They're on the hunt...for a bra to fit Beth. Good luck.

I’ve been trapped in a hotel room for a couple of days…through no fault of my own, actually.  You know what this means, right?  Roughly twenty channels of crap TV all day.  A&E, Discovery, TLC…well, not TLC.  I gave up on that shit years ago, when it became snarky dress exchanges and guerilla interior design.  So, a steady diet of A&E and Discovery.  A&E shows stuff in roughly 4 hour blocks which they repeat.  What the fuck kind of programming decision is THAT?  Discovery shows different episodes of the same show all day, and while they do show some cool stuff from time to time, if you end up with a bad draw for the day, you’re stuck!  So, shows that I would normally stay away from like…say…Dog the Bounty Hunter or American Chopper, I’ve watched in mass quantities out of sheer boredom.  I’m starting to fucking like them!  It’s like some bizarre, television induced Stockholme Syndrome!   Let me tell you, I don’t think I should give a shit what happens to Paul Jr.  But I suddenly find myself hoping his new business works out.  Someone kill me already!

Who knows?  Tomorrow could be a better day.  Isn’t it about time for a Mythbusters marathon for no good reason?  Dear God…I hope so.

Is it just me, or has S Club 7 just stopped trying?

We here at ManWithPez have noticed that the American television scene has gotten a little stale of late.  There are a few sparks out there, but that’s not I’m writing about here today.  Today I’m writing about British TV genre show Misfits, airing on E4.  It’s aired two seasons, one Christmas special, and has announced a third season for later this year.  When 5 delinquents performing community service are suddenly stricken with superpowers, what do they do next?  That’s what’s facing these young twentysomethings.  Also, they’re kind of rude…but in the funniest possible way.  To me, watching this show is like watching someone who decided to fix Heroes…and did it correctly.  Granted the format isn’t quite the same, but the idea is similiar.  So, if you’ve got the ability to see it, by all means, watch Misfits, laugh at Robert Sheehan, and come back and thank me.  I’m worth it!

I realize that when I put it on, I might look like THIS:

But, I totally feel like THIS:

Hell YEAH!

When a Saiyan gets really, really angry, they go through a physical change that grants them a massive amount of strength.  On the show, they call it “going Super-Saiyan”.  Hmmmm…

I wonder if I could…

Damn it.

Prepare to root for the bad guy. (Wait...isn't that tagline taken already?)

Dexter Morgan (played to eerie perfection by Michael C. Hall) is a bad guy, but he’s not a villain.  Never before have I watched a show where a character performs such heinous acts and rooted for him to succeed.  What’s Dexter do?  Well, he’s a serial killer who exclusively kills people who have performed murder.  With a pedigree so convoluted, how can the Showtime original series Dexter be any good at all?  Easily!  You make your main character so charismatic (at least outwardly) and give him the best intentions that the audience can’t help but be on his side.  Why is he listed here under Super-Nerdery?  How do you think Dexter is able to perform the services that he does?  He displays an uncanny knack for grasping logic that is so finely honed that a Vulcan would exclaim “No fucking way!”.   His day job is that of blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department.  And, he’s great at it, too.  Of course, he’s had practice.  Dexter Morgan is a smart man, able to manipulate from far away and close up.  He wouldn’t be able to do the things he does without being a big nerd.  Take that as you will, but I, for one, love the character, and can’t wait to see what the rest of this new season brings.

A year between half seasons? DAMN YOU CARTOON NETWORK!!!

Hey, I showed the comic book set plenty of love a few months back…why can’t I do the same for the animated set?  Especially this pair, from two of the smartest shows ever to appear on television, animated or not!  I’m speaking of course of Dr. Byron Orpheus from The Venture Brothers and Daria Morgendorffer from Daria.  Let’s have a look at these two after the jump.

Dr. Byron Orpheus is one of the nicest, most balanced characters on The Venture Brothers.  That being said, of course, he’s on The Venture Brothers, meaning that he used to demonstrate the effects of failure.  In Orpheus’s case, it could be the failure of optimism that we’re meant to see.  He delivers some of my favorite lines from The Venture Brothers, mostly because he adds unnecessary grandeur to the everyday.  Lines like “Who wants PIZZA ROLLS?!” and “Do not be too hasty entering that room, for I had TACO BELL FOR LUNCH!!!”.  He’s a loving father, and one of the best friends you could have.  He formed the formidable Order of the Triad, and he’s very protective of his daughter (”MY DAUGHTER’S MAIDENHEAD IS NOT A PRIZE TO BE WON!!!”) and the eponymous Venture Brothers.  He’s one of the better reasons to watch this layered and rich show.  Check it out already!

The chair speaks the truth!

Daria Morgendorffer is the star of a TV series named for her, which was a spinoff of Beavis and Butthead, one of the stupidest shows ever on television. (What?!  It’s the TRUTH!)  It aired on MTV.  Now, you tell me, with that kind of pedigree, how did it end up being so smart and so influential?  Because it stuck with the premise of the show’s star, Daria, being a non-conformist genius.  Daria was one of a kind, cynical without being mean, honest without being self serving, and basically your typical gifted teenager.  She was confronted with all the same problems in life that most of us were.  She just handled them in ways we all wished we could.  Her first kiss was with her best friend’s boyfriend, her dad had a heart attack from stress, her sister disowned her in the first episode.  Through it all, you could count on Daria to come through her hardships intact, if not the better for it.  For an animated show, it’s relationships rang surprisingly true, because Daria, as a character, was so well drawn.

Sure, it’s all cute when they’re toy sized.  Look at the cute little robots.  They’re fighting!  Awwww…but there’s a danger here.  You know what this leads to?

No, not that.  That’s actually pretty cool.  What I meant was:

That’s right!  It leads to Michael Bay movies.  Please…stop with the anthropomorphic robots.  This has been a public service announcement from ManWithPez.  Thank you.

Worst. Duel. Of The Fates. EVER!

Pop media is full of relationships between men that, while occasionally having sexual overtones, really just boil down to the fact that these characters are the kinds of friends that would bail each other out of jail no matter what the other one’s done.  One such relationship, and one of my favorites is the one between Simpsons supporting characters Lenny and Carl.

You almost never see them apart, and it would appear that Lenny has a huge crush on Carl.  That’s not to say that they’re gay.  Both men have admitted that they have families, though they’ve never been shown.  Lenny has been shown to be one of Springfield’s greatest citizens, once throwing a party for all his friends when he won the lottery, and buying each one of them a Roomba as a gift.  Carl has a Masters in nuclear physics, and is rumored to be one of the best looking men in town.  They are perennial barflies at Moe’s Tavern, where they are seen more than anywhere else.  They are often shown at work at the power plant, and they only indication of their actual jobs (besides Carl once being named a junior exec) was Lenny answering customer service calls.

What I like about these two is that while they’re shown together most of the time, they’re not afraid to let the other know just when they’ve become annoyed with them.   Part of the above board writing on The Simpsons, I feel is that the writers have been able to generate emotion for these two on matter what the situation.  I love it when I see them pop up in a scene, mostly because Lenny is so sincere and Carl is such a smartass.  Lenny and Carl!  May they keep entertaining me for year on end.

So pretty he makes me sick.

Man, it’s good to be back!  Anyways, let’s take a more streamlined look at two deserving Hot Nerd Crushes:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anna Torv!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a pretty, pretty man.  I’m secure enough in my manhood to say that, and I haven’t even seen Inception, which appears to have led to a lot of renewed interest in this young man.  I think he’s one hell of an actor, as he demonstrated at a very young age on 3rd Rock From the Sun.  As a boy, he held his own against three of the biggest hams on television!  More recently, he was brilliant in 500 Days of Summer and I just saw him the other day in a little known gem called Brick.  Check him out in these amazing films and then come back and tell me that you don’t have a little mancrush on him.

Damn your watermark, Esquire!!!

Anna Torv is flippin’ gorgeous!  Unfortunately her star making turn as FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham on the fanstastic science fiction show Fringe rarely showcases just how beautiful this foreign knockout is. (Australian, I think).  When she turned up at the Emmys last year in that red dress and a set of heretofor unseen boobies, I was floored.  Granted, having her parade around in the buff would take away from the character on the show, but, honestly, throw the nerds a bone here!

Drink up, wussy!

Father’s Day approaches, and to celebrate here at ManWithPez, we’ve lined up three videos to waste your time watching, featuring some of our favorite pop media fathers.  Being a father myself (and totally expecting waffles on Father’s Day, hint, hint!)  I’ve no problem recognizing TV fathers, as TV raised me most of my life!  Okay, I’m kidding, but the worse the father seemed on TV, the better it was when it was revealed that he actually liked his children.  So, here’s three for you to consider this Father’s Day, and please, enjoy!

First…well, it should come as no surprise to anyone that it’s Homer Simpson.  Let’s take a look at him here, from one of my favorite Lisa-centric episode Lost Our Lisa.  Proving once again that Homer can be a caring a loving father, here he is trying to find his daughter after he..uh…well, he let her ride the public bus.

Coming up next, well, that’d be Al Bundy from Married with Children, singing the theme song to his favorite TV show, Psycho Dad!  Let’s watch!

And, one of my favorite shows cutdown before it’s time, and seemingly mangled by studio intervention:  Titus.  Ken Titus (played by Stacey Keach) is gruff, hateful, and an alcoholic.  He also seems like an actual father.  He’s not like my father, but he’s a great character that you know is based on someone who’s absolutely real.  Check it out, and don’t be a WUSSY!