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So. Last night’s hour-long 100th episode of 30 Rock was weirdly offset by Community‘s high-theory mockery of flashback clip shows. It is one thing to poke arch-fun at sitcom structures from a distance, but it is weird when you do it and then follow up the arch-fun with a straight forward example of that same sitcom structure. (I feel like there have actually been a couple of weird examples of off-set timing between various shows this season, but I can’t think of any examples at the moment. Cool. Interesting observation, Gabe!) Anyway, Community‘s breakdown of the flashback episode was very good, no duh, with Jeff’s composite speech probably being my favorite part. Although, and again, I do not mean to keep harping on this, but that show is so heavily cloaked in self-aware, pre-emptive criticism that it makes it hard for me to actually CONNECT with it as a human being. Sometimes I kind of want to watch a sitcom, instead of going to Sitcom School. But it’s great. There are certainly plenty of straight-up sitcom sitcoms to enjoy, especially on Thursdays, and thus the whole point of this recurring post. 30 Rock kind of didn’t need that whole hour, if you ask me, it felt dragged out, but the return of Dennis Duffy is ALWAYS WELCOME and should probably happen more in the event that anyone in Showbiz Tower is reading this. Push the Dennis Duffy Button please. Meanwhile, The Office‘s emotional rollercoaster continues its loop-de-lololoops. The song everyone sang for Michael was very nice. The show is doing a really good job of sending off Steve Carrell. Good job, show. Now, here is a question about Parks and Recreation: it has never made sense to me that Anne Perkins, a registered nurse, would spend so much time at City Hall. It’s just too much time, even if she is friends with everyone. How often do you go to your friend’s boring office? Is it MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY? But last night it was even more confusing because now she is broken up with Rob Lowe, right? Who goes to their ex-boyfriend’s work every single day? That is so awkward! Whatever. The part when Andy tells everyone that he just learned that food is energy and then punched the air and said “Pow! That’s spaghetti!” was the best moment of the night. But I think that emotions aside, this week goes to…..Community! What an honor.
Well? RIght?
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Yeah, I’m gonna have to vote for the ‘Reverse Cow-Birth’
Yep, he looks like the kinda guy who deserves to be punched by a monkey repeatedly.
I think I’m going to have to drink a lot of water before next week’s episode of The Office because I have a feeling I will be crying, like maybe a lot.
You’re right Michael, this really is going to hurt.
Like a motherfucker.
Yeah, I cried last night. Next week, I will be an inconsolable mess.
Ron Swanson in that store just gave me the biggest fit of the giggles. “Look at that thing. Nature is amazing.” is this week’s, “Are you Nell? From the movie Nell?”
Best episode of Parks and Rec yet?
“I’ll give you the rarest jewel of all… victory over me, Ron Swanson.” – Ron Swanson
I think it was the best episode yet because Ben asked Leslie to go sit with him under the mural! *so cute that I teared up!
Leslie’s impression of Ben turning her down? Amazing.
Between that sequence and the amazing tag where he voiced all of the characters, Dean Pelton totally stole the episode. That, or The Cape sub-plot.After the last episode was somewhat disappointing, the are back in top form.
My takeaway from the Dean montage: “Dude, the Dean is ripped.”
It took me a sec but I liked Danny’s Lost joke in 30 rock.
The whole The Cape storyline was just awesome. Namely Abed smacking all of Jeff’s food off the table with his cape.
Ha! I liked that everyone was wearing a cape during the multi-winger speech.
So good! (Also your avatar – SO GOOD!)
“Six seasons and a movie!”
Ugh! I didn’t catch it! What was it?
I have to disagree Gabe, I’ve emotionally connected with the characters on Community more than the characters on any other TV show ever.
To be fair, you both suffer from a generation gap.
Blue Man hallucination on 30Rock was a great call back to Season 1. And seriously…I love that dummy Dennis!
Plus the return of Alan Garkle! (Well played, Garkle.)
HER NAME WAS RACHEL DRATCH. HER NAME WAS RACHEL DRATCH.
more rachel dratch please.
His favorite movie? BOOKS.
Molly Ringworm, are you as excited for tomorrow night as I am????
I AM!!!!!!
I’m joining the DW excitement party!!!!! My excitement is off the charts!!
Excitement.
I’m so excited I just upvoted all of these comments. I tried to explain to my ladyfriend last night why I like Doctor Who so much and I just couldn’t find the words without giggling like a kid about to go to Disney World.
SO EXCITED. You have no idea.
You guys, why can’t it just be Saturday already? Fish sticks and custard for all!
I’ve found myself doing the drunken giraffe lately. It’s just so majestic. Or something.
Lines of the night?
Either: “You can yell at me all you want. I’ve seen enough movies to know that popping the BACK of a raft makes it go faster.”
or: “Yellow haired female likes waffles and news.”
Also, can I request a gif of that robot chasing Annie? (Why was Pierce in that hot dog costume? I NEED TO KNOW.)
I am watching this GIF while listening to “Dragonfly” by Low, and suddenly it is so sinister.
Also, the line about popping the raft was my favorite too.
Min was either: “Just the beef and the crows”.
OR
“It will last three weeks”
Six Years and a movie!”
My Favorite Lines of the night:
ron: I love food & stuff. It’s where I get all of my food. and most of my stuff.
aziz: his favorite movie is books.
Liz – this better be important. I was in the middle of bidding on a bag of bras on ebay.
jack – I have a very full plate. Liz – Really? is it from that pie place?
tracy – that’s crazy! A man named Elia? That’s a giraffe’s name.
dennis – i’ll never do better than you liz lemon. Because your a cook in the bedroom and a whore in the kitchen.
Also this speech:
I would totally date Tom Haverford. (No divorce-o)
So what would you like for dinner tonight? Sandoozles, or long ass rice?
Oh look at that! It’s the .GIF that keeps .GIF-fing
this speech was the best!! i cried laughing so hard!!
“I have Vienna sausages, and I have napkins”
Pretty sure I watched the opening credits of Bosom Buddies about 10 times after this.
I don’t care what you say anymore. This is my life. (I can waste it watching blurry youtube videos if I want. IT’S ALL PERFECTLY NORMAL.) Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone!
So good.
Did anyone else forget that there actually was a different guy before Cheyenne Jackson on 30 Rock? I did. RIP Josh.
Yeah, it’s kind of weird to watch season 1 and see how Josh was supposed to be a main character to the point where Liz Taylor beat him with a fire extinguisher. But the scene where they wrote him out was brilliant. “LIFT WITH YOUR LOWER BACK!”
First, I saved money by getting rid of cable for Hulu. Then, I saved even more money by getting rid of Hulu for Concert_Addict.
I want to start a slow clap to demonstrate how much I love Concert Addict on Fridays.
We might have to settle for a Slow Upvote.
“Feast your ear tongues on these memory pops.”
This habitat was for HUMANITY!
I know it was unintentional, but all of them standing in a row in front of that house reminded me of all the space monkey cadets standing outside Tyler Durden’s house.
Knowing this show, though? It could have been intentional. (I saw it too.)
So I think I might be in love with Leslie Knope. That’s normal, right? Being in love with a fictional TV character? Because she is awesome.
Agreed. “That was a cookie” was probably my fav part of the episode.
“Stop being so pretentious, Kyle”
my friends & i went to umami burger for the first time the other day & this is totally what i wanted to say to everyone in the room.
Phew, Community is too much for me anymore. Even the episode titles are exhausting.
Since my illegal torrent download site OOPS I MEAN CABLE wasn’t working last night, I didn’t get to see any of these shows. But I DID play Portal 2 for several hours. Portal 2! So good!
Yes! I’m still coming down from Portal 2! I haven’t laughed that hard at anything in a looong time! Stephen Merchant was AMAZING. The part where Wheatley is trying to hack into the computer is so so good and spoiler-free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfheJKZn-80
Jealous! I still don’t have Portal 2 because apperently it costs money and I don’t even know what that is, but I’m glad to hear it’s still awesome.
i have to wait till thursday cause life isn’t what i thought it would be…but i am gonna take portal 2 out behind the middle school and get it pregnant
Facetaco, are you my younger brother? Do you also have a collection of tiny plastic cats? (My brother is uh…pretty weird)
Will anyone address the dual Sports Walkmen from last night? Did NBC just find one with two alternate headphones in a storage closet somewhere and decide that it was the funniest joke? Not that I’m arguing. It was definitely two of the funniest jokes, but still!
Is it okay to hate RENT, because I had to mute that portion of The Office.
RENT is the worst, so it’s OK to hate it. And don’t worry, I verified my results of it being The Worst in a laboratory of a large state school about 9 years ago. Confidence interval like you wouldn’t believe.
No joke, that is my least favorite song ever, but I really liked the Office’s rendition of it.
i bartend at the university theater and they just did rent. never have i wanted to murder drama kids more. i’ve never seen the show, but i know every word to every song, as sung by terrible musical theater kids.
I think Gabe should rename Thursday Night Open Thread to Thursday Night Open Gif Forum. This is always the single best part of my Friday.
I know why Paul Schneider and Rashida Jones were originally cast — to lend a grounded, relatable pair to anchor viewers amongst all the zany characters on Parks and Rec (Indiana’s Jim and Pam). But now that Leslie is more of a person than a ‘character,’ Schneider’s exit was smart (BTW, the dude kills it in David Gordon Green’s early movies). But poor Jones is pretty much adrift. She’s talented, but the show doesn’t need her. Interestingly, John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer have experienced the opposite phenomenon on The Office. What began as a hilariously grim, edgy TV show has become a true US sitcom. A good one, but still a sitcom. And so Jim and Pam have evolved from relatable, grounded people into less nuanced ‘characters’ like the rest of their castmates. #tldr
Not too long! Did read!
I think you’re right about all of this – Schneider’s exit has made it all the more noticeable that Anne doesn’t ever seem to do her job, and that she’s weirdly obsessed with government employees. Except in the flu episode, which was the best, where she did her job.
When she was dating Chris, she still made sense, but now it’s like “what are you doing?” for the reasons Gabe (and you) mention. They should really just have a plot point where she takes some sort of health-dept related government job so that she has a reason to be involved in the storylines that happen in the office.
Also Leslie and Adam Scott need to make out already, because I’ve been dying for that to happen since he asked the sheriff about her and Louis CK’s relationship.
I saw in the description of the next episode that Leslie tries to overturn Chris’s no employee relationships rule (yup looked up – LIKE A NERD!)
Hooray! News you can use!
Pwomp!
Forp.
Pop Pop!
concert_addict REQUEST
The moment Andy pops into Ron’s office behind Rob Lowe. It’s so subtle but I nearly choke on my pizza because of the lulz it created.
Bones:
Was the WORST last night. What was that? I don’t watch Bones to not see Booth and Bones.
Holy frak. Pretty sure Archer killed it this season.
(Krieger needs his own episode.)
Also, his “rolling probable cause” van was amazing.
RIP.
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YES, not enough Chevy Chase! GIVE US MORE CHEVY CHASE.
I’LL BE A LIVING GOD!
Haha I usually find Pierce grating but this gif and last week’s episode have me sold. #TeamPierce
is it muggy in your ass? thought you could tell me on account of your head being in there
P&R was amazing. All of Aziz’s nicknames for things + his three wishes + Ron and Andy at Grain n Simple, and the rest–even Jerry has someone to hate on now! Stupid Kyle!
Gabe is right about Ann, though. Not only is it weird that she keeps coming to Leslie’s office, it’s weirder that she keeps bringing dates, who all walk her to the office door and all kiss her goodbye.
OMG, I totally forgot about “toilet party! (that’s what we call the Sewage dept)” – LOLz!
I love that that is the angriest Chris has ever been on this show.
Let’s play a a different game. I’m going to say stuff about me, and you say on a scale from one to ten how interested in that thing you are. Ready?
Ok.
I love sunshine and fresh air and early morning walks.
One.
I’ve read five biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt.
One.
I work at the Parks and Recreation-
One.
That’s what you do.
One.
I… once kissed a girl in college?
Eight.
Where I graduated summa cum laude in History.
One. Zero. Negative a billion. Don’t talk about it anymore please.
the only thing i watched last night was archer (because i was out at dinner and then playing portal 2 and these are the important reasons i have a dvr)
it was pretty much excellent in every way except that it needed more pam and SPLOOSHing
And more Woodhouse. Sometimes I forget how much I love Woodhouse.
basically it should have been a 3 hour episode.
DiD yOu AlL wAtCh ThE pAuL rEiSeR sHoW?!
I didn’t. I set my DVR to skip it.
“So are you having fun tonight? … Where were you on 9/11?”
“this reminds me of Katrina”
So in the Detroit area, after Community, the local weatherman had a half hour special called EXTREME WEATHER! that appeared to be all about how global warming is not actually real? Please tell me somebody else saw this. It was nuts.
Anyways, my point is that it was still better than the Paul Reiser show.
haha yea i live in oakland county and WDIV was def breaking this story before everyone else… laughable, at least it didnt show it over Community which has been the trend lately with the living healthy specials!!
Hoosiermate.com – just brilliant
I can’t stop laughing at “apps n zerts”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyIKRA6tzL8
Jack Donaghy times four! Dennis Duffy!
I think the 30 Rock writers have been reading my sex dream diary
Eagleheart continues to be the funniest show very few people know about.
Anne is Leslie’s best friend, and someone she uses to confide her problems in and get advice woman-to-woman. Who else is going to provide her that female cameraderie, April? Donna? Granted, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch to have her stopping by the P&R office so much, what with being a nurse & all, but I never think to myself, “hey, Anne has no more purpose, maybe they need to write her out.”
finally someone gets it.
Is it just me or do clip shows make anyone else feel extremely uncomfortable? I did enjoy Community, but for some reason I felt like I couldn’t relax during it.
My two favourites from the night.
“I call it Andy’s Mouth Surprise” – Andy Dwyer
“Where were you on September 11?” – D’angelo Vickers
So I know I am so late as to have lost the chance of anyone seeing this, but on the off-chance… So, Deangelo Vickers is the Scranton Strangler, right? Does anyone else suspect this? Or did everyone figure that way way long ago and it just never even gets discussed now because it’s so obvious?
Wait. What?? It is definitely not obvious to me. what makes you think that?
TWIST! Mind…maybe blown? But the case is already on trial, right? It’s why Toby is gone. But who knows?? I am def gonna start paying WAY more attention to details on the Office now.
Toby mentioned during the Dundies that he didn’t think the man in the trial was the Scranton Strangler and that they wrongfully convicted an innocent man.
Of course no one listened or cared. Typical.
Exactly! Plus it’s been this weird ongoing outside subplot all season, and I know Deangelo (D’Angelo?) isn’t sticking around, so…. yeah that’s pretty much all the evidence I’ve come up with. But I hope if it’s true everyone I have told this to (that would be you guys, my husband, and my dad who has never watched the show and might have been asleep when I was telling him about it) will be like “YES! We nailed it!” and we will have a collective shout of victory across the nation.
I didn’t even think of this, but I’m definitely going to bring it up to my friends and then take all of the credit for it.
Oh Dammit you guys, I am going to have to watch the Blazers lose (sorry Blazers, let’s just call a spade a spade here) instead of Thursday night tv- I don’t get to watch until Saturday night. Saturday!! It’s like a century later! But if Deangelo is the Strangler, have a drink* for me, ok? I’ll catch up to you a couple days late.
*Unless of course you are not yet twenty-one, in which case make that drink a milk, don’t do drugs, and stay in school.