Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
March 5, 2017
Television, What Won TV? Baskets, Jane the Virgin, Kurt Braunohler, Kurt Braunohler: Trust Me, Legion, New Girl, Oscars, Saturday Night Live, SNL 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 – An unforgettable Oscars ceremony
Monday – Jane the Virgin
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – Legion
Thursday – Baskets
Friday – Kurt Braunohler: Trust Me
Saturday – Octavia Spencer put poo in the SNL!
February 20, 2017
Television, What Won TV? Baskets, Bob's Burgers, Jeopardy!, Man Seeking Woman, New Girl, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The Young Pope 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 – Bob’s Burgers
Monday – The Young Pope is not so young anymore.
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – Man Seeking Woman – I think he found her..
Thursday – Baskets
Friday – Jeopardy!
Saturday – SNL Vintage
February 12, 2017
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Alec Baldwin, Ed Sheeran, Russell Stover Black History Month Heart Shaped Box, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4214, Saturday Night Live Season 42, SNL, SNL Season 42 Leave a comment
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Alec Baldwin” Episode 1718 — Pictured: (l-r) Sasheer Zamata and Alex Moffat during the “Russell Stover” sketch on February 10, 2017 — (Photo by: Caroline De Quesada/NBC)
This review was originally posted on News Cult in February 2017.
Love It
Russell Stover Black History Month Heart Shaped Box – Great comedy often arises from the plans of the well-meaning going awry. Offering their black girlfriends a peanut butter-filled George Washington Carver or a Malcolm X fiery with cayenne, the white boyfriends look so eager to please, so intent on getting it right. But it is plain to see that they fail on two levels: romantically and racially. But as insensitive as this particular candy box is, wouldn’t we all want to live in a utopia in which the chocolate version of any historical figure has no unsavory implications?
The pitch meeting for a Cheeto’s ad stretches the social activism of commercials as far as it can go…Jake and Kellyanne are locked in a Fatal Attraction-style tête–à–tête, and may I say, with just a stern look, Beck Bennett is killing his impression of the CNN anchor…Trump takes his case to The People’s Court, which makes me go: hey, remember when Jon Lovitz played the Devil on a People’s Court sketch back in the day? That’s somehow both more and less believable than this…Leslie Wants to Play Trump, and I want to see as many of these dreamy, personal, behind-the-scenes short films as possible.
February 12, 2017
Television, What Won TV? Bai, Baskets, Christopher Walken, Jane the Virgin, Jeopardy!, Legion, New Girl, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Super Bowl 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 – There was a football game, and the best part was Christopher Walken singing “Bai, Bai, Bai.”
Monday – Jane the Virgin
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – Legion makes my head go boom.
Thursday – Baskets
Friday – Jeopardy!
Saturday – SNL, especially its celebration of Black History Month
February 5, 2017
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Alessia Cara, Kristen Stewart, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4213, Saturday Night Live Season 42, SNL, SNL Season 42, Totino's Leave a comment
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Kristen Stewart” Episode 1717 — Pictured: (l-r) Host Kristen Stewart, Vanessa Bayer during the “Totinos” sketch on January 31, 2017 — (Photo by: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC)
This review was originally posted on News Cult in February 2017.
Love It
Meet Cute – In this filmed piece, Kristen Stewart and Pete Davidson have the titular encounter at a coffee shop, and the unlikelihood of an immediate development into a relationship is examined, poked, and prodded. It is not really the case that in most cinematic meet-cutes someone fails to give out enough relevant information, but it is true that they are just too fast to truly be meaningful. So we should all relate to Pete’s struggle on a spiritual (not literal) level. Oh, and his confusion over how to spell Manhattan (it’s 2 T’s, not 2 D’s) is a marvelous detail.
When Robert Mugabe earns the big applause, as in the Oval Office Phone Calls cold open, you know you’ve got something … let’s call it “special.”
February 5, 2017
Television, What Won TV? Australian Open, Baskets, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Jane the Virgin, Man Seeking Woman, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Saturday Night Live, SNL 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 – How did we get an Australian Open ending like this in 2017?
Monday – Jane the Virgin
Tuesday – Marvel’s Patton Oswalt’s of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Wednesday – Woof Woof Cowabunga thanks for the great episode, Man Seeking Woman!
Thursday – Baskets
Friday – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Saturday – Saturday Night Live
January 23, 2017
Television, What Won TV? Billy on the Street, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Man Seeking Woman, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The Methelda Show, The Young Pope 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 Young Pope, Pope-in’ it up
Monday – The Young Pope, still young and still a pope
Tuesday – Billy on the Street
Wednesday – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Honorable Mention: The Methelda Show)
Thursday – The Fiendishly Good Place
Friday – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Saturday – SNL, mainly for Aziz’s monologue
January 22, 2017
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Aziz Ansari, Big Sean, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4212, Saturday Night Live Season 42, SNL, SNL Season 42 Leave a comment
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Aziz Ansari” Episode 1716 — Pictured: Aziz Ansari as Dave during the “Five Stars” sketch on January 21st, 2017 — (Photo by: Caroline De Quesada/NBC)
This review was originally posted on News Cult in January 2017.
Love It
Peppy Ronnie’s Pizza Party – This scene about a late-night arrest at a Chuck E. Cheese-style pizzeria is similar to last season’s “Space Pants,” insofar as a kitschy performance threatens to derail a criminal situation. This does not quite reach the stellar heights of Jonathan Comets, as the Peppy Ronnie’s crew is a lower-stakes distraction. But animatronic bands are hilarious enough on their own, and reactions from Kenan Thompson provide just the right sort of flavoring.
Aziz Ansari is a seasoned stand-up, which pretty much always guarantees a solid Monologue; I appreciate his advocacy for news reports of brown people eating nachos and changing scary-sounding Islam music to something Benny Hill-style… Bobby Moynihan’s Ganz, of Broderick & Ganz, is a kidney-less personal injury lawyer whose incompetence knows no bounds or predictability…The police Interrogation of a man who only kind of liked La La Land wins special recognition for clever comic exaggeration…Michael and Colin are on fire, post-Inauguration…Leslie Jones is more on topic than usual (despite Che’s hilarious “that was about Hidden Figures?” comment) as she examines where else African-American accomplishments are hidden and points out that the Predator is from space…Five Stars is an understated take on five-star culture, perhaps a response to a hysterical (though pointed) Black Mirror episode.
January 15, 2017
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Boob Mountain, Felicity Jones, Hot Robot 3: Journey to Boob Mountain, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4211, Saturday Night Live Season 42, SNL, SNL Season 42, Sturgill Simpson Leave a comment
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Felicity Jones” Episode 1715 — Pictured: (l-r) Felicity Jones, Beck Bennett, and Kyle Mooney during the Movie Interview sketch on January 14th, 2017 — (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC)
This review was originally posted on News Cult in January 2017.
Love It
Fandango All Access – I believe we have had other examples of trenchant boob-based humor in the past, but never before has this type of material been performed with the idiosyncratic conviction of a Beck Bennett/Kyle Mooney joint. One caveat to my praise, though: I feel like they are holding back on us a bit. If the sketch were just scenes from Hot Robot 3: Journey to Boob Mountain, instead of a discussion about it, I think this could reach the raucous, surreal heights of this crew’s sitcom parodies. As it is, the steely commitment to the patent ridiculousness from everyone in this sketch is still plainly stunning.
Beck Bennett’s turn as a pop sensation feels like a half-baked idea. Or maybe it was fully thought out, and the concept is that it is meant to seem half-baked? Either way, he’s adorable.
January 15, 2017
Television, What Won TV? Bob's Burgers, Boob Mountain, Carrie Fisher, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Hot Robot 3: Journey to Boob Mountain, Man Seeking Woman, New Girl, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The Good Place 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 – Bob’s Burgers
Monday – Not a bad College Football Championship game
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – Man Seeking Woman
Thursday – The Good Place
Friday – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Saturday – Carrie Fisher on SNL Vintage, Boob Mountain on new SNL
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