CliqueClack » ben and kate https://cliqueclack.com/p Big voices. Little censors. Thu, 02 Apr 2015 13:00:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 Sitcom Superlatives – The Saddest Goodbyes https://cliqueclack.com/p/ben-and-kate-cancelled-apt-23/ https://cliqueclack.com/p/ben-and-kate-cancelled-apt-23/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:59:59 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=6677 Ben-Kate-and-Maddie-ben-and-kate-32538640-1000-749This week on a special Sitcom Superlatives, we take a moment out to say goodbye to a few dear friends who are soon to be departed from our televisions.]]> Ben-Kate-and-Maddie-ben-and-kate-32538640-1000-749
This week on a special Sitcom Superlatives, we take a moment out to say goodbye to a few dear friends who are soon to be departed from our televisions.

When I first heard that Don’t Trust the B—- In Apartment 23 was cancelled, I thought that was the saddest news I would hear this week. While Don’t Trust the B was not perfect, it was enjoyable, with undeniable chemistry between June (Dreama Walker) and Chloe (Krysten Ritter), and my weekly recommended allowance of James van der Beek. But Don’t Trust the B was not the only sitcom or even the saddest sitcom winding up towards a finale or cancelled, and so for this week we have a special Sitcom Superlatives where we bid adieu to two very special friends.

Ben and Kate
It’s rare a comedy as warm and unrepentantly sunshine-y as Ben and Kate comes along. And despite my constant gushing over Go On, Ben and Kate was my pick for best new show of the season. It was effortlessly delightful, sweet, and… cancelled?

[Ben and Kate] was effortlessly delightful, sweet, and… cancelled?

I don’t pretend to understand FOX’s internal decision-making on this one. I’m sure it had something to do with ratings (which I maintain are bullshit), or maybe no FOX executive had ever had a sibling, because if they did, I’m not sure how they ever could have said no to this show, which portrays family and especially sibling relationships so perfectly and tenderly. I can only hope that this is a stepping point for all of the lead actors to bigger and better things – specifically Dakota Johnson and Nat Faxon. Call me, you guys. I have ideas.

30 Rock

The way this show is ending has been pitch-perfect but that doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier.
As a warning, at this time next week I will not be calm, composed, or otherwise okay with having just watched the last episode of 30 Rock. 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows week after week after week, a smart comedy for people like me who love comedy, who love to see how it’s made and watch it take shape. It’s smart, always on-point, and manages to take complicated, upsetting issues and make them effortlessly funny. Liz Lemon is the first character I’ve watched on television who I ever felt like was me – not an aspirational version of me, but a me that had flaws, and that having those flaws was okay. And the way this show is ending has been pitch-perfect, from Liz getting married to adopting miniature Jenna and Tracy, but that doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier. 30 Rock is a show that’s been with me through thick and thin, good times and bad, helped me articulate thoughts I didn’t even know I had, and given me phrases such as “blergh” and “I want to go to there”, which I use pretty much every day of my life.

I’m not sure how sitcoms are supposed to go on without 30 Rock. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to know.

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Photo Credit: FOX
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Sitcom Superlatives – Best friends, bad romance, and holiday cheer https://cliqueclack.com/p/sitcom-superlatives-friends-bad-romance-holiday-cheer/ https://cliqueclack.com/p/sitcom-superlatives-friends-bad-romance-holiday-cheer/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:00:30 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4772 sitcomsuperlatives_ryananneThis week in Sitcom Superlatives we reward the good ('Go On,' 'Suburgatory,' 'Ben and Kate') rebuke the bad (no one asked you, Patrice!) and discuss everything in between.]]> sitcomsuperlatives_ryananne
This week in Sitcom Superlatives we reward the good (‘Go On,’ ‘Suburgatory,’ ‘Ben and Kate’) rebuke the bad (no one asked you, Patrice!) and discuss everything in between.

New Favorite Friendship: Ryan and Anne, Go On
If at this time this year you had told me that there would be a middle-aged lesbian on my television, let alone on a show with as much diversity as Go On, and that she’d be handled well, I’d have asked what crazy optimism drugs you were on and where I could get me some. But Go On has really steadily delighted me this year, way more than I thought it would. Not only does Ryan feel very different from Chandler (something I needed from Matthew Perry but wasn’t sure I’d ever get), but his friendship with Anne is exactly what this show needs. Because healing through therapy two sides, really. (And oh, as someone who’s been in therapy over 75% of my life, I could write odes to how well psychological conflict is handled in this show.) There’s the blind, almost childlike belief needed to make a leap of faith that the rest of the group represents, but there’s also always that cynicism and grounded practicality that most of us have trouble letting go of. And watching Ryan and Anne not just fall headfirst into accepting every bit of feel-good advice Lauren dispenses is what makes this show work so well and keeps grounded instead of veering to the saccharine.


The “This Has Gone On Too Long” Award: Barney and Robin, How I Met Your Mother

Normally when it comes to TV relationships I am all about the slow burn. Bring it! Make me suffer!  Pining is great! But Barney and Robin have been jerking us around for seasons, and on top of that, we’re aware Barney and Robin are on a ticking clock of needing to be headed towards marriage or engaged by spring. How’s that going to work? Or are we just going to not see them date until May? And if that’s the case what will the storyline of the final season (next season, presumably) be? Can they just get together now already? Because while I appreciate the parallel of Robin sexily putting herself out there at Barney’s door and when she came to his door way back in Season 4 during “Shelter Island”, crying and vulnerable, and he turned her down then as well (because Barney seems to self-sabotage anything that’s not Robin genuinely wanting him and not just when she’s feeling needy, which is pretty cute), that really hit it home that this needs to be over already. Robin and Barney need to settle down, Ted needs to solve finding the mother, and this series needs to wind it down.

And Patrice? Seriously? He was on a date with Patrice? NO ONE ASKED YOU, PATRICE.

Most improved: Suburgatory
Remember how terrible I said last week’s Suburgatory was? Well, change that to “delightful” and that’s how great this week’s was. It was like a jumbled, chaotic mess of delight. Ryan finds out he’s adopted, hides with a still-heartbroken Malik and decides to change his name to Eugene Goldfarb! He prints business cards! The wonderful parallel of him losing himself just as Tessa finds herself by realizing maybe having a mom isn’t everything she thought it would be! And so sue me, I’m rooting for those two crazy kids to work together.

My one complaint was that this episode seemed way, way too short. Dalia’s side story about wanting her maid/housekeeper/nanny/stand-in mother Carmen back was sweet, and the viral video she made was frankly delightful, but it almost felt like it deserved its own episode to get a moment to really shine. But seriously, if my only complaint about an episode is that too many awesome things happened? That’s a damn good episode.

Most Underrated Actor: Nat Faxon, Ben and Kate
Can someone please explain to me why everything Nat Faxon says is the greatest thing I have ever heard? Why do I suddenly want to cast him in everything? I don’t get it. It’s not like the other characters or actors on this show are lightweights when it comes to being endearing, and yet something about the way Faxon plays Ben makes me willingly abandon any and all problems I would normally have with his character (too frivolous! too silly! caricature!) and makes him the greatest part of every episode besides Kate’s wardrobe — which I covet shamelessly. But I think the moment that sealed it for me was that, in spite of a very, very strong episode this week, the most I laughed was at the ending tag where Ben just goes around naming trees and then says “take that, Dad! Who can’t name trees now?” (or something to that effect, I forgot to DVR it and it’s not on Hulu yet, work with me.) It shouldn’t have been the funniest part of the episode! It had no right to be! And yet, it absolutely was.

My disappointment with the Emmys has reached mythic proportions, and while my Nick Offerman for Best Actor in a Comedy quest is the hill I will probably die on, I hope and pray that Nat Faxon and his crazy brand of what can only be witchcraft at least get a well-deserved nod.

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Photo Credit: NBC
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