Daily Archives: February 19, 2013

Fanmanly: Archer

Posted in Fanmanly, Sweet Streams, TV by

Archer 3Just to clarify, we don’t think of this “Fanmanly” feature as focusing on entertainment that only appeals to bros, but more focuses on entertainment that is more bro-friendly. That being said, let’s dig into one of my favorite dude-favored shows right now: Archer!

What can I say about Archer other than it is hilarious? As it progresses, I love that this show is similar to Arrested Development in that it totally caters to the fans. “Phrasing” (see below), the danger zone, Archer’s fear of robots, his love for Burt Reynolds, “yuup” and “nooope“, and anything Pam says are all a hundred times funnier when you have watched and loved all of this show.

The voice talent alone should be enough to convince you to watch this show. You have H. Jon Benjamin (Bob’s Burgers) as Archer (who I am ashamedly attracted to and on a related note does anyone else find Benjamin’s voice super sexy?), Jessica Walters (Arrested Development) as his cold but overbearing mother, Aisha Tyler (I remember her from Friends) as the more competent agent at ISIS, Judy Greer (another Arrested alum) as the ditzy, kinky receptionist, Chris Parnell (SNL) as their brainy accountant turned agent, and the unknown to me Amber Nash as the worst HR Director out there.

I will recommend this show with the caveat that it is not for the faint of heart. It is filthy and has its fair share of animated violence, but all that just adds to its…charm? Well, it at least makes for a pretty rollicking, shocking, hilarious, stylistic, spy comedy. Those exist, don’t they?

–Ellen

Archer is available on Netflix Instant

Fan-Rants: [Spoilers] WHAT THE HECK JULIAN FELLOWS?!?

Posted in Fan-Rants, TV by

julian-fellowes_custom-c48719149534279f38f23f2324ea101b13cf605a-s6-c10I would like to start off by saying that this post is fraught with spoilers. Fraught. So if you haven’t seen the finale of Downton Abbey you should probably 1) get your act together and 2) don’t read any further, because this is about to get REAL.
I am fully aware that Mr. Fellows, creator of DA and Oscar-winning writer of Gosford Park, probably had very little to do with Dan Stevens’ decision to leave the show. Stevens is a star, baby, and if he wants to head off in search of bigger and better parts, more power to him. (This is me being diplomatic; in actuality I am super pissed). What I can’t condone, however, is the emotional roller coaster Fellows forced us to ride, like a cinematic Splash Mountain. I mean, killing someone off minutes after the birth of their on-screen son? A joyous event that has been three seasons in the making, followed by a fatal, and dare I say totally avoidable, car crash? Not cool. Also, why are we trying to vilify babies? Killing off a lead character every time there is a birth in the family seems a little unfair to the infants in question.
Matthew melodrama aside, I loved this episode. It was nice to see Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) getting some well deserved extra screen time, and watching the reconciliation between Jimmy (Ed Speleers) and Thomas (Rob James-Collier) was pretty satisfying. Oh, and then there was this…

allen leech shirtless
Good. Grief. We at Fangirly try really hard not to objectify our favorite stars (false) but I think the award for Best 20th Century TV Bod goes to Mr. Allen Leech. I don’t know about you, but I’m suddenly much more optimistic about series four.
-Whitney