Sunday Speculations- Wes Andersonian Bored to Death

Bored To Death
I wish I had caught up on Bored to Death by last Sunday, because that ep was the best of the season. This week's was good, but The Case of the Stolen Sperm didn't compare to The Case of the Beautiful Blackmailer.

My first thought after watching the first couple episodes...very Wes Anderson-esque. The dry, subtle comedy felt like a mixture of Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. The lead character, Jason Schwartzman's Jonathan Ames, is somewhere between Schwartzman's Max Fischer of Rushmore and Luke Wilson's Anthony of Bottle Rocket to me. As a fan of Wes Anderson's films, I have enjoyed Bored to Death thus far. My favorite Wes Andersonian part from this week's ep was when Ames quickly bought flowers at the market handed them to his ex-girlfriend, stated, "You forgot these," and ran away. So good.

With basically three major characters, each one of them brings something completely different to the table. Ted Danson is having a great season, shining as Ames's boss here, and having a stellar episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm a while back. In The Beautiful Blackmailer, Danson's George Christopher was fantastic at being stoned and funny, something the third dude has failed to do thus far.

Zach Galifianakis plays Ames's best friend Ray. Although he didn't excel in the pot smoking scene with George, Ray has had his moments early in the season, but doesn't come close to the other two guys in my opinion.

Final note...It's really getting ridiculous that Hollywood keeps stealing my brothers' ideas. First it was T-time's tv show about fantasy football and now it is JJ's idea that it is funny to order a cheeseburger- no cheese. The kid has been ordering that way since he was 10, and it's never not funny. My personal favorite is the Big Mac with cheese, no cheese.

Amazing Race
Flight Time and Big Easy continue to shine as two of the best contestants I've seen on The Amazing Race. Last week they were berating a girl that was afraid to go down a water slide, and this week they were just getting down with some Dutch Dancing. They're fun, they're competitive and they've got a chance to win this thing.

These poor poker playing girls. I've hated them since the beginning, so it was nice to see them finally get eliminated this week. The, what do you call it? Road Block? When the teams have to choose one task or another. These two weak girls had no chance at either thing and it was hilarious. First it was a long hole of Dutch Golf, in which they had to finish in eight strokes...They didn't get halfway down the fairway in eight strokes. The other side of the Road Block began with one of those carnival games where you slam down the mallet to ring the bell. After over 70 tries, the girls finally gave up. The part that had me screaming at the tv was that they weren't even trying to swing the mallet hard! It was like watching Zoolander in the coal mines they were acting so dainty with that thing. Embarrassing.