This week:
- How I Met Your Mother
- New Girl
- The Mindy Project
- Modern Family
- Parks and Recreation
- The Office
How I Met Your Mother – “Ring Up”
Is HIMYM on a roll? I didn’t mind last week’s episode. I actually really liked this week’s episode. I mean, a fantasy sequence musical number! Robin’s disappointment over being ignored by men now that Barney put a ring on it was very funny, and a beat that finally felt true to her character. And I found Ted’s young hipster girlfriend to be pretty hilarious. It was fun enough to watch Ted try and morally reconcile himself with her old man fetish, but things got even better when Barney – who was living vicariously through Ted – discovered that she was his half-sister. I liked this episode more than I’ve enjoyed anything from HIMYM in a while. What’d y’all think?
Best moment: “He died? That possum was supposed to be an olive branch! Are you sure he’s not just playing dead?”
Runner up: Ted’s “drowning” poem is about Whole Foods. “Those aisles are too narrow!”
New Girl – “Pepperwood”
Well, this was one of my favorite episodes of New Girl. Hilarious, fast-paced, well-written and with great moments for all the characters – what more could you ask for? The “Annoyance Bowl” was a funny twist on the douchebag jar, and a nice way of showing just how close Jess and the guys have gotten. The writers have really figured out her character. Early on, she was all quirk and it was too much. But her “breakthrough dance” was the kind of funny, weird thing that you can believe Jess would do without it defining her whole personality. (Speaking of Jess, are the guys calling her “Jessica” more? Winston and Nick did it in this episode. I like it – calling someone by their full name on occasion is totally a thing close friends do.) Both plots worked equally well in this episode – the “pogo” revelations and Jess’s creepy, murder-y student.
Best moment: Nick trying to describe a poetic person who can string a sentence together.
Runner up: Schmidt saying “You’ve seen me in one before” when Jess said there’s no such thing as a gilly suit.
Runner up #2: I laughed a lot at Cece saying pen because it reminded me of how I used to make fun of my friend Sarah for the way she says bag. “Bayg.”
Weird thing: Ape-ricot?
The Mindy Project – “Hooking Up is Hard”
I often find The Mindy Project laugh-out-loud funny, but this episode didn’t quite do it for me this week. I thought the Mindy stuff, as usual, worked. Her disaster attempt at having a one night stand with one of the midwives was very funny, and it drew from some of my favorite stuff from her book. Her disgust at the idea of not wearing underwear and the video she made in case of murder were two of the best moments from the show. The attempted hookup itself was both tragic and comedic, until Morgan showed up. For some reason, the writers of this show are in love with that character and I just don’t get him. It was funnier to watch Mindy get stuck in the shower and argue with her date about epidurals. I also like the stuff with Danny and his young, eye patch girlfriend – her planned date of weird hipster theatre and 11pm sushi and the “I’m just trying to figure out how many Olympics you’ve been around for” were both hilarious. If this show could focus more on the work and romantic lives of Mindy, Danny, and maybe even Jeremy, and less on their weird employees, then I think it would really have something.
Best moment: Mindy’s video, hands down.
Cougar Town – “Between Two Worlds”
This was a nice episode of Cougar Town, but I don’t think it’s one that I’ll remember in a week or two. It’s one of those episodes that does a good job of hitting the melancholy tones for Bobby that have come up in the past. While this worked, it also shone a light on the fact that no one in this group really tends to grow or evolve. That’s why I like seeing Jules and Grayson married. They, at least, are experiencing some change – though without their own personalities really evolving at all. There are aspects of this I like, but sometimes I wish that Bobby would maybe get it together a little.
Best moment: “Change approved!”
Modern Family – “Fulgencio”
Is it mean if I say that the old Lily was funnier than the new Lily? Geez. I mean, sure, that baby never said or did anything. But that’s what was beautiful! She had the deadpan look down pat. But new Lily, I cringe every time she speaks and in this episode, it was particularly painful. In fact, nothing about this episode really worked for me – Gloria’s family kind of came out of nowhere, and the jokes didn’t seem to land. Thank god for Ty Burrell – the Phil stuff was magic this week.
Best moment: The severed stuffed zebra head. Amazing.
Parks and Recreation – “Women in Garbage”
Oh man. This was an episode of Parks that featured so many of my favorite character combinations. Ron is always so funny when he’s paired with Ann, because he can never remember her name. This time he called her “Hanson”. And Ron with his girlfriend’s kids, well that’s always hilarious. I loved his panic over the girls cutting their hair, and it’s so cute that he loves Diane! Then we had Tom, Andy and Ben playing basketball together so that Tom could connect with his young, male customers. We learned from “Treat Yo Self” was a great combo Tom and Ben are, and Andy plays well with everyone. It made for great physical comedy. But my favorite storyline was Leslie and April playing sanitation workers for the day, in order to prove that women deserve to be hired for city jobs. I love when these two have a mission, because April is as stubborn as Leslie is enthusiastic. Everything about this episode worked for me – it and New Girl were really highlights of my week. (I had a long week, guys.)
Best moment: “I don’t know why I thought sneaking up on it would work.”
Runner up: “I LOVE NOTHING!”
The Office – “Customer Loyalty”
I’m enjoying the home stretch of The Office, and tonight marked a pretty major moment for the series. The Jim and Pam stuff has been great, especially since we already knew that the documentary makers are basically sticking around to find out what happens to them. Jim is doing really well in Philly, and even though we know that it has to end in him and Pam moving there permanently, the show is getting a lot of good material out of that transition. This week Pam got her big break – a city mural. But it’s not all rainbows and gumdrops – the distance and stress of work is causing tension between Jim and Pam, and that was depicted really well in their fight over the phone. That led to a big moment – the first time we see the documentary crew. The sound guy’s name is Brian! Nice, nice moment. I really liked how it all played out. What did you guys think?
