Eliot Glazer
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Never change, Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Browne has been around forever. That's not to say she's immortal (although, hey, maybe she'll argue you on that one), but the self-proclaimed clairvoyant is a longtime fixture of the talk TV circuit, having appeared on many a Montel, Sally Jesse Raphael, and Larry King Live. As a skeptic might expect from someone who claims to see ghosts and spirits and all that celestial hooey (no offense, believers!), Browne is, indeed, quite a character.Continue reading Never change, Sylvia Browne
TV Squad Blogger: Eliot Glazer
Where do you write from?Brooklyn, New York.
Craziest/funniest TV Squad comment you've seen?
One person's staunch defense of Roommates, a terrible, short-lived show whose few episodes she referred to as "chapters." Brilliant.
If you were only able to watch one TV show, what would it be?
The Golden Girls.
Most overrated and underrated TV show (current or past)?
Overrated: Family Guy
Underrated: Airline
What do you like best about television?
The bizarre, inexplicable pop cultural phenomena it leaves behind (Kate Gosselin, Celebrity Duets, studio audiences hooting at the sight of kissing)
Best benefit of writing for TV Squad?
Having the chance to prove to my parents that studying television criticism can, in fact, pay off (literally)
Where else can we see you on the web?
Urlesque.com, Buzzfeed.com, and EliotGlazer.com (currently under renovation).
You can read all of Eliot's posts here.
Trying to get in contact with Eliot? Leave a comment below.
Ricki Lake Minisodes might be high art, right?
The late eighties and early-to-mid nineties brought out some of the filthiest, bottom-feeding talk shows our country has ever seen. From Morton Downey Jr. and Sally Jesse Raphael to Jerry Springer and Maury Povich, it was the era when "trash TV" became a symbol of a country's swift spiral down one giant cultural toilet in opposition to people like Larry King and Oprah Winfrey, who effortlessly made interviews with, like, Fran Drescher come off looking like Masterpiece Theater.Around the latter half of the "boom" came Ricki Lake, the formerly obese star of Hairspray (no, seriously, that was basically her résumé), with a show that combined the usual elements of trashy talk (read: "freaks") with something impossibly dumber yet: catchphrases. Unlike today, when it takes weeks to months for squawk-boxes to latch onto cultural buzzwords like "metrosexual" and "baby daddy," Ricki Lake was trotting out episode "subjects" like "You're not all that!" and "Dump that zero and get yourself a hero!"
Naturally, she was a smash.
Continue reading Ricki Lake Minisodes might be high art, right?
Kathie Lee & Hoda play a game - Is this real life?
Look, we have just about as good an idea as you as to what happens on the Considering that we don't get to watch the show as often as we'd like, we very much appreciate being steered by The Soup toward a clip taken from a segment on Today called "I Got Played."
Continue reading Kathie Lee & Hoda play a game - Is this real life?
What if Lost were a sitcom from the nineties?
Lost fanatics, rejoice! We may still have, oh, more than half a year left before we get cheerfully dumped with a load of new episodes (::drool::), but in the meantime, we have DVD's, abc.com, repeats on SyFy, and YouTube!Yes, YouTube.
Well, technically, we can't get our fix of full episodes on "the Tubez," but the site still provides us with plenty of fodder; fan dedications, clip montages, and music videos galore. Let's face it: people love their Hurley birds, smoke monsters, and everlasting, cancer-conquering romances. And why shouldn't they?
Continue reading What if Lost were a sitcom from the nineties?
Melanie Hutsell is alive, and she's impersonating Paula Deen
Once upon a time, Melanie Hutsell was on top of the world. And by "on top of the world," we mean she was on Saturday Night Live, doing characters whose signature dialogue quietly seeped into the mainstream conscious and were applauded on arrival by the studio audience. And then she vanished, only to become the butt of many a joke among SNL aficionados.But we found her via
Continue reading Melanie Hutsell is alive, and she's impersonating Paula Deen
Five shows to watch at the gym (if you know what's good for you)
If you're like me, then you're probably a mom. Although, I don't have children. In fact, I'm a quarter-century old dude built like an extra from a 1960's beach movie (that's not necessarily a compliment, especially if you think "compact" is a terrible description of body type, as I often do). However, when I'm at the gym, I seem to get along like gangbusters with all the mothers who take to the Stepper for a mindless lower-body workout in which one essentially climbs to nowhere.In fact, every now and then, you'll catch me on the machine upwards of an hour, which is by no means an easy task when you have the attention span I do. But luckily, I've got plenty of friends to keep me going, and I don't even have to talk to them. Because they're inside the TV! (Sorry, moms!)
Continue reading Five shows to watch at the gym (if you know what's good for you)
Fatal Farm twists the opening credits [NSFW]
Zachary Johnson and Jeffrey Max are two effed up dudes.Before they hit the "viralsphere" with Lasagna Cat, the production team and creative geniuses behind Fatal Farm created an incredibly twisted, brilliantly subversive, and unarguably hilarious series of "alternative intros" parodying the openings to classic sitcoms. No two intros follow the same theme or formula, except to say that they're all unequivocally... Messed. Up.
From blood and guts to go-carts and the hinting of pedophilia, each parody brings with it an innate ability to eviscerate any leftover nostalgia from the sight of, say, the Happy Days jukebox or the beginning chords of the theme to Cheers. (Believe us, you'll never think of Rhea Perlman the same way again.)
Strap in, sit back, and take an incredibly disturbing trip down Memory Lane, courtesy of your friendly tour guides at Fatal Farm:
Continue reading Fatal Farm twists the opening credits [NSFW]
Bea Arthur also saved animals (as do her 'girls')
The late Bea Arthur was, among other things, a comedic genius, feminist icon, and beloved American actress of stage and screen. But widely overlooked in the recent coverage of her passing is the fact that she was a active advocate for animal rights. She campaigned against the force-feeding of ducks in the foie gras trade, even accompanying the president of PETA to London, where she demanded that Harrod's discontinue their peddling pâté.Continue reading Bea Arthur also saved animals (as do her 'girls')
Why isn't Jan Hooks famous?
Radner. Louis-Dreyfus. Poehler. Fey. Shannon.
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.
But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also aDavid Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor. But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a
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