Friday Morning Quarterbacking: Wet Laundry Edition

Did you ever have a perfect plan?  Like one that involved watching two hours of television while your dryer chugged steadily along, delivering warm, perfect whites to your laundry basket?  Did you ever end up with a handful of damp, gross white t-shirts on Friday afternoon when you realized you forgot your plan?

Well, at least I didn't let my whites sit there until Sunday.  So, let's turn to the portion of Thursday evening that I got right - sitting on the couch - and see what happened.

1.)  Community - "The Science of Illusion"
Tonight, Community was the show that offered us one of NBC's episodes from the future.  Because nothing gets me in the spirit of April Fool's Day like defying the time-space continuum.  Or maybe I just grew up in the part of America that doesn't get all hyped up about April 1st on March 25.  You know what, it's probably me.  But tonight's episode was all about pranks and badassery, so maybe the time travel aspect of the episode was just a way of being really, really badass.  My mixed emotions:

• More than any other part of the show, I was really into the Annie/Shirley bad cop-bad cop routine.  Community is at its best when its consciously being something else, and the added benefit of Abed's cable going out and forcing him to hold together the police drama story line worked for me.  (I'm trying to figure out when it would be best to use the line "I've got moves I haven't even seen yet.")
• Not working for me was the "buzzkill" Britta story line.  We all know she's a buzzkill, but focusing on her attempts to avoid being one by pulling a disastrous prank just felt hollow.  Maybe it's because I feel like that character has the least to offer.  Or maybe it's because the episode sort of drew on that fact for comedy.  I will budge on one point, though.  The outside chatter as the corpse slid out the window and on to campus was sort of fun.
• Yes, Pierce is silly.  Got it.  Move on.  Chevy Chase seems like he's getting bored.
• I'm a big fan of the Dean, and my favorite line of the evening comes from him: "At Greendale, April 1st is officially March 32nd forever."
• I really, really love the end of the show Troy and Abed segments, and this week's "Troy and Abed in the Morning," complete with theme show and fake-clip watching was awesome.

 

2.) Parks and Recreation - "Summer Catalog"
Thank goodness her representative announced that Amy Poehler was pregnant before this week's episode, because otherwise I would have spent an entire half hour sitting too close to the t.v. and obsessively rewinding with my TiVo.  I really enjoyed the way this episode took a single task - the compilation of the Pawnee Parks Department Summer Catalog - in a two different ways directions.  And while Leslie's picnic with the former Parks Directors unfolded in an enjoyably terrible way, other parts of the evening were, well... Offerings:

• Why is Rashida Jones always playing the same role?  And why is it always intensely boring?  I feel like she could do more in just about everything she's in, but she mostly seems to get cast to fill space and look pretty.  Please, Parks and Recreation, you've improved so much.  Give her something to do before I wish they ship her out of town with Mark at the end of the season.
• Speaking of Mark, they're really laying it on thick with the whole "Ann's in denial about not really being into him" thing.  While it was nice that they weren't Jim and Pamming us to death with Mark and Ann, now that Paul Schneider's exit has been announced, making Ann visibly unhappy (while Mark is goofy and oblivious) reads as though the character's shouldn't let the door hit him on the way out.
• Also, speaking of Mark, remember when that character did stuff that was sort of funny, too? 
• Enough negativity.  I actually really liked this episode's Parks Directors' reunion and Leslie Knope's freakout over who these men really were.  Also, I big-time LOVED the sexist jokes by the oldest former Parks Director.  I too, don't get enough blood to my brain because of my lady parts, which prevents me from taking on leadership roles.
• While it's clear I didn't like the Mark/Ann picture story line (though I did like "make your face better" and might yell it at a student), I did like its parallel with Andy and April on the cover of the Summer Catalog.  I also like that there was a complication in the course of things last night when Andy freaked out over the age difference in a kind of half jerky, half deer-in-the-headlights way.

3.)  The Office - "Happy Hour"

Okay, not bad, not bad.  But we still have a ways to go before I learn to trust again.  That said, tonight's Happy Hour get together was a step in a good direction.  It's rare to see an episode driven by Oscar's machinations to get a date, but I think it worked out all right.  Also, I'm sort of digging how  Darryl works upstairs now and is smarter than everyone else (which we already know was the case in terms of Michael and Darryl, but it's nice to see that he's more perceptive than everyone).  Thoughts:

• Is Pam that bored at home that she's willing to help Michael date?  I would have thought she'd be glad to have distance from his love life after the whole dating her mom/slapping him in the parking lot incident.  It also seemed to ring false that Jim and Pam would set Michael up with ANY friend of theirs.  Unless, of course, they were trying to break up with that friend.
• I did like Pam's excitement about leaving the house, though.  
• I'm really liking how Andy and Erin cannot navigate a relationship within ordinary bounds.  After seasons of studied Jim and Pam tension, it's nice to see what dating in bizzarro world looks like.
• Date Mike wasn't working for me.  I sort of hate when Michael becomes that type of asshole.  But I guess that's the point.  I also sort of hated the whole Kevin trying to make Pam lactate gag.
• I loved Kelly and Ryan playing Dance Dance Revolution holding hands. 
• The best moment of the night, though, was when Isabelle used her Whack-a-Mole skills on Angela. 

 

4.)  30 Rock - "Floyd"

I know 30 Rock hasn't been the strongest it's ever been recently, but it's still hitting all the right notes for me.  And I was definitely feeling last night's Floyd and prank-centric (note to Community - this is how we do an episode about practical jokes on television) episode.  Aside from causing viewer's freaky Kenmares, here's what else the show had to offer:

• Oh Liz Lemon, why does the universe hate you?  I loved that they not only brought Floyd back this episode, but that it was clear that there's no chance for Floyd and Liz with Floyd competing for a Today show wedding underneath Liz's office window.
• While I'm on the subject of love, I loved Liz's Christopher Cross-style love song for her reunion with Floyd.
• The Pranksmen returned, only to be met with far superior Silver Panthers.  I look forward to another showdown.
• More Kenneth stories.  Love 'em, especially when they lead to a solution for freaky Kenmares where Tracy and Jenna decide to "Elm Street" Kenneth.
• Best line of the evening goes to Jack: "They're Boston Irish Catholic, they mate for life.  Like swans.  Like drunken, angry swans."