Month: July 2011

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Wilfred

8 July 2011 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

In the US: Thursdays, 10pm, FX
In the UK: Acquired by BBC3 for Autumn broadcast

Wilfred is surreal. Obviously, you gathered that from the fact it’s about a regular guy (Elijah Wood) who perceives his next-door neighbour’s dog to be an Australian guy in an unconvincing dog suit. But Wilfred is actively surreal, surreal in the old-style sense of unsettling one’s perspective on reality. As well as the fact no one ever acknowledges the fact Wilfred is really a swearing bong-smoker with opposable thumbs, this is a show in which Dune is quoted and Wood has prophetic dreams. It’s strange.

So after the funny first episode in which the show is set up, things dip slightly with the second episode, in which Wilfred’s doggie personality is explored more over the issue of trust. This lacked the subtlety of the first episode but was still entertaining. But with our third episode, things took off once again, into the dark, with Wilfred’s attempts to turn Wood is a stronger, less fearful individual resulting in a bizarre confrontation with his other next door neighbour (My Name Is Earl‘s Ethan Suplee) that leads to Wilfred poledancing in a strip club, amongst other things.

Again, the show’s creators do a good job of blending WIlfred’s human and doggy characteristics, with Wilfred mesmerised by a laser pointer at one point, and believing the story given to him by animal control that’s he going off to live on a beautiful farm.

While it’s not side-splitting, Wilfred is just so mesmerisingly odd and original, it’s entirely worth watching the show just to see Wood go through Wilfred’s Tyler Durden-style mentoring in all its surreal splendour. Tune it, enjoy but prepare to be slightly frightened by the whole experience.

Carusometer rating: 2
Rob’s prediction: As dark as FX’s normal output but significantly more interesting and more entertaining, this should run and run.

Sitting Tennant

Friday’s Sitting Tennant (week 25, 2011)

8 July 2011 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Erin C's Sitting Tennant

Hebbie's Sitting Tennant

Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

The weather might be bad, but this should cheer up your weekend.

  1. Hebbie: 165
  2. Sister Chastity: 150
  3. Erin C: 80
  4. Rullsenberg: 55
  5. Janice: 20
  6. esgaril: 10
  7. theriverlady, Toby: 5

Don’t forget Tuesday’s caption competition!

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable and doesn’t obviously infringe copyright, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Tuesday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.

Friday’s “Skies not falling” news

8 July 2011 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Doctor Who

Film

British TV

US TV

Classic TV

Lost Gems: It’s Your Move (1984-85)

7 July 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

It's Your Move

Today, Jason Bateman is a big movie star. If you never caught him in Arrested Development on Fox, in just the last few years, you could have seen him in Paul, The Switch, Juno, Couples Retreat, Up in the Air, The Invention of Lying, State of Play and Hancock, and he’s in the forthcoming Horrible Bosses and swapping bodies with Ryan Reynolds in The Change Up, too.

But what you might not know is that Jason Bateman was actually a child star back in the 80s, getting his first shot at the big time in Little House on the Prairie. Look, here he is getting a spanking.

But in 1984, Bateman got to star in his own show, It’s Your Move. Created by Michael G Moye and Ron Leavitt, the show was actually a surprisingly dark affair for an early 80s sitcom – although since they went on to create Married… With Children maybe it’s not that surprising. In it, Bateman played Matthew Burton, a teenage conman who’s always scamming someone at school, his relatives or anyone else he could make money from.

Then a writer called Norman (David Garrison who also went on to Married… With Children) moves in across the hallway and gets friendly with Burton’s widowed mother, Eileen (Caren Kaye). Matthew gets protective and tries to scam Norman into abandoning interest in Eileen… only to discover that Norman is just as much of a scam artist as he is.

As the show’s title suggests, subsequent episodes are then essentially a chess match between Matthew and Norman, Matthew trying to sabotage Norman and Eileen’s relationship, Norman trying to foil Matthew, each without exposing his true nature to Eileen.

The series was well received, but unfortunately was up against ratings dynamo Dynasty. As a result, the show was retooled after episode 14. Matthew tries to help his mother at work, but by doing something blatantly illegal. Eileen finds out and as a result, Matthew can’t scam anyone any more. After that, the show became a regular sitcom. All the same, ratings didn’t improve and the show was eventually cancelled after 18 episodes.

It’s not well remembered, it’s not available on DVD: it’s a Lost Gem. All the same, you can watch pretty much every episode – and a very young Jason Bateman – on YouTube. And here’s the pilot episode

Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout

7 July 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Iowa corn farmer Taylor Lautner (of Twilight) build a football field in the middle of his farm – and some NFL players turn up, as do Ray Liotta and Dennis Haysbert doing his best James Earl Jones impression. Probably means more to NFL fans, but everyone should stick around until the end for a lovely cameo.