Before we get into LOST, I have a little intro topic first for the first time in quite a while. That whole separate blog entry about some mysterious topic involving Akshay and Jas? I'm afraid that will have to wait for now. I simply don't have enough motivation to write it yet.
Instead, I wanted to personally rank the current 4 sitcoms in the NBC Thursday night lineup right now. The lineup's stronger from top-to-bottom than it's been in a while... at least, critically. Ratings-wise, it certainly doesn't touch the glory days of Friends and Seinfeld/Frasier. But then again, what on NBC does nowadays? The 2-hour block is really entertaining though. The main reason for this has been a strong additional hour from the two new comedies this year (relatively new. Parks and Rec had a brief 6-episode run last season), which have been very strong while the two NBC mainstays have actually been more on the downhill and, well, I'll explain more in the rankings. I hope this helps with anyone wondering what other stuff they might wanna check out or catch up on with the current TV season nearing its end.
1. Community
The timing of this topic is great for making my case, since if you checked out Community's last episode, it was at a very high point of its run thus far. Perhaps, some might say, its best episode this season, and I would say the best half-hour of comedy that's been on network TV this whole season. Yeah, you heard me. I said it. Community is a very pop culture-reference heavy show, but at the same time, it has the kind of characterization and heart that avoids it from falling into the realm of Family Guy pop-culture galore smörgåsbord. This past week's paintball episode highlighted that, with action movie references galore mixed in with funny decisions that were true to characters and plot movement with different character relations. It was great, entertaining stuff.
My following of Community is interesting because I watched the pilot episode, loved it, and came back to watch a few more episodes after that which I wasn't as crazy about. I decided to stop checking it out at that point, but I tried a few more later on in February, and I ended up getting back into it. The show had some rough patches at first, but it's really hit its stride since. Community does a very enjoyable job of portraying a community college lifestyle between a range of different characters. No, this isn't your Rice O-Week icebreakers among new freshmen. We got our old Chevy Chase coming back to school, our single mom looking for an education, our former high school QB star. One of the stranger casts out there come together for a hilarious mix of comedy. I love Abed, and Troy, and Annie (Alison Brie is just awesome) and yeah, all the characters are great. It's a joy to watch, and I love it.
2. Parks and Recreation
This show was another slow-starter. Heck, it had such a weak 1st season of 6 episodes that it could have been screwed over right then and there with its low ratings. Thankfully, the show hit its stride right when it got back to a second season, and it looks safe now from cancellation, I feel like, for a few seasons. Who knows? Maybe it'll keep paralleling The Office and get a following through DVDs and stuff.
While Parks and Rec obviously has comparisons to The Office, what makes it work is its differences. Yes, it comes from the same people who originally developed the US Office and ran the first few seasons, and yes, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) initially came off like a female Michael Scott. And heck, the show even had the same initial 6-episode first season spring run that The Office had. What makes P&R good though, and what really has made it work in this season, are things like the way Leslie Knope has changed and the way the P&R cast is different from The Office cast. It works in different ways, and it's also a breath of fresh air after being so used to The Office. Leslie Knope is not Michael Scott, and she is in fact far more competent. She's funny at times because of her exuberance or her goofiness, but other times, she's very much just a kooky but smart and well respected government worker.
Next, as the department works in a city capacity and deals with citizens and politicians, Park and Rec has much more ammo to mix it up with guest characters and plot lines, or at least, that's what it seems like to me. So far this season, they've brought in here and there random people in the town and touched on a variety of stories. I can see them keeping it fresh in the future with the potential options they have. I don't feel like trying to explain how funny the characters are, but they are also very funny. Especially Ron, April, and Andy.
3. 30 Rock
I only started watching 30 Rock consistently last year, and I've been picking up the pieces of the first 2 seasons slowly since. The first 2 seasons are fantastically funny, although it's tough for me to judge if I like them as much as I like these seasons of Community and Parks and Rec (same can be said for The Office). It's hard to judge, and I'm probably more biased toward the newer shows since I've been following them more closely.
30 Rock is funny, and it's always good for a laugh. But this season hasn't had as many strong episodes. Hopefully this isn't a sign of the show getting older and worse, and I hope it'll get better next year. For now though, it's not the same show that has been deserving of the Best Comedy Emmy in the last few years (and even though I watch and like it, I sure hope it isn't Glee like in the Golden Globes).
4. The Office
Oh, The Office. You and I have had a tougher relationship in recent years. Ever since it started getting flatter in Season 4, I've typically had more disappointment in it. This was especially so for me with the way the writers' strike threw off the end of Season 4 (it might have been bad before then too. I don't really remember) and with the Andy-Dwight-Angela love triangle that bordered on absurd to me (although I think others love that story). Then, the show was hilarious with its Michael Scott Paper Co. storyline (even that one had me dubious when Michael decided to quit before I got hooked in).
This season, however, has been more consistently frustrating for me. The stories have been weakening, I've gotten annoyed with Michael Scott and Dwight, and even Jim and Pam haven't been so great either. For example, have you noticed how sad the characters are on The Office? I mean, just from a romance standpoint, Jim, Pam, and Phyllis are married. Stanley isn't married (I think?) anymore, Michael desperately wants a family but is still alone for the most part (or in an affair), Oscar, Kevin, Toby, Meredith, Angela, heck, so many people in the office are just alone and sad. What a bummer. The only other stuff we got are Andy/Erin and the weird Ryan/Kelly thing. These aren't young late-20-year-olds or 30-year olds in NYC like Friends or something. I know the other NBC shows still have single people in them, but something about the absurdity and pathetic nature of the Scranton characters makes me more bummed out watching them.
Also, I believe that a lot of the show's decline has to do with folks like Greg Daniels and Michael Schur leaving the show to help run Parks and Rec. They are stronger minds who helped get The Office to where it was, and now their efforts are focused elsewhere. Plus, their desire to work on another show is an example of well, the acknowledgement that a show can run dry and be less appealing to put time into. So maybe The Office will keep going for a few more years (and depending on what happens with Steve Carell), not as good as it used to be but still bringing in the respectable ratings. I'll probably still watch... but it might get harder if things keep up this way.
Yup. That's how I would rank how much I look forward to each of these shows when they have new episodes. Feel free to disagree. Otherwise, I hope some of you will check out Community and Parks and Rec. They're good stuff.
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SPOILERS AHEAD
This episode was disappointing to me. I was not happy.
The Jacob/MIB storyline has been interesting to me this season, but I always wanted it to be rooted in connection to our main characters. You know, the ones we've been following this whole series. I'm also not a huge fan of episodes like Ab Aeterno, where the episode focuses a whole lot on one character like Alpert and barely touches on our main folks. Even though a lot of people liked the Alpert episode and it had some good parts in it for me, I still didn't really enjoy watching it at the time because of its slow first 40 minutes and it was only somewhat redeemed for me with the end.
This episode? With only a few hours left, right after the great episode last week, with NO show of our main characters at all? It was... not enjoyable. I will probably write less about this, so it probably works out that I talked so much about the NBC shows earlier on anyway.
At the end of the episode, I was baffled at how they could have covered and answered so little in one of the last hours of the series. I know that they aren't planning on answering everything and spelling everything out, but I would have liked to have learned more about why they can't age, where their mom came from, why the younger versions of themselves still run around the Island and how that applies to any rules of any kind, etc. etc. etc...
The first half hour was slow and poorly done for me. Child actors are always a mixed bag, and if you're gonna use two of them for such a critical part of your show... you're taking a risk. These two kids weren't so great. Then, even with the adult Jacob/MIB starring in the 2nd half... man, I just didn't really enjoy this episode much at all. I don't really know what else to say about that.
I'm disappointed, and maybe I'll be proven wrong about this episode with what happens in the next few episodes. But if this is how they handle a critical episode like this, I'm worried about how they're gonna wrap up all the loose ends left in the last 3.5 hours. Still, I'm going to stay optimistic because this might just be a bump in the road, and I care more about the main characters anyway, but man. Not a good episode to keep me confident in things.
I'll mainly just address the ending, which was admittedly captivating, even though still, seriously? Some random light? That no one else can find? What? So Mommie Dearest and MIB (and really? they can't give MIB a name?) are Adam and Eve. That was a big surprise and was pretty cool. How does this tie into what we've seen of MIB with his talk with Richard Alpert after the Black Rock and such? Was that before he and his mom died? Or did Smokey repossess his body and yet somehow leave the skeleton? I don't quite understand. I'm just gonna stop writing now. I'm just going to read Alan Sepinwall's recap later.
Just some notes:
-These episodes aren't starting with "Previously on" any more. Either you're in or you're out.
-At the beginning of this episode, I wrote "If this is an episode solely focused on Jacob/MIB, I will be unhappy." I was right.
-Original mom's name is Claudia. Any theories?
-Anyone else feel weird about the switch of languages at the beginning between the two women? Lost is weird with its language stuff sometimes.
-Seriously. WTF. Someone write positive stuff about this episode to make me feel better. I'm gonna go read recaps now to try to see the positive spin of things, cause Faheem wasn't feeling this one either. Youn out.
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