flightoftheconchords

'United States of Tara'
(Sun., 10PM, Showtime) series premiere
When Tara (Toni Collette) isn't quite feeling like herself, she does what any other housewife would do ... if that housewife also had dissociative identity disorder.

When being Tara becomes too stressful, Tara switches to one of her alternative personalities, namely T, a wild, pot-smoking teen; Alice, an old-fashioned housewife; and Buck, a beer-guzzlin', motorcycle-ridin' dude.

Tara's family is constantly dealing with the fallout of her switcheroos in this Steven Spielberg-created comedy (which was developed by 'Juno' Oscar winner Diablo Cody), and some of the funniest moments come when her husband (John Corbett) and kids adapt their personalities to appease one of hers.

How hard is it to write a Flight of the Conchords song, really? I wrote one just now:

"Look at you pretty lady
You make me mess like a baby
Your sexiness doesn't even stop
For the crosswalk or for the cops
It runs right over that crime scene
Screwin' with forensic science and makin' me scream
Oh, oh, oh-oh,
You're gonna bulldoze that 60-story office building that survived four earthquakes and some really strong winds
With your super sexy sexiness, lady."

Yeah, I know, it's bad, but it would probably sound funny over some video of Bret and Jemaine making obscene gyrating motions on the streets of New York City. Just picture it.

My apologies to Flight of the Conchords. Being a heterosexual dude, I'm not too turned on by the Hasselhoff-eclipsing manliness Bret and Jemaine have apparently been hiding under all that hipster garb. I do applaud the duo for doing this photo shoot, though. They've shattered the idea that all city-dwelling indie dudes have to look like Conor Oberst. Now I can show off my TV on the Radio T-shirt and my awesome biceps with pride.

Yes, these are the actual covers of the latest issue of Time Out New York and not some obsessive fan girl's Photoshop fantasy (unless the Time Out page designer is an obsessive FotC fan girl). I was already excited about the Conchords return to HBO, and now this has me counting the days until their show premieres on January 18. I do have one question, though: Why no topless Murray?

It looks like the Flight of the Conchords premiere shown exclusively online at FunnyOrDie.com and HBO.com drew 250,000 views in the first 10 days. The article doesn't say whether or not that represents unique views or the same person viewing it 250,000 times (where was Kristen Schaal during the past 10 days?), but it likely was the former.

It says a lot about the power of online buzz, given that the last season premiere had only 100,000 views (before Flight of the Conchords had mainstream popularity in the States). Fans like me have waited two years for the next season (which, I understand, was held up because the duo was busy writing new songs for the second season), and it was nice to be able to watch the premiere online in advance of its initial television broadcast. Other networks should follow HBO's pattern to generate buzz for their programming.

I received a couple of their albums for the holidays (better late than never). My favorite song of theirs is "Bowie".

Let's just forget that drab fall TV season ever happened and prepare for the stellar lineup ahead.

Follow our midseason guide to find out what happened -- and what's going to happen -- on '24,' 'Battlestar,' 'Scrubs' and all your returning favorites.

If you are anything like me, then you have been dying to see the second season of Flight of the Conchords since the last credits rolled. I was starting to doubt my ability to make it until January, when Bret and Jemaine officially return to HBO, so thank goodness for the lovely folks at FunnyOrDie.com.

The website will be premiering FotC's first episode on Wednesday, December 17th at 12:00 p.m. EST, just in time to keep me from doing something terribly illegal and breaking and entering some place to hunt down the new episodes myself. Make sure you start watching the episode as soon as you can, because it will be up for only four days. That means if you budget your time like a hardcore fan should, forty-eight viewings can be squeezed out of that time frame. I know, I know: "Forty-eight viewings only?"

To ease the pain and hold you over those two and a half weeks, click after the jump and check out some of the promos that have been airing on HBO.

Bad news, Flight of the Conchords fans. It looks like the upcoming season of their HBO show will be the end. The boys, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, have confirmed that they've been having trouble making the second season, struggling with making new music and sitting around with a lot of half-songs, "an album's worth of beginnings of songs." Sure, sure, they deserve to take it easy, especially after bringing us twelve episodes of goodness, but can fans really help but feel brokenhearted? Commence full body-shaking sobbing.

If there were a way to completely stop people on the Internet from saying, "Why do you keep watching this? Saturday Night Live hasn't been good since the days of Gildaphil Belushikroyd Normfeyrrell!", I would punch that button (or that person). Thinking a little more optimistically, there can always be better days ahead, for SNL is forever renewable, with an ever changing cast and crew. The thing that gets the fastest turn-over is the host, who has the opportunity to bring something new and exciting from week to week.

Now that the so-so 33rd season is over, I like to pretend everyone at SNL has kicked aside all the beach time and BBQ invites to plan something exciting for their return. Picking good hosts is an important part of having a successful season, so I've compiled my own list of nine people that must host, just in case SNL decides to re-work the entire show based on blog responses. I'm just covering all my bases, all right?

%Gallery-23166%

This fan post from Oh No They Didn't! contains two super-sneaky clips of new songs from Flight of the Conchords' recent Milwaukee tour stop. The audio isn't top-notch, obviously, what with all the audience laughter, echo-y acoustics, and the overwhelming roar of girls everywhere doing that thing where they take off their bra under their shirt and then fling it on the stage. Chick magnets, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are. Anyway, we still have a long while to wait before their self-titled HBO show returns for a second season. Perhaps we can give a listen to this new material and start thinking about what January 2009 will bring.

In recent weeks, TV Squad has reported that HBO has made episodes of their new drama series In Treatment available for free viewing online. Now, HBO has taken another step in expanding its brand and making some of their top shows available on the web. The cable channel has just inked a deal with YouTube to create an HBO channel online. The HBO/YouTube site is up and running -- you can click over there today and start catching up on HBO series.

The initial line up is impressive, starting with the Gabriel Byrne drama In Treatment. You can also catch up with Entourage episodes, which are always fun. There are more laughs with Flight of the Conchords, Extras, Stand Up Comedy, Def Comedy Jam, and Real Time With Bill Maher. On the dramatic front, there's The Wire. In addition, you can watch episodes of the award-winning magazine show Real Sports, as well as the Latino documentary series Habla y Habla.

I was going to write a long, elaborate intro about how excited I am that it's a new year, but I decided to make this image instead. Look out, Alec and Tina! There's a weeping angel behind you! And check out how Heidi is super excited to be with the not-so-excited guys from Flight of the Conchords. And it looks like David Anders enjoys speaking in big speech bubbles. No, I'm not still buzzed from New Year's Eve, I just have a little too much fun in Photoshop. However, I'm sure some of you are still somehow hungover from celebrating days and days ago, so let's jump right in...

Over the past few weeks, my quiet adoration for Flight of the Conchords and their HBO show has quickly spiraled into something dangerously close to rabid fanaticism. This transformation is marked by my sudden desire -- nay, my sudden need -- to listen to and watch all that the boys have ever done, and then take screencaptures of everything and then use those screencaptures in Photoshop to make little 100 x 100 avatars so that I can share my love with other fans on Flight of the Conchords forums and message boards. However, I'm glad to say that I'm not quite there yet, because my self-control has helped me contain my creepiness to a certain extent. That said, I do have a PSD file of screencaptures of the last episode on my Desktop right now. I'm just saying.

Okay, enough story time, because I have some good stuff to share...

• The Andy Griffith Show marathon continues on TV Land all night.
• At 7, NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline.
• At 8, CBS has a new Big Brother.
• Side Order of Life debuts on Lifetime at 8, followed by the debut of State of Mind and a new Army Wives.
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• USA has a new episode of The 4400 at 9, then a new Dead Zone.
• The ESPY Awards air on ESPN at 9.
• Also at 9: HBO has a new John From Cincinnati, followed by new episodes of Entourage and Flight of the Conchords.
• At 10, VH-1 has a new Gene Simmons Family Jewels.
• Food Network has a new Next Food Network Star at 10.
• Showtime has a new Meadowlands at 10 (repeated at 11).
• At 11:45, Cartoon Network has a new Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law.

Check your local TV listings for more.

I usually loathe the summer television season because everyday is like Sunday: there's nothing good on. Actually, I believe that's what Morrissey meant when he wrote "Everyday Is Like Sunday". Save for a few shows, my summer programming is erratic and I don't follow anything religiously. Sometimes I'm so bored by summer shows, I'll -- dare I say it -- turn off the television. Then I sit around and daydream about the new Harry Potter book or something. Yes. Summer TV is that bad. However, there are a few things that I'm currently looking forward to -- and not all of them are re-runs.

Had I known that television shows were just going to premiere all their pilots online well before their air dates, I wouldn't have had to move all the way to Los Angeles for the insider privilege. But, we, the internet savvy, are being rewarded for our pop culture geekitude with such treats as HBO's online premiere of Flight of the Conchords over a month before its broadcast on June 17th at 10:30PM. You can watch New Zealand's "fourth most popular folk parody duo" in their stateside series debut on the show's MySpace site or, starting Monday, at HBO.com.