RANDOM THOUGHTS:
With Upronts Week starting today and the 2011 installment of the NBC Thursday Night Comedies Power Ranking coming to a close, this this week is going to be a much larger edition of "Random Thoughts" than it usually is. However, if you're a veteran reader of this blog, I'm sure that reading my writings about TV related stuff a lot in one post is something that is nothing new at this point. However, I'm also proud to say that this week's installment will have much more than that. Included also in tonight's post are: Donald Trump, the Chicago Bulls vs.the Miami Heat in last night's NBA eastern conference finals game, and more. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the pointless and half-baked thoughts being shown to your eyes by mistake.
Anyways, the following were on my mind between Monday, May 9th and Monday, May 16th:
-So shocked about the news that Donald Trump would not run for president. I mean, I knew that these past few weeks have been nothing but pure pointless speculation and self-promotion from the Donald that was only noteworthy for having Barack Obama reveal his birth certificate. I just thought that he'd postpone the announcement until after the season finale of "The Celebrity Apprentice." I guess the ultimatum that NBC gave to Trump must have been very persuasive.
- Yesterday and today marked the beginning of network TV's annual Upronts Week, the time of the year where the four major networks (NBC, FOX, ABC & CBS) and alos what's left of the decapitating corpse that is The CW release their upcoming fall and midseason schedules for the 2011-212 TV year (which, like the school year in most parts of the world, takes place between September and June). In addition, they also announce which shows were cancelled and which ones will be making their TV debut in the coming months to both advertisers and to the American viewing public alike. As of today, only two networks have completed their upfronts: NBC and FOX. Here, now, are some of my many thoughts on the schedules these two networks have released:
1. The cancellation of "Law and Order: Los Angeles" by NBC this week once again proves just how awful the decision was by the network when they decided to cancel the original "Law and Order" around the same time last year. After all, the original "Law and Order" was a pretty reliable show in the ratings department with one season to go from surpassing "Gunsmoke" as the longest running primetime drama in television history, and the fact that the network decided to drop it in favor of such a chaotic mess like "L&O: LA," which hadn't even finished the pilot episode before it was picked up, remained a major mistake when it was first announced, and still remains a huge mistake now that the spin-off that replaced the original was axed itself.
2. I think that NBC might be pushing its luck with "The Sing Off," the show about competing a capella groups, hat previously aired as a filler program during the holiday season but is now airing for two full hours on Mondays. Sure, it worked as a ratings hit in small doses, but I don't know if it will be as fresh and as interesting for viewers when expanded to a two hour time frame. But then again, we live in a country where three of the highest rated shows are "Dancing With the Stars," "American Idol" and "The Voice," so what do I know?
3. So, it's official. "Chuck," despite abysmal ratings, is back for a fifth and final season consisting of 13 episodes, with the only minor change being that it's switched to the Friday night death slot (because if you've ordered the death papers, why not put it in the night where scripted shows go to die?). If there's anything that we can prove about the renewal, its one thing: that no matter how much you doubt them, the showrunners and rabid fans of "Chuck" will never allow their beloved show to get killed off without their permission. It also shows that they will do whatever it takes to make it happen, whether its by decreasing their budget and number of cast members every season to organizing flash mobs in order to eat a footlong at Subway. I bet fans of shows like "Firefly" and "Arrested Development" are feeling pretty jealous of their cult fanbase's success right about now.
4. Weird Wednesday schedule for NBC. Not only are you leading the night with two rookie comedies ("Up All Night" and "Free Agents"), but then you wrap it up with a light-hearted law show in "Harry's Law" and then a graphic procedural in "Law and Order: SVU." Talk about being given a variety of choices!
5. As always, my one biggest complaint in the NBC schedule (just like last year) lies in what the network did on Thursday night. Its not just the fact that they're allowing "Community" to continually deteriorate in the ratings by placing it on the same timeslot with mega hits other networks like "The Big Bang Theory," "American Idol," and now "The X Factor," making a renewal for season four already a stretch, but that they pushed "Parks and Recreations" back an hour in favor of...this. I mean, did you watch the promos for it? Maybe you should watch it again, because from those clips it looks like "Whitney" will make you actually want "Outsourced" back, which I never thought would have been possible until yesterday. Besides, "Whitney" is multi-cam, which makes it completely strange to put it in a lineup that starts off with three single cam shows in a row.
(On the plus side, it does give quality TV nerds such as myself the return of what arguably was the best hour of TV from the '09-'10 season, with "Community" and "Parks and Recreations" being back to back in the fall. in an effort to bring what I'm sure will be some awesome laughs. But that's it,)
6. So I take it that NBC really must not like "Grimm." I mean, what other reason would it be? After all, how does a new show that is placed on the Friday night death slot, with the low rated "Chuck" as its lead-in, count as a network having hope in the success of any show?
7. Why do I have this strange feeling that "Terra Nova," a.k.a. the "Spiderman: Turn on the Dark" of the TV industry, is going to have yet another mishap in the show's production, leaving it to be pushed back towards mideason?
8. There's really not a lot to talk about the FOX schedule as it is pretty conservative overall, and because there's not a lot about it that I really hate. After all, the awful "The Cleveland Show" is being moved into the 6:30 p.m./CT slot on Sundays, where shows like "Futurama," "King of the Hill" and most recently "American Dad" have had the lowest ratings among the rest of the animated lineup, while "American Dad" is moved up to its traditional timeslot after "Family Guy." Also, "Fringe" is still on the schedule for what will likely be its final season (unless the ratings remain just good enough for a season five renewal, which seems unlikely to me). The only thing that makes me angry is that "The X Factor" is also on a Thursday, but that's only because it would mean lower ratings for both "Community" and "Parks and Rec." Smooth move, FOX...I guess.
9. New shows that I'm currently interested in (though that interest remains tentative): "The Playboy Club," "Up All Night," "Free Agents," "Prime Suspect," "Terra Nova" (only because I want to see if the huge budget and constant delays were worth it), "Alcatraz," "The New Girl."
- Stand-up special titles have gotten so lazy lately. Norm Macdonald's "Me Doing Stand-up," "Demetri Martin. Person," Louis C.K.'s "Hilarious," and now Wyatt Cenac's "Comedy Person." Before you know it, someone is going to create a title so lazy and filled with an insane amount of self reference that the world will self combust by its meta humor.
- Here's a fun game for you: when you log onto the Internet next time: try to see how long you can stay on the humor website Cracked.com. If you're able to get out of the website in less than an hour, congratulations! You have the strong will and feisty determination of a bull, or a mid-20s Theodore Roosevelt! The point is that you're doing something that I have yet to do in my few dozens visits to it over the past few weeks.
- Is it just me, or does "Modern Family" look like a show that is running out of fumes and is in their 5th season instead of their 2nd season? Not only is the the show even less funny than what it was last season, but the characters have now become more one dimension than ever with the writers thinking of plots directly out of the Full House Guide to Classic Sitcom Cliches of the '80s and '90s. Basically, its pretty much saved by its outstanding cast from being a horrible CBS show. Its still one of the better comedies on TV, and it will ultimately get its second straight Emmy nomination this summer, but man is it starting to suck (and I never thought that it was great from the beginning)!
- Sad to hear that Gus Johnson is finally leaving CBS for FOX. While the move kind of does make sense from Johnson's career point of view (he was never more than the network's 4th team announcer), the fact that I will no longer be able to hear him call college basketball games during March Madness will be like not hearing Vin Scully call LA Dodger home games, or like not hearing Marv Albert call NBA playoff games: it just wouldn't be the same. Oh well, at least we will always have the great memories from his CBS days. Now let's hope that FOX does the right thing and move him to the NFL's #2 announcing team. After all, NFL Gus is just as good, if not better than NCAA Gus.
- If Taj Gibson's bombastic dunk on Dwayne Wade Sunday night was any indicator of how this highly anticipated Eastern Conference Finals series will play out, consider me a pretty excited Chicago Bulls fan.
-And so, it has come to this: the last power NBC rankings of the year. It's been quite a fun thirteen weeks, filled with some great episodes by shows that are still four of the best comedies in all of television. But now, as with all of the other good things in life, it must come to an end. I will reveal the obvious winner (obvious if you've been reading this site regularly, that is) in a moment. But first, one last ranking...for old times sake:
1. "Parks and Recreations"- "The Fight" (40 points)
Because of "Parks and Rec." debuting its season in January and because NBC wanted all of their 16 episodes in season 3 to be completed around the same time that every one of their other scripted shows did, fans of the show are getting a treat with two double feature of episodes in the next two weeks. This week, it was "The Fight," about the gang's night at the Snakehole Lounge to celebrate the launch of Tom's toxic alcohol (along with the chaos and regret that soon ensued), and "Road Trip," which mainly revolved around Leslie and Ben taking a road trip and trying to avoid hooking up in fear of their job security during it. While I thought "Road Trip" went pretty well, it was the first half of the double feature, "The Fight," that was head over shoulders above it in both hilarity and quality. After all, pretty much every scene that was in the bar was pure comedy gold, from Jean Ralphio struggling to end his raps with a rhyme to the end when they were all going home and had Jerry tied outside the vehicle like a Christmas tree.Oh, and it had a drunken Ron Swanson dancing for five seconds wearing April's ridiculous hat. I could replay that moment all day if I could...
2. "Community"- "For A Few Paintballs More (Part 2)" (35 points)
What a sophomore season it has been for one of TV's best comedies! 24 episodes, 90-95% of it great, with quite a few of them being nothing but awesome. Some awesome episodes in particular: "Anthropology 101," "Epidemiology," "Cooperative Calligraphy," "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design," "Mixology Certification," "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas," "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," "Intermediate Documentary Film making," "Critical Film Studies," "Paradigms of Human Memory," and last week's "Fist Full of Paintballs". This episode, I believe, can also be included among the list. Sure, it didn't live up to the excitement and epicness of last week's part one, and it was much more of the "Modern Warfare" sequel that I imagined they would do when I first heard of the episode's concept (sort of a bad thing), but it was still a pretty damn good season finale in retrospect. It was funny ("POP WHAT, MAGNITUDE?"), it was action packed, it was tense, it was sexy, it was bold and it was simply a really fun half hour of entertainment to watch as a viewer (just like last week). Plus, it opened up some doors for potential storylines in season three, including a potential Abed-Annie romance (with role play being involved, I assume) and Pierce acting as an outsider of the group in a similar fashion to Chang this season. Oh, and I think Alison Brie accidentally gave me an orange paint fetish (something that I never knew was possible before Thursday), but anywho...a really good episode overall. I'm now practically counting down the days until my favorite TV study group returns for a third season!
3. "Parks and Recreations"- "Road Trip" (25 points)
Another reason why I found "The Fight" to be better than this episode lies in some of the flaws seen in this episode. The most basic complaint that I have of it was that certain elements of the episode (specifically the "Know Ya Boo" plot and the part with Chris pairing the two together in order for the show's writer to move Ben and Leslie's attraction storyline into high gear) that felt a bit cliched, at least for a show as original as "Parks and Recreations" have been this season (though you could argue that last week's episode was basically a parody of the classic "Lemon of Troy" episode from "The Simpsons"). But, it was still really funny, and Ron Swanson shined once again in this episode by teaching a little girl libertarian ideals, so I'm going to consider this episode another success to what has arguably been a perfect season.
4. "The Office"- "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager" (20 points)
I'm willing to give this show a break for the remainder of the season, mostly because the final three episodes are basically a transitional period from the Steve Carell era to the (Insert Actor Playing Newest Manager Here) era that will begin at the end of next week's season finale. If anything, I found this episode satisfying in that it not only gave the fans a chance to see what would it be like for Dwight to rule over the branch as manager but also proved that the show can be funny without Carell leading the pack now that he's gone. Some notable examples of this in this week's episode includes the Dwight-Kevin massage scene, and the nice reveal at the end with Creed becoming the new acting manager based purely on seniority. Overall, it was okay, but not comparable to how good "Parks and Rec." and "Community were tonight. Also, the other time that Dwight was acting manager (season 3's "The Job) was a lot better (it did introduce us to the concept of Shrute bucks, after all!). Should be interesting to see how the season finale plays out next week, though.
And now, the final tally (at last):
1. "Parks and Recreations": 450 points (14 episodes)
2. "Community": 395 points (13 episodes)
3. "The Office": 325 points (12 episodes)
4. "30 Rock": 285 points (12 episodes)
And so, your winner of the NBC Thursday Night Comedy Power Rankings 2011 is...
PARKS AND RECREATIONS!
Not a real surprise. While "Community" did have a few great episodes here and there, this show (which had one of the most stellar seasons of comedy TV that I could remember) started off week #1 on top with a perfect 80/80 and has not once given up the lead. This is in large part due to a number of factors that include, among other things, stellar writing, wonderful acting from the main cast, the great backdrop of Pawnee, Indiana that remains one of TV's biggest gold mines, and, of course, Ron F@cking Swanson. I want to thank co-creators Michael Shur and Greg Daniels and the rest of the cast and crew for their hard work putting together such a wonderful show, and for that I give them...nothing, because this is a segment of the blog based on subjective opinions that has no real important value to it other than a method of providing some sort of entertainment to my readers. Though, I suppose my constant praise of it should count...but I'm not technically a critic, so that ties back once again with the pointlessness of this whole rankings.
While I'm at it, here are some other random awards involving these four comedies:
a. Best Leading Actor: Steve Carell as Michael Scott in "The Office"
b. Best Leading Actress: Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in "Parks and Recreations"
c. Best Supporting Actor: So many good choices, but I'm going to give it to Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson in "Parks and Rec." in a slight edge over Donald Glover and Danny Pudi, who were both great on "Community"
d. Best Supporting Actress: Jane Krakowski had one of her best seasons yet, so I'm giving it to her for her role in "30 Rock" as Jenna.
e. Best Return to Form: "30 Rock" in season 5
f. Best Improvement: Pretty much all of the four shows improved from their previous seasons, but when it comes to improving itself as a season went along, nothing came close to "The Office" season seven, for going from just plain atrocious during their first half (remember "The Christening?") to becoming a very tolerable, quite enjoyable second half (capped off, of course, by Carell's tearful goodbye episode in April).
g. Best Episode of "Community": As mentioned earlier, "Community" season 2 had its share of great, if not perfect episodes. So instead of singling out just one episode, here's a top five list (a very difficult one for me to make as I loved so many more episodes than just five) of the best episodes (including some pre-January ones) for what has been one of my favorite TV seasons of all-time:
5. "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design"
4. "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"
3. "A Fistful of Paintballs/For a Few Paintballs More (two parter)"
2. "Cooperative Calligraphy"
1. "Paradigms of Human Memory"
h. Best Episode of "The Office": "Michael Says Goodbye" for obvious reasons.
i. Best Episode of "30 Rock": "Double Edged Sword"
j. Best Episode of "Parks and Recreations": Like "Community" season two, "Parks and Recreations" season three ranks among some of my favorite TV comedy seasons of all-time. Therefore, like this year's runner-up, I must give this TV season's champion a top five countdown of its own:
5. "Harvest Festival"
4. "The Fight"
3. "Ron and Tammy: Part II"
2. "The Flu"
1. "Andy and April's Big Fancy Party"
As you may have already guessed from the NBC Upfronts release link earlier, the sixth season of "30 Rock" will be pushed aside until midseason (possibly in the former timeslot of the sure-to-be-awful "Whitney") in order to cooperate with Tina Fey's pregnancy (damn you, Jeff Richmond, and your potent sperm!), so you know what that means...no more power rankings until January at the earliest! Yay for no early return in year 2! I'm hopeful that all of these four shows come back next season once again in splendid shape (or, in the case of "The Office," simply tolerable without Michael Scott) so that we don't have another two horse race like the one that we've had most of this season between "Parks and Rec." and "Community." Also, I'm really hoping that the two Wednesday comedies on NBC debuting in the fall, "Up All Night" and "Free Agents" can be good enough (and not cancelled) to be included onto next year's list. Because if there's one thing I know about sequels, it's that these rankings need to get bigger and more high profile than the previous one. But for now I guess its off to around four months or so of summer TV shows and (shivers) going outside while socializing with other people.
Hope you enjoyed this longer-than-usual version of the RTs. Next one should be coming at ya' next Monday, although, if certain people are to be believed, it won't happen because Judgment Day will finally be upon us this Saturday (in which case, I just want to thank this time by giving another sincere thank you for being such a polite and courteous reader of the site for the past 22 months on both her and on MySpace). Have a good week!
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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