"Curb Your Enthusiasm" is the TV GOAT

Last night my wife and I watched the season 11 premiere of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

It was great. It was funny, I like how they approached COVID, there is a great storyline involving Albert Brooks, another one with Lucy Liu and a great bit about COVID hoarding. It is like a warm mug of hot chocolate on a cold night. The show is reliable and comforting. And I’m not here to review the premiere today. I just said it was great. What I do want to talk about today, a thought I had while having coffee with my mom and dad this morning, “Curb” is the most reliably great show on TV.

Hear my out. The show took a few years off between seasons, yet watching the premiere last night, it was like it never left. It was just as good as it always had been. There is not one episode or moment of this show that I think is bad. Everything is good too great. Everything works. Larry David is the GOAT of tv writers and actors. I don’t know why it took so long for me to realize this, it it’s true. There are shows I love, shows I adore, but most, if not all, have clunkers. “The Simpsons” is my favorite show of all time, but the early “Treehouse of Horrors” episodes are easy for me to skip. They’re not as silly as the more modern ones. They tried to make them kind of scary in fact. I would be fine if I never saw them again. “Breaking Bad” was the first show I binged, and it was great. But, and I do appreciate the message of the episode, the one where Bryan Cranston is obsessed with killing a fly in the meth lab was kind of dull. I thought it was fine, but it isn’t something I’ll revisit. “The Wire” is the best show ever in my opinion, but like many other people, most of season two is a drag to get through. We don’t get much of the main characters we grew to love in the first season. They show up here and there, but not enough for me. “Lost” kept my attention, but the episode about Jack’s tattoos is stupid. It’s a legit waste of time. “The Office” rules, but seasons seven, eight and nine stink. As soon as Steve Carrell left the show went down the tubes. “Parks and Rec” was the opposite “Office”. The first two seasons are easy to skip. I could go on and on. But when I look at “Curb” there is no season or episode that I want to skip. Everything works. The show is perfect. There are no clunkers. There’s no bad seasons. When Cheryl and Larry split, that could’ve been an undoing, but they nailed the transition. When Leon moves in with him it took the show up a few notches. Whenever Ted Danson is on it’s hilarious. Everything with Richard Lewis is glorious. The early seasons are as good as the recent seasons. The way they write this show, and let these comedic geniuses improvise, it makes the show never stale. It’s always fresh. It’s always funny. They can take a guy like Vince Vaughn and turn him into a character actor. They get Jon Hamm to play a heightened version of himself. Jeff Garlin and Susie Essman are always great.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is quite simply the most reliable show on tv. I don’t even think it’s arguable. I’m pumped it’s back on, and I already know this season will be great, just like the first ten seasons. What a triumphant show.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Champaign ILL"

A few years back I heard about a show that David Caspe and his crew were producing for YouTube. I read that it would star Adam Pally and Sam Richardson. I heard that it was going to be about a rapper and his entourage. I read that it was going to be very comical, but have some dark moments. All of these things checked my boxes for what I look for in a TV show. Well, except the YouTube part. It was going to be a YouTube exclusive, but you had to pay for the content. I really like YouTube. I use it a lot, especially during the pandemic, to watch concert footage, trailers for movies, music videos, a ton of stuff, all of which is free. I already pay for enough streaming services, I do not know how to get the material other ways and it seemed unnecessary for me to start paying for YouTube as well. My loss.

Fortunately the show was just released on Hulu, a streaming service I pay for, and I was able to watch it. The show is called "Champaign Ill". And it is everything I read about. The show follows Ronnie, Pally, and Alf Richardson. They are lifelong friends with a rapper who goes by ILL Lou the Sickest, played by Jay Pharoah. It is revealed pretty early on that Ronnie and Alf are a couple of free loaders. They do not know how to do much for themselves, they rely on Lou for everything and they are far too comfortable with the lives they currently have. Then, and this is not a spoiler because it happens in the first episode, Lou suddenly dies. He falls off a staircase filming a music video and hits his head. This shocks Ronnie and Alf, just like it did me when I watched.

This is where the show picks up steam. From here on out we go on to see how Ronnie and Alf have to adjust to life without Lou, and how they adjust to living back home in Champaign. They have all kinds of problems that they do not know how to fix. Alf wants his high school girlfriend back, but she is pregnant and hates him. Ronnie cannot figure out how to get back in the working world, even though he was heading to an Ivy league school before deciding to be part of Lou's crew. Alf has to move back in with his dad, and ever since his mom left him his dad has gotten very overweight and does not take good care of himself. Ronnie moves back home with his folks as well, but the parents are having problems, his sister is running a solid business, but she is still in his shadow and it drives her nuts. Needless to say, they are both finding their new surroundings to not be as nice. And when they find out they have no money in Lou's will for them, they really lose it. They try to start a business, but that never works. They try to write a song, they cannot do that. They try to get an apartment and they get into some serious credit card debt. But the thing that bugs them most is no one in their hometown seems to really care or be interested in their life from when they lived off Lou's coattails.

The series is all around great. It is one season that is ten episodes long. I finished it in about three days. I liked it that much. There is one episode where Ronnie and Alf have a very accusatory conversation in their apartment and it is like one long scene. The direction of this one episode has stuck with me for so long. It was super cool. My hats goes off to everyone involved with this show. It could have been cliche and corny, but they pulled it off. It is hilarious. It is dark. It deals with some heavy stuff. And it made me think how I would have acted had I been in a similar situation.

I really enjoyed this show, and now that it is on Hulu, I definitely recommend checking it out. It is well worth your time.

Ty

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

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Even "Squid Game" is not Immune to Internet Idiots

I want to leave with one more thought on “Squid Game”. This won’t be the last time I bring it up, but it will be the last for a few months. I’ve given the show it’s well deserved praise. Be it the show, set design or music, it’s all an absolute home run. It’s one of the best shows ever. That much most of us can agree is true. So what do I have to say about it today?

The one thing that has me irked, that has annoyed me is the hate coming from people online about people who watch the show dubbed in English. That really bothers me that people are going after people who watch the show dubbed. I’ve seen it all. People have called others dumb, lazy, ignorant, all kinds of mean names just because they chose to watch a show differently than them. I have seen the first season twice now. I watched it the first time through with a mixture of subtitles and dubbed. And when my wife decided she wanted to see it we watched it with the English dub. And I’ve got to tell you all, there is not much of a noticeable difference. The show was just as dramatic. I was still on the edge of my seat. I was fully engaged in what I was watching no matter my method of watching. Be it subtitles or dubbed, I came away loving the show all the same.

I think it bums me out that people will find any excuse to be angry on the internet. I’ve been trying to be more positive on my blog posts this year. I’m staying away from things that trigger my anger. If I don’t like a movie or tv show or new music I just choose to not write about it. I feel much better as of late too. Not having something to gripe about has made me feel much better. I enjoy things much more now. I’m not watching or listening to something and trying to find a problem with it. I turn off my phone when I watch a show. When I listen to music I let myself hear it a few times before making my own personal judgement. And I usually keep that to myself unless I want people to check out something I think they might like. “Squid Game” is a very, very good tv show. The actors did a great job. The writers had a great idea. The direction is impeccable. And watching it dubbed did not take any of that away for me. Stop being so angry online. Stop judging people for how they watch tv. Judge people who won’t get vaxxed. Judge people who are mean to others for no reason. Judge people who have hate in their heart. But don’t get all high and mighty because you watched a tv show with subtitles. Hell, if you want to keep it really real, people in South Korea should be judging all of us for not watching in their native language. Just be cooler about things. Think before you go on the internet to judge. Just because you do something different from someone else that doesn’t make you better.

The lesson today? Let’s all just try to be cooler to one another. And finally, watch “Squid Game” any way you please. It works on every level.

Ty

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

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"Squid Game" is Tops in the Music Department

I have now watched "Squid Game" twice. And I still love it as much as I did the first time. It is truly one of the best shows to come out in quite some time. A few weeks back I wrote about the set design, namely the humongous piggy bank. That is still firmly in my head each and every time I think or talk about the show. Today I want to talk about the music.

Recently I have been listening to the music from the show on Spotify, and today it hit me as hard as the piggy bank did. The music from the show is all instrumental, so much like my review of "The Green Knight", it may not be for everyone. But I love it. I was listening to it when I took my kids to school today, no worries, they do not talk about what happens on the show at all, and even they were into it. We have been listening to it in the house at night time as a wind down. But this morning, after the kids left and I really got to take it in, the music just adds a whole other layer to this great show. The music cues made me think back to some of my favorite, and not so favorite moments from the first season. When they play the song that plays over the opening credits on the first episode, and then that song keeps reappearing throughout the season, I had so many visions of the show pop back into my head. I thought about the young kids playing squid game for fun. Then I thought about the hell they go through when they are in the warehouse. When the song "I Remember My Name" plays I was instantly taken back to the episode "Gnnabu", better known as "Marbles" to most now, and it wrecked me yet again. When they played the song that plays during "Dalgona" I was instantly nervous and anxious and thinking about what I would do during that game. They have a song when the soldiers are introduced and it builds to this amazing crescendo that had me totally remembering their introduction. The song that plays near the end of the season finale, no spoilers coming I promise, I got fired up like I used to when coaches would be riling us up before any football, baseball or basketball games. The music was giving me visceral reactions. I was feeling feelings that I had during the show, but it was also bringing up new feelings. To me that is the sign of great music, well made music. When you get a real reaction, that means it played a part. Another example is the song that plays when they show all the contestants the money in the piggy bank after playing red light green light. When the piggy bank keeps adding more and more money there is this almost video game like music playing. It made me feel like I was playing a game on my Nintendo when I was a kid.

Also the instruments they use are truly awesome. There are typical classical instruments being played, like pretty much any stringed instrument. But they also have guitars and keyboards and drums and synthesizers. It is updated classical music.

I have not listened to an instrumental album, outside of anything Ratatat does, since I listened to the "Jurassic Park" soundtrack as a kid. The "Squid Game" soundtrack has changed that, and it is better than the music from "Jurassic Park". No question about it. "Squid Game" is great for so many reasons, and the music is another in a long line. This show rules.

Ty

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

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"Squid Game" is Tops in the Design Department

Like most of the rest of the country I am watching the Netflix show "Squid Game". My dad told me about it a week ago, he has since finished and I am five episodes deep as of this writing. I talked to RD today and he has watched the first episode as well. This show has made it to number one in America on Netflix for a reason. People are talking about it.

I am not going to spoil a thing in the blog today. Seriously people, you need to watch this show ASAP. It is one of the most interesting and cool and unique and innovative shows that I have ever seen. It will blow your mind. I also suggest that you watch it with the English dub if you do not speak or know Korean. I tried to watch with subtitles, but the show is so involved, there is a ton of dialogue and since I am a dumb American it is easier for me to follow along watching the dubbed version. Other than that, the only other recommendation I would give is to avoid any and all spoilers and just watch the show without knowing anything going in.

I do want to point out one thing I think this show does better than almost any other show out there, and it has no spoilers at all. "Squid Game" has, I believe, the best set design in television. I have been blown away as much by the design as the plot. I see all these humongous set pieces and I am awed. Seeing all the colors, it is like the greatest set of crayons you could ever get. Seeing the playground equipment, how big and menacing it is, it is a sight to behold. The bed rooms the contestants have is so grimy and absolutely perfect. The places where the games take place are brightly lit and beautifully shot. I feel like that has a ton to do with how they designed the set.

But the crème de la crème is the humongous piggy bank they have in the warehouse where they live. This is not a spoiler because it shows up midway through the first episode, and it is a mainstay. The piggy bank plays a big role in the show. The piggy bank is clear, but it has ears, a nose and eyes, it is a perfect looking piggy bank. It is like the childhood banks people in my generation had in their rooms. I had a few piggy banks that looked exactly like the one they use in the show, just not clear. Making it clear was a presumptive idea, and it has totally paid off. To see what is inside, the amount of cash after that first episode makes it all the better. The fact that it is the only light in the warehouse at nighttime, when they shut the lights off, makes the piggy bank almost inviting and menacing. It is so perfect and so cool. I love seeing it. I would 100 percent wear a t-shirt with this exact piggy bank on it. I think they should use the piggy bank as the symbol for the show. When you turn on Netflix and go to find "Squid Game", I want it to be this enormous bank. That would make the show even more enticing in my opinion.

"Squid Game" does everything perfectly. The show is amazing. It is wild, it is crazy, it is a mind f. And the set design, particularly this piggy bank, make this one of the best shows on TV, streaming or otherwise. These sets are a treasure for the viewer. Watch this show for so many reasons. But if you need an entry, check it out to see the amazing set pieces they have. They are incredible.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "The Other Two"

A show I really enjoy just wrapped up their second season, "The Other Two".

When this show premiered two years ago I was immediately on board. I'm a big Drew Tarver fan. I have followed him on all the podcasts he appears on, and he is always one of the funniest people. He has a true comedic gift and I was glad he was getting a shot to do that in a co-starring role. I didn't know who Helene Yorke was prior to this show, but I have since become a fan. She is funny, she has great timing, she can do dramatic stuff and she is my absolute favorite on the show. Molly Shannon, Ken Marino, Case Walker, Wanda Sykes and Josh Segarra all add great stuff, but this show is all about Yorke and Tarver.

The premise hasn't changed much since season one. Tarver and Yorke are still living in their little brother's shadow and now their mom is the biggest daytime talk show host. But things have gotten a bit better for them. Tarver hosts a lot of short internet talk shows. This is one of the best parts about this season. Seeing Tarver's character doing a job he hates is pretty hilarious, but also relatable. Yorke ended as Chase's, her little brother, manager in season one, and now this season she takes over as her mom's manager and she becomes a much wanted manager in TV. Both of the kids are doing better, but they are still not as big as their brother and mom. I really liked how they skewer Hollywood and acting and managing and everything that goes into a job like that. The managing stuff was great. Yorke is always working, always tired, always sick, but never stops working. She can't for one, but she also seems to like the responsibility. She also is looking out for herself. But she does have quite a few moments of realization that are perfect. When she buys a humongous apartment but is lonely, I loved that. Her feelings for her ex were excellently played by both actors. When she realizes she has pushed her mom too much, that was heartbreaking. Yorke is masterful in this role. She is perfectly cast. She does her job so well. I love her acting in this show.

Tarver's character has quite a leap this season. He has his first real boyfriend, who he eventually splits with in a very sad scene. He has the hosting jobs, but as I stated earlier, he wants more and he strives for more. He gets himself back into the dating scene pretty hilariously. He gets and loses and gets an acting job in a movie all within three episodes. The way he gets the role finally is so funny and so poignant to modern times and the internet. Tarver, much like Yorke, is simply perfect in this show. He gets to do more wildly comedic stuff, but he also shows depth and drama chops.

I love that these two young actors are finally getting a chance to really show what they've got, and they are crushing it right now. I was also very happy with the switch to HBO Max. The show used to be on Comedy Central, but for whatever reason they moved over to HBO Max. This has allowed them to be more blue. The comedy can be broader. They can use profane language. You can get real reactions to tough situations. And HBO does make and produce quality TV shows. It was a solid and smart move.

Look, I love this show and I highly recommend it. Watch it anyway you can. It is definitely worth watching. HBO Max also has both seasons on, so you can binge it whenever you want. Watch "The Other Two". It is the hidden gem you've been waiting for.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Brooklyn 99" Series Finale

Last night "Brooklyn 99" came to a close. I have loved this show from the start. I'm a big Andy Samberg fan, and when he is involved with something, I watch it. He is funny and charming and a very good comedic actor. Add on Mike Schur and I was sold. I also really enjoy Chelsea Peretti, so this show did not have to do much to win me over. Then to get me familiar with actors like Melissa Fumero, Terry Crews, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio and Andre Braugher was a total plus. I now really like these actors, and have followed them since I first saw them on this show.

I was curious how they were going to end the series though. The final season has been very different from the rest of the series. This is due to many things. We have COVID, people being afraid and angry with the police and all these actors have grown up. I have enjoyed the final season, and the finale was a great way to close this all out.

For the finale they did a heist episode. Fans of the show know exactly what I am talking about. These are their best episodes in my opinion. So doing that, and making it a series finale was the absolute correct choice. I was enthralled the whole hour. I hung on every twist and turn that the episode gave us. I was also very happy to see Chelsea Peretti and Jason Mantzoukas and the guy who plays Bill and Fred Armisen all reprise their much loved characters. I also really enjoyed that Captain Holt and Jake and Terry all had these grand plans for the heist, but they were all sidetracked by one another. Holt, Jake and Amy were all leaving the 99, and with Rosa already gone, this was one of their last hurrahs as a group. This made the heist even more fun and funny. Everything they did in this episode was perfect. This is what a show like this should do to wrap everything up. I appreciated and liked that they touched on all the issues in the world that pertained to them on the show, but going out with a straight up goofy and wild episode was the thing to do.

“Brooklyn 99” has always been about jokes and relationships. They do touch on stuff in earlier seasons too, namely the episode where Terry gets racially profiled, but they always come back with a super funny follow up episode. That is what the "Grand Heist" was last night. It was just a blast to watch. They did tug at the heart strings too. Amy and Rosa have a very touching moment where they say I love you to one another. Gina does what she always does, but seems nicer about it. Terry is laughing and joking with everyone. But the ending moment between Holt and Jake was where they got my wife and I. This was great. Holt has always been Jake's father figure and to hear the words he says to him, I'm getting choked up as I write this just thinking about it. It was wonderful and poignant and brilliant and simply perfect.

"Brooklyn 99" is one of the best sitcoms that has been on TV in some time. It gets its due, but I feel like it deserves even more credit. I love this show, and the ending was the best possible way they could have closed it all out. I will miss you "Brooklyn 99". Thankfully I have Hulu so I can continue to watch this series over and over again.

Ty

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

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RIP Norm Macdonald

Yesterday I was coming home from a workout when RD texted me. The text read, "Norm Macdonald. That stinks man". I did not know what happened. I had not been on my phone much that day. I was clueless. So I texted back and asked what had happened. He told me that he had passed away from cancer.

I was stunned. This is two people that I have watched and respected that have died in the past two weeks. These both hurt. A lot.

I have been a big time Norm Macdonald fan ever since I was a kid. I loved his role in "Billy Madison". I walk around to this day and still tell people it is October when they ask me what day it is. I also crack up every time I see him in that movie laughing with his buddies after they light the dog poop on fire and he says "this is the best night of my life". As I got older I started to watch "SNL". Norm Macdonald always made me laugh on that show. He did the best Burt Reynolds impression ever. No one will ever come close. It was spot on. But it was his work as the anchor on Weekend Update that really won me over. This was where he shined. He was the funniest anchor they have ever had. Much like his Burt Reynolds impression, no one will ever live up to what he did as the host. I would laugh hardest when he would tell a joke that might not have landed as well as he wanted, and he would just sit on it, then repeat the tag. That was where he shined brightest. He was so quick and smart and such a good improv comedian. He could roll with any punches. The fact that he was never given a real shot at "SNL", that they tried to make him be a comedian that he so clearly did not want to be, that was a shame. He was gold on that show, and they failed to recognize it. I know I'm not the only person that believes this. Norm Macdonald got the shaft, but that led to him doing what he wanted.

Soon after "SNL" he got a starring role in one of my favorite movies, "Dirty Work". I know that the movie is stupid and not great and poorly made, but Macdonald is so goddamn funny in it. He crushes the role. He gets to do his quips and his jokes and he is so charismatic in the movie. This should have led to more starring roles for him. Unfortunately it didn't. But he did have some great recurring roles in other movies and TV shows. He was great on "My Name is Earl" as the strip club owner. My mom and dad enjoy him thoroughly on "The Middle". I have seen him in a few episodes, and he is great. He has popped up in other Adam Sandler movies with very small, but very memorable roles. He had his own TV show for three seasons, and while it was a good show, it did not get the due time to grow and evolve, much like many other things in his career. He and Dave Chapelle starred in the very underrated movie "Screwed". Seriously people, if you want to see a young Macdonald and young Chapelle crush it, watch that movie. After doing a good amount of acting, he went back to stand up, and he was as great as ever. His specials are masterful. He was a genius of a stand up. He knew how to work the crowd and shift so easily from joke to joke. He was a one of a kind comedian.

Upon the news of his death yesterday I saw an outpouring of people talking about how he was " a comedian's favorite comedian". I have heard that about other people, but I actually believe it about Macdonald. He was a master of his craft. He was also excellent on talk shows. He always brought it. There was a clip that was all over the internet yesterday when he was on Conan, and it is so perfect. It shows his genius. It proves that he was the best of the best. And he did this all the time on talk shows. That was his thing. I feel like he is my generation's Dave Letterman. He is unique and different and dry and witty and hilarious and a genius. Just like Letterman. I think the only thing I disagree with him on was his politics. But that is neither here nor there. And who knows who he supported late in his life. But the fact that no one, other than the people he wanted to know, knew that he was sick makes so much sense to me. He never made stuff like this known to the public, and I respect the hell out of that.

This really stinks. RD was right. I am bummed and I wish he were still here. He was so young. Cancer stinks. RIP Norm Macdonald. You will be very, very missed.

Ty

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

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RIP Michael K. Williams

Yesterday I was checking on the news and I was stunned to see that Michael K Williams had passed away.

I couldn't believe it. He was only 54 years old. He had so much life in front of him. He had so much more work to do. He was such a good person who gave back to people. Why is it that the good people, the people who actually care, have to leave so early? I say again, he was only 54. This is tragic. When I was reading more stories throughout the day I saw that people found him in his apartment around 2pm and he was unresponsive. I still do not know exactly what he died from, but it is a big time bummer.

Like most of the TV watching world I was introduced to Williams as Omar in "The Wire". I personally believe that "The Wire" is the greatest television show ever made. And Omar is the greatest character ever on TV. He was a modern day Robin Hood. He was a bad guy, but he robbed bad guys and gave the money to people in need, after keeping what he wanted. The fact that Omar was gay was never a big deal, and I credit the writers, but more so Williams for that. That was a part of Omar, but it wasn't the biggest or most important part of the character. Omar was so kick ass. I still walk around saying "if you come for the king, you best not miss". I like whistling his little tune that he would when he was about to rob someone. I was devastated when he was killed on the show. It was the worst tv loss I have ever felt. Omar being mindlessly killed by a little kid in a bodega was so much sadder than seeing Walter White go down. Or when anyone on "Lost" died. Or even when Dr. Nick died in "The Simpsons Movie". I did not see when Jimmy Smits died on "NYPD Blue", but I have to imagine Omar's death was as big a deal as that was. All of this is due to how well Williams portrayed him. Williams embodied this role. He became Omar. He was an absolute gem. He was the best person on the best show ever.

It didn't stop there for Williams. I loved his turn on "Community". He was only in three episodes as a professor, but he was funny and smart and I thoroughly enjoyed his time on another great TV show. I never watched "Boardwalk Empire '', but my folks did, and they said he was great as Chalky White. "Inherent Vice" is a weird and long movie, but Williams was so memorable. I read "The Road" and watched the movie, and Williams is as good as Viggo and the kid that plays his son. His small role in "12 Years a Slave" is brutal and mesmerizing. Williams is the only good part in the new "Robocop" movie. That movie is not good at all, but Williams does his best with a pretty rough script. I have not seen "Bessie", but by all accounts Williams is superb. He's got a smaller role in the new "Ghostbusters", and it lets him stretch his comedic chops. He is a main character on the much acclaimed HBO series "The Night Of". He even does the voice in the "NBA 2k" face of the franchise mode and he crushes it. And I bet RD would say that he was awesome in "Lovecraft Country" because he was such a solid and reliable actor. He always seemed to shine.

Outside of acting I will remember Williams activism and his big scar on his face. I guess he got the scar in a bar fight, and the fact that he was able to use it as an actor proves how badass he was as a human being. He was also always trying to help people out anyway he could. He gave back to the community. He was active in politics. He was active in helping people who had less than him. He overcame a drug addiction. He was part of the ACLU. He was discovered by Tupac Shakur. He was a gifted dancer. He was a dude that had some demons, overcame them and made the world a better place.

This one stings. This one hurts. This one isn't fair. Michael Kenneth Williams should still be alive. This stinks. Rest in Peace. You will be very, very missed.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Dave" Season Two Finale

Earlier this week I wrote about the episode of "Dave" entitled "Enlightened Dave" that was a masterpiece. Last night I watched the season two finale, and while not on the level of "Enlightened Dave", this was such a perfect way to wrap up this bizarre season of TV. This finale also puts "Dave" in the upper echelon of great television during what seems to be a golden era of television.

This show is simply perfect. The way it has matured in twenty short episodes is absolutely fascinating and wonderful. I had a totally different idea of how this show was going to be, and I'm glad it has gone in this other direction. I, like most Lil Dicky fans, thought the show was going to be a full blasted comedy. There is comedy in it, but this is much more emotional and dramatic and a show about being an adult in the music business nowadays. The theme song from season one asks questions like, "don't you want to know who I am/don't you want to meet the guy behind the guy/do you want to know what the industry is like/what a strange life I have", that is what this show has become. "Dave" is a behind the scenes look at a egotistical, fanatical, workaholic, self destruction rapper. But the two seasons have shown him grow and accept things and come to terms with people in his life and be happy with where he is and it has been amazing to watch.

All of the plotlines came to a head in the season two finale. I'm not going to spoil too much because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE should be watching this show. We see this growth though. He is being a selfish asshole for much of the finale. He is only looking out for himself and blaming everyone around him. It is never his fault. He is not to blame. But then he and GaTa have this humongous verbal argument where GaTa shares all of this with Dave. He puts it all on the line. He lets him know what an asshole he is being to everyone around him, but especially him, who always has his back no matter what. GaTa is always there for Dave, and for a long time, Dave has not returned the favor. This enlightens him. I think Dave starts to realize what a dick he is being to all his people. We then see him prepping for his appearance at the VMA's, the whole episode kind of revolves around this performance, and we see the change. His ex texts him good luck. He wants to respond, but he just gives her text a thumbs up. I saw that as a sign of him letting go. Then he meets his manager and producer backstage and all three of them have a real heart to heart. There are some jokes in there, but there is also love and acceptance and tears. Then we see GaTa, we haven't seen him since their fight, and he is tearing up. Then it is revealed that he is at the show with Dave to perform with him. Dave is finally giving GaTa the shine he so rightfully deserves. It then shows them on tour together, and they both seem to be genuinely enjoying their time on stage. It ends on a happy note. It ends with Dave and GaTa hugging and smiling and seemingly on the up and up.

I felt a sense of relief and joy watching the finale. I loved it. I hope it comes back for a third season. As I said up top, "Dave" is one of the best shows currently on TV, and I think it can only get better. I love, love, love this show. I cannot recommend it enough. "Dave" is a masterpiece.

Ty

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

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"Dave" Delivers an All Time Great Episode

This season of "Dave" has been weirdly awesome. I like how totally off track and different they have gone. The season was filmed during the start of the pandemic, and it shows. It also shows how prepared and safe they were while making this season. I loved the first season of the show too. I believe that I had it on my best of list. The second season wraps up this evening, but last week's episode is what I want to talk about today.

I think it might be the best 40 minutes of TV I have watched this year. This episode ranks up there with the "Teddy Perkins" episode of "Atlanta", or "Behind the Laughter" on "The Simpsons". Those are two of my favorite TV episodes of all time. I think I like this more than the first season of "Dave" episode where we found out that GaTa is bipolar. This was one of the most perfect written and acted episodes this show, and many others for that matter, could ever wish for.

For those that may not watch or know, this season has been pretty much all about how Dave is having severe writer's block. He got his record deal near the end of season one, and this season has focused primarily on his past and how hard it has been for him to come to grips with making a full length LP. It has been exquisite and the penultimate episode was a perfect encapsulation of all the troubles he has had all season. It starts out with him going to a very swank house in LA which we come to soon realize is Rick Rubin's place. Then from there it is a crazy sci fi/comedy/horror hybrid that was wonderfully bizarre. From the people who work for Rick Rubin, to the deprivation tank to the visions and to the finality of the episode, it was a mind f in all the best ways. When he deals with Rubin's people, I actually believed that these are the type of people Rubin would hire, and I absolutely adore Rick Rubin. I have written about my love for him and how I think he is the greatest producer of all time. He is also a super weirdo. Then the whole thing with the tank, and where the episode goes from there, it was awesome. We think he walks out because he is the type of person who cannot focus if he isn't the center of attention or if he isn't cracking jokes. But then we soon realize he is still in the tank and the stuff he is seeing are all visions while he is out. We see him take advantage of people like GaTa. He has a vision where he is working in a restaurant, and when he cannot come up with food to cook, GaTa literally lets him cook parts of his body. It shows their relationship to a T. He uses GaTa for support, and GaTa will do anything for his best friend. We see him talk to his girlfriend from season one and fully come out and take responsibility for their breakup. He talks to his mom and lets her know how he is sorry for using her. But near the end, that was when this episode got epic. We see a twin of Dave, but this twin is bald and wearing a diaper. And when I say bald, he doesn't even have eyebrows. But this twin is there to help him realize that he is trying too hard to maintain his online persona. He is trying too hard to be what others want him to be. He is being too tough on himself. He is using his friends but not in a way that is helpful for all of them. This twin starts to play him a beat and a song and you can see the real Dave getting hyped. He keeps asking him to send him the music and the bald twin keeps telling him that he doesn't need to send him anything because he is him. All this stuff is already inside of him. I loved it. I didn't fully understand the anteater, and maybe it was just there for the joke, but even that kept my attention. And when the bald twin goes down and starts to gurgle water, and then real Dave does, then we all know that this is a vision from inside the deprivation tank. When real Dave comes to, he runs to the studio and starts to record the song that he heard while he was tripping. The camera then pans back and we see the back of Rick Rubin just nodding his head.

I absolutely loved the way they showed Dave getting out of his own way and proceeding to record his album with which he has struggled with all season long. I'm pumped to see where they go with the finale tonight. But I think this episode from last week will stay with me for a long, long time. What a triumph.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches the 2020 Olympics

With the Olympics all wrapped up I want to talk about my experience watching this year.

I never pay too much attention to the Olympics if I am being honest with myself. I watch basketball in the summer games, I like gymnastics because the people are so athletic and more recently I have gotten into track and field, pretty much since I became a runner. It is the same with the winter Olympics. I watch very few sports with snowboarding and skiing being the lone exceptions. But this year I found myself super into the Olympics.

I turned it on from day one and it was on pretty much everyday until the games wrapped up. I found myself really into swimming early on. Then I was devouring skateboarding, which was rad. I watched fencing and table tennis on a different day. I got super into highboard and synchronized diving. I was watching water polo. I followed the men's and women's gymnastics teams. I watched more volleyball than I have ever seen. I watched basketball, more on that later, because I love it so much. I'd say I tuned in to about 85-90 percent of the competitions. I do not know why either. It wasn't the lack of fans because I saw that in the NBA bubble and most pro sports last year. I seemed to latch on early this year and that seemed to be the key.

I think another reason why this resonated so much was because I did not think it was going to happen. I thought that the organizers were going to pull the plug at the last minute because of rising COVID cases all over the world. But when they started, I watched and watched and watched. I think it hit me so well this year because of the lack of sports in summer. I like baseball, but not MLB. I'm not a soccer fan. And there are only so many articles I can read on college football teams opening their fall camps. So these Olympics hit me at the exact right time. We also got some really interesting and neat personal athlete stories. I followed Simone Biles every step. I side with her and I am so happy that she took care of mental state over everything else. The super young skateboarders were so cool and seemed so thrilled to be in the Olympics. The diver from Britain that also knits was one of my favorite people in the games. There was the Cambodia gentleman who was adopted by an American man who was a diver and that story was so heartwarming. Seeing Katie Ledecky do what she does and then laugh at reporters when they asked if she was going to retire was stupendous. Watching Team USA baseball and softball come so close to gold was pretty amazing. Table tennis has some wild competitors and they are as focused as any other athlete I have ever seen. There was that crazy last second wrestling move that won gold. The marathon was astounding to watch. Seeing Alyson Felix become the most decorated female track runner was super impressive. Seeing all the field events and being blown away by what the athletes did will always stay with me. I was hooked.

With all these sports it should be no surprise that basketball was my big time winner. The women's team dominated like they do. They are so much further ahead than any other country in basketball. The viral picture of Diana Taurasi holding the ball up high and laughing in the gold medal game is so pure and so cool. Seeing Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe embrace after Bird won her fourth gold medal was joyous. The women's basketball team rules. And so does the men's team. I was hard on them after France beat them in league play. I was worried. I did not think they had it in them to turn it around. I was getting annoyed at the complaints. Then they found their groove. When they came out and demolished Iran they looked like a different team. They were more confident and better coached. They started to coalesce. KD turned it on and became unstoppable. Bam Adebayp became a defensive force. Draymond Green looked more like himself. Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard started to hit big shots. Jrue Holiday was the backcourt stopper they needed. Devin Booker and Khris Middleton were knockdown shooters. It all started to groove. They still had moments of concern, mainly letting teams stay in games a bit too long, but in the end they always pulled away. After dismantling Iran they beat the Czech and cruised by Spain. I was nervous for Australia, but they made easy work of them. Then it was France again for gold. The game was tighter than I wanted it to be, but in the end they won. KD became the men's all time leading scorer and Team USA won gold for the fourth straight time. I was wrong to doubt them and I'm glad they got the gold.

This was a good Olympics. I liked the stuff I watched and was floored by how much of it I was into and willing to watch. My hat is off to the people who put it all together . This could have been a disaster, and it is not without its bad moments, but they were able to get it done and accomplish a major feat.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "FBOY Island"

You'd think I would have learned by now. You'd think I would know when to stop myself. You'd think I would know better. But yet I continue to expose myself to horrible reality dating television shows. My wife was out of town earlier this week and at nighttime, when we usually watch shows together, I found myself going back to older sitcoms I liked. I watched "The League" and "Workaholics" with regularity. But since she is home, and she is not that big a fan of those shows, I usually let her pick what we watch. Well last night that meant I watched a show called "FBoy Island" on HBO Max.

I had no idea what this show was. I have never heard of it. I figured I was done with any reality dating show after seeing "Too Hot to Handle". Hell, I figured most people were done with reality dating shows after reading reviews of "THTH" and "Sexy Beasts". That is clearly not the case. My wife said that some of her work friends had told her about this show and she wanted to check it out. I also read, after we watched, that HBO Max claimed this show had one of the highest streaming numbers since HBO Max has been in existence.

My simple one word question for this show, why it is on, why this was made, why is it being watched so much is, why? Why do we constantly let stuff like this keep getting made. I understand that reality TV is so much cheaper and easier to do, but at this point the people involved are just so goddamn lazy. I mean, "THTH" puts a bunch of idiots in a house and tries to entice them with money to not physically express their attraction to one another. "Sexy Beasts" is a rip off of a British dating show where they have people go on blind dates in movie makeup. At least these shows have some semblance of a narrative. It is a stupid narrative, but it is there nonetheless. But "FBoy Island" is just stupid and insidious and boring and unfunny and absurd and flat out dumb.

This is, by far, the worst of any of these new COVID era dating shows that I have seen. It bums me out that Nikki Glaser is involved with this show too. I like her. She is a very funny comedian. She has proven to be a solid actor. She even tried to be on "Dancing with the Stars". She is a Saint Louis native. This show, "FBoy Island", is so beneath her. She does not need to do this. I'm sure the pay is good and it let her go on a trip to the Cayman Islands during the ongoing pandemic, but she is way too talented to host a shit show like this. In the premiere episode she was making solid jokes, but the moronic contestants didn't get them, probably because they are not smart enough, and it was a waste. Then the show is 1 hour long. I mean come on. That is 59 minutes and 59 seconds too long. To sit there, and I watched the whole thing, for an hour and just watch these idiots be idiotic, it was such a slog. This show needs to be, at most, 20 minutes long.

Let’s talk about the contestants. They got what I would describe as the worst of the worst. These people are just trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. They have no substance. There is nothing to like about them. When they would flash their jobs next to their names things like "exotic dancer/realtor" or "influencer" or "cbd entrepreneur" or "childcare/tik tok" or "fridge delivery man" would pop up and I would constantly yell, "THAT ISN'T A JOB!!!!!!". I was so enraged by this. I was furious at this whole show. Everything about it is so dumb. It is the worst type of TV show in the country. These are truly awful people who should never be given a platform to have millions of people hear them talk.

I have to ask, have we learned nothing since 2016? Did we all just forget about the horribleness of 2016? When that horrific monster was somehow the "president"? Now that we have an actual good guy in the White House, why hasn't reality dating TV made the change? I know that is a detour, but come the hell on. This show is filled with people that probably voted for that monster, or did not vote at all. All these "F Boys"(fuck boys for those that do not know) are truly the douchiest of all the douchebags. As for the supposed "nice guys", they seem pretty terrible too.

"FBoy Island" is terrible. I do not recommend this show. I will not be watching anymore of it. I don't even care to know what "Limbro" is, which is where they dropped off the first F boy that was kicked off the show. This show is so, so, so, so bad. Don't waste your time.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage"

Last night I watched the new HBO documentary "Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage". I have some thoughts.

I watched a few of the trailers before it was released and was interested in watching based on those. Then I saw some of the people being interviewed and was even more inclined to watch. But then I saw Bill Simmons and his company The Ringer were the producers and that kind of threw me off. I do not like Bill Simmons, I think The Ringer is a toxic workplace and it hires toxic men to work there. I am not a fan. In spite of all that, I still watched the movie.

I was 17 when this festival happened, I remembered it being a trainwreck and I have always wanted to watch a documentary that talked about how bad it truly was for everyone involved. And the movie starts out fine. It is your typical doc, but they had some neat little music cues and I even learned some things I did not know about the original Woodstock. I was interested for sure. And when they got into the actual festival, doing stuff like showing the bands perform, showing the destruction early on, showing the heat and the lack of food and water, it all kept my attention. It was as bad as I remembered hearing. To see the stuff some of these people did in the first two days was disgusting. The amount of nudity was gratuitous. I'm no prude, but this was too much. The majority of the bands were trash. We are talking Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Moby, bands and artists like that that I never listened to. And when they got to some good bands, or even bands I listened to back then, they barely showed them. There was one clip of Wyclef Jean, who I used to love. I barely heard any of Rage perform. Jewel didn't even get her singing voice in the movie. Tragically Hip was just shown performing. It was a drag. This was where my taste for the movie started to wane. Between the crazy amount of male and female nudity and the bad music, I was kind of bored.

Then they started to show and talk about how the attendees started to trash the place. This made my stomach turn. Seeing all the trash littered everywhere was vile. When they talked about the septic tanks not working and the people trashing the porta potties, I literally got sick to my stomach. I was eating some ice cream at the time and I had to put it down when the festival goers started to slide and play in the sewage. It was awful. From there the movie just dove into a milquetoast retelling of Woodstock 99. They showed the rioting, talked about the massive amounts of unreported sexual assaults, talked about some of the attendees that died, showed the promoters being total assholes, but none of it felt resolved while I was watching. It was talked about and then moved on from. It felt kind of unfinished. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know why these white privileged dickheads did the horrific things that they did. Why did they feel fine doing this stuff? Why were they not afraid? One of the festival goers said that had this been a hip hop festival he thinks the police would have treated them differently. They could have talked about that for so much longer. They didn't even touch on it except for the one quote. I guess I just wanted them to dig a bit deeper into the real seediness of this whole ordeal.

All in all the documentary was okay but not without its flaws. I think my generation probably wanted to see a bit more, but maybe younger people, the Coachella and Lollapalooza crowds nowadays will see this movie differently. The movie was just fine. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. I will not watch it again, but I do not feel like I wasted my time watching it now. It was a strong C movie for me.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Summer of Soul"

I finally got around to watching "Summer of Soul" on Hulu, and it was awesome. I really wish I hadn't waited so long to watch it.

For those that don't know, "Summer of Soul" is a documentary that was the equivalent of Woodstock with R&B and soul acts. It was dubbed "black Woodstock". I never knew about this, and many other people didn’t as well, because they never released the footage of the festival until now. Questlove of The Roots directed the movie, and he did one hell of a job. The people he got to talk about it ranged from super famous musicians to festival goers to political workers to fans of the music. It was an excellent array of people that really knew their stuff.

My favorite interviews were from the people that attended the show. To see their faces now, to see them reflect and remember, to hear them talk about the joy that this brought, it was magnetic. I have been to many shows and a few festivals, and that experience is something I will never forget. Even at bad shows or festivals, which I am not a fan of, I always have a snapshot in my mind of the day. So to hear these people talk about something as amazing as this festival must have been, those are the memories worth keeping and sharing with anyone that will listen. I adored listening to these people talk.

I loved the music as well. The people that played this were some of the best to do it. Mahalia Jackson could sing. Even when she was ill she was out there belting away like no one else could at the time. Mavis Staples hung right there with her though. When those two sang Dr Martin Luther King's favorite song, after an emotional and powerful speech from Jesse Jackson, I teared up. Those two are amazing. A 19 year old Stevie Wonder kicked off and ended the movie, and holy cow is he incredible. I am already a fan, but seeing this made me love him and his music even more. I also got a good sense of his early activism. BB King slayed guitar like I always expect him too. Even some of the acts I didn’t know or haven't listened to, I really dug their music. I do like Gladys Knight and the Pips, and seeing her in a 60's outfit dancing and having a great time made me like her more. Nina Simone gave a very strong and impassioned performance that I will always think about every time this movie is brought up in conversation.

Besides the music and listening to the people that were there talk about their memories, what I loved most was how comforting and jovial and happy and peaceful everything was during the four weekends this went on. There were no fights or problems. Nothing was destroyed or burned. Everyone was treating others with respect. That doesn't happen nowadays, and it sure as hell hasn't happened since they tried to do Woodstock in 1999. People back in the 60's, with everything that was going on back then, knew how to act responsibly. I appreciated that aspect. I like that Questlove showed everyone having a good time. Even when they did the whole section on the moon landing, I sided with the festival goers. They did things the responsible and correct way.

I loved this movie. I think that is obvious. I wish I knew about this festival sooner, but better late than never. I recommend "Summer of Soul" very much. It is top notch.

Ty

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

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Ty Rethinks "Loki" After the Season One Finale

Last week I wrote about the show "Loki", and how it just isn't hitting me like it is some others. I also said in that piece that I was going to finish the first season and make my decision based on the finale if I were to watch season two.

Now before I go further, this is going to be spoiler heavy. There is no way to talk about the finale of "Loki" without spoiling some big time things. I wanted you to know that going forward. So if you haven't watched yet, stop reading now, then come back and read this after you watch the finale.

Okay, that is out there. The finale of "Loki" turned me back into a fan. I will be watching season two now. The finale came up big and it was a great forty minutes of television. I was very pleased with how they ended the season, and where they could possibly go in season two, which has already been confirmed. While I still do not think it is as good as "WandaVision", and I still haven't seen "Falcon and Winter Soldier", "Loki" really came through in this finale. By the way, no show has been as good as "WandaVision" was for me. That show is an instant classic. But "Loki" did a good job setting up their big new villain, and the cliffhanger has me definitely wanting to watch what happens next.

The whole episode focused on Loki and Sylvie, a Loki variant, getting to the main timekeeper. I kept hearing people talk about how this was going to transform the show. This was going to be what made it great. When we finally get to the person it appears to just be a crazy, delusional man. He is spouting weird theories and keeps talking nonsense, or so it seems, to Sylvie and Loki. But his quiet craziness seemed suspect. Then he was able to react well before either person tried to kill him. He knew what was going to happen well before it happened because he wrote all the code for time. He is the timekeeper. He created all things and knows all things. We come to find out that there are thousands of him all across time and the world. He is everywhere. He is Kang the Conqueror.

This was a humongous reveal. I didn't know who he was at first, but my son explained who he was, and I got to tell you, he is a bad, bad dude. He kept telling Sylvie and Loki about all these things that he could do, and he gave them two options. He explained his whole plan, how he invented the timeline, how there were so many others of himself and how this would never stop, unless they took over. He gave them the option to become the official timekeepers. He said they could run everything and create whatever lives they wanted for themselves. Or they could kill him and cause all the other Kang's to come forth and wreak havoc on every single timeline.

Loki wants to take over, but Sylvie doesn't. She wants revenge for being taken so young by the time cops, and she wants blood. There is this great scene where Loki thinks he has talked Sylvie into taking over, they kiss and then Sylvie pushes Loki through a time portal and proceeds to stab Kang. He smiles as she does this and says, "see you soon". It was chilling.

At the end Loki runs into Mobius, played by Owen Wilson, and another time cop and they have no idea who he is. They ask him who he is and that he needs to go back to his cell because he is clearly crazy in their eyes. Loki then looks over at the world outside and there is a big Kang statue. The end.

This is so scary and was such a cool way to end the season. I also want to point out how incredibly awesome Johnathan Majors was as Kang. He was electric. He played this crazy bad villain so well. He was so eerily quiet and stoic. He never really lost it on the two of his pawns. He laid things out, told them exactly what would happen and never, ever chewed the scenery or over played it. Majors was so awesome and I am so excited to see what he does with this role in the MCU.

"Loki" won me back. Getting Majors was a huge deal for me, as I am a very big fan of his work. The finale was so perfect in setting everything up for another season of the show. They did it. They put their best foot forward when I wanted them to do it most. Now let's get ready for season two. I want to see what Kang the Conqueror has in store. I bet it is terrifying and will make for great TV. I'm pumped.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail" Season Premiere

The newest season of "Miracle Workers" premiered on TBS this past Tuesday. I love this show. I have sung its praises on the website. I think it is a super interesting and unique way to make a show. I like the subject material very much the first two seasons, and I like how they skewered said subjects. Simon Rich has proven himself very capable of broad humor, and "Miracle Workers" may be his best creation yet. The cast is dynamite, the writing is superb, the directing is top notch and I don't mind having to wait a year or two for each season. This show is so different from everything else on TV right now, so writing and filming it has to take a good amount of time. Add on the pandemic and that must have made it harder to get done. But the third season premiere was just as good as the first two, and it has me pumped for what is to come this third season.

This time around they tackle the Oregon trail. I remember playing this game on a computer when I was in elementary school. I loved it. I have tried to find that high again on my iPhone or Xbox, but it is not the same. I need that floppy disk and those super old school graphics. What "Miracle Workers" did in the premiere was give me that feel. The set was super old school. It looked like a western from the 50's. The clothes are very of the time. The actors actually look like the people in the game. I heard words like dysentery and plague and complaints about not enough crops. They mentioned all the walking that needs to be done. They talk about how long the journey will be and how they will lose people along the way. In the town in the beginning they are losing people to disease left and right and they even make a joke about being six feet apart. Someone in the town gets cholera and the reverend wants everyone to stand six feet apart at the funeral. They don't and another person dies during the service. It was timely, but also how it probably was back in Oregon trail times. I also appreciate that the writers and actors talk and act like modern people. They dress how people dressed back then, they use what people would have used, they live the life but they talk like people I know. They make funny modern jokes. Geraldine Viswanathan, who is awesome, portrays this the best of all the actors. She is really great on this show, and this should definitely lead to more starring roles for her. I think that this is my favorite part of the show. They are putting modern day people in crazy situations that actually happened in history. I always wonder how I would act during ancient times, they did that in season two, or how I would work if I worked in a "heaven" type of place, season one. And I would always talk about my strategy of how I would have done things had I been alive during the Oregon trail computer game.

I love this show. I cannot recommend it enough. I'm pumped it is back. People need to start watching this show so they can do more and more of this. "Miracle Workers" is a fresh Tv show that deserves so much more love than it is currently getting. Check it out. It is so worth your time.

Ty

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

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"Too Hot to Handle" is Increasing the Dumbening of America

20th Century Fox

A week or so ago I wrote about one of the worst shows I had ever seen called "You, Me and My Ex". I believe it has been cancelled, but full disclosure, I have not returned to it since I wrote that piece.

Well that blog was a bit premature. My wife and I found another show that may very well be the worst thing that I have ever witnessed. And I do not know what is wrong with me because I finished the entire season of this show. I watched all ten episodes, all the while saying how dumb it was and how dumb it was making me.

The show is called "Too Hot To Handle". We came across it one night while scrolling through Netflix. I like to see what their top rated shows are for the week, and "Too Hot To Handle" was number one. The first episode did hit in all the right ways too. I had such high hopes for this show. We started on season two, but when they got to the point of the show, I was reeled in.

For those that do not know, "Too Hot To Handle" invites ten young single people to an island retreat and tells them that they are on a dating/party show. They all get to the spot and they are free to let loose. They are given free alcohol, they are invited to party and get to know one another and just to have a good time. But there is a countdown clock in the lower part of the TV screen and when that clock strikes the contestants can not have sex, they cannot kiss, they cannot self gratify, basically they cannot do any physical stuff except cuddle. When they revealed this news the shock was great. It is like watching the trainwrecks on "American Idol". It is akin to any person that is floored by some very unexpected news. I found it quite hilarious actually. That was why I got hooked. And for two or three episodes they kept up the stupidness. These people were breaking rules left and right. They were doing stupid stuff on the regular. Even when they thought they did nothing wrong, the cameras would show them what they did, and the shock on their faces was so goddamn funny. But then the show turned into this schmaltzy, ridiculous self discovery show. All the while those people who were finding out new things about themselves are the dumbest, most egotistical, self involved morons. I was stunned at how so many people could be that into themselves. They would constantly look at themselves in the mirror. They spoke as if they were the most important people in the world. They acted almost offended if one of the other people wasn't into them. They complained endlessly about how horny or how blue their balls were. It was so dumb. Then it all got serious and self introspective and even more absurd. The dudes talked to their penises. The women had these inane meetings where they let out all their anger. The show brought on "experts", and these scenes were so unnecessary. The shows just got more and more boring when the people on it stopped being lame. I did not care at all about the relationships they built. I don't even care to know if any of them are still together. I thought when they would have "deep conversations" that it was the dumbest people talking that I have ever heard. My kids are nine and five and they have way, way, way more common sense than the people on this show.

This show is the epitome of what is wrong with our country. I will never ever understand how this show was number one on Netflix for a short amount of time. "Too Hot To Handle" is the stupidest thing I have ever watched. I do not recommend it to anyone ever. This is quite possibly the worst show that is on TV. The fact that it is coming back for a third season is laughable. There is much better content to watch, so avoid this show with all of your might. You will thank me in the long run. What a terrible show.

Ty

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

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"Loki" Is Not For Me

My family is fully caught up on "Loki". I think the season finale is tomorrow, according to the internet, which seems fast. I thought they would do eight or ten episodes, but it seems that they chose six. That is fine. I think "WandadVision" was only six or eight episodes, and while I haven't yet watched "Falcon and Winter Soldier", I'm pretty sure that is less than ten. Maybe this is what Disney + is going to do with their series. Again, they can do whatever they want with these properties. I think I prefer longer seasons of TV. That is just me.

Before I go further in this blog there are two things I want to touch on. One, this is going to be spoiler free. I do not want to spoil anything for the people that are waiting to binge the whole thing. I get that that has become a way to consume TV. I have done that with many shows, and I am glad that those shows were not spoiled for me. I also made sure to stay away from anything on the internet about those shows, and that works. So no spoilers for "Loki". Second, I want to say that "Loki" is a good show. It is visually beautiful. The writing is very solid. The acting is superb. To get a guy like Richard E Grant to be in one single episode, that speaks volumes to the acting chops on this show. "Loki" is a very good show that is deserving of all the acclaim it is currently getting.

Now this is where it turns for me now. This is where I may make some people upset. I am sorry, but I did say that it is a good show. I am having a difficult time getting into it though. I have found it kind of boring. I do not think it has lived up to the hype that was built up prior to its release. Every episode has one thing that grabs me, then the rest is kind of dull. I do not fully know what it is yet, but "Loki" is starting to lose me as a watcher. I am going to finish this season because I am a completionist. I don't know if it is my OCD or whatever, but I will watch the rest of this season. I may not come back for a second season if they have another one. And again, this show is good, but it is not breaking through for me. The season stories are all too similar. I do not recognize or spot the easter eggs. I find myself kind of bored during the action scenes. When they introduce new characters I don't really care either way what happens. I am struggling to get super into the story. I think, in my mind, I thought "Loki" was going to be as good as "WandaVision". It is not. "WandaVision" is a once in a lifetime classic TV show. The fact that they are most likely not going to do anymore makes it even more classic. "Loki" doesn't have that oomph, that get up, that need to give it my full attention. Not yet at least. Maybe the finale will totally flip me and turn me into a super fan, but I don't think that will happen. When I find a show that I like, that I want to keep watching, it usually grabs me within two or three episodes. I'm not there yet on "Loki", and they have had five come out so far.

I want to reiterate once more that I can recognize that "Loki" is a good quality show. I will not deny anyone that claims as much. But for me it just isn't hitting right now, and if I were to guess, I most likely will not come back for season two if they do one. It just isn't compelling me to come back.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "I Think You Should Leave" Season Two

I have now watched season two of "I Think You Should Leave" twice now.

It is wonderful. I knew I was going to like it, but I did not know how it would hold up to the greatness of season one. I am done second guessing everyone involved with that show. They are in Donald Glover territory for me. They can do no wrong. They are at the top of the comedy sketch game, and it isn't even close at the moment.

This new season is darker than season one, but damn if it isn't as funny. I also appreciated that they did not bring back anything from season one. I know they took two years off, and they could write new stuff in that time, but on other shows they will bring back popular sketches in a new season. "ITYSL" season two did not do that, at all. This was all fresh, and it is all going to be as memorable. They could've easily brought back the baby showcase they had, with Barley Jarivs, but they didn't. Instead they had Sam Richardson dress in a gold suit and a wig and bring out some "buff boys". The sketch is just as funny and works just as well. They do bring Santa Claus back, but in a much, much darker scenario. That whole sketch involving Santa is fantastic and so well written. Those may be the only "crossovers" that people can point out, but they are very different from season one.

The rest of season two had me in stitches. From start to finish, it just works so well. I loved the sketch that opened episode three with the professor going out with some former students to a restaurant. Tim Heidecker is back, but in a different role, and that sketch takes some dark turns, but damn it if I wasn't cracking up. Bob Odenkirk shows up and that sketch is truly wonderful and uncomfortable. I want to go to Dan Fashes T Shirt store now so I can fight over some ugly button up shirts. I wonder if Jami Taco is still out there stealing lines in local plays in his home city. I wonder if Karl Havoc, who has the absolute best site gag in the whole season, has come to terms with what his show is going to be. I wonder if the guy with the fedora with flaps in the back still has his hat and dice. Also, the attorney reading the text thread in that scene is pure gold. I would buy the hot dog vac that Robinson's character is selling. I would watch "Coffin Flop" if it were on TV. I want to donate to the company that helps guys cover up dripping pee on their pants. It is all so wonderful.

I mentioned Richardson making his return, and he is dynamite. So is Connor O'Malley. He is in two sketches and they are wonderful. I mentioned the pee drip one, but his other sketch is fantastic, and he isn't the focal point. He and his wife are fighting, but Robinson tries to lighten the mood by doing the Blues Brothers dance. It is uproarious. I also really enjoyed the guy talking about how he used to be an asshole and eating sloppy steaks. John Early makes a great appearance in his one sketch. I could literally go on and on and on.

This show is really, truly one of the best things on TV right now. This season will be as quotable and memorable as season 1. There will be meme's if there aren't already. Robinson and Zach Kanin are in a total sweet spot and they are capitalizing on it right now. I saw someone else proclaim that Robinson was too good for "SNL", and they are right. Nothing on "SNL" right now is even remotely as funny as what "ITYSL" is giving us. This show is wonderful and I am so happy it is back for me to watch over and over again. I suggest you watch it too.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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