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

Is Netflix on UHF or VHF?

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

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

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

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

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

It was perfect.

Ty

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

Ty is pumped for "Wet Hot American Summer" series.

Does this show have horsemen too?

In 2001 a movie called "Wet Hot American Summer" was released to very little fanfare.

The movie was panned by critics and made a very small amount of money at the box office. I don't remember seeing any previews for it and I saw little to no press before it was released. It just kind of came and went and I assume most people forgot about it.  

About two years later a friend of mine told me I had to see this movie she just saw called "Wet Hot American Summer" She said it was so bizarre and hilarious, and she knew that I liked wacky, humorous movies. I remember thinking, oh yeah I've heard of that movie, I thought it was supposed to be pretty bad. She told me to give it a chance, that she was sure I'd love it.

Boy oh boy do I love that movie. It was so off the wall and different than any movie I'd seen before. It was on the same level as "Pootie Tang" for me. I knew, after watching it, why critics may have not liked it so much. Critics, for the most part, are crotchety old men that usually only like documentaries and dramas. So, a ridiculous movie like "Wet Hot", they went into giving it no chance and decided before it even started that they hated it. I couldn't disagree more. This movie is a genuine "cult classic". I have friends strictly based on them knowing lines from the movie. That's how our friendships started.

"Wet Hot American Summer" was also the first place I saw actors who I love today. I had never heard of, or at least they didn't make any lasting impressions on me until after this movie, people like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Showalter, Bradley Cooper, Margarite Mareau, Michael Ian Black, Christopher Meloni and Molly Shannon. Judah Friedlander had a small, but very memorable part in the movie. In fact, the only two actors I truly knew were David Hyde Pierce and Jeanane Garafelo. They are excellent in this movie. The pure silliness and goofiness with which this movie was acted, written and directed with could only be done by David Wain. I, for the most part, have liked all of his movies, my favorite being "Role Models".

"Wet Hot" is great for someone that likes off the wall silliness in their movies. These guys do it to perfection. This movie should be shown in film schools, to show students how to truly make comedic movies. Another hilarious thing that I love about it, the actors playing the counselors and workers at Camp Firewood are much to old to be playing the age of their characters. This was obviously done on purpose because it's hilarious. I cannot say enough good things about it, "Wet Hot" is great.

Which brings me to what I'm truly writing about today, July 31st 2015. Netflix announced months ago that they were in contact with the original writers of "Wet Hot" on possibly doing a prequel movie or series. All of the fans hoped for a series because it meant that we'd get at least four new hours of "Wet Hot". Our dreams were met when they announced that they would do 8, thirty minutes episodes on Netflix. You can stream them right now and watch all 8 in a row if you want to. The only reason I haven't watched it yet is, I have a three year old and I'm a stay at home dad. My job is to watch him, but he's about to go down for a nap and I know exactly what I will be doing for the rest of my day. It doesn't hurt that all the original cast members are back for the prequel, but they've also added some more big time names like, Jason Schwartzman, Kristen Wiig, and Jon Hamm. Most of the people involved with the movie are huge stars now, yet they wanted to come back and do this show. That should tell you how good it is going to be. The addition of some major stars show how much people adore the "Wet Hot" movie. I'm so pumped to watch and 2 pm central time can't come soon enough. As I said, all eight episodes are currently streaming on Netflix, so you can watch it right now.

In fact, I'm probably going to move nap time up to right now so I can watch. Enjoy it everybody.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing. If the show is that good, he may have to extend nap time. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty binges on "BoJack Horseman", and it was great.

These horsemen agree with Ty

I just recently finished season two of "BoJack Horseman" on Netflix, and it was an upgrade from season one.

I liked season one, but season two was better. This show is on a good path after two seasons. It's already been picked up for a third season as well. All of us who watch "BoJack Horseman" know that season one ended with BoJack(Will Arnett) getting the lead role in the upcoming "Secretariat" movie and that's where season two started. Bojack was listening to self help tapes and was trying to be a better person. He was the complete opposite of himself from the first season. He was upbeat, encouraging and ready for the next challenge, but something seemed off. He wasn't truly happy and flashbacks during the season showed that his dad left when he was young and his mom was a bad mother.

As the season moved on, BoJack returned to his old self and was a pretty miserable friend and person. Later on, he meets a female owl named Wanda Pierce(voiced by Lisa Kudrow), who's been in a very long coma, woken up and is now a high level TV executive. Everybody likes her ideas because she's so "nostalgic". Diane(Alison Brie) and Mr. Peanut Butter(Paul F Tompkins) continued their martial "bliss". I put bliss in quotes because, both of them have issues with their marriage. Mr. Peanut Butter feels like he can never make Diane happy and Diane wants to go to a war torn Cordovia to help less fortunate children. They both seem upset with each other, but they constantly are trying to make things work. Princess Carolynn(Amy Sedaris) eventually finds problems with her boyfriend, who's really a couple of kids playing dress up and acting like an adult, and they eventually call it off. Princess Carolynn also is very unhappy at the agency and she starts an agency of her own this season.

The real standout of this season was Todd(Aaron Paul). He had some of my favorite episodes of the season. The episode entitled "Yes And" was a great send up of Improv comedy. The writers treated improv like it was a cult. They even went so far as to have Todd wander around aimlessly, look into Scientology, but turn that down for Improv. I loved the way they skewered that style of comedy and I'm a big fan of improv comedy. The character of Todd kind of grew up this season and in the end, he stills winds up sleeping on BoJack's couch.

Some of the guest voices this season were pretty big named people. The first director of the "Secretariat" movie was a lady named Kelsey Jannings, voiced by an all time great alt comic, Maria Bamford. She was later replaced because she was deemed to good of a director and replaced by an old catfish named Abe voiced by Garry Marshall. John Krasinsky plays the voice of Secretariat in the flashbacks during this season. Academy Award winner Alan Arkin voices JD Salinger this season. By the way, the episodes with JD Salinger aren't flashbacks, they reveal that he's been alive for years and bring him into the world of TV gameshows. The episodes with him, there's two of them, are excellent. Ben Schwartz(Jean Ralphio on "Parks and Rec") plays a new agent that works with Princess Carolynn named Rutabega Rabitowitz. There are many other big name actors and actresses that do voices this season, but the ones I mentioned were the ones that carried over for me and the ones I remembered the most.

The final couple of episodes were very good. We see BoJack leave the movie he's making to try and reconnect with an old flame. Diane moves in with BoJack, his new girlfriend and Todd because she's too afraid to go home to Mr. Peanut Butter. BoJack eventually breaks up with Wanda and buys a boat. And Todd gets out of the "cult" that is improv comedy. The finale seemed a little too crammed with them trying to tie up a ton of loose ends. I enjoyed it, but I would've liked it more had it been an hour long instead of thirty minutes. Things are going the right way for "BoJack Horseman" and I see it getting better and better.

Season two improved upon season one, and the only way to go is up. I really like this show a lot.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He would much rather watch a cartoon horseman than a live horseman. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

"The Comedians" will enter the unfortunate world of cancelled too soon.

What the hell am I going to watch now?

With the rumors today, according to the AV Club, that FX has cancelled the show "The Comedians".

I want to take my time today to complain about networks giving up on shows way too soon. I understand that, especially in the please me now, I can't wait culture that we live in, you have to make decisions without really having any time to think. Thankfully the higher ups that made decisions on shows in the 90's and early 2000's had more time. If shows like "Seinfeld", "ER", or even "The Simpsons" premiered now a days, they might not make it to a second season. Those are three classic TV shows, and in the case of "The Simpsons", it's still on TV. "Seinfeld" was almost cancelled after it's first season, but some very smart executive said let's give it one more try. Thank goodness the people listened to him, because "Seinfeld" is one of the best shows to ever be on TV and without it, we may have never gotten "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "Veep". But, like I said, we have a please me now and immediately culture that is pretty much my generation, the millennials, fault.

A large percentage of millennials have very short attention spans and if you don't catch our attention in the first few episodes of a show, you might as well go ahead and cancel it. Unfortunately, not every show has great, ingenious writers like say a "Breaking Bad" or "Game of Thrones" has. "Game of Thrones" already had a template with all the books. It's very rare now a days that we get a show that captures the country's attention like "Breaking Bad" did. That show was perfection and will go down in history as one of the greatest shows ever. But, I digress.

Back to shows that never really got a chance. As I said before, "The Comedians" got, reportedly, cancelled. This is a bummer for me. The show did start kind of slow, but I found something funny in each episode. Josh Gad was great on this show. It was nice to see him on a raunchier type sitcom, since most people know him as the voice of Olaf in "Frozen", or have seen him in some pretty terrible movies like "The Rocker" or "The Internship". A lot of people don't know that he really hit the big time playing Elder Cunningham in Broadway's first run of the hilarious "Book of Mormon". That play is about as raunchy as it gets. Billy Crystal was pretty great on the show too. He was funny and took a lot of shots at himself. Go back and watch the episode of "The Comedians" were Josh and Billy get stoned and go grocery shopping. It's a 30 minute piece of comedy gold. The final couple of episodes of the first, and apparently only season, started to really come together and the show looked to be getting good. That was not enough for the people at FX. It's a big loss for them, since they take chances on different types of shows, and I think they should have stuck with this one for at least one more season. They could have reaped the benefits.

"Hannibal" on NBC has been cancelled after this, it's third season, ends. I have not watched this show, and my wife watched the first season, but stopped because it was too gory for her taste. But, if you read any reviews by critics or fans, this show is genius. From what I've seen online, the acting, writing, and directing is top notch. Apparently, some of the shots in this show are so beautiful, viewers don't seem to care about the gore. Netflix and Hulu have passed on making more seasons, so fans will have to be happy with three short seasons.

One of my favorite shows, "Better Off Ted" got only two seasons. The show was about a science based company manager having to deal with scientists and fellow employees. The show was very goofy and off the wall. I had never seen anything like it on TV before and that was a good thing. But, the people at ABC found it to be a bit too kooky, so they pulled it. They didn't care about my demographic watching it and that sucks, because I'm in that prime 18-49 demographic. ABC should have stuck with "Better Off Ted", because they had a brilliant show on their network. One final show I'd like to talk about is one of my all time favorite TV shows.

"Undeclared" was way before it's time and pulled off the air after only one season, just like "The Comedians". "Undeclared" was about a group of freshman at college and the show talked about everything that young college kids go through. They had episodes where one of the students dad moves in the dorm with him after he and his wife break up. They talked about pledging for a fraternity and how horrible of a process that can be. They had kids losing their virginity and the fall out that comes from losing your virginity to a girl that has a crazed boyfriend. "Undeclared" falls in the same category as "Freaks and Geeks", both created by Judd Apatow, but a lot more people know about "Freaks and Geeks", not so many have seen "Undeclared".

I guess, it just bums me out that crappy, hackneyed shows like "The Big Bang Theory" or "Glee" got many more seasons, and just churn out the same joke over and over. Nothing is new or innovative on these shows, but they're safe and the "older" viewers of TV find comfort in routine. I will keep watching new shows though. So far I've liked "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll", "Why? With Hannibal Buress" and the "Jim Gaffigan Show" and hope that the networks they're on will give them space to find their voice and keep these shows on air for two or more seasons.

Give these shows a fighting chance, don't just drop them after one season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is forever grateful that The Simpsons have discovered the antidote to weak network executives. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty finds Nick at Night and the Jim Gaffigan Show

Last night the "Jim Gaffigan Show" had it's season premiere.

The program was on Nick at Nite at 10:30/9:30pm. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the pilot episode. The show's premise is basically Jim Gaffigan's real life. He's a stand up comedian, but also a dad to five young children, has a wife that's way out of his league and they live in a 2 bed room apartment in Manhattan. The pilot episode was about vasectomies and, should Jim get one or not. The topic of vasectomies was brought up when his wife Jeanie, played very well by Ashley Williams, thought that she may be pregnant, adding to an already over crowded apartment. Turns out she wasn't pregnant and then the idea of a vasectomy was talked about, with many different people throughout the episode. We see Jim at lunch with one of his buddies Dave, played by Adam Goldberg, chatting. Dave is a single guy that lives with his mom in a nursing home that, as he points out, is only a block away from the strip club. Dave lives with no attachments or responsibilities. The exact opposite of Gaffigan. Dave tells him, better yet warns him, about the dangers of getting a vasectomy, saying that it's a terrible thing to do to your body. Later, Jeanie and Jim go looking for an apartment with Jeanie's gay ex boyfriend, played hilariously by Michael Ian Black. He of course knows that Jim is looking into the procedure because Jeanie tells him, and everyone else for that matter, their personal business. Jim eventually doesn't go through with the procedure and all's well that ends well.

This was a pretty decent pilot episode, and a little risqué for a show on Nick at Nite. It reminded me of a mash up between "Maron", "Louie" and "Seinfeld". Those are three pretty great shows to model your show after. All three of them have professional comedians as the lead actor and writers as well. That's a great idea, especially when basing a show after your own life. The "Jim Gaffigan Show" is going to be good. I just have a really good feeling about this and being on Nick at Nite is the perfect channel for the show. Gaffigan works as a clean comic and, even though I said it was risqué earlier, it's only feels that way because of the channel it's on. Any other cable channel and it would be like any other show. If you're a fan of Gaffigan, as I am, when you watch this show you'll like. As of early reviews, the critics seem to enjoy it to. In my overall opinion, this show is good, with the chance to be great.

Watch it.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. This is the first time he watched, or heard of, Nick at Night. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty says why not to Why? with Hannibal Buress

Last night was the premiere of Why? With Hannibal Buress on Comedy Central. It followed the season four premiere of the always excellent Key and Peele and I thought it was a bit clunky, but also very funny. I'm a big fan of Hannibal Buress. I love his standup and his appearances on shows like "Broad City" and the "Eric Andre Show". He's also the lone bright spot in last year's "Neighbors". So, I was predisposed to like his show. It's also about time he got his own show. The dude wrote for SNL and 30 Rock, so he's clearly got the talent for sketch and situational comedy. I'm sure a part of the reason he got a deal for a show now has to do with the whole Bill Cosby thing that he was involved with. Basically, he'd been telling a joke about Cosby being a sexual predator for months, but some fan videotaped this bit, which you're not supposed to do at his shows, and it blew up all over social media and television. But, that's not really why he got a show. He got one because he's really funny and a very good writer. The show is pretty loose, starting off with a monologue and some sketches follow. Last night during one of the sketches, Buress called out internet trolls and decided he was going to track one particular troll who's been bothering him for some time now. He arrives at the house and it turns out to be Amy Schumer, another comedian with a very successful show on Comedy Central. Obviously, this was a joke sketch and it was very funny. Schumer poked fun of herself and Buress deflected all his anger and had to calm Schumer down. It was very funny, with a great back and forth between the two comics. Schumer tells him that "Comedy Central is my network" and Buress responds with, "Viacom owns it!" Pretty good stuff. The next sketch wasn't as good, with Buress mimicking a guy on the internet who responds to police by saying,"I don't answer questions". It was your typical, I'm young and older cops don't understand me type stuff, but what saved it was Buress' commentary after the sketch was over. He seems very comfortable poking fun at himself. The sketch of the night was his Daily Show audition tape. It was a comedy of purposeful errors ranging from calling himself Jon Stewart to saying at the end that he doesn't even really want the job. Look it up, it's very funny. The show ended with the Why? With Hannibal Buress national anthem. It was okay, but went on a bit too long for my taste. Overall, it was a pretty good pilot episode. I have a lot of hope in this show and Hannibal Buress. He's a very funny man who's time in the limelight has finally come.

Good luck Mr. Buress, I think you have a very bright future ahead of yourself on TV.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  His summer television regiment is old Simpsons followed by new sketch comedy. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty takes a cromulent view of "The Simpsons".

I'm a huge fan of "The Simpsons".

I've literally learned more things from "The Simpsons" than I ever did while in school. I know what schadenfreude is, German for shameful joy because of "The Simpsons". I know more about presidents, laws, famous people, etcetera because of "The Simpsons". I know how hilariously hard it is to put together a grill just like Homer found out when he became an avant garde artist. I now know who Jonathan Franzen and Thomas Pynchon are since they've guest starred on the show. I've learned that Stephen Hawking has a great sense of humor from his appearances on the show. He let the writers have Homer call him Larry Flynt in an episode. Needless to say, "The Simpsons" is very important and played a very integral part in my life. I still look forward to every episode. Season 28 starts on September 27th, and all the people out there complaining that it's not as good as it used to be are moronic. The show is just as good as it's always been and it's just as funny and witty. Hell, I'd even say it's got more heart than it's every had. Growing up is turning Matt Groening into a softie, in a good way.

Today though, I want to talk about what I feel is the best overall season of "The Simpsons". Every season is great and they all have their iconic episodes and classic moments. But, season seven of "The Simpsons", in my opinion, is the best season of all time. You can watch any episode from season seven and there is one of those iconic and classic moments in almost every single show. Starting from the beginning, you get part two of "Who Shot Mr. Burns". A great conclusion after season six's finale of part one of "Who Shot Mr. Burns". We find out that it was Maggie who shot him by accident, although I think we all thought it was Smithers. That's not what makes the episode great, it's Lisa's sleuthing and the excellent take on "Twin Peaks" backwards talking scene. Look it up, it's awesome. That episode is followed by "Radioactive Man". One of the greatest episodes of ALL TIME. It's a great take on super hero movies and all the absurd, crazy stuff it takes to make a movie. Milhouse being cast as Fall Out Boy was so well written. All his scenes are epic. Next episode is when Flanders goes nuts after losing his house in a hurricane. This episode has one of the best lines ever written in TV. Flanders flashes back to a visit with his beat nick parents and a psychologist and Flanders mom saying, in regards to punishment,  "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas". Hilarious. Next two episodes feature Bart selling his soul to Milhouse and his crusade to get it back, and when Lisa goes vegetarian. In "Lisa the Vegetarian", we the fans get a cameo from Paul and Linda McCartney. Try to tell me this show doesn't have mass appeal. The "Treehouse of Horror" episode is next, with the billboards coming to life and terrorizing the town, their take on "Nightmare on Elm Street", with Groundskeeper Willie attacking the children in their dreams and when Homer gets sucked into another dimension and winds up on planet Earth. Three really funny installments on their "Treehouse of Horrors" episodes. After that, we get one of the greatest episodes of all time, "King Sized Homer". In this one, Homer gets to 300 pounds so he can qualify for a disability and work from home. This episode features the muumuu, Homer's montage of eating to gain weight, Bart's future dream of working at home for being overweight and Homer's size saving the town from a meltdown. This is one of the classic episodes. Next episode we get to meet Homer's mom, voiced very well by Glenn Close. After that is the episode where Sideshow Bob infiltrates the air show and plans to set off an atom bomb, but as usual, his plan is foiled. Then we get a clip show, which I usually don't like, but with Troy McClure at the helm of this one, it works really well. Then the episode where Bart steals the video game and has to earn Marge's trust back. This is one of the most heart felt, sweetest episodes of "The Simpsons" ever. Next, we have Homer's bowling team, with the excellent inclusion of Mr. Burns, much to the dismay of Homer's teammates. Another classic line in this one, 'boy Moe, that team sure did suck last night. I mean they just plain sucked. I seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. I gotta go, my damn wiener kids are listening". Brilliant. "Two Bad Neighbor" is next, with appearances from George HW Bush and Gerald Ford. Next is the episode where Marge wants to fit in with the rich people. There's a great lesson in this one, saying that it doesn't matter how much money you have, it's the happiness of your family that's important. Two episodes, one featuring Bart and one featuring Lisa are next. Bart gets a fake ID so he can rent a car and he, Milhouse, Martin and Nelson drive to the Worlds Fair in Knoxville only to find out that it hasn't been there in years in "Bart on the Road". In "Lisa the Iconoclast", we get the real story of Jebediah Springfield. We find out he was really a ruthless pirate named Hans Sprungfeld and most of his stories are false. We also got the words, embiggen and  cromulent out of this episode. In "Homer the Smithers", Smithers goes on a much needed vacation and Homer takes over his duties. Homer is so furious with Mr. Burns that he punches him out cold, which forces Mr. Burns to do things on his own. He's so independent now, that when Smithers returns, he gets fired. Smithers then starts a fight with Homer, that ultimately injures Mr. Burns again and thus, gets Smithers his job back because Mr. burns is infirm. In the next episode, we find out that someone else created Itchy and Scratchy and Krustylu Studios has to pay the man millions and they have to shut down the cartoon. It's found out later that the US mail service ripped off Krutylu, so they're able to bring back the cartoon, but unlike most episodes, Bart and Lisa didn't solve the problem, it was two different kids that just happen to look a lot like them. Next, Selma ends up marrying Troy McClure, but it's a loveless marriage and Troy McClure only did it to make a comeback. The ending has Selma walking in the night with her one true love, her lizard JubJub. In "Bart the Fink", Bart accidentally reveals that Krusty is one of the biggest tax frauds in history. Krusty loses his fame and eventually fakes his own death, but Bart and Lisa realize that he is really just living on the wharf, pretending to be a fisherman. They eventually convince him to comeback to TV because everyone misses him, but he also really misses the limelight. The next episode is one of my all time favorites, "22 Short Films About Springfield". You get all kinds of different stories from non Simpsons characters. We get a Dr. Nick, Bumblebee Man, Cletus and Chief Wiggum story, just to name a few. This is a must watch episode for all Simpsons fans. Next, we learn about Grampa Simpson's history in the Flying Hellfish episode. Apparently, he was a sergeant in the war and Mr. Burns was the bad boy in his platoon. But, all the other members of their squad have passed on and Grampa and Mr. Burns are left to get a huge payday from the art they stole when the war was over. Then, Apu lives the single life for awhile, until his mother comes to town to tell him that his arranged marriage is about to happen. He's terrified of getting married, but starts to give in when he finally meets Manjula on their wedding day. The last two episodes are classics. "Homerpalooza" is when Homer joins a Lollapalooza type freak show and gets shot in the belly with a cannon. Bands like Cypress Hill, the Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth all have cameos in this episode. Peter Frmapton too. The season seven finale is, "Summer of Four Foot Two". In this episode, the Simpsons stay at the Flanders summer house and Lisa decides she's going to totally change her attitude to make friends, since no one signs her yearbook. She makes friends with her new style, but her dorky ways are found out. She fears she will lose her new friends, but they all like Lisa for Lisa. Heartfelt to end the season. These 22 episodes, in my opinion make up the greatest season of the "Simpsons". There's not a clunker or a boring one at all. All episodes are repeatedly watchable and quotable.

If you feel different let me know in the comments, but it gets no better than season seven of "The Simpsons" in my book.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He embiggins everyone around him, especially the smallest man. Follow him @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty encourages you to join "The Meltdown"

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Tonight on Comedy Central the second season of "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail" premiers at12:30am/11:30pm central time.

Being a fan of stand up comedy, especially alt comedy, I'm very excited for this show to be back. It's a simple premise. Jonah Ray(from his podcast "Jonah Raydio") and Kumail Nanjiani(from his two podcasts, "Indoor Kids" and "The X Files Files" and the TV show "Silicon Valley") host a standup show in the basement of a comic book store. This is a great showcase for comics that aren't on the level of a Louis CK or even a Nick Swardson, both I'm a big fan of, but for comics that are contemporaries of Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani. That's not to say that pretty famous people don't appear on season one. One episode ended with Weird Al Yankovic doing a pretty awesome and hilarious music medley. Nick Offerman, you may know him as Ron Swanson from "Parks and Recreation", shows up and works on his standup. Marc Maron, the podcaster that just interview President Obama, did two sets on season one. Those are some big time names in comedy. But, while having these famous people on, this show is more for up and coming alt comics. People like Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate did their routine in season one. Neal Brennan CRUSHED during his five minute set. Garfunkel(Riki Lindholm) and Oates(Kate Micucci) did their comedy music on an episode. I'm a big fan of all these comics and this was the perfect showcase for them.

The Meltdown has been going on for a decent amount of time, but Comedy Central decided to make it a TV show last year. That was a great decision by them. Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani make a great team hosting the show. They're both great standup comics in their own right, but the two of them hosting this show as a pair is phenomenal. They have a great back and forth and their "yes anding" is top of the line. They're so funny.

Another cool thing about the show, you get to see the comics hanging out backstage. One episode last season had Doug Benson on and while he was performing, Jim Gaffigan was backstage giving Doug Benson a hard time, totally throwing him off his timing while doing his set. It was hilarious. Backstage, we get to see Nanjiani's wife, Emily V Gordon doing her thing. She basically runs the whole show. She gets the comics on stage when they're up and keeps things fun and loose backstage. She's pretty great at her job. This season has pretty great lineup from what I've seen so far. Comics like, Ron Funches, Brett Gelman, Cameron Esposito, Kurt Braunholer, the girls from "Broad City", and one of my personal favorites, Hannibal Burress. This show is really awesome and it's an excellent showcase for these comedians. Everybody needs to get on board with this show so that Comedy Central will continue to air it. I highly recommended watching it.

It's fantastic.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He practices his stand-up in the basement with his three year old. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty looks to the future of HBO with a look at two new shows

HBO premiered two new shows this past Sunday night. "Ballers" and "The Brink".

I was excited to watch both shows. "Ballers" seemed like a good idea. It is about an ex football player that becomes a financial advisor for current players. It stars Dwayne Johnson, some of you know him as The Rock, as said ex football player. The show started out okay. A flashback scene to his playing days, hitting a receiver after the catch, they both get dinged up and flash forward to present day and he's taking pain killers, literally eating them like candy, and he has pain in his joints as he exits his bed. Typical stuff to show you that football can cause future, lingering injuries. No duh, thanks for the insight writers of "Ballers". Then we see the building that Dwayne Johnson works in. He's met there by his colleague, played by the hilarious Rob Corddry. They have a decent scene together, but that's all we get in the pilot between the two stars of the show. One scene. They seem to have pretty good on screen chemistry so I hope in the future episodes they have a lot more scenes together. According to the preview of the upcoming season after the pilot episode, that seems to be the case. During the episode, there's a scene with another ex player speeding down a dangerous highway in Miami with his mistress. They get into a fight and during said fight, the guy takes his eyes off the road and gets crushed by a semi truck. Smash cut to a funeral and Dwayne Johnson talking to the widow. She explains to him that the now deceased athlete didn't save any money because he had no financial advisor. See the irony. Later on, a current football player/bad boy gets into a fight with a fan at a bar, knocks the guy out cold and gets cut the next day by his current team. He gets signed by a new team in the next few days and calls Dwayne Johnson to tell him that he needs someone to help him keep his money straight. This couldn't come at a better time for him because, right at that moment, he is unable to withdraw 200,000 dollars from his bank account. At the ATM! How can he take so much money out at one time at an ATM?! This show seems pretty ridiculous and probably won't last for more than one season unless the writers and directors put Rob Corddry in more scenes with Dwayne Johnson. That's about the only thing that worked for me in the pilot. I will continue to watch since it's only been one episode, but "Ballers" is on pretty thin ice.

"The Brink" on the other hand, I enjoyed. The show takes place between a Washington D.C. war room, with Tim Robbins playing one of the President's right hand men in matters related to war, and in Pakistan where Jack Black plays a lower level US Ambassador that has a driver played by Aasif Mandvi. Mandvi is excellent in his role. Tim Robbins character is a sex crazed booze hound, but he's also extremely intelligent in all matters involving when to strike and when not to in war situations. He's playing the role with gusto. Jack Black is playing his typical buffoon. He is a little stupid, but a little smart and he likes to ogle women and get stoned. It's basically Jack Black playing a clean shaved Jack Black. He's still pretty funny because he's a good actor. But, the real star of the show is Mandvi. Like I said earlier, he's a glorified taxi driver for Jack Black, but in one scene we get to see his home and his family. This was great. He lives in a beautiful home, equipped with a pool and many comfortable rooms. His dad is a distinguished doctor and his uncle, that lives with them, is a well respected psychiatrist. He also has a smoking hot sister that, of course, Jack Black wants to hook up with. The topic of war is brought up during unrest in Pakistan over a political vote gone bad. There's a evil dictator type person that wants to get people on his side and the militants are more than willing to help. Jack Black finds out that the uncle has worked with this dictator and declared him clinically insane. Black feels that this info will get him on the good side of the president and they will relocate him to Paris. Mandvi's family catches him trying to fax this stuff over and end communication immediately believing that he works for the CIA and housing a CIA agent will get them in worlds of trouble. Back in DC, Robbins is trying to convince the president to wait on sending missiles because he doesn't want to start World War Three. I know this all sounds serious and dramatic, but it's quite the opposite. The pilot was very funny and doesn't take it's source material too seriously, in a good way. I hope the rest of the episodes follow the same direction as the pilot. That would be great.

Of the two new shows that premiered this week, I have more hope for "The Brink" than I do for "Ballers". Time will tell.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He is shocked the political show is more interesting than the sports show (so far). Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Goodbye Reggie Watts, this fan of Comedy! Bang! Bang! will miss you

Last night marked the end of the Reggie Watts era on The Comedy Bang! Bang! TV show.

They gave him a pretty fitting send off. The episode opened with an aged Scott Aukerman giving an interview in the future about his old best friend Reggie Watts. Flash back to present time and the show started like it always does, with the theme song, intros and the guest coming to the couch. Judd Apatow was the guest last night, but he was only in the first five minutes of the episode. I appreciated this because this episode needed to be about Reggie and Scott's friendship and what it's like for a close friend to leave for higher profile job(Reggie Watts is the band leader for the new Late Late Show with James Corden).

Throughout the time Apatow was being interviewed, many jokes were made about how great a comedy team Scott and Reggie are and how it's great that they will always work together. During the interview though, US Army soldiers raid the stage and say they were sent to capture Reggie Watts because he's an alien and his race was coming to destroy Earth. I felt this was a good way to send him off. It wasn't sad or corny, it was a typical CBB bit. Reggie's alien race, made up of three different versions of himself, proceed on Earth, but Reggie and Scott come up with a plan to film a video saying that Earth was covered with water and this is very poisonous to their race. The video worked and the aliens retreated. Everyone was very happy and you thought that things would go on as normal.

Oh the contrary my friend. The Army was still planning on capturing Reggie and taking him away. Scott refused to let them do this, saying that they'd have to kill him if they wanted Reggie. Well, the lieutenant said okay and fired at Scott. Reggie stepped in front of the bullet and was hit in the chest and yellow goo oozed out of him. Seeing that they had taken care of Reggie, the army felt they did their job and left Scott to grieve over his friend. After the soldiers were gone, it was revealed that Reggie was okay, stating that bullets are like Viagra to his race. Seeing that his friend was alive Scott was relieved and thought the show would go on as it always had, with Reggie as his band leader.  Reggie pointed out that when the Army found out he was still alive they'd come back for him and he didn't want to put anyone in harms way. Scott asked him what he would do and Reggie said he would roam the Earth like a nomad. Scott and Reggie hug, say their good byes and Reggie walked out the stage door. Flash forward, back to old Scott Aukerman and he's doing a crossword puzzle and the clue is, someone who misses and loves his friend Scott dearly and they pan to a picture in the paper and it's an aged photo of Reggie Watts, the crossword puzzle author(a call back to a joke earlier in the episode). This was a great way to say good bye to a guy who's been with the show since its infancy. Very goofy and silly. Exactly what you'd expect from CBB. Reggie Watts wrote the theme song for the podcast, he wrote and performed most of the songs that are used for games and segments in the show and podcast. He did pretty much all the music stuff for Comedy Bang! Bang! He was an integral part. Kid Cudi will be the new band leader when the show comes back on July 9th and while I enjoy his music, he's no Reggie Watts. It will be interesting to see if Kid Cudi has the comedic chops Reggie Watts has.

You will be missed Mr Watts, but you are on to bigger and better things. And for all the alternative comedy fans out there, I'm sure he will still show up from time to time, so he's not really going away, he just got a new opportunity.

Good for him.
 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He thinks one day people will leave network late night shows to join Comedy Bang Bang as a better opportunity.  Give him a twitter follow @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty has a few issues with critics proclaiming the Mad Men finale as great television

If you have not seen the Mad Men series finale DO NOT READ(come back when you are ready). This review is full of episode spoilers

Last night was the much anticipated series finale of Mad Men and in my opinion, it fell completely flat. Lots of spoilers coming, so beware. 

This particular episode of Mad Men was like any other episode in the series, not a finale. Most of the episode took place in a hippie commune where the people there all talked about their feelings, it was very boring. There was also the three phone calls that Don Draper(Jon Hamm) made to the three important ladies in his life, Peggy Olsen(Elisabeth Moss), his daughter Sally(Kiernan Shipka) and his ex wife Betty(January Jones). This was interesting, but it came and went. I felt like you got little to no closure with these calls and then it was done. Then back to the boring hippie commune. There was also Joan's(Christina Hendricks) closing story. Very fast and very unexplained. First, she took the buyout from the new company, goes on vacation with her much older boyfriend(Bruce Greenwood), does cocaine for some unknown reason and then starts her own production company. Very unfulfilling. Then Peggy and Stan(Jay R Ferguson) fall in love with each other very predictably. Pretty lame. Pete(Vincent Kartheiser) and Trudy(Alison Brie) got back together and he took the job that Duck(Mark Moses) offered him in the previous episode. Who cares. Roger Sterling(John Slattery) and Marie(Julia Ormond) stay together and presumably get married and live happily ever after, because now Mad Men is apparently a romance show and not a hard drama. And poor Betty, smoking a cigarette just waiting for the lung cancer to kill her. I felt the worst for her, in fact she was the only one who I felt any feelings for in the finale. But the icing on the crap cake that was this finale was the final shot of Don Draper sitting in the hippie commune meditating, close up on his face and then pull back to the show the famous "If I Bought the World a Coke" commercial. Of course Matthew Weiner decided to give Don a happy ending because what does every drunk, wife and girlfriend cheating, workaholic a hole deserve? Apparently a happy ending. The fact that Matthew Weiner said, prior to the finale, that he doesn't owe anyone anything was very apparent watching the finale. He only cared to stroke his own ego and say look how smart I am and how dumb all of you are who don't get it. He's an a hole as well. 

Reading the reviews the day after made me even more angry. Publications like the AV Club and Uproxx saying how genius it was, come on, you didn't get it either, you just want to sound like a pompous intellect and spoiler alert, it's not working. You sound like a bunch of wannabes. This was an emphatic thud of a finale and real fans of the show deserved better.

Let's just say, Matthew Weiner owed us more.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He enjoys good television, and does not enjoy indulgent series finales.