Posted Nov 17th 2009 12:01AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E08) I'm going to just say it right up front: This was the best episode of the season so far, and is neck and neck with the
Leonard Nimoy Christmas episode for title of "best episode ever." Though there were two very distinct stories going on here, they were both hilarious. Too often, when the group is separated, the B plot flounders. However, this week, while Raj, Leonard and Wolowitz in the desert wasn't quite as jaw-dropping as Sheldon grabbing Penny's boob(!), it was pretty damn hilarious.
So, about the desert: Pot cookies. It's amazing to me that something so cliched could end up being so unbelievably funny. While all three of the guys made me laugh, Raj was the real scene-stealer. From his threat to eat all of the lettuce in the world and make his rabbit subjects watch, to the American accent he uses to mock Wolowitz and Leonard, everything that came out of his mouth was pure comic gold.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Adhesive Duck Deficiency
Posted Nov 13th 2009 1:09PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Sports, Industry, Programming, OpEd, Survivor, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Ratings, NCIS, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory
"Did you hear who's going to play during the Super Bowl halftime show?"
"No, who?"
"That's what I just said. Who."
"No, seriously. Which is the band that's going to appear?"
"It's Who."
"I'm not talking proper English. Which band will be on CBS's halftime show on February 7 at Landshark Stadium in Miami?"
"The Who -- you know, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend. 'Tommy, can you hear me?'"
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that!"
Okay, I couldn't resist the nod to Abbott and Costello's
Who's On First. But the fact is that
Sports Illustrated has spread the word that
The Who will star in the Super Bowl big, overblown half-time pageant. This follows the safe pattern the NFL has been employing since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake costume malfunction; that is, stick with classic rock stars who are guaranteed to do their hits and not disrobe. That's why we've had Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and now The Who. All superstar acts, no controversy.
Continue reading CBS plans Super Bowl halftime and... what comes on after the game
Posted Nov 10th 2009 1:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
So last night I sat down for some laughs with the CBS Monday night sitcom lineup. It's a weekly thing I do with my spouse, a chance to get away from the computer screen and just relax for a while. Normally, I relish this time because -- for the most part -- I love 75% of the shows from eight o'clock till
CSI: Miami. (I usually empty the dishwasher during
Accidentally on Purpose, sort of half-watching it because, as I've said before, it's just not working for me.)
Well, it seemed like last night's CBS comedies went off the rails. They strained to be funny, in all the wrong ways. Here are my thoughts, show by show -- including
Accidentally (which I did watch):
Continue reading Monday's CBS sitcoms went off the rails last night
Posted Nov 10th 2009 1:02AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E07) While the actual plot points were different, didn't this episode seem
a lot like last week's? You have Leonard trying to adapt to Penny's outside friends, Raj and Wolowitz marginalized and forced into a weird couples' spat, and Sheldon pretty much carrying the comedy load with his recollections of growing up in Texas.
I'm glad that they're showing Leonard and Penny in an actual relationship and not just finding contrived reasons for them to break up, but as far as relationship storylines go, this was a pretty boring one. I'm kind of on Leonard's side with this one, and believe me, I know how little fights can devolve into something ridiculous, but this whole fight thing was just really shrill and not entertaining.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Guitarist Amplification
Posted Nov 9th 2009 1:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, CSI, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Welcome to our new feature,
TV Squad readers. How well do you know what you think you know about television? Play our little trivia game, Fact or Fiction. We'll state the premise, then tell you the reality, i.e. the fact or the fiction. By the way, if you have ideas for Fact or Fiction, or questions you'd like us to figure out, share with us in the comments.
Fact or Fiction: When Chuck Lorre originally created The Big Bang Theory, the boys were dominated by a nasty neighbor named Katie.
Fact! Chuck Lorre told
Watch magazine's Jim Colluci that a year before
The Big Bang Theory was picked up by CBS, the first pilot had a female character named Katie. She manipulated the guys. "It was like shooting fish in a barrel. It didn't work," Johnny Galecki told Colluci. The problem was that Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard were and are essentially innocents and without maliciousness. The idea of a woman taking advantage of their innocence was not only mean, it wasn't funny. The writers went back to the drawing board -- so to speak -- and, thus, the character of sweet, gentle Penny was born.
Continue reading Fact or Fiction: Big Bang, Brothers & Sisters and CSI
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 12:01AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E06) So Sheldon knows football. That is
amazing. I have no idea if the character of Sheldon was originally conceived as being from Texas, or they just wrote him that way because
Jim Parsons was raised in Houston, but I absolutely love when his Texas comes out. The entire sequence of Sheldon teaching Leonard about football and recounting the time he spent with his father watching games was absolutely the highlight of the episode for me.
As much as I adore the cast, sometimes you just have episodes that are about Sheldon and Jim Parson's performance. If you take that out of this one, nothing really stands out to me too much. I wasn't particularly fond of the Wolowitz/Raj storyline, and Leonard meeting Penny's friends was just bizarre.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Cornhusker Vortex
Posted Oct 31st 2009 10:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Like a stray dog that works his way into your heart, I think I've fallen in love with
The Middle. I didn't want to get so attached, because -- quite frankly -- ABC's track record for sticking with quality shows isn't so great. I'm still mourning
Pushing Daisies. But
The Middle is nothing like
Pushing Daisies, nor does it fall into the quirky, clever mode of other shows that ABC has been promulgating for years.
Ugly Betty is quirky.
Better off Ted is quirky.
Dirty Sexy Money was quirky. Quirky's the word.
Continue reading My Big Bang theory: The Middle's Brick is another Sheldon
Posted Oct 30th 2009 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The candy manufacturers had better watch out, because as Halloween is approaching, TV shows have been coming up with their own candies, inspired by some of the more colorful, interesting characters. Take a look at this list, and see which are treats and which are tricks. And, listen, tell us what kind of candy your favorite TV characters might inspire!
8. How I Met Your Mother - Robin Scherbatsky's Canadian corn
Oh, Canada. Slutty pumpkins aside, Robin had to convince her American friends that Canada not only celebrates Halloween, but Canadian corn is the best Halloween candy ever. That's right, Canadian corn. It's like candy corn, only it's orange on the top and white on the bottom. It also tastes like pancakes because it isn't made with corn syrup; it's made with maple syrup.
Continue reading Eight TV character-inspired Halloween candies
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 10:03AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The geek-friendly guest stars just keep rolling into
Big Bang Theory central ...
Battlestar Galactica's
Katee Sackhoff will appear in the Nov. 23 episode of the CBS comedy. This news comes less than a week after former Squadder
Wil Wheaton showed up to crush Sheldon's spirit and help boost the show's ratings.
Sackhoff will play herself in the episode, but don't expect her role to be as big as Wheaton's or
Summer Glau's last season. The former Starbuck is only dropping by for a cameo, says the
Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, but that won't stop Wolowitz from stalking her, and I doubt it'll stop her fans from tuning in and boosting the show's ratings again.
Continue reading Battlestar's Katee Sackhoff to visit Big Bang Theory (and, um, she might get naked!)
Posted Oct 21st 2009 9:08AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Remember
all those posts we did about
former TV Squad writer Wil Wheaton appearing on
The Big Bang Theory? Well, the ratings are in and it looks like that episode had a
15% increase in viewership in the sought-after 18-34 demo. While the article attributes the ratings boost to a Twitter campaign by Wheaton and executive producer Bill Prady, we here at TV Squad would like to think that our own promotion of the show contributed in some small way.
Speaking of which, wasn't the show great? Sure we
already did a review but it was amazing seeing Wil's screen character win by using the one aspect of playing cards (and, for that matter, reality) that Sheldon can't grasp: the human factor. Sheldon would undoubtedly be great at Blackjack and lousy at Poker.
Continue reading Wil Wheaton means record ratings
Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:29PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E05) What a dick. It turns out that
former Squadder Wil Wheaton, who guest-starred on tonight's episode as himself, is totally the
Jonny Fairplay of fantasy role-playing card game tournaments, who broke Sheldon's poor little heart not once, but twice. I love the fact that Sheldon has this vendetta against Wheaton in the first place, because
of course Sheldon Cooper would consider the guy who played Wesley Crusher on
Star Trek: TNG to be his mortal enemy. The only thing that surprised me about that is that Sheldon's complaint was due to a slight that happened in the real world, and not some scientific inconsistency in the show, or Crusher's anachronistic hair.
When Sheldon and Wil are skirmishing to the death, there's a part of me that was thinking that the story of Wil's grandma was a lie, but he's Wil Wheaton! They wouldn't actually make him evil, would they? But they did, and poor Sheldon nearly had the big aneurysm that Wolowitz had been wishing on his mother.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary
Posted Oct 14th 2009 6:30PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Wil Wheaton's guest appearance on
The Big Bang Theory airs next week, and neither he or CBS has had much to say up to this point about his character.
I speculated that he could be a rival for Penny's affection, but it looks as though he may be a rival of a different kind. We now know who Wheaton is playing in this episode, and it's not Penny he's after.
Continue reading Wil Wheaton's episode of The Big Bang Theory looks amazing
Posted Oct 13th 2009 1:24AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E04) Wow. I'm pretty sure Raj had more lines in this episode than he's had the entire season -- and he even shared scenes with two different women! It was nice having Leonard and Penny in their relationship, but in the background. Now that they're together, I'm glad the writers don't feel as though they need to focus on them every single episode. It makes sense though: sometimes your friends are going through some things, and you're just off having sex. It happens.
I really enjoyed this episode, but I'm not sure there's much of a need to talk about anything besides the amazing "Eye of the Tiger" montages. Not since, well, ever, has staring at a white board seemed so thrilling. Sheldon, of course, should never be allowed to have employees, as he is in no position to lead anyone anywhere except, perhaps, an insane asylum. But I sincerely hope Raj continues to work with -- er, for, Sheldon for quite some time.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Pirate Solution
Posted Oct 6th 2009 8:36AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E03) So we get our first episode of Leonard and Penny together, and it's... weird. She's in their apartment, making French toast, and somehow I feel nearly as uncomfortable as Sheldon when faced with the prospect of eating French toast on a Monday. It's kind of odd seeing Leonard and Penny acting all boyfriend/girlfriend-y. I've gotten so used to their casual banter, that them talking about breaking beds is kind of weirding me out.
However, what really struck me as odd about the opening scene is how mean Sheldon is to Penny. Now, obviously Sheldon would hate having his space invaded, especially by someone who doesn't understand that Mondays are for oatmeal. But the way he and Penny interacted was like early season one. Since then, between
Leonard Nimoy's DNA and
"Soft Kitty," they have formed somewhat of an uneasy bond. I understand that they need to have conflict at the beginning in order for the rest of the episode to make sense, but it didn't need to be so heavy-handed.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Gothowitz Deviation
Posted Sep 29th 2009 1:32AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E02) I really want to hear from you guys about this episode, because as I was watching it, I was thinking, "Oh, man. People are going to be
pissed." I'm talking, of course, about the fact that for most of the episode, it appeared that once again, after we waited patiently for Leonard and Penny to get together, the writers would find some reason to rip them back apart, only to give us yet another season of, "will they or won't they."
It wouldn't have been that implausible. Sometimes, if you spend all of your time building something up in your head, it doesn't live up to expectations. It's not completely unreasonable that after years of pining, it turns out that Leonard and Penny simply aren't compatible beyond friendships. That's life -- but it's certainly not satisfying.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Jiminy Conjecture
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The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
