Best Episode of the Season: 30 Rock Season 5

June 14, 2011

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“TGS Hates Women”

“Augh!  My period!  You’re all fired!”

Is Tina Fey the official voice of reason when it comes to women’s affairs today?  As perhaps the biggest female name in comedy today, she is certainly in a position to be a major influence on the representation of women in a field that has often been characterized as a boys’ club.  So by taking on the article from the Jezebel blog that criticized The Daily Show’s hiring of Olivia Munn with the storyline of “TGS Hates Women,” she made it clear that this sort of thing is a complicated issue.  Liz Lemon hires a female writer in an attempt to assuage criticisms of TGS as misogynistic.  But it blows up in her face in more ways than one, and all TGS is left with during Tracy’s absence are sketches about Hilary Clinton, Amelia Earhart, and Wonder Woman getting their period at inopportune times, which Liz tries to characterize as “ironic re-appropriation[s],” and they really are, whether they were meant to be or not, considering how absurdly nonsensical they are.  At least they come off as ironic to viewers, as 30 Rock consistently represents TGS as a hopelessly dumb show.  Meanwhile, Jack competes with Kaylee, Kabletown CEO Hank Hooper’s granddaughter, as he tries to position himself as the top candidate to succeed Hank as CEO.  Kaylee, as played by the prodigious Chloë Grace-Moretz, proves to be the most formidable competition Jack has ever faced in the area of corporate climbing.  Jack distracts Kaylee from succession by encouraging her love of marine biology, a love that she faked as a scheme to lead Jack back toward his love of marine biology.  Ultimately, once each figures the other one out, they lay down the law with each other, Kaylee making it clear that she is not above accusing Jack of giving alcohol to a minor and Jack making it clear that he is not above seducing Kaylee’s teachers for the sake of having them flunk her.

Next up: Fringe

Best Episode of the Season: Perfect Couples Season 1 (First and Only Season!)

June 13, 2011

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“Perfect House”

“Do you even know I’m a woman?”

I was sad to see Perfect Couples depart from the airwaves after only one season, as it was that rare show with a clearly stated premise that actually followed through on that premise.  Here were three “perfect” couples: obviously they weren’t actually perfect, but the general openness about the problems in their relationships (whether that openness came from themselves or one of the members of the other couples) made them about as perfect as they could possibly be in this modern world.  The standout pair on the show was Hayes MacArthur and Olivia Munn as Rex and Leigh, the husband and wife who have read every piece of relationship advice and who both actually seem to follow it all.  Olivia Munn can pull off that rare awesome trifecta of being sexy, funny, and actually seeming like a real person, so it was an engaging change of pace to see her miserably flailing about at tennis and at dealing with the jealousy over the sports-bred camaraderie Rex shares with his sister Julia.  Rex and Leigh are like the couple who have everything, partly because of the attitude they share of a desire to be number one at everything.  A couple like that needs to be knocked down a peg, but it was heartening to see that being knocked down did essentially no harm to their relationship.  “Perfect House” was also notable for its very real take on “Telling Stories,” featuring these choice quotes:

Julia: “You mean the black guy?”
Dave: “Oh, uh, ye-, black.”
Julia: “Bravo, Dave, so enlightened.  You mean you didn’t even notice?  Woo!  Get a new dream, Martin Luther King.  This one just came true.”

Vance: “Okay, that detail doesn’t matter, will you just get to the end? … What is pertinent, like, I can’t follow the thread.”

Leigh: “I’m sorry.  Are we boring you?
Rex: “Like the story about your kid’s play was so riveting.  At least we’re trying.”

Julia: “What is that movie I love so much?  Men in- unh, what is that word?  It has that actor, Will Smith, you know, the tall guy.”
Dave: “You know what, excuse me for being sensitive.”
Julia: “No, Dave, I am in awe.  I mean, where does it stop?  Do you see gender?  Do you even know I’m a woman?
Dave: “I’m walking the dog.”
Julia: “Well, he is a dog?” (Dave: “Bye-bye.”) “Or he is just a horizontal life-force?”

Next up: 30 Rock

Best Episode of the Season: V Season 2 (Final Season!)

June 12, 2011

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“Concordia”

The major problem with much of the first season of V was that hardly anything of significance happened.  The major problem with the second, and ultimately ultimate, season was that when something did happen, the status quo rarely changed.  Double crossings were re-crossed, and major characters seemed safe from death (until the finale, whose explosiveness was rendered moot thanks to cancellation).  “Concordia” worked in that the Fifth Column finally decided to take act against the Visitors in a way that would have repercussions and could not be reversed.  Though Anna was protected against assassination and Marcus’s chances for survival were considerable, the message of this action could not be ignored.  Viewers now had a general sense of character loyalty that not every character was aware of, throwing matters into a state of disarray that demanded resolution that was eventually cut short by cancellation.

Next up: Perfect Couples

Portlandia: Season 1 Sketch of the Year

June 11, 2011

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“Did You Read?”

Sharp, enduring sketch comedy can make its viewers uncomfortable, in that they see these ridiculous characters and wonder, “Oh my God, is that me?”  Fans of satire are likely well-read (otherwise, how would they come to understand the satire?), so the characters played by Fred and Carrie in “Did You Read?” are probably not too dissimilar from Portlandia fans.  With the sheer volume of reading material available in the twenty-first century, the pursuit of discussing that reading material with friends can be a daunting task, and thus we may forgo actual exploration of themes and merely resort to list-making and descend into one-upmanship.  But thankfully such a discussion, though shallow, can still be entertaining if a few choice quips are thrown in (“eco-chairs and eco-ways to sit,” “I thought it was cute,” “I did not like the end of it”).  Though “Did You Read?” was not the heaviest laugh-inducer, it has among all Portlandia sketches endured most strongly in my mind, as it is the most meaningful (along with “Technology Loop”) to people who care to immerse themselves in all that modern life has to offer.  The ending left something to be desired, but that is often enough the case in sketch comedy to be beside the point.

Best Episode of the Season: Portlandia Season 1

June 11, 2011

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Most of the Portlandia episodes from Season 1 featured a storyline running throughout each episode in the midst of the self-contained sketches.  “Mayor is Missing” stood out for its through line, as it had a greater span than “A Song for Portland” and “Aimee” and was less esoteric and confusing than “Blunderbuss.”  The “Baseball” storyline may have actually been tops for the years, but “Mayor is Missing” won the overall episode battle thanks to its stand-alone sketches.  (“Did You Read?” was a better opener than the unemployment PSA; the house-sitting sketch with the “Put a Bird on It” couple was a more hilarious visit from recurring characters than the Feminist Bookstore journal class.)  But the clinching moment for “Mayor is Missing” and Portlandia as a whole in its inaugural season came with the cell phone store sketch.  I was willing to check out Portlandia thanks to its promise of targeting hipster culture, but I wondered if Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein could make that concept last as a series, especially since they limited themselves to one city.  But with the help of Kumail Nanjiani, they showed that they had made the wise decision of not confining themselves into a self-imposed obligation to focus only on hipster skewering.  The humor of confused and abused uses of language (“It is one time in that you only pay one time a year”) is a form of humor that Portlandia would be wise to stick to (it is a forte of Fred Armisen), and it seems intent on doing so, which could be the show’s formula for long-term success.

Next up: V

Best Episode of the Season: Hannah Montana Season 4 (Final Season!)

June 8, 2011

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“Hannah Montana to the Principal’s Office”

“I could leap across this desk, throw you through a window, because I’m tired of people asking for SPECIAL TREATMENT!”

It may be the case that generally when big-name stars make guest appearances on a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon show, they are allowed to play a version of themselves or a version of their typical characters, but they are also forced to subsume their personae into  a “kid-friendly” environ (whatever that means – usually it means something unbearable).  But in Hannah Montana’s tradition of guest stars, this has not really been the case, at least not completely.  It certainly was not the case when Ray Liotta appeared as the principal of Miley’s high school.  He wasn’t allowed to cuss up a storm, but he was allowed to deliver lines like the one above.  And when it comes to Ray Liotta, that is enough.  Unlike the later episodes of this ultimate season, there were not too many sappy moments or annoying musical montages detracting from the usual zany moments, especially the mugging from the ever-reliable Emily Osment.  But it would be pointless for me to explain what made this the best Hannah Montana episode of the season without singularly focusing on Ray Liotta.  The moment at which the thought of “Wow, they really did let Ray Liotta guest star on Hannah Montana” was the strongest came when, as Principal Luger, he took a picture on his cell phone with Miley as Hannah and then insisted that they retake the shot because, as he said, “I got crazy eyes in this one!”  And he really did have crazy eyes.  Then he declared to a mob of classmates/fans in the hallway, “Ahhhhhh!  Hannah Montana wants to be treated like a regular student! … A.  Regular.  Girl.”  I would not be surprised if some of those extras voided their bowels at that moment.

Next Up: Portlandia

Best Episode of the Season: The Walking Dead Season 1

June 7, 2011

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“Wildfire”

When I started watching The Walking Dead, I wondered how a story set in a world overrun by zombies could be sustained over the course of the length of a TV series when I had previously seen it truly succeed only in films.  That concern was tempered by my awareness that the Robert Kirkman-penned comic book series that the show was based on was carrying on with critical and fan approval after several years.  Still, I actually needed to see proof from The Walking Dead the TV show that it had plans for the long haul before I could throw in my support without any reservations.  While I had been enthralled by the vision of abandoned cityscapes, I was most stimulated by the developments related to Rick and the gang heading to the Centers for Disease Control.  And then everything changed… I am a sucker for scenes towards the end of an episode that feature completely new settings with hitherto unseen characters and also scenes that feature characters leaving behind mysterious taped confessionals, and I was doubly pleased by the appearance of my old friend Noah Emmerich.  As I know him best as Jim Carrey’s best friend in The Truman Show, I knew he would be perfect as Dr. Edwin Jenner if he were to be someone you would like to trust but would also have some misgivings about.

Next up: Hannah Montana

Best Episode of the Season: Futurama Season 6-A

June 7, 2011

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“The Prisoner of Benda”

Unlike its animated brethren The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy, Futurama does not reflexively target whatever elements of culture it can find in its crosshairs (although it can be successful when it does do that, as evidenced by one of the other top episodes of the season, the “eyePhone”-centric “Attack of the Killer App”).  As it takes place one thousand years into the future, it should not be too surprising that it is most comfortable with episodes that operate within the confines of its own particular universe, with classics such as “Roswell That Ends Well” (Fry becomes his own grandfather), “The Sting” (Leela makes her way through bee sting-induced coma dream worlds), and now “The Prisoner of Benda” serving as prime examples.  With all the body-swapping that took place in “Prisoner”, every character had a chance to shine, and that can only be gratifying to viewers of a show that has a sizable main cast.  One principal result of the swapping was that characters ended up acting silly, in silly ways that had not previously been possible for them, particularly when Zoidberg and Robo-Hungarian emperor Nikolai – in the bodies of Fry and the robot wash bucket, respectively – destroyed Fry and Bender’s apartment, while attempting to assume the lives of Fry and Bender.  Throughout the episode, I laughed while simultaneously my brain was tickled, a combination I cannot deny.

Next up: The Walking Dead

Best Episode of the Season: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Season 1

June 5, 2011

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“In Which Claims are Made and a Journey Ensues”

As I am most familiar with David Cross from his work as the inimitable Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development, I think of his comedy as mainly derived from clueless, accidental wordplay.  So it was a pleasant surprise when I beheld his skills at physical comedy during the best scene of the initial six-episode run of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, in which, as Todd Margaret, he went over the edge of the edge as he attempted to sell the lethal energy drink “Thunder Muscle” to a café filled with elderly English folk.  Each episode had its moments of Todd epically failing at everything and yet still coming off as strangely sweet, but Episode 1 stood out thanks to this showcase of comic genius.  Goaded by his sole “employee” Dave into drinking more and more Thunder Muscle as he makes his pitch, Todd reaches into the deepest reaches of his id as he offends everyone present with graphic descriptions, strange cultural slurs, and the threat (and ultimate occurrence) of accidental violence.  (Here is the clip of that scene from the original pilot that aired in the UK.)

Next up: Futurama

Best Episodes of the 2010-2011 Television Season

May 6, 2011

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May has officially begun, which means it is the time of the year when television season finales come fast and furious (unlike Vin Diesel and company, who who now just come fast).  Thus, it also means that it is the time of the year when Jmunney’s Blog will soon be dominated by my picks for the best episodes of all the shows that I regularly watch.  My coverage for each show will appear soon after the finales air in the next few weeks, and I will also be reaching back to shows that finalized their seasons earlier in the year.

In alphabetical order, here are the shows that I will be covering: American Dad!, The Big Bang Theory, Bob’s Burgers, The Cleveland Show, Community, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Fringe, Futurama, Glee, Gossip Girl, Hannah Montana, Happy Endings, How I Met Your Mother, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Modern Family, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Perfect Couples, Portlandia, Raising Hope, Running Wilde, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Smallville, 30 Rock, V, and The Walking Dead.

The order in which I post my picks will be determined according to the order in which the shows aired their season finales, which means that The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret will be first.

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