Harry's Law: or Demographic Guilt

The David Kelley show, "Harry's Law," starring Kathy Bates, has been cancelled, in spite of its stellar ratings. One of NBC's highest rating programs (acc. to the Nielsen reports, which I am teaching myself about through wikipedia), it has never done well enough with the 18-49 y.o. demographic. Nuts! It's all about the Benjamins I guess. A personal "sorry" to David Kelley -- I grew up loving Ally McBeal and The Practice! And as a member of that 18-49 community, I send my condolescences and my apologies for never having watched Harry's Law. My mom says it's great. In other news: who watches The Good Wife? Can you recommend it? I haven't watched it, but I have a sense that I'll be hooked if I let myself start watching it.

Burnin' Down the House!

Caught in a final paper whirlwind, but I felt the need to mention how much I am looking forward to the web series, Burning Love, debuting June 4. Ken Marino is a completely unvain performer, and every once in a while, you see him in something like a Will & Grace rerun or, well, this, and you realize: Oh right, you're handsome!

How could Rob Thomas (creator of Veronica Mars and Party Down) not be involved in this show? It features Marino, Adam Scott, Kristen Bell, and Ryan Hansen! Party Down fans will be aware that there is buzz about a possible film, and while I'd love that, for the time being, I'm satisfied with this impending web series. I don't watch The Bachelor, but I've seen it once, and I'm ready to get my parody on.

Kathryn Hahn Sighting (in Girls)

There she is!

I love celebrity sightings, even when it's only onscreen... so long as I wasn't expecting it.

I would love a buddy sitcom (or a buddy movie) starring Hahn and Judy Greer, wouldn't you? Thoughts on such a show to follow...

New TV Guy I'm following: Jorma Taccone

Anyone who ever followed The Lonely Island before they hit SNL (in other words, if you're me and my friend, Kristen -- hi Kristen!), you remember Jorma Taccone. On SNL he's a bit player in the Digital Shorts, always being upstaged by the okay-I-like-him-too Andy Samberg. But now it looks like he has a recurring role as a cocky, bad-boy artist type on Girls. Here, he's not playing a man-boy but a manly-man.... Either way, I'm a fan.

Glad to see Jorma is getting his own time to shine!


It was my favorite episode thus far, I'll admit... stuff might actually start to happen on this show! That is not to say that it was impeccable. Hannah's homophobic reaming-out of her out-of-the-closet ex was cringe-worthy to say the least. (At times, Lena's character is the hardest to like (even as people keep telling me that she reminds them of me... hmmm.))

Go On... Or Don't.

Apparently, Matthew Perry has a new show lined up for next season.


Entitled "Go On," this show will star "Perry... as a cheeky sportscaster who tries to move on from loss and finds comfort from the members of his mandatory group-therapy sessions."


A cranky professional in the media industry? You mean, like Studio 60? Oh no no no you mean like Mr. Sunshine?


Matthew Perry, I'm rooting for you, but stop playing the same role. Especially if that same role hasn't meant a hit show since Friends (in which you weren't even that ornery, except for sometimes, like a normal person). Think differently. Play someone else. Do a drama. Play a really cheerful person. Do. Something. Fresh. People didn't want to see Matt LeBlanc beat the Joey character into the ground, but he just won a Golden Globe for his role in the British show, "Episodes"! In which he played itself? Maybe a bad example. I haven't seen Episodes though... maybe LeBlanc plays himself... but differently. Oh, I don't know.


The point is: Matthew Perry, I want to see your range! I find you endearing, and I'm rooting for you, but I will not watch you play the same character over and over... unless you find a really killer vehicle. 


Like, why doesn't NBC just put you in BFF? Best Friends Forever! I can't believe you are canceling it, NBC! I'm still so mad at you. 

Save BFF!

I cannot believe my favorite new sitcom, Best Friends Forever, is being cancelled! For those of you who are not watching it: you should. If you like women. And comedy. And brilliance. Watchitwatchitwatchit. It's online. Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair write and star in this incredible show. It has the fast pace of "Happy Endings," and, I would argue, even more heart with its snappy repartee.

That said, it won't do any good to just watch it online. If you haven't watched it, first do that, so that you can get behind me on this. I have two ideas right now:

1. We should bombard NBC with stuff. Like how they sent peanuts to save that show, Jericho. (Wasn't it Jericho?) We could send... I have no idea what we'd send. Steel Magnolias DVDs? Best Friend bracelet charms? Ooh that second one could be cute.

2. Tina Fey, Whitney Cummings, any women TV powerhouses/showrunners out there: help your sisters out! This is a great show, and y'all need to support each other, please!

BFF depicts female friendships in a way that is both startlingly honest and really, really funny. So support it, watch it, complain about how it was cancelled, and maybe it'll come back...? Wishful thinking?

Who Run HBO? Girls.

Judging from only the pilot, "Veep" is shaping up to be one of my favorite new shows. It reminds me of vintage "Office" but without all the cringing. The dialogue is snappy and quite funny, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who I already love from "Seinfeld" and "New Adventures of Old Christine") kills as VP Selina Myers. Louis-Dreyfus is clearly an intelligent performer, and it is a delight to watch her play an intelligent and capable woman. I mean, granted, she makes a lot of goofy gaffes, and this is only episode 1, but Selina must be a pretty smart cookie to have gotten to be VP, right? Anna Chlumsky (welcome back!), Tony Hale (playing a spin-off of Buster Bluth?), and Matt Walsh round out this fabulous cast. It's a sharp and fast-paced political spoof -- how can you say no? I'll keep you posted on this show as it develops... ha that makes me sound like a news anchor, huh?

But, ahem, speaking of parodies, I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to say about the new show, "Girls." This show was clearly written for "me" -- it is supposed to be about "me," right? An over-educated twenty-something white New Yorker with writing aspirations... check, check, and check. (To think, if only I'd known people cared about my friends and their dumb problems, I could have sold this to HBO YEARS AGO.) Is this show for "us," as critic Emily Nussbaum? And if so, is "us" a bunch of entitled, obliquely-racist brats? What am I supposed to make of this show? Internet, tell me what to think and feel!

Having watched the second episode, I think my relationship with "Girls" is not as "complicated." In the pilot, I felt a bit as if I was hanging out with someone else's friends. I got the jokes, I just didn't like them enough to find the jokes even funnier than they actually are. Now, I have come to a conclusion that was partially aided by having watched "Veep." It's this:

I think "Girls" might be a parody.

Now, I'm a bit of an outsider in this Brooklyn hipster culture, I'll admit. I'm not proud of it, but I'm not ashamed either. I watch Nicholas Sparks movies without irony, and while sincerity is an underrated virtue, let's face it: I'm watching Nicholas Freakin' Sparks. Nobody should or would give me a medal for that. When I lived uptown, the biggest punishment I could be issued on a Saturday night would be getting dragged to Brooklyn for a "show." And not even a puppet show or a dog-and-pony show, mind you -- nothing as much fun as that! (Has anyone ever been to a dog and pony show? What is that? What is that like? Do the dog and pony fight? Do the dog and pony play in an emo band? What happens?)

Having conceded I'm not a Brooklyn hipster myself, this show felt like an exaggeration of what I see of these kids and also of my experiences. Protagonist Hannah (played by show creator Lena Dunham) is just a little too entitled, just a little too socially awkward in professional situations, to be really-real. Hannah's hook-up buddy, Adam, is an amalgam of every awful guy you and your friends have ever dated, lived down the hall from, or heard horror stories about. Hannah's best friend, who has it all together from the outside (which probably means she is a mess), makes ridiculous statements about sex and relationships that sound like exaggerations of real advice or self-disclosures.

Is this parodic strain going to persist? And how might the genre of the satire make us think differently about this program? Any differently at all, in fact?