This week:
- How I Met Your Mother
- New Girl
- The Mindy Project
- Modern Family
- Community
- The Big Bang Theory
- Parks and Recreation
- The Office
How I Met Your Mother – “The Bro Mitzvah”
There are a lot of good sitcoms to write about this week and I haven’t liked HIMYM for a while, so this will be brief. I didn’t care for this episode, and I think in particular Barney’s relationship with Robin has shone a light on how unlikable Barney has become. That said, the Karate Kid stuff was funny.
New Girl – “Virgins”
Though this episode had a couple of minor flaws, overall I liked it very, very much. The flashbacks totally worked, even though they’re a sitcom trope nowadays – especially ones involving fat suits. But hearing how all the characters lost their virginities, and then tying that into Nick and Jess’s ambiguous relationship, worked very well. I have adored how Nick and Jess were established as great friends, adding believable risk to them hooking up. Fantastic. The flaws, I thought, were:
a) Jess’s story wasn’t nearly bad enough – it needed to be worse than Winston’s
b) No one believes Cece is getting married
c) I could have done without Fat Schmidt hitting on Cece at the bar
Like I said, I think those are pretty minor. And the end tag of Nick and Jess laughing after having sex, with a Scooby Doo “ruh-roh!” was very funny.
Best moment: Just everything about teenaged Nick. All of it.
The Mindy Project – “Triathalon”
There was a lot going on in this episode, but I like my Mindy episodes to be a touch manic. I know this show isn’t for everyone, but I’m delighted by it. Mindy’s struggle this week over whether to convert to Christianity for a guy led to some good laughs, I liked Chloe Sevigny as Danny’s ex, and the triathalon stuff was downright hilarious.
Best moment: There was a beautiful payoff to Mindy mentioning that she and Danny have the same shoe size.
Modern Family – Career Day
This is a show that had a great first season, and has been incredibly solid ever since. I consistently enjoy it, but every once in a while I love an episode. I loved this episode. The thriller novel, the tooth fairy and Phil’s nemesis were all on fire. I loved Gloria criticizing Manny’s story thinking it was Jay’s, and Haley out-parenting Mitch and Cam.
Best moment: “My mom went back to work when I was four.” “So no one was home to teach you not to interrupt!”
The Big Bang Theory – “The Proton Resurgence”
Well this was just delightful. A really fun episode of TBBT, don’t you think? First of all, I loved Sheldon and Leonard’s storyline, and Bob Newhart as their childhood hero – a fictionalized version of Bill Nye the Science Guy. I also really liked Howard and Bernadette’s storyline, where losing Raj’s dog made them realize they might like to have kids one day. All in all, just a really fun episode.
Best moment: Sheldon’s entrance to the cafeteria when he was announcing that he’d booked Professor Proton.
Community – “Heroic Origins”
For the second week in a row, I felt reasonably pleased with an episode of Community. This episode did some nice stuff dramatically, about how far the characters have come since they enrolled in Greendale. All of their lives are better. And Abed’s theories of their interconnectedness added some fun, nerdy times. However, it did lack some serious laugh-out-loud moments – as has the majority of the season. I enjoyed this with my new lowered expectations for the show. The season finale airs next week, and sadly I don’t think the show should be renewed.
The Office – “Livin’ The Dream”
There have been ups and downs to this season of The Office, and this episode itself wasn’t great. There were some aspects to it that I really liked – specifically, how it highlighted the changed relationship between Dwight and Jim. It warmed my heart when Dwight said “Pam is really cool” and that he’d like to see Jim as manager. Then Jim vouched for Dwight to be the new manager. I just wish that Dwight had been written a little differently this season. If we’d seen him mellow a little, it would be easy to root for him to end up in charge. There needed to be more development there for this to really work. The Andy-centric stuff was difficult because he’s become so unlikable. And finally, watching Jim give up on Philly for Pam was not sweet, but intensely sad. I don’t know what’s going to happen there, but I won’t be happy with Jim staying in Scranton. C’mon, Pam!
Parks and Recreation – “Are You Better Off”
The season finale so soon! I would gladly stop watching all these other comedies right now in exchange for more episodes of Parks. This episode centered around Andy trying to figure who owned the positive pregnancy test he’d found – the options were Ann, Leslie, April, Donna or Mona Lisa. I knew right off the bat that it had to be either Leslie or April. Ann’s trying to get pregnant, so that wouldn’t be season finale exciting. Donna’s too smart. Mona Lisa’s too peripheral. Andy immediately ruled out April, but I knew it would either be her or Leslie. I was hoping it would be Leslie. It looked like it would be April, but it wasn’t – instead, she was hiding that she’d been accepted to veterinary school. That was a nice moment. I love April and Andy. I also liked Leslie’s main storyline – that the citizens of Pawnee aren’t happy with the improvements she’s made in the town, and to their health. The season ended on a lot of uncertain notes. Leslie is possibly facing a recall election, Tom might have competition at his store and – BEST OF ALL – Ron’s gonna be a daddy! I think that was the best possible outcome. What did you guys think?
