Category Archives: Comedy

Evan and Gordon Talk: Community, Season 4

Posted on September 26, 2012 by | 3 comments

GORDON: GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!! Gordon and Evan here again to delight, entertain, and edify! Today’s topic: the upcoming season of Community– sans creator Dan Harmon.

EVAN: Well, we’re here to talk about the new season in general, but yes. Showrunner/creator Dan Harmon has left us, and the show’s slavishly devoted fans, wondering what Friday evening holds.

GORDON: As much as I’d like to think otherwise- my money’s on the continued spin-out that last season gave us. Your bets?

EVAN: Well, let’s look at what we know- This upcoming season will only have 13 episodes, which, let’s face it, is definitely more in the vein of a beginning sitcom, not one four seasons in.

GORDON: You’re thinking creative reboot?

EVAN: I’m hoping for a creative reboot. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Harmon knows how to write. He has a formula and man, it works.

GORDON: But?

EVAN: But the third season did indeed “spin-out.”

I actually blogged about this about a year ago, and brought up a lot of points we actually talked about. Want to go over it?

GORDON: Sure thing.

EVAN: The points of the post were as follows:

1) Bring Them Back to School
2) Have a Little Class
3) Have Mercy on Ben Chang
4) Where Are We Going?
5) We Should See Other People

If you want to elaborate on them ever so slightly-

GORDON: Alright. While Evan and I do differ slightly on what we’d like to see the show bring back, these ARE the fundamentals here.

The whole reason we first started watching was because we, like the target demographic, were either in college, about to go to college, or just graduated from college and were looking back with fond memories- forgetting the ulcers that Statistics classes gave you.

EVAN: I loathed Stats.

GORDON:  Point is- it’s all about the college- put the characters back in classes, and back on campus.

Chang, of course, was one of the most mesmerizing characters in there; mysterious, inscrutable. The fact that he’s been reduced to a punching-bag who makes cameos every once in a while is just wrong. It’s like using the Venus de Milo as a door-stopper.

And of course, if we could actually see the characters progress, that’d be nice.
Troy, if I recall correctly, was dealing with the loss of his jock status.

EVAN: Way back in Season 1, though. They haven’t touched on his and Annie’s high school statuses in ages.

GORDON: Not at all.

And last but not least, it’d be cool to see some other characters. There’re only so many Starburns jokes out there. Remember that one teacher that Jeff was into?
That gal actually added to the show- she wasn’t some prop to set up jokes.

EVAN: As we talked about, way back, the show requires direction. What happened in Season 3, exactly?

GORDON: …stuff?

EVAN: All the characters started moving out of their dorms and such, and there was this big outward push. Something which, I think it’s fair to say, we didn’t expect to see until Season 4. They started to remove themselves from Greendale, which again we mentioned weakened the show.

GORDON: Exactly what year are these people, anyways? They finished freshman year, but after that I don’t think I ever saw ’em in class again.

EVAN: Heh. Seriously, though, this final thirteen-episode season is their final year. They’re going to be graduating, finally on that thirteenth episode.

GORDON: Really? Dang. It’s a shame so much was just… wasted.

EVAN: How about this: Let’s talk about what they did right in Season 3, and what we hope to see in Season 4. Just because, well, there were some solid episodes in there somewhere.

GORDON: Such as?

EVAN: “Remedial Chaos Theory.” Third episode of the season.

GORDON: I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Solid writing- but not good writing for the show.

EVAN: “Studies in Modern Movement,” seventh, and “Regional Holiday Music,” the episode right before their hiatus.

GORDON: I hated the musical one- but that’s no surprise. And what was “Modern Movement,” again?

EVAN: The one where Annie moves in with Abed and Troy. It ends with a weird medley of Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” as it pans between every character.

GORDON: I think you’re forgetting what a scatter-brained episode that was. Great individual jokes- but really poorly stitched together.

EVAN: I’m going to have to disagree with you. I’ve rewatched it a few times, and it holds up. It’s pretty good throughout.

GORDON: Well, we’ll have to settle on that.

But even if those all were as good as you recall- that is one freaking shoddy record. Plus, they barely even touched on Greendale Community College. That’s like…  “Hey, that’s a great story about food- but this is a murder mystery show.” It just doesn’t fit.

EVAN: And for those who might argue that-

GORDON: Let’s not do this, dude. The Community fans, they’re rabid, “ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD” kind of people.

EVAN: Looking forward to that gif.

GORDON: I don’t think I’ve seen this much undeserved adoration since Taylor Swift started her campaign to destroy feminism.

EVAN: Whoa, I love “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

GORDON: Every time you play that song, a feminist gets cancer.

EVAN: It’ll be your turn eventually.

Anyway. In terms of Community, there’s no better place to gauge the show’s popularity than my favourite [heh- Canadians spell weird, -G] place for TV reviews, the AV Club. The lowest grade the show got last season was a B.

GORDON: Which shows what lousy reviewers they have for that show (that’s right, come get me). Look- the show’s bad. It’s been bad for a while now, and the occasional bit of unrelated humor isn’t enough to redeem it. Back when the show supposedly got axed, I was happy. For once- just once- I saw it happen to a series that (I thought) deserved it.

EVAN: Speaking of which, I need to remind you that 2 Broke Girls is the nation’s top-rated comedy.

GORDON: AAAARGH! It’s so wrong!

[takes a moment to compose himself]

Ok, we’ll do this- what would you want to see in the upcoming season?

EVAN: I would like to see . . . huh. That’s a good question.

 I’d like to see a kickin’ [that’s what the cool kids are saying thse days] prof for History 101, their final class together. I want to see closure as they graduate and are forced to move on with their lives. I mean, man, we graduated like what, four months ago? People have to move on. Even if it does suck.

GORDON: With the debacle of the past couple seasons, simple truth of the matter is that what made the characters compelling in the first place can’t be resurrected- if the show’s gonna go out with a bang, new motives need to be brought in.

Specifically- I want Chang to get his job back. And I want Tina Fey as the history prof.

EVAN: Ooh. Impossible, but good.

GORDON: Well- perfect world, here.

EVAN: I think Troy actually working towards a career is good. I mean, his whole air con repairman thing from last season; he knows where he could be headed. Jeff wants to become a lawyer again. What about everyone else?

GORDON: Shirley and her financial independence.

EVAN:  There’s a lot of potential here as far as what they want, where they want to go.

GORDON: I was actually surprised that her story was the only one that really lasted.

Abed? Poor guy doesn’t have much left in him.

EVAN: Abed could- I don’t know. Write for TV?

GORDON: Become a film prof?

EVAN: It’s hard to tell, considering the manchildren him and Troy have been reduced to.

GORDON: True dat.

EVAN: Ohhhhhh, that one episode where the TV prof got told. I remember, that’s a good point.

GORDON: And as we like ending on high notes that’ll be it for us here at the CWR.

EVAN: We talked a little about what we liked about Community in the past, and what we hope to see in the future, and in spite of anything we said we’ll be watching “History 101” alongside all of you in two more days.

GORDON: As usual, be sure to vote for next week’s discussion topic below.

EVAN: And thanks for reading.

EDIT: We were way off with this, and apparently the first episode lands Friday, October 19th. Our bad.

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Posted in Comedy, Evan and Gordon Talk, television

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British Television VS American Television

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | 7 comments

Despite our focus on American issues, we here at Culture War Reportersrecognize that in our world of ever-shrinking borders, there’s plenty more out there than just the cloudless skies of Nevada or the homeless-packed streets of Toronto (Evan, seriously- if the healthcare system’s so good, why does Canada have so many crazy people?).

Today we turn our attention to our pasty cousins across the pond, more specifically, their TV,  excuse me, “Telly” (this is why you lost your empire- well, this and genocide), and how it stacks up next to ours.

CGI and Production Values

Now I have to admit- I haven’t extensively researched British and American television financing, nor have I had a chance to compare the two, taking into consideration differences in the economy and advertising fees over the past couple decades.

What I’m saying is- I’m not an expert.

That said, I don’t need to be an architect to tell you that chances are pretty good that a lot less money was put into making a tent than a condo. British TV shows, put bluntly, just seems to be vastly less funded than their American counterparts. Just take a look at this scene from America’s Battlestar Galactica.

Pretty intense, right? If there’s any poor-quality, it’s probably from the YouTube video, rather than the actual series.

Now look at this clip from Britain’s Doctor Who.

Way worse. And oddly enough, Doctor Who has a bigger fanbase than Galactica, and despite it’s ever-increasing popularity, still has to deal with props dug out of someone’s kitchen drawers. I’m not saying Doctor Who is bad- it’s not. It’s really good- only it’s tough to really feel the full effects of a horrific reveal when the monstrous alien that’s been lurking the shadows until now makes your sock-puppets look scary by comparison. I can’t claim to know the reason for it, and I’m not putting the Brits down for it- I’m simply saying that funding- especially in CGI- appears to be a significant difference between the worlds of British and American TV.

Pretty Faces

You’ve probably heard jokes cracked about this. Not the “British are ugly” or the “British have bad teeth” jokes- the fact that the people on British television have the audacity to look like the people you’d see on the street.

That’s not to say the Brits don’t share the American weakness for fantasizing and glamorizing each and every facet of life, but it’s pretty clear that it’s nowhere near on the scale we have here in the US. Here- take a look at the leading characters of the American version of Being Human.

The guy on the left is decently attractive, as is the girl, and the guy on the right looks more or less like a life-sized Ken doll. Idealized people- no question about it. Now look at the same characters in the British original:

There’s not a huge difference between the girl (the blonde girl is another character- ignore her), and the dark haired guy certainly isn’t his American counterpart and stop looking at that guy’s ears! Yes, they’re huge- they’re gargantuan– and no, this isn’t just an unflattering photo- they actually are trying to escape his head in the first three seasons.

The point is, when it comes to their actors, the British are- well, appear to be- considerably less shallow. They don’t need a couple of supermodels to tell a compelling story of murder, secrecy, and perversion- and speaking of which…

Raunch Codes

Watch this clip- but before you do, get all children and Weslyans out of the room.

Pretty nasty stuff, right? Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

People complain that American media is nothing but sex and violence, but believe me- those Axe commercials are prudish compared to the Brits (and indeed- most of Europe). We may give the Brits a run for their money when it comes to blood and gore but never will we compete with them when it comes to explicitness of this degree. It’s almost to the point where it’s not even repulsive- you’re just impressed at how logic-deafeningly far they take it.

But only almost.

The Dying and the Dead

It’s been said that the difference between British comedies and American comedies is that American comedies begin with everything going wrong and end with everything being fixed, while British comedies begin with everything going right and end with everything falling apart. I wouldn’t call a story where everyone dies of scurvy at the end a comedy, but then again, I don’t whittle my life away on a miserable island full of alcoholics and skinheads.

I can say that because the only people who hate the British more than the Irish, the Kenyans, the Indians, the Chinese, the Australians, the New Zealanders, Iranians, and the Egyptians are the British themselves.

The simple fact of the matter is that there is this viciously self-deprecating mentality that pervades every element of British culture (barring fox hunts, which are just weird) that couldn’t be further removed from the general sense of optimism that you tend to find in America. Just take a look at British crime series.

Now I’ve seen quite a few, and while this certainly isn’t universally true, what I’ve typically found is that British murder mysteries focus on the whole “Whodunnit?” element, whereas American murder mysteries either have a “How’d he do it?” or a drive to keep the murderer from murdering again. Gross over-generalizations, I know, but it does seem to be true that American crime series episodes end with the detectives patting each other on the back for having done justice, while British crime series episodes end with the detective giving some despairing monologue about the tragic depravity of all mankind.

Because that’s a very depressing (and therefore, British) way to end the post- allow me offer this:

To say I’ve been ragging a bit on the British would be an understatement, and no- despite our attempts to be unbiased, we here at Culture War Reporters don’t care much for contemporary English culture. That established, there may very well be something to be said for the Brit’s here. Is it pretty? Not remotely, but for all the weirdness (from our perspective) that British TV has to offer, it can’t be denied that it’s simply more “real” than American TV. The sets aren’t shiny, the people aren’t (exclusively) gorgeous, and a stories of sin and murder actually recognize human suffering. There’s certainly a lot from British TV that merits imitation here in America.

Except for sexually explicit sausage commercials. **** that.

7 Comments

Posted in advertisement, America, Canada, Comedy, film, media, money, television

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“Rape”: A Continuation

Posted on September 7, 2012 by | 11 comments

The second post I ever wrote on this blog was about the word “rape,” and since then it has not ceased to be an issue. A number of events have occurred in the past couple of months, and re-reading many of them this week has reminded me what a big deal it can be.

About a month ago stand-up comedian Daniel Tosh was doing a show when an audience member commented on the bit he was doing. He had been going on about how hilarious rape jokes were [his position: always], when the woman interrupted him by yelling “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!” She reports that Tosh responded with the words: “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now?”

John Seavey, one of the writers on Mightygodking, wrote a response to what happened, titled “From the “How To Be A Decent Human Being” File….” In it he decried Tosh’s response to the woman, and basically lay down that freedom of speech or not, threatening someone sexually is not something you ever do.

I talked to Gordon about this yesterday, and not to turn this into another “Evan and Gordon Talk” post, but I had to add just a little of our conclusion to this one:

[after agreeing that probably no one in the audience actually took Tosh’s words “seriously.”]

EVAN: I mean, I guess we can both be on the level that to at least one member involved, Tosh, it was not a threat.

GORDON: Agreed. You also promised to crap in my bed. [I will not deny this -E.]

EVAN: Valid, but 1/5 of all Gordons don’t have their beds crapped in.

Similar to my first post on the word, there are those out there who believe that this is all a matter of sensitivity. Comedians like Louis C.K. have defended Tosh‘s right to free speech. Others on the internet have taken more creative avenues to back up the “rape joke” that was made [warning for language and content]:


The video, for those who don’t feel like or want to watch it, is a press conference with the character “F-ck Bot 5000.” He answers that rape jokes are off limits, while jokes about “9/11,” “dead babies,” and “making fun of autistic children” are perfectly acceptable. The point being, from what I can tell, that people are being overly sensitive about a particular buzzword, but letting these other topics slide completely.

Then, of course, there’s the whole “legitimate rape” thing. On August 19th Todd Akin, Republican nominee for the state of Missouri Todd, told KTVI-TV that “First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Now I’m no Biology major, but I have friends who are, and none of them can back up his claims. His words have, of course, created quite the uproar on the internet. Jezebel compiled a very thorough “Official Guide to Legitimate Rape,” which compiles the ways in which the word and act have been portrayed in past years. I strongly recommend checking it out.

Finally, game designer James Desborough wrote a post this past June entitled “In Defence of Rape.” After admitting that the title is instigative at best, he, and this is a direct quote, states “Rape or attempted rape is a f-cking awesome plot element, one of many.”

Gordon and I talked about this one as well, and the issue is, at the heart of his argument, not wrong. The gist of what he’s saying is [and I quote Gordon] “Look, rape can be an effective and powerful storytelling element, so long as it isn’t trivialized.” And that’s not something I can disagree with.

What I can disagree with is his statement that “I’m not prepared to take spurious claims about ‘rape culture’ etc at face value without something substantive to back them up.” It’s one that he uses to defend his argument, lumping “rape culture” in with the “‘all men are bastards’ argument.” I don’t see what can be more substantive than the gigabytes of rape porn on the internet. I mean, it’s not like it’s hiding or anything. If some weirdo gets off on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo then that’s one instance, but the people creating rape porn for a very large audience is not.

Rape is, as ever, a hotly debated issue. While we can always say that people are being too sensitive, the fact is that it is a very real, legitimate act that happens more than once a minute. It’s not something to be made light of, and especially not something to “jokingly threaten” someone with. It is also not something that can simply be thrown around in speech without strong knowledge of what’s being talked about.

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Posted in Comedy, internet, language, pornography, sex

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Evan and Gordon Talk: Hipster Racism

Posted on August 29, 2012 by | 5 comments

GORDON: Welcome back, ladies, gentlemen, and persons who defy conventional gender roles, to another edifying episode of Evan and Gordon Talk. Our topic for tonight: Hipster Racism.

Evan- if you’ll offer a quick definition.

EVAN: Uh, I’m going to leave you to that, actually. Gordon sent me this link to check out, and the bit about “hipster racism” is actually quite short [appearing at about 00:00]. The speaker, China Miéville, had a lot of amazing things to say, and I lost it in there somewhere. [I’ll probably be writing more about the lecture on Friday]

GORDON: Essentially, “Hipster Racism” or “Ironic Racism” are jokes or comedy with traditionally racist content, funny not because they put people down, but funny because of how utterly atrocious and ignorant they are. Similar to a dead baby joke.

The question we’ll be dealing with tonight is this: Is ironic racism still just racism?

EVAN: This strikes a similar chord with a conversation I had with . . . a friend of mine, where he called Arab people “towelheads.”

GORDON: Yikes. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Comedy, Evan and Gordon Talk, media, politics, race

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An Observation, Not Defence, of Community

Posted on November 17, 2011 by | 6 comments

If you consider yourself someone who is quite partial to NBC’s Community, then the following is probably not news to you. Earlier this week the network released their midseason schedule, revealing that the sitcom had been pulled.

For all of the Community-enthusiasts that hadn’t heard, this does not mean that the show is cancelled. thefutoncritic, on Twitter, reported that all 22 episodes of the 3rd season will still be shot and aired. What it does mean, however, is that the returning 30 Rock will own the 8:00 Thursday timeslot at the beginning of next year, with no indication of when Community will be shown.

The question I pose to you, then, is why? Community is one of the hottest new sitcoms out there, with a following that I can only describe as borderline fanatical, so why is it being taken off the air?

I mean, just look at these good lookin’ kids!

There are a variety of reasons, each of which raise its own sets of questions.

The most important, from what I could tell, was ratings. Community‘s first season was ranked #97 in the ’09-’10 Broadcast Primetime Show Average Viewership with 5 million viewers. It dropped 18 places its second season, down to #115, losing half a million views in the process. Suffice to say, the show is not doing well.

The A.V. Club’s Todd VanDerWerff shines some light on the issue by explaining that:

“Community, unlike, say, Parks And Recreation, is in a format that seems to be deliberately polarizing. If you can’t get on its particular wavelength, it’s going to seem a little cold and clinical to you, and the fact that its fanbase can be a little … relentless certainly doesn’t help matters.”

Basically, it’s a show that not everyone can get into. I’ve certainly talked to a fair amount of people who have tried to get into it and reported back that they just couldn’t. This is a phenomenon I can only explain by comparing the show to the study group itself. Being a part of it is fantastic, something that every member can attest to. Trying to become a part of it, however, is a truly daunting challenge [one that character Ben Chang has not yet completed].

Another comparison [apparently the last one wasn’t the only one] can be made between Community and the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Both are loved and have large fanbases, yet one is floundering in rating and the other made only a little over half its budget. These are both works that clearly have a set audience, so maybe therein lies the problem.

Their audiences are too small. Yes, there are thousands of TV watchers who adore [worship] Dan Harmon and his show. A quick perusal of any episode’s review on The A.V. Club’s TV Club is evidence of this. These are fans who are so ardently loyal that they harangue the comments section of The Big Bang Theory (though to be fair, TBBT is not a good show). There are people who are all about this show but maybe there are not enough of them.

Perhaps in this case what Community really needs is a shift from quality to quantity in regards to its fans. If the show drops any lower in ratings you can be sure we won’t be watching the study group graduate from Greendale.

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Family Guy, Nine Years of Testing Our Patience

Posted on September 22, 2011 by | 6 comments

I could have had this post focus on Seth McFarlane’s cartoons, and how they’re the current low point in animation this decade. I could do that, but I won’t. Kyle Evans already did too good a job discussing this in his article “The ‘Art’ of Seth McFarlane“.

What I’m going to be talking about is McFarlane’s debut show Family Guy, known all around North America as the show that challenged, then defeated, The Simpsons.1  While I have watched a great deal of the show [essentially the last eight seasons] I have decided not to begin this upcoming tenth season. What follows is my primary reason for giving up on the show.

I’ve run out of patience. Continue reading →

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