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Black Roots Out Laughs In Irreverent Series; For Brooke Hogan, A Spinoff Grows In Miami
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Published: March 12, 2008
Updated: 03/11/2008 11:56 pm
"Lewis Black's Root of All Evil" is slightly raunchy, totally irreverent and good for a laugh or two if you don't take any of it seriously. Those who don't like their sacred cows roasted will be offended.
Coming up with a way to funnel Black's angry-man persona into a TV series is no easy task.
The New York-based comedy writer and sometime contributor to "The Daily Show" can be hilarious when he's on one of his "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it" rants about something stupid in politics or pop culture.
His eyes bulge. His face turns red. The blood vessels on his neck swell. You think his head might explode as he rips into whatever is annoying him.
After several attempts to find a suitable recurring outlet for his talents, Black has channeled his seething irascibility into a new Comedy Central series.
"Root of All Evil" debuts at 10:30 tonight (following the 10 p.m. season premiere of "South Park").
Alternating between silliness and sharp wit, Black plays Judge Judy to a couple of dueling lesser-known comics.
Each episode poses the question "Which is the root of all evil?" and puts the comics on the attack of some celebrity, cultural phenomenon or newsworthy item.
First up, funny men Paul F. Tompkins and Greg Giraldo argue whether Oprah Winfrey or the Catholic Church is the root of all evil.
On the second episode, Giraldo is back to engage comic Andy Kindler on the evils of Donald Trump versus the evils of Viagra - or as Black calls it, "a case of a stiff versus stiffer." In the coming weeks, comics Patton Oswalt, Kathleen Madigan and Andrew Daly are in Black's kangaroo court rotation.
At the end of each episode, Black weighs in with his "verdict," which usually has nothing to do with the arguments presented.
He gets off some of the best lines during the opening of each show and during his cross-examinations of the comics. And there's very little order in his court as insults fly back and forth between the comics and the judge.
BROOKE HOGAN: Hulk Hogan's VH1 series may be history, but the network has decided to give his daughter, Brooke, her own series.
Coming later this year is "Brooke Hogan Knows Best," a spinoff of "Hogan Knows Best." The 10-episode series will follow Brooke as she sets out on her own in Miami.
Born in the Tampa Bay area, Brooke turns 20 in May. When the "Hogan Knows Best" series started on VH1 three seasons ago, much of the story line revolved around her protective father trying to shepherd her budding singing career.
Her first release, "Everything to Me" (2004), didn't make it past No. 97 on Billboard's Top 100. A second single, "About Us," went to No. 33 on the Billboard charts.
VH1 has not announced a debut date for her series.
VIDBITS: First he lost on "Dancing With the Stars." Now he has lost his MSNBC gig. The all-news network has decided to drop "Tucker," a weekday gabfest starring the bow tie-wearing conservative pundit Tucker Carlson. He will be replaced at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday by David Gregory's "Race for the White House."
•A fourth season of backstabbing, bickering and egos clashing over hot stoves begins tonight with the return of "Top Chef" on Bravo at 10.
This time the setting is Chicago, and the 16 contestants are supposedly the most talented to date. Didn't they say the same thing about this round of "American Idol"?
TUNE IN TONIGHT
Law & Order (10 p.m., NBC)
Lara Flynn Boyle guest stars as an investigative reporter who gets all snarled up in a case involving dog fighting.
CSI: NY (10 p.m., CBS)
Another kinky case for the New York crime busters involves the death of a supermodel who was posing inside a gigantic martini glass on a Billboard. She was shaken and stirred.
For more TV listings, go to TBO.com, keyword: TV.
Keyword: Walt TV to read more views and reviews by television critic Walt Belcher.
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