Its that time of year again.
A time full of hope and promise.
A time when dreams can be crushed by a judgmental populace.
No, I'm not talking about the upcoming elections. I'm talking about the new television season.
Each year the networks roll out their "best" offerings for us to view and love/discard as we see fit.
For every new phenomenon like last year's
Revenge, the dusty beach of pop culture is littered with the skeleton frames of burned out shows like
Are You There, Chelsea?, Pan Am and
The Playboy Club.
With the emergence of "reality" television as the prevailing norm across the broadcast spectrum, finding smart, funny and/or dramatic television becomes harder and harder each year. Based on what I've seen so far, 2012 is off to a wobbly start at best.
I've watched two episodes of
The New Normal and I'm already ready to bail.
Guys With Kids suffers because of its laugh track. I'll laugh when I think something is funny Jimmy Fallon. Kinda like you on SNL.
I've enjoyed
Go On so far, but I still see "Goon" everytime the title graphic is displayed.
The new season began in earnest last night with the return of NBC's aging "Must See TV' Thursday night. We enter the final season of
The Office and I hope they let loose and throw it all at the wall for the rest of the year. Likewise, we are in the final lap for
30 Rock and, sadly,
Community.
That leaves us with
Parks and Recreation as next year's cornerstone.
And that brings us to this week's cheesecake. Please say hello to Rashida Jones who stars as Ann Perkins on the aforementioned
Parks & Rec.
Ms. Jones is a Hollywood scion, the daughter of
Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton of
Mod Squad fame.
In addition to her work on
Parks & Rec, Ms. Jones has appeared in
The Office, The Social Network, The Muppets, Freaks and Geeks, Wilfred and, of course, as Paul Rudd's
VERY understanding fiance in
I Love You, Man.
But Ms. Jones isn't just some Hollywood celebretard. She's a geek of the highest order. In fact, she has described herself as a "straight-up nerd ... I had a computer with floppy disks and a dial-up modem before it was cool." She attended Harvard and studied pre-law before the OJ Simpson trial drove her to the dramatic arts.
Thanks Juice.
Ms. Jones' latest project is
Celeste and Jesse Forever, for which she wrote the screenplay.
The movie has opened to good early reviews and would seem to indicate that Ms. Jones has some tricks still up her sleeve.
Let's hit the links.
British theater uses ninjas to silence noisy patrons.
Seven steps to raising a geek child.
The five worst Godzilla movies of all time.
Breaking Bad meets American Gothic.
The ten craziest villains in comics.
Seven things you may not realize you are sharing on Facebook.
Band tattoos that should never have been willingly inked.
Jennifer Aniston...pregnant?
Apparently Costa Rica is riddled with Hobbits.
Charles Manson sends Marilyn Manson some prison mail
Joan Jett – LIVE! – ‘Bad Reputation’ (from ‘Urgh, A Music War!’ doc)
Macolm in the Middle cast reunites...asks Bryan Cranston NOT to cook.
And finally, CM Punk's nostalgic reign and the art of the Dusty Finish.
