In short: Errol Morris is the greatest documentary filmmaker in the world. This isn’t really just my opinion, but a general concensus amongst the thirty people that watch documentaries. Errol Morris: First Person is a twenty episode television series, now available on DVD, each episode a short documentary that compares favorably to his legendary feature work.

The quality tends to vary over the twenty episodes, but the very best pieces are riveting. The best episodes cover a serial killer’s wife, a CIA master of disguise, the world’s smartest man, the Unabomber’s pen pal, a giant squid hunter and in the very best episode, Dennis Fitch, the pilot that downed United Airlines flight 232.

It’s not fair to really spoil the stories, as you really need to see the stories unravel before you. Morris uses much less extra footage than his features, so the focus is really on these superintense interviews. Sometimes the subjects are experts, sometimes they are crazyfolk. Morris doesn’t really give it away and is good at letting the subjects hang themselves with their own rope or prove their worth. In one episode, several different people recount a murder, and you can see that people are hiding something, because they can’t stand to stare directly at the interrotron.

If you have netflix I’d say this is required watching, particularly “Leaving Earth,” the aforementioned episode about the pilot on that doomed flight. That hour ranks right up there with “Fog of War,” “Thin Blue Line,” and “Fast Cheap and Out of Control.”

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We’re halfway through the BBC run of the new Gervais/Merchant production “Extras” now, and while it’s not quite to the level of “The Office,” it’s still a good ole time. Instead of the cluelessly obnoxious David Brent, Gervais goes for a more sympathetic character in Andy Millman, an extra struggling to get that coveted speaking role.

Andy is joined by fellow extra Maggie Jacobs (Ashley Jensen) and constant scene stealing by Steven Merchant as The Worst Agent Ever. They also work in a celebrity appearance each episode, including Ben Stiller for the premiere and Kate Winslet in the third episode. From the first three episodes, it seems oddly dependent on the stunt casting. The second episode features British star Ross Kemp, and while it was still funny I wasn’t quite sure what image Kemp was sending up. On the other hand, you Stiller and Winslet both get to ham it up as famous folks trying to get serious for award recognition. Making fun of the Holocaust is always funny!

I’m not sure if HBO really needs another comedy sending up the film industry, but it’ll fit along nicely next to Entourage and the Comeback. “Extras” premieres on HBO in September.

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After five years, she hath forsaken me.

My TiVo remote is broken.

Fresh batteries, no blinky red light, no nothing. Replacement remotes are not something you can pick up at just any store unfortunately, which means I will be without TiVo for like a week. I dunno if I can handle watching television like some kind of plebe. GRAAAAAAH.

Let me reiterate: It is 4AM and I have no TiVo. Can you even imagine the desolation of the tv landscape at this time of night? Wait, is there really a show called Foody Call? Holy fuck.

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With the dearth of any decent movies or shows for the past few months, I’ve been absolutely PLOWING through DVD sets of TV shows. I even signed up for Netflix to go through even more.

Spaced - A goofy little British sitcom about a wannabe comic book artist and a wannabe journalist posing as a couple to live in the one available flat they can find, from the folks that brought you Shaun of the Dead. I was led to believe it was the greatest show ever, if you were a nerd, since it’s just a looooooong string of references to Star Wars and comics and Evil Dead movies, but I found the first season superboring but the second season really funny.

My So-Called Life - I think this was one of the few shows I watched while I was in college, and surprisingly it holds up really well. It’s sweet and touching in the right places, and it’s a lot funnier than I remember. Also, the parents don’t seem nearly as annoying anymore. Maybe it’s because I am now ancient and wizened. Cancelled after 19 episodes, which seems like forever in today’s age of short tempered network execs. The DVD set is completely out of print and selling for hundreds on EBay, so god bless Netflix. Is Jordan Catalano the absolute best character name ever, or what?

Wonderfalls - Speaking of prematurely cancelled, this was dropped after 4 episodes! The DVD set contains thirteen eps, which luckily concludes one strong story arc, so you’re not left wanting. The idea is vaguely Joan of Arcadia, with the main protagonist badgered into helping strangers by talking animal props. It’s a silly premise, but it leads to great screwball comedy as everything goes wrong and hilarity ensues. I laughed, which clearly means the humor is of the sharp and acerbic variety, although there’s enough slapstick in there to tickle my low-brow funnybone as well. How’s that for a mixed-anatomical-metaphor? Getting to watch the whole run, it’s not just good, it’s great.

Northern Exposure (Seasons 1+2) - I really liked this show when I was in high school, for Alaska and snow in general seemed like science-fiction growing up in South Central LA. This really doesn’t hold up nearly as well, with a serious ratio of crap episodes to the good ones. The better episodes, like the one about Chris building his giant metal sculpture and meeting his lost half-brother, still has a little magic, and Adam Arkin’s appearance as wild-man gourmet chef Adam still cracks me up. To add insult to injury, the DVD sets run $40-50 for 8 episodes each.

Deadwood - The dirty, grimy western drama takes a bit of effort to get into, since little happens from episode to episode. David Milch uses the backdrop of this gold rush town to explore human behavior in a virtually lawless environment. The gold, the greed and the gambling are all here, with helpful doses of whoring, doping and murdering… you know, for the kids. The show seems to have taken on cult status for its cussing, and Milch has clearly taken the eloquence of vulgarity to a new level. You will cuss in all new ways after Deadwood.

The Wire (Seasons 1+2) - I always wanted to watch this show, but even with a monthly HBO subscription and the power of TiVo, I found it remarkably hard to get into initially. I would always miss an episode or try and start watching with episode 5 and nothing would make sense. That’s because the makers of the Wire don’t really give a fuck about episodic television. Each season is a 12 hour movie, and they just split in hours because they have to. The day to day grind of the Baltimore drug trade and the story of the cops working the case is just stupendous long term storytelling, and absolutely perfect for watching on DVD.

Homicide - Speaking of the Wire, this is the O.G. Baltimore crime show, and for a long time it was the best thing on television. Seasons one and two have all the elements, but it doesn’t really snap together until they push Daniel Baldwin and Kyle Secor to the pine and let Andre Braugher step up to bat. They toss him in the box with the guest star of the week, and all of a sudden it’s Emmy time! It’s a bit showy, but it’s riveting and magnetic all the same. I’m bullying my way through season three right now, with another three in the queue.

Gah. That’s a lot of TV. My ass hurts just thinking about it. Any suggestions after I finish with Homicide?

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After coming back from the Veronica Mars Paleyfest panel last night, I’ve come to realize I hate actors, people who attend panels, and people who ask questions at panels.

OK, hate is maybe a strong word for the actors. I respect the work, and without them I’d be reading a book, so clearly I like actors somewhat. But in a panel situation, they are almost invariably the least interesting people around. The writers and directors always have uncommon insight to the project, but the actors are lucky to drop an interesting anecdote and crack wise. They are never as cool or suave or smart as their characters, so it’s uniformly disappointing. Solution: Each actor must have a writer sitting behind them and feeding them lines, possibly with a hand up the actor’s ass to manipulate their motions. Responses could be given in character, if necessary.

As for the Q+A, I think I hate every person that has ever asked a question EVER at every single panel I’ve ever been to. Seriously. These are the offenses at the VM panel alone:

A) A question should be ONE SENTENCE LONG. If your question has a foreward, a preface, annotations, endnotes and footnotes, it is no longer a question, so don’t ask it.

B) I know you rehearsed your spiel for hours in front a mirror, but if your question was addressed earlier in panel, go to your fallback question! Always have plan B.

C) If you’re a writer, we don’t need to know. Joel Silver is not going to say “man, that was a damn good question. You want to write Lethal Weapon 5?”

I will commend the audience for not committing the two mortal sins of Q+A. Nobody said “I don’t have a question, I have a statement,” which was good. That one makes me want to beat people with a shoe. Also, nobody asked a multi-part question, which makes me want to run over and suplex them. In San Diego, one dude, swear to god, said “I have a 2 part question, but the first part is actually a statement,” and I had an embolism right there in the room. It was horrible.

Oh, and hey audience, you don’t have to clap for everyone and everything. You know the part where you clapped when they were talking about date rape? THAT WAS CREEPY AND WEIRD. FUCKING STOP IT.

Other than that, I enjoyed the evening. Rob Thomas gave away just enough hints to keep me satisfied and they showed a new episode called “Betty and Veronica” that rocked a whole heck of a lot.

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When I first heard they were remaking The Office for American television. I was aghast, as these things never go well. News about it had died down, and I just assumed it had died an appropriate death. OH NO. The show will begin airing on March 22nd and a poor quality WMV of the pilot was posted on Metafilter.

And boy howdy, it is no good.

The pilot is a straight up remake of the first episode of the original, except not particularly funny. Steve Carell takes over for Ricky Gervais and is OK, but can’t quite walk the line between annoying and hilarious like Gervais did. The supporting cast is worse… the Tim replacement is generically bland rather than sympathetically everyman, and Gareth (now named Dwight) doesn’t have the pathetic ineffectiveness to him. It’s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. The whole thing feels like a show fed through Babelfish: The words seem right but nothing makes any sense at all.

Soul-crushing office life isn’t intrinsically English, but there is something horribly, horribly wrong here. To end on a positive note: The stapler in jello gag never gets old.

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When I first heard about Lost, I was both intrigued and confused. Any JJ Abrams (Alias, Felicity) is welcome by me but the idea of a show about 48 crash survivors stranded on a tropical island seemed … dumb. After watching the pilot though, it’s pretty clear that Abrams is not dumb, and is many degrees smarter than I am.

The show is still about the crash survivors, but the first episode is focused on a manageable cast of ten, and their introductions are handled deftly. You get to know a little about each one but not enough to feel like you’ve nailed them down to any sort of stereotype, and Abrams gets in enough little swerves to keep everyone dancing a bit. There’s even a Korean couple that speaks no English whatsoever. The big mystery character’s actually the island itself, carrying deeper secrets than any of the survivors.

It’s kind of hard to talk about without really spoiling it, but the show’s a lot more Land of the Lost than Gilligan’s Island, and will probably be the most interesting action hour of the new fall season.

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Now that I’ve seen Freaks and Geeks a bazillion times, I realized I not only liked the show… I really loved the show. So I pulled the most expensive double-dip ever and bought the 8-disc super yearbook edition of the show. It’s probably not the wisest financial decision of my life, but what the hell. The yearbook rules.

It’s an 80 page leatherbound piece, filled with pictures, articles and fake autographs from all the characters in the show. It’s also got two extra discs filled with more mish-mash than you can ever imagine. My favorite bonus gotta be the unfilmed “Bus” script, which involves the geeks getting stranded in the woods after getting abandoned by the bus driver. Haverchuck has a copy of Hulk #181 (first appearance of Wolverine!) that gets ripped in half. I cried. Here’s a detailed review of the whole set, and here’s some pictures of the yearbook. There’s a pretty good look at the fake autographs.

It’s pretty easily the crown jewel of my DVD collection (not saying much, honestly), but I’m just so proud of it that I feel like keeping pictures of it in my wallet and showing it to people.

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I’ve been drowning in DVD TV sets again. I’ve had the Ben Stiller DVD set sitting on my shelf for months now, so I started cranking through it last week.

I remember this show to be edgy and funny, miles above what was being put on Saturday Night Live at the time. I’m sifting through the stuff now and I found myself mostly stonefaced for the first half of the season. I’m still laughing occassionally, but it’s not the internal injury type laughter of yesteryears. At first I thought I’m just not into sketch comedy anymore, but then I realized my favorite comedy on TV by far is Chappelle Show, which is textbook sketch.

It clicked a few episodes in that I just wasn’t laughing because the first few episodes of Stiller are just drenched in pop culture. Removed from the context of ten years ago, it just doesn’t jump off the screen like it used to. Stiller’s show gets progressively better though, as it starts to develop some characters and starts to parody some icons that are still around today (Legends of Springsteen comes to mind). I’ll be getting to the second half of the season, so it’ll be interesting to see if attains some sort of timelessness or if it goes back to dating itself with its efforts in staying topical.

I also went through Mr. Show Season 1, and since it’s more recent vintage and more character based, it seemed just about as funny as when I first saw it. In ten years, will Chappelle Show make me laugh? I dunno. I expect America’s race politics to be close enough but will anyone even remember Lil John? Doubt it.

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When Freaks and Geeks aired in 1999, I never watched one episode. In a certain sense, I’m partly responsible for its premature cancellation. The rest of the blame falls pretty squarely on NBC, who barely promoted the show at all, dumped it in bad time slots and repeatedly shifted schedules on the show before finally dropping the axe after thirteen episodes.

Four years and bazillions of fan letters later, Freaks and Geeks is finally available in its entirety on DVD. The set is a monstrous compilation of all 18 episodes, including a staggering 29 commentary tracks from cast and crew. I heard nothing but good things about the show, so I decided to take a flyer on the set this week, and the show is twice as good as I ever heard.

Freaks and Geeks is a teen drama about outcasts growing up in suburban Michigan in 1980, something of a Reagan-era Wonder Years. It focuses on the stoner burnouts (the titular Freaks) and the socially awkward nerds (the Geeks) shuffling through high school on the lower rungs of the caste system. My high school was about as far away from suburban Michigan as you can imagine, but pretty much every plot in the show still seemed scarily familiar. The show doesn’t really have a grand story, but it’s mostly about the little battles you have daily as a high school kid. It’s just about as realistic portrayal of high school social systems as I’ve seen on TV. Mix in copious amounts of Rush and Dungeons & Dragons, and you have a show that seems built to make me laugh and cry to unreal degrees.

The show is mostly about Lindsay Weir, an academic superstar that starts hanging with the wrong crowd out on the smoking patio. The great thing about the character is that she’s not “tempted” by some bad boy lifestyle. She’s bored and she just wants to experience something different. Even when she starts running with the freaks, she is still the reticent square and doesn’t go under some sudden transformation into a wildchild pothead. That’s what I loved most about the show. The characters always changed and did the unexpected, but it never felt strained or just for the sake of shock.

By the time I finished watching the series I was really wrapped up in all the characters, and I was sad to watch it end. The creators of the show had enough foresight to shoot the season finale early, so the series actually has an appropriate ending. In retrospect, I’m kinda glad I didn’t watch it during the first airing, because I would’ve been irate at its cancellation. This just happened to me with Wonderfalls, a great new show that FOX just cancelled after 4 episodes, and it kills me just thinking about the nine episodes of that show sitting around in a vault somewhere. I can only hope that it can get a DVD treatment like Freaks and Geeks did.

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