Welcome to what I hope will be a regular, weekly feature. I have been known to set my DVR from 9pm to 1am to watch every last second of the [adult swim] programming block on Cartoon Network. I was proud to stay in Friday nights in high school so I didn’t miss Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. So, I like this stuff a lot.
Normally I’d begin with Sunday and preview upcoming new episodes, then on through the week, but last night at midnight [as] pulled a fast one on us for April Fool’s.
At midnight, a familiar Space Ghost was sitting behind his desk, interviewing “director”/”actor”/”writer” Tommy Wiseau, who promptly told us “Happy April Fool!”
Then they showed The Room.
Considered by some to be the west film ever, I had to see this with my own eyes. And yes, it’s terrible. The first 30 minutes is basically like a bad episode of Red Shoe Diaries starring ugly people. Bad acting and flimsy plot and pretenses to get everyone to take off their clothes and get busy. Although, I’m sure there is generally better acting in your average porno.
Personally, I wish they would’ve gotten “Troll 2” and shown it as a double feature with its accompanying documentary “Best Worst Movie.” That’s at least so bad it’s funny.
Coming back from commercials they also had tidbits of Space Ghost, Zorak, Moltar, and Wiseau, which was far more entertaining. During one bit, Wiseau says that everyone should try to enjoy his film how it was meant to be experienced: in a theater. Zorak and Moltar laugh hysterically and derisively.
Also entertaining—the warning from adult swim that ran across the bottom to not copy and distribute this copyrighted material. Yeah, no real concern there, imho. Lots of bit torrents of The Venture Brothers and Metalocalypse, but I don’t think The Room will be coming to Pirate Bay any time soon.
Even more entertaining, because of the aforementioned adult naughty bits and because this is still cartoon network, they had to do something about the… er….
Ha ha! Dangly parts.
So, here’s what they did. Seriously—no lie—from my iphone to God’s ear:
Black boxes over the naughty bits. In some cases, they black boxed out ¾ of the screen. In my opinion, they missed another 25%.
And now on to THIS WEEK:
Sunday, Apr 4
We get 2 new episodes, and some classics in syndication:
Tim & Eric: Awesome Show! Great Job! Lucky. We explore the power of a Cinco product: Dream Cream, with Pierre, who isn’t too happy with the nightmares it’s giving him. Another Rap from Kid Break, the group that brought you the song about dad’s dirty socks—it looks like there is breakdancing in vomit.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Juggalo. I can’t possibly comprehend what is going on here, so I’ll simply transcribe what the promo says: “With his life out of control, Shake turns to the internet to summon a higher power (an angel wearing a black pinstripe suit who has rocket boosters coming out of his hands and boots like Iron Man). Then, Shake summons a lower power (a teenage Juggalo) to make the higher power go away. With a special appearance by breakroom resident George Lowe.”
You can see all of this week’s schedule here, http://www.adultswim.com/schedule/index.html but here are some highlights:
The return of The Drinky Crow Show. There’ve got to be some of you who like this show, and you’ll be able to get one (not new) 11 minute episode every night at 1:15 am ET/12:15 CT
Also playing this week: The PJ’s. 1:30/12:30? Anyone like this at all? I usually switch over and watch Larry King, that’s how utterly boring this is to me.
Wed 12:30 ET/11:30 CT – one of my fav episodes of ATHF– “The Last One” where all of the Aqua Teen villains gather on the moon. Hijinks ensure.
As a general rule, I’m not going to review Saturday Nights and anime. I just don’t get it, and I don’t have the background to tell whether this is a good anime or not. I don’t know the difference between Cowboy Bebop, Big O, and Bleach. To me, Bleach is what I use to scrub my grout or the seminal indie album by Nirvana before they got big. Anime? Meh.
But since you peeps who watch anime just looooooove it, here you go. I’ll do this just once…..
We did get news that Kekkaishi will be coming to the Saturday anime block. Here’s a press release, which I assume someone will translate for me as I lost my manga-to-english dictionary.
VIZ MEDIA LICENSES KEKKAISHI ANIME
SERIES TO ADULT SWIM
Life Is A Wild Adventure For A Teenager Balancing Girls,
Junior High School And Nighttime Demon Slaying
San Francisco, CA, March 31, 2010, – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has licensed 52 episodes of the popular Shonen Sunday KEKKAISHI anime series to Adult Swim for domestic broadcast. KEKKAISHI will begin airing on May 29th.
KEKKAISHI is based on the hit manga series by Yellow Tanabe (also published in North America by VIZ Media). A story of mystical forces powerful in the region known as Karasumori. For over 400 years, it has been the duty of a clan of “kekkaishi”—barrier masters—to guard this land and exterminate the supernatural creatures that are drawn to it night after night.
Yoshimori Sumimura is a junior high school student at Karasumori Academy, which is built upon the Karasumori grounds. By night, Yoshimori follows the tradition passed down through generations and fulfills his destiny as the twenty-second “kekkaishi” of the Sumimura clan. But by day, Yoshimori’s got other demons to contend with, like an obsession with cake making and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori’s pretty neighbor, childhood friend and rival, Tokine Yukimura, is also a “kekkaishi,” but their families are caught up in a feud over who is the true practitioner of the art. Protecting ordinary people from the ever-present danger of the Karasumori grounds, Yoshimori will continue to grow stronger as he battles the forces of evil again tonight!
“Kekkaishi spotlights compelling cool characters, in an intense yet fun-filled supernatural action adventure saga. It possesses all of the hallmarks of great anime!” says William Germain, Director, Programming & Music Sales, VIZ Media. We are very excited to add KEKKAISHI to the Adult Swim anime lineup for U.S. fans to enjoy.”
For more information on KEKKAISHI please visit www.ShonenSunday.com.
Thanks for reading!!
Next week I’ll do more in depth on other episodes you should catch during the week, as my review of The Room kind of supplanted that. I’ll also include reviews of their online content, including their flash games.