Whitney

This sitcom isn’t the greatest one I’ve ever watched.  But I’ve seen every episode.  So there must be something about it that I like.  I’m just not sure what.  This show has had a lot of negative feedback.  Which I understand.  The acting and the jokes aren’t that great.  But they’e watchable.  And still better than some.

The revolves around Whitney, her boyfriend, and their friends, and the random, everyday problems that they all have.  Whitney is wholeheartedly against marriage, but believes in a committed relationship, which she has with her boyfriend.  A lot of the episodes revolve around arguments they get in over trivial matters in their relationship.  In one episode, Whitney is upset because Alex has a password on his phone.  According to her, since they are a couple, they should share everything.  Later in this episode, she accidentally walks in on him masturbating, and he gets embarrassed and upset when she tells her friends about it.  Yeah, now that I write it down. none of that seems funny at all.  But I’m sure that episode had other redeeming qualities?

Another episode features Whitney trying to help her friend Lily with her wedding plans, when she herself hates the idea of weddings.  Naturally, when you’re completely against weddings, you would agree to be the wedding planner for your friend.  I can’t quite remember what was good about that episode either.  But I’m sure there must have been something.

Maybe I like the fact that it’s based in part on Whitney Cummings’ real life experience?  That adds something to a show, right?  Although I think Rob was supposed to be somewhat based on Rob Schneider’s real life experience, and I didn’t care for that at all.  I guess in order for it to work, your life experience has to have some substance or humour in it.  I think what I like is her attitude and some of her opinions.  Like when she asks how buying flowers for a woman is romantic, because you’re basically saying here, I picked these for you so you could watch them slowly die.  In today’s episode, remarks are made about how she has a knack for being mean to people and dissing things that most people love.  Being mean in a way that is at least intended to be humorous is right up my alley.

So it’s not the best sitcom, but it’s not the worst sitcom either.  And I can’t be the only one who’s watching it, or it wouldn’t still be on the air.  I don’t know, I guess I’ve just gotten comfortable with watching not so great sitcoms.  Perhaps I should higher my standards again.  But I can’t be bothered.  I’ll just wait and hope that the sitcoms will just get better.  And if they don’t, I can just write bad reviews about them.  Whitney’s not the only one who can be mean with the intention of being funny.

New Girl

I love Zooey Deschanel.  Well, love is a strong word.  I like her.  I loved 500 Days of Summer, but I think Joseph Gordon Levitt takes most of the credit for why.  I liked Zooey in movies, but when I saw the pilot episode of New Girl, I liked her even more.  I thought I had found my new favourite show.  But then a few episodes later, I began to question myself on this matter.

I’m not sure what it was about the pilot episode.  It was just good.  It was funny and able to encompass material that I liked in a sitcom.  I was very happy that this was a show that had an awkward central female character.  That to me, was awesome.  And the character of Jess was just full of awkwardness.  Her quirky behaviour was very refreshing.  The jokes and references were good and it worked.  I was looking forward to a whole season of this.  But somewhere, somehow, the awesomeness of it was lost.

Of the three guys Jess moves in with, Coach was my favourite.  I thought it was incredibly misleading for them to introduce his character in the pilot as a regular on the show, only to replace him so that we never see him again.  I understand that it’s because the show Happy Endings was renewed for another season and so Damon Wayans Jr. had to leave New Girl for that.  But still, very misleading and unfortunate to rid me of my favourite character.

They didn’t even really explain the switch that well.  Their friend Winston was moving back, and since his name was on the lease and Coach was subletting, he had to leave.  But just because he no longer lives there, why would he be cut completely out of their lives?  Where did he go?  It’s not that the character of Winston is horrible or anything, he just doesn’t seem to add as much value to the show is all.  He’s sort of just, there.  He’s okay, but he’s not great.

My least favourite character right now is Nick.  Funny enough, I didn’t mind him earlier on and thought he was okay.  In about the second or so episode, he may even have briefly been my new favourite when Coach left.  I don’t know how that would have been possible, seeing as how annoying I find him now.  All he does is whine all the time in a really whiny voice.  In the “Naked” episode when he did that weird strip thing in front of the mirror, I thought what the hell is this and why is it going on for so long?

And that leaves us with Schmidt, the douche bag.  In the first few episodes, he wasn’t my favourite.  Naturally, why would a douche bag be my favourite?  In real life, I hate that kind of person.  Speaking of douche bags, I absolutely love the concept of the douche bag jar.  I think that was my favourite thing in the pilot episode and in the show in general.  I wish that I could carry around one of those jars when I go out and charge people for being douche bags.  I swear I would be rich after just one night.  Despite being a douche bag, Schmidt grew on me and is now my favourite.  His character is somehow likable and funny.  Also, he can cook, which is an obvious plus.

There were a few episodes in there that I didn’t much care for, but I suppose that’s the case with any sitcom.  You can’t love them all.  I do think it’s starting to get better again though.  Maybe because the last episode involved the douche bag jar?  It’s not quite at the level of awesome that I remember the pilot to be.  But I can still wait and hope for that awesomeness to return.  Maybe it’ll happen if Coach comes back for an episode and guest stars.

http://itsjustjustin.com/the-new-girl-premiers-on-itunes-for-free/4773

Rob

Yeah, Rob Schneider decided to come out with his own sitcom.  My question is why?  I hate Rob Schneider.  Well, maybe hate is a strong word.  But I just find him kind of annoying and not that funny.  Also, what is it with TV shows where the title is just simply the name of the lead character?  Could they not get any more creative than that?  When I first saw the commercials for it, I thought it was called iRob.  Because the title was displayed like this iRob!  Okay, I just used an i, cause I don’t know how to type an upside down ! on the computer.  I could change my keyboard settings to Spanish, but I can’t be bothered.

This reason for the upside down exclamation mark, I guess is because the premise of the show is that he marries into a Mexican family.  Of course his wife is young and hot, because that’s how they do these types of sitcoms.  The main guy is annoying and/or unattractive, while his wife is young and beautiful.  Because that’s the typical formula for a sitcom.  In some cases, it works and we are able to get past this, because other things make up for it and the show is funny.  This is not one of those shows.

Why did I even watch it?  Well, my mom had this idea that we should tape the pilot episodes of new shows that are on.  Even if we already know they’ll be terrible.  So we did.    And also because we figure certain ones aren’t going to last more than three episodes.  As far as this show goes, in the words of my mom, “This may not even last 3 shows, I’m surprised it got made.”  Another thing my mom had to say about this show was “It’s sad when a show is crappier than Work It.”

The only good thing I can say about it is that Rob Schneider could have been more annoying.  The fact that he wasn’t was probably due to how the characters around him were portrayed by comparison.  In this episode, Rob has just gotten married, and they have to break the news to his wife’s family, who, big surprise, does not warm up to Rob.  What a shocker.

I don’t really have much else to say about it.  It wasn’t funny.  It was dull.  And I didn’t really like any of the characters.  But I guess there’s someone out there who liked it?  Enough to air it in the first place.  We’ll see if it does indeed last three episodes.  But regardless of how many more episodes they air, I will not be watching it again.

 

Hot in Cleveland

This show is in it’s second season.  I didn’t watch it last season.  I know, you’re wondering why not.  Clearly it looks like such an awesome show, one I wouldn’t want to miss.  I guess I just didn’t have time for it what with work, school, volunteering, and of course, the other shows I needed to watch who’s priority I ranked higher.  I remember once my mom watched an episode and I glanced at it and remarked that it looked like a sitcom for all the people who’s sitcoms were no longer on.

But I realized that the sitcoms they used to be on were sitcoms that I liked.  Jane Leeves was Daphne on Frasier.  I loved Frasier.  Maybe it’s cause I’m a Psyc major, or maybe it’s cause it was awesome.  Wendie Malick was Nina on Just Shoot Me, which I also loved.  Betty White was Rose on Golden Girls.  And yes, I’m not ashamed to say I’ve watched that too.  Valerie Bertinelli was Barbara on One Day at a Time, which was before my time.  I remember her Jenny Craig commercials though, does that count?

I decided to watch today’s episode.  In this episode, Betty White’s character has run off to avoid jail time.  Where does she go in order to be cut off from the rest of the world?  To live with the Amish of course.  At one point, they find themselves in a bar, where they naturally get a lot of looks from the men.  My mom and I questioned whether the Amish would have bars, or whether they would be drinking in the first place.  My mom remarked that it’s a good thing that Amish people don’t have TVs, because you can depict them however you want and no one will complain.

Also in this episode were George Wendt, who played Norm on Cheers, and Monica Horan, who played Amy on Everybody Loves Raymond.  In this episode, they played Amish people.  It’s nice that in the sitcom world, once your sitcom is over, you can just guest star in other sitcoms.  It would be nice if that applied to the real world as well.  If I quit my job, can I just get paid for playing a small role in someone else’s job for a day or two, without making a commitment to it?

Anyway, I think I’ll continue watching it when I can.  I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t love Betty White.  I mean the woman turns 90 years old in a week and is still amazing.  Lucky for me, sitcoms like this one generally don’t require you to watch the series from the beginning in order to understand what’s going on.  After watching one episode, and bits and pieces I remember seeing from a previous one, I think I get it.  And it’s always nice to see that these people are still getting work.

 

Mr. D

My opinion of this show is probably a bit biased because Gerry Dee is one of my favourite comedians.  It could’ve been complete crap and I still would’ve searched for good things to say about it and tried to put a positive spin on it.  Just the fact that he’s the star of the show makes it worth watching. When I heard about it, I knew I would like it.

Gerry Dee came in third on the fifth season of Last Coming Standing.  Yeah, I can’t remember how many seasons that show had. Reality shows nowadays just continue on and on for as long as they possibly can.  Just look at Survivor and Big Brother.  I loved his material on the show and though he was much better than Jon Reep, the winner of that season.

In his material, he talks openly and honestly about his life, a lot of it reflecting on when he was a teacher.  I won’t repeat any of his jokes, because me trying to explain them wouldn’t do them justice.  He’s just a funny guy.  I would watch his Gerry Dee Sports Reporter segments on The Score, even though I wasn’t watching the sports that they came on between.

In his new sitcom, he plays a teacher, probably similar to the kind he was in real life.  So, not a very good one.  He admits this in his stand up comedy, saying that he would be learning the material as he was teaching it, and would use the smart kid’s answers as the answer key for his marking.  He even admits to having lost an entire stack of exams one time after going camping with his buddies.  How can you not love and appreciate that kind of honesty?

The pilot episode of Mr. D aired today.  His character is kind of clueless as a teacher, but really full of himself as he pretends to know what he’s talking about.  He says and does stupid things, but is pretty much at all times hilarious.  Much of it is supposed to be based on his real life experiences as a teacher.  I don’t know whether to feel bad for those kids for  having to put up with him, or to envy them for having such an awesome teacher.

As with most of the Canadian sitcoms I watch (not that there are that many), I don’t actually know anyone else who also watches them, other than my family members.  This is sad, as I have no one with whom to discuss these funny and promising shows.  With Mr. D, I think you’ll appreciate the show more if you’ve seen any if Gerry Dee’s stand up comedy.  But even if you haven’t, you’ll still laugh.