Here are some quick thoughts about Parks & Rec and The Michael J. Fox Show. Honestly, I don't really have a lot to say about them, so it will be quick. Oh, and bonus Welcome to the Family hatred!
Parks & Recreation - This episode felt like a whole lot of set-up, so I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. The Pawnee/Eagleton merge should make for some entertaining stuff, but it never quite escalated into anything particularly funny in this episode. Kristen Bell was good in her role, but I wanted to see even more of her, which I'm guessing we will in the next few weeks. And after really liking her in the season premiere, Leslie was just...too much here. The show kind of lost their handle on Leslie in Season 5, and this episode continued that unfortunate streak. I didn't really care for either of the subplots - Ron trying to erase all trace of his existence was just way too cartoony, even for Ron Swanson, and the shows' attempt to ground it with the tie to his marriage to Diane felt very forced. The Ann & April plot was...strange. Ann is moving to Bloomingtown because they have a nice baby store? And it all came at the expense of what could've been an interesting April plotline? All in all, this was definitely a disappointment after last weeks' stellar premiere, but maybe it'll look better once we get more from these storylines.
The Michael J. Fox Show - The quote in the title made me laugh a LOT. Actually, a bunch of stuff in this episode made me laugh a lot. But I'm still sort of getting a generic family sitcom vibe from the plot and characters. Since this show doesn't look like it's going to be the mass-appeal hit NBC wanted it to be, maybe they'll let the show break out of the tired Modern Family storylines they're trapped in and start getting a bit more experimental. I'm not holding my breath, but it'd be nice. Still, there's a lot of other appealing elements to the show. MJF continues to impress, and Betsy Brandt is also pretty awesome here. It just feels like it's playing it a lot safer than it wants to right now. The writing and the humor is pretty great, but everything else feels a few steps behind. Still, it's only episode 3 - here's to hoping they get everything figured out soon.
I also, unfortunately, watched the Welcome to the Family pilot. It was maybe the blandest thing I have ever seen, and strangely completely devoid of laughs. I bashed it more here, if you want to read!
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2013/10/cbs-fall-pilot-review-millers-premieres.html
I will end this by saying the complete blandification of NBC's Thursday line-up, complete with obnoxious tiny Sean Hayes running around the bottom of the screen, makes me very sad and nostalgic for days past. Come save us, Community! (I'm tagging Community in this because I only have 2 posts tagged Community and that is just wrong).
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
"No hard feelings but I hate you, not joking" - Tuesday (and beyond!) TV Roundup 10/1/2013
Hi everyone! It's been a few days. Not that much has happened since I last checked in, except for the government collapsing and shutting down or whatever. But let's talk about television instead! Tonight featured some very good episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl that I'd like to get to. But then I thought - hey, why not talk about this weekends' new shows, too? Namely, Saturday Night Live and Bob's Burgers. No, not Breaking Bad. I haven't caught up with it yet, so everyone just shut the fuck up.
Alright, well, what's there to say about Saturday Night Live? This is probably going to be a very transitional season for the show, which is probably good, because the show's been getting a little stale these past few seasons. As much as I'll miss Bill and Jason and Fred, SNL thrives on change - it's what keeps the show interesting. So even though this season may be a rough transition, I'm sure it'll ultimately prove to be a good thing in the end. Besides, the season premiere was actually a pretty solid outing, led by Tina Fey, who can do no wrong (except Admission, let's just all pretend that didn't happen). There was a lot of really great sketches, my favorite being the Girls parody, but with "E-Meth" and the always charming Drunk Uncle not being too far behind. I'm also excited to see what Cecily Strong can do with Update - I liked her last season, though I was a bit taken back by her sudden promotion to Update anchor. Her first night at the desk was pretty smooth. Her jokes were a bit broad, but her delivery was solid and her segment with Tina was really great.
So I guess this is the part where I address the shows' obvious diversity problem. I find it very disappointing, especially considering two of the shows' only non-white cast members (Jay and Nasim) were sidelined for most of the show last night. That said, I don't think Lorne Michaels actively hates everyone who's not white or anything. I just think that there's such a bulit-in homogeneity to the show that's holding it back from being as diverse as it could be. It's a bit of a bummer, and hopefully the backlash will let the show get it sorted out sooner than later.
Now let's move on to Bob's Burgers, which started its 4th season on Sunday, even though technically the episodes we'll be seeing between now and February or so are going to be from the Season 3 production line, thanks to Fox only airing 9 episodes of the show back in 2011-12 after ordering a full season. That means there's no need to panic about the shows' quality until then, internet, since the episodes airing now are in the same production line as the ones that aired in the spring. That's a relief, since the premiere was actually one of the shows' weakest episodes in recent memory. It wasn't a terrible episode of television or anything - there were still plenty of great lines, I laughed a ton, there was a fun song and any time with the Belchers is quality time, in my mind. But I thought the choice to kick off the season with an episode set in the woods was a bit of an odd choice. I missed the restaurant. I missed the great world of characters the show slowly built over the course of the first 3 seasons. I wanted to catch up with them in this episode, not be transported into the woods for a funny but overly wacky story that didn't let the truly unique personas of the Belcher family shine through completely. All in all, it wasn't a bad episode, but it was kind of a bad premiere. That's fine, because this is still Bob's Burgers. It's still one of my favorite shows on TV, and it's still great, even when it's not at its best.
And now onto actual Tuesday TV! I was very impressed by this weeks' Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which might be my choice for the funniest episode of the television season so far. The show already has such a tight grasp on its characters, and those characters are already just so much fun to hang out with. The plots still aren't terribly original - it's yet another episode centered around Captain Holt teaching Jake a lesson - but, geez, the jokes are. Chelsea Peretti has already established herself as a primetime sitcom treasure, and her interpretive dance to Christina Aguileria was one of the most beautiful moments on TV so far this season. The show is so close to greatness right now that I can't wait to see what it looks like when it gains a bit more confidence and starts taking some risks with its plots, which I feel probably isn't far off at all.
And now onto New Girl, which aired what was probably my favorite episode of its season so far tonight. Granted, we're only 3 episodes in, so that's not life-changing or anything, but I really loved a lot of things about this episode. The most important is Nick Miller, who just fucking knocks it out of the park every week, but his dancing and his reaction when Schmidt told him about his dilemma and his yelling about the valet and his helmet and just...his everything, was fucking perfect this week. And this episode also beautifully captured everything I love about Nick and Jess, particularly that last scene. Their awkward, weird, stupid, possibly lethal but kind of irresistible energy is so fun to watch, and the show is playing it perfectly so far. I also loved Winston's storyline - yeah, it sucks he's always getting sent off to his own plotlines away from the main cast, but I thought it was played perfectly this week. In fact, the writers kind of seemed to know that they have the tendency to do that to the character, and they sort of turned it into an emotional plotpoint. I have a feeling that we're building to something here - possibly something that intersects with the Coach arc, which should provide plenty of interesting fodder for Winston.
And that brings up Schmidt. There's been a lot of divisive reactions to his storyline around the internet - but honestly? I don't have a huge problem with it. Yes, he's being a total douche right now, but I thought he got what he deserved this week. Did that turn him into an ever bigger douche? Well...yes, but I sort of see this playing out similarly to the Pierce arc in Season 2 of Community. I think the show realizing what they're doing here, and I think they're doing it to send Schmidt on the same kind of path, where he really questions his own self, his actions and what he brings to this group. It's a bit of a darker tone for this show, so I understand what makes it jarring. And maybe I'm totally wrong and they're not building to anything. But this show has gained my trust, and it's given me no reason to believe I shouldn't trust it'll make something of all of this.
Last thing! I reviewed Super Fun Night for Sitcoms Online. I didn't like it very much. Read why!
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2013/10/abc-fall-pilot-review-super-fun-night.html
Alright, that's enough for tonight. Happy television! Or something! I don't even know anymore.
Alright, well, what's there to say about Saturday Night Live? This is probably going to be a very transitional season for the show, which is probably good, because the show's been getting a little stale these past few seasons. As much as I'll miss Bill and Jason and Fred, SNL thrives on change - it's what keeps the show interesting. So even though this season may be a rough transition, I'm sure it'll ultimately prove to be a good thing in the end. Besides, the season premiere was actually a pretty solid outing, led by Tina Fey, who can do no wrong (except Admission, let's just all pretend that didn't happen). There was a lot of really great sketches, my favorite being the Girls parody, but with "E-Meth" and the always charming Drunk Uncle not being too far behind. I'm also excited to see what Cecily Strong can do with Update - I liked her last season, though I was a bit taken back by her sudden promotion to Update anchor. Her first night at the desk was pretty smooth. Her jokes were a bit broad, but her delivery was solid and her segment with Tina was really great.
So I guess this is the part where I address the shows' obvious diversity problem. I find it very disappointing, especially considering two of the shows' only non-white cast members (Jay and Nasim) were sidelined for most of the show last night. That said, I don't think Lorne Michaels actively hates everyone who's not white or anything. I just think that there's such a bulit-in homogeneity to the show that's holding it back from being as diverse as it could be. It's a bit of a bummer, and hopefully the backlash will let the show get it sorted out sooner than later.
Now let's move on to Bob's Burgers, which started its 4th season on Sunday, even though technically the episodes we'll be seeing between now and February or so are going to be from the Season 3 production line, thanks to Fox only airing 9 episodes of the show back in 2011-12 after ordering a full season. That means there's no need to panic about the shows' quality until then, internet, since the episodes airing now are in the same production line as the ones that aired in the spring. That's a relief, since the premiere was actually one of the shows' weakest episodes in recent memory. It wasn't a terrible episode of television or anything - there were still plenty of great lines, I laughed a ton, there was a fun song and any time with the Belchers is quality time, in my mind. But I thought the choice to kick off the season with an episode set in the woods was a bit of an odd choice. I missed the restaurant. I missed the great world of characters the show slowly built over the course of the first 3 seasons. I wanted to catch up with them in this episode, not be transported into the woods for a funny but overly wacky story that didn't let the truly unique personas of the Belcher family shine through completely. All in all, it wasn't a bad episode, but it was kind of a bad premiere. That's fine, because this is still Bob's Burgers. It's still one of my favorite shows on TV, and it's still great, even when it's not at its best.
And now onto actual Tuesday TV! I was very impressed by this weeks' Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which might be my choice for the funniest episode of the television season so far. The show already has such a tight grasp on its characters, and those characters are already just so much fun to hang out with. The plots still aren't terribly original - it's yet another episode centered around Captain Holt teaching Jake a lesson - but, geez, the jokes are. Chelsea Peretti has already established herself as a primetime sitcom treasure, and her interpretive dance to Christina Aguileria was one of the most beautiful moments on TV so far this season. The show is so close to greatness right now that I can't wait to see what it looks like when it gains a bit more confidence and starts taking some risks with its plots, which I feel probably isn't far off at all.
And now onto New Girl, which aired what was probably my favorite episode of its season so far tonight. Granted, we're only 3 episodes in, so that's not life-changing or anything, but I really loved a lot of things about this episode. The most important is Nick Miller, who just fucking knocks it out of the park every week, but his dancing and his reaction when Schmidt told him about his dilemma and his yelling about the valet and his helmet and just...his everything, was fucking perfect this week. And this episode also beautifully captured everything I love about Nick and Jess, particularly that last scene. Their awkward, weird, stupid, possibly lethal but kind of irresistible energy is so fun to watch, and the show is playing it perfectly so far. I also loved Winston's storyline - yeah, it sucks he's always getting sent off to his own plotlines away from the main cast, but I thought it was played perfectly this week. In fact, the writers kind of seemed to know that they have the tendency to do that to the character, and they sort of turned it into an emotional plotpoint. I have a feeling that we're building to something here - possibly something that intersects with the Coach arc, which should provide plenty of interesting fodder for Winston.
And that brings up Schmidt. There's been a lot of divisive reactions to his storyline around the internet - but honestly? I don't have a huge problem with it. Yes, he's being a total douche right now, but I thought he got what he deserved this week. Did that turn him into an ever bigger douche? Well...yes, but I sort of see this playing out similarly to the Pierce arc in Season 2 of Community. I think the show realizing what they're doing here, and I think they're doing it to send Schmidt on the same kind of path, where he really questions his own self, his actions and what he brings to this group. It's a bit of a darker tone for this show, so I understand what makes it jarring. And maybe I'm totally wrong and they're not building to anything. But this show has gained my trust, and it's given me no reason to believe I shouldn't trust it'll make something of all of this.
Last thing! I reviewed Super Fun Night for Sitcoms Online. I didn't like it very much. Read why!
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2013/10/abc-fall-pilot-review-super-fun-night.html
Alright, that's enough for tonight. Happy television! Or something! I don't even know anymore.
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