There is a familiar feel to "Death Comes to Town," the new eight-part comedy series from the "Kids in the Hall" debuting tonight at 9 on IFC.
The funny-looking faces may be a bit older, but they're still the same gang of cross-dressing Canadians.
That's not a bad thing.
This go-round isn't the old sketch comedy for Dave Foley, Mark McKinney and the rest of the now aging "Kids." It's a wacky murder mystery set in the small and less-than-picturesque Ontario town of Shuckton, where the citizens are awaiting word on whether they're going to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Yes, it's as silly as it sounds. That's the whole point.
The show's title is to be taken literally, as McKinney plays a shabby little grim reaper who's come to town to collect souls. He and the rest of the all-guy crew play their usual multiple characters, male and female.
The setting and somewhat macabre style is reminiscent of "The League of Gentlemen." And if you're a fan of the Kids, whose first show got a late-night airing on CBS back at the end of the 1980s, this comedy won't be unexpected.
The mix is entertaining for an hour of Friday night viewing -- or whenever you watch in the age of time-shifting.
"Death Comes to Town" aired in Canada earlier this year, and the first two installments have their U.S. premiere at 9 tonight on IFC, available on satellite and digital cable. And thanks to IFC for offering a US TV home to a funny show that could never make the broadcast networks today.
Here's a video sampler of "Death Comes to Town."
On TV: Convicted felon Rod Blagojevich relaunched his media campaign for something on NBC's "Today" this morning, and the disgraced former Illinois governor has a growing number of interviews over the next few days. The most ridiculous planned stop: Comedy Central's "Daily Show" at 10 p.m. Monday.
- MTV has picked E! Entertainment TV talk show host Chelsea Handler to host next month's Video Music Awards.
- USA Network says "Psych" will return to the schedule Nov. 10, and "Burn Notice" will be back the following night.
- Speaking of USA, it's ordered a second season of "Covert Affairs."
- "View" panelist Sherri Shepherd will take over hosting duties on GSN' "Newlywed Game" on Nov. 1, replacing Carnie Wilson.
Talking radio with Tom Joerres: This week's OnMedia segment, featuring my chat with the retiring Tom Joerres, the general manager of Saga Communication's five Milwaukee radio stations, is available starting today on Time Warner Cable's Wisconsin on Demand Channel 411.
If you don't have cable, here's the video:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
