Chelsea Handler switched from E! to Netflix for her show “Chelsea.” Except, Handler took full advantage of the platform by adding her own political views that were too taboo for television. She also spiced it up with some adult language she was so infamous about being bleeped for on E! Network. In McHale’s case, there is nothing in the first four episodes that depart from his style on E!, except for adult language and adding another camera to the set. 

“If you ask me, there’s nothing more desperate than an old show resurfacing on a new network with almost the same exact format and the same old tired host,” he admits at the start of the first episode. 

“The Joel McHale Show” makes fun of the most ridiculous reality shows on television, especially those that are so obviously scripted. When “The Soup” was on cable for over ten years, it’s viewership was a staple for any reality show guru to catch up on the latest drama with a dash of McHale’s humor.

The show chooses clips from shows like E!’s “Hollywood Medium,” Oxygen’s “Snapped,” ABC’s “The Bachelor,” Bravo’s “Real Housewives,” among others. McHale seeks to reaffirm what we’re all thinking by putting the true meaning of “reality” into “reality show.”

“The McHale Show” features celebrity guests, such as Kristen Bell, Billy Eichner, Jason Priestley, Eric Bana, Eric McCormack, Seth Green, and more to come.

To add, the show features skits outside of the studio. A skit about “The Bachelor” plays on the recent “Bachelor in Paradise” sexual assault scandal. In the clip, producers hover around the actors not permitting any kind of touching, groping, or anything without verbal consent. The narrator jokes, “because you can’t spell ‘consensual’ without ‘sensual.’” 

Although this unique platform seeks to humiliate the characters of the reality shows, it actually functions as a symbiotic relationship. The more insane reality TV is, the more exposure these shows receive. The more harsh McHale is, the more reactions he receives from celebrities. In episode 3, McHale makes fun of Donna Farizan, who hosts her own show of NBC’s the “Today Show” on YouTube called “Donna-Dorable.” 

McHale jokes about how she can’t book guests on her show. In return, she gets Josh Dumel to send in a video of himself telling Joel McHale that he’d be delighted to appear on her show if he had the availability. McHale says, “Granted you can only book them for cell phone videos.” Realistically, McHale helped Farizan land an appearance on “The Today Show.” Publicity on a popular Netflix talk show is never a bad thing.

Initially, the old style of “The Soup” the show takes on didn’t hold any nostalgia, instead exasperation. But all in all, without implementing new strategies to recreate the talk show’s unique platform, this show proves that Joel McHale is the pioneer of talk show reality television and premise remains timeless.

“The Joel McHale Show” continues weekly with a new episode for 13 episodes on Netflix.

The post Netflix and Trill: All Hail Joel McHale appeared first on KRUI Radio.

James and Alyssa are two understandably cold human beings. James’ mother killed himself by drowning herself in her car in front of him. Alyssa’s mother remarried a rather arrogant man who wishes his step-daughter would disappear and isn’t shy about it. Her mother and step-father started a new family together.

James is played by Alex Lawther and Alyssa by Jessica Barden. The dark comedy is perfectly relatable for an American audience. Other shows like “The Office” and “Shameless” have been adapted across cultures, but this one shows no need to for a change in the cast to accommodate humor.

James wants to know what it’s like to kill someone. Alyssa wants to know what it’s like to be loved. Alyssa’s unmoving coldness and James’ lack of emotion requires an inner dialogue which serves as the perfect solution to understanding the main characters.

Although there is no language barrier involved in British and American television, occasionally slang and humor must be replaced for further popularity. In this case, James and Alyssa’s tragic fairytale captivated an American audience and many consider this show to be a favorite Netflix original.

The two meet as strangers in their high school cafeteria and continue on an unbelievable journey to reunite with loved ones, commit continuous crimes, hijack vehicles, and worry their families to a sick extent that makes the audience want to reach through the screen and shake them.

Somewhat annoying is the initial lack of emotion the viewer sees in James at the start of the series. He wants to know what it feels like to murder someone, so when Alyssa addresses James, his inner dialogue begins. Once the sympathy builds for each character, anxiety begins and the desire for the two to console each other takes control.

As the episodes progress, James’ and Alyssa’s inner dialogue seem to wither away symbolizing in a relationship how that primary facade peels back revealing the true personality of your significant other. As James feels he can be himself with Alyssa, his violent tendencies seem to decrease. He finds excuses to love. Well, he finds excuses not to hate. He wants to take care of Alyssa, and focus his efforts on repairing her.

At the beginning of the series, James knows exactly how to manipulate Alyssa into loving him. A sex addict desperate for love, Alyssa thinks she can force James into loving her, and he relents to anything she asks. His growing unwanted affection causes confusion, as he is more nervous and indecisive as most 16-year olds participating in “love” can be. Eventually, he becomes weak and defensive to her, and the entire world beyond Alyssa is obsolete.

This show is the perfect example of how spontaneity, as romantic and admirable a trait it is, can be very detrimental in the end. These two are extremely fragile, but decide to make life-changing decisions together. Neither of them had the courage to do these things alone. In a way, they are each other’s motivation and inspiration. When apart, all they can think about is the one person who thought the most of the other. Isn’t that a lesson in friendship we should all take away?

The post Netflix and Trill: The End of the F****ing World appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Letterman suffered scrutiny after it surfaced he had sexual relationships with his female staffers while married to his wife, Regina. Blackmailed for $2 million, Letterman confessed  to the allegations live on “The Late Show” and subsequently retired in 2009.  Unfit for cable, he turned to Netflix, which agreed to facilitate a new kind of talk show.

The show debuts Letterman’s shockingly long beard giving us a biblical, omniscient impression much different from his typical “working man” appearance. The audience is unaware of who each guest is at the start of the first episode. On an eerily vacant and dark stage, Letterman stands in front of two black chairs as he gives a small introduction, then casually brings out former president of the United States, Barack Obama.

This is the perfect platform for Obama to talk about his personal life that had been absent from his presidential image. He talks of current politics, his mother, absent father, and childhood so focused on the importance of education. Obama also admits that he grew somewhat envious of his wife Michelle’s more pleasurable role as First Lady. As he had to deliver formal speeches from the Oval Office, his wife participated in human interest campaigns with children and young women.

Revolutionizing U.S. presidential campaign tactics, Obama is the first to mobilize voters using an online presence. Twitter and Facebook were handy in coordinating rallies, grassroots efforts, as well as sharing the campaign platform. Obama pioneered a strategy that Trump himself employed to become his successor. “It seems like a handy tool that has turned against us,” Letterman says.

In this episode, Obama touches on the “fake news” phenomenon. “One of the biggest challenges we have to our democracy is the degree to which we don’t share a common baseline of facts,” he explains. “You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts,” Obama quotes former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY.)

One of Obama’s inspirations is former Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) who helped organize the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. Letterman visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge where the police rained down tear gas on Civil Rights protesters. Although peaceful, Lewis says that he truly believed he would die that day.

“We had been taught not to be a threat, but be determined and be orderly, peaceful and abide by the philosophy and discipline of non-violence.” Lewis tells Letterman that he believes the current administration “is a major setback to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of a people…and a threat not only to our country but to the planet.”

The second episode, “You Be The Newsman, I’ll Be Liz Taylor,” features George Clooney who speaks of his Catholic upbringing, activism, personal life, and relationship with his family.

In the late 1960’s-70’s, Clooney’s father, hosted a local talk show in Ohio called “The Nick Clooney Show.” The local morning talk show gave rise to George’s love of show business, as his father would have him dress up as characters and mock interview him.

Clooney’s wife, Amal, is a human rights lawyer sharing Clooney’s interest in activism. He became very involved with the genocide in Darfur and began the Not On Our Watch Foundation in 2008. Clooney visited the decimated Darfur region of Sudan in order to investigate the corruption. He found that the banks were aiding the Sudanese government’s massacre of Darfur and used this information to spread awareness in the U.S. through the media.

We learn that Clooney is not just the former “sexiest man alive,” but a passionate, intelligent man driven by his Catholic virtues. When Clooney goes into detail about his wife, I was in awe of the degree of his sincerity. “Before I had the twins,” Clooney says, “I felt that way about her. I felt that I’d met someone who I would absolutely trade my life for…her life meant more to me than my life.”

After the first two episodes, I feel like I’ve earned friendships in Obama and Clooney. This show revolutionizes television’s 15-minute interview into an extensive, in-depth conversation with the iconic. Unfortunately, I’m unable to reminisce with George Clooney over a glass of his Casamigos Tequila, or visit the Edmund Pettus bridge with one of the founders of the Civil Rights movement, but Letterman’s show serves as a perfect substitute.

“My Next Guest” will continue with a new episode every month. The March episode will feature Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who survived a shot in the head from the Taliban. As the title hints, surely her bravery “needs no introduction.”

The post Netflix and Trill: Letterman Revolutionizes the Talk Show appeared first on KRUI Radio.

As I was scrolling through Netflix, I spotted a new original called “Dirty Money.” Instantly intrigued, I pressed play. No, I didn’t read the description-I’m too impulsive for that, but I don’t regret it. Netflix originals can be a hit or a miss, and this was definitely a hard hit.

The show covers infamous economic scandals ranging from the cartel to Big Pharma. The first episode had a ton of impact and shed a lot of light on how corrupt large companies can be. In an initiative to compete with American companies, Volkswagen created its own “clean diesel” vehicle.

The German company advertised the car to have lower carbon emissions than previous models. It turned out that Volkswagen was just engineering the car to circumvent American carbon emission tests-it wasn’t environmentally friendly at all. And worse? When caught, they recalled the model, redesigned it to go around the test again, and continued selling the car. Those sly Germans.

I might be out of the loop here, but I had never heard of this scandal and I will never buy a Volkswagen (I probably wouldn’t have to begin with.) It’s incredible how such a large company can get away with being so deceitful, especially to an entire country.

The last episode of the series about Trump University reminds us of President Trump’s ability to create his image in the media, going so far as to call a magazine pretending to be his own PR man to spread stories about himself. “Trump has this reptilian, knowing, street-smart awareness of the powers of media,” says journalist Tim O’Brien in the show. As he tweets from the Oval Office, we are reminded every day of Trump’s ability to steal headlines simply through his rhetoric.

It is revealed that Trump’s show “The Apprentice” created an image of him that was misleading.  The famous boardroom where Trump interrogated the contestants was constructed solely for the show, along with the ornate nature of the reception area. In reality, his office and building were cluttered and outdated.

In an interview with Walter Shaub, former Director of U.S. Department of Ethics, he explains that the Trump Administration wanted nothing to do with working with the Department, unlike the past two administrations. Shaub resigned due to the lack of communication he had with the President. The decision to include this segment in the episode only added a political undertone that elicited anxiety and frustration.

Although this series is impressive, I am disappointed that the Trump episode is so obviously biased. The second episode deals with Scott Tucker, a former race car driver who created payday loans and is serving a 16-year prison sentence for racketeering. This is the only other episode that deals with an individual instead of a company and it includes testimonies from people who admire Tucker’s business skills in addition to those who believe he is a criminal with wicked intentions.

In “Confidence Man,” I came across no interviews that praised Trump for anything except for his ability to manipulate and con innocent people. As difficult as it is, it would have been nice for this series to stay out of the political arena and stick to the money.  Maybe next season?

All in all, “Dirty Money” is seriously enlightening. The show successfully breaks down the stock market, real-estate developing, monopolies, and banking for those of us who didn’t get our MBA’s. I never felt like I was in over my head, and I actually learned a ton of new things. I’d love to see this series continue, and who knows, maybe I’ll land a side job on Wall Street.

The post Netflix and Trill: “Dirty Money” Will Hook You appeared first on KRUI Radio.