May Sweeps Brings New Episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" & Many More!

Sweeps are upon us -- and they matter even in a crazy TV season like this one -- and I would be remiss if I didn't once again prevail upon all nerds out there to watch and support CBS' adorable comedy The Big Bang Theory which has a new episode tonight, entitled either "The Nerdmabilia Scattering" (according to CBS) or "The Nerdvana Annihilation" (according to MSN-TV), and on TV.com they also have an aka of "The Hello Kitty Instability" -- all of which I like. According to CBS, "Leonard decides to denerdify his life when he realizes that girls like Penny don't date guys like him." I wonder if that's even true these days, actually...but no matter, I'm sure it will be plenty amusing. As always, you can catch up with past episodes and behind-the-scenes info at The Big Bang Theory's CBS.com website!

In terms of other new episodes for the Sweeps, all of the CBS comedy line-up is new, all of ABC's Dancing With The Stars, Samantha Who? (which has gotten great buzz but I haven't watched a full episode yet; that's on my must-watch tonight), and The Bachelor: London Calling is new, Bones and House on Fox are new, NBC's Deal or No Deal and Medium are first-run, and CW's Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill are also new episodes. Which means everything on broadcast is new tonight! Choose wisely, and record indiscriminantly! And more importantly, enjoy!

"The Big Bang Theory" & "Extras" Get a Nod from the Banff TV Festival

We're always pleased as punch here when one or two of our favorite shows get noticed in a big way, and my fave new comedy The Big Bang Theory and longtime TFN darling Extras (the episode with Daniel Radcliffe)
have just been announced as two of the nominees in the Comedy Programs category for the 29th annual Banff World Television Awards, the prestigious competition which winnows down nearly a thousand entries into a hundred nominees into finally the winners which will be announced on June 9th, 2008. It's worth a glance at the full list of all the nominees in every category, if for no other reason than to truly understand and appreciate that there is terrific television being produced all over the planet, and we're seeing only a tiny bit of it.

The Big Bang Theory and Extras share their category with other nominees Desperate Housewives, British sketch show Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul, Australian mockumentary series Summer Heights High (Episode 1), and the satirical revue The Chaser's War on Everything, also from Australia. It's a widely divergent group of shows and again, in the interest of getting up to speed with the gold standard in comedy, I highly recommend you check these out.

Thanks to the internet, it's easier than ever to do that. You can watch the nominated episode of Summer Heights High here in two parts on Daily Motion, and several whole eps of The Chaser's War on Everything are available on Google video and bits on YouTube, the very funny Extras with Daniel Radcliffe clips are all over, and (I think) this is Part One and this is Part Two of the episode. Many clips from Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul are on YouTube, and I'm going to post this little bit right here so you can get a taste of it.

Anyway, a big shout to all nominees from the Flaming Nose -- we love television from everywhere!

P.S.: Can I just put in a great word for Wikipedia here? I do a lot of web research for various projects, and there's just no place to get the lowdown quicker on ANY topic than on Wikipedia. If I want to get up to speed right away that's always my first stop, and I go on from there (and of course I go on from there!). The key to their success is the passionate involvement of those participating in creating Wikipedia, and though traditional media loves to pounce on any story when partisan content gets posted on the Wiki (and just as quickly taken down) and therefore declares Wikipedia flawed and biased, trad media is just plain behind the curve here. Wikipedia rocks!

The Monday Funnies on CBS -- Big Bang and Old Christine

I'm going to keep blogging about this terrific show until somebody watches, I swear it! CBS' charming and very amusing comedy The Big Bang Theory is in the middle of its batch of new episodes, so now is a great time to catch with the antics of the talented cast on this under-appreciated show.

There are no precocious children and no cantankerous oldsters in this one, just a vivacious cast playing adorable and impossibly vain brainiacs, plus one cute girl to stir things up. If you like jokes about Star Trek, 2001, physics, unrequited lust, the string theory, superheroes...served up with a generous ladling of loopy absurdity, The Big Bang Theory is your show. I haven't seen an episode yet that didn't deserve genuine chuckles, and though the description of tonight's ep sounds like it comes straight from the land of Leave it to Beaver (in other words, it's simplicity itself) -- The Pancake Batter Anomaly: When Sheldon comes down with the flu, the rest of the gang wisely avoids him -- I can't wait to see what the fellas dish out. Really, just give this show a try. It's a clever mix of physical and intellectual comedy -- a little bit Marx Brothers, a little bit particle accelerator -- and it's a delight. The Big Bang Theory airs straight up at 8pm.

A delight also, is The New Adventures of Old Christine, airing at 9:30pm on CBS. The big hoo-ha about tonight's new episode is that it reunites Seinfeld stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander, in a guest appearance as Christine's gynecologist, in a tale about Christine's descent into perimenopause. We'll see if the old magic is still there, and expect plenty of double and triple entendres -- the show is pretty smutty, but that's all right (it's usually pretty funny material), and it's not as inappropriate or crass as Two and a Half Men, let's say. (I haven't fallen for How I Met Your Mother, but that's clearly another Monday night fave for CBS. Good for them!)

I also have to put in a good word for Fox's New Amsterdam, which is hanging in there and is certainly the best romantic drama about an immortal man since...well, CBS' Moonlight on Friday nights. New Amsterdam has an appealing leading man in Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and you movie fans might be interested to learn that writer/producer Allan Loeb was also w/p for Things We Lost in the Fire which is out on DVD and PPV now. (I can recommend the movie for an absolutely wonderful performance by Benicio Del Toro. Can't wait to see him as the Wolfman!)

So your dance card is full tonight. And if you're going to watch Dancing with the Stars or The Bachelor instead, please just don't tell me about it....

Discover The Big Bang Theory

Please tell me I'm not the only one out there loving CBS' hilarious comedy The Big Bang Theory? I wrote about it a while back, and find that every episode is a complete delight. It's smart (or at least the jokes are smarty-pants funny and there's nothing funnier), and the cast is excellent. The two leads pictured to the left, Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki, are incredibly talented and have a great sense of physical comedy as well as the ability to get all the many laughs out of the absurdly intricate dialogue. They are adorable together.

I'm also very impressed with Kaley Cuoco as their beautiful neighbor Penny. Unlike many ultra-attractive gals on TV and in life, this one has great comic timing and manages to effectively and affectionately delineate a character who often isn't even on the same wavelength as the brilliant physicist roommates. She's really quite good and you actually look forward to her interaction with the boys.

This show is one of the gems out there and nobody's talking about it. All the attention goes to either its lead-in How I Met Your Mother or its lead-out Two and a Half Men. The real fun is being stuck in the middle with the geeky adorable boys of The Big Bang Theory. If you've missed episodes or never seen one at all, visit the show's CBS website and catch up with some online eps. I would hate to see this terrific series continue to labor under the radar. Now, who knows what the writers strike is doing to the episode pool, but there's no better time than the present to fall in love with the show and root for it.


P.S.: On a bit of a sidenote, The Big Bang Theory theme song is by the group The Barenaked Ladies, and founding bandmember Ed Robertson has a wonderful show on up here in Canada on the OLN network called Ed's Up, where he flies all over in his float plane and takes on various adventures. It's hilarious but doesn't seem to be on the Versus net in the U.S. which is what OLN is now called there. Maybe you can find some episodes someplace...I'll look around, too.