RANDOM THOUGHTS:
The following were on my mind between Thursday, December 9th and Monday, December 13th:
-Dear ESPN,
I get it. Favre is not playing an NFL game for the first time since 1992 despite the fact that he's had an injury in every part of his body since then. Still, that still doesn't give you an excuse to talk about it for the first fifteen minutes of SportsCenter like the majority of Americans still care about it.
- "I typed your symptoms to the search bar and it says that you have 'Network Connectivity Problem.'" If that great line from a promo is a preview of how good a show will be, then I can't wait for the new season of "Parks and Recreations" to debut in January!
- Reason #281 why NFL RedZone is awesome: When there's an out-of-market afternoon game that goes to overtime, you can actually watch the big moments on NFL RedZone, which is different than on FOX or CBS since they have contractual obligations from the NFL to not show it unless you live in the TV market of the game being shown. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but for me it is magnificent!
-If the Metrodome roof collapsing this past Sunday isn't a perfect metaphor of how the 2010 Brett Favre experiment in Minnesota has been going, then I don't know what is.
- What is it with DeSean Jackson and strange endings to touchdowns in Dallas. Back in his rookie season with the Eagles, he purposely let go of the football at the one yard line, discrediting his touchdown and pissing off fantasy owners everywhere. Last night, he stopped one yard before the goal line, turned around and fell on his back by himself for the TD. I think that big star in the middle of the field keeps getting into his head everytime he plays in the Big D.
- An NFL player asked an opposing player who he respects and admires for his autograph? SCREW HIM!
-These last two episodes of "The Office," have been a nice rebound from the first nine episodes of the season, most of which I thought were total duds. The Christmas episode was easily their best episode of the season, and the one from a week before with Oscar getting out-smarted by Michael was a nice pleasant surprise. Let's hope that this is a nice prelude to what could be a very nice 2011 to come.
- Call me crazy, but this 2010 Patriots team looks a lot better than that 16-0 2007 Patriots team. Sure, this year's New England team may not end the regular season with the same mythical ending that the 2007 team had (16-0, Tom Brady throwing for 50 TDs, Randy Moss catching 23 TDs), but this 2010 team is doing something that the '07 team didn't do: peak at the right time. With the '07 Patriots, they went off to an incredible start in their first nine or ten weeks, but then teams started to figure them out and they ended up playing a lot more closer games as the season went on (Ex: from weeks 1-8, the '07 team never won by less than 13 points. From weeks 9-17, 5 games were decided by less than 13 points, including four decided by four points or less). Meanwhile, this Patriots started out the season a bit shaky but now have been off to incredible roll which has included beating the Jets and the Bears, two 9 wins teams, by a combined 81 points. Should be interesting to his how this 2010 team finishes, though.
- The TV Top Ten is back and ready to break down my ten favorite shows from the past two months. Without further ado, let's get things started:
10.(tie) "The Simpsons" (still#10)
10. (tie) "Conan" (position previously held by "South Park")
10. (tie) "30 for 30" (down from #8, position previously held by "Modern Family")
9. "Modern Family" (up from #10, position previously held by "The Office")
8. "South Park" (up from #10, position previously held by "30 for 30")
7. "Fringe" (down from #6, position previously held by "Rubicon")
6. "The Walking Dead" (position previously held by "Fringe")
5. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (position previously held by "Boardwalk Empire")
4. "Boardwalk Empire" (up from #5, position previously held by "30 Rock")
3. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (down from #1, position previously held by "Community")
2. "30 Rock" (up from #4, position previously held by "Mad Men")
1. "Community" (up from #3, position previously held by "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart")
Up From Last List (October 2010): "Community," "30 Rock," "Boardwalk Empire," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "The Walking Dead," "South Park," "Modern Family," "Conan"
Down From Last List (October 2010): "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Fringe," "30 for 30," "Mad Men," "Rubicon," "The Office"
New From Last List (October 2010): "The Walking Dead," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "Conan."
Just Barely Missed List: "The Office," "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," "The Colbert Report," "American Dad," "The Colbert Report."
Other thoughts:
a. Well, it has finally happened. After nearly a full year on top in my TV top ten, "The Daily Show" was finally dethroned by "Community," and also dropped an all-time low at #3 with "30 Rock" at #2. Now, don't get me wrong. "The Daily Show" was still fantastic over these past two months. However, there haven't been two better comedies this season than the 8 p.m. ET hour duo of "30 Rock" and "Community." "30 Rock" has had an incredible resergence over the past few months with great episodes that has made season 5 a tremendous improvement over seasons 3 and 4. "Community," meanwhile, has given their viewers some of the shows' best episodes yet over the past month and a half, including last week's "Abed Uncontrollable Christmas" and the "Cooperative Calligraphy" episode back in November. It also remains one of the most versatile, giving us a zombie apocalypse episode, a bottle episode, an episode parodying conspiracy thrillers and an animated episode during this time. How can you not appreciate that?
b. As for why I ranked "Community" ahead of "30 Rock" in the rankings (besides the reasons that I just mentioned above), one of my main reasons has to go to last Thursday's Christmas episode. Just thirty spectacular minutes of comedy from top to bottom. While they didn't bring in the laughs like most episodes, the major theme of this episode was very heartwarming and it gave us a great look into the slightly complex character of Abed. IT was also beautifully constructed artistically and emotionally, and not to mention that it looked spectacular in high-def.
c. Can't wait for January. Not only will "30 Rock" and "Community" return from their winter breaks, "Parks and Recreations" (one of my favorite comedies of the '09-'10 TV season) is back with their season 3 premiering at the same time. Thursday nights should be a fantastic battleground for the right to be called the best comedy on NBC, and even in the entire US.
d. Goodbye, "The Office"! Out of the top ten for the first time since I introduced the TV top ten. What can I say? Most of the episodes from the past month and a half have just been disappointing. Hopefully the show can rebound one more time to make the list again, because it just felt weird not including them in this list.
e. I never got a chance to give my two cents on "The Walking Dead" since their pilot. Overall, I found this first season to be really good and a nice breath of fresh air to what has been a relatively boring TV landscape for the past few months. So for that, I put it in the top ten. However, because of its writing (which I thought was pretty weak) and the occasional boredom I got from watching the same things happen every episode, I couldn't put it higher than "Boardwalk Empire," who had a great first season as I mentioned a week ago.
f. Let's hope that the switch to Friday night doesn't effect "Fringe" in a negative way. I would hate to see this great show cancelled because FOX moved it to a night where not many people watch scripted TV.
g. Yes, I put "Conan" in the top ten. In my defense, his first month of the show was really solid.
h. Things I didn't watch since October: "Dexter" season five, "Glee" season two, "Raising Hope" season one outside of the first two episodes, "Grey's Anatomy," "Burn Notice," and "Terriers."
i. Shows to expect on the next installment of the TV Top Ten (which should be sometime in February of March) that you should expect to see: "Chuck," "American Dad," "Parks and Recreations" (for reasons that I have mentioned above," and "The Chicago Code" (from Shawn Ryan, the creator of "The Shield" which is set to premiere in February), "Mildred Pierce" (and HBO minseries starting Kate Winslett that is set to premiere sometime this spring, possibly in March).
See you again this Thursday!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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