My Ranking of The New Fall Shows I’m Watching

October 24, 2014

jmunney Television Leave a comment

1. The Affair – Fascinating narrative device and fascinating characters, and it still hasn’t shown its full hand.
2. Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories – Tim and Eric are finally fully operating in their natural habitat of horror-comedy.  Or is it “horror”?  Or is it just horror?
3. black-ish – A sitcom with a point of view that’s sticking to it.
4. Mr. Pickles – Truly avant-garde – important to pay attention to, though not necessarily always enjoyable.
5. The Flash – A lot of fun, but it needs to do some more work to distinguish itself.
6. Selfie – It’s moving away from the problematic elements of its premise and focusing on the strength of its cast.
7. Marry Me – This show has the parts, but it needs to settle down to prove itself.
8. Mulaney – If I weren’t reviewing this show, I … might still be watching, but it would be on notice.
9. Gotham – This started out mediocre but fascinating, then became bad  but fascinating, and then the last episode was just boring.

Still to Come:
Mike Tyson Mysteries

The Middle 6.4: “The Table”

October 24, 2014

jmunney Television, The Middle, The Middle Episode Reviews Leave a comment

I don’t think ABC sent out promo pictures for this episode: http://www.starpulse.com/news/Jeffrey_Malone/2014/10/23/the_middle_season_6_episode_4_review_h

Mulaney 6.3: “Halloween”

October 23, 2014

jmunney Mulaney, Mulaney Episode Reviews, Television Leave a comment

Mulaney needs to start making improvements fast: http://www.starpulse.com/news/Jeffrey_Malone/2014/10/20/mulaney_season_1_episode_3_review_larg

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 10/21/14

October 22, 2014

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

Each week, I check out FUSE’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
2. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
3. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
4. Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
5. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
6. Enrique Iglesias ft. Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, and Sean Paul – “Bailando”
7. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd – “Break Free”
8. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
9. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
10. Tove Lo – “Habits (Stay High)”
11. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
12. Sia – “Chandelier”
13. Coldplay – “A Sky Full of Stars”
14. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
15. Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”
16. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Amnesia”
17. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
18. Chris Brown ft. Usher and Rick Ross – “New Flame”
19. Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q – “2 On”
20. Calvin Harris ft. John Newman – “Blame”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Break Free
3. Bang Bang
4. Black Widow
5. Boom Clap
6. Blame
7. Shake It Off
8. Stay With Me
9. Habits (Stay High)
10. This Is How We Do
11. Cool Kids
12. Don’t
13. Anaconda
14. All About That Bass
15. Maps
16. A Sky Full of Stars
17. 2 On
18. Bailando
19. New Flame
20. Amnesia

What Won TV? – October 12-October 18, 2014

October 20, 2014

jmunney Television, What Won TV? Leave a comment

In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.

Sunday – The Good Wife
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – “We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” because as Key & Peele reminded us, Reginald VelJohnson is a real, fucking actor!
Thursday – Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories
Friday – Comedy Bang! Bang!
Saturday – Doctor Who, but only because I was already so familiar with the cowbell and census goodness delivered up by Vintage SNL.

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 10/18/14

October 19, 2014

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

Each week, I check out VH1′s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
2. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
3. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
4. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
5. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
6. Coldplay – “A Sky Full of Stars”
7. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
8. Tove Lo – “Habits”
9. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
10. Calvin Harris ft. John Newman – “Blame”
11. Jason Derulo – “Trumpets”
12. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
13. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
14. The Script – “Superheroes”
15. Nick Jonas – “Jealous”
16. Mr. Probz – “Waves”
17. Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”
18. Maroon 5 – “Animals”
19. Sam Smith – “I’m Not the Only One”
20. Nico & Vinz – “In Your Arms”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Bang Bang
2. Black Widow
3. Blame
4. Boom Clap
5. Shake It Off
6. Waves
7. Rather Be
8. Habits
9. This Is How We Do
10. Cool Kids
11. Don’t
12. Jealous
13. I’m Not the Only One
14. All About That Bass
15. Animals
16. Maps
17. In Your Arms
18. A Sky Full of Stars
19. Trumpets
20. Superheroes

New Girl 4.5: “Landline”

October 16, 2014

jmunney New Girl, New Girl Episode Reviews, Television Leave a comment

The loftmates were very confused by old technology that they should have been familiar with: http://www.starpulse.com/news/Jeffrey_Malone/2014/10/15/new_girl_season_4_episode_5_review_a_b

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 10/14/14

October 15, 2014

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

Each week, I check out FUSE’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
2. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
3. Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
4. Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – “Black Widow”
5. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
6. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
7. Enrique Iglesias ft. Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, and Sean Paul – “Bailando”
8. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd – “Break Free”
9. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be”
10. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
11. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
12. Sia – “Chandelier”
13. Tove Lo – “Habits (Stay High)”
14. Coldplay – “A Sky Full of Stars”
15. Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
16. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
17. Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”
18. Jason Derulo – “Trumpets”
19. Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q – “2 On”
20. Calvin Harris ft. John Newman – “Blame”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Break Free
3. Bang Bang
4. Black Widow
5. Blame
6. Boom Clap
7. Shake It Off
8. Stay With Me
9. Rather Be
10. Habits (Stay High)
11. This Is How We Do
12. Cool Kids
13. Don’t
14. Anaconda
15. All About That Bass
16. Maps
17. A Sky Full of Stars
18. Trumpets
19. 2 On
20. Bailando

Mulaney 6.2: “The Doula”

October 14, 2014

jmunney Mulaney, Mulaney Episode Reviews, Television Leave a comment

My review of episode 2 of Mulaney, in which we meet “Mr. Episiotomy”: http://www.starpulse.com/news/Jeffrey_Malone/2014/10/13/mulaney_season_1_episode_2_review_whit

SNL Recap October 11, 2014: Bill Hader/Hozier

October 13, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , 1 Comment

SNL: Hozier, Bill Hader, Cecily Strong (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in October 2014.

Recent alumni returning to host “SNL” has lately served as an excuse to fill the episode with cameos, with last season’s finale hosted by Andy Samberg serving as a particularly egregious example.  That tendency is not a good fit for a show with a large repertory cast including several rookies and sophomores fighting to make themselves known.  Luckily, this episode only featured two cameos, only one of whom was a former cast member, and neither of whom overwhelmed the show.  Hader did resurrect a few of his most memorable characters, but he did not get in the way of what the current cast is doing.  The bottom line is, it is pretty much impossible to have a bad episode hosted by Bill Hader.  He was in a lot of sketches while a cast member, because he could take on the lead and the utility roles just as easily.  Thus, putting him in the entire episode, as is the norm with the hosts, served to guarantee at least one good performance per sketch.  Let’s take a closer look at each segment of the show:

Kim Jong-Un – The running time of this sketch was about 3 minutes, a speed that is practically unheard of for “SNL” cold openings in 2014.  It harked back to a time when the first sketch could get in there with a familiar routine, make it point, and get right to the “Live from New York!”  But the weird thing about this sketch was that Bobby Moynihan’s Kim Jong-Un impression is not particularly popular, nor has North Korea really been dominating headlines.  This sketch did not really focus on being timely anyway, instead making bizarre observational points about the Korean leader, such as how he fancies himself the world’s greatest athlete and that his haircut resembles Brad Pitt in his current movie.  Ultimately, this was admirable for being stranger than most openings, but disappointing for being too slight to do something with that strangeness. B-

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