thenullcorporation Reviews

My Adventures in Television (2002)

Like "The Office" but for folks having an IQ 30 points higher.

[15 April 2006]

Funny in an edgy, biting way; the way you don't want to admit to bumping into in your otherwise dull and dreary life. Not as disquieting as Eraserhead, but not as deep either. No hidden symbolism, no Kafkaesque allegory here. In fact it shows the shallowness of its characters all too well in crisp reality.

To say that John Cleese was wasted in "Death Be Not Preempted Toight" is to have missed the whole damned point! If you loved Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka more than Dahl's original, don't make the effort to find this respite from feel good comedy.

If you prefer Schweppe's Bitter Lemon over Lemon Dry then hunt down these few tasty morsels.

Turn-on (1969– )

Different, creative...and annoying

[18 February 2006]

I was a teenager in the Los Angeles area when it aired in its entirety.

It was heavily promoted (hyped) and being rebellious I had to watch. My parents were not upset but more stunned. As in, "What the...." A blend of topical humor of Laugh-In infused with the DNA of Ernie Kovacs led to a bad reaction -- the grafting did not take and resulted in chaos and convulsions. And not convulsions of laughter. It was not offensive, just alien. I was irritated by the continuous drumming or scatting or some annoying audio underlay that was more annoying that a continuous laugh track.

Creative is was. Entertaining it was not...unless you find train wrecks entertaining. Glad it was archived. Oddly, one of the few details I recall was that Sebastian Cabot was going to be the guest host the next week. I pondered if he knew what he was getting himself into.