The three shows here weren’t the best, and in some cases, they were the worst, but either way, they made me have some passionate emotions. These aren’t exactly full reviews, but rather some thoughts that I need to say out loud so that I can sleep at night.
Up All Night
I was just lamenting last week that this show was never going to be one of my favorites, and then, in their season finale, the writers made me love them. I’m sure some people found “The Proposal” to be too cheesy or trite. And, yeah, the idea that a husband steals his wife’s ring to repropose, only to make her think that she’s lost it, has been done before. But there’s something about the chemistry between Chris and Reagan on this show that makes it work.
Christina Applegate and Will Arnett are probably two of the funniest people on TV at the moment, and now that this season has come to close and the show is most likely going to be renewed, I have to say I’m glad they have found a place to call home. The dynamic between these two actors is really what makes the show for me, and the finale gave me exactly what I was looking for.
Throughout the season, we have gotten glimpses of what Chris and Reagan’s lives were like before the baby. And usually, these flashback episodes are stronger than the others. Just look at “The Birth.” So it was no surprise that “The Proposals” was as great as it was. For me, it all came down to the end, where Chris proposes to Reagan. I have to admit, like a girl, I squeed. The scene, complete with Will Arnett singing, was absolutely perfect. And I loved every minute of it.
Going in to the second season (most likely), I hope the writers see that this sort of stuff is their strong suit. I also would like it if they realize that a calmer, less insane Eva is better too. Sure, she can be quirky, like in “Hey Jealousy,” but she needs to be within the realm of believability. She needs to be someone that you would believe Reagan would be friends with. Also, I hope next year they figure out what to do with Missy. She was absent from this episode and I didn’t miss her at all. That’s never a good sign for a character.
So, until next year, it’s goodbye to Up All Night. Hello, Parks and Recreation in that time slot.
Grade: A
How I Met Your Mother
You might wonder why I’m writing up this episode when you see the grade at the end of this. But really, I want to talk about it because it was so wildly unrepresentative of the show that I love to watch that I think it’s worthy of discussion.
I think I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t like “Trilogy Time” as much as other people did. It had some elements that I normally love on the show: Star Wars references, meta-“weren’t we so weird in the past” jokes, a heartwarming denouement with the reveal of Ted’s daughter. But it all fell flat to me. So, I ask myself again, why?
I think the main problem was the flash forwards in time. I get that the show is often fantastical – there’s a whole episode about getting high at a concert – but the imaginary futures seemed so out of character that I found them resoundingly unfunny. Sure, a college student would think that he would be rich with a moustache in the future. But what about three years later, or three years after that? The fantasies became more outrageous instead of less. It didn’t make sense to me. In fact, it irritated the hell out of me. And it tainted the entire episode.
It’s particularly annoying because the show has been on such a roll lately. I do have to admit, the last five minutes did make me smile, so the grade I was going to give bump up a bit. But here’s hoping that this is a blip, not a trend for the show.
PS: Anybody remember a couple of seasons ago when Robin said that she was never getting married and then the voiceover said that she was married within the year? What happened to that? Did the writers forget or is Robin headed down the aisle (possibly with Barney) any time now?
Grade: C (A = “Come On”/”Slap Bet”/”Last Words”/”No Pressure”)
Raising Hope
I really just want to rant here, so take everything with a grain of salt. But man, did this episode rub me the wrong way. I hated it. My problems are seven-fold:
1) This was a format suspiciously similar to the Cops episode of My Name is Earl. Now, I’m okay with Greg Garcia having a signature, but I wish this weren’t it.
2) I really can’t stand Nancy Grace, no matter how much the show is making fun of her.
3) I especially don’t like Nancy Grace when she is making “inside probe” dick jokes. Oh, and yeah, rape jokes too.
4) Rape jokes?!?! Okay, before you jump down my throat, I don’t think comedy should be limited to subjects, but I once read an article with Ricky Gervais where he said “There’s no line to be drawn in comedy in the sense that there are things you should never joke about. There’s nothing that you should never joke about, but it depends what that joke is. Comedy comes from a good or a bad place.” Well, I thought this was a bad, creepy place that the jokes were coming from.
5) The documentary format took away some of the humor for me because the whole point of the show is to laugh at/with the Chances while they do really dumb things. But when you watch other people make fun of the Chances, it makes it uncomfortably sad. It’s sort of like the idea that you can make fun of your family, but other people can’t. We’re part of the so-called family, but this outside documentary is not. So I’m not cool with them making fun.
6) Was Jimmy friends with Barney and Frank before he got the job at the grocery store? That seems like creative amnesia to me. Like Boy Meets World. (I mean, Cory and Topanga hated each other at the beginning but then, in later seasons, kept talking about how they were in love since kindergarten. It still bugs me)
7) This was basically a clip show, right? I mean, not technically, and not in the fun meta-way Community did theirs. But it felt like a big rehash of plots we already knew, except for the wedding part, and that came more than halfway through the episode. Was this an attempt to gain viewers for next season? I’m not sure, but, to me, the whole thing was a little, well, a lot boring.
Grade: D+
Finally: The Rest of the week
Mary the TV Maven 