Chums!

How you doin?

Everyone's favorite Friend is back...or third or fourth favorite, depending. Let's see: (1) Rachel (2) Phoebe (3) Joey (4) Chandler (5) Monica (dead last) Ross...that order? Third it is then! (And don't you dare say Phoebe is third).

Now that everyone's had enough time to fully recover from the fiasco that was Joey, Matt LeBlanc is returning to the little screen in what looks like a post Friends series that could actually be good (yeah, I'm talking about you Cougar Town. And don't even get me started on Matthew Perry's upcoming Mr. Sunshine. There's a reason we haven't seen a promo).

Episodes doesn't debut till January, but I'm already intrigued. A British husband and wife team get their tv show greenlit in Hollywood only to discover the city of silicone has their own plans for the remake, which basically involves ruining it like they have most every other British import (Steve Carrell, only you are safe...and by a margin). 

What's promising about Episodes is it's going the cable route, airing on Showtime,  not to mention it seems to have a likeable British sensibility (or, at least British people being British). What I dig the most though is that it's not trying to avoid the popularity/plague of Friends. Because Matt LeBlanc is playing ...Matt LeBlanc! Maybe not the most original idea but bound to be the most fun. Besides, everyone knows who this guy is. He's been Joey...twice...for years! If you can't let it die, might as well let it live on...and on.

Here's hoping the newly grayed friend can pull a Lisa Kudrow and give us something worth watching (oh, how I miss The Comeback). What do you think? Worthy of post Friends success or bound to be another notch on LeBlanc's bomb board? (I'm talking about you Ed. Never forget).

Don't Open...Dead Inside

Night of the Living Dead.
Night of the Living Dead 2.
...More Nights of the Living Dead...?

Okay, so I don't know my zombie movies from a hole in the ground. Shoot me. Doesn't mean I can't be stoked about the genre's newest venture to my TV set.

Long after the traditional tentpole for the new fall season has ended, AMC (bringers of the sometimes unbearably slow and painful but still pretty top notch Mad Men and the utterly perfect Breaking Bad) is debuting its newest drama, a sure to be epic, edge of your seat bloodfest: The Walking Dead.

Yup, it's a series about zombies.

Or rather, the series is actually about a handful of post apocalyptic survivors (your average sweet innocent folk) trying to stay alive through the zombie outbreak (led by the County Sheriff no less!). Only it's not just the zombies they have to worry about: it's each other.

The Walking Dead comes from Robert Kirkman's hugely popular comic book series that I've never read or heard of (not a zombie fan, remember) and is brought to the tube by Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). 

I'm ridiculously excited for this show. Partly because it's airing on Halloween and I'm a sucker for playful smart marketing, especially around trick or treat season  (it's still the only time of year I'll actually eat a Reese Peanut butter cup) and partly because I'm so elated for something new and fresh, especially if it's coming from AMC. But mostly because of this:

Birds. Creepy.

So what do you think? You gonna watch? Yeah? Be sure to chime in after The Walking Dead and let me know if it was worth it.

TV: Fitzy210

Fist pump alert! Fist pump alert! Brandon Walsh is in the building...






When I first heard everyone's favorite goody-goody from the zip code heard round the world (ahem, sir Jason Priestley) had officially ditched his evil twin sister Brenda (Dancing With The Whaaat?) and started selling used cars, I got giddy. When I realized he'd be doing it on cable? Pure elation.

Call Me Fitz is a half hour comedy that belongs on HBO, and that's where you can find it (check your box).  Robert "Fitz" Fitzpatrick is used car salesman sleaze extraordinaire, only Fitz has Priestley's handsomeness to fall back on, which makes the sleaze all that much more sexual and pretty and the suits all that less plaid and polyester. But Fitz has issues: daddy owns the lot issues, mommy abandoned me so I womanize issues, I like to drink and smoke a lot of pot issues (if you call those issues), I crashed a car during a test drive and the passenger's in a coma issues, some dude who appeared to me in a bunny suit's claiming to be my conscience and make me a better man issues... you know, the usual.

With Fitz, trouble follows, or he finds his own way to make it.

What's compelling most about Fitz though isn't just Priestley being bad (don't get me wrong, it's a big part of it). It's the supporting cast that let's him, from his hypertensive sister (Tracy Dawson), to a not so subtle woman crushing girl guide hell bent on busting him (Gillian Ferrier) and the pot smoking high times in-house mechanic she's blackmailing with the threat of pedophilia (Donavon Stinson), the characters that surround him don't rely on archetypal opposites to make the funny. They just rely on awesomeness.

Fitz is more than a playful guilty pleasure. It's smart. Creator Sheri Elwood (God) has crafted and guided some awesomely offensive/super clever moments that make me creatively jealous (SPOILER ALERT): Fitz has "terrorist" competition across the street! Fitz's Mom goes all Keyser Soze! Fitzy makes a porn (Ginch Gonch!)! Fitzy fucks a retard! (I love you Rachel Blanchard. Return a call already!).  To be honest, Call Me Fitz  just keeps getting better. I'm waiting for it to be sloppier, sure, but better's more than cutting it.

Already renewed for a second season, so get watching! You have some catching up to do. We're 6 ep's in. But trust, catching up's so worth it: