Ty Watches "Stranger Things"

I just finished, last night in fact, "Stranger Things" on Netflix. Now, just to get it all out of the way, this is going to be a shorter post from me today. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, I'll get into that in a minute, but I do want to talk about a show that a lot of other people have been talking about. I was, at first, opposed to watching "Stranger Things". I thought it was going to be straight horror. I was picturing nothing but gore and scary stuff happening throughout. But, after some posturing and a good talking to from my wife, I gave in and told her I'd watch with her.

Boy am I glad that I gave in because "Stranger Things" was absolutely phenomenal. My wife and I usually take about two to three weeks to finish a season of certain shows, but we finished "Stranger Things" in less than two weeks, and we were out of town for three of those days. We would sit down after putting our kids to bed and just watch. We had to see what happened next. We could not wait two or three days at a time in between episodes. The mini vacation was great, but we kept talking about the fact that we couldn't watch the show. The people we visited, we asked them to not spoil anything because they had finished the show, but we were only half way through.

I haven't felt this way about a show since I got very heavily into "Lost". I know that I write about a lot of shows, like "Bar Rescue" and "The Eric Andre Show", both of which I truly adore, but "Stranger Things" was so, so much better than pretty much anything that I currently watch on TV. Some of the shows that I watch weekly, I can go a couple of days before watching, but I craved "Stranger Things". The show was quite spectacular. I'm not going to spoil anything because this show needs to be watched. It is so god damn incredible, and just like I did not want our friends in Chicago to spoil anything, I will not spoil a single thing. I feel that is only fair.

I do want to talk about some of the things I really liked about the show though. I loved the cast. Winona Ryder really showed up for this role and she was great. David Harbour, an actor I'm not to familiar with, did a very good job. Matthew Modine was creepy and excellent. The other, older actors all did a very good job in their roles. But, the kids on this show were the stars. They were all fantastic. The middle school aged kids were great. The high school aged kids were great. And the college aged kids were great. But, the young girl that is the main character, she is the star. She was exceptional, and she is going to start doing bigger things after this. 

"Stranger Things" captured the time, the style and the attitude of the 80's in a small Midwest town to perfection. I could relate to a lot of what was going on. Which leads me to the set pieces. The sets were excellent. Everything looked like it was from 1980. It just had that look, and I know you guys know what I'm talking about. The Duffer Brothers, the creators of the show, hit an absolute home run with pretty much everything they chose to do with "Stranger Things", all the way from choosing Netflix to how each character dressed, and everything in between.

I am so grateful to my wife for talking me into this show. Sure, there was horror and gore, but there was also comedic moments, coming of age moments, fights and stories about the importance of family. I have zero bad things to say about "Stranger Things", except for the fact that it took me so long to watch it. This show was perfect in every single way. I'm sure it will be back for a second season, and I can only hope it is half as good as this first season. If you like horror, mystery, comedy and science fiction, watch "Stranger Things" immediately. Read this blog, then stop whatever else you were going to do today and binge watch it. I guarantee that you will love it. It's so good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. When rolling the die, he thinks Netflix is rolling some true 20's. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty Watches the "Eric Andre Show": Season 4 Episode 4

This past Friday there was a new "The Eric Andre Show", and I am here today to review the craziness for everyone. This was, in a long line, another great episode.

The opening was the usual. Andre attacked the stage with his usual vigor. This time, he did the usual stuff, like trashing his sign, tackling the drummer and destroying his desk. But, he added some new things, as he does with every opening. He did some gross autoerotic affixiation stuff while destroying the stage. He also did a spoof of the Hardees commercials, you know the ones I'm talking about with the models cleaning cars, then eating burgers, but this time it was Andre dressed in a bikini top and cut off jean shorts. It was wildly disgusting, but also hilarious. He kept pouring soapy water all over himself, so much to the point that he choked on a little bit of it. I found myself cracking up, especially when the creepy stage hand kept licking his lips.

Then, the show started. They put the new stage up, and Andre sat down. Burress was introduced, but instead of coming from the curtains, as he usually does, he rose from the ground, a la a vampire rising from the coffin. Then Andre started his monologue. This time around, he straight up attacked Burress. It was all in good fun, but Burress, with his usual deadpan delivery, kept giving it right back to Andre. Andre wouldn't let up, and this all turned into a bit about the Bible. Andre claimed it was the one thing that could save you, but in usual Andre bits, there was a pistol inside the Bible, and he faked shot himself.

Next, they started the interview process. I know all this sounds crazy, but this is very usual stuff in every episode of this show. The first guest was Tichina Arnold. Many of you know her as Martin Lawrence's girlfriend's friend from the show, "Martin", but she is still acting. Andre asked a lot of uncomfortable questions, and put Arnold in weird situations. At one point, Burress put on glasses and a goofy mouth piece, and proceeded to do his best Austin Powers impression. This was immediately dismissed, with Burress screaming, "why do you guys make me do this stupid shit!". I loved it, Arnold was horrified. Then, Andre proclaimed that they were cutting to darkness, and the whole stage went black. They kept going with the interview, but the audience could see nothing, except for flashes of light, and a guy dressed as a Yeti. The Yeti kept getting closer to Arnold, to her total oblivion, and when she finally turned, she let out one of the loudest screams I think I have ever heard. I was howling with laughter.

They then cut to a pre taped segment called "Officer Eric". This segment had Andre dressed as a parking meter officer. He would go up to random strangers, tell them that they were illegally parked, but instead of giving them a ticket, he would start to pee on their car. I don't think it was real pee, but it very well could have been after watching this show for three plus years now. He did this to many people, and they all got very angry, or just upset. One guy chased him down the street, and Andre ran away, peeing the whole time. Another guy just kept asking him, "why are doing this?", over and over again. They did this segment twice during the episode, and it was very funny each time.

They had their second guest on, Steve Schrippa, from "The Sopranos", and this interview was doomed from the beginning. Schrippa was not amused by any of Andre's or Burress' actions. Andre handed him some walnuts to crack with his bare hands, which he did. But, then Andre handed him some ice to crack barehanded. Schrippa was not amused. They pushed him on what he is doing now, claiming that he was an irrelevant actor. Schrippa was growing more angry and sweaty by the minute. He claimed that he had a new spaghetti sauce, and Andre said he wanted to do a commercial for it. Schrippa reluctantly agreed, and then Andre had a naked PA come on stage to do the commercial with a gun pointed at his face. The PA, pretending to be scared, proceeded with the pre written commercial, and at one point, he was told to "put your balls in the sauce". He did, and this set Schrippa off. He went off on Andre. Andre poked him a little more, and started to ask his groin questions. Schrippa started to physically attack him, ending with him pushing Andre off a chair.

This led to the last pre taped segment, where Andre was in the middle of a pole rigged system, that had four other dummies, dressed exactly like Andre. He roamed the streets asking random strangers if they could figure out which one was the real person. This led to Andre walking into a porn store, asking for the best material to pleasure himself to. The owner kept asking him to leave, and Andre pushed until they had to kick him out. At this point, Andre was pushed out of the store, but he got stuck in between two of his mannequins. I loved this segment.

They ended the show with musician Ariel Pink. But, they kept adding things to his song. They dumped mud on him. They brought out a fake boy band to dance with him. They did a bunch of stuff, including Burress wearing a blond wig and a weed covered onesie, made him sing, and they called him Ariel Black. This made Ariel Pink attempt to tackle Andre, but Andre dove out of the way.

Once again, it was a bizarrely hilarious episode. I loved it. I loved the new segments. It was great. The show is taking one week off, for the holiday, but it will be back next week, and so will I. "The Eric Andre" show has been so good this season so far. I can't wait for more episodes.

Ty

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: City Bar Edition

This past Sunday, "Bar Rescue" premiered another new episode. Now, this is the last new episode they will air until September 18th. They are taking what some would consider a mid season break. It's no big deal, but I will also take a break from writing about the show until they air the new episodes. I will still write on Tuesdays, but it will be something different until "Bar Rescue" comes back.

I will say, they went out with a bang at this midseason finale, if you will. The "Bar Rescue" people found themselves back in Vegas, Taffer's hometown, he seems to be "giving back to his community" a lot more, to a bar called City Bar. This bar had never really had any big money making moments since the owner bought the bar. He said during his interview before Taffer got there, that the only nights that they really had customers was when they had events planned. He said that if they didn't have an open mic, live concert or comedy event, they literally had no customers. The bar was a ghost town on the off nights. So, this owner decided that he would schedule something every night, and he let the bartenders and other employees plan some of the nights events. Now they had something going on every night, but they were still losing money, and there was a ton of in fighting.

When Taffer pulls up to the bar, he is by himself. He wanted to watch the interactions alone, so he could properly assess the situation. What he saw when he got there was a bar that had no customers. He also saw that the bartenders, two in particular, did not like each other. They were openly insulting each other verbally, in front of the two or three patrons at the bar. Taffer sent in his recon spies and they were less than impressed by what they saw and ordered and how the bartenders worked. The recon spies said that the bartenders looked like they had no idea. They couldn't make simple drinks like Bloody Mary's and Manhattan's. That seems to be a running theme this season, bars that can't make the simplest of drinks. The spies, and Taffer, then saw one of the bartenders smoking behind the bar. They also saw that same bartender sticking her fingers, ungloved, in some olives for drinks she was serving. It was all very, very disgusting.

It is at this point, Taffer calls the owner and tells him to come out to his car so he can watch the madness with him. The owner joins Taffer, and what he proceeds to see, especially one certain thing, makes him lose his mind. The owner saw the fighting, the drinking behind the bar, the arguing between employees, the smoking, everything, but that paled in comparison when he saw someone walk into the bar with what looked to be a wooden cross. He was baffled, as was Taffer. Taffer asked him what this could be, and he had no idea.

The people at Spike TV then cut to a patron of the bar saying that when the owner leaves on certain nights, they have a fetish and BDSM night. Some disgusting looking douchebag of a guy and one of his BDSM girls walk in the bar, with the cross, and explain what is about to happen. This sets the owner off. During this whole sequence, Spike kept cutting to videos of people doing these things. It was odd, but also a little funny. The owner bursts through the doors of his bar, screams at everyone, and takes the wooden cross and tosses it outside. This makes the douchebag guy and his BDSM girl very upset, and they leave the bar in a huff.

You'd think the yelling and screaming would've stopped after they left, but that was not the case. Taffer proceeds to lay into the owner. He keeps calling him a failure and telling him that it's his fault that he let the bar get this way. I couldn't agree more with Taffer. The owner of City Bar did not take this new laying down. He yelled back at Taffer. He called him names, including, "surfer boy". They are almost face to face, but after a commercial break, they both seemed to calm down, obviously.

After this altercation, Taffer brings in a drink "expert", and he is stunned at how bad these bartenders are. They can't make any drinks, even the simple ones I mentioned earlier. He also is taken aback by how much fighting goes on between them. He has them work on making drinks, to get ready for the stress test, and they are a complete disaster. They are not ready for the stress test, but the owner says to bring it on, so Taffer sets it up. The stress test goes off the rails very quick. The bartenders can't keep up. The owner is yelling at people and running around like a crazy person. One of the bartenders starts to break down and cry, and another bartender "comforts" her by telling her to "prove to everyone that you aren't just an addict and a stripper. Prove that you can do this". I mean, how crazy is that?!

Once the owner realized that his bartenders may not be as decent as he thought, he finally relented and let Taffer and crew do their thing. They fixed up the bar, and got it up and going. When they get to the big reveal, we see that the owner has gotten a haircut and shaved his bushy beard down to a trim goatee. He stated earlier in the episode that he wasn't going to shave until his bar started doing better. Everyone was shocked at his new look, and then we got the big reveal. The crew turned around, and the bar's name was changed from City Bar to Bradley's. The owner's name was Brad, so I thought it was a good name change. They also fixed up the inside. They had new seats, stools, a bar top and POS(point of sale) systems. It was the typical Taffer and "Bar Rescue" stuff. The bar was packed for the re opening, and all the patrons loved it. They had a band, got rid of the other "special events" nights, and the employees seemed to be getting along. Taffer left with his head held high. At the end of the show, we got the 6 week update, and the owner said that they were busy pretty much every night, the staff was getting along and the sales were up. Again, typical "Bar Rescue" stuff.

The first half of this season of "Bar Rescue" has been wonderful, and I cannot wait for the next half to start in a few weeks. I'm so happy that "Bar Rescue" has returned to its greatness, and I'm very humbled and privileged that I have readers that look forward to my reviews. I'll be off the reviews for a few weeks, until the show comes back, so my Tuesdays will be different for awhile, but come back in mid to late September when "Bar Rescue" returns with new episodes. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the love that I've been getting for this "Bar Rescue" updates.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The editor wants to buy him a drink for a good half season of "Bar Rescue" recaps, but Ty's does not drink. That means two drinks for the editor. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik. 

Ty Watches the Eric Andre Show: Season 4 Episode 3

This past Friday there was another new episode of "The Eric Andre Show". This one started out as usual. Andre's name was announced, and then he proceeded to destroy the set. He jumped through the brown and orange rectangular sign behind the couch. He ran after the band again, but this time, he took the drummers kick drum and trashed that. Not to worry, he still tackled his drummer. The band, this time around, didn't seem to worry too much about the destruction. They actually played heavier music. The band this season also features all very old gentlemen, I don't know if I mentioned this yet. To go along with his usual destruction, he added some new, very gory stuff. It was your typical opening for the show, with new wrinkles, as usual.

Hannibal Burress was introduced as the co host and Andre proceeded with his monologue. This is new to this season. He did monologues very sporadically before this season, but every episode so far, he has done one. Each monologue shows Andre strife with anger. He clearly, at least his character clearly, doesn't want to do these. This time around, after a minute or two of gibberish, a cartoon snake with sunglasses and a guitar appeared. Andre loved it, Burress hated it. What made it funny, and made it work, the viewing audience could see the bar and tennis ball that they used for "CGI" during this segment. When the snake appeared, Andre cheered him on and asked him to play some tunes. The snake did, but it also hurled insults at Burress throughout. This made Burress angry. When the second guitar playing snake appeared, Burress knocked the tennis ball of the bar and threw the bar to the ground. They immediately cut to a taped segment after this.

The taped segment found a lady at an internet café, trying to login to one of the available computers. When she sat down, Andre, dressed as a robot, busted through the table, and harassed her. He accused her of looking at adult material, but then said he was a spokesperson for Braazars. The lady was terrified, but the joke landed.

Once the taped segment ended, they cut back to the studio and Howie Mandel was introduced as the first guest. He was immediately thrown off by the dirtiness of the chair that was provided for him. I know that they made it filthy on purpose because Mandel is a well known germaphobe. He refused to sit in the chair. Andre started the interview, but he just simply made fun of Mandel the whole time. He also asked him if he was a cousin of a famous violinist, I don't remember the name, Mandel said he was, and Andre asked him, "what's it like being related to a f*&%ing nerd!". The "studio audience" erupted with laughter, so did Burress and Andre, but Mandel was not amused. He walked off the stage, as most first guests of the show do.

Next up, they cut to another pre taped segment, where Andre played a character named Mike Penis. He had his hair in a weird style, kept yelling his name, saying he could get into any club and that he was named after his father. Well, he couldn't get into any club. He was consistently pushed away. He also angered many people by simply yelling his name. It was so bizarre, but I found myself cracking up the entire time.

The second interview was with "Basketball Wives" "star", Malaysia Pargo. She was immediately turned off by the fact that Andre was using a juicer in his desk that malfunctioned and shot celery juice all over her boots. She claimed they were very expensive, but he and Burress just laughed at her. Then, the chairs they were sitting on were attached to a mechanical device that lifted them in the air. Pargo was freaking out, but Andre kept asking questions. After they got back to ground level, the interview continued, but was interrupted when Burress' military "brother" showed up and yelled at Burress the whole time. He then turned his anger to Pargo. This confused and frightened her, and she left the stage.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other pre taped segment from earlier. When Mandel was still on, Kraft Punk came on stage. I have mentioned this character before. Once again, Burress and Andre harass him until he leaves the stage, but before he goes, he says he has a new segment. He calls it "Kraft Punk'd", and he goes out to outdoor pick up basketball games and steals the ball, dunks it in a bucket of cheese and finishes the "prank" off by making a basket with the cheese covered ball. The players look disgusted with him, but, once again, I was cracking up.

To end the show, they introduce DJ Flying Lotus. But, instead of playing music, they have him check his email. They act like it is very hip and fun, but Flying Lotus literally just checks his email. After a minute or so, Burress' "brother" shows up again, and berates Flying Lotus. It was all the bizarre wonderfulness that I have come to love about "The Eric Andre Show". come back next week for my review of this coming Friday's episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What else should Ty watch and write about. Tell us. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: The Wheel House Edition

The most recent episode of "Bar Rescue" was great, as they have all been this season. The latest adventure found John Taffer and his crew in a small town in California. I don't remember the name, but they said it was about 90 minutes outside of LA. I figured this would be some big time, hot shot place, but this city was almost at the poverty line. They said the median household income was 27,000 dollars a year. That's only $5,000 above being considered in poverty. So, this bar needed to have a niche. Their niche was, the bar was attached to a roller rink. Apparently, the guy who now owned the bar was an employee who climbed the ladder all the way up to upper management at the roller rink. They had an empty space next door, so he turned it into a bar. He didn't give it a name, but the roller rink was called The Wheel House, so he used it for both the rink and the bar.

At first, the owner of The Wheel House said that they were raking in the dough. They had so many customers, it was hard to maneuver for the bartenders. There was also a lineage of workers that went to the rink as kids, got to know the owner, he does a ton of community service, in fact, he's like a local legend, that were now bartenders. It was a "family" owned and run business. But, as of recently, the bar had fallen on hard times. The roller rink was also not immune to the downturn in business, it was also struggling financially.

The roller rink I get, those things are outdated, but why was the bar failing you ask? Well, the owner was very low key and he let his employees get away with pretty much everything. They took money from the tip jar, they drank behind the bar, they basically refused to make food when ordered. Did I mention that the kitchen was over 100 feet away from the bar? Well, it is. The bartenders also argued with and cursed out customers. It was rough and the owner did nothing about this.

When Taffer and crew arrived, they noticed the dysfunction immediately. They saw all the things I just mentioned. They had a spy go in the bar and had him ask why this bar was failing. They all said that the staff was mean and the owner was nice, but needed to be tougher. When Taffer and crew went in the bar, they immediately called out one bartender for complaining about making food. They told the owner all the nasty things she said about him, and they forced him to fire her, one of my favorite things on the show. He did it, and got little backlash. In fact, the remaining employees seemed to take him more seriously afterwards. They did the stress test, the bartenders didn't do great, they didn't know how to pour proper drinks, but they at least tried. The kitchen staff was also good, but there was no system. We had come to find out that the owner was holding everyone back. He agreed to this as well, and he let Taffer and crew do everything necessary to get his money and his bar back in order. They kept mentioning, and saying the word, community a lot during this episode too. This owner was big time in the community, so Taffer and Spike TV ran with the word and they must have said it 10,000 times. After Taffer did his upgrades, he gave the bar a name, calling it Derby's Bar and Grill, a decent effort, and had the roller rink closed to all adults. The bar was for adults, the rink for kids. Great choice by Taffer.

After the rescue, the bar sales went way up, about 60%, and the food sales were even higher, coming in at 75%. This was all due to adding new, and useful systems. Taffer did it again. He turned a failing bar into a moderately successful one. Another strong episode this season from "Bar Rescue". Come back next week for my newest review.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor of SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He visited a roller rink one time, he was there when it was bulldozed to make room for a Starbucks. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.
 

Ty Watches the Eric Andre Show: Season 4 Episode 2

This past Friday there was another new episode of the "Eric Andre Show", and I'm here today to review it. This episode started like the older episodes normally do. This time around, Andre, after his name was announced, proceeded to destroy his stage. He ran on camera, screaming. It was just like every other season. Andre ran on his desk and crushed it. He ran through the signs on set and destroyed those too. He did one of my old favorites, and tackled the drummer to his band, while the rest of the band continued playing with terrified looks on their faces. There was a guy dressed as Abraham Lincoln that proceeded to kick the crap out of Eric Andre. It was all familiar, and great.

After the destruction, Hannibal Burress was introduced and Andre went into his monologue. This time, Andre was just yelling random stuff at the screen while Burress sat back and harassed him the whole time. It was very funny.

They then introduced their first guest, Stacey Dash. Dash was in Clueless 20 years ago and today she is another hate merchant on Fox News. She is a horrible, horrible person. She has stupid and incoherent views on politics, and just life in general. Andre knows this, and he pushed her with questions. He asked her about abortion and showed her doctored pictures of President Obama. Andre was pushing her buttons, and it was all uncomfortable and hilarious. Then, the camera panned down and we saw three very big mice walking on the floor. One of the mice walked across Dash's foot and she freaked out. I was laughing very hard at this. She was so scared, she leapt on Burress' back. She then walked off stage, terrified.

Once Dash and her horribleness left, Andre cut to some more of his pre filmed segments that he does on every episode. One had him selling bites of Chinese food on a New York subway. This was awkward and weird and funny, as usual. Another segment was Andre doing his, "Eric Andre on the Street" interviews. He would try to interview people, but most of them physically pushed him away. This made the segment turn into something new called, "FU TV". During this, Andre went off and yelled at his camera men and kept telling them to stop filming him. He showered them with curse words and made them run very far with him, but he was doing all of this in front of people, to see how they'd react. They all acted as you would expect, with shock and awe. Andre brought a classic back for the third segment, the Brotendo guy. This is a douchey character that Andre plays, that talks to random strangers about very random and very weird things. He also wears a very bright green shirt, with the nipples cut out, and tells crazy stories to people on the street. He acts like he knows these people, but they have no clue, making this that much more funny. This is one of my favorite side characters that he plays on the show.

They then went to their second guest, Jack MacBrayer. He is friends with Andre, but even he seemed to be very confused by everything that was going on. He was hesitant to answer questions. He looked uncomfortable. He kept asking Andre if he was okay. Then, at one point, a stage hand brought out some gray colored food and Andre offered it as a snack. MacBrayer declined, but Andre indulged himself. They had a conversation about how it's not good to just eat food put in front of you, but to end it off, a guy painted completely white busted out of Andre's desk. This made MacBrayer jump out of his seat. The guy said some gibberish and took off. MacBrayer was utterly confused. He was about to leave the stage when another stage hand came on to check his microphone, but it was just another person sent to make MacBrayer squirm. The guy kept touching him, instead of checking his mic. MacBrayer had enough, and he walked off the stage. At this point, we see Stacey Dash again, this time pulling back a curtain and saying that she found some more mice.

To end the show, Andre had some of his rapper buddies play a game called "Rapper Ninja Warrior". He had three or four guys come out on stage, blindfolded, and made them freestyle to a beat he created while dodging soiled underwear, an inflatable ball, a guy dressed as an American Gladiator, and finally, an inflatable pool with real snakes in it. To top all this off, Andre also had an electrical shock stick, which he used on every rapper. This was, like everything else on the show, was weird, but funny. One of the rappers totally wiped out in the snake pit. Another rapper ran off the balance beam, this resulting in a shock from Andre. Another guy got knocked off by the gladiator. Just typical "Eric Andre Show" stuff.

This was another great way to spend 11 minutes. I love this show, and I will be back next Monday with the review of the newest episode coming this Friday.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Is there a show out there that Ty should watch and review? Tell us all about it. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Champagne's Cafe' Edition

This past Sunday, Jon Taffer and crew headed to Taffer's hometown of Las Vegas to rescue a bar. What was weird about this episode, right off the bat, they had some old guy being interviewed that was not an owner, nor was he an employee at said bar. He came on, said some stuff about how people don't like change in Vegas, basically, it was just rambling. My wife and I were both very confused.

Once the weird intro ended the meat of the episode started, and we eventually met the owner of Champagne's Café. He seemed to be a mild mannered guy that just wanted to own a bar. He got the seed money from is mother, but after only a year or two, the bar started to lose money. They then cut back to that weird old guy from the beginning. He said some more stuff, but I was even more confused by this point. Then, they went back to the owner, and he was saying how this bar was another historical landmark. He said that the Rat Pack used to come in and hang out at the bar because it was far enough away from their rabid fans. He also said that the bar used to be a mobster hangout. Goodfellows would come in and, much like the Rat Pack, it was a place for them to get away. It was kind of a mobster hideout. Once the mob connection was presented we find out who this old man was that had been talking at us the whole episode. He claimed to have been a crony for the mob, and he vouched that the people he worked for did, in fact, hang out at Champagne's. So, the mystery of the old man was finally solved.

When we got back to the "rescuing" of the bar, we found out that the bar wasn't dingy or dirty. They still had a decent customer base. The drinks were good enough. No, the problem with this bar was the owner. He was a total pushover, and he did not have the skills to train the bartenders. On the first night, Taffer and his "expert" sat outside and watched as the owner allowed two of his employees to no call-no show and watched him poorly train the only bartender in the building. The recon spies asked for very simple drinks. One wanted a Manhattan and the other, a famous drink called the Bee's Knees. These drinks are supposed to be very simple, according to Taffer and the "expert", but the new bartender had no idea how to make them, and the owner, well, he was just as clueless. It got so bad that the "expert" went into the bar, ordered a drink, it was made incorrectly, so she went behind the bar and showed them how to make it properly. At this moment was when Taffer showed up inside the bar. He didn't yell or berate this guy, he just seemed disappointed in him. He gave him a hard time about poorly running a hospitality business in the hospitality capitol. The owner was a mess. He never raised his voice or got angry at the workers that skipped out on him and almost everything Taffer suggested, he obliged. The one thing he wasn't so happy about was the fact that Taffer may change the wallpaper in the bar. This dude had some weird obsession with wallpaper. He spoke of it as if it were his child. I think he may have been in love with the wallpaper.

Aside from the owner being a mess, the bartenders, when they did show up, they were actually pretty good. They knew how to make drinks and how to make them fast and correct. This was one of the first times that the employees, save for their disregard to schedules, seemed to be on top of things. They knew what they were doing. Instead of a stress test, Taffer had people come in and taste test the drinks made by the three bartenders. The winner would get the best shift. It was an interesting change from the beloved stress test.

After the taste testing and the crew working on the bar, we got the big reveal. When Taffer got to the number 3, the crew turned around, and very little had been changed. They kept the name, once again because of the history. And, aside from a new neon sign, the outside was only touched up with paint and made to look brighter. Then, they went inside. This was when the owner was at his most anxious because he thought that the wallpaper would be gone. But, much to his relief, the wallpaper was still there, and it was actually made to look a bit nicer. They didn't change too much inside either. The allure of this place was the old school-ness of it, so Taffer kept it that way. I thought the changes inside were nice. It looked like a hip, old school type bar.

This season of "Bar Rescue" has been very pleasing to watch so far. We've gotten a little bit of everything from each episode, and this was a particularly unique episode because the bar wasn't in disrepair, it was the owner that needed to shape up. By all accounts, Champagne's is doing pretty decent business, and the owner looks to be close to out of debt. He also has a tighter leash when it comes to schedule and he said he is not the pushover that he once was. Good for him, and his bar.

Come back next week for the review of the next episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Due to the fact that Ty does not drink, he appreciates the look of a bar. He especially likes well thought out wallpaper. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty Watches the Eric Andre Show: Season Four Premier

I do watch other TV shows besides "Bar Rescue", and one of those shows is the "Eric Andre Show". The fourth season premiered this past Friday, and it was glorious, hilarious, weird, bizarre and everything I was hoping it would and could be. This show has always been weird, but I'm a big Eric Andre fan, so I expect as much. I got really into this show about a year ago, and I watched the first three seasons in a week. Each episode is only 11 minutes long, so it was easy. I also love the fact that Hannibal Burress is his co host, and he is the perfect foil for Eric Andre.

The fourth season premiere started a little different from most seasons. Each episode starts out with Andre destroying the set, sometimes beating the band members up along the way. This season started with Andre sitting in his chair, looking exhausted. Then, when the music started, he was flung around the studio, attached to wires, and proceeded to destroy the set that way. He was an unwilling participant in this destruction. I know that it was fake, but it was still funny. After they replaced all the things he broke, Burress appeared and did his usual deadpan stuff. Then, a newish wrinkle in the show, Andre did a monologue. But, this time around, he acted as if it wasn't his choice. It seemed that Adult Swim was forcing him to do it. He even got shocked by a shocker at one moment, then they cut away to happy pictures of Andre. I loved all the jokes that made it seem like Andre did not want to do this.

After the insanity of the intro, the show cut away with their usual still frame and the words " we will be right back...". After the little break, Andre introduced his first guest, the rapper T.I. The interview immediately went off the rails, as it is supposed to. Andre asked uncomfortable questions that T.I. did not want to answer. Then, Burress tried some rapping that was purposefully terrible. Then, Kraft Punk showed up, that is a Daft Punk impersonation, except the helmet is made of Kraft mac and cheese. Eric Andre and Burress berated Kraft Punk right in front of T.I., forcing him off the stage. Then, a guy dressed like a zombie appeared from the ground, and T.I. kicked him in the face.

Once this insanity was complete, they cut away to one of the many side segments they do during the show. The segments on this episode ranged from, Andre appearing to be very hurt, riding on roller blades, asking people if they knew where the Sprite headquarters were so he could become the pitchman. Andre also rode a bike through a glass window, pretending to be a Chinese food bike delivery man. One of the other segments was Andre and a friend dressed as a horse for a segment called "Horsin Around", where they interview people on the street as a horse, but the interview quickly turned to a fight after Andre accused the back half of the horse of trying to put a finger in his butt. All the segments were very weird and very funny.

Once T.I. had enough and left, it happens with all the guests, they had "Dance Moms" host, Abby Lee Miller. She is a monster, and when Andre asked her about being abusive, she quickly changed the subject, but they wouldn't stop there. They pushed her, and then the interview, once again, went off the rails. A drone flew in hot dogs for Andre to eat. Burress left the stage, destroying a shelf along the way. They ignored Miller, much to my delight. She eventually asked if she could leave.

To end the show, they had the band American Authors on. They played their hit song, "Best Day of My Life", but Andre made them perform it as a human centipede. It was weird and disgusting and just what I expect from "The Eric Andre Show".

I'm so pumped for this show being back on air. I will update each episode on Monday, so come back next week for the next update.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He used to destroy his laptop after every blog post, then he learned that laptops did not grow on trees. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Gallopin' Goose Edition

Tuesdays mean it's time to talk about last Sunday's Bar Rescue

This past Sunday, Jon Taffer and his crew visited another bar that they felt the responsibility to "rescue". The crew went to a bar in Arizona called the Gallopin' Goose. This is an actual historical landmark bar because it is the first place that country music legend, one of the few good country musicians in my opinion, Waylon Jennings, first performed live. This was a for real bar. I was kind of shocked that they did a rescue of a place that a lot of people know about.

As the episode wore on, we come to find out that it wasn't so much a "bar" rescue as it was a relationship rescue. Sure, Taffer's team had to replace the bar top, there was grime everywhere, the kitchen needed to be cleaned and the owner was losing a ton of money, but that was all standard stuff for any episode of "Bar Rescue". What Taffer quickly realized was that he was, not only going to have to rescue the bar, but rescue a broken relationship as well.

These are some of my favorite episodes. I love that Taffer thinks he is some kind of marriage counselor. He spouts off cliché line after cliché line to try and repair these marriages. This one was particularly tough because the guy that owned the bar, he very quickly married his first wife, they had a baby, she got pregnant with their second child, but while she was pregnant, this scumbag cheated on her with a bar patron and got that lady pregnant as well. This did not sit well with the people in this small town. This was when the bar started to lose it's customer base and money. This was when this guy, who I assume was already pretty trashy, became complete trash.

The owner of Gallopin' Goose is, as I stated earlier, a real scumbag. His ex wife moved away from him because of this, taking their 2 children with her. This also really tore the guy apart. He started drinking more heavily and stopped taking care of himself and the bar. His ex wife eventually moved back, but she then found herself raising this other child of his. They never said what happened to this kids real mom, but the owner's ex wife now had three kids she had to raise. When they got back to the original timeline, Taffer had the ex wife as his spy in the car, and while watching the bar being poorly run, we also saw the owner talking shit about his ex wife to the other employees. He was complaining that she was never there and that he had to do all the work. Never mind the fact that she was taking care of three kids, one of which was not biologically hers, but she also came to the bar whenever she could to help out. This lady was being very poorly treated by the owner. He was a real big dickhead.

When Taffer comes in to confront him, he immediately rips into to him. He calls him a failure and a lowlife, classic Taffer. He talks to him as if he is a child. He threatened to kick this dude's ass, and this guy was way, way bigger than Taffer. It was all classic Taffer, and it was all hilarious. The two of them eventually cooled off, and the owner started to take Taffer's advice. He was very willing to listen to all of his suggestions. He was even willing to take Taffer's "expert" advice in relationship counseling. It was all very calm and quiet after their first encounter.

The Gallopin' Goose switched over to a whiskey bar. This worked very well in their favor. They also became an all day breakfast food place. Apparently, they had a successful breakfast buffet on Sunday's, so they decided to do this 7 days a week. Then, in classic "Bar Rescue" fashion, Taffer had a sit down with the ex wife and the owner, explained to them why they needed to reconcile, full of clichés again, and of course, at the end, they seemed to be back together again. Taffer was thrilled by this.

There was a very weird moment late in the episode as well. Taffer turned the bar back into a live country music venue as well, he did not change the name because of the history, and he invited one of his favorite country bands to play at the reopening. I didn't catch the name of the band, but they sounded terrible. The best part was that at one point, the band was playing and the camera turned towards Taffer, and he was bobbing his head and very creepily smiling at the lead singer. It was all very weird, but also exactly what I would expect from "Bar Rescue".

This episode has been the highlight of the season so far. It was very good and everyone was very polite and kind, for the most part. Seek this episode out of you haven't seen it yet. Come back next week for my review of the next episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Sometimes when he needs a pick up, Ty blasts Waylon Jennings for all the neighbors to hear. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.