Category Sitcom

The Two and a Half Men Finale Was a Well Exectuted “Screw You” to the Fans

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The finale’s vanity card explaining why Charlie Sheen didn’t make an appearance.

More accurately, it was an aggressive “Screw You” to anyone watching. It was incredibly meta, with many of the jokes being dedicated to the characters pointing out how the show has long overstayed its welcome, and totally irreverent. Seriously, everything the season was building up to prior to the finale (Walden’s surprisingly heartfelt adoption arc, or Alan’s growing up and proposing to his on-again-off-again love interest Lyndsey) were all tossed to the wayside and mercilessly mocked, almost as if the show was actively trying to make anyone who was even marginally invested feel as terribly as possible. And if it wasn’t obvious from just watching the series, a couple of jokes were even devoted to how painfully unfunny the show has been as a whole for the past 12 years (I told you, it was a really meta finale). Mixed in with all of this were fitting character send-offs, misdirection, and of course the “Return of Charlie”. This is where the show gets really mean-spirited.

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‘Play it Again, Dick’ is Pretty Much the Greatest Thing Ever

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“How do you do it, Dick Casablancas?”

When I first heard of a Dick Casablancas centred Veronica Mars spin-off, I was super excited to see the continued exploration of a world I loved so much; however, I am ashamed to admit I was disappointed upon finding out it was actually a show about Ryan Hansen trying to make a Dick Casablancas show. It’s so odd reviewing this because this is really the first of its kind now that I think about it. Sure there have been other mockumentaries but this show feels like an odd cross between the world of Veronica Mars, the world of a fictionalized Ryan Hansen as he tries create the pilot to his show Private Dick, and some other strange vision of the world of television acting. Before I really delve into this review, I should tell fans of Veronica Mars who have decided against watching it for whatever reason to stop what they’re doing and go see it right now. Seriously, I’d argue that its 8 short episodes are more fulfilling in terms of fanservice than the movie was (which I also loved).

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BoJack Horseman’s Christmas Special is a Triumph in Writing

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“And a Goober in a Pear Tree!”

And with that jovial line-reading, the entire spirit of the holidays, sitcoms, and manipulative Christmas themed episodes are encapsulated. The Netflix original series BoJack Horseman stars a misanthropic, washed up television star that is going through depression. Also he’s a horse. Because he was the star of a popular 90’s sitcom titled Horsin’ Around (which ran for 9 seasons), he essentially has an endless flow of money. In the world of BoJack Horseman, where the titular star has nothing but time, he finds himself to be lonely. For this reason, he allows this dead beat named Todd to live with him rent free. Todd is mostly this chipper weirdo that shamelessly mooches off BoJack’s hospitality, and while he does have a habit of being grating at times (much to BoJack’s annoyance) he is perfectly utilized here. Todd is just one of the elements this episode handles so well, since on the whole it is a masterstroke of comedy.

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Tobias Fünke: Lord of Queer Humour

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Gay jokes in fiction usually amount to this formula: one character says something that can also be interpreted as incredibly gay without realizing it and everyone looks shocked at him. The humour comes from the fact that this often happens in real life due to how far down the gutter our minds have gotten (everything can be construed as gay innuendo these days) and that these jokes in fiction capture those isolated moments of hilarity. The problem is they usually aren’t funny because of the fakeness of it all. It just comes off as manufactured and forced most of the time and the humour dies as a result. Every other sentence out of Alan Harper’s mouth on Two and a Half Men these days is a gay double entendre and it fails to crack even a grin from me. Yes, jokes like that tend to have no effect, except of course in the case of Arrested Development’s Tobias Fünke.

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Anatomy of a Joke: I Lie To Myself

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30 Rock is a show where jokes fly at you so quickly and so consistently that you’ll find yourself still laughing at the last one that registered 3 jokes after it was told. Sometimes though, there are jokes that force you to sit and really think about them, jokes that will eviscerate you time and time again, jokes that you can re-watch endlessly and find something new to rave about… This here is one of those jokes. Allow me to break it down for you.

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Linda Belcher is the Best Sitcom Wife

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Alriiiight, let’s talk about sitcom wives. The general role they’ve had all the way back since The Honeymooners was to be the voice of reason to balance out the craziness their husbands bring each week. The husband does something impulsive, the wife tells him how stupid it is to have done that. The husband wants to do something fun and irresponsible, the wife is always there to stop him. This is how it is, and it made sense for a while. Long ago, women were always seen as less intelligent and less capable than men, so in order to subvert that sitcom writers decided it’d be cool to to portray women as the smart and responsible ones married to men who are less intelligent and immature. Unfortunately this stuck long after people needed to be reminded that women are just as intelligent and capable as men, and what we have now is so much worse as a result. Leading women in comedy these days are worse than idiots, worse than flighty numbskulls, and worse than any diva brat the misogynist writers of old could possibly cook up. Women in comedy today are buzz kills. They’re here to tell their family to not do this or that, and to act like some lame authority figure that must be reported to or else they’ll nag. How many times do we see Homer desperately trying to appease Marge for disobeying her wishes to not do whatever dumb and irresponsible thing he did that week? How many times did we hear sitcom dads use the phrase “If my wife finds out, she’s going to kill me”? The answer to both those questions is “far too many times”. Recently however, there has been a shift. To balance out their nagginess, writers have taken to giving sitcom wives “crazy” quirks or weaknesses where they act out of character to show that they can be funny too. Unfortunately it just comes off as a hollow attempt to invigorate the most boring character on their show. Linda Belcher of Bob’s Burgers however is different. She can be “crazy”, and fun, and be a loving mom and still stay true to her character. It’s an impressive feat, but it’s also a trick only this show can pull off.

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Parks and Recreation Season 1 was a Show About Terrible People

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People today know Parks and Recreation as this funny sitcom with a lot of warmth and heart about really distinct and likable characters. Sometimes they veer too far into caricature territory, but they are always grounded by the huge amount of chemistry they share. The show is just so good-natured and lovable, which is appropriate because it’s a show about people working in a city government parks and recreation department. It’s now going into it’s 7th and finale season after coming off a fantastic 6th season finale (that could have honestly made a satisfying series finale), but now that we’ve come so far it’s important to think about how these characters have changed. Thinking back, Parks and Recreation was very different in its first season. Most shows take some time to find themselves, but this one essentially had to reinvent itself after a shaky start. The reason this is the case was that the cast back then was pretty much unlikable for the most part. To illustrate this, I’d like to compare the differences between how they are now and how they were back then. Here’s what we know of the cast now:

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The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper is a Joke on the Audience

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Pictured: The star of The Big Bang Theory desperately pleading for pants… and laughs.

Sheldon Cooper isn’t funny. The breakout usurper star of the immensely popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, who is quickly becoming a popcultural icon on the level of “The Fonz” of Happy Days and Steve Urkel of Family Matters (other stars who usurped the lead role from fellow cast mates due to their popularity) is mostly just a loathsome and ignorant person. It’s not that you can’t be those things and funny, but Sheldon’s particular brand of awfulness has gotten sour as of late. Before, Sheldon was merely selfish and believably unfamiliar with social cues, much like an overgrown child. Now that selfishness and obliviousness has rotted into this odd streak of maliciousness and willful ignorance of even the most basic social conventions. The way he treats his friends, his girlfriend, and his colleagues has gone past “funny” and moved firmly into insufferable territory. The worst part of his character is how the writers try to convince us that Sheldon is a decent person “deep down” and just doesn’t know how to show it. They give us stunning moments of “growth” for him, but they fall apart once you realize how unearned they are. The problem is, Sheldon isn’t just a misguided and naive child, he’s actually a full on ass hole and nothing shows that more clearly than this scene right here.

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Two and a Half Men’s Adoption Arc: A Surprisingly Thoughtful Story or a New Low?

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My post today is a way to direct your attention at something that is happening with the final season of Two and a Half Men. Two and a Half Men, for the most part, is a pretty raunchy show following raunchy people. It peddles cheap laughs with a slew of dirty jokes thrown at the audience at breakneck speeds. If there is any opening for a lowbrow joke, you better believe this show will take it. Originally starring Charlie Sheen as the drunken womanizer Charlie Harper (“HAHAHA KINDA LIKE THE REAL CHARLIE SHEEN HA!”), the show followed how his life was shaken up by the arrival of his deadbeat brother Alan Harper who is played by Jon Cryer. After Sheen was fired (thus ruining the integrity of Two and a Half Men for many viewers by sullying its proud name), Ashton Kutcher came aboard as Walden Schmidt, a tech-company billionaire bachelor. A few sitcom contrivances later, Walden has replaced Charlie as the person Alan is sponging off of as a deadbeat tenant. Now, after a few seasons of being with Alan, Walden decided his life was empty, so he decides to adopt a child. Because he can’t adopt a child as a single man, he needs to find someone he can marry quickly (and due to his unbelievably terrible experience with women), he has chosen to marry Alan who he can trust. This is where things get tricky.

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Ross: The Best and Worst Friend

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It’s no secret that I am a pretty big Friends fan. Yes the show can be hokey, cheesy, and dumb sometimes. Yes the later seasons definitely looked to creak along with age a bit. But you know what? Screw anyone who tries to say this was an awful show. Friends changed sitcoms in a way that few sit-coms did before it. Friends was the show that identified the true strength of comedy, and that is the chemistry between the cast and the strength of the characters.  You can pair any of the 6 main cast members together and wring a story out of them consistently. Even now, over 10 years after the show ended and 20 years after it premiered, that is still really damn impressive. So I’m sure you’re all curious and waiting patiently to find out who I think is the best character in this dynamite cast that helped shape the landscape of sit-com history. And without question, the answer to that is Ross, but also know that if you were to ask me who I think is the worst friend the answer would be the same. Ross, just Ross.

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