Author: mjmadaio

Holy crikeys that Old Navy commercial using Young MC’s classic rap “Bust a Move” is friggin annoying. I’m boycotting Old Navy until that’s off the air.

Is it just me or did the O.C. really suck tonight? (Except, obviously, for the Julie Cooper 80’s-rock fest.)

First off, I’m really getting tired of this Sandy-Kirsten Cohen are fallible humans crap — it’s completely unrealistic and out of character for both of them to have these crises of faith, and the fact that they just so happened to occur one right after the other is preposterous. (Ok, Ok, so anyone who watches this show can’t expect realism, but this is pushing things a bit too far.)

Normally I can’t get enough of Seth acting like a complete idiot, but the whole “hiding his relationship with Ms. Young” thing just seemed lifeless. The concept was typical, but it just wasn’t really handled like the Seth we know and love.

Bottom line is that I normally can’t think of anything better than an episode of The O.C. that features a raging party, but tonight just fell a bit flat.

At least Tru Calling is picking up, despite any attempts from Brandon Walsh to bring it down. (And, none other than the Old 97s in the background of one scene!)

Don’t get me wrong, this was a good show. It was entertaining, especially at the beginning, well written, acted and produced. I would rarely say anything that provided so much entertainment and laughter for so many people didn’t make the world a better place, but quite frankly the negative effects of this particular show, which are as strong as ever at this very moment, far outweight the postive forces that it, at one time, projected.

The simplest explanation for my feelings is that Carrie Bradshaw is a horrible, vapid person. Merely floating along between meaningless relationships and shoe purchases, Bradshaw had little to sustain her trite life. (That this woman gets paid to write for a living ventures into the realm of science fiction.) I’m not one to preach the virtues of true love or anything sappy like that, but Carrie’s inability to carry on a normal relationship with pretty much anyone further illustrated both her own (and the show’s) inadequacies.

Having disasterously bad humans in a TV show is nothing new — George Costanza, a prime example, is one of the most appalling people ever created, yet he provides nothing but hilarity for Seinfeld watchers. This is because nobody wants to be George Costanza — we just want to laugh at him. Carrie, on the other hand, has somehow become a character that many women emulate. To recap: A dumb, unsubstantial woman who has very little of consequence to offer to the world has become a role model for thousands of women.

Early in the series, my contention could have been disputed by simply stating that all the characters represented the extremes of female individuality, a fair argument at the time. But, as time went on, each character found a man to rely on, and seemed to act as if their rebellous indivuality was merely a phase or a stop along the path to a man’s side. Hardly Girl Power. Samantha, an equally horrible person on the surface, at the very least played to her individual rebellousness throughout the series, that is, until she too (in the last season) gave it all up for a man. (A far better ending would have seen the girls stick with each other and not to any man — this at least would have validated the original premise. Again, see Seinfeld for the blueprint.) I must admit that my bitterness towards the show has selfish motives as well — the industry I work in does deal with fashion on a regular basis, and if i hear one more trend compared to Sex “in” the City, I may barf. How is it that this show has been gone for two years and we still can’t come up with any new fashion trends? It may be because all the fashion movers and shakers out there who should be flaunting their own individuality are instead stuck chasing after the nothingness that is Carrie Bradshaw.

Sesame Street announced last week that, as part of an ongoing story arc, Cookie Monster will learn about healthy eating through a song called “A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food”. More details from CNN…

Everyone who grew up with Sesame Street seems to have the same reaction to this news — absolute shock. I certainly felt the same way — how can Cookie Monster not be, well, Cookie Monster? The more I think about it, however, the more I realize that health education in this country is disasterously bad, and that any improvement to that will be a good step towards fixing our obesity problem.

Obviously, this problem runs far, far deeper than Sesame Street, but if we put our feelings of nostalga aside, it’s clear that teaching children about eating healthy at an early age can only have a positive influence. Let’s just hope that the writers don’t try to focus on faddy low carb dieting and instead focus on strategies for long term healthy living: whole grains, fruits & vegetables, and fish.

I caught the first two eps on Bravo over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. As a huge fan of the BBC original, I had extremely low expectations, especially after the flat out disaster that was the US version of Coupling.

The biggest difference for me is that “Michael” is not nearly as horrible as David Brent — he’s funny and obviously a bad person, but he doesn’t make you quite as uncomfortable as Brent did on a regular basis. Perhaps this will improve in the future, but Brent had it down from the beginning. I do have to say, though, that most of the actors do a pretty good job with the subtle comedy. I haven’t really bought into the Gareth/Dwight character yet, but otherwise I like pretty much everyone.

“Diversity Day” was a nice touch — clearly took a page from the training day episode (my all time favorite), but didn’t follow it too closely. Gone was Brent on guitar, easily the funniest moments of the original show. Good for them though — if they had tried to duplicate the original, it never would have worked. They “Americanized” the concept well, bringing in a beautifully bad Chris Rock impression from Michael and some other quality inappropriate comments that US audiences should appreciate.

I doubt it will ever be as good as the BBC version, but I’m definitely going to keep watching.

I’ve really soured on Desperate Housewives over the past few weeks. At first, it was so fresh and interesting, and even though watching it was a direct challenge to my masculinity, I couldn’t get enough. Lately, however, it really hasn’t been able to keep my attention. Tonight I tried to watch, but the Lynette / Deaf Friend plotline did nothing for me at all. Even watching the Bosox get whooped by TFY (The F_cking Yankees) was more enthralling. The whole conspiracy involving Mary Alice/Angela has really taken a backseat to the random worries of bored housewives, which isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I haven’t removed it from my TiVo season pass yet though — perhaps it’ll pick back up as we approach sweeps.

Gray’s Anatomy, on the other hand, has quickly filled the void as my Sunday night go-to show. Medical dramas come and go (far too often, in fact), but the young factor here is what really makes this go. It’s the closest thing we’ll ever get to “The O.C.” in a hospital. The characters are great, especially the bitchy Christina (Sandy Oh) and Nicole from Old School, who’s intoxicating smile alone makes the show worth watching. Plus, a little Patrick Dempsey never hurt anyone. (Just don’t order a pizza with extra anchovies.)