Tag Archives: HBO

The Many Saints of Newark

I know what you’re thinking; we’re all thinking it. They dressed young Tony Soprano up to vaguely reference Chris-Chan, and they did it intentionally. It fits the timeline; filming preceded the eldritch horrors that ultimately led to prison for Chris-Chan. I don’t even want to joke about what he did, and in case you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about: I am not crazy.

My personal credentials for this review are as follows:

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Filed under Bad Influences, Movies You Missed, Nostalgic Obsessions, O'Shloktoberfest

Million Dollar Extreme

I love great sketch comedy, and as demonstrated on this site, I have tremendous nostalgia for the video industry of the 1980’s and ’90s. By nature I am protective of those things, out of love. I have little tolerance of exploitation of them.

I believe the modern peak of sketch comedy came with two shows; Mr. Show with Bob & David, and The Kids In The Hall (both on HBO). Since the 1990s, these programs set the gold standard. Inevitably, new sketch comedy shows are compared to them, and they seldom hold up. I don’t think The State gelled until they became Reno 911. Broken Lizard has fantastic moments; generally one or two per film. Too many comedy groups nowadays are post-UCB; all manic energy, no focus. That’s fine if the group is performing live for an drunken bar audience. TV is a different matter.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Nostalgic Obsessions, Unfairly Maligned

Rahway The Easy Way

If you’re still reminiscing about a high school field trip almost 30 years after your permission slip was signed, it was probably a pretty sweet field trip.

My Sociology class got to go to Rahway State Prison, circa 1989. It was so awesome, I went again the next year, when I wasn’t even in the proper class.

I'm still surprised when I see this actor walking.

I’m still surprised whenever I see this actor walking.

In the late 1990s, the grittiest show on cable television was Oz; HBO’s first one-hour drama.  Continue reading

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Filed under Bad Influences, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Uncategorized