MXC

MXC (Most eXtreme elimination Challenge) is the best show that almost nobody knows about. I mentioned this show in my last post when I talked about The Office. I said how The Office had become my favorite show, but this is for only one reason- I never see MXC anymore. I used to watch it all the time, it was on when I came home from school, and it was on later at night. They used to have MXC marathons on the weekends and I would watch that show for hours. But now, it’s almost never on. So I did some searching, and I found it on Spike TV at 1 or 2 in the morning on Friday or Saturday. It always changes between those days, so I just have to guess when it will be on. It sucks.

MXC was my favorite show because I never stopped laughing. I would laugh at the opening commentaries, at Guy LeDouche, and at Captain Tenneal. I would laugh at the stupid games, at the names of the people, and at what the people said before they went to play. But most of all, I would laugh at the un-athletic, and un-coordinated Japanese people basically hurting themselves on a game show. They jump and run and fall into “today’s mystery septic sludge” and in doing so, they would make me laugh even harder.

For those of you who have not seen the show, you are missing out. It is witty and off-the-wall. Its humor is not only in the stupid people, but it’s in the dialogue of the commentators as well. The show is a real Japanese game show, which a couple of guys re-dubbed into English. They talk over what is really being said, and say completely random, completely sarcastic, and completely side-splitting comments.

They games are my favorite part. They are pointless and always very difficult, even for athletic people. They require skill that most people do not have. It is these people, who wipe out, that are the substance of the show. When they don’t succeed, they get eliminated. At the end of the show, there is a Most Painful Elimination segment, where the people who wiped out the worst are featured.

All I can say is that if you have not seen this show, you don’t know what you are missing yet. You need to stay up late one night and watch it, if anything, just to say you have seen it. But I promise you, it’s definitely worth it.

The Office

I know that this blog is supposed to be about movies, but I would like to talk about a TV show. This has become my favorite show on television, passing even the best episodes of MXC. It is witting, thought provoking, and extremely awkward. The show I am talking about is called The Office.

Before I begin, I need to say that The Office was originally a show on the BBC, created by Ricky Gervais. I have not seen the “original,” but I have heard that it is better than the American version. I always say that I highly doubt this because The Office is the best show ever and nothing could be better, but I guess I should keep an open mind, I think Ricky Gervais is hilarious.

The Office stars Steve Carrel as Michael Scott- the manager of the Scranton branch of a small paper company, Dunder Mifflin. I do not know how he does it, but he is just an awkward person. He has a tendency to get into situations where he has no clue what to say next. This just makes the viewer uncomfortable. It is hard to watch an episode of The Office without cringing at the tension created by Michael Scott.

There other characters of The Office, but I only know by their names on the show. So here is a brief background of the characters and history of the show. Jim and Pam have had an ongoing and rocky office relationship. Pam got engaged (not to Jim) but eventually broke the engagement (because of Jim). Dwight is a suck up to Michael, and was having an affair with the office “stuck up” lady, Angela. Angela gets engaged to Andy, who has an anger management problem, but Angela continues to have the affair with Dwight. Phyllis is the large woman who gets made fun of a lot, Kevin is the large man who acts naturally as a mentally challenged person would, Meredith is the redhead alcoholic, and Creed is the creepy old guy. Oscar is a gay Mexican, Toby has a secret crush on Pam, Stanley is the “leave-me-alone” guy who does crosswords, and Kelly has a very oddly shaped relationship with Ryan the temp who becomes a corporate giant only to fall because of a corruption and a drug problem.

That was a brief description of each of the main characters. It may not seem like much of a concept, but to understand them, you actually have to watch the show. If you watch more than one episode, you will come to learn that they are all very well developed and very likeable to the viewer. The Office grows on you, and you will find yourself saying, “when is the next Office on?” When you watch The Office, you feel like you are part of an office. A very dysfunctional, uncomfortable office to say the least.