Scott’s Blog of Doom

The SmarK DVD Rant for Arrested Development - The Second and Third Seasons

It’s a two-fer this time around, as I was ready to do the third season of the show, but then realized that I hadn’t done the second one yet, which triggered a huge AD marathon reviewing session for me over the past couple of weeks. That’s a lot of Mitch Hurwitz, man.

Now, I’m sure by now you know the story. AD bursts onto the Fox schedule, immediately wins the Best Comedy Emmy in its first year, and subsequently gets ignored and buried by the network, as they reduce the order, move it around the schedule, and do everything but cancel it to make sure it gets canceled. And yet through it all, Hurwitz and the writers maintain a brilliant vision of what a sitcom should be, redefining the genre and basically rendering the traditional “four camera” sitcom form a dead issue in many people’s minds.

The show’s true brilliance came in the form of the endless running jokes and callbacks it presented, however. Whereas most shows would do a running gag that lasted for one show, AD would present a gag that lasted for a whole SERIES. And much of the humor was derived from fans paying attention to stuff that happened in previous episodes, which would then come back to be paid off in later episodes.

There were two distinct types of running jokes featured, as well — individual and universal. The individual jokes were things like Gob’s endless parade of failed magic tricks, or Michael’s inability to formulate a plan that works, or George-Michael’s crush on his cousin Maeby. The universal jokes were lines like “I’ve made a huge mistake!” or “Well, that one was a freebie,” which could be said by different characters, in totally different contexts, on any show.
(more…)

The SmarK DVD Rant for Ring of Honor: Joe v. Kobashi.

Gotta admire them for honesty in the titles.

Anyway, I previously had done a review of the main event on the blog, but I figured that I’d sit down and do the whole show because I wanted to watch the match again, just for kicks. Or in this case, chops.

- Taped from Manhattan, NY

- Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

(more…)

Mansion Sportsbook is running a free $1100 bet promotion right now for the Steelers-Miami game for anyone interested, however you need $1100 to spare

To take advantage of this offer, you have to:

(1) Sign up at Mansion.
(2) You should see the information, with all the terms & conditions of the $1100 free bet on their homepage.
(3) Deposit $1100, bet $1100 on Stellers vs Miami at -5. If you lose, you get the $1100 back.

You can even hedge your bet too if you want, although have to use another sportsbook to do that. Heres the e-mail from Mansion:

Dear Member,

Simply visit the MANSION Sportsbook and place a minimum Point Spread (Handicap) bet of USD 1,100 (or currency equivalent) to win USD 1,000 on the Pittsburgh Steelers for their game on Thursday 7 Sept 2006. If your bet is not a winner, MANSION will refund your losses of USD 1,100 (or currency equivalent) within 3 working days of the result.

The Princess’ ECW Report.

“Live” from Reading, PA

If this report sounds a little flat, please understand that my area is under a tropical storm and flood watch. Of course I pretty much live on sea level so a car wash is enough to cause a flood.

(more…)