Was simply genius. TDS is going to go down in history like Second City and SNL for producing comedic geniuses.
Television
Game of Thrones Open Thread
We’re all getting ready for GoT, and Steve is getting in a last minute nap:
Yes, he’s fat, yes, the chair is ugly, but I seriously have never seen a bigger frame on a cat. Even Tammy’s 33lb monstrosity has a smaller frame (just more bulge). He’s just massive.
John Oliver & “Last Week Tonight”
Last Week Tonight premieres tonight, so John Oliver has been doing the interview circuit. Bill Carter at the NYTimes:
… Before he accepted the HBO job, Mr. Oliver, riding the wave of a three-month stint subbing for Mr. Stewart last summer, had fielded a surge of offers. CBS dangled a possible shot at the 12:35 a.m. slot following Mr. Letterman. Had he accepted, Mr. Oliver might have already been in position to slide up to the big chair. More logically, had the late-night earthquake hit a few months earlier, with Mr. Colbert signing with CBS, Mr. Oliver would have been the presumed heir on Comedy Central…
Among the highlights of his ensuing career at “The Daily Show”, probably the most memorable for him was covering the 2008 Republican Convention in St. Paul. As his usual obnoxious correspondent, he was at risk because he could not afford to get arrested for anything — deportation loomed. So when he wandered into a restricted area and was pursued by security, he sought refuge among some veterans invited by pro-military politicians. The one who helped Mr. Oliver hide out was a female vet, Kate Norley. He was grateful, took down her email and married her three years later…
Mr. Oliver will do 25 shows in a shortened season, then move to 35 (the same number Bill Maher does for HBO). “We’re certainly open to see where this goes,” Mr. Lombardo said. “You certainly could go more than one night a week.”…
Although I prefer Molly Young’s take at NYMag:
… This makes The Daily Show an incubator on par with The Mickey Mouse Club, with funny men pouring out the other side instead of pop stars. Steve Carell and Ed Helms both served as correspondents, as did, of course, Stephen Colbert (the group’s Justin Timberlake, now off to the Ed Sullivan Theater). Oliver is well loved as a Stewart sidekick and substitute, but when Last Week Tonight debuts on Sunday, he will be assessed against the preposterously high standard set by his former show mates. The world is a scary place for hatchlings…
What really makes him happy is playing with his mostly golden mix dog Hoagie, named like the sandwich. Oliver’s wife, Kate, an Army medic and Iraq War veteran, is responsible for bringing Hoagie into his life. In the past, when he was a single stand-up, the concept of being responsible for any creature (including himself) was anxiety-causing. When Hoagie came home for the first time, Oliver spent the night next to her on the floor, consoling the scared puppy. “I promise everything is going to be okay,” he told her. “I’m going to try as hard as I can to make everything all right.”
The dog may have helped prepare him for the task of managing his own staff. “Getting a dog is like dipping your toe in the waters of responsibility. I’m more aware of when people need to go to the bathroom now and when they need to be stroked.”…
Mr. Oliver also tells a story about a monkey.
On the TV
I’ve never seen an episode of Game of Thrones, but I thought fans might be interested in this.
On the topic of TV, Kathleen Geier has a couple of theories about slipping Mad Men ratings, which are down 1/3 for this year’s season premiere versus last year’s. You can read them here. Mine’s a little simpler: splitting up the last season of a big ensemble drama like Mad Men diminishes it.
AMC probably thought that splitting up Mad Men would work because it worked for Breaking Bad. But that show was driven by one character: Walt. All the other characters in that show existed mainly as someone for Walt to interact with, so it was possible to split the last season without sacrificing the momentum of the show.
But, even though Mad Men is centered around Don Draper, he’s not the Walt of that series. Other characters (Roger, Pete, Peggy, Joan, Sally, Betty) have complex story lines, and some of the magic was the way the writers were able to weave together the stories of the different characters in the eleven episodes between the intro and the season finale. Cutting it into two seven episode seasons means less time to spin those tales, and last season had a rushed air to it. Without giving away spoilers, this season’s first show was kind of “meh” because the writers were again pressed to catch us up with too many characters in one episode, especially considering how the cast has grown and that action takes place on both coasts. So, there were a lot of “drive by” scenes where we had a brief glimpse of a character without any real advancement of their story. I haven’t seen the second episode yet, but I’ll be interested to see if the writers can pull it together, because this double ending nonsense is a real constraint.
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Could Be Worse…
Still trying to figure out what level of TurboTax you have to buy to get asked about deducting your kidnapped child. pic.twitter.com/NouAAZlk1J
— Noah Veltman (@veltman) April 15, 2014
This gave me a chuckle, possibly because I’m actually enjoying Crisis, despite a million plot loopholes including the biggest one of all: Twenty-six teenagers on an overnight field trip with only two male chaperones?
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Apart from the predictable slew of Tax Day stories, what’s on the agenda?
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Could Be Worse…Post + Comments (51)
GoT Open Thread
There will be spoilers in the comments, so do not read them if you are on the west coast.
Shawn and I have spent all day yelling “Six hours and five minutes!”
“Four hours and twelve minutes!”
Etc.
We are now 20 mins out. Winter is coming.
Late Night Open Thread: Character, Characters
Ben Collins, at Esquire, looks for the silver lining:
… Colbert didn’t want to be in this character forever. He was just good at it…
He dropped his character to speak to his alma mater, Northwestern, at a commencement ceremony in 2011. He joked around a lot, kidded about piercings and the bad economy, but then he ended on this:
“In my experience, you will truly serve only what you love, because, as the prophet says, service is love made visible.
If you love friends, you will serve your friends.
If you love community, you will serve your community.
If you love money, you will serve your money.
And if you love only yourself, you will serve only yourself. And you will have only yourself.
So no more winning. Instead, try to love others and serve others, and hopefully find those who love and serve you in return.”
Late Night Open Thread: Character, CharactersPost + Comments (59)