Author Topic: MY EYES! (Read 8215 times)

clemon79 · « **on:** July 25, 2004, 05:20:39 PM »

So I'm watching Celebrity Blackjack (and is Dave Stann....dare I say it, a GREGARIOUS dealer? He throws out the knowledge when it's needed ("I'm gonna bust 38% of the time here.") and he has VERY good chemistry with the players!), and I see a promo for Dog Eat Dog. And there he is:

Widow, running at full speed on that treadmill. AIIIIIGHH!!!

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #1 on:** July 25, 2004, 06:41:31 PM »

I'll leave Widow alone. But Dave Stann's humor/expertise has made Alex Boorstein really seem like the third wheel on the bike. She barely squeezes in her comments, and many of them sound post-produced. It's almost like they have to let her do the postgame interview to justify hiring her in the first place.

clemon79 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 25, 2004, 07:17:28 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jul 25 2004, 03:41 PM\'] I'll leave Widow alone. But Dave Stann's humor/expertise has made Alex Boorstein really seem like the third wheel on the bike. She barely squeezes in her comments, and many of them sound post-produced. It's almost like they have to let her do the postgame interview to justify hiring her in the first place. [/quote]
Yeah, I gotta agree. I love her on Mad TV and Family Guy, but she is really pretty lame on this show.

PeterMarshallFan · « **Reply #3 on:** July 25, 2004, 07:22:37 PM »

OK.....I must be missing something. Who's Widow?

[And no, I don't watch DED]

inturnaround · « **Reply #4 on:** July 25, 2004, 09:02:20 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 25 2004, 07:17 PM\'] [quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jul 25 2004, 03:41 PM\'] I'll leave Widow alone. But Dave Stann's humor/expertise has made Alex Boorstein really seem like the third wheel on the bike. She barely squeezes in her comments, and many of them sound post-produced. It's almost like they have to let her do the postgame interview to justify hiring her in the first place. [/quote]
Yeah, I gotta agree. I love her on Mad TV and Family Guy, but she is really pretty lame on this show. [/quote]
I'm on board with this as well. She's proven in the past to be a good writer (listen to some of the Family Guy commentaries for some of her off-the-cuff humor), but I don't think she has any real work to do on the show other than just read what they wrote for her.

I think if they let her be her, she'd add a whole lot more to the show.

clemon79 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 25, 2004, 09:08:21 PM »

[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Jul 25 2004, 04:22 PM\'] OK.....I must be missing something. Who's Widow?

[And no, I don't watch DED] [/quote]
Then you have no reason to need to know who Widow is.

Picture Marilyn Manson. Now clean him up JUST enough to be a game show contestant.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #6 on:** July 25, 2004, 10:32:50 PM »

[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Jul 25 2004, 09:02 PM\'] I'm on board with this as well. She's proven in the past to be a good writer (listen to some of the Family Guy commentaries for some of her off-the-cuff humor), but I don't think she has any real work to do on the show other than just read what they wrote for her. [/quote]
I'm thoroughly enjoying both Celebrity Blackjack and Celebrity Poker Showdown right now; I consider them to be the heirs to the celebrity game shows of the seventies that were just about having goofy fun.

And yes, Alex Boorstein is being misused. Just compare the two shows and how their comics are incorporated. Dave Foley is the host and star of his show, and Phil Gordon is the good-sport expert and straight man. But on Blackjack, Matt Vasgersian does the heavy lifting. Alex isn't positioned as an expert, so she's just there to make jokes. The expert is the dealer, who's clever enough in his own right and actually interacting with the celebrities.

I do find it a little weird when the celebrities react to the hosts' comments on Blackjack. Compared to the poker show, I forget sometimes that they're all there together on that relatively tiny set.

davemackey · « **Reply #7 on:** July 25, 2004, 11:53:07 PM »

Alex Borstein's introduction to the comedy business was as a writer for "Pinky And The Brain" back about a decade ago, and we all know how clever and juicy that show was. But I can't believe how "Celebrity Blackjack" has misguidedly used her.

The problem, of course, is that on "CB", you've got the straight man as host and Alex trying to put some bon mots in. Whereas, on "CPS", you've got the funnier of the two people (whether it's Dave Foley or Kevin Pollak) in the host's chair. I could spend all day picking apart the two shows, but suffice it to say that "CB" could have done a better job using "CPS" as a template.

uncamark · « **Reply #8 on:** July 26, 2004, 12:52:42 PM »

Well, considering that Alex is also in "Catwoman" in a featured role, she's just not been making the right career decisions lately.

MikeK · « **Reply #9 on:** July 26, 2004, 01:09:07 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jul 26 2004, 12:52 PM\'] Well, considering that Alex is also in "Catwoman" in a featured role, she's just not been making the right career decisions lately. [/quote]
Borstein's reprising her role as Lois Griffin for Family Guy's return, sometime in the next 6 months to a year. It's not all bad for Alex.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #10 on:** July 26, 2004, 02:55:57 PM »

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Jul 26 2004, 01:09 PM\'] [quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jul 26 2004, 12:52 PM\'] Well, considering that Alex is also in "Catwoman" in a featured role, she's just not been making the right career decisions lately. [/quote]
Borstein's reprising her role as Lois Griffin for Family Guy's return, sometime in the next 6 months to a year. It's not all bad for Alex. [/quote]
She talks about all that and more on her website...EXCEPT Celebrity Blackjack, despite a second-season pickup. She seems to be a smart lady, it could be that she's just as disappointed by her role there as the rest of us are.

http://www.alexborstein.com/pages/1/index.htm

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #11 on:** July 27, 2004, 08:53:55 AM »

Matt's comment about Blackjack's relatively tiny set reminds me that this show is following the Lingo route. The first series is taped on somebody else's floor at a cost of several pennies. The show proves unexpectedly popular, and GSN builds a little set of their own for the second series. The good numbers continue, so GSN goes bigger on the third series, with more money and (I'll bet) a much more elaborate set.

About this time grumpy posts show up on the GSN board bemoaning how huge the set has become and how the show was better before all the extra frills. If Stacey or similar eye candy shows up on the third series, the b-word (rhymes with limbo, not witch - GSN runs a family board) will also get a severe workout. Come to think about it, the b-word popped up several times about Melana Scantlin.

uncamark · « **Reply #12 on:** July 27, 2004, 06:15:27 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jul 27 2004, 07:53 AM\']Matt's comment about Blackjack's relatively tiny set reminds me that this show is following the Lingo route. The first series is taped on somebody else's floor at a cost of several pennies. The show proves unexpectedly popular, and GSN builds a little set of their own for the second series. The good numbers continue, so GSN goes bigger on the third series, with more money and (I'll bet) a much more elaborate set.[/quote]
It also should be pointed out that the two blackjack series have had different production teams--Paul Abeyta's people do "World Series" and Andrew Golder does "Celeb" for Pariah (now you know why Ben Stein did the show). I wouldn't be surprised if the second "World Series" cycle goes back to Mohegan Sun while the second "Celeb" series goes back to the studio.

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #13 on:** July 27, 2004, 06:31:26 PM »

Guess it depends on how much Mohegun Sun would be willing to shell out for the promos. I don't know that GSN will try another civvie series for a while. The celebs seem to be doing too well.