This week, my Friday Five will all be devoted to Media Maven favorites, entertainment entities that I love and have discussed before here on the blog. Huzzah!
1. Finally! My Dear Disco, a band I featured recently in one of my Music Wednesdays, have finally released their debut LP, Dancethink. Don’t walk, run to your computer and buy this baby on I-Tunes. It’ll be the best $8.91 you’ve spent all year.
2. Arrested Development Alert!! Will Arnett has just signed a deal with FOX to develop his own comedy series with A.D. creator Mitch Hurwitz. Hurwitz and Arnett will have complete control over the series, including final say on all writer, director, producer, actor hirings, etc. This is the smartest thing FOX has done since…ever.
3. Everyone’s favorite movie about an Irish dude and an Eastern European chick who write songs together and sort of love each other is coming to Broadway! That’s right: Once, last summer’s best indie flick, featuring the Oscar-winning track “Falling Slowly”, is being turned into a musical for the stage. Let’s hope it will be done tastefully, with a low-key feel a la Passing Strange or Spring Awakening, and not commercially/flashy like Legally Blonde: The Musical.
4. This Sunday, make it a point to watch The Simpsons and The Life & Times of Tim. You’ll laugh out loud at both, guaranteed. And let me assure you, that’s not a guarantee I can make on about many programs. The Simpsons might seem like old hat, but I promise you, if you haven’t been watching, it’s still damn funny. And Tim is about as dry and low-key a comedy as you could ever hope to see. It’s sort of like an animated Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords without the music. Last week’s episodes saw Tim spank his boss’s daughter at the prom and box an old guy for charity work. Genius.
5. Last night’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was one of the weaker episode of the season, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch. It was an anomaly– it had a weak premise, a weak title, no Frank, and no development or story arc whatsoever. You’ll notice this episode was written by none of the shows three stars/writers/exec-producers, and it’s the first one that was totally untouched by them to air this year. I think it was a one-off mistake that shouldn’t happen again. So for the tenth time on this blog: WATCH THIS SHOW!
