The Couch Potato Report – September 27th, 2014
Canadian actor, writer, comedian and filmmaker Seth Rogen began his career performing stand-up comedy during his teenage years and he won the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998 when he was only sixteen years old.
A year later he began working on the television series FREAKS AND GEEKS, and since then has been a part of the cast or creative team – usually both – behind THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, KNOCKED UP, SUPERBAD, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and THIS IS THE END, just to name a few of his many credits and hits.
This summer, Seth Rogen teamed up with the director of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and former teen idol Zac Efron for the comedy NEIGHBORS.
Rogen is part of a couple with a newborn baby. Their quiet life comes to a crashing halt when the house next door is sold to a fraternity. Yes, they now live next door to a frat house, and that poses an infinite amount of problems.
They want their neighbours to stay quiet, yet they can’t stay away from the parties.
NEIGHBOURS is a Summer comedy, so it is best enjoyed when you shut your brain off. That way you don’t question anything that happens, you just laugh at the situations…and you will laugh at the situations.
I laughed out loud, repeatedly, and think that you will too.
NEIGHBOURS is not always as funny as it could be, but at times it is actually smarter than it should be and that is why I can easily recommend it.
We’re off to Australia now for an interesting film called THE ROVER.
THE ROVER takes place in a hard, stark, desolate time, ten years after a global economic collapse. Guy Pierce from MEMENTO and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL plays a loner who goes after the men who stole his only possession, his car, and he’s prepared to do just about anything to get it back.
Along the way to get his car back, Guy manages to capture one of the thieves’ brother. He knows where they’re heading and he has his own reasons for catching up with the.
The brother is played by Robert Pattinson, of the TWILIGHT films.
THE ROVER is a slow moving, violent, grim and very interesting film that doesn’t have a lot of dialogue. I really got caught up in it, and wanted to find out why this guy needed his car back so badly and that is why I can easily recommend it.
When a show has been on the air for five years now, like the Emmy Award winning comedy MODERN FAMILY, I often wonder if I really need to recap what it’s about when I review it…or does everyone already know everything about it?
Ultimately I decided to recap it, but only briefly, so I can get to another great clip from the show.
MODERN FAMILY is a show about Jay Pritchett, his second wife, their infant son and his stepson, and Jay’s two grown up children and their families.
The show is told mockumentary style with the camera sometimes acting as a confessional, but mostly it is an observer.
THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of MODERN FAMILY was the fifth – of five – to win the Emmy Award for Best Comedy. Yes it has won every year it’s been eligible, and it will probably keep winning for years.
It is just heads above any other comedy on television right now, and if you have yet to see an episode…see an episode. See them all!!
It is fun and funny and even really nice at times.
Watching THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of MODERN FAMILY could be some of the most fun you have this year.
The only complaint I have about THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of MODERN FAMILY is that it is now only available to own on DVD. The previous years were available on both DVD and Blu-ray. I have seasons 1 to 4 on my shelf on blu-ray, but this latest season is DVD only…and I am very disappointed about that.
But that is the only thing I’m disappointed about, the show itself is still great!!
When it comes to hour long dramas on television, I love a good one, a good guilty pleasure. A show you love, but maybe don’t tell everyone that you watch it.
I like these shows to be dramatic, have good storylines, and several interesting characters. What I don’t like is when an hour long drama is too dramatic, too much like a night-time soap opera, like DYNASTY or FALCON CREST. I don’t like them too soapy.
Season One of the show NASHVILLE started off with the right mix of everything, great setting, cast of characters and storylines.
In Season Two, it’s just a soap opera.
NASHVILLE is a show about a fading country music star – think Reba McEntire – who is fighting to hold onto her crown against a young, up and coming competitor – think Carrie Underwood.
When it was – and is – just about the music industry and the things that happen behind the scenes to get the music to the people, NASHVILLE is still very, very interesting.
Sadly, too often for my liking in THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON, the show is not about the music industry or even music. It is about lying and cheating and drinking and fighting and double crossing and…just about everything you’d expect from a soap opera.
I’ve watched two season of NASHVILLE now, and while it is no longer a show I watch and look forward to – a great guilty pleasure – it hasn’t gotten so bad that I won’t be watching Season Three, because I will.
But as far as my review of THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the show is concerned, I can only recommend it to people who love night-time soap operas, and I mean really love them. Otherwise, just skip NASHVILLE.
It is just too soapy.
Finally…it doesn’t seem that long ago when we all used to tune into CBC Television, every weekday afternoon – after Video Hits – to spend time with our friends Jack and Janet and Chrissy, then Cindy and Terry, and The Ropers, and then Mr. Furley, and their neighbour Larry.
No, it wasn’t that long ago when we all used to watch THREE’S COMPANY.
THREE’S COMPANY is a show about the misunderstandings and misadventures of two women and one man living in one apartment. It is also about their neighbours and their landlords, including the great Don Knotts starring as Mr. Furley.
THREE’S COMPANY ran for eight seasons, and all of them are now available in a fun 29 disc box set that comes with some great never before seen bonus materials, and several tributes to the one and only John Ritter, who died far too young in 2003 at the age of 54.
There are so many great moments, some huge laughs, and some great old friends inside the THREE’S COMPANY – THE COMPLETE SERIES 1977-1984 box set.
If you want to relive them, and I highly recommend that you do, come and knock on their door…they’ve been waiting for you…
The still fun and funny 29 disc box set THREE’S COMPANY – THE COMPLETE SERIES 1977-1984; THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the too dramatic and soapy NASHVILLE; the still funny and heartwarming COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of MODERN FAMILY; the interesting Australian film THE ROVER, co-starring Guy Pierce and Robert Pattinson; and the great Summer comedy NEIGHBORS, starring Vancouver’s Seth Rogen are all available now, either on disc or on demand.
And that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!