Community - "Advanced Introduction to Finality"
When I think about this season of Community, a show I genuinely loved and considered to be one of the smartest sitcoms in ages, I think about Men in Black. The scene near the beginning when J and K are investigating the crashed Roach ship, and the farmer's wife talks about how Edgar went out to investigate it and when he came back, he wasn't the same, like there was a thing wearing an Edgar suit.
This show is now something wearing a Community suit. And just like in the movie, the suit is gradually decaying and looking worse and worse. The season finale just highlights it so much. Paintball fight. Darkest timeline. Movie reference. Jeff Winger speech. And finally, the four season character arc of Jeff, ended with a dream sequence and an unearned attempt at emotional payoff, even though a year ago it would've been fantastic.
And somehow, it got a fifth season. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe something new and great can pop out of the Community suit's mouth and give the show a better sendoff than what was written. Maybe it'll just be a big bug and the writers will have to step on little cockroaches of references to distract viewers from what they really wanted. No wait, hold on. The show was the big roach in this metaphor. Maybe viewers are Will Smith? I don't know what the little roaches are then. Who was Tommy Lee Jones? Maybe viewers are Tommy Lee Jones and we've been eaten by the show! That sounds right. Let's go with that metaphor.
The Mindy Project - "Frat Party"
I continue to really, really want to like this show and this show continues to be...eh. I like Mindy Kaling! I think there's a good show here somewhere. I think it's amusing enough to watch every week and not hate myself for watching (unlike some terrible, awful shows about forensic anthropologists that will not be named, but the name refers to a part of the body that forms the hard structure and okay it's Bones goddammit I hate you Bones). But every episode tends to follow a formula of: there's the Mindy plot, where she is awkward but weirdly witty and insightful and has some situation with a guy she is dating or wants to date but then it goes back and they break up or almost break up. Then there's the other doctors plot, where Morgan is wacky and the other doctors are kinda grumpy and sardonic. And then at the end someone gets in a fight.
It's always progressing in the sense that Mindy's relationships at least get to come and go and be different each time which is good, but I feel like I've waited a season for this show to progress past the stage where it can't figure out what kind of show it wants to be. I've yet to feel invested in any damn thing going on at all. I think if this show felt more like it had more of Mindy (the real person) and her perspective it'd be better, but the other characters seem to want to demand screen time when they haven't earned it. Or heck, go the other way and just have wacky Morgan hijinks and stuff. But figure it out, man.
Modern Family - "My Hero"
A decent episode of Modern Family. I'm actually struggling to come up with anything to hate or praise about it. The show is four seasons in and I don't feel like it's progressed anywhere, but I do feel like it's at least as good as it was 2 years ago. Next season might be going somewhere decent with the Claire has a job storyline that seemed to pop out of nowhere and the Haley is going to college for realz this time thing. Maybe. But we'll see. Anyhow, I can't even seem to care enough to google a picture for it. Oh well!
Bob's Burgers - Season 2 Episodes 1-5
Season 2 of Bob's Burgers got put on Netflix this week. I'm not going to individually talk about each episode while I pop the top of delicious streaming on-demand media and shotgun hours of a prime-time cartoon, but I do want to say:
This show is freaking great. I watched the first season out of boredom a few months ago and, while it was slow to get going, the second season hits the ground running and it is just brutally hilarious. I feel really bad for this show, which genuinely loves the line between absurdity and an actual touching family sitcom, because it has to air every week nestled deep in the disgusting clutches of the Seth MacFarlane crap monster. It's probably the only prime-time cartoon in a long time to honestly challenge early Simpsons in its greatness.
Also, I love Tina and Louise on this show, but Gene has been killing it so far. "Channel Six news! They'll finger anything with a pulse!"
Oh no, wait. Bob telling his kids to act like they're his kids at the security guard who wouldn't let him in the arcade without children.
"We are your kids."
"Yeah, but...really rub his face in it."
then Louise
"He had sex and then we happened. DEAL WITH IT."
Okay.
Yes.
Done now.
No comments:
Post a Comment