Kristen Bell is All Over the Interwebs Today

Parody (I hope) she knows about:

Parody she (probably) didn't know about:

'House of Lies' Premieres Tonight

I love Kristen Bell. I love Don Cheadle. Oh, and Ben Schwartz is pretty awesome too.

If you feel the same way I do, you'll definitely like 'House of Lies'.

It stars Don Cheadle as Marty, the leader of a team that is part of a large consulting firm. The team he oversees includes Jeannie (Kristen Bell), Clyde (Ben Schwartz) and Doug (Josh Lawson).

I recently watched the pilot episode (premiering tonight at 10/9C on Showtime) and was pleasantly surprised. The show is intelligent and fast-paced, despite the fact that it has some unusual editing techniques that take a bit to get used to. One such technique is the constant breaking of the fourth wall; Marty talks directly to the viewer, giving definitions of consulting terms, while all the action around him completely freezes.

The pilot episode is not particularly strong, and it doesn't come across as a comedy, despite the fact that it is advertised as such. Despite this, I believe that the characters are interesting and complex enough that 'House of Lies' shows great promise

Kristen Bell's character is an interesting addition. Jeannie is well-educated and as manipulative as the men on her team. Maybe we're finally getting a portrayal of a strong woman whose strength isn't made more 'reasonable' by some other flaw in her character. This is rare in television.

One of the most interesting aspects of the show is the chemistry between Marty (Cheadle) and Jeannie (Bell). Marty's states throughout the pilot that he will ultimately sleep with Jeannie. Of course, Marty sleeps with three different women in the first episode, so it's unclear how much sex with Jeannie would mean. The fact that he calls her to discuss actual issues in his life suggests that if he were to enter into a sexual relationship with her it would mean much more than meaningless sex. I think that the will they/won't they aspect of the Marty and Jeannie relationship will prove central to the plot (and the appeal) of the series.
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With Occupy Wall Street going on, the timing of a show examining the dirty work involved in corporate consulting couldn't be better.
'House of Lies' premieres tonight (Sunday, Jan 8th) at 10/9C.

'House of Lies' makes lying funny. Really funny.

Do you like Kristen Bell? Don Cheadle? Ben Schwartz?

Oh? You do? Me too!

Get excited about 'House of Lies'. It's premiering in January on Showtime.

The show is a half-hour comedy that looks at a team of management consultants and their constant pursuit for money.

Here's a promo:

Maybe this is how Craig chooses his favorite guests?

Addendum to my prior post

Apparently it doesn't hurt your chances of being a repeat guest on 'The Late Late Show' if you can do crazy eye tricks.

Proof:

My New Obesssion: Craig Ferguson

Apparently I've been missing a lot by attempting to be a responsible adult, and going to bed by midnight.

Most noteably, I've been missing 'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' on CBS!

I'm sure most of you know exactly what I'm talking about, and that I was the only one out of the loop. In case I'm wrong about that, let me tell you a little bit about this genius show:

Craig Ferguson is a hysterical late night show host who's not afraid to say what he wants, including dropping sexual innuendo right and left. His show has originiality that other late night shows lack. After all, what other show has a robot sidekick, no standard interview questions, hand puppets, and repeated appearances by Kristen Bell?

Ferguson famously tears up index cards (which hosts normally use for prewritten interview questions) the moment his celebrity guests begin to sit down. He doesn't bother asking much about what projects they're working on (though he does give them a minute to plug), and more often then not he gets them to reveal actual parts of their personalities. One reason I find the show so appealing is because you can really tell which celebrities are scripted, and which are intelligent enough to spar verbally without a script.

Because the show is based so much on humorous interactions between Ferguson and his guests, he often invites the same celebrities on again and again. Lauren Graham has been on the show numerous times, as has Emily Deschanel and, perhaps most famously, Kristen Bell. Rather remarkably Bell has been a guest on the show 17 times! If you want an introduction to the success of Ferguson's interview technique I suggest you watch him interviewing one of these guests:



Lauren Graham appears on 'The Late Late Show' so late tonight it's actually tomorrow (12:30 am) on CBS.