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Well, what is there even to say: another great Thursday night of television. It’s a toss-up between Community and The Office for episode of the evening. On the one hand, The Office has this weird underlying tension because we all know that this is the final season with Steve Carrell (on top of the long-standing underlying tension of the fact that the show exhausted its conceit years ago) and the dramatic resolution of Jim and Pam’s wedding happened a year ago, so it just feels like we don’t know where we’re heading and we’re not even sure if we feel like going there anymore, AND YET, last night’s episode was about as good as episodes of things get. Michael’s speech to Andy after the play about how awesome he was had that weird and tricky combination of genuine laffs and genuine Human Emotions that is so rare and so satisfying. (I would point out, also, that this is probably why Community is so good. They are purposefully “on the nose” about the show’s moralizing, as some kind of commentary about the ways in which shows moralize, but at the end of the day, it’s one of those situations where you make a meta-commentary enough and you actually become the thing you’re meta-commentary-ing on, you know? Which is to say: Community has made so many knowing references to shows with heart that it has somehow become a show with heart.)
Also: Patton Oswalt! Rob Reiner! Other things! Discuss, please.
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THAT FUCKIN Patton shit WAS AMAZING. Also I NEED to rewatch Community to SEE THE background Abed PLOT I missed.
Also, FOR YOU nontwitter MONSTERS, the Bookgum WRITERS for Blood Meridian HAVE BEEN announced and Infinite Jest is BEING moved: http://bit.ly/aV2v0x
SORRY FOR dumping this here, but I just WANTED TO let y’all KNOW.
-Oh I barely saw you this week Abed. What’ve you been up to?
-Not Much
I <3 you.
For some reason videogum wont let me press upvote so here it is I upvote you sir!
Ooh found an even better one:
Oh my God! Am I the only one who missed this ENTIRELY???
Community for the win!
I missed it too, this is blowing my mind.
I don’t know; I like that Francis Bacon Shirley in the first one.
Okay, I totally missed it but even in this image and the one below I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED! A little help for an idiot?
I’m glad you posted this, because I didn’t notice it the first time around, and then someone pointed it out, so I watched it again this morning, but completely forgot to look for it. Easily distracted = me.
Can we also give John Oliver some sort of awesome award? Because he is awesome.
John Oliver WAS FUCKIN killing IT LAST night.
“Which leads to………………….. something. Again, this is not my field.”
Everything needs more John Oliver.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
Outsourced sucks.
you don’t find this
repeated for 22 minutes funny?
“OK. I let you guys shoot me, chop my head off and then stuff it and mount it on a piece of wood. Fine. But using me as a prop on Outsourced? That’s just disrespectful.” — Deer
perfect
Gupta’s so silly!
I assume that’s what the plot of the show is. But in their defense, Gupta does seem really silly.
WANNA cry? it’s the SECOND highest RATED NBC show on THURSDAY nights. Community IS CURRENTLY down in “canceled” TERRITORY due to BEING UP against Big “comedy for NERDZ” Bang Theory WHICH DRAWS a bigger audience than ANY COMEDY on NBC.
NBC: a top 10 network.
BOO!
Yeah but thats because people who watch CBS don’t use the internet. So they don’t just steal or stream it instead.
CBS is for morons and old people, a demographic that doesn’t turn off the TV.
My favorite line of the night came from Erin on The Office b/c she is great…
“I’ve been trying to get in the babysitting game forever. The thirteen year olds in this town have a complete monopoly. It’s almost like a babysitter’s club.”
I love Erin too. “See you soup”.
I think that the Erin/Andy/Gabe is too much like Pam/Jim/Roy. But I still enjoy it.
All that singing got in the way of some perfectly good murders.
This .gif is hypnotic
IT JUST looks like SHE’S saying “BAD-GER” over and OVER to me.
El Tejón
Fart Barfunkle is pretty much all I can think about today.
I know it’s not on Thursday nights, but can we talk about Running Wilde guys? Great.
Like any red-blooded American nerd, I’d give up masturbation for an Arrested Development 2. (Huh?) This week’s Running Wilde definitely had me spitting spaghetti taco across the living room multiple times. Mostly Will Arnett, but the supporting cast too. David Cross is mostly pretty good! Mr Lunt, Fa’ad and especially Migo earn some serious laffs.
And yet…and yet…
Keri Russel? Woof. Listening to her jokes is more like Leaves Russel, amirite? And speaking of nature themed names (I am the segue king!) Puddle’s narration? The Worst! She just explains the reason that Will Arnett’s reaction shot is funny. This is TV, not a James Franco short story! That’s why you have a camera pointed at Will Arnett’s face, so you don’t need some earnest tween explaining the funny face he’s making.
So I turn to you, monsters, my favorite TV critics. What do you think? Is this a Parks and Rec situation, where first it stinks but then season 2 is one of the greatest seasons of television comedy ever produced? Or are the structural flaws (ie Puddle and Leaves) too much for one little show to bear?
I’VE read interviews WITH the creator where HE SAID HE’S trying to make something MUCH MORE mainstream. SO, I DUNNO how crazy good IT’S GONNA get because mainstream shows USUALLY BLOW.
At least IN TERMS OF comedy. See 2 and A Half MEN, BIG BANG Theory, and you KNOW WHAT? Just all of CBS.
yeah, he’s just kinda given up on trying to have total control and letting them make it mainstream.
SPOILER ALERT: depressing read…
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/the_vulture_transcript_mitch_h.html
Since this show is narrated by a tween and is not very funny, watching it feels like I’m baby-sitting and watching the Disney Channel.
Yes, I completely agree. This show would be so much better without a thirteen year old telling me how what I’m watching is funny. I mentally erased the v/o while watching this week, and I had way more lulz.
Actually, did you notice that the logo on the oil barrel from Community is the Wilde Oil logo from Running Wilde? Cross-network references!
Has anyone seen the pilot to “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret”? David Cross stars and Will Arnett co-stars, but it’s just way funnier.
anyone catch all the extremely obvious references to AD?
“COMEON!” – all the characters
“stop saying that.” – will arnett
“I’m freezing my blue man group off here. ” – david cross
“other quotes that prove my point” zzzzzz
Where’s Baby Friday? We need to talk Bones!
I’ll talk Bones with you! Pick up your brand-new Bakelite phone and give me a ring!
SWEET!
I love when Brennan gets overly excited about something. And she broke my heart at the end there.
I know. But at this point I’m so used to having my heart broken by them. And yet I keep going back.
What do you think of journalist-lady? I really want to hate her, but can’t quite seem to.
I keep going back because despite my cold bitchy exterior, I am a romantic and I like happy endings.
I’m sort of “eh” about journalist lady. She seems pretty okay.
I wish someone would make a complete list of pop culture references that Dr. Brennan doesn’t understand.
And yet somehow she knows who L’il John is???
I feel like every season she regresses. I swear she wasn’t that out of it in the first season.
We’re about to leave to go out of town. But you better believe we both thought it was BOOTH AND BONESIER!!!
Yay, twilly and Cindi! I thought it was hilarious (as usual) and that the gruesomeness of the corpse was totally unnecessary (also as usual). I know everyone is tired of the romance subplot, but I really think this is the season they’ll resolve it. I mean, it’s got to be, right??
I’m hoping for resolution. I didn’t mind the romance subplot this time. I like the subplot (because I love a good happy ending) but sometimes they just hit you over the head with it. This week it was far more subtle and just sad.
Seriously, they have to get it on this season.
Let’s hope! I think you’re right, Twilly, that as the seasons have progressed they’re slowly (esp. Brennan) dissolving into caricatures — Brennan’s more out of it, Booth is more needy, etc. I still love watching, but I need some resolution to make up for the slipping characters.
I’m still trying to figure out if 30 Rock calling Outsourced “the new Friends” is an insult or a plug.
I think it was an insult. Jack also made Jonathan speak with that terrible Indian accent. I think they were both burns to that terrible show.
They were mocking NBC, because COME ON!
I think you guys are giving them too much credit. NBC probably demanded a positive plug for their new show they’re desperate to have “fit in” with the rest of the Thursday lineup. Given how much in advance these episodes are made, Outsourced’s complete awfulness probably wasn’t entirely evident when they filmed that.
I view it the same way I view product placement ‘gags’ in shows like this. Even though the whole joke is that product placement is ridiculous, they’re still making a boatload of money off the product placement. Outsourced still gets its plug.
Anyway, insult or plug, it kicked off the episode making me think about Outsourced, which is as good a way to kill a show’s momentum as I can think of.
Also, TV is bad for you.
“It was a tent pole!”
L&O 4-eva
I think they were making fun of the fact that NBC wants so hard to recapture the “Friends” demographic/status.
My favorite was the colored/white bathroom gag. I saw it coming from a mile away, but it was still so good. (NBC is so racist!) Also Jenna becoming her (stage) mother to Kenneth. Classic.
The Tracy and J.D. fight was awesome, “YOU WHITE DEVIL!”
And Rob Reiner and the Sex and the City walking tour:
“Magnolia Bakery?! Sorry hips.”
The funniest joke on “30 Rock” last night was that voters in Rhode Island would elect a black woman.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Also, Magnolia Bakery is no longer on the Sex and the City walking tour (SATC fan over here, guilty as charged). I was like do your research, guys!
Last night was great! The Office and 30 Rock were great as usual, Tim Gunn basically told Ivy off on Project Runway, the League had its best episode this season, and my DVR also recorded an episode of Adventure TIme, which is fast becoming one of my favorite new shows. Good stuff all around!
I love how they edited Runway to have Ivy’s quote “I believe in karma” immediately followed by the moment when her sowing machine somehow made her face explode.
That was amazing! And Heidi’s impression of Gretchen was pretty good too.
Seriously that person deserves some sort of Emmy for awesomeness in editing.
I have been completely ,algebraically in love with Adventure time from the very first episode.
This is me anxiously waiting in anticipation for the next one:
Yes! That show makes me so happy. Season 2 starts Monday!
Fuck yes!
Oh it is so satisfying how obvious it is that Tim Gunn and Heidi dislike Ivy as much as I do. I don’t care if Michael C kicked her puppy – her reactions to him make her come across as mentally unbalanced!
This is called a spoiler.
Obligatory mud wrestling gif:
My favorite throwaway joke was the shadow cast by “DOTCOM PRODUCTIONS”
“What if we have to share a hotel room and I forgot to bring a shirt to sleep in and all the stores are closed?”
What’s up with not reviewing It’s Always Sunny anymore, Gabe?
I think it’s because It’s Always Sunny isn’t really funny any more, and that’s too sad to review.
Boo! Not true.
agreed, rex is just a jabroni
I was picturing that word as “Gibroni.” … I just looked it up and apparently it’s a real word (according to Urban Dictionary) — I thought Mac made it up!
I thought the Jabroni joke was great, unlike the rest of the episode.
Definitely true. The first 2-3 seasons? Genius. Since then? Not so much.
They still have their moments (cf, last week’s discussion of Dennis’ rapey-ness, the whole scene this week with Cricket, etc), but it’s a far cry from what they once were. I mean, was the Gay Marriage episode anywhere close to as good as the Abortion episode? Was this week’s episode anywhere close to the Gone Baby Gone episode?
I guess maybe they’re just the victims of comparisons to their own past greatness? I dunno, it seems pretty tough to keep an over-the-top, absurdist comedy without any real characters or on-going narrative going for 5 seasons.
Yea but the same could be said of The Office, which reached its peak several seasons ago and seems to be liked now because of stored-up goodwill we have towards its old self. It’s Always Sunny is still consistently funny, even if the comedy isn’t as crazy as it was from seasons 1-3.
I live right in the heart of that “flourishing Italian criminal community in Providence” that the Queen spoke so fondly of! I had no idea she was my senator.
“Why is it that NBC looks about as diverse as a Wilco concert?”
Best line of the night
I’ve been quite enjoying “The League,” but it needs more El Cuñado!
P.S. I would be upvoting so many of you, but my thumbs are broken today.
I’ve got a broken thumb(s) uh-huh,uh-huh,uh-huh,ohh -The Pixies
The League has been the highlight of the Thursday lineup for me. Taco and Chad Ochocinco’s “I’m Inside Me” song of the first episode was legendary.
My favorite joke of the night was:
“Who is that black actor on Community?”
“Doh-Nawld Glover”
yup!
His pre-Community cameo on 30-rock’s Kidney Now is priceless by the way.
“Who Told?!?”
i was happy to see this shout out too; donald glover is adorable & he’ll always be spiderman in my heart.
Alan Sepinwall was totally lurking in the background during the Brita-Annie fight, which was pretty awesome.
The tribute Michael paid to the dumb jokes Jerry Orbach used to tell on Law & Order was amazing. The general love L&O got last night was interesting.
Jersey Shore anyone? Man Situation was being an asshole.
I AM TWO WEEKS BEHIND?! DON’T SPOIL IT FOR ME! So much plot happens in every episode! It’s the LOST of Reality TV!
Baldwin’s delivery of everything is the best:
“We are an immigrant nation. The first generation works its fingers to the bone and makes things. The second generation goes to college and innovates new ideas. The third generation … snowboards and takes improv classes.”
And I continue to flove Fringe.
So good because it’s so true.
Can be grouped with Tracy’s comment from an earlier season:
I’m gonna have so much money, my grandkids are going to play lacrosse. LACROSSE, Liz Lemon.
Any other Austin monsters have no idea what happened in the first 10 minutes of Community because the motherf-ing sound wasn’t working? I had my pitchfork and sickle all ready to storm KXAN when it came back on. Thank Jesus it worked during the commercials, though.
Also, for the last 2 weeks the sound on 30 Rock has also been off, but I’m not sure if it’s the broadcaster’s fault or my DVR’s. Either way it’s hampering my viewing experience.
A friend of mine who lives in Austin also had that problem…
Andy’s become my favorite character on Office but the whole thing with Erin annoys me. I mean, they spent all last season building up to them getting together. And then tell you that Gabe “stole” her off camera during the break. What the ass is that? Very lazy.
But it was one of the better shows in awhile, Gabe’s right about that.
She’s pretty.
Hey guys, it’s time for another update of my opinion on It’s Always Sunny! I liked it this week! I LOVED the whole Mac and Charlie plot line. Does anyone have a .jpg of Charlie in that wig, because it was killing me. I hope this means they’re getting their mojo back.
Also, apparently next week’s Community is going to be an homage to Apollo 13, so there’s that to look forward to.
More importantly, Live 30 Rock next week and Holly on the office!
Did anyone see DC Pierson on Community? Because DC PIERSON!!!
I love episodes of Community that feature DERRICK cameos. Last week, when that guy put a hat on Jeff’s head and said “Hat club!”? That was Dominic Dierkes! DOMINIC DIERKES!
So probably way late on this but…..
“These paps aren’t gonna smear themselves.” = holy shit thats funny