There was something refreshingly pedestrian about last night's episode of The Middle. It wasn't about abundance and excess, because as a middle-class situation comedy, the current economic state doesn't reflect having plenty and living beyond your means. Frankie and Mike are doing their best to get by. But they're not bitching about it. That's part of the reason why I'm enjoying this show so much. Like me, Jason also liked this episode quite a bit.
Frankie had to work on Thanksgiving, that's true, and she did protest about that, but not the fact that the family has to plot out their Black Friday shopping at the mall to get every bargain imaginable. They don't complain about being strapped. They accept that they have to cut coupons and be thrifty.
Like the remnant carpet for the bedroom as an anniversary gift, The Hecks are accepting of their middle class.
(S05E09) I'm so glad Hank sucked, because it allowed me to establish a new two-hour block of comedy on Wednesday nights. Just substitute Christine for Hank, and then flip over to The Middle and ABC for the rest of the night. What a satisfying night of laughs.
There was no Thanksgiving trimmings for Christine this year; instead it was date night. And while the episode did fall victim to some predictable set-ups, it was still a lot of fun to watch. I particularly liked the twists and turns of Barb's date with Dave. She dragged Christine along to make sure Dave didn't propose to her.
Meanwhile, now that New Christine is pregnant, Richard is ready to woo her as well. But he needn't worry about cleaning up or even trying. Just get her into bed: that's where he really shines.
(S01E09) While I'm not ready to declare that The Middle is a superior sitcom to Modern Family, if this episode is any indication, I'm ready to say that it's every bit as good. And funny! Man, was this a brilliant holiday episode. I don't know how Thanksgivings go at your house, but ours have gone very much like this one at times. With everyone busy, and family members having to work because they have terrible bosses.
I swear, it's like these writers haven't set this in Indiana, but rather in my own Midwestern backyard. And while things were traditionally set up, as we'd expect, for the traditional "sweet comedy" outcomes, The Middle turned some of those conventions on their head.
They also showed us a new way to cook a turkey, though I'm not really sure if it would work all that well. And there's nothing wrong with Axl loving the can-shaped cranberry sauce. That's my favorite, too! Just slice it up and you're good to go.
Who doesn't love Thanksgiving? I'll be enjoying mine with all the usual staples: turkey, cranberries, cornbread stuffing, some weird brown thing my father attempted to make and my Mom's mind-numbingly good meliton dressing. I'm literally chomping at the bit to take that first of 227 bites of homemade turkey. I've gone through three remotes in the last hour.
But I have to come up with something to do after all the food has been ravenously devoured by that wolf pack I call my family. And rather than list 100 reasons for regretting life (because 99 of them would be "Why did I eat that?"), here some things I have to be thankful for instead.
(S01E08) "I am through with tortured relationships and unrequited crushes." - Joanna
Even though Eastwick has gotten the big ol' axe, I'll cover it til the bitter end, gosh darnit. I believe it has one more episode, which airs next week.
At this point, it seems kind of silly to invest more emotional energy into the show, but even though it's had some trouble finding its footing, Eastwick has gotten consistently more interesting. In particular, I was looking forward to seeing where the romance and lust between Darryl and Roxie would go. It got a little more heated this week, and there's plenty of sparks there.
The crush Joanna had on Will seems to have all but vanished, and she seems cool with Kat going out with him. Kat, on the other hand, isn't quite sure what she's doing. When she saw Ray making out with another woman, her furor stirred things up and sent a piano, among other things, flying.
There aren't as many classic Thanksgiving episodes of TV shows as there are classic Christmas episodes. But there are several we remember fondly, including this one. It's the "Turkeys Away" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati that originally aired on October 30, 1978. Carlson tries to come up with a special promotion for the station and, well, you'll see what happens.
[Watch episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati and other shows at SlashControl.]
You may not have gotten the day off for this momentous day in American history (damn you, socialist government!), but today marks a very special anniversary: the first ever episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The show officially hit the airwaves on a local Minneapolis station, KTMA, on Thanksgiving Day in 1988 by a young, fresh-faced Joel Hodgson. The rest, as people who rely on cheap cliches to heighten the dramatic effect with their weak words, is history. You can read the rest at the Satellite News site, the most exhaustive and interesting MST3K site on the Internet.
Every fan of the show and even occasional glancers remembers where they were when they first discovered this kind of cult comedy classics. For me, I discovered it with my old man who hates it when I call him my old man during the hilarious Pod People episode, arguably the funniest episode for the show and the worst movie the show has ever skewered.
It seems that Santa Claus got my letter after all: American networks are starting to notice the awesome comedic power of British panel shows.
Unfortunately, he didn't it read it very closely: that network is NBC. Hope you like Ex-Lax in your cookies, Santa.
NBC just taped a pilot episode of a remake of the BBC's most famous and classic panel quiz show, Have I Got News For You. It's being hosted by comedian and Air America host Sam Sedar and features Greg Giraldo and Michael Ian Black as the regular team panelists. Buzzerblog doesn't seem to have much confidence in the show being good, but Giraldo and Black and the fact that a network is willing to take a chance on real satire and comedy panel humor makes me want to give it a chance.
I'm am an unabashed fan of the Muppets and it doesn't matter than I'm 29. It might matter to mature single ladies and gym meatheads who can beat me to a bloody pulp with their eyelids, but that's beside the point.
I don't care. They were funny when I was a growing toddler still learning how to say my ABCs and they are still funny now that I'm an adult who cannot say my ABCs backwards convincingly enough to prove my sobriety. So just imagine my joy when this video surfaced of the fuzzy funnies doing their rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums at Rifftrax are taking Christmas down a notch in a nationwide event next month, and you can win a trip to sunny San Diego to watch in person.
Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett will team up again with partner and live event specialist Fathom to bring a collection of old-school Christmas shorts to theaters across the country in a live big screen broadcast.
(S07E09) How far are the writers going to take the Charlie and Chelsea relationship? Do you think they're actually going to get married? I ask because tonight's show was a glimpse of what married Charlie might be like. Funny, yes, but is a domesticated Charlie really what I want to watch? Gin rummy and snoring? Charlie being sensitive and in touch with a woman's feelings? Where has my Charlie gone?
Alan, fortunately, is in exactly the same spot where he's always been. The crapper. Remember that Emmy that Jon Cryer won for Two and a Half Men in September? He may have earned a bookend with this season's work. More on his hair care products and dating services after the jump.
Is there anything that Jane Lynch can't do? The comic actress -- who some people are already declaring is a shoo-in for the Primetime Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama series for Glee -- has veered into a new venue.
In addition to her television characters, Jane's brilliant performance as Sue Sylvester, her semi-regular shrink role, Dr. Freeman, on Two and a Half Men, Constance on Party Down, she's now doing commercials.
Yes, the latest triumph for La Lynch is a set of XBox 360 commercials that are all about fun.
(S03E09)"I had a plan, I did, but it just didn't work out the way I thought it would."/"What? You thought he'd (Hank) do a good job of being in charge?" - Karen to Becca
Remember watching Friends and feeling that great sense of heavy letdown when you realized that week's diversion of reality would be a "Joey-heavy episode"?
That describes this week's Californication to a tee, except the great sense of heavy letdown doesn't quite sit on top of your soul with the girth and grim sadism of an evil sumo wrestler.
This is the age of personalized entertainment on demand. It's also the age of talking wads of meat and animated fart jokes. Finally, all of that can now come together on your home DVD player.
Adult Swim fans can now go online and create a disc full of their favorite episodes from the channel's top shows with the Build Your Custom DVD tool.
For $20, you get 110 minutes worth of space to build a DVD. You can choose any of the available episodes from such series as Venture Brothers (right), Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021. After arranging them in your preferred order, you give your DVD a name, description and cover art before paying for it and burning your unique creation.
The "All Seth, All the Time" block of animation on FOX is getting stronger every week. I think this may have been the most wholly satisfying episode of The Cleveland Show we've had yet. The show finally knows what it is, the characters are settled in and established, and it even knows where it's going to derive its humor.
There's a sweetness to The Cleveland Show that is more reminiscent of King of the Hill than either of MacFarlane's established shows, and I'm glad to see it. My biggest fear was that Cleveland's star vehicle would be nothing more than Family Guy-lite, but after a very rough start, I'm able to see and appreciate it for what it is.
Family Guy may have found their replacement for Cleveland in this week's episode. I hope the boys do find a new "fourth," and I don't think I'd mind if it's the guy they find themselves hanging out with this week. On American Dad, Stan discovers rock music, and he'll do anything to hang out with his new favorite band: My Morning Jacket.
There was something refreshingly pedestrian about last night's episode of The Middle. It wasn't about abundance and excess, because as a middle-class situation comedy, the current economic state doesn't reflect having plenty and living beyond your means. Frankie and Mike are doing their best to get by. But they're not bitching about it. That's part of the reason why I'm enjoying this show so much. Like me, Jason also liked this episode quite a bit.
(S05E09) I'm so glad Hank sucked, because it allowed me to establish a new two-hour block of comedy on Wednesday nights. Just substitute Christine for Hank, and then flip over to The Middle and ABC for the rest of the night. What a satisfying night of laughs.
(S01E09) While I'm not ready to declare that The Middle is a superior sitcom to Modern Family, if this episode is any indication, I'm ready to say that it's every bit as good. And funny! Man, was this a brilliant holiday episode. I don't know how Thanksgivings go at your house, but ours have gone very much like this one at times. With everyone busy, and family members having to work because they have terrible bosses.
Who doesn't love Thanksgiving? I'll be enjoying mine with all the usual staples: turkey, cranberries, cornbread stuffing, some weird brown thing my father attempted to make and my Mom's mind-numbingly good meliton dressing. I'm literally chomping at the bit to take that first of 227 bites of homemade turkey. I've gone through three remotes in the last hour. 
(S01E08) "I am through with tortured relationships and unrequited crushes." - Joanna
You may not have gotten the day off for this momentous day in American history (damn you, socialist government!), but today marks a very special anniversary: the first ever episode of 
It seems that Santa Claus got my letter after all: American networks are starting to notice the awesome comedic power of British panel shows. 
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums at Rifftrax are taking Christmas down a notch in a nationwide event next month, and you can win a trip to sunny San Diego to watch in person.
Is there anything that Jane Lynch can't do? The comic actress -- who some people are already declaring is a shoo-in for the Primetime Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama series for Glee -- has veered into a new venue. 
This is the age of personalized entertainment on demand. It's also the age of talking wads of meat and animated fart jokes. Finally, all of that can now come together on your home DVD player.
The "All Seth, All the Time" block of animation on FOX is getting stronger every week. I think this may have been the most wholly satisfying episode of The Cleveland Show we've had yet. The show finally knows what it is, the characters are settled in and established, and it even knows where it's going to derive its humor.
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
