I seem to be the odd man out compared to the rest of the internet this morning, but I did not think this was among the strongest episodes of this series. I always love scenes where Abed tries to make everyone live life like a movie, so the slow-motion march to the space shuttle made me laugh, but there were only a couple of other big moments in the episode for me. The best was probably Troy threatening to kill Annie, which was delivered with the same tone as the choloform scene from a couple of episodes, which was a series highlight. And of course, the self-aware KFC advertising was pretty great, and well-established in NBC's wheelhouse.
30 Rock, 8:30pm on NBC
All I want to do is refer to last night's live episodes of 30 Rock as "much ballyhooed," but that is lame, and I am cool. I was really impressed with the fact that the cast performed two live versions of the show, for the East Coast and West Coast broadcasts, and I have to say that watching the episode made me feel like I was part of a television event, which is not a mood that's easy to create in this post-TiVo world. The pacing and camera work was weird, but this was a live staging of a show that we are not used to watching with an audience's laugh track, so no big deal there. Chris Parnell seemed the most comfortable of the main cast members, but the highlight was definitely Jon Hamm, whose amorous hand (West Coast feed) had me laughing for a solid five minutes. That he is so good at this kind of comedy, but is also Don Draper, makes me love him even more. It was a very smartly written episode, and the live show within a live show added protection from any number of
The Office, 9pm on NBC
Just like the 'lip dub' cold open that kicked off the season, this episode was a great contribution to send off Steve Carrell. Melora Hardin's brief scene made me desperately miss the time when she was a series regular, but I am definitely looking forward to Amy Ryan's upcoming guest-starring run. While the Michael storyline was definitely the heart of the episode, I absolutely loved Andy getting to use his Cornell RA skills to teach his officemates about sexual health and acceptance. He is so clearly someone whose happiness and power peaked in college, and it is so sad to watch that play out.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10pm on FX
This was a great episode. I love the battle between Team Dee/Dennis and Team Mac/Charlie, and it was great to finally have that battle distilled down to a class war. Everything about Charlie thinking his jean cutoffs were not white trash, and Dee/Dennis/Frank at the public pool was hilarious. The more absurd of a character Frank becomes, the more he adds to the mix.
Jersey Shore, 10pm on MTV
Well, it's happened. Jersey Shore fatigue. I will watch the season finale next week, but I can't see caring about these awful people for one more season. "The Situation" in particular makes me want to jump off a cliff, but DJ Pauly D, Vinny, Ronni, and Sammi are only marginally better. Now, if Snooki and J-WOWW were to get their own show, I could see watching that.
Grey's Anatomy, 9pm on ABC
This episode had actual admirable character development, which was a nice surprise. And Dr. Altman was rapidly becoming one of my least favorite characters on the show, but at least she finally told off Dr. Avery for flirting with her. Oh, Dr. Avery - or as I remember him, the Hotness Monster from Greek - so glad he finally had his shirt off. Though really when do new doctors have the time to get so ripped?
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1 comment:
Is the internet really saying that? As someone who has watched all of Community in the past two weeks, I can say definitively that that was by far the worst episode they've ever done.
And are we post-TiVo already? That's sad. I never had one.
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