Is your relationship comparable to that of Mario and Princess Peach? Richie and Margot Tenenbaum? Ron Swanson and a plate of ribs? If you answered “yes” to any of these unstoppable duos, then this Valentine’s Day gift guide is for you! Sure, candy and flowers are great, but the quirky pop-culture nerd in your life might prefer something a little more fitting to their film and TV tastes. How about a snuggle-worthy pair of Barney Stinson suitjamas? Or a lovey-dovey print of the film you watched on your first date? Check out ten offbeat gift ideas for your sweetheart after the jump, and hit the comments to let us know of the other pop-culture presents you’ve found whilst prepping for good ol’ February 14th.
“Shut it down.” “I want to go to there.” And, of course, “What the WHAT?!” 30 Rock‘s Liz Lemon may not be the most articulate character on TV, but she sure is one of the most quotable. So, although we bid farewell to the endless — and increasingly irritating — “Shit ___ Says” video meme earlier this week, we can’t resist bringing you just one more. Yes, it’s “Shit Liz Lemon Says,” and it’s a stroke of marketing genius on NBC’s part. Of course, if it doesn’t entirely satisfy your need for Lemon-isms, we’ve got a great list of them right here.
Well, TV fans, the die is cast. Last week, The CW green-lighted The Carrie Diaries, that Sex and the City prequel network television has been threatening to inflict on us for years. Set in the ’80s, the show will follow Carrie Bradshaw’s high-school years in Connecticut, where we’re sure she’ll be asking a whole new, teen-focused slew of pseudo-profound questions (“What does ‘going steady’ really mean?”) and lusting over shoes at Contempo Casuals. But forgive us if we don’t intend to watch the show for long enough to find out. Like Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon, we’ve had our fill of Carrie. In fact, the only good thing we can imagine coming from the prequel is that it inspired us brainstorm some adult TV characters who already have kid equivalents on other shows. Find out who Zack Morris grew up to be, and which kid reminds us of Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess, after the jump.
1. Tracy Morgan was taken to a hospital yesterday after he collapsed during a dinner at the Sundance Film Festival; apparently the cause of the incident was “a combination of exhaustion and altitude,” but according to one person who was there, Morgan “seemed out of control, yelling and falling onto the ground.” [via USA Today]
2. Swizz Beatz would like you to know that he is not the CEO of Megaupload (he was still in negotiations for the gig when everything went down last week), and “is in no way connected to the crimes of which they are being accused.” [via MTV]
3. Claire Danes has been named 2012 Woman of the Year by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals of Harvard University, and as such, will lead a parade through Cambridge on January 26th; the group has yet to announce who its Man of the Year will be. Any nominations? [via EW]
4. Steve Buscemi will reprise the role of private detective Len Wosniak in an upcoming episode of 30 Rock that he’ll also be directing. The promising premise: “Jack wants Len to help him form a private police force where the salary starts at $5 million, so the police have the same interest in protecting the rich.” [via InsideTV]
5. Nicki Minaj’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, which was originally scheduled to come out on Valentine’s Day, apparently won’t be dropping until April 3rd now. How do you think this news makes poor little Sophia Grace feel? [via Vulture]
In this week’s episode of 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan took a lot of heat for homophobic comments, which reminded us rather strongly of that time Tracy Morgan found himself in hot water after making anti-gay comments during a stand-up routine in Nashville. We thought it was interesting and oh-so-meta that the show chose to address one of its stars’ real-life controversies via the fiction of the show, and the episode left us thinking about how so many of our favorite TV shows are metafictional — or at least have prominent meta qualities. It’s just all so post-modern. Click through to read about the most metafictional television shows of all time, and let us know if we missed your favorite in the comments.
Soon after the news broke, in June of last year, that Tracy Morgan had launched into a homophobic rant during a stand-up performance, it occurred to us that the incident might turn up in the next season of 30 Rock. Over the years, the show has often addressed real-life controversies involving its cast — a great episode last year, for instance, tackled a dizzying array issues related to women in comedy, from the double-edged sword of Jezebel (known in the episode as “Joan of Snark”) to female comedians who infantilize themselves and use their sexuality to get ahead.
So we weren’t surprised when, earlier this month, we learned that Morgan’s outburst would indeed be worked into the 30 Rock plot. “They’ve incorporated [Morgan's rant] into the Tracy Jordan storyline,” MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, who is gay, told The Huffington Post. “Liz Lemon writes Tracy’s apology on the show and says he’s not a homophobe, he’s an idiot. That offends idiots, so while NBC is being picketed by the LBGT community, now it’s also being picketed by idiots led by Denise Richards. She’s the leader of the idiots.” That’s a fairly accurate summary of what happened on 30 Rock last night, but to be honest, the episode sounded far more satisfying when I first read Roberts’ description than it actually turned out to be.
Is your boyfriend in love with his cousin? Are you in love with your neighbor? Is your neighbor in love with a jerk? Are you a cartoon? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you might be a lovelorn teenage character on a TV series. When we brought you our favorite ’90s teen power couples, we neglected to mention the best friends, classmates, ex-lovers, and siblings of these perfect couples — the characters who, more often than not, are majorly lacking in the love department. This phenomenon is typically blamed on awkwardness, fickleness, or ugly duckling syndrome, but what if these misfits’ true TV match is just on another series? With Valentine’s Day less than a month away, we’re pairing lonely teenage TV characters with other lonely TV characters. Some are from current shows, others are from yesteryear, but all deserve a little more love than they receive. Check out the matches we’ve made after the jump, then hit the comments to recommend others. It’s pretty fun.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title.” We get you, Juliet — names are just names, and what we’re called is irrelevant to our true, inner essence. But does this famous Shakespearean notion prevent modern TV writers from weaving a character’s so-called “embarrassing” middle name into a comedy’s occasional plot line? Of course not! When it comes to sitcom middle names, the weirder, the better. Iphigenia? Miervaldis? Leakey? Sure, why not! Let’s play a name game — click through to enjoy some of television’s silliest and most unexpected middle names, then hit the comments to let us know of any others that you’ve found noteworthy.
Whenever we find out that one of our favorite film actors has taken a role on TV, we’re intrigued. Why trade Hollywood’s red carpets and big paydays for the weekly grind of a regular television schedule? While some thespians can’t resist a juicy role on premium cable, others embrace the small screen as a way to regain the cred they’ve lost after years of disappointing parts in terrible movies. In honor of Don Cheadle’s surprising — and delightful — decision to helm Showtime’s House of Lies, which premiered last night, we look at ten great film actors who became great TV actors.
