Author: Bhav

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Bhav on TV: I just want my pants back (2011)

This is a bit of an unusual one. When I heard the name of MTV’s upcoming show dozens of potential ideas were buzzing around my head. But in most scenarios I really couldn’t see the premise working for more than a season. The name of the show defines how it may move forward. Similar to How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), they choose an interesting name, to draw attention, but also limited themselves in the future of the show, (the 'Mother' better be amazing after 6+ seasons of waiting). For better or worse the name attracted me to watch.   Coming from the channel that brought me Teen Wolf and Awkward, I was expecting good things. I wanted something different than the current offerings about dating (HIMYM and Friends with Benefits, not that I’m saying their bad it’s just they’re subject focused, Mother searching and sex respectively). What you get is a cross between How to Make It in America and Friends with Benefits, a show about hipsters in New York and their sex lives.   The show centres around twentysomething Jason who is ambling through life after graduating from college not sure of his next step. He has a dead-end job as midgets casting agent’s assistant (yes, seriously). Like HIMYM he is friends with a couple (people who he aspires to be like) and a promiscuous friend (female not male). To highlight this in the first episode it is quipped that she is only sleeping a guy because he has air conditioning “I like him, plus it's been really muggy lately".   I like the casting office job idea, the scenes this week with Dr Spa-cemen and midgets brought me a lot of joy (it’s wrong but I don’t care). They didn’t really get into the job other than the fact he hates and want to move into music journalism. If the casting office is for midgets only, I can see it getting a little stale but if it’s something different every week I can see it being a good source of laughs. Doing mini parodies in the same vein as Community could be brilliant.   The banter in the show was fun, particularly the Indian shopkeeper who cracked me up (a little bit of Apu from the Simpsons). I liked the how the conversation were realistic, most conversations in real life not really emotional, life affirming or changing, it’s usually about the stupid shit we get up to and the crap we get from our friends for it. Most of the jokes are cheap and quick, based on how close friends would actually be with one another. Saying that, every other included a quip or an obscure reference, though quotable and enjoyable at first it became a little tedious. It’s as if the entire cast has the wit of Diablo Cody (aaarrggghhh!) Overall I liked the show as it was an easy watch with likable characters. If the dialogue didn’t remind me so much of Juno I would have liked it a little more. Again the show has 2 of things that keep watching and interested; a hot girl and it makes me laugh. And I will continue to watch this show if only to learn new ways to pick up hipster chicks (J). The show based on the pilot can become one of my new favourite shows but I reserving judgement till I get a few more episodes in.   Pilot Rating: 3.5/5   Memorable Quotes: “I’m not touching it, I don’t pick the phone when I masturbate… unless I’m at work” “Nobody will robbed, raped or murdered in this store… not again” “So… is everything dreadlocked?.. Shush… Let me be surprised…” “Hello Tina. See I’m nice to you today because of your festering neck wound”

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Bhav on TV: Teen Wolf Season 1

OK is just me or have MTV recently decided to make some pretty decent shows? I may be lambasted for saying this but I am RJ Berger fan. I am a Teen Wolf (TW) fan. I am on the way to becoming an Awkward fan. When I heard MTV was making a TW show I was thinking or hoping it would somewhat of a modern day rehash with a twist or two. Coming from the channel that brought us “Snookie”, I was expecting another sexed up teen show with crude jokes and no plot, essentially the American version of Skins with werewolves. What I got when I watched was a Taylor Lautner fan’s wet dream, all werewolves, no vampires. Saying I was a little disappointed was an understatement; the only similarities I could come up was the name, it’s based in a high school and he’s on the sports team. But I kept watching because it had 2 of the 3 things that usually draw me towards new shows. When it was being funny I actually laughed and it had a hot female lead (seriously check her out Crystal Reed).  So I kept up with it and I was actually surprised how it managed to keep me hooked week to week. It wasn’t just a soppy mushy love story, it wasn’t an afterschool special with a werewolf and it wasn’t an excuse to sell toys to kids. Though the numerous male topless scenes were getting a little old towards the end of the season (possible drinking game?). There was a thought out history and background and the characters weren’t just clichés or basic archetypes slotted in to move the story along. The creators had done their research like in one of the episodes, mountain ash kept a wolf at bay, a quick google search later explained that in Belgian folklore no house is safe unless under the shade of a mountain ash. And for you fight club fans there is a recipe for Molotov Cocktails in one of the episodes. After watching the entire series I can honestly say it was great story arc with some nice twists and turns, though I won't recommend it to everybody, I wouldn't discourage others from watching it either. It just leaves me wondering how they are going to top it with the next series without resorting to adding any new monsters (please please please no vampires!!!!) Bhav 4 of 5