Tag: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

What to Watch: 05/23/2016

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There’s so many finales to select from today, it’s making us a tad bit queasy. Therefore, we figured we’d take a sick day, and watch people excitedly bidding on windex bottles, cream of wheat, aaaaand a braaaand new car! Hopefully Aaron Paul drops by to reprise his earlier role. Oh wait, it’s a Survivor tie-in. Still, more Aaron Paul!

KATHERINE’S PICK:
The Price is Right: Survivor Primetime Edition [CBS, 8p]
CBS, are you out of ideas? Because I have some, and my screenwriting is…not bad. Pairing Survivor superfans with Survivor’s former castaways (and later cast members of Amazing Race and Big Brother) to play The Price Is Right feels a little forced.

NAVANI’S PICK:
The Price is Right: Survivor Primetime Edition [CBS, 8p]
Tuning in for a special primetime edition of the show that helped me be a better grocery shopper.

JASON’S PICK:
The Price is Right: Survivor Primetime Edition [CBS, 8p]
I could not care less about Survivor, but this is not a bad comment, and they should be some bad-ass Plinko players, so here we are. Even money on someone painting a bare chest with something like “Rockin’ Cleveland For Drew.”

ALSO ON TAP TONIGHT:

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  •  Blindspot ends its first season (on NBC) with an episode which sees the team turning to a familiar face to try and solve its central mystery
  • FOX’s Gotham wraps up a troubled, wrathful season with a prison break.
  • Internet dating closes the second season of CBS’ quietly surviving The Odd Couple.
  • Sam Bee took on SuperPACs last week on her TBS program — this week, it’s vaping.
  • UnREAL, a look behind the scenes of a fictional reality dating show, was quietly one of the best shows on television. Tonight on Lifetime, a preview of Season 2.

 

 

What to Watch: 05/16/2016

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There’s a bevy of shows out there tonight, but the big one is the series finale of Mike & Molly.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
Mike & Molly [CBS, 8:30p]
Melissa McCarthy’s CBS comedy comes to its end, featuring one last showdown between Joyce and Peggy and what we hope are flashbacks (and not previously aired clips) as the character reminisce on their past.

NAVANI’S PICK:
Mike & Molly [CBS, 8p]
The hour-long series finale promises trips to the psychic, praying in churches and of course one last fight between Joyce and Peggy. Hoping for some closure and lots of laughs in the send-off for Mike & Molly.

JASON’S PICK:
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee [TBS, 10:30p]
I hate to be the lemon following two gold bars, but I’m gonna go with Samantha Bee’s news coverage, the perfect bookend to John Oliver’s Sunday takedown. This week she takes aim at Super PACs.

ALSO ON TAP TONIGHT:

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  • Is it wedding bells on the second season finale of the CW’s Jane the Virgin? Only her hairdresser knows for sure. Because she’d probably want to get her hair done before such a big event. Just sayin’!
  • More viruses and time travel on Syfy’s 12 Monkeys, one of the two best movie-inspired series on tonight.
  • It’s a post-mother world for the other one, Bates Motel.
  • Sam Bee’s fellow Daily Show-alum and husband’s show, The Detour, is quietly continuing (also on TBS).

What to Watch: 05/09/2016

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Bees and monkeys and cupcakes, oh my! Ok, only one Bee. Ugh, let’s just get down to it. I’ll just go back to getting beat up around the worksite for asking people if they’ve got a case of the “Mondays.”

JASON’S PICK:
12 Monkeys [Syfy, 9p]
The excellent second season of this time-travel puzzler based on the Terry Gilliam thriller continues with Cole and Cassie stuck in 1944.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
Cupcake Wars [Food Network, 8p]
Two grown ass women compete against two little girls (I assume will win) in a DC Super Hero(ine) themed episode.

NAVANI’S PICK:
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee [TBS, 10pm]
Samantha Bee saved the day last week with her Cinco De Mayo meme response to Trump, so I’m looking forward to her having the same magic when it comes to crisis pregnancy centers.

 

 

March Madness: THE TREMENDOUS TWO

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And then there were two!

Our final shows, unsurprisingly, are Broad City and Orphan Black. Broad City trounced Brooklyn Nine-Nine with 66 percent of the vote. Orphan Black took all against Full Frontal with Samantha Bee with 80 percent of the vote.
We may be sad to see Full Frontal go, but we can cheer for Sam Bee, knowing that her brand new, weekly late night show defeated her late night peers. Full Frontal came out on top in a league with only male hosts: Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jon Oliver, and Larry Willmore, Andy Cohen, and Chris Hardwicke—a game show to be sure, but that man is everywhere! (And we didn’t bother to include James Corden, Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel, or Bill Maher!)
So now our favorite women will battle it out. Will you choose the side of comedy or the side of sci-fi? Are you loyal to America or are your loyal to the BBC? Are you looking to see the winner provide insightful commentary on the western world, technology, and family dynamics? Or do you seek middle-brow hilarity that highlights the absurdity young women face every day?
Dear god, how do we choose?

March Madness: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee vs. Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver

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Our final Late Night battle, which saw the departure of The Daily Show, The Nightly Show, Late Night, The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and two game shows (Hollywood Game Night and @Midnight) sees a final face off between two shows airing weekly.

Both Full Frontal and Last Week Tonight are hosted by former Daily Show contributors, filmed in New York, and feature monologues and no guests.

But there are differences, too. Full Frontal tackles political issues from Samantha Bee’s funny, witty, searing, and brilliant viewpoint. Last Week Tonight focuses on a single issue per episode, with anger and disbelief.

Both shows are much loved. It will surely be a tight race.

Episodes of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee are available online; Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver airs on HBO. Vote for your favorite shows here. Results post Friday!

What to Watch: 02/29/2016

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It’s Leap Day, when anything can happen, yet it’s a pretty ordinary day on the TV schedule. However, there are great programs running from charming lawyers with a sense of shade to a faux news vanguard to the return of a superhero and his huge assortment of foil villains to the wonderfully quirky CW lineup of Virgins who may not be so virginal and Crazy Exes who definitely are pretty cray.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend [CW, 8p]
Rebecca and Josh travel to sunny Los Angeles (how many hours from the beach?) AND CONFRONT THEIR LONG-BURIED FEELINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, god, let Paula watch the whole thing, she deserves this too!

JASON’S PICK:
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee [TBS, 10:30p]
Love Trevor Noah, and not particularly disappointed, but Sam Bee is truly starting to show she is the true heir to Jon Stewart’s brand of faux news, as she gins up the anger over things we, well, should be angry about. For example, when others were obsessed with Carson and Trump’s halted entrance to a debate, she found humor in the actual f’ed-up debate. It’s too bad she’s not daily.

NAVANI’S PICK:
Mon 2/29/16 TruInside [TruTV, 10p]
Documentary series profiling  comedy’s biggest names kicks off with interviews from the cast and crew from the cult classic Airplane.

ALSO ON TAP TONIGHT:

  • Two episodes in and Better Call Saul is still the glorious array of colorful sad sacks that you root for despite knowing where they end up. On AMC.
  • It’s the return of the darkness that is the often-brilliant, often breathtakingly silly Gotham on FOX.
  • Things heated up  last week and we’ve seen two straight loftily reviewed episodes of Jane the Virgin on the CW, so no reason the 35th Chapter can’t be more of the same.
  • Angie Tribeca and ferrets, what could possibly go wrong? It does…and it’s marvelous. Kerri Kinney-Silver guests.

What to Watch: 02/08/2016

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It’s a night full of comedies and dramas, including the latest opening night for a former Daily Show correspondent, for so let’s not waste time:

JASON’S PICK:
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee [TBS, 10:30p]
It’s hard to bet against any Daily Show expat given a new show — particularly true for the faux news juggernaut’s longest-tenured employee, Samantha Bee. Her first episode sets her rapier wit on Jeb Exclamation Point. Granted, it’s an easy target right now, but do you seriously have any doubts she’ll bullseye that son-of-a-pres.

KATHERINE’S PICK:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend [CW, 8p]
Rebecca accidentally text Josh, making second-hand shame first-hand “OH GOD NOOOOO.”

NAVANI’S PICK:
A Ballerina’s Tale [PBS, 10p]
Nelson George directs this behind-the-scenes look at the career of Misty Copeland, who transcends barriers by becoming the first African-American principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. Prepare to be all in your feels.

ALSO ON TAP TONIGHT:

  • Following on the heels of this season’s best episode to date (a Jose Chung-esque classic over-the-top monsterfest), Mulder & Scully investigate an otherworldly political assassination on this week’s X-Files on FOX.
  • For shows that have been solidly hitting their mark these days, there’s the heroic Supergirl on CBS, the unabashedly silly Angie Tribeca on TBS, and the gently inspiring Jane the Virgin on The CW.
  • The NBC one-two punch of Superstore and Telenovela have elements that hint at better shows. Could this be the week they get it together? Magic 8 Ball doesn’t want to be pinned to an answer here, but it guesses its sources would likely say no.
  • Lucifer on FOX and The Magicians on Syfy offer a bit more promise, but haven’t really earned faith based on their initial episodes.
  • The Bachelor‘s on his usual rose-givin’-out trip on ABC, if you like that sort of thing. Millions do.