Category Archives: Fanmanly

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

Fanmanly: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Posted in Fanmanly, TV by

I don’t want you to think that by putting this show in our Fanmanly feature I believe that this is exclusively a “bro” show, but let’s not deny that it appeals and is aimed to the 18-24 male demographic.  It’s just the especially cool girls that are willing to see through that frat boy facade and recognize this show for the wickedly hilarious farce that it is.

Any show that can make you laugh through the cringing at poop jokes, biting social commentary, and degradation of humanity.  These characters are awful human beings.  There is no getting around it.  They are awful to each other (constantly comparing Dee to a bird and making Charlie do “Charlie Work”), they are awful to everyone around them (making a priest turn to drugs and trying to take a dumpster baby to a tanning salon), and they are awful to themselves (Charlie takes steroids to be a better underground street fight and Dee and Dennis get addicted to crack).

If any of that doesn’t sound like something you would enjoy watching, then this show isn’t for you because it gets worse.  Admittedly, I myself can only watch so much of this show in one sitting without beginning to weep for mankind knowing that there are actually people out there that are this sociopathic, narcissistic, and moronic.

I can’t mention this show without giving a shout out to my main man, Charlie, who is the only character on this show (with the occasional exception of Mac) who has any redeemable qualities.  Yes, he is not the brightest bulb in the box, but his heart is in the right place.  Don’t believe me?  Watch the clip below.  All he wants to do is help struggling cat owners.

And watch the show tonight when it premieres its eighth season!

Fanmanly: The League!

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There’s no logical reason why I should love FX’s The League as much as I do. It’s heavy on the crude humor and the language is about as foul as it is possible to be on cable. Did I mention that the show is centered around a fantasy football league? All in all, not your typical Fangirly fare. That being said, I’ve watched each episode at least three times. Turns out, crude humor is hilarious! Even the football nonsense is starting to make sense. For example, I now know that…ok I still don’t know anything about football.

Part of the reason this show works so well is that it’s semi-ad libbed by some of the funniest people on TV. My personal favorite is Ruxin, the morally ambiguous lawyer played by stand-up genius Nick Kroll. Please enjoy this clip featuring just a few of Ruxin’s best moments.

Obviously this is not the kind of show you would quote while having brunch with the ladies, which is probably part of its appeal. I mean, you can only rewatch Downton Abbey so many times before you want to throw a fancy tea tray at Dan Stevens perfectly shaped head. Every once and a while a gal needs a break from shows that can be described as “girly” or “adorkable”. For those times, I choose The League. If your looking for some good, not-so-clean fun, tune into FX and watch The League!

-Whitney

Fanmanly: Justified

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I have a pretty serious thing for TV lawmen. For the sake of my reputation I’m not going to divulge how many hours I’ve spent watching Law and Order: SVU because I like the way Christopher Meloni looks in a wrinkled shirt and a gun holster, but suffice it to say, it was a lot. So when I heard that FX was premiering a show about a trigger-happy US marshal staring none other than Timothy Olyphant, I was, to put it mildly, interested. And although I’m not a huge fan of FX in general (Louie and The League being the obvious exceptions) I was pretty sure that if nothing else, it would give me an excuse to look at this squared-jawed mug for an hour…

That being said, I was hooked on Justified by the end of the pilot’s opening credits. I mean, not only does someone get whacked in the first four minutes, they go down in one of the coolest televised shootouts in TV history. This is actually part of this show’s charm; while there is a TON of violence it never really feels gratuitous. Well, this scene might have been a little gratuitous…

And to be fair, it’s not all gore and gunfights. There’s also a little bit of romance for the ladies! Yes, apparently our hero Raylan  Givens won’t rest till he’s killed all the crooks and bedded all the women of rural Kentucky.

And who could blame him, because from what I can tell, they all look like this… 

and this…                         

My favorite part of this show, however, has to be the killer supporting cast. There’s Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) who, over three seasons, has dabbled in everything from Nazism to organized crime. Another of my all time favorites was the murderous matron Mags Bennett, a role that won Margo Martindale the Emmy for best Supporting Actress in a Drama in 2011. Last but not least there’s Tim Gutterson (Jacob Pitts), the soft spoken, woefully underused deputy marshal who, despite having probably three lines in the whole last season still managed to make his way onto my list of the Most Adorable Men on TV (Ellen will back me up on this).

But this is all just one fangirl’s opinion. For the skeptics out there, I leave you with this clip. If this doesn’t convince you Justified is worth your time, nothing will.

-Whitney

Welcome to Fangirly!

Posted in Agree to Disagree, Anglophiles Anonymous, Choice Picks, Crush of the Week, Fangirly Exposed!, Fanmanly, In with the Old, MBK, Movies, Music, Nostalgia, Sweet Streams, TV by

The day has finally come, the moment that only we have been waiting for, the launch of our new website, fangirly.com! We really have been excited to start and judging from some of the stuff that we have planned the fun is just beginning.

Like our tagline suggests, we consider ourselves to be fairly intelligent, discerning human beings, but you stick us in front of TV screen, movie screen, iPod/Pad screen, really any screen, and something strange happens. We lose all sense of how rational people behave. We squeal, laugh hysterically, sob, and do this weird thing that only select members of our family do, rub our hands together out of excitement.

We wanted to give you a little taste of the fun that is to come, so here are some of the features we will be doing here at Fangirly:

Sweet Streams: Do you ever sit down in front of your Netflix account and wonder what you should watch next? “Sweet Streams” will be our recommendations for what you should be streaming to your myriad of devices.

Grade A, Choice Picks: We’re going to give you our top picks for a variety of categories. Curious as to our top food fight scenes?  Top movies based on SNL skits? Top TV bromances? We are going to rank whatever our little hearts desire, because it gives us a false sense of superiority.  Join us, won’t you?

Fangirly Exposed!: Look we all have things that we are embarrassed to like, guilty pleasures, if you will. We are going to do the smart thing and announce ours on the internet!

Fanmanly: While we here at Fangirly enjoy our fair share of romance and polka dots and… other girly stuff, we still like to get down and dirty with the boys. (Insert innuendo of choice here). “Fanmanly” is our look at shows, movies, etc. that leave us feeling just a little more hardcore.

Anglohphiles Anonymous: Whether it be the accents, the dry wit, or the general regal air, we love the Brits and their entertainment (at least everything that makes it across the pond).  Check out picks for the finest that the UK has to offer.

Agree to Disagree: Let it be said that we agree on a lot, but there are also some things on which we will never see eye to eye.  Enjoy as Ellen wins every argument (No, Ellen didn’t write this).

In with the Old: Remember the day when movies and TV shows weren’t all spinoffs, sequels, remakes, and re-imaginings? Us, too! With this feature we hope to remind the future generations that we  were once able to come up with novel concepts.  Because we believe the children are our future.

Marry, Boff, Kill:  We once spent an entire camping trip playing this game, arguing over our choices, and disowning each other for killing certain people.  Now we are bringing the game to you guys so you can relish in watching us argue over (never going to happen) hypothetical situations.

Fangirly Crush of the Week: Pretty self-explanatory, but our spotlight on who is rocking our world.  At least for that week.

We have a lot planned and we are really excited to start.  Hopefully you will find the time to stop by and see what we are up to!  – by Ellen and Whitney