In terms of new shows, it’s been a dismal season for network television (I mean The Mentalist, is that piece of drek really the best new show on TV?), on the other hand, the cable landscape looks like it has a few bright spots on the horizon. Though I haven’t seen any of them yet, on paper, Important Things, Eastbound and Down, and The CollegeHumor Show, all look like the kind of thing I might enjoy watching. For the uninitiated, here’s a little more about each show:
Important Things with Demetri Martin | Wednesdays at 10:30 PM on Comedy Central (Premieres Tonight!)
His TV show, like his act, incorporates these jokes, along with drawings, and guitar-playing, and pie charts, and sketch comedy, and anagrams, and animation, and guitar-playing-with-harmonica-and-a-tambourine-tied-to-one-foot. What it doesn’t incorporate is jokes about politics, or Bush, or what-the-hell-is-happening-to-this-country, or any references to the general cultural lunacy of the type that have made Stewart and Stephen Colbert so successful. With its hybrid of stand-up and sketches, Martin’s show is more reminiscent of Chappelle’s Show, except without the racial edge””as if Dave Chappelle were a white guy who went to Yale and was obsessed with palindromes. [NYMag.com]
Eastbound and Down | Sundays at 10:30PM on HBO (Premieres Feb. 15th)
HBO premieres a new half-hour series about an arrogant, burned-out, former major-league pitcher named Kenny Powers (Danny McBride), who is forced to return home to North Carolina to teach Phys Ed at the middle school he once attended. While wreaking havoc at school with his boorish behavior, Kenny crashes at the home of his brother Dustin (John Hawkes); plots a triumphant return to the big leagues; and makes a pre-emptive romantic strike on former high-school squeeze April Buchanon (Katy Mixon), now a teacher engaged to principal Terrence Cutler (Andrew Daly). The series is executive produced by Will Ferrell (guest staring in two episodes), Adam McKay, Chris Henchy, Jody Hill, Danny McBride and Ben Best.
The CollegeHumor Show | Sundays at 9:30PM on MTV (Premiered February 8th)
CollegeHumor, which peddles fraternity pranks and workplace stunts to an online audience of millions, is making the move to television. The Web site’s hijinks are being reformatted for an absurdist 30-minute comedy series, “The College Humor Show,”… The CollegeHumor staffers “” who specialize in three-minute bits of sophomoric comedy for the Web “” wrote, shot and starred in the television series, while they continued to crank out content for their day jobs…
…
By relying on its existing staff as actors and using its offices as the set, the show is a hybrid of reality TV and scripted storytelling. “It’s a reality premise,” Sarah Schneider, an editorial manager for the site, said in an interview this week. “With a fictional execution,” Mr. Van Veen added. Then they high-fived. [NYTimes.com]
Watch the premiere episode of the CollegeHumor Show over here. Video clips from all three shows after the jump.