What Won TV? – June 14-June 20, 2015

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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.

DeadlyAdoptionWillFace

Sunday – Silicon Valley
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – Jeopardy!
Wednesday – Jeopardy!
Thursday – Fear of a Chris Gethard Show Fusion
Friday – I could kiss Whose Line is it Anyway? on the mouth!
Saturday – A Deadly Adoption

VH1’s The 20 – 20th Anniversary Special

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Each week, I check out VH1′s The 20 (formerly Top 20 countdown), and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality. This week, for the 20th Anniversary, a top music video from every year of the past two decades was presented.

Original Version
2014. Pharrell – “Happy”
2013. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell Williams & T.I. – “Blurred Lines”
2012. Gotye – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
2011. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
2010. Usher ft. will.i.am – “OMG”
2009. Beyoncé – “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
2008. Leona Lewis – “Bleeding Love”
2007. Daughtry – “It’s Not Over
Viewer’s Choice: Missy Elliott – “Get Ur Freak On”
2006. Kanye West ft. Gwen Stefani – “Gold Digger”
2005. Gwen Stefani – “Hollaback Girl”
2004. Outkast – “Hey Ya!”
2003. Matchbox Twenty – “Unwell”
2002. Nickelback – “How You Remind Me”
2001. Alicia Keys – “Fallin'”
2000. Santana ft. Rob Thomas – “Smooth”
1999. Backstreet Boys – “I Want It That Way”
1998. Shania Twain – “You’re Still the One”
1997. Spice Girls – “Wannabe”
1996. Alanis Morissette – “Ironic”
1995. Mariah Carey – “Fantasy”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Get Ur Freak On
2. Somebody That I Used to Know
3. Rolling in the Deep
4. Happy
5. Fantasy
6. Fallin’
7. Wannabe
8. Blurred Lines
9. Hey Ya!
10. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
11. OMG
12. I Want It That Way
13. Smooth
14. Gold Digger
15. Ironic
16. Hollaback Girl
17. Bleeding Love
18. How You Remind Me
19. You’re Still the One
20. Unwell
21. It’s Not Over

What Won TV? – June 7-June 13, 2015

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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.

Hannibal_Stag_Primavera
Sunday – Silicon Valley
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – iZombie, and I’m excited for Season 2.
Wednesday – Jeopardy!
Thursday – Hannibal – the stag is back!
Friday – Childrens Hospital
Saturday – Orphan Black

VH1’s The 20 – 6/13/15

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

Original Version
1. Jason Derulo – “Want to Want Me”
2. Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
3. Tove Lo – “Talking Body”
4. Walk the Moon – “Shut Up and Dance”
5. Fifth Harmony ft. Kid Ink – “Worth It”
6. Andy Grammer – “Honey, I’m Good.”
7. Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”
8. Nick Jonas – “Chains”
9. Sia – “Elastic Heart”
10. Echosmith – “Bright”
11. George Ezra – “Budapest”
12. Meghan Trainor – “Dear Future Husband”
13. Carly Rae Jepsen – “I Really Like You”
14. David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha, & Afrojack – “Hey Mama”
15. Shaggy ft. Mohombi, Faydee, Costi – “I Need Your Love”
16. Ellie Goulding – “Love Me Like You Do”
17. Adam Lambert – “Ghost Town”
18. Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea – “Pretty Girls”
19. Rachel Platten – “Fight Song”
20. Ed Sheeran – “Photograph”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Elastic Heart
2. I Really Like You
3. Talking Body
4. See You Again
5. Hey Mama
6. Bad Blood
7. Chains
8. Want to Want Me
9. Pretty Girls
10. Shut Up and Dance
11. Love Me Like You Do
12. Budapest
13. Ghost Town
14. Fight Song
15. Worth It
16. Photograph
17. I Need Your Love
18. Bright
19. Dear Future Husband
20. Honey, I’m Good.

Watch And/Or Listen to This: Scooter Tonight

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Here’s a segment from Conan from a weeks ago that I’ve been watching over and over. Can’t go wrong with dogs doing people things.

What Won TV? – May 31-June 6, 2015

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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.

6x13_Main_photo
Sunday – Silicon Valley
Monday – American Dad!
Tuesday – I almost couldn’t believe than an episode of Community could still be this good.
Wednesday – Jeopardy!
Thursday – I’m still #blindsided by the loss of The Reg Man on Comedy Bang! Bang!
Friday – Whose Line is it Anyway?
Saturday – Orphan Black

VH1’s The 20 – 6/6/15

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

Original Version
1. Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
2. Jason Derulo – “Want to Want Me”
3. Walk the Moon – “Shut Up and Dance”
4. Tove Lo – “Talking Body”
5. Fifth Harmony ft. Kid Ink – “Worth It”
6. Nick Jonas – “Chains”
7. Andy Grammer – “Honey, I’m Good.”
8. Echosmith – “Bright”
9. Meghan Trainor – “Dear Future Husband”
10. Sia – “Elastic Heart”
11. Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”
12. Ellie Goulding – “Love Me Like You Do”
13. George Ezra – “Budapest”
14. Carly Rae Jepsen – “I Really Like You”
15. Ryn Weaver – “Octahate”
16. Adam Lambert – “Ghost Town”
17. Shaggy ft. Mohombi, Faydee, Costi – “I Need Your Love”
18. Maroon 5 – “Sugar”
19. Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea – “Pretty Girls”
20. Rachel Platten – “Fight Song”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Elastic Heart
2. I Really Like You
3. Talking Body
4. See You Again
5. Octahate
6. Bad Blood
7. Chains
8. Want to Want Me
9. Pretty Girls
10. Love Me Like You Do
11. Shut Up and Dance
12. Budapest
13. Ghost Town
14. Fight Song
15. Sugar
16. Worth It
17. I Need Your Love
18. Bright
19. Dear Future Husband
20. Honey, I’m Good.

Community 6.13: “Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television”

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Community_Emotional-Consequences-Of-Broadcast-Television

Community, “Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television” (CREDIT: Yahoo! Screen)

Even if there ends up being a movie or a season 7, I’ll still consider this one of the best series finales of all time.

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in June 2015.

“You saved my life, and changed it forever.”

Just as Jeff Winger was irrevocably changed by his friends forcing their way into his life, so too have “Community” fans been profoundly affected by this deeply personal show. This program and its lead character have always been marked by a push-pull between cynicism and sincerity. The guy who made a fake study group just to sleep with someone now cares so much that he cannot let go of the people he met through it. The sitcom that was so distrustful of institutions and deconstructive of all conventions ended the season (and possibly series) with the most heartfelt message from its creator about how much his audience has meant to him.

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McLuhan’s Commonsensical Maxim Applied to Nonsensical Media

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This essay was originally written as my final paper for my Media Theory class, taught by Barry Salmon, in Fall 2013 at The New School.

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If the “medium is the message,” then what happens if the medium is the medium itself, or the anti-medium? The past few years have seen the rise of the “anti-talk show” in the alternative comedy scene, as typified by the podcast-turned-IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang!, local New York public-access cult sensation The Chris Gethard Show, the Funny or Die webseries Between Two Ferns, and Adult Swim’s The Eric André Show. These shows all consider the artifice and tropes of comedy talk shows and then ignore, analyze, trash, invert, and/or subvert them. Marshall McLuhan’s classic text is presented as a common sense formulation of how to consider any medium: “the personal and social consequences” are a result of the new “extension of ourselves” (129). So how then do we apply this commonsensical approach to a genre that is purposely nonsensical? McLuhan would surely be pleased by this trend of a genre that is strongly conscious of how the medium is the message, but an analysis of how these shows deconstruct their particular medium and genre is sure to melt your brain.

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Arrested Development Pilot Script Analysis

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This essay was originally written as my final paper for my Script Analysis and Audience Response class, taught by Helena Medina, in Spring 2014 at The New School.

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The patriarch of a dysfunctional family is arrested, and his only sane son is forced to save the family business.

The Bluth family consists of George, Sr. and his wife Lucille; their children George Oscar II, a.k.a. “Gob” (pronounced like the Biblical Job), twins Michael and Lindsay, and Byron “Buster”; Lindsay’s husband Tobias Fünke; Michael’s son George Michael, and Lindsay and Tobias’s daughter Mae, a.k.a. “Maeby”. George is the CEO of the family Bluth Company, located in Orange County, California. Michael, his second oldest son, has worked for the company for ten years and expects to be made partner on the occasion of his father’s retirement. But George appoints Lucille as the acting CEO, and it soon becomes clear why when he is arrested and the Securities and Exchange Commission freezes the company’s expense account, thus making it difficult for the Bluths to maintain their lavish lifestyles.

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