Ty Watches "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later"

As I promised on a recent podcast, I did finish all of "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later" this past weekend. I may not have mentioned it as a show that I was looking forward to, but believe me, I was highly anticipating this release. I was able to watch the first episode last Friday when it was released, then I watched 2 on Saturday, and finished the final 5 on Sunday.

It was great. I loved it. I was predestined to love it. I'm a fan of the movie, and I adored the prequel, "WHAS: First Day of Camp". I love how oddball and goofy the show and movie were/are. It is like classic oddball comedy. Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain are perfect at making this type of comedy. They all wrote, with help for some other writers, and I think that I am correct in assuming that David Wain directed all the episodes.

If I had one gripe about "WHAS: Ten Years Later", it would be that it was too short. But, the same can be said for "First Day of Camp". I think they only do 8 30 minute episodes on purpose. It makes the fans want more and more. I have already gone back and started "First Day of Camp" again. I'm also going to be watching the movie again, and after that, I will revisit "Ten Years Later". I just love how off the wall everything is. I think it is great that in "Ten Years Later" all the main actors keep saying that they are "in their mid 20's". It is so obvious that they're much older, but that adds to the allure of the comedy of the show.

The main cast is all there, with one exception. Paul Rudd, Zak Orth, Janeane Garrofolo, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, Jon Benjamin, Nina Hellman, Marguerite Moreau, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Marissa Ryan, AD Miles, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, they are all there. Bradley Cooper couldn't be in this due to a scheduling conflict. To combat this, they got Adam Scott to play the role of Ben, and they kept talking about how no one would notice him due to his "nose job". It was played for a great amount of laughs. In "Ten Years Later", they also had some of the people from "First Day of Camp" back. Camp Tiger Claw's residents, played by Rich Sommer, Eric Nenninger, Josh Charles and Kristen Wiig were all there, and all high falutant, what with their popped collars, scarves and fancy clothes.

There were some "new" characters introduced as well. Sarah Burns and Mark Feuerstein played campers Claire and Mark. What I loved about their additions was, any time they flashed back to the movie, they had scenes placed in that showed that these 2 were at the camp. It was so funny how bad, on purpose, it looked. Samm Levine showed up as the camp's radio host all grown up, Arty. He sounds just like the original actor, but this time, he had a real radio show. Alyssa Milano was great as Renatta, Ben and McKinley's nanny. She was psychotic and very funny, and there was a big twist with her, but I do not want to spoil much. Lake Bell returned, and her character Donna and Yaron(David Wain), are now married and looking for a surrogate. That is another great bit I do not want to spoil. Maya Erskine has a great role as Coop's fiancé. Jai Courtney was awesome as Susie's love interest/movie star co worker. John Early, who I become more and more a fan of every time I see him in something, is hysterical in his return as Logan. Side note, his shirt may be one of the best things in this whole series. Jason Schwartzman and Chris Pine return, and they are now government made killing machines. That is the only spoiler I will give with their characters. They are also hilarious, especially Pine. Skyler Gisondo, as basically the new Andy, is funny as hell. His showdown in the "King of Camp" competition with Andy is excellent.

All those names I mentioned should be enough alone for people to tune in. There are some big names in Hollywood, and some big names for comedy fans. The premise this season is about growing up and still being unsure of what to do with your life. I loved how well their professional careers were going yet they still needed to get back to their summer camp reunion that they planned 10 years earlier. All of the revels when they showed up to camp were great, but Poehler's was the best. Elizabeth Banks had a great scene too, when she finally showed up 12 hours late. Andy's journey was hilarious. The back and forth between Susie and Logan was tremendous. Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter playing dual roles as McKinley/George HW Bush and Coop/Ronald Reagan, was riotous. Jon Benjamin as Mitch, the can of vegetables was awesome. Coop and Katie's relationship throughout was wonderful, and very reminiscent of the movie. Even David Hyde Pierce's 2 minute scene was worth the wait.

Look, I am going to love anything that has to do with "WHAS". It was a classic movie, and "First Day of Camp", and now "Ten Years Later" have only added to the lore. I hope, and I think, they will do more stuff like this. They left it very open ended, and if everyone involved is willing to continue to do these, I do not see why this wouldn't be a viable show for, at least 2 or even 3 more series like these. "Ten Years Later" was awesome, and I highly recommend everyone checking it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is hoping the success of "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later" will lead to "Saved By the Bell: The College Years: 10 Years Later". That will be awesome.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Watches: People of Earth

I recently started watching the show "People of Earth" based on a recommendation. Man am I glad that I took that advice and caught up on this show. "People of Earth" is one of these rare, unique shows that comes along once in a lifetime.

The show's premise is simple. We have a journalist that is sent to a small town in New York to write about a support group for people who claim to have been abducted by aliens, they call themselves "experiencers". Wyatt Cenac, who I adore, plays the lead character, Ozzie, who is sent on this assignment. In the pilot episode he keeps having flashes of a deer, which he hit in an accident, driving to this small town. He finally arrives to this group and finds out way, way more about himself than he ever knew.

When he gets to this town, we get to meet all the weird and wacky people that entail this group. The ensemble cast is wonderful. Luka Jones pays a wannabe alien abductee, AKA, an experiencer, but he is the ultimate alien expert in this small town. Brian Huskey plays an experiencer that claims all the world is run by aliens, which he calls "reptilians". Ana Gasteyer plays the leader of the group, and she is great as the main support, but has a troubled past. Alice Wetterlund and Tracee Chimo are an excellent Yin and Yang of people that claim to have been abducted by the same alien. Nancy Lenahan is great as the lonely widowed lady that had her alien experience. Da'Vine Joy Randolph is great as the local mail person that had a run in with aliens. Daniel Stewart Sherman is very good as the hillbilly esque guy that had your typical run in with aliens. H Jon Benjamin shows up as a cop in the town, and he is great.

The people that play the aliens, Drew Nelson, Ken Hall, Bjorn Gustafsson and Michael Cassidy are the absolute best. They each represent a different style of alien. We have your run of the mill, big head, little body alien. We have the reptilians and we get a very tall, very long haired human looking alien. These actors do these roles so well. I love how normal and regular the alien characters act. Sure, they are abducting people and doing random tests on them but they aren't probing anyone, or eating anyone, or even being mean to the people. They just want to study humans, at least that is what I have gathered from the first four episodes. The aliens bicker with each other. They have conversations like you and I have at our regular everyday jobs. They are as normal as aliens have ever been portrayed on TV or in the movies. I love all the back and forth between the aliens.

But, the star of the show, as it should be, is Cenac. He is absolutely wonderful as Ozzie. The interactions that he has with the deer are wonderfully weird and hilarious. He keeps seeing them, and thinks that it is because of his accident, but we come to realize, spoiler alert, that he was abducted by all three styles of aliens, and they made him think that he hit a deer. When he recalls this to the support group, they are all shocked that he had an experience with the three different aliens, and they want him to stay to tell his whole story and stay in the group. Everyone likes him.

Ozzie decides, after revealing everything to the group, that he wants to stay, so he quits his job and moves to the small town to work for their paper. We do come to realize that his boss at the big newspaper is a reptilian, sent to study Ozzie. This sends us into a whole different world of who is real, and who is a reptilian in this planet that this show has created. The friendships and interactions between the people in the group and Ozzie are funny and heartfelt at the same time.

This show is a great opportunity, and the perfect one for that matter, for Cenac's unique sense of humor. He is a very funny, yet quiet person. He was great on "The Daily Show". He has done some excellent stand up specials. He has had bit parts in movies and TV shows here and there, but "People of Earth" is just perfect for him.

I do not want to give too much away because I think people should watch this show. It is really good, and I feel like it will be around for awhile. Watch "People of Earth" so we can get multiple seasons. The show is different from anything you will see, but it is one of the funnier shows to come out on TV in a long, long time. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has suspected that the head editor is an alien, one of those Midwestern balding ones. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty's pumptitude pays off with the great "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp"

Is Netflix on UHF or VHF?

Now that I've finished "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp", I'm so very, very pleased with how great it was and is.

It was truly everything I hoped and wanted it to be. It was silly, goofy and ridiculously uproarious. The fact that they made it 15 years after the movie and the actors played their same roles was great. I loved how they kept saying things like, oh I'm young, my body is still in great shape, or, I can't drink, I'm not of age yet. It's hilarious when you watch it and see these actors in their late 30's and 40's saying these lines. The original cast members were excellent reprising their roles, the best being Paul Rudd. He was rude, crude and gross. But, he also showed some heart and we realized that he wasn't a total jerk, he can be a good guy sometimes. Elizabeth Banks back story was great. She was a journalist that wanted to get the real teenage experience by going to a summer camp. Problem was, she was 24 and nobody at the magazine believed she could be a 16 year old, until she pulled her hair back. Then they all believed she could do the report.

The new cast additions were pretty excellent too. Josh Charles, Kristen Wiig and Rich Somer, the rich kids from Camp Tiger Claw were awesome. Josh Charles was so douchey, his collar was popped three times. They played the snotty, spoiled rich kids perfectly. John Slattery was so great as the big time theater director from New York. He was slimy and acted as if he was a well known, superstar director. He was just great. Micheala Watkins played his choreographer and she was a disgusting, horny old lady that wanted to hook up with campers. It was a perfect role for her and she nailed it. H Jon Benjamin and Jason Schwartzman as the camp directors were really good too. Schwartzman played his typical role, but he was very funny. Benjamin was hysterical and we found out where the talking of can of vegetables from the movie came from.

Watch the series to see what I'm talking about. My favorite new addition was Jon Hamm as President Reagan's top assassin, The Falcon. He was a stone cold killer, but we find out that he's an old army buddy of Camp Firewood's head chef. Hamm plays the role with his usual quiet, yet seething anger charm. Jon Hamm is a very strong comedic actor.

I loved "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp". Fans of the movie will love the show and I think the show will bring a bunch of new fans to the franchise. This was totally worth the wait and I'm probably going to watch it about ten more times and hope they do more.

It was perfect.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. He is currently away at summer camp, and he is way to old to be doing that. Follow him on twitter @tykulik