VS: Trisha and Parisa

I'm making an executive decision. I was going to write a review of the new Coen bros movie, No Country for Old Men, but that has been put aside until Friday or Saturday for this imperative issue. Real World: Australia. Trisha vs. Parisa.


















In what has been one of the worst Real World's ever, where the cast is the dumbest in history, people are abruptly leaving the show every other episode, and no one really learns anything from each other. There is this vibe every year for the past 3-5 seasons that you can never imagine these people being friends after the show is over because of how they acted towards each other in the house, but with this Australia cast, you really get a sense it could happen. To my count there have been two positives about this season. Isaac staking claim as the coolest guy ever on The Real World and Kelly Anne's posterior. Now there is a third. The decision of Parisa to kick Trisha off the show for pushing her.

For those of you who are unaware of what happened, I'd love to catch you up using a video clip, but unfortunately MTV locks every Real World clip ever in a vault, thus leaving none on YouTube. Here's a link to the whole episode, you can fast forward if you want. So here's a brief description. Parisa and Trisha have hated each other all season, Parisa accused Trisha of not caring about her parents after Trisha bitched at Parisa for using the phone to talk to her parents. Anyway, Trisha storms over, shoves Parisa...forward to house meeting, and against the remaining girls' wishes, Parisa sends Trisha home.

That's the short of it, and from here on out I'm going to proceed as if everyone knows what has been going on, for the sake of the article.

Anyway, this feud is epic not because someone was sent home, but because Trisha and Parisa are so different that when forced to pick a side, you're really showing a lot of yourself.

From the beginning of the season I thought Parisa was unfairly ostracized by her ditsier female roommates, including Trisha. However, as the season progressed, it became abundantly clear that Parisa sort of causes her isolation. She is definitely socially awkward and certainly thinks too highly of herself.

With Trisha, you know what you got from the beginning. She's a superficial, manipulative person that hides her foibles behind her boyfriend (who she cheats on) and her religion (which she uses as an excuse for her actions). An overall terrible person inside, but personality-wise she is outgoing and tends to establish dominance among other females to get friends.

They're so totally opposite ends of the spectrum, that if you're looking from the other side you have equal reason to hate both of them.

There really is no way you can make a decision and be completely happy with the side that you're on. Are you going to support the superficial bitch or the humorless curmudgeon? When it comes down to it, it really is just picking between two miserable people.

Personally, what makes this decision even more difficult is that Parisa actually kicked Trisha off. She could have taken the high road, tried to mend some fences with other roommates, and have tremendous "hand" over Trisha for the rest of their lives. Instead Parisa took the low road, said, "I don't like this girl," and sent her on her way. By all means Parisa had every right, as dictated by the MTV rules, to do so, but to actually take away this once in a lifetime opportunity from a person for a slight and I mean slight push seems to be a little extreme.

It's not like when Danny got absolutely destroyed by that 6'9 guy in the street fight during Real World: Austin. Which is still to this day the most hellish blow ever landed in reality TV history.

(...INSERT CLIP HERE...)

Oh, wait, MTV is a tight ass about their precious Real World clips.

If it were up to me, I would have let Trisha stay in an apparently "high road" move, only to subvert that over the next two months by making comments like, "Just remember, I could have sent you home, whore." Either that or I would have created some Saw type scenario and made Trisha prove how much she wanted to be in the house. Like have her dig the house key out of Aneesa's colon before a timer goes off sending an enraged Wes/Abe at her swinging Timmy like a baseball bat. Or she could just make out with Colie for 5 mins, subjecting Trisha to every STD that Colie has contracted since Real World: Denver.

Alas now, Trisha can come off as a pity party candidate for having to leave the show even though it is her own doing and bitchiness that caused this whole chain of events in the first place.

In the end, I'm more anti-superficial/thinks they deserve everything/manipulative/uppity bitch than anti-boring/awkward/humorless/stick-up-their-ass bitch, so I'm siding with Parisa.

It will be interesting to see what will happen to Parisa as a result of this, but somehow I'm sure things will work out.

Although, I can't wait for Parisa v. Trisha in the first elimination of the new RR/RW Gauntlet-Inferno-Battle of the Sexes-Whatever the next show is. That's gonna be intense.

So, there is the decision that must be made. What side do you choose? Would you have kicked Trisha out? What does who you pick say about you?

What's The Deal With Scrubs?

Have you ever watched Scrubs? Do you know what it is? For years, the outside opinion of the NBC comedy Scrubs has baffled me. Entering its 7th and final season, Scrubs has been a television anomaly to me due to the fact that it is constantly a punchline for the television world. Tapped often as unfunny, disappointing, and generally unpopular, the vitriol towards this show is unfair and unwarranted for a show that is creative and entertaining on many accounts.

What really makes the criticism of Scrubs so intriguing is that the show isn't bad, certainly not worse than other sitcoms on TV (According to Jim, King of Queens, and My Name is Earl to name a few), and that for the most part a lot of people accept this criticism they hear. Some how over the years, Scrubs has become the show to ridicule and as a result the show is under appreciated by fans and critics alike.

Told primarily through the main character John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff), Scrubs follows the residency of young doctors through the medical world. Using inner monologues and fantasy scenes add to the comedy of the everyday life of J.D. and his other piers at Sacred Heart Hospital. The characters and situations in the hospital create some very imaginative and funny situations that lead Scrubs to be a good television program.


The cast as a whole is one of the strongest on television simply based on the size of the cast and their ability to be funny and add something to each episode whether they are a major component or not. A key example of this is J.D.'s foil and nemesis the Janitor. Torturing J.D. for pure enjoyment, the Janitor's pranks and means of harassing J.D. are great whether he is in the episode for 10 minutes or 2 minutes. That kind of ability to work within the parameters of a TV show so well is something along the lines of Newman from Seinfeld, and praise doesn't get much higher than that.

Also, Scrubs has one of my all-time favorite TV characters in Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley). If you don't know who McGinley is, you'll probably remember him as Bob from the Bobs in Office Space, the S.W.A.T. leader in Seven, and most recently the Commissioner of the More Taste League (MTL) in the Miller Lite commercials. Dr. Cox serves as J.D.'s unoffical mentor and carries himself with a pocketful of insults and overwhelming confidence that leads him to be the top doc in the hospital. Just the character as a whole is so creative and enjoyable that McGinley has really made Dr. Cox his own, adding everything from talking ticks to specific movements that add to the bravado of the character so well. It is amazing to me that he hasn't been nominated for so much as a Golden Globe (I believe he hasn't been nominated) let alone won anything for his performance. It is really one of the most underrated characters on television.

Other cast members add a lot to the show as well. They all add their own special touch of neuroses, egotism, and insanity to the bunch of characters in the show. They can all weave in and out of a storyline perfectly and they are all strong enough to carry an episode on their own. I mean, Sarah Chalke plays Elliot Reid who may just be the only television character in history to get progressively better looking as the show went on. Seriously, she has always taken a step up on the looks department. Which may not have much to do with the show, but is still worthy of note.
(Left: 1st Season; Center: 3rd Season; Right: 6th Season)


Which is coincidentally the exact inverse of Ellen Pompeo on Grey's Anatomy, who has only managed to become more sickly looking and closely resemble a plastic doll.
(Left: Old School (2003); Middle: Grey's Anatomy Season 1; Right: Season 2)


Which is another point of contention. How can Grey's Anatomy be so much bigger as a show than Scrubs? You're dealing with essentially the same material, only Grey's is a dramedy (drama with some comedy) while Scrubs is comedra (comedy with some drama). Granted the allure of Grey's is greater, and for that reason and the fact that dramas are easier to get attached to than comedies, I would expect Grey's to be a bigger hit, but the disparity is so great that it leaves me confused.

Further elaborating on the Scrubs drama point, there are some very poignant moments that go along with the goofball comedy that Scrubs is known for. Some of the stories are well written in a way that at the end, all of the plots in the episode come together to not only make the episode complete, but also lead to sometimes unexpected and refreshing revelations about the struggles in life. Scrubs would never consider itself a drama, and it would never want to be, but that doesn't mean there cannot be moments that make you feel something other than typical light hearts for these characters. The thing Scrubs does that I admire the most is the way in which it shows these young residents struggling in their profession. It isn't all one-liners and goofy situations. There are times when these people do struggle and suffer through hardships that you would find on any drama. Even for being a comedy, Scrubs takes the time to break down these difficult situations and resolve them in a way that is atypical of your usual comedy.

If I was hard pressed to think of reasons why this show is so mistreated, and trust me, I have tried to think of as many things as possible, I can really only come up with two.

First, ironically, what I admire most about the show is what may detract from it. Namely the comedra aspect of the show. I was watching it once, and my brother came down and happened to catch the last 10 minutes or so. Well, the ending was rather serious, and as it wrapped up, my brother turns to me and goes, "What the hell is this show about?" Keep in mind, this isn't the first time he has seen Scrubs, and he was well aware of what show it was, but maybe people who watch a comedy do not necessarily want these curveballs thrown at them out of nowhere. After watching a show that makes them laugh and have an enjoyable time, to throw in some drama can leave a bad taste in their mouths. Also, the fact that these mostly funny characters suddenly go through incidents of death, self-doubt, and depression can seem melodramatic coming through the TV screen. The points of drama are not subtle. They're in a hospital, they're going to have to deal with death, disease, and personal turmoil not because it's easy to write about, but because it is what they as characters would go through.

Second, is the inherent dislike for Zach Braff. As a person, I don't see too much that is good about the guy. He seems like a jerk in real life, and kind of a downer. His movies always show him as some kind of depressed loser who can't get his life together and tends to blame others for his faults. When he threatened to punch an 8 year old on Punk'd didn't help, and something about those scenes in Scrubs when he has to be rude or he says something wrong are just a little too real. Think about it, has there been a least liked leading man for a sitcom ever? Of course, I don't know Braff, he could be a great guy, but these are just general observations from me. Although, I can't imagine my impressions are that different from most anyone else, and that's not a good thing.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything to take away from Scrubs. I'm just a guy trying to figure out why no one seemingly likes this show. It's like the musical equivalent to liking the Foo Fighters. They've been around for awhile, sure I purchased "The Colour and the Shape" back in the day, but I don't like the Foo Fighters now. As a matter of fact, I know more people that hate the Foo Fighters than like them. Can you name one person that legitimately likes the Foo Fighters? That's what liking Scrubs is kind of like. Maybe I'm way off and a lot of people like Scrubs, who knows, but I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this situation as best I can.

VS: The Office (Extended Edition)

In honor of The Office (NBC Version) being syndicated, Season 3 being released on DVD, and the eventual premiere of Season 4 coming up, I wanted to re-release my VS edition of the office from the old site. I'll add some pictures and make some comments every now and then to make it 'newer' so enjoy.

For this edition of VS, I'm going to take on the task of comparing the NBC and the BBC version of The Office. The Office originated in England, the brain-child of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. I became familiar and a fan of the BBC version, and I think it is a great all around show, not just a comedy. When the NBC version came out, Ricky and Steve were executive producers of the show, and I did hear them give the NBC version their blessing, so I decided to watch some.

While I have all the BBC episodes on DVD (there are only 12 plus 2 specials) I have managed to catch up and see most of the NBC version of the show. Which brings me to my standing that I would be able to break both versions down, and for those of you that are only familiar with the NBC version that need to check out the BBC version, or vice versa, this will be helpful for you.

I'm going to use the characters as the primary basis for comparison with a few intangibles thrown in. First though, I'm leading off with an overview of the show.

The Show:
BBC -
The BBC version certainly has a dark, typically British humor to it. I think NBC viewers will be surprised just how similar the show is, up to a certain point. Although a groundbreaking show in Britain, The Office lasted a mere 2 season stretch spanning 12 episodes simply because the creators felt the show reached its peak, and to push it any further would be a mistake. A trait familiar to Gervais and Merchant, who just pulled the plug on the successful show, Extras, after two seasons with a Christmas Special planned.

NBC-
The NBC version has gained popularity over the past couple of years. As each season passes, more and more people are watching the show. While the NBC version lacks the dark Brit humor, it makes up for it with a more Americanized relationship humor, which the BBC version stayed away from aside from the main love interest story of Dawn and Tim (NBC: Pam and Jim). Now it's safe to say The Office is one of the top comedies on television.

David Brent/Michael Scott-



David Brent is the epitome of every boss you'd love to have but can't stand to be around. Constantly attempting to be the center of humor and fun at his paper mill, Brent participates in moments that are simply painful to be a part of. Brent is basically a child. He has selfish needs and thinks he is funnier, smarter, and more charming than he actually is. Full of contradictions and poor thought process, you can actually see how all of these terrible ideas and actions form in Brent's head and how he thinks they'll actually be a great success. Completely devoid of any natural talent, Brent is a train wreck that is just enjoyable to watch.

Michael Scott, similar to Brent, has the same affinity for terrible humor. Scott is a child mentally as well. The difference is that Scott comes from is more of a can't fit in, awkward personality slant. He doesn't know how to assimilate himself to everyone else and often gets in trouble due to his poorly thought out actions and insensitive comments. All of which only add to the humor of the show, of course. I would argue Scott is a bit more "stupid" version of Brent, but it isn't exactly like Brent is a genius either.

Final Call: You can't go wrong with David Brent. He is a once in a lifetime character that is brought to reality in the most hilarious and real way. Ricky Gervais and Steve Carrell became the first actors to win an Emmy for playing the same character. If you're looking for just painful comedy then you won't get more "answering machine moments in Swingers" than from David Brent. Plus he plays guitar.

Tim Canterbury/Jim Halpert-



Tim is the typical man stuck in the middle of a job he just exists in. He has dreams of going back to university, but those dreams never come to fruition. He is sort of the sensible center of the office universe. While battling his feelings to the engaged Dawn, Tim takes out his aggravation by playing pranks on Gareth. His observations and wit that are necessary to steer the ship, so to speak.

Jim is very similar to Tim. They even have the same haircut and stares at the camera. The characters both serve the same purpose in the show. Being the center of the office doesn't permit much swing on the character interpretation. Jim too plays pranks on Dwight with the help of his secret crush, Pam. The one element that is needed to pull of the Jim character is charm. He has to be likeable, unlike everyone else, where it really doesn't matter if you like them or not.

Final Call: I'm going to have to go with Jim on this one. I think this character is more likeable, plus the pranks he pulls on Dwight are phenomenal. There are some pranks on the BBC version, but not to the extent of the NBC version. It really is just genius how funny these pranks are.

Gareth Keenan/Dwight Schrute-



The constant person getting picked on, Gareth is an ex-military who is now assistant regional manager, I mean assistant to the regional manager. Based on his ex-military background and odd social skills, the uptight Gareth is a sucker for pranks and the brunt of numerous jokes. His rants during interviews are great as well. He is the perfect side to Brent. There is also a running joke between Tim, Dawn, and Gareth where Tim and Dawn use Gareth's military training to make him insinuate that he is gay. Funny, but probably too politically incorrect for the US.

Dwight is also primarily the brunt of jokes on the NBC version of the show. Dwight is a bit more out there as a character than Gareth. Not roped in via ex-military training, Dwight is more of a wannabe military. Partnering up with Michael Scott, Dwight is much more of a suck up, gung-ho type sidekick. Giving his all for his beloved paper company. He certainly took it up a notch the past couple seasons by being concussed in a car crash and saving Jim from an attacking Roy.

Final Call: Dwight is a bit more out there and harder to believe, and I think that the writers of the NBC version use that to get some laughs as a result. With that being the case I'm going to have to go with Gareth as the better version of the character. All the laughs of Dwight without the reaches that need to be made with that character.

Dawn Tinsley/Pam Beasley-



Dawn is the love interest of Tim, while being engaged to Leigh for three years. Dawn and Tim get through the days at Wernam Hogg flirting, while she usually deals with Brent by trying to be nice, but not afraid to show him what's up when he makes her uncomfortable. Usually reserved, it's only when she spends time with Tim that she seems really happy.

Engaged to Roy for three years, Pam is the receptionist at Dunder Mifflin. While much more involved in the story compared to the BBC version, Pam has certain storylines that are separate from Dawn just based on the extra characters around the office. This adds a little more to her character and Roy isn't as much of a dick as Leigh is, so that makes her look more reasonable for staying with him, or at least when they were together.

Final Call: I'm gonna have to side with Pam on this one. She is more developed, and I think she is given more of an opportunity to as a character.

Overall-
Overall I think that the BBC version is superior, and here is why. The story arch is drawn out perfectly. No time feels like it is wasted, and you appreciate everything that there is. The dark humor is a preference of mine compared to the lighter humor of the NBC version.

The NBC version does have more episodes, which is nice, and that allows itself more character development and stories to run with. In the end though that doesn't make up for the quality of the BBC version. You see hints of it with the NBC version, but The Office isn't just a comedy. It has parts drama, and moments that really hit you in a way you don't expect from the typical comedy. Plus I tire of things like the will they/won't they situation with Jim and Pam, and the reaching and liberties that are taken with Michael Scott and Dwight.

So here is the choice:

A. The dark brit humor of the BBC version, with less episodes, but a great story.
B. The zanier Americanized NBC version, with more episodes, and a slightly more diluted storyline.

Either way, I would suggest you give each series a chance. You won't be disappointed.