This might start getting a little more difficult tomorrow, but it’s another gimme tonight, one more of our search term stalwarts, “rashida jones.” And, in the spirit of the season, we’re going to give you a Rashida Jones Tuesday 2 for 1:
…as Karen on Freaks and Geeks…
…and as Karen on The Office (and season appropriate!).
Vodpod videos no longer available.Merry Christmas, Rashida Jones!
In things-that-I-love-meeting-other-things-that-I-love news, reports indicate that Rashida Jones is close to joining Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller’s forthcoming Muppet motion picture, The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made (in addition, the adorable Amy Adams and the cute Chris Cooper are also in talks to come on board). Now that Jones appears to be in, we can only assume that Paul Rudd will not be far behind. And when you have Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones there’s a pretty good chance that you’re eventually going to see Judd Apatow and at least one member of The State. Rudd, we all know, is one of the key faces of Apatowian comedy, as well as frequent a collaborator with State members David Wain and Ken Marino (see: Role Models, Diggers). Jones, in addition to appearing in the Apatow-esque I Love You Man with Segel and Rudd (plus State member Tom Lennon), had a small role in Apatow’s masterwork Freaks and Geeks, and has shown up in State related productions Stella, The Ten and Wainy Days. So from there it’s only a matter of time before Jones, Rudd, Segel, Apatow, The State and the Muppets all team up. We already know that The State and the Muppets have a history together:
Vodpod videos no longer available.One complaint: Sources say that Jones would portray an ABC exec in the movie. Between her roles on The Office and The Social Network, we think we’ve seen enough of her in business attire. No more blazers!
For further information, please consult the Judd Apatow Chart
Today in their “Where are they now?” posting, TMZ featured Rider Strong, AKA Boy Meet’s World‘s resident bad boy/sensitive poet Shawn Hunter. However, we take an exception to their ostensibly derogatory summary of his post-World career, as they write:
In 2004, Rider graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University.
In 2009, Strong appeared in one episode of “Castle.”
That feels like a dig to me, no? How does it feel to you?
I think we all remember his role in the season 3 episode of Veronica Mars “My Big Fat Greek Rush Week” as Wallace & Logan’s classmate and fellow participant in the Stanford prison experiment. Strong, you may recall, played a guard in the exercise who bullied concurrent guest star and captive Samm Levine into pissing his pants (it was quite the guest star-studded episode, as Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, appears as the professor conducting the experiment. What Veronica was doing this whole time I don’t recall).
So to say that in the intervening years since the end of Boy Meets World that Strong has only gone to college and appeared on one episode of a somewhat popular ABC show is unfair, and plain wrong. And, in addition to his spot on Veronica Mars, he also keeps up a pretty strong twitter presence.
We’re kidding here, of course. But Strong, according to his twitter, has been working on his own films and even doing some theater. And, more importantly, one time about 6 years ago we ran into him on the N train. And he was gracious and kind, even as we completely geeked out, and no doubt made him feel uncomfortable from across the train car. He was the first (but not the last) cast member of Boy Meets World that we have had the good fortune to meet, and for that he’ll always have a place in our heart.
And that, TMZ, is the kind of fact you can’t find on IMDB.
Okay, so above the comparisons were mostly lies, but, as already been oft-said, British import The Inbetweeners is a like a sitcom version of Skins. It’s to Skins as Undeclared was to Freaks & Geeks. Which means it’s good, if a little lacking on dramatic depth. The quick cuts and camera work also evoke shades of Arrested Development, if Arrested Development took place in the UK, featured teenage boys, and dispensed with the self-referential gags and cutaway jokes. So, basically in no way like Arrested Development other than that it’s a one camera, handheld comedy. Oh, and it has a narrator.
The first two episodes aired Monday night on BBC America and they were fit! Below is my favorite scene from either show (stolen from PopCandy)
As my roommate so astutely pointed out, doesn’t series star Simon Bird look just like a young John Oliver. Uncanny!
Catch a new episode tonight in its regular 9:30pm time slot on whatever channel BBC America is on your cable provider. Don’t ask me to look it up for you. You have the internet.
Filed under Across the pond, Discos and Dragons, Good Humor
Was there a show more ahead of its time, more under-appreciated, than Nickelodeon’s Adventures of Pete & Pete? Freaks and Geeks, you say? Okay, maybe. But Pete & Pete is surely up there, and growing from a string of one-minute shorts aired on Nickelodeon during commercial breaks into a full-fledged 22-min series, it featured some of the most unique, quirky characters and stories on TV (back when being “quirky” was still a good thing). Even though it aired on Nickelodeon, and followed a set of young redheaded brothers, it was far beyond the traditional kiddie fare, attracting guest stars like Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Elliott and Bebe Neuwirth, and could be viewed as one of the first single camera, laugh track-free comedies. Perhaps you could even say that Pete & Pete paved the way for shows like Arrested Development. But, let’s not get off to topic, that’s a discussion for another day. Right now it’s all about Christmas.
Pete & Pete often traded in holiday-themed episodes, including Valentine’s Day, Halloween and New Year’s Eve (my favorite would be “Time Tunnel,” set during the Autumnal Equinox, which is not technically a holiday but worth including because of the Pete’s commitment to time travel, something that really hit home with me (make sure you consume plenty of riboflavin!)). Surprisingly, it took them until the third season to tackle Christmas, presenting us with “O Christmas Pete,” in which Little Pete (Danny Tamberelli, before he lost his boyish charm and went on to join All That), in typical Little Pete fashion, attempts to keep Christmas going year-round and battles the evil garbageman, a typical Pete & Pete villain (they loved to utilize their civil servants).
Keep it going with Part 2 and then the exciting conclusion!
Sidenote: About 7 years ago, after a Yankee game, I swear that I saw Danny Tamberelli outside the stadium. I yelled “Little Pete,” but he did not acknowledge me in the slightest. As a result, I’m positive it was him.
Seriously though, Pete & Pete is probably the best thing ever to air on Nickelodeon (and that’s no small feat (see: Rocko’s Modern Life, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Clarissa Explains It All, Roundhouse, to name a few)) and probably deserved to be on network TV. And you can quote me on that (seriously, please quote me, I could use the traffic).
Filed under Count Bleh, Discos and Dragons, Good Humor, Nicktoons, Nostalgia Corner, Snick, Yankee Swap
It’s getting harder and harder to write these SNL commentaries; not because I don’t have anything to say, but because I’m afraid that I’m going to sound redundant, as it seems that I have the same reaction almost every week. Occasionally there’s a funny, or at least a buzzworthy, sketch, or a Digital Short that goes viral, or a host that either succeeds beyond expectations or crashes spectacularly, but for the most part, week in and week out it’s becoming the same show. Starting to feel like a broken record.
James Franco had a fairly successful debut as host last season (although I can only seem to remember the glossy Gossip Girl send-up “Murray Hill“), but in the period leading up to this weekend’s show (indeed since Franco was announced as the anchor in the Blake Lively-Taylor Lautner-James Franco hosting triumvirate) it seemed there was a feeling that Franco was going to be some sort of SNL savior, that he’s developed into a comedy wunderkind. Now, his turn on General Hospital may be generating laughs, but it’s not necessarily comedy (in fact, if you listen to Franco, it’s “performance art“). And the very reason he was hailed for his comedic performance in last year’s Pineapple Express and his subsequent SNL hosting gig was precisely because he was playing against type. Before that time he was identified more with his previous characters: the quiet cool of James Dean, Freaks & Geeks sensitive bad boy Daniel Desario, and petulant, moody Spider-man friend turned enemy turn friend Harry Osborne. Franco was so successful in Pineapple Express because it was somewhat unexpected. However, now it seems that he’s planted himself in the comedy camp, or at least as some sort of genre chameleon or Renaissance Man, moving between comedy, serious drama (Milk), daytime soap operas and Columbia University. And with this shift, we’re now less surprised with Franco’s comedy aptitude, and then perhaps set the bar a little too high for his second SNL go-around.
Which is not to say he was anywhere near January Jones territory, not even in the same stratosphere. He was enthusiastic, confident and capable. But he also spent the majority of the broadcast squinting severely which gave off the impression that either a) he was struggling to see the cue cards without the use of prescription lenses, b) his eyes are particularly sensitive to the bright studio lights, or c) he was really, really high. His giggly demeanor and off-beat rhythms didn’t help dissuade the viability of option C. During the monologue if felt like I was looking at French Stewart, not James Franco. But he clearly felt very at home, and up for anything (including making out with Will Forte).
Keep reading: Greatest Hits, the return of Fart Face and belated thoughts
Filed under Analysis, Discos and Dragons, Saturday Night Live, Yankee Swap
Jumped The Snark 