Thoughts on The Late Late Show Guest Hosts, Part 3

This is the final instalment of my random thoughts/opinions on the guest hosts of The Late Late Show before the new guy starts next week. Holy crap, I can't believe it's coming up already. 

I've had fun watching the guest hosting gigs, whether they killed or bombed. They're also bringing in current and former CBS personalities to fill in the last few weeks before James Corden starts. I'm guessing Drew Carey is doing a second week of shows at the end because they didn't want to find more people to fill in the guest host slot. 

Wayne Brady (Feb 9 - 13, Let's Make a Deal): I personally didn't know that he's currently hosting Let's Make a Deal with Jonathan Mangum as his sidekick, which makes them both more qualified than most to do a week of guest hosting on The Late Late Show. The cold opens are tolerable, with him interacting with him as a character, with the odd appearance from Mangum. He brought his Whose Line persona with him and kept the singing to a tolerable minimum, and not to mention his geek/nerd side when Shatner came on. I also enjoyed the Judy Smith (inspiration for Scandal's Olivia Pope) segment. He had a good mix of guests for his week of shows, from the child genius to the Freestyle Love Supreme guys, whom I had no prior awareness of. Him signing off by saying "I love you" to his kids was a cute touch. Fun week.

Tom Lennon (Feb 16 - 18, The Odd Couple): I wonder if they got him to host because he's on the rebooted The Odd Couple (also on CBS), or because he was also on the show a lot during Craig's tenure (not just as someone they call to fill in for guest drop outs, but as the voice of Geoff the robot). Anyway... of course he got his Odd Couple co-star Matthew Perry on, who was smart enough to decline the hosting gig. Got a little exhausted of him promoting the show by the end of the three nights, but thought he was all right. My favourite night was the first when he had Weird Al, Natasha Leggero and Maz Jobrani on. 

Lauren Graham (Feb 19, The Odd Couple): Guess I wasn't the only one wondering if a boob was gonna spill out of her low-cut top. She did okay for one night, but she should stick to her day job(s). 

Will Arnett (Feb 20, formerly The Millers): He should definitely stick to his day job. Using pre-show footage of himself as his sidekick is just... meh. But getting another late night talk show host from another network (Jimmy Kimmel) was the only bright side to this. 

Billy Gardell (Feb 23 - 24, Mike and Molly): For all his self-deprecation, he did a pretty good job for the two nights he hosted. 

Kunal Nayyar (Feb 25 - 27, The Big Bang Theory): I thought he did okay, and was pretty entertaining. But that screaming goat will be his Late Late Show hosting legacy. 

Drew Carey (March 2 - 6, The Price is Right): Do I need to repeat myself? He'll be fine. 

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Thoughts on Late Late Show Guest Hosts, Part 2

(I have no idea why some of the guest hosts are doing this in New York, on Charlie Rose's set during the so-called blizzard where guests can't be that easy to book...)

Regis Philbin (Jan 26 - 27): Classy and high calibre guests (don't know how he got Annie Lennox), but a bit of a snore for me. 

Whitney Cummings (Jan 28 - 29): Awkward, but could be worse. Still not a fan of the braless co-host. But hilarious that Alan Cumming came on the show and they discussed their last names for a bit. 

Adam Pally (Jan 30): Don't know why he said yes and thought getting a tattoo for the show was a good idea. Luckily it's just for one show. But didn't mind that he had Howard Stern's wife on. 

After the week in New York, back in LA... 

Sean Hayes (Feb 2 - 3): Gone all out, knowing he's only doing two shows as I don't think he can keep up the musical numbers any longer. His USB idea - the bowl of talking points for awkward silences -  is hilarious. 

John Mayer (Feb 4 - 6): Not a fan of the guy personally, but I thought he did an okay job. Getting the Super Bowl sharks as his first guests is not a bad get, but I can't imagine it wasn't THAT hard for him. I wasn't the only one disappointed that they didn't dance on the show..

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So Jon Stewart is finally leaving The Daily Show...

First major late night TV bombshell of 2015: Jon Stewart announcing his departure from The Daily Show later in the year. No specific date yet, but let's just say he won't be renewing his contract this year when his current one runs out. 

Thank you Jon. pic.twitter.com/yPdxjnkuLw
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) February 10, 2015

Ever since last year's late night TV shake up, I had been wondering if JStew was ever gonna step down: Dude's been at it for almost 20 years, he's aging before our (collective) eyes... and I've been failing miserably to stay awake through it. Makes for great insomnia cure :P He also doesn't seem to have a lot of time for anything else, it seems like.

I can't say I'm surprised to hear this piece of news as I have been expecting something like this to happen since last year. It's a little sad, but it's time. That, and when Dr Bassem Youssef was on Monday's show (as the Middle East contributor), I did have that niggle... well okay, it's because the good doctor has taken up a fellowship post stateside, and not to take over the show... I think.

The Daily Show under his helm has been a massive platform for his former correspondents (Carrell, Colbert, Oliver, et al), enabling them to move on to bigger and better things: movie careers, TV careers, etc. So why not him? Maybe he wants to slow down, make more movies. Whatever.

And of course, so many questions as to what happens next...

• Does this mean that any of his current stable of correspondents are gonna take over the show? Same direction, different direction? 
• JStew's production company is still running both The Daily Show and The Nightly Show. Does this mean that he'll just be running things behind the camera instead? 
• For a split second there, I thought Bassem Youssef was gonna take over... then I remembered he's doing a resident fellowship stint at Harvard. Don't think he's got the time. 
• I don't know if Jason Jones is right to take over the reins...? 

I suppose this means that other shows might have a better chance of winning the Emmy that The Daily Show has been winning for at least a decade now.

As usual, I can't wait to see what happens. 

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Thoughts on the Late Late Show Guest Hosting So Far...

I'm such a masochist, I'm also watching the guest hosting stints on The Late Late Show out of habit. While I'm glad they didn't tear the old set down just yet, but sad that the faux fireplace is not where it is any more. 

Drew Carey: Not the first time he's done this (he and Craig swapped jobs once), but I'm still a bit thrown off by his eye line because it's really obvious that he's reading the teleprompter that's a little too high for him. Now I know why other shows have cue card guys who are low to the ground. That's just my niggle and he's also doing the last week before Corden's official start. The cold opens with his Price is Right announcer George Gray are pretty hilarious. 

The Talk hosts: I don't watch the show because I don't have the time nor the energy. It's just them on their own set, doing a "After Dark" version of their show. Sharon Osbourne is a hoot. But otherwise, I thought they were fine. 

Jim Gaffigan: (Did they take the kids out of school for a few days?) After just three days, I already can't get the kids' song out of my head... and not in a good way. Have to like that it was a family affair, with his wife Jeannie as co-host and his brood of FIVE kids as opening act/ushers/foils. But yeah, the self-promotion (of his upcoming TV show, albums, books and specials) is almost unbearable. Even the guests that were on are on his upcoming TV show. That said, the kids made it an adorable experience. 

As of this post, Judd Apatow is halfway through his guest hosting stint to end this week. 

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While watching this year's Golden Globes..

Finally found some time to watch this year's Golden Globes ceremony.

• Tina and Amy again. Hmm. 
• Amy looks awfully orange..
• I wonder if Cumberbatch practices his photobombing face..
• That looks like a nice plate of desserts at the Girls table..
• You know the seating is not so obviously fixed when a couple of the winners have to make their way from what seemed like the back of the room to accept their award (Joanna Froggatt from Downton Abbey and Gina Rodriguez from Jane the Virgin).. 
• Okay, I literally have no idea what is Prince doing there.. but have to give him props for not wearing a penguin suit.
• Oh, Clive Owen and the shiny forehead :P
• Haha, Ricky Gervais and his boozing XD
• Too bad Emma Thompson isn't nominated for anything, she was a blast last year.
• So didn't know Ruth Wilson is English. 
• I'm glad The Grand Budapest Hotel won SOMETHING.

Mythbusters - Back to Basics?

When news that Kari, Tory and Grant won't be back for another season of Mythbusters for "undisclosed reasons" (read: money?), people got upset. If I have to guess, these are the people who either grew up watching them, or had not remembered a time when it really was just Adam and Jamie testing the myths for the first season or two. 

I was one of a minority of people who questioned the point of having a B-team from the beginning... and has anyone noticed that their myth-testing has gotten more expensive with the explosives, etc?

Either way, I'm glad it's back to just Jamie and Adam again. That's just me. 

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Bye bye, Covert Affairs

I can't say that I am sad nor upset that the cancellation of USA's Covert Affairs blew up what niche (it was a cable show, after all) fanbase it had. I thought it was just a matter of time since White Collar (the lead-in)'s shortened final season was announced. Getting the news some weeks after the season finale, however..

Don't get me wrong: While there were a couple of storylines that I didn't really care for; but for all intents and purposes I can say that I watched it to the bitter end. I guess the ratings plunge as a reaction to the some of the shark jumping elements gave USA Network enough cause to pull the plug. That, and I guess the rising cost of making the show, since apparently they really do travel the globe making it, and not just shoot it all in Canada or something. 

I thought the recent season, er, series finale kind of tied most of the (implied) loose ends up. I don't think I want to see what really happens to everyone in a hypothetical sixth season :P

If nothing else, I will miss Christopher Gorham's portrayal of Auggie (and his pretty frequent state of shirtlessness) and Annie's favourite Mossad guy, Eyal. 

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Colbert Report Final Week

I've been putting off watching the Colbert Report final week mostly because I am a little sad to see it go, but also because I had things to do, and other shows to watch. 

• The yard sale segment was funny, especially when it keeps cutting to Stephen "stealing" the guy's personal information because he didn't bring cash to a yard sale. It was too bad that I couldn't get in on the yard sale action, I probably would've gone nuts. But I don't know about signing that release waiver so that they could "use my likeness"...  
• I'm a little envious of whoever got his huge "C" desk..
• James Corden is doing the rounds on the other shows before his Late Late Show debut in March. Him getting scared shitless about the exhaustion and the singing afterwards was entertaining. 
• I don't know why they waited until his last weeks of The Report to finally have Jon Stewart on.. besides the fact that he was promoting his movie, Rosewater. Even the president has probably been on more times than him. 
• The sight of Vince Gilligan, chained up in a basement-type room to his computer in the musical finale was funny. 
• The actual ending (him with Santa, Lincoln and Alex Trebek) was adorable.
• Many props to the person who took the time to write down who's who in the grand song finale in this Vulture piece. 
• I have no idea what's behind the "Apologies to Doris Kearns Goodwin" bit you see in the end credits. Does anyone?

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Thoughts While Watching The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Finale Week

I don't care what anyone says - I enjoyed the middle years of his tenure (the puppets, the crappy studio, etc) and if you've been watching it long enough, you can tell that he's really been phoning it in the last few years. I can't be the only one who found the later years a little meh.

• It was bittersweet when they finally brought on Josh Robert Thompson in the cold open of the penultimate show for his moment of recognition outside of Geoff Petersen and all those other voices, and how much they kept flashing back to his mother in the audience. 
• So much for my All Scots week/day/appearances theory/guess/hope. Oh well.
• Pretaped song segment. Okay. It's just about every guest he had on in the last few months.
• They finally got Bone Patrol on! Was I the only one thinking that one of those drummers was Craig? 
• I think they spent what's left of their "budget" on the choir, drummers and Steve Jones. 
• Man looks good standing on his desk. 
• Figured that when Newhart was "unmasked" as Secretariat that some reference to his work would be made: it had the same "twist" ending as one of Newhart's shows - that his entire Late Late Show tenure was a 10 year dream, with him and Drew Carey as their Drew Carey Show roles, Mr Wick and Drew Carey.

It's been a fun ride. I miss it already, but I also can't wait to see the guest hosting (before James Corden comes on March)...

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Thoughts While Watching the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

• It's in London this year? Yay for the English models, I guess.
• You know you're getting old when you don't know who Hozier is. Am I supposed to know who that is?
• At least the LED runway is something different.
• What happened to the pounds and pounds of glitter from years past? I wonder if they recycle the stuff.... 
• That's some really cute clothes and wings. 
• Some of those wings... woah.
• Taylor Swift is the only one interacting with the models as she sang... which might have more to do with how she's friends with practically all of them. 
• Wow, they totally went all out giving Adriana and Alessandra their own Fantasy Bra. 
• Speaking of Adriana and Alessandra... they're practically the old ladies of the Fashion Show now :P Okay, really senior Angels.
• Yep, they totally cut out Ariana Grande getting hit in the face by someone's wings. Gawdamnit.
• Seriously, what happens to the wings after the show?

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Adios, Perception - It's Been Fun

Perception (2012 TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First Franklin and Bash got the axe, now it's Perception's turn on the chopping block. 

I liked it just fine, but not enough of a rabid fan to go all cray cray about this. At least it's not an abrupt cut - we'll still get the end of the current third season. It's just not getting renewed for the fourth season.

If nothing else, it's one less show to watch...? 

Adios, Franklin & Bash

As quickly and as brief the seasons have been, TNT has finally pulled the plug on Franklin & Bash. And because it didn't make the magical syndication number with just 40 episodes, it might be forgotten with the passing of time. 

I can't be the only one that didn't find this past season a little weird - that the firm is now Infeld/Daniels/Franklin & Bash, the absences of characters from previous seasons (Carmen, Pindar, and the ladies brought in to play the senior partners over its relatively short run). Well okay, I did enjoy their new PI Dan Mundy. 

I suppose it's just as well that we'll never find out if Stanton did die from those fish crackers or if Franklin & Bash will take that new job in Austin. 

Deep, deep down I'm hoping that it goes to another network; but if that doesn't happen, then c'est la vie. It has been fun. 

Project Runway news!

Is it just me, or has Project Runway gone down the toilet a little? I mean, really. The challenges are still not too ridiculous - I'm still okay with the avant garde and the unconventional (material) challenges, but perhaps it's happening more than once a season for the last few seasons?

Even the prize package now seems a tad lacklustre to me, the non-American viewer. Let me start with the sponsors - RED ROBIN? Really?! One of the prizes is to design a new uniform for Red Robin servers? Oy vey. Oh well - at least it's not TGI Fridays? When you've learned to tune out the prizes portion of the show, you don't miss a thing like that.

Even the accessories wall in the workroom seems to be going further up the high street - the ALDO accessories wall? Seriously? Who's gonna get the wall next? H&M?

I suppose if you make it far enough, you might be invited back to compete on All-Stars, which has the (really) better prize package for the winner.

Another piece of news is that they've announced a new spinoff called Project Runway: Threads with the under-18 age group of designers. The only face I recognised was Christian Siriano, which I guess was the point... and because he still looks pretty young :P

And who's glad that another season of All Stars is upon us? Whee! It's happening a week after the premiere of Threads, which will make for a double dose for about 8 episodes because that's how long Threads is running for. 

In the Final Season of The Mentalist

As confirmed by cast member Tim Kang, the upcoming season of The Mentalist will be its last..

This is our 7th and final season. Looking at the scripts now, it's so fun and such a great season!
— Tim Kang (@Tim__Kang) September 14, 2014

Quite frankly, I felt that the show was on thin ice once the Red John angle was done and dusted. I suppose it was nice for fans to see how life is treating Jane and the former CBI gang post Red John. Dismantling the CBI at the end of the fifth season in a way kind of addressed some people's complaints that CBI is a non-existent agency, so okay. An entire season of Jane causing havoc at the FBI office in Texas was pretty entertaining. 

I know people are into the Jisbon 'ship, but I really wasn't expecting it to HAPPEN at the end of the 6th season (I was with Cho on that one: "I don't see it"). I suppose this last season would be the one to explore that. Oh, so many questions...!!

I wonder if Rigsby and Van Pelt would make an appearance in this final season. I don't care one way or the other. 

I hope Cho doesn't die this season. 

I've been okay with this show being over for a couple of seasons now. I hope they go out with a bang (figuratively, not literally). 

If nothing else, this show will be in syndication ad infinitum since their 100th episode milestone has come and gone. 

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Things on TV to say goodbye to before/in 2015

I know it's a little early because it's still August, but if people start brainstorming the year's best of lists ahead of time, why can't I? It's a mix of things on TV that will definitely be gone as we get into 2015. 

1. The current incarnation of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as we know it.
2. "Stephen Colbert" and The Colbert Report 
3. The Late Show with David Letterman
4. Let's face it, this next season of The Mentalist is probably going to be the last season.
5. I'll be darned if Franklin & Bash makes it another season. (That's for another blog post)
6. I'll also be darned if Fred Armisen is still The 8G Band's band leader on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
7. Mad Men
8. True Blood

What else am I missing? Let me know... 

Last Comic Standing

I sat through the entire summer season of NBC's resurrected and rejigged Last Comic Standing. I would've blogged about it sooner, but I wanted to see how the season played out first. Overall, I like parts of it, but other parts could be improved. 

First of all: Was I the only one that noticed the edit Rod Man was getting LONG BEFORE they made him this season's winner? I felt it was damn obvious and you know that he'll make it far in the competition whether you liked him or not. I can't fathom a guess as to what kind of show he'll be making with NBC with his development deal portion of his winnings. Personally, I would've been fine with any other finalist winning, but oh well.

Second: JB Smoove - not my favourite host. But that's just me, nothing against the guy. 

I don't know how many Americans know who Russell Peters before this season of Last Comic Standing. But nothing against him being a judge next to Roseanne and Keenen Ivory Wayans. 

What I liked:

• The initial rounds being invitational and not for any Tom, Dick and Harry aspiring comics that aren't already working comics. Some of the initial 100 I've seen do their 5 minutes on the talk show circuit.
• There's no public vote, which was I think how Felipe Esparza won the previous season even though I never found the guy particularly funny to begin with anyway. 

It's renewed for another season. So let's see how that goes. 

Things I Will Miss About The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Inspired from this GIF-laden Buzzfeed listicle, 23 Reasons Craig Ferguson Is The Best Host Of "The Late Late Show", but from perspective of a (really) long time viewer of the show, and I can't be arsed to add the GIFs and images. 

1. Oh how I miss the puppets. You can relive those moments cos you can get them here :P
2. His hilarious impersonations: Michael Caine in Space, Sean Connery, JK Rowling (which I'm glad he hasn't done since he claims to be a fan of the Harry Potter series), Aquaman, and of course... Prince Charles. 
3. The old man rants, especially about the show's presumed low budget, crappy old studio (which leaked).
4. For such a "low budget" show, they sure got a lot of money to do a week's worth of shows in places like Scotland and France :P
5. The numerous catchphrases: "It's a great day for America", ASS MÖDE... long list.
6. When Secretariat only danced in and out of studio... and the audience doing the dance along with Craig. 
7. The musical cold opens, half of which I'm surprised that they got rights to.
8. The cray cray "maps" 
9. The drinking game would kill you, if you actually play it... or drink something light, like Shandy :P

Anything I'm leaving out? Let me know in the comments.

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Jennifer Love Hewitt on Criminal Minds? Really?!

Well, they found another brunette to fill the missing brunette hole on Criminal Minds after the departure of other brunettes before her in the long running show. 

The announcement made about Jennifer Love Hewitt joining Criminal Minds as a series regular in the upcoming season certainly made a lot of waves, especially among the CM fanbase. Perhaps it was just me. There'll be a whole load of jokes of talking to ghosts and happy ending massages amongst fans for sure. But I'll refrain from making those myself. I don't know how she will be, as part of a huge cast, after being the lead on Ghost Whisperer and The Client List. The last ensemble role anyone could remember her in was Party of Five? 

According to the news outlets, her character is Kate Callahan, a "seasoned undercover agent whose work landed her a position with the BAU". 

Here is my question as a fan of the show: If her character is a longtime undercover agent, so unless they release the part where it says that she's also did some profiling or just really astute about human psychology, she'll be joining the BAU in what capacity? 

Like the changing of colours in the fall, I can't wait to see the change in the huge cast photo at the end of the opening sequence in the new season.

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New CSI spinoff

I remembered reading awhile back that the CSI producers were attempting to launch another spinoff (after the cancellation of both CSI: Miami and CSI: NY) and who was going to be in it, but I had probably glossed over when the backdoor pilot was actually airing. 

So it was an interesting surprise to see Patricia Arquette show up as FBI cyber psychologist Agent Avery Ryan. Like a lot of backdoor pilots, they show us what she does, her team (which, if picked up, have no idea will be the same people or if recasting will happen), and her methods. I'm not sure if the monologue she did about what she does was necessary, but I'll let it slide. And also don't get me started on the jurisdiction issues. 

If the show gets picked up, it'll be a first for the CSI franchise to have a lady at the helm and for a show not to be about forensics, but cybercrimes. 

Which begs the questions: Will this or the NCIS New Orleans spinoff ever get picked up? Or even both? 

Farewell, Late Night Douche

The news some of us have dreaded has come to pass: Craig Ferguson stepping down as host of The Late Late Show after 10 years. Am I sad? Yes. Only read the headlines in the morning and had not seen the show yet, but watching the actual on-air announcement doesn't lessen the sting.

To be fair, his recent 2 year contract extension is almost up and he (probably) decided not to renew. I really didn't think his decision to step down was because he didn't get The Late Show (he's getting paid for not being picked) as his schtick and material probably won't pass muster at 11.30 anyway. And if you watch the show long enough, you can sort of tell that he really doesn't give a shit even more than usual in the last few years anyway, even with the move to the new studio and little upgrades like a podium for Geoff and a stable for the fake horse. I suppose after over 10 years of shit happening to you on air (the leaky roof, no lights, not being able to air the Doctor Who cold open live, etc), enough is enough.

And it's not like he's dying or anything, but he does have other projects to focus on. Celebrity Name Game, anyone?

If it's any consolation, we have until December (and not til summer, as initially rumoured) to savour what's left of the late night douche, so.. 

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