tales from tivo vol. 1

Recently in conversation I proudly stated that with the exception of seeing who's on Letterman sometimes, I don't watch any programs at all on CBS. I was met mostly with agreement. I suppose some of my friends who were silent have a passion for CSI and Survivor.

Playing devil's advocate, Joe told me that I needed to watch Big Bang Theory. He then explained the premise, which sounds pretty good. It's about a really attractive young blonde who lives next door to four total nerds. I suppose it's sort of a sit-com version of Beauty and the Geek. He said he was going to TiVo it for us. He did, because while I sat down in front of the TV to have a bite, I found the program available for viewing.

First of all, the girl in the show isn't that hot at all. Second of all, the nerds are far more annoying than funny. Not that I'm a nerd or anything (I'm more of a geek), but I'd rather the nerds have a little more humanity to them. Funny concept, sloppy execution.

At the end of the program, TiVo recorded a couple of minutes of How I Met Your Mother, which is a show I had heard is pretty good. It actually sucked me in and fortunately I found the entire episode recorded as well.

I assume someone recorded this particular episode because it had a special guest-starring role by the great Britney Spears. Honestly, I thought she was really funny. She actually had a pretty small role, which may have helped, but I really commend her for making me laugh. The biggest surprise was the main guest-starring role by Sarah Chalke, possibly my favorite girl on television. These factors made this ep a really great introduction to the show for me.

I knew that Willow from Buffy was in it, as well as Neil Patrick Harris, but I didn't know that Nick from Freaks and Geeks (and the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall movie) was also a series regular.

I've been meaning to extol the virtues of Freaks and Geeks for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully a post is forthcoming.

Anyway, a quick check on IMDb shows that a good chunk of Freaks and Geeks regulars have appeared on How I Met Your Mother. Apparently, the latter creators are huge, huge fans of the former.

So besides all that casting stuff, I thought the show was plenty funny. Excellent use of flashbacks, editing and timing. Plus, Doogie Howser is hilarious. There are jerks and then there are mean people like a grown up Doogie Howser that make you laugh your head off.

Yeah, so that's what I watched on TV.