This week:
- How I Met Your Mother
- Cougar Town
- Modern Family
- The Big Bang Theory
- Community
- Parks and Recreation
- The Office
How I Met Your Mother – “Bad Crazy”
After a string of better than usual episodes, this HIMYM installment fell pretty flat for me. Ted’s storyline just wasn’t as funny as last week’s, and I found it hard to believe that Marshall and Barney wouldn’t try harder to protect him from his crazy ex-girlfriend. I did love Robin’s storyline though, and I managed to watch the episode on DVR without having the Mike Tyson surprise spoiled on Twitter.
Best moment: Ted explaining that “Some intelligent, forward-thinking New Yorkers took Superstorm Sandy as a wake-up call.”
Cougar Town – “Restless”
This week’s Cougar Town was not my favorite. I loved “Things Ellie would never say”, but I didn’t love the sex coupon thing. Ellie and Andy’s dynamic has never been my favorite, and although it came back around, playing that up by having Andy essentially manipulate Ellie into having a bunch of sex she didn’t want didn’t do much for me. I also loved Bobby’s “Jules Rules”, but there wasn’t much else I liked there – Grayson having sex with Jules when she was coked out on sleeping pills was, well, awkward.
Best moment: Can you invent new smells??? I need to know!
Modern Family – “Heart Broken”
Modern Family is one of the few sitcoms that does Valentine’s Day well. I love how it always shows the best sides of Phil and Claire, and this year’s episode especially did. Claire’s health incident brought out more tenderness than anything romantic could have. Then, Jay and Gloria’s storyline did a great job of showing the heat that those two have. Mitch and Cam’s storyline was the funniest of the bunch, since it dealt with the aftermath of Mitch indulging a little too much at their party. He dyed the cat pink! Mitch is usually the uptight one, so it was fun to see what happens when he lets loose. But it was actually Cam who offered to let Dylan live with them. The structure of this episode really worked for me, and all three storylines were fantastic.
Best moment: I can’t choose! Maybe Mitch and Cam pulling off their own Clive Bixby bit.
The Big Bang Theory – “The Tangible Affection Proof”
Valentine’s Day episodes of sitcoms are rarely my favorite, and this one was no different. I didn’t care for watching Bernie and Howard snip at each other about laundry and X-boxes. Penny was at her least likable – when she’s brushing off her relationship with Leonard. I was glad Leonard stood up for himself, but Penny was being so abhorrent that I was kind of hoping he’d break up with her. Sure, it was about Penny’s commitment issues. And I did like the idea that now Penny will have to pop the question to Leonard. But from now on, their dynamic needs to be better – healthier. I was almost on board with Raj’s storyline, but the “Later, losers!” like rubbed me the wrong way a little. I do like Kate Micucci though, and I’d love to see her stick around. Luckily, there was one storyline that surprised me, warmed my heart, and made me laugh – Sheldon listing Amy as his emergency contact as a Valentine’s Day gift.
Community – “Paranormal Parentage”
Was this an episode from season one? Unfortunately, Community season four has two strikes now. This episode played all the same old character beats – Jeff tries to be selfish but realizes he can’t ignore his feelings, Pierce does something that ruins a good time for the rest of the gang, Abed makes a few meta jokes (“This show used to be about a community college”) – and just felt repetitive. More importantly, there weren’t enough jokes. And reintroducing Gilbert, Pierce’s secret half-brother? That’s not a road we needed to go down again. Sigh. I really hope the new Community writers figure out how to keep the show fresh and funny, rather than rehashing old material over and over.
Best moment: Shirley was funny this week, particularly with her comments on Britta and Troy’s relationship.
Parks and Recreation – “Emergency Response”
Oh man. This episode of Parks came out with guns blazing – so much funny! There was Jerry running/falling, April’s creepy rabbit, and Leslie trying to fly away from a nightmare. The episode itself was fantastic – the highlight was Ron Swanson on TV, but Andy’s botched police force audition (tryout? I don’t know) was also hilarious, and the heart of the episode – a fundraiser for the new park that evolved into Ben and Leslie’s wedding – was funny and sweet. I’m really looking forward to seeing them get married in next week’s episode.
Best moment: Feel free to call in about one of Ron’s other interests, like woodworking, novels about tall ships, meat… that kind of thing.
The Office – “Moving On”
This should have been Andy’s swan song – last week’s episode felt like an acknowledgement of how useless that character had become, and he probably should have just been fired. I’m no longer invested in him and Erin, which is too bad since I once really liked them as a couple. The only thing I cared about this week was Pam and her job interview in Philly. I felt like last week’s episode was meant to imply that these two can get through anything. I liked Pam’s reaction to seeing Jim at his new office, with his douchey bluetooth. He was acting like normal Jim, and they seemed back to normal. Pam finding herself in an office led by a pseudo Michael Scott would have been so much funnier if Andy hadn’t been impersonating him since he left. Brian was out of the picture in this episode, but Pam finally admitted to Jim that she doesn’t want to move to Philly. I’m not sure where this is going to go, but I’m really hoping that it ends with the two of them in Philly.
Best moment: No one would have seen The Odd Life of Timothy Green poster coming.
