sethrogen

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• As much as I love Seth Rogen, Observe and Report looks just a little too much like Paul Blart: Mall Cop for my tastes. Read the review and see if it's actually worth checking out this weekend.
• I would say that not only should Jon Hamm be in more movies, but Jon Hamm should be in every movie. Crazy? Maybe. Awesome? Definitely.
• If you have kids who are into Miley Cyrus, you're going to be seeing Hannah Montana this weekend, regardless of the reviews. However, it may not hurt to read one just to see what you may be getting yourself into.
• 8 Mile and Die Hard reimagined as 50s French Classics? Uh, okay. Why not?
• Cinematical puts out a call for women who hate The Big Lebowski. I am definiitely not one of them.

(S34E20) Seth Rogen returned to host for the second time to promote his new mall cop movie (yeah, I know). Unlike last time, when there were one or two stand-out sketches, this episode didn't have any particularly memorable moments. However, there were Muppets, Mogwai and a thinner Seth Rogen involved, so maybe things weren't too horrible.

Freaks and Geeks is not only a cult classic among TV fans, but it's also one of TV Squad's favorite "Ol' Yellers". Those are the shows that were taken out back and shot down by the networks before they had a chance to fully develop, despite the crying, whimpering, snot-producing pleas of those who loved them most. It may not be clever, but it sounded a lot nicer than "stillborns".

So it's no surprise that the show made a cameo appearance in a recent AOL interview with mega-superduperstar Seth Rogen on the heels of his new movie Observe and Report about a rogue mall cop who is more tazer-happy than the campus police at the University of Florida.

What the hell is going on here? Have we entered the bizarro world? Is up now down? Has black become white? Was The Simpsons canceled after the first three episodes while The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer went on to become the longest running and most award winning series in the history of television?

Variety reports that while the big four networks are cutting back on their sitcoms and dramas for more reality fare, cable networks have been ramping up their dramas, comedies and dramadies and are now in a position to compete for some real ratings.

And it's not just in quantity where cable has tipped the scales.

I don't know whether to pity or exalt Seth Rogen. The man has essentially become a celebrity from potty humor. First, he's in a bunch of movies that are almost porn (including one with "porno" in the title). Now, he's co-developing a series for Showtime with the premise of three guys that run a pornography shop.

It seems unlikely that Rogen would step in front of the camera for this series, given his movie career at the moment. But hey, anything is possible. I suspect the series will reflect the perverted sense of humor he displayed in his writing of the movie Superbad.

Perhaps it's a Canadian thing. He joins a long line of Canucks who garnered fame and fortune via television. The list includes William Shatner and Michael J. Fox.

Rogen stands as proof that anybody with a little luck can actually become a movie star (and television producer). As a result, he earns my admiration and envy.

Proving once again that the Daily Show audience is willing to boo at just about anything Bush-related without really thinking about it, they managed to hiss at the mere mention that Bush is now officially our most well-traveled president. Come on, don't make the rest of us look like trained seals too. Anyway, the president tried to beat the rush by heading out to Beijing a few days before the Olympics and was met with -- hey, what a surprise -- protest and a bunch of angry Chinese people with adorably designed anti-Bush signs.

(S33E02) "A Message From K-Fed": I suppose it would have been tough to avoid covering the news about Britney Spears losing custody of her children to K-Fed, but was it really worthy of a cold open? The sketch managed to make me crack a smile, but I didn't even come close to laughing, which is disappointing because K-Fed is already inherently hilarious.

"Monologue": Seth Rogen shared the Saturday Night Live monologue that he's supposedly always dreamed of doing, complete with Bill Hader as Steven Segal. It was cute but, again, didn't get huge laughs. I could tell that Rogen wasn't going to be one of those guests who lose all sense of comedic timing and rhythm on live TV, though. Honestly, I would have been crushed if that was the case. Oh, and speaking of Rogen and Hader, I totally expected more of them working together. I was pretty disappointed by Superbad (sorry, Michael Cera, I still love you), but Rogen and Hader were great as a team, with or without McLovin.