Righteous Brothers
The season finale of Arrested Development finished about 10 minutes ago. Still no word as to whether a third season will be forthcoming, probably so Fox can file the numbers off of Family Guy and make a third repetitive season.
As I watched the first episode of the Simpsons that aired tonight, I began to wonder: at what point did the writers of that show gain such contempt for their characters and their audience?
For example: this is at least the fourth or fifth alternate future displayed for these characters, and each is more humiliating than the least. The first that I can recall, Lisa was going to be President. Now she's lucky if she can attend Yale University, sponsored by McDonalds. Marge and Homer have separated. Nobody is "gay for Moleman." Frink hangs himself. And so on.
I don't want to sound like one of those "Worst. Episode. Ever." people, but man, from the swipes at Milhouse to a lame dig at Futurama, I kept wondering why I was bothering. It's been a long time since I actually laughed at an episode.
On the other hand, Arrested Development displayed the heart that used to be a cornerstone of good Simpsons episodes—the strength of families. OK, so it's a family with a lot of abuse, fighting, lying, and dismemberment, but hearing Gob sing to Michael in the courtroom had more heart in it than all of the "very special episodes" of Blossom combined in a blender. Hey. I'd buy that for a dollar, come to think of it.
Will there be a third season? They tried to wrap a few things up tonight, though now there are more questions than ever. Will Kitty Sanchez be a regular cast member? One can hope. Not much information on TV Tome, though they do point to Get Arrested, which is run by Fox. I think. (That site is running a clip of Gob's ventriloquism act, which is... even weirder than his magic act. I do wish they'd found a way to work "The Final Countdown" into it, though.) For some reason, Television Without Pity didn't cover this show, possibly because one can't make snarky comments about a show that has the narrator do it for you.
Today in comics I picked up the She-Hulk trade and the second volume of New Frontier. Also grabbed issues 2 and 3 of Planetes, which I was pointed at earlier. For some reason, I cannot find that nor Iron Wok Jan for love nor money in this town. How I can I read the favorites of the internets if nobody here carries them?
The latter reminds me a bit of a title I read about in Frederick Schodt's seminal work on manga—Dreamland Japan. One title he speaks of is all about a sushi chef training, and I am waiting for that to make the trip across the ocean. Only it would probably make me even more hungry for unagi, and the sushi place near my house is closed now.
