I couldn’t believe my eyes when I began watching the promo for this week’s 2 Broke Girls. Max meeting her father, really? Typically any references to her upbringing are about her extremely neglectful mother, and the last time that was touched on in any major way was literally three seasons ago.
That episode was the Season 3 finale, “And the First Degree”, and it’s impossible for “And the Dad Day Afternoon” not to be compared to it, for better or for worse.
Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, family, review, television, writing
Tagged 2 Broke Girls, abandoned, And the Dad Day Afternoon, And the First Degree, Beth Behrs, Caroline, CBS, dad, daddy issues, deadbeat, disappointed, family, father, Han, Jonathan Kite, Kat Dennings, Matthew Moy, Max, Oleg, reunion, review, Rita, S6E18, Sophie
With the 89th Academy Awards coming in just a few short days I’m grateful for the opportunity to interview director Juanjo Giménez and pick his brain about Timecode, which has been nominated for Best Short Film.
This comes roughly two weeks after my review, and I made the most of the occasion by trying to unpack so much of what I enjoyed about this particular piece of work. While I was only able to ask so many questions, I hope that Giménez’s answers help shine a little light on why Timecode was considered for this great honour, as well as why it might deserve it.
To start with, it’s almost no surprise that Timecode was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Goya Award given your impressive filmography. Has having written, directed, and produced so much award-winning work changed your approach with each new project?
I don’t think so. I think that no filmmaker thinks about awards or recognition when making a new film. In our case, financing every new project has always been difficult, even if the previous film has been a successful one. The only thing that is essential for approaching a new project is the need to make it.
It’s notable that much of the work you’ve received the most attention for are your short films. What is it that appeals to you about that particular format?
Timecode is my ninth short film as director. I learned that short films usually fit the way I approach filmmaking better. And what’s more important, there’s nothing wrong with that! That doesn’t mean I won’t make a feature film again, but shorts provide a great platform for experimenting without the financial struggles that usually constrain a fiction feature. Even if I speak as a producer, in terms of financial results, my shorts have always been more profitable than my features. Continue reading
Posted in art, dance, film, interview, media, writing
Tagged Academy Awards, acting, actor, Best Short Film, choreography, cinematographer, composer, dancer, dancing, interview, Iván Céster, Juanjo Giménez, Lali Ayguadé, music, Niccolas Ricchini, nominated, Pere Pueyo, performance, review, score, security guard, short film, Timecode
Caroline won’t shut up about her boyfriend Bobby. You know, that cute guy Bobby, her boyfriend? Given their burgeoning relationship, and the fact that he also mentions her in the same way, it makes perfect sense that this would be a Caroline-centric episode. With how few and far between these moments are, however, it doesn’t seem like the writers’ room is as comfortable with the setup as they probably should be.
That being said this is just about as linear a narrative as you can get, and while the premise is tried and true the actual scenario presented is a little harder to swallow.
Meeting your significant other’s family is such a comedic staple that it spawned an actual trilogy [everyone forgets Little Fockers], so Caroline being invited to Bobby’s childhood home, which he moved back into after his father died, is pretty standard fare. His insisting that Max go as well also makes sense, since he considers her Caroline’s family. What’s far less plausible is the entire diner staff being able to just tag along with them. Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, family, review, television, writing
Tagged 2 Broke Girls, acting, And the Jessica Shmessica, Beth Behrs, Bobby, Caroline, CBS, Christopher Gorham, dinner, directing, Don Scardino, ex-girlfriend, family, Han, happier with your mouth open, Jonathan Kite, Kat Dennings, Matthew Moy, Max, mom, mother, Oleg, relationship, review, Rita, S6E17, sauce, Sophie, Teresa, WKUK
Almost exactly a year ago today I wrote a little about race and my latest obsession at the time, ABC’s The Bachelor. At that point we were in the middle of its 20th season, which had the very affable Ben Higgins as the pearl of great price 28 women were striving to attain.
While both that show and its spinoff, The Bachelorette, have never had stellar track records as far as racial diversity, things came to a head when Jubilee Sharpe, the final Black contestant remaining, was eliminated on the first day of February [AKA Black History Month]. Cue soundbites from higher-ups that “[they’re] doing a whole lot of tweaks”. Not that that’s anything new, as a lengthy interview that NPR conducted with host Chris Harrison back in 2015 reveals they’ve long been aware of the issue, and that they want to do something about it. Harrison also used the exact words “we really tried” after surmising that a previous previous star was “1/16th Cherokee Indian”, if that’s any indication of what we might expect.
Those of you who follow both shows will be well-aware of the events that took place at the beginning of this week, but before I get into that I want to fill in the gaps between that last post and this one.
So, What Happened After Ben’s Season?
The cyclical nature of franchise means that the The Bachelor premieres every January, with The Bachelorette following not too long afterwards in May. ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee, the man who hinted at the “tweaks” up above, also told reporters at the time that:
“I’d be very surprised if ‘The Bachelorette’ in the summer isn’t diverse. I think that’s likely”
He also made reference to something called the “farm team” which a) I recently found out is sports terminology and has nothing to do with animals or actual farms and b) is the term for the contestants featured on each season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Variety notes that the norm is for the next Bacheloron [a gender neutral term for the star of either program that I took from an article I’ll link to later] to be from the previous season’s “farm team”. With that in mind both fans and critics of the franchise saw the 12th season of The Bachelorette as the perfect opportunity to make that much-needed change. Continue reading
Posted in language, race, relationships, television
Tagged ABC, attraction, audience, Bachelor, Bachelorette, Bacheloron, black, Caila, Caila Quinn, casting, Chris Harrison, farm team, JoJo, JoJo Fletcher, Jubilee, Jubilee Sharpe, language, race, Rachel, Rachel Lindsay, reality TV, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, TV, viewers
“When one pair of legs closes, another one opens.”
Or at least that’s what Polish Oprah says. I’d be careful about disagreeing with her, since critics are hanged by the neck until dead. It’s also the tactic that 2 Broke Girls appears to be taking, since I can’t remember a point when both Max and Caroline were in serious romantic relationships at the same time. One may have a brief fling while the other is dating, but that’s about the extent of it.
Larger ensemble comedies have likewise chosen to give select characters the spotlight re: significant others, but in this case the rest of the cast plays second fiddle to the duo at its core. The inability, or unwillingness, of the show’s writers’ room to allow both Max and Caroline date concurrently speaks to their narrow focus. One at a time; wait your turn, please.
To be fair this episode actually closes on the idea that they might be trying to make a change moving forward, so we should probably get to what actually happens-
Posted in Comedy, relationships, review, sex, television
Tagged 2 Broke Girls, 3rd date, And the Tease Time, Beth Behrs, Bobby, burlesque, Caroline, CBS, Christopher Gorham, dancing, Han, Jonathan Kite, Kat Dennings, Katie Wee, lingerie, Matthew Moy, Max, Oleg, relationship, review, Rita, S6E16, sex, Sophie, third date, underwear
EVAN: Ladies, gentlemen, and the rest, it has been almost two whole years since we released a “Culture War Correspondence”, the feature formerly known as “Evan and Gordon Talk”.
You can thank/blame my co-writer for its momentary revival, and I’ll let him be the one to introduce the topic for this week-
GORDON: “Is it OK to punch Nazis?”
Some of you may remember back in November, when alt-right spokesman Richard Spencer was clobbered during an interview with an Australian news channel, an event which prompted many across the nation (and indeed, the world) to ask that very question.
EVAN: When you first broached this topic with me I remember saying “Is the answer not ‘always’?”, to which you responded “Not by my book, no.”
That in turn led to me greenlighting this whole thing, because I think that may be as much a surprise to our readers as it was to me at the time.
GORDON: I guess part of that stems from who you define as a “Nazi”. I mean, sure, there’s the folks who stomp around in jackboots with swastikas tattooed over their chests…
…But there’s plenty of folks- including Richard Spencer, who totally is a Nazi- who claim to be simple “White Nationalists”. As if there’s any ****ing difference.
I guess that’s to say I probably wouldn’t lay the almighty smackdown on someone’s bigoted grandma, y’know?
Unless you cut me off in traffic one more time, Helen…
EVAN: It sounds like your stance, if you want to really boil it down, is to attack the able-bodied or “those who can take it.”
GORDON: I don’t know if I’d say it’s about attacking those who can take it. Not that I’m in favor of wailing on the feeble (something that the Nazis, for the record, are all too eager to do), just that I don’t view someone’s bigoted grandmother as an actual threat.
If Agnes winds up pulling off the retirement-home-putsch, that might be another story.
It’s not like the Fascist leadership in Germany, Spain, and Italy were all hip youngsters…
 | Evan on The “One Size Fits All… |
 | Phi on The “One Size Fits All… |
| ‘Nimble Fingers’ Rac… on Lisa Nakamura Part 2: Navajo C… | |
 | abdessamed gtumsila on Colonial Williamsburg: A Cultu… |
 | T on Is “Art of Manliness… |
Culture War Reporters 