Two things:
1. There are plenty of entries in the “fake reality show” category of comedy, some of them (Queen of Jordan, The Joe Schmo Show, Total Drama Island) better than others (Drawn Together*); the Burning Love series tops them all, primarily thanks to Michael Ian Black’s hideously accurate portrayal of an inexplicably smug, dead-eyed dating-show host.
2. This show has been almost impossible to watch for years. At first, I think it premiered on Yahoo! Video, where it was almost immediately yanked; then it was picked up by E! and now it’s only available on, I think, Hulu Plus? If you have ever liked anyone from The State, Party Down, Veronica Mars, or Wet Hot American Summer, you will find something to love here. It is astonishingly good, thanks in no small part to Ken Marino and in…even no smaller part…to June Diane Raphael, who is so talented and charming and gorgeous that it makes me want to spit poison at Paul Scheer.
(Ken Jeong’s character was a real misstep, but they luckily did away with him quickly and the second season doesn’t repeat the error.)
*I love Tara Strong and Cree Summer as much as any of you, but it wasn’t a good show. I know you have fond memories of it. Watch it again. It wasn’t a good show.
After WHAS this is probably my favorite comedy production. Also amazing are the sequels, especially the 3rd season: “Burning Love: burning down the house” in which previous competitors enter a “Real World: Road Rules” style competition for Nine Hundred Dollars. Michael Ian Black is back as the host, Janet Varney gets to be out, Seth Rogan has a cameo as a paramedic… it’s truly glorious.
“This is where the twist… gets even twistier”
Oh my god, how did I forget about the third season!? The Carly/Julie dynamic rang painfully accurate… Maybe that’s why I blocked it out? #TooReal
I randomly found Burning Love and managed to watch both seasons on Yahoo! (The second is with Julie as the Bachelorette), and now I’m working backwards to watch Wet Hot American Summer and related shows because the cast was so hilarious.
“Just Blaze bein’ Blaze” is an oft-quoted line in my life.
I think the third season is my favourite, mostly for the Janet Varney/Kumail Nanjiani relationship.
For people in the UK/Ireland, the whole thing is on Netflix.
Ugh what!! so unfair. I’m probably going to buy the dvds tonight.
You can watch UK Netflix in the US! Google it – there’s an add-on for Firefox that lets you trick your browser into thinking you’re in another country. I’m watching Community now, but Burning Love and The Good Wife are on my list – these are all available on the UK site.
I *just* bought the dvds – I’m okay with that decision though.
Heads up that the DVD versions I have appear to be edited down from what was originally online; I watched the first season both ways and at least one good* joke was completely cut.
*In questionable taste, of course, but still chuckle-worthy.
Burning Love is great and the entire cast, front to back, is wonderful; but the best part of watching it on Yahoo was reading all the comments from people who thought it was a real show and got Very Mad about how strangely everyone was behaving. “How can she keep going back to Blaze?!? He’s a jerk!!!” etc. That’s how you know a satire is hitting the right notes.
I watched an episode or two of the first season when it was on Yahoo but it didn’t grab me, and now I’m regretting it, because it is actually nowhere on the internet. (I don’t want to pay for Hulu Plus please don’t make me pay for Hulu Plus pleeeease)
I freaking love Burning Love. Especially when they did press in character.
the Comedy Bang Bang podcast with Ken Marino and Janet Varney and the monkey heart Tamara is GOLD. Improv Gold.
THIS SHOW IS THE BEST i just want to go around joking about lesibians all the time but no one would get it because no one has seen this show please let’s just talk about it for hours
And no one gets kicked in the face!
I desperately searched for where to find Burning Love online, including torrenting bits and pieces from the E! broadcasts. Turns out, it’s all on DVD. I felt like a doof, let me tell you.
When I am irrationally angry about anything I recite Agnes’ speech about the peppermints, which are good for the DIGESTION, they are good for the MENTAL ACUITY.
http://www.amazon.com/Burning-Love-Complete-First…
http://www.amazon.com/Burning-Love-Seasons-Two-Th…
My favorite thing about the Toast is having the same tastes not just in “high-brow” content, like Mediaeval tapestries, but also “low-brow” commonly dismissed things, like undiscovered comedic gems of dating show parodies. (found this on Yahoo Video back in the DAY and then on Hulu.)
This series made me realize how GORGEOUS and talented June Diane Raphael is. <3 Also I dearly hope this inspired the creators of dark, twisted, & fabulous UnReal (i.e. Janet Varney & the lesbian storyline?)
not just in “high-brow” content, like Mediaeval tapestries, but also “low-brow” commonly dismissed things
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
JDR and her ridiculous performance me wish Tynnyfer stuck around for more than that one ep of Parks & Rec. That character was so upsetting.
AH I TOO LOVE BURNING LOVE. My best friend sat me down in front of her computer one day and said, “Watch this,” and it was amazing. It really is a pitch perfect parody of what it’s satirizing.
I am SO HERE FOR THIS. I’ve been wanting to just shout in air “BLAZE! BLAAAAZE” since I watched this show last weekend (I don’t know what I’d do without Mallory and her tweets. Have nothing to watch, obviously) and have just had no appropriate space for it. Also this show kind of reaffirmed my weird attraction to Michael Ian Black that I’ve had since I saw WHAS in middle school.
More Ken Marino content on The Toast?
That’s an RDD! (In this case that last D stands for Do).
“My mail has been piling up” is my favorite thing in the world. Also June Diane Raphael is an angel on earth. Her very brief stint on Parks & Rec is my second favorite thing in the world: “Tynnyfer with two Ys. I was Jennifer but then I decided to rebrand myself.”
Also great for watching the Olympics, World Cup, and any other sports where the grating ignorance of an american announcer is too much to bear.
Thank you for this hot tip. I am going to start watching this show RIGHT NOW because the trailer alone is pure gold.
I LOVE BURNING LOVE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT THIS
The art direction on this show is unreal. Those horrible ruched satin gowns! Mark Orlando’s black shoes with white socks! It’s all too much!
WAIT but are we spitting poison at Paul Scheer out of pure jealousy, or did he do something to besmirch the perfection that is JDR?!?!?! When she was mysteriously absent from some recent eps of How Did This Get Made, I got paranoid they were divorcing or something, but I haven’t found any evidence to corroborate my suspicions!
So jumping in late here but serious question: is Carly the absolute best or am I utterly blinded by my adoration for Janet Varney? I’m okay either way, I just don’t know.
My partner and I regularly act out the Robby Z dance like your parents song from season 2 when Michael Cera says “My parents committed homicide suicide. They don’t know who died first”
POTATO!!!!!!!
EFFING Drawn Together! Forcing me to watch that nonsense was always Boyfriend Offense #4*, made worse because it was one of those offenses 100% cosigned by at least half your ladyfriends. UGH.
*Preceded by:
3) Promising to teach you guitar and showing you like, one chord before strumming aimlessly into a solo show, like in that episode of Dr. Katz.
2) Refusing to be down for watching Pretty Little Liars.
1) Insisting on you learning and playing Magic the Gathering.