NBC Thursday Returns!

The weather is still getting colder. Snow blankets the entire nation. It gets dark at a depressingly early hour and all of our bodies look pale and disgusting. The next holiday anybody has to look forward to is, what, President's Day? These are dire times. Where are our friends from Scranton? Greendale? Pawnee? I don't know about you but I've been making The Office character dolls out of the hair in my shower drain just to feel something. But just when you're about to cave in and start watching reruns of Smart Guy for entertainment, look who is at your front door, ringing your doorbell that is coincidentally the three-note NBC chime. Could it be? Is that tall skinny shadow Abed? Is that lingering scent Michael Scott's imitation Drakkar Noir? Is that crinkling the sound of Liz Lemon wearing a Duane Reade bag as underwear? And who is that far away figure with the radiant blonde hair and the silhouette of somebody who is eternally 4 months pregnant? Is it? Is it...Leslie Knope? (Also in this scenario is the entire cast of Outsourced making fart noises in a field somewhere).


Community - "Asian Population Studies"

This episode, for better or for worse depending on your taste, is a pretty low-key episode of Community. I don't mean to say that nothing is going on because a lot of important plots points shift. I really just mean that they aren't undertaking some grand parody attempt with multiple layers. And really, that's a good idea. It's the first episode back from the break and so this is a solid stabilizer to ease reentry into the group.  


Chang plays a more prominent role in this episode than he has all season. He did pop up in Season 1's storylines quite a lot. But really, does that even count? Who was that Chang? Who is THIS Chang? Did the writer's just not know what to do with him after they enrolled him as a student and just completely switched gears? This Chang is so hilariously pathetic and desperate that I don't mind at all. And the group has been teasing the notion of him joining the study group for so long that it is just sad. Now, can I see him as part of the study group? Well, I don't know. I think yes. The characters in the group are so perfect that taking any away would be robbery but adding anyone new would just mess up the equilibrium. Like upgrading to the larger box of markers. You were doing just fine with your standard eight colors. Everything was inside the lines and going great. Who are these new markers? Fuchsia? Purple's art school dropout cousin. But eventually you start using those new markers because let's be honest, humans just don't have yellow colored skin. The same thing goes for Chang in my eyes. If they do integrate him into the full time group, it will be jarring at first. But I trust this show. We have seen glimpses of Chang's internal struggles and humanity and if the show can tap into that, then he can become more than just a bitter ex-Spanish teacher and develop into a really fleshed out character. I wouldn't trust most shows with that task, but I do trust the writing staff of Community to do that because they realize heart is key.


Now, every time I watch an episode of Community, I go from indifferent to enjoying to loving. Half way through this episode I thought "Eh, some good jokes, no great feat" but then in the last few minutes with Shirley's ex-husbands speech and the shots of the group post-mixer, it sucked me in again. Damn it Community. You always know how to get me. And that just goes to show you what this show is capable of doing. Enjoy it while you can.


-"It makes me so Chan-gry. Oh God, it's happening to me."
-"30-something, I'm assuming. He has a land line and uses the word album."
-"I spell kettle corn with a Q-U." "Well don't."
-"It's not even clever. You keep using it as the world change!"
-"Mezzanine?!"
-"You ever go into the bathroom and find parsley in your teeth that your friends hadn't told you about? Now imagine your teeth are a uterus and that parsley is a half-chinese baby."
-"I agree with the brown Jamie Lee Curtis."


The Office - "Ultimatum"

So guys, did you all hear the exciting bits of news?? First of all, Steve Carell will be leaving The Office this year but apparently he will be departing sooner than we think. Supposedly, the last few episodes of the season will be post-Michael Scott era cleanup and reorganization. Very interesting if not a bit saddening. But we can all take some solace in the fact that the one and only original Michael Scott aka David Brent aka Ricky Gervais will be appearing on next week's episode. Now it is only going to be in the cold open and there aren't any details other than that. But still! That's certainly something to shut the blinds, turn off your phone and stay indoors in front of your television for. Right?...Right.....? 


On to this week's episode. Well let me see here. I'll start with the big news. Holly isn't engaged but she is still seeing A.J. But, the end of the episode gives us great hope as she calls A.J. to take a break and suddenly becomes open for Michael to swoop in. I mean, clearly these two are going to end up together. Right? There's no way they wouldn't do that for us? Has Michael ever found happiness? No, not really. And that's sort of the point of his character. The George Costanza model. But really, him and Holly are going to end up together obviously. Give him that at least. I love them together more than I ever loved that sappy Jim and Pam. Don't get me wrong, I followed the Pam and Jim saga like The Young and the Restless. But that's just because I didn't know Michael and Holly existed. Hell, I'll take Andy and Erin too. I just recently rewatched a lot of The Office Season 4 and 5 and rehashed the old Michael/Holly courtship. I will allow Steve Carell's exit gracefully if Michael can finally have his one true love.


Wait, isn't this show a comedy? Yes, but as I always say to anybody that will listen, every good comedy is also a good drama. So, what were my favorite parts of the episode? Well, as a self-proclaimed Kevin lover, how great was that vegetable scene? Him trying to eat the broccoli stem first and then refusing to swallow until he got some candy. Oh Kevin, how great. That was one of those scenes that was probably like catching lightning in a bottle to film. One of The Office's rare but wonderful physical gags that they probably had to nail when taping. I mean, not really so much Kevin eating the broccoli but it was just an extended joke that was well played. Related, when Ryan confronted Kevin and said "Did I just try to shove broccoli into my mouth stem first?" that was a surprisingly strong reaction from Ryan you don't see much these days since he's been trying to live his life as an art project.


The Darryl-Dwight-Andy storyline was odd and tangential. But having Andy request Dave Matthews ("Deep tracks only. I said no hits!") and skate and then proclaim that he met somebody named Andy was fine by me. Dwight didn't really do much besides go to a strip club where...something, uh, happened? I don't know. They sort of skipped that part. Was this supposed to have more scenes in it or something? And the eternally cool Darryl was just cool as always with his croissant-weighted e-reader.


All in all, pretty good episode. Nothing that really stands out but at least its chipping away at the Michael-Holly storyline. Plus, I'm not really going to complain about any episode since I'm glad to just have them back. 


Oh! I almost forgot! How awesome was Michael's video to himself when he was celebrating?! That was really really well done. The fact that he is that aware of his own personality as a character and just the sight gag alone. Bravo.


-"You're gonna somersault around for the rest of you life, and you know what's going to be on your tombstone? Loser."
-"Bears sad, worms happy... come on, Erin."
-Now, if she's engaged, I'm going to go crazy and start attacking people. If she's not engaged, in all honesty, I may just burn this whole place to the ground out of happiness."
-"Michael Dance-Off!"


30 Rock - "Mrs. Donaghy"


I'll keep this review pretty short. Things are starting to get a bit long and we all know 30 Rock is mainly one-liners to cherish. I do however have two points to make.

Did I miss something? What happened over the break? Where did this wedding come from that was referenced in three flashbacks? Is Jack married? What's going on? And where the hell did Danny come from? Is he back to being a regular character? And where is Carol? I don't know. Lot of questions. Yeah, yeah, I know, 30 Rock isn't really about the plot but I still felt kind of confused. Then again I did watch this episode while eating a salad I made by scraping pieces of lettuce together and pinching off squares of cheese from a Kraft single so maybe I was preoccupied and missed something. 


Also, I think the moment with Jack and Liz in Mr. Wienerslav's office was the most sentimental the show has ever gotten. No problem with that and to be honest I think that's about as emotional as the show is ever going to get. I still enjoyed it because I love Jack and Liz's relationship as a steady cornerstone to the entire show's zaniness. And on that note, I've had people that are just starting the show be like "Hey, when are Liz and Jack gonna hook up? Lot of tension there, eh?" They are idiots. The two will never be together for the same reason Don Draper and Peggy will never hook up. It's just wrong.


-"At 4 years old, you should know how to pace your petal distribution."
-"The yellow slice, our number two priority: make it 1997 again through science or magic."
-"Your show netted $600 last year. Your parents had to buy an ad."
-"You have no reflexes, your blood tastes like root beer, and some of your bones appear to have vanished."
-"Well I've been to a rodeo to. It was a cat rodeo, in a gay guy's apartment."
-"Jack: Who wears shoes at a beach?"
Liz: "Only Rocky and Apollo Creed during the training montage."

Park and Recreation - "Go Big or Go Home"

And the prodigal son of Pawnee, Indiana returns. With a nice narrated introduction to the cast, we jumped right back into the world of small town politics. Amongst crumbled remains, Knope lassos her associates to rebuild anew. This show could really do whatever it wanted, I was just so happy it's back. 

I would be doing everybody a disservice if I didn't mention the glorious Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, one of the episode's and show's major highlights. You can find an enlarged print of it here. I say all this because Ron Swanson (you must say both his first and last name) is becoming pretty iconic. Part Hank Hill. Part Red Foreman. He's really the breakout character of Parks and Recreation so to have his entire ideology distilled into pyramid form. That's something you are going to want to hang onto and reference several times.

April has some new weird Spanish speaking boyfriend, much to Andy's dismay. I fully expect a classic will-they-wont-they that we've come to know and love and then grow tired of. But seriously, I hope they don't really dangle that in front of us for too long. As much as I'm willing to follow it to the bitter end because I do love April and Andy, that would just be annoying. And do you really think that new boyfriend is going to be a regular cast member or something? I don't think so.

What else? How much do I like Rob Lowe's character? Ehhh. Kind of? I think he plays it well. But maybe it's the inner sloth in me that doesn't like people with that much motivation and drive. I am not sure. But it looks as if that twosome will be around for some time to come.

I read a reviewer that has already seen the first six episodes and he says that they find a genius way to explore all of the departments of Pawnee that we only saw a glimpse of previously. It's most likely this Harvest Festival. With such words of encouragement, I anticipate returning to these lost-and-found friends.

-"The real Cinderella didn't have hippo feet."

-"Jeremy, suck it. By the way I’ve been giving away free sports bras to the girls at Hot Dog on a Stick."

-"Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into Swansons."

-"Haircuts, there are three acceptable haircuts: High and tight, crew cut, buzz cut. Are the scissors broken in your house, son?"

-"Jurassic Park. Parks are so great. The parks department needs money. I just did it in three moves."

-"April: Ew, check your testicles?"

Leslie: "No, not that. Although that is very good advice. I’m looking at you, Jerry."

Portlandia

I don't know about you but I still watch Saturday Night Live pretty regularly. I used to devour it when I was younger and watched the endless syndicated episodes on Comedy Central (before they turned into abysmal episodes of MadTV) and I watched the new ones back in the days when I was home on a Saturday night at 10:30. I sort of fell off for awhile but with the advent of Hulu and DVR, I am able to catch the weekly episodes even though now it's more like Sunday Afternoon Hungover. Eh? No?

Anyway, everybody loves to be an expert and talk about how SNL sucks now and how good it used to be a few years ago. Well, interestingly enough, people were saying that same thing a few years ago. And a few years before that. Honestly, the show really only has one objectively shitty period and that was during the 80's when Lorne Michaels left. These days, the quality isn't at its peak and some of the hosts don't really belong and they rely on the same few players way too much. Actually, I have quite a laundry list of complaints about SNL these days. But regardless, every week will produce at least one or two really funny sketches. Weekend Update always has at least a handful of jokes that land. The digital shorts are almost always hits. Sure, sifting through 90 minutes to find 15 worth watching isn't the best motivation to watch a show. But, hey, somewhere out there people are recording Minute to Win It so lay off. Amidst all these, one of the really talented comedians that SNL perhaps places too much weight on the shoulders of is Fred Armisen (others include Kristin Wiig, Bill Hader and Andy Samberg).

Armisen has a new show on IFC called Portlandia. First off, what's going on with IFC. They came out with David Cross' new show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret last year. Since when are they delving into original programming? Where is this channel on my television even? Is it in the hundreds? I never venture that high up. Anyway, the show premieres on January 21 but you can watch the first episode of it here.

Anyway, Fred Armisen is really funny on Saturday Night Live (that was sort of the reason for the lengthy preface) and is among the shows most versatile characters next to Wiig and Hader, hence their overuse. Samberg really isn't good at impressions. Actually, he's pretty terrible at them. He usually just shouts. But Armisen plays Obama, and Gov. Paterson. His characters are hilarious e.g. Billy Smith the Native American stand-up comedian and Roger Brush the producer stand-in for the Q&A talk shows. He has wide range and great comedic talent. So why shouldn't he get his own television show?

Portlandia essentially is a show that makes fun of Portland and the vegan/organic-loving, non-conformist, socialist hipsters/hippies that live there. So there's a lot to poke fun at with that entire demographic. But, having watched the first episode, I hope it doesn't seem so one-note. I mean, has he really pigeonholed himself into basing his comedy around a single city. Obviously the ideas he's poking fun at are more than just the city of Portland, but still. I really hope this show doesn't develop that tunnel vision. For instance, the sketch where the couple tries to order chicken in the restaurant is kind of like "Alright, we get it, people from Portland love to eat organic food". On the other hand, there's the sketch with the adult Hide-and-Seek league playing in the library. They might have been poking fun at childish adults who think its trendy to play youth games or something but really, it was just a very funny, very bizarre sketch and probably my favorite of the episode. Especially when it takes that sick and surreal turn at the end.

Overall, I will say this. I love sketch comedy if it's executed really well. The golden standard of this is Mr. Show. I hate sketch comedy when it's done poorly. See: MadTV. But, as I've already established, I'll probably still watch sketch comedy if it's just "meh" especially if it at least showcases some really talented comedians. Portlandia, I'm sure, can at least muster mediocre sketches and I wouldn't be surprised if it picks up as episodes progress and starts producing high-quality bits. Plus, one of the stars of SNL is the creator of the show so the talent box is checked. And really, there aren't really many places on television these days to watch original sketch comedy so anything that plugs that hole is welcomed by me on some level. So, really, I will be watching this new show as long as they keep putting the episodes on Hulu or my DVR and they don't make me search for the IFC channel number.

Winter Madness

The dark days of the winter holidays (dark days? that's my natural way to describe the Christmas season? What a Grinch.) are almost over in terms of television. The holidays themselves ended long ago unless of course you live in my house in which we squeeze every last breath out of each Garden Ridge tree and novelty teacup ornament until the night before Valentine's Day. However, brand new episodes of your favorite television shows are beginning to filter back into the DVR lineup. Most notably, NBC returns (on January 20th) with new episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, Community and, last but not least, the glorious return of one of my favorites, Parks and Recreation. So stay tuned for recaps of those episodes next week.

Over this winter break, I told myself I would catch up on shows that I had fallen off my radar. Well, I didn't really do that. Instead I dove into a new crop of shows.

Peep Show: This is a really funny show from Britain about two friends in their late twenties and early thirties. Really, that's about as good of a plot summary as the show needs. It's an interesting way to get into British sitcoms and a natural follow-up for fans of the original BBC version of The Office. It's probably not as universally appealing as The Office but it really speaks the truth about that specific age and lifestyle, no holds barred. Luckily the entire show (which is now in it's 7th series) is available on Hulu.com (click here). It really starts to hit its stride in the 3rd or 4th series once you get a feel for all the characters so give it a try.

Breaking Bad: I am currently in the second season of this show and am not the least surprised as to why people call it the best show on television. I am a huge fan of engrossing, slow-burn, character rich dramas like Mad Men and Deadwood. However, Breaking Bad is a lot easier to enjoy right off the bat. The other shows take a bit to feel out the characters and digest the storyline. Breaking Bad literally opens with the main character driving a busted RV in the middle of the desert filled with lifeless bodies as he pulls a gun out of his underwear and plans to shoot oncoming police. That's the first scene of the whole show. It is ridiculous and I am antsy to get my hands on Season 3. It's not too late to catch up since the episodes fly and Season 4 is probably not going to start up on AMC until mid-late Summer.

Louie: I watched the first few episodes of Louis C.K.'s FX show this summer and loved it but it never set itself into my TV schedule and so my viewings tapered off around the third or fourth show. Anyway, I just watched the entire first season available on Netflix and this show is really groundbreaking for a comedy. First, Louis C.K. is arguably the funniest stand-up comedian working today. Also, he writes, directs and stars in every single episode so he has complete creative control. It is definitely dark at times but the talented visual style and humor are on par with few other comedies, or television shows in general, out there. The episodes "Bully" or "God" are pretty good examples of how the show can be really funny but at the same time incredibly dramatic and endearing.

Also, here's an interesting article written by The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff on 1980's sitcoms. It's kind of long but as somebody who really only saw the ripple effect of these shows growing up but benefited from the groundwork they set for shows like The Simpsons and Seinfeld, it's worth the time.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/1980s-sitcoms,50003/1/