So, to anyone that watched the Vol. 3 finale of Heroes last night...
Jeph Loeb's way to make Sylar scary...is to rip off Saw?
Now, unlike Loeb, I'm not a terriblecomicbookwriter, so I guess I can't really talk about homage vs. outright swiping, but if I may make a suggestion: the next time you want to make your audience feel a real kind of threat from a character, you may want to focus on better characterization, rather than relying on references to a well known movie franchise to provide it for you.
Here's what really pisses me off about the new season of Heroes.
You know Usutu, the African Precog played by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, who though his ability to paint the future helps set Matt Parkman and now it seems Hiro and Ando in the right direction? He's a total abuse of the mystical stock character known as the "Magical Negro".
The white characters come to him looking for answers, and through his magical ability of precognitive painting (and headphones?) he shows them some special insight and sends them along on their way.
He has no past; he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist...He is patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and is "closer to the earth"...Although from a certain perspective the character may seem to be showing African-Americans in a positive light, he is still ultimately subordinate to European-Americans. He is also regarded as an exception, allowing white America to like individual black people but not black culture.
I never was that big a fan of Cedric The Entertainer. The whole "Kings Of Comedy" thing just never appealed to me, though I did understand why people liked Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac and the such.
One of the few times that I that I forced myself to reconsider Cedric was his short lived Fox show "Cedric The Entertainer Presents..."
Cedric was just coming off a string of hits at the time, starting with the 'Original Kings of Comedy' tour in 2000 and running up to the release of 'Barbershop' in 2002. To Fox's credit, this was probably the best time to try Cedric out on network TV with his own sketch show.
"Cedric The Entertainer Presents..." lasted only one season. The show was never able to achieve the level of comedy they were aiming for...instead of the biting satire of Dave Chappelle, they seemed more like the buffoonery of Martin Lawrence. I gave up on it after the first episode.
But that first episode. They were trying something there...
The major problem of the first episode was that they were trying too hard to be "In Living Color" (Fox's early 90s hit sketch show which brought to stardom The Wayens Brothers, Jaimie Fox and Jim Carrey), and not trying hard enough to be anything worth watching. The show was set up with many potential reoccurring characters that would come on screen and offer a witty catch-phrase, and basically have a uni-plot for every skit they were in. Like I said, it was nothing special.
Now, I know I said above that I reevaluated Cedric because of this show. Well, yes...but it was really just for one skit: "Que Hora Es?", the Mexican soap opera for people who only had three weeks of Spanish in the 4th grade.
Looking back at it today, the skit isn't without it's faults. The concept runs a little dry after the second minute in. Some of the jokes seem a little two easy. And I think I would have been more impressed if they were able to make some sort of a plot out of the use of only well-known phrases.
Then again, I guess there is some sort of plot on the screen...dare I call it the Mexican soap opera "uni-plot" as well.
Regardless of it's problems, the skit does bring a smile to my face, and I hope will also bring one to yours.
I don't know about this Ben, Sesame Street seems like the wrong place to promote a movie like "The Cable Guy":
(I think the embedded video was taken down, but here's a link)
I don't know what year this video was, but the fact that The Cable Guy, a very-adult movie Ben Stiller directed, is referenced in the video just makes me feel weird.
Yeah, I know I took forever in between posts...I'm already failing at the goals I set for this blog.
Egh, you'll get over it.
Anyway, I've been doing some top lists for 2007 and I figure now is the best time to debut some of them. (Mostly because I don't feel like writing that Hillary Clinton campaign ad article.) So, here is the first list:
Yeah, shitty graphic and all...the computer I'm doing this on isn't mine and doesn't have photoshop on it...fuck
anyway:
5) Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
The awkwardness of this show turned off a lot of people. To me though, that was what made it near perfect. There was no laugh track, there was no conventions, hell, most of the time there was no plot. It's the same kind of experimenting with the sitcom genre that HBO did last year with "Lucky Louie", except more accessible....and not as much full frontal male nudity. Also the music parodies were spot on:
4) The Sopranos (HBO)
Everyone was talking about that final episode. Yes there's a lot to talk about in it, but even without that abrupt cut to blackness (which had me cursing my cable company...I admit it) the rest of the season was brilliant. Everything from AJ's suicide attempt to Christopher's murder. I think I was more entertained by this season that I was for any previous.
3)Pushing Daisies (ABC)
No, this show wasn't without it's faults (when it leaves it's little make-believe world and strikes pop culture references that are more recent than the works of A.A. Milne I kind of shudder...the Vertigo reference was alright, but the Star Wars reference was a little out of place). They're still trying to figure out the shows voice. But look past that...it's as if Tim Burton created a TV Show. It's incredibly enjoyable and it can only get better.
2)Heroes (NBC)
Remember that the end of season one was in 2007 as well, and I don't think anyone would argue about the quality of that. Yes, Volume Two took off very slowly. Tim Kring apologized for that. Anyway, Volume 2 did get better, and I still looked forward to it every week.
1)South Park (Comedy Central)
Wow, what a season. Think back to earlier this year with that infamous episode where Randy Marsh made it to the final round of Wheel of Fortune. That my friends was gold. What else happened this year...Randy Marsh played World of Warcraft, Randy Marsh took a huge shit...hey, I guess this has been Randy Marsh's year. Also 9/11 conspiracy theories, Lice in a Michael Bay movie, a bomb up Hillary Clinton's snatch, and the awesome Imagination Land Trilogy. South Park strikes gold again.
Also notable this year: The first 6 episodes of the Sarah Silverman Show (the second group of episodes, outside of the blackface one, were really weak), Colbert Report and Daily Show, Weeds, Mythbusters, Frisky Dingo and Robot Chicken. And before people tell me other wise, I work during 30 Rock and The Office so I never get to see it. I need a Tivo.
Next I'll either post the top movies of music, I'm not sure...and hopefully it won't be 3 weeks later.
