I bet you can't guess what's next

Try me.  Guess what I think is the #1 show on broadcast television right now.  Try.

I don't know what comes next.  Actually, I do.  Continuing with the unintentional late-70s motif this blog has been stirring, I'm going to do a countdown of the best 5 movies of 1978.  I'm also still trying to get some of my friends with similar tastes who won't write dumb things to co-author this blog.

#2 Best Shows on Broadcast Television Right Now- 30 Rock

America's NBC's 2nd entry on this list... I'm confused as to why NBC has the lowest ratings.  They have two excellent shows (Office, 30 Rock), several good shows (SNL, Earl, Heroes, Medium, ER (not anymore), Chuck) and two unproven, improving, but promising new ones (Parks and Recreation, Southland).  Only the Thursday ones make my weekly viewing list (not much does, I don't watch much TV but I sample the new shows and stuff), as opposed to the utter bullcrap of such ratings-grabbers as 2½ Men and The Big Bang Theory.  But away from the the-masses-are-stupid spiel, and onto the matter at hand.

30 Rock is one of the few shows left on TV that is intelligent, funny, creative, unique, and genuinely fun to watch, basically all the qualities you look for in a friend on the first day at a new school.  (A little cliché, I didn't try too hard.  I love typing é.  I don't know why.  É é é é twahahahaha.  I could type whatever I want here, I just type things that people might be interested in reading because I feel like it.)  In fact, TV never really was the forefront of intelligent humour.  But this show is literally a masterpiece.  All five main actors are great, and perfectly casted.  The scripts are the work of people who could be writing [good] movies and books.  Tina Fey is a comic genius.  This is a perfect part for Alec Baldwin.  This is a perfect part for Tracy Morgan.  This is a perfect part for newer faces Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer.  Well, Krakowski isn't completely new; she was in Ally McBeal and apparently played Cousin Vicky in Vacation and appeared in some Flintstones movie and Fatal Attraction.  Again, re-near distraction!

30 Rock is about Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), the head writer and director of a late-night comedy variety sketch show (I wonder where she got that idea...) and the colourful cast of characters around her, in 30 Rockerfeller Plaza, including fickle attention-seeking starlet Jenna Moroney (Krakowski), troubled Tracy (basically himself) whose unpredictability is one of the funnier aspects of the show, callous corporate bigwig Jack Donaghy (Baldwin), and naïve Southern NBC Page Kenneth (McBrayer).  Also included are childish Frank (Judah Friedlander), Liz's absentminded and laid-back assistant Cerie (Katrina Bowden), proud African-American intellectual-type Toofer (Keith Powell), Tracy's entourage Grizz and Dot-Com (Grizz Chapman, Kevin Brown), immature semi-star Josh Girard (Lonny Ross), and Jack's creepily devoted assistant Johnathan (Maulik Pancholy).  Can you say character-based?  You just have to watch it.

Interesting video I found...

This is a CNN news video about the new practice of official government spying on suspected terrorists' houses.  I think it might be crossing the line, but you decide.  Feel free to leave any comments... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxnWl63Avo4

#3 Best Shows On Broadcast Television Now- The Office (US)

The British version was an absolute masterpiece. While notas good, the American version has a distinct, hilarious, yet unique look at everyday mundanities. The British version is no longer with us, being prematurely cut, but its illegitimate American son is. The talented Steve Carell plays his most memorable role here, barring any future efforts, as socially inept dumbass Michael Scott, who is somehow marginally likable and effective. He is unquestionably the star, followed in importance by Pam Beesly, Dwight Schrute, and Jim Halpert. Jim is the wry everyman, and Pam is a less wry everywoman (never seen that word before but whatever. Affirmative action). They are the obvious love interests. Rainn Wilson's Dwight is the eccentric Pennsylvania Dutch paper salesman who moonlights as a beet farmer with his odd cousin. They interact perfectly with Michael and each other. The casting really couldn't be better. I suspect all of them will go on to better things after the Office is closed for business (hopefully much better than Wilson's sickeningly terrible The Drummer or whatever it was called. Carell's performances in Anchorman andDan in Real Life were also pretty good, but this is what he will be remembered for.). Other characters include gay Mexican Oscar Núñez, cat-loving conservative Christian semi-whore Angela, fat-dumb-and-happy Kevin (the accountants), old soul who is actually Michael's age Phyllis, begrudging drone Stanley, chatty teen-stuck-in-adult-body Kelly, ex-Grass Roots guitarist and old pothead Creed Bratton (actually him!), alcoholic single mom Meredith, obsessive-compulsive passive-agressive Jan (with a fittingly hyphenated surname), dorky anger-management case Andy Bernard, drab HR rep Toby, and many many more. This is probably the best or second-best sitcom left on TV. Thankfully, the other one is right after it...

NOTE: I was stupid and forgot his hilarious role in Little Miss Sunshine, the best comedy of the last 10 years besides Juno, and probably Fargo if you want to cound that as a comedy. But was that the last 10 years? Ahhhh, let's not worry about it.

Mein Erste Blogeintrag (auf Deutsch)

Ich lerne Deutsch... könnt ihr mich verstehen?  Meine Blogeinträge sind nicht schätzbar.  So gern ich auch möchte, ich blogge nicht oft.  Ich blogge gern, aber habe ich keine Zeit.  Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch.  Vergeb mir bitte, ob meine zweisprachige Texte sind schwer ablesbar; ich lerne noch.  Kommentiert sind shätzte. Meine Muttersprache ist Englisch (offensichtlich), und ich bin aus Amerika.  Ich lerne Sprachen gern. 

#4 Best Shows On Broadcast Television Now- Kath & Kim (Australia)

Sure, the American version is ok-ish.  It's like Warren Beatty's Shampoo in TV show form with superficial middle-class people pretending to be rich rather than actually-rich superficial people.  But the Australian original is a masterpiece.  Each character is deliciously quirky, from slightly-overweight, spoiled recent divorcée (or, as coined, seperatée) to an older divorcée facing another marriage, to a sports-loving morbidly obese friend frequently treated with disdain.  What's not to love?  Throw in a metrosexual butcher as a spouse, and the Computa-City salesman as the other spouse, whose constant cheating and fear of being called a wussy overcomes all other feelings.  You just have to watch it to get what I'm saying... of course. 

#5 Top Shows on Broadcast Television Now- Corner Gas

It's been sickeningly long since I last updated, but here I am, and there you aren't, because nobody reads this anyway.  At least now I'm on Google but I'm pretty far down...

So here I am with Nummer Fünf on the 5 Best TV Shows On TV Right Now list.  Nothing to do with German, I just put that on there as it popped in my head.  You may or may not have heard of everyone's favourite Canadian import, Corner Gas.

It's, sadly, in its last season on CTV.  Surely it will be syndicated somewhere, and while its current timeslot on America's WGN is less than desirable, this is the TiVO age and you'll be fine.  Even VCRs can do that if you're not a new-techie.

So, let's actually write about the show.  Yes, that was plural.  I'm a renowned schizo.  At the confluence of The Office, Andy Griffith, and ummmmm... some other show.  It chronicles the life (or, as one reviewer smartly put it, lack thereof) of Brent, the manager/owner/something of a (or, more correctly, the) small-town gas station in rural Sasketchawan (forty kilometres from nowhere).  The obvious [forever-unrequited] love interest, Lucy, comes in from the big city life in Toronto to run a local café when she inherits it from a dead relative or something.  A colourful cast of characters includes the eccentric best friend, the overzealous new police officer, Brent's slightly senile father, the other police officer who verges on super-sensitive, and many more.  Their quirks make this a very funny character-driven comedy.