This weekend I found myself in the same spot that I usually find myself when the summer weather turns hot and steamy: sitting on my sofa in my air conditioned house. I’m one of those people who you will never hear complain when the summer days are cloudy and a little cold. I hate the hot weather. I’m sure you’re not interested in my weather preferences, however.
The point that I want to make is that I spent most of my weekend watching TV. Aside from a few episodes of Veronica Mars, I didn’t have much to watch, so I took advantage of the curious marriage between Netflix and Xbox Live and streamed some shows to my TV.
I started out by checking in on Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, and his latest show: Party Down, which can be seen on Starz. I had heard pretty good things about the show (including a review from Ivey), but I was still pleasantly surprised by the quality. It has a great cast, including Veronica Mars vets Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, and Adam Scott (not to mention the always awesome Jane Lynch). The comedy is edgy and often inappropriate, and there are a ton of great guest stars (including Ed Begley Jr, Kristen Bell and JK Simmons).
I ended up flying through the entire first season of the show. It may have only consisted of ten episodes, but I still think it’s a noteworthy feat, especially when paired with the fact that I followed it up by watching the entire first season of This American Life (only six episodes).
I have been a huge fan of This American Life, the radio show, for some time, but had never gotten around to watching the TV version on Showtime. After finally checking it out, I have to say that it is just as good as the radio show that I’ve loved for so long. I was a little surprised to see that the running time for each episode is only a half hour, but it worked. The show, which features real stories on just about every topic (from genetic engineering to paintings of Jesus), is always fascinating and never boring.
If you’ve been looking for something different to watch, I would recommend either of these shows which you may have missed.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Aug 24, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
