// Category Archive for: Comedy

Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 15, “Cleopatra 2525”

By Sachin Hingoo

In this episode of TV or GTFO, Sachin and Gary explore the dystopian-future sci-fi series about women being driven underground and forced to battle an all-seeing male overlord. Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale? No, it’s… Wait, this can’t be right, Sam Raimi’s Cleopatra 2525?
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Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 14, “Dinosaurs”

By Sachin Hingoo

On TV or GTFO, we try to keep things pretty light, and never expect that things will take as dark a turn as they do on this week’s episode. If we’re not mistaken, this is the first show we’ve covered in which a baby dies! Is it another gritty police drama? No, it’s Dinosaurs, a “high” (because you pretty much have to be) concept sitcom about a family of prehistoric lizards, by way of Archie Bunker. It was the final project from Muppeteer Jim Henson, before his death in 1990. What were you smoking at the end there, Jim Henson?

For a show that delves into such heady topics as steroid abuse and body dysmorphia, racism and xenophobia, masturbation, corporate crime, and of course, environmental destruction, it’s easy to forget that these are actors in giant rubber suits, being voiced by the likes of Jessica Walter and Sally Struthers. Regardless, none of the heaviness of those episodes is adequate preparation for the pitch-black non-humor of the show’s final scenes.

And let’s talk about the Baby, shall we? My goodness, this creature makes Steve Urkel look like Don Draper. If you don’t want to strangle him by the end of this episode, I’ll eat my hat. And at the time of the show’s peak, such as it was, this fucker was everywhere. You could barely walk through a mall in the early 1990s without hearing the incessant wail of “NOT THE MAMA!”

So strap in and up your dosage of antidepressants, because things are about to get rough for a family of prehistoric predators as TV or GTFO does Dinosaurs!

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to TV or GTFO in iTunes, on your favorite podcast app, or check out the episode right here!

Book Review: Ben Wheatley – Confusion and Carnage

By Less Lee Moore

My introduction to Ben Wheatley was Sightseers, a film based on characters so hilariously loathsome I wasn’t even sure I actually liked the movie until days later. That’s when I knew that Wheatley, who already had two other features under his belt (Down Terrace, Kill List), was destined for greatness.

Wheatley has only directed three films since then—A Field In England, High-Rise, and Free Fire—and is still working, so he might seem an odd subject for a career retrospective. This is something that film critic Adam Nayman acknowledges in his new book Ben Wheatley: Confusion and Carnage. It’s a clever bit of self-deprecation that puts the reader at ease.
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TV Preview: Making History (FOX)

By Sachin Hingoo

Time travel shows that use innocuous items to send their users years into the past are my beat here on Popshifter. The new FOX mid-season comedy Making History, though, is a very rare example of a network series that takes a cable concept (in this case, Comedy Central) and does nearly every part of it better by fully fleshing out and committing to its characters and their relationships, rather than watering them down in order to get to their next joke.
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Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 13, “Seinfeld”

By Sachin Hingoo

We have a very special episode of TV or GTFO this week, and we’ve invited New York City-based freelance writer/general layabout, Seinfeld superfan, and friend of the show, Liz Heather along for the ride! It’s fitting that this episode comes out around Valentine’s Day, because, unlike most weeks when we throw shade on a TV series from the 1990s, this episode is nothing short of a love letter to one of our favorites—the iconic, incomparable show about nothing from the minds of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld!

Gary, Liz, and I grew up watching Seinfeld, and like so many others it’s become a huge part of our lives. For a show that has little in the way of an overarching plot or theme, it’s left indelible marks on our brain and on our culture at large.

Breaking with our usual format of only talking about the series premiere and the series finale, we’ll talk about our favorite episodes from the entire series, how Elaine is perhaps the greatest TV character ever crafted, our differing views about the series finale, and much more! This episode is also notable for being our first tri-country show (Scotland, Canada, and the US). Suck it, borders!

If you’re that person who yells “SEPARATE KNOB” at hapless strangers in the street, chastise your friends and family about double-dipping, have ever uttered the words “NO SOUP FOR YOU”, or given serious thought to stealing a marble rye, this is the show for you!

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to TV or GTFO in iTunes, on your favorite podcast app, or check out the episode right here!

Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 12, “Out Of This World”

By Sachin Hingoo

A show about teenager with near-infinite power, who can bend the very fabric of space and time. A show about the shocking revelation that our main character is half-alien, and her father is millions of miles away from Earth, communicating only through a mysterious glowing cube. A surefire hit? No, it’s Out Of This World, a late 1980s sitcom that more than one outlet has called the worst sitcom ever!
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Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 11, “Baywatch”

By Sachin Hingoo

It took eleven episodes of TV or GTFO and not one, but two pretenders to the “king of beach-based crime drama” throne, but we’ve finally decided to tackle the OG, the undisputed champion of the lifeguard detective genre, Baywatch!
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Less Lee Moore: Best Of 2016

By Less Lee Moore

The year began with the death of David Bowie and then just got worse. Prince died in April, and throughout the rest of the year, dozens of other well-loved, talented, influential artists continued to leave this earthly plane. December continued the onslaught of pop culture deaths, with George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Richard Adams (Watership Down), and Debbie Reynolds dying within days of each other.

Still, there was a lot of amazing pop culture in 2016, which definitely helped ease the pain of these sad passings, as well as the foreboding political climate of the US (not to mention countries around the world; too numerous to mention). Here’s hoping 2017 is less traumatic for all of us.
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Laury Scarbro: Top Five Movies Of 2016

By Laury Scarbro

Star Trek Beyond

First and foremost, it has to be said that there are many movies that were released this year that I have not yet had the privilege to see. Several of those have yet to be released in theaters, or haven’t made it to DVD yet, so I’ll save that for another post. That being said, let’s get on with the list. This is also not the easiest list to put in any kind of order, so I’m not going to number them.
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Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 10, “Family Matters”

By Sachin Hingoo

This week on the TENTH episode of TV or GTFO, Sachin and Gary finally acknowledge the show whose lead character, Steve Urkel, is somehow, one of the most iconic TV personalities ever. Family Matters ran from 1989 to 1997, amassing a whopping 215 episodes and becoming the crown jewel of ABC’s TGIF Friday lineup (along with Full House and Perfect Strangers).

It’s the story of a Chicago cop, Carl Winslow, and the comedic adventures of his curiously fluid family, one that seems to add and remove characters at the drop of a hat. It also shows how wildly different the show became from its pilot episode to its series finale; Urkel isn’t even present in the premiere, but is very obviously the focal point of the show by the end.

Will this show ever stop making us think about Urkel having sex? Did Urkel murder his fellow astronauts? Where the heck are his parents? Why does Carl think an appropriate gift for his son is a 20-year-old used kevlar vest with a bullet hole in it? Why did they replace the actor playing Harriet so late in the series run? Why is the iconic, and awesome, theme song not present in any of these episodes? Who are these children and where did they come from? Join us to find out, and in the meantime, jam out with “Days Go By!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvNiKwWvhk

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to TV or GTFO on iTunes or in your favorite podcast app, or you can check out the episode right here!