Ty Watches "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later"

As I promised on a recent podcast, I did finish all of "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later" this past weekend. I may not have mentioned it as a show that I was looking forward to, but believe me, I was highly anticipating this release. I was able to watch the first episode last Friday when it was released, then I watched 2 on Saturday, and finished the final 5 on Sunday.

It was great. I loved it. I was predestined to love it. I'm a fan of the movie, and I adored the prequel, "WHAS: First Day of Camp". I love how oddball and goofy the show and movie were/are. It is like classic oddball comedy. Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain are perfect at making this type of comedy. They all wrote, with help for some other writers, and I think that I am correct in assuming that David Wain directed all the episodes.

If I had one gripe about "WHAS: Ten Years Later", it would be that it was too short. But, the same can be said for "First Day of Camp". I think they only do 8 30 minute episodes on purpose. It makes the fans want more and more. I have already gone back and started "First Day of Camp" again. I'm also going to be watching the movie again, and after that, I will revisit "Ten Years Later". I just love how off the wall everything is. I think it is great that in "Ten Years Later" all the main actors keep saying that they are "in their mid 20's". It is so obvious that they're much older, but that adds to the allure of the comedy of the show.

The main cast is all there, with one exception. Paul Rudd, Zak Orth, Janeane Garrofolo, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, Jon Benjamin, Nina Hellman, Marguerite Moreau, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Marissa Ryan, AD Miles, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, they are all there. Bradley Cooper couldn't be in this due to a scheduling conflict. To combat this, they got Adam Scott to play the role of Ben, and they kept talking about how no one would notice him due to his "nose job". It was played for a great amount of laughs. In "Ten Years Later", they also had some of the people from "First Day of Camp" back. Camp Tiger Claw's residents, played by Rich Sommer, Eric Nenninger, Josh Charles and Kristen Wiig were all there, and all high falutant, what with their popped collars, scarves and fancy clothes.

There were some "new" characters introduced as well. Sarah Burns and Mark Feuerstein played campers Claire and Mark. What I loved about their additions was, any time they flashed back to the movie, they had scenes placed in that showed that these 2 were at the camp. It was so funny how bad, on purpose, it looked. Samm Levine showed up as the camp's radio host all grown up, Arty. He sounds just like the original actor, but this time, he had a real radio show. Alyssa Milano was great as Renatta, Ben and McKinley's nanny. She was psychotic and very funny, and there was a big twist with her, but I do not want to spoil much. Lake Bell returned, and her character Donna and Yaron(David Wain), are now married and looking for a surrogate. That is another great bit I do not want to spoil. Maya Erskine has a great role as Coop's fiancé. Jai Courtney was awesome as Susie's love interest/movie star co worker. John Early, who I become more and more a fan of every time I see him in something, is hysterical in his return as Logan. Side note, his shirt may be one of the best things in this whole series. Jason Schwartzman and Chris Pine return, and they are now government made killing machines. That is the only spoiler I will give with their characters. They are also hilarious, especially Pine. Skyler Gisondo, as basically the new Andy, is funny as hell. His showdown in the "King of Camp" competition with Andy is excellent.

All those names I mentioned should be enough alone for people to tune in. There are some big names in Hollywood, and some big names for comedy fans. The premise this season is about growing up and still being unsure of what to do with your life. I loved how well their professional careers were going yet they still needed to get back to their summer camp reunion that they planned 10 years earlier. All of the revels when they showed up to camp were great, but Poehler's was the best. Elizabeth Banks had a great scene too, when she finally showed up 12 hours late. Andy's journey was hilarious. The back and forth between Susie and Logan was tremendous. Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter playing dual roles as McKinley/George HW Bush and Coop/Ronald Reagan, was riotous. Jon Benjamin as Mitch, the can of vegetables was awesome. Coop and Katie's relationship throughout was wonderful, and very reminiscent of the movie. Even David Hyde Pierce's 2 minute scene was worth the wait.

Look, I am going to love anything that has to do with "WHAS". It was a classic movie, and "First Day of Camp", and now "Ten Years Later" have only added to the lore. I hope, and I think, they will do more stuff like this. They left it very open ended, and if everyone involved is willing to continue to do these, I do not see why this wouldn't be a viable show for, at least 2 or even 3 more series like these. "Ten Years Later" was awesome, and I highly recommend everyone checking it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is hoping the success of "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later" will lead to "Saved By the Bell: The College Years: 10 Years Later". That will be awesome.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The SeedSing (half) Year in Pop Culture: The Top Five Television Shows of 2015

Find the nob and change the channel

Day three of my best of 2015 countdown will be my top five shows pf the year. All the shows are in their second, third or fourth season except for one of them. The shows don't have to necessarily be shows that premiered this year. Sometimes the second or third season of a show is the best. Take the US version of "The Office". That show peaked in year four but they went on to make five more seasons. The majority of my countdown is all comedy shows. That's what I prefer. Sure, there's one show that could be considered a dramedy, but I'm a comedy fan. No "Mad Men", which I loathed this final season. I also don't watch any of the superhero one hour shows, be they on Netflix or basic cable. So, don't expect what the majority has put as their best of 2015. Comedy takes a certain taste and most publications writers don't have that taste. On with the countdown.

At number five I have "Better Call Saul", the dramedy of the group. I was very skeptical of this show when I first heard about it. I thought the writers of "Breaking Bad" did an excellent job of tying up the story of Saul Goodman, so why make a prequel type show for him? I began to get on board when I saw that Vince Gilligan and the majority of the "Breaking Bad" writers were hired to write the series. Then I watched and I couldn't look away from the TV. This was a show when it was on, I was focused. No cell phones or computers to look at, "Better Call Saul" needed my undivided attention. The show has many characters but make no mistake, this is Bob Oedenkirk's show, he's the star. And he does a damn fine job as the title character. We meet him as Jimmy McGill, his name before he became a "criminal" lawyer and he's a schlubby, down on his luck kind of guy. He lives in his brothers shadow, played excellently by Michael McKean. His brother has a melt down and won't leave the house, so Jimmy tries to take up the slack. There's a ton of great episodes in the first season. Jimmy becomes a lawyer for the elderly, he gets some skateboarders involved in a hit and run scam and he even helps a family launder thousands of dollars. You can see early on that he is a shady person. The best episode, by far, of the first season was when we get Mike Ehrmantraut(Johnathan Banks) back story. We all remember Mike from "Breaking Bad" and this episode lets us see why he does what he does on both shows. It's an incredibly moving and powerful episode. It's one of the finest 44 minutes TV has had on in quite a while. "Better Call Saul" goes into season two in February and if it's half as good as season one, we will have a mega hit on our hands.

My number four show is "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp". This show was perfect in every sense. I love that all the original actors from the cult hit "Wet Hot American Summer" recreate their roles. They've all aged the 10 or so years since the movie, but they're actually playing younger versions in this series. The fact that it was on Netflix was awesome because I watched the whole thing in one day. I loved this show. I also like that they brought in new actors like Kristin Wiig, Chris Pine, Jordan Peele and Jason Schwatzman. They were all great. Jon Benjamin as the camp counselor that becomes the can of talking vegetables was hilarious. This show was great in every possible way. Paul Rudd shines once again and Michael Showalter was just as hilarious. My favorite episode was when Elizabeth Banks, who's a reporter at a magazine, poses as a teenager to get a story on how real teenagers act. All she has to do to look like a teenager you ask, pull her hair into a side ponytail. Hilarious. I hope they do more episodes because this show was just what the fans of the movie needed.

My number three show is "Last Man on Earth". When we left the first season, Phil(Will Forte) and Carol(Kristin Schaal) were on the move from Tucson. We picked up this season with them trying to find a new place to live. Nothing was as good as Tucson so they went back to find it completely abandoned. We come to find out that every else moved to Malibu. When Phil and Carol end up in Malibu, that's when all the hilarity starts. First of all, we get a cameo from Will Ferrell. He doesn't say one word and is spooked to death by Carol, literally. Everything else that ensues is great. Phil, who is now going by his original name, Tandy, is put in stocks and has an electric dog collar on until they find it fit for him to live with everyone again. Carol is her usual upbeat self, even when the worst things are going on around them. Todd(Mel Rodriguez) and Melissa(January Jones) break up. The other Phil(Boris Kodjoe) professes his undying love for Carol, but finds out he's impregnated Erica(Cleopatra Coleman). And Gail(Mary Steenburgen) is deeply distraught by the fact that her lover, Ferrell, was scared to death. There's a lot going on this season and the season finale was very heavy, but this show was pretty damn funny all season long.

My number two show is "Review". This show is the weirdest, most innovative thing I've seen on TV ever. Andy Daly plays Forrest McNeil, a guy that reviews everyday life. Not movies or TV or music, just life situations much to his and the people he loves demise. This season saw him start a cult and lose the cult to his girlfriend. The girlfriend he got in an earlier episode was from a review that was to sleep with a teacher. He gets his first girlfriend locked up for stealing pills from a hospital on the first episode of the season. He now lives with his dad and he got both his dad's home and summer home destroyed this season. He also tries to get the perfect body, but becomes addicted to steroids. Everything is so hilariously messy and the best episode was when he had to review, "killing someone". He doesn't want to, obviously, but he accidentally kills a man that he was in a fight with earlier in the episode. This leads to him going to jail and reviewing life experiences from jail. He says that the producers of the show are not who he thinks they are and that they want him to struggle and lose everyone he loves. He even has a chance to get back together with his ex wife, but that blows up in his face as well. "Review" is an excellent show and I love that Andy Daly finally has a project that suits his comedy to perfection.

Coming in at number one is "Nathan For You". What else is there to say about this show that I haven't already said. He's made man caves in women's clothing shops, he's walked a tight rope to make someone else famous, he made a play that was literally just people sitting at a bar smoking cigarettes and talking about absolutely nothing. He did so many crazy things this season. The best for me was the outerwear that supported Holocaust history and the fitness craze, The Movement, that he started. The Holocaust thing was absurd, upsetting and hilarious. The setup he had, with a rabbi's blessing, in that store was downright appalling, but he found a way to make it funny. He's also earned over 300,000 dollars for Holocaust awareness due to his new line of jackets and hats. The fitness craze episode was just bizarre. He convinced a body builder type guy to be the spokes person for losing weight and gaining muscle by only lifting and moving boxes. The episode as a whole is one of the most cringe worthy, yet laugh out loud funny things on TV all year. I'm currently reading the book that a ghost writer wrote, who Nathan Fielder hired off of Craigslist, wrote in two days. "Nathan For You" is by far the best show on TV and I cannot wait to see how he tops himself in season four.

So there you have my top five TV shows of the year. Come back tomorrow for the best podcast episodes, in my opinion, for 2015.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is building muscle mass by moving Christmas presents from one house to another. Learn all about his secret by following Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty's pumptitude pays off with the great "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp"

Is Netflix on UHF or VHF?

Now that I've finished "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp", I'm so very, very pleased with how great it was and is.

It was truly everything I hoped and wanted it to be. It was silly, goofy and ridiculously uproarious. The fact that they made it 15 years after the movie and the actors played their same roles was great. I loved how they kept saying things like, oh I'm young, my body is still in great shape, or, I can't drink, I'm not of age yet. It's hilarious when you watch it and see these actors in their late 30's and 40's saying these lines. The original cast members were excellent reprising their roles, the best being Paul Rudd. He was rude, crude and gross. But, he also showed some heart and we realized that he wasn't a total jerk, he can be a good guy sometimes. Elizabeth Banks back story was great. She was a journalist that wanted to get the real teenage experience by going to a summer camp. Problem was, she was 24 and nobody at the magazine believed she could be a 16 year old, until she pulled her hair back. Then they all believed she could do the report.

The new cast additions were pretty excellent too. Josh Charles, Kristen Wiig and Rich Somer, the rich kids from Camp Tiger Claw were awesome. Josh Charles was so douchey, his collar was popped three times. They played the snotty, spoiled rich kids perfectly. John Slattery was so great as the big time theater director from New York. He was slimy and acted as if he was a well known, superstar director. He was just great. Micheala Watkins played his choreographer and she was a disgusting, horny old lady that wanted to hook up with campers. It was a perfect role for her and she nailed it. H Jon Benjamin and Jason Schwartzman as the camp directors were really good too. Schwartzman played his typical role, but he was very funny. Benjamin was hysterical and we found out where the talking of can of vegetables from the movie came from.

Watch the series to see what I'm talking about. My favorite new addition was Jon Hamm as President Reagan's top assassin, The Falcon. He was a stone cold killer, but we find out that he's an old army buddy of Camp Firewood's head chef. Hamm plays the role with his usual quiet, yet seething anger charm. Jon Hamm is a very strong comedic actor.

I loved "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp". Fans of the movie will love the show and I think the show will bring a bunch of new fans to the franchise. This was totally worth the wait and I'm probably going to watch it about ten more times and hope they do more.

It was perfect.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. He is currently away at summer camp, and he is way to old to be doing that. Follow him on twitter @tykulik