Every week I will be doing a rundown of the exhausting 3 hours of television that I cram into my Thursday evenings (though after seeing my first episode of Two and a Half Men in a while, it may be 2 and a half). They are reviewed in my order of quality, so enjoy.
30 Rock – This was a masterfully conducted episode that was clearly spawned directly from the mind of Tina Fey. It had everything that we have grown to love from this show (A plethora of one-liners, a powerful Jack Donaghy, and a celebrity cameo). The show featured three plot lines. The prominent one being the battle between Tracy and Liz about whether women can really be funny, something that was proved not only by this episode, but also by Jenna and Liz’s two woman show from their struggling days in Chicago. The argument starts when Tracy agrees with Stephen Hawking on twitter that women can never be as funny as men. After much debate (which included Tracy naming his fingers after female comics and discovering the hilarious monkey he found on the internet was actually a female) Tracy finally succumbs to Liz and admits her talents.
30 Rock has become a show that seems to bring out the best in its comedic guests (See Bryan Cranston, Brian Williams, etc.) and that continued with the dynamite appearance of Ryan Lochte. Lochte played the sex idiot of Jack’s heiress to the Sbarro pizza fortune, and delivered three classic lines. Hard to decide which was best, I think I have to go with his hopelessly optimistic “No, I’m pretty sure we’re in love.” response to Jack’s comment that he served the role of sex idiot.
This episode featured great Jenna moments including her doing kegels while mulling over the decision to perform her play and her struggle to deal with inevitability of what happens to aging female actresses, saying she was tired of “losing a push-up contest to Julie Bowen to see who gets to play Kevin James’s mean wife who he’s sick of having sex with.” “Stride of Pride” proves that if anything, there are atleast two very funny women in show business. Well done Mrs. Fey, well done.
Parks and Recreation – Watching how good these shows have become makes it that much more difficult to deal with the inevitability that they will soon be gone forever. “Sex Education” was a solid episode that featured Leslie in another political battle, Tom Haverford ripped from his beloved screens, and Ben having one of his nerdy-ier episodes to date.
The episode began with a play by play (or should I say tweet-by-tweet) account of Tom’s fire hydrant crash. As his punishment he was forced to give up all screens for a week, which means the tech heavy Tom would have to take a week off from pinterest, his podcast with Jean-Ralphio and even twitter (#BLESSED). The week started poorly as he arrived an hour and a half late for work because he couldn’t use his beloved GPS. The episode then featured Ron taking Tom through the woods allowing him to get all of the technology out of his system. Unfortunately Ron was unaware of how much Tom really had in him, and eventually forces him to stop before they move towards “feelings territory”.
The rest of the episode featured great one liners from Ben and Donna and also some laugh out loud moments from Andy and Anne. This episode was Parks and Rec at its best.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – A big improvement over the first episode. “The Gang Recycles Their Trash” featured a recycling of some of the better older bits and characters from the past season. Frank insists that he has a way to undercut the unions and take over trash disposal for the city, as long as everyone follows his plans. Of course they don’t, as Mac, Charlie, and Dennis decide to (successfully) pick up trash door to door in a limousine and tuxedoes, and Frank and Dee try to convince their former (gay) enemy to give them the contract. Hilarity and not so subtle racism ensue (Dee returns as Latina Martina Martinez).
The Office – It’s no secret that The Office has struggled to replace to hole that Steve Carell left behind. This episode was a prime example of it, as Andy Bernard began to take on a Michael Scott-like hatred for Toby (and Nelly), but without the humor to balance it out. Craig Robinson and Brian Baumgartner did the best they could to breathe life into this flat episode (even guest director Bryan Cranston couldn’t add a spark). Hopefully this show gets back on track. Kevin’s ability to only do math involving pies and another classic prank from Jim were both hilarious, but still it feels like something is missing.
The League – This season of the league has moved far away from the original theme (Fantasy Football) and has really tried to go for the homerun, gross out, angle. A solid episode, but this show has way more potential then to give us a predictable half hour about foreskin. Taco remains one of the best characters on TV, however this show lacked the humor that is brought on by its true fundamentals; guys caring way too much about a silly game.
Two and a Half Men – Jon Cryer’s recent Emmy win has given me knew interest in watching this show. However, this week’s episode – costarring a very unlikeable Miley Cyrus – has all but diminished that interest. The jokes were predictable and too few and far between. I will be giving it one more chance this week for the simple fact that Miley Cyrus won’t be returning. I could be moving to reviewing Up All Night in two weeks, we’ll see.
So that’s that for this week. Hope you enjoyed it.
titsay
kianamaiart
dailybridgerton
dededos
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
izzy806