How I Met Your Mother: Growing Up & Losing "Friends"

Sometimes I wait so long to post not because I have nothing to say, but because I'm not sure how to say it.  Or because I keep waiting to get inspired by a show that has ceased to be inspiring.  This post is full of a bunch of things that've been rattling around in my brain and have finally reached the point where they need to be forced out.

Oh, How I Met Your Mother.  I have been meaning for months to write a post about how this season of HIMYM has been markedly better from last season (or, as I call it, The Jennifer Morrison Tragedy), but have been waiting for an exemplary episode to really bring it all together.  That episode never came.  After "The Ducky Tie" early on, so full of promises and hope and boobs, HIMYM has sort of evened out to a mostly enjoyable, mostly mediocre sitcom.  The performances of the actors continue to give the show life and spirit, but the writing just isn't as fresh.  If you go back to an episode from seasons 2, 3, or 4, you'll find it has an edge that these days, has been blunted.

This Is An Excellent Idea

Have you been following The Best Sitcom Episode Ever Tournament over at SplitSider? I highly recommend doing so. The first round came out pretty much in my favor, with TWO episodes of Community making it through the juggernaut. Is Community ever not the greatest? The one heartbreaking decision I had to make was between Parks & Rec's "The Fight" and Arrested Development's "Pier Pressure"...if they had picked any other AD episode I might have been tempted to give it to "The Fight" because that episode is excellent and is responsible for THIS, but "Pier Pressure" deserves to win the entire tournament, it's a perfect episode from start to finish and is responsible for many of my favorite AD moments. I could quote you half the episode right now. Anyway, I highly recommend going over and voting because there are still plenty of shows that deserve to be eliminated (WKRP, Cheers, Sunny), and even more that need your votes to make it to the next round (Party Down, Friends, Community, The Simpsons)! I predict that the 21st Century bracket will come down to "Modern Warfare" and "Pier Pressure", and who knows what I'll do then, but if I had to pick two to go face to face in the final round, it'd be one of those two episodes (I just can't decide!) and Steve Guttenberg's Birthday, which is an incredible masterpiece of television art.

I love this game! It's so difficult! It's making me crazy! I love it! Go vote!

"It tastes like feet!"

Happy Thanksgiving! I am celebrating by watching all the T-Day episodes of Friends, and by reading this excellent article by Emily Nussbaum about Whitney Cummings and the two atrocious shows she has on television right now. Oh, and by eating a ton of food. And by cracking open a bottle of wine once the National Dog Show starts at noon. And by watching this, over and over again:

I am thankful for all of you, and for everyone who reads, or has read, or laughed once at this blog. I am also thankful for Community. #sixseasonsandamovie

Enjoy your days of gluttony, however they might be spent!

Let's Hear It For The Gays!

Happy Pride, everyone! And happy gay-marriage-is-legal-in-NY! I'm so gonna be dancing my face off tonight. To celebrate, I thought I'd talk about some of my favorite gay television characters. We've still got a long fucking way to go in terms of media portrayal, and I am purposefully ignoring Glee completely on this list - you can go back and read some of my Glee posts if that's what you're interested in, but their characters are so poorly maintained that while I love first season Kurt I kind of hate a lot of second season Kurt and we won't even get into their TERRIBLE track record of biphobia. So. Let's start with a good one.

Alastair/Athena, "Huge"

I have been trying to get everyone I know to watch Huge with me and everyone says, "Yeah, that sounds great," and then we never do. But it is THE BEST, you've just got to start watching and you'll be hooked. Now, not to give too much away, but Alastair is an incredible character. He's super awkward and weird and no one really gets him and he's totally open about finding power in the name Athena and wanting that to be his nickname or whatever and when the jock kid calls him that out of kindness and acceptance you will CRY and if you don't you are made of permafrost. Anyway, what's great about Alastair is that he is pretty much the embodiment of "Questioning". He's totally queer but is still figuring out what that means and even though he may have curiosity about guys he's got it about girls, too and is really just trying to be himself and find the best way to do that. He's not afraid to be genderqueer and embody the feminine along with the masculine and most of all he doesn't want people making assumptions about him based on what they see or hear. Alastair is one of the main reasons why Huge is so great, and probably one of the main reasons it was cancelled, lest teenagers realize it's ok to be whoever they want to be or some other TERRIBLE lesson like that.

I should just end this list now, because it just can't get any better than that.

The Cast Of Will & Grace (minus Grace)

Will & Grace is one of those shows that doesn't really get talked about anymore. I don't think I've mentioned it once in almost a year of this blog. But it really was, for at least the first few seasons, revolutionary, brilliant, and hilarious queer comedy. Sure, there were some issues with stereotypes, but Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes are such great actors that they dealt with those unavoidable roadblocks with grace and dignity. Megan Mullally's pansexual Karen is one of the greatest television characters of all time; they should have ended the show before Harry Connick, Jr came on to ruin everything and created a spin-off called Jack & Karen, because who wouldn't watch that? I remember seeing two men kiss on primetime TV, and how powerful that was for me as a little baby queer with an uncle about to get gay married. I love, love, love Sean Hayes (if you haven't seen Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, do it NOW) and think he deserves tons of credit for making flamboyance into something more than a limp-wristed caricature and for showing the world that it's ok to be stereotypically & effeminately gay, but that that doesn't mean that's ALL you are. I think it's safe to say that the television world would not be what it is today without Will & Grace.

Chandler & Phoebe, "Friends"

Both totally bi. Like, so bi I've considered writing a dissertation about how bi they are. Really the argument could be made for all of the so-called heteros on Friends, but Chandler and Phoebe are the most obvious about it. I love when Phoebe slips in a sly reference for her love for the ladies and it is totally NBD and that Chandler's queerness just subtly becomes part of who he is.

"I still think about him in the shower"

Guys, I know I've been slacking. But there is a lot going on in my life right now, including a lot of travel, and it's just hard to keep up. Plus there just hasn't been a whole lot of great TV on lately. I don't think that Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother qualifies as great, but it was noteworthy and I figured I should talk about it.

Some people may wonder where my love for HIMYM went. Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure. Part of it started with the shift of Barney's sexism from funny and tongue-in-cheek to something to be celebrated. Also - racist? The "Vietnamese shame wheel" joke was neither funny nor at all ok on a show where the only people of color are a cab/limo driver and Wayne Brady. And it was made TWICE. Part of it started when they broke up Robin and Barney because Barney got fat and Robin got...tired? Part of it started when Marshall and Lily's storylines got reduced to baby/dead dad. Part of it started when Jennifer Morrison showed up, but I've come to realize that it's not all her fault, although she should really never, ever try to be funny because those stricken eyes of hers are only good for narrowing to judge Doctors Chase and House and/or widening while birthing Captain Kirk in an alternate universe. But it has gotten beyond Jennifer Morrison.

The truth is that HIMYM has lost its edge. When it was a small sitcom struggling for popularity, there was much more envelope-pushing going on and the comedy was fresh. Now that (with the timely death of Two And A Half Men) it's competing with The Big Bang Theory for the title of the most mediocre sitcomy sitcom on CBS, the comedy is much more middle of the road. It's Jay Leno comedy, designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It's lost its intelligence, that unexpected aspect of the show that made you feel like the writers were getting away with putting this edgy comedy on CBS by disguising its jokes with a laugh track. Take the entire premise of the slap bet. Here is a joke that has stretched over multiple seasons, giving the most entertainment payoff to the hardcore fans. Something so weird and unconventional has provided the show with some of its best episodes, and managed to do so without the slapping edging into cruel or violent territory. Great stuff.

"Are you trying to grow an afro?"

Mr. Sunshine was really en pointe last night. Great enough that I haven't eaten lunch and I need to shower and go to work but I just had to write this post.

Everyone was given a chance to shine in this episode. The A storyline was great, with Ben realizing that he needs to learn his employees' names in order to make them not hate him and do their jobs. I like that there wasn't any threat of firing anyone (except for the overachieving mascot, who has "come up with ways of hydrating that would disgust you") but that Ben realized that learning their names would actually be beneficial to everyone. And once he does (by giving their initials randomly cruel mnemonic devices, AKA Fred Patterson becomes Fat Pumpkin) he finds that he actually enjoys connecting with people. That happy feeling doesn't last long, however, since Roman gets distracted and, in my favorite moment of the night, turns up the giant fan to belt out Cher's "Believe" into and accidentally blows the name cards out over the arena where the workers find them. Anger and hilarity ensues. There were some great chances for Jorge Garcia to shine (I'm assuming he's doing guest spots here while waiting for Alcatraz to start filming full-time) including the tag. The show does an excellent job of humanizing the narcissistic, misanthropic Ben, and while I know he's not going to become a total softy he's already more of a person and less of a caricature.

Meanwhile in the B story line, they finally gave Andrea Anders something to do and she knocks it out of the park while looking really effing hot (and skinny blonde is so not my type). Crystal has a new boyfriend named Darius Washington whom she assumes Alonzo will know because they're both "brothers". It's much more funny to watch it all unfold and to see the tension ratchet up, so I'll let you watch it yourself, but suffice to say there is some hard-hitting comedy going on here.

Mr. Sunshine is a classic sitcom, but not in the tired CBS style. It doesn't go as far as Community in terms of mixing things up, but it lets the characters play off each other with fabulous results. Even if the storylines may be somewhat tired, Mr. Sunshine finds a way to showcase them from a fresh perspective. I am keeping my fingers crossed extra-hard in the hope that it gets picked up for a second season.

Notes & Quotes:

"You're not black."

"Well, I could've been! My mom was very progressive in her 20s."

Seriously, even if you don't watch anything else, you should watch Roman autotuning himself with the giant fan.

"Because of your ridiculous flash card scheme it's hot again and I look like Art Garfunkel."

"This is San Diego - they made the library out of conches!"

"Benjamin, you're a preening, self-centered narcissist and your socks are too design-y. What's with all the stripes? You're not Beetlejuice, you're a human man!"

The evolution of Crystal's hair is both hilarious and highly believable (unlike Monica in Barbados, which is hilarious and highly unbelievable (it doesn't get humid in NYC?) but ends in the pay-off of her "sexy" braids, which I love. /endparantheticalFriendsreference)

"Oh, good. I don't have kids or a wife. I'm gonna get drunk and race go-carts."

And with that, I'm gonna go get drunk and race go-carts. Oops...I mean go play cards with 5th graders.

"It's like something out of Jules Verne!"

I've been meaning to talk about Showtime's new show, Episodes, but I wanted to wait until I got a better sense of the show as a whole. In the interim I watched a show starring David Cross that premiered on IFC in October, The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret, and realized that the two shows raise some really interesting comparisons. So, here we go, two shows at once!

Episodes is about a married British writing team who come to LA to help produce an American adaptation of their BAFTA-winning show, Lyman's Boys. The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret (hereafter known as TIPDOTM or simply Todd Margaret) is about an unqualified temp who gets sent to England to sell a toxic energy drink called Thunder Muscle when his company gets taken over by Brent Wilts (Will Arnett), the loudest, angriest, douchiest guy you're ever going to meet. Both shows find humor in these classic fish-out-of-water scenarios, where expectations and long-held stereotypes are tromped on all over the place. However, even just three episodes in, I can tell that Episodes is already much funnier and much better put-together than TIPDOTM has any hopes of being.

"Music and cookies and liquor and trees, that's what Christmas is for"

I know that three days is SO LATE in the internet game, but sorry internet, I have a life and right now it is CRAZY and it's been all I can do to maintain my sanity, much less write blog posts. But I took notes so that I could write something once things died down a little. SO.........

Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas review starts now! Well, a few paragraphs from now.

Let me begin by explaining a little about my family and our Christmas celebrations and my relationship to Christmas pop culture. My dad does not like Christmas, a fact that made known to me once he deemed me old enough, which was around my 10th birthday. My sister and mom were a little indifferent to the whole thing, and then there was me. I LOVE Christmas - well, I love MY version of Christmas. I love picking out the perfect gifts and hanging stockings and cooking with my family and singing carols and unwrapping presents and the rainy weather and lights and the smell of the tree and pretty much anything Christmas that doesn't have to do with Jesus. My sister celebrates Chanukah and my grandfather celebrates the solstice; this year, due to a fortuitous typo, we've decided to refer to our December 25th holiday celebration as Xams, so as to remove it as far from Christ as possible. Because my family are atheists and agnostics and one converted Jew, we tend to avoid stuff about angels and pageants and miracles and the weirdness of worshiping a baby, and focus on the good stuff: eating and giving. Carols were always one of my favorites because I love to sing, but they drove my dad crazy and I've had to find good, non-annoying versions of my favorite Christmas songs to fill up my awesome winter playlist.

But this meant that I didn't watch a lot of Christmas movies/specials when I was a kid, partly by choice and partly because my dad would not give the TV up for that stuff. Rudolph and The Nightmare Before Christmas creeped me out, Charlie Brown didn't really captivate me, Miracle On 34th St. was boring, and I still, to this day, have never seen It's A Wonderful Life. Oh, sure, I watched The Grinch and Home Alone, but the holiday movie I probably saw the most was the animated version of The Snowman (quiet and nondenominational and thus inoffensive to my dad). As I got a little older, I started watching Friends and their holiday episodes became some of my favorites - and some of the best, with moments I can still instantly recall. Friends handled the holidays awesomely by either making a classic bottle episode, or by putting the Friends into stressful, emotional, and/or drunk situations. Always pitch-perfect. As I got even older, I started making my own traditions and found my trio of current all-time favorite holiday movies: Die Hard. Lord Of The Rings. Elf.

"Because I'm a grown-up!"

Today is my 25th birthday. In honor of being a quarter-century old, below is one of my favorite birthday-centered episodes, "The One Where They All Turn Thirty". It does such an awesome and hilarious job of capturing the different ways birthday anxiety can manifest, from "Why, god, why?!?" to "Help me get my top off". I love birthdays and birthday episodes because they're usually bottle episodes - on TV and IRL, like tonight when I'm having a karaoke party and a lot of the important players in my life, from my boss to my childhood camp friend, will be there. Although I'm not as concerned with growing older as any of the characters, well...give it five years, and I'll probably be freaking out then. In the meantime, enjoy drunk Phoebe!

"What lightweight outfit, pink or white, makes the front of my slacks abnormally tight?"

OMG Barney and Robin are totes gonna get married!

"It's a sundress, by the way."

How I Met Your Mother's premiere episode last night, "Big Days", was familiar and tender and hilarious and right at the highly developed level of comedy I've come to expect from the show. Remember when I was talking about Friends' ability to effortlessly combine the tears with the laughter? HIMYM does it, too, but rarely enough that when you tear up, it's about something big. Of course, Marshall and Lily are just Chandler and Monica 2.0, so...it's not too unexpected.

OMG Barney and Robin! As soon as she came down in that sundress and the way that he looked at her - I knew it was on. If I'm wrong about this it might just destroy me, but I can't be wrong. Who else would Ted be best man for? I mean, it might be his dad or something, but I'm on the Barney and Robin getting married train and I'm not getting off until somebody makes me.

Overall, I'm obviously glad to have the show back. I am not so excited for the addition of Jennifer Morrison to the cast (as The Mother, I'm assuming) because I've never seen her be funny ever, but until they find a way to make everything all about Ted again, I'm loving every minute of it.

OMG Barney and Robin! I knew Robin could never end up with someone named Don.

Image via tvserieslounge.com

the Friendsaissance

On this week's Pop Culture Happy Hour, Linda Holmes was talking about how she started watching Friends from the beginning again and she had forgotten how funny it was blah blah blah and now is about the time that the backlash has subsided and people can start watching Friends again. Which is great, but Bitch, Please! Some of us never stopped.

I've loved Friends ever since I started watching in about 6th grade. I own seasons 3-10 on DVD (I started at 3, eventually I'll get around to buying the first two seasons but they're not my favorites anyhow). I have watched countless reruns. And here's the thing: I never watched it for the hype, or because Jennifer Aniston was popular, or even because I love Matthew Perry (which I do). I watched it then, and continue to now, because it's fucking funny. It is! And I know people with all sorts of different tastes - yes, including many men - who love Friends, and who have continued to love Friends even when it was uncool to do so.

So, Linda Holmes, even though I like your podcast, I scoff at your johnny-come-lately-ness. Those of us who are real fans of the show never wavered, even through Joey and The Break-Up and Cougar Town. We loved Run, Fatboy, Run (directed by David Schwimmer) and gobbled down Studio 60. We are excited for Episodes and Mr. Sunshine (Allison Janney! Dillon Killington!) and everything that Lisa Kudrow does. We also watch How I Met Your Mother, which is just Friends post-2005 with the bonus of NPH.

I could post tons of clips here showing how hilarious Friends is, but I don't think I need to. You've all seen the show - and if you haven't, what is wrong with you? (asked Angry Padma-style) Yes, it's a sitcom. Yes, it's very white, for the most part. Yes, some of the lesbian jokes fall flat. But, you know, that's television. Those things could be said for almost any sitcom on today, and most of them are nowhere near as funny as Friends (get off my screen, Two Men & An Ugly Teenager). Plus, in addition to being consistently smart and funny, Friends manages to be touching and deeply emotional at times, while balancing that out with the humor. Just watch The One The Morning After from season 3, or The One With The Proposal from season 6, and tell me you're not laughing through the tears.

I mean, whatever. If you're not into by now, you may never be. But if Friends is going to become cool and awesome again, I want it on the record that, for me, it never stopped being so. All comedy can feel dated at times, but Friends has, for the most part, stayed fresh and lol-worthy - unlike, as Holmes notes, the comedy of Seinfeld, which often doesn't age as well. The Friendsaissance is upon us, so now is the perfect time get back into the show if you abandoned it to be a hipster, or if you were simply too close-minded to give it a chance before. Open your mind and let the jokes on in, and stop worrying so much about being cool.

So I've just got one clip to show you - of possibly my favorite Friends moment. Even if you've seen it before, watch it again - you'll enjoy those endorphins you get from laughing. And if you're too hard-hearted not to laugh, well...this whole argument has just been a moo point.

Friends forever! And speaking of Friends Forever, Saved By The Bell forever! My original favorite teen sitcom will definitely be addressed at some point in the future. Goddamnit, now that's stuck in my head. Might as well be in yours, too:

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

Images via HollywoodJesus.com and HollywoodDame.com