Monsters of Television

“I’ve been a part of this family my whole life. It’s an overrated experience.”

This week we’re giving you a double dose of The Boondocks. Adult Swim must have missed the memo about what day it was and so while I was celebrating our Independence Day last weekend, they were airing a new episode. Thomas Jefferson and I were so pissed.

“The Story of Lando Freeman” was so ingeniously named because it told us the story of man named Lando Freeman. He had come in search of Robert, who he believed was his father. The similarities are uncanny (dress style, love of strip clubs, etc.) but it would take a lot more than that for Robert to welcome this stranger into his house and into his life.

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“Since when is the internet about robbing people of their privacy?”

Twitter. Facebook. iPhones. Technology today is so much about instantly being able to buy something, see something, hear something, tell your friends about it, have companies look at what you’re saying and tailor specific ads relative to your interests. There are those who believe these things are steering us down a doomsday 1984-like path of destruction (myself included). “Attack of the Killer App” gave us a glimpse of what that not too far off time may look like, with a little more humor of course.

The latest Mom product, the eyePhone, has just been released and everyone at Planet Express tosses their old phones away and rushes to the store. This is the beginning of a style of joke the rest of the episode employs that I am dubbing “Apple-knocking”. Apple-knocking is a very common  joke used by many and people (even Apple users themselves, the ones with senses of humor anyway) love it when it’s done well. Futurama did it well.

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“If you plan on rescuing a vampire during daylight I have seriously overestimated your intelligence.”

Ensemble casts are great, but they can be a bitch to keep in check. In just three episodes True Blood has introduced a number of new faces this season and it’s started to spread everyone, both old and new, relatively thin. Of course during a show’s run certain characters are going to have to sit in the backseat from time to time (isn’t that right Chase and Cameron from House M.D.?) but everyone at once?

The first two episodes of the season were shot out of a high-speed cannon, hurtling us right into the story. But after “It Hurts Me Too” we’re left to pick up the little pieces of story and character shrapnel spread out all over the place. And they’re very little pieces. Now this isn’t to say the episode was bad, it wasn’t, there is just so much going on with so many different people that everything feels rushed. It doesn’t help that not everyone has an interesting storyline either. Let’s start with some of our newcomers.

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“See? Tom is going to face his fears. He’s going to walk out of that prison with his rectum and his piece of mind intact.”

I’m gonna go ahead and slap a big ol’ disclaimer on this review. This episode was about gay sex. It’s bound to be offensive to some. If you’re some of that some, you may wanna skip this review (and episode for that matter) and come back next week.

Facing expulsion from school for fighting, Huey and Riley are forced to enter a Scared Stiff program in an attempt to curb their delinquent ways. Tom agrees to chaperone the event as part of his endeavor to overcome his fear of being anally raped in prison. What follows is a very vulgar, politically charged look at the problems with the prisons system and the homosexual subculture amongst prison inmates.  The episode features 2 things the show loves to do: social-political commentary and ripping off the internet. Let’s start with the latter. Read more »

“Party, Bender! Party for your life!”

Returning from a long hiatus is quite the double edged sword. Fans will praise a show’s comeback and yet are often quick to doubt that it can return to any semblance of its former glory. Family Guy (as tired as it is now) was able to rise the successful phoenix from the ashes of cancellation. The Boondocks has been able to do the same for the most part after its 2 year disappearance.

Futurama was canceled in 2003, but thanks to the resuscitation machine that is Adult Swim and a number of direct to DVD movies it hardly feels like it went anywhere. Now with its return on Comedy Central with a brand new slew of episodes, can Futurama continue the trend and reclaim (and maintain) its position as one of the greatest animated shows in TV history? My answer is…

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“You’re going to invite me in so I can protect you. Or have passionate, primal sex with you. How about both?”

The ties that bind us to the people in our lives are extremely important. Be it family, friendship or protecting you from a group of werewolves who have kidnapped your boyfriend (I hate it when that happens) the people in your life are there for a reason. As revelations lead to more questions, True Blood sets alliances as season 3 continues to waste no time getting down to business.

Give Nelsan Ellis an Emmy right now. He played his scenes with so much emotional subtext under an unusually calm exterior. After stopping Tara from swallowing a bunch of pills Lafayette lays into her, telling her he’s not ready to plan her funeral so she can’t leave him yet. Then he takes her to see his mother, Ruby, who’s been in a mental institution for 6 months. Lafayette walks into the room like a scolded puppy as Ruby announces her son is dead, “God killed him because he’s a fagot”, but he keeps on showing up. Tara thinks they’re there to have her committed as well but Lafayette wanted to show Tara to emphasize the darkness in their family. The two of them have to stick together to ensure they don’t end up like their mothers. Here we also learn this is why Lafayette engages in some of the…less than legal activities that he does. Keeping his mother there is very expensive but he pays for it because he doesn’t want to take care of her himself. Read more »

“I know it’s a homoerotic Christian theater cult, but if it gets me into Hollywood who cares? It can’t be worse than Scientology.“

Finally.

I like to think that Aaron McGruder reads these reviews personally and takes the praises (and more recently criticisms) to heart. This week’s episode proved that he does because he is back to the biting satire and on-point humor the show has been lacking the past 2 weeks. And he didn’t just copy some internet video to do it.  The target of this week’s episode: Tyler Perry and his odd, tyrannical reign over black entertainment. That’s the ticket McGruder, go after someone I hate and I’ll let you right back into my heart. Pause. No homo.

Winston Jerome is a very prominent playwright/actor/director. His plays typically feature the same actors in slightly tweaked roles that go through the same cookie cutter trials and tribulations to come to the same conclusions. And then Ma Dukes dances around and says stupid shit. Then those plays are turned into movies. And those movies become television series. Sound familiar? It’s Tyler Perry.

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“The first rule of fund raising: I don’t give nothing to nobody. Period.”

Well it’s an improvement.

After last week’s terribly disappointing episode I was hoping we could get the season back on track. “The Fundraiser” didn’t wow me like previous episodes but it didn’t fill me with rage either. It had it’s moments but once again the overall failed to deliver what I’ve come to expect from the show. Simply put: it was meh. But at this point is falling somewhere in the middle good or bad? Read more »

“I’m in no mood for lesbian weirdness tonight, Pam.”

The wait is finally over! After 9 months True Blood is back and wasting no time jumping right in. The first few minutes were dedicated to “remember this character and what they were doing?” which is always an appreciated season premiere tactic. But it wasn’t just story we were being reminded of, also tone and style. “Remember how much True Blood loves violence and tits?” As if we could forget. From a group of werewolves chowing down on Vampire Bill to Eric’s 6 hour sexcapade with new Fangtasia dancer Yvetta (6 hours!?) it didn’t take long for us all to say “Why yes, I remember you, True Blood. Welcome back.” Read more »

Here at Monsters of Television we value one trait above all else: snark. Sure, we have to be able to write intelligently and put TV shows in academic and societal contexts, but why do it if you’re not going to be witty about it? So in tribute to both television and snark, I have compiled a list of 10 of the snarkiest, wittiest characters on television. I’m including pictures and videos for all of you out there who don’t read so good. See? Snark. Here we go. Read more »