how i met your mother

say, what would be a good show to end the tv series run for now? i don’t know? maybe one of the best shows on the screen at this time? you think i’m joking? i’m dead serious. in fact, i’m so serious, i’m gonna proof this with science!*

how i met your mother is currently in it’s third season and hasn’t lost a bit in quality yet. the show is a running gag for itself, since it is about Ted Mosby in the future, telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. of course, this has to be a long story, since the show has to go on and on and right now i don’t care who he will meet and when as long as HIMYM continues in being a great thing to watch.

what makes this show so unique is the perfect mix of an extremely good cast, perfect punchlines and awesome stories. how i met your mother is not quite the short story you may think, but a story full of totally unrelated events in the life of 30-year-old Ted. there even is this one episode about Ted’s parents where he asked his father: “hey dad, how did you and mom meet?” “at the bar.” “wait, what? no that can’t be all? one day i will have children and i’m going to tell them the whole story!”.

Ted lives with his best friends Lily (Alyson Hannigan, best known for playing Willow in Buffy and for having a thing for flutes) & Marshall in New York. and of course, there’s Ted’s wingman Barney Stinson – played by Neil Patrick Harris. Yes, THE Neil Patrick Harris. Dougie fucking Howser. Barney dedicades his whole life in picking up women anywhere, anytime and under any circumstances. and by that he is pretty successfull at times and often goes extreme lengths. still he has yet to find out how to do it while windsurfing at the same time.

the last one to be introduced from the main picture above is Robin Scherbatsky, the girl Ted falls in love with but only becomes a good friend. she’s cool and all but she just isn’t ready for the thing that Ted is after: marriage and kids.

with this setup, how i met your mother is about Ted dating various woman in hopes to find the one lady who will settle down with him. as i said, i hope that’s not anytime soon, because the show could go on like this forever.

so far, there have been many, many great episodes and it would not be right to continue to think of reasons to write “awesome” and “legendary”, so i just put up some how i met your mother stuff for your enjoyment.

if you haven’t seen how i met your mother yet, i would highly recommend to get hold of the show. if words can’t seduce you, then maybe some quotes and youtube videos can!

the it crowd (uk)

almost at the end of the tv series for now, only a few shows left. such as the it crowd.

a show about computer nerds (or geeks) working in the it departement of a company that you don’t quite know what their product is. you’d think there would be plenty of material, but the first two seasons only had 6 episodes each. i still have to consider if this was a good or bad thing. but first things first..

the series follows Roy and Moss as the only two computer guys located in the cellar of a big company. in the pilot, they get a new manager in the form of Jen who has absolutely no clue at all about computer thingies. Jen managed to get her job only because the company boss Denholm has in fact even less knowledge. starting to work with the guys, Jen soon finds out that geeks require very careful handling and are not the easiest guys to socialize with.

and that’s maybe what the show is about: geeks in social context, not geeks and their IT work - there probably wouldn’t be enough audience for such a show. that’s not to say that there aren’t computer related references in the show, but you will get most of the jokes either way i guess. for example the running gag when answering the phone by Roy is: “hello IT?…….. have you tried turning it on and off again? …….. is it plugged in?…………” doesn’t take an expert to laugh about, but still remains funny.

still, for a real nerdy experience i recommend the dvd version, complete with l33t subtitles! hard to watch at times, but *omg* did i *rofl* when Denholm g0t pwn3d! the subtitles of one episode were encrypted for example… i’m sure, if you encrypt them the result would be amusing… but i’m not that much of a nerd.*

now the it crowd has a huge bonus for being a british series because i love the dialect (see jekyll) and also, it was pretty hilarious at times. in fact, there were many great moments and the first six episodes (the first season) were great. also, parts of season 2 were great, but already lacking something. it wasn’t that original any more, some of the 20 minutes felt like they even had to stretch what material they had left and some things just weren’t funny.

the best two episodes i could remember now would be the episode featuring Richmond in season 1 and “cooking class” with a german in season 2. Richmond turns out to be another co-worker of Roy and Moss in the cellar, only that they keep him hid in a seperate room (most probably the server room). Richmond once was a successfull manager at the company but his discovery of the music of Cradle Of Filth turned him into a goth who is depressing everyone else around him. very funny episode, all the Richmond scenes were awesome. maybe the show could have needed a bit more of him. and in my opinion it was a huge mistake to replace the boss of the company after the first season with his “son”, Denholm was by far the better character.

some things may sound a bit negative but maybe i had to high expectations – the it crowd is still a huge recommendation. also it’s short so if you don’t like it you haven’t lost that much time!

according to wikipedia there is/was a localized version planned for the US, but it seems as if that hangs in the balance. but: a localized version for german speaking audiences is already in production, featuring Sky du Mont as the boss. as you may recall from my “the office” article, i’m not a huge fan of localized versions, but i will give the it crowd (US) and the it crowd (DE) a try if they ever come to the screen.

i’ll let you know!

small facts:

* if you know the solution, you have to tell me! i command you! obey!

Dropped in: tv series around at 06:10

weeds

a series about a drug dealer? are you kidding me? at first, i was very skeptical, but that is probably because i am a huge opponent of drugs in real life. never did. never will. have enough experience with people who did since a frightening long time. but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the career of a widowed white lady that earns her money by selling weed, can’t you?

Weeds follows the life of Nancy Botwin, her career choice after her husband died and how she tries to manage the rest of the family: her two sons Silas and Shane and Andy, the younger brother of her husband.

the show is full of great characters and hypocrites and brings every aspect you could think of the life of drug dealers to the screen – this includes aquiring customers, fincancing, rivalry, drive-bys, growing, selling and federal agencies (DEA). in a very nice contrast, the show is settled in an upper-class suburb. all in all the show is comedic with a pretty dark storyline.

although Weeds is very much about drugs it’s also about Nancy desperately trying to run her family, only that not everything goes well and there are huge consequences to her actions and she has to handle a lot of set backs. the spiral of being a drug dealer becomes more and more acute and Nancy is always an the verge of losing it.

also, Weeds goes extreme lenghts in what happens on the screen, not only in swearing, showing nudity and sex and violence, but eventually you see kids doing drugs or selling drugs. not a very family-friendly show to watch.

being in it’s third season, i really started to like Weeds because it’s very well made and always very exciting. the cliffhanger from season 2 to season 3 was probably one of the meanest things the producers could do, only to start into season three with a nice setup for the next episodes.

small facts:

Dropped in: tv series around at 06:10

psych


Shawn Spencer is a psychic. but not just any psychic. he’s a fake one. being raised by a cop, Shawn had a lot training in observing his surroundings and memorizing details. with this ability Shawn tips off the police but because the information he provided was so very detailed they assumed Shawn is involved in the crime. by making a scene in front of a large audience at the police station he manages to convince most of the police staff that he is in fact a psychic.

this action leads to Shawn being hired as a freelance psychic for the police departement. along with his childhood friend Gus they open up their own psychic detective agency.

from this point forward, Shawn constantly has to present all the actual police work he does (gathering background information, checking crime scenes, talking with suspects and victims, …) as mysterious and vague hints pointing to the solution of a crime or the confession of a suspect. makes for some very funny scenes. besides the success rate, head detective Carlton Lassiter is doubting that Shawn is in fact a psychic, although while trying many times he can’t prove anything.

at times, Shawn has to seek help from his father, who he has a troubled relationship with, because Henry wanted Shawn to become a policeman himself, still, they care for each other and Henry is not telling the police that his son is not a real psychic.

there are many funny pop-culture references featured and a few great cameo appearances, for example Tim Curry, Kevin Sorbo, Gina Gershon (clearly as Paula Abdul :D) or Lou Diamond Phillips.

although the episodes are about crimes and solving them with a mix of classic police work, luck and a good observation, the show is much more a comedy than a drama series. Psych is very easy going and it’s just fun to watch James Roday play Shawn Spencer with so much lightness. you really can tell that the cast enjoys making the show. and if you can’t tell by the style of the show and the acting, at least you can tell by the psych-out moments at the end of an episode where most of the times, the main cast members gather to sing. they don’t sing that good, but they have fun.

and fun is what it’s all about!

small facts:

Dropped in: tv series around at 06:09

my name is earl

my name is earl. yay, where to start.. simply by stating that i absolutely love the show.

what is it about?
Earl Hickey isn’t someone considered a “good person”, he’s a small time thief with a little less intelligence that would be considered average. but one day (in the pilot to be exact) Earl is winning a 100.000$ in the lottery. only to get hit by a car while freaking out over this win, thus losing the ticket. while being hospitalized he catches an episode of the Carlson Daly show where Daly mentioned that all good things in his life are the direct result of him believing in karma - doing good things so good things will happen to you.

this leads to Earl thinking about his life and how he’s not very much into doing good things. but Earl decides to pull his act together and starts creating a list with all the bad things he has done in life. from this point on, every episode is basically one item on his list. by helping others and correcting past mistakes, “karma” decides to give him his lottery ticket back - a sign to carry on with the good work.

a few examples of list items, taken from imdb.com:

these items often involve other people from earl’s past, some who are grateful for earl trying to help them and some who are very pissed at first because Earl’s action had huge consequences in how their lifes turned out. at the end of the season, Earl usually has a friend more (also to help him with future items), one item to cross of his list and a lesson learned.

Earl is not alone on his mission since his brother Randy is living with Earl. Randy seems slightly mentally retarded because he manages to make Earl look like a harvard professor, but he is helping him with his list. and often, they get support by Earl’s ex-wife Joy who tricked him into marriage while very advanced in pregnancy with the child of another man. then there is Darnell aka Crabman, father to one child of Joy and employee at everybody’s favourite (and only?) pub in town: the crab shack. last, but not least, there is the sexy latina maid* and “exotic dancer“** that goes by the name of Catalina. then there are a lot of extras on the show like an ugly daytime hooker, a gay copy shop worker, a one-eyed mailman, fellow thugs and many more.

what’s special about the show you might ask?
for once, i really like the concept, since i’m a huge fan of karma myself (go karma go!) and also it’s plain hilarious and well written. it’s never boring, there are always more than enough laughs and it even is somewhat educational by showing that actions (and especially being mean) have consequences. the cast is absolutely lovely and so far i didn’t find a thing that adds a negative touch to the series, a definitely 10 out of 10.

season 2 ended with earl getting into prison, much like the end of the second prison break season. this is why i had hopes of the two series being merged together. just kidding. not. that would be most excellent! now season 3 is about earl being imprisoned and having to do stuff behind bars, of course the karma concept is maintained. if you think that brings the show down you’re totally wrong, episode 3 was probably one of the most funniest episodes ever :)

if you haven’t seen it so far, it’s a must! the current season is #3 and i hope that the list will last another few seasons if the quality of this show retains.

small facts:

*, ** yeah, google will love that :D

Dropped in: tv series around at 06:09

 

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