Salon.com > Sitcoms http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 13:20:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 “Two and a Half Men’s” latest sexist dis http://www.salon.com/2012/04/03/two_and_a_half_mens_latest_sexist_dis/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/03/two_and_a_half_mens_latest_sexist_dis/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:44:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12787601 Lee Aronsohn is sorry he said he was tired of your vaginas. As you were, ladies.

On Monday, the co-creator of "Two and a Half Men" issued a now-standard Twitter mea culpa, explaining that "it was a stupid joke. I'm sorry." His offense? Kvetching on Sunday to the Hollywood Reporter, "Enough, ladies. I get it. You have periods … We are approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation." Labia saturation: no longer just a weird side effect from antidepressants.

It has indeed been a banner year for vaginas on television, with one-liners about the holy of holies turning up all over the place -- including on saucy, female-driven comedies like "Whitney" and "Two Broke Girls." The truth is that few of these jokes are legitimately funny. They're more often deployed to shock, and thereby make lame routines notable. Surely Aronsohn isn't the only one feeling a little exhausted by the V-word.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/03/two_and_a_half_mens_latest_sexist_dis/feed/ 35 The great sitcom divide http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/the_great_sitcom_divide/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/the_great_sitcom_divide/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12205431 On a recent episode of "2 Broke Girls," the following writing somehow made it onto television:

(Waitress to dissatisfied customer)

Waitress: Would you like to see the menu again?

Customer: This is crap, I wanted Muenster.

Waitress: Well, I wanted to be running a Fortune 500 company instead of waiting on a toxic man-child like yourself. But we can't always get what we want, so order something else, put it in your pie hole and get on with your damn life.

- - - - - - - - - -

I hadn’t realized my taste in comedy was so elitist until I watched some of the new multi-camera sitcoms and observed what I had assumed was an already long-dead form of comedy. When I say “new,” I’m referring to multi-camera shows that have persisted after the advent/rise of the single-camera sitcom. If, like me, you've spent recent years watching "30 Rock," "Arrested Development," "Louie" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," it's a completely different experience to tune into talked-about shows like "Whitney," "2 Broke Girls" and "Are You There, Chelsea?"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/the_great_sitcom_divide/feed/ 67 Television's season of the vagina http://www.salon.com/2011/09/26/vagina_sitcom_season/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/26/vagina_sitcom_season/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:27:00 +0000 Long ago, vaginas were barely acknowledged in prime time. Mary Richards and Laverne and Shirley never mentioned theirs. Even Carrie Bradshaw only gave hers a few passing nods. And while "Grey's Anatomy" turned "vajayjay" into a euphemism a few seasons ago, this year, there's very little pussy-footing around. Vagina! Cue laugh track!

It's a big year for the vagina, which has been asserting its presence as the go-to punchline for months now. It's been lightheartedly hailed as the "center of civilization" (sorry, Williamsburg) in one Summer's Eve douche campaign and turned into your sassy, vaguely racist BFF in another. Last month, Olivia Wilde one-upped Jennifer Love Hewitt's now legendary explanation of vajazzling by describing her favorite "vagina tattoo" on "Conan."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/26/vagina_sitcom_season/feed/ 15 The retro sexism of “Whitney” http://www.salon.com/2011/09/19/whitney_cummings_retro_sexist/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/19/whitney_cummings_retro_sexist/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/09/19/whitney_cummings_retro_sexist Ladies, don't you just hate it when you're ovulating? And guys are, like, not? Am I riiiiiiight?

It hasn't even premiered yet, but Whitney Cummings' aggressively promoted new sitcom may just be the most unself-awarely retro-sexist show on television. And in a season that's giving us Playboy bunnies, sexy stewardesses and Charlie's Freaking Angels, that's quite an accomplishment.

As you likely already know from the deluge of magazine ads, billboards and canned laughter-heavy promos, "Whitney" is about a woman who's happily unmarried to her scruffy yet adorable boyfriend. But lest you think this is some subversive takedown of biological clocks and enforced monogamy, the jokes about how a woman's "silent treatment" isn't really a punishment -- probably not. Previews for "Whitney" include -- I am not kidding -- references to Cosmopolitan magazine, cupcakes, being "whipped," and whether or not men are like cavemen. There are also references to cellulite, looking fat, her period, and what women "really mean" when they talk. As Best Week Ever exasperatedly points out, the show's campaign might as well read, "Blah blah blah shopping. Blah blah blah PMS. Blah blah blah weight issues."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/19/whitney_cummings_retro_sexist/feed/ 14 The Corner: All culture is devious propaganda http://www.salon.com/2011/06/17/tv_national_review/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/17/tv_national_review/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/06/17/tv_national_review How weird and sad life must be when viewed through the eyes of Ben Shapiro, pop-culture warrior-in-residence at the National Review. It is his job to pretend (or, good lord, actually believe) that everything that appears on your TV set -- not just the news bits, but the cartoons and toothpaste commercials and laugh-tracked situation comedies -- is part of a liberal plot to destroy the American family. Here is a fun pop culture listicle, "The Top Ten TV Dads," done the National Review way: "It’s instructive because we can see the transformation of fatherhood on television reflecting the left-wing bias against traditional family roles." Oh, can we?

Ward Cleaver is the best. Mike Brady is ok, but with a caveat: "We’re already moving into the era of alternative family structures...." It seems likely that Shapiro has never watched half these shows, but did perhaps thumb through a TV Guide or flip past Nick at Nite in the early '90s:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/17/tv_national_review/feed/ 98 NBC picks up four new comedies, loses “Outsourced” http://www.salon.com/2011/05/13/nbc_new_comedy_handler_bffs/ http://www.salon.com/2011/05/13/nbc_new_comedy_handler_bffs/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 21:14:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/05/13/nbc_new_comedy_handler_bffs It's been a good week for "That 70's Show" alumni. First Ashton Kutcher got himself the world's sweetest gig taking over for Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men," and now Laura Prepon (Donna) has just snagged the lead in one of NBC's four new comedies.

"Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" has been adapted from Chelsea Handler's memoir into a scripted sitcom starring Prepon as Handler. So was Elizabeth Banks not available, or is there just a rule against appearing on too many NBC sitcoms in one year? Because as much as I loved her as Donna, I'm not sure Prepon can pull off Chelsea's wackiness.

Meanwhile, three other shows have been picked for the peacock's lineup, including "Free Agents," an American remake of a British comedy about the romantic lives of P.R. executives. Exciting! Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn star in the Americanized version along with Anthony Head (Giles from "Buffy"), who will be reprising his role from the original series.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/05/13/nbc_new_comedy_handler_bffs/feed/ 26 Can “Two and a Half Men” be saved? http://www.salon.com/2011/04/29/two_and_half_men_replacement_lorre/ http://www.salon.com/2011/04/29/two_and_half_men_replacement_lorre/#comments Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/04/29/two_and_half_men_replacement_lorre Chuck Lorre may be down, but he hasn't given up: The CBS producer has supposedly been in talks with Jon Cryer about continuing "Two and a Half Men" in Charlie Sheen's absence. If the show continues, it won't be with the huge-name talent of Woody Harrelson, Jeremy Piven or Bob Saget, according to a spokesperson at Warner Bros., who confirms that none of those actors are in the running.

I'm wondering if Rob Lowe is still on this list, as he'd probably make for the best contestant to fill Sheen's shoes. Not in the same role, of course, but Rob could easily turn on the charm and carefree charisma that Sheen brought to his "Charlie" character. And what's more, the actors grew up together. (Hello, "Stories I Only Tell My Friends!")

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/04/29/two_and_half_men_replacement_lorre/feed/ 19 10 year time capsule: “That’s My Bush!” http://www.salon.com/2011/03/29/10_year_time_capsule_thats_my_bush/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/29/10_year_time_capsule_thats_my_bush/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/03/29/10_year_time_capsule_thats_my_bush Say what you will about Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but those guys have had our number for a long time. Way before they were doing feel-good musicals on Broadway about Mormons in AIDS-stricken Uganda, when "South Park" was still mostly known for its Mr. Hanky scatological humor, the satiric duo had taken on a project for Comedy Central that would be unthinkable today: a half-hour sitcom about the president, whose famous catchphrase was "One of these days, Laura, I'm going to punch you in the face!"

Oh yes, welcome to the month that was "That's My Bush."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/29/10_year_time_capsule_thats_my_bush/feed/ 19 Your feminist guide to fall TV http://www.salon.com/2010/05/21/fall_tv_women/ http://www.salon.com/2010/05/21/fall_tv_women/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//2010/05/21/fall_tv_women The networks held their upfronts this week, that beloved dog-and-pony show that baits advertisers into thinking each new show is going to make 'em a zillion dollars. The nets trot out their big stars -- spin, spin, spin, rinse and repeat. This means it's also the time of year when I sit down and scrutinize the offerings for signs of surreptitious feminism in the form of -- gasp! -- female leads in the new lineups. I consider a show to be female-friendly if a star is a woman, or if the ensemble cast has more than two women. I know, low standards, right? 

The thing is, no matter how advanced the portrayals of women and girls on TV get, there's always the wife-mother trap that can box a female character in. Yes, wives and moms are biologically women. But wives and moms are also people, with interests beyond the parent-teacher conference or the laundry or the impact their husband's job has on their credit limits. If the wife on-screen always has a whisk or basket of clothes to fold or a shopping bag in her hands, I don't think it counts.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/05/21/fall_tv_women/feed/ 7 “Valentine’s Day”: The pain of L.A.’s gorgeous and lovelorn http://www.salon.com/2010/02/12/valentines_day_3/ http://www.salon.com/2010/02/12/valentines_day_3/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2010/02/11/valentines_day You know, there's really no motion-picture genre that is less suited to a long-winded, episodic, career-wrapping, would-be epic than the romantic comedy. I mean, OK, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has rom-com elements, and so does its most famous cinematic knockoff, Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night." Unfortunately for Garry Marshall, the director-impresario of "The Princess Diaries" and "Pretty Woman" and many other film and TV comedies across a 40-odd-year career, he seems to have those one-day-in-the-life-of-love examples dimly in view in "Valentine's Day," a sprawling, listless, ensemble-cast tribute to his own comic genius.

At the risk of being both pompous and blindingly obvious, Marshall is not exactly Bergman, or Shakespeare either. Neither of those guys, as far as I know, ever tried to drag laughs out of a resolutely unfunny production with gags about cute puppies spurning a newly jilted lover or 2-year-olds kissing each other or Ashton Kutcher driving a purple, early-'60s Chevy low-rider badly through Los Angeles traffic. (That last is absolutely slanderous: I'm saying here and now that Ashton can roll low, slow and smooth when the situation demands.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/02/12/valentines_day_3/feed/ 15 Wasted older women http://www.salon.com/2009/12/29/boozy_grandmas/ http://www.salon.com/2009/12/29/boozy_grandmas/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//feature/2009/12/29/boozy_grandmas It's notoriously difficult for actresses of a certain age to get work in Hollywood, but CNN's Breeanna Hare notes that if you're an older white woman who looks suitably patrician, opportunities abound in the "boozy grandma" role that seems to be featured in every other TV show these days. Veteran actresses Kelly Bishop, Holland Taylor, Caroline Lagerfelt and Jessica Walter have all recently played such three-martini matriarchs — I'd add Susan Sullivan, currently working out her elbow on "Castle," to that list — and now Susan Sarandon has brought the type to the big screen in "The Lovely Bones."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/12/29/boozy_grandmas/feed/ 17 Why “The Simpsons” no longer matters http://www.salon.com/2009/12/17/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary/ http://www.salon.com/2009/12/17/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:19:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/12/16/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary What a difference 20 years makes! On Dec. 17, 1989, the still-infant Fox Broadcasting Co. aired the first episode of "The Simpsons," the animated show about a dysfunctional family from Springfield that has since become the longest-running prime-time series in American history. It's hard to overstate the show's impact. It has spawned a merchandising empire ("Simpsons" air freshener, anyone?), been at the center of a culture war (Barbara Bush called it “the dumbest thing I’d ever seen”) and inspired a hit movie (not to mention comedy writers' rooms everywhere). Plus, "d'oh!" is now in the dictionary.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/12/17/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary/feed/ 89 “The Middle” just middling http://www.salon.com/2009/09/30/abc_the_middle/ http://www.salon.com/2009/09/30/abc_the_middle/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:07:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/review/2009/09/30/abc_the_middle ABC's "The Middle" (premieres 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30), a comedy about living in the nondescript middle part of the country, resides somewhere in the nondescript middle of the pack of new fall comedies.

For a slapsticky sitcom about a Midwestern family filled with misfits, "The Middle" is better than you'd expect. But compared to this fall's surprisingly good new comedies – NBC's "Community," Fox's "Glee," ABC's "Modern Family" and HBO's "Bored to Death" -- "The Middle" is middling at best.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a shot. The pilot certainly has its charms, most of them centering around matriarch Frankie Heck's (Patricia Heaton) continual frustration with her not very charismatic, distinctly untalented, at times downright weird kids. Of her youngest, Brick, she says, "You know how you think giving a kid a cool name will make him cool? Well, it doesn't." Brick is nerdy. He whispers to himself. His backpack is his best friend. At a parent conference, his teacher wonders out loud whether he's just quirky or "clinically quirky":

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/09/30/abc_the_middle/feed/ 11 Best new TV: “Modern Family” http://www.salon.com/2009/09/23/modern_family/ http://www.salon.com/2009/09/23/modern_family/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:18:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/review/2009/09/23/modern_family Families are funny. Sitcoms about families are not.

Or, at least that has been the case since "Arrested Development" went off the air. Saddled with dozens of hackneyed shows trying desperately to match the wit of "Everybody Loves Raymond" but failing miserably, viewers have become so bored with the same old family shtick that many of the most successful comedies, from "30 Rock" to "The Office," are now set in the workplace.

ABC's "Modern Family" (premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23) borrows a thing or two from those shows -- the single-camera format, the use of a faux-documentary style where characters speak directly to the audience, the frequent veering into farce. That said, this dysfunctional family comedy really is its own unique, brilliant gem, shining among an otherwise uncomfortably mediocre haul of cheap comedic rhinestones.

Be forewarned, though. The first scene -- teenage daughter leaves house in slutty outfit -- might give the impression that this is just another bad parade of parenting clichés. But don't touch that remote, because things get very funny, very quickly, particularly from the moment that Phil (Ty Burrell), father of three, tries to act as if he speaks the same hip slang as his daughter's new suitor.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/09/23/modern_family/feed/ 8 Bureaucracy made hilarious http://www.salon.com/2002/12/12/richter/ http://www.salon.com/2002/12/12/richter/#comments Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/diary/2002/12/12/richter "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," which airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on Fox, is an absurdist office comedy about a doughy technical writer named Andy (Andy Richter) who works for a huge Chicago conglomerate called Pickering Industries. Andy spends most of his time at the office, which means he actually spends most of his time in his head, rescuing all the colorless moments that make up the better part of his life from the yawning pit of workaday meaninglessness.

His fantasy life is no less pedestrian that his regular life. If anything, it's almost more so. Most of Andy's thoughts -- which run along the lines of "And then, we were all replaced by a breed of genetically engineered superdogs," or "I wish I'd said that. I'm such a jerk. And I'm 30 pounds overweight" -- are heavily influenced by dumb movies and routine self-loathing. The result is absurdly hilarious.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2002/12/12/richter/feed/ 0 Amy Sedaris digs wigs and baking http://www.salon.com/2000/05/05/sedaris/ http://www.salon.com/2000/05/05/sedaris/#comments Fri, 05 May 2000 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2000/05/05/sedaris The TV roundup of your local paper might
list href="/ent/col/mill/1999/04/05/strangers/index.html">"Strangers With Candy"
as a sitcom, but to assume that this
implies the show bears any relation to
something like "Home Improvement" or
"The Nanny" would be a grave mistake.

When "Strangers" first aired two years
ago as a piss-take on those weepy "After
School Specials" of the '70s, the show
tipped the scales with a warped wit
rarely encountered on the small screen.
Now, signed on for a third season on
Comedy Central, "Strangers" remains a
trusted outpost for those who find their
funny well beyond the standard sitcom
fare.

At center stage of the show is actress
Amy Sedaris, who plays the rumpled
chum-pot Jerri Blank. Blank is a former
teen runaway who, after a lifetime of
prostitution and drug abuse, has
returned to high school as a freshman at
age 46. With the possible exception of a
special trailer park edition of "Cops,"
"Strangers" is the only place one is
likely to encounter someone like Jerri
Blank.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2000/05/05/sedaris/feed/ 0 Nights of the living dead http://www.salon.com/2000/02/07/mary_homicide/ http://www.salon.com/2000/02/07/mary_homicide/#comments Mon, 07 Feb 2000 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/mill/2000/02/07/mary_homicide In a December column about the trippiness of watching long-dead actors and once-popular TV characters cavorting eternally in reruns on TV Land and the Game Show Channel, the San Francisco Chronicle's Jon Carroll wrote (only a little bit facetiously), "You know the last scene in 'Titanic,' where the door opens on the ghostly underwater ship and all the passengers are there again to greet you, to smile and nod and say, yes, we still live, welcome home, welcome to the changeless world of memory?"

I know what he means. And you will too, when you watch "Homicide: The Movie," which airs Feb. 13 on NBC, and "Mary and Rhoda" (no last names necessary), running Monday on ABC. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" closed up shop almost 23 years ago and "Homicide: Life on the Street" was canceled by NBC in May. But the characters of both series have apparently been very busy carrying on their pretend lives somewhere in the ether, out of our view, all this time. And now they're back in our living rooms with tales of near-death miracles and being called to the light by Joe Friday and Lucy and Granny Clampett.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2000/02/07/mary_homicide/feed/ 0 An uncivil “Action” http://www.salon.com/1999/09/13/action/ http://www.salon.com/1999/09/13/action/#comments Mon, 13 Sep 1999 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/mill/1999/09/13/action Hollywood producers are not exactly America's sweethearts
these days. To hear some politicians and cultural critics
talk, our most successful purveyors of arsenal-showcasing
action blockbusters are scum -- pure, evil scum.

So, say you're one of these Hollywood hotshots -- OK, say
you're Joel Silver, the notoriously flamboyant producer of
the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" movies. There are two
ways you can deal with the people who blame you for every
act of violence committed in America. You can start making
nice family pictures, or you can say, "Fuck you." With
"Action," the raunchy, hilarious new Fox sitcom Silver
co-produced with Chris Thompson ("The Larry Sanders Show," "The Naked Truth"), Silver says, "Fuck you" a lot. Actually,
his cocky, abrasive alter ego, action flick producer Peter Dragon
(a perfectly cast Jay Mohr), says it for him -- six times
before the opening credits alone. The F-word is bleeped out,
because this is broadcast TV (even if it's Fox). But you
don't have to be a lip-reader to figure out the gist of
Dragon's series-opening tirade, directed at a studio
commissary worker who protests when Dragon steals his
"employee of the month" parking space.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1999/09/13/action/feed/ 0 How Sarah got her groove back http://www.salon.com/1999/06/14/sex_city/ http://www.salon.com/1999/06/14/sex_city/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 1999 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/mill/1999/06/14/sex_city Sarah Jessica Parker looks like a walking doodle, a daydreamy collision of curves and straight lines. The wavy mane and wiggly bod don't quite prepare you for the playful intelligence of her long face, though, or the warmth of her gaze. Parker still bears traces of the roles she played as a kid actress -- spunky Little Orphan Annie, awkward Patty Greene, her teenage nerd from the '80s cult sitcom "Square Pegs" -- and you don't expect to find those particular humanizing qualities in someone who looks so hot in Prada. The element of surprise is Parker's greatest asset as an actress, but in her biggest films ("L.A. Story," "The First Wives Club"), she's been predictably cast as a bimbo with marshmallow for brains.

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