Monsters of Television

“That’s really funny, Cougartown, but you’re Cougartown and I’m not going to watch you.”

As the ABC comedy block is about to start for Wednesday night on the East Coast, listen in as Matt and Nick discuss if Modern Family lives up to the hype and what the best comedy on television is for the season thus far. Matt walks a fine line as he proposes one of the most reviled shows on Monsters to be a contender.

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“What was that accent?”

And just barely slipping in before the witching hour on Halloween (on the West Coast anyway) are some thoughts on this week’s Halloween episodes. Some of the things we reference:

• Evel Knievel is has, in fact, passed.
• Matt is not the only one lazy enough to be three-hole punched.
• Sofia Vergara might have been influenced by some mid-90s television.
• Maybe the writers on Chuck still live in fear of the Chuckpocalypse.
• Smallville does love them some horror episodes.

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I’m not a fan of the mockumentary sitcom. It’s become a barrier of entry for me with shows like Parks and Recreation and Modern Family. Indeed, I think it’s a crutch that sitcoms are starting to rely on, much to their detriment. I was going to let my dislike of the format speak through my silence on the shows.

But then Matthew Gilbert over at the Boston Globe had to go and poke the bear. Gilbert extolls the format for providing the “still-needed alternative for the sitcom genre as a whole” and for shows that use the format as the “essential weapons in the battle against sitcom predictability.” And he pays the shows that use the format the ultimate compliment by declaring them “anti-sitcoms.”

At this point, I feel it’s best to crank the laugh track dial up to 11. Read more »