Best Week Ever | |
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Genre | Comedy, Entertainment news |
Presented by |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Camera setup | Multiple |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | VH1 |
Picture format |
480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Original release | 2004 | – April 18, 2014
External links | |
Website | www |
Best Week Ever is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from 2004 to 2009 on VH1. In January 2010, it was announced that the show was canceled. On August 3, 2012, VH1 announced the return of Best Week Ever. New weekly episodes began January 18, 2013, but on April 23, 2014, VH1 canceled the series again.
Best Week Ever features comedians analyzing the previous week's developments in pop culture, including recent happenings in entertainment and celebrity gossip. It followed a similar format to that set by the mini-series I Love the 80s and its successors. Episodes aired on Friday evenings at 10:00 p.m. and repeated several times over the weekend. At the end of every episode, the show named which celebrity, group of people, or object had "the Best Week Ever". The program's original Typepad-hosted blog bestweekever.blogs.com originally served as an ersatz online writer's room, mainly used to preview the events in the news which would end up in the Friday episode. In 2006, BestWeekEver.tv was launched to serve as more of a daily blog mostly separate from the program itself (beyond promotions and tie-ins for the show), detailing humorous stories in the news, odd television and YouTube videos, and features main contributors Michelle Collins, Dan Hopper, and formerly Sara Schaefer's observations on pop culture and other items.
Beginning October 24, 2008, the show adopted a format with a single host who summarized the week's events. The show was renamed Best Week Ever With Paul F. Tompkins. Tompkins introduced topics from behind a podium, summarizing the week's events. Tompkins occasionally threw to panelists (usually Jessica St. Clair, Paul Scheer, Mike Britt, or Doug Benson) who offered their own take on a particular subject. Tompkins, a long-time panelist, had been with the show since its inception.
In both the original and latter format, each week consisted of four main segments and at least one peripheral segment. The first segment had no specific title and featured the biggest news stories of the week. The second segment was "The Sizzler". It featured Chuck Nice discussing the "hot" celebrity gossip. This section was formatted to satirize celebrity tabloid shows such as The Insider. Next was "In Case You Missed" which briefly showcases several short clips from the week's television (and occasionally the Internet and radio). The show ended with somebody being awarded "the Best Week Ever", an ironic prize usually given to somebody or something which had been featured extensively on news programs, a viral video (or any new meme), or prominent reality show contestant of the week. Recipients include Barack Obama (after beating out Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination), the Dramatic Prairie Dog, and Midget Mac.