With the end of the series, there were many unused ideas that weren't quite right for the series or were just terrible ideas that weren't worth developing, or were ideas that made perfect sense to me but little to anyone else. Ideas highlighted in bold are previously intended episodes that were dropped in the last minute. Consider this as an unaired forth season.
The Animated Soap Opera(Intended Season Arc for Season 2) Harold wants to prove his chops by doing something nobody(for many reasonable reasons) has ever attempted. The project nearly destroys Harold.
The Intervention(Season 1) Harold admits to everyone that he has never tried a single drug in his life. Everyone tries to convince to do so. Meanwhile, Harold argues with a girl in the street who tells him that a viral video of his "high" voice was the funniest thing she's ever seen.
The Presentation(Season 3) Harold, on the eve of a large presentation, begins hyperventilating upon the sight of hundreds of heads and bodies assembling in the same room. he's been drinking a bottle of water, which sloshes back and forth on the walls. As more people greet him and wish him luck, Harold ignores them and instinctively taps his bottle. Reni, normally obnoxious, approaches Harold and wishes him luck. Harold mentions to her how uncomfortable he feels. 'Is it me?' "Not this time. There's too many people here; I'm getting claustrophobic." 'I think you can just leave now, I'm sure no one will mind.' "You think so?" 'Yeah.' "Hmm." Instead, he sticks around and has, arguably, his most enjoyable conversation all day. "Yeah, I think I'll slip out." 'Alright, well...Nice talking to you,then.' "Same." Harold leaves, giving a small wave to Reni and swaggering the last drops of water.
Friends with Stupid Faces(Season 2) Harold gets invited to his friend’s house for a get-together, but once he realizes what the occasion is, he bails(He doesn’t want to see a reality TV show like Keeping Up with the Kardashians.) Upon walking to the nearest bus stop, he decides his behavior was childish and walks back, just when the bus stops next to him. Harold signals for the bus to move on, but the bus driver insist Harold comes, going so far as to offer a free bus ride. Turns out that nobody has been on the bus for the past weeks and the driver desperately wants to have a conversation with anyone, even a loner. Harold leaves, despite, and walks back, wondering why the driveway has one car instead of two. Harold knocks on the door and in the same instant, it opens. Harold learns that they left, since they began wondering why they were watching the show. “It’s just bitches slapping each other. It’s Bitchslap: The Show!” Harold apologizes and insists in calling the guys back just as one of his friends makes the signal to get the bucket.
The Substitute Teacher(Season 2) Harold temporarily gets a job as a teacher(gets the chance to try teaching an art class, but being despised by everyone for being a product of the media[despite Harold being an avant-guarde animator]). Meanwhile, he tries to buy an expensive marble for his wife's marble collection and ends up buying it three times(montage musically surrounded with Mozart's Piano Concerto), angers a student who mentions she has a boyfriend casually during class("Don't you think that's a hoity-toity comment?"-Harold), and begins questioning the ethics of holding the door open for people.
The Note(Season 1) One friday afternoon, Harold receives a note from an unknown source. Perplexed by the complexity of the short 5-word note, Harold embarks on a short journey, trying to discover the note's origin. Harold sees Tom and asks him, "hey. Tom" 'what's up?' "can you read this?" 'hmm...is this a treasure map...description?' "no, i found it right by my folder. It's the weirdest thing i've ever found." 'Huuuuuuuh. well, whatever it is, i wish you good luck on your unnecessary journey.' "ya, thanks, asshole." Tom leaves and Harold goes off to the nearest wall, taking some charcoal with him and inscribes the message on his notebook. For some reason, the note paralyzes Harold's thinking process and he ever does for the rest of the week is attempt to figure out what the note means, if anything.
Centripetal Force(Season 3) Harold tries to help a homosexual friend enter the dating scene. His co-workers, friends, bosses, and loved ones believe Harold might be a closeted homosexual. They test Harold's masculinity by telling Harold to sit in a chair for an hour and stare at "Michealangelo's David", while she, Tom, and the Editor count the amount of times when Harold looks at the testicles.
"Face" Value(Season 3) Harold has a conversation with a good friend of his, only realizing later that he had mistaken her for someone else. The incident confuses Harold and makes him act like he's been violated. His friend Tom, unaware of the underlying seriousness, tries to convince Harold otherwise.
Are You Wearing Blue Lipstick?(Season 3) Tom watches the Dark Knight again and becomes inexplicably obsessed with the Joker's personality. Meanwhile, Harold meets up with a sensitive, old friend and accidently brings up the "blue waffle".
The Night Out(Season 3) Tom, Marcy, and Harold's wife go out to a new club opening in the city while grumpy, unhip Harold stays at home, lamenting on a night lost.
Harold is asked by his best friend Tom to go with him and his girlfriend, Marcy, to a club. Harold hesitates but decides to go. At the club, Harold is stimulated by the multitude of colors and sensual behavior and decides to sit down where he is harassed by a group of beautiful women. After five minutes, he sneaks out and finds his car. He pulls off his traffic ticket and starts his car. Moving the stick to drive, the car shoots off incredibly fast and causes uncontrollable mayhem in the city. The car pulls out a portal gun and creates 2 portals that cause the car to drop into the river. In a panic, Harold hastily tries to break the windows but can't and sinks into the river.
"That would never happen."
"Says who?"
"The laws of physics."
We're back in Harold's house, where he is sitting across his wife, arguing about why he shouldn't go to the club.
"Let's not forget about the beautiful women. I could cheat on you!"
"Harold."
Ultimately, Harold decides to switch places with his wife who goes to the club instead while Harold stays home and reads a book. The camera closes in on Harold as he pops open a book.
"Chapter 1..."
A quick cut and we're back at the club, one of the trendiest places in the city.
The Job Interview(Season 3) Harold considers leaving Flowers United after getting an offer to join Pixar. On the day of the interview, Harold, after realizing what a horrible candidate he is for Pixar, convinces Tom to go to the interview and impersonate Harold.
Patty, Just Patty(Season 2) Tom Flounderman goes through a brutal divorce, and looks upon Harold for necessary guidance that Harold doesn't provide. In an achingly long week filled with burden and court disputes, Tom finds hope when he meets a 15 year old girl named Patty and begins a romantic relationship with her.
-Harold talks w/ one of his friends though it’s in the guise of an argument.
“I hope you fall down the stairs!”
‘I hope you get in a wheelchair!’
While he speaks, Mary from writing has been listening and is horrified.
“What’s wrong with you?”
‘Oh, Mary, hi!’
“Wha-What the hell was that about?!”
‘Oh, that? That was nothing. We were just having fun.’
“You think belittling others is fun?”
‘Only when you get creative. Like, um…I hope you get in a car accident and survive! Stuff like that.’
“You’re sick!”
Mary runs away, leaving Harold confused and observant_“Heello. Welcome to my…lo-cation.”
-Harold is taken hostage by a group of babies.
-Episode called You're Jealous! which satirizes the most overused emotion in sitcoms
-A unorthodox christmas special where everything goes wrong with Harold and his family during the two days before Christmas, call it the "Death" of Christmas.
-an episode that similarly to Seinfeld's The Chinese Restraurant, only takes place in the movie theater during the sneak previews
-Harold behaves unusually dickish one day, bringing confusion and death threats to the studio.
-An idea for a prank goes horribly wrong when Harold upsets a writer who quits in a huff. The prank involves a recording of a normally-level headed writer swearing like an Italian gangster.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The Presenters (Season 3)
After years of negotiating the many lawsuits made last season, HBO has approved one more season of The Presenters. Prepare yourselves for the most confusing, existential, and ridiculous season yet. Fridays at 9 only on HBO.
P301-The Secret to Human Interaction Harold discovers his wife has been drinking to alleviate her stress of being married to him. When he notices how much easier it becomes to talk with her, he applies this knowledge to become more sociable and irritable.
P302-When Harold "Somethinged" Marcy Harold tries to become more open with the writers at Flowers United and befriends one of the main writers, Marcy. After Harold inadvertently damages Marcy's reputation, Harold tries to apologize by pretending to be Bruce, her "secret" admirer.
P303-Cannibal Kittycat Killers Harold's parents drop by much to the dismay of The Howardsons. Harold unpacks his parents' luggage and finds a stolen Francis Bacon of kittens being mutilated. Harold rushes to his car to return the painting while his parents chase after him.
P304-The Contradiction Hal gets accused of being a slacktavist at his high school. In a moment of desperation, he decides to live like a homeless person for 1 whole week.
P305-A Trip to Route 666 Harold, in a Dante's Inferno-like journey, has his atheism challenged by none other than the devil himself who enjoys elaborate dance sequences.
P306-Academic Viewing Harold goes to the Sundance Film Festival and drags his son Hal along with him. While Harold "researches" the animated films on display, he discovers Hal's obsession with exploitation films.
P307-Acceptance With the holidays quickly approaching, Harold wishes to brighten up his cowokers' spirits by inviting them to a "Coexist" dinner. His curiosity gets the better of him when he accidentally riles up everybody's stance on their respective religions.
P308-Harold Meets a Time Paradox Renowned performance artist Daniel Plainview visits his newest exhibit at the local art museum. Harold anxiously meets Daniel and as a sign of good faith, criticizes Daniel's work fairly although Daniel takes the criticism very personally.
P309-The Council Harold learns of a supposedly good animated film called The Council which has been banned for nearly 50 years for its approval of bisexual polygamy. Harold and Tom plan a public screening of The Council while his wife and his son, Hal, unbeknownst to him, try to sabotage the screening.
P310-The Motivational Speech News of Flowers United getting into a financial crisis depresses everybody. A well-intended motivational presentation has the opposite effect on everyone, including The Editor who decides to pursue his life's dream of becoming a controversial issue.
P311-Harold Howardson's Wife After two and a half seasons, Harold's wife embarks on a journey to find out what her actual name is or at least to beat up the censor who's been bleeping out her name.
P312-Presenting This Man and His Comedy Harold performs at a comedy club and debuts his 20-minute routine.
P313-Nazi Sensibilities In a desperate attempt to save Flowers United from bankruptcy, The Editor begrudgingly approves the production of Nazi Sensibilities (NS), Harold's ambitious short film. Notice of the studio's closure creates a lot of tension during NS's production and everyone but Harold, Tom, Marcy, Reni, and The Editor decide to abandon the project. Meanwhile, Hal is transferred to a private boarding school for his academic excellence. Harold and his recently named wife, Elizabeth, prepare Hal's luggage and drop him off at the airport. As Harold and Elizabeth return to their home, now lacking of their son and his possessions, Harold gets a phone call from The Editor. The phone call prompts Harold and Elizabeth to have one more conversation together.
This is the last season of The Presenters. It's been a wonderful 4 years developing these characters and creating these outrageous scenarios that no sane network producer would ever approve for broadcast. Even though I posted the 1st season a year ago and technically being the only exposure anyone's ever had of this "series", this has been one of my most persistent ideas that has always popped up in my head every once in a while these past 4 years. It was something I looked forward to every Monday evening shortly after school when I could let the ideas flow out in a nervous gabble that somehow made sense every time. It would be the first time I swear out loud if only to capture the rapid-fire feeling of the characters' delivery. As I've said before, the first time I came up with a Presenters episode was around the same time I started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm so it made sense how most of the episodes in the first season are very Curbish although rather than being a blatant ripoff or a spiritual tribute, they were meant to go beyond the limits of a live-action program. In short, the first season was a very desperate attempt of being bizarre but there were a few examples that tried to be tastefully experimental. Season 2 was when the series started finding its voice and became much more personal in trying to understand who exactly these characters were trying to be such as Harold becoming more of a desperate entertainer than a neurotic narcissist. A few of these episodes were meant to deal with issues I still haven't completely forgotten about such as Harold reuniting with his high school friend Sarah, dealing with his childhood traumas and getting infatuated with an actor's voice. I did notice that this season rarely dealt with Harold's family, an issue I addressed with in the third season. I personally consider the 2nd season to be the best of the entire "series" with each episode perfectly detailing the characters without having to resort to previous templates and was where the series was right where it had to be. Season 2 was a difficult thing to try to surpass when I started considering episodes for the 3rd season. Strangely enough, the first episode I ever came up with was Season 3's A Trip to Route 666; In the first version, none of the characters were fully established and Harold was working at a dead end job where he is suddenly visited by the devil. To this day, it's the only episode that I "performed" live for a group of people, specifically, it was my horror/comedy story I told to my Geology class when we went on a trip to Death Valley in 10th grade. The trip is still one of the highlights of my high school career. It was very well-recieved even though it was very unusual. I've been working on Season 3 three months after I posted Season 2, and it would be the first time I would have an entire episode concept completely thrown out in the last minute due to being nearly impossible to describe in just a few words. Season 3 went through several revisions and many rearrangements and I still think more could be done to improve it, but as with my many other unfinished projects, it's one less burden to worry about. I would like to thank my brother, Gary Rodriguez, for encouraging me throughout the thinking process and for contributing his input in revising Season 3's descriptions and for providing the idea for "Cannibal Kittycat Killers". I would like to thank Justin Bretter, Jackson Foster, Adrian Lindo, Lorenz Kim, and Gil Young for being curious enough to listen to my recorded story descriptions back when the show was in its infancy. I'd also like to thank the people who visit my blog and take the time to read insane ideas/concepts like this one as it spurs me to improve my writing every step of the way. Comments/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you and good luck.
P301-The Secret to Human Interaction Harold discovers his wife has been drinking to alleviate her stress of being married to him. When he notices how much easier it becomes to talk with her, he applies this knowledge to become more sociable and irritable.
P302-When Harold "Somethinged" Marcy Harold tries to become more open with the writers at Flowers United and befriends one of the main writers, Marcy. After Harold inadvertently damages Marcy's reputation, Harold tries to apologize by pretending to be Bruce, her "secret" admirer.
P303-Cannibal Kittycat Killers Harold's parents drop by much to the dismay of The Howardsons. Harold unpacks his parents' luggage and finds a stolen Francis Bacon of kittens being mutilated. Harold rushes to his car to return the painting while his parents chase after him.
P304-The Contradiction Hal gets accused of being a slacktavist at his high school. In a moment of desperation, he decides to live like a homeless person for 1 whole week.
P305-A Trip to Route 666 Harold, in a Dante's Inferno-like journey, has his atheism challenged by none other than the devil himself who enjoys elaborate dance sequences.
P306-Academic Viewing Harold goes to the Sundance Film Festival and drags his son Hal along with him. While Harold "researches" the animated films on display, he discovers Hal's obsession with exploitation films.
P307-Acceptance With the holidays quickly approaching, Harold wishes to brighten up his cowokers' spirits by inviting them to a "Coexist" dinner. His curiosity gets the better of him when he accidentally riles up everybody's stance on their respective religions.
P308-Harold Meets a Time Paradox Renowned performance artist Daniel Plainview visits his newest exhibit at the local art museum. Harold anxiously meets Daniel and as a sign of good faith, criticizes Daniel's work fairly although Daniel takes the criticism very personally.
P309-The Council Harold learns of a supposedly good animated film called The Council which has been banned for nearly 50 years for its approval of bisexual polygamy. Harold and Tom plan a public screening of The Council while his wife and his son, Hal, unbeknownst to him, try to sabotage the screening.
P310-The Motivational Speech News of Flowers United getting into a financial crisis depresses everybody. A well-intended motivational presentation has the opposite effect on everyone, including The Editor who decides to pursue his life's dream of becoming a controversial issue.
P311-Harold Howardson's Wife After two and a half seasons, Harold's wife embarks on a journey to find out what her actual name is or at least to beat up the censor who's been bleeping out her name.
P312-Presenting This Man and His Comedy Harold performs at a comedy club and debuts his 20-minute routine.
P313-Nazi Sensibilities In a desperate attempt to save Flowers United from bankruptcy, The Editor begrudgingly approves the production of Nazi Sensibilities (NS), Harold's ambitious short film. Notice of the studio's closure creates a lot of tension during NS's production and everyone but Harold, Tom, Marcy, Reni, and The Editor decide to abandon the project. Meanwhile, Hal is transferred to a private boarding school for his academic excellence. Harold and his recently named wife, Elizabeth, prepare Hal's luggage and drop him off at the airport. As Harold and Elizabeth return to their home, now lacking of their son and his possessions, Harold gets a phone call from The Editor. The phone call prompts Harold and Elizabeth to have one more conversation together.
This is the last season of The Presenters. It's been a wonderful 4 years developing these characters and creating these outrageous scenarios that no sane network producer would ever approve for broadcast. Even though I posted the 1st season a year ago and technically being the only exposure anyone's ever had of this "series", this has been one of my most persistent ideas that has always popped up in my head every once in a while these past 4 years. It was something I looked forward to every Monday evening shortly after school when I could let the ideas flow out in a nervous gabble that somehow made sense every time. It would be the first time I swear out loud if only to capture the rapid-fire feeling of the characters' delivery. As I've said before, the first time I came up with a Presenters episode was around the same time I started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm so it made sense how most of the episodes in the first season are very Curbish although rather than being a blatant ripoff or a spiritual tribute, they were meant to go beyond the limits of a live-action program. In short, the first season was a very desperate attempt of being bizarre but there were a few examples that tried to be tastefully experimental. Season 2 was when the series started finding its voice and became much more personal in trying to understand who exactly these characters were trying to be such as Harold becoming more of a desperate entertainer than a neurotic narcissist. A few of these episodes were meant to deal with issues I still haven't completely forgotten about such as Harold reuniting with his high school friend Sarah, dealing with his childhood traumas and getting infatuated with an actor's voice. I did notice that this season rarely dealt with Harold's family, an issue I addressed with in the third season. I personally consider the 2nd season to be the best of the entire "series" with each episode perfectly detailing the characters without having to resort to previous templates and was where the series was right where it had to be. Season 2 was a difficult thing to try to surpass when I started considering episodes for the 3rd season. Strangely enough, the first episode I ever came up with was Season 3's A Trip to Route 666; In the first version, none of the characters were fully established and Harold was working at a dead end job where he is suddenly visited by the devil. To this day, it's the only episode that I "performed" live for a group of people, specifically, it was my horror/comedy story I told to my Geology class when we went on a trip to Death Valley in 10th grade. The trip is still one of the highlights of my high school career. It was very well-recieved even though it was very unusual. I've been working on Season 3 three months after I posted Season 2, and it would be the first time I would have an entire episode concept completely thrown out in the last minute due to being nearly impossible to describe in just a few words. Season 3 went through several revisions and many rearrangements and I still think more could be done to improve it, but as with my many other unfinished projects, it's one less burden to worry about. I would like to thank my brother, Gary Rodriguez, for encouraging me throughout the thinking process and for contributing his input in revising Season 3's descriptions and for providing the idea for "Cannibal Kittycat Killers". I would like to thank Justin Bretter, Jackson Foster, Adrian Lindo, Lorenz Kim, and Gil Young for being curious enough to listen to my recorded story descriptions back when the show was in its infancy. I'd also like to thank the people who visit my blog and take the time to read insane ideas/concepts like this one as it spurs me to improve my writing every step of the way. Comments/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you and good luck.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The Fortisixth One
The following is a stream-of-consciousness post. Apologies.
A person can make only so many promises to someone. People are incredibly harsh when it comes to mistakes, depending on how severe they are. And yet, some of us, the foolish ones, remain faithful to the liars who continue to break those promises.
My father the drunken fucking bastard.
The clock has run out.
It's been rewound many, many times before and even replaced after it breaks, but finally it's run out. After 19 years, the clock has stopped running, and I've had the nerve to throw it in the trash.
When you accept that life is a roller-coaster that peaks in its insanity and drops in interest constantly, what is the point of riding the same coaster over and over again when every ride ends in a violent, fiery crash?
The brute, the barbarian, spewing out his bits of language in different settings like a sprinkler. Only swear words can escape his lips, putrid words that falter in flight as soon as they're spoken, dragging themselves onto the ground much like pouring salt in the gardens.
He stands proudly on his territory, a broken household filled with cockroaches and rats, his closest companions. A tiled-up porch broken to bits, a gaping hole beggin' for someone's leg to get caught up in it and snap right off. A house that has a clear view onto the neighborhood, full of fools, bastards, drunks, liars, adulterers, idiots, believers, nonbelievers.
I sympathized with the beast many times. It was his birthday the following Thursday, and we did very little to recognize it besides sending a birthday text. How lonely can someone be when his own sons abandon him like this? He has a very difficult job. He's a construction worker and a damn fine one. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason that sets him off.
The beast is capable of camouflage, disguising reality with trickery, able to produce tears that even the saltiest oceans couldn't. He stuck to his story for almost a year now and we kept pulling ourselves back into it but we couldn't help but listen.
It's morning time now but my body is still in action mode. I don't think I fell asleep to tell you the truth. If I did, I'd probably feel more in tune, refreshed but instead I can only remember the position of the room, the yellow light marking its way in the room as the beast stumbled from his cave to cast us out. The brave warriors holding their weapons but forced to drop them as they knew they would only be repelled by the beast's scales.
If none of this makes any sense, how could it ever? How does it feel to have irrefutable proof that someone you once loved can't be saved.
In 11th grade, I was the only one who defended Blanche Dubois of not being crazy, but at the very end of Streetcar Named Desire, I found out she was. And so I've made it to the end of my own play, with all the ducks in a row ready for fire.
Life sucks. That might be the most blunt way to say that but sometimes, that's the only way you can say the obvious. Life fucking sucks.
End scene.
A person can make only so many promises to someone. People are incredibly harsh when it comes to mistakes, depending on how severe they are. And yet, some of us, the foolish ones, remain faithful to the liars who continue to break those promises.
My father the drunken fucking bastard.
The clock has run out.
It's been rewound many, many times before and even replaced after it breaks, but finally it's run out. After 19 years, the clock has stopped running, and I've had the nerve to throw it in the trash.
When you accept that life is a roller-coaster that peaks in its insanity and drops in interest constantly, what is the point of riding the same coaster over and over again when every ride ends in a violent, fiery crash?
The brute, the barbarian, spewing out his bits of language in different settings like a sprinkler. Only swear words can escape his lips, putrid words that falter in flight as soon as they're spoken, dragging themselves onto the ground much like pouring salt in the gardens.
He stands proudly on his territory, a broken household filled with cockroaches and rats, his closest companions. A tiled-up porch broken to bits, a gaping hole beggin' for someone's leg to get caught up in it and snap right off. A house that has a clear view onto the neighborhood, full of fools, bastards, drunks, liars, adulterers, idiots, believers, nonbelievers.
I sympathized with the beast many times. It was his birthday the following Thursday, and we did very little to recognize it besides sending a birthday text. How lonely can someone be when his own sons abandon him like this? He has a very difficult job. He's a construction worker and a damn fine one. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason that sets him off.
The beast is capable of camouflage, disguising reality with trickery, able to produce tears that even the saltiest oceans couldn't. He stuck to his story for almost a year now and we kept pulling ourselves back into it but we couldn't help but listen.
It's morning time now but my body is still in action mode. I don't think I fell asleep to tell you the truth. If I did, I'd probably feel more in tune, refreshed but instead I can only remember the position of the room, the yellow light marking its way in the room as the beast stumbled from his cave to cast us out. The brave warriors holding their weapons but forced to drop them as they knew they would only be repelled by the beast's scales.
If none of this makes any sense, how could it ever? How does it feel to have irrefutable proof that someone you once loved can't be saved.
In 11th grade, I was the only one who defended Blanche Dubois of not being crazy, but at the very end of Streetcar Named Desire, I found out she was. And so I've made it to the end of my own play, with all the ducks in a row ready for fire.
Life sucks. That might be the most blunt way to say that but sometimes, that's the only way you can say the obvious. Life fucking sucks.
End scene.
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