Give A Gift
MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Matt Schimkowitz

  1. Hanging Out at the Intersection of Comedy and Art with Lorelei RamirezNew York City has so much comedy that it’s nearly impossible to stand out, especially if all you’re doing is standup. However, some comedians […]
  2. Brett Davis on Taking Over for ‘The Chris Gethard Show’Comedian Brett Davis has been making name for himself – well, several names for himself. Known to many as Smith, rival public access host to […]
  3. How ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Fully Hit Its Stride in Season FourBob’s Burgers has reached its prime. Like Seinfeld and The Simpsons before it, the fourth season can be seen as the moment when Bob’s Burgers […]
  4. ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Fourth Season Has Made the Show Even Better by Shaking […]We’re at about the halfway point of season four of Bob’s Burgers, and the show has smartly shaken up its formula. Bouchard and his writers have […]
  5. 17 Years In, ‘South Park’ Delivered One of Its Strongest Seasons YetConsistency defined South Park’s 17th season. With a shortened 10 episode run, Trey Parker and Matt Stone streamlined their process and […]
  6. Is ‘Christmas Comes to Pac-Land’ the Worst Christmas Special Ever?Christmas Comes to Pac-Land generally finds itself atop lists of weirdest and worst holiday specials. Ignoring most of the tropes associated […]
  7. How ‘Shasta McNasty’ Brought Rap Rock to Primetime and Killed the 90sShasta McNasty was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Lewd, crude, and politically incorrect, Shasta McNasty took American Pie-vulgarity […]
  8. Looking at the Elvira Sitcom That Didn’t Quite WorkFew characters have had more chances to tap into the popular psyche than Elvira. Armed with no more than two massive weapons, camp value and a […]
  9. Checking in on ‘South Park’ Halfway Through Season 17South Park has dealt with its one-week turnaround for years. Because of it, like Norm MacDonald once said of SNL, South Park is one of the few […]
  10. The American Version of ‘The IT Crowd’ That Never Made It to TVThere’s no formula for good TV. Networks and studios shuffle through hundreds of new projects every year, but when it comes down to it, it’s […]
  11. ‘That’s My Bush’: Inside Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Short-Lived […]By the year 2000, Matt Stone and Trey Parker could do no wrong. South Park was entering its fourth season with no signs of slowing down, and […]
  12. ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Returns with an Episode Away From Bob’s Burgers, and It […]For three seasons, Bob’s Burgers has been based in one primary location: Bob’s Burgers. Like Cheers, the restaurant contained an endless amount […]
  13. ‘South Park’ Returns for Season 17 with a Strong, Unsurprisingly Topical […]After 16 seasons, South Park returned last night with a new episode that’s more ripped and sweet than fat and unimportant. Using the best of […]
  14. ‘The 1/2 Hour News Hour’: How Fox News’s ‘Daily Show’ Did to Comedy what […]The 2000 Presidential election was a mess. Far after the last ballots had been cast, miscounted chads hung throughout Florida, and America was […]
  15. Comedy for Dummies: Jeff Dunham’s Fall at the TopMy first experience with comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, unbeknownst to me, came from a t-shirt in the mall. I didn’t know what I was […]
  16. The Late Night War Nobody Asked For: Howard Stern Destroys Magic Johnson’s […]Things weren’t looking too good for Magic Johnson in the summer of 1998. The Magic Hour, Johnson’s late night talk show and 20th Century Fox’s […]
  17. Serious Comedy at Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’In the war of the low-rated backstage-at-Saturday-Night-Live TV shows, there can be only one. And in 2006’s race to viewership mediocrity, Tina […]
  18. Andy Dick in a ‘Get Smart’ Remake? What Could Go Wrong?When Get Smart premiered in 1965, its blend of Inspector Clouseau and James Bond redefined TV comedy. And rightfully so. Show creator Mel […]
  19. The Alternate Reality of ‘Coolio’s Rules,’ Coolio’s Short-Lived Reality […]Somewhere around the mid-2000s, coincidentally the same time when every TV writer was fired and all good ideas were banished from the Earth, […]
  20. Talking to Justin Halpern About the Rough Time He Had Turning ‘Shit My Dad […]Two weeks ago, Brilliantly Canceled took us all the way back to that time two years ago when a twitter-based sitcom, $h*! My Dad Says, hit […]
  21. The Pile of $h*! That Was ‘$h*! My Dad Says’Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  22. No, Sir, I Don’t Like It: The Misfire That Was ‘Ren and Stimpy’s Adult […]Sometimes TV shows drag their funny, interesting, and highly-rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Thank god this happened!” we cry in […]
  23. Getting Trapped in Nostalgia in ‘That 80s Show’As the spiritual spin-off of That 70s Show, Mark Brazil, Terry Turner, and Linda Wallem’s nostalgia goldmine, That 80s Show wants nothing more […]
  24. NBC’s ‘Bates Motel’ (Or, ‘Extreme Makeover: Hitchcock Edition’)Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  25. The Gross Mess That Was the ‘Garbage Pail Kids’ CartoonSometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  26. Even Clarissa Couldn’t Explain ‘Clarissa Now’Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  27. ‘The Farm’: Why ‘The Office’s Backdoor Pilot Didn’t WorkSometimes TV shows drag their unfunny feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in vain. Other times, the powers […]
  28. Five Great Shows That Almost Jumped the SharkBetween the firing of Dan Harmon on Community and the endless retooling (and eventual cancelation) of Up All Night, NBC has filled the current […]
  29. Watching ‘Kelly’s Kids’, the Backdoor ‘Brady Bunch’ PilotSometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  30. Time Travel, Bazookas, and Robot Dinosaurs: A Look Back at the Weird, Wild […]Steel Justice’s infamous 1992 pilot is one of the most unbelievable wastes of money in television history. A gross miscalculation of popular […]
  31. ‘The Adventures of Superpup’ TV Pilot Saves World, Scares ChildrenSometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  32. ‘Poochinski’ Proves That Not All Dogs Go To Heaven (Some Just Become Peter […]Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we cry in […]
  33. The Short, Beautiful Life of ‘Lookwell’, One of the Funniest Pilots of All […]Normally, Brilliantly Canceled brings you the worst in TV, but with the spirit of giving quickly escaping the earth, only to lay dormant for […]
  34. Mean Jeans are the Best (and Funniest) Band of the Year What happened in the last year of my life. I can’t tell. Laughing at myself all I want in the middle of the night. Oh well. - Mean Jeans, […]
  35. Mixing Animation and Live Action with Disastrous Results in ‘The Danger […]Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we […]
  36. Reliving the Disastrous ‘Osbournes: Reloaded’ Variety ShowSometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we […]
  37. Should NBC Have Given ‘Mockingbird Lane’ a Full Season?Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we […]
  38. The Short, Incredibly Misguided Life of ‘Work It’Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we ponder […]
  39. The Not-So-Excellent Adventures of the ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures’ […]Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we ponder […]
  40. ‘Quarterlife’ and the Problem with Whiny ProtagonistsSometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we ponder […]
  41. Watching the Hitler-Based Sitcom Pilot (Yes, Really) ‘Heil Honey I’m Home’Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, yet highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we ponder […]
  42. The Disaster That Was the 1997 Comedy Pilot for ‘The Justice League of […]Sometimes TV shows drag their unfunny, uninteresting, and yet, highly rated feet across our living rooms for years. “Who let this happen?” we […]