tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post5251129356156918214..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: Last Week in TV #24Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-2523352871637859092013-03-11T11:40:24.688-05:002013-03-11T11:40:24.688-05:00@Blam: How weird is it that not long after 31 beca...@Blam: <i>How weird is it that not long after 31 became a lot younger than it used to be it's "old man" land again because of how quickly and intensely youth culture changes? </i><br /><br />Very weird. Pop culture just moves at light speed these days. I'm pretty sure kids coming of age speed through dozens more trends and fads than they did 25 years ago, which, of course, seems perfectly normal to them because it's all they know. <br /><br /><i>I'm not sure what the back-to-back of "Leslie and Ben" and "Correspondents' Lunch" was supposed to accommodate in NBC's Thursday schedule</i><br /><br />It is quite mystifying. It wasn't even clear why they needed to double up episodes, since there wasn't a new episode last week anyway. But if they were going to double up, why not double up the two episodes clearly designed to be paired together? And isn't like they needed to move things around to get the wedding into Feb sweeps, either. <br /><br /><i>but the callback was inspired, so I'm gonna hope that making the main bit a sort-of annoying nothing was part of the ploy.</i><br /><br />I wouldn't have enjoyed the bit as much if they hadn't done the callback - that elevated a mildly amusing sketch into a hilarious one, for me. <br /><br /><i>the fact that they called the walkers "zombies" ticked me off.</i><br /><br />Nice catch! I missed that, probably because *I* still call the walkers zombies even though I'm well aware of Kirkman's absurd notion that zombie fiction doesn't exist in the world of the show and that thus no one on the show calls them that, but it's definitely another sign that whomever was involved in writing that sketch is probably, at best, a casual fan. <br /><br /><i>That was not Don Pardo doing the voiceover on the opening credits, by the way</i><br /><br />I'd heard about Pardo's absence, but I'm very hit or miss as to whether or not I watch the opening credits. I almost always watch the show via DVR, either later Saturday night after it's started, or the next day, and depending on how tired I am/how much time I have, sometimes I'll fast forward through to the opening monologue. <br /><br />So I happened to completely miss the Pardo-less opening for this episode (I made a point to watch the opening of the latest episode, and did notice Pardo's continued absence). <br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-65854049052058895802013-03-11T09:13:54.230-05:002013-03-11T09:13:54.230-05:00the first time I'd ever seen any version of th...<br><i> the first time I'd ever seen any version of the Harlem Shake was this episode's couch gag, because I am an old man.</i><br /><br />I first saw it via a <i>Daily Show</i> bit a couple of weeks ago but didn't know what they were doing until it was brought up on <i>the 6:30 network news</i>.<br /><br />How weird is it that not long after 31 became a lot younger than it used to be it's "old man" land again because of how quickly and intensely youth culture changes? Generations are, I'm pretty sure, much shorter in terms of references and technology use than 20-25 years anymore.<br /><br /><b><i>Parks and Recreation</i>: Leslie and Ben</b><br /><br /><i>If the previous episode served as a goodbye to the show from a plot perspective, offering one last seemingly-impossible task for the characters to overcome, this episode functioned as a goodbye to the characters themselves.</i><br /><br />Very true. I completely loved this episode. What doesn't make sense is pairing it with the one that immediately followed (no spoilers in case you still haven't seen it) rather than doubling up the previous week — they were really the first and second halves of a two-parter. I'm not sure what the back-to-back of "Leslie and Ben" and "Correspondents' Lunch" was supposed to accommodate in NBC's Thursday schedule, if anything, but you can't tell me that skipping <i>1600 Penn</i> one week and doubling up on it the next instead wouldn't have been worth to get "Emergency Response" and "Leslie and Ben" in tandem.<br /><br /><b><i>Saturday Night Live</i>: Kevin Hart and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis</b><br /><br /><i>This was a weird episode. Kevin Hart was in nearly every sketch, and he brought a crazy energy to every one. Sometimes that energy helped elevate a poor sketch, and sometimes it was completely let down by the material.</i><br /><br />I agree with all of that. <i>Really?!?</i> was goooood. "Z Shirt" was acted perfectly, had spot-on set design and camerawork, and yet just totally flopped for me — but the callback was inspired, so I'm gonna hope that making the main bit a sort-of annoying nothing was part of the ploy.<br /><br />What frustrated me about the <i>Walking Dead</i> sketch was how it only knew (or was only faithful to) its subject up to a point. At the risk of sounding like a complete geek — and I'm aware that this is totally a safe space in which to do so 8^) — the fact that they called the walkers "zombies" ticked me off.<br /><br />That was not Don Pardo doing the voiceover on the opening credits, by the way — I think it might've been Darrell Hammond. Pardo semi-retired a while back but has continued to do the openings, recording them from home in Arizona instead of coming in to do them live from New York. Sometime last week I saw a news item that he was recuperating from a broken hip, and somebody else (maybe Steve Higgins mimicking Pardo as opposed to Hammond) did the voiceover this past weekend as well.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-21803660517648470772013-03-08T16:08:55.075-06:002013-03-08T16:08:55.075-06:00@Matt: Also, I had no idea who Kevin Hart was, eit...@Matt: <i>Also, I had no idea who Kevin Hart was, either.</i><br /><br />That seems to be the consensus amongst most people I've talked to about the episode. So we're either all equally unhip, or he truly is an up-and-comer who hasn't quite hit it big yet. :) Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-29419720325873297502013-03-08T13:56:17.433-06:002013-03-08T13:56:17.433-06:00The Z-shirt sketch was the highlight of SNL for me...The Z-shirt sketch was the highlight of SNL for me. I was cracking up.<br /><br />My fiancee got me into <i>Shark Tank</i> and we watch it together every Friday, and I would go so far as to say the sketch is <i>less</i> funny if you watch it, because then you saw how awful the "impressions" were on top of everything else. Plus they were randomly missing one Shark.<br /><br />(Also, I had no idea who Kevin Hart was, either.)Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-46274522986913791792013-03-08T11:30:55.845-06:002013-03-08T11:30:55.845-06:00@Sarah: Also, did you ever have to take care of a ...@Sarah: <i>Also, did you ever have to take care of a fake baby?</i><br /><br />No. Not a flour sack baby, an egg, an elaborate doll, nothing. I'm more or less convinced the whole idea of that assignment was created by sitcom writers, or at least a remnant of an older time when that was an actual assignment, kept alive by sitcom writers. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-75861550462246106992013-03-08T09:51:04.394-06:002013-03-08T09:51:04.394-06:00Bob's burgers is just so awesome. Gene with th...Bob's burgers is just so awesome. Gene with the flour baby was great, and that fact that all the kids didn't even question helping Gene at the end.<br /><br />Also, did you ever have to take care of a fake baby? Because we didn't and i think it would have been a lot of funSarah Ahiershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02795455714801965956noreply@blogger.com