Flight of the Conchords: Season 2

One of my favourite series returns tonight for its second season on HBO Canada (10pm ET). Flight of the Conchords was one of the quirkiest series HBO has taken a chance on yet. Starring Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, this novelty act first found success in New Zealand before their HBO special, One Night Stand, which was critically acclaimed. HBO then signed up this series of two struggling artists in a novelty band trying to land gigs (never happens), managed by the guy who is the head of the New Zealand consulate (whose NZ tourism posters in his office are usually worth the entire episode), and constantly trying to dodge their number one fan, the super-obsessed Mel.

In tonight's premiere, the duo finally leaves Murray because he's spending too much time with another band, and surprisingly, find success managing themselves. But, as with anything these two do, the success doesn't last for long. Constantly down on their luck, this season will find the two on the brink of financial ruin because Bret dared to buy a new tea cup; starting their own gang; impersonating Simon and Garfunkel in a lookalike contest, and turning to prostitution as a way out of everything.

I can't wait!

Exciting Casting News!!
I've got good news and bad news. Last week it was announced Kristen Bell had turned down the offer to appear on Lost in season 4 (boo). But... Bell has officially joined the cast of Heroes (yay!) It's probably what she was holding out for, and figured it was the better bet career-wise. Her character's name will be Elle, and she'll be connected to three other existing characters (I won't say who, in case people deem that a spoiler). More info can be found here.

Entourage and Flight of the Conchords have both been renewed for new seasons. I have to catch up on FotC, but Entourage has been great in the second half of this season. Last night's ep was great (maybe it was because there was less Turtle and Drama predictable bumbling, and more Ari), though it left you a little uneasy from Eric's point of view. And is it wrong of me to have been upset that Walsh's girlfriend had taken the bullets out of the gun? Dammit... I can't wait until we finally see Medellin. Who thinks it's going to be terrible?

I swear this guy is Dorian Gray.

In other news, Finding Lost Season 3 has gone to the printer, and I'm excited about that, and I've been asked to be a part of another book project called The Essential Cult Television Reader. Yay! And I'm also going to appear in a book on Heroes this fall. I'll do a blog soon just on that book.

My daughter's birthday party was a success. Eighteen adults and six children, and not a single child was hurt or crying or upset, so that was a good thing. And my daughter suddenly dropped off to sleep at 7:20, which was worth the entire day itself. Ah... a three-year-old. How time flies...

Stuff for a Monday
I'm 300 pages into Book 7. I don't care that everyone else is actually reading the same book I am; I love it. I wish my brain could read faster (and that I didn't feel really tired at 11pm). Check out this hilarious play-by-play of the Friday night the books went on sale, from my pal Emily.

TV Guide interviewed Gordon Ramsay, where Gordon talks about his profanity, running, and why he never EVER Googles himself (believe that if you will). They asked him the best question ever. His response was hysterical:

TV Guide: You're driving down a highway and you're hungry. You see a McDonald's on the side of the road. Do you stop for a Big Mac?
Ramsay: My friend, I'd rather eat a f--king cow-pie sandwich.

BuddyTV has a good interview with Flight of the Conchords. I've found the show's a bit hit and miss; I wish every week the guys didn't break up and then get back together again. Then again, I'm a few weeks behind (what else is new?)

Alyson Hannigan talks about her marriage to Alexis Denisof. Sigh. I miss Buffy and Angel. And Alexis and Alyson. I haven't been watching How I Met Your Mother (I watched the first 2 eps because of Alyson but it was SO awful, and I couldn't take the laugh track). But now people are saying it's much funnier, and this article says Alexis is on it. Must check it out.

I wrote in an earlier post about a new book, Shelf Monkey. I was just on Corey's blog today and he's got a ton of great reviews posted. Please buy it and read it. :)

TV Addict has a cute interview with Ed Helms, a.k.a. Andy on The Office, where he reveals "spoilers" for season 4.

I should get back to work now.

Flight of the Conchords: My New Favourite Laugh
Dashing to finish my book, I've been letting several shows pile up on my PVR, hoping to get to them later, and one of those is HBO's new show, Flight of the Conchords (airing on TMN Sunday nights at 10:30pm). Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand duo who have been making audiences laugh for years at their crazy songs -- they tour, just the two of them, and sit on stage with their guitars and sing about love, issues, and racist dragons. HBO first brought them to the public's eye in 2005 with their brief special, One Night Stand, that became so hugely requested on the network they asked if they could spin it into a comedy show. Here's a clip from that stage show (how they don't make each other laugh is beyond me):



The series is about the duo -- Jemaine and Bret -- trying to make it in the U.S., but not having much luck. They have one RABID fan who follows them around and seems to show up wherever they are, and knows everything about them (her husband sits in the car with her, idling outside restaurants for hours so she can run over and talk to them and pretend she just happened to be there). The two have inane conversations that will have you in stitches:
"Fleetwood Mac used to be really huge."
"Yeah... Rumours."
"No, fact."

In the middle of the action, suddenly they begin singing directly into the camera, and the show turns into a bad '80s video, and the result is brilliant. Here's a clip of the first time it happens in the pilot episode. Just listen to the lyrics of this song, and you'll get the perfect idea of what the show is like (Bret has a beard now and shorter hair):



Their manager seems to work for the New Zealand embassy, with all these posters around him that aren't quite raving about it. They sit in his wood-panelled office complaining to him that they need to have more gigs, while behind him you see a picture of a green mountain that simply says, "New Zealand -- Just Like Lord of the Rings." Behind them is another one, with blue water, and it says, "New Zealand: Don't Expect Much. You Will Love It." He goes to a shop to buy a video camera, misunderstands when the guy asks him what his budget is -- "What, I was supposed to bring a budget? It's got a lot of confidential information on it, you know... you need to see my annual budget before you'll sell me a camcorder?" -- and ends up buying a camera phone, on which he records their video. The result is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

From weird things going on in the background, to the genius lyrics, to the great deadpan acting of the main duo, Flight of the Conchords is the perfect show with which to spend the summer months. I love it!