WATCHING PLAY-DOH DRY HAS MORE LAUGHS.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic UPN UPN User Principal Name (Microsoft Windows 2000) UPN United Paramount Network UPN Unión del Pueblo Navarro (Navarrese People Union) UPN Umgekehrte Polnische Notation has trumpeted its acquisition of the MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. production ``Celebrity Deathmatch Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation parody television show that pits celebrities against each other in a wrestling ring, almost always ending in the loser's gruesome death. ,'' the intermittently amusing clay-animation production that plays like a cross between ``Entertainment Tonight'' and ``World Wrestling Federation Raw!'' Whether a network's airing of basic-cable-budgeted product is a cause for celebration or not is a discussion for another time, but UPN needed a complementary program for ``Deathmatch,'' and heck, ``Gary & Mike'' will do. There's not a whole lot of setup in tonight's special premiere - 20- something loser Gary (voice of Christopher Moynihan) prepares for a road trip, only to be joined at the last second by doofus doo·fus n. pl. doo·fus·es Slang An incompetent, foolish, or stupid person. [Perhaps blend of doof, fool (from Scots) and goofus, fool (from goof). womanizer wom·an·ize v. woman·ized, woman·iz·ing, woman·iz·es v.intr. To pursue women lecherously. v.tr. To give female characteristics to; feminize. Mike (Harland Williams), who has the insane biker-cop father (Kurtwood Smith) of a recent conquest hot on his tail. Things go wrong immediately, but what else could happen when the ghosts of Gary's family heroes Lewis and Clark appear to him in a dream and warn him, ``Your friend's an idiot''? They lose their wheels to hayseed militia goons, who are profoundly insulted when they're compared to the rednecks from ``Deliverance.'' They're arrested for animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature. , then rescued by satanists. In a future episode, they arrive in Washington, D.C., where Gary idealistically signs up as an aide to an impossibly upright senator pushing the miraculous universal health-care bill that even Hillary Clinton couldn't nudge through Congress. Meanwhile, Mike gets jiggy with a Supreme Court Justice; her advanced age doesn't matter because, as he observes, ``In the hot tub of life, everybody's wrinkled.'' Their contribution to the Democratic process is even more disastrous than what happened down in Florida recently. ``Gary & Mike'' is as cynical as most UPN entertainment, but an occasional smart line or gag or subversive idea slips through nonetheless. The animation's kind of on the ugly side, but that's probably the point. And for those who've been waiting for such a thing, there's even semi-discreet clay-animation sex. Call this new-millennial search for the soul of America ``Sleazy slea·zy adj. slea·zi·er, slea·zi·est 1. a. Shabby, dirty, and vulgar; tawdry: "sleazy storefronts with torn industrial carpeting and dirt on the walls" Rider.'' ``GARY & MIKE'' What: Clay-animation comedy about two slackers on a road trip through America. The stars: Voices of Christopher Moynihan, Harland Williams. Where: UPN (Channel 13) When: 9:30 tonight; 8 p.m. Fridays thereafter. Our rating: Two and one half stars |
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