Opting to watch Entourage on demand later in the week (I’m behind an episode anyway), I watched the much-anticipated (and not just by me) Childrens Hospital on Adult Swim. For those who don’t know, Childrens Hospital started as a web series in 2008 during the writers’ strike and aired on thewb.com and basically makes fun of shows like ER and Grey’s Anatomy, with a little more exaggerated nympho-ness to it (Blog rule 27: -ness will be added to any word in my blog that I feel like to create descriptive nouns). The strike was during my freshmen year of college and I remember counting the weeks I went without new episodes of The Office, but a lot of my favorite comedians teamed up to create some hilarious web series, including another that aired on thewb.com called The Jeannie Tate Show that supposedly got a deal with HBO last fall. I actually came across these webisodes a couple semesters ago and thought it was as hilariously uncomfortable as FunnyorDie.com’s Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis. The Jeannie Tate Show is basically Liz Cackowski (SNL writer, Bill Hader’s wife from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as a soccer mom (which make up a large part of North Jersey’s population) interviewing well-known comedians such as Bill Hader (SNL), Rashida Jones (Parks & Rec), Lonny Ross (30 Rock), and Rob Riggle (Daily Show) — all in her minivan while she runs errands like bringing her sons to karate/gymnastics/soccer practice or picking up her troublesome and angsty daughter Tina Tate — played by Aubrey Plaza — from school while she’s scolded by her lame principal (played by none other than 30 Rock‘s John Lutz). These webisodes came out before Aubrey Plaza became known for her similar moody role as intern April Ludgate on Parks & Recreation and her interactions with mom Jeannie Tate are online comedic perfection. Besides knowing way too many Jeannie Tate-type soccer moms where I live, the funniest part is that they actually filmed their scenes in the town I live in (the parking lot where Jeannie finds her husband with another girl) and the town I work in (train station, dry cleaners, high school, etc.), which make the show that much more believable in terms of suburbanness. I don’t care if that’s not a word, just go with it.
Back to Childrens Hospital, I was just as excited to see many more of my favorite comedians on the first 2 episodes including Rob Corddry (Daily Show), Rob Huebel (Human Giant), Megan Mullally (Will & Grace, Party Down), Ken Marino (Party Down), Ed Helms (The Office), Nick Offerman (Parks & Rec) and Adam Scott (Party Down). Equally as amusing were the “commercials” they aired in between, including one featuring Paul Scheer (Human Giant) and Rob Riggle parodying all shows with abbreviations for their fake crime show NTSF:SD:SUV::. Cartoon Network will be airing all the old episodes until the end of August when the new season they just filmed will start airing. Expect to see more hilarious cameos and new roles coming up from Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Malin Akerman (Couples’ Retreat), Henry Winkler (HAPPY DAYS!, Arrested Development), David Wain (1 of the production brains behind it all), Jason Sudeikis (SNL), and more. Here’s a clip of the 1st episode to tie you over:
Musings in 140+ Characters 