patrickwarburton

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.

(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.

(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.

(S02E05) It's been two weeks since a fresh episode of The Venture Bros. Two viciously agonizing, heinously miserable, adverb adjective weeks. However, "Twenty Years to Midnight" made the wait completely worthwhile. The amount of action was a nice surprise, a true throwback to the show's original roots: a take-off of the 60's cheesy, mystery-adventure cartoons. All these amazing elements have caused me some inner conflict. See, in my last VB post, I said that "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II" had become my favorite... Well, now I don't know how to feel. My heart is now painfully torn between a Doc Hammer script and a Jackson Publick script! Ohh, "Twenty Years" is truly worthy contender for my love. The guest appearance by Stephen Colbert didn't hurt, either.

(S02E04) Reason #528 to love Doc Hammer: He wrote the most bizarre Venture Bros. episode ever. Oh, man. I think I have a new favorite episode. The weirdness of the priorities in storyline and all the adventure show clichés were totally hysterical. Plus, what other television show can beautifully weave in appearances by Edgar Allan Poe, Sigmund Freud, and Caligula in the same episode? None. None, I say!

There were a hell of a lot of memorable moments in this particular episode, so my review is pretty much stuffed to the rafters. Just a warning. We also have to wait a few weeks for a new episode, so maybe reading this review very, very slowly can help fill the void.

I've got lots of Venture Bros. related tidbits to share that, individually, aren't quite enough to fill up one entire post, but are still too important to ignore. So, join me as I take you through a very Venture update! Take notes if you know what's good for you.

If you've purchased the season one DVD already (and if you haven't, why not?), you've probably noticed that not all of the episodes have commentary. For those of you that wanted more, Quick Stop Entertainment has a special "lost commentary" for episode three, "Home Insecurity". It's pretty much the same sort of thing as the other commentaries, same tendencies to stray off-topic.

It looks like AdultSwim.com is going to continue premiering episodes two days early on their Friday Night Fix. However, if you want to be a good little fan and obey your masters, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer are both pushing everyone to wait until the 10:30 Sunday premieres "to see it in the way it was intended, in GLORIOUS EXTRA-COLOR" (as Doc tried to convince me. Alas, I couldn't help myself to the Fix... C'mon, I have Broadband).

After the jump, the names of all the episodes for season two (names and running order are subject to change), followed by my personal thoughts about the current season, and some random trivia... Don't look if you don't want things spoiled, of course.