Eric D. Snider

Eric D. Snider's Blog

Archive for October 3rd, 2006

‘Ask Eric Stuff’ questions needed for mockery

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006

A few months back I asked whether “Snide Remarks” readers enjoy the “Ask Eric Stuff” columns that appear every now and then. The question was prompted by a reader who said she didn’t like them, and being a man of the people, I wanted to see what the consensus was.

Of the people who e-mailed me, only two said they thought I should discontinue the feature. The rest said they liked it, or at least tolerated it and could see its value in the world. So the feature continues! Which is good, because I was totally going to keep doing it anyway.

I mention it now because I need you creative readers to submit some questions for use as fodder in future columns. Go to this page for the submission form. That page also has links to past “Ask Eric Stuff” columns, for your perusing pleasure.

Please do NOT submit questions by posting them as comments on this blog. Also, note that “funny” questions don’t work, comedy-wise. They need to be straightforward, normal questions — such as someone might actually ask an advice columnist — in order to work as set-ups for my awesomely hilarious punchlines.

I thank you in advance.

TV reviews: ‘Six Degrees,’ ‘Runaway,’ ‘The Game’

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006

“Six Degrees” (Thursdays, ABC): There are these six strangers, see, and they all live in New York, and they don’t know each other at first but their lives sort of intersect. And then some of them meet each other. And, um, stuff happens. This is essentially a Generic TV Drama with no premise. It’s not about a particular family or business or place. It’s about six people who sort of know each other, and the things that happen in their lives. I like Hope Davis and Campbell Scott and would watch them in almost anything. But this show is boring. TiVo verdict: zzzzzzzknkk- Wha? Huh? What happened?

“Runaway” (Mondays, The CW): One of the new CW network’s few brand-new series is this drama in which a man is wrongfully accused of murder and goes on the lam — taking his wife and three children with him. They arrive in a small Iowa town in the pilot episode, with new names for everyone and fake backstories to throw off curious locals, while the FBI scours the country looking for them. The idea of a family version of “The Fugitive” is interesting, and I like the characters well enough. (Donnie Wahlberg and Leslie Hope — Jack Bauer’s wife on “24″ — are the parents.) But I don’t really BUY it. Jumping bail and fleeing the jurisdiction are not things innocent people do, and bringing the wife and kids along seems even more dubious. How long can this go on? They’re apparently going to be in this Iowa town at least for a little while. So what will happen? Every week someone will ALMOST find out who they are, and then not? TiVo verdict: It’s a nice show. I won’t personally be committing myself to it, but you might give it a whirl if you have room in your schedule.

“The Game” (Sundays, The CW): Another new show on The CW. It’s a sitcom about the wives and girlfriends of the players for a fictional NFL team. I watched for 10 minutes before realizing that I’d known within five minutes that it wasn’t any good. TiVo verdict: If you love “Girlfriends” and other crappy “urban” sitcoms left over from UPN, then this is the show for you.

Subscription Center

Eric D. Snider's "Snide Remarks"

This is to join the mailing list for Eric's weekly humor column, "Snide Remarks." For more information, go here.

Subscribe

Eric D. Snider's "In the Dark"

This is to join the mailing list for Eric's weekly movie-review e-zine. For more information on it, go here.

Subscribe
 
Come read about baseball and web development at www.jeffjsnider.com