MacFarlane's established shows, and I'm glad to see it. My biggest fear was that Cleveland's star vehicle would be nothing more than Family Guy-lite, but after a very rough start, I'm able to see and appreciate it for what it is.
Family Guy may have found their replacement for Cleveland in this week's episode. I hope the boys do find a new "fourth," and I don't think I'd mind if it's the guy they find themselves hanging out with this week. On American Dad, Stan discovers rock music, and he'll do anything to hang out with his new favorite band: My Morning Jacket.
(S04E06) This episode was a rare star-studded treat for Venture Bros. Really honing in on the idea of adult aftermath in the lives of boy adventurer types, Jackson Publick introduced a robot boy, boy detective brothers (Seth Green and John Hodgman), former Wonder Boy (Patton Oswalt) and the return of Action Johnny (Brendon Small). Never before have so many guest voices (okay, four) been crammed into an installment, bringing the entire audience to an immediate nerdgasm.
Thanksgiving is coming and for many of us it's time to eat, drink and watch football. It's also a time to reflect on the things you're grateful for and since TV Squad is all about television, here's what I'm grateful for this holiday season, with regard to the tube.
Mad Men season finale
There was really nothing as satisfying in the entire year for me. Matt Weiner promised a game-changing episode and he delivered it with a whopper of a wrap up. Actually, nothing was really wrapped; it was more like the cards have been dealt and we're still waiting to see how the hands are played.
You know how sometimes you see an actor or actress and they look so familiar, but you can't remember where you saw him or her, or what the TV show was? That's how I've been with the little boy who plays Brick on The Middle. His name is Atticus Shaffer, and since the ABC sitcom began this fall, I've been scratching my head over him. Where did I see him before?
Turns out that it was on a commercial for AIG. Yes, AIG, that huge insurance company that was a big part of the economic collapse. The company that was too big for America to let fail.
With the holidays fast approaching, it's good to know that Adult Swim is thinking of you. According to their online schedule, Aqua Teen Hunger Force will return on December 13th at 11:45 p.m. ET with an episode elusively referred to as "ATHF Xmas."
In true Adult Swim fashion, there's been absolutely no indication as to what this episode might be about, however it's likely that it somehow ties into the recently released Aqua Teen Hunger Force Christmas CD, Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas. If you haven't bought it yet, do yourself a favor and get it now. Trust me when I say that you haven't lived until you've heard Meatwad croon his own version of "Silent Night" or Carl cackle his way through "I'll Be Home for Christmas."
Anyway, regarding the episode, it's the only one listed on the schedule, so it's probably not the new season premiere, but it'll hopefully have some sort of performance aspect with songs from the album. That and maybe The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future will show up. Please let the robot turkey be there.
(S05E08) Ah, Dave Foley. His sad sack Tom has been good for a laugh more than a few times, and he was used to good comic effect again this week. In the double blind-date scenario with Christine and Richard, his counterpart was the lovely Jennifer Grey, real-life wife to Clark Gregg.
The New Adventures of Old Christine is a rare comedy in that it can work in guest stars like this without it detracting from either the ongoing character moments, or taking the spotlight away from the main cast. Too often when a show gets deeper into its run, like Will & Grace in its final years, it becomes a cavalcade of celebrity guest-stars, as if the writers have run out of ways to keep things fresh with their own core group.
Christine has mixed things up just this season by breaking up Richard and New Christine and having Matthew move in with Richard in a swinging bachelor pad. And they shook it up again this week.
When you think of Brooke Shields, you think glamor and fashion and high style... Well, I do anyway. She's Suddenly Susan and one of the hot ladies on Lipstick Jungle. I do not think of her as a suburban mother of four in Orson, Indiana. However, that's exactly what she's going to be on an upcoming episode of ABC's sitcom The Middle.
As oxymoronic as it seems, I love the idea of Brooke on The Middle. She'll be going deep into the heart of the heartland to play a character who's supposed to be like Fran Heck, Patricia Heaton's character on The Middle. There's nothing as liberating for an actor as the chance to let loose and break the mold.
If all you know of Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge, the new Steve Coogan Collection might be a bit overwhelming for you. It's thirteen discs with eight different series, including Knowing Me, Knowing You, which introduced the character to television audiences, Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, the Christmas special, and two series of I'm Alan Partridge. That's five discs of Alan Partridge, which is always good news.
But there is plenty of good stuff on the other eight discs, a lot to discover for the Partridge-only crowd. Coogan has a wonderful talent for characters, and this Collection is full of them. There are three discs of the Saxondale series, in which Coogan plays Tommy Saxondale, an ex-roadie who has cleaned up and started an exterminator business.
The second funniest guy on The Daily Show named John is finally getting his own corner of Comedy Central's airspace.
John Oliver has been tapped by the network to do a six part stand-up series cleverly titled John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show. The specials will feature Oliver's signature stand-up as well as performances from his personal favorite comedians including Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Paul F. Tompkins and fellow Daily Show correspondent Kristen Schaal.
This is bound to be a real treat. If you haven't seen Oliver's stand-up either in person or from the comfort of your living room, you are missing out on some quality, edgy satire. His first special, Terrifying Times, was a real eye opener on American culture, politics and media. It should have been by the CIA as evidence to put Domino's on the "no fly" list (if you saw his special, that makes more sense, sort of).
But I'd give a month's pay from TV Squad (so, like $6.50) if I could build a time machine, change myself into a fly, stick myself to a wall in the network offices of CBS, and hear the pitch meeting for this show. I know it's not likely to happen, but there's no harm in dreaming.
Hey there gentle TV Squad reader! Have you got nothing but time on your hands right now? Do you need a healthy activity to occupy your time? Have you completely lost the will to go on living? Then put down that suicide cocktail and pick a pen or pencil for this "Kramer Counting" challenge!
Someone at Funnyordie.com has compiled all of Cosmo Kramer's entrances from all 174 episodes of Seinfeld into one viral video. I've tried counting them and got three different totals on three different tries. See if you can count the number of entrances. As an added challenge, the only rule I made for myself is that they must include the actual Kramer played by Michael Richards coming through the door, not the guy playing Kramer on Jerry's show-within-a-show, Jerry. I also counted scenes where someone is opening the door for Kramer but not the final scene were Kramer is running out the door.
I gave up during the fourth try since my eyes completely melted out of their sockets, a sign that I should really stop doing something. The same thing happened when I tried to do a review of Michael Strahan's Brothers.
The sudden and shocking of passing of TV writer, producer and host Ken Ober turned a lot of heads. Here's one of Ober's head (ahem) getting turned, for a change.
Collin Quinn, Ober's longtime friend and Remote Controlco-host, posted a hilarious picture on his Twitter page of himself, Ober and the uber-cute Kari Wuhrer on the set of their equally hilarious game show.
I'm tempted to let Bob use this for our weekly Subtle Subtitles post, but am worried the funniest of the comments will get us banned from every library in the country assuming, of course, that reading is still going on in America's libraries.