Comedy

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Animation

“The Simpsons” at 500 — our favorite episodes

January 31, 2012 Jeff Pfeiffer

The Simpsons airs its 500th episode Feb. 19 at 8pm ET/PT on FOX, as part of its 23rd season (and it will be running through at least Season 25, and Episode No. 559). By now, its longevity, and the numbers and records it keeps racking up year after year, are no longer surprising. It’s become one of those things that is just always there. To an entire generation of viewers, it always has been there; and even to those of us who were around pre-Simpsons, it honestly has become hard to remember that long-ago period, when Homer and his family […]

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Comedy

FOX and Boost Mobile launch “The Simpsons” 500th Sweepstakes

January 24, 2012 Jeff Pfeiffer

FOX and Boost Mobile have just launched The Simpsons 500th Sweepstakes, which will award one winner and his/her guest a round-trip ticket to Los Angeles to attend The Simpsons 500th Episode Party on Monday, Feb. 13. The winner will also receive a new Boost Mobile phone and phone service for three months. Between now and 5:59pm PT on Monday, Feb. 6, you can enter the sweepstakes online at fox.com/boost. The sweepstakes is open to everyone 18 years of age and over; no purchase is necessary. Official rules and prize information are on the site. In The Simpsons‘ 500th episode, airing […]

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Animation

FX’s “Unsupervised” finds humor in the children left behind

January 19, 2012 StayTuned Staff

By Stacey Harrison There is a lot of talk about how today’s kids are too protected, hampered in their path to maturity by so-called helicopter parents who hover around every second of their precious little ones’ lives, making sure they never feel a moment’s discomfort and that they know they are special. The characters in Unsupervised are not those kids. The animated FX comedy, which premieres tonight at 10:30, follows the exploits of Gary and Joel, two best friends who must forge through adolescence and the snake pit that is high-school society almost completely without parental guidance. Yet despite their […]

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Comedy

VOD Spotlight: “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star”

January 17, 2012 Jeff Pfeiffer

Adam Sandler has played some wonderful losers in his career — Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison and Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy), just to name three — and also has a knack for finding others to do the same onscreen. In Bucky Larson, he puts Nick Swardson (Reno 911!), who has worked in a number of other films produced by Sandler’s company Happy Madison Productions, in the role of the dimwitted but likable grocery bagger Bucky Larson. When Larson discovers that his parents were porn stars years before, he heads to Hollywood to follow in their footsteps. “We wanted to make a […]

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Animation

FOX’s “Napoleon Dynamite” won’t make your wildest dreams come true

January 13, 2012 Ryan Berenz

The eminently quotable (“I caught you a delicious bass.”) 2004 comedy film Napoleon Dynamite gets a small-screen animated adaptation beginning Sunday, Jan. 15, at 8:30pm ET, on FOX. Napoleon Dynamite creators Jared and Jerusha Hess, as well as Mike Scully, serve as writers and executive producers. The cast from the film, including Jon Heder, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Diedrich Bader, Jon Gries, Tina Majorino and Sandy Martin, are all back to voice their respective characters in the series. (Sorry, no Lafawnduh for now. But more on that later.) “For me, you know, the movie was kind of a live-action cartoon anyway, […]

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Comedy

HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” returns amidst Tim Tebow controversy

January 13, 2012 Tom Comi

Season 10 Tease For those who love controversy, it seems only fitting that Real Time With Bill Maher is returning the same weekend that Tim Tebow’s Denver Broncos are appearing in the playoffs. Maher has been on hiatus the last several weeks, but that didn’t stop the outspoken atheist from making the news. His unprovoked jabs on Twitter at the devoutly religious Tebow not only upset Christians and football fans, but it has led some to call for a boycott of his HBO show. Of course that just means more people will likely tune in tonight (10pm ET) to see if Maher […]

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Comedy

TCA: James Van Der Beek steals the spotlight from “The B—- In Apt. 23”

January 12, 2012 Lori Acken

Krysten Ritter, the gleefully titular “B”[*tch] in ABC’s upcoming comedy Don’t Trust The B— In Apt. 23, was present in a strapless red frock that set off her milky skin and crimson lipstick. Dreama Walker, the target for the B—‘s bitchery, was there too, resplendent in blue. But the only Apt. 23 panel member that TCA Press Tour critics wanted to talk to  and about was Dawson. Er, James Van Der Beek. The Beeeeeeeek! In da apartmeeent! It’s a little understandable. Most of us grew up with Dawsey and Pacey and Joey on the Creek. Plus, Van Der Beek’s new […]

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Comedy

TCA: Kutcher and Lorre talk “Two And A Half Men”

January 11, 2012 Lori Acken

S’at you, Ashton Kutcher? Seated on stage with Two And A Half Men creators Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn, and his costars Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, Kutcher sported a fresh, mom-approved haircut and a conservative suit (a show-sanctioned look that will be explained on Monday night’s ep)  — and a ring on his wedding finger, with which he was noticeably fiddling. He also talked in measured tones about technology and investment funds. And a bit about Two and a Half Men. Mostly that he enjoys being on the show, is pleased that its demographic is skewing younger and […]