The best actors in all of television...

Its late at night, and you're flipping through the channels. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, you're sucked into watching an infomercial. These actors are by far my favorite (and most underrated) in all of television. There is nothing quite like the performance of how difficult a task can be like mopping the floor or cleaning a kitchen before they find the wonder invention that will change their lives. To me, it transcends any acting that comes from prime time shows. Because it is drama at its best. It transcends issues of race, ethnicity, gender- these people really know how to exaggerate a problem and look happy and completely satisfied with their new product. So next time you're watching "The Office" and loving the performance and shenanigans of Steve Carrell, you'll know he learned from the true masters. The actors of Sham Wow.

Oh how I want Samantha Brown's job...

One of my favorite channels on television is the Travel Channel. It is a channel that embraces different ethnicities and culture and showcases the positive aspects of traveling throughout the world. I feel that people who are more open are willing to travel to different places and explore for themselves. I especially like Samantha Brown, though I admit I am supremely jealous of her because she has such an ideal job. What I most especially like about the Travel Channel is that Samantha Brown, as well as Anthony Bordain and Andrew Zimmern, encourage viewers to experience new things, especially different foods. There is nothing like submersing yourself in another person's culture than eating with them and seeing first hand what their culture is like. Though many other channels on television showcase diversity and positive images of all races and cultures, the Travel Channel to me is the most positive and open of all television channels. Much like the History Channel, the Travel Channel also gives historical accounts of the different countries. I like Samantha Brown as well because she doesn't just hit the tourist spots, but interacts with true locals and goes to true cultural celebrations and tastes local cuisine that is not affected or altered to favor tourists. If you've never watched the Travel Channel, I highly suggest you start to watch. But a fair warning for you: it will make you want to travel, and if you're as broke as I am, it can be more than slighlty upsetting to realize that it won't happen too soon.

NFL's own South Park

I saw this article about an animated television commercial for the NFL network that makes fun of Jessica Simpson and her weight. Has it really come to fat jokes? Really? Why is there such an obsession with weight issues and women? Why is it that male celebrities never really get flack for gaining weight like female celebrities? For example, Alec Baldwin may have put on a few pounds and yet no one says anything. But people like Kirstie Alley or Oprah are constantly watching for papparazzi because the minute they look unfavorable, it is all over E! and trashy magazines. Why is it acceptable to make fun of overweight women? I just get so sick of the double standards in today's society concerning women. Because lets be honest, most if not all of the ex-NFL players who work on the NFL network are not exactly 'fit' anymore, and yet they do not face what female correspondents face in terms of weight management. Can you think of an overweight female correspondent who was not pregnant? Thats what I thought. Check out this article with the video clip and tell me if I'm overreacting:
http://www.popeater.com/2009/10/14/jessica-simpson-nfl-commercial/

Louisville and erectile-dysfunction

I recently read an article which showed videos for the latest television commercials for Louisville, Kentucky. I am still on the fence whether or not I like them. They are interesting because they make fun of commercials for erectile-dysfunction, depression medications, and even risque tatoos. Though I feel that these target a younger crowd, and yes they are very humorous, I am unsure if they should be shown on the air. Then again, I hate that I have to see tv ads for erectile disfunction all of the time. We are an over-medicated country, and all the evidence is in our television commercials. The ads showcase people of all races, religions, etc. and do not have any particular issues with minorities or diversity at all. I am just sick of watching commercials with two older people in tubs in the middle of nature (which I still don't quite understand) that promote medications for better sex drives or male enlargement. Check out the videos and tell me what you think- there's no doubt they are funny, but do you think they go a little too far?: http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/articles/louisville-ads-draw-criticism?ncid=AOLCOMMtravdynlprim0641

Pushing Daisies

One television show I have enjoyed watching is "Pushing Daisies." It is shot much like a movie, with vibrant colors, creative, imaginative shots and sets and special effects. My favorite thing about the series, along with its quirky characters and humor, is that there are many different scenes where the characters sing as if they were in a musical. My favorite character is Olive, who is played by Kristin Chenoweth, and her voice is absolutely incredible. She has a huge singing range and majored in opera in college. The show is based on pie-maker Ned who has the ability to touch a dead being/person and bring them back to life. However, if he touches the person twice, then they are permanently dead. Ned ends up helping solve murder cases with private investigator Emerson Cod and split the reward money to help him finance his failing Pie shop. Ned ends up saving the love of his life and childhood friend from death, but they can never touch as that would kill her. This is a wonderfully creative show with interesting characters that give a creative spin on 'real life.' It is a shame that more television shows aren't like this! It is certainly a welcome relief from reality television (for me, anyway). I suggest you watch this great (but unfortnately cancelled) show! Here are a few of my favorite moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykFDdacG6cs&feature=related Pushing Daisies intro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbe1m30RS8c&feature=related Kristin Chenoweth "Hopelessly Devoted to You"

3rd Rock from the Sun

I was flipping through channels the other day when I saw a show that I had not seen in years- 3rd Rock from the Sun. 3rd Rock from the Sun took the premise of a sitcom and made it completely new with an unusual twist- the four main characters were aliens who came to the planet and adapted their physical forms into humans to learn of the culture here on Earth. With a stellar cast of John Lithgow, Kristen Johnson, French Stewart and Joseph-Gordon Levitt, the show was a phenomenal comedy, as these four characters gained not only the human bodies but human emotions, physical needs and other human qualities but without the knowledge of limits and how to deal with such emotions and needs. John Lithgow was the High Commander of the expedition, so he became the patriarch "Dick Solomon" and took a job as a college professor, which was especially funny to watch because he had no control over his emotions and was the most vain character on the show. The military officer (Kristen Johnson) posed as Sally, Dick's sister- she was especially funny as she was in the form of a beautiful woman but was very masculine. The information expert and oldest alien (Joseph-Gordon Levitt) took the place as a teenager and it was comical to hear an old man's complaints coming from a high schooler. French Stewart played the communications officer who was a very odd individual. The comedy came from the family discovering new human qualities and emotions and through interactions with the humans. In regards to my television, minorities and cultural diversity class, there was an episode where they realized that humans had different ethnicities and decided to choose one (despite the fact that they were already posing as a white family)- they ended up choosing to be Jewish because of their assumed last name of Solomon. Though I can't find this particular episode, I found a few full episodes off of tvland.com (which is sad as this show ran from 1996-2001). I suggest watching the "Just Your Average Dick" episode where the Solomons try to become the average American family and become exceedingly dull and, as they discover, less human. This episode shows how the majority is not the end all, be all. So if you haven't ever seen this incredible comedy, I suggest you check out a few of the episodes which you can find here:
http://www.tvland.com/prime/fullepisodes/thirdrockfromthesun/

The Departed on TV? Really?

First off, I absolutely love movies. Its a form of escapism that I truly enjoy. There are no commercials (during the movie) and it is a story that I get to follow from beginning to end without breaks. I am much more guarded when watching television- even though it is an act of escapism, I find that I let go more when I go to see movies. Though I am aware of product placement in movies, and yes I get annoyed when the ads before the film are seemingly endless, once the movie begins I submerge myself into the story. One of my favorite films is The Departed. I was more than surprised to see it on television one day on a cable channel (not HBO or any other movie channel). It was really disappointing to see such a great movie censored and cut up into sections. I've seen The Green Mile on television that is supposed to be 188 minutes, but on television it was a 4 hour experience- thats 52 minutes of commercials! And though I like the variety and watch some movies on television, others like The Departed or The Godfather Series or even DOGMA lose their appeal on television. There is something really wrong with not being able to hear the true swear ridden dialogue that Jay spews to Silent Bob, or hearing a mafia gangster saying "Forget you!" when they clearly meant something else. I totally understand that children watch TV and that it needs to be censored. So why do we bother putting these kinds of movies on TV in the first place? To me, it ruins the movies. Perhaps I'm overreacting, but I just altogether ignore watching rated R movies on cable television. I'll stick to my DVDs there. Nothing like hearing Marky Mark and Matt Damon in all of their Boston glory...

Jon and Kate plus media attention = divorce

So I am honestly sick of hearing anything pertaining to Jon or Kate Gosselin. I find it funny that people are taking sides- they both clearly have character flaws. Kate is a controlling, nagging person who needs to take a chill pill, there is no denying that, but I do believe she wants what is best for her kids. The problem is, her definition of what is "best" now incorporates a much larger paycheck and much more media attention than anyone needs, nevermind little kids. As for Jon, he had issues with letting Kate speak to him like that in their marriage and then being unfaithful. Perhaps she was to, I'm not sure nor do I care. And though I find it suspicious that now that he is being 'booted' off of their show that now is the time to get the kids off of television. However, I quite agree that the family needs to live their lives privately from now on.

I just feel for that family- divorce is not something that is easy to deal with. And those kids do not need to be spoiled any more- if I had kids that spoke to me like the older girls do at times, I would not be pleased. It goes to show you what money and attention from the media can do and how quickly it can destroy a family. Hopefully, they will work out their divorce and move on with their lives, focusing on the kids and what is best for them. I see both Jon and Kate as selfish people who now want the attention on themselves. Maybe they also are doing these career moves for the well being of their kids, but its not all about money. Negative attention from the media isn't something that money can fix. SO here's hoping that Jon and Kate wise up and figure out how to handle the situation for their kids and quickly, which will let me listen to more important topics of today. Because there is no denying that we as a country obsess over celebrities and people on television. But here's a question- why do we care? Let the people live their lives and go on with your own. I understand that people in reality television sign up for this kind of exposure, but I just don't understand why we feel we have a right to know, or why we even want to hear all of the details. Personally, I'll just stick to watching "The Office" and finally celebrating Jim and Pam getting married. After the show is over, I will go on with my life.

Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot

If any of you have ever had the pleasure of watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, then you've been witness to some of the best commentary on television. The show themed around a janitor (Joel) who was cast aboard a spaceship by two scientists. To cure his boredom, he created robots with whom he watched mostly old B-rated scifi movies and made fun of those movies. The commentary frequently discussed (that not only were the people in the movies idiots) the social inequalities rampant in the movies. Often, they critiqued old instructional videos from the 1950s and its appallingly clear that in those times the men were the center of the family and society. Take a look at this clip and see how far we've come (and how awesome this show was!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYU_GSL1MGc A Date with your family

Notice the fact that the women are the only people who prepare for dinner- didn't the daughter have homework to do?! Anyways, I suggest you look at a few more clips and enjoy! Flippin' hysterical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE1YQPaAYBM Body Care and grooming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRB3xDg5pnU Keeping Clean and Neat (they're two different clips, I promise)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8U2Zsr5Rpw Teenage Caveman (this one makes me ashamed as a white person... not gonna lie)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0n0EsHB0JY MST3K and Gumby!!!