Do You Like to Watch?

For those of you paying attention, two Sunday ago Aqua Teen Hunger Force listed Veronica Billingsley as the voice of stripper Dusty Gonzagas. Kids in the Hall fans will be happy to know that Scott Thompson performed Veronica's voice.

Also, apparently, the Big Reveal show of Last Comic Standing 3 got bumped off of NBC and put onto Comedy Central, but nobody knows the details of when the show will air. LCS Fans were treated with Father of the Pride, in its place. Don't worry, the official Last Comic Standing website announces that Alonzo Bodden was the winner, which is kind of sad for me. I think that there were better comics out there, but Alonzo had the best set on the finale, and that's all we can go on. I think the crowd hadn't been properly warmed for the first few comics, so that made it extra tough. By the time Alonzo took stage, they were ready to laugh. Personally, I think Dave Mordal from Season 1 should have won. He was the sleeper this season and he came up through the ranks to beat LCS1's champ Dat Phan and Ralphie May, both of whom haven't given an outstanding set since I've been watching. Oh well, on to the real post.

My work schedule prohibits me from being a TV devotee, as I'm getting home well after 9:00 pm. However, through the means of what I like to call "delayed TiVo," I don't have to miss the shows I like. Here are some new shows that caught my attention:

1. The Venture Brothers
2. Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
3. Desperate Housewives

The Venture Brothers was created by Chris McCullough, a former writer for The Tick animated series and the short-lived live action show. Ten episodes into the series, I believe it is one of the strongest performers in the Adult Swim line up. It's a like double parody of Jonny Quest and the Hardy Boys, and you'll be hard pressed to find a better parody. It stars Patrick Warburton as the voice of Brock Samson and has already seen Stephen Colbert as a guest voice. It's tough to pick out any one thing that makes this show funny. It could be the twin brothers who, despite having the show named after them, do nothing substantial and are complete idiots. It might be they way the super arch-enemies adhere to protocol in their evil doings and their casual life. Maybe it's Patrick Warburton's hilarious deadpan delivery. Across the board, though, this show is the most watchable thing on television, I think.

Drew Carey's Green Screen Show is a spin off of Whose Line is it Anyway?... oh, whoops, that's not the WLIIA site... I don't know what that is... let me see here it is. Anyway, if you like Whose Line, statistics show that you probably won't like Green Screen. I have no idea why. The show mixes the classic improvisation with supplemental animation added later. I love Improv, and I'd love to be in an Improv troupe some time. The Green Screen Show is just like Whose Line, without Ryan Stiles or Wayne Brady, but it still has Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops and many other frequent cast members. What many people fail to realize, is that Colin was the real gem in Whose Line. Ryan is funny, but needs Colin for a lot. Wayne is like a snowball, and is just popular for being Wayne. Green Screen gives the other members a chance to shine, without the crowd catering too much to Ryan or Wayne. The animation did not at all hurt the direction of the show. I believe it works, because you really don't notice it after a while. Animators do a spectacular job providing environments, costumes, and props later on. The biggest issue with Green Screen are the two words preceding it, "Drew Carey" (we're leaving off the apostrophe and the 's' to save space). I liked Drew's role in Whose Line because he was off to the side, not performing improv except at the end, and just laughing. On Green Screen, he's on the stage like everyone else, performing improv, and still laughing. I don't think he's as quick-witted as other cast members, either. But, after watching the show, if he didn't get up on stage, he would just be a producer. Still, this show has a lot of potential, assuming it can beat back the fans of Whose Line, who are this show's biggest critics.

Desperate Housewives is not the show I thought it was going to be. The name conjured up pictures of a trashy, Melrose Place-y show where adultery was rampant. Instead, it's a very funny show that casts the nuances of women in many different lights. As someone I work with put it, "It's quirky." I didn't think I'd be sitting down to watch it on Sunday night, but I am. I think it deserves a watch from you.

All in all, I'm surprised by what each show has delivered. I had just about given up on TV, but now... I like to watch.