Ivan's Blog

Featuring Ivan Trembow's Self-Important, Random Rants on Mixed Martial Arts, Video Games, Pro Wrestling, Television, Politics, Sports, and High-Quality Wool Socks



Wednesday, September 18, 2002
 
Television--- Logic should tell me, "In the likely case that they didn't think it was funny the first time you told the 'conjoined twin fetus' joke, odds are they're not going to find it funny the third time." Well, that's why we don't listen to "logic" here at Ivan's Blog. So, without further ado, here are a few cable shows that I highly recommend to every man, woman, child, and conjoined twin fetus. HBO's series will be included in a separate update at a later date just because there are so damn many of them.

-The Osbournes on MTV- a new season of 10-20 episodes will start airing in fall or winter
No show in the past decade has seen its ratings increase by so much, so quickly, and on a such a regular basis. You would be hard-pressed to find a more unintentionally hilarious show on television than the first season of The Osbournes. The second season could take on a much different tone due to its coverage of Sharon Osbourne's fight with cancer. I expect the second season to still have its funny moments while also being much more emotional than the first. MTV has ordered 20 more episodes of the series, but there are conflicting reports as to whether all 20 episodes are part of Season Two, or whether ten episodes are for Season Two and ten are for a separate season. Also, the official premiere date for the second season is still "fall," but TV trade papers report that it could easily slip to winter.

-Crank Yankers on Comedy Central- a new season of 20 episodes will start airing in early 2003
Comedy Central was quick to renew this series after the rousing success of the first season. As you might expect, some of the prank phone calls are funnier than others, but the truly hilarious ones are in no short supply and make it well worth sitting through the not-so-hilarious ones.

-Primetime Glick on Comedy Central- a new season of 10 episodes will start airing in early 2003
Now that Family Guy has been cancelled by Fox, Primetime Glick and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm are the funniest shows on TV in my opinion. The line where Martin Short ends and Jiminy Glick begins is becoming more and more blurred with each passing episode and season, and that can only be a good thing. Unfortunately, this might be the last season of Glick for a while because Martin Short is going to be performing on Broadway for several months starting in the spring of 2003. On the bright side, there is a movie in production about Jiminy Glick, starring Martin Short as Jiminy Glick, called "Lalawood."

-South Park on Comedy Central- a new season of 3-6 episodes will start airing on November 6, 2002
It may not be considered "cool" to watch South Park like it used to be, but that's not why I started watching the show in the first place. The last few seasons have been so much deeper and funnier than the first few, with the creators' social commentary on a wide variety of issues shining through while also retaining the same sense of hilarity. Still, Trey Parker and Matt Stone should not underestimate how many viewers they have lost due to the frustrating season schedule, which for the past couple years has been "new episodes for a few weeks, repeats for several months, and so on." The current contract for South Park expires in August 2003, and the creators could very well decide to hang it up at that time.

-The Anna Nicole Show on E- the current season of 13 episodes is currently scheduled to end on October 27
This reality show is so unintentionally hilarious in so many ways that you can't afford to miss an episode. Ratings have gone down slightly since the record-breaking series premiere, but it's still a break-out hit for "E" any way you look at it. In a move that will pay off huge for E financially, they secured a total of up to seven seasons of The Anna Nicole Show before the first episode ever aired. This means that they can bring it back for more seasons without having to give the stars of the show a huge raise like MTV had to do with the Osbournes.

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