Was your life was lacking Glee tonight due to baseball playoffs? Maybe this will get
you going again. Sesame Street has given us some great goofs on popular songs and TV series, from a Billy Idol lookalike Muppet singing “Rebel L” to the detectives of ABCD Blue. Now give it up for... G. [3:48]
I got a grin out of Rachel’s lines in the crowd noise that opens the skit, the bearded piano player who pops up out of nowhere, and more, but the grandest giggle goes to the amazing likeness of “Mr. Goo”.
Related: Harmony and Irony • Muppet Monday • Brittality
I have my sister to thank for this most excellent video link featuring my favorite character on Glee, whose new season premieres at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Fox.
Video screenshot crop © 2011 Twentieth Century Home Entertainment.
Heather Morris does the voodoo that she does so well — and which I’ve praised before — in “A Day in the Life of Brittany S. Pierce” [5:45]. If you watch the show, you already know that you want to see this. If you don’t, you should still be able to enjoy it on its own; matter of fact, I dare you to watch until (or just skip to) the 0:39 mark, when Brittany explains why she’s riding a bike, and not want to continue.
Related: Nuts and Bolts • R2 Details • Nooner in Song
Glee last week was in many ways not at its best but at its most — at its most plot-oriented, at its most gimmicky, at its most disposable, at its most thematic, at its most randy, at its most heartfelt, and as the previous contradictions indicate at its most all-over-the-place. Case in point: John Stamos on drums while the unlikely members of McKinkley High’s celibacy club — Rachel, Quinn, Puck(!) — joined their literally virginal, newlywed guidance counselor Miss Pillsbury to perform one of my favorite tunes, Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight” [3:02].
The 2011 Golden Globes was a live show hosted by Ricky Gervais, populated by celebs drunk on camaraderie, self-congratulation, and in some cases even alcohol. Hard for a pop-culture maven to pass up.
So I did watch this year’s telecast, albeit (due to a migraine) not in real time. Which is just as well since there’s plenty to fast-forward through — film clips, ads, folks walking to the stage. And like other gluttons for punditry I found it, perhaps appropriately for a show affiliated with The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.
Gervais was off to a running start with jokes about Charlie Sheen, the HFPA’s WTF nominations for the apparently totally mediocre film The Tourist, and other hot-button topics. His material felt rushed, though, bereft of the breathing room and segues that usually make his stand-up and talk-show appearances feel so compellingly relaxed; even when Gervais cracks himself up, which is frequently, it’s acceptable because he acts as if he’s just realizing what he’s saying as he says it. I’d hoped for redemption later in the evening, but Gervais popped up rarely and not for very long, less to comment on the proceedings — a shame, as the Greek-chorus element of hosts who choose to embrace that aspect of their duties can be the best part of the Oscars and the Emmys — than to get in some would-be zingers at the few presenters he announced by mentioning their more infamous or obscure endeavors or highlighting the disparities of a given duo. His overall contribution, while certainly not abysmal, was a bit like that old Catskills joke about the food: It wasn’t particularly good... and the portions were small.
Picking up where I left off yesterday…
Image © 2010 and characters TM Bryan Lee O’Malley.
“Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation” is a flashback to events not depicted in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The short video first aired as part of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s late-night block, when SPVTW opened back in August. Michael Cera and Alison Pill reprise their roles from the live-action feature, voicing the title character and high-school girlfriend Kim Pine. It was produced by the production company Titmouse and is visually based on creator Bryan Lee O’Malley’s art in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels.
As I said here yesterday, Fox is repeating Glee — the musical dramedy revolving around a high-school glee club in Ohio that’s broken out due to both ubiquitous promotion and its surprising resonance to the cultural zeitgeist — over the summer. I’d hoped to have a follow-up to my review of the pilot covering its first season in toto but a sober assessment of my notes suggests that I’m best off just sharing what I wrote back in September after watching the second episode, which ran again last Thursday, rather than wrangle all the rest into shape.
Promo image © 2009 Twentieth Century Television.
Do you feel bad for isolated thunderstorms?
Photo: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Photo Library — Sean Waugh
When that line popped into my head, I couldn’t help but think of my favorite character on Glee: Heather Morris’s Brittany.
Morris was brought in to teach the cast the choreography for “Single Ladies (Put a
Ring on It)” and ended up being offered the part of one of the cheerleaders who joined the glee club. There was no real hook to the character until the producers realized her pitch-perfect dim-bulb delivery of such lines as...
“I’m pretty sure my cat has been reading my diary.”
“Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?”
“Sometimes I forget my middle name.”
I saw the, um, original repeat of Glee’s first episode the other day and wish I’d been able to post a review before the encore encore tonight. Was it music to my ears? Not entirely, but I’m rooting for it.
Glee photos © 2009 and logo TM 20th Century Television.
Uneven but interesting, that pilot is certainly worth sampling before the series
finally continues next Wednesday, Sept. 9th, at 9 p.m. ET. It was previewed last spring — in prime real estate after American Idol — even though the show’s actual debut was always scheduled for this fall. Fox must have felt it had an offbeat winner and hoped
to stoke buzz throughout the summer; indeed, reception was generally favorable and songs from the series have been popular downloads on iTunes.
