Pads & Panels

Title: Louie: The Complete First Season

Format: Blu-ray/DVD 2-Disc Set

Created by: Louis C.K.

Starring: Louis C.K., Hadley Delany, Nick DiPaolo

Studio: FX Network, 20th Century Fox

Season Rating:

Blu-ray Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Season

As FX Network has risen in notoriety with a host of ballsy original programming for cable television, it both got lucky in scoring and helped to make Louis C.K. one of the biggest stars in comedy today. And though his debut season of Louie gets off to a slightly slow start, it quickly becomes a fascinating piece of not only comedy, but a serious expression of controversial ideas on television. And it’s hard not to see it as a sort of perfect blend of what Louis C.K. has to offer in the television format.

Throughout The Complete First Season, Louis C.K. splices together stage spots and sketches, though this reviewer would hesitate to call it all stand-up and sketch comedy. For much of the first season of Louie, the show can be hilariously funny, but it’s not all jokes. Louis C.K. tells some jokes and creates some comedic moments for sure, but he also takes time to develop his thoughts about issues such as the use of homosexual terminology in comedy, being middle aged and a divorced father, religion, dealing with opposing political beliefs, dating, and what it’s like to be a performer and actor. (more…)

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Title: The Ricky Gervais Show: The Complete First Season

Format: Two-Disc DVD

Directed by: Craig Kellman

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkington

Studio: Warner Bros.

Season Rating:

DVD Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Season

If anything made people question the mean-spirited nature of Ricky Gervais, it was his second go-round hosting the Golden Globe Awards. It should have been this series.

The Ricky Gervais Show takes the audio podcast of the same name and animates over it to make for a cartoon show in 30-minute intervals. The animation turns its characters – hosts Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington – into awesome cartoon caricatures, and provides fun visuals for the stories they tell. That part’s easy to love; it’s the audio that’s not.

The humor of Ricky Gervais has always been somewhat mean-spirited, but in The Office it was often at his own expense. At the Golden Globes, it’s at the expense of celebrities who can use some levity in their otherwise pat-on-the-back ceremonies. But in The Ricky Gervais Show, it’s all at the expense of the “round-headed buffoon that is Karl Pilkington.” (more…)

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