CollegeCandy - Life, Love & Style For The College Girl » michael scott

The Bachelor Pad: Awkward City

Lauren - University of Michigan — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:00:33 +0000

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I worked, I went to the dentist (and discovered I have 2 cavities….awesome), I worked out, and then I came home to settle in and watch a little Bachelor Pad (though, my friends all thought I was working more; I don’t need to hear their judgments about how I spend my evenings).

Besides feeling a whole lot dumber after 2 hours of those shenanigans (not sure if it’s Tenley’s shrieks or Wes’s confusion between math and science that did it…), I felt horribly uncomfortable for the entire episode. Like watching Michael Scott try to make a sale uncomfortable. Or watching an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Or watching my brother try to scam on chicks.

There were so many awkward moments, I broke out in a sweat. It was so bad that while I normally fast forward through commercials, I welcomed the breaks from sloppy kisses and boob flashing with open arms.

Allow me to take you on a trip down Cringe-worthy Lane:

The Kissing Contest: Unless I’m drunk and dancing on top of a speaker that is blasting Madonna’s Like a Prayer at deafening decipals, I do not need to see a bunch of people sloppily making out. I don’t really need to see them then either, but at least I don’t care quite as much.

Elizabeth’s Kissing Contest Noises: There comes a time in everyone’s life when a kiss is so good, so passionate, so earth shattering, that you can’t help but “mmmmm.” I’d like to think that lining up 6 guys by a pool on national television is not that moment. Elizabeth disagrees. So. uncomfortable.

The Weatherman Describing the Kiss With Peyton: Poor Weatherman – no matter how hard he tries, he’s just painfully awkward and uncomofortable. Good news for him, though: while watching him, I get painfully awkward and uncomfortable too. Like when he was describing in detail his kiss with Peyton to the other guys…who find him creepy and annoying. “Her soft lips…. her delicate kiss…” I’m surprised homeboy didn’t need to excuse himself to take care of the heat wave settling in down south.

Gia’s Relationship with Wes: Can someone please explain how Gia can bow out of a kissing contest because she loves her boyfriend but has no problem snuggling up with a cowboy and his guitar? And don’t even get me started on how she flips out on Nikke for lying and saving Kiptyn when Gia did the EXACT SAME THING TO CRAIG LAST WEEK.

OMG, I need to stop watching this show….

Natalie: No, her whipping her top off in the pool with 3 other people didn’t make me uncomfortable. Actually, she doesn’t make me uncomfortable at all. I just hate her and her fake blonde hair and “I’m a free spirit because I think guys like that” sorta attitude. Barf.

Tenley Jumping into Kiptyn’s Bed: Did Tenley stop maturing or advancing at all when she was 7? Seriously, this girl is challenged. Mentally. I shuddered when she hopped into Kiptyn’s bed. I guffawed when he tried to explain to her why he didn’t want to snuggle. I curled up in the fetal position when she just laid there, fake smile plastered on her face, and told him “We don’t have to cuddle.” Well duh, Tenley – that’s what he’s trying to say.

Jesse B. and Peyton’s Fantasy Suite Card: Uh, what? The Bachelor Pad peeps couldn’t give those two that card in private? And WTF? Dave Good and Natalie get some massive villa in Las Vegas and Jesse and Peyton just get a bed upstairs in the mansion? After springing for not one but TWO private jets back from Las Vegas, don’t you think they could have at least gotten them some room at a Holiday Inn up the street?

Gia’s Earring/Headband Combo at the rose ceremony: Too. Much. Sparkle. It made my head hurt.

I’d like to say that I’ll never watch this sh*tshow again, but I think we all know that’s not true. Especially since I was up for an extra hour last night trying to figure out who Gia’s boyfriend is (or was….) and if she’s dating Wes now. FML.

Candy Dish: Jesse James Speaks

CC Staff — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:00:16 +0000

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Chinese gymnasts stripped of 2000 medal.

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Mid-Afternoon “Office” Break

Jess - NYU — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:00:08 +0000

Even though I heart TV, my favorite part of a show is always the blooper reel. When other people laugh, I laugh, and it’s always a riot to see the true personalities of actors as they strain to keep their faces straight.

The Office is already one of the funniest shows on television, so in theory, their blooper reel should be one of the funniest ones ever made, right?

Right.



Ricky Gervais and the Original Office
CC Staff — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:30:12 +0000
Over the course of the summer, I’ll be writing about several TV shows, and my blogs will include discussions about the Office(s). Having been a huge fan of the original Office as well as an enthusiastic watcher of the “Carrell version,” I have decided to run two separate entries, retracing the British version, while recapping the American one.
The similarities are clear – both shows are hinged upon making their viewer simultaneously cringe and laugh. This comedic form is not for the faint of heart, and that applies to the creators and their viewers.  Incidentally, this type of laugh-out-loud-cringe-inducing tenor is remarkably similar to the HBO hit series, Curb your Enthusiasm, by none other than the Seinfeld master, Larry David (set in L.A., David plays himself, and the show is a much dirtier version of the sorts of shenanigans and meaningless of everyday life moments that was so artfully and humorously portrayed in Seinfeld).
Such parodic artistry takes a special, if not mentally twisted, type of creator. Ricky Gervais and David are equal contenders when it comes to shocking their viewers’ sensibilities. Steve Carrell has also proven that he’s is in that same elite comedic ring. But long before Carrell was able to shine as the idiotic Michael Scott in Scranton, PA’s office, there was Gervais’s David Brent in Slough, England.
While TV critics (and connoisseurs) in Britian wilt at the mere mentioning of Gervais’s name, he is not a household name here. Most Americans would neither recognize his name nor know that he was, along with Stephen Merchant, the creator of the Office. (That may soon change, as David Koepp’s Ghost Town, coming out this summer, is already getting a lot of press, and Gervais stars as the leading male actor). Nevertheless, it’s high time that this enormously talented writer and actor receive his due credit in Hollywood.
Briefly, Gervais (b. 1961) attended University College of London in 1979, where he first studied biology, but later switched to pursuing a degree in philosophy. As a college student, he was involved with music, and created his own band, called New Romantic Duo. Later, Gervais would go onto manage two bands (Suede and a Queen tribute band).  Gervais, who needed an assistant after he was hired to work for XFM London, a hit radio station in the UK, eventually met up with Merchant. Merchant was hired to be Gervais’s assistant at XFM, and this was the start of their relationship. After Gervais was laid off, he ended up being hired as a music adviser for BBC, at which point he and Merchant also worked on radio pieces together.
It was the Office, which aired on BBC in 2001, where Gervais’s acting and writing abilities were recognized as nothing short of brilliant. One New Yorker critic gushed, “Nobody who has seen the [British show] has anything bad to say about it, and there’s a reason for that: it’s perfect.” Coming from the mouth of a critic, such a simple sentence is a precious, rarely stated remark. As I mentioned, Gervais plays David Brent, an inept, needy, painfully insecure manager of a paper company in Slough, London. The show ran its course from 2001 – 2003, a total of three seasons, and its creators won several prestigious prizes. (Gervais himself won 6 BAFTAs and two Golden Globes for his performances).
Like the American version, the show is depicted as a documentary, and many critics have compared this filmic, (intentionally) faux style to the classic “Rocumentary,” This is Spinal Tap. That film was created by yet another heavyweight contender in the comedic boxing ring, Christopher Guest.
Shortly after the Office came to an end, Gervais proved that he was just getting warmed up, as he began writing and acting in Extras, which started shooting in 2005 and ended after its third season in 2007. Incidentally, Merchant wrote and directed this show, too. He also shows up as, Darren Lamb, Gervais’s incompetent manager. While Extras is as equally uncomfortable as the Office, Gervais’s character – Andy Millman – an “actor” in L.A., is quite different from Brent. (No tiresome “character recycling” here, thankfully).
In later blogs, I’ll delve into the episodes of the British Office.
To be continued!