Day: February 9, 2010

Spike has set a debut date, web page and promo videos for the new sitcom Players, which co-stars the Upright Citizens Brigade's Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts as two brothers who open a sports bar in Phoenix. Hijinx invariably ensues. The initial 15-second teaser showed that Horatio Sanz and Jon Daly get mixed up in the madness, and Walsh told Marc Maron on the latest WTF podcast that Danielle Schneider, James Pumphrey and June Diane Raphael also are part of the initial 10-episode season. The series kicks off at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 2. Based on the first preview clips, I'm beginning to wonder if they ever have any customers at their sports bar, because here is a clip in which they sit around playing Truth or Dare: Oh, wait. I do see other people in the bar. Here's a scene in which Roberts chastises Walsh for gambling on the Special Olympics. And here's a clip of an intervention that goes slightly differently than you would expect, except now that I've told you this, of...

I saw an ad for NBC's new show, Who Do You Think You Are?, and I felt like I had seen it before, when I realized I had seen it the other night on subway advertising for a new PBS series, Faces of America. They both sit down celebrities and trace back their family trees. Same exact show. You often see TV networks premiere dueling doctor shows or dueling cop shows, but with distinct plots or locations or whatnots. These two new shows both take celebrities and find out who their ancestors were, which is something we all can relate to on some level. I know I want to know more about where my family came from — did you know that I'm allegedly the direct descendant of a very very famous king of Ireland? I'll give you a hint. If you think I'm full of blarney, well, I very well may be. Anyhow. Enough about me, as they say. The PBS version which kicks off Wednesday is hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., so it has the gravitas of a man who prompted the President of the United States to host a beer summit. And Gates sits down with people like Malcolm Gladwell, so I look forward to the part when Gates explains that Gladwell's grandmother drank past her "tipping point" and decided to have sex with his...