Thursday shows - 1/20/11

Thursday night is my favorite night and Community has become one of the top comedies on TV.  How could I not love a show that constantly references movies and TV?  Joel McHale is awesomely snarky and who knew he was so ripped?  I know comedians and 99.9% of them don’t look like that without a shirt.  The vignette that plays over the credits is usually a highlight, but stupid Comcast always cuts out too soon.  ‘Troy and Abed in the Morning’ is a slice of heaven.  I’m going to incorporate smiling and hoisting a mug to a non-existent camera into my daily life.  Welcome back, Malcolm-Jamal Warner!  You looked so handsome in your Cosby sweater, though you did put Skittles back in the bowl (and bang a stripper).  Boo to Prof. Duncan for being on the wagon (see House) and to featuring way too much Chang.  Let’s dial back on the name puns.  Chang it up.

• Best Line:  “Somebody’s been finding river fingers with a cute boy.” – Britta to Annie
• Runner-Up:  “He’s 30-something; he has a landline and uses the word ‘album’.” – Annie about Rich    

I know people think that Parks and Recreation is a too-similar reincarnation of The Office and it kind of is, but I prefer this format to the generic, laugh-track sitcoms that dominate CBS.  How will I know what’s funny unless canned laughter tells me – lame.  WTF happened to my faux-boyfriend Paul Schneider?  So Mark and Ann break up and he’s off the show completely and no one even mentions him?  Super-Boo!  I do like the new Adam Scott former 18 year old mayor character but Rob Lowe is hamming it up way too much.  Thankfully, he always leaves shows abruptly, so maybe I won’t deal with him for very long.  Poor Andy, he went from watching Ann date Mark to watching April date a Latin stud.  Maybe another Gatorade shower will help.

Best Line:  Anything on the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness

-Stillness – Don’t waste energy moving unless necessary.

-Skim Milk – Avoid it.

-Torso – Should be thick and impenetrable.

-Body Grooming – Only women shave beneath the neck.

I hate to say it, but The Office has jumped the shark.  I don’t know when it happened.  I would say the baby, but thankfully, her exposure has been limited.  They are trying to prepare us for Steve Carell’s departure, probably with Holly, but most of the other characters are becoming tiresome too.  Dwight is played out and Ryan’s a total douchebag.  Jim and Pam are done because we all know that people who have a baby become 75% less fun and interesting.  That’s not an opinion, that’s science.  They need to focus on the super-supporting characters like Creed and Kevin.  More episodes should feature Creed’s f-bomb-filled tirades.  They should check his blog, Creed Thoughts, for some new ideas.

• Best Line:  “A day which will live infamously.”  Michael about Holly’s possible engagement (Three Amigos anyone?)

30 Rock is my favorite show of the night and this episode addressed the will-they-or-won’t-they issue.  Of course, Liz and Jack won’t and they never should.  It would ruin their dynamic and I think it would make each of them throw up a little.  I am worried about the impending baby (see The Office) but at least they will be hiding Jane Krakowski’s real-life pregnancy.  I guess they’ll dust off Jenna’s fat suit and the ‘Me want food’ sketches.  I really hope that Sherri Shepherd is not going to join the cast because even fake reality shows make me sick.

• Best Line:  “Entertainment is where untalented people go to get rich.  You have all the makings of a reality superstar:  hair pullingness, delusions of grandeur, an insanely short fuse, catchphrases.” – Jack to Angie
• Runner-Up: “You have no reflexes, your blood tastes like root beer and some of your bones have vanished.” – Dr. Spaceman about why Tracy is going to die.

The Big Bang Theory is another show that is getting a little played out.  Leonard and Penny are broken up after it took 2 years to get them together, so he’s back to pining for her.  And her stupidity seems to be getting more ridiculous and cringe-worthy – “The periodic table is a table, why can’t there be food on it?” – really???  Raj still can’t talk when women are in the room and Sheldon shows no interest in anyone but himself.  The only character evolution is that Howard has a girlfriend but thankfully, his pants remain low, tight and oddly colored.  Stay strong, Howard!

• Best line:  “Nothing sours a friendship more than over-familiarity with someone’s toilet routine.” - Sheldon 

Golden Globes - 1/16/11

We all know that the Golden Globes are ridiculous.  Everyone drinks heavily (Tom Hanks??) and no one seems to know what the Hollywood Foreign Press Association actually is (Christian Bale and Robert De Niro).  How can anyone take a show seriously when Dame Judi Dench and Jennifer Love Hewitt are competing in the same category?  Who didn’t get nominated?   Apparently, only Jessica Rabbit and Snooki. 

Ricky Gervais had a tough road ahead of him after his monologue bombed.  I loved him, but he should have realized that Tom Cruise is too powerful for people to laugh at when cameras are rolling.  I wish they would have cut to Nicole Kidman, looking embarrassed but all-knowing. 

Like any awards show, the banter was ridiculous and uncomfortable.  Poor Alec Baldwin – he’s so amazing as Jack Donaghy but even he couldn’t make J-Lo seem interesting or literate.  Plus, I thought she looked better in the L’oreal commercial.  Tina Fey and Steve Carell were the best because they probably wrote it themselves, if only they had taken that route with Date Night. 

When will Steve Buscemi get any respect?  I know he won in the strongest category, but no one knows how to pronounce his name.  It’s Bu-sem-i, not Bu-shem-i.  If you don’t believe me, he was in a Simpsons episode where Homer loses his license and has to walk everywhere (Brake My Wife, Please) and Steve introduces himself.  He looked knowingly at his wife when Kevin Bacon said it wrong.  Then, Milla Jovavich squealed “Steve Bushemi” when he won and the announcer repeated the mistake as he walked to the stage.  I wish Steve would have corrected everyone in his speech, but he’s probably just used to it.  The only person who said it correctly was Terence Winter, the creator of Boardwalk Empire, because he knows him and pays attention.

Natalie Portman has an interesting couple of weeks ahead of her.  Will the far-too-numerous commercials for her horrible Ashton Kutcher movie hinder her chances at winning an Oscar?  Just ask Eddie ‘Norbit’ Murphy as he dusts his Golden Globe and the place where his Oscar could have been.  After the shitty rom-com finally comes out, Natalie will be appearing as the girlfriend of Thor.  She definitely has picked the wrong time to sell out.  Annette Bening is probably starring in a Mother Teresa bio-pic or narrating a documentary on poverty in Canada.  I don’t want to see those either, but for vastly different reasons.

Welcome back to relevance Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Spacey.  Please take Justin Bieber and Zac Efron with you when you return to obscurity.

There weren’t many surprises, outside of Robert Downey Jr.’s comments on the vibe of the show.  I hope he wrote that himself – it adds to his mystique.  The big surprise was The Tourist being nominated at all, much less as a comedy.  That whole category sucked – Burlesque, Alice in Wonderland??  Easy A and Scott Pilgrim VS. the World are far better movies.  And I’m confident saying that without actually having seen Burlesque and The Tourist. 

I was a little shocked at the amount of shoulder pads in dresses.  Jane Fonda was wearing a Barbarella-esque prison outfit, while Anne Hathaway donned sequined puke.  And Angelina Jolie reminded me of the Carol Burnett skit where Scarlett O’Hara walked around with the curtain rod in her dress. 

In closing, thank you to Sly Stallone for spoiling the end of The Fighter and to Matt Damon for proving he’s not nearly as charismatic as George Clooney.  And a sincere thank you to Robert De Niro for acknowledging that Little Fockers is a piece of shit.  The first two were as well – please stop making them!