This is the last time -- at least this year -- that I'll lump all the NBC Thursday comedies into one post. Fringe returns next week, and I'll go back to watching that at 9 PM and writing about it soon after.
Once again, we'll go in order.
COMMUNITY
What I liked best about this April Fool's themed episode was the way it tied pretty much all the characters together: Britta wants to prove she's not the group's buzz-kill, and her lame, harmless prank ends up causing a major act of campus vandalism...which is the investigated by Annie and Shirley, neither of whom can agree on who plays what role in the buy-the-book/loose cannon police equation. Abed watches it all unfold, directing his own personal buddy cop movie. And Jeff and Troy convince Pierce to wear an outfit that makes him look like "the Cookie Crisp wizard."
Of course, it all goes horribly, bizarrely wrong, and that's one of the reasons this show has grown on me so much recently: it can take an April Fools episode and have it end in tears. Hilarious tears.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Does it surprise anyone that Leslie Knope sees lunch with all the former park directors as a gathering on the same level as a summit of the ex-presidents?
Or that the ex-park directors would instead offer up not wisdom, but ignorance, cynicism and their own petty agendas?
It didn't surprise me, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the episode, even though it wasn't on the same level as some of the season's earlier hours. I like anything that allows Leslie and Ron to be friends -- as in their breakfast for dinner scene, or them playing darts with a picture of the former parks directors as their target.
And the episode contained at least one laugh out loud moment for me: Leslie saying "We really made love to the pooch" after the disastrous meeting, then -- after Ron pointing out that the expression is "screwed the pooch" -- arguing that the regular version is "too vulgar."
THE OFFICE
At first, this felt like The Office I know and love, from the silly opening scene to the way Dwight seemed less like a cartoon. Nice move, giving him a love interest who's as odd as he is. Bad move, giving Michael a (potential) love interest without ever explaining why she'd be interested in him when she -- and we -- were seeing him at his most obnoxious.
For him to overcompensate after thinking he was on a date* would've been fine; that's what we expect from the character, just as we almost expect him to have his own separate character for this sort of situation. (Dating Mike, a transformation symbolized by him donning one of those hats Samuel L. Jackson always wears.) For him to abandon his "date" after embarrassing her -- and himself -- was unforgivable.
(*Strange how both this and 30 Rock had Steve Carrell and Tina Fey out on "dates" on a night when ads were promoing their Date Night movie, which looks pretty unfunny.)
It's too bad, really, because everything else in that episode was pretty charming, or at least amusing: Daryl telling Oscar "You can be gay for Mack, just be straight with me"; Phyllis and Bob Vance's (Vance Refrigeration) weird bar game; Andy and Erin; Creed being a master of Dance Dance Revolution.
(The only character who bothered me was Kevin, who I really go back and forth on. Sometimes he's funny, other times, wayyy to juvenile. Tonight was the latter.)
Watching all these different couples have their night out was kind of enjoyable, and in the end, I found myself wishing, like Jim and Pam probably did, that Michael had just stayed home.
30 ROCK
This was probably my favorite 30 Rock in some time. No high profile guest stars, nothing too over-the-top. For once, Liz Lemon had a romantic problem we could actually relate to (as opposed to say, meeting someone when whacked out on anesthesia, or dating a sex offender.)
It hurts to learn an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend in a happy new relationship, and hurts even more to have reminders of that relationship thrown in your face, or in Liz's case, happening outside your window.
Floyd (Jason Sudekis) had always been Liz's most likable romantic partner -- even Jon Hamm revealed a cruel side when Liz burst his handsomeness "bubble" -- but here, he got to play sort of mean as well, accidentally getting drunk on alcohol-based sauce and comparing his new girlfriend (a deer) to Liz (a badger): "Why are you still single? There's plenty of guys out there for you to poison and yell at."
Even if Liz did make things right, it was kind of heavy...at least by 30 Rock standards. Fortunately, you had Frank, Twofer and Lutz around to keep things light, getting into a prank war with Jack and Danny. (Jack clearly had the edge here, convincing the three "Pranksmen" that a "Cloverfield" type monster had attacked New York, then sending Frank a video from his mother's bedroom).
The Tracy/Jenna plotline didn't work for me other than seeing their reactions (from under the plaster) to Kenneth's endless stories, but I welcome anything that gives Pete screentime.
Other thoughts/questions/lines I liked:
- Shirley: "Tell that to whatever our equivalent of a judge is."
- Loved the coonskin cap gag that opened Parks & Rec, as well as Tom's lame pick up lines while wearing it: "Animal on the head...manimal in the bed."
- Another good Tom moment: trying to act Mad Mennish while showing off his photos for the catalogue.
- Was that Michael Gross as the pro-pot parks director?
- Oscar, talking about Stanley doing 26 push-ups so he could go home early: "Essentially what we have here is the story where the mother lifts her car to save her baby."
- Pam's friend, amazed at how laid back Michael is: "He doesn't act like a boss. If I had a boss like that we'd never get anything done."
- Dwight got good at "Whack-a-Mole"...by actually whacking moles. Notice that the "Scranton Strangler" -- referenced on the unfortunate "Day You Were Born" newspaper Andy gave to Jim and Pam -- makes another appearance.
- As much as I didn't like Tracy and Jenna's Elm Street story, I like how Tracy started calling his dreams "Kenmares."
- Where's Dot-Com been? I know Grizz has health issues, but does the show want them to appear together? And for that matter, where's Cerie been?
Tom Coombe
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