Hard to Hate: Hanson Reenacts 'Blues Brothers'

You know Hanson, don't act like you don't. At bare minimum you remember them from their 1997 teenybopper pop single "Mmmmmbop" (Note: I'm not actually sure how many 'Mmm's are in the song's official title and I'm not willing to look it up). What you may not know is that they are still together recording, touring, and maintain a loyal fan base (they'll be at the Cleveland House of Blues Thursday August 19).

Now get this: they're good. I can admit it. They know how to write a good pop rock song and have stuck to their guns recording catchy 1970s-style blues pop rock tunes. While I don't actually own any Hanson music, I recognize they got a good thing going on and hope they keep it up.

Need more proof that it's OK to admit Hanson is alright, check out the music video for their latest single which not only features a pretty spot on reenactment of the "Shake a Tail Feather" scene in "The Blues Brothers," but also Weird Al Yankovic on tambourine. For reference, I also posted the original "The Blues Brothers" scene below.

Are there any other "guilty pleasures" that you can admit are OK to like? Leave a comment to let us all know.



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Happy 4th of July from Pot Kettle Blue!

A Happy Independence Day to everyone. Enjoy the weekend & don't be stupid.


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Happy Tax Day!

April 15 is here! I Hope you have everything filed, stapled, and backed up. If not, don't waste too much time watching this classic "The Simpsons" clip.

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Famous Hollywood Scenes Get Simpsonized

Sunday night has turned into an evening clogged with television programming. There's always been something on for the reality nuts ('Amazing Race,' 'Undercover Boss,' 'Celebrity Apprentice,' Whatever is on VH1), but recently there's also been an influx in other quality programming, including HBO's 'The Pacific' and Discovery's 'Life' miniseries, and the new season of one of my favorite shows AMC's 'Breaking Bad,'

With all those viewing choices to pick from I wouldn't blame anyone for not catching last night's episode of 'The Simpsons.' Honestly, you didn't miss much. Like most modern episodes of the series, this episode was an entertaining way to spend 30 min, with a few laughs, but suffering from weak plots that suffer even more thanks to odd story structure. That being said, last night's episode did feature a visit from First Lady Michelle Obama (which was cool until you find out she was actually voiced by actress Angela Bassett), and a sort of fun montage of famous Hollywood kissing scenes getting the Simpsons treatment as Bart receives CPR from his crush (don't ask).

You can check out the montage below. How many of these scenes do you recognize? Can you tell which ones were slightly altered?

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David Letterman Tackles Twitter

Just when you thought jokes about Twitter and how stupid it can be were played out and no longer funny, David Letterman comes along and tries to tackle his "Twitter machine." In the clip below, from last night's program, Letterman attempts to tweet from the Late Show account (@Late_Show) for the first time. As always, sorry for any commercials you have to sit through. It's worth it this time.



Well ... do you smell it? Read more!

Live Music Week: The Roots & Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

I enjoy watching live music, both in person and on TV. So, as a part of Live Music Week, allow me to share with you several performances from The Roots.

The musical performance is often my favorite part of the late night talk shows. Lately some of the best and most diverse musical performances have been on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," which has the good fortune of having hip-hop band The Roots as their house band.

LNWJF definitly does not squander the talent of The Roots, allowing them to often perform as a backing band to the evening's musical guests. As a band The Roots are very good at weaving in and out between musical genres, and usually elevate musical performances that otherwise might put you to sleep at 1:30 am. Want proof?

Last week The Roots backed up hip-hop MC Wale. As hip-hop artists this performance is right in The Roots wheelhouse. I like Wale, but don't really care for this song. (This video will probably go away after 10 days. Sorry for any ads you have to watch before any of these performances)


To see the diverse talents of The Roots get to play with on display, check out the 3 performances below featuring The Roots and 3 very different artists.

Have you discovered any new music via late night television? What performances should we be checking out?

To prove that The Roots are more than just a run of the mill hip-hop band, look no further than this performance with musical icon Paul Simon.

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If you find the Paul Simon performance surprisingly cool, yet odd, you haven't seen anything yet. Check out The Roots, 70's singer songwriter Christopher Cross, and a VERY special guest sing the 'hit' "Ride Like the Wind." Then be sure to e-mail this post to your dad.

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Finally, The Roots perform with one of my favorites as a child, 'Weird Al' Yankovic as he sings the darkly funny song "Good Old Days".

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Adventures in Product Placement: 30 Rock

Something is starting to annoy me with product placing in comedies. There are three ways a comedy can integrate product placement into their program:

1. Make the product a central plot point
2. Have the product around constantly but make no mention of it
3. Ironically over "promote" the product so the audience is well aware it is product placement

It is this third method that's getting old. It's originally was a humorous meta commentary on the commercial business of television.

In this type of comedic placement, both the characters in the show, breaking the fourth wall, AND the audience watching them are aware there is product placement being done. Although it's not "cool," there's nothing the show can do to stop it, so let's all take a moment to laugh at how crazy it is (while also making sure to actually promote the product), and poke fun at how commercial it is by looking into the camera and spouting tag lines.

The "hit" NBC comedy '30 Rock' is largely considered to be the originator of this method. They have been doing it so often since their show debuted three years ago, that they get accused of ironically promoting products even when they aren't. Three years ago it was funny. But like all jokes, they become less and less funny the 8th, 9th, and 10th times.

This became evident to me during the 11/5 episode of '30 Rock.' During this episode Alec Baldwin's character Jack has to participate in a teleconference due to a bed bug infestation. Cisco Systems provides the equipment to make the teleconference happen:

Did you catch that? Wasn't it funny, clever, and ironic? Maybe in 2007, but now it's become an easy joke. And if it becomes an easy joke, it's an unfunny joke, which makes it not a joke at all, which makes it an actual commercial in the middle of a scripted program.

Now I'm not saying '30 Rock' should stop using product placement to defer costs (and yes, in the credits of the show, you can clearly see "promotional consideration provided by Cisco Systems"). I just want them to stop making a joke out of it. Can't there just be a Cisco Systems teleconference without talking about it? Simply having the logo on the monitor briefly is enough. I've already noticed the product. I've been well aware of Cisco Systems products, including this teleconference system, in other programs including "24", "Chuck","House", and "CSI," and they never made one mention of the product they are using.

It was funny the first 6 times, now stop going for the cheap laugh, we're expecting it.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh? Is it still funny?

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Mr. Teeny

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

• Krusty's chimp companion was dishonorably discharged from the space program.
• Secret ambition is to one day have his own talk show.
• His special skills include tying his own bow tie and driving a stick shift.
• Favorite foods are chocolate ice cream, head lice, and nicotine gum
• Named "Smoking Chimp of the Year" by the National Tobacco Board.

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JD Recommends: Peabody Award Winners

The Peabody Awards are given out each year to what is deemed the best in electronic media as chosen by the Peabody board, a conglomerate of smart, educated, distinguished media folk.

Well I guess my ballot got lost in the mail. No one asked my opinion on squat.

To make up for it, here is a quick rundown of some Peabody Award winners that I also give a thumbs up to. There are 36 winners this year. I'm not going to touch on them all, as we all know about the Opening Ceremonies, the presidential election coverage, and "SNL's" political sketches. I'm going to quickly mention a few lesser known that I think you should check out. There is a lot on this list of winners that I am not familiar with, so if you have a recommendation, I'd love to hear it:

This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money

This episode of the "This American Life" radio program from May of 2008 deals with the housing and financial crisis. Normally this topic is not something I want to listen to for an hour, but this kept my attention because it was the first news program that explained everything that was happening in a way that made sense and provided clarity. It helped me better understand exactly how we ended up in this mess. I highly recommend you give it a listen. The episode was a collaborative effort of "This American Life" and NPR News. It was so successful, that it spawned a follow up program last fall, and a daily NPR program, Planet Money, dedicated to covering all things financial crisis in a user-friendly way.

John Adams

All the awards and accolades that this HBO miniseries has received over the past year are well deserved. I'm normally not a fan of historical period pieces, and I watched this whole thing over a weekend last summer. It's a 7-part miniseries with each episode ranging from 60-90 min. Not all of the episodes are winners, particularly in the middle, but the boring parts are few and far between. The DVD of the series is available pretty much everywhere you would care to look.

Breaking Bad

This is AMC's second original scripted drama ("Mad Men" being the first), and I dare say it is the better of the two. I'm new to the show; I just started watching a few weeks ago. It premiered to critical fanfare last winter with an abbreviated 7 episode first season (thanks to the WGA strike), and went on to win an Emmy for lead actor Bryan Cranston (the dad Hal from "Malcolm in the Middle"; Tim Whatly the dentist from "Seinfeld"). Created by a former writer/producer of "The X-Files," "Breaking Bad" is about a chemistry teacher named Walt who finds out he has terminal cancer. In order to secure the financial future of his pregnant wife and teenage son, mild mannered Walt teams up with a drop out former student of his, Jesse, to make and sell crystal meth. Being a skilled chemist, Walt is REALLY good at cooking meth. They make a lot of money, and then get in over their heads.

I know, it sounds weird, and it is. It's also funny, suspenseful, creepy, emotional, quiet, sometimes tough to watch, and addicting. I could go on and on, but it's better just to see for yourself. It's not a show for everybody; if you don't like the first 3 episodes, you won't like the rest. The first season is available on DVD now, and the second season is currently airing on AMC on Sunday nights. Usually towards the end of the season's run, AMC will run a marathon of all the episodes allowing viewers to catch up. If I remember, I'll try to find out when that is.

36 Years in Solitary: Murder, Death and Justice on Angola

This is one of those NPR stories that you end up listening to while sitting in your driveway, because you don't want to get out of your car until the story is over. Told in three 10 minute segments, reporter Laura Sullivan tells the tale of two Louisiana prison farm inmates who have been kept in solitary confinement for more than three decades for a murder that people are just now realizing, maybe they didn't commit. There is more to it than that, but I don't want to give away too much. Without leaning one way or another, the story does a good job of laying out the facts of the case and interviewing as many people involved as they can.

You can listen to part 1 here. Links to parts 2 and 3 can be found below the pictures in the left hand column of the story.

Lost

OK, I'm cheating here a little bit. ABC's "Lost" is not exactly a lesser known pick. But seriously, if you haven't started watching it yet, what are you waiting for? It really is as good as everyone who obsesses over it says it is. And now it's Peabody Award winning (and JD Recommended). Next season (#6) will be its last. Start watching the DVDs now. You will easily finish seasons 1-4 before season 5 is released on DVD in December. Then, you will be all caught up for the final season when it starts in late January of 2010. Get to it!

The Onion News Network

For years The Onion has been known to produce some of the best news, media, and political satire around in the form of "newspaper journalism." Now they've expanded into video. This has provided The Onion with a whole new genre to satirize, and they do it well. All forms of television "news" are covered, including morning talk shows, CNN Headline News, ESPN, "Crossfire"-like arguelism, CSPAN, financial news, and more. Each week three or four short news stories are released on their website (or can be downloaded as a podcast through iTunes). As is the case with The Onion, the content is not always suitable for work. Their latest clip, which I've included below, is clean. It's a segment of the ONN morning show "Today Now!":

Autoworkers Compete to Keep Jobs, Livelihoods on New Reality Show

That's all I got. That should be enough to keep you busy. Do you have any recommendations you'd like to share (Peabody winning or not)?

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Groundskeeper Willie

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

• He was conceived, born, and educated on a pool table in a tavern near Loch Ness.


• Failed at the culinary venture of selling Chef Willie's Haggis Helper


• Future plans are to build a security bog around his prize-winning heather, catch a leprechaun, and marry his tractor.

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Happy Opening Day!

Baseball's back! Although it's snowing in Cleveland right now, looking forward to the start of the baseball season. I heard a commercial on the radio today that reminded me of this classic clip:

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Fat Tony

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

• His specialty equipment includes an ice pick with a laser sight.
• Also known as William D'Amico, William Williams, Marion.
• His rival crime families are the Cuomos, Travoltas, Lasordas, and Boyardees.
• His itemized extortion bills always include a smiley face.
• His dream jobs deferred are pizza man, organ grinder, or leaning tower maker.

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Lisa Simpsons

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

Her first word was "Bart."

Turn-ons include waffles, ponies, and women who have resisted domination by the patriarchy

Turn-offs include hypocritical self-serving politicians, environmental degradation, and the music of John Philip Sousa.

A real blog post is coming soon, I promise.

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Bumblebee Man

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

His country of origin is Mexico.

Talented at getting hit, stuck, struck, pinched, caught, and shocked by various objects and making it look funny.

His first network is Channel Ocho.

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Brian Williams (& more Colbert) on Twitter

This first clip is from last night's episode of The Daily Show. Host Jon Stewart and guest Brian Williams of the NBC Nightly News discuss the use of Twitter by members of Congress and the news media:



Then, on last night's The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert yet again discusses members of Congress using Twitter during President Obama's address Tuesday night:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Claire McCaskill's Twittering

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Does all this discussion of congressional Tweeting help or hurt Twitter? Will the younger generation be less likely to adopt Twitter; viewing it lame and pointless? Has it reached its saturation point? Read more!

The Colbert Report on Congressional Tweets

From last night's program:
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Simpsons Fun Facts: Ralph Wiggum

Courtesy of today's page on The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

His favorite book is "Go, Dog, Go."

His favorite swear word is "mitten."

Wants to grow up to be either a principal or a caterpillar.

Special skills include puppy imitations, consuming and digesting vast quantities of crayons, turning invisible by closing his eyes, and acting.

His happiest day was when the doctor told him he didn't have worms anymore.

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Otto

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:


Has a Big Daddy Roth tattoo on his butt


Special skills include air guitar, carnival Rocket Car operator, and faking his own death.


Has had fifteen crashes without a single fatality


Likes to read "stuff from the vampire's point of view." Read more!

The Simpsons (Now with Higher Definition!)

Take a look at these two videos and tell me if you see any differences between the two of them:







That's right! Wow, you are really observant (and can read the title of this post)! Last night The Simpsons aired in high-definition for the first time. Welcome to the future. I seem to recall reading an interview with the show's producer's about two years back where they claimed that the show would NEVER convert to widescreen hi-def because that would be sacrilegious. The Simpsons, they claimed, was a television show, and that meant broadcasting in a 4:3 ratio forever!

Well, forever wasn't as long as they thought. Broadcasting in high-def didn't really add that much to The Simpsons visually, but the colors were brighter, the lines were more defined, the occasionally crude drawing stood out more, and there is more room for potential sight gags.

With this convergence, is there any program still airing in standard-def that you wish would catch up with the times? I can't think of any program in particular, but I wish Time Warner Cable of Cleveland would get their act together and offer more than a handful of HDTV channels. Every other cable provider in the area offers at least twice as many HD channels. What are you waiting for TWC? You are certainly charging us enough! If The Simpsons can do it, so can you. Read more!

UPDATE - Adventures in Product Placement: 30 Rock

My bad.

Apparently the press, the blogosphere, and yours truly jumped the gun a little bit when accusing 30 Rock of shameless McFlurry product placement (see previous post below). The outcry was getting loud enough, that showrunner/head writer/star Tina Fey felt the need to clear things up:

"“It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the references to McDonald's in last night's episode of 30 Rock were in no way product placement. (Nor were they an attempt at product placement that fell through.) We received no money from the McDonald's Corporation. We were actually a little worried they might sue us. That's just the kind of revenue-generating masterminds we are.

Also, the upcoming story line where Liz Lemon starts dating Grimace is just based on a recurring dream I have.

Seriously, though, it's not product placement.

Also, whoever is writing my Twitter account is pretty funny, but it's not me.” - Tina Fey

Again, my bad, but your reputation does precede you. Next time I'll give you benefit of the doubt. Read more!