{"id":21180,"date":"2020-09-02T14:15:22","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T21:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=21180"},"modified":"2020-09-02T14:15:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T21:15:22","slug":"earth-to-ned-takes-the-talk-show-format-to-outer-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=21180","title":{"rendered":"EARTH TO NED Takes the Talk-Show Format to Outer Space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/24_0008_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9454\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The following show debuts on Disney+ on Friday, September\n4<sup>th<\/sup>. &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This has been a busy year for The Jim Henson Company, with\nDisney+ debuting <em>Muppets Now<\/em> only a few weeks ago. Without warning, the\nstreaming service is now debuting a second series from the production house. <em>Earth\nto Ned<\/em> is a unique take on talk shows, with celebrities dropping in to participate\nin interviews with an otherworldly host. The characters featured are brand new\nand while the concept takes a little getting used to, the program gets funnier and\nmore enjoyable as the personalities of the show creations fully develop. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Earth-to-Ned-set-02-fixed-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21182\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The general concept involves Ned, an alien who has been tasked\nwith invading the Earth and wiping out its residents. Thankfully, while planning\nthe attack, he has actually developed an affection for humanity and has put off\nthe raid. Instead, Ned is interested in learning about humanity and is particularly\nfascinated by celebrities. So, he puts on his own late-night talk show. The egotistical\nhost converses with various surprised celebrity guests whom he has beamed aboard\nhis ship, all so he can begin to fathom human behavior and get tips on things\nlike how to tell a joke. Also appearing on the show is Cornelius, Ned\u2019s friendly\nbut put-upon sidekick, as well an A.I. show manager named B.E.T.I. and a\nbacking musical band of little creatures called Clods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Earth-to-Ned-Ned-UC-cornelius-background-fixed-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21183\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This show set is comprised of a desk, couch, band platform\nand side area all on the deck of a spaceship. It\u2019s a very impressive looking\nspace. The great creatures and puppeteering also make a strong impression. The\nfour-armed, blue-tinged Ned and his cohort Cornelius are impressive to look at and,\njust like their Muppet counterparts, eventually make viewers forget that they\u2019re\nwatching puppets. As for the personalities of the host and sidekick, these are\nnew characters and it does take a bit of time to get used to them. But, as in\nany new program, their particular traits begin to emerge more clearly as episodes\nprogress. They\u2019re also helped by a wide assortment of entertaining guests,\nincluding the likes of Andy Richter, Gillian Jacobs, Kristen Schaal, Paul Scheer,\nReggie Watts, Billy Dee Williams as well as filmmakers like Eli Roth. They\u2019re\nall game participants and appear to be having a lot of fun acting terrified when\nthey are beamed aboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Earth-to-Ned-Ned-cornelius-fixed-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21184\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many are asked to take part in games and occasionally there are additional segments featuring the likable Cornelius being sent to Earth. Some bits work better than others and your particular taste for then may depend on how interested you are in each individual episode\u2019s theme. Still, there are a couple of amusing extended sketches. The first highlight involves Cornelius taking up stand-up comedy and the other involves the alien talking to the funeral director of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. For me, the comedy and horror-themed episodes are strong, as the guests try to explain the art of humor as well as how great it can be to be scared to the otherworldly show hosts. \u00a0But there are fun moments in all the episodes that take on subjects including <em>Star Wars<\/em>  art and even musicals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a little strange to watch a relatively conflict-free faux\nlate-night show with guests who don\u2019t really have anything to plug, but when\nNed encourages them to sharing their thoughts and ideas on the program\u2019s themes\n(while bickering with Cornelius), there is some fun to be had. <em>Earth to Ned<\/em>\nis a really unusual concept and one that does take a bit of getting used to,\nbut it does provide a few smiles and the great-looking alien hosts are engaging.\nIt almost plays like a kinder, more family-friendly version of <em>Space Ghost:\nCoast to Coast<\/em>. There\u2019s definitely potential here and this reviewer is\ncurious to see how things develop in future seasons. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following show debuts on Disney+ on Friday, September 4th. &nbsp; This has been a busy year for The Jim Henson Company, with Disney+ debuting Muppets Now only a few weeks ago. Without warning, the streaming service is now debuting a second series from the production house. Earth to Ned is a unique take on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,1404,2764,4047,4660,4796,5935,6656,6657,6658,6808,8321,11897,12126,14640,15835,16822,18055,19205,19552,23375],"class_list":["post-21180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-andy-richter","tag-billy-dee-williams","tag-celebrities","tag-comedy","tag-cornelius","tag-disney-2","tag-earth-to-ned","tag-earth-to-ned-review","tag-earth-to-ned-series-review","tag-eli-roth","tag-gillian-jacobs","tag-kristen-schaal","tag-late-night-2","tag-ned","tag-paul-scheer","tag-reggie-watts","tag-series","tag-streaming-series","tag-talk-show","tag-tv"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}