American Dad! gets into "Hot Water"

     On the season premiere of FOX's American Dad, "Hot Water," Stan (Seth MacFarlane) gets super stressed out because of his very tight schedule. Principal Lewis (Kevin Michael Richardson) suggest that Stan get a hot tub, and while Stan is reluctant at first, he sees one he really likes. Unfortunately, he chooses an evil hot tub (voiced by Cee Lo Green), and begins partying all the time. Francine (Wendy Schaal) goes along with it for awhile, but ends up leaving Stan over the warm water. But the hot tub will not stop until Lewis, Francine, and Peter are dead.

     It is not unusual for Seth MacFarlane to parody something. It's a trope he uses quite often in his various animated series. "Hot Water" is no different, tackling Little Shop of Horrors. The shop Stan buys the hot tub from is "Little Shop of Hot Tubs." The hot tub mimicks Stan's voice to lure Francine to her doom. It also eats Lewis, and ends up killing Stan. The music is a completely different style, but the parallels are so close that, when a customer walks into the hot tub store, I expect him to say "I couldn't help noticing that strange and unusual hot tub in the window." That never happened, but it easily could have been a deleted scene, so much does the episode relate to the musical.

     Interestingly, two main characters die in this episode of American Dad! Both Francine and Stan bite the dust before the end credits roll. "Hot Water" is not the first time that this happens in an episode, but it is a bit unusual because, by next week, they will be fine again. That is not to say that American Dad! does not allow character growth. It married Hayley (Rachael MacFarlane) off and that stuck. But occasionally, in event episodes such as this one, the continuity of the series is abandoned.

     It's a pretty trippy episode. Besides a 1970's era hot tub, which somehow has more advanced electronics, a fact that does not go unnoticed by the characters, but there is plenty of singing and hallucinations. Most of the main cast gets to participate in at least one song. There is no B story, so there is plenty of time to squeeze in several numbers. Over all, it's a pretty cool experiment.

     Cee Lo provides not only the singing voice for the hot tub, but also appears live, unanimated, in several narration shots during "Hot Water." He is not the only one famous to make an appearance, though. One of the party girls that Stan hangs out with is voiced by Gabourey Sidibe, who starred in Precious and is now on Showtime's The Big C.

     American Dad! airs Sundays at 9:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

     If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Click here to read all of my reviews of American Dad!

     Please click here to purchase DVDs and streaming episodes of American Dad!

The Voice stinks up NBC

     NBC launched its answer to FOX's American Idol last night The Voice. The Voice is a singing competition where four "coaches" listen to singers with their backs turned, then chose who they would like on their team. If more than one coach chooses the singer, then the performer gets to pick which coach they would like to work with. The Voice's coaches are all professional musicians, and the freshman run's lineup consists of "F*** You"'s Cee Lo Green, pop princess Christina Aguilera, country crooner Blake Shelton, and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. The show is hosted by late night talker Carson Daly.  Like Idol and many American competition shows, this series is adapted from a foreign television program.

     The Voice's format for this first round is to introduce a singer, giving viewers a back story, and then let them perform. This is a direct knockoff of American Idol, who does roughly the same thing. As such, the back story segment is stale and unoriginal, bogging down the pacing of the singing competition. While audiences do like to know a bit about the people they watch, showing these stories in the early episodes, before fans have chosen who to support, is unnecessary. The bits shown now will be forgotten as the season goes on. It would be smarter to save the looks at the singers' lives for later rounds. This is something Idol does not do, so it would further distinguish the two programs.

     Another element similar to Idol is how nice the coaches are to the contestants that they do not like. Simon Cowell alone is truthful and blunt, while other Idol judges are not. This is a serious weakness for Idol. Even though it has maintained ratings this year, that will not last. It is dreadfully boring to only hear sweet comments. If a coach does not like a singer, they should just say so. Further mistakes were made by showing coaches' tweets during last night's televised airing, certain ones of which gave encouragement for ousted singers. If not one of the four coaches chose the singer because of their voice. it is not likely the public will hear from them again, so don't lie and say so.

     The coaches themselves can see each other, both when backs are turned, and when some have spun around. As such, it is not really a blind judging, as it claims to be. All four coaches show that they are taking each others' opinions into account by pushing or not pushing their button while glancing at their peers. For this show to truly work, it would be better if the coaches were in isolation. Simple dividers between the chairs could easily be put up and lowered at will. It would not impede the show, but actually bolster its conceit.

     Finally, the home audience is cheated by seeing the singers as they perform. The entire point of The Voice is that the competitors are judged on singing ability alone. Yet, while the coaches cannot see what the contestants look like, the viewers can. To truly experience that voice-only aspect, cameras should stay on the coaches, at least until one coach turns around and sees the singer. Little effort would be needed for this small and very beneficial change.

     Without some tweaks, The Voice is as not worth watching as this season of American Idol. Should you decide to watch, tune in to NBC Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET.

     If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Click here for all of my Current Season Reviews.

Saturday Night Live - "Gwyneth Paltrow / Cee Lo Green"

For frequent mini-reviews and occasional TV news, follow Jerome on Twitter.

     I've been waiting all season for an episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live to inspire me to write an article. Had I been writing TV reviews a couple of years ago, I would have considered covering the series every week, as it was so good and consistently funny. Sadly, for the past year or so, consistently mediocre is the best label I can give SNL. After thirty-six years, there are bound to be cycles, and the show has gone through bad patches before. Sadly, we are firmly stuck in one of them now.

     However, this week's episode was great. Not the best I've ever seen, but the best in a long time. Almost every sketch was truly funny. And the thing is, the success cannot be attributed to host Gwyneth Paltrow, so it is highly repeatable. Don't get me wrong; Gwyneth did a fine job. Most of the hosts do, including recent ones. Cee Lo Green, the musical guest, also appeared in several bits, and also did well. But this series always comes down to the writing, and for the most part, last night's writing was something quite superior to this season's norm.

     The opening sketch was a fine example of political satire. FOX News went with the 'Embracing Civility' message being called for after last week's shooting in Arizona, and Greta van Susteren (Kristen Wiig) brought together some of the network's most popular hosts, including a very reluctant Glenn Beck (Jason Sudeikis). However, she also allowed liberal James Carville (Bill Hader) on to provoke Beck and the others, and when Rachel Maddow (Abby Elliott) took over Glenn's chalkboard, it was all over.

     It was a timely, tightly run piece of material put together by the cast and writers, which despite recent showings, proved that they are still talented. Sure, FOX is an easy target, but that doesn't mean it isn't hilarious when they are lambasted properly, as they were in this opening. Easy target or not, it still takes talent to execute a good parody. SNL has gobs of talent, and it's past time the show itself stop forgetting that.

     Also memorable, though the joke did start to wear a little thin before the segment was over, was a foul-mouthed record executive (Paltrow) fighting to get Cee Lo's "Forget You" on the radio. Yes, the sanitized version. The conceit here was that 'forget' was the filthy word, and so the exec used it quite frequently, in the same ways some of us would use f***. She and the other actors in the scene, including eventually Cee Lo as himself, used a variety of other words to fill in for other curses, including 'Country Strong', the title of Paltrow's new movie. The end segued into Cee Lo singing "Forget You", which, except in Paltrow's capable hands on a recent episode of Glee, is not nearly as enjoyable as the original, "F*** You". Still, a neat way and different way to present a musical number. This is something the show should try to do again, as it better connects the musical guests, which often seem out of place. I usually fast forward through them, even if it's an artist I enjoy. I didn't this time, thanks to the sketch.

     The weakest parts of the show, because, of course, it wasn't a perfect episode, were mostly jokes that went on a little too long, like the aforementioned skit. It also occurred during a recurring gag on Weekend Update with Garth (Fred Armisen) and Kat (Wiig), who were joined by a friend (Paltrow) this week. Sure, sometimes the improvising duets gets sort of amusing, but only in the way that an unfunny joke runs so long that eventually it elicits a slight smile. I would be pleased to not see Garth and Kat again.

     Weekend Update is always funny, no matter how bland the rest of the show gets, and this week was no exception. Hosted by Seth Meyers, SNL's current head writer, somehow the barbs there always land, and not just in Seth's to-the-camera headlines, though those are hilarious. This week's Update also included the return of Jimmy McMillian (Kenan Thompson), who wants to run for president with the platform 'The Deficit is Too Damn High'. You may remember, the real McMillan, who is a unique looking individual, recently ran for governor of New York for The Rent is Too Damn High Party. Timely, and sharp-witted, the gag worked beautifully.

     A recent trend on Saturday Night Live is to bring a bunch of singers together for very short samples of their music. This is often done with made-up, ridiculous groups or solo acts, but recently, with a cast rich in impersonations, there has been more famous artists in evidence. In my favorite sketch this week, several big names in the music industry parodied their songs for a boy's bar mitzvah. The guests included Taylor Swift (Paltrow), Jay-Z (newcomer Jay Pharoah), Alicia Keys (Nasim Pedrad), and Katy Perry (Elliott). I don't know why, but the absurdity of Hebrew-forced lyrics into pop hits made me giggle.

     A close second, almost as funny as the bar mitzvah, was a sketch set in Shakespearean times when The Globe theater introduced previews of upcoming attractions. Sure, it was silly. I know small snippets of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet were never presented, complete with a modern movie announcer's dramatic tone, before a performance of The Taming of the Shrew. However, the absurdness of the moment was surreal, and I hope more sketches like it will be revisited in the future. Historical comedy can definitely be funny, though it's so infrequently done. I don't know why it worked, exactly, but then, most great comedy is elusive to pin down. It was original and clever, a powerful combination.

     I could go on and talk about the Digital Short with Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens playing his famous character), or the monologue duet with Kenny Rogers (Sudeikis), or The Fresh Prince of Bel Air DVD special features (starring Pharoah and Thompson, of course), or even the fantastic parody commercials of The Cape knock offs, but this article is long enough. The bottom line is, Saturday Night Live and its cast showed us that they still have what it takes to produce a show worthy of the respected series name. I wish they'd do it more often.

     Saturday Night Live airs live Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m. on NBC.

Article first published as TV Review: Saturday Night Live - "Gwyneth Paltrow / Cee Lo Green" on Blogcritics.