Musings on pop culture, 2/10/06 -

The funniest hour on television – “My Name is Earl” + “The Office,” 9 PM Thursdays on NBC-TV. Honorable mention goes to “Crumbs,” a fairly predictable (read: yawn) sitcom about a family of cookie-cutter "zany" people. The only promising thing about this show at present is a story line involving Fred Savage’s character, a 30-ish closeted gay man who is afraid to come out to his family (read: me, about 20 years ago). Unfortunately, my good TV sense tells me that they will find a way to muck this up, plus it airs at the same time as “The Office,” which I highly recommend over “Crumbs.” It's a shame, because Jane Curtin (in the lead role as Suzanne Crumb) is a truly brilliant comedic actress, but there is just no substance to the lines being written for her, and her talent is wasted here.

Pop music gem – In 1977, the Bay Area’s own Jon Rubin formed The Rubinoos and, taking the best of The Beatles’ hooks and the best of The Beach Boys’ harmonies, and combining them with just a small dash each of The Rolling Stones and The Raspberries (yes, The Raspberries), came up with some of the most infectious and enjoyable pop music I’ve ever heard. Their shining moment came in the form of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," from their second album, “Back to the Drawing Board." E-mail me for an MP3 file and try, just try, not to sing along the second time the hook kicks in.

Thanks for listening, have a great day, and shabbat shalom!