Tunesdays with Tonnie -- Crime & Punishment

A little late on a Tuesday, I know, but I didn't have time to write it ahead of time this week.  My nods for this week are courtesy of some newer television shows.  And while it is difficult to justify Orange is the New Black as a true television show, it gets my nomination anyway.  My justification is that if Netflix or Hulu originals can get Emmy nods, then I can include them on here. Original music award for this week goes to Orange is the New Black.  Song re-use goes to Luther.

"You've Got Time" was written specifically for Orange is the New Black at the request of creator, Jenji Kohan (Weeds), by Regina Spektor.  Obviously I recommend a viewing of the show if you haven't already.  I think the song compliments the show magnificently, and it shows the faces of prison life.  Really, the song, Regina's voice, the lyrics and the images are perfect for Orange is the New Black.
Judge for yourself.

Re-use:
Generally, I really do not like 'music video' outros to shows.  I'm not sure if I've written that before, but it cannot be stressed enough.  As much as I loved Alias, every freakin' episode had a four minute clip at the end with some sappy song playing over Sydney crying and/or coming home to an empty house and/or seeing other people together and happy in groups while she's all alone, etc. Alias is not the only show to do this, but it's the one that has annoyed me the most.  (Ugly Betty comes in a close second.) They are often excruciatingly long and they do nothing for the plot or characters.  It's like the writers ran out of dialogue or meaningful material and said, "Let's have a montage of everyone on the show sitting alone in their respective apartments or walking down an empty street to show how disconnected they all are.  However, Luther nails these outros on the head nearly every time. Sometimes the song choices are inappropriate and that's what makes them so fabulous.  My favorite was season one, episode four.  And I can't track down a video for my second pick, but if you have Netflix or HuluPlus take a look at the last two minutes or so.  Beck's "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime."

Ricky's Ckorner - Trivial nonsense

While this clip from Cheers is a classic, Ricky likes the part where Cliff comes to a perfectly logical conclusion:  these people have never been in our kitchen either.  Ricky doesn't understand why Cliff was wrong.  The sound quality isn't great, but Ricky finds it funny nonetheless.  Ricky's favorite 30-ish seconds runs from 3:36 to 4:10.

The 26 Most Important Television Programs of My Life

October the Third is my birthday.  And today I will be 26 years old.  In memoriam to my younger years, I am going to do what I do best -- make a list.  Initially, I was going to make a list of THE BEST TV SHOWS EVER! But that's daunting and superbly unrealistic as there are so many shows that I have yet to see.

Here is a list of the most important television programs of my life.  These may not be the best television shows.  Heck, I'm sure some of them are pretty terrible, but these are the shows that have impacted my life or major life events have circled around.  Some have to do with the precious time my family and I have spent together watching these characters grow (or not grow, in one case).  Or it could be that one particular episode of that one particular show that resonated with me so deeply that I watched it over and over and over again.  Or it could just be those special moments, when trying to make new friends, you bond over the ridiculous lives of four New Yorkers just trying to make sense of their sex lives and friendship (and, no, it's not Girls). 

After starting this post I realize how daunting it is describing 26 television shows, so I'm probably going to give up halfway through and just write titles for some of them.  Parts of life are meant to be a mystery, afterall

26.  Game of Thrones - Nerdy literature can be made into hypersexualized amazing television!

25.  Pretty Little Liars - I admit that this once guilty pleasure morphed into an all out obsession. I am not proud of the fact that I was coerced into watching this by three college friends, and I am less proud of the fact that we have done readings via gchat of lengthy Television Without Pity recaps. (I play Hannah, among other characters.)  This melodramatic teen drama brings us together across space and time.

24. Full House - I always thought this is what San Francisco life would be like. I'm sure it's not like this.  All the time.

23.  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit -  This is my least favorite of the Law & Order franchise shows which is sacrilege to the faithful of the show.  The constant marathoning of this show during those very awkward first weeks of college with complete strangers morphed into a wonderful inside joke.  Certain networks run SVU on what seems to be a loop.  These people put up with me and, I think, kinda liked me despite writing cryptic "No more TBS, thanks, the TV" in window markers on the television.  Thanks to my first college roommates, they introduced me to the idea of curling up in bed for hours and watching television without blinking.

22.  Seinfeld

21.  Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Melissa Joan Hart was the coolest when you were an eleven year old girl at a slumber party on a Friday night.  And that animatronic cat was the bees knees.  TGIF was part of being cool in elementary and middle school, and I finally felt like I could keep up because I didn't have to have cable to watch these shows.

20. New Girl - I hesitate to put this show on my list because, while I love it now, it's hard to say that I will want to watch it over and over and over again like I can do with other sitcoms on this list (#9 and #2 in particular).  The characters are right on the cusp of too wacky and completely unrelatable, but the acting is great, I can't help, but empathize with all of them.

19.  Barney - Obviously the best television show for toddlers.  Dinosaurs are really amazing and loving. My little niece, B., knows what I'm talking about.  After I got home from my half day of Kindergarten, I would run up our driveway, my mom would have lunch for ready for me so I could sit and watch Barney and eat my lunch.

18.  Downton Abbey

17.  Firefly - Changed my view of science fiction in television.  And, I think, finally made me understand what a Space Cowboy is supposed to be.

16.  Saturday Night Live

15.  South Park - I spent about seven months of my bed time viewing on getting through the entirety of South Park.  I had never seen an episode of it before started at the very beginning.  Zeus-willing the creators/producer/whoever involved with the show in distribution capacities allows all the episodes to be available at any time (except for the very select few) at Southparkstudios.com. I knew enough about the show to be able to get by culturally, but it wasn't until a very bleak autumn night in Washington, DC, where a friend of mine may have just saved my life by inviting me in for a few beers and to watch a mindless movie -- South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.  I doubt he realizes how important his attempt at a friendly, calm night really was.  It got me to start watching South Park and to take myself a lot less seriously.

14.  Late Night with Conan O'Brien - My own personal comedy taste and stylings came from watching Conan as a teenager.  Before it was Team Coco, and before Jay Leno was a massive prick, there was just awkward Conan and the masturbating bear.  Thanks Conan.  I dyed my hair reddish-orange for you.

13. Recess - This was, hands down, the best cartoon of my childhood.  My friends and I would pretend to be the characters from Recess during recess in fourth and fifth grade -- I was TJ, of course.  We lived in terror of the kindergartners and we had a King Bob.  The greatest thing for millennials of a certain age is that it seems like Recess is as universal as Sesame Street or The Rugrats.  My friends and I dressed up as the Ashleys our senior year of high school (2005) and we used to debate the "hottest" cartoon character and at least three of us picked characters from Recess. Plus, there were good life lessons in the show, right?

12.  Alias - Our first family dog died during an episode of Alias.  But that's neither here nor there.  I loved Sidney Bristow and her aloof father and her amazing best friend, Will.  She was the toughest, coolest chick, and it seemed like every week the plot of the show would turn in on itself.  It was the second, super-serial show that I actually found myself enthralled with, and it was guaranteed to score me at least a five minute conversation every week (in the eighth grade) with the cutest kid in homeroom.

11.  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Like South Park, It's Always Sunny provided another bonding opportunity with some really awkward almost-adults in college.  Heck, we had an It's Always Sunny themed Valentine's Day party and bought the only male in our household a Greenman suit for his 21st birthday.  Two of us also attempted to wrestle him to the ground over a phone (which, if memory serves me, had a slightly embarrassing/harassing text message on it), but failed due to the slippery nature of the suit.  Some of the only times all four of us would tolerate each other in a group over those seven or so months we lived together was while we watched It's Always Sunny...  And they were some great times.

Top Ten after the jump.

Tunesdays With Tonnie: Space

It's Tuesday again, so that must mean that we made it to the second edition of Tunesdays with Tonnie.  It's still clever.
This week's entries come from two very different series: Firefly and Spaced

Firefly's soundtrack is remarkable, thanks to Greg Edmonson.  It blends folky elements like fiddle and acoustic guitar with ethereal sustained strings and low rumbling percussion.  Firefly has been described as a Space Western which simplifies things, but isn't entirely inaccurate.  The subtlety of this scene is gorgeous.  River Tam's voice echoing over a PA system, somber shots of the other crew members, and the understated music slowly building into a quiet roar. This is the best episode of the series - "Objects in Space".  (Again, I couldn't find the part of the show I wanted in clip form, but here's the whole episode...)  37:28 to 39:00 marks.  Spoilers abound, so only click if you'd like.


Re-Use - "The Staunton Lick" by Lemon Jelly
While I admit I had never heard of the song before the use in this particular television show, I wanted to share it regardless.  The carefree sound of the guitar, the upbeat bass rift and the silent comedic stylings of the cast of Spaced.  Now, if you haven't watched Spaced yet, I highly recommend it.  And I admit not everyone could possibly like the ridiculous, sometimes absurdist adventures of two twenty-somethings who barely know each other.  Throw in their obnoxiously bizarre best friends and the other interesting tenants of the house they live in, and it becomes even stranger and more magical. I apologize if this spoils anything for anyone considering watching the series... it may or may not.  To err on the safe side, if you do not like spoilers of any kind, don't watch, but if you are not good at putting two-and-two together or don't care, watch away!