Thursday Night TV Open Thread
30 Rock is back! What a great show. I enjoy watching it with my eyes! Last night's episode was...very good. Plenty of strong laffs. "Have you ever noticed how people in St. Bart's eat their lobster like this?" Although sometimes I worry that the show is going to crumble beneath the weight of our collective expectations. It is just one show, we can not put all of our comedy hopes and haha dreams on its thin, anthropomorphized shoulders. Whatever. It can handle it. This show is a machine. Also: poor Josh.
But there were lots of other shows on last night, too! The Office continues to just CRUUUUUSH this season. I think the writers room has switched out the morning meeting bagel basket in favor of having clowns for breakfast. Meanwhile, Community stays very strong. I am enjoying the developing relationship between Donald Glover and Danny Pudi. Then there was the Fred Armisen guest spot on Parks and Recreation. Everyone loves Fred Armisen! And cetra.
Let us discuss this around the metaphorical water cooler after the jump.
Posted by Gabe at 11:30 AM in Love-Watching, Sitcoms
Tags: 30 Rock | Community | It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia | Parks And Recreation | The Office
This week's It's Always Sunny was the best episode all season; I had been worried after the Dave & Buster's ep that they had started to jump the shark. This one brought it all back to fine.
Score = 11
I'm so glad they brought back the waitress. I tried to check Match.com last night to see if anyone has made a Charlie Kelly profile yet. But I went through the effort and ended up getting sidetracked and sending winks to this 35 year old divorced mother.
Score = 26
I agree, that Dave & Buster's episode was so lazy I almost started mourning the loss of one of my favorite shows. But then last week's Intervention episode ("No one WANTS to salt the Snail, but she leaves you no choice!") was an instant classic, as was this week's episode. Milksteaks and jellybeans all around!
Score = 14
"Sir, your milk is in the back boiling just like you like it."
Score = 8
My husband just informed me that last night "milksteak" was the most popular search on Google.
Score = 5
A bazillion upvotes to the first monster to create a viable Milk Steak Recipe.... Magnets!
Score = 1
What if the Dave & Buster's ep wore a checkered hat and a pipe? Would you like it then?
But seriously, It's Always Sunny is killing it this season. The road trip, the intervention... Last night's ep was just great (already re-watched it). Absolutely everything Cahrlie says goes in my LOLk.
Score = 2
The best was when 30 rock seg'ed into Leno, with Leno telling the camera: "It's time to give America what it wants". Oh, dear.
Score = 36
I wish I could upvote you a million more times. In context, it was the best toss ever written.
Score = 3
My first thought when they said that was "The 30 Rock writers read Videogum!!"
Score = 5
Last night we are all pre-op trans-centaurs.
Score = 11
Possibly the best line in all of TV history
Score = 1
Eh, I feel it was a bit of an off night all around. The Office was probably the best, but all of NBC's lineup was solid but not fridge worthy. I've never been a huge 30 Rock fan. I never really got why, but there was an article about pointed out something that bugs me about the show. Liz Lemon is a tame fictionalization of Tina Fey that serves to put her in a good light, not to serve comedy. Her flaws are the kind Jessica Alba would tell Leno in an interview to seem normal: "I love junk food!", "I have trouble with guys!" and "I'm a big ole nerd". Basically the opposite of Larry David on Curb.
Just to show I'm not a complete joyless asshole, the best Thursday night show was on Wednesday. Modern Family is on some next level shit, guys. Modern Family is two days later good.
Score = -6
I've got to agree with you on 30 Rock. As much as I enjoy 30 Rock and love Tina Fey, sometimes its like "Okay, Tina Fey, I get it, you are adorable." It took me a few episodes to really start enjoying it for just that reason, whereas with something like Arrested Development or even The Office, I was on board circa episode one.
Score = 5
I think I like 30 Rock and Arrested Development for the exact same reasons.
Score = 2
I was thinking about this (I think about TV!) the other day, and unlike Larry David or Ricky Gervais and their respective mortifying versions of themselves, the characters in 30 Rock are sensationalized versions of the actual cast for pure story telling.
David Brent kind of just gets the shit kicked out of him, LD gets the shit kicked out of him, Andy Millman ends up being agonizingly successful - but only to serve the purpose of having the shit kicked out of him. These excruciating (and hilarious) story lines are definitely rooted in reality, and they are far too extraordinarily embarrassing to actually happen to someone on that scale, but it is still painted as believable.
30 Rock is set in extreme fantasy. Even though there are rules in their universe, everything is pure parody and satire. Kind of like Always Sunny, the characters get into impossible situations that have next to no real consequences, and the best part about it (in 30 Rock) is that they winkingly address that with the audience.
I just realized that I was trying to explain jokes. Shit. I'm a terrible human. Withdrawn.
Score = 20
That's all well and good, but I was saying Liz Lemon's flaws aren't funny cause they aren't funny, not because they aren't realistic. As in, a pretty thin woman saying she's a nerd, likes to eat, and can't find a boyfriend isn't very funny. It's more calculated "LOVE ME!" type of stuff.
Score = 3
Guess you missed the high school reunion episode?
Score = 2
Nope. I like that episode cause it poke holes in Liz. But one episode doesn't change three seasons of jokes. Especially when that element was introduced and forgotten, as the Liz junk food and dateless jokes continued unabated.
Score = 0
If there is one thing I hate more than the Mafia, it is a liar.
Score = 7
Steve Buscemi is THE BEST. "They call me the chameleon....because of my slender frame and large, watery eyes." My favorite part was the protest signs though. I think just because of puns. "THIS PAGE WON'T TURN," and cetra. And in my opinion Jim managed to be the funniest on the Office even though he wasn't there. Or maybe I'm biased because of how he is my boyfriend.
Score = 14
That's why they call it murder, not MUCKDUCK.
Score = 23
The only reason I stopped laughing at that line is because I started laughing at "milksteak."
Score = 7
I just want to know if Gabe watched and/or is going to comment on the fact that the awful worlds of Jeff Dunham and Jay Leno collided last night. I did not watch; I'd like to keep my eyes and ears, thank you.
Also, "I like you, Rolly. Can I feel the rough skin on your hands?"
Score = 8
Hobbies: magnets.
Score = 7
turn-offs: people's knees.
Score = 3
He said knees? I thought he said "people's needs." Knees makes more sense in Charlie's world.
Score = 2
im pretty sure it was knees, i think he followed it up with something like "cover them up if you just going to be walking around like that"
Score = 4
Likes: ghouls.
Score = 7
Ghouls!
Score = 1
I'm not sure about Community. I like it. If I were still in high school, I would be running around making those alien noises all week. (Who am I kidding? I will do that now.) But I still have this sneaking suspicion that it is funny in context. Like how everyone tolerated Suddenly Susan because it was between Friends and Seinfeld.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a WAY better show than Suddenly Susan. But I wonder if it would be as funny/good standing on it's own and not standing on the expectation of all the potential laughs of the night? Maybe. I haven't decided. I'll keep watching and check back with you since you're all waiting with bated breath.
And Charlie Day continues to be the best thing about my week of television viewing. I would wink at him on match.com. I would wink at him with my vagina.
Score = 10
Ha ha. You watch Suddenly Susan. Burn.
Score = 1
I'll have the gabagool.
Score = 7
My country has lots of oil. Oil is food for cars.
Score = 3
I totally heard, "Oil is food for cars."
Score = 0
NBC had a weak night, I think. Still some good laughs (pre-op centaurian, mukduk, "I may be a genius, but I'm not a lesbian"), but not what I expect on the night of the TRIUMPHANT RETURN of the best show on television.
The Charlie Show, however, was finer than the finest raw jellybeans. Why do they even bother with non-Charlie plots?
Score = 4
"My guy could do this, I work exclusively on motorcycles."
Score = 1
"You make an appointment with the dentist and you don’t show up? Believe it or not, jail, right away. We have the best patients in the world. Because of jail."
I'm really starting to love this show, but I thought the whole night was great.
Score = 11
30 Rock still the best, still very upset about the Jay Leno toss up, that was a turn off and lets just hope it doesn't happen again.
Nobody is saying anything about Parks & Rec? Guess that's not a good sign...
The Office loved it!
Community might have a future but i don't like the timeslot... not a good sign.
Score = -4
Jenna: It’s tennis night in America,
Got some buds got some brews,
It’s gonna be a fight,
Put down your meth,
Slip on your whites,
Cause here in Real America it’s Tennis Night!
Serve it up and smash it the American way.
Announcer: Slawomir Mleczko VS Krzysztof Mlynarkiewicz in the Barnett Cup Semifinal. In the what?
Jenna: Got my lawn chair and truck,
Not an ocean in sight,
So kiss my ass New York,
cause it’s Tennis Night!
Liz: I hate that I kind of like that.
Jack: Step into the light, Lemon. There’s nothing wrong with being fun and popular and just giving people what they want. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jay Leno.
Come on people.
Score = 16
I saw the 30 Rock toss to Leno as burning Leno. Donaghee and Lemon basically just admitted that something stupid, tacky and low brow is popular, and that if that's what people want... here's Leno. They should have had Keyboard Cat play them off.
Then WTF. Leno had dancers in the same outfits, but not the same dancers, and a bunch of fat slobs "rushed" the stage like at a concert to give him weak handslaps? Maybe it sounded like a good idea on paper.
Score = 3
"season premiere of 30 Rock drew just a 3.0 rating for adults 18-49, down 27% from last year’s premiere"
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/16/tv-ratings-thursday-30-rock-premieres-down-sharply-vampire-diaries-hits-highs/30547
Score = 0
The Office was hilarious. I just experienced "The Modern Family" and was blown away. It's not The-Office-funny, but good enough to add to my weekly viewings. I'm such a sucker for mockumentaries, dating back to Waiting for Guffman.
Score = 0
The Jay Leno segue was perfect...it was the fourth very meta joke in the episode, the previous three being slower and slower to pull out of the obvious self-reference. Reminded me of the "Arrested Development" episode where the Bluths were addressing the possibility of moving to another network ("I guess it's Showtime!") And the Leno joke in and of itself was both a nod to the theme of the show itself--bowing to network pressures--and very well-deserved kick to the crotch of the Leno show. That Leno tried to pick it up and run with was the best joke, though...so pathetic.
Score = 4
When I first registered what Alec Baldwin was saying I laughed uproariously. It seemed like a mean-spirited jab at Leno, which I of course enjoyed because he is the worst ever and I am mean. But then when I realized that Leno was in on the joke, I felt betrayed. "Why can't we just be terrible monsters to each other?" I cried in dismay.
I've slept on it now, and I think I've come full circle and again approve of the joke. It's actually meaner that Leno was "in on it," because he can never really be in on it. It's like letting your little brother's friends hang out with your friends, because SOMEONE has to get their arm broken when you're playing Red Rover, goddammit.
Score = 11
I'm sitting next to nobody and Mrs. Webster Hyphen Nobody.
I lost it right about there
Score = 8
I fully intend on channeling Artemis' human cobb salad for my next coital romp. Bacon Bits in the hair -- pure genius.
Score = 6
anyone know where i can watch last nights its always sunny.? links please
Score = 0
I was more than a little disappointed with Community when Pierce didn't play off Annie using the Keyboard Cat music. Too meta? I don't think so.
Score = 1
I'm sort of the same way: I've been brain comparing (comparing using my brain) the show to "Boston Common" (it is much, much better than Boston Common): the characters are likeable and I kind of want to see what happens, but if it moved to a different night or probably even network, I might not keep up with it..?
With 30 Rock only coming back last night, Community has been a good source of the "funny where you laugh" (John Michael Higgins: "BIRTHDAY CAKE!") as opposed to I guess The Office/Parks & Rec "funny where it makes your stomach cry": but it has been very funny within the context of being sort-of formulaic plotwise (even if the point is to comment on the formulaicness) and sort of broad but shallow character wise. I'm not sure what's left after the writers are done matching up all of the characters with each other Punnett Square Stizz: maybe they'll feel like "real characters" then? Maybe it doesn't matter?
Score = 0
You've got a problem with your spark tube...
(image not from the episode, but I saw it as a fitting substitute)
Score = 3
you have hereby enlightened me as to how much ed helms looks like jason sudeikis! whoa.
Score = 0
danny pudi i love you lets kiss and make babies (by kissing, i hear thats how it happens).
Score = 1
My opinions:
Community got the most laughs from me (actually that's a fact, not opinion), and I suspected gabe was being sarcastic about the office, because I really wasn't feeling it last night. I felt like they've run out of episode plot lines, and are really stretching it, or maybe they just needed to bring back a little subtlety, ya know? but overall decent lols all around, glad to have 30rock back.
Score = 1
If Gabe wasn't being sarcastic about The Office, then I'm going to have to reevaluate some things.
Score = 3
The "30 Rock" hand-off to Leno made me barf in my mouth because when Leno greeted the "real America," he meant it. "30 Rock" was throwing him a bone, and he was so smug about it! He's supposed to be hosting an hour of comedy, but he's really not in on the joke. At all. (The joke is you, Jay Leno!)
Score = 1
Andy wearing a mechanic's garb was kind of a turn on.
Score = 0
"Cheers"
"M.A.S.H"
"Fawly Towers. Game Over. Have a nice day."
That exchange killed me. John Oliver is the best
Score = 1
It's Always Sunny KILLED. Can't decide if this week or last week was my favorite. I say the season should end with a Gail the Snail vs. Charlie showdown.
Score = 0
Also, I laughed more times in the first 30 seconds of 30 Rock than I did during the entire episode of The Office, but I did love muckduck.
Score = -1
P.S. Community is so bad, my brain has repressed the fact that John Oliver is even on it. He is the only good thing about that show. BARF.
Score = -6
You guys, I am fully aware of the fact that I need to relax technojeremy, but "meta" is not a whole word! It just is not! I have no more to say about this topic.
Score = 1
Yes, that's technically correct. But contemporary usage of "meta" as an adjective is simply shorthand for "an example of the metafiction technique" which, I think we can agree, is much too wordy (also an English major faux pas).
Give it a year--"meta" will be in the OED as a standalone word.
Score = 7
I said good day!
Score = 2
Actually, it already is:
orig. and chiefly U.S. Freq. in predicative use. Designating or characterized by a consciously sophisticated, self-referential, and often self-parodying style, whereby something (as a situation, person, etc.) reflects or represents the very characteristics it alludes to or depicts.
I love the OED, and dread the day I graduate and no longer have access.
I'm such a nerd.
Score = 1
Ah! That should have been a reply to raw.
Score = 0
Perfect, thanks.
Score = 0
I love how the non-internet world might start to embrace Donald Glover the same way I have ever since seeing this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcx4_CszaDI
Score = 2
You take a hot dog, stuff it with some jack cheese, fold it in a pizza: YOU'VE GOT CHEESY BLASTERS!
I have had that in my head all weekend.
Score = 6
Also, when Charlie tells his date that he's a "Full-On-Rapist" LOLzzz
Score = 2