You Don't Need a Doctor... You Need a Time Machine

It's a rare thing to accomplish comedy and tragedy in one moment but the new television show Louie manages to do so with alarming skill, whit, and candor.

If you haven't seen the show yet, here's a clip with guest star Ricky Gervais who I also think is unbelievably talented. (Has there ever before been someone who could simultaneously generate such revultion and humor in one character? If yes, he's one of the best at it.) Anyway, Louis C.K. created the series, and truly, it's worth checking out. It might offend, it might alarm, it might disgust, but ultimately, it will make you think and laugh. The heavy moments are balanced out by the ridiculousness of life so easily posed by Louis.

Please, check out this show so it doesn't go the way of other television comedies that ended up going way of the dinosaur...comedic brilliance should get airtime! If there have been 17 Bachelors, the least we can do is keep shows like Louie on the air. Heck, we've already lost Arrested Development, My Name is Earl, Pushing Daisies (which was more of a dramedy, but I adored it), Better Off Ted (not actually sure what's going on with that show but it's another gem!), and others I'm forgetting that all  fossilized via netflix and DVD. Tragic!

Check it and let me know what you think. Here's a 30-second clip of Louie at the doctor with guest star Ricky Gervais.



If the video doesn't open/view on this blog, here's the link to check it out on hulu. http://www.hulu.com/louie
Hulu has full episodes of Louie with a couple of commercials...better than regular television and a good substitute if you don't have DVR/Tivo.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.


"You don't need a doctor, you need a time machine."

My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good In Bed!

This will be a recurring blog, sort of like My Favorite Things blogs. This is just my first installment, so...

The very first winners of My Favorite Shows are...
(drum roll "The Giggle goes to...")

Wait. Before I announce the winners of My Favorite Shows, allow me to first express my criterion for My Favorite Shows:

My Favorite Shows Criterion:

• Funny, thoughtful & entertaining. I must be amused and entertained during the show & in retrospect. Any show that makes me laugh hours after I've watched it while simply remembering a scene or line from the show, is a great show in my book. If I'm not laughing, the show should pop into my memory somehow...in a good way. The show should also be conversation worthy (thoughtful). Basically it should stay with us after the viewing is over. (But not in the annoying I have a song stuck in my head kind of way.)
  
• Clever writing - when I pause viewing to reiterate the line, or quote the show later, that's good writing. Characters who are supposed to be intelligent or genius should be 100% believable as a genius in their proclaimed field of expertise. Also, I love unexpected asides and semi-throw-away lines that hit a funny nerve or are quote-worthy. One more point on the genius note, genius characters are quite simply, hot. Not to mention intriguing and usually flawed in their genius. Love shows with believable genius characters.
  
• Good acting. Simply put, the characters must be believable as they are. Do you buy this person as a doctor, spy, show-runner, genius, people-reader/expert, vampire-f%#ker/telepath, fire-fighter, writer, etc? If I ever question it, the show won't make my list.
  
• High production-value. Excellent cinematography, editing, and where applicable, special-effects and fight-scenes. This doesn't make lower-budget shows ineligible, it just means they must compose their shots and edit well, to make sure we their viewing audience don't get distracted by poor production value.

So, once again, for real this time, the very first winners of
My Favorite Shows are...
(drum roll "The Giggle goes to...")

Californication
&
30 Rock

Here's why:

Californication. Maybe David Duchovney is basically playing himself. Maybe the writers made some deal with the devil. Maybe I just have the biggest crush (albeit a shameful, late-night crush on a man-whore) on David Duchovney's character Hank Moody. I'd use protection. But I'd bet my first born that he's good in bed. Hank Moody and Jesus. Definitely both good lays. But I digress. Californication is fantastic for the writing, acting and especially for it's irreverence. I give it top marks. My favorite new word creation from Californication, by the way, is broner, a clever portmanteau combining brother or bro with the ever popular erection synonym boner to make broner. Not for the gay necessarily, but simply a term for when, as a guy, you're so impressed or admiring of another guy, you have (drum roll) a broner for him. Brilliant.

30 Rock. Blurg! What the what! Son of a! Nerd! I want to go to there. Eat my pooh! All expletives or lines used by Liz Lemon (played by Tina Fey) in a show that actually deserves all the Emmys and critical acclaim it has received. Tina Fey is so believable as this character I often forget she's the writer/creator of this show, instead of the reluctantly lovable and fallible Liz Lemon. Anyone who doubts the brilliance of this show should just check their roster of guest stars. Believe me, Oprah Winfrey, Carrie Fisher, Alan Alda, Edie Falco, Steve Martin, Megan Mullally, Paul Reubens, Isabella Rossallini, and Calvin Klein are selective about the shows they make guest appearances on, and 30 Rock is one I suspect they chose to guest on with little deliberation. I'd be a guest if I could. Faster than I'd bed Jesus. Well, almost. Major props to Tina Fey. Your Sarah Palin impersonation is outdone only by this genius show.

Stay tuned for more. And please, if you haven't already, check the aforementioned shows out on dvd. They're super fun to watch over a week or so. Plus you'll find out what the fuss is all about.

What the what!

More Interesting Katie Strand World Posts

• My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good in Bed
  
• The Hawaiian Islands and Washington D.C.’s sand-paper circle-jerk about Health Care
  
• My Buddha has Termites...A Lesson in Infinite Joy
• The One-Date-Wonders!
• I had to learn SIGN LANGUAGE when I moved to Los Angeles
• Guys can make a game out of anything
• Hello? The power of CONNECTING and how technology has changed
• Popping the question is better than porn!
• Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage
• Songwriting is like SEX
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall - Inspiring a inspiring all of us to be more in the FLOW
• A moment of silence for all the plastic surgery ca...
• Ricky Gervais should be the new Simon on American Idol
• Muscle SURPRISE! The key to physical, mental & emotional fitness
• I think my boyfriend's a snake...
• Release... Sweat & Power
• MY FAVORITE THINGS! - Vibram's Five Fingers
• Dick Morris... How do you sleep at night?
• Rusty DePass, Gorillas, and Obama, oh my!
• Michael Jackson - Troubled Genius

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&
Posts
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Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage

If you missed this week of The Colbert Report, you can watch episodes either on Comedy Central's website for The Colbert Report, Colbert Nation, or on Hulu (where you'll suffer only 2-3 commercials per episode. (No, I'm not sponsored by either one of these organizations, I just like to make things easy for my readers.)

Stephen Colbert and Co. (Co being his writers and staff) did a fantastic job this week not covering the Olympic games. They Vancouveraged them. But right here I'd like to just point out the absurdity of copyright law. Apparently, NBC paid $820 million for exclusive rights to use the "O" word. (No, not orgasms. Please see previous blogs for those kinds of topics, people! This is serious, olympic, athletic business here on this blog!) What this means, as far as this very un-legal gal understands, is that no other broadcast station can proclaim on-air that they're covering the Olympic games of 2010. Only NBC-owned-or-affiliated stations can say that. Also, no other non-NBC-owned-or-affiliated stations can even show the Olympic rings without risking being sued. Sillyness, huh? That's copyright for you. I wonder how that applies to print. I suspect it doesn't since newspapers seem to be freely reporting on the winter Olympics, but who reads a newspaper (besides online) nowadays anyways? Besides, of course, my parents... and anyone retired and over age 60. Don't get me wrong, I actually love newspapers. There's a fantastic visceral experience that comes with reading an actual newspaper (as opposed to reading news on the computer or watching news on television). I just love trees more than that visceral experience. Especially considering I would sometimes miss reading the paper on certain days and would subsequently feel a bit wasteful. If they printed newspapers on hemp, a crop that grows, aptly, like a weed, and actually replenishes the soil (unlike corn that reaps & drys out soil - please see the movies Food, Inc. & The Union for more) I might be more inclined to subscribe to a newspaper...but I digress.

Back on topic, here's how Colbert got around that little legality and are avoiding being sued.

Exclusive Vancouverage of the 2010
Quadrennial Cold Weather Athletic Competition...
Defeat The World!

Colbert's brother, who is a copyright attorney and recent guest on the show to advise little bro Stephen on said laws, said if he were the Olympic attorney he'd still sue for the aforementioned Exclusive Vancouverage of the 2010 Quadrennail Cold Weather Athletic Competition... but that Colbert would likely win.

Bravo, Colbert & Co! Not just for comedy or creativity, though you deserve high marks for that. But I celebrate you because you skirt (or luge around the fastest corner) the line of copyright legality (truly one of the most boring of all legalities - which really is saying something) in the name of humor, entertainment, and most importantly, supporting world competition and athleticism. Could we just do this whole athletic competition thing instead of war? We'd still get our aggressions out. Oh, wait. It's not as profitable. NBC's set to loose money on this one, and Halliburton simply would not tolerate that. War's more profitable than the Olympics. Chew on that next time you decide to exercise...Oh wait, chew on that next time you watch TV. Since if you're an average American, you're likely to spend more time watching television than exercising.