Monday, March 12, 2012

Their Eyes Were Watching TV

I just feel that I need to update you on some shows I'm watching.


Modern Family is not my favorite. It is funny and great. I really love Phil Dunphy. I love Cameron. I love Ed O'Neill and Sofia Vergara. Manny is hilarious. But there are three things that almost ruin the show for me:

1) They often have a corny ending which I HATE. Why do they do that? Why can't they let the meaningful themes about family be subtle? We get it. We can infer the sweet stuff. Ugh. Brother. It really bugs me.

2) Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen) bugs me so much. I find her almost completely unwatchable. Bless her heart! She's got twins in real life and she was great in Lost. I just hate her as Claire. She's obnoxious and she isn't funny. I hate how she talks and holds her face and everything she does. She didn't used to bother me. She's getting worse.

3) The new Lilly. Blek. She's worse to watch than Claire. When she's on screen it's bad; When she has lines it's insufferable.

It's still funnier than most things on TV. I guess that's why I am so disturbed by these little annoyances. Because it could be so good.

I saw Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) on a show called The Mortified Sessions. Famous people read their old journals and are confronted with old embarrassing pictures of themselves. They pick the memorabilia, so it's not like a surprise attack. There are people with more and less happy childhoods, but I've noticed two camps of people on the show: People who are over it and people who aren't. Alanis Morissette, for example, isn't over it. Eric Stonestreet (who was fat and teased) is. He's a great guy who once dreamed of going to Clown College. His parents were supportive. In fact, his dad came up with the name "Fizbo" for the clown he played as a kid. They used Fizbo on Modern Family, which is another great thing about the show. At the end of the interview on The Mortified Sessions Eric Stonestreet said the character Cameron is "the best possible version of myself that I could ever hope to be."

I think Awake is the best new show. It's about a man (Lucius Malfoy, in fact) who was in a car crash with his wife and son. When he goes to sleep he "dreams" his son survived. Then he goes to bed and "dreams" his wife survived. Of course, both dreams seem real. He's seeing psychiatrists in each reality/dream. In the last episode they introduced a layer of conspiracy. I said to the TV, "Do not lead me on!" If they know where they are going with this it could be the most fantastic thing ever. 

There's nothing cuter in the world than Zooey Deschanel. Am I right? The New Girl is really funny. But if it continues to focus on sex week after week I might lose interest. It is smart/quirky/funny but it's starting to come off as immature. Maybe ladies like me aren't it's target audience. But I hope they don't waste a character like Jess. She could be so great and interesting. But a ditzy foil for sloppy guy-friends? I already met and got sick of Pheobe Buffay. That said, "What if I ate my own hair and pooped out a wig?"

 Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph in Up All Night are really funny. They aren't obnoxious or ditzy. Along with my favorite 30 Rock and basically-tied-with-favorite Parks and Recreation, Up All Night is the show I like watching best. There are lots of good things about the show. The mom works while the dad stays home, but it gets beyond the trite, "Can she have it all?!" Will Arnett plays the straight man to Christina Applegate, which is refreshing. And he's an un-emasculated stay-at-home dad. In fact, one of the things I like best about the show is that manliness is equated with good parenting.  "Diaper time is tough enough without someone jacking up your wipes." So true!  And when a nervous dad wants to pull his daughter out of the school talent show, check out, and home school, Maya Rudolph tells him to "be a man!" The hard parts of parenting are manly. Refreshing! And funny at the same time! It has heart, like Parks and Rec has heart, but it's not sentimental.

There's lots to talk about when it comes to TV.

20 comments:

  1. I just wanted to second your comments on Modern Family...I love it, but all three things you mentioned completely bug me. Numbers 1 and 3 the most. Sometimes I just want to turn it off like five minutes before it ends, since I hate their wrapping up. Except then the last tiny clip is sometimes funny, too. Oh well/.

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  2. I also hate Lily! The wonky teeth, lame lines, gah! Love the show (minus the sappy endings) otherwise.

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  3. I agree with every single TV critique in this post. I hope Awake stays awesome. Ditto on Zooey's sex show. I hate Lilly & Claire so much too. I will still always think of Julie Bowen as Carol Vessey from "Ed" (why isn't that on Netflix?). I saw Eric S on Jimmy Kimmel and he said his license plate in high school said Fizbo. He is hilarious.

    My Up All Night favorite moments were last week when Will Arnett and that other guy were singing Little Miss Can't Be Wrong in the bowling alley and then in one of the first episodes when his cell phone ring was that Train song.

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  4. I can't be bothered by Claire because she reminds me too much of me (and Phil reminds me of my own husband)-- I think that's why we love the show too much.

    The new Lily is kind of annoying, but I love the reason for her: the old Lily didn't want to do it any more, so her mom just pulled her out. I'm pretty sure she's the only Hollywood mom IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD who would do such a thing. And I applaud her. If it means the new Lily is kind of lame, I'm okay with that.

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  5. Everytime I watch Modern Family I wish I had Cam as a bestie....I think Jess would be fun too. But do you think they are setting it up so she and the grumpy, bar tender roommate will get together? I kinda hope not.

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  6. Modern Family is starting to bug me too! I agree with all your reasons, and may I add that Claire seriously needs to gain at least 20 lbs, because she is too skinny. I'm surprised casting couldn't have found a better Lilly.

    I also love Up all Night, esp. Mya Rudolph, she is hilarious.

    I was wondering about Awake, now I just may have to check it out!

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  7. Maybe we can start a petition to get rid of the new Lily. uuugghhh

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  8. Re Claire Dunphy:

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/01/julie_bowen_as_claire_dunphy_on_modern_family_a_character_study.html

    This article totally turned me around.

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  9. Anonymous4:45 PM

    i typically agree with your tv preferences which makes me wonder if you've checked out Happy Endings?

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    1. Many people have told me to watch Happy Endings. I need to give it a try.

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  10. I love Claire! And I think her facial expressions are great! I mostly love Phil, though! And I also love exclamation points! I didn't realize there was a new Lily. I noticed that she looked a little different and her character suddenly bothered me, but my brain accounted for that by saying that she had just grown bigger and was old enough to start getting more lines.

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  11. I'm really thrilled with Awake.

    My guilty pleasure is The Firm, which stars Poor Man's Matthew McConaughey, and is worthy of intense criticism by anyone who has any type of working knowledge of the legal system, but I can't quit.

    Eric Stonestreet's sister repinned one of my pins of him, which made me happy. Now I follow her boards.

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  12. Hate the new Lilly too. But, frankly, I never expect much from child actors so I figured that's probably as good as it gets. Let's just hope they keep her out of most episodes. And, I'm ok with the sappy endings. Call me unsophisticated. I also like Awake, but I'll admit, the only reason that I even watched in the first place is that I developed a big crush on "Mr. Malfoy" after seeing him in PBS Mystery's "Case Histories" series last year. Recommend!

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  13. I haven't heard of Awake. Can't wait to try it.

    Still enjoying Up All Night but having a hard time with Christina Applegate -- who I have always liked! Please help me like her character more.

    I feel like I'm watching it for Maya and Will.

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  14. Amen to #3! Except I was afraid to say it out loud because I felt bad for hating a little kid so much. I'm sure she's great to play Barbies with, just not so great at sitcoms. Or speech.

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  15. #1!! Really! Everytime that music chimes in, I think of Danny Tanner on Full House bringing his girls to his knee to explain that the most important thing is that they have each other!!

    blah.

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  16. i've tried to stop looking at claire's neck because i realized that's what was really bugging me (or grossing me out). it's like that crazy laboring woman picture you posted about once...that was you, right? and i've tried really hard to get into up all night, but i can't get past christina applegate...and it's like all the characters are parodies of people. like a giant snl skit. maybe i'll give it another chance because you like it, and i'm powerless to resist your influence!

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    1. Yes. She's just like that picture I posted of Kate clenching her neck muscles. I just hate her so much. But I don't hate Christina Applegate. She doesn't bother me at all. I love how she wears knee-length skirts with flats to work. It's kind of not flattering.

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  17. yes to the lily thing. so annoying.

    i love new girl and up all night. they are both my new favorites. so, so, so funny. i love christina applegate and maya rudolph!

    and you are right, there is a lot to talk about when it comes to tv. i could go on and on...

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