patrick warburton

(S03E02) After the season premiere left us with a depressing lack of Venture, this episode more than made up for it, taking place entirely on the family's compound. Plus, bonus Henry Killinger (and his magic murder bag)! "The Doctor Is Sin" marked a turning point in Dr. Venture's character and vulnerabilities. I don't really mind when an entire episode sacrifices fast-moving plot and crazy ninja fights to allow a character to come to critical realizations about himself/herself, as long as said realizations affect his/her future actions. I cannot begin to explain the frustration I feel when seasons carry on as if these moments never happened. Here's to hoping that Dr. Venture's new awareness of his occasional villainous tendencies provide some interesting changes in upcoming episodes.

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In a TV Guide exclusive, Michael Ausiello reports that The New Adventures of Old Christine could be moving to ABC if CBS doesn't give it a third season pick up. The way I see it, this is great news for ABC. They seem to do great at one-hour dramedies -- Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies, Desperate Housewives -- but just swing and miss when developing good sitcoms. Only Samantha Who has been a winner this year; its most recent effort, Miss/Guided, has left me cold.

(S06E03) After six years in a wheelchair, Joe Swanson regains his ability to walk. In character, he then decides to go into extreme sports. I've always liked Joe and I think Patrick Warburton's voice makes the character. It's similar to his character on Adult Swim's The Venture Bros. Maybe he only has one character.

The show has apparently gone back to the constant cut-away references. At least they're being self-referential about it with Cleveland's line "I hate shows that cut away from the story for some bull crap".

Now that The Simpsons has made a successful jump from the small screen to the big (a billion bucks worldwide so far!), people are talking about bringing another FOX animated series, Family Guy, to your local theater as well. But does it have enough of an audience for such a project?

Seth MacFarlane isn't sure, but he has a live-action cast picked out. Rosie O'Donnell would be Peter (a very scary Peter), David Hyde Pierce would be Stewie (?), Ann Coulter would be Brian, Phillip Seymour Hoffman would play Chris, Juliette Lewis would be Meg, and Kathy Griffin would portray Lois.

The first thing I noticed about the Venture Bros. DVD was the packaging, which is actually a lot nicer than I expected. I had already fawned over the art when it was released online, but I gained a whole new appreciation when I actually had the product in my hands. While the first season's DVD packaging was simple and sleek, this one has great, aged detail and -- get this -- it feels so wonderfully soft and papery. I'm probably a little weird for doing this, but as soon as I pulled the box out of the plastic, I gasped and made the people around me pet the DVD packaging. And if they refused, I shouted until they agreed. "Yes, Annie. Yes, that is very nice DVD packaging..."

In my Comic-Con post, I briefly mentioned The Sound of Young America's interview with the Venture Bros.' Jackson Publick, but I suppose I might as well devote a full post to it, since at least five different people have urged me to do so since then.

This twenty-some minute chat provides a very interesting look into the life of Jackson Publick, covering topics like his educational career (he very briefly attended cartooning school before attending community college and Rutgers University), the loss of his mother and this event's effect on the Venture brothers' own mommy-less world, and the show's prevailing themes of disappointment and failure. I always love hearing from the creative forces behind my favorite shows, so this was a real treat for me.

I also enjoyed Jackson's great Brock Samson impression at the very end of the program. I suppose this means that Jackson can also do fantastic impressions of Kronk (The Emperor's New Groove), Joe Swanson (Family Guy), and Puddy (Seinfeld).

I've watched all five episodes of CBS' new comedy Rules of Engagement, mainly because I'm already watching Two and a Half Men at 9. I also watch because Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price are two sitcom actors that I like, and I'm always hoping they'll land in a successful show. But I've got to tell you, the show is barely above average. I chuckle once or twice per episode, mostly in reaction to Warburton's droll line readings. And don't even get me started on the bland "young" couple played by Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich and the sight of David Spade aging before our eyes as yet another version of Dennis Finch.

But for some reason, the show is attracting a pretty good audience. In the LA Times article Bob linked to yesterday, it was noted that Rules is holding on to much of Men's lead-in audience, averaging 13.5 million viewers per week.

(S01E01) Take 'Til Death. Add Dennis Finch. Stir.

That's Rules of Engagement in a nutshell. And the result of the mix isn't particularly funny.

OK, I think I have just about exhausted all of my press tour material. But I got a few quotes here and there which I really wanted to include somewhere, even though they weren't enough to merit their own posts.

So, here are five random quotes from my week in Pasadena, presented for your amusement:

1. "Yes. It's called 25. It's like 24, except there's one more." - Chris Rock, when a reporter asked him if he was working on a new show. One of the other reporters actually responded to this by asking, "Are you serious?"

CBS is making room for a new comedy called Rules of Engagement, which is produced by Adam Sandler. Starting February 5th, Rules will have the 9:30 pm timeslot on Monday nights. That's a coveted spot for a comedy, with top-rated Two and a Half Men as a lead-in. The premiere is also the day after CBS airs the Super Bowl, which means you can expect to see a lot of Rules promos during the game.

Rules stars David Spade, Oliver Hudson (Dawson's Creek) and Patrick Warburton ("Puddy" from Seinfeld). It's about two couples and a single guy who "navigate the jungles of dating, engagement and marriage." Moving it into the 9:30 pm slot during sweeps is a vote of confidence on CBS' part.

The move displaces The New Adventures of Old Christine, which be on a brief hiatus in February (they're pulling it for sweeps!). Old Christine will slide into the 8:30 pm slot after March 5th, when The Class finale airs. And it looks like the series finale of King of Queens will air May 21- but that's not definite.

Despite mediocre ratings and equally mediocre reviews (including mine), CBS has been happy enough with The Class to order more episodes of the "half-hour comic-sudser," as Variety so adroitly called it.

But the show is not getting the entire "back nine" just yet. According to that Variety article, CBS is hoping the mid-season show Rules of Engagement, starring David Spade and Patrick Warburton, will work well in the Monday comedy block where The Class currently resides.

Another article, on USAToday.com, says that newer episodes of the show will concentrate on fewer characers.

(S02E13) What a beautiful way to wrap up a season. Even the weakest parts of the episode were tremendously enjoyable.

There's a whole new order set up for the third season (which Adult Swim should greenlight, if they know what's good for 'em)... The Ventures and The Monarch have become friends (and if not "friends", then "non-enemies") and Phantom Limb is now a completely rogue villain (he has strayed from the Guild). Maybe P. Limb will recruit Triana's friend, Kim, to do his bidding. Maybe Brock will continue to train/work with the henchmen. Maybe, now that the Cocoon has been destroyed, The Monarch will start renting space in the Venture compound, like Doctor Orpheus (hilarity would surely ensue). There's a whole world of possibilities and I couldn't be more excited.

(S02E11) This was, without a doubt, the bloodiest, sickest episode of The Venture Bros. yet. Even the bit before the title sequence was distinctly dark, but it wasn't until the very end that I realized the cause behind this dramatic shift in tone... This episode was penned by the one an only Ben Edlund (from The Tick fame). He contributed that shitty "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?" story (sorry, that was such a downer on the season) but I think he really redeemed himself here.

Personally, I prefer the pop culture reference-laden episodes by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, but Edlund did a fair enough job here, offering his own take on the Venture world. Very enjoyable (and gross) indeed.

(S02E10) The main men behind The Venture Bros., Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, attended Georgia's DragonCon a few weeks ago and they graciously gave a special screening of this episode. A bunch of my luckier online buddies caught it and jumped back on the Internet to blab about how great it was, refuse to give spoilers, and squeal, "OMG. All your speculation has been wrong!" It kind of pissed off everyone else that didn't get to see the episode (the fact that we had to go through a Venture-less Sunday last week was insult to injury), but... oh, man... it was really worth the wait.

And this episode was jumping all over the place, so this post is pretty much going to do the same. Damn Venture Bros. and their multiple storylines.

(S02E07) Every once in a while, I'll watch a show that makes me feel guilty about not liking Star Wars. Yeah. I don't like Star Wars. I've tried getting through all the films, but I just can't take it (the Lucas-style dialogue and PowerPoint screenwipes aren't for me). Although I've seen enough to get the occasional reference (like, I know what it means to call someone a Lando and I caught the tauntaun thing after the "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II" credits), this episode made me feel like crap. I'm sure it was riddled with great Star Wars bits that went right over my head because I'm such a terrible geek. I probably would have enjoyed the ride a lot more if I caught all the jokes.

Oh well. Maybe once Doc and Jackson do an episode of only zombie film homages, I'll feel a little better.