Monday, July 21, 2008

Flight of the Conchords: Season 1

So what is this one about?
HBO describes its wildly popular new show as,
Flight of the Conchords follows the trials and tribulations of a two man, digi-folk band from New Zealand as they try to make a name for themselves in their adopted home of New York City. The band is made up of Bret McKenzie on guitar and vocals, and Jemaine Clement on guitar and vocals.

Bret and Jemaine have moved to New York in the hope of forging a successful music career. So far they've managed to find a manager (whose "other" job is at the New Zealand Consulate), one fan (a married obsessive) and one friend (who owns the local pawn shop) -- but not much else.
And how much did I pay to watch?
Well, I got the first disc on Netflix. But I liked it so much that I considered buying the dvd set. On amazon it was only $17.99. How could I resist that? So I bought it.

And what did I think?
It took me awhile to wrap my mind around this one. I didn't really get it. I watched the whole season and then I had to do a lot of internets research to figure out what the hell was going on. Turns out, and I'm sure people already knew this, that Flight of the Conchords are actually New Zealand's totally popular folk-parody duo. So they are really New Zealanders, they are really singers, and they do really do the ridiculous music that is in the show in real life.

Awesomely catchy ones like

and amusingly bizarre ones like this

And you can't forget funny smart ones like I mean, "my eyes are just a little sweaty today" CLASSIC.

Of course, you've all probably seen these. Maybe once again I am woefully late in getting tuned into a wildly popular show.

The show is quite infectious. The first time I watched the whole thing I found that the music got in the way of the plot, which is what I was more interested in. Now that I have gone back and watched it all again I am begining to appreciate the music. I think it does take more than one time to get all the quick and small humor. Or, maybe thats just me.

Jermaine is one creepy looking guy, but I think that adds to it. (Because once I bought "If You're Into It" on itunes it wasn't nearly as funny to listen to because you can't see Jermaine dancing and acting like a maniac. Its sort of cringe-com tastic.) Other than that the guys are so earnest and innocent. How could you not find that endearing?

So what is the rating? (out of 10)
One thing that is amazing about this show is the accents. I mean, the accents add at least a point or two to my rating. Man, the accents are AMAZING! I find myself imitating Murray and laughing maniacally. "Well, couldn't Bret be your rapping name?" hahahahahhahahahahahhahahaah!!!

I'd probably give the show about a 7 or an 8. It doesn't have that solid emotional core like The Office which when paired with humor makes it a classic. But it is funny, and smart. Plus, the added point or two from the accents tops this show with a rating of 9. Its high, yes, but the accents really are amazing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you warmed up to this show. i knew you would. and yeah i guess if you don't know that they're not really acting then it's much weirder. yay!

this is not a joke said...

Yeah, I've totally warmed up to it. I watch it when I'm in the room doing something else...you know, as my background noise.