June | 2013 | Jmunney's Blog

Best Episode of the Season: Modern Family Season 4

June 17, 2013

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Season Analysis: There is some stark Flanderization going on with Modern Family, but Phil is still awesome, and Luke is actually one character who has only gotten better since Season 1.

“Goodnight Gracie”
Modern Family always goes in for the emotional gut with the final talking head of each episode, and it kind of always falls flat with me. That is not to say I am heartless (movies and TV shows have made me cry plenty of times) but that MF is not quite pulling off what it thinks it is. You can’t have everyone constantly be petty to each other and expect shoehorning in an emotional revelation to work just as constantly. So it was gratifying that all the emotional beats of “Goodnight Gracie” worked without any qualifications. Two goofy guys – Ty Burrell and Fred Willard – got to play earnest while mourning the death of a mother and wife, while also managing to remain goofy in a way that did not distract. To expound: Phil’s late mother left him with the odd final request of setting his father up with a neighbor. The moment when Phil fully explained to this woman why he had shown up at her doorstep made me wish that the people on this show were always this honest with each other. Not that I didn’t feel that way already, this moment just confirmed my belief.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 6/15/13

June 15, 2013

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FUSE-VH1 #1 Agreement Alert

Original Version
1. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us”
2. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors”
3. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack”
4. Ed Sheeran – “Lego House”
5. Phillip Phillips – “Gone Gone Gone”
6. Icona Pop – “I Love It”
7. Jason Derulo – “The Other Side”
8. P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – “Just Give Me a Reason”
9. Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
10. Florida Georgia Line ft. Nelly – “Cruise (Remix)”
11. Maroon 5 – “Love Somebody”
12. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
13. Goo Goo Dolls – “Rebel Beat”
14. Mariah Carey ft. Miguel – “#Beautiful”
15. Sara Bareilles – “Brave”
16. Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell – “Blurred Lines”
17. New Kids on the Block – “Remix (I Like The)”
18. Emeli Sandé – “Next to Me”
19. Train ft. Ashley Monroe – “Bruises”
20. Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding – “I Need Your Love”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Radioactive
2. I Love It
3. Mirrors
4. I Need Your Love
5. Blurred Lines
6. Heart Attack
7. #Beautiful
8. Can’t Hold Us
9. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
10. Next to Me
11. Just Give Me a Reason
12. Brave
13. Love Somebody
14. Gone Gone Gone
15. Remix (I Like The)
16. Lego House
17. Cruise (Remix)
18. Rebel Beat
19. The Other Side
20. Bruises

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 6/11/13

June 11, 2013

jmunney Fuse Top 20 Countdown, Music, Television Leave a comment

Sassy?

Original Version
1. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us”
2. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. – “Blurred Lines”
3. P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – “Just Give Me a Reason”
4. Selena Gomez – “Come & Get It”
5. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
6. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors”
7. Icona Pop – “I Love It”
8. Emeli Sandé – “Next to Me”
9. Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
10. Ariana Grande ft. Mac Miller – “The Way”
11. will.i.am ft. Justin Bieber – “#thatPOWER”
12. Mariah Carey ft. Miguel – “#Beautiful”
13. Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – “Live It Up”
14. Bruno Mars – “When I Was Your Man”
15. Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko – “Stay”
16. Taylor Swift – “22”
17. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack”
18. Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera – “Feel This Moment”
19. Avril Lavigne – “Here’s to Never Growing Up”
20. Maroon 5 – “Love Somebody”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Radioactive
2. I Love It
3. Come & Get It
4. Mirrors
5. Stay
6. Blurred Lines
7. Heart Attack
8. Can’t Hold Us
9. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
10. Next to Me
11. #Beautiful
12. Just Give Me a Reason
13. When I Was Your Man
14. Love Somebody
15. Feel This Moment
16. #thatPOWER
17. Live It Up
18. The Way
19. 22
20. Here’s to Never Growing Up

Best Episode of the Season: The Middle Season 4

June 11, 2013

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Season Analysis: The Middle is the best family sitcom on the air right now, and it has probably set its sights on being one of the best of all time.

“The Friend”
I feel like I (and others) have so often mentioned how interesting the awkwardness of adult male friendship can be that it seems redundant to keep praising shows that present this situation. But Neil Flynn actually does manage to bring something different to the table, by portraying Mike Heck as someone who honestly could not care any less about his lack of friends. Unfortunately for him, he is married to Frankie Heck, who cares way too much about this sort of thing. Fortunately for the viewer, the new neighbor that Frankie sets Mike up on a man date with is played by David Koechner. Koechner is known for playing for off-putting weirdos, but here he is actually allowed to play someone who could comfortably live in suburbia, but he is like all his previous characters in that he follows one rule in life: “I’ll have a beer with anyone.”
The Axl-Cassidy (and Brick) subplot showed that (now dearly departed) relationship getting on well. It deftly played with expectations, with Cassidy and Brick’s shared love of the Planet Nowhere series seemingly suggesting that Brick might develop a crush on his older brother’s girlfriend. But instead, it turns into an opportunity for Brick to teach Axl about culture and make the latter more appealing to his lady.

Best Episode of the Season: Family Guy Season 11

June 11, 2013

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Season Analysis: Season 11 was the loudest Family Guy season yet!

“Yug Ylamif”
I still enjoy Family Guy enough to watch it regularly, but I no longer love it the way I loved it during its early years. Its joke-telling is simply not as consistently sharp anymore. Too often, the gags are just crass for the sake of being crass, without any real rhythm to them. Since the joke-telling cannot be relied on, a modern FG episode needs a solid hook to its plot to work out. A backwards episode isn’t the most unique hook ever, but it is strong enough compared to most other episodes, and it plays on the established FG continuity of Stewie’s time machine, and there is tension because of an endpoint (the reversal of Stewie’s birth) that needs to be avoided. Revisiting the show’s past allows for meta commentary (Meg is voiced by Lacey Chabert for a line) and seems to allow the show to revert to a time when the characters were simply better: case in point – Peter pouts like an older sibling (“I want to be the baby!”) when newborn Stewie arrives home from the hospital. But the main reason “Yug Ylimaf” succeeds – and the most common Family Guy episodes succeed nowadays – is that it focuses on the Stewie-Brian pairing, the most fruitful character combination perhaps in the show’s whole run and certainly the best of the show’s current iteration. Interestingly enough, the best gag has nothing to do with the concept itself and doesn’t rely upon the Stewie-Brian interplay – it’s one of those moments of Stewie muttering something mundane in his sleep (“Mmm, yes, I’d like to return this printer.”)

Honorable Mentions: Further proof that Stewie-Brian is the show’s best character combo: the surprisingly poignant “Brian’s Play,” and “Roads to Vegas,” my favorite of all the Hope/Crosby homage episodes.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 6/8/13

June 11, 2013

jmunney Music, Television, VH1 Top 20 Countdown Leave a comment

I think I fell asleep.

Original Version
1. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack”
2. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us”
3. Ed Sheeran – “Lego House”
4. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors”
5. Icona Pop ft. Charli XCX – “I Love It”
6. Phillip Phillips – “Gone Gone Gone”
7. P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – “Just Give Me a Reason”
8. Jason Derulo – “The Other Side”
9. Goo Goo Dolls – “Rebel Beat”
10. Mariah Carey ft. Miguel – “#Beautiful”
11. Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
12. Emeli Sandé – “Next to Me”
13. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
14. Florida Georgia Line ft. Nelly – “Cruise (Remix)”
15. Maroon 5 – “Love Somebody”
16. New Kids on the Block – “Remix (I Like The)”
17. Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell – “Blurred Lines”
18. Sara Bareilles – “Brave”
19. Gin Wigmore – “Black Sheep”
20. Train ft. Ashley Monroe – “Bruises”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Radioactive
2. I Love It
3. Mirrors
4. Blurred Lines
5. Heart Attack
6. Black Sheep
7. #Beautiful
8. Can’t Hold Us
9. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
10. Next to Me
11. Brave
12. Just Give Me a Reason
13. Love Somebody
14. Gone Gone Gone
15. Cruise (Remix)
16. Lego House
17. Remix (I Like The)
18. Rebel Beat
19. The Other Side
20. Bruises

Best Episode of the Season: The Simpsons Season 24

June 10, 2013

jmunney Best Episodes of the 2012-2013 Season, Best Episodes of the Season, Television, The Simpsons 1 Comment

Season Analysis: Watching modern-day Simpsons renders quite the existential toll: it does not look like it will ever die, even though it seems like it has already lived its entire life.

“The Day the Earth Stood Cool”
Classic Simpsons is known for its spot-on cultural homages and parodies. Modern Simpsons still takes aim in the same direction, but it is rarely memorable anymore, so it is especially gratifying nowadays to have an episode like “The Day the Earth Stood Cool,” which is essentially an animated episode of Portlandia. Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein voice a couple of Portlanders who pave the way for a Portland-to-Springfield migration, thus turning the Simpsons’ hometown into a hipster paradise (that is to say, Portlandia). Considering that there is already an entire show built around the concept of hipster paradise, one might think this episode would suffer from lack of originality. But there may not be any original concepts left for The Simpsons anyway, so they might as well borrow another show for an entire episode. As a loyal A.V. Club reader, I must point out the gag with the print version of The Onion, in which Marge mistakes it for a real newspaper and then mistakes the A.V.’s harsh reviews of The Wizard of Oz and The Graduate for fake reviews. This gag paints The A.V. Club as harsher/more alternative than it actually is, but it still hilariously gets the point across.

Best Episode of the Season: The Cleveland Show Season 4

June 10, 2013

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Season Analysis: The Cleveland Show was starting to lean too hard on the fourth wall breaking by Season 4. It wasn’t that it was unfunny so much as it was pointless. Other than that, the show remained an essentially agreeable half hour.

“The Fist and the Furious”
It is the nature of every episode of basically mediocre shows like The Cleveland Show to not stick out one way or the other. To break out requires a new or uncommon element, such as a guest voice appearance by the indispensable Bryan Cranston. Cranston voices Dr. Fist, whose name sounds creepy if you are inclined to think of it that way, but it is amusing that the show never really calls attention to that element. The One Who Knocks brings the right mix of badass gravitas and vulnerability to the role of a man trying to escape his past during which he got mixed up with the mob. It turns out that he is in Witness Protection, and it also turns out that his original name was Green-Jarvis Ben-Ellis, only because that sounds funny, not because it has anything to do with the football player. This episode also works as a cartoonishly heartwarming tale of the deeds of friendship, in which Cleveland shoots Dr. Fist to prevent the mob from killing him and then successfully performs surgery on him by doing it Operation-style.

Best Episode of the Season: Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 Season 2

June 9, 2013

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Season Analysis: There were several episodes of Don’t Trust the B… produced for Season 1 that did not air until Season 2. Those were from a time when the show had not yet found its footing, but the Season 2 proper episodes were good enough to put the show in the running as one of the top 3 sitcoms on television.

“Love and Monsters…”
Nothing else besides Don’t Trust the B… in Apartment 23 could so succinctly pull off a subversion of the typical romantic comedy, and the reason why is because it just does not care. That is to say, not that the show does not care, but that its characters, in general, care very little, about anything, especially Chloe, the titular B—-. Chloe has an annual game/long con of picking out a loser at JVDB’s Halloween parties to ruin his life, but her current target, Benjamin, has turned the tables on her by making her life like a romantic comedy, the epitome of all that she is against. Chloe’s lack of caring is illustrated by June telling Chloe over the phone that Benjamin has indeed pulled it off and put Chloe in a situation in which she realizes what she wants has been in front of her all along, and June is in fact able to convince Chloe of this, and then Chloe abruptly hangs up on June. The antics of most characters on this show are enjoyable but off-putting if you take them personally. Luckily, June – the one who most bears the brunt of these antics – has thick skin, and she continues to be willing to stick with Chloe, making their friendship one of the most unique and surprisingly successful friendships on TV.

Honorable Mention: “Dating Games…”
It is revealed to June that Mark has feelings for her, something the audience has known for a while, and it is always enjoyable when a character has a big one dropped on her like that; Don’t Trust the B—- makes it particularly so by having it happen within the context of JVDB testing out his new dating show idea on his friends.

Best Episode of the Season: The Office Season 9

June 9, 2013

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Season Analysis: I had thought the return of creator Greg Daniels might right the totally wayward ship of Season 8, but there proved to be precious little from Season 9 that I actually cared about.

“Finale”
Despite having just said I didn’t care for Season 9, the finale was a solid piece of television. If you haven’t seen any of the show since Steve Carell left, I would recommend skipping everything after his last show and jumping straight to the finale. Perhaps the best way to think of the series ender, in a way that is consistent with ignoring nearly two full seasons, is as a reunion special. Much of the charm comes from getting an update on past guest characters and former regulars like Kelly, Ryan, and of course Michael. Interestingly enough, half of the plot of the episode itself revolves around a reunion special. Taking a behind-the-scenes look at the documentary crew mostly proved problematic in Season 9, but framing the finale as a reunion of the cast of the office documentary for the DVD bonus features was actually an ingenious idea. It allowed for the show to examine its place in the history of the television landscape without being heavy-handed about its message.

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