It is Time to End the Writers and Actors Strike

I was watching tv the other night and I did not record the show, so commercials were a must. When I would watch commercials in the past there were plenty of ads for upcoming tv shows and previews for movies. That was not really present last night. Every commercial was either a local ad or something akin to an infomercial. I was kind of taken aback and was frustrated.

It then hit me that the strike was what caused the commercials to be different. There are no new shows coming out. The movies that are coming to theaters were finished months ago. There is nothing new. There is nothing different. There is nothing too fun coming out. It is a bummer.

This all makes sense and is necessary. The writers and actors strike is a needed thing right now. Actors and writers are being taken advantage of by the studios and they are not asking for too much in return to end all of this and bring back better content. I cannot take many more reality shows, game shows or reruns. I can only go back and watch so much of the older tv shows that I used to watch. I have been watching "Workaholics" today, and I love that show, but I've seen it a thousand times. I want newer stuff. I want to see the movie they were planning on making. Maybe that can come back if this strike ends. My wife and I watch "Brooklyn 99" before bed every night. Again, we love the show, but we have seen it so much that we fall asleep to it. That is the sign of watching one show more than enough. I recently finished the first season of "Twisted Metal" on Peacock and I loved it. They also ended the first season on a major cliffhanger. I'd love to see where they take the show from here. And I simply cannot do all the reality stuff that they are doing on streaming services now. I don't want to see another dating show. I'm so fed up with "Love is Blind" and "Sexy Beasts". They all end up the same and it is dull and boring. I can only watch people getting hammered and saying nonsense when they think they are acting smart. It is maddening. I'm also over all the game shows. There are too many of them and they are all melding together. I don't want to see people competing for scraps just to be on tv. I want the original content back. I want more "Twisted Metal", "What We Do in the Shadows", "Only Murders in the Building", "The Simpsons", all the good stuff. I want to see all of this stuff come back. I also want way more movies. I want to see cool, new stuff. I don't want any remakes or superhero stuff either. I want stuff like "Everything Everywhere All at Once". I want to see more mind blowing stuff like "Barbie". Give me cool, interesting material.

To get that material we need the writers and actors back. They need to get their fair share. They deserve to be properly compensated. They have earned the right to get a raise and to not be replaced by AI and Chatgpt. I have used both, but they don't carry the same weight as real people doing real work. I want to turn on my tv in a month or so and see commercials for new tv shows and movies. I want to see content made by real people for real people. That should be the case and should be the case sooner rather than later.

Time to end this studio execs and big wigs. Time to stop being so stubborn and stupid. Time to give the writers and actors what they have earned. It is time to end this strike. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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An Ode to Jillian Bell and Her MVP Performance on "Workaholics"

I am rewatching "Workaholics" for the, what seems like, millionth time. I love this show. It is one of my all time favorites. I enjoy the comedy, like the acting and think it is one of the funniest shows of all time. Everyone on it is very good at their roles. But there is one actor who I think may be the unsung hero of it all. That actor is Jillian Bell.

Jillian Bell plays Jillian on the show and she is the best scene stealer and quite possibly the funniest person on the show. Every time she shows up I find myself laughing harder than normal. I did not notice this until very recently. On this most recent rewatch I am going through and doing my own personal best of. I pick out a few episodes when I turn it on that I love. These ones always hit. And whenever Jillian Bell shows up I get pumped. I was watching one yesterday and it really hit home how great she is.

In this particular episode TAC, the company they work for, is selling a new female based product. All of the male salesmen are horrible at their jobs so they get replaced by the women. The women crush it, mainly Jillian. The success goes to Jillian's head and she starts to treat Blake like an object. Seeing her go from such a sweet, nice person to this mean and vindictive salesperson is a masterclass. She is so funny and scary. When she reveals her tattoo, that whole scenario is magic. When she exclaims, "I need my first cup of coffee ever", I laugh harder each time. She does such a great job.

It is not just that one episode. When she runs for snack manager, that is a classic for fans of this show. When she tells the boys about a promotion, and the way she just blindly goes about her day, genius. When she and Blake get a cat and co parent, oh man, that is some kind of wonderful. When she helps out the guys with their backyard wrestling, that is awesome. I love when she has to take over the office because Alice is sick and it is a disaster. And only someone like Bell could pull this off so well. Her timing, the way she plays this character, her comedy, the line delivery, it is all top notch. I find myself constantly impressed.

I have seen a ton of other stuff that Jillian Bell has been in, and it is all good. I adore "Brittany Runs a Marathon". It is one of the few movies that have made me cry, and that is due to Bell's performance. She is awesome as the villain in "22 Jump Street". It is a true tour de force villain role for her. "Sword of Trust" is an indie favorite of mine, and she is great. "Idiotsitter" is a highly underrated comedy and she was clutch on that show. She is probably the only funny part in "Fist Fight". I loved her in "The Night Before". Bell is a great actor. But it is her work on "Workaholics" that introduced me to her and it is my favorite thing she has done. I do want to see her new movie, "I'm Totally Fine", but I do not think it will be better than "Workaholics".

Seriously, go check out Jillian Bell’s work on this show. She is amazing and really took this role and ran with it. Anyone that can deliver a line, "I'm looking like a boss though, in head to toe Costco" is going to have a special place in my heart. Jillian Bell crushed it as Jillian on "Workaholics".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Game Over Man", Again

During our date night on Friday it was my turn to pick the movie and I chose "Game Over Man". I had seen the movie twice prior to this viewing, but my wife had not watched it yet. I wanted something light and fun and goofy to watch, so it seemed like a great time to show her this movie.

For those that may not know, "Game Over Man" was written, directed and starring the Mail Order Comedy guys. To go even deeper, the MOC guys are the dudes behind "Workaholics", one of my all time favorite shows. I adored that show when it first premiered, I have watched it several times since, I listen to their podcast, I am a fan. So we watched the movie, and I am here to say, I still like it. My wife liked it as well.

First off, the movie is not a good movie. It has issues, it is kind of sloppy and there is some problematic stuff. But I did not go into this on all three watches expecting to see something like "Uncut Gems" or "No Country For Old Men". I knew going into "Game Over Man" that it was going to be over the top, goofy and crazy action comedy. I also fully understood that it was going to be a hyper-realized version of the dudes they played in "Workaholics". I imagine when they wrote this movie they had to have a conversation along the lines of what Ders, Adam Demamp and Blake would do in a wild terrorist situation, and they worked at the place that was being taken over. It has to have happened. What I also imagine, and was confirmed by my wife, that all three of the stars got to pick their wardrobe and how their hair would look as the movie moved along. Adam Devine has his shirt open and he looks like a former athlete. Blake's shirt is tucked in, he has glasses and his hair is pulled back. And Ders has a vest, his bowtie is askew and he has shaggy, unkempt hair. I feel like they wrote perfect for their characters as well. Devine is a drug dealing big time thinker. He wants to be rich. Blake is a quiet worker that just wants to come out of the closet. And Ders is a former athlete who now has to smoke saliva just to get high. He has checked out. As they are helping out at a party for a famous person, all the craziness goes down and they get stuck in the hotel. From there on out it is filled with gory kills, great jokes and an okay enough story to move the movie along. We see a face go into a meat slicer, a guy get impaled by a computer, a guy fall from a big building, many gunshot deaths and even a dead guy get used as a decoy. We also see hilarious stuff like Devine pretending to be dead due to auto erotic asphyxiation, Ders getting super high on saliva, Blake trying as hard as he can to not be loud while using duct tape, the aforementioned zombie guy beating up tons of people and Shaggy performing "It Wasn't Me" at gun point. The story of the movie is simple enough too. The three main guys just want to get rich with a video game idea they have. They try to pitch their idea when all the shit goes down and they end up saving the day even though they are totally inept. They do sell their idea as a video game and do become rich, but it is all a joke how it happens, and my wife and I were laughing the whole way.

Again, "Game Over Man" is not cinema, but it is a damn fun and funny movie to go relax and watch. I will surely watch it 3 to 4 more times. I love putting it on and just vegging out while it plays. And it always finds a way to catch my full attention. Add on the fact that my wife enjoyed herself, and that is icing on the cake. "Game Over Man" is a very, very fun action comedy. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Listens to "This is Important" Podcast

A few months back I was looking for a different podcast to listen to when I run. I have a good team of pods that help me through long runs, but I was either caught up on them, or was getting a little bored. I always try to find one of two kinds of pods when I run, conversational or comedic. When the two categories marry, that is the cherry on top.

The podcast I decided to try was "This is Important". This podcast is hosted by the guys behind one of my all time favorite shows, "Workaholics". We got Kyle Newachek, Anders Holm, Adam Devine and Blake Henderson as the hosts. The podcast is very straight forward. It is just the four of these guys bull shitting for an hour every Tuesday. They like to say that they are only talking about, "what is truly most important", but it is just four friends having a good time on the mic. It also helps that these guys are hilarious, have great chemistry, even better friendship and are pretty well known.

Outside "Workaholics", all these guys are still working. Kyle Newachek is still directing and producing, most recently on the great TV show, "What We Do in the Shadows". Adam Devine has starred in his fair share of movies of late, and he has just been announced as the star of an upcoming "Pitch Perfect" TV series. Anders Holm is still doing his thing, he is apparently in an upcoming movie with Robert De Niro. He was also great in "Top 5" by the way. And Blake Henderson, he has a recurring role on "Woke", was great on "Parks and Rec" and was excellent in the movie "Dope". They are all still grinding, and they still have the time to get together for an hour a week and make a goofy, ridiculous and fun podcast.

I often find myself cracking up when I listen. It is so mundane and wild and crazy and hilarious. They literally just take a subject here and there and they go down crazy rabbit holes. They did a good 10-15 minutes on John Lithgow movies a few episodes back. They did their first "live" episode when Devine had his bachelor party in the Ozarks. It was epic. When Holm goes on about neo soul music, I love it because I love neo soul. Anderson has a soundboard, and the way he uses it during the show is so hilariously perfect. Newachek will spend most of his time either talking about his wife and kids, his garden or expelling gas on the microphone. I know this all sounds trite and boring, but I promise you it is not. Especially if you like Mail Order Comedy and "Workaholics". It is just a continuation of where they started. They may have reached a new level of fame, but these dudes seem totally down to Earth, which is awesome. I think the simpleness of the pod is why I love listening to it while running. It marries the comedy and conversation aspects that I like about podcasts. It takes those two genres and melds them perfectly. I love it because it is two of my most favorite things about podcasting.

If you like these guys, or watched "Workaholics", or just enjoy friends getting together that happen to be extremely funny, check out "This is Important". It is well worth your time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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There are No Small Parts Just Great Side Characters Like Karl in "Workaholics"

I've been re watching the entirety of "Workaholics" the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to point out one side actor that I think is highly underappreciated. The three main guys are great, Jillian Bell is great, the lady that plays the boss of the telemarketing company, sad and hilarious, Montez, Waymond and Jet Set(RIP), all fantastic.

But, Kyle Newachek, as Karl, is my favorite side character, by far, on the show. He is so funny yet easily relatable. I find every episode he is featured on, or at least shows up in, is made infinitely better by his appearance. For example, the episode where they decide to take acid, and end up in a hotel, the addition of one line by Karl is amazing, and I still quote it. When Anders shows up in the room and finds the guys there, Karl asks him to be quiet because he is on the phone, and he is asking the front office if the ice is still free. When Anders asks him why he is asking about the ice, Karl says that "ice is the currency of the future. I'm gonna be rich". I walk around saying that all the time. I also love that after a commercial break, they pan back to the room, and there are buckets and buckets of ice everywhere. I just recently watched the episode where the guys get a new drug dealer, and the pain and hurt that Kyle Newachek shows as Karl is amazing. Yes, it is played for laughs, which it got a ton of from me, and it is all made is jest to a love story, but Newachek nails it. I was sad for him when the guys ditched him. I felt for him when he had to let his dog go. I was happy when they reunited at the end of the episode. It was a perfect encapsulation of the range that this goofy character can have on this absurd comedy that works. There is another episode, where Karl is going to get married, and he totally changes his whole appearance and demeanor. He becomes this odd pushover, and the only guy that wants to make it right is Blake. Blake wants to change him back because he finds Karl's soon to be wife cheating on him, and because he wants his weed dealer back. But, to see Karl's transformation, be it his clothes or haircut or attitude, it was all hilarious, and that is due to Newachek's performance. It is still one of my all time favorite episodes of the show.

The one thing about Karl, that truly takes the cake on the show, is his van and his stench. First off, he has what they call the "Grape Van". They call it this because it looks like a creepers van, but Karl painted the G on there so that it would ward off all the weirdos, or so he says. This van makes many appearances throughout the series, and every time, it is funny. And his stench. This is a running joke as well, and the way Kewachek dresses up as Karl, and fixes his hair, and his lazy eye, and pretty much everything about him just oozes disgust, and it works to perfection. It is truly a wonderful performance from this side character.

I know Newachek is one of the original crew that created this show, and that he directs a ton of episodes, but the fact that he helped create this awesome, and memorable character speaks volumes to his talent. I literally cannot wait to watch the rest of the series to see all the Karl moments I may have missed the first time around. I'm pumped.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has an idea of the currency of the future. Mega Stuff Oreos, that shit is priceless and tough to find.

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The Greatest Television Ever: "Workaholics" is Going Out as One of the Best Comedies Ever

Comedy Central is currently airing its final season of "Workaholics". I've been a fan of this show since day one. I was a fan of these guys when they were known as Mail Order Comedy and only did videos for YouTube. So, when they got a show on Comedy Central, needless to say, I was thrilled. And, the fact that the show turned out to be just as funny as I hoped was icing on the cake.

"Workaholics" has had many, many memorable episodes. Front yard wrestling was a gem. Having the weightlifters that were lifting weights for Jesus coming to live with them, hilarious. Any episode that heavily featured Karl, tremendous. When they found a new weed dealer, excellent. When they made their "burrweedos", another classic. I could go on and on and on. I love this show.

When it was announced that the seventh season would be their last, I was sad, but it felt right. There wasn't much else these guys could do, and Comedy Central has some great, newer shows like "Broad City", "Review", "Detrioters" and "Jeff and Some Aliens" that fit right into that late night schedule with relative ease. They have good shows already in place to fill the void that "Workaholics" might have left.

With that being said, "Workaholics" is going out with a bang. Every single episode so far has been great. Every one has been a home run. Every one has been hilarious. Every one has surprised me with how hilarious it has been. The show has always been funny, but each episode for its final season, so far, has been tremendous. Whether it features Karl and Anders talking about who is the "top" in their business relationship, only to find out that Alice's dad, played excellently by Dennis Quaid, is the true "top". That episode also features great side stories with Adam and Alice acting like a couple and Blake selling weed over the phone as opposed to the fire whistle Alice's dad created which they are supposed to be selling. That is when Karl comes in and takes that episode from good to great.

Or, take the season premiere that featured Blake, Ders and Adam having to train new employees, who are just younger versions of themselves. This episode had the three main characters realizing that they are getting older and they may not be able to handle the pranking that the younger generation does nowadays. It also features a great scene involving Ders, Adam and Blake also hiring an older gentleman because he is 69 years old. The humor is as childish as you can imagine, and I loved every second of it. The three younger actors they got for this episode were awesome as well.

The third episode of the season found the boys going to the TeleAmeriCorp's corporate condo for a weekend, and of course they got into some shenanigans. First off, they weren't even supposed to be there, Adam stole the keys. But, Blake is hell bent on playing volleyball and seeing the sunset, Ders wants to get a hickey and Adam wants to film a video that will make him go viral. There is some great scenes of them playing volleyball, a al "Top Gun", but it pans out to reveal that they are beating children in the game. They also meet some ladies that they take a liking to, but they have bully esque boyfriends, like an 80's movie, and those scenes make for some great comedy. Ders constantly trying to find someone to give him a hickey is sad, but hilarious. Adam's attempts at going viral are all for naught, and he constantly hurts himself. The episode culminates with them being locked out of the condo while some townies have a big party without them.

Then, last nights episode was really cool and really different. This time they focused on the character of Bill, a sad sack loner that works with them, but they put him in a thriller type of movie style episode. It turns out it is all a dream, and the whole office is playing a prank on him, spoiler alert. The episode was dark, violent, but above all else, very funny. The ending is a riot. Watch it, you will not be disappointed.

"Workaholics" has only 6 episodes left, and you better believe that I will be writing about the series finale. But, I'm so glad that these guys got there shot and they ran with it and hit on something big. This show has given all three of these guys an extended career in show business as well. Adam Devine is becoming a bona fide movie star, Anders Holm has had some great bit parts in movies, "Top Five" comes to mind immediately for me, and so has Blake Anderson, "Dope" comes to mind. I will miss "Workaholics", but I have been extremely impressed with how they have come out of the gates so far, and I cannot wait to see what they do with their final episodes. I'm sure whatever they do, it will work and it will be funny. That has how the whole series has been.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He loves to look into this fantasy world of places people go to work. He works wherever he wakes. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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