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domino harvey wrote:Red-Band Trailer for Damon Wayans Jr's Let's Be Cops

mfunk9786 wrote:That film looks absolutely hilarious. Let's hope it lives up to that blissfully stupid trailer.

I feel like they should have just gone for the full-on Boyz II Menorah reunion and cast Adam Pally instead of Jake Johnson.

To be fair to The Expendables 3, it was dealing with one of the bigger instances of pre-theatrical release piracy since Hostel 2 - an HD copy of it found its way online like 2 weeks ago

The pilot wasn't incredibly strong, but half-hour comedy shows have a tendency to not always start out perfectly. Happy Endings was fairly "rough-around-the-edges" in its pilot episode. Of course, having said that, I'd also have to say that Happy Endings kind of figured things out really quickly, in rather stunning fashion, while - based on last night's pilot episode - I have less faith that Marry Me will be able to do the same.

Reminder that Benched, the Eliza Coupe-starring lawyer comedy, premieres tonite on USA. The AV Club gives it a rave review

While watching the past two episodes of Marry Me, I kept thinking that what's really missing from that show is a couple like Coupe & Wayans Jr. (also - just to contradict my last statement - characters who aren't way too familiar). Anyway, from the few moments I've seen, Benched looks more promising than Marry Me.

Fox has picked up Zachary Knighton's Weird Loners for midseason, meaning every cast member is now starring in a different comedy series this season

So Benched has been pretty solid so far, though I'm fairly biased since I'm just glad to see Coupe and Harrington playfully sparring with one another. I think the hidden strength of the show is in the casting, which really makes all the central and surrounding characters believable in their weathered circumstances. Meanwhile, casting seems to be the biggest weakness so far with Marry Me, because while the scripts are improving (there have been some great Happy Endings-style lines in each episode since the pilot), the actors appear a little bit lifeless and can't seem to match how vibrant and strange they probably should be based on the material.

Part of this issue might have to do with the need to contrast the characters on Marry Me, as I get the sense that casting or directing on the show deliberately requires the supporting characters to be slightly bland and matter-of-fact with their line-delivery in order to emphasize the erratic behaviour/mentality of Annie (Casey Wilson). I like Wilson, but it's difficult to center an entire show/series around her on-screen persona of being slightly unhinged with flights of mild lunacy, because whatever progress or self-realization her character makes within one episode is quickly discarded so that her character can return to the wacky status-quo the next week. It becomes rather frustrating and diminishes any of the attempted character-development within any single episode, especially since the material on the show is really focused around one specific aspect of the characters' lives - their relationship. In contrast, while the central characters on Benched aren't exactly making gigantic leaps to drastically alter their personalities, whatever self-awareness they discover during each episode seems somewhat earned and genuine, in part because the characters come off as grounded and authentic at their baseline levels. It also helps that Coupe displays more range when handling her central character.

Perhaps another problem is that the characters on Marry Me seems far too successful and affluent, which is something that I feel NBC often (mistakenly) requires in their sitcoms. I think part of what made Happy Endings so appealing was that their characters still seemed to be figuring things out and struggling with a variety of aspects within their lives, which made it much easier to relate to their circumstances. In contrast, the characters on Marry Me seem far too comfortable and so their problems seem kind of trivial. That might also be why Benched is easier to enjoy, since it's centered around a character who has fallen from grace during her corporate-climb and is surrounded by co-workers who have basically given up, accepted their dreary situation, and are attempting to find other methods of coping. Now that I think about it, after a handful of episodes, I honestly have no idea what the characters on Marry Me even do for a living as that aspect of their life seems to have been completely ignored (other than a brief moment during the pilot, which seemed to just be a plot-device).

This is making it sound like Marry Me is more of a failure than it is in reality. In fact, it's gotten much better since the pilot. Benched has just been stronger from the start.

The Happy Endings writers' Twitter is counting down to something mysterious happening in 51 days. As the article notes, the majority of the cast has conveniently found itself out of work/contention lately...

A writer had "Happy Endings writer, returning Winter 2015!" in his bio on Twitter and hastily removed it, so. Where there's smoke there could very well be fire. I'm now actively hoping that the new Elisha Cuthbert show doesn't work out so the full cast can return.

Has Marry Me been cancelled? I must say that I'm really disappointed that Benched was not renewed.

Sad to hear. Benched was a lot of fun and very well done.

Marry Me is a good time, too, but much less so.

But, if it means we can get the band back together, then I'm all for it.

mfunk9786 wrote:A writer had "Happy Endings writer, returning Winter 2015!" in his bio on Twitter and hastily removed it, so. Where there's smoke there could very well be fire. I'm now actively hoping that the new Elisha Cuthbert show doesn't work out so the full cast can return.

Casey Wilson shatters your sad hopes, Happy Endings nerds.

Not fucking funny, guys.

The only thing worse than an April Fools joke is an April Fools joke that lasts longer than 5 seconds. This might actually cancel out all three years of funny jokes on the show.

I thought this was kind of expected by now.

The entire series is up on Hulu now!

AV Club provides some episode recommendations, though I'm obviously disappointed they didn't include "Boyz II Menorah".

The episodes up on Hulu are in some kind of weird order, if anyone is watching it, you might want to check out Wikipedia for correct episode listings.

Entire cast and creator and show runner reuniting at Vulture Comedy Fest in NYC Sunday May 22:

4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.: HAPPY ENDINGS REUNION! Sponsored by Hulu
What you’ve all been waiting for: Vulture hosts the hotly anticipated reunion of the Happy Endings cast and creators. Vulture editor Jesse David Fox hosts creator David Caspe and showrunner Jonathan Groff, along with cast members Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Casey Wilson, Adam Pally, and Damon Wayans Jr. Milk Studios (450 West 15th Street). Tickets $40 (includes an hour in the Vulture Lounge with complimentary drinks following the event).

Tickets go on sale Weds. I think this is like my own personal visit to Jerusalem, so needless to say, I'll be in attendance