It was interesting to watch the “Friends” rerun last night that went to great lengths (no pun intended) to not have the characters say the word “circumsized.” I guess some of the comedy was watching them find other ways to communicate the word, sort of like the “Master of Your Domain” episode of “Seinfeld.” (I consider that one of the funniest half hours of TV ever.) But it got me thinking – is there a list of words you can’t say on network TV? Are there different rules for comedies and dramas? And why can you make a show’s plot based on something – like whether or not Joey is circumsized – but not be able to say the word? We live in a messed-up society.
Month: August 2001 (Page 3 of 8)
Movies I’m Embarrassed I Paid Money to See
-American Outlaws
-Original Sin
-Josie and the Pussycats
-Dude, Where’s My Car?
-The Princess Diaries
-Jurassic Park III
And that’s just in the last few months. Take this as evidence of my bad taste, or simply the lack of even decent movies this year, whichever you prefer.
Is it just me, or does that Freddie Prinze Jr. movie “Summer Catch” sound exactly like the fake FPJ movie they satirized on “King of Queens”?
I know, I know. You’re going to say that:
-satirizing a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie is like shooting fish in a barrel. But it was funny, with Jerry Stiller doing his usual top-notch work.
–every FPJ movie sounds like the fake one on King of Queens.
From the little I gleaned from a TV Guide cover story, the new Star Trek series “Enterprise” seems to be going in the right direction. By doing a series set before the original, they can bring in some of the wonder about exploration that we feel now. I watched The Next Generation and enjoyed it, but everything was so homogenized and bland. No one ever had an argument, or a problem that wasn’t caused by some nasty alien race. By bringing the series back down to earth, literally, I think there’s some promise. In the same vein, I like the fact that the ship is bolted together like a submarine, and the transporters only work with non-animate objects.
I never watched Deep Space Nine or Voyager, so I can’t comment on those series’ problems or virtues. But this one I definitely will watch.
Drop-dead hilarious writing and pictures at CatEnema.com (via Xkot). Go there now! (Pretty soon, Miguel is going to have to copyright this saying and enjoin me from using it.)
Attitude adjustment inventory
1. I have some good friends who care about me. Not many, but I’d rather have a few good friends than an army of acquaintances.
2. I have a wonderful family.
3. I’m in reasonably good health, and walking 3 miles every day.
4. I work for myself, which is not lucrative but has many more important benefits.
5. I have a beautiful home that’s comfortable and suits me perfectly.
6. I’ve met a lot of cool people through this weblog.
Now you do yours….
I finally got to shoehorn a Top Ten topic into the Top Ten Blog. I never seem to be there at the right time (ie, writing the #1 entry). I think I’m better at thinking up topics than I am writing entries. I even had to cheat and post two entries to a list in order to get the chance. But I think it was a good topic: Top Ten British Porn Film Titles.
Xkot had a hilarious conversation on ICQ with…well…I’m not sure who. Go there now!
Possible new design for words mean things. I’m mulling it over.
Friends of mine who get HBO have turned me on to Six Feet Under, a show about a family-owned funeral home. I’ve been watching back episodes on videotape – all I have left is the two-hour season finale. I like the show, but all the characters are almost pathologically unhappy. Still, it’s leagues better than most of the dreck the networks want us to digest (Bob Patterson, anyone?).
“Can’t we just have sex? It doesn’t have to mean anything.”
-David Fisher
“I’ve never worked in a funeral home that was this depressing.”
-Angela (Illeana Douglas, in a whip-cracking cameo)
It’s too bad that Douglas didn’t stay longer than one episode – her positive, say-it-like-it-is atttitude is just what those sad sack Fishers need.