Mike & Molly rebounded from a particularly fat joke free episode with last night's "First Christmas," in which the plump lovebirds shared, well, their first Christmas, while their friends and family members lobbed unfunny size-ist insults at them. Don't you just love sitcom holidays? Let's review the awful zingers.
Last night, Gwyneth Paltrow stunned Conan O'Brien and his audience by joking about how she taped back her male genitalia for her impressive CMA performance. Elsewhere, Ricky Gervais laughed at his mother's funeral, Andy Richter obsessed over the Kardashians, and Mark Wahlberg met Justin Bieber.
Having thus far weathered their age difference, a nubile roommate and his meddling parents, the romance between Desperate Housewives' Bree and Keith (played by Marcia Cross and Brian Austin Green) next will be tested by the arrival of the handyman's ex-girlfriend.
It's easy to lump together the year's best TV: The finest dramas teemed with catastrophic violence and incomprehensible human loss; the best comedies jutted with madcap fun and frankness. The ten best episodes of 2010 are all unforgettable -- in fact, they're difficult to rank -- but there's no doubting the power of their characters, timing, and place in our continued "golden age" of television.
A strange thing has happened over at 30 Rockefeller Plaza during this season of Saturday Night Live: Bill Hader has usurped Kristen Wiig as SNL's go-to cast member. Oh, sure, Wiig has had her fair share of sketches this season, but it's becoming increasingly evident that the Man Who Plays Stefon has put the show on his back. Hader wasn't number one on the Revelancy Poll this weekend, however, but it's a rare week when he does not appear in the top-five. For reference, this is not one of those weeks.
Kate Gosselin joined Sarah Palin on her show Temptation Yukon (AKA Sarah Palin's Alaska) last night, and the bleary-eyed TLC vet sent a message to the Palin family with a single stare: "This is what you want, Sarah? A reality show? I have a reality show, and I am downtrodden. I am a seething divorcee with a haircut like a circular saw. I am a sack of quilted vests. You don't want to do this, Annie Oakley. Get out while you can. Use your optimism to fly away. Move quickly. Or I'll crash this floatplane with all of us in it. Ahehe! Oh, let me." Let's review.
The Good Wife is about to poke a little fun at The Social Network. A meta-ish episode of the CBS legal drama slated to air in February will revolve around Patric, a "sincere, shy, and unremarkable suburban kid in sandals and a hoodie" whose website has made him a fortune. The problem?
Quinton Aaron, who portrayed destined NFL star Michael Oher in the 2009 sports biopic The Blind Side, has been recruited by The CW's One Tree Hill for a guest-starring role, Movieline has learned exclusively. In this season's 14th episode, Aaron will play Tommy, a student in Nathan's (James Lafferty) business class who is singled out by Professor Kellerman (Peter Reigert) for being an athlete. As such, Tommy goes on to form a bond with former hoops star Nathan.
Poor Paul Rudd. Last time he hosted SNL, his performance was overshadowed by musical guest Beyoncé (and her "Single Ladies" sketch with Justin Timberlake). This time Rudd had to compete with a Beatle. After a very slow start, the Paul Rudd-hosted edition of SNL recovered into one of the most memorable but wildly unbalanced episodes of the season. Let's be clear: Rudd did a fine job, but this was Paul McCartney's episode. Not only did McCartney appear in three different sketches, the former Beatle got four -- four! -- musical segments: Performing "Jet," "Band on the Run," a "Day in the Life"/"Give Peace a Chance" hybrid and "Get Back." So, how was the rest of the show that didn't involve McCartney singing? On to the scorecard!
From Tracy Jordan's "serious actor" on 30 Rock to Busy Philipp's blond sorority girl on Cougar Town, this week was actually a success for stereotypes everywhere -- in that television writers found clever ways to spin yesterday's generalizations. Well, except for those story editors working on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills -- they still have some work to do.
I'm well aware that there are approximately three hours of Saturday Night Live programming yet to air in 2010, so a best-of for the year might be a tad premature. Nevertheless! Here are the 10 best Saturday Night Live sketches of 2010. I promise, though, that if anything extraordinary happens in the Paul Rudd or Jeff Bridges hosted episodes -- which is quite likely, actually -- I'll update this list accordingly.
The Closer's seventh season will be its last, TNT announced on Friday. The tough call was made by series star Kyra Sedgwick, who has earned both Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her portrayal of Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. "I cannot fathom how difficult it will be to say goodbye to the incredible family we've created on The Closer," Sedgwick said in a statement.
30 Rock arrived bearing a gift last night (just in time for Liz Lemon's yuletide spent aboard a bus to Whitehaven): a cavalcade of the show's finest guest stars, including Alan Alda, Elaine Stritch, Will Forte, and Elizabeth Banks. That's delightful already, but Movieline believes no such assemblage of characters is worthwhile without declaring a winner. After much debate, we have our choice for last night's best guest performance. Take heed, Emmy voters.
Earlier this week when Chelsea Handler received press attention for calling Angelina Jolie a homewrecker during her stand-up routine, the E! hostess claimed that her digs weren't anything new. "I've been making fun of Angelina Jolie since she made out with her brother! [...] If I've learned anything from this, it's to write some new jokes." In an effort to substantiate this claim, Movieline dug through some of Chelsea Handler's stand-up archives -- where instead of any other incriminating Jolie-related material -- we uncovered one vintage gem of a then baby-faced Handler.
There was a bit of debate between critics on Twitter after last night's Community about whether or not comedy series should be judged on the amount of laughs they draws from viewers. In short: Yes, they should, but that doesn't mean a comedy always has to LOLz-funny to succeed. Coming on the heels of "Mixology Certification," it looks like Community is finally learning that lesson.
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