Chuck
Just thought I would throw that out there. Sure, it is silly, and immature, and dorky, and that is what I like about it. I’m actually having more fun with this show than I have in a while.
My brother and I agree that one scene from season one may be some of the funniest stuff we’ve seen on television in a long while, if only because of the inane conversations my mother, brother and I have. At any rate, Chuck was accusing Casey (Adam Baldwin, aka Jane from Firefly), of enjoying the surveillance he was doing of Chuck. Casey then went and played back a conversation he had recorded of Chuck and his friend, in which they discussed what kind of sandwich they would take on a desert island, and it devolved into an argument over whether or not Jessica Alba between two slices of bread counted as a sandwich. I was laughing so hard I was crying, because I have had thousands of conversations like this with my brother and mom.
Again, what a fun show
Also, completely unrelated, but I was thinking a homemade cilantro ice cream would go really well as a side to a particularly spicy Thai or Mexican dish. What do you think of that?
Incertus
Is it as good as “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”? Because that’s the show I can’t get enough of right now. Not that I need another show to watch, mind you.
KRK
Cilantro ice cream sounds kind of iffy to me.
Anybody know how best to get cedar pitch off the pads of a cat’s paw?
KCinDC
I’m not sure about the cilantro ice cream. For the Thai, maybe try basil ice cream instead.
Danton
Or maybe basil and peanut ice cream.
Derek
I knew you were cool John Cole.
Chuck is absolutely the best and only great one-hour on Network TV right now. The final five of Season 2? I haven’t been so drawn completely in by something so ludicrous since the heyday of SatAM cartoons. The show is a great balance between ridiculous comedy and just good acting.
More heart than anything on TV, maybe not the best show on TV, but it is the Best Show.
Cain
So which one did your mom prefer? With or without jessica alba? :)
cain
Surabaya Stew
A scoop of Green Tea ice cream does wonders for spicy mouth syndrome. That or vanilla.
freelancer
Incertus,
Always Sunny is hilarious, my favorite scene is probably still in the 2nd ep, where Mac’s been banging the pro-life chick, being all fundy, and at the rally she tells him she’s prego and he just pauses…
“You gotta get an abortion.”
Could. Not. Stop. Crying.
—
Open thread and all, Pantload has been in rare form on North Korea today:
Ugh.
cleek
i’d try a tequila/lime sorbet before a cilantro ice cream.
but that’s just me. i wouldn’t be afraid to try a cilantro ice cream if someone served it to me.
maybe cilantro/lime ?
but yeah, green tea ice cream rules.
Svensker
Cilantro ice cream? Um, no.
In a Thai restaurant in L.A. I once had the most amazing ice cream — it was coconut with frozen corn kernels. Just a few, so there’d be a little frozen crunchy surprise every now and then. Sounds weird, was delicious.
Any tropical fruit — mango, coconut, pineapple, or the more exotics – make perfect ices or ice cream to go with Thai food.
Of course, you could have sticky rice and mango for the ultimate.
Ben JB
Chuck does a very nice job of balancing, connecting, and paralleling its A-story (something spy-tastic!) and its B-story (something Buy More- or Chuck’s family-centric). The show is full of little gems–like when Awesome takes Morgan under his wing and teaches him to tuck in his shirt. (Also, little gems of casting.)
Jim Wilson
Think cilantro sherbet, not ice cream. Palate cleanser.
JL
Chuck is coming back next season but not until March. The bachelor party was hilarious. I love Chuck!
James Gary
I am so glad to discover a fellow unusual-ice-cream-flavor devotee!
There’s a Japanese place here in New York that offers ginger and wasabi flavors, but my favorite was back at Halloween 1979 when Baskin-Robbins offered licorice ice cream. It was dead black in color and turned my tongue blue, like a chow dog. It was the most wonderful food I have ever eaten. I have never seen the flavor since– at Baskin-Robbins or anywhere else–and I suspect it was such a sales disaster that everyone involved in its creation and marketing was permanently exiled from the ice cream industry.
Anne Laurie
Milk products to cut the “burn” is good, but I’m not sure cilantro isn’t too overpowering a flavor to make a good ice cream. Euell Gibbons had a recipe in one of his books for tomato ice cream, which might be an alternative for Mexican if not Thai cuisine?
(My late Irish-American dad, who learned to cook “in self defense” from the nice Sicilian lady in the next apartment, believed that a little tomato sauce could improve just about any recipe. He also adored Gibbons’ books, particularly Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop. So, yes, I have eaten tomato ice cream, but not in the last 40 years, and all I can say for sure about my recollections is that it was a heckofalot better than Gibbons’ cattail-flour muffins. I think the recipe substituted tomatoes into a soft-summer-fruit (think peaches) ice cream mixture, but I also think my dad may have added a little oregano or basil just out of habit.)
geg6
I’m nor sure about cilantro ice cream, but I’ve certainly seen weirder things on Iron Chef and even Top Chef. For myself, I’d go with basil or peppermint (not sure you planted that). Thanks for an open thread, by the way. I’m deathly sick of the hourly wingnut explosion of outrage over minutiae and outright fantasy. I had my first day of freshman orientation where I spend half a day with the parents going over financial aid, the billing process, and financing strategies. To spend time on silly blather after dealing with these families struggle to find a way to finance their child’s education at the second most expensive public university in the nation in this financial and economic environment and to see how hard they work, the sacrifices they are willing to take, and the hope they hold, GOP craziness, and even laughing at it, seems cynical in the extreme. I need some trivia like cool teevee and some laughs.
Crusty Dem
Cilantro ice cream sounds wrong. Basil, maybe, but no cilantro..
However, you have inspired me to create cashew tom yum ice cream, to some, it sounds gross, to me, it’s a black hole of awesome..
lovedog
CHUCK’s great and happily they develop the story very nicely over the 1st 2 seasons, no drop off in quality or momentum.
I think cilantro ic sounds amazing. Do it.
blogreeder
Sounds uppity. :) This liberal side is taking over isn’t it? Cilantro ice cream? Yuck.
Krista
It’s a completely different kind of humour, so it’s really hard to compare the two. Always Sunny is a lot (pardon the pun) darker, and relies more on the characters basically screwing themselves over due to their own flaws. I enjoy it, but I can only watch it so often, because I wind up wanting to shake these people. I had the same problem with Seinfeld and with Fawlty Towers.
The humour in Chuck is lighter, but a lot less frustrating, IMHO, and relies more on the familiar being placed into the absurd, rather than the absurd being placed into the familiar, if that makes any sense.
I absolutely adore Chuck…it’s a great ensemble cast, with some fantastic throwaway lines (I won’t repeat the entirety of my favourite line here, because it’s from later in season two and gives away a plot point, but it involves Jeff and Lester being mistaken for an Indian lesbian and Sam Kinison.) Plus, Adam Baldwin can make me laugh hysterically with a grunt or a raise of his eyebrow.
Krista
And yes, Awesome is just plain…awesome. It would have been so easy to turn his character into a total douche, but he just continues to get even more awesome, and it’s a joy to behold.
And the guest casting is inspired. John, you’ll have to tell me what you think when you get to Season 2, ep 19. :)
Anne Laurie
Will the cat let you hold an ice cube against his/her pads? I’m guessing that would harden the pitch enough to pick it off carefully (it’s the standard for getting bubble gum off fabrics). The other remedy I can think of, for getting bubble gum/pine tar out of a kid’s hair, is rubbing peanut butter into the mess, and while the cat won’t mind licking the stuff off it won’t help your carpets/upholstery any. Maybe it’s worth trying the peanut butter if the cat can be confined temporarily? Is the stuff so toxic you don’t want to wait until cat deals with the problem on his/her own?
Sasha
“Sandworm! Sandworm! Sandworm!”
:)
What I thought was especially fascinating about CHUCK is that a bunch of scenarios and questions, which would normally be dragged out over the course of several seasons on a lesser show, are brought up and resolved in the first season. Makes you hunger for more.
ImJohnGalt
I’ve made a great basil granita in the past that might work well. Pretty much just boil 3-1/2c water with a 1/2c sugar. Take off boil, Add a full bunch of basil leaves that have been torn up (not chopped), cover pan and leave for 15 minutes.
Strain into a bowl and let cool on ice. Add the juice of 2 lemons (or limes – you can experiment). Pour into a shallow pan and put in the freezer. Stir it every 20 minutes with a fork as it freezes, which will take about 2 hours.
It’s really nice on its own, and great served with strawberries tossed with balsamic vinegar.
schrodinger's cat
Agree with all the commenters about the cilantro ice-cream. Mint lassi or mango lassi goes well with spicy Indian food, I think it will work well with Mexican not sure about Thai. John, have you ever tried kulfi? I think you will like it.
Cataphract
Cilantro ice cream is for elitist America haters.
(Somebody had to say it! Wolverines!)
Krista
You could also ask your pharmacist if they have any medical adhesive remover. It’s only harmful if ingested in large amounts, but you’re supposed to wash it off with soap and water anyway, so after you get the pitch off, just rub kitty’s paws with a wet soapy cloth.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
Chuck is good clean geeky fun. I agree with everyone above who says the casting and acting rock.
Re: the actual sciency parts, I can’t decide if it’s really poorly researched geekery or if they do some of the outrageously wrong stuff they do (e.g. Atari being a Japanese company) on purpose to poke fun at ubergeeks like me – but whatever, it’s an excellent shut-your-brain-off-and-enjoy-the-ride kind of thing.
I like the soundtrack, too.
geg6
ImJohnGalt: That sounds so yummy that I’m making that this weekend. Must.have.some.
joe from Lowell
That’s a really clever idea, the cilantro ice cream.
Dan
I started watching Chuck for Yvonne Strahovski, who’s absolutely fantastic, but Adam Baldwin totally kills me. He does more with less than any other actor on TV.
“Wait, is that a tranq gun? You don’t even have the common courtesy to threaten me with an actual firearm!”
Will
John,
I’ve had a super excellent lemon-cilantro sorbet (also, grapefruit-sage!!) at a gelatto place while visiting Madison, WI, so it can be done well if you remove the dairy from the equation (neither was very sweet at all). It was a unique taste treat, it would have been even better following some fish tacos. I say, give it a shot!
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Jayne, not Jane. Speaking of Whedon, did anybody see the news that the producers of the original Buffy film want to do a new reboot film – without Whedon or any of the supporting characters from the TV show? There just aren’t enough WTFs in the world for that idea. Apparently they took exactly the wrong lessons from the success of the new Star Trek.
Bhall35
There are some hardcore foodies on this blog, but cilantro ice cream? I’d have to agree with any of the suggested alternates.
And on an unrelated note: who has seen David Lynch’s Inland Empire? I finally caught up with it, and I kinda loved it (and this is from someone who really did not like Mullholland Drive). Laura Dern was not even nominated for an Oscar that year, which is crazy since she probably should have won one for this.
Any Lynch fans have any thoughts?
Lord Faahtass
Ulp. Gerf. Hrouff. Barfa. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahck.
[quickly sidesteps widening pool of watery vomit]
Sorry, I think I’ll pass on dessert.
dsc
lemon grass is the flavor you want–lemon grass sorbet
Chuck is a blast–I love the “Buy More”–and the band performance at the wedding–charming, sincerely silly, and geeky as hell–what’s not to like?
Incertus
@Krista:
I look at Sunny as the natural offspring of Seinfeld. Seinfeld had thoroughly horrible characters covered with a veneer of likability. You had to get to know them to realize how horrible they were. Sunny strips that away and gives us five thoroughly despicable human beings, and then makes it so they constantly hurt themselves. It’s genius.
mightygodking
The best thing about Chuck is its use of guest stars. Chevy Chase, Scott Bakula, Tricia Helfer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rachel Bilson, Andy Richter, Jenny McCarthy, Gary Cole, Jordana Brewster, Dominic Monoghan and Arnold Vosloo – every single one was used absolutely perfectly, which is a rarity in any show.
No, wait, the best thing about Chuck is that the characters actually behave in ways that make sense and try to find solutions to their problems, and when those solutions don’t work they try to find new ones.
No, the best thing about Chuck is the sandworm.
Humor Inspector
I know Kung Fu.
Krista
It is, but it’s also frustrating to watch, in a way. Shows like that are like pepper to me — very enjoyable and stimulating in small doses. But too much of it is painful.
gwangung
The main one probably being that THEY were the main reason the movie sucked in the first place (and that their absence was a reason why the TV series succeeded).
Krista
Okay, humans — John’s still catching up on the show. No spoilers — that’s just mean.
John, let us know what episode you’re on so that we don’t inadvertently give anything away, okay?
John Cole
I just finished season one.
BTW- Just thought I would let you all know that Anne Laurie will be posting here now. I just emailed her the information.
Be nice. Or don’t. She can take care of herself.
Laura W
This is excellent news for
John McCainBalloon Juice!Her knowledge bank seems to be wide and deep. And she writes beautifully.
Pets! Also.
Praise Goddess, as she might say.
Fabulous choice, John.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
@Will: Lemon-cilantro sounds great! I have a bunch of lemons and a pile of cilantro growing, so I might give it a go.
The awesome gelato place down the street offered pineapple-basil one summer, but not since. I guess I was the only one ordering it. Pity.
And hail Anne Laurie! W00t!
amorphous
Uh, John? You spelled Turley’s name wrong in the blogroll.
I’ll take “Nitpicking” for $1000, Alex.
Michael
“Burn Notice” is coming back next week.
TR
As Krista noted, “Chuck” and “It’s Always Sunny…” are both great, but almost impossible to compare. “Chuck” is goofy fun, while “IAS” is deliciously dark and demented.
And yes, “IAS” is a direct descendant of “Seinfeld”: “I hate listening to people’s dreams. It is like flipping through a stack of photographs. If I’m not in any of them and nobody is having sex, I just don’t care.”
oh really
There are some things that just shouldn’t be shared with strangers. This qualifies.
J. Michael Neal
Red Wings/Penguins II. First time since 1985 that the same two teams make a repeat appearance in the finals. I’m calling the same ending as last year, too: Detroit in six.
Ming
I get the ick! reactions, but cilantro lime ice cream seems like it might work for Mexican — think sour cream and cilantro and lime on something very spicy, with black beans and chipotle. For Thai, i’m thinking coconut cilantro ice cream.
TR
Dennis: I don’t get it Dee, there are tons of women in this city, where do they go?
Sweet Dee: They’re at velvet rope clubs on Delaware Avenue.
Dennis: Why?
Sweet Dee: Dennis, our bar is south Philly in a scary alley … might as well call it “Rape Bar.”
Wayne
Chuck at its best is perfect. Or is it only a perfect guy show? Worried that they may have exhausted the root idea and won’t be able to reinvent themselves. Hope so.
Mike in NC
Can’t walk into a Best Buy store anymore without expecting to run into Chuck and his slacker/geek friends. But that would actually be an improvement!
KRK
@Anne Laurie: @Krista:
Thanks to you both for the suggestions. I don’t think it’s going to hurt him, and he seems more annoyed by my efforts to remove it than by the pitch itself, so I guess I’m going to let him work it out on his own.
Violet
I adore Chuck. Haven’t missed an episode, although I know the finale is messed up due to satellite wonkiness. Boo. Haven’t watched it yet.
Ditto to everyone saying the casting is perfecting, including the guest stars. And Adam Baldwin’s Casey is howlingly good. That little snarl never fails to leave me laughing hysterically. I even rewind to watch it again, and practically fall off the sofa. He’s really good.
So glad it’s renewed for another season. I was fretting over that.
Cilantro ice cream? No, no, no. I think you want lime something or other. Lime works well with both Thai and Mexican. The dairy does cut the heat, though, so that might be okay. But I am not confident about the cilantro/dairy pairing. I suspect wonkiness. I think the lemongrass sorbet, or the lime-cilantro sorbet would work. But the coconut milk would be good too. A nice coconut ice cream might help cut that heat. I vote for the mango too.
YellowJournalism
So relieved that Chuck got renewed, even if the budget cuts may force some cast changes and other tweaks. Now if we could only get Reaper taken up by another network now that the CW has dropped the wonderful Ray Wise from their schedule. If it weren’t for Supernatural, I wouldn’t be watching that network.
That’s just wrong, wrong, wrong. I refuse to watch anything Buffy that doesn’t include Willow and Zander. (This excludes the Angel spin-off, which was wonderful as its own entity, and did have strong connections to the original Buffy.)
J. Michael Neal
Eh. I just wasn’t a fan of Angel. I thought the whole plotline with his son was incredibly contrived and poorly executed. It also didn’t help that Angel was the least interesting character on his own show.
radish
Fuck yeah. (Note: I’m not affiliated with that site in any way but I do approve the message.)
laxel
“Chuck rules.”
In my best Dwight Shrute voice:
“False”.
Try this series… kind of hit or miss, like yacht rock, but still ruling the hell outta Chuck. Did I mention go Wings?
psycholinguist
google Bitches!!
Cashews and coconut milk create ultimate creaminess, while a touch of lime compliments the bright flavor of cilantro.
Cilantro ice cream, about 1 quart
2 c. raw cashews, soaked for 1-2 hours, then rinsed and drained
1 – 13.5 oz can of coconut milk (full fat)
1 c. water
3/4 – 1 c. unrefined cane sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 large bunch of cilantro (about 2 c.)
zest of 1 lime
http://veglicious.blogspot.com/2009/03/cilantro-ice-cream.html
freelancer
I’ve been ignoring the whole ice cream meme of this OT, but I have to chime in. Cilantro, blech! Might as well go full bore and sprinkle it with some Dijonaisse. But seriously, it sounds about as good as the popcorn flavored jelly bean.
Wile E. Quixote
@laxel
Oh God, Trailer Park Boys. I was introduced to them by my girlfriend at the time who was a Canuck from Newfoundland by way of Vancouver B.C. I need to catch up on that show, I haven’t watched it since season 3. I think my favorite episode is the one where Ricky kidnaps Alex Lifeson as a present to Bubbles and then tells him to “Play that Diane Sawyer song”.
Wile E. Quixote
Snoqualmie Gourmet makes an absolutely fabulous lavender ice cream. I was skeptical the first time I ever tried it, I mean come on, it’s lavender, but with fresh blackberries or raspberries it is quite to die for. If I weren’t half in the bag right now I’d drive to the store and get some.
I’m looking at their website and I see that they have a “Jack Daniels” flavored ice cream. I’m going to have to try that. Then I’m going to have to spend another 100 minutes on the elliptical trainer like I did this afternoon to burn it off.
Wile E. Quixote
I need to get an ice-cream maker so I can make candied bacon ice-cream
freelancer
@ Wile
I found the show via a Lewis Black radio interview with some local guys that are pretty well known in the standup world about 2 years ago.
To me, the show will never get funnier than this scene. (the whole season where Ricky becomes supervisor is great)
laxel
it went downhill after season five or so, so you’re not missing a whole lot…
fuckn lahey, smokes, let’s go
Batocchio
Green tea ice cream and Thai iced tea ain’t bad. But you could give the cilantro a shot.
p.a.
Cilantro? I would try it, but wouldn’t go in with high hopes.
I had red bean ice cream at a Vietnamese restaurant last week. Interesting; basic cream/sugar flavor with whole red beans (small beans, not kidneys) providing a savory taste contrast along with a mealy textural contrast to the smooth ice cream. Not going nuts looking for the recipe, but I would get it again.
norbizness
a/k/a nothing from Firefly, how about Mother from Full Metal Jacket or My Bodyguard from My Bodyguard?
Cyrus
Wow. I saw all the first season of Chuck and I think an episode or three of the second season before I lost track of it, but I only saw one of those people that I can remember, so clearly I’ve missed a lot. Time to download. (Thanks for keeping this thread so spoiler-free.)
Yes, Adam Baldwin rules. I’d pay to watch him read the phone book, and I’m straight.
Marlowe
Like others here, I really enjoy Chuck. Another neat thing about the show that has not been mentioned is that the episodes almost always contain some reference/homage/parody of movies. A good example in one of the last episodes was Big Mike telling the “traitor” Morgan that he broke his heart, but ordering the Buy More staff that Morgan was not to be touched as long as Big Mike was dating his mother (I hope that I don’t have to name the movie). While the movies referenced tend to the geeky tastes of of, say, The Big Bang Theory’s protagonists, I got a kick from one show that riffed on the noir classic The Third Man.
I had been aware of the proposed Whedon-free Buffy movie. I have my doubts if this will ever materialize. This is a project of Fran and Kaz Kuzui, the director and producer, respectively, of the 1992 movie. Although I don’t know the precise details, the movie deal gave the Kuzuis certain ownership rights in the Buffy character. That is why they and their production company received a producing credit on every episode of BTVS and Angel, though their relationship to the shows was zero, other than receiving a check each week (which I understand did not exactly endear them to the actual producers). If you check the Kuzuis on IMDB, you can see that they have almost no credits before or after the 1992 film (except for the coupon clipping producer credits on BTVS and Angel), so this project is an obvious attempt to cash in their only valuable asset. I can’t blame them, but I have no interest in seeing it in the unlikely event that it gets made. I speculate (but could be wrong) that the project is promoted as a complete reboot (aside from fact that few, if any, of the TV actors would sign for this) because the Kuzuis have a contactual right to the Buffy character but not to the other Buffyverse characters that were created in the TV shows.
2th&nayle
I don’t know about the cilantro, but I think a candied jalapeno/vanilla ice cream combo would be a big hit.
SLKRR
@J. Michael Neal:
Actually, since 1984 (Oilers/Islanders). Pens are tougher this year than last, so I think it could go to 7, but I’ll still be rooting for my Wings. Hope that doesn’t get me banned from the site.
I had some really delicious pineapple and wine ice cream last week, but I think I’ll pass on the cilantro.
Cheryl from Maryland
Just thinking about Casey trimming his bonsai tree and looking at his Ronnie Rayguns picture makes me smile.
Dave Trowbridge
I have to say that for me cilantro ice cream ranks right up there with a chopped-liver snowcone. But I’m one of those unfortunate people with the genetics that make cilantro taste like soap, so what do I know.
chuck
@Humor Inspector:
No, I know Kung Fu.
God, I love that show. But Burn Notice is all kinds of cool. Chuck is unabashedly cartoonish, but Burn Notice is like MacGuyver if he wasn’t squeamish about actually killing people.
chuck
No, I know Kung Fu.
God, I love that show. But Burn Notice is all kinds of cool. Chuck is unabashedly cartoonish, but Burn Notice is like MacGuyver if he wasn’t squeamish about actually killing people.
HyperIon
@Incertus:
Well, I found them pathetic and repellent from the first time I saw the show. I used to like Jerry Seinfeld as a comic but this show killed that feeling.
HyperIon
@Krista:
I agree and I like your simile.
However, it seems like this approach is affirmatively chosen by many TV shows. The first time I noticed this was with Cheers. The theme song described the desire to have a place where “everyone knows your name”. Then when you watched it, that nobody liked anybody was obvious; they just ragged continuously and meanly on the faults of whoever was the current target. I gave up after half a dozen episodes.
The whole “enjoyable and stimulating in small doses but deadly when overdone” concept is evidently too subtle for most TV producers.
A la lanterne les aristos!
Does it get better after the first episode? I thought it was okay, and love Baldwin, but squirmed a little at the way Sarah was portrayed-especially in the Wienerlicious bit with the kids leering at her and taking photos.
Does it continue down the classic ‘nerds oggle/harrass/objectify a hot chick but it’s okay, man cause she’s tough’ route or should I keep watching?
chuck
No, Sarah is pretty much objectified the entire series. Though later she’s at least working at a frozen yogurt place and not Weinerlicious, but the Chuck/Sarah dynamic gets pretty repetitive at least til the second half of season 2. The show injects a little drama now and then, but overall it’s best to not take it too seriously.
tam1MI
I can’t reveal too much for fear of spoiling John, but there’s a scene in the second season where two of CHUCK’s Buy More buddies do a musical number that had me absolutely screaming with laughter.
I’ve said to others that CHUCK is basically two shows – a comedy spy caper show and the funniest sitcom ever starring the Buy More crew.
bedtimeforbonzo
I work 9-9 Mondays and don’t Tivo but have caught a handful of Chuck episodes and have liked them all — if only for the sweet eye candy that is Yvonne Strahovski, the hottest blonde on TV, and, apparently, a well-kept secret. She does the cheeky best-friend, tough-girl thing and remains sexy doing it. Chuck is a lucky guy.
A better-kept secret: Party Down.
The half-hour Starz comedy — who would have guessed that Starz would have good original programming? I was lucky to happen upon it months ago while doing Friday night channel surfing — had its season finale last week. So you have to catch it on reruns, DVD or wait a year for Season Two. But catch it and give it a chance: a real treat, each episode providing some laugh-out moments. Very quirky, but not a forced quirky.
Another somewhat hidden gem: Breaking Bad.
I got hooked on the critically acclaimed AMC drama, which has an unsettling funny side at times, midway through Season Two, concluding Sunday. I’m glad I gave it a chance. It’s dark, perverse, complicated. Definitely not your normal TV fare. And it’s easy to see how Bryan Cranston (the dad in Malcolm and the Middle) won an Emmy for his performance as a high school chemistry teacher turned cancer patient turned drug dealer. Check it out.
Bhall35
@bedtimeforbonzo: I second the love for Party Down.
bedtimeforbonzo
Bhall35: That’s good to hear — now I know someone else has discovered this quirky gem. I mean, Starz? I guess the best TV shows these days really are on cable.
I thought Party Down kept getting better and better during its short 10-episode Season One run.
And just as I had fallen in love with the cast, and not necessarily ready to meet a new member, middle-aged, been-there-done-that Jennifer Coolidge’s character — subbing for Jane Lynch as her roommate in last week’s season finale — did the best I’m-high-as-a-kite-on-magic-mushrooms I’ve seen, surpassing Paul Rudd (one of the producers of Party Down) and Seth Rogan in Knocked Up.
Watching her serving the hoity-toity Hollywood types (the show centers on would-be actors who pay the bills as servers for a misfit caterer) while over-the-top out of it was a gas.
In that same episode, guest star Kristen Bell — as the head of the rival hotshot catering agency — showed a side of her I had not seen as a truly comically bitchy boss snapping orders to her buff, airhead all-male staff.
Just great low-key comic interplay between this cast — the constant good-spirited-but-mean-putdowns remind me of my workplace, starting with hunky/ditzy Kyle and geeky/disturbed Roman, who may need to get laid more than any character on TV.
Totally buy the sweet, we’re-both-losers romance between I-don’t-give-a-sh!t-anymore Henry and hot-in-a-low-key-way Casey. And I can’t remember a better goodhearted, dumb lug as Ken Marino’s Ron Donald, the Party Down team leader whose obsession in life is to get his own Souper Crackers restaurant (poor guy even has a loser name).
I rarely make comedies appointment TV, but was sorry to see Party Down’s season end.
Aconite
tripletee @ #33:
Were your second and third thoughts (after “It’s Jayne, not Jane”), “He’s not familiar with the spelling–does John not read the slashfic? Is that even possible?!”