Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

Two Outta Three Ain't Bad
By
J. Sternberg

            The summer of 2008 can be a huge time for Showtime, the proverbial second banana to HBO when it comes to original series on the premium circuit. This last week the underground champion came out swinging debuting one series, and bringing back to fan favorites to a writer's strike-effected sea of fans wanting more. With their big gun Dexter out until at least this fall, how will the network fair? If these three shows are any indication, they'll do okay, at best.

            Let's start with the new kid on the block, Secret Diary of a Call Girl. After 2 episodes, I'm convinced this show is going to be one of those DVD collections that comes out six months after its initial debut with the subtitle "The Complete Series." There is no redeeming quality to this series at all. The performances are phoned-in, the camera work is fatally uninteresting, and you can summarize the plot thus far into "I'm a British hooker. You see, I'm going to do some hookering in a minute… Crikey! This chap paid my hooker ass to hooker all over his hooker loving face!"

            Dull, drab, humorless, lacking drama and/or acting ability, this show is anything but sexy and I'd put it right up there with The George Lopez Show as to programs I'd want to watch as penance if I did something horrible to the world at large. Belle says you can call her whatever you want; hooker, escort, or call girl. I'm going to go with unwatchable.

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            On to less awful programs, we have the return of Weeds, in typical fashion. Fans are already well aware that the series has always began slowly, and within 3 episodes, the Botwin clan will most likely have you hooked again. While packing less of a punch than we're accustomed to, the season premiere showed promise, and I'm anxious to see where they go from here. The cast hasn't lost a step in the six months since we saw them last, and the only real chink in the armor here is simply that the plot seems now painted in a corner. The series is starting to show its age, and it is possible this will be the last season, so expect the writers to pull out all of the stops
before season's end. Watch it.

            Last but not least Penn and Teller's BULLSHIT! has returned in a big way. Starting with a great episode on the war on pornography, the duo's oft utilized libertarian politics come out swinging with a great debut to a show that has yet to fail its audience. Thought provoking, hilarious, and incredibly biased, this one sided debate program still has its charm and hasn't lost an ounce of charisma since its debut. You may not agree with their politics, you may not agree with their practices, but you can't fault these two Vegas showmen for constantly coming up with new topics to grease the mental gears. Several years since the show began, you can see some of the punch lines coming from a mile away, but in the end you've got nothing but great uncut, uncensored television.

As Meat Loaf once sang, two out of three ain't bad.

- J. "Well Meat Loaf ain't paying my fucking cable bill!" Sternberg