I Called Shotgun. Everybody Heard Me!

Let’s throw this post into the better late than never category and call it day.

Hilarious spoilers below.

The Big Bang Theory – “The Love Car Displacement” (B+) by Ryan

I am going to write this week's Big Bang Theory review because Brian is not sure he has much to say about the show anymore.  Unfortunately for him, I think this is a great episode to write about.  My history with this show is as follows: I watched the entire first 2 seasons on DVD over a couple weeks 2 years ago.  I’ve been watching seasons 3 and 4 on a weekly basis since.  

I don't know what it is about the show that keeps me coming back but I really like it.  I think it’s because a) I am a giant comic book geek who would do things like weigh the options of deleting a back catalogue of Battlestar Gallactica from my DVR vs. installing an additional hard drive and voiding the warranty (I would probably void the warranty just like Sheldon) and  b) I study science at an academic institution,  so pretty much all the jokes are in my wheel house.

That being said, this week had an unusual number of penis jokes.  I don't know why, but it did.  The best one is when Raj gets into bed with two tissues in his hand, gets under the covers as if he is about the masturbate and then bam... he’s watching Bridget Jones' Diary and the tissues are for his tears.  

I’m also enjoying Amy Farrah Fowler more than I did before.  Her lack of social skills combined with Sheldon's makes for some pretty good laughs.  "Sometimes I want a penis for convenience" is a great line.

This episode gave me 3 or 4 laugh out loud moments.  Still rooting for the Penny, Leonard marriage.  We have 3 more seasons confirmed though, so maybe a Ross and Rachel ending is more in store.

Community – “Asian Population Studies” (B+)

Another great episode of Community. We had Theo from the Cosby show (there’s an old reference), an inappropriate use of the men’s room (mezzanine!), and the return of Troy and Abed in the morning (you couldn’t tell, but I sang that as I wrote it).

Rich (Greg Cromer) was back at Greendale again this week as Annie’s potential love interest, and while the two of them didn’t work out, it certainly helped generate a lot of comedy from Jeff of all places. I personally love the fact that a season and a half into this series no real long-term relationships have formed between any of the shows principle characters. This goes against my own conventional thinking, but the show generates so much humour out of the almost relationships that I can’t help but make an exception.

But back to Jeff. His scene where the girls kept walking in on him in the bathroom was hilarious, as was his attempt to campaign against Rich getting into the study group (I love footballs), but the real gem of this episode was his wonderfully subversive ending scene with Rich, where he asked him to teach him how to be a better person so he could “abuse it”. I love that he talked Rich into doing it because if he didn’t he would be a bad person. These two have developed quite a rivalry over the past season (although it’s fairly one-sided), so I can’t wait to see where this relationship will lead us.

Also notable this week was Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s first guest appearance as Shirley’s ex-husband Andre. I love that his character wore a sweater all episode in a hilarious shout out to the Cosby show. At one point he even remarked that it was his dad gave who gave it to him. Also hilarious was watching Troy try to figure out when he and Shirley first had sex, only to fail because “his mind is like a fortress”.  His character has the potential to be recurring so here’s hoping we see him again sooner rather than later.

Parks and Recreation – “Go Big or Go Home” (A)

I mention quite a bit how I think Community is the best comedy on television right now, and throughout the first half of this season the show has consistently lived up to this praise, but at the same time I’ve always said that Parks and Recreation could definitely give them a run for their money. In fact, the only real knock I have on Parks is that it spent the first half of this season on hiatus. Now that it’s back I really can’t wait to see these two shows duel it out each week (that’s right, I’m starting the rivalry now).

And it looks like Parks and Rec was well worth the wait. While I didn’t really get the reason for the whole “previously on” segment at the top of the episode, watching Leslie get the gang back together was maybe the funniest sequence I have seen all year. From Leslie throwing Jerry’s painting in the water to Tom hitting on ladies at Foot Locker (see the quotes section), the show managed to capture everything I missed about it in two minutes.

I never really realized how much I missed Andy either. Watching the contrast between how he and Ron coach a team was awesome, as was his celebration after winning an obviously fixed game (the self-Gatorade shower was priceless). And don’t even get me started on the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, which was so unbelievably funny I could never fit it all into this review (IGN posted a picture of it here).

On a side note I just want to say how much I love how this show embraces its history. There was the obvious call back to Leslie’s gay penguin fiasco at the bar (it was cute damn it), but also, if you watch closely, in the background of Andy’s shoe shining corner you can see last year’s Parks and Recreation catalogue as well as a cut out of the newspaper article of when Andy killed the possum.

Anyways, this episode was endlessly quotable so I’m going to leave you off with a few of my favourites.

TOM: And that’s why they call me Prince Charming – cause I always find the glass slipper for my Cinderella.
WOMAN: These are way too tight.
TOM: Well the real Cinderella didn’t have hippo feet!

RON: Fish meat is practically a vegetable.

LESLIE: I need to be out on the street, plantin’ trees and crackin’ skulls.

ANDY: April! Hey it’s me Andy... Dwyer. Uh, this is like the 200^th message I’ve left you without a response, so if you’re trying to tell me something... I do not know what it is because you won’t call me back.

The Office – “Ultimatum” (A-)

Amy Ryan really seems to bring out the best in this show. It’s almost as if she gives the writers permission to make Michael seem a little more competent. I think my favourite scene from this episode had to be when Michael called Holly, Kevin, and Creed into his office, and quickly managed to apologise to Holly without having to awkwardly acknowledge why it was necessary. I always love these flashes of brilliance out of Michael (like when he sold the Michael Scott Paper Company) – they really help to keep his often irrational character grounded.

Speaking of Kevin and Creed, both of them had stand out episodes this week. Kevin’s broccoli eating scene was one of the better conference room gags I’ve seen in a while. I also love that it was so traumatizing for him that he wouldn’t be surprised if he never ate a vegetable again. Creed’s cartwheel resolution was exactly the kind of weird irrelevant storyline I’ve come to enjoy out of his character. His freak out after Erin successfully completed a cartwheel made me laugh out loud.

I’m also liking all the various odd couple pairings the show is juggling these days. I really love the weird father/daughter dynamic that Erin and Michael have going. The happy and sad boxes were good for a laugh (who knew gummy worms were happy and gummy bears were sad). I also loved watching the two of them celebrate to Michael’s happy video.  His dance off with himself was hilarious.

The other odd friendship I’ve been enjoying lately is the one between Andy and Darryl. Along with Dwight this week they decided to hit the book store to pick up some “loose woman”. I love the way they kept talking up places like they would be great ways to meet woman (sex already, whoa). Despite the fact that this friendship has grown out of Darryl tricking these guys, you can still tell that he’s having fun, which is why it’s so fun to watch.

It’s unfortunate that this recent string of great episodes from The Office is all leading up to Michael’s departure. Hopefully the show can use the change in personnel to come up with some fresh new story ideas and keep this little renaissance going.

30 Rock – “Mrs. Donaghy” (B)

This was a pretty decent episode this week. Liz and Jack end up accidently married and naturally start warring with each other, Kenneth gets caught in the middle of Danny and Jenna sharing a dressing room, and Angie gets her own reality show.

Most of the humour generated was obviously from the Liz and Jack fiasco. My favourite part of the episode had to be the NBC priority chart. I straight up laughed out loud at NBC’s second priority – “make it 1997 again through science or magic”. What makes it so funny is how true it is.

The circumstances surrounding how they accidently got married were all appropriately ridiculous as well, including Liz Lemon’s reason for saying yes:

LEMON: Well one of my New Year’s resolutions was to say yes. Yes to love, yes to life, yes to staying in more.

I can get behind staying in more.

I also really liked how Liz was ragging on the flower girl at the wedding, because “at 4 years old you should know how to pace your pedal distribution”.

My other favourite line came from Tracy and Jack’s emergency meeting.

TRACEY: I’m sorry I’m 4 hours late, but my alarm clock didn’t go off because it died in a cock fight last night.

Other than those few one liners though, this was a pretty average episode of 30 Rock. I don’t know why it didn’t pop out at me more – perhaps because the rest of the NBC line-up was so extraordinarily funny this week – but even an average episode of 30 Rock is better than most shows on TV today, so I guess I shouldn’t really be complaining.