Shane Life

One of the things that the internet is great for is completely great ideas that will likely never happen. Earlier today, Twitterers @kcklo63 and @bullevard73 were discussing recasting the classic sitcom Cheers, but instead of it being based in Boston, moving to Chicago. The idea originated as a part of The Sports Guy Bill Simmons’ podcast and we added the hashtag #cheersreboot to try and get it to trend on Twitter. The premise of the discussion was that Simmons and his guest wanted to spend a ton of money to bring in Vince Vaughn to be Sam Malone, the bar owner originally portrayed by Ted Danson and Rosie Perez as Carla (originally played by Rhea Perlman, Mrs. Danny DeVito).

My casting ideas:

Jerry O’Connell as Sam Malone

I know he’s cheesy. But I truly believe that when he has good writing, he’s funny. He’s charismatic and good-looking and audiences would totally buy him as a former athlete. Vince Vaughn would be an impossible get for TV. I think you could get O’Connell and surround him with funny people and good writers and the show would be good. Plus, he was really funny on Carpoolers, even though it got cancelled.

Alternatives: John Krasinski, Joshua Jackson

Jayma Mays as Diane Chambers

There are probably better alternatives, but Mays is fresh in my mind after seeing her in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, I think that she will do. For some reason, I thought she was on Saturday Night Live too, but I guess that was someone else.

Alternative: Elizabeth Banks

Maggie Wheeler as Rebecca Howe

Think Janice from Friends, without the voice. Maggie Wheeler is a great actress and she’s hilarious. Honestly, Rebecca was brought in later when Shelley Long left the show to give Sam a love interest. Maybe she’s a part of the show from the get go.

Alternative: Carla Gugino

Wanda Sykes as Carla Tortelli

Maybe Tortelli isn’t the right last name, although it would be funny if she were married to a Tortelli. Sykes is the perfect balance of self-deprecating and vicious. I would love to see her as the sharp-witted waitress.

Alternative: Rosie Perez

Zach Galifianakis as Woody Boyd

I’m a huge fanboy of Galifianakis since I saw him in The Hangover. He is so hilarious and I wanted to find a place for him somewhere. I think the dimwitted bartender Woody would be a terrific place for him to be some supporting funny.

Alternative: Matthew McConaughey

Craig Robinson as Norm Peterson

I can’t take credit for this one. @kcklo63 came up with this one and I think it’s genius. I love Daryl From The Warehouse. He would be great as Norm. Just an awesome call.

Alternative: Greg Grunberg

David Koechner as Cliff Clavin

Probably best known for his work as Champ Kind in Anchorman or as Todd Packer on The Office, Koechner brings a very specific brand of comedy and would be so funny as mailman Clavin.

Alternative: That guy who played Newman on Seinfeld

John “PC” Hodgman as Frasier Crane

I also can’t take credit for this one, although I wish I could. Hodgman’s delivery and timing are so great. I would love to see him in a regular role, although that might bring down his hipster street cred.

Alternative: Merlin Mann

Rachael Harris as Lilith Sternin

This is really my crowning jewel. I can’t think of anyone more perfect to play a refreshed version of Frasier’s uptight ex-wife. Rachael Harris may not be a name you are familiar with, but if you’ve seen her in anything, I bet you thought she was funny. She made the nearly unwatchable show Notes from the Underbelly totally funny.

So what do you think?

I won tickets to see a preview of The Hangover at the AMC Mainstreet theater tonight.

I laughed a lot.

Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms were their predictable awesome selves. The real surprise was Zach Galifianakis, who is absolutely hilarious. And a cameo by Mike Tyson’s tiger.

Quick thoughts before I go to bed:

• AMC Mainstreet is much smaller than I envisioned it, but very nice. The theater we saw the movie in was huge.
• Bummed there were no trailers.
• Kris Allen FTW.
• This post was published 6 minutes before my self-imposed midnight Every Day in May deadline.

You have to give it to the producers of American Idol. This season is one of the strongest group of competitors near the top that they’ve ever had. I’m sure there are people who could have seen any of Alison, Danny, Adam or Kris winning.

But we’re down to two: Adam and Kris.

On one side, you have the theatrical, flamboyant, crazy mad pipes rocker Adam. And on the other side, you have the sensitive, solid-every-week, instrumentally-talented, John Mayer-esque guitar man Kris. The two competitors are about as different as can be.

Both had very good nights, but if you’re scoring only the finale, you have to give it to Adam, if only because the horrible final song, “No Boundaries”, favored his unbelievable range.

But my iTunes dollars will go to Kris Allen.

It’s really only a personal preference at this point. Both performers are deserving of the title. Both are extremely talented musically and both I think have the respect for those who came before them. I’m not talking about Reuben and Fantasia and Taylor Horrible Hicks and that cast of characters. No, I’m talking about the actual musicians like Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye (both of whom were honored in song tonight) and the others who have treated music not as a contest to be won, but an artistic outlet.

Who knows what their careers will hold for them, but this is the first season where I honestly won’t be upset regardless who wins. Both of these guys are more talented than over half of the previous winners up to this point and certainly more talented than some of the clowns who have record deals.

America really can’t screw this one up.

Like they did with Taylor Hicks…

I finally got around to watching the Justin Timberlake-hosted Saturday Night Live and it was easily the funniest episode since the election. After fumbling through the season with unfunny sketches that leaned far too heavily on comic relief from Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader. And those guys can only do so much.

But Saturday’s episode was hilarious. Timberlake killed all his sketches and the writers event stepped up their game, putting out a hilarious opening with Will Forte as Tim Geithner and a great Weekend Update interlude with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.

Thankfully, it was the season finale so it doesn’t have to go back to sucking right away. They at least can run “best of” and top reruns during the summer.

I’ve never made a secret of the fact that Top Chef is easily my favorite reality show. I love the competitions, the drama and I think that the judges are some of the most knowledgeable and respected minds in the culinary world (although I think that Padma sometimes pretends to be a little more knowledgeable than she should).

Last night was the competition finale. Held in the historic Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, Hosea, Carla and Stefan competed in the best competition of the season - cook [the judges] the best three-course meal of your life.

Even Stefan responded by saying something to the effect of, “No challenge? That makes it tougher.”

I had some high hopes for this season. I felt like it was deep with talented chefs, particularly Team Europe (Stefan and Fabio), but I felt like two of the most talented chefs (Jamie and Jeff) were eliminated entirely too early. And while Carla grew on me eventually, the fact that she made it as deep as she did was pretty shocking. She took far too long to find her groove and should have been eliminated earlier.

As far as Hosea winning…I picked him around week four as a finalist and Alli put it best last night when she said, “He seems like a small-town chef. He needs more everything. More experience, more exposure, just more.” Too true. Because currently, I’d say that Hosea is battling Ilan as the worst winning Top Chef of the five seasons. He has a lot of potential and he cooks good food, but there were two huge problems that Hosea encountered:

• He was far too motivated by Stefan. Stefan will not be in his kitchen down the road to challenge him, so he’d better find some more motivation.
• The whole thing with Leah. That was not classy at all. And the on-the-mouth kiss after he won it all…well, we’ll see what that meant in the horribly-hosted reunion show next week.

My highlights of the season:

• The Super Bowl challenge. I loved that one, especially seeing the crazy “I have a culinary boner” Andrew again.
• Thanksgiving dinner for the Foo Fighters.
• The Le Bernadin challenge. Having to recreate Eric Ripert’s food in his restaurant for him…that’s nothing short of daunting.
• The premiere. It was a great way to weed out people and gave them plenty of opportunities to save themselves.
• Toby Young. He can’t really replace Gail, but he was a decent replacement for Ted Allen, who went off to host that horrible Chopped show on the Food Network.

It certainly wasn’t my favorite season of all, but I’m ready for the next season to start. I’m hoping that in the future, they’ll downplay Padma a little more and bring back Tom C. into the mix. He’s such a great chef and I felt like he was lacking from this season.

It’s no secret that I love my wife, but the truth is, I love the concept of relationships. This was originally intended as a post in honor of Valentine’s Day 2007…better late than never. I thought it would be good to write about my favorite all-time fictional couples. These are couples from movies, books, or television, but they have to be fictional and there has to be romance of some sort (that rules out Jay and Silent Bob). So here goes:

Jesse and Celine from Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

Effortlessly played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, these lovers meet on a train to Vienna first in Richard Linklater’s film, Before Sunrise, originally released in 1995. Fast-forward 9 years (both in real-time and in movie-time) and you get the sequel, Before Sunset, a movie that eclipses the first.
 

Chandler and Monica from Friends

Sure, it’s predictable and cheesy, but I don’t care. Chandler and Monica are the perfect example of how important friendship and understanding is in a relationship.

Viola and Will from Shakespeare in Love

This is such a genius flick. The fictional telling of how Shakespeare came up with one of the most famous love stories of all-time is such a wonderful interpretation and is so brilliantly played by Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes.

Lily and Marshall from How I Met Your Mother

Alli and I were thinking about starting a marriage and relationship blog called Lily and Marshall dot com (if you buy it, I’ll be annoyed). 

Jim Big Tuna Halpert and Pam Beesley from The Office

A relatively new couple, but when you watch The Office, you know just how perfect they are for each other. The writers of the show just try to indicate tension (see the episode with Pam’s parents’ recent problems), but it never works and they know it.

Now, I want to hear yours. But I’d better not see Annie Hall and Alvy Singer. I thought that movie was good, but Woody Allen does not equal a good romantic lead. Leave your own list in the comments. But remember…Woody Allen is banned.

So I was on ABC’s website today and I saw a little blurb on the home page for a new show called Cupid.

Wait a sec…

Originally starring the brilliant Jeremy Piven (well before he hit it huge as Ari Gold), the show is centered around a guy named Trevor who is thoroughly convinced that he is the reincarnation of Cupid “sent down from Mt. Olympus by Zeus to connect 100 couples without his powers as a punishment for his arrogance.”

The show has managed to be re-green-lighted by ABC (who also carried the original show) for the original creator Rob Thomas, only with a different cast. Now, Bobby Cannavale (Third Watch) and Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) will play the main characters, Cupid/Trevor and his psychiatrist/love interest.

I don’t mean to be doom-and-gloom here, but if this show couldn’t succeed with Jeremy Piven in the lead role, what makes anyone think it will get an audience with a guy who is probably best known for playing Will’s firefighter love interest on Will & Grace? I understand the desire that creator Rob Thomas might have to resurrect his baby, but this is just another example of how lazy people are getting on TV. What…were all the other new ideas gone?

And it’s not that this show is a bad idea. It’s just that I can’t figure out what makes the studio believe that things will be different this time. If audiences aren’t going to get into Pushing Daisies, they sure as heck aren’t going to get into a show like this.

Mark my words. The second incarnation of this show won’t last any longer than the pre-fully-bald-pre-hair-plugs-Piven-helmed first. Which was only 14 episodes (plus one unaired in the can).

No…I’m not asking you to make a judgment on me.

I’m asking…nay, TELLING…you to watch a new show of the same name on TNT with Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh about best friends in the world of advertising in Chicago.

It comes from the same people who made cable-stalwart shows The Closer and nip/tuck and was created by a couple of dudes who spent time at BBDO and Leo Burnett.

Honestly, if you put Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh on a show, you’re gonna have something good. Cavanaugh is a comedic gem with great timing whose shows unfortunately get cancelled. But he’s great in this show as a wacky copywriter to McCormack’s straight man creative director.

I suggest that you watch this show. It’s billed as a drama, but it’s more of in the dramedy genre. I think it’s funny and cleverly written. Give it a couple chances on your DVR.

I wasn’t as accurate as I predicted a week and a half ago, but I have to give myself credit for one thing: I managed to predict Kate Winslet’s unprecedented double Globe win.

I suppose that I had the blinders on having recently seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — if I would have re-predicted after the Critics’ Choice awards, I probably would have leaned more heavily toward Danny Boyle’s ode to Mumbai Slumdog Millionaire.

Here are some of the thoughts I wrote down during the show as well as some of my other thoughts:

• Tiki Barber is the only non-idiot on the red carpet
• Some producer at NBC allowed Aaron Eckhardt to get interviewed twice and be asked the same question = totally fired
• I would take 100 Giuliana Rancics over 1 Nancy O’Dell…O’Dell takes herself way too seriously. Giuliana at least realizes she is an anchor on E!
• The Drew Barrymore-Jessica Lange thing was weird. All night long.
• Mark Wahlberg totally slammed Jeremy Piven right to his face and you could see the Pivs was like, “What’s up with that?” Entourage would be NOTHING without Piven, so show some respect.
• Amy Poehler + Will Arnett = Power Couple of Funny
• It would be hard to blame Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet or anyone from The Dark Knight from avoiding reporters…no one could think of a new question besides, “What’s it like to work together again?” or “How was it working with Heath Ledger…did you know he’s dead?”
• I hate how they combine supporting actor categories. Only one for the movies, even though they are separated for everything else. Same for TV — Miniseries, comedy series, TV movie, drama series are all in the same category. Lame.
• I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Springsteen win, but I really wanted Peter Gabriel’s song for WALL-E to win.
• It was funny to see Meryl Streep push out her chair prior to her losing to the girl from Happy-Go-Lucky (whose speech was great, even if she looks like a sober, non-tattooed Amy Winehouse — eat a cheeseburger!).
• Ricky Gervais killed. Loved it.
• Anna Paquin is a total idiot. She sounds stupid, looks stupid. I can’t believe she won.
• I don’t think the Jonas Brothers are actually brothers. They don’t have me fooled.
• I did not want Colin Farrell to win because In Bruges is a horrible, horrible movie. But he gave a great speech.
• Fincher’s quote about Benjamin Button was awesome:

“[It] does not settle for the notion that youth is wasted on the young. Whichever way you’re going, however you end up, life is complicated and making it work is your responsibility.”

• Tom Hanks has too much money.
• Heath Ledger deserved it. The clip they showed was a perfect example of his genius.
• I want to see Slumdog Millionaire.
• Steve Carrell and Tony Shalhoub totally hate Alec Baldwin.
• I love Tina Fey and enjoy 30 Rock, but I am pretty sure she’s just playing herself.
• Tracy Morgan’s acceptance speech for 30 Rock was epic.
• Paul Giamatti is a genius who is somewhat limited in his roles because of how ugly he is.
• Mickey Rourke was the shocker of the night, considering I totally predicted Kate Winslet winning twice.
• Who knew that Clint Eastwood liked to write music? I didn’t.
• I can’t wait for the Oscars.

It was a pretty good night. Highlights were Ricky Gervais and Tracy Morgan’s speeches, Kate Winslet winning twice, Slumdog Millionaire (which I totally have to see now).