(I think this is the same reaction that Dick Vitale felt)
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
Another year, another Kodak moment of a Kansas Jayhawks fan lamenting the failed dream of seeing his beloved college basketball team win the NCAA tournament. Last year, it was this little guy crying after seeing the #1 overall team of the nation in 2010 lose in the round of 32 to Northern Iowa. Yesterday, it was Matt Rissien, better known in many parts of the Internet as simply "Sad Jayhawk," who couldn't help but feeling a sense of anguish as his #1 seeded favorite team lost to a #11 seeded team from the Colonial Athletic Association in the Elite Eight. At this point, taking a picture of a Kansas fan crying has become a nice little tradition of the tournament, like last second buzzerbeaters, cinderellas, and the Big East showing itself to be overrated in the first two rounds. Can't wait to see which fan of the black and blue steps up to becoming the poster child of another Jayhawks upset loss twelve months from now.
Anyways...what was I going to get to? Oh, yes, the random thoughts! The following were on my mind between Monday, March 21st and Monday, March 28th:
- The NCAA tournament at its most parodied, ladies and gentlemen! For the first time since 2006 we have a tournament in which zeros #1 or #2 seeds advanced to the Final Four. Instead, we have a #3 seed, a #4 seed, #8 seeded Butler who did the improbable and actually advanced to the Final Four for the second year in a row despite not having the presence of last year's start point guard, Gordon Hayward, and, of course, #11 Virginia Commonwealth, who proved basically every major college basketball analyst wrong when they stated that they shouldn't have been part of the field of 68 in the first place by winning their play-in game with USC, win against Big East powerhouse Georgetown and Big Ten powerhouse Purdue over the first weekend, and then Florida State and Kansas last week. And the way things have been going in this tournament, we should see one of the most exciting conclusions in NCAA tournament history! Now, tell me again...why does Div. 1-FBS college football continue to remain obstinate with the BCS system?
- Cubs fans and Indians fans with some hope? The Phillies and Red Sox hype machine kicked into full gear? Teams telling the media that veteran players are looking healthier than ever? Mark Reynolds promising to limit himself to hit over .220? God, it's good to have the 2011 MLB season beginning this Thursday!
- Its amazing how many comedy films and TV shows tend to age dramatically overtime, more than any other art form it seems. Take "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In" for instance. I was watching their "best of" special on my local PBS station this past Saturday, hoping to see just what made this TV show the great American comedy program of the late '60s and early '70s. And don't get me wrong, I did get a few slight chuckles through the program, even having my jaw hanging from my mouth at times in amazement at how dead-on accurate some of Dan Rowan's "News of the Future" predictions were ("President Ronald Reagan," the Berlin Wall falling down in 1989). However, most the most part, I just found their humor to be more zany and absurd than funny. Most of the time, I kept thinking of what kind of drugs they were taking to pull off the program. And to think, this show was basically the "American Idol" of its time, ranked #1 in TV ratings from 1968-1970 (the Goldie Hawn years)! I wonder how long before some of today's great comedy TV programs like "Modern Family," "South Park" and "30 Rock" (especially the latter two, as much of their humor tends to revolve around topics and news stories during the time their episodes were made) will join "Laugh In" as these TV shows that future generations will watch and ask themselves "this is what was considered funny?"
- Stacey King (Chicago Bulls TV color analyst) is like the John Madden to Derrick Rose's Brett Favre. The only difference is I'm actually not annoyed by King's verbal fellatios.
- Damn you, TV gods! Just when you announce that "Fringe" is going to be renewed for another season you tell me that "Lights Out" is going to get canceled after the completion of their final two episodes! Why must thou be'ist so mischievous!
-What a great week it was for the big four NBC comedies! It was just one of those weeks where each show seemed to bring their A game into one two hour span, either by going the ambitious direction like "Community," returning to the aspects of the show that has really worked for them earlier like "30 Rock," or, in the case of "The Office," airing one of their best episodes this season and in the show's history. It was one of those weeks where you realize that this power ranking idea is even more pointless than it already is. So, let's get straight into the power rankings so I can give each show lengthier praises:
1. "Community"- "Critical Film Studies" (40 points)
This was one of those episodes where it made you glad as a fan of this show that NBC renewed it for a third season. Was it hilarious from start to finish? No. In fact, it was a continuation of what the show has done for the majority of season two, which is trying to introduce bold new areas of telling stories and further creating character development. However, what it lacked in gut-busting hilarity it made up for it with sentimentality, poignancy, a great twist in revealing which movie was the actual one being given a tribute of, wonderful "Pulp Fiction" attire, and stellar acting from both Joel McHale and Danny Pudi.
2. "The Office"- "Garage Sale" (35 points)
And so, we finally have the Michael Scott leaving Scranton storyline set. (Spoiler) Michael is going to marry Holly, and will go ahead and move to Holly's home in Colorado where she will take care of their mentally deteriorating father. (End spoiler). And with this announcement, this show also gave us a really sweet episode to boot. Sure, the proposal seemed to be to much (and too inconceivable) depending on how you'd like to look at it, but almost everything else clicked. Carell was exceptional (proving once again why he finally should get that Emmy this summer), both the A-plot and B-plot clicked, and it overall seemed like an episode of, well, "The Office," or at least the ones that I (and millions of others) watched and made us love the show in its early days.
3 (tie). "30 Rock"- "Plan B" (30 points)
Overall, I found this episode to be the best one of the four in terms of laughs. Will Arnett was great one again in his return as the cartoonish Devin Banks, and Baldwin's Jack Donaghy proved to be a great nemesis (as always). Also, the plot involved the happenings of "TGS" and NBC under their new Kabletown leadership (a gold mine for the show's writers), so of course it was going to be one of their better episodes.
3 (tie). "Parks and Recreations"- "Camping" (30 points)
It wasn't so much that this episode is bad. In fact, I found this episode as a whole to be very enjoyable and, obviously, very funny (the line about the beautiful red skyline in Pawnee was one of my favorites of the night and Ron Swanson has now gotten to a point where everything he does seems to make me laugh). On most weeks, this episode would have gotten at least a 35. But, as mentioned earlier, this was a hell of a good Thursday night, and...well, I felt that "The Office" and "Community" ended up having better episodes in the end. Again, don't take this too personally, people who loved this episode. These rankings are too subjective and unscientific for you to get too riled up about it.
The new tally:
1. "Parks and Recreations"- 260 points
2. "Community"- 230 points
3. "The Office"- 205 points
4. "30 Rock"- 195 points
No new episodes for either one of these shows until April 14th for some reason. Until then...I don't know, read a book or something. Go outside. Watch "Dora the Explorer." Just be well prepared for the returns when they do happen.
And...that'll do it! Sorry to the four or five of you who were patiently waiting for this to get published, only to realize that you had to wait another full 24 hours. I guess you could call it a preview of next week in that I will also post the newest installment on a Tuesday night for reasons that will either be explained or become evident later on this week. Now, go enjoy the workweek, why don't ya!
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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