Poster: Stuck In The '70's
(see this users gallery)
Hype ran from October 2000 until February 2001 on The WB.
" We're not celebrities, but we play them on tv." declared the young comics on this sketch comedy series, which in the tradition of Saturday Night Live and Mad TV satirized everything in pop culture-movies, tv series, commercials, sports, rock music, politics, celebrities and the internet. Each episode opened with the fast-paced Hype Report by Shayma Tash followed by imitations of Martha Stewart, Whitney Houston, George W. Bush, a droning Kurt Loder( of MTV) and William Shatner selling whores on priceline.com. President Clinton, unable to see the real Monica Lewinsky anymore, had sex with a poster of her.
The other regulars on this series were Michael Roof, Jennifer Elise Cox, Gavin Crawford, Daniele Gaither, Nadya Ginsburg, Stephen E. Kramer, Christen Nelson, Chris Williams, and Frank Caliendo.
An Article from The New York Daily News
Weekend Tv: 2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad Sunday: Nets To Butt Heads
BY DAVID BIANCULLI
Friday, September 29, 2000
Sunday. It's the biggest night of the TV week, with the most viewers and the most ad money at stake. CBS used to own Sundays, but last season, as with so many other things, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" changed all that.
"Millionaire" compensated for a fading "Wonderful World of Disney" and made Sundays into a virtual dead heat.
CBS is returning with its formerly dominant lineup: "60 Minutes," "Touched by an Angel" and the CBS Sunday movie and will butt heds with ABC for king of the hill honors - while Fox settles for televising "King of the Hill" and the rest of its returning lineup, and NBC, with little choice, tries something new.
That something is "Ed," a quirky and very likable comedy that appears smartly placed against the more old-fashioned "Millionaire" and "Touched." At the same time, though, "Ed" runs up against "The Simpsons," the Fox series that remains one of the Sunday touchstone.
Only three new shows are scheduled: "Ed" on NBC and the try-anything-once duo of "Hype" and "Nikki" on the WB.
Otherwise, with so much at stake, the networks are playing the hands they dealt themselves last year. "Millionaire" fizzle? Will "Touched" crash and burn? Will "The X-Files," now that David Duchovny is appearing in only some of the episodes, lose its focus or audience? And will "Ed" be found, or lost?
Here's the network-by-network Sunday breakdown:
• ABC. "Millionaire" had a great season last year; "The Practice," despite its ratings, did not. Yet there's no reason for ABC to mess with success - so, for the time being, it isn't. What you saw on ABC last year, you'll be seeing again.
• CBS. Ditto. "60 Minutes," the oldest currently running prime-time show on TV, remains a Top 10 show after all these decades - as well as the best newsmagazine on the air. The success of "Touched by an Angel" is harder to explain - but with the way CBS schedules "Hallmark Hall of Fame" and other family-friendly movies on Sunday, the night's lineup is designed to please - at least an older demographic and mass audience - from start to finish.
• NBC. A Sunday "Dateline NBC," the new "Ed," and the network's Sunday movie. NBC appears resigned to a distant third place behind ABC and CBS - as, for the moment, it should be.
• Fox. With "The Simpsons," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The X-Files," Fox has two solidly entertaining hours. Start the night with the equally clever"Futurama," and add "King of the Hill," and you have a familiar, very strong lineup - creatively, at least.
• WB. "The Jamie Foxx Show," "For Your Love," "The Steve Harvey Show" and "The PJs" - this patchwork of veteran and recycled shows leads into two new efforts, the Nikki Cox sitcom "Nikki" (she plays a Las Vegas dancer married to a would-be pro wrestler) and the sketch-comedy series "Hype."
None of these shows, new or old, is likely to make much of a dent on Sunday, or in the national consciousness.
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