What city are they in now?

I was just watching a ReplayTVed episode of Dharma and Greg (which I will soon be sliding out of the rotation, but the reruns have made for a lot of viewing hours over the past year or so) when the episode ended and the first few seconds of a Spin City rerun came on. It was an episode from the first season, featuring Mike’s girlfriend, a character who was rather unceremoniously dumped halfway through the year. (I don’t mean they just dropped her; they actually edited her out of an already-aired episode for when it reran.) I had a second of thinking “poor gal, she got off of a sitcom which ended up having a fairly long run, and where is she now?”

Then I took another look at her. And she seemed familiar…

I’ll be honest, I had to look it up to clarify what was in my brain. But yes, this person who apparently ejected herself from a sitcom (if some reports were to be believed) was Carla Gugino, who has gone on to success as the mom in the Spy Kids movies and who distinguished herself in the too-quickly-gone Karen Sisco TV series.

And to be frank, even if she hadn’t jumped off the show at that particular moment, how long would she have lasted? Spin City had a rather horrible history when it came to female case members. In the first year the series had 10 cast memebers, 6 male, 4 female. When it ended six years later, none of the original females remained (in fact, the series ran on for two years without any of them) and others had joined the cast and then went away, while four of the six males were still there.

Meanwhile, Carla has moved on from other things, moved far far away away from Spin City? Her next appearance? In the stylish, comic-book-based movie Sin City

American Dud

In the wake of yesterday’s Super Bowl, there were 11 people gathered in my living room, watching The Simpsons and then the premiere that came after it, American Dad.

Watching this show ham-handedly strive for edgy humor was a sad affair. There was only one member of the gathering that wanted to watch it to the end, and she was the youngest of the group who was capable of speech. There was a moment in the show whe the space alien who lives with the titular CIA operative father spews green goo on the agent’s daughter. One member of the audience proclaimed “That’s gross!” I paused for a beat, then replied in a dry tone “no, it’s humor”. That got the biggest laugh of the show.

Years ago, I watched the first episode of Family Guy, another show by the same creator, and found it empty of anything that would bring me back. With the recent revival of the show, I had considered whether I should double-check my judgment. But I think I will let it stand.

Monology

I am told by someone who watches more Letterman than I do (a description which probably fits 90 of the adults in this nation) that the Carson lines used last night were not ones that they had rejected before, but ones they had used before. Makes sense.

Carson Comedy Countdown

Last night’s Lettermen opened with a monologue that Letterman later noted was made up of jokes that Johnny Carson had written for them over the previous few months. I understand the motivation, but it seems odd to be running months-old topical humor that you passed over the first time it was offered. (Perhaps they actually used some of these gags at the time; I’m not exactly a Letterman watcher.)

The numbers don't add up

Sloppiness on the second episode of Numb3rs: Early on, we are told that the bank robbers have taken an average of $2700 over the course of 16 robberies. Later, we are told that they varied from taking hundreds of thousands one job to some small amount the next. Well, if they took hundreds of thousands, they must have stolen negative amounts later; the total for 16 robberies averaging $2700 apiece is less than fifty grand.