APoH Advice: Stay Seated

Cool Vs Stool - Rango

Best Folksy Rock of 2010

Trentavisionist: Portlandia

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are Portlandians

Do you remember the 90s? Sounds like the tag line for yet another round of VH1’s decade remembered series. Fred Armisen, of SNL fame, answers this question and proves that “the dream of the 90s is alive in Portland” through a slew of character driven sketches in his new IFC show, Portlandia.

Joined with friend Carrie Brownstein, of the all-woman indie rock band Sleater-Kinney, Armisen, himself an accomplished musician, sets out to dually pay homage and riff on the city that has meant so much to him.

“I love Portlandia. It really represents so much of what I love culturally, musically and in so many other ways,” said Fred Armisen in the IFC press release for the show. “This started as just a fun summer activity for Carrie and me. We’d be hanging out in Portland and shooting whatever made us laugh, and that evolved into Portlandia.”

Armisen representing the East Coast, and Brownstein hailing from the West, the team hope to have fun showing the cultural collisions that take place in Portland.

“The ideals and philosophy that are in the show, and in Portland, are present in a lot of other cities, whether it’s Austin or Williamsburg [Brooklyn] or Silver Lake [Los Angeles] or Boulder, Colorado,” said Brownstein in an interview with IFC’s Melissa Locker. “So a lot of the ideology in the show is present in a lot of states. If a state doesn't have a Portland, there are subsets of the population that are striving to be Portland. Pittsburgh is trying to get on the Portland thing. There may not be entire cities who get it, but there are certain populations that will find the material relatable.”

The early union of this comedic dynamic duo was manifest as Thunderant, “a compilation of online videos that combined their unique music styles and comedic sensibilities.” Thunderant was the developing ground for many of the characters that are now featured in Portlandia.

Expect to see multiple cameos in Portlandia. In the short six-part first season, the show boasts appearances from Aubrey Plaza, Kyle MacLachlan, Jason Sudeikis, Heather Graham and Selma Blair, just to name a handful on the long list.

If you missed the first round of the show, don’t worry. IFC has made entire episodes as well as the individuals shorts available online. Want more Portalandia? IFC renewed the show for a second season after the first three episodes aired.

IFC has definitely caught the dream of the 90s, especially if that means a television comedy set to dominate all others. We’ll see if Portlandia can stand up to the ultimate dream of any television program that was molded in the 90s, Seinfeld.

Portlandia airs Fridays at 10:30/9:30C on the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

Podcast #37 BYU Police Blotter

Trentavisionist: I’ll Have Bob’s Burgers with a Side of Dialogue

Is Bob's Burgers too Smart for Fox?

Originally posted on TheTelevisionist.com 

On Jan. 9, Fox will add yet another animated sitcom to their “Animation Domination.”

Bob’s Burgers makes its debut serving up a familiar yet not recognizable by name cast. The first reaction you may have when hearing Bob, will be one of a “Where have I heard him before?!” Jon Benjamin has a resume that reads like a laundry-list of brilliant unknown comdey. From episodes of “Parks & Recreation” to a regular role on FX’s “Archer,” not to mention a whole slough of shows under his writer’s hat, there is no doubt you unknowingly are familiar with his work.

Also included in the cast are Flight of the Conchords’ Eugene Mirman, Modern Family’s Kristen Schaal, and Every Body Loves Raymond’s Andy Kindler.

The inception of Loren Bouchard, Bob’s Burgers is hoping to add more to Fox’s Sunday night line up than the current Seth MacFarlane onslaught (Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad). And if B.B. is a reflection of Bouchard’s earlier work, it will be a 180 to any show currently airing on Fox.

Bouchard, the creative genius behind Dr. Katz and Home Movies, uses “retroscripting” as the driving force in telling his stories. Retroscripting provides a loose plot structure as the model for the voice actors to shape each episode through their own improvisation. This style lends to dialogue driven comedy, which couldn’t be farther away from the MacFarlane Flashback/Cutaway animation.

However, such a dialogue driven style may prove too taxing on Fox’s general audience, and the show could steer away from its Comedy Central and Cartoon Network siblings. Sadly, if Bouchard holds to his style, Bob’s Burgers could quickly go the way of Arrested Development.

Ironically, Bob’s Burgers is about a failing family-run burger joint. Let’s hope the show will serves more laughs than the restaurant is meals.

Bob’s Burgers premieres Sunday, Jan. 9, at 7:30 p.m. MST.

APoH Advice: Bathroom Phone Calls

15 Goals for 2011

I am publicly posting these goals in the hopes that this will hold me somewhat accountable to them.  So if you ever read this, please feel free to hit me up and ask how they are going. These are in random order:

2011 is gonna make 2010 her BITCH!

1. Get back in my kayak. (not that I don't fit, but to do one river run would be a success)
   
2. Go to the dentist once. (I haven't been to the dentist since 2002)
   
3. Participate in and finish LOTOJA. (208 miles in one day, may be the hardest physical feet of my life)
   
4. Ride my motorcycle to a coast. (It doesn't matter what coast)
   
5. Ride six track days at Miller Motorsports Park. (APEX track days has about 10 available days, I can do at least six)
   
6. Lose 40 lbs and maintain that weight. (That weight would be 190 lbs... you do the math for what I weigh now)
   
7. Write for fun at least once a week. (This could be on my blog or even for http://thetelevisionist.com/, but it should be published)
   
8. Brush my teeth everyday. (OK... So I struggle with this... LAY OFF!)
   
9. Join a band. (This one is already in the works, but won't take place until 2011)
   
10. Justify my gym membership by actually going and lifting weights at least twice a week. (I've had the membership for a year, and only gone a handful of times, that's an expensive handful of times)
    
11. Go on a motorcycle trip with my mom and dad. (We usually make this happen, but it didn't last year and I will never let that happen again)
    
12. Use up all of the days on my Jackson Hole Ski Pass (I bought one last year, and only went once, that was a very expensive day of skiing)
    
13. Sturgis. (Could be with my folks, or on my way to a coast, or a trip of its own)
    
14. Attend a "CON". (It could be a Comicon, Dragoncon, E3, Nerdtacular, ETC)
    
15. Date someone. (I realize that this is A-Lame, B-Pathetic, and C-Technically not a good goal because I can't control if a girl will date me or not, but I think I'm to a point in my life where I could be a pretty good boyfriend)

APoH Advice: Thanks, But I'm Still Fat

Trent Takes Another Stab At Stand Up