Let's Go to the Mall!!

November 22, 2006 5:55 AM

Let's Go To the Mall!! Could Robin Sparkles be the patron saint of Black Friday? Ok, so maybe her myspace page is just marketing for a CBS sitcom, but her video is one of the funniest, most accurate (and too damned catchy for its own good!) 80's video parodies in recent memory. The show's not bad, either. Probably the best comedy not on NBC right now.
posted by ericbop (41 comments total)

You're kidding, right..?
posted by WhipSmart at 6:20 AM on November 22, 2006

This was probably one of the best episodes of this show. You can watch it on the CBS page (if you have realplayer installed).

The show has really grown on me. This season better than last- Ted is not as whiny as he was when he was looking for a girlfriend. Barney makes the show, as far as I'm concerned. He's a great character. I would rate it the second best comedy on TV now, behind The Office.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 6:20 AM on November 22, 2006

Not one, but two! Two exclamation points!
posted by craven_morhead at 6:21 AM on November 22, 2006

On tomorrow's day of giving thanks, it would be appropriate to, rather than spend, spend spend, to give something back in appreciation for all that you have, no matter how meager what you have might be. There is alway someone out there with less. Give thanks, give generously.
posted by caddis at 6:45 AM on November 22, 2006

Legen.... wait for it.... dary!
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:46 AM on November 22, 2006

The quicktime version is better. See also.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:02 AM on November 22, 2006

MetaFilter: Best Advertising for a Television Show On The Web
posted by mrbill at 7:04 AM on November 22, 2006

I was glad when I saw the Canadian flag, because at first I thought she was faking the coat-about rhyme, and that would just be going too far.
posted by textilephile at 7:06 AM on November 22, 2006

Oh man, I thought that was the best episode of the year, if not in the whole series. Absolutely hilarious!!!
posted by emoeby at 7:27 AM on November 22, 2006

Remembering the 80's is better than living the 80's
posted by stbalbach at 7:27 AM on November 22, 2006

amen to that, stbalbach
posted by I, Credulous at 7:31 AM on November 22, 2006

Hah! This episode was fantastic... though not my favourite. However, Barney and Marshall's (my two favourite characters, hands down) slap bet was probably one of my favourite subplots of the series. I can't wait for the last 4 slaps! :)
posted by antifuse at 7:33 AM on November 22, 2006

Ok, so maybe her myspace page is just marketing for a CBS sitcom...

Ok, so maybe my spasmodically ejected putrefied innards are just a result of crashing and bleeding from Ebola. That's not my only party trick though.
posted by prostyle at 7:42 AM on November 22, 2006

Irretrievable seconds of my life. Pants!
posted by Shave at 7:49 AM on November 22, 2006

Swarley.
posted by thanotopsis at 7:49 AM on November 22, 2006

I disagree.

The 80s are to be forgotten, not satirized or playfully remembered. Those who do obviously didn't live through them.
posted by DonnieSticks at 7:54 AM on November 22, 2006

It was really funny when I watched on the TV episode. Robin Sparkle's character would have been happier if the video [which was found by another character, against her will] was a porno, because she thought it would be less embarrassing if she had an old porn tape floating around, rather than that monstrosity. True dat.

One thing that bugged me, though, is that it is an obvious Debbie Gibson parody. But the characters in that show are too young to have been Debbie-Gibson-esque child stars. So they came up with the lame line "the 80s didn't come to Canada until 1993."

That annoyed me. But it was still funny.
posted by teece at 7:55 AM on November 22, 2006

Although, the character is Canadian, so Alanis Morisette is the natural parody target. Was Alanis a Debbie Gibson clone in her teen star days?
posted by teece at 8:02 AM on November 22, 2006

I was all set to hate this, but the video was fantastic. Thanks.
posted by Alt F4 at 8:06 AM on November 22, 2006

Was Alanis a Debbie Gibson clone in her teen star days?

Yup.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:12 AM on November 22, 2006

MetaFilter: Best Advertising for a Television Show On The Web

The television show is on the web, or the advertising is on the web? Both?
posted by Mister_A at 8:13 AM on November 22, 2006

The television show is on the web, or the advertising is on the web? Both?

Regardless of how funny a video is, this just screams pepsi blue to me.
posted by mrbill at 8:15 AM on November 22, 2006

This is the best 80s music parody I've seen on a half-hour comedy program.

Poor Darkplace.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:18 AM on November 22, 2006

My intellectual side is saying I shouldn't think it is funny because it's not good enough to just say "Rubik's cube!", you should actually be able to make a funny joke about a Rubik's cube, but I couldn't help myself.

My favorite part is when she taps the robot on the shoulder and it looks the wrong way.
posted by thekilgore at 9:01 AM on November 22, 2006

I was dazzled by the masterful keytar work in the video.
posted by horsewithnoname at 9:24 AM on November 22, 2006

I'll add myself to the voices in favor of the show. I started watching it because of NPH and quickly realized that the whole cast had a dynamic that I really liked.
posted by quin at 9:40 AM on November 22, 2006

(Well, if it is a marketing campaign, at least we've gotten a good $20 out of them. Lookit all these shills!)

(Kidding, kidding. Mostly. I think.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:49 AM on November 22, 2006

French and Saunders band Raw Sex ftw.

See also:
David Brent.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:51 AM on November 22, 2006

Suit up, people! How I Met Your Mother is very funny. I haven't liked a sitcom in a long, long time (*certainly* not one with a laughtrack [Satan's gift to television]). Like other posters, I tuned in to the pilot just for Neil Patrick Harris and I stayed because the five cast members worked so well together. It took me about half a season to realize why I liked it so much - I mean, besides the fact that the writing is pretty funny.

On most sitcoms, when a character delivers a joke, everyone holds for the laugh from the audience. I mean, the actors just *stand there* waiting for the laugh to die down, and then continue the scene. On HIMYM, when a character says something funny, the other characters *laugh* - just like friends do when one of them says something funny. While it can fall into sitcom traps at times, I think it's the best three-camera currently on tv. And there is no doubt in my mind that Barney (or should I say Swarley) will become legen ... ... ... DARY! He's too cool to fall prey to the "kooky neighbor" trap and too funny to be the "fifth wheel", and the role will not cause any typecasting problems for NPH because, frankly, there's nothing out there like Swarley. I mean Barney.

< / pimping>
posted by tzikeh at 10:20 AM on November 22, 2006

If "How I Met Your Mother" or "Your Mom" as my friend and I affectionately refer to it in conversation, is going to be dubbed Pepsi Blue, you must know that it is a delicious, delicious flavor that has constantly surprised me at overcoming it's laughtrac... err, carbonation, and managing to be HILARIOUS.

Plus the cast members laugh at each other's jokes when they're funny! Like they're oh, I don't know, PEOPLE.
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:29 AM on November 22, 2006

On preview.. tzikeh got there first on the laughter thing, but he's soooooo right.
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:31 AM on November 22, 2006

Was Joey Tribiani in that Alanis video?
posted by piratebowling at 10:45 AM on November 22, 2006

The Robin Sparkles episode was good, but the Swarley episode was even better.
posted by Lord Kinbote at 10:47 AM on November 22, 2006

Bookhouse beat me to it. Still waiting for the US DVD release. It apparently has the full video on it.

I don't recall the ringing guitar riff or pseudo rap in the FFP video which I think is sorely missing.
posted by infowar at 10:50 AM on November 22, 2006

Charlene (I'm Right Behind You) -- Stephen Colbert.
posted by The God Complex at 12:50 PM on November 22, 2006

Damn you all for having Alyson Hannigan on free-to-air television! Damn you all to hell.
posted by Sparx at 1:01 PM on November 22, 2006

I tuned in to the pilot just for Neil Patrick Harris

That's one of those phrases that just sounds wrong.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:02 PM on November 22, 2006

mrgrimm : That's one of those phrases that just sounds wrong.

I'm curious as to why. After Undercover Brother and Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, I think he was recognized as a comedic force to be reckoned with.

As I said above, he's the reason I started watching the show as well.
posted by quin at 8:04 PM on November 22, 2006

The show, and NPH, are both great.

Seriously, if you've "given up" on TV sitcoms, like I had, then you should watch. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't. But it most certainly is not terrible. It is well made, and the cast has real chemistry.

And another nod to the "the characters laugh when someone says something funny". This is so rudimentary that it seems like it should go without saying, until you watch this show, and you suddenly notice it doesn't happen anywhere else.

Seriously, think back... Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Three's Company, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners... they all let the joke be delivered, and stand there waiting for audience laughter. The cast members themselves don't laugh.

For this one thing the show is worthy of spending 20 minutes via your Tivo.
posted by Ynoxas at 10:41 PM on November 22, 2006

I have to echo what's already been said. I'd never so much as seen a second of the show until NPH came out, and then I saw everyone gushing about it and I grabbed the season 1 DVDRips. Now I am a fan, the show definitely delivers.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:11 PM on November 22, 2006

It really is a fantastic show, and NPH is The Man.
posted by nightchrome at 12:00 AM on November 23, 2006