monty python
What to watch on Thanksgiving Day - A guide for geeks

Care more about tribbles than touchdowns? Don't sweat it. From sci-fi favorites to Batman biographies, there's tons of geeky stuff to watch on TV before and after you've had your turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Check out these suggestions (SciFi Channel's James Bond marathon was excluded due to its unhealthy amount of Pierce Brosnan).
Update: Check out Bob's list for more Thanksgiving Day viewing options.
6:15 a.m. (Eastern), Solaris (IFC) – I only recommend watching Andrei Tarkovsky's meditative sci-fi classic this early if you've stayed up all night basting a bird. It's sure to put you right to sleep and give you some crazy dreams.
6:30 a.m., Planet of the Apes (FMC) – Prepare for Turkey Day by watching Charlton Heston give evolution (that cruel joker) a one-two punch in the face. Followed by a documentary about the POTA movies and several episodes of the 1974 TV series.
7 a.m., Angel "Offspring" (TNT) – Darla shows up preggers on Angel's doorstep in this tense season three ep, written by co-creator David Greenwalt.
8 a.m., Biography: Batman (Biography Channel) – Adam West and Burt Ward guide you through a look back at the 60s Batman TV show. Followed by Adam West: Behind the Cowl and bios of Catwoman and Wonder Woman Lynda Carter. Holy awesomeness, Batman!
Monty Python finally does something with this YouTube stuff - VIDEOS
Hey, want to know something super-sad? For most of seventh grade, I came home every day from school and, before doing anything else, watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail from beginning to end. I also spent a great deal of middle school reading everything I could about the troupe, filling my brain with pointless trivia about Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" and Spam.This not only caused me to develop a type of hardcore social awkwardness that was extremely rare outside of the 70s and 80s, but forever instilled in me a deep love for Monty Python. Since the boys are very busy with their individual projects these days, it's a thrill to see any new Python stuff to come around, even when it's in the form of an extra-short YouTube clip and they're never actually shown to be in the same room together.
New TV on DVD releases this week
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.I know we all have our favorite shows that we buy on DVD, but I can't understand how anyone - anyone - would want to buy Gene Simmons' Family Jewels on DVD. Do buyers of these sets actually pop them into the DVD player and watch them over and over?
The Burke's Law sets continue with those annoying "Season/Volume" packages, but the last season of the Odd Couple season 5 set contains all of the episodes and completes the series.
- Bones - Season 3
- Burke's Law - Season 1, Vol. 2
- Charmed - Complete Series
- Daniel Boone - Season 6
- Death Note - Box Set 1
- Doctor Who - Season 4 and The Infinite Quest
- The Dog Whisperer - Celebrity Edition
- Fairly Oddparents - Season 6, Vol. 1
- Gene Simmons' Family Jewels - Season 3
- Hannah Montana - Season 1
- Hawaii Five-O - Season 5
- McHale's Navy - Season 4
- Monty Python's Flying Circus - Collector's Edition Megaset
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 - 20th Anniversary (Regular set)
- The Odd Couple - Season 5
- SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 5, Vol. 2
- Star Trek - Season 3 Remastered
Here's your guide to Memorial Day marathons and other shows
TCM has classic war/military movies all day and night. - At 6am, USA has an NCIS marathon.
- At 8, A&E has a marathon of City Confidential episodes.
- History Channel has a MonsterQuest marathon at 8.
- Sci-Fi has a Star Trek: Enterprise marathon at 8.
- Also at 8: TV One has a Day Break marathon.
- At 9, BBC America has a Monty Python's Flying Circus marathon.
- FX has a That 70s Show marathon starting at 9.
- GSN has a Match Game marathon at 9.
- Spike has a CSI marathon starting at 9.
- At 10, TNT has a Law and Order marathon.
- At 11, G4 has a Cops marathon.
- Lifetime has a bunch of "sex" movies starting at 11.
- At noon, GSN will have a special GSN Live from Iraq, featuring ex-game show contestants who are stationed there.
- There's a Top Chef marathon on Bravo starting at 2:30.
- At 4, Discovery has a Deadliest Catch marathon.
(Thanks to Interesting Pile)
Giveaway Monday: The 16-Ton Monty Python DVD Megaset!
Another "holy crap!" giveaway. Besides the Futurama giveaway, one of today's giveaways is for three copies of The 16-Ton Monty Python DVD Megaset, which you can save 50% on if you order here. All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, November 23, and mention your favorite Monty Python sketch. We'll randomly choose three winners to receive the DVDs!Some other details:
- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating your favorite Monty Python sketch.
- The comment must be left before November 23, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Three winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Three winners will receive a copy of The 16-Ton Monty Python DVD Megaset (valued at $99.95).
TV Squad Daily with Brigitte - VIDEO
Today on TV Squad Daily:
- Crew members of The Shield ran into some real-life resistance while trying to film in a gritty neighborhood in L.A.
- Sara Ramirez of Grey's Anatomy is after a pop music career, with the help of the makers of a Monty Python musical?
- The Pussycat Dolls will finally choose their new member tonight. I'm on team "the girl with bangs."
Those Criminal Minds folks are funny - TCA Report
Maybe it's because they work on such a dark show. Maybe it's because many of the actors on the show have at least some comedy in their backgrounds. But the folks from Criminal Minds really like to yuk it up. At least that's what I got from the "informal" (again, that means "jammed in a far-too-small conference room") session for the procedural. The panel consisted of executive producers Edward Allen Bernero and Mark Gordon, and stars Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster and Shemar Moore.Gibson started off the comedy by lifting a jar of candy from the table and offering them to the gathered crowd. "They're wah-fer thin," referring to a classic bit from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
Monty Python star Terry Jones has cancer
Terry Jones, one-sixth of the Monty Python troupe, has recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer. However, his doctors believe that they caught it at an early enough stage to treat it. Jones will be having an operation soon but he's in high spirits, according to his agent.I'm not gonna lie, I definitely got chills when I initially read the headline. I don't think I'm ready to lose my first Python (Graham Chapman died from cancer back in the late 80s, but I was too young to know what was going on). Here's to hoping Mr. Jones has a speedy recovery.
Star Trek of the Holy Grail - VIDEO!
The thing about this video made from clips of the original Star Trek crew singing and dancing to Monty Python and the Holy Grail's "Knights of the Round Table," is how many situations from the 60's scifi show fit perfectly into the absurd set-up. We've got the space hippies, awesome George Takei's shirtless D'Artagnan moves, and of course, Kirk dolled-up in everything from Roman laurel leaves to faux Native American buckskin. Also, seems to have been much more finger-snapping and Irish-jigging in the original series than I recalled. Hilarious.
Video below the jump! [via The Island of Doubt]
An Adult Swim bump said to look up "Do It Yourself Cartoon Kit"
... So I did. Yeah. Because I do everything the television tells me to. The search quickly led me to a YouTube video of a short cartoon that inspired Terry Gilliam's animations for Monty Python. Created by Bob Godfrey in 1961, "Do It Yourself Cartoon Kit" is extremely amusing. The sense of humor and animation is remarkably similar to Python's, so I really enjoyed it. Check it out after the jump!Monty Python interview from 1975
In 1975, four of the cast members of
Monty Python, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman, sat down for a live interview on
Dallas' KERA-TV, allegedly the first PBS station to air Monty Python's Flying Circus. This footage, according
to the introduction, has not been seen since it originally aired. Unfortunately, the clip cuts off after thirteen
minutes, apparently because an engineer taped over it. Nevertheless, it's fascinating to watch as these young
American's ask questions about a show all of us now know forward and backward, but that at the time was completely new
to them. And, since it was filmed during pledge week, you get to hear the incessant ringing of phones in the background
throughout the entire interview. It would have been nice if the rest of the troop had joined them, but at least it gives
us another chance to hear from the late Graham Chapman, who passed away in 1989. Watch the video after the
jump:
[via The Sound of Young America]
What's on tonight: new Project Runway, Idol, Still Standing, Good Eats
Lots of new stuff on PBS tonight: Windsor Castle: A Royal
Year, and then two eps of Monty Python's Personal Best, with Eric Idle's and Graham Chapman's
favorite sketches. Check local listings. - The first singer is voted off American Idol on FOX at 8pm, and then the men step up to the mic.
- CBS has two new eps of Still Standing at 8, followed by repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
- ABC has new eps of George Lopez and Freddie, then repeats the Lost pilot ep.
- NBC has The Olympics.
- The WB has the movie Orange County, with Jack Black and Colin Hanks, while UPN has a new South Beach and a repeat Veronica Mars.
- On a new Emeril Live, the chef is "Saluting Dairy Farmers." Its on Food Network at 8.
- CMT has Dennis Quaid in Great Balls Of Fire at 8.
- Also at 8: ESPN2 has college basketball, Texas at Kansas State.
- Hasselhoff fans take note: Lifetime has him in One True Love, at 9.
- IFC has the movie Tadpole, also at 9, while HBO Zone has Napoleon Dynamite and STARZ has Sin City.
- At 10, Food Network has new eps of Good Eats and Ham on the Street.
- Also at 10: Bravo has a new Project Runway.
Monty Python: Their favorites
I sort-of grew up watching old Monty Python's Flying
Circus shows, as rebroadcast in the States. I've got my own list of favorite sketches, and while I could sit here
and talk about them all day, that'd be going off on a tagent and would be...something completely different.Starting this Wednesday night on PBS, the five remaining Pythons (John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones) will begin airing each their own favorite episodes within five specials, a sixth put together by them all, to honor the late Python, Graham Chapman. Any self respecting Python fan would not want to miss what's surely going to be a pleasant trip to the past.
What's even better news: PBS will begin rebroadcasting all 47 episodes, starting this Spring.
What's on tonight: Fear Factor, Friends, and Frosty
At 8pm, FOX has a repeat of Bones, followed by a repeat of House. - ABC has repeats of According To Jim, Rodney, and Boston Legal.
- Also at 8, CBS has a repeat of NCIS, followed by The 28th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, with Tony Bennett, Robert Redford, Tina Turner, Suzanne Farrell, and Julie Harris.
- There's a new Fear Factor on NBC at 8, followed by repeat eps of My Name Is Earl, The Office, and Law and Order: SVU.
- The WB has repeats of Gilmore Girls and Supernatural, while UPN is has the film All About The Benjamins.
- TBS has two funny repeats of Friends, starting at 8.
- ABC Family has Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July. It's on at 8 too.
- Emeril tries some "Cooking With Champagne" on the Food Network at 8.
- At 9, Spike has one of the better Roger Moore 007 outings, For Your Eyes Only.
- Also at 9, HBO2 has Adam Sandler in Spanglish.
- At 10, A&E has two repeats of Airline, while TNT has a repeat of The Closer.
- AMC has Honeymoon in Vegas at 10, with Nicolas Cage.
- Also at 10, E! has a new ep of Gastineau Girls, followed by the special Big Buzz Gone Bad, which focuses on pop culture trends that went bad.
- At 11, BBC America has Monty Python's Flying Circus, followed by two eps of Coupling.
- Also at 11, Style Network has a new Isaac, with guests Selma Blair, Roger Bart, and Kimberley Locke.
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