February 27, 2009

Nicktoon Book & Invader Zim

Two posts in one day? Yes, it's true! Since we've been absent for so long, I thought I'd try to make up for the last time by blogging twice today.

Earlier this evening, A and I were walking a Borders, perusing various DVDs and Blu-Rays and we so often do, when a big book caught our eye. Now, we are not big readers, we prefer enjoying something that can be watched, but were were immediately drawn to this book. It was called Not Just Cartoons, Nicktoons! The book (as you can see on the right) had a cover that was filled with green slime (one of Nickelodeon's trademarks) and inside, the book discussed every single Nicktoon ever made, from the early days of Ren & Stimpy and Rugrats, to the most recent Nicktoon The Might Bee (created by and starring the voice of SNL star Amy Poehler, didn't I mention her in my last blog?). (For those of you who didn't grow up in the 1990's, a Nicktoon the term used for a cartoon that was created by the Nickelodeon TV channel.) We saw down at a table and flipped page by page through the book, reminiscing about our old favorite TV shows from our childhood. Though we didn't know each other as kids (we met in high school), we both grew up watching these same shows, and we both immediately remembered specific episodes from our favorite shows like Doug, Hey Arnold!, and The Angry Beavers. The book was not really a children's book, more of a behind the scenes look at the creations of these shows, with interviews from the show's writers and producers. It contained drawings of various characters, as well as stories about the original concepts for the shows, and how they developed through the years. It was truly a fascinating read, and once I graduate college and get my own place, I will be sure to buy a coffee table, and when I do, this book will surely be on it.

As a child, I pretty much exclusively watched Nickelodeon, and while I had those shows that I loved those that were just okay, for the most part, I watched them all. However, there was one Nicktoon that I never watched, and that was Invader Zim. While most Nicktoons were bright and happy, Invader Zim had a much darker style. As you've probably noticed by looking at all the shows we talk about, I'm really into comedies, and I really don't watch many dark or scary shows. So when I saw commercials for Invader Zim as a child, it kind of freaked me out, and I had no desire to watch. However, when talking to A last year, she mentioned on a few occasions how she used to watch Invader Zim and although it was kind of dark, it was really funny and she liked it. This got me thinking that perhaps I should give this show a chance, and also perhaps A would like to watch this show again, so for Chanukkah this year, one of the gifts that I got for A was the Complete Series of Invader Zim on DVD. We've been pretty busy with work (and other TV shows) these past few weeks, so we never got a chance to watch, but after reading about Nicktoons at Borders today (and there was naturally a chapter in the book about Invader Zim too), we were in the mood for some Nicktoons, so we thought what better occasion then now to start watching that DVD. And I must say, as a first time viewer, it's really funny! Yes, a little dark, but overall very funny. The show is about an alien from a distant planet who is sent to Earth to take take over the planet. As he prepares his take-over, he disguises himself as a human so no one will suspect that he is an alien, and he disguises his side-kick robot Gir as a dog. Here, enjoy a short clip from Invader Zim:

Scrubs Interns & Flight of the Conchords

Hello faithful Blog Readers (do we have any faithful readers? do we have any readers at all? Is anyone even reading this?),

Remember when we said that this year our New Year's Resolution was to start watching new shows and blogging about them? Well, that hasn't happened yet. But it will ! It's still only February, so we got 10 months left to start watching a new show! I think we can do that.

As you've probably noticed, we've been incredibly busy lately, hence, we haven't written in a few weeks. But today, I found a short pocket of time (rather found an excuse to procrastinate doing work), so you are treated to a new blog entry!

If you've been watching the new season of Scrubs on ABC (which you should be watching, cause it's really good), then you have noticed that there are a new cast of interns who have joined The Sacred Heart who are working with our usual favorite group of doctors. Coincidentally, 2 of these new interns have also been featured on Flight of the Conchords! So we thought it would be fun to show a little side by side comparison of these up-and-coming character actors, as they're working their way through our favorite TV shows. Enjoy!

Eliza Coupe



Aziz Ansari


Aziz Ansari will also be starring on the new NBC Comedy from the creators of The Office called Parks and Recreation which stars Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) premiering April 9 at 8:30!

February 5, 2009

TV Clip of the Day: Andy Bernard

While last night I blogged about Ted, the a cappella singing employee of Sacred Heart on Scrubs, today is all about Andy, the a cappella singing employee of Dunder Mifflin on The Office. I don't know what it is, but there is something about watching people sing a cappella that is just great. Ed Helms, who plays Andy on the show, was actually in his college's a cappella group called The Obertones. Little did he know that years later when starring on The Office, his character would frequently break into song. Below, enjoy Andy trying to woo Angela with his lovely rendition of "Take a Chance on Me", and then below that Ed Helms sings the song live at The Office Convention!

TV Clip of the Day: Ted's Band from Scrubs!

We've been a little behind in our Scrubs watching lately, so tonight we watched the most recent 4 episodes of the show (the 2 from last week and the 2 from last night). We were very pleased to see that the latest episode, entitled, "My Lawyer's in Love" featured Ted's band (oftern referred to as "The Worthless Peons"). For those of you who don't know, Ted is one of the supporting characters on Scrubs, and he is the hospital's incompetent lawyer. In the first season it was revealed that Ted and 3 of the other guys from the hospital have an a cappella band, and ever since they have popped up in random episodes to sing so some classic songs in their unique style. In fact, the four actors are a real a cappella band called The Blanks, and they even have their own CD! The CD is entitled “Riding the Wave” and features many of the songs that they have sung on Scrubs as well as some hidden microphone interviews with members of the Scrubs cast. I own the album, and it’s really great!

Below, enjoy a collection of all of the appearances of Ted’s band on Scrubs, from their very first appearance back in Season 1, to their most recent episode that aired this week. Enjoy!



And from this week's episode: