Monthly Archives: March 2015

Fangirly Crush of the Week: Aziz Ansari

Posted in Crush of the Week by

azizListen, we have given a lot of love to some of the other Parks men on this site.  Specifically, Adam Scott and Chris Pratt, because why wouldn’t we?  But with the debut of Aziz’s new stand-up special on Netflix today, I thought it was time to spread the love because I have a lot of love in my heart for Aziz.  Much like Tom Haverford, he is smooth like chocolate.  I may not lust after Aziz the same way I do some of our other crushes of the week (looking at you, Chris), but I crush on Aziz in much the same way that I crush on puppies in that I think both are adorable and they make me laugh.  Granted, I laugh at puppies when they fall over or make funny noises and I more often laugh at Aziz when he is calling tortillas bean blankies or doing bits on getting concert tickets on Craigslist, but the love is still there.  Aziz is up there with former Crush of the Week, John Mulaney, for having my most quoted stand-up and I can never look at sheets, TNT dramas, or Kanye West the same way.

tom haverford

Here’s to someday getting to see Tom Haverford’s sexy times ritual.   “I have a ritual and it starts on the couch. We sit down, clap my hands, lights dim, Boyz II Men fades in…”

– Ellen

Sweet Streams: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Posted in Get with the Program, Sweet Streams, TV by

unbreakable_kimmy_schmidt_a_lNetflix released the first season of their new show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt today, so of course, I have already watched the whole thing.  And I loved it.  That is going to be pretty much a guarantee if you attach Tina Fey to a new project.  Tina and fellow 30 Rock executive producer Robert Carlock bring us this new show about an unbreakable girl named Kimmy Schmidt (get it?) who moves to New York for a fresh start after being released from an underground bunker where she has been living for 15 years with her apocalypse cult sisters.  Did you follow that?

Admittedly, I wasn’t immediately sold on this show after the first episode, but much like 30 Rock and every other comedy, it really finds its groove as it moves along.  Ellie Kemper is utterly charming as the titular Kimmy, who is just rife with sunny optimism, 90’s pop culture knowledge, and a middle school naivete (she was kidnapped 15 years ago, remember?).  The rest of the cast gets plenty time to shine with Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon, Kimmy’s new roommate, Carol Kane as Lillian, their eccentric landlord, and Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney, I mean, Jacqueline Voorhees, Kimmy’s rich boss who hires her as a nanny.

The best praise I can give this show, though, is that it is very similar to 30 Rock in it’s pacing and humor with the sunny optimism of Parks and Recreation.  If you know me at all, you know that is high praise indeed.  The jokes are rapid fire, making rewatchability high, the guest stars are high caliber (I wouldn’t dare spoil some of them for you), the pop culture references are a plenty (the Olsen twins are actually the Olsen octuplets), and there are  moments so bizarre that they rival “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” (VH3’s Joe Invisible Millionaire, anyone?).  Kimmy, who responds to someone calling her a bitch with “A female dog? The thing that makes puppies?”, has the same can-do spirit as Leslie Knope.  Also, at first glance she may be misjudged as weak given the whole cult thing, but really she is a strong, independent woman who doesn’t get taken down easily.  Also, if you like snappy theme songs that are based on fake viral videos, then this is the show for you.

To sum it all up, I’m already eager for season 2 (the only issue I have with the Netflix model of entire seasons at once) and I recommend that you join me in the wait.

–Ellen

Sweet Streams: Friends

Posted in Sweet Streams, TV by

friends-milkshakes-netflixHave you heard of this quaint little show?  It’s kind of under the radar, but I really think you should give it a shot.

Friends is the first show I remember actively watching. I’d tune in every week or, if that wasn’t possible, get my neighbor to record that week’s episode on an old VHS tape.  If you have ever read this blog or know me at all, then you know that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between TV and myself.  And as they say, you always remember your first.

Like I’m sure a lot of you, I have been taking advantage of Netflix’s recent addition of the show’s 10 seasons to binge my old fav and it really is like hanging out with an old friend. But only if that friend ended up being a lot more dirty than you remember them being, to the point of calling your mom and asking why she let you hang out with said friend, to which your mother may respond that you didn’t understand any of their dirty jokes anyway. However, I’m fairly certain it is this humor (that went over 8-year old Ellen’s head) that is causing me to enjoy it more this time around because I get the jokes!  And these friends are some dirty birdies!  Am I the only person who didn’t realize how much this show was about sex?  Why did I love it so much if I didn’t understand what was going on?  How I’d love to remember what I thought they were talking about when discussing things like erogenous zones.

Besides the flip phones, Rachel haircuts, and clothes that I tried to mimic in middle school, this show totally holds up.  Perhaps I am enjoying it more now because I am the same age as the gang circa season 3.  Give me a moment.  I have to stop and let that sink in, I mean, Ross had already been married.  Just the first marriage, but still.  Or maybe I am just enjoying the nostalgia factor, but either way I’m finding it very enjoyable.

So let Friends be there for you, like it’s been there before.

– Ellen