Quick thoughts on sitcoms – CliqueClack behind the scenes
Thought you had enough of behind the scenes at CliqueClack, after reading our diatribes on Reaper’s fate and the top 100 sci-fi shows, didn’t you? Well, maybe in another life you’ll be so lucky, but today you get graced with another installment. This time, Julia started it, innocently enough.
C’mon, read it. It’s actually pretty relevant considering all of the new sitcoms the networks are trying this season.
JULIA: Any Arrested Development virgins around here? Because if I were, I would offer to do a Diary, but I am pathetically, helplessly in love with this show. But I’m just suggesting, it’s worth getting into. And I will happily aid and abet anyone interested in getting addicted.
BOB: Funniest show to ever be on TV.
[and now begins the controversy...]
There goes this future bride
If conventional wisdom is to be believed, every little girl dreams of her wedding day with the same raptness devoted to wanting to be a princess or ballerina, only unlike these dreams, this one never dies.
These little girls clearly never watched television.
There are tons and tons of shows dedicated to every aspect of the wedding day, and most of them are on TLC or Lifetime. I’ve always had a sort of sick fascination with them. They’re good for watching when my sister’s around or I’ve got a mindless chore to do, like cleaning stringbeans. As I get older, though, and marriage becomes, well, not a looming possibility — because I’m only in my early twenties — but something that’s suddenly actually an option instead of a far-away fairy tale, the idea of engaging in these bridezilla wars or going to these ridiculous lengths for the perfect gown, the more these shows make me want to take my stringbean knife and impale myself upon it.
Friends quotables – CliqueClack Flashback
No context needed for us fans. Take it away, Crane and Kaufman….
“Who’s FICA? Why’s he getting all my money?” – Rachel
“What do you know?! No one’s going up to you and saying, ‘Hi! Is that your nostril? Mind if we push this POT ROAST THROUGH IT?’” – Carol
“Dear God, this parachute is a knapsack!” – Chandler
“We’ve gotta get some sleep.” – Julie
“Yeah, it’s really 6:00 tomorrow night our time.” – Ross
“Well, listen, don’t tell us what’s gonna happen though, ’cause I like to be surprised.” – Chandler
“You’re over me? When were you … under me?” – Ross Read the rest of this entry »
Friends – CliqueClack Flashback
We all have friends. We know what that’s all about. But, Friends? I’m willing to bet that not many of us have cliques quite like them. Incestual dating? Marriage? Plus, non-twin siblings in the same group? College roommate this and former-homeless that? Safe to say that our friends on Friends were an unusual bunch. And, you know what? That’s why the show worked.
Even for those of you who have, or are, living this life, there was nothing “been there” about this simple premise. Particularly not for me, as I started dating my wife before you could include the word “teen” in our ages. And yet, in the age of Seinfeld, and post-Cheers, Friends was a wild success that you can’t escape from even now, five years after they said goodnight. Why? It’s all about the characters. And the jokes! Read the rest of this entry »
Webisode Clack – Kevin Pollak and the ‘Intervision’
As the evolution of web based television (Intervision, as Kevin Pollak calls it) progresses, we are seeing more and more recognizable celebrities join the fray. At first, that was mostly due to the network produced extras, as we’ve seen with Battlestar, Scrubs, etc. Slowly though, familiar faces are appearing in more independent productions. One such example is the Kevin Pollak Chat Show. It’s kind of like Charlie Rose, only on the internet, and with a whole lot more Christopher Walken. Read the rest of this entry »
How often do finales live up to expectations?
Season finale season can be a lot of fun. Our favorite shows can leave us wondering “Who’s Been Hit?” Waiting for the “…dairy!” I get into the hype. Every year, I will watch finales of shows that I wouldn’t normally take the time for (Smallville, I’m looking at you). When it comes to series finales, I’ll tune in even if I’ve never watched the show (thanks, Friends … really).
This season’s Fringe knocked it out of the park. While there was speculation that our Peter may not actually have been born in this reality, seeing the tombstone was still powerful. That scene, however, was NOT what people were talking about at the water cooler the next day. We finally meet William Bell, and the reveal that his office was in the still standing World Trade Center towers was a shocking moment. While some have argued that the scene was insensitive, I thought it was ballsy, powerful, and how a finale should be done.
What launches a spin-off just right?
A bit of a dicey question, that. Over the course of this past week, conversations have abounded about the new NCIS spin-off, a show that utilized the previous two episodes of NCIS to potentially launch itself onto the new CBS fall lineup.
Much of the discussion has focused on Grey’s Anatomy’s spin-off, Private Practice, as well as on NCIS itself, product of good old JAG. Which one did a better job? Forgetting about the obvious success of one over the other (not naming names), each show attempted to go about birthing their progeny in a different way.
For JAG, it was the old introduce new characters during an episode (Gibbs, Ducky and Abby), who will later helm the new series. For Grey’s Anatomy, it was send a character (Addison) to a new location and have them move there for their new show.
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