Archive: April, 2012
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Too inside television? Yeah, probably. But last night NBC’s smartest sitcoms, Community and 30 Rock, presented the kind of sharp mockery that makes real TV fans drool in their popcorn.
First up, Community with an episode that was a rather brilliant satire of NBC’s long-running crime-and-punishment fable, Law & Order. The sound, the graphics, the narrative style, all faithfully followed Dick Wolf's perennial procedural.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Everyone alright? Good. We made it through hell week on American Idol with minimal damage.
But last night was the type of elimination show that really tries fans’ souls. The filler they are using this season on Idol – Tommy Hilfiger traps the kids in his creepy wardrobe? – has been particularly toxic. Last night there was that massive blowout tribute to prog rock joined at the end by the actual members of Queen who had the bad taste to survive the ‘80s. Then the junket to the TMZ office/studio/bilge pump.
But Idol was just warming up. They brought out some creature who was apparently drawn by Maurice Sendak – wait, that was Casey Abrams? – to introduce last year’s 7th place finisher, Stefano Langone. Wait, it’s just Stefano now? Anyway, he sang his new single. Wait, what was his old single?
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Ah, Queen night on American Idol. Think of it as the desert outside the gates of Quarth on Game of Thrones. It is a Garden of Bones for amateur singers.
You know how many Idol singers have survived Queen night intact? Precisely one. Adam Lambert.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Gladys is not a name you hear much nowadays. You won’t be hearing it at all on Dancing with the Stars after pipless soul giantess Gladys Knight was eliminated in the sixth week of the competition.
It came down to another dance duel, a jive-off if you will, between Knight and Roshon Fegan. The result was probably inevitable when you ask a 67-year-old to compete against a 20-year-old at one of the friskiest dance genres, but it still seemed poignant, following as it did, Motown night, when performers like Smokey Robinson and the Temptations reminded us of how important Gladys’s contributions to R&B have been.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
David Beckham walks into a Burger King. It’s no joke. It’s a commercial. And he orders “one of those new strawberry banana smoovies”. The girl at the counter goes into a romantic swoon. Cue the swelling violin music. Suddenly Beckham, who was casually dressed (was half his shirt untucked? I think it was) is wearing a spectacular suit and he seems to be glowing. The girl sighs, cupping her chin in her hand. In her imagination, he calls her “beautiful”. So far your typical Madison Avenue tripe. Then the commercial takes a hard right turn.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Short prologue just to ensure we’re all on the same screen: Y’all know Kiernan Shipka. She’s Sally Draper, the spooky little girl with daddy issues on Mad Men.
And in this corner we have James Van Der Beek who played the tortured artistic high school soul Dawson on Dawson’s Creek. More recently, in a surprisingly funny turn, Van Der Beek is playing a pompous version of himself on the blistering new ABC comedy Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt. 23.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
For several years I kept a small TV in the kitchen connected to nothing but its own antenna. It picked up a strange array of local signals, including on Saturday mornings, a UHF station that would broadcast Indian Bollywood musicals. I got kind of hooked on them because the music was exotic, the energy was so high and I loved the fact that everyone in the cast, even the older folks, even the villains, jumped enthusiastically into the dance numbers.
Last night, Smash made those Saturday musical matinees look bland. Karen and Dev are out to dinner at an Indian restaurant with Rebecca (Uma Thurman) when Karen falls into this extraordinary reverie.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
I want to get you right to the clip – or in this case, clips – because in my estimation, this may be the funniest minute of TV in, I don’t know, ever?
Quick set up. On 30 Rock, Jack (Alec Baldwin) has developed a line of couches to impress his corporate bosses at Kabletown (read, Comcast). That explains the first spot here using Stacy Keach in a commercial that may remind you (because it’s supposed to) more than a little of Clint Eastwood’s controversial Super Bowl ad for Chrysler.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Here’s the roll call: Stefano Langone, Tim Urban, Lil Rounds, Kristy Lee Cook, Sanjaya Malakar, Ace Young, Anwar Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, Kimberly Caldwell, Ryan Starr.
This is the illustrious club that Colton Dixon joined last night as the 7th place finalist on his season of American Idol. The kid from Murfreesboro, TN, took the results quite well, vowing to put all he learned in Idol to good use when he makes his record.
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Jonathan Frid, a distinguished stage actor who enjoyed his greatest success in a campy soap opera, passed away this week.
Frid, a Canadian native with an MFA from Yale University, zoomed to fame as Barnabas Collins, the vampire on the afternoon soap opera Dark Shadows which was a sensation in the late ‘60s. Here is a scene from 1967, the year Frid joined, and took over the show.
