Tag: NBC

Superstore: Valentine’s Day – Sexual Harassment (Review)

Superstore - Season 2

It was all about love on Superstore “Valentine’s Day” episode. Although the journey was not smooth for anyone.  In the end, it was all about harassment in the modern workplace, much to Glenn’s chagrin, and Dina manages to scuttle Jonah’s burgeoning romance with Shannon the shoplifting suspect.

Perhaps the highpoint of this episode was the appearance of Bernie Kopell, better known to millions in his decade long run as Dr. Adam Bricker on “The Love Boat.” Kopell has been working steadily since 1961 and in terms of comic performances from the heart, no one does it better.

The storyline this week has Glenn, and later Amy, playing cupid after two Cloud 9 employees find love on Valentine’s Day. Glenn hired them so he begins matchmaking in earnest. Amy, seeing how much Arthur clearly likes Myrtle, does some matchmaking of her own.

Glenn helps her to set up Myrtle and Arthur and it results in the store, Glenn and Amy being charged with harassment. Arthur, is not the sweet little old man that Amy believed him to be.

The staff have to attend a sexual harassment training session run by Jeff. Glenn tells how he got his wife to marry him and describes how he asked her to go out with him every single day till she said yes. Jeff explains that this is not a good thing.

Glenn then goes on to explain that his father, who they both worked for, told her that if she did not go out with Glenn she would be fired. The Cloud 9 staff are horrified.

Jonah believes he has spied the shoplifter from earlier in the season. He talks Dina into letting him act as the plainclothes floor detective. Jonah flies a drone into the gorgeous young woman’s head and when he goes to apologize, he is instantly smitten.

Dina is furious that instead of concentrating on catching the woman in the act, Jonah is flirting with her. The two make plans for a date when Dina turns up in shorts and a hat accusing Jonah of leaving her and the kids in the car for hours.

Jonah then gets into an argument with his “wife” and Shannon leaves while he is distracted.

Superstore - Season 2

Sondra takes her pretend affair with Jeff to new, and expensive, levels. Giving herself a dozen roses and other extravagant gifts from “The Man.” Mateo gets increasingly jealous and Cheyenne ends up telling Garrett that he and Jeff are dating for real.

The cutest part of the episode has Jeff giving Mateo a small Valentine’s Day gift and topping it off by calling Mateo his boyfriend. All jealousy is forgotten and Mateo’s day is made. He then swans out of the dressing room shutting Jeff in.

Amy and Jonah have a splendid moment breaking up all the Valentine’s Day signage, a move that is slightly reminiscent of the forklift mayhem in Secret Shopper. While not as hysterically funny as the carnage caused by the forklift, there is something about these two gleefully destroying things that counts as a win.

Another highlight in this episode had Cheyenne wowing the staff with her “Catch 22” reference. Jonah congratulates her on this show of knowledge. She responds by saying that she has been studying for her SAT’s. “It’s been an extrapolatory experience,” Cheyenne says while working on her giant lollipop.

As part of the sexual harassment training session it looks like the “in love” couple are breaking up. What Glenn brings together he also breaks apart. The highlights of this episode included Dina and Jonah’s argument, the valentine signage carnage and the Arthur/Myrtle storyline.

Superstore - Season 2

Superstore is still the best thing about Thursday night comedy on NBC. Do not miss this one if you like to laugh.

Cast:

Guest starring Bernie Kopell  as Arthur and Andree Vermeulen as Shannon.

Timeless: The Lost Generation – Wyatt (Review)

Timeless - Season 1

Fans of Matt Lanter, aka Wyatt Logan, will be glad to see that as part of the long term and somewhat peripheral storyline that the square-jawed Special Ops soldier has recovered from last week’s upsetting tale.  In the Timeless verse Jessica may still be dead but Logan pulls himself together enough to not only escape, but he informs Lucy and Agent Christopher that Rittenhouse have staged a coup right under their noses.

This was a fun episode. “The Lost Generation” heads on out to 1927 Paris, France where Flynn steps in to keep Charles Lindberg from landing in the city. After shooting down the Spirit of St. Louis in a field out in the countryside, Flynn takes the pilot hostage.

Lucy, Rufus and Wyatt’s replacement David, move in to find the missing pilot. In Paris they run into, and enlist the help of, Ernest Hemingway and Josephine Baker.  They find Lindberg but their new soldier, who paid too much attention to rules and was overly excited to be in 1927 Paris, dies, shot dead by Flynn’s henchman.

Meanwhile back in the present, Rittenhouse have moved to replace Agent Christopher and her people in overseeing Connor Mason’s program. She is removed and has her visitor’s pass taken away.

Agent Neville

Lucy’s father shows up and reveals to Connor that Lucy will be on their side soon. Later in the episode, Lucy’s mother gives her that journal, the dog-eared book that Flynn carries.

It is interesting to note that Rittenhouse Agent, aka Lucy’s dad, knows about Amy, the daughter and sibling never born after the pilot episode changed the Hindenburg’s history.

One minor complaint with this episode of Timeless is the depiction of Hemingway as less gregarious and more flippant. It was, however, spot on with the casting of Tiffany Daniels as the beautiful and talented Josephine Baker.

The real Baker was gorgeous and, as mentioned in this episode, a war hero in WWII when she worked as a spy for the allies. In terms of “name dropping” (if it can be called that) the inclusion of the Fitzgerald’s – F. Scott and his wife Zelda – was also spot on.

“The Lost Generation” was interesting as it seems to be carrying on a theme of fate that will not be changed despite the mechanizations of Flynn or our intrepid trio.

Wyatt escapes and looks set to rejoin his team and it seems that Agent Christopher may well get back inside Mason’s company.

Sakina Jaffrey is listed on all 15 episodes in Timeless. This means that not only is her character still in the show, despite being displaced by the Rittenhouse takeover, but is also means that “The Lost Generation” is the penultimate episode of season one.

So far the show has been entertaining and had fun with history. Timeless airs Mondays on NBC. Tune in and see how the first season ends.

Cast:

Guest starring  Brandon Brash  as Ernest Hemingway, Tiffany Daniels as Josephine Baker, Jesse Luken as Charles Lindberg,  Victor Zinck Jr. as David Baumgardner,  Jim Beaver as Agent Neville and John Getz as Rittenhouse Agent, aka Lucy’s father.

SNL: Melissa McCarthy Rules as Sean Spicer (Review)

Saturday Night Live - Season 42

You have to love SNL for trying so hard to be “un-pc” on everything. They do have a reputation to protect and this last episode, with Kristen Stewart hosting, did its best to keep the show on its rebellious path. Although it does seem that smoking on stage, something that Kate McKinnon did during Stewart’s monologue, is their standard go to move to indicate cocking the snook at convention.

This week, however, on top of Alec Baldwin’s Trump cold open (which was brilliant and topical) there was the presentation of Melissa McCarthy with her scarily accurate mickey-take of Sean Spicer – the malignant and mentally challenged press secretary of POTUS Bannon Trump.

This was beyond perfect. Had the episode begun and ended with Baldwin and McCarthy, it would have been a 42 season highlight. These two segments were not only hysterically funny but so spot on that it hurt. This was comedy with a purpose.

SNL do have a reputation to making fun of whoever is in the white house and this cabinet of Trump’s (Kellyanne Conway, Spicer, Bannon et, al) are such easy targets it is like shooting fish in a barrel. (If the violent allusion is too much feel free to replace it with “taking candy from a baby…”)

With an open that had Trump “prank” calling world leaders, at the instigation of Bannon’s grim reaper SNL could have stopped there and still won in terms of comedic genius. (That final shot of Trump sitting at his little presidential desk was perfection.)

However, opting to follow this up with the Sean Spicer sketch was a bold and brilliant move. The easy target would have been Conway with her “Bowling Green” fictional massacre. The Internet got there first and it would have been difficult to pull off a comic coup after all those memes.

Taking a shot at Spicer, who comes across as some sort of vicious and addle brained Jack in the Box who pops up at press conferences to take pot shots at the press, was SNL magic.

The episode was, overall, a hit. Stewart’s monologue dredging up old @realDonaldTrump tweets from 2012, back when she and Robert Pattinson were an item, was a good move.  Her finish, where she declares that Trump obviously had a thing for her then boyfriend and that she was now, “so gay,” was on the nose.

Stewart should have hosted SNL years ago. The actress has always come across as a grumpy, taciturn and moody performer. This spot on SNL proved that Kristen has a sense of humour and is not afraid to use it.

The rest of the show fared pretty well. “Meet Cute” was pretty cute and funny. So too was the Willy Wonka riff where Charlie gets the hump when he realizes that his grandparents have always been able to walk was funny.

The pre-recorded Totinos advert with Kristen Stewart and Vanessa Bayer (reprising her housewife huckster role) was funny, well-timed (the Super Bowl is today) and allowed Stewart to “label” herself a little.

Coming in as another one of the husband’s friend’s date, Stewart zeroes in on Bayer and the two have a sort of Bergman-esque interlude in the kitchen while the men shout at the match and query about those missing Totinos.

This gag worked on so many levels and it was pure, unadulterated SNL.

The MVP award of the episode went to Leslie Jones for her portrayal of Samuel L. Jackson on Celebrity Family Feud. The moment where she has to fight corpsing, and almost loses the battle was brilliant. We love Leslie and she never ceases to make any sketch that bit more fun. She is even more lovable when she gets caught up in the hilarity of the moment.

Weekend Update, while funny, was not the winner of this episode. Although Michael Che came a close second to Jones when he had issues with his segment. “Shut up Colin.”

Musical guest Alessia Cara was entertaining but apparently a bit of an acquired taste.

The clear winners in this episode were Baldwin and McCarthy with their “dueling sketches.” Both were very funny but Melissa won in this competition with her podium attack on the press. Just brilliant.

Superstore: Ladies Lunch – Winner Gets Amy (Review)

Superstore - Season 2

Superstore “Ladies Lunch” takes the Amy marriage problem storyline up another notch.  The episode starts with the Cloud 9 morning meeting learning about Amy’s counseling sessions and that Adam is living in the basement.  We learn, along with the staff, that this is “cash day” as the computer systems are down.

Taking only cash keeps the store pretty much deserted for the entire episode. (Apart from one woman who asks where the paper towels are. A distracted Glen tells her they do not carry them…) As a result of the reduced workload the employees basically run amok.

Dina kidnaps (or as she puts it, abducts) Amy “since you’re pushing 40” and takes her out for a ladies lunch. Jonah and Garrett start playing games with a muffin wrapped in clingfilm and before long they have created a male game zone with nearly everyone playing with the muffin.

At Dina’s favorite bar and grill, the ladies start having lunch. What begins as an awkward moment turns into a drunken day out for the women. The luncheon sheds light on a couple of peripheral characters and ends in heartache for Sandra who bumps into her soulmate at the bar.

Carol, a heretofore unseen character, turns out to be the Cloud 9 tramp. She calls Adam’s cell phone repeatedly offering to ease his pain and when Sandra meets the man who clearly is her spiritual mate, reminds her co-worker that she has a boyfriend and moves in on the man.

Back at the store the men, and the games, are getting more competitive. Marcus, getting into the spirit of the games and the idea that Amy is now “available” calls dibs on the supervisor. Jonah is not impressed and he gets quite worked up at Marcus’ “dib” calling.

Glenn is injured with what appears to be a concussion and Jonah loses to Marcus. The women return and all, with the exception of the blonde worker who substituted diet soda for Long Island ice tea, are smashed.

At the end of the episode a drunken Amy cuts her hair off; chin length, as a horrified Cheyenne looks on. Marcus tells Amy he is there for her and Dina manages to hide her insobriety from a concussed Glenn.

Superstore also took the fake relationship story of Sandra a bit deeper. This was comedy with heart and a touch of poignancy. Mateo’s continued jealousy of his co-worker’s fictitious affair was funny. However, meeting the man who would be perfect for her and missing out, because of Carol, and that look on Sandra’s face when she added to the tale was just brilliant.

So too was Jonah’s reaction to Marcus’ schoolboy attitude towards Amy. His discomfort at the idea of the whole thing was at war with his own attraction to his “married with problems” supervisor.

NBC have a real winner in this comic exercise and it is an ensemble piece that delivers each and every week. Superstore airs Thursdays just before the network’s new comedy Powerless.

Cast:

Guest starring Irene White as Carol and Jon Barinholtz as Marcus.

Powerless: Wayne or Lose – Alan Tudyk and Vanessa Hudgens (Review)

Powerless - Season Pilot

Powerless on NBC feels a bit like “reality” mixing uneasily with the comic book verse of Batman, Superman and all those caped heroes who frequent Gotham City, Metropolis and so on. “Wayne or Lose” follows Emily on her first job at an insurance company run by Bruce Wayne’s cousin Van.

Centering primarily on a world where “normal” people are in constant danger of being hurt when super heroes and super villains engage,  Powerless and its female protagonist feels like an extension of the audience.

Emily is, in essence, us; she represents our “everyman” existence but she is in a world where super heroes are a fact of life. Where Ms. Locke comes from, super heroes are flyovers only and never stop in to battle evil. Now in her new job, they are common enough to be mundane.

Hudgens is the “hayseed” who travels to the big city to make a change. She wants to leave big footprints wherever she works and the insurance company gives her a chance.

Emily is the only one impressed by all the super activity going on in the big city. On the subway, when the Crimson Fox saves the train from crashing and killing numerous innocent citizens, only Ms. Locke finds the incident exciting.

Her new company’s think tank and developers are only copying other products and changing the name and colours of their versions. Emily comes in and tries to motivate the bunch but unfortunately they have seen it all before. Four times before in fact.

Locke confronts Wayne when she learns that there were four predecessors who all left. Although Emily is less upset when she finds that they left after being injured as bystanders to a super battle. It seems that her position at Wayne Security will be short-lived.

Van learns that his cousin has fired them all and he will be absorbed into the Gotham branch of the company, something Van has dreamed of. Emily pulls out all the stops and invents, with the help of her team, a product completely different from the competition’s.

At the end of the episode they learn that Batman has used a variation of their super villain warning system and they are all excited. Emily has been accepted, somewhat, and it looks like she will be staying on at the company.

Powerless, despite featuring the more than capable Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi and a grown up Vanessa Hudgens, is more cute than funny. NBC have opted for a humorous take on the comic book craze by poking gentle fun at the premise of super heroes and super villains endangering innocent civilians.

It may work, although the network have stated that they will not be entering the same DC verse as CW; with Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash. This series is focusing mainly on the Gotham/Batman verse and creator Ben Queen (Cars 2, Drive) is gently easing the audience into this new verse.

With a hero known as the Crimson Fox and a villain called Jack-O-Lantern this was not a promising start to an offshoot of the Wayne family caped crusader. There is a mention of the Joker and in teasers for the show it appears that Emily does date one of the Riddler’s henchmen but this feels like a pallid nod to the “real deal.”

With the blackly comic Gotham already poking fun at the genre with its prequel story of the legend of Batman, this feels like a G rated knock off, somewhat akin to the products that Van’s apathetic insurance company have blandly copied in the series.

Powerless may well turn out to be a barrel of laughs. However the pilot was not overtly funny. It relied instead upon unlikeable two dimensional characters and Hudgens’ “Pollyanna” performance for a few chuckles. Tudyk was pretty much wasted in the premiere and considering his penchant for comedy could have brought a lot more to the role.

NBC have brought us a cute-sy type comedy that needs to up its game if it wants to succeed against the competition. The vastly superior, and damned funny, Superstore may well lead a few viewers to this new show but unless things improve, they will not stick around.

Powerless  airs Thursdays on NBC. Head on over and see what you think. Will this be a hit for Vanessa Hudgens and Alan Tudyk or a miss?

Cast: