The 2012 DVR Cleanup Project

Hello friends, and welcome to the first installment in my ongoing investigative series delving into why, exactly, I have so much crap on my DVR and my attempts, futile as they may be, to clean some proverbial house.

Before I begin, NO, I am not a DVR hoarder. I understand full well that if I greatly enjoy a program I have just watched there are other ways to view it again in the future other than keeping it on my DVR for all eternity (Hulu, DVD, cave paintings, etc.). My (and my wife’s) problem is we like TV. A lot. And with our devotion to the glowing moving picture box in our living room comes the occasional scheduling conflict (and by occasional I mean daily).

Be it family commitments (thanks Dad- for needing us to watch my little sisters EVERY Thursday night), sporting events (Sabres hockey mediocrity, UNC and Bulls basketball), or just having shows we enjoy air in the same time slot (CBS HAD to move Big Bang Theory to Thursday, I promise) it has turned our DVR into something akin to the DMV. Come on in we’ve got plenty of room, but get comfortable because it’s probably gonna be a while.

What I aim to do every week is bring you a run down of what I’ve watched (and deleted) from the massive library of shows on our DVR with some quick musings about each, and perhaps a recommendation or two. Oh and by the way SPOILERS AHEAD (sorta). So, without further ado:

Saturday Night Live

First up is the Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Jimmy Fallon. As my friends (and random passersby on the street) know, I LOATHE Jimmy Fallon. So much so that, no matter how many wonderful, glowing reviews I hear and read, I refuse to watch his late night show. That being said, I greatly enjoyed this episode. Some of the highlights:

• Michael Buble Christmas Duets- Very funny overall, but Fred Armisen’s Thom Yorke “impression” was priceless.
• Weekend Update- WU is week in and week out my favorite sketch, but this episode took the cake when they brought back Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to team up with their old hosting partners Seth Meyers and Mr. Fallon.
• “Christmas is Number One” song- I was delighted to see the return of one of my all time favorite cast members, Horatio Sanz, along with Chris Kattan, Tracey Morgan and of course Fallon for a reprise of their Christmas song from the year 2000.
• Fallon’s Mea Cupla- To me at least. His mention of and (sort of) apology for constantly laughing during sketches during his days as a cast member was at least an indication to me that he’s not a complete tool bag.

Alcatraz

Next is the new Fox show, Alcatraz, which after the viewing of this week’s episode (entitled Cal Sweeney), I would highly recommend checking out. The fact that they have me confused as to who to love and who to hate is what’s really grabbing me about this show. And the similarities to LOST abound.

There’s a mystery door with a mystery man (or woman, or thing, for all we know) behind it which harkens back to “the hatch” in LOST. There’s Jorge Garcia doing his best “I’m not Hurley in this” impersonation. But the biggest similarity to me is the music. At times the music sounds so familiar that I think I’m watching a lost episode of LOST (see what I did there?), but it also fits the unique time and place in which Alcatraz is set.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the one laugh out loud moment of this episode, when Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) explains to his partner that his parents were disappointed in him because he did his masters thesis on Gotham City. Watch it. It’s worth it.

The Simpsons

Now stepping into the batters box, The Simpsons. This episode (entitled Moe Goes from Rags to Riches) was fan-friggin-tastic! It starts out with a great couch gag in which the family recreates the openings of The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Brady Bunch, and Cheers before arriving, exhausted, at their beloved couch. It then goes on to tell the story of Moe’s bar rag (voiced by the great Jeremy Irons) from it’s beginnings as a tapestry in “early medieval France” to present day.

The two best lines from the show? When Moe is asked who his best friend is he replies “I just made friends with Pepto-Bismol on Facebook.” and when, during the flashback to medieval France, Mr. Burns is found strung up from a tree Chief Wiggum exclaims to the gathered crowd “Let’s show some French courage and beat up the corpse!”.

In the interest of full disclosure I am a Simpsons apologist. I will also admit that the past few seasons have not been the best- and by that I mean awful. That being said, this season has returned to some of the sharper writing of the shows heyday and isn’t so Homer-centric anymore which allows for the secondary characters (the shows strength) to shine once again. Oh and one more thing, Moe is the son of a Yeti. Fantastic.

American Dad & Family Guy

The final two shows I watched will be grouped together, as they are both Seth MacFarlane vehicles and I am tired of writing. One of them is on the way up and the other, in my humble opinion, is plummeting so fast that no parachute, safety net, or Spider-Man can save it. On the way up is American Dad. This episode (entitled Stanny Tendergrass) was quite funny and, even better, quite clever. It is an homage to Caddyshack, one of my favorite movies of all time, which won me over immediately. But it was the Hulk Hogan cameo that slayed me. And I needed it after watching Family Guy (Livin’ on a Prayer). This show has gotten really bad really fast. I am not offended by anything they say or do on the show, so that’s not the problem. The problem is it’s just not funny anymore. And this episode is the perfect example. I seriously didn’t laugh once. I will most likely continue to DVR and watch it every week because I am a creature of habit, but it will now go on the “we need to make some room on the DVR, what can we delete?” list.

Well that’s our adventure for this week. It was a magical journey. What? I’m delirious. Time for a beer or ten. And a carton of cigarettes. That should right the ship. Until next time, bye bye.

Christopher “Googs” Gadawski is a wise, handsome, worldly man. He is also a massive geek who devours anything Star Wars related. He loves beer, books & lots of television and can often be found wandering the streets preaching eloquently about the greatness of “Community” to all who will listen. He also loves his beautiful wife ( just covering my bases here). Hi dear.