Last Week in Pop Culture #18

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Two reviews from me this week, one for Ms. Marvel #1 (which was mostly excellent) and Wolverine #1 (which was mostly not).

Super Bowl XLVIII
Boy, that game sure did suck, didn't it? 

New Girl: Prince

I'm not the world's biggest Prince fan (despite being Minnesotan, I basically have no strong opinions on him), but I love the idea of casting him as some kind of impish relationship guru with magic powers and butterfly familiars, and in general appreciate that, as much as this was still Prince, the show made a character out of him, rather than just dropping him into their big post-Super Bowl episode for the sake of having an attention-getting guest star.

Last Week in Pop Culture #13: All Christmas Edition

Quick note: since this is an "all Christmas" Last Week in Pop Culture post, looking at the various Christmas episodes I watched recently, and because nobody wants to read about Christmas stuff after Christmas, I'm posting it a little earlier than the usual Saturday. 

The Simpsons: White Christmas Blues

This was a messy episode. The plot was, what, Marge turns the house into a bed & breakfast for the holidays, then has to deal with the inconveniences that brings? Meanwhile, in the wisp of a B-plot (that isn't even introduced until about halfway into the episode) Lisa learns not to be sanctimonious in her gift giving.

Nothing here was bad - it's always good when Marge gets a chance to be just as whacky and irrational as the rest of the family (and her insistence that Christmas carols only have one verse was easily the comedic highlight of the episode), and there's nothing wrong with Lisa having the piss taken out of her every once in awhile - but it was all so scattered and formless I spent more time trying to figure out what the story was than I did enjoying it.

Last Week in Pop Culture #10

The Simpsons: The Kid is All Right

A surprisingly-measured look at friendship amongst political differences, this episode wasn't the funniest episode ever (most of the laughs came from the always-reliable over-the-top-ness of the Springfield Republicans and Lisa and Homer's joint dream of not-dead Democrat ghosts) but still managed to tell a good story.

Last Week in Pop Culture #8

My stupid DVR failed to record Top Chef for whatever reason, so we'll have to talk about that next week. In the meantime, here's some stuff my DVR managed to record properly. 

The Simpsons: YOLO

Pleasant and amusing, if not terribly funny (though there were some good lines on the fringes). But while Lisa's manipulation of her classmates was pretty great, I'm not sure why she ever thought the whole honor code thing would work (nor why it ultimately did). Sure, she got Nelson to sign a pledge, but since when does Nelson give a crap about signing a pledge? Wouldn't he just go back to cheating immediately, pledge or not, even if he was tattled on by goody goodies like Martin or Milhouse (ditto Bart, Dolph, Kearney, etc.)?

Last Week in Pop Culture #4

Sleepy Hollow: The Lesser Key of Solomon

Something kinda cool I realized about this show watching this episode: not only does this show have an African-American female lead who isn't romantically involved with the other lead, but one of the (presumed) supporting characters is also an African-American female, and at multiple times this episode managed to pass the Bechdel Test. Neither of those things should need to be commented on in this day and age (they should just be), but unfortunately, they do, and its kinda neat the way this show can be somewhat unique on TV even beyond its batshit crazy plot elements.

Last Week in Pop Culture #1

Welcome to the first "Last Week in Pop Culture" post, the latest evolution of my weekly "Last Week in TV" posts. Of course, this post is jam-packed with TV stuff, as a ton of new and old shows premiered in the previous week. Enjoy, and be sure to let me know what you think of the new format.

The 65th Annual Primetime Emmys

In brief:

The good - NPH's middle number, the salute to choreography (which was just fun to watch), a break in the Modern Family cast's stranglehold on the supporting comedic actor Emmys (I like the show but it's far less consistent these days, and there are better shows/performances out there), and the relative unpredictability of the wins in general.

The bad - NPH's opening number/bit, the largely-superfluous and time-sucking Elton John and Carrie Underwood performances, and the numerous "In Memoriam" tributes independant of the main "In Memoriam" tribute (which were appropriate, but did make the whole show seem sadder, and ate up more time).

Also, with nearly every winner getting played off (only Merrit Weaver escaped that fate, since she didn't stick around long enough for the orchestra to cue up), and nearly every one ignoring it, the end result was simply having the ends of acceptance speeches feel like they were being underscored for dramatic value, which was mildly amusing.

A Few Thoughts on the 63rd Annual Emmys

The opening number, with Jane Lynch singing her way through various TV shows (that all apparently exist in the same building, for some reason, and Leonard Nimoy doesn't want us to know that...?) was pretty lame, and that's coming from someone who loves these big, over-the-top openings to award shows. The lone highlight was when Jane stumbled into Mad Men and flirted with Peggy before being thrown out by Don Draper, outraged at her news that in the future, people can fast-forward through commercials.

Last Week in TV #24

Thoughts on some of what I watched on TV last week. 

The Simpsons: The Scorpion's Tale

A single plot episode (no sub plot other than Bart selling the drug illicitly, but even that tied in with the overall plot) that went pretty much nowhere. I did like the fourth act resolution being inspired by the "Greatest Generation"/Baby Boomer conflict, something the show has flirted with before, but it came out of nowhere, and I wouldn't have minded seeing it explored more instead of being used as a quickie reset button at the end. Also, the visual gag of everyone's eyes popping out was not nearly as funny as the show seemed to think it was. Werner Herzog, as the pharmaceutical magnate, was an understated and enjoyable guest appearance, and most of the first act field trip stuff was pretty funny ("this is Fools Porn!"). So not a great episode, but largely unoffensive (which is how most of this season has been).

Last Week In TV #20

Another light week (I'll discuss the post-Super Bowl Glee episode in next week's post; I haven't had a chance to watch it yet). 

Top Chef All Stars: An Offer They Can't Refuse

It's kinda funny. During his season, Tre seemed like a force, a definite contender for the finals, and there was a lot of shock accompanying his perceived early exit during Restaurant Wars. Yet this season, he's kinda faded into the background. He's obviously just as talented, since he lasted this long, but he's never seemed like the force he was during his season.

Last Week in TV #18

Slightly-briefer thoughts than usual, as I did watch some stuff last week but didn't have much time to write about them. And with the Oscar nominations due tomorrow, best to get this done while I can.

Fox Sunday Night Animation

Last week's Simpsons ("Flaming Moe") was actually pretty good (I appreciated the callback to past "Moe turns his bar into ___!" episodes) with two strong stories featuring supporting characters and little interaction from the Simpsons (aside from Homer and Marge voguing and Bart assisting Skinner's romantic machinations). Last night's was pretty good too until the random fourth act ending. Until then, I greatly enjoyed Homer's embrace of 80s sitcom mores and the corresponding parodies.

Last Week in TV #16

The Simpsons: Mom's I'd Like to Forget
As is the norm these days, the first act was the strongest, with the 4th grade vs. 5th grade dodgeball tournament and ensuing rivalry. I particularly enjoyed Bart's vision of the West Side Story rumble and the Old West Saloon style brawl in the teacher's lounge, especially Skinner as the piano player trying to keep out of it. After that, we got a lot of halfhearted ideas and incomplete plots, from Bart being vaguely uncomfortable with the antics of the other boys to Marge kind of becoming a social butterfly to the whole "Homer doesn't get along with the other dads"bit, which was painfully unfunny. That Marge ultimately broke up with the "Cool Moms" because she sees the good in Bart was certainly true to her character, but it was an ending that everyone was expecting.

Last Week in TV #14

Walking Dead: TS-19

Not a bad episode, but not quite what I was expecting. I'm curious at what part of the production process it was determined that episode six was the first season finale. When Rick and company arrived at the CDC at the end of the last episode, it seemed to be setting up the kind of status quo ending in which season finales traffic. I didn't expect them to spend the rest of the show hanging out there, but I thought maybe the next season would open with them there before something forced everyone to leave. Instead, it looks like the CDC was just one more step in the journey, and the status quo that ended was more thematic (now that they've realized the full extent of the zombiepoc, perhaps they'll look for salvation somewhere other than a pre-apocalypse institution of authority that maybe survived intact). 

Last Week In TV #13

The Simpsons: Donnie Fatso
What started out as a rare New Years episode turned quickly into a fairly standard mobster/mafia movie parody. As a result, the best stuff was, as usual, in the first act (the New Years stuff, Homer's tickets, Moe on the set of Wicked) before the main plot kicked in and the story started hitting all the expected beats. For a moment, I wondered if the show was going to do one of its rare continuity changes by replacing Fat Tony with Fit Tony, but I did enjoy how they showed us the reset button by transforming Fit Tony into Fat Tony II instead of just bringing back Fat Tony in a later episode with no explanation.

Last Week In TV #10

Thoughts on what I watched on TV last week. 

How I Met Your Mother: Glitter

This episode underlined the fact that Lily has become far too one-note of late, as there is currently nothing more to her character than wanting a baby. I mean, Marshall wants one too, but he manages to do other things on the show besides talking about it constantly. I'm hoping that by making Lily's baby-mania the catechist for this episode's emotional moments, the writers are acknowledging that they've made this Lily's one character beat of late, and that moving forward, she'll be given more to do (or maybe I'm giving the writers too much credit).

Last Week In TV #9

Thoughts on what I watched on TV last week. 

The Walking Dead: Guts  

A lot of people were down on this episode, and while it wasn't quite as good as the first, I didn't think it was that bad, either (maybe all the negative buzz beforehand lowered my expectations).

Last Week In TV #8

Thoughts on what I watched last week. Halloween was last week, and Mrs. Teebore and I saved up a bunch of Halloween episodes to watch that day, so that's why this entry is so Halloween-heavy (and also, because Fox is lame).  


The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXI

Last Week In TV #6

More thoughts on what I watched on TV last week. 


The Venture Bros: Bright Lights, Dean's City

A quasi-sequel to last week's episode, according to the pre-show bumper, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer started their respective episodes at the same time, and Hammer finished first, so Hank's episode aired first. His episodes tend to be more emotional and concerned with fleshing out the characters (along with the funny) while Publick's are more pop culture-y and filled with rapid fire jokes, and that was true of this duology, as Hank's episode moved his character forward significantly while in this episode, Dean was largely just witness to a lot of crazy, funny stuff.   

Last Week In TV #4

Thoughts on what I watched last week. 

The Simpsons: Loan-a-Lisa

My favorite bits were the talking goat in the Microloan commercial ("I am just a goat, but even I know that a peasant in an emerging economy can't catch a break...and now, apparently, I am a girl!") and Skinner and Chalmers excitement over Nelson paying $11 an hour, but I also enjoyed Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook updates ("Mark Zuckerberg is happy to meet new friends") and this exchange:

Last Week In TV #2

Thoughts on some of what I watched on TV last week.


The Venture Bros.:  Pomp and Circuitry
Hank is probably my favorite character (at least amongst the main cast) so I thoroughly enjoyed what was essentially a Hank-centric episode, although the secondary plot featuring Phantom Limb escaping Guild captivity and teaming up with Professor Impossible, while funny (I always appreciate a Professor Impossible appearance, mainly because Reed Richards is such fertile ground for comedy), felt more disconnected from the main plot than with most Venture outings. Amongst the highlights were Hank and Dean's list of career choices, Brock's fight with the Vatican's karate gorilla Swiss Guards, the Venture Bros. take on the slow clap, and Doc Venture's take on college admissions ("he's a legacy").

A "Big" Cameo

Fans of "The Big Bang Theory", check out this page from Power Girl #4, on sale this week:


Thanks to Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good! for the scan.