The Rest
Happy Endings – I have to say I was a bit thrown last week when they decided to have Alex and Dave sleep together. I didn’t really want to go down that road again. However, the aftermath of this pairing was so much fun that I guess I can forgive the writers for making me fret for a week. “The Kerkovich Way” was really delightful, and again, Happy Endings was the zaniest, zippiest and funniest sitcom of the week. The way Jane tricked Brad into thinking he had “forgetums” was hilarious, especially when he tried to CSI his way out of the situation only to find popcorn in his teeth (placed there by Jane while he was asleep) “Let’s just say he’s one MRI away from a free MRI” Awesome. Also, the scavenger hunt was a whole lot of fun. I loved all the John Hughes references, and really, I like anything with Max and Penny together. “Penny: Yes! Year of Penny! Max: The year’s been over for a couple of months Pen. Penny: Not the fiscal year of Penny. Suck it taxpayers!”
Smash – I can’t make up my mind about this show. On one hand, I want to love it. I enjoy Broadway; it’s a stellar cast; and the musical numbers are pretty effing awesome. But on the other hand, the writers don’t seem to know what to do with all they have going for them. They are getting bogged down in trite storylines – an affair with a business friend, a jealous girlfriend, a standoffish boyfriend – and they’re scrambling for that spark that made the pilot so eminently watchable. To complicate things more, I think the show is having trouble with differentiating what is theater and what is supposed to feel like real life. The last act of the show exemplifies this, most notably with Michael singing to Julia. Anyone else think this felt like a scene from a play more than what it was supposed to be: a scene from real life? It felt choreographed and unnatural in a way that most other parts of the show don’t. The clash of moods threw me off and probably put a bad taste in my mouth for the whole episode (I know I can be fickle like that). What else? The musical number for “Let’s Be Bad” was soooo good. Groan for the friend with the androgynous name. Blech! How I Met Your Mother did it before and did it better. Also, I’m starting to agree with other critics that Katherine McPhee is a little lacking, especially after that “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” number. It was cringe-worthy and a little creepy. Give me less of her and more Anjelica Houston and Jack Davenport. That might make me happy.
Parks and Recreation – A solid episode where everybody got to a moment to shine. Ben, who’s always been the outsider of the group, was adorable in his frowny-faced grumpiness, and I always like it when Leslie lets loose (see: “The Fight” and “Practice Date”). I was a little bit wary in the middle of the episode, wondering where the whole story was going: whether the drunken interview would ruin everything or whether Knope 2012 would figure out a way to overcome. I should have guessed the end from the title of the episode, “Lucky”, but I didn’t. Other parts of the episode? I thought Jerry stuffing envelopes then “britta-ing” the whole thing was very funny. I was less impressed with the April/Andy/Ron/Chris dinner. I do appreciate the writers bringing Andy’s higher education back, and I really love Ron’s “Tiger Woods Shirt” but I think the show needs to stop making Chris the punching bag. Let him be happy for f-k’s sake. Oh, and Tom and Ann are still annoying me. Still. I hope that final break-up was real.
PS: This ep was written by Nick Offerman, so that’s cool.
Cougar Town – We have already established that I love Bill Lawrence shows. One of the things I love about them is that they are thematic, but not overly so. It’s not like Grey’s Anatomy where the surgery is a metaphor (ooh!) for what’s happening in the characters’ lives. No, for Bill Lawrence shows, it’s just that each episode has a unifying thread – one that JD would often explain to us on Scrubs. This week, the episode, “Full Moon Fever” (btw, don’t know where this title came from), was all about admitting that you’re wrong, even if you’re not, in order to make someone else feel better. For Andy and Jules, it was Jules letting Andy be king of the cul-de-sac. For Travis, it was admitting he cheated so Bobby could date the hot teacher, Scrubs‘s Sarah Chalke, (What! What!). And for Ellie, it was realizing that, for once, Laurie was right about her new relationship with Wade, the army guy. All of this I very much liked, and it came together into a cohesive, entertaining half hour. The highlights? Obviously the end with Andy as William Wallace. Angry Andy, aka “Short and Wide” is always fun, even when he starts burrowing. “Andy: My heart feels like your sad face. Bobby: And my face feels like your sad eyes.” Also, I liked how much Travis’s family irritates his roommate. Poor Sig! Oh, and Laurie was kind of on fire this ep. She had some great deliveries of some of the episodes best lines. “I hope he [Wade] is super dark black…blacker than space!” Finally, say it with me class: PENNY CAN!!!
Raising Hope – To be honest, I kind of forgot was the episode, “Single White Female Role Model” was about, and I had to look it up. That’s never a good sign. All I really have to say about the show is that Burt is adorable as usual wanting a stop sign at his house so he can talk to people and Katy Perry has the whitest teeth I have ever seen. Really, they were wholly distracting and quite creepy. Like Ross from Friends under blacklight.
Justified – A far more watchable showing this week. And, I have to say, they shocked me when they killed Gary in the first few minutes. The rest of the episode was spent trying to pin the murder on Raylan while Raylan, himself, tried to pin it on Quarles. I really enjoyed watching Raylan maneuver his way through things; it’s alway entertaining when the protagonist is smarter than the others. He is really one of the coolest motherf-kers out there. Even the detectives think so. Also, I felt relieved almost to have Winona back. Perhaps my problems with the past few episodes could be partly attributed to her absence. Finally, there was a lot less Boyd this episode, and I kind of liked it. Don’t get me wrong, I love Boyd as a character, but I’m uncertain about his story this season. Of course, I trust the writers to know what they’re doing, but right now, I feel a little in the dark. What exactly is he trying to do in Harlan? We’ll see. Only five more episodes left this season, and given past experience, I’m sure they’re going to be good.
PS: Loved, loved, loved the line about being sucked down with a sinking ship. “I believe they disproved that on Mythbusters.”
Breaking In – First off, I have to admit that I watched every episode last season, and sometimes, I even enjoyed them. I was, therefore, kind of happy when this show came back. I’m not sure about this revamp, though. I like Megan Mullally, so I’ll give her a chance, but after Party Down season two where Mullally replaced Jane Lynch, I’m unsure. I see her as more of a guest star – I mean, I love her on Parks and Rec and her stint on Up All Night was very funny – but whether she can be a good regular has yet to be seen. It’s hard to talk about the rest of the episode because it was pretty much a new pilot, repeating a lot of the stuff I already knew from last year. I will say that I love Bret Harrison from both Reaper and The Loop so he’ll get me to follow the show regardless of the other cast. Oh, and how many shows does Christian Slater have to kill before they stop trying to make him a TV star? He’s a regular black widow so far.
30 Rock – I wasn’t a big fan of Chloé Moretz in this year’s Hugo; in fact, she was my least favorite part of that movie. So, having her back on 30 Rock for “Standards and Practices” didn’t thrill me. It didn’t turn out badly though; I guess she makes a better mean girl than French girl. Plus, I like Jack as a mean girl, so the benefits of the guest star outweigh the costs. Jack’s storyline was definitely the winner this week, with Liz’s trouble with Kenneth (aka Andromakennethamblesorten) at Standards and Practices as a close second. I did really like the end where Kenneth had to live-bleep Tracy’s stand-up. Oh, and I almost forgot Jenna’s story about her donated eggs. Wait, no, that was on purpose. Yeah, you read that right. The less said about that, the better.
Up All Night – NBC is really having fun with their Oscar winners on Thursday night. First Jim Rash (Dean, de-dean-dean-dean) is a regular on Community and now, they have Nat Faxon, the other writer of The Descendents as a guest on Up All Night. This episode, “Couple Friends” was solid, but nothing extraordinary. I do like it when Reagan and Chris try to be cooler than they are, one, because I love awkward Will Arnett, and two, because it never works out. It makes for great comedy, and I really enjoyed as they tried to woo their titular “couple friends” only to find out that they can’t tolerate them. Eva’s story was also funny, just because it featured Maya Rudolph at her best, being crazy like fox. As the old southern dude said, this is a real broad. Final note, I really wish the show knew what to do with Missy. They can’t seem to figure out whether she’s Eva’s lapdog, a quirky sidekick type or a full blown crazy character. Make up your mind, Up All Night.
Awake – This week was not nearly as good as last week, but that is often the case with dramatic pilots. Pilots get months of work while the sophomore episode gets a week. That said, the show wasn’t bad. To be honest, I imagine this is more like what we’re going to be seeing in future episodes, so I guess we better get used to it. I’m starting to like the way the two worlds overlap in terms of the police cases, and I really enjoyed the way Michael used his wife’s world to help him bond with his son in the other dimension. (Speaking of the son, I’m very, very wary of the previews for next week with Rex getting kidnapped.) I do wish they would use the therapists more, though, like they did in the pilot. I liked the dialogue between the two of them. Some random thoughts: the wife-world looks much more real than the other world, simply because of the coloring. Is that a clue for the future? And finally, I was surprised how long it took to introduce Laura Innes in the episode, way past the half way mark. It seemed like a weird structural error, like she was only added as an afterthought (perhaps at the behest of the “oh-so-wise” NBC execs?) But no matter when she was introduced, I don’t like the idea of conspiracy. I hope it doesn’t become a plot tumor.
Lastly, I didn’t get a chance to watch Alcatraz. It was two hours and I didn’t have the patience. If it turns out to be awesome (doubtful, sadly), I’ll post something during the week. Otherwise, too bad if that’s the reason you came to this post.
See you next time,
Mary
Mary the TV Maven 