30 Rock

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Welcome to day three of our 2012 tv year in review! In case you missed the first three, they can be found here and here and here. Thursday television is an embarassment of riches, so check out our thoughts on what we liked, what we didn’t and our thoughts on some behind the scenes drama. Then hit the comments with your opinions, shows we didn’t mention, all of that!

As always, SB’s (@offcolortv) comments are in blue and Nicole’s (@nicole_octv) are in purple.

The Vampire Diaries

Elena is a vampire now. ELENA IS A VAMPIRE NOW!! I’m still not over it – and by ‘it’, I mean my excitement about this development. I’ve loved this show since SB convinced me to start watching it halfway through season one, but if there was one thing I was never crazy about it was the idea of Elena as the perfect, desired-by-all heroine. It’s a difficult role because she has to be special enough to justify the fact that she’s the center of the (show’s) universe, but she also has to be relatable and likeable. For the most part, TVD has done as good a job as they could, but I still found her to be the most boring part of a show filled with much more interesting characters. She was so serious, so angst-ridden, so worried and SO FUCKING PEFECT all the time. Like, I get it Elena. Can you just go and get drunk at a party for once in your freaking life? But now, there is so much potential for the character to be exciting, fun and DANGEROUS. I love it. And The Dobrev is clearly talented enough to pull off whatever they throw at her. Just please, don’t make her into a sad, angsty vampire. To the writers – think more Caroline with a twist of Damon, less Good Stefan. What else? I’m glad Jeremy made it to season four. Same goes for Matt. I’m glad that Klaus is not gone for good. I still don’t really get what’s going on with him and Tyler and Bonnie, but I’m glad it’s happening. I’ll miss Alcoholaric a lot. Who’s Damon going to drink with now? (Note – this is of far more concern to me than any aspect of the love triangle, as it should be.) Lastly, an open plea to Julie Plec – I know that tv is a business and viewers are your customers, but please don’t let the inmates run the asylum. Those crazy assholes who storm twitter every Friday with Team Whatever-motivated death threats? They’re fucking nuts. Don’t cater to them. Tell your story, whatever it is. Let the crazies make their charts counting the number of Delena vs. Stelena scenes (ugh, I hate portmanteaus so much). If the show is good, we will watch it. That is all.

Well, unsurprisingly, I pretty much agree with everything that Nicole said, especially that I’m miss Alcoholaric.  Except I am BEYOND excited about his new show, so I’ll allow it.  Also, I reiterate my concern that the show has turned a little pussy about killing people off for real, because even though it makes me sad, it’s really a necessary part of what makes this show so GOOD.

Obviously, I break the show down every week and you all pretty much know how I feel about all of it, but as far as the season on the whole went, I enjoyed it.  For me, the first season was still the best.  It was always really fast-paced and shocking.  The second season kind of dragged for me, and this one was an improvement, but it was also a little uneven and had a couple issues, mainly that the cast was getting too massive with the Originals and parents and god knows what else, and also that Bonnie is still alive.  But the biggest problems were that, first of all, everything could be done or undone with magic (too easy), and the plot twists and turns didn’t always make logical sense.  It seems like they must have gotten some new writers.  But I did feel like, in spite of those things sometimes, the last part of the season was wonderfully entertaining and engaging, and I feel like they definitely chose the right time to make Elena a vampire.  The show needs a shakeup, and I think that’ll be perfect.  I’m really, really excited for next season. Read the rest of this entry »

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Community.

Anthony Michael Hall and Fat Neil!  Great start to the episode, and that’s not even counting those AMAZING credits.  The big news about the episode, other than the fact that it served as the first half of the season finale, was the appearance of a mysterious paintballer that looked a lot like Sawyer from Lost.  I haven’t watched Lost since the third season and I thought I had successfully separated myself from my previous obsession, but the second I saw his face, I just wanted to hear him call someone ‘Freckles’.  Sa-woon.  God, he’s pretty. 

I loved that Annie got to take charge for once – I will confess that while I’ve girlcrushed on Alison Brie for a while, this was the first time I felt the same way about Annie – she like, OWNED that episode, and she looked hot doing it. 

The game is still going on so this sort of feels like writing a post mid-way through an episode, so I’ll leave it at this for now, and really get into it after the finale airs. Oh, and for anyone who was waiting for me to identify all of the westerns that the episode referenced, I’m so sorry – I am not a western fan and have seen like two in my life, so I’m at a loss.  Feel free to school me in the comments though! 

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Hi all.  To quote the wise sage Tina Fey in her celebrated memoir ‘Bossypants’, I’m the worst.  Massive apologies to everyone for this being so late, but because last Thursday was a momentous night on The Office, and I had written half of this last Friday, I didn’t want to not post it.  This past week is kind of an annual crazy time for me, because it’s the birthdays of my father and three friends, one right after another.  Plus, with the royal wedding and then the news of Bin Laden and all (America, Fuck Yeah!), you can imagine how busy I’ve been (actually, it’s been more of a ‘work is crazy this week’ situation, but global news items seemed more topical and interesting).  However, I’m here now, I’ve watched all the shows, cried surprisingly few tears, and am ready to get into it.  Think of this more as a primer for tonight than a review of last week if that helps.  And just think – TWO NBC posts in two days!!  What could be better??!!?? (A lot – a lot could be better, but we play the hands we’re dealt, right?) 

Community

So Shirley had her baby.  And the baby belongs to Theo Huxtable (we know, because it was wearing a really loud sweater and eating a Jello pudding pop on its way out, and also – no Chang baby tail).  I’ve never been big on episodes where a main character or two has to deliver a baby in an elevator or whatever.  And there are a surprisingly huge number of them.  However, I did mine this cliché for jokes when my best friend was super pregnant.  Every time we’d get into a crowded elevator, I’d start asking her about her contractions just to freak out the other passengers.  Although I think the fact that she was rolling her eyes at me probably tipped them off that we were not in an emergency situation.  She’s no fun.  She also refuses to use fake accents with strangers for no reason.  I don’t know what I even have in common with that weirdo. 

So anyway, the birth thing had funny moments, and was sweet and all, but really this episode, for me, was all about Dean Pelton.  I love the dean like the dean loves Jeff Winger (okay, maybe not THAT much) and he had a hilarious night and really got to take center stage for a lot of the episode.  All that, plus the return of shitfaced John Oliver.  All in all, a really solid episode.  

Below the quotes, I’ve embedded a fan video that I came across on another blog, and I loved it so much I had to share it.  I was a HUGE fan of the movie (500) Days of Summer, and this is basically a reworked trailer featuring Jeff and Britta.  It’s really cute and really well done – to be clear, I’m not endorsing the shipping aspect of it at all; it’s just a really enjoyable video.  I figured since the creators of Community seem to embrace fanvids wholeheartedly, so should we.

A crapload more stuff after the jump, you guys:

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Well, one benefit to not getting to watch these until last night (Friday) was that I had a chance to see the news that The Paul Reiser Show has already been canceled after only two episodes.  I still hadn’t watched it and I intended to, but seeing all the negative reviews really made me not want to even bother.  Then, I saw the news and happily checked it off my to do list.  Apparently, NBC will be running Office reruns at 8:30 for the rest of the season, so you can schedule bathroom breaks, phone calls, and snack making accordingly (or, you know, you can just pause the dvr).

There is much to discuss and many hilarious lines to remember from the good shows, so let’s get into it:

Community

Well, leave it to Community to run a clip show, which normally feels like the writers are waving a banner announcing “We All Just Really Needed Some ‘Me’ Time This Week”, and to produce one using all new material.  Not only was it hilarious, it was goddam impressive is what it was.  I mean, the dean’s many costume changes, cowboy Troy in the old west town (yum infinity), the MONTAGES…holy shitballs, it was amazing.

The montages were so funny, and also a hilarious parody of the thousands of YouTube fan videos of various tv couples and their loving moments, both real and imagined by crazy shippers (for the record, I have seen a few fanvids, but I tend to prefer the funnier ones – the crazy romantic ones aren’t really my thing).  There are SO MANY though for characters that aren’t even close to being involved – as the episode proved, you can even make Pierce and Abed look in love if you slow down the right moments and soundtrack it properly.  Below i the scene as it appeared in the show, followed by the fanvideo that inspired it – this was referenced in one of the several commentary tracks on the season one dvd.

Original video and a ton more after the jump:

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Hey everyone!  Thursday nights are officially fun again (although I’m back to avoiding Vampire Diaries spoilers like the plague, but I’ll live).  NBC returned with a full slate last night, well, except for Perfect Couples, which finished its run last week with Vance and Amy’s non-wedding that I didn’t bother writing about.  Instead, they aired the pilot episode of Paul Reiser’s new show which I must confess I have not yet seen, so you will not find it amongst the reviews below.  Was it good?  I have a feeling it wasn’t good, even though I know the awesome Larry David had a cameo.  I’ll catch it over the weekend and decide if I’ll be adding it to the Thursday posts, but do let me know your thoughts on the matter, if you choose to have any.

Overall, the shows were all pretty good tonight, but the big love goes out to Parks and Recreation for an episode that should have been called ‘Awesomesauce’, and The Office (is this a controversial opinion?  I feel like it might be, but I don’t care because I really loved it).  So, everyone form a trust circle around me, and let’s dig into our emotions about last night:

Community

Oh my god, you guys.  If I could have taken a course analyzing the intricacies of ‘Who’s The Boss’ I would have been valedictorian of my university, for realz.  I could teach a course just on the changing hairstyles and fashions of Samantha Micelli alone.  Of course, the entire class from what we saw was a philosophical excersice in determining who WAS the boss.  While the prof thought there was no definitive answer, Abed convinced everyone that empirically, the boss was in fact Angela Bower (damn straight – she didn’t slave away at Wallace & McQuaid all those years and then form The Bower Agency for nothing). 

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Last night was a pretty entertaining evening for the NBC comedies.  Avery forced Liz and Jack to define their relationship and set some boundaries.  Jim and Pam had a hipster christening for CeeCee where Jim temporarily lost the baby, Michael temporarily lost his mind (again) and Toby had a crisis of faith.  On Community, Troy and Jeff found a secret trampoline paradise while Abed became Greendale’s Queen Mean Girl until Hilary Duff shut him down.  Click the jump for some of the night’s best lines:

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30 Rock. She’s your pube shirt.

Last season, 30 Rock was the show I watched first on Thursdays.  As I’m firmly in the “save the best for last” camp, this isn’t a good thing.  I’ve always liked the show, but never as much as The Office or, as of last season, Parks & Rec and Community.  Last season in particular, the show (like The Office) started to slide in quality and it became the thing to watch before I watched the shows that I really loved.  Last night’s premiere however was in top form.  I laughed a LOT, and the killer one-liners came faster than Pete while sleep-raping his wife.  I loved Jenna as the highly effective producer, and was almost as sad as Pete to see the role come to an end by the close of the episode.  The Tracy and Kenneth thing didn’t do it as much for me, but that’s okay.

The two main storylines, Liz dealing with her overly-emotional pilot boyfriend Carol (Matt Freaking Damon) and Jack using his Fabian Strategy to try to win a home décor war with Avery were both really strong.  I especially loved Alec Baldwin in the episode – first with his vacation look at the beginning (“You sound weird.  Did you grow a beard?”), then giving himself the title Daddy Bear before flirting hardcore with Avery’s decorator.  Alec Baldwin = sexy gay Daddy Bear; who knew?  So yeah, 30 Rock is off to a really strong start this season.  I’ll be even happier when Kenneth is safely back at NBC – I don’t care how many Mentalist tote bags he gets from CBS – it’s just not the same without him.

For the rest of the night’s lineup, follow the jump!

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Hey guys!  Hulu was a real lifesaver for me this week as far as getting to watch the Thursday NBC shows.  I’ve still got a lot of packing to do today, so I’m going to make this quick and do a combo post for all of them.  Hopefully you guys aren’t all discussed out on this, but if you are, I understand.  Or if your boyfriend is really into March Madness and it has kind of turned your brain into mush, well … I understand that too.  But, as Marvin Gaye would tell us, let’s get it on.  Shall we?

First of all, Community.  You know, in general, I’m not a fan of Tony Hale as a guest star on things because all I see is Buster Bluth, or variations of Buster Bluth, like Meaner Buster Bluth (Emmet Milbarge) or Angry Buster Bluth (Pottery Teacher), but you know … I can deal because I was so entertained by the dashiki and by the No Ghosting Rule, and his fight with Jeff was HILARIOUS, mostly because when Jeff was so pissed that he was storming out but stopped mid-storm to sing The Righteous Brothers … hee!  Priceless!  It was generally a good plot, and had a lot of good little moments, like Abed using voiceovers as a crutch and Annie totally jacking off her clay.  And I liked little Jeff Winger too.

The B-plot was slightly weaker but I still enjoyed it and thought it had a lot of good moments as well, like Shirley assuming Troy couldn’t swim and Troy calling her a racist, and Pierce rowing his boat back to the main ship, although his rowboat capsizing was a little too Chevy Chasey for me, which is a common complaint I have with Pierce.  Although anything that manages to really incorporate Starburns into our lives is good for me.  Sidenote: me and Billy went out with our friends last night, and one of them was really encouraging him to grow his chops in and shave them into starburns, and this is an idea that I must support on principle.

Parks & Recreation was amazing as always, and honestly, I can barely comprehend that there was an episode  that Andy Samberg was a guest star on and he was the LEAST funny part.  I fucking love Andy Samberg, everything about him–I own Hot Rod and I laugh my ass off at most of his digital shorts, and in fact find myself regularly singing Shy Ronnie around the house–and I STILL maintain my previous statement.  Crazy!  Also crazy is that who could have possibly guessed that NOT making fun of Jerry would be as funny or funnier than making fun of Jerry?  My mind is seriously blown.  The ripping of the pants and the fart, all at the same time, and everyone’s facial expressions–PERFECTLY played.  I mean, the pants gag wouldn’t be NEARLY as funny if they had been able to make obvious jokes about something so over the top.  Incredible.

I also continue to love Andy and April, and I’m even still enjoying the love triangle, which I feel is pretty hard to pull off.  I like that Ann is starting to have some second thoughts, especially as she sees Andy being more considerate to April than he ever was to her.  And the band name discussion cracked me up too.  Baby in a Straightjacket … me and Billy are constantly naming bands in our heads, but he never likes the ones I come up with.  I, however, know in my heart that they are awesome.

I also actually really enjoyed The Office also, even as complaints about it continue to rise, and I swear that I get that.  And it was totally uncomfortable, and Michael was an asshole in the worst possible way.  But I did like the tension between Michael and Dwight, and the fight at the dump, and the battle in the office over the leads and how to placate the rest of the staff, and that what ultimately did it was an offering of pastries.  Hee!  Pastries go so far in an office environment, as any office drone can tell you.  There isn’t much I won’t forgive in the name of doughnuts.

And I liked Andy and Erin’s first kiss happening at the dump.  When he looked at her and said, “You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met,” it was so sincere and such a genuine compliment that he delivered with such feeling that how could you NOT be won over?  Of course it was totally awkward when he gave one of his “doo doo de doos” at the end, but then if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be Andy, right?

And 30 Rock has been on a pretty good roll the last few episodes, which is good because at the beginning of this season, I was just over it.  But going back to Jenna’s stalker episode, I’ve been really entertained, and this storyline with Liz and Wesley has been pretty great.  And I LOVED how annoyed Wesley was by the hot tub being instantly hot when it was turned on.  You all KNOW that would be something that would irk me.  And I love the idea of settling soulmates–I hope he really IS back for sweeps and I want to see how it all turns out.  Yeah, that’s right–I’m invested in a 30 Rock storyline now.  Whaaaa?  It’s like me and 30 Rock are falling in love all over again … you know.  Settling soulmate love. :)

Oh, and you know what else?  I’m not usually that entertained by Don Geiss storylines unless the crazy is really ratcheted up by Kathy Geiss or Devin Banks (who, by the way, I was disappointed wasn’t there), but that effigy of him looking like Han Solo was HILARIOUS.  Loved that.

Alright, gotta wrap this up so I can watch The Amazing Race (since my DVR isn’t plugged in!).  What did you guys think?  Good night of comedies?  Favorite moments or lines?  Stuff I missed?  You know the drill.  Comments!

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Seriously!  Tonight is the night of me writing about shows I don’t normally cover, but 30 Rock was hilarious tonight.  And you all know I have a huge girl crush on Elizabeth Banks.

I feel like this show was firing on all cylinders tonight, and I don’t know, I think the lack of Tracy helped me out.  Sometimes he’s just a little much for me–plus, I’ve been getting annoyed in general with the Cop Out previews.  Mostly at Kevin Smith, I won’t lie, but Tracy Morgan is guilty by association and whoever on Twitter said that since 30 Rock, all of his movie previews seem like parodies was DEAD ON.  Who dat ninja?

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Community

Dean: And you get an English credit.
Jeff: Well that ain’t bad neither.

Buddy: conjugate… conjugal …. VISIT!

Dean: Jeffrey, I’m the least racist person in the world! My best friend when I was six years old was a black man!

Parks & Rec

Jerry: April, there’s no paper in the printer.
April: So?
Jerry: So that’s the one thing you do.
April: [Sigh]
Ron: Attention … April, stop doing that.
April: Jerry told me to, so it’s super crucial.
Ron: More important than that, and more important than anything in this god forsaken world, is finding me an assistant.

April: I came in like two hours late, because I had to finish watching Swimfan … because it was on …

30 Rock (First Episode)

Liz: Okay, get a cab, just go to my apartment, 168 Riverside Dr.
Randy: Actually, there’s a guy who offered to drive me if I help him move a couch into a van–
Liz: Nope, that’s a serial killer.

Tracy: I did it!  Angie just called and she’s pregnant!
Liz and Frank: Congratulations!
Tracy: And it gets even better!  I just had a burrito!

Jenna: Liz, I AM happy!  All this attention, getting my picture taken, having ice cold diarrhea from having too much Jamba Juice … it’s everything I ever wanted!

30 Rock (Second Episode)

Jack: Do you know he confided in me that he has a little something going with one of the girls here?  Maybe it’s the Russian dancer with the tattoos … and that is the crazy sex trifecta.
Liz: That girl has a name, Jack.  We call her Skankovich.

Liz: How drunk are you?
Jack: A lot to very much.

Danny: She has really thin lips but she makes up for it in tongue girth.

Liz: What can I say, Jack?  I guess I’m getting my second wind here at the tail end of my dirty thirties.
Jack: This entire week has been such a bummer.
Danny: Hey, when did we get this Grizzly Adams sketch?
Liz:  I wrote it last night.  Late.  The shirt should be … filthier.
Jack: If you were a man, you’d have to register yourself as a sex criminal.

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