The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Dan LeBatard is Highly Questionable

I don't get a lot of time to watch TV nowadays, kids, work, exercising...you get the point. But one show that has been apart of my daily viewing for about 10 years now has been Pardon the Interruption (PTI). It was basically the same format as The Sports Reporters, but with only two hosts and there was more humor involved.

Now the show is daily, but Mike & Tony take vacations and they need fill-in hosts. At first my favorite was Norm Chad, who gave more humor into the show than analysis. He started doing other things and hasn't been on for years. The next guy to really peak my interest was Dan LeBatard. He was funny like Norm, but you could also tell he knew what he was talking about. For the past few years he has been my favorite fill in host. This past summer I noticed he wasn't filling in very much and I was worried Dan was going the same way as Norm Chad. Well, his days on PTI might be over, but that's cause he got his own show Dan LeBatard is Highly Questionable (DLHQ).

I saw a commercial for it and set my DVR to record it right away. I saw the 60's kitchen set and was wondering what this would be like, but all of those questions were replaced when I saw his dad, thick accent and all, asking Dan sports questions. The interaction between father & son is always good for some laughs, heck Petros has his dad on every week for a segment on his radio show Petros & Money. It works.

Dan and his father are no different. The interaction is genuine and at times hilarious. Dan was never the serious guy on PTI and it is interesting to watch him try to be both the funny guy and serious guy at once. And so far he is doing a good job of pulling it off. Sure some of the topics are repeated on PTI, but the way Dan handles them is totally different than Mike & Tony.

I must admit I skip the interview segment, but unless it is someone that I really want to hear talk, I usually skip it on PTI as well. The edits were distracting at first, but now I just go with it. Dan seems like a person that could say a lot of stuff and it might not be too funny, but when he nails a joke it's good. And maybe that's what they are doing here. Maybe they are editing it because of his dad? Who knows, all I know is that I am loving it. In fact, the other night as I was watching it my wife sat down and watched a bit and started laughing at the interaction between Dan & his dad.

This show is something new, maybe not as revolutionary as PTI was 10 years ago, but it is definitely a show that you can't find anywhere else. Hopefully in 10 years DLHQ will still be around like PTI is.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Thundercats

Rebooting 80's shows and movies seems to be in vogue right now. Whether it's Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team, He-Man, or Voltron 80's shows are coming back. The best of these, so far, was BSG. They took the basic foundation of the show and turned it into something so much better and interesting. But that might change with the latest reboot Thundercats.

The change up things a bit on the reboot. First off, their planet of Thundera doesn't explode. They are on 3rd Earth to begin with. And here on Thundera they (the cats) are rulers of the planet. They do a good job of walking that line of ruler versus dictator. Lion-O is in line to be king, but doesn't seem mature enough. He is interested in technology, which in this version is supposed to be a myth. Which is another opposite of the original series, considering they needed a rocket to leave the planet. Watching the first few minutes I felt like I was watching a version of The Little Mermaid...stay with me. Lion-O is supposed to be with his dad going over the process of becoming King, but he is out in the "slums" trying to buy technology for his collection. Sounds pretty familiar, even down to when he realizes he is late...classic.

The show is written really well and there appears to be some pacing going on. Panthro is assumed dead right now, but of course will appear in the show. The second episode felt like a filler almost because you were expecting this huge battle with Mumm-Ra and it doesn't happen. Instead we get an episode that feels like a re-telling of Moby Dick. At first I was disappointed, but then I realized that the writes are adding depth to these characters and giving some sort of back story for later on.

In terms of the characters designs, I really can't complain. Here is a photo of the old versions;

Nothing bad there...classic 80's animation. Here are the new versions;

I have read some people complain about the anime style, but that doesn't really bother me. Panthro having mutton chops is a little weird, but oh well. The other thing that is tons better is that Snarf doesn't talk. Now as a kid, Snarf didn't bother me that much, but when I watch those episodes now...Snarf is annoying. Finally, I really like how they kept the same design of Mumm-Ra. He has a little bit more reptile in his design, but that goes with the new story. By the way, there was a definite shout out to the original series with the original voice of Lion-O voicing the King in the new series...everyone knew about that. However, Lynx-O (the blind Thundercat) makes an appearance and has a line in the new series. He is presumed dead, but maybe he will come back.

There is so much to like about this new series. I could talk about how different it is that Tygra is now Lion-O's step brother or Cheetarah is a cleric. This show has a lot of potential so I will sit back and enjoy the ride.

Inside Four Walls: Seniors 2011...gone

Today was the last day of school for the seniors this year, of course they will still be at school for graduation practice, but classes are done for them.

I have a class of all seniors this year and we took our final on Monday, so that gave us 3 days of "extra time". So instead of throwing parties or letting them screw around for 3 days straight I had them watch some of the best episodes of Scrubs. These are the ones we watched, funny thing is that these are considered some of the best episodes, and for good reason. You can click the link to watch the full episodes on youtube or just watch the clips.

My Old Lady


My Five Stages


My Screw Up


My Lunch


My Fallen Idol


My Finale (not on Youtube...sorry)


All great episodes. By the time we hit today and watched My Finale, the students were tearing up and crying because of course My Finale is about JD leaving Sacred Heart and the students are leaving school. Believe it or not, a couple were able to see the reason for me choosing that as the last episode to show them.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Two Starbucks

Where was I when this photo came out? I am a huge Battlestar Galactica fan...seriously huge. The new show was great and hopefully the latest spin off Blood & Chrome will be solid as well...hopefully a little bit faster pace than Caprica.

Anyway, apparently this was taken before the new show aired.  The man on the left was the original Starbuck.  The girl on the left, the new Starbuck.  You read that correctly, they changed the sex of one of the two main characters.  Anyway, Dirk Benedict played nice for the promo tour, but then ripped the show when it aired.  I knew he didn't like the new show, which is why I freaked out when I thought this was a current photo and not an 8 year old one.

The original Starbuck was one of my favorite characters of all time, so to turn him into a her pissed me off a bit.  However, much like the new Star Trek movie, if you are able to forget everything you remembered about the original show then the new one was actually pretty good.  I always hoped Dirk would find his way back to Galactica like Richard Hatch did, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Voltron Force

Ahh the 80's. Gotta love em. One of my favorite shows growing up was Voltron. It was awesome. 5 giant lion robots that can transform and connect into one giant robot...with a freakin' blazing sword!! It was awesome. It ranked up their with G-Force (Battle of the Planets) in terms of coolness.

But like Thundercats, the powers that be want to update it. Now this was done once before and it didn't go so well. So maybe this time is different? Apparently the show takes place about 10 years after the original show and there are new cadets...really? Are they really necessary? Anyway here is the first look at the show.

What was that? That animation is something you see on a Flash animation site or worse yet the Nintendo CD-i! This looks bad...really really bad.

Maybe Thundercats will be better.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Storage War$

I really don’t like reality tv. I mean the first 2 season of The Real World were good and a couple of other reality shows were ok, but for the most part it’s a bunch of wanna-be’s trying to whore themselves out for fame. On top of that, you don’t know if the show is really “real” or if it is scripted and filmed, I’m looking at you The Hills.

Well all of this leads me to my favorite new show, Storage War$. Basically, the show follows around 4 different guys who go to storage businesses and bid on storage lockers that haven’t been paid, so they are put up for auction. Probably the most famous story of these kinds of storage units is when Paris Hilton’s “movies” were found in a unit that she stopped paying on and were put online.

The show is really suspenseful to watch. They have a few minutes to look into the unit from the outside; they can’t go in or move items around. And then comes the bidding. I love this part, especially the interaction between the regulars. Dave is the pro and has a store where he sells all the stuff he finds. Jarod and his wife/girlfriend are the newbies. They make mistakes and usually end up getting nothing because the price goes too high. Darrell is one of my favorites because he is pretty impulsive and is willing to take chances. The last guy they follow is Barry. He is different from the rest because he is looking for collectibles in the lockers; he isn’t looking to resell the whole thing. Barry usually ends up losing money because he is constantly looking for that “homerun find”, unlike the others who are trying to make profit on each buy

After the bidding, they go in and look at what they got. Some lockers are full of great items, like memorabilia or antiques. Others are full of clothes and trash. It is interesting to see what people put into storage units. Dave purchased a locker for $200 and it had newspapers from the day of Elvis’ death and were worth at least $10 each and he had about 6,000 copies. He could make over $60,000 on that locker. Darrel got a crap locker for $175, but found a medical tool used in the early 1800’s that caused bleeding, it was valued over $400.

There is another show called Auction Hunters which follows a team and it is basically the same show except they go into more detail of selling the items after they get the lockers. I have seen 2 episodes and while it is good, the lack of other “cast members” hurts because there is no interaction between other bidders.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: If Only...

...they ended Scrubs with season 8 and called season 9 something else.

Scrubs was a great show, make no mistake about it. The writing was quick, the acting was superb, and there were so many twists that you didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Season 8 was the first season on ABC and towards the end of the season it was almost a guarantee that Scrubs was done. So what did they do? Simply make possibly the best series finale episode ever! I talked about it after it aired here. Just watch the final scenes, if you were a fan of Scrubs there is now way you could watch this without getting a little teary eyed.

JD finally hearing Dr. Cox share his feelings about him;


JD remembering the people of Sacred Heart;


Finally, JD's vision of the future;


Freakin awesome stuff there. That's how you end a show. The music, the projection of his future on his face and camera work...perfect. I would be hard pressed to come up with a better series finale. Well, as I mentioned before, Scrubs continued on for one more season...unfortunately.

Season 9 had it's moments, but when you watch that and then watch something like this;

oh man...how bad was that? Seriously, moving to a med school? Just call it something else. Not Scrubs. There was no JD after 6 episodes, no Carla, no Janitor, no Ted, no Todd (besides bit parts), no Kelso (for the most part), not a lot of Elliot, no Keith...just Turk and Cox. Cox changed right away by taking a protege, which went against everything we knew about him for 8 seasons.

The new doctors weren't too bad. Cole was probably the funniest just cause he was so out there. Drew was a combination of JD (sensitive) and Cox (sense of humor & attitude). Lucy was the new JD, but she was more of an annoying Elliot. Jo was a leftover from season 8 and she was solid in her role.

Could this have made it as a different show? Who knows. But more than anything it sort of tarnished the previous 8 seasons of Scrubs. It lacked so much of what we had come to love, but taken by itself it isn't too bad. So my recommendation? Watch it, but forget everything you loved about Scrubs and expected to see again. Kind of like Battlestar Galactica, the new one was good, but you first had to forget everything about the original.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: New Season of SW: The Clone Wars

I talked about this a couple of weeks back after this trailer was released.

It looked good...especially the ending. But 2 episodes in, I'm not really feeling it. I know this was supposed to be a movie (1st 3 episodes) and seen together. However, being that we have to wait a week in between each episode it makes the whole story feel disjointed. The story is slow to develop and the Jedi have only been seen in the first episode for a few minutes. Other than that it has been all Dooku and Asajj Ventress.

The plot is nice to see the Emperor realizing Dooku is trying to overthrow him, so he orders Dooku to kill Asajj. And in turn Dooku gets a new apprentice who seems to be pretty bad ass himself.

I feel like I am in the minority because I like The Clone Wars. It's a great concept to tell all of the stories from the Clone Wars. You can see the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin develop and makes the battle in Episode II & Episode IV actually mean something.

I wish that they would do something similar to this except make it between Episode III & IV. I know they are planning a live action series, but I think that the CGI is so good. There are just so many places to screw up with live action.

There is still part 3 of this "movie" so I am still hoping for something big. And I will probably watch it again when CN puts them back to back to back. Oh well I'll update this post in a week.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Outsourced

A new show? What is this madness?

Yes, I have found a new sitcom, Outsourced. Not a typical one, but one that I absolutely love. Outsourced is a show about a call center in India. An American supervisor is shipped off to India where he works in a call center for adult novelty products.

The cast is very different because it isn't made up of your typical white run of the mill actors. In fact, there are a total of 3 white characters (one who is Australian) and the rest are Indians (not Native American Indians...the ones from India). By the way, that joke in itself is played out during an episode on Thanksgiving.

There is great character development between the lead Todd and one of the operators, Asha. There is a some chemistry there, but nothing can happen because her parents have her in an arranged marriage. Add on that, the Australian female is attracted to Todd and will do anything to get his attention...yes anything. The cast just works. They are your stereotypical office characters, but since they aren't American it seems fresh and original.

Some people have knocked the show for being racist or insensitive, but those people need to lighten up and realize it's a sitcom (situational comedy). These are the same people that forced Vince Vaughn's movie to change the trailer because he said electric cars were gay.

I don't know how long this show will be around. Probably not long. Check it out. It's pretty funny. Check out the preview below.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Star Wars - The Clone Wars

I will do a longer write up on how great this show is becoming, but the trailer that just came out yesterday for the second half of the season looks awesome.

Basically the show tells all the stories of the Clone Wars in between Episode 2 & 3. It's nice because you can see how close Obi-Wan and Anakin really were. They threw in a little girl Jedi Ahsoka for kids to watch, but they have taken her character in a whole new direction it looks like.

Are you kidding me? Making her turn to the dark side? This series is becoming better than Episode 1 (minus the last lightsaber battle) and most of Episode 2. I can't wait for January.

Time for Change: Bye DirecTv

I have been using DirecTv for almost 10 years now and can't complain about the service at all. Sure they pushed me out of my Tivo box, but the channel selection was always great and picture quality was always up there as well. So why did I switch to cable? Money. Bottom line is I am looking to save some money. With cable taking over as my TV and internet, I will be saving about $40 a month.

I thought I wouldn't be losing any channels, but the main one I lost was Cartoon Network HD. How can I watch Star Wars The Clone Wars in SD after 2 seasons of HD? CN HD is in Los Angeles so hopefully it will make it's way towards me soon.

As far as the internet is concerned, I was at 3MBPS and now I am at 30MBPS. Yeah that's not too bad.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Bill O'Reilly vs. Jon Stewart

These two are on total opposites of the political spectrum, but putting them together is gold. This is their second time together and I found myself laughing the whole time. On The Factor, there wasn't much political talk, but on The Daily Show there was some. And you can see that both O'Reilly and Stewart want whats best for the country...it's how they want to get there that differs. Anyway, enjoy the videos, they are great. First, The Factor (because Stewart was on first) then The Daily Show.





The Daily Show, from Monday night.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bill O'Reilly
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Tirades of Truth: Phineas and Ferb - Summer Belongs to You

So I have already talked about this classic show awhile back, but this was only their second hour long episode, Christmas special being the first. Most episodes are 15 minutes long, expect for a few which have run 30 minutes. You can tell you are watching a good show when you don't realize you have been watching for an hour. In fact, I was watching the clock wishing it was even longer. So much to talk about, but I will just do some bullet pros/cons.


Pros:

• hour long (duh), but it didn't feel like the story would be out of place for a normal episode.
• watching Doofenshmirtz interact with Major Monogram
• Vanessa joining the gang for most of the trip
• Candace and Vanessa talking about Ferb's name
• Perry, Major Monogram, and Doofenshmirtz teaming up to find Vanessa
• O.W.C.A., classic
• JPop song with the cast drawn in anime was hilarious
• watching Phineas give up. Seems simple, but it was really well done to watch him sort of break down and give up.
• Isabella motivating him to get up and find a way out

Cons:

• Clay Aiken and Chaka Khan was kind of stupid, but it was nice that they kept referring back to it since Candace wasn't there
• Rubber Band song was too long
• Candace becoming Jeremy's girlfriend, not too bad but wasn't necessary
• poor Isabella

All in all a great episode. It's hard to list cons because it was so well done. I am looking forward to the next special/movie where Phineas and Ferb discover Perry is a secret agent and have to help him out. Sounds awesome!

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: The Soup - Gay Shows

A couple of weeks ago I talked about a spin off from The Soup, The Dish. In it I said that there were times that The Dish was better than The Soup. Now, first off remember I am a huge fan of The Soup. It's one of a handful of shows that I need to see every week (I think a list is in order this week).

One thing that makes this show for me lately is there Gay Shows segment. The intro is incredible. I thought it would be a one time thing for skater Johnny Weir's show, but since Ru Paul has had 3 drag queen shows they use it for that. This is easily the best intro for any segment on either The Soup or The Dish. Just watch Joel McHale's reaction after seeing it the first time...




Classic...so many manly things in here and then the announcer's motocross voice-over = great!

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: The Dish

This really isn't a new show for me, I have been watching it for over a year now, but it is probably one of the best clip shows out there right now. In fact, some weeks it is better than The Soup.




The Dish is a spin-off type show from The Soup. A few years ago they did a whole bunch of spin offs, Web Soup, Sport Soup...and The Dish. What makes this one different from the other flops? The host. Much like The Soup's success has always been the host, Joel McHale (and Greg Kinnear from Talk Soup), The Dish has a great host in Danielle Fishelle. If that name sounds a little familiar it should, she was Topanga on Boy Meets World.



I think it is this acting background that makes her a better host than the other guys and an equal to Joel or Kinnear. She can do the skits really well (see the clips) and she can introduce clips with ease.




The show took awhile to get going and was kind of rough at the beginning. Like The Soup there are regular segments which has really made this show work. Plus, like The Soup, actors and actresses are stopping by for quick little segments.




Bottom line, if you like The Soup, give this a try. It might take a couple of weeks to fall in love with it, but you will.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: The Kilborn File

Most of you have probably heard of The Daily Show, but what some of you probably don't know is that Jon Stewart was not the original host. That honor belongs to Craig Kilborn. My senior year in high school I was addicted to Sportscenter. Watching it as I went to bed with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann and waking up to Craig Kilborn and Stewart Scott. Those four anchors made ESPN what it is today.

Craig eventually left ESPN for cable TV, specifically Comedy Central. He would go onto host The Daily Show for 3 years before getting a bigger job as the Late, Late Show host following Letterman. The Daily Show was great during Kilborn's time. It wasn't political like it is now. It was like SNL's Weekend Update. The segments were great and the interviews were memorable. I still remember Keith Olbermann coming on the show doing an interview (where he bad-mouthed ESPN) and then getting suspended for a week because of it. The best part of his interviews was 5 questions. It was just that, 5 trivia type questions for the celebrities.

After he left, I actually watched some of Jon Stewart's version. I remember his first week when he did his interviews he started with 5 questions and everyday would take one question away, until they were all gone after one week. I rarely watched it after that first week.

I'm not one to stay up late to watch Leno or Letterman, so staying up after that to watch Kilborn wasn't an option...until TIVO. The Late, Late Show was pretty similar to The Daily Show except that the news segments were gone. The headlines and 5 questions were still there, but the missing news segments kind of ruined it. The show was an hour which was nice, but sometimes it dragged on. Besides by then I was recording Jimmie Kimmel's show which was better (sorry Craig).

It had to be like a month after I got TIVO that Kilborn announced he was leaving tv again. I was pissed to say the least. Kilborn has a sharp sense of humor and is very sarcastic. He plays this arrogant person and plays it up well.

So I was shocked and happy to hear about his new show, The Kilborn File. It has a 6 week test period to see if it will go national and continue on. It is more like his Late, Late Show than The Daily Show. In fact, the set looks almost identical to his LLS set. But it is only 30 minutes, so it has that Daily Show feel to it. I have enjoyed watching Kilborn again and hope that this thing continues on. The timeslot might not be the best (6:30 PM here in CA), but my fingers are crossed.

So some pros and cons;
Pros:

• headlines are still there
• 5 questions as well
• new segments like Power Panel and Speed News
• 30 minutes

Cons

• side-kick in Christine Lakin
• no dance, dance Friday (hopefully this will change)
• no news segments (though the show flows very well without them)

Like I said, this show needs to make it. Watch some clips HERE.

The Sun Always Shines of T.V.: Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice

Ok, I think everyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows that my favorite doctor show was Scrubs. Well I might have to make room for at least one more maybe two. I like my shows to be on the more light-hearted side of things and these two aren't most of the time.

I won't go into a deep description of either of these shows because they are pretty well known, Grey's Anatomy wrapping up their 6 season and Private Practice their 3rd. In fact, I don't even know some of the characters names still. I got into these shows through my wife. She was/is a big fan of G.A. Then P.P. spun off of that show.

I will say that these shows have some top notch writing. I can't tell you the number of times I have been passing through the room and catch about a minute of the show and I am hooked for the next hour.

The season finale for G.A. is a perfect example of this. I just came in from working out and was heading for the shower. It was 9:10 and I was tired and had to get up early for work. I asked my wife how her show was going and she said great. I turned and within a minute I was in. It was a 2 hour finale and I didn't even make it to the shower until 11:00...and we have Tivo! A couple of the minor characters get annoying, but out of a cast of 10+, I can put up with a few duds.

On a side note, the finale I saw last night was probably the best episode I have seen from this show, and I saw last years finale as well.

Private Practice is the same way. Watch a second...hooked. Both shows do something that more shows should do. They have the teaser 2-3 minute intro then the opening credits (which is nothing more than the titles you see above) and then the show is back on for the next 10 minutes. This is huge. In a world of Tivo and channel surfing, if a show can get you to watch 10 consectutive minutes, they have won.

Finally, the season finale of P.P. was a shocker as well, who saw Del dying after his wife blew up this season. Don't feel too bad for her though, she was a meth addict and the explosion almost killed thier daughter.

That's it of this one. I have been watching these shows for awhile now and can't believe that whenever I watch just a few moments of the show I can't stop watching until it is over.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Spectacular Spider-Man over?

This is not a fun post. I am a big fan of The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. I thought it was going to be a horrible show, but then it turned out to easily be Marvel's best cartoon to date. I praised it for it's great writing and sticking to classic story lines. All I was waiting for the green light on season 3. Well it looks like that isn't going to happen.

Today Marvel announced a new Spider-Man cartoon, Ultimate Spider-Man. This one will be based off of the comic set in the "Ultimate" universe. It follows Spidey in high school, which is exactly where Spectacular Spider-Man is set. So I was hoping if the voices and writers would come back it would be good. Like a continuation ala Justice League Unlimited. But then I read this;

"Ultimate Spider-Man will be a unique journey exploring our favorite web-slinger as he teams up with other fan favorite Marvel Super Heroes in never before seen stories with a new life filled with great challenges, new friends, intense action and character growth," said Eric S. Rollman, President of Marvel Animation.

Sounds like it could end up like Batman: Brave and the Bold. Ugh! This sucks. While no official word has ever come out, this seems like it for Marvel's best animated show ever.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: South Park

*If satire and going to the extreme to prove a point offends you...don't go on! This post might be offensive to some, read on at your own risk*



When you say the name South Park, you usually get some kind of reaction. It's either positive or negative, it's rare to find someone who doesn't really have an opinion about the show. It's been on since 1997. The show centers around 4 boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. I will be the first to admit, I couldn't stand the show when it came out. It seemed immature and stupid, to put it mildly. I think it was sometime during the fourth season that I saw the show. Trevor, from UPS, told me about it and I told him it was stupid and he convinced to watch an episode. So I tuned in and watched one that week.

When I first watched the episode, I thought it was about a small gerbil named Lemmiwinks, who is put up a gay man's anus, and his journey to escape to live again. It was a pretty funny episode. But after it was all over, I saw a bigger picture. The subplot involved the 4th grade teacher, who was fired for being gay. He got his job back and found out that if he is fired again he could sue on grounds of discrimination. So he decides to go "over the top" with his being gay so he will be fired. This includes him putting the gerbil in his T.A.'s anus (who is called Mr. Slave). The boys tell their parents about it, but are told they aren't being tolerant of his life style. The boys are sent to a tolerance camp (which looked like a concentration camp). In the end, the teacher goes off on an audience for not knowing the difference between tolerance and acceptance. A couple clips from that episode are below.

Museum of Tolerance (watch til the end for the irony)

Tolerance vs. Acceptance


I then realized that this show had some hidden conservative values built into it. They go about it in strange ways...to the extreme to get their point across. It turns out that there are a group of younger age conservatives that call themselves South Park Republicans.

They mock everyone, if you are sensitive or offended don't watch the show. I can list tons of examples, but I will focus on a few of my favorites.

Here is their take on Christmas. In South Park, Jesus is a real person who walks the Earth still. Cartman decides to try and give Christmas to Iraqis. So Santa goes in and gets shot down (like Black Hawk Down). The boys get Jesus to help save Santa. In the process the Iraqis kill Jesus. Leading to this clip...

Santa proclaiming Christmas is a time to remember Jesus

They even hit global warming a couple of times. This is my favorite clip showing just how over the top global warming enthusiasts are.

Global Warming Theory

When the economy was spinning out of control in 2008 & 2009, South Park took it on. Ever wondered how the government decided who was bailed out and who wasn't? This is their take on it.

Bailout

They took on Paris Hilton and how the media made her into a role model. In the end, Mr. Slave tells parents that they need to be the one to be role models for their children.

Mr. Slave's parenting advice

Possibly my favorite episode, politically, is Goobacks. It's about people who come from the future to look for jobs because in the future their are none. They can work for low wages because they can put it in a bank account and let it grow because of interest it will be worth a lot in the future. This is a total take off of illegal immigration, even down to the language being spoke. Classic moment here...

The O'Reilly Factor

There are a ton more and you can read about it HERE. They also have EVERY episode online to watch for free, HERE. This is a smart show, but it can offend easily. No one is safe from their "humor". And being that they can make an episode in 2 days, it is usually very "on-topic".

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Enchanted

Ok so when you have a little girl you tend to watch things you normally wouldn't, Enchanted is one of those things. Enchanted is a movie about a princess from a Disney-type fairy tale land (ironic that this is a Disney movie) that gets transported to New York. At first I thought it was that horrible Drew Barrymore remake of Cinderella.

I won't spoil too much of the movie, even though it was released in 2007. I will talk a little bit about what makes this movie work. The first thing I noticed was the constant nods to earlier Disney princess movies. Literally, the movie starts like all the others with the book opening up and pages turning. A couple of others that stuck out was the obvious storyline that matched Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, with some moments from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Look at all of those classic movies they worked into it! Impressive...most impressive. Some of my favorites I picked up on after the book

• Happy Working Song is a play on Whistle While You Work
• Poison apples...duh Snow White
• Evil Queen turns into dragon from Sleeping Beauty

Now when I see a good movie, I like to research it a bit on Wikipedia and other sites. There are so many references to other Disney movies that Wikipedia has its own page for them HERE. The director said there are 1000's of hidden allusions to Disney movies. What I found out was that it just wasn't storyline or songs, but actual filming of a scene and camera angles. Some hidden gems that I appreciated after reading the list

• Jodi Benson (voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid) plays Patrick Dempsey's secretary
• The last name of Patrick Dempsey's girlfriend is Tremaine, which is the last name of Cinderella's step mom
• Every character in the background named is named after voice actors or artists/directors of the original Disney princess movies
• My favorite: during a scene in Patrick Dempsey's office there is a fish tank and Part of Your World is played in the background...awesome!

Here's a quick video of some allusions;

The story makes this movie an instant Disney classic. Patrick Dempsey is fantastic in his role as a realistic lawyer. Amy Adams brings every Disney princess that you saw growing up to life on screen. It really is magical to see her act. The songs are catchy as well. They rank up there with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. That's How You Know is my favorite one...I admit it. Patrick Dempsey's character has the great line when someone starts singing the song..."he's knows this song too?" "I've never even heard this song?"

A couple of things in the video above, my wife realized right away this was an allusion to The Little Mermaid because of the Jamaican song, but there is a bigger one in the song! The only time in the song when the Jamaican man is singing lead and Amy Adams isn't, they are in the lake rowing a boat...like in The Little Mermaid when Sebastian is singing to Ariel and Eric. Seriously, that's just impressive.

When Giselle is running over the hill, at first I thought it was a reference to The Sound of Music, but then I forgot Belle did the same thing in Beauty and the Beast.

How about the reference to an animated movie Disney is working on? That's right, when Giselle is singing in the tower with Rapunzel it is a reference to the animated movie coming out later this year. Remember it takes a long time to make an animated movie, and in 2007 they green lit the project. On a related side note, there is reference to The Princess and the Frog. In the beginning of the movie a frog falls in a bucket of soapy water and comes out with a crown on his head. Two references that didn't make that much sense for 3 years!!! Amazing.

Finally, some of the elderly people dancing in the park were dancers in Mary Poppins!!

There is tons more I could go into, but I will stop here. This is one of my favorite movies right now and probably will be for years to come. Great acting, excellent writing, including references to past movies...how can you go wrong? Definitely a great movie for a family night or date night.

If you want to see more, including some side by side photos, check out this page from FilmSchoolRejects.