RANDOM THOUGHTS:
The following were on my mind between Thursday, January 27th- Monday, January 31st:
-New feature! Starting today and running during every Monday edition of "Random Thoughts" until mid-May, I will be ranking all of the top Thursday nights comedies on the NBC network ("Community," "The Office," "Parks and Recreations," and "30 Rock") episode by episode, tallying points from a scale of 10-40 (40 for 1st place, 35 for a tie in first place, 30 for second place, 25 for a tie in second place, 20 for third place, and 15 for fourth place, unless it was really awful like the Christening episode of "The Office," which in that case it would receive a 10). The reason? Because there is no better comedy block on television right now and because these are four of the best comedies on American television. Now, since I'm in my second week, let's begin with my quick tally for day #1 (Jan. 20) along with a quick one sentence explanation:
1. "Parks and Recreations"- "Go Big or Go Home": 40 points
A great start to the third season of arguably the best comedy on TV right now, with Ron Swanson's Pyramid of Greatness as the episode's highlight.
2. "The Office"- "Ultimatum": 30 points
Joel Keller of TV Squad put it best during his recap of the episode: at this point, since the show has finished its creative peak and we know a lot more about its character compared to a more fresh show like "Parks and Rec.," fans of the show like myself are now happy with "The Office" if an episode doesn't stink, like this one.
3. "Community"- "Asian Population Studies": 20 points
It was okay, but not as good or funny compared to the other two shows mentioned above.
4. "30 Rock"- "Mrs. Donaghy": 15 points
The first story of Jack accidentally marrying Liz worked and the Tracy trying to get his family some financial stability after finding out that he is physically unhealthy had its moments, but the Jenna-Danny C-plot was one of the show's lowest moments all season.
And now, here is my rankings for the episodes that aired this past Thursday (Jan. 27th):
1. "Parks and Recreations"- "The Flu": 40 points
On his Twitter account last week, co-creator Michael Shur stated that this episode might have been the funniest that they have ever done. And while that may be a bit of an overstatement, I still found this episode to be brilliant. For starters, it was an episode that featured plenty of great standout moments from almost every character from Leslie Knope's Kirk Gibson-esque speech at the end of the episode to Ron's one day interaction with Andy to Tom sharing jokes with the old business men at the sauna and even Rob Lowe's character Chris panicing about the microchip that is his perfect health getting damaged by the grain of sand that was the flu. Second, it was just hilarious from start to finish. Two episodes in, and the top comedy from 2010 (with "Community" as a close #2) has started their new season off strong.
2 (tie). "The Office"- "The Seminar": 25 points
2 (tie). "30 Rock"- "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning": 25 points
2 (tie). "Community"- "Celebrity Pharmacology 212": 25 points
That's right, I'm putting all of the other three comedies in a tie for second. All three were so well done that it was hard to pick and choose which of them was better than another for this particular week. "The Office" continued its pleasant streak of good episodes by featuring one that was a good showcase to all of the major supporting players from Andy to Kevin and even Kelly with her Business Bitch character. Plus, the cold open with Ricky Gervais that I mentioned earlier this week was out of this world awesome. With "30 Rock," it was a really nice bounce back from last week's sub-par episode with two great moments. The first one was when Tracy and Liz sharing insults to the tune of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" and harmonizing as Liz was leaving Tracy's dressing room with the "Oooh, oooh, oooh" and the other came at the end when Jack was rushing to get the benefit in honor of the tragic destruction of Mel Gibson's private island that both Gibson and Jon Gosslein were partying in as it happened off the air. As for "Community," I found the episode for be an interesting episode that delved into the life of Annie, someone whose background isn't usually talked about on the show, plus the musical where the poor children ended up chanting "We want drugs!" and "I love you drugs!" was one of the highlights of the entire night.
(Ed. note: Don't worry, though, I promise that this occurrence won't take place often.)
Official points tally for the power ranking thus far:
1. "Parks and Recreations": 80 points
2. "The Office": 55 points
3. "Community": 45 points
4. "30 Rock": 40 points
In other words, its basically "Parks and Recreations" with a wonderful head start so far, with everyone else in a battle for second place. Moving on...
-Is there a better name for an athlete right now than Novak "Is Wayne Brady Going To Have To" Djokovic? I think not!
- You know that the gap between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl is a joke when the biggest story coming into tomorrow's Super Bowl XLV media day is the meaningless Packers team photo conflict. I don't care how much ESPN and NFL Network try to hype this story up, its about as interesting and important as the location announcement for the newest season of "Survivor."
- I don't understand why TCM, a.k.a. one of the five best cable channels on TV right now, has a channel in high definition. Most of their movies are in black and white anyway, and the movies that they can possibly show in HD are in standard def. regardless.
-If the the NFL wants to improve the Pro Bowl from the travesty that it already it to an even less travesty, I would suggest that they follow what the new NHL All-Star Game model that debuted this weekend and have the fans to decide all of the players in the Pro Bowl, but have two selected "captains" choose their teammates for the game. Granted, the "draft" will be a lot longer than the one that the NHL had this past Saturday, but it can work somehow. That, or the players play the game without using helmets. After all, its not like they try during the game, as shown by the Alex Mack touchdown at the end of the game yesterday.
- Charlie Sheen, to me, has officially become the Kim Jong Il of Hollywood. Anything that he does from this point on just will not surprise me. What's that, buddy? He killed himself after going on a drug filled rampage that murdered three hookers and a pizza delivery boy?!?! That's out Charlie!
More random thoughts to come on Thursday. Now, if you will excuse, I'm going to prepare myself for the start of tomorrow's epic snowstorm that is supposed to strike my beloved city down in historic proportions. Enjoy the start of your workweek!
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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