Earlier this week, we published a post about how someone was selling a piece of the Aggro Crag from Nickelodeon’s “GUTS” on eBay. We’re still not totally sure if it was real or not, but I choose to think it was because SCREW YOU, DON’T MESS WITH MY CHILDHOOD.

But that extremely pricey, totally useless piece of history got me wondering what other on-screen treasures you could purchase through eBay. First, I typed in “Alison Brie underwear” and “Raylan Givens hat,” and after my results returned nothing but signed photos and books (blah), I did a more general search for “TV merchandise props.” Here are ten expensive, literally as-seen-on-TV items I absolutely want and obviously need.

Read the rest of this entry »

History was made last night, and I hope you weren’t watching. Yesterday, at exactly 8:30 p.m. EST, ABC premiered “Work It,” arguably the most offensive show of all-time. It’s about two dudes who dress up like ladies because women be stealing all our jobs. IT’S A MANCESSION, PEOPLE. The show’s homophobic, sexist, a little racist, and definitely awful. Like, “Homeboys in Outer Space”-level awful.

“Work It” joins a unique group of shows that can only be defined as “offensive,” both critically and culturally. I’m not talking about series like “South Park” and “All In the Family,” which many totally clueless writers have mislabeled as “the most offensive shows ever”; I’m referring to shows so lacking in decency and taste, they make the “Partial Terms of Endearment” episode of “Family Guy” seem like “The Joy of Painting” by comparison.

Here we go.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve said before, the Nyan Cat meme doesn’t particularly appeal to me, but this video of the “Star Trek” crew encountering the 8-bit poptart space cat made me chuckle. There’s just something about William Shatner’s dramatic reaction and Leonard Nimoy’s subtle eyebrow raise that gives the silly little animation some gravity. At the same time, it makes “Star Trek” more enjoyable for me than ever before. I guess the show just needed more cats.

That’s why I’d make a great studio executive. My notes for every TV show would be a sheet of loose leaf paper with a single handwritten demand: “MORE CATS.”

[gabrielramos via bunnyfood]

Don't do what Donny Don't does.

Most books written about TV are terrible. The online shelves of Amazon are full of unauthorized guides that sound like they’re written by Fan Forum users; ghostwritten “auto”biographies supposedly penned by people whose Wikipedia pages I can barely get through (let alone 365 pages of Sharon Osbourne Extreme); and Heroes and Philosophy, and House and Philosophy, and Seinfeld and Philosophy, and so on. It’s plainly obvious that people with philosophy degrees spend even more time watching television than they do making me lattes.

But there ARE good books about television — some of which we’ve even read! Here are ten that are worth your time, with helpful summaries in case you just want to have them on your shelf and brag about reading them.

Read the rest of this entry »

While driving around yesterday, I heard my second favorite song from the Bad Boys II soundtrack on the radio, “Shake Ya Tailfeather” by Nelly, P. Diddy, and Murphy Lee. While that in itself isn’t much of a monumental event, I did hear something I never noticed before: Murphy Lee rapping, “Man, I’m that damn hungry/See I’m starving like Marvin, girl,” a reference to “South Park’s” classic “Starvin’ Marvin’” episode. Surprisingly, there aren’t many references to specific TV shows in popular music, but here are ten of the most memorable — some good, some Blessid Union of Souls-awful.

[EDIT: As many have so kindly pointed out, Murphy Lee likely wasn't referencing "South Park." Nonetheless, it's what planted the seed for this article, so just go with it.]

Read the rest of this entry »