this blog is to document the media i am consuming at the moment - i will rate each one by an arbitrary rating scale/standard at this time it is based on the Sisqo and Ebert Scale of thongs with a maximum of 2 Thongs up as a positive or two inside out thongs as the most negative….
Upshaws :
two thongs up way up - this show takes advantage of all the benefits of not being on primetime - im talking about real life cussin’ by both adults and children (as co signed by one of my fave pod personalities Crissle of The Read). Also the storyline hits and the chemistry is 100%. I love the way the creators/writers have made a world where the Upshaws interact with families with different structgure and face universal and unique family dynamics without wack ass tropes and stereotypes. I think they missed an opportunity to make Wanda Sykes’ character gay. I’ve been a day 1 fan of Wanda Sykes, and I loved her azz on the Chris Rock show and Curb Your Enthusiasm - in 2021 I love seeing Wanda Sykes’ as a vet in the comedy game - she was born to play cranky old lady with a cane - she seems to relish in her role opposite Mike Epps. The dynamic between Mike and Wanda is comedy gold - the bickering reminds me of old sitcoms like the Jeffersons, Sanford and Son (I’m hella old) I really enjoyed the security camera sequence with Mike and Wanda… long live sitcoms!!!
Dirty John: Betty Bradshaw - (rating pending)
Ooh shit. I watched and listened to the first Dirty John featuring the namesake of Dirty John, which is why it is kind of fucked that Betty got painted with the same brush. I’ma come back and update this later. But TBH Amanda Peet should win an award for this and my god she looks like that Stranger’s with Candy lady sometimes. I am enamored with the costuming because my mom wore some of these outfits with the belts and florals and shit and they looked beautiful. I love the overtly hourglass shape of all the “women’s” clothes for “upper class” back in the late 1980s. For example: now days older women wear more drapey shit (think Eileen fisher) but in the 1980s women wore suit suits like a skirt and a jacket and a brooch and a hat and a hand bag and pumps. With all these accessories I have to pause some of the scenes to revel at the costuming.
Ok 6.5.2021 update - finished that fucker and well this show was good and the “scene” was intense. This show was entertaining but I think it was about 3 episodes too long
Great North (two thongs up)
I watched the entire first season of this gem of a show with my two children. Each week I looked forward to my HULU app to tell me that there was a new Great North (GN) episode and yell out “there’s a new Great North Episode” and we get excited. We usually do a triple header (depending on synchronicity of new episodes) of GN, The Simpsons, and Bob’s Burgers (the latter two I review later in this post). My big is 13 and my little is 8 and we all loved the show for different reasons - 13 liked the themes, the queerness, the familial love. 8 liked the funny themes, the yeti in the intro, and the single dad. I love that the show is set in Alaska and there are queer and gender non conforming characters that are not props. There are same sex partners helping in on the family shenanigans to help pull off two weddings (one real, one fake). The voice actors compliment each other and I encourage everyone to hire stand up comics to do voices like this show (DULCE SLOAN, Aparna Nancharla, Ron Funchs, Jenny Slate .. probably more I missed). There is a wonderful period episode, an episode about getting a job at the mall, an episode about lying, all the good shit but done in a new fresh way with writers who know how to write a cohesive story and funny jokes. oh yeah, they had a dookie or fart joke that was hella funny in the last episode but i forgot what it was but it was hella funny so watch.
Simpsons: 2021 season 31? (Two Big Thongs up)
I can only say that I think whoever is writing for the Simpsons this season is hitting it home with the fresh content. I heard Marge say Throuple, and Bart and Lisa discussing Homer’s trauma; these could sound like crazy “buzzwords” that old people think that young people use (see - Powderpuff girl movie gets canned b/c it looks scary and basic and it sucks and their dresses are gross and like even I could make something like that) The Simpsons has managed to use the same tropes for the last 30 years and ( full disclosh I haven’t watched every season so I can’t be like “30 years of non stop fire”) has remained fresh and humorously critical of culture and politics - this is really hard to do and this season was impeccable - each episode (esp the hamburger one) was funny, clever and timely. I’m talkin AI shit, food shit, environment shit, screentime shit, Qanon shit, orange fuckface shit all of it.
Bob’s Burgers season 10
I know they are supposed to be a white family but I imagine Bob’s family to be asian. I want them to be asian. Ok - so to me Bob’s Burgers is an asian family where the asian dad is so loving and sweet - the end. I just never got to watch Asian Americans ever full stop - and why not this family. The one episode that is a motherfuckin’ must see is Y Tu Tina Tambien. Watch it. Thank me later.
FRIENDS; only the episode with the couch
Watch this episode high on the strongest weed you can get your hands on and make some popcorn. I prefer real popcorn and not the kind in a microwave bag (I got a silicone thing for the microwave and you use real kernels and I use real butter. Let yourself be high and watch this episode because it is hella funny - and silly and sometimes I need to be silly. I sometimes want to forget my childhood… see it took a turn.. that’s why I need to watch this episode of Friends. Now you go do it. Just google the one where Ross gets a couch or Pivot. *I agree that friends is hella white and problematic, but I will have you know i watched th4e pilot episode and season and I yelled out “mark my words this show will not last” because I did not like it. so i was not a Friends stan, but I did love it when Monica was with Tom Selleck because he was Magnum PI and anyone named Magnum is a catch to me (EVEN if it is a fake name in a tv show) I would like to go for a helicopter ride with Magnum PI.
peace and booty grease,
Dewa