Spending Time With The Idiot Box...

So it's Tuesday, and after Scrubs, instead of being too productive, I decide towatch a little more TV. The show I have on now? Love Monkey. Jason Preistly from 90210, and that guy from the show Ed that I never watched join one of the firemen from Rescue Me and the cute waitress from Adaptation (aka, the receptionist from Arrested Development with the fake boobs). Adapted from Kyle Smith's novel of same name (aka, the attempted american answer to High Fidelity).

It raises some TV related issues though, which I'll throw out here:

1. I am really having trouble thinking of a way a new funny show could exist with a laugh track. Among my favorite shows are several half-hour comedies (Scrubs, Family Guy, The Simpsons) without laugh tracks and shows like The OC that aren't serious enough all the time to be true dramas (and damnit, The OC is one of the funniest network shows going). But the point is the last truly funny laugh-track show I can think of was That 70s Show, which sadly, isn't that funny now.

2. The changes from the book don't all help. Taking Tom from a pseudo-newscorp owned tabloid to a record label really doesn't help the folks (well, somewhere someone other than me will say this...right?) that this is nothing more than High Fidelity: the series. And adding an extra buddies could hurt a new show. Two buddies, you can tell apart...add the random tall guy for "balance" in a hoops playing scene, and you wonder "why is dude here?"

On the other hand, Smith's book was in no way up there with Hornby's (some fault's: weak ending, the complete and unexplained disappearence of the main character's best buddy during the final 3rd of the book, and sever really bad jokes that fall flatter than the characterization of your average laugh-track sitcom character.)

3. A sort of bottom line/prequel to a longer post later. I probably will tune into the show again, or TiVO it once Wild Wing reopens. (Pardon me a moment, they just used a "Top 5" list moment in a guy/girl scene. Hornby should get royalties). But even that aside gets me to the point. High Fidelity is quickly becoming an "Important" book. How so? Get back to me later this week.