Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Chelsea Lately

I know I've been babbling up a storm today, but it's just one of those days. We had a lot of press releases, which is a good thing since we have had a dearth of them so far this month (I blame that danged Columbus boy!), but there has also been a little celebrity and entertainment news here and there.

But why am I making excuses? I just feel like typing and blathering today.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is coming to DVD tomorrow. That was such a good show with so much promise! I still can't believe they shut it down so damned fast. I guess someone was embarrassed that it was such a favored heavy-hitter and it flopped so hard, but give me a break!

If it had had at least one more year, Studio 60 could have turned it all back around. It fell prey to the same thing Heroes did both last year and this week: it started out strong as hell, then quickly became muddled and hard to keep track of. They focused on the couples' stories, so the show and all the backstage drama - which was supposed to be the main focus and not just the premise - fell to the wayside and when they swapped between characters and stories, you couldn't keep track because the cast was so large and there was so much going on with everyone.

The large cast was partly to blame, but the decision to close them all off and change the very thrust of the show into some kind of romantic dramedy was the reason it failed. They should have stuck to the show as the center, but I think they decided early-on that too few people could relate to that, so they moved the show in a romantic direction. Obviously, that was not the problem.

Let's face it: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a high-concept show from the word "go." It was not going to appeal to a big audience, no matter how many stars were featured, no matter how strong the writing, no matter anything. But it could have been a truly classic bit of television, ala The Larry Sanders Show, which had the same premise.

I hope the Studio 60 DVD is good, but I still say they need to do some new made-for-TV movies or something along those lines with it. It's just too good a start to let it die the way it did, but I don't have high hopes for seeing anything new.

Did you see tonight's Chelsea Lately? It was a salute to Lindsay and Britney and it was really good - kind of a "Best Of" compilation of clips and skits dealing with the two starlets the fair Miss Handler enjoys referring to as "hot messes" (which I absolutely adore). And while I still wish she'd expand the round table format with which she usually begins each show, this episode really fit and was quite enjoyable.

It made me think to mention that The Weirding will have a reviews section and a sort of "Best Of" area for the blogs. I used to do them a while back, basically on a month-by-month basis, and then quit because they took so much damn time to prepare and didn't get many hits. I started in on the Reviews section before, but couldn't find a design I liked, so I shelved it, but tonight's Chelsea Lately got me thinking in some new directions, so look forward to that and I'll be sure to let you know when it's up and running.

Chelsea Handler Hates Laura Kightlinger

Did you see Chelsea Lately last night? Laura Kightlinger was one of the panelists and it didn't appear that she was very comfortable. She may have been a little effed-up, but she only mumbled a few things and the audience did not get her brand of humor. She made one joke about being a "cougar" and calling to ask her date's parents if they wanted her to bring him home or just drop him off at school and you could have heard a pin drop. And Dr. Drew goes, "Laura, you're starting to scare me," and poor Laura actually had to apologize and say she was just kidding! A comedian having to tell that stick she was kidding!

Has he ever seen her act? Dr. Drew is far more at-home with dick and fart jokes, ala that goon he used to co-host that show on Empty-V with - Jimmy Kimmel's friend, whatever his name is... it's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't think of it. Much like his career, actually. Dr. Drew? Eat a bowl of dick up.

Oh! Adam Corolla (sp?).

Laura Kightlinger mumbled her way through the entire thing but every time she did say something, Chelsea gave her that Nancy Grace face - where it looks like she smells a fart - but she does that to people, anyway. That Heather chick talked the most and made the most inane comments, but she's a writer on the show, so Chelsea guffawed like mad every time Heather Who's-It opened her mouth. I mean, it's not that I have anything against her or anything - I don't know her from Eve, don't personally know any of them - but she wasn't, like, insightful or funny.

I've said it before: Chelsea Handler's brand of humor is very obvious, very pedestrian. When she's being herself and quipping back and forth - that snotty, slutty, clueless cheerleader routine she does - she's funny, but her written "jokes" always fall short and those little skits from her old show weren't funny the first time around. I like her on-the-street stuff and the interviews are so-so, but like I said before, the panel is the funniest part and also the shortest.

Drop the format and do an entire show with a panel, Chelsea. You can still do the occasional interview - or better yet, make the interviewee a panelist and do a sort of roundtable interview - and throw in the occasional skit or on-the-street routine and lose the blasè "writer" chick. The way you cackled at her every lame-assed, housewifey "observation" was embarrassing and Laura Kightlinger's funnier than my left nut - which is only slightly amusing because it hangs lower than the right one, so... I really need to find another analogy.

Still, I think both Chelsea Handler and Laura Kightlinger are gorgeous and while Chelsea is only sometimes funny, Laura Kightlinger makes me laugh out loud regularly, so I wish they got along better. Laura could take Chelsea's career to the next level, with guest-spots on her great show and occasional appearances as a panelist on Chelsea's rather staid one. Unless she's selling her A-material to the other talk shows and comedians, that poor Heather girl is fair, at best. But both she and Chelsea have that sort of cliquey, Heathersesque thing going (ironic the chick's name is Heather, huh? No? Whatev), where they are going to laugh at each other regardless and make everyone who doesn't laugh with them feel like outsiders (which is exactly how it played with Kightlinger and I so wish Laura hadn't bought into the whole thing, even though I'm sure she did so just because she was a guest), so I guess her material "wears" better on Chelsea, but if that Heather chick is the head writer, that's why Chelsea Lately isn't that good.

Heed my words, hottie Ms. Handler, before your show is called Late Chelsea.

Chelsea Lately, Chelsea Anytime

Now, it's no secret that I love me some Chelsea Handler. Well, I have mentioned it before, anyway. But her last attempt at a sketch show on E! didn't quite cut the mustard. It had its moments, but it just wasn't all that funny; the humor was basically uninspired and predictable and the entire thing came across as forced. (Relax, Chelsea, I'll still have sex with you!)

Her new late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, is far more in-line with her brand of humor, blending current events, celebrity gossip, interviews, and a little sketch comedy. Handler is fantastic at the cynical wit, ala Laura Kightlinger, and fairly quick on her feet, and this format gives her much more room to display her irreverence.

Although only a half-hour, they manage to squeeze-in a decent amount of fun. I would like to see the timeslot expanded, specifically so they have more time for the panel segment, but the current time allotted is fair enough and, if we're being honest, I'm not 100% certain it could carry an entire hour.

Still a great show and a lot of fun.

Chelsea Lately airs weeknights at 10:30 CST on E!