The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I thought I'd tone things down a bit today and provide brief reviews on what shows I've been watching. Here we go... Mondays Kevin Can Wait (8 pm on CBS): Here's the latest vehicle for comedian Kevin James, who previously starred on the show King of Queens . Well, if you liked King of Queens , chances are you're going to like Kevin Can Wait . The formats are nearly identical. The only difference, from my vantage point, is the removal of the anger element which often followed King of Queens around like a shadow, limiting its replay value. So overall, I'd say I like this show better than James' old series, but it's not Emmy-worthy material either. The characters are fairly likable and seem to have a natural chemistry with one another, but the writing is rather formulaic and leaves much to be desired. Grade: C+ Man With a Plan (8:30 on CBS): Mondays on CBS should be called, "Middle-Aged Stars Trying to Rekindle Their Pasts," as like with Kevin...

I had a field day with the trending Twitter hashtag #NewTrumpTvShows yesterday. Here are my posts, ordered from the most to the least popular (all my tweets can be seen here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki): 1) Orange Is the New White Supremacist #NewTrumpTvShows 158 Likes, 88 Retweets 2) Married With Children He'd Date If They Weren't His Children 95 Likes, 43 Retweets 3) How I Cheated On Your Mother #NewTrumpTvShows 66 Likes, 27 Retweets 4) Are You Smarter Than an Oompa Loompa With the Mind of a 5th Grader? #NewTrumpTvShows 27 Likes, 14 Retweets 5) Donald J. Trump: American Horror Story #NewTrumpTvShows 26 Likes, 11 Retweets 6) The Fresh Dunce of Bel-Air #NewTrumpTvShows 17 Likes, 10 Retweets 7) Everybody Loathes Donald #NewTrumpTvShows 18 Likes, 6 Retweets 8) The Oh Really?!? Factor #NewTrumpTvShows 18 Likes, 5 Retweets 9) The Good Immigrant Wives #NewTrumpTvShows 15 Likes, 7 Retweets 10) Little Hands in the Prairie #NewTrumpTvShows...

As I've had to go through some health ordeals to start the new year, I've had more free time on my hands to sit down, (try to) relax, and take a peek at several new shows. Here's a brief rundown of what I've been watching and what I think about the shows thus far: Angie Tribeca (A+): This is my favorite new sitcom. It's the best parody series I've seen since... :: ponders ::... I can't even remember when! If you love  The Naked Gun as much as I do, be sure to check out this TBS gem! Rashida Jones is this generation's Frank Drebin, with bangs, and a few other differences. Besides that, they're like twins or something... Baskets (C): Zach Galifianakis stars as a clown in this FX dramedy. Week to week, I have a difficult time deciding whether I like it and should continue watching or give up on the series. The show is often dark and somewhat interesting, perhaps simply due to its unusual premise, but the chuckles are typically few and far between, a...

With all the serious topics I cover in my blog, I thought I'd lighten things up a bit and provide some brief reviews on television shows I try to regularly watch. Fresh Off the Boat : In my opinion, the show got off to a bit of a rocky start and had trouble finding its footing. A majority of the racially-charged jokes came across as forced, as did many of the child actors' lines. I still saw some potential, however, so I decided to keep viewing it Tuesday nights. Fortunately, the episodes over the past two weeks have been arguably the best yet and I'm now starting to see the writers find their footing and find consistency throughout the duration of episodes, which it had been lacking early in the season. Grade: 6.5/10 (trending upward) Your Family or Mine : This is a new TBS show which attempts to comically illustrate those awkward moments with the in-laws. Yes, even as an unmarried person myself, I can confidently declare that such moments exist with all married cou...

A handful of times every year, I have to roll my eyes at a poll, as I think to myself, "What was the point of that exactly?" That very thing happened just this morning as I read a headline regarding a Reuters poll, which said, "Fictional TV Presidents Are More Popular Than President Barack Obama, Poll Finds." Oh, it just gets better (worse) from there. According to this poll, here's how the presidents' (real or fictional) approval ratings stand at this very moment: David Palmer (from the show 24 ): 89% Jed Bartlet ( The West Wing ): 82% Laura Roslin ( Battlestar Galactica ): 78% Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant ( Scandal ): 60% Frank Underwood ( House of Cards ): 57% Barack Obama (the actual president): 46% Yeah, based on this poll, expect to see the following headlines from future Reuters polls: - "Animated animals more popular than Congress" - "If he were on the ballot, Santa Claus would be our next president" - ...

I talked about this some last week, mainly regarding the TV show Psych , but have to say that in an even broader sense, I've never been one to care much for sitcom romances. I know that probably makes me a "communist" in some people's eyes, but for some strange reason, I watch sitcoms for one reason and one reason only - laughter. If I wanted to watch romance, I'd tune into a drama, a soap opera, or a local bar by the name of Gettin' Lucky Tonight . The tricky part about integrating a heavy-duty romance into a sitcom is that romances take a great deal of time to develop on screen and sitcoms only run for between 20 and 25 minutes (excluding commercials) per episode. If a romance is to be integrated, the writers and actors want to provide a somewhat believable time-table for things to progress between the two actors and like I said, this takes time. Unfortunately, this process typically dominates the show until the couple appears to be believably content and ...

What really is the point of canned laughter? I can't say I'm a fan of it when I'm watching a show and I keep hearing phony laughter throughout its half-hour duration. I honestly don't think a stand-up comic would appreciate just hearing canned laughter as opposed to members of the live audience actually enjoying his or her jokes through hearty laughter. When I tell a joke, it's nice to see a person actually enjoying it based on their facial expressions and the genuine sound emanating from their mouths. I can't say I'd care for it much that when I tried being funny all I heard was fake laughter. Some people may not be the brightest crayons in the box, as the saying goes, but I don't think most people, even those with sub-par intelligence, need to be told when they should laugh. I think most people would get a little annoyed if there was a random phony voice whom spoke during a movie, saying things such as, "Ooh, watch this!" or "This ...