The Remote Island

The Chairman From "Iron Chef" Goes All Bruce Lee on Your Butt

Posted by Ben Kallen

 

If you haven't been watching The Middleman, maybe you should be. This fast-paced, pop-culture-laden show, based on the comic books of the same name, is perfect mindless summertime fun. The plot is simple enough: A brainy, artsy (and hot, of course) young woman gets a job assisting a straitlaced action hero, and together they battle monsters, aliens and other cartoonish supervillains.

Did we mention that the show is obsessed with pop culture? In last night's episode, our heroes had to battle a group of masked Mexican wrestlers, with the help of enigmatic martial-arts master Sensei Ping. When Ping removed his own mask -- for a fight scene straight out of Enter the Dragon -- it turned out that he was an old friend of ours....

...Yes, The Chairman, host of Iron Chef America. (Of course, actor Mark Dacascos has appeared in a large number of other TV shows and movies, but come on -- he'll always be The Chairman to us.)

The Middleman isn't available online, so all we can show you is the promo below. But you can watch the upcoming episode next Monday night on ABC Family. (They keep changing the time, too, so check your local listings.) 

 

 

Previously:
C'mon, Admit It -- You Watch Teen Shows 


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About Ben Kallen

Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

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    Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

    Nicole Ankowski has lived in Ohio, Oakland, and on the high plains of South Dakota, but is now proud to call Brooklyn home. She wrote for alternative weekly papers in the first two states, and tried to learn Lakota in the last. (The vowels can be tricky.) She just earned her MFA in Creative Writing and has been published in Beeswax literary journal. She is unable to resist good writing or bad TV.

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