alyson's association

Best of Twitter: January '14

2014-02-18T10:00:00.000-05:00

And we're back! Darius and I are here to give you our choices for the best tweets of January 2014. That's right, it's now 2014. New year, new tweets. Let's get started.

Having had no formal cashier training the self checkout line is pure instinct for me
— Craig (@craigrachel) January 4, 2014

Alyson: I wish I could say the same, but this has never been a natural talent of mine.

Darius: Well actually I was classically trained, so sometimes I don't even use my hands.

*NOW* WHO'S LAUGHING AT MY WINTER BUSH HUH?!
— Megan Neuringer (@MeganNeuringer) January 7, 2014

Darius: It's hard for me to admit when I'm wrong, but clearly I underestimated the intensity and sheer magnitude (pop! pop!) of a winter bush. I would say that she's reaping the rewards, but let's be honest, there's max one reward...she is reaping the hell out of it though.

Alyson: If you've only got one thing in the Pro list, you might as well take advantage of it. My favorite part about this whole thing is your Community reference, Darius.

Just saw a news segment about the law buckling down on snapchat. Guess I should take the local police dept off my dick pic list.
— Brittany (@Brittweetsstuff) January 7, 2014

Alyson: Yeah, but what about the non-local police department?

Darius: What!? I didn't know I was on a list!

There was a time you were 100% on board with Steven Seagal's ponytail.
— Pete Holmes (@peteholmes) January 7, 2014

Darius: Glad Pete brought this up. For me it was 1990. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze had just come out so forgive me it was a VERY confusing time.

Alyson: Don't ask me how I know this, but when you Google images of Steven Seagal, "Steven Seagal ponytail" is one of the first things to come up.

If your name is Ray and you're a racist it's not gonna take us long to give you a nickname.
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) January 8, 2014

Darius: Sorry Rays, no one's ever gonna be like "Oh there's Radiant Ray!" If you're a Ray, play it cool...you only have 3 other possible nicknames. (Stinky, Angry & Crazy)

Alyson: I cannot tell you how much I wish I knew a Ray so that I could call him Radian Ray for the rest of our lives.

Hitler must have played some really violent video games as a child.
— Clarke Kant (@clarkekant) January 8, 2014

Alyson: Do you think Hitler was a Call of Duty or a Halo kind of guy? Trick question, it's neither. You know he was super into Gears of War.

Darius: My guess is he was one of those jerks that was frighteningly intense about Super Smash Bros Melee. Like get really good with Captain Falcon intense.

this is in no way a FUN fact pic.twitter.com/uJ9zSVuEwy
— Amanda Lucci (@alucci) January 12, 2014

Darius: I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. Did something really cool happen in 1991?

Alyson: I mean, Seinfeld premiered that year but I don't see what Michael J. Fox has to do with that.

WHICH AWKWARD MOMENT?!?
— Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) January 14, 2014

Alyson: That is the question.

Darius: Hollywood awkward moments be like: "oh no my love interest saw me slip and spill paint on my shirt." *Real* awkward moments be like: "You ARE the father!"

Sometimes I'm like ugh boyfriends are dumb who needs them but then I look at delivery minimums and I'm like ok no way I'm meeting that alone
— Alison G Vingiano (@alivingiano) January 15, 2014

Alyson: Delivery minimums are the #1 reason against living alone. Try to think of something that is higher up on the list. You can't, it's impossible.

Darius: Guys can totally get away with spending maybe 10-15 dollars on a meal, but the minute you add a girl to your order the bill skyrockets. Now you'd think the bill would simply double, but nope...it's like 3 or 4 times what you would have ordered alone. My point: If you're worried about a delivery minimum, find a girl.

i'm never not hungry enough to instagram my food before i eat it
— lauren ashley bishop (@sbellelauren) January 15, 2014

Alyson: This is one of those tweets that I think about every single day of my life, with no exaggeration.

Darius: Truth!

JUST DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO ADOBE
— Alison Agosti (@AlisonAgosti) January 17, 2014

Darius: You can't have my heart AND...you won't use my mind BUT...do what you want with my harrrrd drive...(do what you want with my hard drive!!!!)

Alyson: There's not much I can add to make this better, Darius covered that in spades. But honestly, Adobe, chill out. Do you need my permission for everything?

well actually the problem is that literally everything tastes as good as thin looks, pizza, burritos, cake, sandwiches, pasta, rice, dirt,
— Sofiya Alexandra (@TheSofiya) January 17, 2014

Alyson: Tacos, pretzels, cheese burgers, french fries, donuts, almonds, the insoles of shoes...

Darius: You can be thin or you can eat all Krispy Kreme's you want. So there's really no choice to be made.

My bucket list and my Netflix queue are the same thing.
— Zach Heltzel (@zachheltzel) January 20, 2014

Alyson: If I die before I get around to watching that food documentary I'm going to be so pissed.

Darius: Maybe it's just me, but adding something to my netflix queue pretty much guarantees I'll never be interested in watching it again.

Alyson: Los Angeles banned plastic bags so now you have to remember to bring your own reusable bags whenever you go grocery shopping and the only decent thing to come out of that tragedy is this tweet.

Darius: I was grocery shopping in San Francisco and they made me carry my shit out of the store with my bare hands like a goddamn primate.

Alyson: It's iust inhumane.

I just talked to somebody for 10 minutes and we weren’t doing a podcast. True story.
— brian kiley (@kileynoodles) January 22, 2014

Alyson: I can literally not even begin to imagine what that must feel like.

Darius: I just record all of my conversations so I don't interact with my friends for no reason.

STR8 UP DONT WANNA SEE CAPT PHILLIPS SEND
— Gabe Liedman (@gabeliedman) January 24, 2014

Darius: I have no reason for my aversion to Captain Phillips but I'm glad someone else feels so strongly about it, and at the same time feels no need to explain.

Alyson: Can I just say I feel the same exact way about that movie? There isn't a single part of me that cares to see Captain Phillips. Done. End of discussion.

Shampoo for my real friends, real poo for my sham friends.
— Mike Leffingwell (@mikeleffingwell) January 24, 2014

Darius: REAL POO! Never been more fired up over such a chill tweet. So simple, yet so poignant. Watch out Sham friends! *Cue epic footage from Bad Boys 2* "This shit just got real."

Alyson: Do you have the "epic footage from Bad Boys 2" on your phone, ready to go whenever you might need it? I'm more interested in this now. Because that would be a hilarious bit, especially if that became your thing.

Still riding that post-Grammys meh!
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) January 27, 2014

Darius: I was struggling to describe how I felt about the Grammy's and then this happened.

Alyson: This is perfect because I didn't watch the Grammy's but I seem to ride the feeling of meh all day every day.

"FUCK U DAD" "DON'T SWEAR AT..." "BLOCKED" "What? U can't block me in real life, I..." *dad slowly floats into the sky & disappears forever*
— Fred Delicious (@Fred_Delicious) January 30, 2014

Darius: I love this image so much. I'll just say that I think any future real life blocking technology should involve handing the blockee a small red balloon so the rest of us can watch and laugh. We'd say things like "Damn, looks like Joe just got blocked. Haha he kickin his feet all fast!" ---Wait...where do they land? Do they land? Now I'm actually invested in this.

Alyson: They'd have to land, right? Because only one person blocked them. So they wouldn't be blocked to everyone. Maybe there's a designated field for blocked people to go, and then they all have to wander around and find new lives. Then they'll all start to make friends with each other (because they're probably getting blocked multiple times, yes?) and then maybe they all just go away together and we never hear from them again. But anyways, they totally land.

Buzzfeed has finally out-Buzzfed itself. "@BuzzFeed: 10 Ways Bacon Is Already The Winner Of 2014 http://t.co/tLGzSBCEjn"
— Christine Nangle (@nanglish) January 31, 2014

Darius: Can someone explain to me what is going on at Buzzfeed? --- But let me hold off on completely judging them, because I didn't read the article and if there is some kind of bacon infused pizza crust in the works I take it all back.

Alyson: I'm not reading this list and because I've never been on this whole bacon kick, I'm just going to go ahead and completely judge them. I want to know what goes on over at the Buzzfeed offices. Like, who's getting excited for all these lists? Also, it's February. Let's reserve the "winner of 2014" until at least four months in?

That's it for January! We're already halfway through February so it's time to start focusing on the tweets of today and forget about the tweets of yesterday.

Follow Darius on Twitter.
Follow Alyson on Twitter.

Yeah, so I've been away...

2014-01-21T16:25:00.001-05:00

I'm going to be completely honest with all of you guys. I don't really know what to do with Alyson's Association this year. I'm in the process of of working on a new project that will, in some ways, eliminate this site all together. I've been hoarding a bunch of my ideas in preparation for this other thing and it's leaving me at a loss as to what to do over here.

I'm also wary of compiling any more lists. I really like lists, reading and writing them, but at the same time I consider them incredibly lazy journalism. I use the word journalism there broadly because I absolutely do not consider that to be what I'm doing here. If I wanted any hand in journalism I would've stuck with that in college rather than changing my major to philosophy after an existential crisis (which I once again changed after my full-on breakdown had completed).

So, for the first time in a few years, I'm considering the possibility of making Alyson's Association slightly more personal, and less focused on entertainment. However, since the majority of my life centers on entertainment, I'm fairly sure that aspect won't ever completely leave this site.

If you read my daily Box Office Buz articles, you might have seen an article I linked to in today's post in which Wil Wheaton wrote about depression. I don't know whether to elaborate on my thoughts re: that piece. I might just delete this whole paragraph. Whatever, I'm going with it. I'm not disappointed in the work I'm doing right now. I've actually never felt better about the projects and writing I'm currently producing, but for some reason or another my head feels a bit off lately and sometimes I start to feel like I don't really know who I am anymore.

I didn't start this post intending to go into anything that personal. And because it immediately made me feel uncomfortable, knowing that in two minutes I'll hit publish on this post, I'm going to back away from that subject.

ANYWAY. I took a slight break from writing this and now want to erase all of it but I'm not going to. I'll post it, just as a "sorry it's been awhile and will probably continue to be awhile" apology for abandoning Alyson's Association in the midsts of 2014.

If it makes you feel any better, me and Darius have something for you soon.

Until next time...

In Which I Reflect 2013

2013-12-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's time for this again. I've been doing this for so long, that even though I don't really want to do this questionnaire anymore, it would feel wrong not to keep up the tradition. So here we go.

1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?
I started writing for an entertainment website that wasn't my own. I was also paid to write a short film, which was certainly a highlight.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
This year I did make pop culture resolutions which I seemed to have kept most of them. For 2014, despite my general rule never to make resolutions, I do have a few real ones that I'll hopefully keep with.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Some cousins.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Too many people.

5. What countries did you visit?
Mexico, twice.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A steady savings account.

7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?
I'm not really sure there is one.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Landing the job I currently have now.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Kind of letting this blog get ignored in the last half of the year. However, that was somewhat less of a failure because I actively decided to be a bit more private after I realized one or two people were paying way too much attention to the things I was doing (i.e. stalking the shit out of me online), and it was, and continues, to make me extremely uncomfortable.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Leaving this question blank this year.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Maybe my bookshelf? Guys, it's a nice bookshelf. Also, I bought a really great chair for my living room that I'm obsessed with. Oh, and my contribution to the Veronica Mars Kickstarter, I guess.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Eeehhhh... I don't know. My parents, as always.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
A few of my friends back home ended up being people I didn't respect.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, food and clothes. I went shopping quite a lot.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The job I currently have. Also, a new Veronica Mars movie. And my trips to Mexico.

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
"Brave" by Sara Bareilles. Or anything by Imagine Dragons.

17. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Guys, I don't know that I have an answer for this, this year. I managed to do a lot. I didn't see a lot of movies that I intended to see, I guess.

18. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sit in traffic.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Veep, Breaking Bad and Scandal.

20. What was the best book you read?
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple and Tenth of December by George Saunders. Both mind-blowingly good. I also read all of Rainbow Rowell's books this year and they were beyond entertaining and brilliant (especially Eleanor and Park and Fangirl).

21. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
Haim, Bastille and Imagine Dragons were the best bands I had on rotation this year. As well as Lorde and The Civil Wars. I found a lot of great music this year.

22. What did you want and get?
A full-time job on a TV show.

23. What did you want and not get?
Honestly, there isn't a single thing. I've been incredibly lucky.

24. What was your favorite film of the year?
Did I see Argo this year, or last? Maybe, surprisingly, Fast and the Furious 6.

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I saw a movie with a couple people and turned 24.

26. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not losing people that I loved, too early in their life.

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
"Forever 21 threw up on me."

28. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Have I ever commented on the wording of this question? Pretty dumb. Jennifer Lawrence, hands down.

29. What political issue stirred you the most?
Women's rights to their own damn bodies.

30. Who did you miss?
My family back in Kansas.

31. Who was the best new person you met?
Bar far, Jennette, who is one of my favorite people to be around.

32. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
It's easy for people to figure out private parts of your life, even if you think otherwise.

I don't know what next year looks like for Alyson's Association, but I'll definitely be around.

Until next time...

Favorite YouTube Channels in 2013

2013-12-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

Because why not, you know? Here are my favorite youtubers from the past year BECAUSE LISTS ARE FUN AND STUFF.

MirandaSings

I don't even remember how Miranda finally clicked with me, but thank god she finally did. I think I saw a video of one of her live shows and thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen and now I'm completely hooked. Bonus: Colleen Ballinger's own channel, PsychoSoprano, is also great.

Zoella

I don't know that there is anyone on YouTube cuter than Zoella. I'm not exactly a hair and makeup person (rockin' the same hairstyle since 2005 hollaaaaa), but I could watch videos from Zoella all day long (and sometimes do). And I usually find something to buy in her Monthly Favorites videos because I want her hair. That's just a fact in my life.

Mamrie Hart

She's basically a staple on Alyson's Association at this point. I don't think I can ever get enough of Mamrie and her sense of humor. So damn naturally funny, it's almost unfair.

Dailygrace

She's hilarious five days a week and continues to make videos that I look forward to every single day. No one kills it as consistently as Grace.

Vlogbrothers

Like I could make a list of my favorite YouTube channels without having John and Hank be #1? Are you new here? Yeah, they're kind of the best.

Until next time...

Best of 2013: YouTube Videos

2013-12-16T13:48:00.004-05:00

I asked a friend to give me ideas for this month's Best of 2013 lists, and she suggested viral videos but here's the thing. I don't watch a lot of viral videos unless someone I personally know sits me down and plays it for me. I'm on the internet, so I know which videos are going "viral," but for some reason, that makes me less likely to watch it. But I like the idea, so here are my favorite online videos from the past year.

9. I don't think I loved this one quite as much as people on Facebook, but I still found myself laughing out loud:

8. I'm not above some low-hanging-fruit humor:

7. This guy is pretty good at impressions, and it's fun to see them done in a truncated amount of time:

6. Both John Mulaney and Emily Heller are so funny in this web series for Above Average. The Future was my favorite overall web series from this year (by far), and this one was the standout of the group:

5. Saved by the Bell is one of those shows that will forever be a favorite simply because it ruled so much of my life as a middle school kid. Mix Mark-Paul Gosselaar with one of my favorite comedians today, Paul F. Tompkins, and I'm completely sold:

4. I know I wrote about this one before, and it's still one of my favorites from the past 12 months. A relationship in 5 minutes. The actors completely nail it.

3. Lindsay Stirling is sososo cool. I loved everything she did this year, but the Pokemon dubstep remix was my personal favorite:

2. The biggest, actual, viral video from this year was one I enjoyed watching a few times:

1. I can't make a list of my favorite YouTube videos without including one from John Green. It's hard to choose just one Vlogbrothers video, especially in a year when John shot videos of his time on set of The Fault in Our Stars movie, but this one was so great in so many ways:

I know sometimes it can seem daunting or time-consuming to watch videos online, especially in a list like this (I know I wouldn't even bother watching one), so I'll help you out. If you watch ONLY ONE video from the above list, make it the Mark-Paul Gosselaar video (but really, at least watch that one and John Green's video as well, it'll make you think which is good on a Monday).

Until next time...

2013 Year in Podcasts

2013-12-11T18:01:00.001-05:00

Last year I structured this post a little differently, so next year we'll see which one I liked better or maybe which one you liked better. Who knows, that's a year from now. Right now it's still 2013 and there are 2013 things to talk about. Like podcasts.

My Favorite Podcasts This Year

I Seem Fun: The Diary of Jen Kirkman

This is a new one to this year, and I enjoy it for Kirkman's frank nature and refusal to put up with a shred of bullshit. Kirkman will call people out for their shit or rant about something annoying/frustrating that happened that week (like the episode titled Customer Service is Dead and Small Talk is Killing Me). And unlike most podcasts these days, she records it from the comfort of her bed and has no guests. If you like Kirkman on Twitter or Chelsea Lately (or you like a good dose of common sense) then this is a podcast I recommend.

Welcome to Night Vale

Night Vale is a fictional, mysterious town in the vein of Twin Peaks and it blew up this year as a major cult hit. The stories string along to reveal more and more mysterious things happening within Night Vale, and performs like a public radio service. That's basically the gist of it, and I highly recommend giving it a listen if you're not already a fan.

The Thrilling Adventure Hour

This one is similar to Welcome to Night Vale in the way that it's styled like old-time radio. The appealing thing about The Thrilling Adventure Hour is that it isn't another Interview Podcast, but it still has all the major podcast guests that you normally see in the medium. Each episode has different guests reading really exciting stories. It's like an audio book, but only lasts 20-30 minutes and includes recognizable voices like Paul F. Tompkins, Steve Agee, Patton Oswalt and Nathan Fillion.

Put Your Hands Together

Billed as "the first stand-up podcast," each episode shows off different sets from up-and-coming (or already big) comedians. My favorite thing about this podcast is that it's hosted by Cameron Esposito, who shows off her improv skills by doing new material in almost every episode. It's also a great way to find new comedians you've never heard of, as well as hear new material from comedians you love.

Call Chelsea Peretti

I can't get enough of Chelsea Peretti, and after I exhausted any and all Youtube searches for more of her material, I turned to the podcast to hear more from the comedian. I was originally skeptical of the podcast because the majority of its content comes from guests calling in, but (obviously) Peretti has managed to make it hilarious by adding her own sarcastic comments and recorded sounds that resulted in a unique style of podcast. It's refreshing and seems to get better and better as time goes on.

The Classics

You Made it Weird

Pete Holmes managed to produce some great episodes this past year and showcased some really great guests in what is my all-time favorite podcast. I don't miss an episode, and it's because there is no one more charming than Holmes. I queue up each episode just for him, regardless of the guest (which is not the case for most other podcasts). My favorite guests from the past year included Jordan Peele, Tig Notaro, Bo Burnham (for the second time), Whitney Cummings, Dane Cook and Chris Gethard.

WTF with Marc Maron

It's not news that WTF is excellent, and Marc Maron continues to produce the best and most engaging interviews. I can't add anything that hasn't already been said about this one. All I can do at this point is tell you that he scored some of the best guests this past year and if you missed them, now is your chance to catch up. The man interviewed Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks all in the same calendar year. It was a good year for WTF and fans of the podcast/comedy legends.

That's it for the list. I think I gave you enough and covered most of what I regularly listened to throughout the year. I don't have time to sit here and list all of my favorites. If the post was too long you wouldn't read any of it, and then where would we be? Nowhere, that's where. I like you guys too much to do that to you, so I'm cutting myself off now.

Until next time...

Top 10: Funny Guys on TV in 2013

2013-12-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I listed my favorite women on TV in the last year, so naturally, today I'm listing the men that made me laugh most. Because that's how these things work.

10. Adam Devine- There weren't a lot of networks or shows that Devine didn't appear on this past year, and he pretty much knocked it out of the park every single time. He had a small role in Arrested Development, a slightly bigger role in Community, and then a bigger one in Modern Family. And those were just guest appearances. My favorite appearance was his role as the male nanny in Modern Family, because his two episodes were some of my favorite episodes of television in the past year. Everything he does and says is just so silly and funny. Then there are his own shows, Workaholics and Adam Devine's House Party which are both super great on Comedy Central. I want him to keep being in everything, forever.

9. John Oliver- I don't watch The Daily Show every single day, but I watch it enough to enjoy the hell out of Jon Stewart. Yet one of the best moments in TV this year was when Oliver stepped in to host the show while Stewart was out directing a movie. It was about time people realized how funny Oliver is and it was only a matter of time until he scored his own show out of that deal. Luckily, HBO thought so too and it looks like we're going to be seeing a lot more of him next year.

8. Nick Kroll- Here's another great comic popping up all over the place in the past year. Sure, who doesn't love Ruxin on The League? He's great on that show, so it's saying something when I claim that wasn't even close to the funniest thing he did this year. Outstanding appearances on New Girl, Comedy Bang! Bang, Burning Love, The Greatest Event in Television History, and my favorite, Parks and Recreation. I love when he shows up as The Douche on Parks and Rec because he plays that character so perfectly. And I can't talk about Kroll without mentioning his own show that began this year, the Kroll Show, that added to the already-great lineup of sketch shows currently occupying the air. I mean, this was one of my favorite sketches of the entire year:

7. Alec Baldwin- Obviously he's not listed here because of his short stint on MSNBC. Jack Donaghy went out with a bang during 30 Rock's final season, which is news to no one. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see Baldwin in a great role like that ever again, but we can look forward to his appearances on SNL.

6. Danny McBride- I don't always love everything McBride is in (or always find him funny), but Eastbound & Down was one of my favorite things about 2013, and that is in large part due to Kenny Powers. While I'm sad the series is over, I'm at least thankful that we got more episodes of that show than was originally intended. There is no character more charmingly naive than Kenny Powers, and I hope McBride's next project gives us an equally memorable character.

5. Jordan Peele- He makes this list because of two reasons: his show, Key and Peele, is the best sketch show on the air right now (there may be more than you think). Every single sketch that airs on that show is pure hilarity, and anyone looking to study comedy and how jokes progress, look no further than that show. Keegan-Michael Key is just as funny, and they would've shared a spot on this list if it weren't for the second reason Peele makes this list. His guest appearance on Modern Family was so funny and enjoyable that I feel like ABC wrapped that episode in a bow and gave it to me for my birthday (Adam Devine was also in this episode). Seeing him alongside Ed O'Neill was something I didn't know I needed until it was in my life.

4. Bill Cosby- Technically he wasn't on our TV every week on his own show, but man did this living legend have some memorable late night appearances towards the end of the year. He also gifted us with a new stand-up special on Comedy Central called Far From Finished, that reminded me why he's one of my favorite storytellers. And as a fan of late night, this night was one of the best moments of the year:

3. Nick Offerman- I can't add anything that hasn't been written ad nauseam. Offerman kills it week after week on Parks and Recreation, and Ron Swanson will be a classic television character for the rest of time. Technically, every single cast member on that show deserves a spot on this list (and yesterday's), but there just isn't enough room. So I'm giving it to Offerman this year.

2. Tony Hale- I realize that Alyson's Association is turning into the Veep Appreciation Fan Club, and I'm not even upset about that. Obviously Hale deserves a spot on this list. We saw him return to play Buster Bluth on Arrested Development (his episode of AD was the best out of the 15 released this year) and got to love him as Gary on Veep. It can totally be said that Buster and Gary are similar characters, but only Hale can play these characters to such complicated perfection. And this was the best:

1. Bo Burnham- I was upset by several show cancellations this year (Ben and Kate, Happy Endings, Nikki and Sara Live, just to name a few), but one that hit hardest was Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous. Burnham is so funny and smart that it's genuinely upsetting because it makes me feel so inferior, and it was great to see him take on a fictional character in a TV show. I'm used to his stand up and poetry, but this show gave me something new to love him for. Zach Stone was so optimistic and charming and caring and silly, it's a terrible shame that we only got that for 13 episodes. It could be awhile until we see Burnham take on another character on TV, so for the meantime I'm just going to rewatch this show over and over again.

That's it for this list. These were just my personal favorites- the guys I had the most fun watching over the year. If you're upset that I didn't include Louis C.K. on this list then you're one of those people that just likes to get upset. And also, pay more attention. Louie wasn't on the air in 2013.

Until next time...

Top 10: Funny Women on TV in 2013

2013-12-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

This is the second list I'm writing this year and it's a pretty good one so strap in and we'll just jump right into it. You guys know the drill. There are funny people on TV. This is where I list them and we all have fun.

Honorable Mention: I can only choose one HM, and I gotta hand it to Retta, who plays Donna Meagle on Parks and Recreation. I think we're going to start seeing more and more of her on the show now that Rashida Jones is leaving, and I don't think that's a bad thing at all. She brings so much to every second of screen time she has. Who doesn't want to be Retta's friend? I mean, honestly.

10. Dakota Johnson- Barely making the list because her show got cancelled sometime in January this year, but I don't think I can ever stress how much I miss Ben and Kate. It's just not fair that we'll never get to see Johnson portray the character of Kate ever again. When I first watched the pilot, I had no idea who Johnson was and by the end of the shows run, she was my favorite thing about it. Fortunately, Kate will live on in 16 episodes of Ben and Kate and I will never get tired of her perfect awkwardness.

Ksenia Solo

9. Ksenia Solo- While Lost Girl is considered more of a Sci-Fi drama, Solo's performance of best friend/side-kick Kenzie makes for the perfect dose of comic relief. She's easily the greatest part of the show and without her, it'd just be a whole lot of melodrama. Kenzie's sarcastic and feisty and also has a whole lot of emotional baggage going on that makes her vulnerable, and Solo does a great job of portraying all of that at the same time.

8. Eliza Coupe- Remember when Coupe joined the cast of Scrubs and made that garbage of a last season somewhat watchable (but barely)? Yeah, I do too. Then she mixed that character with a dash of Monica from Friends, and Jane Kerkovich-Williams was born on Happy Endings. I'll never forgive ABC for taking Jane away from me, but luckily we might get to see Coupe in a new series on USA sometime soon.

7. Kaitlin Olsen / Katie Aselton- I just couldn't choose between these two, so I'm combining them because their shows air back-to-back and their names are basically the same. They also play similar characters, and each one is hilarious every single week. Both Olsen and Aselton hold down the female-character-fort among a cast of men, and both of them are just as terrible as their male counterpart characters. And it just makes me laugh every single episode.

6. Kate McKinnon- Easily the best part of Saturday Night Live this season. Without McKinnon, SNL would be struggling to find someone to fill the shoes of Kristen Wiig (and obviously those before her). McKinnon can play amazingly unique characters that you want to see over and over again and will any of us ever forget her making out with Louis C.K.? Her impressions are also something I look forward to, especially when she does Ellen.

5. Chelsea Peretti- I've always enjoyed Peretti, and I'm so glad she's getting the attention she deserves as a cast member on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Her portrayal of Gina Linetti is undoubtedly the best part of the show and I hope as more time goes on, she becomes more prominent. If it weren't for her, I don't know if I would look forward to the show as much as I do. Her sarcastic, dry delivery of each line makes me want an entire show revolving around Peretti.

4. Tina Fey- What can I add that hasn't already been said? Absolutely nothing. Liz Lemon left us this year but not after getting married dressed like Princess Leia. Fey was wonderful as always on 30 Rock, and gave us an amazing sense of closure in the Liz Lemon saga.

3. Allison Janney- There is nothing Janney can't make better, just with her presence. There are so many different things that she was hilarious in this year but the most notable ones (to me) were her guest roles on Masters of Sex and Veep, and of course, her starring role on Mom. I could not be more happy with Janney being all over the TV these days. I watch Mom every week solely because of how great Janney plays the character of Bonnie. There was almost nothing more fun than watching her relapse in "Zombies and Cobb Salad" and take on a serious subject in such a funny way. I don't care what your views are on Chuck Lorre's latest project; Janney makes it worth watching.

2. Amy Poehler- Obviously. There isn't a more charming character on TV than Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope. Poehler was born to create and star in that role, and she continues to be perfect each season. As long as that show is on the air, Poehler will have a very high spot on this list.

1. Mary Louis-Dreyfus- I don't think there's a better comedy currently on the air than Veep, and no one could play Selina Meyer as well as Louis-Dreyfus does. Selina Meyer is kinda mean and selfish but I also want to see her happy and succeed in running for president someday. I don't know how she plays such a complicated character so well, but I'm glad she does.

There are a lot of great funny women on TV right now, and this list no where near includes them all. But somehow I had to make a decision, and I'm feeling pretty okay with my choices. Up next: the guys in comedy.

Until next time...

Top TV of 2013

2013-12-03T15:09:00.000-05:00

Apparently I didn't write a Top TV of 2012 list last year. And yet I've somehow been lazier about Alyson's Association this year than last. But this month should be fun because it's my favorite time of year: that time of year where we all incessantly make lists about every little thing we consumed over the past 12 months. My first one for 2013 is going to be the basic TV list because I don't think much will change about that over the next four weeks. If you're not familiar with the format, here's how it went in 2011.

Best of 2013:
30 Rock (final season)
Arrow
Ben and Kate (cancelled)
Breaking Bad (final season)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Bunheads (cancelled)
Chicago Fire
Eastbound & Down (final season)
The Goodwin Games (cancelled)
Happy Endings (cancelled)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Justified
Key and Peele
The League
Maron
The Mindy Project
Modern Family
Orange is the New Black
Orphan Black
Parenthood
Parks and Recreation
Scandal
Suburgatory
Trophy Wife
Veep
Wilfred
Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous

Best Comeback:

The Mindy Project- It's not so much a comeback as it was the show finally finding it's voice. The second season has been really fun to watch and I'm quick to watch it when it airs (which cannot be said for it's lead-in, New Girl).

Biggest Disappointments:
Community- It's no secret that this show struggled immensely without Dan Harmon. Hopefully next year this show will be included under "Best Comeback" now that Harmon is back under the helm.

Arrested Development- I tried to like it, I really did. I even convinced myself that I liked it halfway through my first watching of the new season. And I enjoyed it for what it was: a return to characters and a place I love. But was it good television? Not really. However, I still look forward to more episodes/a movie of this series because I haven't lost hope that it can still be great.

How I Met Your Mother- I'm really, really sad that this show is going out on such an incredibly low note. At this point I'm only watching this show to see it through after nine seasons, and I haven't really enjoyed a minute of it.

Worst Cancellations:
Happy Endings- I will always be sad that this show didn't last longer, but at least I have three quality seasons to re-watch over and over again. Which I do. Quite often.

Ben and Kate- I'm still not over this one and I don't think I ever will be. This was the best new show from the 2012 season and people let it go under their radar. For that, we all suffer.

Best Person(s) on TV:

Mary Louis-Dreyfus deserves all the awards then some. What an absolute killer performance as Vice President on Veep. It's completely astounding what she's doing on that show, and I'm on board with her Emmy win over my other two favorite leading ladies (sorry Tina and Amy).

Tatiana Maslany- She's doing God's work on Orphan Black. I don't know how she manages to pull off such an incredible performance in each episode, but she's making everyone else look bad.

Worst Show I'm Embarrassed To Watch:
Under the Dome- Honestly, if this show had aired in the regular season there is no chance that I would have given it any attention. But since it aired over the summer while there wasn't anything else on TV, I used it as a way to kill time at work.

Craziest Finale:

I'll say Scandal because it was the only one that had me on the edge of my seat until it's return in the Fall. There was a lot going on and a big surprise, and I just love this show so much.

Best Finales:
Breaking Bad had one of the most perfect finales of a show to ever air. It was slightly predictable and didn't throw the audience for a loop, but it handled everything and resolved the series in a way that no one could hate.

Eastbound & Down's finale was also perfect, though it did have a surprise in store. The finale also made us sad that the series had come to an end and we would have no more Kenny Powers to look forward to.

*Shoutout to Dexter for having one of the worst finales of a television show to ever be broadcast.

Best Show You're Not Watching:
I would've said Bunheads, had ABC Family not cancelled the show. And that is on you if you never gave it a chance. It's never coming back, and it could be all your fault. However, there's still a whole slew of great shows that you may not have seen. Maron, Drunk History, Orphan Black, Trophy Wife, The Pete Holmes Show, Gravity Falls, Awkward., plus probably so many more that I can't think of right now.

Best Rewatching:

The West Wing- watching Aaron Sorkin shows never get old. Technically I started re-watching this one a year ago, but I finished the series in February of this year. Perfect cast, perfect stories, perfect show.

I think I'm forgetting to mention a few great shows that I watched this year, but I think this is a pretty solid list of the shows that I truly enjoyed over the past year.

Until next time...

ABC's Premiere Look-Back

2013-11-11T15:25:00.000-05:00

Because my job offers me a fairly large amount of free time, I have absolutely no excuse for not updating this site more. I've been trying to use the energy I have for writing by working on and developing stories. But if you're upset that I've abandoned writing online, then you're just failing to look hard enough. My writings about pop culture are pretty much abundant.

So, now that we have that out of the way I can get into what we're all here for. Every May, I go a little crazy writing about the new shows and judging them based on a short trailer that gets premiered at upfronts. Then, when I'm not being lazy, I go back and follow up on those early judgements with thoughts on the shows after I've watched a few episodes of each one. While I am not overly excited about any show currently on TV (except you, Scandal), my DVR is still full of shows that I'm currently watching. So let's see how I did with my judgements back in May.

In case you need a refresher, here is what I said about the new ABC fall premieres back in May, as well as my write-up about each show.

Back in the Game

I watched the first two episodes of this show and decided that I just didn't have time for it. It isn't the worst new show this year, but I also didn't want it taking up space in my DVR.

How It's Doing: Pretty much cancelled, but will air the full 13 episode order.

Betrayal

Originally I wrote that I would give this show a shot, but I haven't watched a single episode. I'm just tired of the overly-soapy ABC dramas, as well as the shows that are complicated and require so much attention and energy to understand.

How It's Doing: Not great. Ratings continue to slip each week. But it will avoid cancellation for a little while.

The Goldbergs

While I don't jump to watch this show as soon as it shows up in the DVR, I'm still watching this show and it amuses me every week. The cast is strong and the story lines are cute. I'm just left wondering why ABC didn't and won't put this show behind Modern Family.

How It's Doing: It's not breaking any records or anything, but it has been given a full-season order (though ratings seem to be falling, so I'll enjoy the show while I can).

Lucky 7

I watched both episodes of the show and wasn't the biggest fan. If it had aired more, I wouldn't have watched them. The show had a lot going on and I just didn't care about any of the characters.

How It's Doing: It was the first new show to be cancelled this season, and after only two episodes.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I'm still watching the show, though a bit reluctantly. I let this show sit in the DVR until there's almost nothing left to watch. I enjoy it enough while I'm watching it, but so far it's just been a letdown.

How It's Doing: It's not doing as well as ABC had hoped. This was supposed to be this season's big hit, and it hasn't lived up to its hype. However, it did get a full-season order.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

I gave up on OUAT at the beginning of its second season, so I wasn't about to give its spinoff a chance. I haven't watched any episodes, but I've heard it's had a couple pretty good episodes.

How It's Doing: It's not doing great in the ratings. There hasn't been much noise from ABC about the future of this show, so things are unclear. If the network ultimately gives this show a second season, it may want to go back to its original plan and make it Once Upon a Time's winter replacement.

Super Fun Night

I could only stomach one episode of this show, and then I gave up. I went into that one episode with the lowest of low expectations, and it failed to even live up to those. I'm pretty mad at ABC for forcing this show by giving it the post-Modern Family time slot when it far from deserves it.

How It's Doing: As I could've told you, it's not doing great. Things started off rough when the network wouldn't even air the original pilot, and instead aired the second episode as the series premiere. Ratings continue to fall on this one, and the show has only received four more script orders. I'll be very surprised if they give this show a second season.

Trophy Wife

This one is one of my favorite new shows this year. I originally wrote that because of the cast and the promising trailer, this show could easily end up as one of my favorites and I was absolutely right. Three or four of the characters consistently make me laugh and I look forward to this one when I see it in my DVR.

How It's Doing: It's actually the lowest rated comedy, even sometimes posting numbers lower than the cancelled Back in the Game. Yet the network has given it a full-season order already, partly because it's the only one out of the four that they own (meaning they make more money from it) and they believe in this show (despite giving it essentially no promotion at all). It'll have to improve a bit to get another season (dammit ABC, put this show after Modern Family), but at least we get to enjoy it for a full season.

There are a couple mid-season shows that I'm still interested in, but for now those are my quick thoughts on ABC's new shows.

Until next time...

P.S. Facebook had a 24 hour heads up that this article was published yesterday, which will be a standard thing. So if you haven't liked the page, maybe you should.

Weekly Wrap-Up: 10/14-10/18

2013-10-18T16:48:00.000-05:00

I'm bringing back this favorite series of mine for the day because I have some time to kill and it was a good week on the internet. Here are most of my favorite things from the past week.

Bill Waterson never gives interviews and is extremely private, but Mental_Floss scored an interview with the Calvin and Hobbes creator.

I can't believe I didn't see this video blow up a bit more, so I'm doing my part by sharing it with you all. It's a great idea and a brilliant execution and the actors do an excellent job.

I'm a little late to this next one, but I discovered it this week and have already become obsessed. I often wish there were more animated shows out there like Adventure Time, and this series, Bravest Warriors, from Pendelton Ward (who created Adventure Time, not surprisingly) is helping fulfill that want. Also worth watching for voices from Maria Bamford and Thomas Middleditch:

This short animated video definitely made the rounds this week and for good reason. It's shorter than two minutes so just watch it:

One of my favorite comedians, Pete Holmes, has been playing Batman for awhile now in a CollegeHumor web series. Here he is meeting Superman:

Alright, that's it for now. If you're interested in what else I liked on the internet this week, my daily Box Office Buz articles cover all of that and more.

Until next time...

Alyson and Darius Present: June/July Tweets

2013-09-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay. We're both well aware of what happened in the past three months. Calm down, you animals. Here you go. Happy now? Good grief. (I'm going to apologize for any formatting issues right off the bat, I did this really late at night and I was rushing to get it done because I felt so bad about our absence). Okay, get to it.

"I have to inform you that you're sitting in an exit row and are legally required to take a photo of the plane wing and post it on Facebook"
— Damien Fahey (@DamienFahey) June 3, 2013

Darius: I need one person to channel Jackie Robinson's trailblazing spirit and post a picture of the person in front of them reclining all the way back.

Alyson: Oh no. This reminds me. I just read through Instagram's terms of service and found that they require every profile to have one of these plane wing pictures on it? Super weird.

To all saying "they're just words": words are literally what separates us & animals. To downplay their importance is avocado penguins.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) June 4, 2013

Alyson: Donuts Moriarty, I love this tweet so much I just want to doodle and dynamite this window.

Darius: Yes, the sky tastes purple today!

A suicide note that reads: "Accidentally liked a girl's Instagram from 57w ago."
— Justin Shanes (@justinshanes) June 4, 2013

Darius: YES. VERY REAL PROBLEM.

Alyson: It's never happened to me personally, but I once saw a car run over a dog so I can relate.

Ugh, you tweet about an alloy of iron and other elements ONE TIME and everyone accuses you of steeling jokes...
— Megan Beth Koester (@bornferal) June 7, 2013

Alyson: Everyone always gets so up in arms when someone steals jokes, but it's really steeling jokes we need to be worried about.

Darius: I'm concerned about steeling jokes but I'm also concerned about getting twitter stabbed. I don't think that's a thing, but if it is, I would rather it not happen to me. Stab free zone here people.

If you're interested in downloading "Funky Lobby Music" for your iPod, the artist is Adobe Soundbooth.
— Libby Snyder (@libsnyds) June 11, 2013

Alyson: This is some straight-up great information for those of you who don't already have "Funky Lobby Music" on your iPod. If you want to make this tweet even funnier (I know, it's hard to imagine) just think about the type of person who would search for Adobe Soundbooth in iTunes. It's good stuff.

Darius: I've never heard this song, but I feel like Libby doesn't play when it comes to her favorite types of "Lobby Music."

If I looked at the special skills on someone's resume and one of them was "not afraid to put haters on blast," I'd hire them.
— Jake Fogelnest (@jakefogelnest) June 23, 2013

Darius: I wanna interview that person. "So it looks like you *adjusts glasses* have quite a gift when it comes to haters. Just curious, on a scale of 1 to Kanye, how well do you handle criticism?"

Alyson: I want to be that person interviewed by Jake Fogelnest. Note to self: add this to my resume. Anyone else imagining what putting haters on blast looks like?

I can tell by just looking at my niece that my sister is not a virgin
— AmberTozer (@AmberTozer) June 25, 2013

Alyson: Busted.

Darius: Actually that might be the least awkward way for people to find out.

"gonna send out somethin to my 16 followers today!" *sits down* *cracks knuckles* *sneezes on keyboard* *RTs will ferrell parody account*
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) June 25, 2013

Darius: I just feel like there's so much left out of this tweet. The shame of not knowing what to tweet. The fear of tweeting the wrong thing. The embarrassment. And then...finally! the solution. Oh the joy that person must feel when hitting send.

Alyson: And the absolute joy he brings his 16 followers!

Just erased 55 irreplaceable photos of family, friends, and significant life events to make room for a food delivery app.
— Nikki Glaser (@NikkiGlaser) June 25, 2013

Alyson: I mean, it sounds to me like she's got her priorities in the right place. What else are phones for if not to simply order food to our apartments at 11pm?

Darius: Worth it for all the new memories (and friends?) this food app will bring in to your life. Napkin wipes, chewing, awkward last slice situations...

T NOW! what do we want? MORE TIME-TRAVEL JOKES! when do we want them? RIGH
— john freiler (@johnfreiler) June 28, 2013

Alyson: This tweet is so clever than you won't be able to think about anything else for at least 24 hours, that's just a fact.

Darius: I tried to myth bust that fact, but trust me, it takes a solid 24 to get that tweet out of your system.

I go to baseball games mainly so I can hear people yelling about snacks.
— Colin McCormick (@Colin_McCormick) July 1, 2013

Alyson: Colin just made baseball games sound like my favorite place in the world.

Darius: It's also nice if you like wearing a creeper uniform (hat and sunglasses / optional hoody) and getting none of the creeper stigma.

Wow it's really nice outside today on Instagram.
— Robin McCauley (@RobinMcCauley) July 14, 2013

Alyson: Is it too much if I start commenting "just got a sunburn from looking at this picture for too long!" on all my friend's pictures of the beach?

Darius: Definitely not too much. In fact, I'm gonna take pictures of just my feet in front of the monitor, looking at that pic, and then tag ALL my friends in it.

You do not WALTZ in front of my car when I LET you cross the street. You RUN across & send me a NOTARIZED thank you letter.
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) July 15, 2013

Alyson: Rob perfectly nails the use of all-caps here. Also, it's funny imagining the person going to get their thank you letter notarized. "Yeah, um, I need something notarized. It's not legal or medical or anything like that. Just a letter. A thank you letter, to be more precise. Yes, I'll wait."

Darius: I gotta put this one on Rob. 99% of the time you can spot a waltz-er beforehand.

Recently lost a loved one. She broke up with me for phrasing things too dramatically.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) July 16, 2013

Alyson: Josh Gondelman, I think we need to talk. Something happened today, that we need to discuss. I loved your tweet, man.

Darius: Josh, you're better off without her. I'm guessing she's super awful because she definitely told her friends "I just hate how he phrases things UGH!"

i just really hope they don't cancel Friends
— Sofiya Alexandra (@TheSofiya) July 22, 2013

Alyson: Sofiya, I have some bad news...

Darius: Perhaps they'll consider a spinoff. What about Joey? We can hope!

Just Heard Jay Z and Kanye are Boycotting Florida and DMX says he will no longer get arrested there.
— Huggy Lowdown (@HuggyLowdownDC) July 23, 2013

Darius: That's big for DMX. Quick! Is DMX in jail right now, yes or no? Well turns out you're right! Kind of...as DMX is currently under house arrest. BUT NOT IN FLORIDA!

Alyson: The Zimmerman trial verdict probably isn't even in my Top Three Reasons I Never Need To Go To Florida, that's how awful Florida is. Also, I'm concerned my list titles are a bit wordy

Should have gone with Danger Weiner.
— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) July 23, 2013

Darius: Couldn't agree more. I'll be his junk pic sidekick...Weiner Thunder-McGee. Yes the hyphen is necessary.

Alyson: Are you sure you want to go with the hyphen? I mean I like it, but Jay Z is forging ahead without his hyphen so I don't know if hyphens are "in" anymore. Anyway, I agree with Chase here.

my friend texted me that she was going to "hate herself out for a drink." Auto correct or SOUL CORRECT
— Joselyn Hughes (@joselynhughes) July 24, 2013

Darius: Yup, I think seeing spring breakers....alone...on a tuesday...qualifies as hating myself out to the movies.

Alyson: That's exactly what hating yourself out to the movies is. I'm hating myself out of this post because I'm so ashamed of a peanut butter joke I'm going to make later.

According to my calculations I have been ready for that jelly for eight months now.
— Shawn Garrett (@ShawnGarrett) July 26, 2013

Darius: Shout out to Shawn for having the presence of mind to take 12 years to gather himself, and make sure he really is ready for all that aforementioned jelly.

Alyson: This is my kind of joke. I'd like to follow up and see if he's ready for the peanut butter. That was such a bad joke, I'm really sorry. I can't even go on about the merits of "Bootylicious" because I'm so ashamed of the joke I just made.

Do I need to see Smurfs to understand Smurfs 2?
— Rob Huebel (@robhuebel) July 26, 2013

Darius: If you wanna see it with me yes, because I WILL NOT be answering any of your questions during the movie.

Alyson: Don't even THINK about interrupting this film with your word vomit, Gary. I don't have time for your shit and I will not put up with any distractions.

I guess 'Bed, Bath and Kitchen' just didn't have enough mystery or adventure to it.
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) July 31, 2013

Darius: Hmmm, there's no judgement in brainstorming right? Then picture this: Adult Diapers & Beyond...ARE YOU INTRIGUED?

Alyson: I've never been more intrigued. Adult Diapers & Beyond, WHAT COULD THE BEYOND MEAN? Don't leave me hanging, please get back to me about this, Darius.

We're turning around quickly this time and already at work on August's post which will be even more fun than this time around. We love each and every one of you, come here and give us a hug. Yeah, you. C'mere. Yeah, that's right. Embrace this embrace.

Follow Alyson on twitter.
Follow Darius on twitter.

Until next time...

My First Year in LA

2013-08-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

Warning: this post is awfully boring and only for those interested in my life in LA. It's not about TV and it's not funny in any way whatsoever. It's also long. There are a lot of other things you could be doing with your time. So proceed with caution.

I know you guys are waiting patiently for a new Monthly Tweets post because we are WAY behind. Trust us, we know, and we're more sad about it than you. If me and Darius could manage it, we would literally just spend every second of the day emailing and skyping each other and coming up with amazing comedy pieces for you but life makes that difficult when you work full-time.

It's coming. Writing that post is my favorite time of every month and the last post made my mom laugh so much that she was tearing up (I know, because I was in the car with her while she read it). I loved that moment, and I like making you guys laugh. So those posts are not going away. They're just coming less frequently and a little delayed. Bear with me because I have no time management skills.

Anyway. Last weekend marked the one year anniversary of me being in LA. You guys might remember that last summer I packed up all my stuff and left my home to move halfway across the country and pay about four times more in rent than I was used to (that is an understatement, in case anyone isn't aware how expensive LA is).

This past year has truly been a roller coaster of events and emotions and it's taken a lot to get where I'm at now. I have this very annoying tendency to give up on things the moment they get difficult. I literally do this with almost everything in my life. I've done this with relationships, majors in school, I almost did it with both Lawrence and KU (now two of the things I love and miss most), I've quit jobs and novels and writing projects and really anything that feels like a lot of effort on any given day. You could say it's a flaw and one that I've been forced to deal with for the past five years.

The first job I landed once getting to LA was working for a feature film, and thank god for that opportunity because I met the people that turned into real friends in a new city. Without them I would've sat at home by myself every night (or rather, with my roommates), feeling lonely in a city that made me feel like a tourist.
Since being in LA, and since that feature film wrapped late last year, I've had more jobs than you can count on both hands. It took a lot of work to juggle staying afloat financially in LA while also accepting jobs that would further my career.

I was very, very close to giving up on LA at the beginning of 2013. I went back home for my grandmothers funeral and basically decided I'd be moving back to Kansas at the end of my lease. Even though I had just landed my first, paid writing gig it was all a little overwhelming. Especially the thought of "what I'm going to do for the rest of my life." I'm only 23 and I'm supposed to be deciding what I'm going to do, every day, for the rest of my life? Ha. Good one. I have a panic attack over deciding what to have for lunch every day. I am in no way ready to commit myself to anything other than my dog, let alone decide on a career that is supposed to both pay bills and make me happy for the rest of my life. My roommate had decided to move back, and I was thinking I'd go back with her.

I went home for another trip (this time under happier circumstances), and felt myself really missing Los Angeles. I missed the weather and I missed my friends and I missed restaurants and my apartment. When I got back, everything finally felt settled. I could finally see myself staying in LA, at least for another year.

Writing on this blog and writing about TV are the two things that I have done for as long as I can remember. I started Alyson's Association back in 2006. I was 16 years old, and just a girl using this blog as her way of dealing with things I couldn't say out loud. It's changed a lot over the years, but it hasn't gone away (except that one time it did, which is why my archives don't go back to '06. I so wish I could go back to see what I was writing back then). I love writing about television and movies and comedy and music. More so than I actually like writing anything else. So when I got hired for Box Office Buz, and began expanding outside of Alyson's Association (is this a good time to plug my writing over there? I do it every day and it's my favorite part of each day, so read it if you aren't. Mkay, friends?), it was one of the first steps at changing my career goal.

I also realized that comedy is the one thing that has never felt like a job to me. I love writing and telling jokes, so I started studying at UCB and focusing on stand-up and writing jokes for twitter. There's nothing better in the world than making someone laugh, and now it's my goal to do that for a living.

So it's been a year. I'm still here (albeit with a new roommate), and I feel better than ever, and things are falling into place. Hopefully this next year in LA is a bit more steady and I can stick to two jobs rather than eleven.

Until next time...

Stay Inside, Binge-Watch TV

2013-07-19T12:55:00.002-05:00

Are you feeling the depression that comes from finishing all 13 available episodes of Orange is the New Black? Maybe you've decided to give this whole "binge-watching" thing a try since you keep reading think pieces about it. I'm going to help you out because I care about your well-being. Also, maybe go outside every now and then? Laptops are portable, you can take them outside. You can watch TV outside, I swear. I've seen it done. But if it's too bright maybe just stay inside with Netflix where it's safe. I don't know, I'm not your mother. Unless somehow you're my dog and you've managed to figure out the internet. In which case, amazing.

If you happen to still be reading this, we're talking about binge-watching and hopefully I'll actually get to the list of shows rather than ranting on for seven paragraphs about what shows lead me to where I am today. While it was fun to write, it wasn't so much fun to read. But thanks for sticking through it, you guys are champs. Here we go.

Shows To Binge-Watch This Summer Instead of Going Outside

5. Veronica Mars

There's a lot of talk about Veronica Mars right now because of the movie currently being filmed, and I've taken it upon myself to make sure everyone watches that show. It's good, guys. The first season will blow your mind. I put Veronica Mars on this list because now is the time to binge-watch your way through the first three seasons so that you're prepared for the movie's release next year. At least get your hands on the first season and then I pretty much guarantee that you'll want to move on and finish the series and you won't be able to think about anything else until you've watched all of the episodes and you've memorized all of Veronica's great quotes and you take to tumblr to find other Veronica/Logan shippers. Today is the day for tangents and run-on sentences. Hope you're cool with that. Anyway. Do this now while it's summer and you have the time. You won't want to be missing out on all the hype with the movie is released.

4. How I Met Your Mother

I include this one here because I'm just assuming that most people have given up on HIMYM a few seasons ago. Which is totally fine, but with the final season coming up, now is the time to get back into it. Yeah, the show isn't the funniest thing on the air but I think this sitcom has done a lot for the genre and it'll be extremely interesting to see how the next season is handled. Don't you want to watch how the entire season takes place over the course of Barney and Robin's wedding? What, you didn't know they were getting married? Exactly. Binge-watch it over at the netflix and get caught up. Did I mention we saw who the Mom was in the final moments of last season's finale? We did, and now she's a series regular and while I don't have high expectations for this upcoming season, it's going to be interesting from a sitcom fan perspective.

3. Orphan Black

You've probably already watched this one so you can just skip right along to number two. If you haven't and you're holding out, what is wrong with you? I know you've heard about it because I've written about the show once already, so you have no excuses. Once you get around to watching the ten episodes (that's right, there's only ten), you're going to be so mad at yourself for waiting this long. Seriously, you look pretty dumb right now. Have you seen Tatiana Maslany's face? It's beautiful. And don't you want to jump on the anger bandwagon that is Maslany's Emmy snub? Get in on that action! It's justified! Seriously, Tatiana Maslany will knock you right on your ass with how wonderfully she manages to play several different people. And it's only ten episodes, so it's a quick one. You can bust this one out this weekend. I expect a report back once you've finally wised up.

2. Orange Is the New Black

This one makes the list just incase some of you haven't gotten around to starting this series yet. The praise and the hype and the Breaking Bad-levels of tweets are for a reason. This show kicks some serious ass. You'll be thinking about this show between episodes, when you're at work and unable to watch Netflix. It'll just be in your mind- you'll be wondering what's going to happen in the next episode. When will Piper and Alex get it on? Is Piper going to get shanked? You have to watch to find out, and don't stop watching until you're done.

1. Breaking Bad

Aside from HIMYM, this one is going to take the most time on this list. But it's going to be worth it because not only will you have made your way through one of the best shows currently on television, but you'll be able to get in on the hype once the remaining episodes start airing later this year. You'll be able to watch the series finale with the rest of twitter and you'll know that Heisenberg is now a Breaking Bad reference and not an uncertainty principle. You're new favorite TV show is just waiting to be binge-watched.

BONUS: If you haven't yet, freaking watch Sherlock already. It doesn't take long and you'll be so glad you did and you'll wonder what you did before Benedict Cumberbatch was in your life.

Until next time...

My History With TV and the Binge-Watching Trend

2013-07-18T14:13:00.002-05:00

Here's the thing about what you're about to read. This post was intended to be a top five list of shows to binge-watch this summer and it turned into something else. Something a lot different. It's not particularly written well and my thoughts are all over the place. But I'm publishing it anyway because it's a look at my past and what shows lead me onto the path that I'm currently on. If you read it all, I'll write a list of shows to binge-watch later today so you can have some kind of entertainment. But seriously, this is a post you can easily skip.

My history with TV really began with the premiere of Ally McBeal, back in 1997. I was living in Atlanta and much younger than the target audience for the Calista Flockhart lawyer drama. But I loved it, and it wasn't because of the show (except that it was because I loved it and stand by that to this day). Ally McBeal gave me the chance to stay up past my bedtime one night a week, and spend quality time with my mom. Ally McBeal was the first show that was "our show" and it gave me and my mom something in common, something to share, at a young age (while I love talking about TV with everyone I meet, there's no one I enjoy it more with than my mom, to this day).

Then, in 2001, a new show came on the air, and having nothing better to do, me and my mom sat down to watch the premiere of Alias. If I had to pinpoint a time where TV became a "thing" for me, it would be this moment. While Alias didn't launch me into other shows or take over my life at that point, it definitely paved the way for it to happen a few years later. Alias came at a time when Ally McBeal was winding down, giving me a new chance to spend some quality time with my mom. And Jennifer Garner, come on.

Veronica Mars and Chuck are the two shows that changed the way I watched television. For a lot of people it was Lost, but I didn't watch Lost until I binge-watched it on Hulu right before it came to an end. It was Kristen Bell and Zachary Levi that made me start paying attention to a show even when it wasn't on. I started to talk about the shows with other people and read about those shows online and that's when TV became more than just a mind-numbing activity for me.

When I got to college I was looking for something to comfort the homesickness as well as fill up some of the free time I found myself with. I was thinking about it yesterday, and trying to figure out what the first show was that I "bing-watched." Binge-watching TV is all over the place now (in thanks to Arrested Development), largely due to Netflix (both because an abundance of television shows are available to watch in their entirety and because they dump a full season of original programming at once) but it isn't a new concept. That's when, I think due to my girlfriend at the time, I committed to watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I wasn't new to Buffy. I owned the sixth season (randomly enough) and I had seen other episodes here and there. But I had never watched the whole series. I changed that in a matter of months, and in the spring/summer of 2009, I binge-watched my way through Buffy and Angel. After that, it was pretty much game over. That was the turning point in my life because after that I changed my major and dreamed of life as a screenwriter. And perfectly enough, I'm writing this blog post from my desk at a production company in Los Angeles and I write for an entertainment website.

And now binge-watching is a bandwagon to jump on. It's a trend at the moment that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It's interesting to see when people really started binge-watching shows. Since Buffy, I've binge-watched Lost, The West Wing, Cheers, and countless other shows. This was happening long before every critic and their mother were writing think pieces about this "new trend."

To reward you for reading this post, come back for a list of the top five shows to binge-watch this summer later today. Though it might show up on Box Office Buz. But you know, I'll do it for you. Also, let me know what the first show you binge-watched was. I'm really curious.

Until next time...

EDIT: After thinking about it some more, I binge-watched the first three seasons of The L Word and I credit that show with changing my life more than anything else in my life, but for entirely different reasons. But because the show was only three seasons in at the time, I'll stay with Buffy being the first real show I binge-watched completely.

Alyson and Darius Present: April/May Tweets

2013-06-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

We know it's been awhile but I think we'll make up for the absence with this months tweet because we've got some good ones. Darius kills it this month and I think you'll all agree with me once you read his comments. Some twitter favorites pop up once again this month as well as some new ones. Let's get into it.

Kanye, I did it. I found a rhyme for Gold Digger's radio edit. "Sales figures." Call me at your earliest. I am tired of being a broke-broke.
— vladchoc (@vladchoc) April 3, 2013

Alyson: It seems so obvious now. I don't hear "Gold Digger" on the radio much but I'm hoping and optimistically assuming Kanye did, in fact, get in touch at his earliest.

Darius: Sure Yeezy's new album is named "Yeezus" + includes a track titled "I AM GOD," but I think he'd be pretty chill about suggestions and listening to the ideas of others.

Nothing lasts forever. Except my Ally Mcbeal tattoo. That shit is permanent as fuck.
— Dan Duvall (@lazerdoov) April 5, 2013

Alyson: My imagination is running wild at the thought of an Ally Mcbeal tattoo. Is it the dancing baby? It has to be, doesn't it? That, or maybe a gavel with the Ally Mcbeal logo around it in a really artistic way. Or maybe Calista Flockhart, Lucy Liu and Portia de Rossi's smiling faces somewhere on his back. The possibilities are so great. I don't have any plans to get a tattoo but if I did...

Darius: ...you would tell me, so I could go to the nearest tattoo parlor and get a matching one of the dancing baby. You're gonna get the dancing baby, trust me.

WHY DOES EVERYONE POST CRAZY PICS OF LIKE THEM IN A HOSPITAL THEN EVERY1 GOES "WHAT HAPPENED?" IN COMMENTS AND THEN POSTER GIVES ZERO ANSWER
— Chelsea Peretti (@ChelseaVPeretti) April 9, 2013

Darius: I especially love it when the person is in a full body cast (yes I'm horrible), because kudos to them for having the vanity to instagram their misfortune, but the self-control to abstain from commenting whilst in the ER.

Alyson: Ah yes, the classic full-body-cast selfie. What would be really cool is if after about a day of not saying anything, they deleted their account. Can you imagine the texts they'd get?

Almost there Jen, but can you get a little MORE awkward? Oh there you go! We got it everyone, that's a wrap! pic.twitter.com/YYn70362Ay
— erinn hayes (@hayeslady) April 9, 2013

Darius: If you think you want a life size cardboard cutout of jen in this pose more than I do you're wrong.

Alyson: Oh my god, please get a life size cardboard cutout of this because then it'd be, like, in your living room or something and I could take selfies with it and be like "just hangin out with Jen!" and I could try to out-awkward her.

If I see a black person at nite I cross to their side of street&kiss them gentle but firm on the mouth. Maybe tryin 2 hard 2 not be racist.
— shelby fero (@shelbyfero) April 10, 2013

Alyson: My favorite person on twitter changes with whoever is consistently killing it at the time, and right now it's Shelby Fero. Folks, she's got some great tweets and I find myself pretty much just favoriting them all and spending all my downtime on her favstar page. The wording of this one gets me. "Gentle but firm on the mouth." I can't even deal.

Darius: I am completely in the tank for Shelby, and as a potential recipient of this treatment, I must say that I am quite intrigued by this ratio of gentleness to firmness.

On his deathbed, surrounded by his loved ones, Fabio uses his last breath & whispers "I knew it was butter the whole time"
— Kyle Lippert (@Kyle_Lippert) April 12, 2013

Darius: Kyle brings up an interesting / sad point about a man whose fame is 98% butter-substitute based: I don't care about anything Fabio says on his deathbed that's unrelated to butter...how much he knew...and exactly when he knew it.

Alyson: This is SO TRUE. The only way he'd be relevant on his death bed is if he was talking about butter. It's kind of breaking my heart. Eh, whatever, the man has more money than me because of butter.

hello 911 i need to report a suspicious package it's in my neighbor gary's pants yes i'm serious hello hello
— lauren ashley bishop (@sbellelauren) April 17, 2013

Darius: I love the idea of Lauren: A.) Examining Gary's package, then B.) (I'm guessing) putting it through some type of flow chart to determine whether Gary's package is indeed suspicious or not.

Alyson: Whoa okay but yeah, is she watching Gary through a window? Like Gary's at home on a Thursday night watching something on the TV (we'll never know what because his TV faces away from Lauren's window) and the moment things get suspicious she's using one hand to call 911 while the other hand continues to hold the blinds apart so she can keep watching? What's going on here?

Scared of swallowing spiders in your sleep? Try wearing a mouth guard festooned with fake spiders. Then it's like, Uh-uh. Occupado, amigos.
— Julieanne Smolinski (@BoobsRadley) April 23, 2013

Alyson: If I had a list of tweets with the funniest wordings, this one would be so high on that list. I might actually make that list, it could be good. I read this tweet in my head and find myself laughing out loud every time, no matter where I am. I'm laughing right now, laughing to this in my office. Maybe spiders think in spanish. Who knows, certainly not you or me.

Darius: I love that Julianne brought festooned back. Welcome back festooned! Also love the idea of spanish speaking hipster spiders being like," uhhh, everyone goes to that mouth now..."

Just watched a 10 minute video attempting to prove that Beyonce is possessed by the devil and literally said "so what" at the end of it.
— Amber (@fukpizza) April 23, 2013

Darius: Trying to dissuade me from loving Beyonce with moral arguments and fact-based reasoning is ultimately as fruitless as trying to convince Michael Douglas that that's not how cancer works.

Alyson: People are going to love Beyonce and there's just nothing anyone can do about it. It's kind of like how people are going to love Kanye and there's nothing Kanye can do that's going to change it, no matter how many times he calls himself God.

Gonna go drop the kids off at the pool, then I can FINALLY use the bathroom in an empty house.
— Zach Broussard (@ZachBroussard) April 28, 2013

Alyson: I die inside every time I read or think about this tweet because it's so good and I'll never be able to come up with it because Zach Broussard beat me to it. It's so simple yet clever and hilarious. Also, can't stop thinking about the kids he left alone at the pool.

Darius: I can't say enough about tweets that are clever and concise. It's an art. Art about taking a dump, but still art.

Man at my gym who just hopped off the treadmill, took out his ear buds, & exclaimed, "Does it smell like fish in here?" is my new fav human.
— Jen Statsky (@jenstatsky) May 2, 2013

Darius: Any sentence directed to a group of strangers that starts with "does it smell like" is unequivocally destined for greatness. Also worth mentioning, is the fact that he took out his earbuds which all but confirms that the question is not rhetorical in nature.

Alyson: Darius, your response to this has totally made my day. The man's question is completely NOT rhetorical! He needs an answer people, he doesn't want to be the only one smelling fish!

Just because I have blood & toilet paper all over my face doesn't necessarily mean I cut myself shaving.
— Brandon Gutermuth (@UNTRESOR) May 3, 2013

Darius: There are like literally dozens of other not-murdery-at-all reasons! *chuckles nervously, backs away slowly*

Alyson: Maybe the thing to do in this situation is accept that people are assuming the blood is from shaving. When else are you going to get people assuming that blood is from shaving? I say take it and run with it, man.

Son, I need to tell you something. You were adapted. Into a screenplay. Your life story will be a film. About adoption. You were adopted.
— Ari Scott (@ariscott) May 3, 2013

Alyson: I wish all important conversations could go down this way because it would make everything way more enjoyable. My question is this: if this happens to you, do you focus more on the fact that you were adopted or do you worry more about the quality of a film based on adoption? And, like, who's going to be playing you?

Darius: Great questions. You should worry in this order: 1. Who will play you? A: Daniel Day Lewis or at least anybody but Seth Rogen, 2. You were adopted? A: It's upsetting, but try not to burn too many calories on this one and 3. Will it be any good? A: This is the one it's ok to bake and eat an entire cake alone for. This could end up being the Descendants or The Last Airbender.

congrats on winning the big game. what will u do now? "I'm going to Disneyland" well that's ni-- "AND I'MA KILL DONALD DUCK!!"
— lawblob (@lawblob) May 4, 2013

Darius: Honestly, at this point, I don't even need an explanation. Donald, please be advised.

Alyson: I am laughing so much at this tweet and the fact that you need no explanation. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Gotta hear both sides RT @911BUFF: CALI: POLICE ARRESTED A 53 YEAR OLD TEACHER FOR HAVING A LOADED GUN, AMMUNITION, COCAINE & POT IN CAR
— Desus (@desusnice) May 9, 2013

Darius: He could have snapped after watching a 6 hour Katherine Heigl movie marathon, my point is, we don't know.

Alyson: Wow, school's Lost and Founds are getting way out of hand these days.

Mother's Day Brunch Special: Buy 1 mimosa, Get 2 free criticisms of your life choices.
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) May 11, 2013

Darius: I wonder if she tweeted this while she was at brunch with her mom. That's excellent.

Alyson: I certainly hope so. Also, this is a terrible deal for restaurants, no one do this. There's a place down the road offering bottomless mimosas. Go there.

Delaware and now Minnesota. At this rate, I believe one day gay people will be able to marry in a state they actually find appealing.
— Damien Fahey (@DamienFahey) May 13, 2013

Alyson: Is there anyone better at the topical jokes than Damien Fahey right now? Whenever a good news story hits he's the first and funniest to tweet a joke. I guess we have to give people some reason to live in Minnesota. And the possibility of fun, gay neighbors should definitely make it more appealing to live in Delaware all the way around.

Darius: Delaware is the Jack Reacher of states. I have a feeling that state would find a way to make fun gay neighbors be 0 fun.

You're saying all you need is a proper buoyancy and decent water displacement? I'm not sure what that means but whatever floats your boat
— ¡¡¡BENBENBEN!!! (@PajamaBen_) May 17, 2013

Alyson: This tweet is one hundred percent free of errors.

Darius: There's nothing I can do short of retiring from twitter that would show this tweet the type of respect it deserves.

A picture paints a thousand words and wait hey is that one of my tweets? Did you steal one of my tweets, picture?
— Sadvil (@crylenol) May 23, 2013

Alyson: Not particularly one of the funniest jokes in May but I had to include it because of the recent uproar over joke stealing that is going on with a certain popular joke thief. And the idea of a guy accusing some picture he's probably looking at on facebook of plagiarism is downright hilarious. Pictures can't talk, people!

Darius: Would the reverse hold up? If Edvard Munch had a twitter I imagine he'd be pretty upset if tweeted "Wavy looking person yells at top of lungs on a bridge" like it was my idea.

Isn't it crazy how sex is almost as good as most sandwiches????
— Morgan Murphy (@morgan_murphy) May 31, 2013

Alyson: I'm struck by how incredibly perfect and hilarious this tweet is and also by the inclusion of "most" sandwiches. What sandwiches aren't as good as sex? Just tried to come up with a small list of sandwiches that might not be as good and couldn't even come up with one. That's how good sandwiches are, because I can definitely come up with the same list as it applies to sex without even having to try.

Darius: I saw a girl eat a nasty lookin olive sandwich once, just bread, olives and nasty, but I still think eating that sandwich would be a lot more relaxing, and ultimately more rewarding than sex.

Follow Alyson on twitter.

Follow Darius on twitter.

Until next time...

Summer TV: Scandal & Orphan Black

2013-06-12T14:07:00.003-05:00

Sometimes, if I miss someone or I haven't talked to a friend in a while I'll text them my name just as a little reminder that I exist because I think it's kind of hilarious. I'm saying this because I should have this blog post just be my name. I work in an office which means there isn't a lot in the way of excuses because what better way to procrastinate actual work than by blogging. Anyways, whatever, let's start talking about the point of todays post.

During the fall and spring I have such a heavy schedule of shows that I watch so it makes it hard to watch old shows or add any new shows into the rotation. During the summer, that isn't the case so I usually use it as a time to really take advantage of netflix or clear up my DVR which is back logged with a season worth of episodes on a show that I just didn't have time for. So far this summer I've caught up on two different shows that were the biggest ones on my radar because of how much attention they were getting by friends and critics.

First up is Scandal. Shonda Rhimes knows what she's doing when it comes to drama and I freaking love Kerry Washington. I flew through the first two seasons in just a couple of days because I could not stop watching. Usually when I binge watch a show it's because I want to get caught up sooner rather than later. I want to be caught up or know how it all ends and I'm trying to get there as quickly as possible. I wasn't doing that with Scandal. I was constantly watching it because I loved being in that world and watching Kerry Washington just be amazing episode after episode.

I would try to explain what was going on when my roommate would catch a scene here and there and it was too much to get into. I'm terrible at explaining and recapping shows so I end up saying "you just gotta watch it. Trust me." I'm probably the last person to hop on the Scandal train so I won't bother telling anyone to watch a show that they were caught up with months ago but this show is worth everyones time because the storylines are extremely compelling and did I mention Kerry Washington?

I didn't have much time to feel sad once I caught up with Scandal because I had another show to get through and that show is Orphan Black. Since Enlightened and Downton Abbey, Patton Oswalt has a tendency to bring attention to great shows and then no one stops talking about that show for months. He, along with tumblr, brought this show to my attention and because of the fact that you can watch the season in a day or two, it was one I intended on watching. Then a friend personally told me I needed to watch it which gave it priority over other shows.

I'm glad I have friends who know my taste and know what kinds of shows I watch because this friend was right, I needed to watch Orphan Black right away. I honestly didn't know much about the show when I first started watching but after the third episode I was hooked. I flew through the episodes and found myself loving Tatiana Maslany more and more because she was so good that it was blowing my mind.

Orphan Black is another drama with a lot of intricate storylines going on and it holds your attention captive so that you can't stop watching. Seriously, how is Maslany so freaking good? SO GOOD.

Anyway. Just wanted to ramble about the shows I'm watching this summer. I'm not totally sure what show is next but I know that I intend on watching Elementary sometime soon. If anyone has any dramas (because they're the ones I tend to fall behind on while they're airing) you think I should see then let me know already.

Until next time...

CBS' Fall Premieres

2013-05-17T12:46:00.002-05:00

This is the last of the Part 1's (unless I decide to write about The CW or something) and I've saved the #1 network for last. CBS has a bunch of new multi-cam comedies while they're going for high-concept dramas that will fit in nicely with their one-dimensional crime dramas. Let's get started.

The Crazy Ones

Stars: Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Wolk.
Story: A father and daughter work together at an ad agency.
Will I Watch: I'm intrigued with the idea of Sarah Michelle Gellar in a sitcom like this, but I'm not racing to set up a season pass on my DVR or anything.
Will It Last: I'm torn on this one. On one hand, it's in the same comedy block as The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men, but I could see it getting cancelled. Maybe because I don't think people care to see Robin Williams on TV anymore (is this just me?) or because the preview didn't look too funny. I'm leaning towards No but I hesitate to give an official guess.

Hostages

Stars: Dylan McDermott, Toni Collette, Tata Donovan.
Story: An FBI agent forces a mother to kill the President in order to save her family. Based on the Israeli format.
Will I Watch: Looks cool, I'm in (until I inevitably get bored).
Will It Last: Well it is CBS, so probably. The 10pm slot on Monday's is going to be really good with Castle, Hostages and The Blacklist going head-to-head.

Intelligence

Stars: Josh Holloway, Marg Helgenberger, Meghan Ory, Michael Rady, James Martinez, John Billingsley.
Story: The logline for this one is confusing no matter how many times you read it, but there's a quote from the preview that refers to the show as "rather than making robots more human-like, they're making humans more robotic" which is interesting and sums it enough. If that's not enough for you, the dude has a microchip in his brain and it helps him access government things. Oh my god. This is kind of like a more government-CBS-techy version of Chuck.
Will I Watch: I just sold myself by comparing it to Chuck, which is a lofty jump but one I think is validated.
Will It Last: Seems a bit too confusing but who knows, Person of Interest has lasted this long.

The Millers

Stars: Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges, JB Smoove
Story: A recently divorced guy moves back in with his parents to find out his parents are also having marital problems.
Will I Watch: I'm tired of multi-cam shows on CBS. This one doesn't look for me, despite it starring Arnett.
Will It Last: Here's the thing. Arnett is bad luck for shows. It doesn't matter that he's hilarious and great and I'd watch him in basically anything. He can't get on a show that lasts to save his life. But this one is airing after The Big Bang Theory so it'll probably do great in ratings and possibly find an audience that way.

Mom

Stars: Anna Faris, Allison Janney (!!!), Nate Corddry, French Stewart (!!).
Story: A newly-sober mother moves in with her mom. Another Chuck Lorre, CBS multi-cam. Soon, CBS will just call itself the Chuck Lorre Network (and Fox will be called the Seth McFarlane Network. And NBC will retool itself as the Lorne Michaels Network. ABC will stay the same). But this time the cast rocks right out of the gate.
Will I Watch: I'm excited to see Allison Janney back on TV and Anna Faris is always funny. So I'll give it a shot, if only when I'm out of other things to watch.
Will It Last: Most likely. It's airing after 2 Broke Girls and will definitely appeal to that audience. And it's from Chuck Lorre. So come on.

We Are Men

Stars: Jerry O'Connell, Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Smith.
Story: After being left at the altar, a guy moves into an apartment complex and starts hanging around some older dudes (for some reason) while he gets back into the dating world.
Will I Watch: Not even Tony Shalhoub can get me to watch this.
Will It Last: It's saving grace is that it's sandwiched in-between How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls so it may get some viewers based on that alone. But if I had to guess one sitcom that won't last on CBS' schedule, this would be it. The premise just sounds ridiculous.

None of CBS' comedies look like winners to me yet (except Mom, only for its cast) but I'm excited about Hostages because I love Toni Collette.

Part Two's will come next where I take a look at the network's midseason shows (mostly from NBC).

Until next time...

ABC's 2013 Fall Premieres: Part One

2013-05-15T18:05:00.000-05:00

I'm back with a late update on ABC's new fall shows. We've only got a couple more to go (I don't usually do The CW, but I might do something about TBS or combine the two. WHO KNOWS.). This year, ABC needs a hit after having only one freshman show, Nashville, survive cancellations and that show wasn't even a hit. The network cancelled a whole bunch of comedies and they need something this year to get them back in the game...

Back In The Game (literally did not plan having my last sentence end with "back in the game" and then have the first show be titled that but it's amazing that it worked out that way).

Stars: James Caan, Ben Koldyke, Maggie Lawson, Griffin Gluck, Lenora Crichlow.
Story: A recently divorced mother moves back in with her estranged father and begins to coach her son's baseball team.
Will I Watch: I like Lawson a lot so I'll probably tune in just to see her.
Will It Last: It could do alright considering it's on Wednesday's comedy block, sandwiched between The Middle and Modern Family.

Betrayal

Stars: James Cromwell, Henry Thomas, Hannah Ware, Stuart Townsend, Chris Johnson, Wendy Moniz, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Braeden Lamasters.
Story: An unhappily married photographer has an affair with a lawyer, only to find out he's the defense attorney for a client being prosecuted by her husband.
Will I Watch: This actually seems very Revenge-esque to me and I am missing a show like this since I gave up on Revenge in this past season. So as long as it's good and doesn't get convoluted, I'm in.
Will It Last: It seems to have everything people are looking for in a TV show these days (especially on ABC). If it's handled well, it could please fans who felt something lacking in Revenge and also go well with ABC's surprise hit, Scandal.

The Goldbergs

Stars: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Jeff Garlin, Darien Provost, George Segal, Troy Gentile.
Story: Patton Oswalt narrates his childhood growing up as the youngest in a family during the 80s.
Will I Watch: As a fan of the 80s and sitcoms, I'll tune into this one until it loses my attention.
Will It Last: It's interesting to me that ABC didn't include this comedy in its Wednesday comedy block with The Middle and Modern Family. It seems like a perfect fit to go with their family comedies, which tells me that this show could definitely use some improvement.

Lucky 7

Stars: Matt Long (!!!), Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Stephen Louis Grush, Summer Bishil, Anastasia Philips, Christine Evangelista, Lorraine Bruce, Luis Antonio Ramos.
Story: A group of friends who work at a gas station routinely go in on a lottery pool. When they finally win, their lives are changed in unexpected ways.
Will I Watch: I'll just say a very clear Yes.
Will It Last: I don't know with this one. Maybe? It's up against Person of Interest and Chicago Fire which do well for their respective networks AND it has Matt Long in it (a proven jinx for shows) so right now I have to say no, I don't think so. But I hope that's not the case.

Marvels, Agents of Shield

Stars: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet.
Story: Come on. It's a TV show based off the movie based off the comics. Agents in a covert government organization have to save the world.
Will I Watch: Is there any question? Who won't be watching this one?
Will It Last: If it doesn't do extremely well in ratings I will eat my own hand. This is the biggest new show this pilot season and I have a feeling everyone will be watching.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland

Stars: Sophie Lowe, Peter Gadiot, Michael Socha, Emma Rigby, and the voice of John Lithgow.
Story: A spinoff of Once Upon A Time, this time dealing with Alice in Wonderland.
Will I Watch: Honestly, I had to give up on OUAT this season because I didn't have time for everything, and I'd rather get back into that show before I try to find time for this one. But it doesn't look bad.
Will It Last: If the same people that watch OUAT watch this one, then yes, it could see some success for ABC.

Super Fun Night

Stars: Rebel Wilson, Lauren Ash, Liza Lapira, Kelen Coleman.
Story: Three friends who have built a tradition out of staying in on Friday nights, change things up and look to have a super fun night every Friday.
Will I Watch: I like single-cam comedies and I like Rebel Wilson so I'll tune in for at least awhile. Though the premise seems like it could get old, but I assume the show will stray from that once they wear it out and find what works best for them.
Will It Last: It's got star power and it scored the post-Modern Family time slot in ABC's schedule, so yes, things look good for this one.

Trophy Wife

Stars: Malin Akerman (!!), Bradley Whitford (!!!), Marcia Gay Harden, Michaela Watkins, Natalie Morales, Ryan Scott Lee, Albert Tsai, Gianna LePera.
Story: A young woman marries a man who has been divorced twice and has three kids.
Will I Watch: I loooove Akerman and Whitford so I'm on board. I even loved the preview for it and this one looks like it could be one of my favorite new comedies this year.
Will It Last: It's up against some ratings monsters so while I hope I'm wrong about it, my guess is no.

Watch the trailers for all of ABC's new shows and let me know which one's you're looking forward to watching. I'm excited about ABC's new schedule and I hope these freshman shows work out better than last years.

Until next time...

FOX's 2013 Fall Premieres

2013-05-14T15:03:00.000-05:00

The thing about Fox this year is that the network didn't actually cancel that many shows, but the new shows its picked up all show that they're going for a different audience than they have in the past couple years. This time, Fox is looking to bring more male viewers to their shows and it shows in pretty much every single show, especially the comedies.

Almost Human

Stars: Karm Urban, Michael Ealy, Lily Taylor, Minka Kelly (!!), Michael Irby, Kackenzie Crook, Mekia Cox.
Story: A cop drama set in the future when all LAPD officers must be paired up with androids.
Will I Watch: The trailer actually makes this show look good and somewhat appealing but hello, my name is Alyson, and I am not into cop dramas.
Will It Last: Almost Human is set to premiere in the late fall and it won't have another scripted drama to compete against. I can't imagine the same people watching The Voice and Dancing with the Stars will be the one's choosing those shows over Almost Human, so this one could potentially hold its own in that time slot. And while a J.J. Abrams show isn't guaranteed success, it's pretty much guaranteed to be good and almost-always find success.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Stars: Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Chelsea Peretti (!!!)
Story: A single-cam comedy about an immature officer who must try and grow up once he gets a strict, new boss.
Will I Watch: I'm surprisingly into this one. I love the cast (even Samberg got laughs out of me in the trailer) and while I'm never interested in dramas about cops, I could totally dig a comedy about cops. Especially one coming from Dan Goor and Michael Schur.
Will It Last: I think it's got some star power which works well enough for Fox's comedies. It's got a fairly tough time slot up against NCIS and The Biggest Loser but I think it's toughest competitor might be Joss Whedon's Marvel's Agents of Shield. But this one definitely has the attention of the comedy crowd.

Dads

Stars: Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi (!!), Brenda Song, Peter Riegert, Martin Mull, Tonita Castro, Erin Pineda, Vanessa Lachey.
Story: Seth McFarlane has another show on Fox but this time it isn't an animated comedy. This live-action, multi-cam comedy is about two successful guys in their 30s who suddenly find themselves living with their dads.
Will I Watch: While I continue to have mixed feelings about McFarlane, I do love Green and Ribisi. Bonus, Dads doesn't seem to be making Ribisi the overly-weird character so I'm excited to see him in a normal role. Count me in.
Will It Last: It could have the same problem that Brooklyn Nine-Nine might run into but c'mon, it's a Seth McFarlane show on Fox. I think both these comedies could really work for the network.

Enlisted

Stars: Keith David, Geoff Stults, Parker Young, Chris Lowell, Angelique Cabral.
Story: A single-cam comedy about three brothers who live and work on an Army base. Created by Kevin Biegel (Cougar Town) and based off his relationship with his siblings.
Will I Watch: Duh. I'm on board with anything created by Biegel and I also really like the cast of this one. I think Young is hilarious on so many levels and his character in this one is playing to his strengths (the dumb one) and Lowell's character is a really fun idea.
Will It Last: It'll be paired with Raising Hope in the late fall which could help it somewhat. However, that time slot is on Friday. So I'll just say it, no it probably will not last.

Rake

Stars: Greg Kinnear, Miranda Otto, Necar Zadegan, Bojana Novakovic, John Ortiz, David Harbour, Tara Summers.
Story: Kinnear stars as a criminal defense lawyer with a tendency towards self-destruction. Based on the Australian show, Rake.
Will I Watch: I actually might. While I'm not one to enjoy the boring law drama, I do like it when a show makes the lawyer a defense attorney. It makes things interesting for me and I like Kinnear. I also like it when a drama is also pretty funny so this one could be enjoyable for me.
Will It Last: Well they're keeping it for mid-season (probably to pair with The Following once The X Factor ends its season) but it could work. People love their law dramas and Fox found success bringing Kevin Bacon to the small screen, so Rake could be a repeat of that.

Sleepy Hollow

Stars: Orlando Jones, Katia Winter, Nicole Beharie, Tom Mison.
Story: A modern-day twist on the Ichobod/Headless Horseman legend from Westchester Country, NY.
Will I Watch: Probably not.
Will It Last: Sleepy Hollow is definitely trying to capitalize on ABC's success, Once Upon a Time and it could work out for the network. Pairing it with Bones is a nice touch but I don't know that this one will find an audience.

Us & Them

Stars: Jason Ritter, Alexis Bledel, Kurt Fuller, Jane Kaczmarek, Kerry Kenney, Dustin Ybarra.
Story: An adaption of the extremely popular BBC series, Gavin and Stacey. However, this single-cam comedy about a young couple trying to make their long-distance relationship work won't be on our screens until midseason.
Will I Watch: Absolutely. I like the concept, I liked the trailer (somewhat) and I like the cast.
Will It Last: Absolutely not. If we even see this one, I don't think it'll find the audience because the episodes will probably be burnt off midseason or even next summer. Like neeext summer. I don't have a good feeling about this one.

Here are all the trailers for the shows I just talked about. I'm not overly excited about any of Fox's new shows but none of them look too bad so it'll be interesting to see how the network does.

Until next time...

NBC's 2013 Fall Premieres: Part One

2013-05-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

It's Upfronts week, finally! That basically means I'm too excited to sleep so I'm up at 8 am which is actually a good thing because then I can get all the news coming out of New York City even faster and write about it for you. Fox and NBC held their upfront presentations today, so we'll kick off this years Pilot Series with a look at the new shows NBC has to offer.

NBC cancelled the majority of it's freshman shows though it is latching onto Revolution and Chicago Fire's minor successes. While it ordered fourteen new shows, only six of them are making it onto its Fall lineup. You guys know the drill. Let's get started.

The Blacklist

Stars: James Spader, Megan Boone, Ryan Eggold, Diego Klattenhoff
Story: A criminal willingly gives himself up and offers to give up names of people he's worked with but he'll only work with a young female agent who he seemingly has no prior connection with.
Will I Watch: This one seems to be a twist on the White Collar premise that USA has found success in. I love that show and I always enjoy a good twist on a tradition, mundane cop drama so I'll tune in to see Spader do work. Though am I the only one finding it more than obvious that the "young female agent he has no ties to" is most certainly his daughter? It's not a spoiler if it's speculation, right? I could be wrong and I hope I am because then the show will actually manage to surprise me. But c'mon.
Will It Last: If ABC doesn't switch up its schedule too much, then the one competitor to The Blacklist will be Castle as I can see their audience being similar. I think it's got a cool spin and Spader looks great so maybe this could be a show that works out for my beloved NBC.

Dracula

Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jessica De Gouw, Katie McGrath, Nonso Anozie
Story: This 10-episode series follows Dracula as he's set on exacting revenge on the Victorian town responsible for ruining his life. That is, until he meets a woman who looks exactly like his deceased wife.
Will I Watch: If there are two things I'm not into it's period dramas and vampires.
Will It Last: If there are two things everyone goes crazy for lately, it's period dramas and vampires (are you guys still into vampires? I don't know anymore). It's a solid bet, regardless, since it's only a 10-episode series, though I think this could find some level of success. Especially since it's on Friday night and doesn't have a lot to compete with.

Ironside

Stars: Blair Underwood, Brent Sexton, Pablo Schreiber, Spencer Gammer (!!)
Story: Based on the 60's show of the same name, this cop drama is set in New York City (rather than San Fransisco) and follows a tough, stubborn detective who is in a wheelchair due to a gunshot wound. Kind of like House-meets-Law Enforcement.
Will I Watch: I'm just not interested. It takes a lot more than a wheelchair disability to get me to watch your boring run-of-the-mill cop drama.
Will It Last: I don't think it's got enough going for it even though it's a remake.

The Michael J. Fox Show

Stars: Michael J. Fox, Betsy Brandt, Kate Finneran, Wendell Pierce, Juliette Goglia
Story: Very much based on Fox's real-life, this single-cam comedy follows Mike Burnaby juggling work, family, and Parkinson's disease.
Will I Watch: I loved Spin City and I'm happy to see Fox back on TV (especially NBC) so I'll give this one a shot. I also enjoy the last line in the trainer when his wife says, "can you not have a personal victory right now? We are starving."
Will It Last: I think NBC is banking too much on Fox being a draw, much like they keep doing with Matthew Perry. But people do like a good comeback so maybe people will tune in just to see how Fox is doing. One thing to note is that it's slightly odd of NBC to put this show in it's 9:30 timeslot rather than earlier. My guess is that it doesn't want it up against one of CBS' shows like Two and a Half Men but it's still odd. It looks good but I'm skeptical to say any comedies on NBC can last these days.

Sean Saves The World

Stars: Sean Hayes, Linda Lavin, Echo Kellum (!!), Thomas Lennon, Lindsay Sloane, Samantha Isler
Story: A recently divorced, gay dad struggles to balance both raising his 14-year-old daughter and his temperamental new boss.
Will I Watch: I enjoyed the trailer a lot and there were a lot of funny lines. I was also excited to see Hayes back on TV, which I didn't realize was something I missed until watching the trailer. The cast is also great and everyone seems to have their moments.
Will It Last: Well, it's interesting to see a multi-cam on NBC because they generally haven't done too well with them in the past few years but maybe this will change that? I don't know, it's too hard to tell these days and once again I feel like I can't say an NBC comedy is going to last.

Welcome To The Family

Stars: Mike O'Malley, Mary McCormack (!!), Ricardo Chavira, Justina Machado, Ella Rae Peck, Joey Haro, Aramis Knight
Story: A white girl and a Latino guy fall in love and become pregnant right out of high school and the families must learn to get along.
Will I Watch: Out of this years new comedies, this one has the weakest premise for me, personally. The show has seemed to avoid its underlying racism by making the guy the smart valedictorian while the white girl is the one who's just lucky to have gotten into a college. However, it still seems a little icky. Though I do love Mary McCormack. But the trailer wasn't enough to interest me so I'll wait to see how critics respond to the pilot and go from there.
Will It Last: I'm just going to go ahead and say No. Especially since, if CBS doesn't move it's lineup around too much, this will go head-to-head with Two and a Half Men.

If you're interested in watching the trailers, you can do so by clicking here. It's not really a surprise that The Family Guide is on the bench for midseason due to Parker Posey dropping out. Though I'm surprised the network went with Welcome To The Family instead of About A Boy, since the latter has the franchise going for it. I'm mostly sad that Undateable is getting the midseason shaft since it's a Bill Lawrence show but what do I know, I'm no network exec.

If you want to read a full write up about all of NBC's new shows (technically, most. There were some picked up after I wrote the article) then head over to Box Office Buz where I'm doing a series of posts about each network's fall lineup. It's got a little more about the networks lineup as a whole and less of whether I'll be tuning into each show.

Until next time...

Weekly Wrap-Up: 5/10

2013-05-10T16:39:00.001-05:00

If you missed me after the end of BEDA, then you haven't been reading Box Office Buz this week because I've been doing daily headlines posts but that's okay because I'm here now to fill you in on my favorite things since the last time we talked. Buckle up.

Louis Peitzman has another great buzzfeed article about the 27 things he learned about love from The Simpsons.

Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous is hilarious and a show that you should all be watching.

If you're looking for some good, new comedians, Vulture has you covered with an extensive list of 50 comedians you should and will know.

Chris Gethard writes beautifully and perfectly about why he no longer drinks.

Rob Delaney, Kristen Schaal, Cecily Strong, and more sit down for a THR Roundtable about comedy.

The funniest thing I read this week was Sofiya Alexandra's review of a fake movie, Bosom Bros 8: Bros 4 Life. You guys need to read it because it's so damn funny and will make you feel all sorts of happy inside.

This sketch from last Saturday's Zach Galifanakis-hosted SNL is one of my favorites from the entire season:

Then, to make it even better, watch Part 2.

I have no interest in The Kentucky Derby and the only reason I know anything about it is because I wrote a sketch based on it, but this NPR piece about a Kentucky Derby Gate-Crasher was exceptionally entertaining.

Everyone and their mother has a podcast these days, and every site has an interview with Marc Maron right now, but this one on Vulture with Julie Klausner about the future of podcasting was my favorite.

Speaking of Julie Klausner, she released a new novel this week (her first young adult novel, also only available as an ebook for now) called Art Girls Are Easy and it's fantastic. Jezebel has an excerpt that will sell you on buying it immediately.

Youtube rolled out a subscription model that will charge viewers a monthly fee to subscribe to certain channels. So naturally I wrote about it.

And then everything I missed + more about comedy in April is here for your pleasure.

There was a lot to cover this time around and although I'm leaving off at least five more things that I thoroughly enjoyed this week, I think that's enough for now, I don't want to overwhelm you.

Until next time...

Kole Presents: 2BrokeGeeks

2013-05-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Editor's note: Today's guest post is an actual guest post, written by Kole. If you don't remember Kole or you're a new Alyson's Association reader, he's written on the blog before and is one of my best readers/commenters and I always love having him on the site. The best thing about Kole is that he covers a lot of pop culture ground that I don't get to and he makes up for anything I've missed, which is why he's always welcome on Alyson's Association. Enjoy.

As a guest writer and short-term host here on Alyson’s Association, I’d love to start off by thanking Alyson for letting me run the asylum for a little while, and I’d also love to begin with due recognition. How about a round of applause (or complimentary comments) for Alyson’s amazing BEDA so far? As a generally lazy and aimless individual, I give up on things like BEDA, or don’t even attempt them (I have officially never attempted BEDA). In Alyson’s case, she works tirelessly at what I assume are multiple jobs for monetary compensation in order to sustain living or whatever, and then she writes a blog EVERY day in April just so you (the reader) can enjoy it. Does she get paid for the countless hours it takes to write, polish, and present these blogs? Actually, I have no idea, so feel free to take that up with Alyson when she gets back. My guess is she does this out of passion and a love for writing, not compensation or notoriety, and she should be commended for that sort of dedication. And now (drum roll), I’d like to introduce the topic of this guest blog! (cymbal crash!)

Around nine months ago I was perusing through YouTube, scrolling down through my pesky subscription feed when I stumbled upon a “like” that caught my eye. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time (I don’t know, like 5 minutes) trying to figure out which channel it was that liked this particular video to give them some credit, but it is lost to the bowels of the internet forever now and I’m too lazy to dig that up (seriously, do you have any idea how much happens on YouTube in nine months that I just tried to sift through?!). At this point, it is entirely irrelevant, so I digress. The video was titled Marvel Hipsters. The channel was called 2BrokeGeeks. And so it began…

I’m not the type of person who can just jump into a show at episode 4 and “get the premise” even if I “get” the premise. I NEED to know what happened in all of the previous episodes…in chronological order…so I can contextually grasp all of the intricacies of said show. No judgments if you’re the type who strolls carelessly into a show mid-season, I’m just saying we can’t be friends. With that in mind, Marvel Hipsters was the 8^th video posted by 2BrokeGeeks so I had some episodes to catch up on, which quickly became me watching every video they’d uploaded in one sitting. It was glorious! (hint: if you want to know how glorious it was, go watch all their videos, worth it!)

Now is when I’m going to attempt to define 2BrokeGeeks’ rare and fantastic quality with words. Every Friday, a pair of dedicated, financially challenged geeks (Omar and Mia) present a Top 5 list of movies or television shows available instantly on Netflix based on a very specific, and often hilariously named viewer profile. For example, the very first viewer profile was Nostalgic Child of the 90s, and they suggest 5 shows that fit that profile. And here is where some people might think, “Psh! Anyone can suggest movies or shows based on specific preferences, that is easy! And boring!” Well, it might be easy for some veterans of Netflix’s labyrinth of instant streaming shows and films to make informed suggestions, but it takes certain panache to make it as entertaining and informative as Omar and Mia manage. They suggest fantastic films and shows, and they intermix their suggestions with hilarious comedic sketches and quips catered perfectly to that week’s viewer profile, sometimes with the help of a featured guest or personal friend.

To expand even further I’ll need to supply a little context. When I started watching their videos, the channel was in its infancy. Naturally, the channel evolved, and new parts were added, and over time it became better and more diverse. For example, a newly added series called “Wild Card Wednesdays” features a randomly chosen themed video drawn from a hat, ranging from showing their viewers how to plan and throw geek-themed parties on a budget with the added incentive that Wil Wheaton might show up, to geek rants, to B-movie reviews, to nerd songs, and the list runs way too long for this run-on sentence to continue. Even more recently, the channel has continued to evolve and new things continue to crop up. That is the beauty of YouTube; a channel like 2BrokeGeeks is not anchored to one type of video, or one concept, and it is allowed the freedom to grow in whatever creative direction it wants. No executives present to kibosh your art in YouTube Land! #YouTubeMurica

Quick disclaimer: describing the totality and complete premise of a YouTube channel so you (the reader) can decide if you want to check it out or not is destined for failure. Short of watching all of the 2BrokeGeeks videos yourself, my words will only serve to generalize and stereotype, and that isn’t fair to the creative and passionate efforts of Omar and Mia. So please go and check this channel out regardless of your opinion of my blog post and the information I tried to present, because this channel deserves your views and the views of your friends and family, and the tollbooth operator you see on your way to work, and the guy who runs the bakery, and the mailman, and Steve, and maybe your dog or cat or iguana or whatever keeps you company. Seriously, everyone.

As a fan from close to the beginning (hipster cred), I celebrated Omar and Mia’s YouTube milestone when they posted their 100^th video recently. It was so exciting to see a channel that doesn’t feature hundreds of thousands of views chugging along to an impressive milestone like that. Even so, it would seem odd in most YouTube scenarios to “celebrate” because YouTube can be such an isolated viewing experience for many people, or your attempt to reach out is buried in a mountain of comments or simply unanswered. However, from the very beginning, the 2BrokeGeeks community and channel has been a supportive, collaborative, and reciprocating experience that all of the fans get to share with Omar and Mia, whether through video comments, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or any other source of social media they use. It is so rare to partake in a passionately creative effort with content creators like you can with Omar and Mia, and that is one of a myriad of reasons you should stop reading this and go to YouTube to check out 2BrokeGeeks right now.

Finally, this is where I’ll be tying up this marathon of a blog. Like I complimented this blog’s author (Alyson) for earlier, the 2BrokeGeeks are also individuals that work tirelessly to supply entertaining and informative content to the masses for absolutely zero financial compensation, and they have to fit in their charitable entertainment around the work they have to do that keeps them housed and fed. So please take a moment, go over to their channel and watch their videos, and reward their efforts with deserved appreciation. Preferably watch all of their videos, but definitely give their Fucked Up Kids Movies video a watch. Unlike this post, they almost always curb their videos to a reasonable length so it should be palatable for everyone.

And that concludes my epic guest hosting/hostile takeover of Alyson’s Association! I had an amazing time writing this, and I hope you managed to read most of it, or at least enough to feel obligated to go and check out Omar and Mia and the 2BrokeGeeks channel. Seriously, you won’t regret it. With that, I’ll hand the reigns back over to Alyson and bid you all a fond farewell. Don’t forget to come back here for the rest of Alyson’s amazing BEDA! Until next time…

BEDA, Day 30: Wrapping This Up

2013-04-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

I will be real with you guys right now. I thought there were AT LEAST five more days left to this month. Honestly, I did. So I'm writing this in haste because I didn't have anything prepared to mark the end of this years BEDA.

You guys are clearly aware that I was going through a bit of a writers block the past few months and was really struggling with this blog and feeling pretty bad about it. BEDA forced me to get my shit together and just put something out every day that wasn't a piece of garbage and it got me writing again and this month turned a lot of things around for me. I found myself busy which meant I was staying productive and not binge watching some old show on Netflix. Instead I was getting some quality writing done, whether it be a BEDA post, an article on Box Office Buz, stand-up, a new novel, or script edits.

April is my favorite month of the year because of how much fun BEDA is and this year was no exception. I covered a lot of ground this month and I hope I introduced you guys to at least one new thing you ended up liking. I know I took some days off this month so I didn't blog quite every day, but this month wasn't always easy and sometimes I was in a weird place so I just let myself chill out, but I still feel like this year's BEDA was successful.

For every single person that gave me any sort of feedback this month- thank you. It makes it more fun when I know you guys are liking the posts I'm writing and I love hearing from you all.

The best thing to come out of BEDA this year is the fact that I've still got plenty of ideas for more posts and the drive to write them and publish them for you. I've still got a post coming to you tomorrow, but it won't be written by me. It's awesome and I'm really looking forward to you guys reading it. So while BEDA is over, there's still more fun to be had.

But in the meantime, you should check out Twitter's Comedy Fest which is going on all week. Yesterday it kicked off with Judd Apatow moderating a panel with some of my all time comedy heros, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.

I'm taking a personal day today by having breakfast and then hitting the beach, tomorrow you can continue to find me on Box Office Buz, which has a hot new re-design.

And if you're bummed out that today's post didn't include anything fun (wait, you guys DON'T like me talking about writing and wrapping up this years BEDA?) I won't leave you totally hanging. Here's a quick list of things I'm into today:

What I'm Watching: Maron.
What I'm Listening To: Brave, by Sara Bareilles.
What I'm Reading: Sleeping With Guns.

Until next time...

Amazon's Top 5 Pilots

2013-04-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Amazon is getting in the business of producing original series as a way to make Amazon Prime more appealing, and they're doing it in a really cool and interesting way. For the first time ever, the audience has the power to decide which pilots get picked up to series. Eight different pilots have been produced and are now available to watch, and viewers are encouraged to vote and give feedback on which shows were their favorites. The feedback will be what gets these shows a series order and viewers will then get to watch what they actually want to watch.

I watched the eight pilots and decided which ones were my favorites, and here's the list so that you don't have to waste your time with the ones not worth watching.

5. Alpha House- most sites have this show listed further up on their list and I think this is largely because of the cast (John Goodman stars). I enjoyed the show quite a bit, but I wasn't completely sold from the pilot. The idea of republican senates all living under the same roof is intriguing and I love Washington D.C. as a setting, but I'm not sure how I feel about the ensemble cast yet.

4. Betas- While the ensemble cast is what's keeping me from fully accepting Alpha House, it's the exact thing that won me over with Betas. I'm partial to Karan Soni because I think he steals the scene in everything he's in, but I also really enjoyed Jonathan C. Daly and the rest of the cast (including Even Stevens' Margo Harshman). The idea of nerdy guys trying to make a career for themselves by creating the next big social networking app makes for a cool concept and feel for a show.

3. Dark Minions- John Ross Bowie and Kevin Sussman provide the voices for Mel and Andy in this stop motion animated show about two guys who work on a space station. I like animation and stop motion is always really cool to watch so I was excited about this one as soon as it started. I loved the storyline of Mel falling in love with Carly despite them being from completely different worlds and the cliff-hanger ending made me really hope this one gets chosen for a full season.

2. Supanaturals- This animated comedy, produced by one of my personal favorites Kristen Schaal, has the neatest concept out of the bunch and I'm already in love with the two leads, Lucretia and Hezbah. The idea is that these two women regularly save the world from supernatural things while working for a living at the mall. This one is insanely funny and even though it's not ranked #1 on my list, it's the one I'd recommend the most on this list.

1. Onion News Empire- This was the last one I watched because I've only ever been mildly entertained by the whole "fake news" thing that The Onion has going for it. But as far as production quality, characters, cast and dialogue goes, this one is by far the best pilot that Amazon Studios has. It's super funny and includes the line "I bet you're so lonely that when you go on a roller coaster you don't even have anyone to go with" which is just great writing right there. I love the way the show makes fun of regular news channels by basically calling them out on all the shitty things they do and the storyline and characters are also compelling.

So if you haven't watched any of them yet, maybe brighten up your Monday with some new comedies. Also note I didn't include their pilot for Zomebieland, based off the incredible 2009 movie with Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone, because it's no good. I mean, it's worth watching if you have the time and it isn't completely terrible, but it's also not something I really care about seeing more of. The actors just aren't as good as the original (the characters are the same from the movie, just re-cast) and the production quality is lacking.

It's unfortunate because Zombieland is the biggest title that Amazon Studios had going for it, and it'll definitely get picked up to series just because of the films following but if you're expecting to relive the greatness that is the original movie, just watch that instead because at least you get a Bill Murray cameo (coincidentally, Alpha House includes a cameo from Bill Murray AND NOW WE'VE COME FULL CIRCLE).

Until next time...