Hey there Tri-Lams...
I am currently hard at work on my running diary of watching the 80's classic "Revenge of the Nerds" so please stay tuned and get your VHS tapes ready.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
In Praise of LOUIE...
Ok... So...
I (try to) make my living writing for TV, and I have to say that as a fan of the boob tube we have been going through some golden years, especially in Drama (The Wire, Sopranos etc.) and with the emergence of AMC with amazing shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men and the cool looking Rubicon... things are good, and seem to be getting better. Comedy, however is another story...
Things are unbelievably grim in the 22 minute half hour, and other than upstarts like Modern Family and a Curb run every 18 to 24 months nobody is bringing any funny shows to the party. Now, I know there are a lot of people who love Big Bang Theory and 30 Rock(used to love it, but 30 Rock jumped the shark 2 years ago) but the problem seems to me that these shows are just doing more of the same.
For me the problem seems to be a lack of innovation, single camera shows are just doing their best Arrested Development impersonations and every multi-camera show seems content doing their best "Every multi-camera show" impersonation. I thought that was the case until I stumbled upon the funniest and most innovative comedy show, perhaps ever. As the title of this post alluded to, I'm talking about FX's new show "Louie" created, written, staring, directed, and edited by one of the worlds funniest stand ups Louis CK.
Now, Louis' early career has resembled a lot of really successful comics. In that his best work, by far, is the work he'd done alone on stage. Everything else has paled by comparison, always somewhat watered down or tame a truly square peg in the round hole of film and TV. That was until FX stepped up to the plate and handed him 300 grand per episode. And that is not what you think. I mean they write him a check for 300 grand and uses that money to make a show, and they(the network) get virtually no input into the finished product. To put that in some kind of perspective, the kid from "2 and Half Men" makes close to 500 grand per episode. So with complete creative control CK has been able to take the best of himself (his stand up) and find a way to work it into his show, sometimes directly.
But that's not the most amazing thing, "Louie" is without question the most personal TV show I've ever seen, and like most things personal, CK not only brings the comedy, he also brings the tragedy. Just by watching this clip, it's clear there is nothing like it on TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-55wC5dEnc
See what I mean? It goes from some of the most obscene dick jokes to an incredibly poignant story and political statement. When was the last time you've seen that on a sitcom... I'll tell you, never. "Louie" is full of bizarre twists like that. Another example is this past weeks episode. Louie's 85 year old mother comes to visit and reveals that she is now a lesbian and she wants to take Louie and his brother to dinner to meet her new "wife." And when they arrive the new "wife" is an absolutely gorgeous 20 something. Now my explanation isn't doing it justice but believe me it's very funny.
It's hard to get across how excited I am about this show (which was just renewed for a second season, yay), all I can say is this... Every once in a while, as a writer, I see something that makes me say "dammit, I wish I'd have written that," and Louis CK's new show "Louie" now has me doing that every week.
I (try to) make my living writing for TV, and I have to say that as a fan of the boob tube we have been going through some golden years, especially in Drama (The Wire, Sopranos etc.) and with the emergence of AMC with amazing shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men and the cool looking Rubicon... things are good, and seem to be getting better. Comedy, however is another story...
Things are unbelievably grim in the 22 minute half hour, and other than upstarts like Modern Family and a Curb run every 18 to 24 months nobody is bringing any funny shows to the party. Now, I know there are a lot of people who love Big Bang Theory and 30 Rock(used to love it, but 30 Rock jumped the shark 2 years ago) but the problem seems to me that these shows are just doing more of the same.
For me the problem seems to be a lack of innovation, single camera shows are just doing their best Arrested Development impersonations and every multi-camera show seems content doing their best "Every multi-camera show" impersonation. I thought that was the case until I stumbled upon the funniest and most innovative comedy show, perhaps ever. As the title of this post alluded to, I'm talking about FX's new show "Louie" created, written, staring, directed, and edited by one of the worlds funniest stand ups Louis CK.
Now, Louis' early career has resembled a lot of really successful comics. In that his best work, by far, is the work he'd done alone on stage. Everything else has paled by comparison, always somewhat watered down or tame a truly square peg in the round hole of film and TV. That was until FX stepped up to the plate and handed him 300 grand per episode. And that is not what you think. I mean they write him a check for 300 grand and uses that money to make a show, and they(the network) get virtually no input into the finished product. To put that in some kind of perspective, the kid from "2 and Half Men" makes close to 500 grand per episode. So with complete creative control CK has been able to take the best of himself (his stand up) and find a way to work it into his show, sometimes directly.
But that's not the most amazing thing, "Louie" is without question the most personal TV show I've ever seen, and like most things personal, CK not only brings the comedy, he also brings the tragedy. Just by watching this clip, it's clear there is nothing like it on TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-55wC5dEnc
See what I mean? It goes from some of the most obscene dick jokes to an incredibly poignant story and political statement. When was the last time you've seen that on a sitcom... I'll tell you, never. "Louie" is full of bizarre twists like that. Another example is this past weeks episode. Louie's 85 year old mother comes to visit and reveals that she is now a lesbian and she wants to take Louie and his brother to dinner to meet her new "wife." And when they arrive the new "wife" is an absolutely gorgeous 20 something. Now my explanation isn't doing it justice but believe me it's very funny.
It's hard to get across how excited I am about this show (which was just renewed for a second season, yay), all I can say is this... Every once in a while, as a writer, I see something that makes me say "dammit, I wish I'd have written that," and Louis CK's new show "Louie" now has me doing that every week.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A post a day(ish)... Double Jeopardy...
Sooooo....
I'm gonna try and give you something to read everyday(fingers crossed everybody), some days(like today) will just be some random detritus, while other days will be a little more structured etc.
Let's begin...
So my partners (I have two writing partners and we work together everyday via Skype) and I took the day off. Now, today happened to be a fairly lazy day, thanks in part to the shitty weather, so around noon the movie network was playing the 1999 Box Office smash hit/Ashley Judd vehicle "Double Jeopardy." Now it may surprise you that I was rather pleased to spend 2 hours with the sexy starlet and was excited to see it as I knew that it had made a ton of money and I'd never seen it.
So, to catch everybody up, Judd is framed for the murder of her husband and goes to jail, only to find out that her husband (Bruce Greenwood) is still alive and living high on the hog after faking his death. Luckily Ashley happens to be cell mates with a ex lawyer who tells her of the wonder that is the Double Jeopardy law (excluding any different state laws)... Alright, as a writer I must say that is a pretty decent premise, (spoiler alert for a 11 year old movie) but they totally bail on the end by couching her eventual killing of said husband in a total bullshit saving of her parole officer, Tommy Lee Jones (also, inexplicably, an ex-lawyer) in one of his all time phoned in performances. Now wouldn't it have been waaaay cooler if she'd have just blown her husbands brains out in cold blood like the audience definitely wanted her too. At least it would have made the lame "tear jerking" reunion with her long lost son a little more interesting if she'd just killed his Dad.
Ok... Now I know that it's never been thought of as a great movie, but come on, it made 177 million dollars world wide. That's a hit. But it got me thinking, I have a sneaky feeling that there was a time in the late 90's and early 2000's that there were secretly some really shitty movies raking in some major cash. So, off to the coin op computer to check it out... Now there are a couple good movies in the mix, but mostly they are overwhelmingly shitty, some examples, "What Women Want", "Phantom Menace", "The Grinch", Mission Impossible 2, the list goes on and on. Now I know that you can pick a few stinkers out of every year, but scarier was the fact that almost none of the good movies have great re-watchability (the ultimate tell of a great movie). Now does this mean that they were off years? Or, will hindsight do this to all of the good and fun movies these days, Dark Knight, Inception, Iron Man, etc?
Now with of this swirling around in my head I checked out last years big box office winners.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2009&p=.htm
Yuck.... Pretty Grim...This may not be a passing trend. I may need to write that movie about the machines that turn into sexy teenage vampire comic book hero's that take in a Giant Black homeless guy and turn him into a NFL left tackle while creating a pop group with some small rodents that are remaking a 1960's sci-fi TV series, after all... And shoot it in 3D...
Sounds like box office gold.
Thanks for listening...
I'm gonna try and give you something to read everyday(fingers crossed everybody), some days(like today) will just be some random detritus, while other days will be a little more structured etc.
Let's begin...
So my partners (I have two writing partners and we work together everyday via Skype) and I took the day off. Now, today happened to be a fairly lazy day, thanks in part to the shitty weather, so around noon the movie network was playing the 1999 Box Office smash hit/Ashley Judd vehicle "Double Jeopardy." Now it may surprise you that I was rather pleased to spend 2 hours with the sexy starlet and was excited to see it as I knew that it had made a ton of money and I'd never seen it.
So, to catch everybody up, Judd is framed for the murder of her husband and goes to jail, only to find out that her husband (Bruce Greenwood) is still alive and living high on the hog after faking his death. Luckily Ashley happens to be cell mates with a ex lawyer who tells her of the wonder that is the Double Jeopardy law (excluding any different state laws)... Alright, as a writer I must say that is a pretty decent premise, (spoiler alert for a 11 year old movie) but they totally bail on the end by couching her eventual killing of said husband in a total bullshit saving of her parole officer, Tommy Lee Jones (also, inexplicably, an ex-lawyer) in one of his all time phoned in performances. Now wouldn't it have been waaaay cooler if she'd have just blown her husbands brains out in cold blood like the audience definitely wanted her too. At least it would have made the lame "tear jerking" reunion with her long lost son a little more interesting if she'd just killed his Dad.
Ok... Now I know that it's never been thought of as a great movie, but come on, it made 177 million dollars world wide. That's a hit. But it got me thinking, I have a sneaky feeling that there was a time in the late 90's and early 2000's that there were secretly some really shitty movies raking in some major cash. So, off to the coin op computer to check it out... Now there are a couple good movies in the mix, but mostly they are overwhelmingly shitty, some examples, "What Women Want", "Phantom Menace", "The Grinch", Mission Impossible 2, the list goes on and on. Now I know that you can pick a few stinkers out of every year, but scarier was the fact that almost none of the good movies have great re-watchability (the ultimate tell of a great movie). Now does this mean that they were off years? Or, will hindsight do this to all of the good and fun movies these days, Dark Knight, Inception, Iron Man, etc?
Now with of this swirling around in my head I checked out last years big box office winners.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2009&p=.htm
Yuck.... Pretty Grim...This may not be a passing trend. I may need to write that movie about the machines that turn into sexy teenage vampire comic book hero's that take in a Giant Black homeless guy and turn him into a NFL left tackle while creating a pop group with some small rodents that are remaking a 1960's sci-fi TV series, after all... And shoot it in 3D...
Sounds like box office gold.
Thanks for listening...
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Welcome to the Fun-derdome?
Hi yall,
Just thought I stick a few more quarters into the coin op computer and tack hammer up some thoughts for you to enjoy(despise?). Not much to say here as it's my first dip into the tepid pool that is the innernet, but this is merely a promise that there are things to come... many things.
Just thought I stick a few more quarters into the coin op computer and tack hammer up some thoughts for you to enjoy(despise?). Not much to say here as it's my first dip into the tepid pool that is the innernet, but this is merely a promise that there are things to come... many things.
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