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OCTV Year-End Wrap Up 2012: Thursday Shows

May 24, 2012 in off-color commentary by offcolortv | 9 comments

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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OCTV Mid-Year Wrap Up 2011 (Part Three of Four)

December 29, 2011 in off-color commentary by Nicole | 10 comments

Welcome to part three of OCTV’s mid-year wrap up, where Nicole and SB go over what they’ve been watching all year and take a step back to look at the seasons (or the seasons so far) as a whole.  If you missed part one, you can find it here, and part two is here.  Gifs are generously rounded up by hockeybychoice, and as always, Nicole’s thoughts are in purple and SB’s are in blue.  Enjoy and be sure to comment!

Modern Family

I … can’t exactly decide how I feel about Modern Family.  I do really like it, and I almost always think it’s really funny.  I care about the characters and I look forward to watching it, and I find it relateable and likeable, and it doesn’t really feel like a show that you should be able to find much about to criticize, but I still can’t bring myself to say that I love it without any sort of qualifications, the first being … goddamn, do I hate Manny!  He is THE WORST.  The good news is that I actually really like everyone else.

The second is that I feel like as this show goes on, it goes deeper and deeper into “sitcommy” territory.  There’s always some sort of mix up or misunderstanding or “wacky hijinks” that make it feel like a screwball comedy, which is not normally my favorite thing.  And this was starting to drive me a little insane, but I kind of learned to stop thinking about it and just enjoy the show, because, like I said, I do enjoy the characters and one-liners so much that it just really isn’t worth getting worked up over.

Man, that sounds like more of a downer than I meant it to, and I don’t want to end on that, so let me finish by saying that I’ve enjoyed this season a lot more than the last, and I LOVED the whole wireless printer gag, Phil and Luke continue to be hilarious, and Gloria ALWAYS cracks me up … but of course, my favorite character is Stella.

I have mixed feelings about the show too, and I try to adopt the same attitude as SB when I watch it because I do like most of the characters and there are some great jokes in every episode.  But a lot of the times, the jokes feel like we’ve seen them before, you know?  Gloria is hilarious and her accent can be used to great effect, but it loses its impact when every episode features a joke (or five) about her wacky mispronunciations.  

You can practically predict the basic elements of every episode: Claire will be frazzled and annoyed with her family; Mitchell will be embarrassed by something that Cam does and will be kind of a dick about it; Phil will fall down; Jay will curmudgeonly complain about Manny and one of his fucking annoying quirks (valid).  The only thing that seems to change from week to week is the ‘wacky setup’ that SB talked about, the situation that is basically contrived just to highlight same beats over and over again.

The show really works best for me when the show mixes up the characters in ways that we don’t see very often, because it forces the dynamic of the entire show to adapt and vary from the norm.  Don’t get me wrong – those elements that they go back to over and over again are funny (well, except for Manny – as SB has already said, he is the worst) – it’s just that I’d like the show to find more ways to make us laugh or it’s going to start to get old.  Take Luke – his character evolved from the hilarious dumb kid to the secret genius of the family.  He’s still awesome, just in a new and different way.  If the show can figure out a way to make the characters seem as well thought out as the jokes, they’d be on fire.     

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Marry, Fuck or Kill: Thursday Shows!

October 13, 2011 in off-color commentary by Nicole | 56 comments

It’s here.  We’ve covered Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday shows, and now the epic battle is finally upon us.  Thursday has so many shows that we love, and so many characters that make us happy in the pants, so it’s time to make the difficult choices.  As usual, my picks are in purple and SB’s are in blue.  Now let’s do this:

Community

I thought I’d have trouble with this show because I love so many people on it, but actually, I think it’s kind of easy for me, as long as I divide it by gender.  As for the girls, I’d fuck Annie (she’s hot, but she’s so goddamn needy), marry Britta (hot and also annoying but if I’m being honest, she’s annoying in the same way that I can be annoying so it would probably work out) and kill Shirley (sorry Shirley, but your voice makes me die inside just a little).  With the boys, I’d fuck Jeff, because he’s so pretty, super tall and he looks so hot in a leather jacket.  But you know nothing’s going to last with him, so it’s just a one night thing.  I’d marry Troy – is anyone NOT marrying Troy?  He’s hot, hilarious, and he we could sing La Bibliotheca together every night before bed in our BLANKET FORT.  And obviously I’m killing Pierce because he is awful.

Even though it seems like I should divide this show by gender, I can’t.  I really feel like any girl that I decided to marry would only end in killing anyway.  I could MAYBE pick fuck (Britta), but ultimately, we all know I’m going to go for Jeff, partly for the attitude but mostly for the height.  And like Nicole, I would marry Troy (he’s the only person in that group who isn’t horrible, irritating, or otherwise challenged), and kill Pierce.  Pierce is the WORST (and so is Chevy Chase, even though we aren’t NECESSARILY supposed to be making this about real people, but also, we make the rules, SO …).

The Office

Okay, so first and foremost, I’m marrying Jim Halpert, no questions asked.  I’ve pretty much wanted to marry Jim Halpert since season 1 so this is kind of a no-brainer.  I’m having a hard time with who I’d pick to fuck though because other than Jim…there isn’t really anyone…OH.  I just thought of the perfect person, and I’m picking a guest star because our rules are loose so it’s allowed.  Danny Fucking Cordray, otherwise known as Tim Olyphant.  RIGHT?!?  There is no other option when Tim Olyphant is in the room.  And if he could wear Raylan Givens’ white Stetson, all the better.  You know who I’d kill?  I feel kind of badly about this, but Meredith.  I’ve just never found the character funny and in fact her drunken slut thing is so one-note that I kind of cringe now when she gets involved.  

Agreed that Jim is the perfect husband.  No question.  As for kill, I’d probably go for Stanley because I feel like he contributes the least to the overall dynamic.  The fuck one is really hard though because the nature of the show is that people are drawn out to be a little pathetic and sad.  So here’s my thought process–Phyllis is clearly a freak, but I don’t think I could go through with it.  Kelly for sure has a crazy side, which could add something to the sex, but she might actually be TOO crazy.  Darryl is, obviously, awesome, but I think the dry demeanor would be too unnerving for the fuck pick.  I do agree with Nicole on Danny Cordray/Timothy Olyphant being extraordinarily fuckable, but in the interest of switching it up, I’m gonna go with Mose.  He doesn’t talk, and you know that living on a farm has taught him a thing or two about a thing or two about DOIN’ IT.  Also, he doesn’t talk and he has a beard.  I’m good with all that.  (Plus, as long as we’re confusing fiction and reality, I think Mike Schur is the funniest ever.)

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NBC Thursday Comedies. Let’s kick some taint.

May 13, 2011 in off-color commentary, potent quotables by Nicole | 3 comments

Since this is a post about NBC shows, and since I’m writing it, I am hijacking the opening of the post to celebrate the fact that Parenthood got renewed for season 3.  Yay!  I know I don’t write about it, but I love that show so much and was definitely not ready to see it end.  Besides, watching Mae Whitman and Lauren Graham is like free therapy with all of the cathartic crying I do.  So happy about the news, now on to last night’s awesomeness.

So this was pretty much my dream NBC Thursday lineup: Community, The Office and an hour of Parks and Recreation.  If I had it my way, this would be every Thursday (sorry Tina Fey – I watch 30 Rock every week and think you’re amazing, but I’d totes swap it out for a double helping of P&R).   

Community. 

Pop pop!  I have to say, I knew that it was going to be hard for Community to top last year’s a-mah-zing ‘Modern Warfare’, but I thought this was a pretty fantasticfollow-up.  While I’m not overly knowledgeable about any of the movie themes that all of these paintball episodes have homaged (dick-swinging action movies, westerns and Star Wars are three things I’ve never been crazy about), my enjoyment wasn’t impeded by my ignorance.  I’m sure everyone that was able to geek out over all of the inside jokes loved them even more.  

There was a lot to love about this episode, and I did like it more than last week’s chaps-and-saloon fest, even though I didn’t have Josh Holloway’s lovely face to ogle.  The action was spread pretty evenly amongst the main cast, and I love when this show does true ensemble episodes – it’s just so much fun.  Plus, omg – Abed and Annie.  I loved it because it was just Abed REALLY going method as Han Solo, and not at all because he secretly wants to play with the real Annie’s boobs.  But it looks like his work paid off, because Annie totally got ladywood from making out with him. 

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NBC Thursday Comedies. I doth proclaim to be a stupid fartface.

May 9, 2011 in off-color commentary by Nicole | 3 comments

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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NBC Thursday Comedies. For me, it’s when the penis goes in.

May 5, 2011 in off-color commentary, potent quotables by Nicole | 1 comment

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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NBC Thursday Comedies. Drink the soap.

April 15, 2011 in off-color commentary, potent quotables by Nicole | 4 comments

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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