Cru Jones Society

“Hypertextuality is the technological realization of intertextuality.” – Sarah Gwenllian Jones.

For those of you who haven’t already clicked over to ESPN or Facebook or something after reading that opening quote, and we thank you, I finally fully understand this statement nearly 8 years later, and thanks to AMC’s Story Notes airing of Kindergarten Cop. And what I realized is that even on a stray Wednesday when it’s just you and Buttfor eating leftovers and flipping between the Rox game (who are beating up Tim Lincecum at the moment) and a re-airing of a 20 year-old movie, you never ever watch media alone anymore. Continue Reading »

The Thanksgiving Week Tradition of Foodin’ Sexin’ and, errrr, Carrin’ returns next week, and we are as pumped as ever for it. The scenarios are as brain bending as ever and the prizes are out of sight.

But that’s next week. Never ones to make you wait too long, we’ve got our regular Thursday feature to tide you over.

And what better way to prepare for your annual Thanksgiving food coma than talking about television? And this year when you hunker down for a nice post-gorge veg session, here’s some food for your thoughts. We’ve got three half-cooked television theories that have been rolling around in our heads for the past few weeks. So when you’re watching these shows in the coming weeks, maybe consider… Continue Reading »

I don’t want to become one of those “old guys” who complains about the shit quality of these modern cartoons. Oh they lack this or that or the animation looks it was drawn by monkeys, the monkeys who were supposed to by writing Shakespeare. I don’t want to be that adult, but it’s not easy. Oh sure there are some top notch ones late night like “Archer” or “Futurama,” but what about when it’s Saturday morning and need something to go along with brightly colored cereal I’m eating? Or Saturday afternoon when I want to watch cartoons?

So in my hunt for cartoons I came across the latest incarnation of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang in what they are calling “The Looney Tunes Show.” I was surprised by what this show was, more on that in a bit. As I thought about it though I should have not been surprised. Over the past two decades Warner Bros. has taken their beloved characters and put them in shows that were different than their classic shtick. Let’s do a run down. Continue Reading »

It’s summer time. That means fun fun fun in the sun. Drinking on the patio until the moon goes down (or comes up on work nights). At least these apply to those who aren’t trying to finish a degree program. During a lot of the times I should be basking in the awesomeness that is summer, I have been sitting at this computer researching all sorts of psychological issues then typing up thousands of words about them.

I’ll be done soon though, and despite the lack of sun light, and what that last little bit sounded like, I am not that bitter. Actually I am a bit content because this also means I am able to watch the fine summer time television programming. And no this isn’t sarcasm because most shows are in rerun mode. There are a few new shows and some shows have a summer season (or their fall season starts early, whatever). Well, whatever the case may be I present to you the 5 shows I have been watching this summer, especially lately as my beloved Rockies have begun to upset me. Continue Reading »

There is no denying the impact television plays within our lives. People often gather around it with friends, or discuss the latest episode, some people even use it as a sleep aid.  So it only seems natural that television itself would use television within the shows it shows. This is a device called a show within a show. These would be things like “Itchy and Scratchy” on “The Simpsons,” “TGS with Tracy Jordan” on “30 Rock,” or “The Muppet Show” on “The Muppet Show.”

This is a concept that has been used nearly as long as television has been around. I think Dick Van Dyke’s character on “Dick Van Dyke” worked on a television show, or he worked in advertising. I really can’t remember, though I did watch that show a lot as a kid, thinking about it now I am not sure why. Anyway, television existed which meant people on television had to be aware of it.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the shows within shows, mostly about if I would watch the show. “Itchy and Scratchy?” most likely. “TGS?” Probably. “The Muppet Show?” Doi! But my brain is not satisfied with simply considering if I would watch the show or not, so I pieced together some of the other thoughts about a few of the shows within shows that have sprung to mind often. Now sit back, relax, and don’t touch that dial. Continue Reading »

In 1989, with a stolen concept from Japanese television and America’s new found love for the home camcorder, a show was born. Like many shows it was never expected to last very long, but this show was scrappy and has now lasted 21 years. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” is now legally able to drink and I would like to toast it in my own way with a look back at why I continually turn to this show to entertain me. Continue Reading »

This is the true story of five strangers forced into a tiny Confessional booth to have their answers recorded and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real by answering the question: If you could be a contestant on any reality show, what would it be?

The results follow, and I promise that none of us will spin off to participate in any inane challenge shows or host MTV’s “The Grind.” Although, no matter whether you’re gay or straight, we’re willing to bet you can’t get enough of that Eric Nies. Let’s find out if he’s in here further. Here’s this week’s Confessional. Continue Reading »

It wouldn’t be the Olympics on NBC without a giant cock slap of promotion across your face every damn night, now would it? Two years ago I wrote about the poor sap that has to schedule this rotating carousel of vomitous promotional excess with the following passage:

“People who work at television stations are generally insane as it is, they’re moreso during events with live coverage and repetitive commercials. This is especially true when a network is forcing a couple of  semi-wretched looking shows down everyone’s throat and has to air the promos for them to fill in during extra commercial breaks on top of the already excessive scheduled airings.”

Glad to see nothing has changed at NBC in the last two years. But what of the shows they’re force feeding us this year? Let’s take a look… Continue Reading »

Our guest columnist has had a family emergency arise, and we’ll look for his post (hopefully) next week. We wish he and his family the best. In the meantime, since we’re ostensibly a comedy website, here are six relatively new TV comedies we have great hope and excitement for as the 21^st century marches into adolescence. Continue Reading »

I have definitely watched my fair share of television over the past ten years. And with that much programming you would think this list would have been harder, but it really wasn’t because it turns out a lot of what I watched were reruns of 90′s shows. I was able to move past those and give new shows a chance and this list consists of those shows. But first, a word from our sponsors. Continue Reading »

We wrap up our end of the decade feature here at CJS this week with television. We’ve got an excellent guest columnist lined up for Thursday, but as always, Hart and I will get you started.

As I approached this one, I thought it necessary to make two important statements before you digest my 5 Favorite TV Shows 0f the ‘00s. 1) My rampant immaturity and whole being-in-college from 2000-2006 means I didn’t have a lot of time for dramas. So you won’t see but one on this list. Besides, I generally don’t give a crap about procedural crime dramas and relate to the world better from a comedic standpoint anyway. So there’s that. 2) For the vast majority of this decade I didn’t have HBO, so if you’re wondering why none of those excellent shows appear here, there you go. With that out of the way, here are E Dagger’s 5 Favorite TV Shows 0f the ‘00s. Continue Reading »

One of the only benefits of being home sick – by the way, I’m in that super awesome phase of hacking my lungs out all day on the road to recovery – is that you get to watch awesome daytime television. Even though Drew Carey is redefining levels of awful as the new “Price Is Right” host, the games are so much fun, you can’t help but still love the show. And did you know they remade “Let’s Make a Deal”? (I’m) Wayne Brady (Bitch!) is the host and people still inexplicably dress in costumes and win things like outdoor theaters and get zonked. Although it feels more sanitized than the 1970s version (what doesn’t?), I still got a big kick out of it, which is about all you can hope for on a sick day.

Of course, neither “The Price Is Right” or “Let’s Make a Deal” hold a candle to the sheer entertainment value and unintentional hilarity of a Brinks Home Security commercial. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Then you’ve obviously never had your front door kicked in Van Damme-style while you casually jogged on the treadmill, have you? Continue Reading »

Ahhh, the innocence of youth. The whole world is ahead is of you. You don’t have a job. You don’t pay taxes. You have summers off. And you believe the celebrities you have a crush on might actually like you back someday. We asked you to revisit this idyllic time in your lives and share with us your answer to the question: Who was your childhood celebrity crush?

CJS Staff & Regulars share the first people to put a tingle in their bottom in this week’s Confessional. As always, we have a new question for you to consider this week after this week’s responses. So pull out your cootie catcher and find if the object of your love hearts you back. Continue Reading »

This weekly feature on the Cru Jones Society has been running since January 11 and invites CJS Staff and Regulars to share their answers to a weekly prompt.

What is the Monday Confessional?

That is correct, and welcome to another edition. The CJS loves Jeopardy! but thinks the interview segment bites. In our experience, we’ve only seen one truly good interview and that was a guy who admired some broadcaster who regularly called games at Madison Square Garden and aspired to do that one day himself. Through hard work and some good luck, his college basketball team serendipitously played there and he was fortunate enough to realize his dream by doing play-by-play for them. Simple, elegant, and interesting. Good for him.

However, everyone else usually tells some jackass story about their cat which makes us just want to ridicule the entire thing. So we asked you to amuse us and answer this question: What is your Jeopardy interview story? Seeing as we only got two responses, the staff will go first, then the regulars, and then a fun little game. Enjoy! (Because the clock is ticking) Continue Reading »

We’re back from Las Vegas and we’ve got stories to share, but those will have to wait until Thursday. Why? Because although being in Las Vegas often feels like pure fiction and fantasy (it is – especially when it’s YOUR bachelor party), that answer is disqualified because you can actually go there anytime you want. Our focus today is on places you can’t actually go. We asked you last week: If you could visit one fictional world from television, movies, literature, which would it be? Our readers’ diverse choices are inside, but first the CJS Staff. Continue Reading »

 Much like the only guarantees in life are death and taxes, there are also guarantees in advertising. These guarantees are sexy broads will try to sell beer, Taco Bell will continue to focus on the drunk college aged demographic, and cereal will use cartoons to appeal to children. The thing about these guarantees are one, beer sells itself. Seriously, have you had beer? The stuff is awesome. Two, Taco Bell is always the best option when you’re drunk (unless you are near that gyro vendor in Old Town Ft. Collins) and only when you’re drunk. And three, is it absolutely necessary to use cartoons to make sugary cereals more alluring to children?

It’s this last thing that I have been focusing too much attention and anger towards lately. I should really watch less children’s programming and act my age. But there are a few things about this advertising practice that have really been bugging me, and few things that I am ok with.

I figured the best way to go about this was to break it up by company. Then look at their top offenders or characters. Let’s pour the milk on this thing and spoon our way to the bottom. Continue Reading »

Ralph Wiggum put it best when he said, “Fun toys are fun!” That they are, Ralph, that they are. So we asked you to take a look back at your childhood and the fun times you had with your fun toys and tell us which of those toys was your favorite. Hart and Dagger are first, then our readers’ responses, then after that you can all enjoy the day off and play with your toys. Continue Reading »

One of the worst things about television are those pesky 3 minute breaks during shows. In these 3 minute breaks, we are bombarded with advertisements for all sorts of products, many of which we do not need. For the most part these advertisements are forgettable or obnoxiously unforgettable. There are however a few that are awesome, like this one. But since everyone’s taste is different, we wanted to know what your favorite commercial is. So here are a few words from our sponsors before we return you to your regularly scheduled CJS programming. Continue Reading »

It has been said that good fences make good neighbors. I say good actors and good writers can make good neighbors. Many television shows have a neighbor character who never makes a lasting impression. While other shows include neighbors who add a lot to the story and the show. This article is about those neighbors. So get ready to borrow a cup of sugar and a cup of advice. Continue Reading »

The CJS Monday Confessional ends its stay on the desert island this week, and now that you’ve decided what you’ve got your tunes and you’ve got your brews, what’s left? Well, both music and beer are best enjoyed in the company of some friends. So we’ve signed a pact with the devil and promised to kidnap celebrities, yank them out of their homes and jobs and deliver them straight to your island. We asked you to tell us: What 3 famous people would you like to hang out with on your desert island? And you responded below. Staff answers first and regulars follow. You’ll find a brand new question at the bottom. Let’s see who the unlucky stars are who have to leave whatever happiness they have to spend their days on an island with your boring asses. Continue Reading »