Best Week Ever
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins | |
|---|---|
 Logo from Best Week Ever (pre-format change) |
|
| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | Paul F. Tompkins (host) Chuck Nice Rob Huebel Paul Scheer Melissa Rauch Doug Benson Nick Kroll Jessica St. Clair Mike Britt Adam Winer Various |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes (incl. commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | VH1 |
| Original run | 2004 – 2009 (on hiatus) |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins (BWE) is a weekly television program on the United States cable/satellite network VH1. It started airing in 2004. On June 12, 2009, current host Paul F. Tompkins announced that the show was leaving the airwaves until early 2010. Whether this decision was based on ratings, economics or other reasons remains unclear.
On the show, comedians analyze the past week's developments in pop culture, including recent happenings in entertainment and celebrity gossip.
The show's tagline is, "It's everything you love, everything you missed, and all the stuff you need to see again."
Contents |
[edit] Format
The show follows a similar format to that set by the popular miniseries I Love the 80s and its successors (which was based on a format put together by the BBC).
Each new episode airs on Friday evening at 11:00 PM, and repeats are usually broadcast several times over the weekend. At the end of every episode, the show names which celebrity, group of people, or object has had the Best Week Ever.
When the series started, VH1 ran a special once-a-month episode called Best Month Ever, but episodes have ceased production. Similarly, there was also a Best Summer Ever.
The program's original Typepad-hosted blog at bestweekever.blogs.com originally served as an ersatz online writer's room, mainly used to preview the events in the news which would end up in the Friday episode. In 2006, bestweekever.tv was launched to serve as more of a daily blog mostly separate from the program itself (beyond promotions and tie-ins for the show), detailing humorous stories in the news, odd television and YouTube videos, and features main contributors Michelle Collins, Dan Hopper, and Sara Schaefer's observations on pop culture and other items.
The humor on Best Week Ever can best be described as ironic, as comedians assess this week in pop culture. Sometimes actors and musicians also have guest spots on the program. Several panelists were members of the improvisational comedy troupe Respecto Montalban.
[edit] Format change: single host
Beginning October 24, 2008, the show adopted a new format with a single host who summarizes the week's events [1]. The show was renamed Best Week Ever With Paul F. Tompkins. Paul F. Tompkins-who stands- introduces topics from behind a podium, summarizing the week's events. Tompkins occasionally throws to panelists (usually Jessica St. Clair, Paul Scheer, Mike Britt, or Doug Benson) who offer their own take on a particular subject. Tompkins, a long-time panelist, has been with the show since its inception. However, fan reception has not always been warm to the new format. Prior to the shows hiatus, The Insider ran an article titiled "Has Paul F. Tomkins Ruined Best Week Ever Yet?" and says the show has "gone off the deep end once they took away every funny comic and left us with creepy and strangely hairly Paul."[2]
[edit] Weekly format
In both the original and new format, each week consists of four main segments and at least one peripheral segment. The first segment has no specific title and features the biggest news stories of the week. The second segment is "The Sizzler" (originally titled the Buzz Saw). It features Chuck Nice discussing he "hot" celebrity gossip. This section is formatted to satirize celebrity tabloid shows such as The Insider. Next is "In Case You Missed" which briefly showcases several short clips from the week's television (and occasionally the Internet and radio). The show ends with somebody being awarded "The Best Week Ever" an ironic prize usually given to somebody or something which has been featured extensively on news programs, a viral video (or any new meme), or prominent reality show contestant of the week. Recipients include Barack Obama (after beating out Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination), the Dramatic Prairie Dog, and Midget Mac.
[edit] Additional programming
The show has podcast and IPTV elements, including Best Night Ever, where a host goes through the night or weekend in television in a four-minute segment, and extra footage and segments on VH1's VSPOT online channel. In 2006, Best Week Ever became the first Viacom property to offer complete, free episodes for download.
For sometime before the format change, VH1 began to have "Best Day Ever" episodes that air Monday through Thursday for about five minutes and have different comedians go through the pop culture events of the day. Additionally, at the end of each calendar year, the show prepares a Best Year Ever special filled with "clips of celeb horrors of the past year" [3].
[edit] Regular segments
- "Eight Words Or Less", Doug Benson reviews popular movies in eight words or less.
- "Paul F. Tompkins: Celebrity Defender.", In this segment Paul F. Tompkins attempts to comically defend celebrities while they are on trial.
- "Doug Benson: Pop Culture Bachelor", comedian Doug Benson gives roses to events of the week he wants to see more of in a similar manner to the ABC show The Bachelor.
- "Blind Item": A panelist offers clues as to the identity of a mystery celebrity, only to give a false answer contradictory to the correct identity
- "Doug Benson TSI: Trailer Scene Investigator". Doug Benson discusses recent movie trailers.
- "The Express Lane", a quick review of the biggest pop culture stories.
- "Five Good Reasons", coming up with reasons to do one particular unfavorable act, such as voting in the 2004 elections or see the worst movie of the week.
- "Upgrade/Downgrade", giving a thumbs-up or -down on items in a certain category.
- "What Your Purchases Say About You", decoding the hidden messages in your spending.
- "Idol Worship", a recap of events on American Idol that week.
- "Ask Best Week Ever", a segment in which a man will answer questions from fans.
- "Hot/Not Hot", a summary of three weekly stories; the third is always of an odd theme.
[edit] Extended hiatus
Normally Best Week Ever leaves for a summer break during July and August and returns in September. New York magazine reported that Best Week Ever is on an extended hiatus until January 2010 and that "Best Day Ever" will return in the fall with Paul F. Tompkins hosting. However, the staffers fear that the show may never come back.[4] The last episode aired June 12, 2009, with Dan Moschella named as having had the Best Week Ever. [5]
Paul F. Tompkins announced via Twitter that Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins had been canceled, and was not coming back. However, as of September 30th, "Best Day Ever" has been airing with Paul Scheer hosting. This show airs Wednesday to Friday every week and returned with the tagline "reports of our cancellation have been greatly exaggerated." Still, the future of "Best Week Ever" is uncertain.
[edit] Criticism
In its recounting of the events of the past week, Best Week Ever has been seen as a sign of the short attention span of millions of Americans. In a 2005 interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams said: "We have such short attention spans. Heck, VH1 has a show about last week" [6]. In an article on the Pipe Dream website about VH1's decade-retrospective shows, writer Jeanette Duffy notes that "VH1 has moved on from exploiting entire decades to making us reminisce over events that happened just days ago in the Best Week Ever", jokingly suggesting that cable networks might eventually produce the "Best Five Minutes Ever" [7]. Despite this criticism, Best Week Ever is not unlike other shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Extra, and even most daily and nightly news programs in how it features and discusses very recent events.
[edit] Cast
Since its premiere, the show's announcer has been Larry Kenney, though in some weeks Leer Leary, a Kenney sound-alike (or a panelist doing an imitation of his voice) is used when he isn't available.
Current and former panelists include:
[edit] References
- ^ Metro Philadelphia "‘Best Week Ever’ gets even better with fresh new host." Patalano, Heidi. Oct.31,2008.
- ^ The Insider "Has Paul F. Tomkins Ruined Best Week Ever Yet?" Jun. 8,2009.
- ^ http://www.nypost.com/seven/12122008/tv/what_do_they_have_in_common__143811.htm Dec.12.2008 New York Post. What Do They Have In Common? Only They Would Call '08 'Best Year' Linda Stasi.
- ^ VH1 Shelves Best Week Ever, Possibly Permanently. New York Magazine. June 6, 2009.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Williams Expresses Scorn For BWE
- ^ bupipedream.com Best 5 Min Ever
