30 Rock Review: "Sun Tea" (episode 4.6)
The most tiresome thing about this season of 30 Rock has been the entire Dealbreakers plotline. There’s a lot of other gripes people have had, some well-founded, some not so much, but for my money the Dealbreakers thing has generally slowed things down and turned a somewhat funny joke into a running gag that lost its steam some time ago. It’s sadly a bit like what SNL will do by taking whatever success it accidentally stumbles upon and reusing it again and again until even hearing about it makes you cringe. Dealbreakers had become like that for me, and the... read more
Community Review: "Environmental Science" (Episode 1.10)
It seems like Community is becoming simultaneously less and more formulaic as the series goes on, which is an interesting phenomenon. If anything, it seems like episodes are ripping through sit-com clichés at a faster than believable pace, each episode more reliant than the last upon tired old stories that we’ve been watching on TV since we were born. The episode’s structures are impeccably fitted to a traditional three-act structure and it’s hard not to predict where the entire episode is headed after merely what appears in its cold open.... read more
House Review: "Teamwork" (Episode 6.8)
The transitional period for House continues. Licking his wounds after Cuddy rejected him, revealing that she is dating his old frenemy Lucas (from season 5), House attempts to assemble, or reassemble, his team with mixed results.... read more
The Office Review: "Murder" (Episode 6.09)
The Office’s eighth episode, “Murder,” was a great way to dust off last week’s disastrous double date lunch between Michael, Jim, Pam and Pam’s mother, who is tactlessly dumped on her own birthday. Michael swiftly jumps from that role as the temperamental child to this episode’s all-knowing father figure whose mysterious ways pan out in the end. It’s tough to say whether he’s really growing up these days. There’s no telling what he’ll do between now and the end of the season, or even next episode.... read more
30 Rock Review: "The Problem Solvers" (Episode 4.5)
Last night’s episode of 30 Rock was the best one so far in the season. Ok, who am I kidding, it was the best. I’m not going to pretend I’m not still a little disappointed in it, though, but it’s just because the show was so close to greatness and we all know it’s done it before and can do it again. 30 Rock is like a mistress I’m going through hard times with at the moment. She continues to give me enough to keep coming back, but I know she’s delivered better in the past and that she’s just... read more
Community Review: "Debate 109" (Episode 1.9)
Just a couple of episodes ago, I was pontificating about whether Community would up the self-reflexiveness that it’s started to show or stick with its more typical tone. “Debate 109” answers that question quite nicely, with a vehement yes that for once is a good thing. Self-reflexiveness is a tricky tool. On the one hand, it can lead to jokes otherwise inaccessible and on occasion create some awesome situations. Venture Bros. comes to mind here, given that the entire show is aware of its own ridiculousness but that’s in some ways part of its essential premise. On the other hand,... read more
V Review, "There is No Normal Anymore" (Episode 1.2)
I was really looking forward to the new V series. In my teens, I was a fan of the original two miniseries and even the failed regular series. While my fondness for the franchise may stem from a lack of teenage discernment (especially when it came to sci-fi) and the rosy tint of nostalgia, Battlestar Galactica showed that even the lamest and cheesiest of shows could be reimagined by brilliant minds into something spectacular. Sadly, those minds were not at work on the new V series.... read more
House Review: "Known Unknown" (Episode 6.6)
On tonight’s episode, there are new developments in the relationship cloyingly referred to as “Huddy.”... read more
30 Rock Review: "Audition Day" (Episode 4.4)
You know how sometimes a song can be well-written, the lyrics literate and its singer passionate, but you still think "meh" about it? That's kind of what this episode of 30 Rock was like for me. It had a good premise that had been set up for episodes and the usual manic comedy that the show thrives on, but I wasn't really feeling the whole thing. ... read more
Community Review: "Home Economics" (Episode 1.8)
Community for the most part plays like a traditional sitcom, but there's one primary aspect that keeps it away from being another exmaple of the old genre: continuity. Due primarily, I would guess, to the way syndication works, sitcoms just don't have a background where what happens in one episode stays relevant in the next. The most important sitcom of my generation, The Simpsons, will make jokes about past episodes but would never base a plotline around it. The two-part "Who Shot Mr. Burns" episodes were noteworthy because things didn't resolve in a quick 22-minutes.... read more
Mercy Review: "The Last Thing I Said Was" (Episode 1.6)
Though the writing on this fledgling show can still be ham-fisted and lazy at times, jolting from moment to moment without paying the attention to detail that brings an audience along for the ride, this sixth episode of new show Mercy has a few genuinely fine moments.... read more
30 Rock Review: "Stone Mountain" (episode 4.3)
Two weeks ago, Todd VanDerWerff from the AV Club wrote a blog entitled “30 Rock’s Dangerous Decline and the Shadow of Will and Grace,” which I took some umbrage with mostly because I disagreed with many of the points ... and partially because there were a few that I did in fact agree with. He basically posited that the lack of character development and proliferation of plots has been what's bringing the show down, though that's a bit of a reduction of his argument. Last week’s episode was particularly disappointing and made me question whether VanDerWerff was right on more... read more
The Office Review: "Koi Pond" (Episode 6.07)
Before addressing the deep-rooted (but strangely charming) insecurities of Scranton branch’s employees, and especially those of the commanding duo of Michael and Jim, “Koi Pond” opens with Daryl pushing a paper-cart full of saucer-eyed kids through a haunted warehouse, outfitted with costumed co-workers and, well, not quite the age appropriate thrills. Michael successfully demonstrates the “too much of a good thing is a bad thing” theory by simulating his own hanging, kicking out a chair and convulsing his suspended body with his head tied in a noose. It was a nice nod to Halloween’s festivities and serves well in the... read more
Community Review: "Introduction to Statistics" (Episode 1.7)
For the past couple of weeks Community has been largely an ensemble show. Joel McHale naturally steals the show when he’s on due to that whole charisma business of his, but the plots haven’t revolved around him any more than the other characters. Overall it was a nice change of pace that helped flesh out the Community universe. Frankly, it’s impressive that after only a handful of episodes its supporting roles were justified in taking over the show as much as they did.... read more
30 Rock Review: "Into the Crevasse"
Last week’s episode of 30 Rock could really have come out at any point in the show’s continuity. Sure, it agreed that the events from previous episodes happened, but there wasn’t really any sort of play or acknowledgment of the show's past. The show has always been somewhat ambiguous with its own continuity, able to deal with multiple-episode plots but never really willing to let its characters grow or change. They’re stuck at a permanent point, even if the show makes some concessions to plotlines.... read more
Community Review: "Football, Feminism and You" (Episode 1.6)
I don’t think anyone will be making the argument that last week’s episode of Community, “Football, Feminism and you,” is the series’ funniest. The list of quotes in the random observations this time is much smaller than it would be for most sit-coms truly hitting on all cylinders, and yet I can’t help but feel that it was truly at the top of its game … even without either Ken Jeong or John Oliver popping in to take things truly over the top.... read more
How I Met Your Mother Review: "The Sexless Innkeeper" (Episode 5.04) and "Duel Citizenship" (Episode 5.05)
Air Dates: October 12, 2009 (“The Sexless Innkeeper”); October 19, 2009 (“Duel Citizenship”) Writers: Carter Bays and Craig Thomas (“The Sexless Innkeeper”), Chuck Tatham (“Duel Citizenship”) Director: Pamela Fryman Even with Lily’s excessive urination and insistence on playing a book-on-tape, Ted and Marshall’s road trip became a much-needed detour for Season Five, if not a near reversal of all that went wrong in “The Sexless Innkeeper.”... read more
Dollhouse Review: "Belonging" (Episode 2.4)
The fourth episode of Dollhouse’s second season is the series’ best since the last episode written by Jed Whedon (Joss’ brother) and his wife, Maurissa Tancharoen—the unaired “Epitaph One.” read more
The Office Review: "The Lover" (Episode 6.06)
“The Lover” marks the sixth season’s most spot-on episode, mainly, the well-executed schticks and screaming matches that inevitably ensue when an employee (Pam) discovers that her boss (Michael) has been sleeping with her mother— Michael’s latest exposé in inappropriateness that sparked from Jim and Pam’s wedding in “Niagara.”... read more
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Review: "The Waitress is Getting Married" (Episode 5.05)
It took five episodes, but it feels like the Gang has finally hit their stride again. It’s not that the fifth season’s previous episodes have necessarily come up short, but they’ve lacked that certain kinetic frenzy that made the show so addictive.... read more
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