Category Archives: Comedy Central
The Colbert Rapport: Will He Last on CBS?
Ever since 2005, Stephen Colbert has been ruling late night television on Comedy Central. Next year he will be leaving his post after ten years to take over for David Letterman on Late Show. This is a drastic change for Colbert, whose current show is a satirical version of The O’Reilly Factor. Will his current rapport with his audience get in the way of his success as himself on CBS?
Letterman announced his departure not even two months after Jimmy had taken over for Leno. I cannot say that I was surprised that by Letterman’s retirement. Everyone knew Fallon was going to be some serious competition. Fallon is more relevant and appealing to the precious 18-49 audience. He has a social media savviness that Letterman doesn’t have. So when Letterman “unexpectedly” announced his retirement, CBS needed a host that would supersede Jimmy’s popularity. Colbert already has a large and loyal audience from his show on Comedy Central, which make him a very good choice for Late Show.
‘Futurama’ Series Finale: An Emotional & Impressive Send Off for the Cult Series
After fourteen years, seven seasons, four movies, a cancellation, and a rebirth, Futurama has aired is series finale on Comedy Central. It has been a long and strange journey for the Planet Express crew, but that journey has finally reached its end. For those of you who haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, I suggest you stop reading here because this review contains spoilers.
“Meanwhile” started with a trip down memory lane, as the Planet Express crew delivered a package to the Moon. This of course is an ode to the crew’s first delivery from the second episode in the series. While on the moon, Leela is sucked into space and lost forever. Fry decides he can’t live without her and decided to marry her. The Professor invents a “Time Button” that allows you to go back in time ten seconds. He uses the seemingly useless device to play a trick on Zoidberg, but Fry realizes he can use the time button for his proposal.
Fry uses the button to get the perfect ring for Leela and tells her to meet him at the top of the Vampire State Building with her answer. When she doesn’t show up, Fry attempts to jump off the building only to realize his watch was wrong and Leela was on time. Fry falls into a time loop, which has him splattering on the pavement over and over again. While attempting to save them, the Professor is killed. It isn’t until Bender comes to the rescue with his air bag. The plan backfires, as Fry is saved, but he destroys the time button leaving everyone in the world frozen in time.
5 Soul Crushingly Sad Fry Moments from “Futurama”
Ten years after creating one of the most recognized television families of all time, Matt Groening and company introduced us to a new kind of animated series. Futurama had a few similarities to The Simpsons. They both aired Sunday nights on Fox. The type of design and animation were similar. They even contained the same pop-culture referencing humor that has become synonymous with current generation comedies, such as South Park and v. Although they shared a few similarities, Futurama was very different from The Simpsons.
The Simpsons was and will always be one of Fox’s most beloved and successful series. Futurama may never reach that status, but it will go down as one of the funniest and original programs that Fox had the audacity to cancel after only four (almost five) seasons. Luckily after a successful string of straight to DVD releases, Comedy Central resurrected the cult series for four more seasons.
With the final episode airing this week, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit some of the things that made Futurama the under-appreciated heartwarming show that it is. Starting with some of the soul crushingly sad moments from the shows impressive seven-season run that spanned over fourteen years.
The series finale of Futurama airs on Comedy Central this Wednesday at 10 pm
5. When Fry is Late to Dinner with Leila Because of Time Travel
Season 6, Episode 7: “The Late Phillip J. Fry”
Fry never has any luck with time travel. One of the latest examples was in last season’s episode “The Late Phillip J. Fry.” Professor Farnsworth invents a time machine and before a date with Leela for her birthday and Fry, Bender, and the Professor end up going on an adventure through time. Unfortunately for Fry, the Professor fails to invent away to go back in time, only forward. They continue to travel further in time until they kind find a year where backwards time travel exists.
Back in the present, Leela is stood up by Fry, and is never seen again. The audience sees a dismal future that does not contain Fry, Bender, and the Professor. Leela’s future is successful, but loveless. She is mad at Fry for leaving and not explaining why. Years have passed a birthday card appears out of nowhere and hits future Leela in the face. The card is from Fry and it explains why he disappeared. Leela goes back to the restaurant and leaves a message for Fry to hopefully see in the future. Fry sees the heartfelt message left by Leela and says, “I made it, Leela. Sorry I’m a billion years late.”
Fry, Bender, and the Professor are unable to find away back to their time. They travel to the end of time and watch the destruction of the universe, only to realize the universe keeps restarting in a non-stop loop. By going further in time, they could get back to the time before they left. They come back in time to kill and replace themselves (avoiding a time paradox, according to the Professor). Fry gets to go on his date with Leela, and everything is right with the world.
‘The Jeselnik Offensive’ Tries Too Hard To Be Offensive
The Jeselnik Offensive, hosted by Anthony Jeselnik, makes a point of being offensive. Actually, that’s the show’s entire schtick. It gets old fast. You shouldn’t be uncomfortable to laugh at a joke when you are alone, yet Jeselnik loves uncomfortable laughter. Jeselnik’s onstage persona is extremely punchable. It’s a mixture of Daniel Tosh, Craig Kilborn, and British comedian Jimmy Carr, who is one of the few people to pull off shock comedy well.
Most of his jokes are offensive because they are not funny. Asking your audience to turn off Amber Alert on their phones is in bad taste. Following it up with a joke about Usher’s son almost drowning in a pool is horrible. When he finally does get to a joke in poor taste that would be funny coming out of a comedian who would show some remorse, he’s already gone way too far.
Amazon Wants You To Remember: Netflix Doesn’t Carry These Shows
Amazon Prime has been busy eating away at Netflix’s content library. The biggest problem for Netflix, so far, is it recently lost a ton of Viacom content. So what shows are Netflix customers now missing?
Here is a lengthy, yet non-exhaustive list of Amazon Prime exclusive shows.
Viacom
Nickelodeon
Dora the Explorer
Spongebob Squarepants
Yo Gabba Gabba
Blue’s Clues
The Backyardigans
Go, Diego, Go!
Osward
Ni Hao Kai-Lan
Wonder Pets
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Little Bear
iCarly
The Fresh Beat Band
Bubble Guppies
Little Bill
Danny Phantom
Gullah Gullah Island
The Wild Thornberrys
Team Umizoomi
Back at the Barnyard
CatDog
Invader Zim
Olivia
VICTORiOUS
The Ren & Stimpy Show
Hey Dude
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
House of Anubis
Big Time Rush
Doug
Fan Boy and Chum Chum
Fred: The Show
Rocket Power
The Amanda Show
Rocko’s Modern Life
All That
The Naked Brothers Band
Jimmy Neutron
Fairly Oddparents
Drake & Josh
Rugrats
Clarissa Explains It All
Hey Arnold
Kenan & Kel
Supah Ninjas
The Angry Beavers Read the rest of this entry
Weekly TV Update: June 3, 20013
This week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
Matt Smith leaves Doctor Who.
Jean Stapleton, who played Archie Bunker’s wife, Edith, on All in the Family, died on Friday.
Dan Harmon announces his return to Community.
The Sopranos tops the Writers Guild of America’s list of Best Written TV Series Ever.
John Oliver talks to The Hollywood Reporter about taking over The Daily Show for the summer. His first day is June 10.
In honor of Jean Stapleton, the All in the Family theme song is after the jump.
Remembering 9/11
It is hard to believe that 9/11 happened 11 years ago. Each year, I usually watch David Letterman’s post-9/11 return speech as a reminder of how the country was feeling in the days following the attacks. For me, it is a reminder of the raw emotions I felt at the time and the fact that I was not alone. This year, I decided to compile the poignant returns of the New York-based late night comedy shows. (Saturday Night Live is notably missing from this article because I have not found the show’s first episode after September 11th on the internet.) Instead of commenting on David Letterman, Jon Stewart, and Conan O’Brien’s speeches, I will let the three men speak for themselves.
David Letterman:
Cool TV Video of the Day: Jon Stewart Interviews the Mayor of London
Today’s video is a few months old, but it is still entertaining. In it, Jon Stewart constantly pesters London Mayor Boris Johnson about New York City’s soda ban. Soda loving New Yorkers will be pleased to know that London will happily take soda ban refugees.
Amy Schumer Shines in Her First Comedy Central Special
An hour of stand up comedy can be hard to sustain, but Amy Schumer certainly did not show it. In her first solo television event, Amy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff, Schumer demonstrated that no matter how inappropriate she was being and no matter how uncomfortable the crowd got, she could still make them laugh. Schumer is a relatively young comic who still seemed to be establishing her identity in show business. On Saturday night, she finally got the chance to be the center of attention and did not disappoint. As the title of the special suggest, the humor is sexually explicit. It may dissatisfy some viewers, but the special clearly solidified Schumer’s audience type.
The special started off slow, but it picked up nicely. Schumer’s comedic style involves a lot of shock value and it is presented in such a way that it’s not always funny as much as it is simply offensive. It all depends on the premise of the joke. The good news is that there’s plenty of humor to make up for the weak points.
Cool TV Video Of The Day: Jon Stewart on Crossfire
The following is a clip from the cancelled CNN show, Crossfire. In the video, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart makes an appearance in which he criticizes the very style of the show. Crossfire is meant to be a political debate show. Stewart correctly points out that Crossfire hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala engage in partisan hackery rather than serious political discussion. Stewart said that Crossfire is not a debate show but “political theater” and that Carlson and Begala are wasting an opportunity for serious debate. In turn, the hosts criticize Stewart for his lack of journalistic integrity. Stewart dismisses this, saying that The Daily Show is on Comedy Central rather than a serious news outlet. Watch Stewart tear Crossfire apart in the clip.
Wait! What's A Dial? 