TV in the 2000s, or How let's name ABND's Best Comedy Actor

Best Performances (TV Comedy) Part 1

Narrowing the performance/actor categories was HARD. But I went with two things:

1. Do I like the actor/actress?

2. Do I like the performance?

Okay, maybe that didn't help 'em narrow them down at all. But I do have a crazy math system in the back of my head. Just don't make me explain it to cause I'm sure it would blow you away with its awesome and accurateness.

Best Performance by an Actor (Comedy)

Sean Hayes - Jack McFarland (Will & Grace)

"They say Jack is a wise man, Jack is a dangerous man, Jack is a great man, no. - Jack is just a man. A man who knows men who like men."

Sure, Will & Grace was about that eponymous dysfunctional gay man/straight woman couple but we all know the laughs belonged to Jack and (see below) Karen. Is 'Jack' the ultimate gay stereotype? I don't know, but if he straddles the line between stereotype and accurate depiction (Oh, the many 'Jack McFarlands' I've met!) it must have worked that this character never took itself too seriously. Emmy Winner Sean Hayes embodied this character to the extent that seeing him play a hick on 30 Rock jarred me in a good way. From 'Just Jack!' to 'Just Jack 2000!' to 'Student Nurse Jack' to OutTV executive who sing-ed his eyebrow (one of my favorite moments of the show in the season 8 premiere, and no he doesn't mean 'singed' he meant 'sang'), Jack was always an adorable gay man who for all his (alleged) gay sexual philandering, had his heart in the right place. Just be sure to not distract him with polysyllabic words or shiny objects.

Alec Baldwin - Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)

"You go to that house and work it like a Chinese gymnast: wear something tight, force a smile, and lie about your age."

Two-time Emmy winner Alec Baldwin is that rare thespian who turned a solid movie career (including an Oscar nomination) into a great comedic vehicle (okay, so maybe it's not so rare anymore now that the Sally Fields and the Glenn Closes of the world have their own TV show). To cast Baldwin against a rag-tag of crazy secondary characters on 30 Rock and to make Jack Donaghy as the political opposite of Baldwin himself makes for the greatest reasons why he shines so much in his role. He is at once playing an exaggerated foil of himself and playing it straight to an army of crazy though we all know how crazy a comic Baldwin can be (he has hosted SNL 14 times, only one short of the record held by upcoming co-Oscar host Steve Martin). From 'El Generalissimo' to his therapy sessions to Tracy, to his one-liners, to his incredible affairs with women as distinct as Phoebe (a feeble-boned Emily Mortimer), a crazy Bianca (Isabella Rossellinni), la viuda negra (Salma Hayek) and CC Cunningham (Edie Falco), Jack has a spot in the greatest 'bosses of comedy' Hall of Fame (suck it Michael Scott!).

Will Arnett - GOB (George Bluth) (Arrested Development) & Devon Banks (30 Rock)

"Dad asked me to do this on the day he pleads not guilty, as a spectacular protest. A protestacular!" (Bluth)

"Celebrity snuff. Reality content made exclusively for your mobile phone: Oh what's that? MC Lyte just murdered Danny Bonaduce? Thanks, PHONE!" (Banks)

Does anyone play odd-ball better than Emmy nominee Will Arnett (aka. Mr Amy Poehler)? He has given us two characters this decade that merit mention. The first (GOB Bluth in Arrested Development) showed an actor that could go wherever the writers took him (and they took him to very very wacky places - need we say more than "Franklin Delano Bluth"?) and whose physical chops for comedy (whether as a magician failing at an escape trying to help his father escape or attempting to hang himself with a belt) were always in service of the crazy world of the Bluth family.

With Devon Banks, Arnett created a character (some say based on Ben Silverman) who will go any length to get to the top of the GE chain of command and get back at Jack Donaghy (including hiding his sexuality, marrying a woman he doesn't even stand, attempt to clog Jack's arteries with beef and wine and charm the Obama girls). HIs Banks is sleazy and power-hungry but also hysterically overblown, especially when using his 'gruff voice' to intimidate employees or seduce Kenneth the page while wearing a tiny hotel robe.

Neil Patrick Harris - Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

"Legen - wait for it... hope you're not lactose intolerant cause the second half of that word is -dairy!"

It's not just the catch-phrases ("Self-five! Phone-five! High five!" "Have you ... met Ted?") and it's not just the suits ("Suit up!") or about the seemingly aimless womanizing of a certain Barney Stinson. It's how effortlessly multiple Emmy nominee (and 2009 Emmy host!) Neil Patrick Harris marries Barney's nonchalant approach to women (let us remember he keeps cameras in his bedroom, the recent 'Playbook') and his high-dork factor (he does after all love laser-tag, owns a Star Wars stormtrooper and makes scrapbooks of the girls' he's slept with). Barney is a character that can romance a girl while wearing old-man makeup - he's as corny as he is awesome. Barney - for all its blatant heterosexuality might be the queerest member of this NYC group of friends (not because NPH is gay) but because he becomes the stand-in character in a marriage-plot driven sitcom for anti-marriage, anti-monogamy and anti-family. As a character, Barney is a foil to Ted's marriage-driven plot/life (which might explain why the greatest tension of the character was his coming to terms with what he felt for Robin including several spastic and schizo moments of 'I love her!' 'I want women still!' we saw and enjoyed last season and why their getting together felt at once earned and yet unsatisfactory).

Runners-up:

The Friends boys (Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer) for making come back to Central Perk every week be it for their awkward humour, their adorable idiocy or their love for paleontology. Erick McKormack (Will & Grace) for giving me a gay NYC neurotic as a role model so early on. Bret & Jemaine (Flight of the Conchords) for making Kiwis so folksy cool and writing 'Leggy Blonde' for to hum along on random mornings. And Ricky Gervais (Extras) for making awkward so funny and stellar.

HIMYM or How: oooh pretty!

Seriously, I love this stylishly gorgeous promo art for Season 5 of HIMYM (which kicked off last Monday):

[Found it here though I first saw it on iTunes but can't find a better quality pic]

HIMYM or How big guns and six-packs are cool

Sometimes, I wish I were Robin. I mean:

Why doesn't anybody put a gun to my face...

...and buy me a six-pack?

And then there's the whole... sleeping with NPH thing, of course...

HIMYM, or How I love Robot-Robin

"Robot initiating pull over to the side of the road until jackass apologizes to me sequence be bop be bop be bop boo boo" 

Why I love HIMYM, or How LOOK! It's naked Barney!

Not that I needed more reasons to love How I Met Your Mother, but this long sequence with a naked Neil Patrick Harris was both hysterical and sexy. See Barney's different Naked Man poses ahead:

Thinking what the 'Naked Man' pose should be:

The 'Superman':

The 'Oops I didn't see you there

The Heisman:

The 'Burt Reynolds':

The 'Olympic Gymnast Who Just Landed':

Very nice indeed.

Favorite Characters on TV, or How this is why Lists were created!

Here goes, for no reason whatsoever and prompted by nothing but boredom and a will to procrastinate like it's nobody's business, I give you my favorite characters from TV from 2008. Yes, they are arbitrary, only include characters from shows I actually watch (so yeah... House, any of them Heroes, 90210ers and Gossipy boys, any procedurals or McDoctors will not be found here... for that you people got the Tv rags and them People's Choice whatevers). Here, strong women and gay men rule the world. Also being a bitch helps you out. A lot.

Top 10 Favorite TV Characters from 2008

Shoutouts to:

Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton (that laugh... so creepy, so funny!), the rest of the Desperate Housewives (yay Ensemble work!), Vanessa Williams' Wilhemina Slater (Ugly Betty) - she's scarier in HD!, Christina Applegate's Samantha (Samantha Who? - exactly!), Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report) - cause it wouldn't be Indecision 2008 without good ol' Stephen, Jack Donaghy (30 Rock... actually that entire cast for being so hysterical!)... I could go on, but instead here's the actual list.

10. Holly

Amy Ryan (The Office)

Who knew Amy Ryan was so funny? And awkward? And Michael Scott's secret long-lost soulmate? She has been a breathe of fresh air (and a welcome one at that!) in The Office's newest season.

I was trying to adjust the lumbar support on Toby's chair and that made this up-down lever not work and I took the whole chair apart and that is the story of me on the floor. It's pretty good right? I'm gonna sell the movie rights.

9. _____

Kristen Wiig (SNL)

I had to include Kristen here, because well... she makes EVERY skit she's in AMAZING. 

Actually, there's a few ways -- just kidding, there's only one way -- just kidding, I don't know how many ways there are -- just kidding, I do, there's eight -- just kidding, there's eighteen, I counted them -- just kidding, my friend did and she never lies -- just kidding, she lied once, but I wasn't there -- just kidding, we're not really friends, we work together -- just kidding, I work by myself -- just kidding, I workout by myself -- just kidding, I don't work out, 'cause I kicked out of my gym -- just kidding, it closed -- just kidding! 

8. Jenna Maroney

Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)

Me want food... er me want Jenna! Jane sells every line she gets handed as if it was a comedic 

gem, and by the time you're done laughing you realize it is. Fat Jenna? Funny. Skinny bitchy Jenna? Hysterical. Porn video game voice actress Jenna? Priceless. I am very excited for what's in store for that Mystic Pizza the Musical actress/Muffin Top singer.

These things happen Liz. I had my "no sex with Asians" rule but then one day you walk into Sharper Image and there's Quan

7. Marc St James

Michael Urie (Ugly Betty)

Marc is the funniest half of the funniest Fag/Fag-Hag pair to grace Prime Time since a certain flat-chested red-headed Jewess was rooming with a sex-less suburban lawyer gay. Marc is deliciously bitchy albeit stereotypical, and that scene where he slapped fake Wilhemina was priceless (add to that his wardrobe) and you have numero siete on my list.

Sure, if by 'beer' you mean 'Appletini'

6. Bree Van de Camp... ahem Hodge

Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives)

Everyone's favorite housewife is even more desperate this season what with no more baby, a failing marriage, a bickering partner and well... thankfully, a soaring business. Here's hoping for more Bree-bites this season.

Andrew, tell this gentleman that if he calls me 'sweetie' again I'm gonna grab his camera and take a picture of his colon!

5. Barney Stinson

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)

In one word Barney is "Awesome" ... or maybe just "Legen...wait for it... dary!" HIMYM is a show that shines when NPH gets great storylines and even better one-liners. I'm interested to see how the "falling in love" with Robin storyline will play out (Nothing's funnier than an anxiety-ridden Barney!) Bonus points: Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

What's that? Self-five? Nice, we out!

4. Six, Tricia Helfer 

(Battlestar Galactica)

Earlier seasons might have been all about President Roslin (Roslin'08!) and Starbuck, but Six dominated this past season - in all and every one of her incarnations. And much of that has come from the writer's willingness to explore the "humanity" in the cylons and of course the increasing talent of a certain Ms Helfer who's proven she's as talented as she is gorgeous.

God has a plan, Gaius. He has a plan for everything, and everyone

3. Tina Fey's Sarah Palin

Tina Fey (SNL)

What can I say about Tina's Palin that I haven't said before? Her Alaskan accent, her matching outfits, her crazy never-ending sentences... It has made for Must-Watch Saturday Night TV. And gosh-darnit, Tina made me be interested in your crazy US of A politics by following a certain moose-hunting, anti-women Alaskan right-wing nut. Here's hoping that this SNL exposure can make Tina's other doppelganger (Liz Lemon) gets some traction starting next week on NBC, making 30 Rock Must-Watch TV as well.

Senator McCain and I are not afraid to get Maverickey in there

2. Olive Snook

Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies)

Cheno is clearly a staple at this blog (click here for more) but really, a spunky romantic little blond waitress who sings? How could I resist? Also Season 2's story arc where she was a nun was hilarious but I'm also glad she's back in the Pie-Hole bickering and rooming with Lonely Tourist Charlotte Charles.

Our store is called The Pie Hole. As in shut your. Or in this case "Open your" because it's real good.

1. Joan Holloway

Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)

Joan is amazing. She is a bitch, she's gorgeous, she's curvy and sexy. And in Season 2 she's proven she's more than a cliché (See here for more on Joan) - how crushing was her rape scene this past Sunday? It's no wonder she made the banner for A Blog Next Door. Oh also: she's a Whedon Alum (if you don't know what Whedon show I mean you need to re-watch Firefly) and that just gives Christina Hendricks a boost of a gazillion points.

(Commenting about Paul to his new African-American girlfriend) 
"The last thing I would’ve taken him for was open-minded"

FYC, or How Here's my Dream Comedy Emmy Ballot

HIMYM, or How DID we meet the Mother?!

How I Met Your Mother for Beginners (ie. for all those who tuned in for Brit-Brit and not for Ted)

Did you catch How I Met Your Mother last night?
Of course you did - if only to catch that paparazzi-magnet pop star, but even if you watched it for the schadenfreude (and it's okay if you only know that word from the Avenue Q soundtrack), wasn't it awesome?
Did you fall in love with Neil Patrick Harris and his magic?
Did you have to stare for a while and go "Is that that girl from the American Pie movies/Buffy only hotter and with better designer clothes?" and/or "Hey, it's the guy from that Sarah Marshall movie that's being advertised everywhere... including in every second commercial right now!"?

Blonde and Blonder

Sure everyone will be buzzing about that blonde guest-starring on How I Met You Mother [you gotta admit she did a good job, mostly because she got given great dialogue: "You look like a young Tom Selleck only a thousand times handsomer. Doctor, Magnum's here to see you. Pause. Sorry that was stupid..."], but I want to take the time to talk about that other blonde who made a (very welcome!) appearance on last night's episode. Where was the media frenzy over Elliot joining Ted and the gang?

The Mother?

I mean, is it me or is Sarah Chalke being set up as The Mother? The One we've been dying to meet? She did say the only party she had gone to in the past year was... (yes!) St Patrick's day! Do I think she's missing a yellow umbrella? I do. And if this is indeed true, casting couldn't be better - with Scrubs wrapping up, Chalke's addition to the HIMYM cast would be stroke of brilliance and would prove that the show's producers know exactly where they're going and who/how they need to keep the story going strong. True, I would have loved to see Elliot outside of her white coat, but hey, if the shoe fits, buy in it every colour, right?

I Definitely, Maybe Met Your Mother, or How I'm Seeing Double

Now, we all know Canuck Ryan Reynolds can claim sitcom fame (remember Two Guys, a Girl and Pizza Place? Also starring the very own Captain Mal? No... well I do). But did he really have to dig up a(n albeit amazing) CBS sitcom premise for his new movie?
Will Hayes, a 30-something Manhattan dad is in the midst of a divorce when his 10 year old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will's story begins in 1992, as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the Clinton campaign. They not only have similar political aspirations, they share the same type of girl problems, too. Will hopelessly attempts a "PG" version of his story for his daughter ad changes the names so Maya has to guess who he finally married. (From imdb)

Now regardless of the problems I immediately saw in this horribly premise/plot (what kind of 10 year old has never asked about her mom? what kind of dad makes family history an evening gameshow? what kind of producer hires Ryan Reynolds?), the first thing that came to mind were those twentysomething New Yorkers that Bob Saget narrates the story for.
Shame on you Ryan (and can please, someone tell Abigail Breslin that she needs to stop making these types of movies? Yes, I endured the dull and flavourless No Reservations but that at least had Aaron Eckhart...) but I need not suffer through any more of her antics anytime soon unless they involve Steve as a homo, Paul as a Nietzschean mute, Toni as the mom, Alan as the cooky grandpa and Greg on the wheel of that yellow bus.

2008, or How I'm adding to my wishlist

I can't help but keep adding to my 2008 Wish List:

Buffy Season 8 continues
Is anyone else anxious about Drew Goddard's arc or Jane Espenson's issue?

San Diego Comic Con 2008

I had such a good time at the 07 one I'm already saving up to see if I can manage a repeat

BSG Season 4 (read: Last one!)
It has to be frakking amazing, right?

Umbrella Academy
How will it all end? And will please Gerard give us more?

Y the Last Man: The END!
Yes, we'll all cry once Yorick leaves us...

The End of the WGA Strike
One hopes... And if it does:

Pushing Daisies
I mean after that revelation re: Aunt Lily, I need this ASAP

How I Met Your Mother
Because I really want to meet The Mother already!

30 Rock
Do I really need an excuse to want more of this?

Slap Bet Countdown, or How I Met Your Mother is...wait for it: AWESOME!

The day is coming: the third slap in the Barney/Marshall Slap Bet is coming our way next week, and adding to the official slap bet countdown website, I thought we here at A Blog Next Door needed a countdown of our own:



Those unfamiliar with what I'm talking about should refer to episode 9 of HIMYM's season 2 where, after a "slap bet" (where the winner of the bet slaps the loser) regarding Robin's mysterious aversion to malls left Marshall with the power to slap Barney 5 times whenever he sees fit.
So far Marshall has slapped Barney twice as wikipedia reminds us:
- One, at the end of this episode a few minutes after losing the bet.
- Two, at the end of "Stuff," while Barney was performing his (painful) one-man show.
The season began with a teaser at the end of episode 1: Marshall called Barney and directed him to slapcountdown.com - SB-Day (as I will herafter call it) is next monday: can't wait!

How I Met Your Mother, or How Alyson Hannigan is a Good Whedon-Alum

So not only has Alyson Hannigan been gracing us with her presence in CBS's How I Met Your Mother as kindergarten teacher Lily, but she has been doing so with STYLE! (Long gone is the mousy Willow of yore/season1 of HIMYM) Every season Ally finds ways of looking hotter and more stylish and we have to wonder: how much of the costume/makeup/hair budget is allocated to Ally alone? And yet we don't care because we also thank Ally for keeping the Whedonverse in business (Morena Baccarin, Amy Acker, Tom Lenk, and even her beau Alexis Denisof have all been featured in Ally's show).

Thankfully, Hannigan is not only a good Whedon alum when finding co-stars from other Whedon shows; being a good Whedon alum means upholding Whedonesque skills and Ally does this very well. And what is Whedonesque skill #1? Self-awareness.
So just as we were wondering how Ally looks so stunning every episode, and manages to afford great haircuts, gorgeous boots and designer clothing Bob Saget's Ted introduced us to "the question Aunt Lily had been dreading for years":

"Lily, how do you afford all of these things?" courtesy of Robin

And so, the 'awesome!' sitcom that is HIMYM went full-drive into Self-Aware territory - and thankfully not into Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack Self-Aware, but into Whedon Self-Awareness, y'know? The good kind, with a story around how kindergarten Lily shops til she drops and racks up credit card debt - featuring that very funny dream sequence with Lily/Ally and her boots - which I still believe are Ally's real boots. I can't help but wonder if this will be Lily's story this season. I guess we'll have to keep watching to find out!

TV Monday, or How Heroes is the most overrated show on the air

It's premiere week!

Most of my favourite shows are returning and now that I have a tv and a less crowded social life (read: mostly non-existent, but slowly working on it) I can revel in watching loads and loads of tv!!
My idea is to blog about the shows that I watch this week.
It'll be like Watch with Manuel.

(Some spoilers ahead)

Monday
8:00 - How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
I only caught up with HIMYM yesterday, having finished watching the second season so I was more than anxious to hear Neil Patrick Harris finish saying '...dary!' at the beginning of the episode. The gang is back - Ted with breakup beard (and making out with Mandy Moore), Robin back from Argentina (and dating Enrique Iglesias... who only American TV would cast as an 'Argentinian'), married Lily and Marshall and ever so funny Barney. The episode was tres funny as we watched Ted bounce back (and gets 'wings' of his own, in a matter of speaking - the joke is too funny to have it ruined, trust me). Enrique and Mandy were okay - as was the unabashed Mandy CD plug at the end of the episode. The season promises to be a really fun one - now, all we need to know is how Ted ACTUALLY met his as-yet-unborn-and-yet-unnamed kids' Mother... We do know she owns a yellow umbrella, hm...

Favourite part of the episode: Barney saying "We're gonna get Cirque du So-laid!"

8:30 - Last 1/2 hr of Chuck (NBC)
Spies and geeks? Yah-hah, that had me intrigued, and also being a Whedon-fan I had to tune in and see what Jayne was up to. Good thing NBC has had Chuck plastered all over the web, NYC billboards and tv ads: it made tuning in half an hour late easier as I knew the basic premise. The concept sounds funny and I'm sure many girls (and boys) will swoon over Zachary Levi (he has that Krasinski look going for him) but I'm not sold. Was it funny? Yes. Entertaining? Sure. It was also very sleek-looking (both in terms of cinematography and art direction for a TV show - that scene on the roof for example looked amazing) but there was something missing. I mean, I rather have my spies be chiseled like Michael Vartan and Jen Garner, and I rather have my quick-wit Gilmore-style, but the combo somehow feels forced. Nice twist at the end with what Chuck sees from a certain surveillance camera, but I guess my Monday's will have to be okay without the Geek Squad.

Favourite part of the episode: Awkward dinner talk - "I could be your baggage carrier"

9:00 - Heroes (NBC)
That said, I would take any episode of Chuck over an episode of Heroes. Everyone loves it I know, and hey, it actually is a good premise. I enjoy it more when it's called X-men and it's written by Joss Whedon and drawn by John Cassaday, or when it is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Hugh Jackman, hey I'll even take it when it airs on Saturday mornings in the form of cartoons... But I digress. I don't follow it, I've only seen a handful of episodes, but I have the same problems with it over and over again. It tries too hard: to be hip, to be geek-chic, to be cool, to be 'cult' and it isn't helped by lackluster writing. I went in knowing vaguely about where we were at since I watched the season finale on the plane on my way here and even if I hadn't I will give the writers props for giving a 'just-tuned-in' audience a good briefing. That also meant that we spent the first half-hour visiting different 'Heroes' and seeing where they were at: Clare's at a new school, we don't know what happened to Peter, Hiro is in the past, etc. But even as I was watching I could see the show wanting (in a very LOST-esque way) to lure me into asking endless questions that the season will unravel for me if I devote one hour of my life to the show. I think back fondly on techniques like this when they were used sparingly (think seeing Michelle Trachtenberg and SMG fighting at the end of 'Dracula' and hearing the collective gasp of the buffy-fandom going wtf?!) but here, Heroes tries to set so many stories into place the episode felt like a good warm-up that didn't deliver anything substantial, only questions:
Where was Peter, how did he get there (and who did his hair? Cause they need a raise)?
Who's that creepy kid in Clare's school and what does he know?
What are Clare's dad and Indian guy working on?
What's the Sensei symbol doing all over the effing episode?
What will Hiro do?
Who committed that murder at the end?
etc etc...
Too much for too little. (Also - no Ali Larter? Who does Tim Kring think he is?)
That said, what Heroes lacks in writing it tries to make up in casting: as an ALIAS fan, I was happy to see my fave Brit-villain back in the tube in the random role of Takezo Sensei.

Favourite part of the show: Anders punching Hiro.