That’s When I Realized I Was A Ridiculous Man

Other than The Office Thursday was a pretty good night for NBC.

Community – “Basic Lupine Urology” (A-)

I have a theory, and I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, that every episode of Community that features altered title music ends up being a good one. Now that’s an easy connection to make because altered title music generally means it’s a parody episode, but it’s more about the level of commitment the show has to these type of episodes. It’s their total assimilation of the genre, that keen eye for detail, that makes an episode like “Basic Lupine Urology” feel like an instant classic before it even hits the end of the third act.

Now I am by no means a Law and Order junkie. I’ve caught a few episodes here and there, but mostly in the context of I needed something to watch and there was nothing else on. But even still, I picked up on most of the subtle nuances in this episode. The way every witness or suspect can’t actually stop what they’re doing while they’re getting interviewed. The last minute information tidbit from the forensics expert. Meetings occurring in the middle of a busy street (with the nice added touch of construction in the background). They captured the whole aesthetic so well it may me feel like a much bigger Law and Order fan than I actually am.

As is almost always the case with these parody episodes, Abed, and subsequently Troy, were front and center, and both were relishing in their roles. Their good cop/bad cop routine – that for just a split second actually put Starburns at ease – was hilarious, as was their battle over who could get the last witty quip in. I also loved how little they cared that Starburns was building a meth lab. Real crime didn’t bother these fake cops all that much. Speaking of which, I hope Starburns isn’t really dead. I’ll miss him if he is.

Anyway, when the episode shifted over to the courtroom (where we got the hints of an A Few Good Men parody as well) things only got better. From Todd’s hilarious break down on the stand (I quite enjoyed his Iraq IED story involving the gift of a chair) to the complete misuse of the objection system, the entire sequence, which essentially comprised the third act, was fantastic. Plus in the lead up to it we got to here Michael K. Williams talk about how every man has got to have a code, a gift for anyone who has ever watched The Wire.

My only complaint about the episode was that we didn’t get to see much of Britta. Granted the one scene she did have was hilarious. I love that even the Law and Order scene change music doesn’t care what Britta has to say. That cut off was one of my favourite moments in the episode.

When you think about it, a Law and Order parody really is a clever move by the writing staff. Everybody, at one point or another, has sat down and watched an episode of the series. Community has often been accused of being inaccessible, and there’s some truth to that statement (though it makes it that much funnier for the diehard fans), but here was an episode everyone could relate to. It was the best of both worlds – the cutting parody that the show is known for combined with the accessibility of a show that managed to stay on television for something like 20 years. Hopefully this helps Community pick up a few of the fans of the latter series, though judging by the numbers this week it may have to be through word of mouth.

Eventually these parody episodes are going to have to grow tiring, but they sure haven’t yet. To the quotes!

STARBURNS: Dead yam, big deal. Order some ketchup.
TROY: That doesn’t make sense, you don’t order ketchup – it’s a condiment!
ABED: Troy, hey, walk it off, walk it off.

ABED: We named the yam Pam... it rhymed.

ABED: Clean up on isle busted.

STARBURNS: Kiss me!
GIRL: What?
STARBURNS: I’ll explain later.
GIRL: No!
STARBURNS: I’ll explain later!
STARBURNS: The explanation isn’t the issue.

TROY: Todd Jacobsen, you have the right to do whatever you want. Nothing you say or do can be used against you by anyone but we’d really like it if you came with us. Please and thank you.

TROY: Sorry about my partner. He’s been on edge ever since we switched.

ANNIE: That’s right, always have an exit strategy.

FAT NEIL: God forgive me, I did it for love!

PROFESSOR KANE: Holy crap. We are definitely dissecting pine cones next year.

And line of the night...

JEFF: Professor... thank you.
PROFESSOR KANE: It’s not a favour Mr. Winger. A man’s gotta have a code.
DEAN PELTON: Awesome.

30 Rock – “Live From Studio 6H” (B+)

The main difference I noticed between this most recent live episode of 30 Rock and its predecessor was how much this one relied on sketches to fill the time. The previous live episode definitely used cutaway bits as well, a necessary by-product of doing a live show it seems, but it also had a much more present story arc. This time around the story was used as more of a loose connector to tie together a disparate collection of scenes.

Now it’s not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. I’ll admit, last time around I enjoyed watching the show weave together its story in the live format, but it was still a live story, and the limitations of that made it nearly impossible to compare to any other episode of the series.  So it’s not a big deal that this episode decided to go with the sketch format. The style however made it much more akin to an episode of Saturday Night Live, and like all sketches on SNL, some of them hit and some of them miss.

Thankfully there seemed to be more hits than misses in “Live From Studio 6H.” I quite enjoyed the pre-commercial cutaways to (Nazi) Dr. Leo Spaceman and his 1950s counterpart as well as the grand finale of guest stars including (former 30 Rock writer) Donald Glover and Jimmy Fallon as the younger versions of Tracey and Jack. I would be remiss also if I didn’t mention Amy Poehler doing her best Tina Fey impression. Very funny indeed.

The highlight of the night though had to be Jon Hamm’s two sketches (I watched the East Coast airing for those of you on the West Coast wondering about the second sketch). His first with Tracey Morgan was so unbelievably hilarious I think if he wanted to Jon Hamm could be a regular on SNL tomorrow. He has that kind of range. And he followed it up quite nicely with a very chauvinistic version of newscaster David Brinkley, coincidently also Fey’s best sketch of the night.

I was less enthused about the Laugh-In and Honeymooners segments, though the latter had its moments. The real weak points of the episode seemed to be in the transitions, where the jokes tended to feel a bit more laboured. Jenna and Paul’s storyline was a major development for her character, but didn’t have the same amount of laughs as the rest of the episode. I did however laugh out loud watching Hazel rip a picture of Sinead O’Connor in half. That’s like a 20 year old callback and it was still funny.

In the end though I like shows that try things, and you’d be hard pressed to find many similar examples of a show breaking format like 30 Rock has with these live episodes (the closest example I could think of was Scrub’s My Life In Four Cameras). The effort in and of itself is commendable and for a show that’s struggled lately finding good new storylines for its characters this episode was a nice change of pace.

Now for the quotes:

YOUNG LIZ: Best prom night ever! I’m gonna lose my virginity in 9 years.

KENNETH: Ms. Lemon, Mr. Jordan just discovered you can get pornography on the internet.
LIZ: Oh my god, he’s gonna die in there.

ANNOUNCER: It’s the cheese that won World War 2! Don’t ask how...

DR. LEO: Your baby’s lungs need nicotine for science reasons.

DAVID BRINKLEY: Honey you have a dynamite shape, but you’re gonna have to shut up and let a man tell us what’s happening. Now is your father or a policeman nearby?

And line of the night:

KENNETH: And while they never found Jamie Garnett, that woman who stole his microphone went on to become... a wife!

The Office – “Fundraiser” (C+)

Perhaps I’m being a little hard on this episode, but after watching Andy finally stand up for himself last week I was hoping the writers would give us more than just an awkward dinner. He lost the fire he had at the end of that episode, which is a shame because it undercut what I thought was a very empowering moment for his character.

Now I know what you’re thinking – Andy spent most of the episode trying to openly defy Robert California so how could I possibly say he’d lost his fire. True enough, but the way he walked out of the office last week I got the sense he was done putting up with all of the absurdity from Robert and Nellie and the whole ridiculous situation surrounding her stealing his job. To me, a much more satisfying direction for the character would have been to not have him immediately subject himself to that situation all over again.

Of course it’s naive to think he wouldn’t become embroiled in the ebbs and flows of the office somehow, after all that is the show, but I see no reason why the writers couldn’t give him a week away from the rest of the cast. He may still have freaked out over not having a job, but at least it wouldn’t have been in front of the same people he’d so brilliantly walked out on the week before. While there were a few jokes here and there that worked in the storyline, namely from the dog guy of all people, for the most part I thought it was a disappointment.

Andy’s story served as just one of many threads in this episode though, and that’s where my assessment of “Fundraiser” starts to get little shakier. Darryl and Nellie had a fairly decent back and forth with each other in this one, but I’m still so disappointed by the way Nellie was introduced into the office that it made it hard for me to enjoy her attempts to win him over. The writers have tried their best to humanize her, but the bizarre way in which she took Andy’s job without any objection from Robert still looms over pretty much every storyline they put her in. Until they address that head on it’s going to be hard to enjoy her part on the show. And that’s disappointing, because other than that she fits the Michael Scott role very well. It’s just too bad they couldn’t have brought her in at the start of the season, then there’d be no issues at all.

Dwight’s story was probably most underwhelming of the episode if only because it felt a little too by the numbers. I’m sure if you look back through the ages you’ll find plenty of sitcoms that have already tackled the accidently-winning-a-charity-auction-with -much-too-high-of-a-bid storyline, and many probably did a much better job with it too. I didn’t mind Oscar’s storyline though. The writers have been stringing out the fact that Angela’s husband is gay for a while now, and while I kind of wish they’d do something more with it, at least it gave Oscar some good monologue material in this one.

Alright, now for my favourite lines:

RYAN: Okay, I’m sorry I’m not a fan of Jason Mraz or... The Beatles.
DWIGHT: You don’t like The Beatles?

DWIGHT: I don’t want to alarm people but there is a distinct chance that we are all about to be killed.
JIM: Well as long as you don’t want to alarm people.

KEVIN: It was my idea to not be raped.

And line of the night:

DOG GUY: No Kenny’s a therapy dog. He apparently thinks you’re in some kind of emotional crisis.
ANDY: Stupid dog.

Parks and Recreation – “The Debate” (A)

I have been looking forward to this debate ever since they introduced Bobby Newport (and subsequently Paul Rudd) as Leslie chief competitor. DVRs were set, phones were turned off, critical self-examinations about why I put so much stock into a half hour sitcom were ignored. Needless to say, expectations were high. And still I was not disappointed... “The Debate” lived up to the hype.

Though we haven’t seen much of him this season Bobby Newport is a great character with a terrific energy to him. Paul Rudd is quite the get as a guest star and he used his charm to max here. His childish responses were fantastically undercutting and frankly, downright hilarious, whether it be small moments like telling the audience his favourite Bond actor (changing his mind from Craig to Dalton) or just the general fact that he treated the debate more like a high school play than an actual battle of wits. He felt more like a loveable pawn then he did Leslie’s opponent and I think that helped this episode keep the focus on Leslie instead of him. He had very much the same kind of vibe Will Ferrell used to have in his Bush impressions.

But despite some of the more exaggerated comedic elements I was impressed at how grounded the writers were able to keep everything. Leslie’s experience debating a much weaker opponent struck very close to the truth. The balancing act of getting points across without seeming like a bully and the difficulties associated with intelligently dissecting catchy slogans and simple talking points in the limited amount of time allotted – the writers we’re clearly drawing from some real life source material.

The real magic of the debate though was watching Leslie finally seize her moment and turn herself into the contender she deserves to be. It’s almost fitting that Amy Poehler was the writer for this episode, because who better to get the first crack at Leslie’s closing remarks, the perfect summation of her character, than the woman who plays her. It was a fantastic way to cap off the episode and transition the season into its final stretch. Bobby Newport was right – holy shit Leslie, that was awesome.

The B stories were equally satisfying. Chris Pratt has to be one of the most underrated actors on television right now. He was laugh out loud funny in this episode and I don’t mean in the fake internet/text message sense either. I’m almost jealous of the extras who undoubtedly got to watch him act out even more of Andy’s favourite movies over the course of shooting those scenes. My only real complaint about that story was that we didn’t get to see much of Ron (though we did get to hear another one of his legendary speeches).

Chris, Ann, and Tom were also quite enjoyable. Watching Chris spin everything to the positive was quite fun to watch and very true to his character. I felt a little bad for him when Ann turned him down though. I guess I’m one of the people who thought the two of them made an entertaining couple. We’ll have to wait and see what the writers have in store for Ann and Tom. They seem intent on keeping those two in a perpetual state of having just recently broke up.

Alright, to the quotes:

LESLIE: I love it when you’re needlessly disgusting.

DONOR: So you do a lot of investing?
ANDY: We like to dabble. I recently invested in some shirts I got at a garage sale. Left those at Wendy’s on the way home. So (raises glass)... the economy.

BOBBY NEWPORT: I’m against crime and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

ANDY: And the guy says, “I used to fuck guys like you in prison.” By the looks of this guy this is not consensual sex we’re talking about.

JOAN CALLAMEZZO: Once again, Brandi and Leslie are essentially the same person.

And line of the night:

BOBBY NEWPORT: I guess my thoughts on abortion are... you know, let’s just all have a good time.