Comedy Corner: Cougar Town, Community, The Big Bang Theory – Week 19 Reviews

Reviews, Shows

funny fridayThis week’s Funny Friday is brief, because most shows are on hiatus right now. All I had left were Cougar Town, Community and The Big Bang Theory – so, let’s face it, not the cream of the comedy crop.

Cougar Town was great this week, but Community continues to disappoint. The show isn’t driving with new writers and no Dan Harmon, and at a certain point (soon) we have to accept that it probably never will. I always give new comedies five episodes to impress me, and if this were the fifth episode of Community as a new show I’d be out. I’ll continue to watch, of course, but catching old episodes on reruns reminds me of how much I used to love the show.

 

cougar townCougar Town – “Make It Better”

This was probably my favorite episode of Cougar Town so far this season, because it played up Jules’ most likable traits. The way she took care of her dad, who’d broken his ankle, without letting him know that she was doing it was funny and sweet. But the honest, emotional conversation the two of them had about him aging was the real highlight of the episode. Cougar Town has always had a surprising amount of heart for a wacky show that’s mostly about day-drinking. Though I haven’t been a fan of the Wade/Laurie/Travis love triangle, I did like seeing Laurie and Wade double date with Andy and a drugged-up Ellie, so overall I thought this episode really worked.

Best moment: “Best” is Jules and Chick, but “funniest” is Grayson’s Matthew McConaughey impression.

Commuity - Season 1Community – “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations”

Unfortunately for Community, this season features a lot of holiday episodes and all the dates got bumped back several months by NBC. The result tonight was a Thanksgiving episode in March. That’s fine with me as long as the episode is funny, but this one was so-so at best. Jeff meeting his dad was so built up that it needed more laughs and more unpredictability than we got, and the gang hiding out in Shirley’s garage just didn’t deliver. The show needs to stop ending episodes by stating that the moral of the story is that these friends really love one another and should get back to making me laugh.

Best moment: Shirley: “”And then Pierce did white face OVER black face. No one was amused.” Pierce: “It’s meta. Ay-bed gets it.”

The Contractual Obligation ImplementationThe Big Bang Theory – “The Contractual Obligation Implementation”

This episode of The Big Bang Theory knocked it out of the park with all three storylines. Leonard, Sheldon and Howard visited a middle school to try and encourage young women to enter the sciences. Their discussions of feminism at the beginning of the episode were funny, but the hilarity really came when they tried to impress tween girls. I mean, Leonard rapped. He rapped, you guys! Impromptu! Then, we had Penny, Bernadette and Amy blew off work (or in Penny’s case, just said “bye”) to go to Disneyland. The two storylines met perfectly when Sheldon had Amy and Bernadette call in to speak to the class – and they did it right after getting their Disney Princess makeovers. And finally, Raj and his new lady had a texting date in a library – adorable anxious and geeky.

Best moment: I enjoyed the end tag, seeing each guy’s reaction to his girlfriend dressed as a Disney princess.

You can follow Jill at her blog, couchtimewithjill.com, or on Twitter @jillemader Jill has been an avid fan of TV since the age of two, when she was so obsessed with Zoobilee Zoo that her mother lied and told her it had been canceled. Despite that setback, she grew up to be a television aficionado and pop culture addict.