It’s officially springtime, folks! If you’re anything like us, you may or may not have exploited the, “I can’t come out tonight, it’s too cold outside” excuse to hole up all winter and indulge in Downton Abbey and Community marathons, and now you’re ready to face the spring warmth as a social butterfly. But what should you do with the vast, invaluable TV knowledge you acquired over your Netflix hibernation period? Throw a party, of course! But not just any party — a Mad Men or Freaks and Geeks-style bash. We brought you movies and albums that would make great party themes, and now we’ve gathered ten TV shows that will similarly get the party started.
The day has come, Community fans. After three months of cruel hiatus, Greendale reopens its doors to the best study group in the history of television. There are a lot of things we’ve missed since Dan Harmon, et al, took the piss out of Glee in a typically wonderful Christmas special: Jeff’s arrogance, Dean Pelton’s randomness, Britta’s, well, britta-ing everything she touches. But perhaps what we’ve longed for most is the heartwarmingly dorky, ridiculously culturally literate friendship between Danny Pudi’s Abed and Donald Glover’s Troy. In fact, we’re so inspired by the pair that we’ve rounded up the ten greatest comedy duos on TV right now. Let us know who you’d add to the list in the comments.
Last night on Saturday Night Live, Jonah Hill returned to his hosting duties to somewhat mixed results. To our minds, Hill was a little underused, or maybe used in the wrong way — he was too often the straight man and not let off the leash enough. And while he broke a little too often, we found it more charming than awkward, which isn’t always the case. Plus, the Shins were predictably wonderful as musical guest, and there was one instance of the most advanced makeup we’ve ever seen on the show (even if the skit it appeared in was wildly uncomfortable). Click through to watch the best and worst sketches of the night, and let us know how you thought Jonah Hill did in the comments.
Poor Jonah Hill. It seems like anyone wants to talk about when he comes up these days is the fact there’s suddenly a lot less of him. We still cringe when we recall Billy Crystal serenading him with “if you lose, I think that you should know, that there’s cupcakes after the show,” at the Oscars. Anyway, if you’re like us, then you’ll be happy that there’s no mention of Hill’s weight loss in the promos for his upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live, just some effortless back and forth with his Superbad co-star Bill Hader. This should be a nice palate cleanser after Ms. Lohan’s painful struggle with the cue cards last week, right? We’ve got but one request: please let there be a sketch where Taran Killam gets to break out his killer Michael Cera impression.
Lindsay Lohan is hosting Saturday Night Live for the fourth time this weekend, with Jack White as the musical guest. She reportedly approached Lorne Michaels directly to land the gig in an apparent attempt at image rehab through sketch comedy.
Here’s the thing: I actually like Lindsay. I’m rooting for her to wow us. Remember the Parent Trap remake? Or Mean Girls? Or even Freaky Friday? Before she became notorious for what she was doing off-screen as opposed to on, Lindsay was quite the budding actress. A likeable redhead with a husky voice, kind of like a pre-Emma Stone Emma Stone.
And while these promos aren’t bad at all (especially the whole dig at the tabloids), what I find myself focusing on is how overly made-up and old she looks. Lindsay is only 25 years old, but it’s like she suddenly became her mother Dina overnight. Will she be able to drop the whole crazy vanity thing in order to, you know, actually be funny? Remember, this is the woman who at one time, wasn’t afraid to be seen looking like this. Watch and let us know what you think in the comments.
As longtime fans of Bill Hader’s Stefon character on Saturday Night Live, you can only imagine how excited we were to come across these illustrations inspired by the wildly fabulous hot spots that the Weekend Update city correspondent frequents over on Splitsider. Among our favorites, Danielle MacIndoe’s colorful take on Ounce, a club located in the middle of the East River that boasts “cholos, puke people, a sheepdog that looks like Bruce Vilanch, and an entire room of puppets doing karate…It’s that thing where someone calls Miss Piggy fat and she goes, ‘High ya!’” Head over to Splitsider for more fantastic visual odes to all things Stefon, from human bathmats to Gizblow the Coked-Up Gremlin.
1. Hooray! Stephen Colbert will resume taping his show tonight after taking some time off last week to reportedly care for his 91-year-old mother. “My family and I would like to thank everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers,” he tweeted to fans. “We are grateful and touched by your concern.” [via ArtsBeat]
2. Even though she doesn’t have any current projects to promote, Lindsay Lohan will be hosting Saturday Night Live on March 3rd; apparently she reached out to Lorne Michaels directly to book the gig, which we’re assuming is an attempt at some much-need image rehab. [via PopWatch]
3. Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds’ Training-Day-meets-Bourne action flick Safe House duked it out with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum’s sappy memory-loss romance The Vow for the top spot of the Presidents’ Day weekend box office; in fact, at this point it’s still too close to call. Meanwhile, sitting pretty in third place: Nicolas Cage’s sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which made $22 million. [via Moviefone]
4. Fans of Community and Doctor Who will be thrilled to hear that there’s really going to be an Inspector Spacetime web series; the only question is when the first webisode of the parody show within the show will air. [via io9]
5. Alexander Payne, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (The Descendants), and Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) scored the major wins at last night’s Writers Guild of America Awards; view the full list of winners here.
Maya Rudolph returned to Saturday Night Live last night for her first time as host and put on a fantastic, cameo-filled episode that (happily) relied heavily on her many talents. In fact, there really weren’t any skits at all that we thought were terrible, which is almost unheard of for SNL. We even didn’t completely hate last night’s iteration of “What’s Up With That?,” which may be a first for us, and a particular stretch considering it included Bill O’Reilly. The only slight downside was that the forceful presence of Rudolph left almost nothing for any of the other women on the show to do — though that’s a price we were willing to pay for such a strong, consistent show. Click through to watch the best and worst skits from last night’s Saturday Night Live, and let us know if you agree or think we’re crazy in the comments.
It’s rare that we’re excited about both the host and the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, but this week’s double bill of Maya Rudolph and Sleigh Bells (whose fantastic new album is streaming here, by the way) feels like it was hand selected by Mr. Lorne Michaels just for us. Rudolph is as charming as always in these promos, especially in the moments where it feels like she and Andy Samberg are improvising things a bit. And is it just us, or do you suddenly want a T-shirt that says “Meatloaf!” too? It’s probably just us. Anyway, click through to watch the clip, and let us know in the comments if there are any Rudolph classics that you’re hoping to see her resurrect.
On last night’s Saturday Night Live, a very nervous Zooey Deschanel hosted a very spotty show, with a few high points and a few (if you can believe it this far into the season) new lows. Deschanel tried her best, and opened with a cute song, but after a while her constant half-ironic voice got a little old, and when the time came for the show to make fun of her, we were totally ready for it. Maybe that was the plan all along? Either way, she was still a much better host than she could have been, and didn’t even blink an eye when introducing what might be the most awkward musical guest in recent memory, for which we give her credit. Click through to watch the best and worst skits of the night, and let us know if you agree (or plead your case for your favorites) in the comments.
