Ty Watches "Bar Rescue": The Speakeasy Edition

We had a new episode of "Bar Rescue" this past Sunday. It was nice to see the show again after last week's check up episode. I prefer my "Bar Rescue" episodes to be new and not "clip shows", if you will.

This time around, Taffer and crew went to a bar called The Speakeasy in New Orleans. This was one of the most middle of the plate episodes that I have ever seen. It had everything you could ever want from an episode of "Bar Rescue". When we first meet the owners of The Speakeasy, it was your typical story. The bar was owned by a husband and wife, and they will making lots and lots of money. They had a nice spot in a town that is known for their alcohol and night life. They were making so much money in fact, the husband and wife decided that they wanted to have kids, so they sold their shares to the other owner and moved on from the bar business to start a family. They had 2 kids, each had solid office jobs, but they missed the bar life. They both liked to drink and party. The wife loved to dance, or as they kept saying in the episode, "twerk", side note, "twerking" is not a popular thing anymore, stop with the "twerking" stuff, it is played out. The husband loved drinking beer and taking shots. They each said that the corporate world was not for them, so they went back to the bar and bought back their shares.

When the couple returned to The Speakeasy, they noticed that the bar wasn't really doing as well, and it was not being properly taken care of. Did they do anything to fix this you ask? Well, if they did, it would not have been on "Bar Rescue". They, of course, neglected to fix the bar up and just let it get worse and worse. The owners cared more about dancing and drinking than they did about training their staff and keeping their bar clean and efficient. They started to lose tons of money, so much so, they were in debt 250,000 dollars. They were in danger of losing their house and their bar. The wife's mom was the other owner, but she did not need to be running a bar. This husband and wife should have been doing everything, but they had other stuff in mind.

Taffer brought a new mixology expert, she was involved in a previous rescue, and my favorite food expert, Aaron McCargo with him. When they got to the bar, all three of them watched from the van outside on the monitor. They saw what we all saw. The husband was drinking shot after shot and beer after beer and the wife was "twerking" and showing off her dance moves in between throwing darts. The staff was getting wasted with the owners and everyone was fighting with everyone. Taffer sent in his spies, one of which was McCargo, and when they got inside, it was much worse than expected. The bartenders could not make the simplest of drinks. The kitchen staff was non existent for about 20 minutes, and when the cook did show up, he did some disgusting things with old and unmarked food. He touched raw chicken with no gloves, and then proceeded to touch everything else around him.

When the food was coming out, it was at that point that Taffer came in and told his spies to not touch the food. He did his usual yelling. He told the staff and owners, after he got them all to stop yelling at each other and acting a fool, that they were in danger of getting many, many people sick. It was your run of the mill kitchen stuff, and it was a sigh of relief. Nothing like something very common to give me a sense of relief. Taffer and McCargo went to the kitchen, and what they saw was absolutely disgusting. This kitchen had clearly never been cleaned and the food was old, and most likely, rancid. Taffer dumped all the food on the prep table, all the while berating the whole staff. Taffer was yelling so much, the wife owner started to have a legit panic attack. It was bizarre.

Taffer ranted and raved, all of which was 100 percent correct and needed, and told the staff to clean the kitchen. They started, but they were all so drunk, they blew it off. This did not make Taffer and McCargo happy. They were pissed, as they should have been. Taffer had his crew clean the kitchen, but the next day, he laid into the owners and the staff. He really let them have it. It was more so a "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed", but coming from Taffer, it sounded brutal. He told the husband and wife that they were failing their kids and the wife's mom. The wife started to cry and Taffer called bull shit on the crying. I loved it. He told her it was a crutch and that when she cries, people lay off her. She told him that was true. He got to the root of her main problem. The husband was simply a drunk that needed to be relegated to the kitchen because that it was he knew. That's not a bad thing either. I know I was put on this planet to do grunt work and I'm fine with that. Each person has their thing, and this guy needed to be in the kitchen. And you know what, he was very good, when sober, cooking food.

Stress test went as expected. Their POS systems were garbage. The staff could not keep up with the orders. The kitchen was not getting their tickets because of the crappy POS systems. And one of the staff, Cassie was her name, was just terrible. She was put on as a waitress for the night, and she was rude and mean and never smiled. She was a nightmare, and she got rightfully fired after stress test.

After the terrible stress test, Taffer and crew got to fixing up the bar and training the staff. They changed the drink menu to make things simpler and they made the food much more Creole/Cajun style, perfect for the area. During relaunch, in which Taffer changed the name to Second Line, I did not care for the name change, I actually liked the name The Speakeasy, the bar was done up like most bars on this show. New tables, chairs, bar stools, big screen TV's, all the usual things we expect.

When they re opened the bar with the new name, things ran very smoothly, of course. During the 6 week checkup, the husband and wife were doing their respective jobs well and not fighting, the staff was doing better, and the bar was starting to make a bit of money here and there. And just to hammer it home, they said that the wife is no longer "twerking". They always do this now. They always have to add something on at the end that makes me say, "stop it with that nonsense".

As I have stated, this was your very run of the mill "Bar Rescue", and I loved it. I liked that he brought a new mixology expert that was part of a previous rescue. I'm always happy when McCargo is his food expert. And when Taffer not only has a bar, but also a relationship to fix, "Bar Rescue" is at its best. Keep up the good work, and I will be back next week to review the next episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sensative about twerking ever since he lost a twerking competition to the head editor back in 2012. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Trial & Error"

I've been spending a lot of time this week talking about basketball, it is tournament time, so who could blame me, but today I'm going to write about a new show that I really enjoy.

This past Tuesday night NBC aired 2 episodes of a new show called "Trial & Error". When I first saw commercials for the show I was a bit dubious, but also kind of intrigued. The dubious part of me was seeing the commercial and thinking it was a rip off of "Parks and Rec" and "The Office". But, after much thought, not that much really, I thought, why not do something in that model. Both those shows were great and had great runs, for the most part. "The Office" got really bad after Michael Scott left, but it was pretty good up until then, and it's first three seasons were phenomenal. "Parks and Rec", I thought, was great all the way through. So, the bad feelings I had about the previews for "Trial & Error" kind of disappeared.

The trepidation fully left my mind when I saw more of John Lithgow in the previews. He looked funny. He looked like he was having a good time filming the show. He is an extremely talented actor who I have liked in pretty much everything he has ever been in. I loved "3rd Rock From the Sun". He was terrifying as the bad guy in the greatest season of "Dexter". He was decent in his smaller roles in "Interstellar" and the revamped "Planet of the Apes". He's just really good in everything, even if it is bad like "Cliffhanger". He is truly great as a bad guy, but has proven that he has some great comedic chops. That is why "Trial & Error" is the perfect show and perfect role for him.

"Trail &Error" centers around a murder investigation in a small town in South Carolina. Lithgow's character, a roller skating poet, is accused of murdering his wife after she is found dead, looking like she was thrown through a window. I know it sounds really dark, but this show is a straight up comedy. I saw some other people say it is a cross of "Parks and Rec" and "Making a Murderer", and I couldn't agree more with that comparison.

Lithgow is the unequivocal star of the show, but the supporting actors are just as good. Nicolas D'Agosto plays the big time lawyer from New York that comes into town to defend Lithgow. He is not really that big time, this is his first case without his boss, but he is from New York, so the people in the town of East Peck just assume that he is a hot shot. D'Agosto is very, very good in this role. Some of you may know him from the terrible movie "Fired Up", or the latest "Final Destination" movie. I remember him most as Hunter, Jan's assistant, from "the Office". He is wonderful, at least in the first 2 episodes, in a leading role. He is just as funny as Lithgow, and his looks to camera, the show is shot documentary style, remind me so much of Adam Scott and John Krasinski in their NBC shows. He is just as funny as they are, in my opinion. I know he has been a "star" in a few bad movies, but I feel like this show will really put him on the map.

Some other great actors that popped up in the first 2 episodes are Sherri Shepard, Steven Boyer and Jayma Mays. Mays is well known for her roles on "The League" and "Glee". But much like A'Gosto, I feel like this is a perfect fit for her. She is a hard ass lawyer in this small town, and all the locals love her. She is the prosecution's lead lawyer, and she has the town behind her. She is tough, no nonsense, but also makes weird passes at A'Gosto all the while hell bent on destroying him in this case. Steven Boyer is the goofy townie who happens to be A'Gosto's lead investigator. The only reason he got that job was because he knows everyone in town, and his brother/cousin is part of the local police, so he can get inside information. He is also always involved in some kind of hiccup that is a massive blow to the case, but then stumbles upon some new break that helps the defense.

But, my personal favorite character on the show is Sherri Shepard's character. She has so many weird abnormalities, and all of them make for some funny television. She has something called "facial amnesia". This means that she never remembers people she just met. She has a very funny line in the pilot where she says, "it's great for me and my husband because it is like I have a new lover every night. But...I do remember penises". I cackled when I heard that. She also has a disease where she laughs at incredibly inappropriate times. Whenever they mentioned something involving the murder that is horrific, Shepard cannot control her laughter. She mentions a death in her family, and it takes all of her strength to not laugh, but by the end of the interview, she is cracking up. She has another strange disease that when she sees something beautiful she passes out. Again, it is played for big laughs, and it worked on me tenfold. She is awesome in this role and on this show.

If the first 2 episodes are any indication of where this show is going, I am really excited. It was funny, goofy, dark and very well written. I have high hopes for "Trail & Error", and I think you all should too. If you haven't watched it yet, check it out. It is a very good show. Here's to hoping it gets a real chance at staying on TV.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is of the opinion that NBC should give good shows at least as many episodes as they gave "Veronica's Closet". That should be a law. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Bar Rescue": Back To the Bar - Brick and Barley Edition

There will be no "Bar Rescue" update today. They did have a new episode, but it was a "Back to the Bar" theme. I already reviewed the episode with the bar they featured in the "Back to the Bar" episode, and I do not think I need to do a retread. If you want to read my review of the bar featured, search for the "breastaraunt" bar, or as it is now known, "Brick and Barley". There is another new episode this Sunday, and it is a real episode, so next week I will be back with my regular "Bar Rescue" reviews.

Ty

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

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

Ty Watches "Bar Rescue": The Dug Out Edition

This past Sunday was one of the most excellently trashy episodes of "Bar Rescue" that I have seen. Now, it's not on the level of gross that "The Landing Strip" episode achieved. But, this was trashy for other reasons.

First though, let me explain the nuts and bolts as I like to do. The bar that Taffer and crew came to rescue was in the heart of downtown Chicago. The bar was called "The Dug Out", and it was located literally right next to Wrigley Field. During baseball season, "The Dug Out" would make a ton of money from people coming and going to the game. It was during the off season when the bar would hemorrhage money. Well, that and the owner was a complete mess. This guy was so much worse than any owner I have seen, "Landing Strip" and "Piratz Tavern" included. This guy was completely clueless and did not seem to care about anything at all, except getting wasted. To the staff's credit, they tried very hard. They did the best they could, but they were never trained properly and the owner did not seem to care to train them. It was his way or the highway.

During baseball's off season, and during the regular season for that matter, the owner did not make the staff clean the bar. This was where I felt the staff could have done a bit more. This bar was disgusting. But, to the staff's credit, whenever I had a manager or owner that I worked for that showed no signs of caring, I took that as, I should not care as well. He didn't seem to mind that the bar was a disgusting mess, so why would the staff clean? They were still getting paid either way. And when I say this bar, and the kitchen too, were disgusting, I mean they were absolutely barf worthy in the filth that had piled up. I have never seen so many fruit flies in my life. The staff was swatting away flies left and right, the flies were on the walls, cups and trays, they were everywhere. The stools and tables in the bar were old and broken down. Cushions were coming undone and the tables just looked worn down. I also saw caterpillars, ants and some cockroaches crawling around in the front of the bar.

The kitchen was just as bad, if not worse. Nothing looked to have been cleaned one single time. The owner doubled as the chef, and when Taffer and crew watched from the van, what they saw, and what I saw, made me sick to my stomach. The owner did not wear gloves and cross contaminated everything. He also refused to clean anything, as I have already stated. Condiment bottles had so much build up he didn't even use the cap anymore because he could not close them. There was mold, grim and possible grease fire traps from all the loose grease everywhere. Taffer had his spies order food, but when he saw what was going on, he rushed into the bar to tell them not to eat anything. Taffer then told the kitchen expert to throw all the food out and close down the kitchen. He also told the bar expert to close down the front as well.

When they came back the next day, the kitchen expert had asked what happened to all the food he threw away, he did not see it in the trash, and the owner stated that he took it home to freeze. HE DIDN'T WANT RANCID FOOD TO GO TO WASTE! THIS IS VILE! The bartenders were sat down to train, and they were clueless. All they had known before was pouring random alcohols into a big fish bowl that was dubbed non ironically, "The Fishbowl". He also had a lemonade pitcher filled with multiple bourbons. He called this "concoction", "The Hot Pussy Shot", and they kept saying it over and over again throughout the whole episode. It was so gross.

Mind you, all this has happened, and I checked the time left in the episode, and we only had abut 25 minutes left. I soon realized that Taffer was probably going to walk out. Back to training for stress test.

During the training, the staff was on board with everything that Taffer and his crew were showing them. The owner though, he couldn't have cared less. He just sat through all this, questioned everything and told anyone involved with Spike TV and Jon Taffer that he wasn't going to do anything they told him to do once he and his crew left. He was a real asshole. The staff desperately wanted all the changes. What has become a recurring theme on the show, the staff needs the job way more than the owners do. They live paycheck to paycheck, so they need the bar to work out, or else they are back on their own looking for a new job. That can be very tough and stressful. So, the fact that this owner was so cavalier in his attitude really made me dislike him. The failures, as Taffer loves to say, were solely on him. If you cannot succeed with a bar that close to Wrigley Field, you should not be in the restaurant or bar industry. This guy had a goldmine and he was letting his childish attitude flush it down the toilet.

They eventually got around to stress test and it was, to no one surprise, a total disaster. The owner screwed everything up. Oh, he also decided to have a few drinks before stress test right in front of Taffer's front of house expert. This owner was a real piece of shit. I cannot stress that enough. During stress test and training he just floated and never paid attention to what needed to be done. When they were finally drowning in a sea of customers not getting food or drink, Taffer shut it down.

The next day Taffer gathered the staff and not the owner and told them that he was going to remodel the bar for them, but he was leaving immediately after that. He was leaving it in the hands of the employees. This was a first for me in watching "Bar Rescue". When he was telling the staff the plan, a few of the employees literally broke down in tears. It was sad. He let the staff see what he had done. He changed the name to "The Press Box". Not great, but not bad. He added some ivy to the outside and totally refurbished and refurnished the inside. It looked like a legit sports bar. It was one of Taffer's better "rescues".

The icing on the cake was just about to happen right near the end of the episode. After the staff saw the new bar, who should show up but the uninvited and incredibly wasted owner. He walked through the crowd and yelled, "JON! MY MAN!". He then went on to berate Taffer and his staff. He was slurring his words and couldn't say a single sentence coherently. It was a total nightmare. His whole staff quit on the spot. He yelled at them as they were walking away, but they did the best possible thing, given the situation. Then, after the staff and Taffer split, the Spike cameras followed this moron inside and chronicled all the nonsense he said when he saw the bar. It was total gibberish, and he even tried to do a line from "A Few Good Men", which came out horribly wrong.

They did do a 6 week checkup and 2 of the 4 employees came back, but the owner had changed everything back to the way he wanted it, even bringing back "The Hot Pussy Shot", which they just had to throw in there one more time. This bar was a total and complete disaster, and when I fully side with Taffer, there is a serious problem with the people involved with this particular bar. This owner was horrendous, and while I wish no ill will towards anyone, I hope he is no longer involved the food and bar industry because he is going to get people seriously sick due to his lack of caring. This owner was an abomination and he deserves to have his bar taken away from him. It's as cut and dry at that.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The head editor has been to Wrigley Field a few times, and has been to many bars in the area. There is a good chance that he was victim of "The Hot Pussy Shot". Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Taboo"

"Taboo" just finished its first season on FX. I have been very vocal about how much I anticipated this show. I loved how FX promoted the show. I loved how the commercials gave away nothing. I had no idea what the show was going to be about, and I liked it that way. I purposefully waited until now to write about the show because I wanted to fully experience it for myself before I wrote about it. Now, I am not going to spoil much, if anything, I know that binge watching is the new thing and "Taboo" is a perfect binge worthy show, but I do have some thoughts that I want to get out since the show finished its first season.

"Taboo" centers around a man named James Delaney(Tom Hardy) who has returned to his home in the UK after a trip to Africa. The people who know James Delaney assumed he died on this trip because of the stories that had made there way back to the UK. When he first arrives back home, the townspeople are shocked. Everyone has questions. Delaney has no time for answers. He is on a mission. First spoiler, his father has died, and Delaney is back to run the family business, which seems to involve some kind of shipping. The show takes place in the early 1800's by the way, hence the shipping company.

Anyway, we come to realize in the pilot that the entire Delaney family is mentally unstable. The mom, the dad and most definitely James Delaney. They are all very crazy. The mom is sent to an institution for all the horrible things she did when she was alive. The dad went madder and madder the older he got we were told. And when Delaney returns from Africa, he claims he can talk to the dead, he says, "They sing to me", and he has many hallucinations. The hallucination scenes are scary, but also very neat and interesting. He is also filled with many tribal tattoos.

We also come to find out that he has a half sister, same dad, different moms, that he is in love with. Her name is Zilpha Geary, excellently played by an unknown to me, Oona Chaplin. She too is in love with him, but after she assumed he died, she married a very mean and brutal man, Thorne Geary(Jefferson Hall). He is a dick head and he gets what he deserves. I'll leave it at that. The two of them love each other, but it is, so to say, taboo, and they do not end up together. Again, I do not want to spoil too much.

There are some other great supporting characters in this show as well. Delaney's butler is wonderfully played by David Hayman. His name is Brace, and while he is a very loyal worker to the Delaney family, he too has done some serious shit and has some dark secrets. We also meet Delaney's fathers second wife, Lorna Bow(Jessie Buckley), who is in it at first for the fortune, but later as a James Delaney supporter and helper. We also meet some prostitutes that may or may not have been some of his fathers clients.

Then we have the British Parliament. They are the baddest dudes in the whole series. The king is a disgusting, gout filled blob of a man. Everyone in this show is some form of filthy kind of monster, but the king takes the cake in looks and attitude. He is so gross. There's Solomon Coop(Jason Watkins), who is the king's right hand man, but he is a slime bag of epic proportions. Then there are the members of Parliament that are just as corrupt as any current politician we have in our government. Sir Stuart Strange(Johnathan Pryce) is a terrible, monstrous human being hell bent on money and killing people. Godfrey(Edward Hogg), the closeted note keeper for Parliament who is a male prostitute at night and Delaney spy on the side. John Pettifer(Richard Dixon) who is a corrupt underling of Strange's. Benjamin Wilton(Leo Bill) is another underling errand boy for Strange. Basically, all of Parliament is corrupt because Delaney owns a piece of land that they need to win the battle that they are in with the United States, but Delaney will not give it up. Watch the show to find out why he won't let go of this land.

Some other characters I really liked in the show include George Chichester(Lucian Msamati), the African American man that has climbed the ranks of government who works with Delaney for what is right. Cholmondeley(Tom Hollander), the chemist that makes gunpowder and just likes to have a good time that ends up helping Delaney out. Dumbarton(Michael Kelly), who is an American spy in the UK posing as a doctor and flag maker that meets a gruesome end. And Atticus(Stephen Graham), Delaney's former enemy turned adversary. There are so many more great characters, these are just the ones that stood out to me.

I enjoyed "Taboo" very much. At first glance I thought it might have been a little too much History Channel for me, but the way the story was told and how it unfolded had me rapt with attention. The show was violent and dark and sad and no one was the good guy. Sure, you root for some people, but in the long run, each and every character has way more flaws than not. The British Parliament is the "bad guy", but that is not to say that Delaney is the "good guy". He is very, very far from a good guy.

I highly recommend people watch "Taboo". It is a very interesting and unique take on some classic historical stories from the US and UK's past. I also recommend binge watching it. It is perfect for that type of viewing.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. If you have FX, you can get FX Now and binge all of "Taboo" right now. What are you waiting for? Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Bar Rescue": Summit House Grill and Pub Edition

This past Sunday on "Bar Rescue", Taffer and crew headed to the Summit House Grill and Pub in Colorado. This was a husband and wife owned bar. The wife had a steady job in I.T., but her husband convinced her to quit that job and enter the bar industry.

This was an obvious mistake.

At first, the bar was making tons of money, as per usual. The husband owner said they started out making 30,000 dollars a week and at one point, then started to make closer to 45,000 dollars a week. They were making enough money that they were turning a decent enough profit, so the husband and wife decided to turn the bar over to the employees and managers, only coming in once or twice a week to check up on things.

This was when things started to go downhill. The employees and managers had free rein to do what they pleased. Some worked hard, Nichole to be exact. But, the others had a free for all. They did not respect the husband owner, they played free and loose with the rules and they basically did what they wanted. The husband owner would start to come in more often when he realized they were starting to lose money, but he came in only to get drunk. He seemed to care less and less about the bar and more and more about getting drunk and blaming everyone else for his problems. The wife owner was the one who called Taffer to come and save the bar.

When Taffer arrived, he had the wife come and watch her husband run the business. This was a nightmare. All he did was drink, berate customers and workers, hit on customers and cause big scenes. His wife was mortified by what she saw. When he started to get drunker, meaner and hitting on any female customer he saw, the wife said she'd seen enough and stormed in the bar and gave her husband the business. She yelled and crushed him for what seemed 15 minutes straight. It was beautiful. After the husband blamed her for all his problems, the employees cut him off and had to physically remove him from the bar. It was funny, but also kind of sad. Taffer came in during this fight and poured a beer on the husband as well. It was so disrespectful and totally awesome.

When everyone sobered up, Taffer had them in the next day to train. Before training though, Taffer made the husband blow into a breathalyzer, and luckily for him, he was sober. Then they got to business. The training was a nightmare. The employees had no idea what they were doing and it showed. The kitchen staff was just as clueless. The "experts" did their best to prepare them for stress test.

Needless to say, stress test was terrible. No drinks or food made it to anyone at any decent times. The husband looked so stressed, I said to my wife that he should have a drink to calm his nerves. The wife was great and so was Nichole. Everyone else, a total train wreck.

After shutting down, Taffer and his people got down to fixing the inside of the bar. Interesting fact about this bar, it was clean and nice, it was the husband that was the problem. So, the work Taffer and crew did was minimal. They kept the name and gave the inside a forest feel. It was one of their nicer efforts. Prior to relaunch, Taffer had a heart to heart with the husband, seems to be his new thing, and they hatched out all their problems. Everything seemed great after their talk.

During relaunch, the employees and owners were struggling, at first. I haven't seen something like this in awhile. Of course they dug themselves out and things were running smooth enough for Taffer to leave. During the 6 week check up, the bar seemed to be back on track and they were making a bit of their debt back. Nichole was also a full time manager now, which was much deserved.

This was a very down the middle episode of my beloved "Bar Rescue". That's not to say it wasn't great, but you could tell what was going to happen beat for beat. 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. He was going to open a bar with his wife, but when Ty said he would not serve liquor, his wife shut the whole thing down. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Legion"

Today I'm going to keep my piece kind of short. The main reason, I do not want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't watched the show yet, but "Legion" is going to be a masterpiece.

My wife and I just watched the premiere last night, and I was totally blown away. I loved absolutely everything about the show. The tone was dark with splashes of humor here and there. The acting was exquisite. All the main characters, and for that matter, the supporting characters, did a wonderful job. The set pieces were pretty much perfect. The pace and style was like nothing else I have seen. The color of the show was retro and really cool. The wardrobe was a 70's throwback, which I really enjoy. The interstitial scenes spliced in during David's "episodes" were terrifying, yet I couldn't look away. This is one of the most unique shows I've seen in quite some time.

The fact that the writers and producers can take a superhero property like X-Men and make it their own is a triumph in and of itself. I'm sure I missed a lot of real inside baseball stuff with side characters and dialogue, I'm not fully versed when it comes to the X-Men universe, but "Legion" held my attention for 90 minutes straight.

I also really liked the action sequences they had in the first episode. They were big on a small screen. It was the best action I've seen on the small screen since the season premiere of "Lost". I actually think "Legion"'s premiere was better than "Lost".

As I said at the top, I do not want to give anything away, so go watch the premiere as soon as possible. I also do not think you have to be a superhero or comic book person to enjoy this show. Its got something for everyone. Shows only get better, most of the time, after they premiere. If this happens with "Legion", it is going to go down as one of the greatest shows of all time. I cannot wait to see where they go from here and I'm pretty sure it is going to work and it's going to be great.

FX continues to have the best programming and continues to take the best chances on new shows. I love FX and I'm fully on board with "Legion". Everyone needs to watch this show now. It is phenomenal.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He really likes FX. Hear him talk all about it on a recent episode of the X Millennial Man. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Search Party"

Today I want to write about a new show that I am really enjoying right now. That show is "Search Party" on TBS.

I had heard a lot of things about this show because I am a Michael Showalter fan. He created one of my all-time favorite movies, "Wet Hot American Summer", he put out the "prequel" to that great movie on Netflix a few years ago, "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp", he directed the wonderful "Hello My Name is Doris", and now he has "Search Party". He is clicking on all levels as a creative artist right now. He had one of the best binge-worthy shows that has even been put on Netflix. "Hello My Name is Doris" is not only an indie darling, but is even getting some early Oscar buzz, mainly Sally Field. And now, he has a great episodic show on national TV. He can do no wrong right now.

As I said, I heard a lot about this show before it came out, and everything I heard about it, it made me want to watch it that much more. I was excited to hear that it wasn't going to be a straight forward, goofy comedy like much of Showalter's stuff. He proved that he could do some different things with "Doris", and he is putting that to use on "Search Party". Now, that is not to say that this show does not have comedic moments, because it has a lot of them. There are times that I have laughed out loud while watching. But, each comedic moment is met with moments of clarity, sadness, self reliance, drama and intrigue.

"Search Party" is about a group of over privileged, hipster kids that live in New York. They have little to nothing going on in their lives, although they act much more important than they really are. They are kids born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and it shows. But, the main character Dory(Alia Shawkat), sees a missing person photo on the street in the pilot episode, and we come to realize she recognizes the girl from college. They weren't necessarily friends, but Dory has memories of her. She meets up with her core group of friends, her boyfriend Drew(John Reynolds), Portia(Meredith Hanger) and Elliot(John Early) to tell them the news, but it is met with deaf ears. Dory's friends either don't care, or are way too interested in their own stuff to feign interest in their missing college "friend". But, Dory cannot shake it. She now feels like she needs to find her old college acquaintance. There are a lot of reasons she makes for wanting to find their friend, but it mainly seems like she doesn't have a lot going on in her life. She is bored and tired of the hipster scene and she wants something that will make her feel important. She actually acts kind of selfish in her quest to find Chantal(Clare McNulty). She becomes singularly focused on this search, putting everything else on hold.

Alia Shawkat is tremendous in this show. I know it may sound like I think she is kind of selfish, but that is just her character. Shawkat has been in a lot of stuff, and has been pretty good in her minor rolls, but this is a great vehicle for her as far as starring roles go. She shines as Dory. She is so, so good on this show. I have become a big Alia Shawkat fan during the run of this show. But, the three other friends are great as well. John Reynolds as Drew, Dory's woebegone boyfriend, is excellent. He plays a total pushover with no backbone really well. He is at Dory's beck and call and does anything she asks him. But, he also has heart and soul, and you begin to feel for him when Dory, or anyone else for that matter, starts to go off on him. Meredith Hanger as Portia is perfect as the pretty blonde actress that wants so badly for everyone to like her, but also be proud of her and her career choice. She is an actress, but she is a very mediocre actress that plays small roles on corny crime procedurals. She works hard on her show, but outside of that, she is self-involved and careless. But, she does have moments when she seems to be a caring, loyal friend. She wants to believe that Dory has seen Chantal, she goes to weird parties with her and she genuinely cares for Dory's safety when Dory goes out to do PI work.

Then there is John Early as Elliot. He is so god damn good on this show. Early was excellent on "Wet Hot: First Day of Camp", but man oh man, is he awesome on "Search Party". He is so funny, he has so many skeletons in his closet, he is constantly making up and breaking up with his boyfriend, in very comedic ways and he has a terrible secret that he has kept since he was a teenager. Early has taken the direction to be a New York hipster to the absolute perfect point. He is so douchey and self-involved, and I couldn't love his character more. He is the second best person on this show, next to Shawkat.

There have been some great recurring characters played by some big name people as well. Christine Ebersol is great as Portia's mom that doesn't give her enough attention. Rosie Perez is really good as a crazy lady that claims she has seen Chantal as well, when her and Dory meet for the first time. Christine Taylor is so awesome as Dory's boss, who lives in a whole different world than everyone else on this show. Tunde Adebimpe, as the leader of some weird cult that may or may have some kind of involvement in Chantal going missing, is both mean, but also very funny. Then there is Ron Livingston as the PI that follows, then eventually hires Dory to work with him to find her friend.

"Search Party" is a really good show. All ten episodes were shown in 5 days, 2 episodes a day, and they are all on TV for your viewing pleasure right now. I have watched 7 episodes so far, I will be finishing it this afternoon, and I cannot wait to see how it all ends. Obviously I recommend this show. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He loves new and interesting television, tell him about a show you like. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

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 Watches Bar Rescue: The Triple Nickel Edition

The season finale of "Bar Rescue" this past Sunday was your typical run of the mill episode. There is a follow up episode coming next week, called "Back to the Bar", that I will review, but this was the finale of this season.

Taffer and crew headed to a bar in Colorado called "The Triple Nickel". This was a family owned bar that had some great times early on. They were making money, the family was happy and all was well. But, things started to get pretty rough over a year ago. The youngest son took over the bar, and at first, he was doing fine, with help from his family. But, his mother got cancer and died. Then, his sister got cancer and she died. Then, his brother got cancer, and he died. That is a whole lot of tragedy to deal with in under a year.

I would have totally understood had he just sold the bar and did something else, but he did not do that. He chose to keep the bar going, change it to a punk rock venue, stop selling food and drink his sorrows away. I do not blame him for drinking, if I lost 3 family members in one year, I'd drink too, and I do not drink alcohol. But, this drinking led to him forgetting about the bar. He just kind of let things go, and made the place his own personal playhouse. He hired friends to work there, they drank constantly, he belittled people in front of patrons and the bar started to go down the drain.

When Taffer and his experts came to check things out, they were not impressed. The outside of the bar looked drab and old. The interior actually had the look and feel of a country/BBQ bar. It was all finished wood and old chairs and barstools. It looked rather weird, because this guy wanted his bar to be a punk bar. When they watched the workers, they were unhappy. These guys kept treating the place their own personal frat house. They played pranks on each other, they demeaned each other and they drank until they got sick. It was embarrassing to watch. When the owner had physically pushed one of his employees to the ground, that is when Taffer jumped into action. He walked straight into the bar and made a beeline for the owner. He verbally attacked this guy the second he walked into the bar. He started yelling at him, calling him a bully and a fraud and a drunk. The owner, who was completely hammered, was totally taken aback and unprepared for the verbal abuse that was coming from Taffer.

After Taffer got through all the insults and yelling, he closed the bar down and told everyone to go home and sober up and come in ready to work the next day. When the staff arrived the next day, they were all pretty apologetic and seemed to want to change. They wanted their friend who had gone through these horrible tragedies to be okay. The owner himself owned up to all his faults. It was refreshing to see these people not yell and fight with Taffer, but rather, take his advice. One of the first things Taffer decided he was going to do was to reopen the kitchen. This made everyone happy. This meant more revenue. They also decided to make drinks a bit easier, and made it so they did not need a ton of liquor in the bar. That was a problem for them. They kept running out of alcohol and liquor during their operating hours. All the stuff that Taffer and the experts decided to do were all very good, and obvious, choices.

During stress test, the fact that I do not remember many problems speaks to the fact that they did okay enough. There were some small problems, but it wasn't anything that was shocking or made the experts close the bar down. This staff, when locked in, seemed like they knew what they were doing. The owner was very, very involved during the stress test as well. He was in the kitchen, worked at the bar and helped wherever help was needed. He looked really good during stress test.

When they finished the stress test, they closed the bar down, and Taffer and his crew got to work fixing up the bar. They made some nice changes on the inside. They gave them new tables, chairs and barstool. They also made the outside more inviting, and they did not change the name, which I always like. When the staff saw the new bar, they loved it. They loved the new look, the new stage, the new stuff, they were very enthused. During the re launch, things went swimmingly. They were pumping the new food out of the kitchen, the bartenders were cruising behind the bar, the owner was doing his thing and everything was working out very well. They looked to be in good shape.

When the Bar Rescue crew came back for the 6 week check up, one of the staff filmed a thing by himself and said that things were going fine. But, he did not seem as excited as the whole crew did during stress test and re launch. It was odd, but they could be doing just fine as far as I know.

This was a pretty decent season, save for a couple of episodes. I will review the episode next week, and that will be it for this season of "Bar Rescue". Thank you all for reading these particular reviews, and I will continue to do this when "Bar Rescue" returns for its next season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. As long as Jon Taffer is rescuing bars, America will be a ok in Ty's book. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Fort One Edition

The most recent episode of "Bar Rescue" got back to its greatness this particular season. There was no stupid puns or stories of war, it was a trashy, ridiculous episode, which is what I adore about this show.

The bar they went to "rescue" was called "Fort One" in San Francisco. This bar had a lot of problems, mainly their spoiled brat of an owner. This guy was something else. He was a rich kid whose dad bought him a bar as a "gift". Also, this bar never really was on fire at first like a lot of bars on the show. They did okay at first, turning a small profit, but nothing like the other places that always claim to be "raking it in". After their okay start, the owner started to get heavily involved in drinking and buying things for patrons he deemed attractive. He was giving away free alcohol to try and get phone numbers basically. He brought on a friend that gave him a sizable loan to have a stake in the bar. After getting this money, the owner did not change, and in fact, he demeaned the friend and treated him as one of his employees, instead of a part owner himself.

On the night that Taffer and his "expert" went to do recon, what they saw, they did not like. For starters, when they are watching from their car, they despised the outside of the bar. They do not like the sign, and they claim that it is uninviting. They can't park on the street where the bar is located, so they park in a lot and go to another bar where they can watch from their monitors. One of the first things they notice is how empty this bar is. This is a huge space, I think they said 6,000 plus square feet, with a downstairs nightclub, but this place was dead. They also notice how terrible the décor and the furniture in the bar and nightclub have become. The chairs are old and creaky, the VIP room couches have ripped apart upholstery and the bar is incredibly dirty.

Taffer and the expert also see that the majority of the bartenders, and the primary owner, are hammered. They are taking shots with the paltry amount of patrons and they keep going and going. Taffer sends in 2 more recon spies, 2 attractive, young ladies, to see if the owner lives up to his reputation. As soon as the women enter, the owner makes a beeline for them, sends them to bottle service and sits with them. He orders a bottle immediately for the table. We come to find out that it is an 80 dollar bottle, but the bar sells it for 400 bucks. This is a very common practice in bars we, the viewers, are told. So, he right off the bat gives away a free 400 dollar bottle of liquor. But, he doesn't stop there. He gives them not just 1, but 4 free bottles. That is 1,600 dollars he flat out gave away. That is terrible. When his employee in charge of bottle service and his partial owner ask him to maybe charge the ladies for the bottles, he cusses them out and tells them to leave him alone.

Now Taffer makes his entrance. He doesn't go straight to the owner first, but picks the one bartender that he has seen take the most shots that evening. He goes up to the bar, the bartender has her back turned, and there is about 20 seconds of awkward silence before the bartender finally turns around and drunkenly tells Taffer that she is closed. Taffer then talks to her about how much she drank, asks if she made any money that night, asked about her family and then proceeded to tell her to go home to sober up. After this interaction, he goes to the partial owner and bottle service worker, they tell him how terrible things are, and Taffer finally asks to speak to the main owner. He saunters over drunk as a skunk. Taffer immediately begins to lay into him. He is calling him everything, and then some, and the drunk owner keeps saying things like, "you're stressing me out", or, "could you stop cursing at me like this". It was hilarious, and we all need a laugh right now.

After Taffer closes the bar for the night, he makes everyone go home to sober up and come back in the morning. The next day, they get to business. Taffer asks all the employees about what they think is wrong, and they all say it is the owners fault. The claim he doesn't care, they don't get paid and he is a blowhard. Then, Taffer and the expert do their cleanliness check, and it is a total nightmare. They find mold all over the ice machine. There is mold on the pipes. The owner doesn't know the smallest things about cleaning the stuff that makes the ice. The bottles, and the bar itself, has fruit flies flying everywhere. It is a mess. They find 2 dead mice behind the ice machine, and that is the topping on the crap cake that is this bar. Taffer excuses every employee, rubs some mold on the owners shirt and tells him to clean the place by himself.

Much to my surprise, he does everything that Taffer says with no complaints. Once the bar is finally up to standards, they get to training. Now, I do want to say, the staff at this place was great, when sober. They made quality drinks, and they made them fast. One of the bartenders in fact, was awesome. She was cranking out drinks, making them properly and did it all with a smile. So, training was not as important as getting this owner to get his head out of the gutter. They all get ready for the stress test, and I have got to say, this was the best stress test I have ever seen on "Bar Rescue". They left the rock star bartender at the main bar area, by herself, to see if she could handle it. She did incredible. She was making 5 and 6 drinks at a time, making them right and smiling all along. She was incredible. They put the 2 other bartenders downstairs at the nightclub bar, and even though they started shaky, they came through in the end. They picked up the pace and started making drink after drink the more comfortable they got. The partial owner was running everything great. He had his eye on the prize, and he kept everything running smoothly. The bottle service employee was doing a great job, and making more money than she ever had at "Fort One". Even the owner, who they made be a bar back, showed promise. He worked hard all night, he helped wherever help was needed and did not have one single drink all night. This was the best stress test ever.

When they get to re launch, Taffer tells the whole crew how proud he is, and the rock star bartender I keep mentioning, Taffer tells her that he is going to bring her on some later episodes to be one of his "experts", and she is thrilled. They turn to see the new bar, and Taffer has changed the name to "The Roc". This is actually a good name. It makes sense because of the location near Alcatraz. The inside of the bar is a hell of a lot nicer, with new furniture and a new style. It is so much better looking than when they first arrived. When they re open with the new name and new stuff, they do even better than stress test. They crush it. This "rescue" was so much more about giving this spoiled rich kid a kick in the ass than anything else, and it seemed to work.

After Taffer leaves, they do the 6 week update and sales are up, and things seem to be doing well. This was a refreshing return after the terrible episode last week. There is only one episode left this season and I will be here next week to review it for you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He thinks we need hope in our world, and Bar Rescue is the epitome of hope. Thank you Jon Taffer. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Brickhouse Bar and Grill Edition

This past Sunday, "Bar Rescue" turned in one of their worst episodes that I have seen in awhile. Taffer and crew headed to the "Brickhouse Bar and Grill" in Colorado to help save it. From the start, I was not very happy with this episode. The great thing about this season is the fact that it has been so different from the other seasons. This season has not taken itself seriously, or when they do, it is with a coy smile as if to say, we know what we are doing. There have been some home run episodes in earlier seasons, like "The Landing Strip", "Piratz Tavern" and "The O Face Bar", but most early episodes are filled with "redemption" stories and cliché after cliché. It can be pretty off putting. That was the case with "Brickhouse".

The episode opens with your typical sad, my bar is failing, can you help me Jon Taffer type story. But, we come to realize that the guy running the bar is a member of the army that gets deployed a bunch. I have no problem with the troops, they are doing the US a great service that I could never bring myself to do, but to constantly talk about the fact that you are an army guy, so you need help more than others, stop with that. The bar is not failing because you get deployed, it is failing because the owner likes to get drunk on the job, not charge anyone and hit on patrons in front of his girlfriend, who also works for him. I do not like when people use outside excuses as to why their company is failing. That is some Donald Trump type shit, and Trump is a colossal failure when it comes to pretty much everything in his miserable life. But, this owner used his army and deployment as the only reason his bar was failing. That was a terrible excuse.

Unfortunately, "Bar Rescue" and Jon Taffer didn't really tell him that he was the problem, they kind of ran with the army stuff, because it makes for "touching" TV I guess. Taffer, when talking and berating this guy, kept using military terms and telling him that he needed to run his bar like he runs his platoon. What a bunch of crap. A bar is not a war zone Jon Taffer. I hate, hate, hate when people compare everyday stuff in life to something as horrific and terrifying as war. I don't like when athletes are called "warriors" or "heroic". I don't like when a field or a company is compared to a "battlefield" or a "platoon". It is all nonsense. Athletes are not warriors or heroic, they are athletes. The same can be said for a business owner. He is only a warrior or heroic when he is on the literal battlefield, not when he is running his bar into the ground. But, that did not stop the "Bar Rescue" crew from running this comparison into the ground. Every time the owner got yelled at, or had a nice little sit down with Taffer, everything was compared to his military record. I COULD NOT CARE LESS about his military record. I wanted to know why his bar needed to be rescued. I wanted to know what he was doing wrong. I wanted Taffer to berate him for getting drunk on the job and treating his girlfriend like garbage. I wanted to know why their systems were so terrible. I wanted to see the experts get into it with the employees.

The things I love about "Bar Rescue", we only got a very, very little bit of this. The small bits of good stuff was not enough to get the bad taste of this episode out of mine, and my wife's mouth. The stress test was not nearly as gleefully terrible as it could have been because, any time they ran into a problem, Taffer would yell at the guy and tell him to run this bar like he runs his army unit. What a pile of crap. During training, they kept talking about making cocktails and food that was affordable, but also appealing to an army man. I'm sorry, does every patron at this bar have an army background? I don't think that everyone in the whole state of Colorado is in the military, but this episode tries to make it seem that way. The training was filled with army related puns and it was so, so stupid. After training and the crew fixing up the bar, Taffer renamed it "Garrison's Tavern", I have no idea what this has to do with the military or the people that work at this place, but the people at "Bar Rescue" sure tried to make it seem that way.

After re launch, they of course were firing on all cylinders, and Taffer was praising the owner for running the bar like he runs his army unit. They would not stop the army talk, hanging on to it all the way to the end. It was infuriating.

This was a very lackluster episode lumped into what has been a pretty great season of "Bar Rescue". I guess they can't all be winners, but this was a humongous step down. I loathed this episode, and I hope with the final 2 episodes this season, they stay away from this type of crap. As I said, stop comparing everyday life with scary situations like war. It comes off contrived and superficial. It is also very patronizing to people in the army who fight for their lives everyday. A rescue on "Bar Rescue" will never be as scary or hard as life in the army. This was a bad, bad episode. Do not watch it, unless you want to be frustrated by terrible writing and bad war puns.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Something else Ty really hates are the shenanigans of men's rights activists. Hear all about his anger towards these terrible people. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Jon Glaser Loves Gear"

Tru TV is at it again, putting on great, irreverent comedy shows. This past Wednesday, Jon Glaser, who I am a huge fan of, new show premiered, "Jon Glaser Loves Gear". I heard very little about the show until earlier in the week. I was on Facebook and I'm a fan of another Tru TV show called "Those Who Can't", and their page was promoting Glaser's new show. I immediately put it on my DVR so I could watch.

The show's premise is quite simple. Glaser and his gear expert, who he calls "spert", are pitching a show where they go out on random excursions and try out the newest and best gear for that particular trip. The first episode focused solely on a camping trip. After the execs at Tru TV green light the show, Glaser and his "spert" go on a shopping spree. The show is a mix of reality and scripted sequences. I really enjoy this. For example, when they are talking about their upcoming shopping spree, it's easily identified as scripted TV, but when they go to the store, that's when the mix of reality TV comes into play. To watch Glaser and his buddy shop is hilarious. One of my favorite things that Glaser does, after every piece of equipment that he seems serviceable, he loudly yells, "GEAR!!!!". I think this is so funny.

Before they head out on their camping trip, Glaser goes to his home to tell his wife and kids about the show and all the new stuff he purchased. Well, his wife wants nothing to do with the show. She doesn't want to be on camera and she doesn't want her kids on camera. This bit really reminded me a lot of one of Glaser's older shows, "Delocated". It was very goofy, and everyone's face was covered, except Glaser's. So, after his wife says she will not go with him on this trip, he has a casting call for someone to play his wife. Again, Glaser hits it out of the park with this bit. Go watch it, it is comedy gold.

After he hires an actress, they go on their camping trip. A lot of funny stuff occurs during this trip. Glaser's "wife" is way more into his "spert" than him. This makes Glaser very angry and jealous. He goes so far as to fire his "spert" after some advice from "geari". Who's "geari" you ask? That's what he calls Siri. "Geari" is a lot like Siri, but it only gives gear advice, writes scripts, gains the power to feel and basically runs Glaser's life. When Glaser is in the process of firing his "spert", there is another great bit involving a phone call with Andy Richter. Again, go watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Once the camping trip is over, Glaser gives a run down of how his gear did, and the first episode ends. We were granted with a second episode during the premiere. This one focused on bikes. There are some great scenes where Glaser is harassing a guy that sells night vision goggles. He also gives a guy that works on bikes a hard time. He has another run in with his wife where he thinks she's cheating on him.

You know how I mentioned that "Geari" writes scripts, that comes up in this episode. "Geari" writes a ridiculous script about a bike messenger that has to deliver male seed to keep the world afloat. Glaser goes so far as making a trailer for this movie. This episode was more about the movie than any gear. The gear actually takes a backseat to everything else. That's another thing I really like about this show and Glaser's comedy, it can go anywhere.

Again, do yourselves a favor and go watch the trailer for "Quick Rush", it's so weird and so funny. I highly, highly recommend everyone check out this show. If you're a Jon Glaser fan, you'll love it, but I think people who do not know of Glaser will enjoy it too. The show is weird, goofy, dysfunctional and very funny. I already love "Jon Loves Gear", and I think you will too. "GEAR!!!!!!!!".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Join him and RD for the X Millennial Man Halloween podcast where they discuss the biggest monsters on the internet, the MRAs. Download it for free tomorrow. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Sam Jordan's and Tradewinds Edition

Much like yesterday, I'm back today to catch everyone up on another show, "Bar Rescue". Lucky for you and me, the past 2 episodes have been fairly, and kind of shockingly, similar, so I am going to lump the two of them into one blog for you today.

Two weeks ago, Taffer and crew went to a bar called "Sam Jordan's", and this past Sunday, they went to a bar called "Tradewinds". Right off the bat I will let you know that Taffer did not change the name of either bar because they are both landmark places with landmark names. Both bars have been around for 50 plus years, so changing the name would have caused a big problem in the communities, and we know that Taffer does not want to upset any community. So, the names never change, and I think this is a good thing because Taffer always picks something dumb, for the most part, anyway.

Another similarity, both bars were family owned. "Sam Jordan's" was now owned and operated by a brother and a sister, after their father, a former pro boxer, had passed away. "Tradewinds" was run by a step dad, his friend and the step dad's son. "Sam Jordan's" owners had a very splintered relationship since the bar started to go down the drain. The sister ran the day to day and front of house, and the brother ran the kitchen. The sister was doing a fairly good job of running the front of house. The bar was okay, not blowing anyone away, but not hemorrhaging money. The kitchen though, it was a disaster. The brother had kind of thrown in the towel, and was microwaving old BBQ and dousing it in sweet, disgusting sauce. "Tradewinds" was a shit show everywhere. The step dad and his friend had no business running a bar. They were both former car salesman, so the restaurant business seemed a bit much. They couldn't make drinks and their food systems were crap. They gave the step son a 20% stake in the bar because he has restaurant experience, was a manager at most of those jobs, and was young and energetic. Well, after getting his stake, the step son kind of gave up. He would show up late, if he came in at all. He would drink behind the bar. He would leave his bar and go to another bar to drink, thus giving his own competition money. He was a mess.

As you probably can tell by now, "Sam Jordan's" had people that wanted to change and get better, and "Tradewinds" had a spoiled, rotten little brat that got too much too young and was flaming out. As far as "Sam Jordan's" goes, we came to find out later that the brother running the kitchen did not have to pay any rent and all the money the kitchen made, it went straight to him. This pissed his sister, and Taffer off, but it was an agreement they made. Taffer had the people, during stress test, compare the food and drink at "Sam Jordan's". Needless to say, the drinks and bar crushed the kitchen. The brother was taken aback by all this, but I think it opened his eyes, and he seemed like he wanted to care again. He and his sister had a heart to heart, and it looked real, not staged like a lot of these interactions on "Bar Rescue" so often do.

During the first stress test at "Tradewinds", the young owner actually walked out. He was over matched by the amount of customers in his bar. And, try as they might, the two other owners were way in over their heads. The young son's mom was the chef, but she didn't really cook anything. In fact, when people asked for a menu, they said they did not have one, and they offered the people a cup of popcorn. After the horrific showing of the first stress test, all the owners had a big meeting, and it seemed like the young guy wanted to do better. He actually listened during training and helped the other employees. See, both stress tests and families having heart to hearts, really worked out. It was very much the same thing in each episode.

After the brother and sister from "Sam Jordan's" had their talk, and the brother realized that he needed to start giving a shit again, they actually did a pretty good job with their main stress test. They were getting drinks out of the bar fast. The food was coming quick, and it was better tasting. It was pretty nice to see. As far as "Tradewinds" real stress test, it was not so great, but all the people actually put in work. They had terrible systems and the layout was garbage, but, people were putting in effort.

So, after both stress tests, Taffer and crew did their thing, and gussied up both bars. The inside of each bar looked nice. Taffer does have a good eye for making the inside of a bar look nice. As I stated early, the names were not changed, but he made the signage and the layout outside more appealing. Again, Taffer can make a place eye popping. He makes it look like a place you, at the very least, want to check out. At "Sam Jordan's" re opening, everything went very smoothly. The bar did great, the food tasted much, much better and the brother and sister were getting along. I was very happy to see this bar have a decent turnaround. I wanted this bar to become successful, and during the 6 week check up, by all accounts, "Sam Jordan's" was starting to make money again, and the brother and sister weren't fighting anymore. "Tradewinds" re opening went just as well. The staff was on fire, the mom became a calzone making machine, the two main owners were much more invested and doing a better job and the young owner cut his hair, and seemed to care again. He was yelling out drink orders, conversing with the whole bar, making 5 or 6 drinks at a time and always had a smile on his face. During their six week check up, all was well. They were making money, getting along and everyone was coming in, as scheduled.

It was nice to have two similar episodes that I could put into one blog for the readers. I'll be back next week for the next review, and I will be back every week as long as the show keeps pumping out new episodes. Stay tuned

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The Head Editor recommended Ty get his beard trimmed up, but no one tells Ty what to do with his beard. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches the Eric Andre Show: Season 4 Finale

I know that I'm a week late, I was hyper focused on basketball last week, but I'm back to recap the zaniness that was the season 4 finale of "The Eric Andre Show".

This episode started as most, with Andre destroying the set. He did his usual stuff after his name was announced. He trashed his set. He tackled his drummer and destroyed his kit. He beat the stuff up that was sitting on the set. But, at one point, he stopped, and talked two guys down from beating each other up. He stopped everything that he was doing and that these 2 guys were doing, and became a mediator of sorts. He told the 2 gentlemen that everything was going to be fine, and that they did not need to fight anymore. After they shook hands, Andre told them he was proud of their progress, then he proceeded to finish his destruction.

After all that, Andre sat down and Hannibal Buress was introduced. He came and sat down, and Andre got up to do his monologue. He said some nonsense, and then the show went to a pre taped segment.

This time around, Andre was dressed like the Ranch Dude, but he walked into a karate studio and kept saying, over and over again, "time to deliver a pizza ball!", and he literally had a ball of pizza. Any time that one of the patrons of the karate place came up to talk to him, he would say his catchphrase. This made the people at the studio furious. The leader of the place started to threaten Andre. He picked up some kind of a karate stick and challenged Andre to a fight. Andre did not back down, saying his catchphrase again and again, until he finally realized that the leader was not going to back down, so he left. This was one of the better skits ever. I have been walking around my house for a week now saying, "time to deliver a pizza ball!", much to my wife and kids chagrin.

We then go back to the set, and they introduce the first guest, Jack Black. Black seemed down for anything. He didn't look like he knew what was going to happen, but he rolled with all the punches. He answered all the weird questions and put up with all the usual nonsense. Finally, Andre busted out 2 cans of whip cream and asked Black if he wanted to do whip its with him, and he obliged. They did their whip its and some weird stuff happened after that. Black was foaming whip cream at the mouth. Andre seemed normal, but he was about to pull some stunts on Black.

First though, they went to another pre taped segment, and it was Andre walking around, dressed as a construction worker with a big piece of metal sticking out of his chest. He was stumbling around and asking people if they knew where the hospital was, or if they could help him get home, or give him a ride, anything to get people's attention basically. It was disturbing, yet funny.

They went back to the Jack Black interview, and at one point, Andre's coffee cup started to spurt out coffee. Black nearly jumped out of his seat. Andre just sat there and calmly said, "this thing is broken". I think his calmness freaked out Black even more. The coffee cup shot out more coffee, and Black ran out of the room.

Don't worry, he comes back, and this time, after explaining that his brain felt fried from the whip its, Andre and Buress attached a lie detector test to him, and they tell him that any time he lies, he will get shocked. They ask some easy questions, but any answer Black gives, they shock him. He keeps yelling at Buress and Andre that this is ridiculous, and that he wants out. They push it a bit further, but they finally let Black leave the stage.

After Black, they have Jeanette McCurdy on. I did not know who she was, but my wife told me that she was a Disney Channel actor. Anyway, Andre begins the interview asking random questions about acting, and nude photos surfacing. She claims that is not true, but he pulls out a picture, but it is his same one from all season, of a photo shopped nude photo of Obama. McCurdy laughs it off. I was surprised by her attitude, but it soon changed. After this, Andre started to push. He got right in her face, told her he was not in a good place, and kept telling her that he loved her. McCurdy was definitely put off by this, answering him calmly, but looking extremely uncomfortable. She immediately left after this interaction.

Finally, something we have all been waiting for, Andre finally got to investigate the band 311. This has been a long running joke on the show for all 4 seasons. He is always talking about investigating and interrogating 311, Well, he finally got his chance. The band was playing one of their songs, but they were all tied up or put in some kind of interrogation type situation. The lead singer kept getting shocked, the drummer couldn't drum, the bass player was bound and the other singer and lead guitarist was tied up and eventually water boarded. It was totally worth the wait. It was all done in jest of course, but man was it hilarious and totally worth the wait. At one point, when both the singers could not sing, T-Pain came out and started singing for them. The episode, and thus, season 4, ended.

This was a great season of "The Eric Andre Show". It was bizarre, odd, gross, disturbing, but above all else, hilarious. I love this show. I love Eric Andre and Hannibal Buress and Adult Swim for putting this show on TV. I cannot wait for season 5 and you better believe that I will be back to recap all the episodes for everyone. What a great season of this great show.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He wants to investigat on why UB40 thinks they are a reggae act. Stay tuned. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Schaffer's Bar Edition

"Bar Rescue" this past weekend had some stuff on it that I had never seen before.

Taffer and crew traveled to "Schaeffer's Bar" in some small town in Washington state. This bar was the talk of the town when it first opened. According to the first owner, they were making upwards of one million dollars a year. He said that he couldn't count his money fast enough. After the third year of making a lot of money, 2 outside buyers came in and bought the bar from the first owner. They paid a hefty sum for it too. For some inexplicable reason, they asked the first owner to stay on as a manager. I've never heard about anything like this ever. I just assumed that when you sell, you leave it to the new owners, but that was not the case. The guy stayed on, but he had clearly mailed in his effort after selling. The bar started to tank with the two new owners too. Neither had any real experience being owners, so they had little to no idea how to run a bar. They also believed that the original owner was sabotaging their bar so he could buy it back at a much lower price.

When Taffer came with the experts, he sent them in the bar and had one of the new owners come and watch from his car. He wanted her to see how poorly the bar was being run. First thing they both saw, the bartenders had to look up how to make drinks. They had no idea how to make the simplest of drinks. Entry level stuff was foreign to them. The next thing they saw was the kitchen staff being highly disgusting. They weren't spitting in food or anything, but they were touching uncooked meat with bare hands, then touching other stuff. There was cross contamination everywhere. Then, they both saw how long ticket times were. The two experts ordered a medium temperature steak and a medium rare burger, and it took over 45 minutes for both to come out. That should have been 15 minutes tops. The food was also a total mess. The burger was well done, the steak was undercooked and the nachos were gross. The whole bar was a mess. At one point, one of the bartenders got so upset at the drink orders from the experts, she quit. The owner that was in the car with Taffer rushed to try and stop her, but to no avail. To quit a job because of this is ridiculous.

Finally, after all the nonsense, Taffer came in and laid down the law. He crushed the bartenders and the owners. He slammed the kitchen staff for their poor work and the uncleanliness of the kitchen, it was disgusting. He also attacked the former owner and said he agreed with the new owners that he may be sabotaging them. It was classic Taffer stuff.

When they finally cleaned everything up and got ready fro stress test, this was another time I saw a first for me on "Bar Rescue". The stress test was going as usual, terrible, and one of the new owners shut down the bar before Taffer could. She told everyone that they were done for the night, and that the bar was closed. Taffer was shocked, as was I.

The next day Taffer talked about how that had never happened before, and that it showed weakness. This kind of woke up both the new owners. They now seemed on board with Taffer and his plans. They even amicably parted ways with the former owner. It was nice to see that for a change. No one was forced to fire anyone, they both mutually agreed that it would be for the best.

We then got the big reveal of the new bar. The name was changed from "Schaeffer's" to "R.Lee's". I don't get the name, but it had something to do with the names of the new owners. Whatever. Everyone seemed to like all the changes, but one of the owners was not happy. She wanted to keep the sports bar esthetic, but Taffer went a different way. She was visible upset at what Taffer and crew had done. She let it be known that she was upset as well. Taffer left after this, thinking all was good. The bar, during reopen, seemed to be doing well, and they looked like they could be profitable.

When they went to do the 6 week checkup, we came to find out that they changed the name back to "Schaeffer's", and the new owners refused to talk on camera. They even tried to get the old owner back because they didn't seem to think they could handle doing all the work by themselves. The old owner did the right thing and refused to come back, and we may never know what happened at "Schaeffer's". These people thought they wanted change, but they just clearly wanted to be on TV.

This was a waste of Taffer, his experts and Spike TV's time. I do not like when bar owners do this type of stuff. It is tacky and pointless. I do not know when the next episode is on, but I know that I will be here to review it for you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He hates restaurant name changes, like St. Louis Bread Company being called Panera. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of generous donors. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches the "Eric Andre Show" Season 4 Episode 9

This past Friday, "The Eric Andre Show" was as great, and as weird, as ever. The show started the same. Andre ransacked the stage. He did his usual destruction of the set. He crushed his drummer and his drummers kit. He absolutely destroyed his desk. He, at one point, was in a fight with a kung fu master, and when he went to hit the kung fu guy, it turned out that he was in a hall of mirrors, a la "Enter the Dragon". Andre loves doing this destruction, and I love to watch it as well.

Hannibal Buress didn't have any fancy entrance this time around, he just walked to stage and sat down. When they were both sitting, Andre asked Buress what to do next, and Buress told him to do the monologue. Andre walked up to the microphone, but when he started to speak, he started to see visions, some weird music played, and Andre fell into a black hole. It was bizarre. When he finally came to, Andre was freaking out, yelling nonsense and looked terrified. When the camera panned over to Buress, he stated, "knock it off with this Burning Man shit!", and the screen cut to the freeze frame "we'll be right back".

They then cut to a pre taped segment featuring the Ranch Dude. Andre's outfit was ridiculous. He had on a Madonna cone bra, a Dr. Seuss hat, some big boots, wild sunglasses and a bikini bottom that looked like a beaver. The back of the bikini was not keeping anything secret. Andre was fully exposed from behind, as usual. The Ranch dude then went on to ask people if they wanted a hit off his ranch bong, he played a fake double guitar and claimed some random guy on the street as his dad. He continued to walk around downtown New York saying completely random things to random strangers. This bit is always funny.

The next part of the show had their first guest. Haley Joel Osment. He came out on stage and looked immediately put off. I don't know if the people that come on realize that this is all a joke, Flavor Flav, I'm taking to you, but Andre is trying to make people uncomfortable. Osment was definitely uncomfortable. Andre was saying random things about how there are no rules on his show. He ripped a piece of paper with the word rules on it, he threw that same piece of paper through a fake window, he then broke a piece of glass with the word rules on it. He did it all. Osment jumped when Andre broke the glass. Then, Andre said they were cutting to a clip from Osment's new movie, but it was a clip of a cow giving birth. Osment was totally put off. Both Andre and Buress made fun of Shamalayn movies. It was a great Eric Andre interview.

Once Osment left the stage, there was another pre taped skit that had Andre walking around a park, dressed like a park ranger. He also had a massive head wound. He was stumbling around telling people that he needed to give a speech, but first, he had to find his falcon. People were legitimately trying to help him, so Andre tried to make them uncomfortable, as he is want to do. He started to tell people that he was a Subway spokesman, and he wanted them to make the bread out of used yoga mats. He kept saying namaste to everyone. At one point, he also peed fake blood. This turned people off right away.

After the park ranger bit, we got our next guest, Dennis Rodman. Man oh man, Dennis Rodman is in tough shape. He was immediately sweating when he got on stage. His words were unintelligible. He kept patting away makeup because of the sweat. He kept deflecting questions about his friendship with Kim Jong Un. At one point, Andre started to have a "dance contest", and instead of getting involved, Rodman started to beat box on the table and egg on Andre. Andre kept going while Buress stood still. Rodman was completely incoherent and either drunk, stoned or both. He looks really, really bad. Near the end of the "dance contest", Buress finally started to dance vigorously. This led to another freeze frame "we'll be right back" screen.

This led us to our final pre taped sketch, and I swear it made me feel like I was on drugs. Andre was dressed like an octopus, but the 8 arms were filled with 8 little people. Andre had some weird voice, and the little people kept talking over him when they entered a fancy restaurant. It was loud, trippy, weird and bizarre. The restaurants patrons were terrified. Andre and crew got kicked out pretty quick. This was the weirdest bit I have ever seen on the show.

When they went back to the set, their final guest was David Alan Thicke. It was Alan Thicke and David Alan Grier dressed in an oversized shirt and singing some nonsense song. Andre and Buress were, at first, looking at this like it was stupid, but they quickly got into it. The end of the show was like an "SNL" ending with rolling credits and everyone smiling and hanging on stage.

This was a very odd, but still, very funny episode. Come back next week for the next review.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is friends with a Kim, and a Jong, but no Un. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of generous donors. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Russell City Bar and Grill Edition

This past Sunday, Jon Taffer and crew visited the bar "Russell City Bar and Grill", with plans to rescue it. Right off the bat, you could see the problems.

The episode started out with the bartending staff and the owner yelling over one another and arguing about nonsense. We come to find out that none of the employees respect the owner. They walk all over him. They drink behind the bar. They try and make fights happen on a regular basis. They fight with each other in front of the customers. The staff is a mess. It doesn't help that the owner is, as I have said, a total pushover. He seems like a meek man, and he definitely lets his staff tell him what to do. To make matters worse, he seems to check out at times. He lets the crazies run the asylum basically.

The owner has a friend of his, "Church" that he hangs out with at the bar every night. The two are old friends, and Church is there every night. Church gives nothing to the bar, except frustration. He walks behind the bar and pours his own drinks. He takes money when he wants. He yells at the bartenders. And, in this episode, he started a fistfight with one of the bartenders, and it was violent. The bartender asked him nicely, twice, to leave from behind the bar, but Church ignored him. After a third time, the bartender, who was totally in the right in my opinion, started to throw punches. Church refused to listen, and he acted as if he was an owner. The bartender beat the hell out of him, and I loved it.

Once the fight was finally broken up, Taffer and crew walked in to assess all the damage. This was a shit show from the start. First off, the bartender that beat up Church quit, and walked out on the spot. He just vanished. Then, instead of telling Church to leave, the owner blamed his bartenders for the bad behavior. Taffer was completely baffled. He could not believe what was happening.

The next day, the experts came in to try and train the people, after a long night of cleaning. The bar and the kitchen were an absolute mess. the bar top looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, and the kitchen was ten times worse. There were grease traps filled everywhere. The kitchen was an absolute fire hazard.

So, after they cleaned, the experts came in to do work. The mixologist trained the current staff on some simple drinks for stress test. The chef expert changed the menu to some easier, more cost effective menu items. During stress test, it was a nightmare. Food and drinks were being made okay, but they were going to the wrong people, they were late and they were bad. The main problem was the owner. The bartenders actually did a very good job of trying to keep up. They were making drinks as fast and as well as they could. The kitchen staff was even stepping up, but the food was not going to the correct place, or if it was delivered to the right place, it was late and cold. This all fell on the owner, as he was the runner that night. Instead of owning up to his mistakes, he blamed his staff and told them that they were "making him look bad". This guy was a piece of work. Ranging from not kicking Church out of his bar, falling asleep during training, asking his parents for more money even though he was almost 300,000 dollars in debt, basically everything he did, it blew up in his face. But, he took no ownership.

When Taffer and the experts laid into him, he actually seemed to start to figure it out. He took accountability. He professed to paying his parents back and to be stronger as an owner. He legitimately made a 180 on his personality. It was astounding.

As Taffer and crew were fixing up the bar, we got the first ever cut away to a black screen with writing that I have ever seen. The owner and his crew were talking about the new changes, and the owner said that they were going to be splitting tips from now on. This is pretty customary stuff at any type of service industry job. But, the staff freaked out on him. They yelled and called him names. They were furious. The owner pushed back, but he was totally valid. He explained how much better this would be, and he was right. But, the whole crew, except the kitchen staff and one bartender, quit on him one day before reopen. He hired a new staff, and it was for the best. The new staff worked very hard at relaunch, and they seemed to be much more even keeled. I didn't think that they would save the bar, but they pulled it off at the last minute.

Taffer changed the name to "Fogline", another dumb name, and gave them a bunch of new POS systems, all typical "Bar Rescue" stuff. After the new bar opened, sales were up and things seemed on the up and up. This was a crazy episode filled with yelling from everyone, except for Taffer. Taffer actually kept his cool, shockingly.

Come back next week for the next review, and watch "Bar Rescue", it's been so great this season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His advice on saving a bar is do not open the bar to begin with. We have enough crappy ones already. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of generous donors. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches the "Eric Andre Show" Season 4 Episode 8

Man oh man, what a weird, wild and hilarious episode of "The Eric Andre Show" this past Friday. This episode was full on crazy, in a good way. I loved how absolutely nuts the whole thing was.

The show opened as usual. Andre destroyed the set. He beat up the drummer and his kit. Some weird stuff happened between Andre and the "Hannibal 9000" robot. Instead of breaking the metal shelf this time, Andre used it as a jumping off point and crushed his desk. It was the usual insanity that I have grown to enjoy with every open. After all this, Hannibal Buress was introduced, and he showed up on stage on a "magic carpet". It looked pretty ragged, and there were a few times that I thought Buress was going to fall off. After Buress took his seat, Andre said something to him, it was so quiet, I couldn't understand, and he approached the microphone to do his monologue. Once again, instead of a traditional monologue, Andre berated Buress. He was saying mean and hurtful stuff to try and get under Buress' skin. Throughout the whole monologue, Buress said nothing. This made Andre angry, so he pushed even further. Buress finally responded, but he was saying inspirational stuff, and he said he wouldn't let Andre take him down. Then, at the very end of the monologue, after being so upbeat, Buress finally stooped to Andre's level, and insulted him right back. We then got the freeze frame, "we'll be right back" screen.

Next, they jumped to a pre taped segment, introducing the character that wants to be the Sprite spokesman. This bit started out with a focus group debating the Android and iPhone, then all of the sudden, Andre crashed through the roof, with a parachute that didn't fully work. He got up and started to stumble around, asking everyone if this was the Sprite building. This bit is bizarre, but also hilarious. The people in the focus group were terrified, and then they were pushed to anger. One guy was psychically trying to remove Andre from the room. The whole time, Andre just kept saying that he just wants to be the spokesman for Sprite. Then, at the very end, his head popped off, and a bunch of Sprite was shooting from his neck.

Cut to the main stage and they introduced their first guest, Chris Jericho. Jericho literally said 4 words before this interview went off the rails. He walked to his seat, heard the fake audience, and spoke his 4 words, "where is the audience?". Then, Andre went into the interview, and asked his first question. The question was just Andre screaming in the air. He was saying nothing. During this, Buress was eating a sandwich, very sloppily, and making weird noises the whole time, and Jericho looked legitimately confused. He stood up, and walked off the set. That was the shortest, and most bizarre interview I have ever seen on the show.

They cut to another pre taped segment called "Judge Eric" after that. Andre was dressed like a judge, and he walked into a sandwich shop and ordered a sandwich, but used judge terms while ordering. He also had a gavel with him. After finishing his order, Andre started to smash the glass in the shop with his gavel. The patrons were all freaked out by this, and a police officer showed up. But, the police officer was an actor friend of Andre's, and while he was bringing order back to the shop, he pulled out his "member". This freaked out the patrons more than before. Instead of being worried himself, Andre walked out with the "police officer", and said that he ruled that he did not want the sandwich anymore. The look of horror on the other people's faces as they walked out was priceless.

We then got out next guest, Roy Hibbert. Hibbert is an NBA player, and Andre asked him some nonsense questions about being a basketball player. Hibbert tried to answer, but was immediately thrown off when Andre stripped fully nude. Hibbert told him that he wouldn't answer anymore questions until he put clothes on, but Andre wouldn't listen. He kept pushing and pushing, and Buress was doing some virtual reality stuff, and the "Hannibal 9000" even showed up for a minute. Hibbert grabbed a bat and was using it to shoo away Andre. Hibbert was as freaked out as Jericho was earlier. Needless to say, he walked, more so ran, off the stage.

After this interview, they cut to a new segment that had Andre walking around downtown New York, holding a mattress with the words "BED BUGS!" written in permanent marker on it. He kept asking people if they would take the matress from him, and basically throwing it at random strangers on the subway or in the streets. I loved this.

We got our last guest after this bit. The final guest was Flavor Flav. This may be a first, but Flav was more bizarre and less coherent than Andre has ever been on the show. He was talking all nonsense. He was making no sense. So, Andre decided to strip nude again, and Flav became enraged by this. He told everyone on set that he was going to beat them up. He kept running away from Andre. At one point, they cut to Buress kicking a doll version of Flav in the face.

After all this insanity, we got to the final segment, and instead of having a guest, Flavor Flav and a guy dressed in a green screen, skin tight suit having a dance off. This, again all from Flav, was so weird. Flav was dancing and moving around, as was the other person, but it was so bizarre.

This episode was incredibly nuts, but one of the best of the show that I have ever seen. It was bizarre and weird and disgusting and hilarious in all the right ways. This was excellent. Go watch Flavor Flav because he has clearly lost his mind, and it was very prevelent during this most recent episode of "The Eric Andre Show". Man, what a great episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Before he lost a lot of weight, Ty would go to the supermarket in a skin tight green suit. Being thin does not make it quite as funny. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of generous donors. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Ynot Edition

"Bar Rescue" had another great episode this past Sunday. This whole season has been pretty great,  but this episode was really good and really weird.

This time around Taffer and crew traveled to a bar called "Ynot" in Everett, Washington. This bar, like all the other bars on this show, was thriving when they first opened, but now, they have fallen on hard times. The bartenders drink on the job, they give out free drinks and they don't listen to management. The kitchen staff is defiant and makes terrible, old food. The inside of the bar is falling apart and it's dirty. The kitchen walk in, instead of having an air tight door, they have a sloppily put together front door of a house door for the walk in freezer. That doesn't keep anything cold enough, so they have to throw out a lot of food.

The biggest problem though, the "Ynot" bar is located directly across the street from a 10,000 seat arena, and they still can't get any regular business. The owners, a boyfriend and girlfriend, were running this bar into the ground. Oh, and before I forget, this bar's biggest "attraction", was goldfish races. It was as stupid as it sounds.

When Taffer and crew come to do recon, they are not happy with what they see, obviously. The first thing they see is the goldfish races. This makes Taffer irate. He cannot stop saying how stupid and pointless this whole thing was, and I couldn't have agreed more with him. The patrons grew weary of the races very quick, and the other patrons that were not doing the goldfish races, they could have cared less. No one was paying attention, except for the boyfriend that was co owner. He was way too invested in these stupid goldfish races.

Then, Taffer sends in his recon spies. It was a group of about 8 people, that were going to a show at the arena in 40 minutes, so Taffer had them order multiple shots and food, so he could see how long everything took. The shots came out quick. Shots are easy to pour. But, the spies did not like the shots. They complained that the liquor did not taste good. But, the food took forever. And it wasn't like they ordered high end food, it was bar fare. They ordered pulled pork nachos, tater tots, basically, your typical bar food. The fact that this food took this long to come out is a problem.

As soon as the staff finished, the spies had to go because the show was about to start. They walked when the staff was bringing out all the food. After this, Taffer and his "experts" entered the bar and told the waitress that they would take all the food that was just ordered. The whole time all this was going on, the boyfriend owner was obsessing over the goldfish races, and the girlfriend owner was outside smoking cigarette after cigarette. They had no interest in running this bar. Anyway, Taffer and the "experts" tried all this food, and, surprise, surprise, the food was terrible. The tater tots were cold. The French dip was gross. The other food just didn't taste right, or it was way too greasy. But, the topping on the crap cake was the nachos. They were so poorly made and so cold, that Taffer picked up a huge pile of them, held it from the top, and it stood still like a concrete. It was so, so gross. Taffer even held it up to the wall and said they should use it as décor. The owners were embarrassed, as they should be.  

Taffer and crew walked through the bar, realized how gross and disgusting it was, he told the owners that if the place wasn't clean by morning, he would not rescue the bar. The staff worked all night, and I have to say, they did a great job of cleaning that bar. So, Taffer and his "experts" chose to stay. This time around, instead of forcing the owners to fire the employees stealing from the bar, the female owner straight up fired 2 employees without batting an eyelash. The other bartender quit, so they were sans bartenders. This posed a problem, but they were able to hire 3 new bartenders. Instead of doing a stress test, they did a bartender audition. I like when they do this. We get to see how good the new bartenders really are. Some were experienced, others not, but, for the most part, all 3 new bartenders tried very hard. At the end of the night Taffer asked the owners which bartenders they wanted to keep, and they kept all 3. That made me happy.

After the audition, the new crew got trained, and Taffer's staff did their whole renovation. When they reopened the bar, Taffer renamed it "Forbidden Bar and Grill". I hated this name. "Ynot" wasn't a good name, but "Forbidden" was a horrendous name change. Taffer's crew also changed the whole inside aesthetic to an Asian theme. This also made no sense. The new menu had bahn mi sandwiches, but that was about it as far as Asian inspired stuff in this bar went. It was nonsensical, hence this episode being very bizarre.

To no one's surprise, "Forbidden" was doing great at reopen, and 6 weeks later. The 2 owners came on and thanked Taffer for everything that he did, and said that the new bar was thriving, they even had regulars now. This was a good and weird episode. It is everything that I like about "Bar Rescue". Taffer yelled, people got fired, the bar was messy and the owners were a disaster. Keep doing what you are doing "Bar Rescue", because it is working.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What does Ty watch, check it out here. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.