Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Funny Stuff: NBC Thursday(11/15)



A day late and a dollar short, but I finally have your Thursday comedy reviews, starting with:

30 Rock

This episode followed two main plots, but seemed very inconsequential.

Liz needs bunion surgery, which was turned into an metaphor for Liz’s family ambitions.  She doesn’t feel like she can take time off, since the show collapse when she’s not there.

Hazel convinces Liz that she can take time off if she only had an assistant, and Hazel is the obvious choice, of course.  And it has nothing to do with her desire to be famous by getting on to TGS at any cost, no sir.
Anyway, Liz gets the surgery, Hazel is awesome at the job for like, a day, and tricks Liz into staying off the show floor for the episode that night by showing a video that she claims is a live feed, but is really just an old behind the scenes tape.  Liz figures out this duplicitous trick when she walks into frame. 

Whoops.

She rushes to the floor on her poor disfigured feet and shitcans Hazel on the spot, the end.

Jack and Tracy have a battle of wits, and Tracy manages to come out on top, amazingly enough.  Tracy has been using Jack’s name as the villain in his urban movie series, and Jack doesn’t like it one bit.  He tries to get him to stop by claiming liable, but Tracy outwits him at every turn.  Jack did in fact shut down an urban youth program by cancelling a sexually confused kids show, and he accosted an old woman in a wheelchair when he yelled at Liz earlier(since she is off her feet from her surgery). 

However, he hasn’t caused an orphanage to close, so Tracy huffs off, clearly planning something as Jack insists the movie be shelfed.  And that something is a benefit for an orphanage based on ticket sales.  Jack is stuck, since now he can’t stop the movie, because the orphanage will close without the money, and then the liable claim will be indefensible, so the movie release on schedule.  Jack then finally watches the whole thing, and realizes he’s not the villain anyway, so it didn’t matter in the slightest.

Oh, and Jenna and Kenneth have a thing where Jenna fails at listening for about the millionth time.

This episode was amusing, which I suppose is all a comedy needs to be, but sometimes I wish the character development would be more of a focus for this show.

I did catch a funny line for you:

Liz, as she’s dragging herself to the show floor to expose Hazel: “Why are my arms so weak?  It’s like I did that pushup last year for nothing!”
 
The Office

Today, we got a lot of development, but not a lot of funny. 

Jim attempted to have a phone conference with the board of his new business venture in Philadelphia, and gets interrupted over and over by annoying colleagues and other stuff.  I think we are finally coming up on the Jim leaves for the rest of the season, because his business partners were not impressed, and told him they didn’t think this whole thing was going to work.  I’m assuming this will be the impetus for him to leave.

Angela and Oscar have a Senator subplot, and it starts with Angela confiding in Oscar that she thinks the Senator is having an affair.  Oscar nearly shits a brick, but composes himself enough to find out she thinks it’s his yoga instructor.  They decide to go on a stake out, and find out that the yoga instructor has a boyfriend, so Angela is not concerned anymore.  Of course, as soon as she turns her back, the Senator gets cozy with another instructor, a male, which Oscar sees, and is not impressed with.  But then!  The Senator makes a call, which Angela sees, and Oscar’s phone rings.  Dun dun DUUUN!

Dwight gets a call from David Wallace, the White Pages are dropping their paper supplier, and Dunder Mifflin is up for the contract.  The buyer is a woman, and the ladies of the office are very concerned, since Dwight fails at selling to women.  They go through a massive training with him, and after an hour of work declare him completely unfit to sell to any woman, ever.  Pam decides to go with, and when they get there, they figure out that the mysterious woman buyer is none other than Jan, who just wanted to ream David Wallace, who is clearly not there.  Dwight, though, knows exactly what to do with Jan, and sets Pam to distract.  She asks Jan to see a picture, and Jan agrees to one…slideshow, so Pam is set for Dwight to come back with one of the baby-faced interns, which is appropriate due to Jan’s infatuation with her baby-faced assistants from when she worked at Dunder Mifflin. 

So, not a ton of funny material this week, especially since NBC hardcore spoiled the Jan reveal.  I did get a couple of funny lines, though:

Erin, when describing her feelings over Andy not taking her to the Bahamas: “I was kind of sad, but then I remembered that Bob Marley song.  NO, woman, NO cry.”

Erin and Dwight, in the ‘teach Dwight to lady sale’ meeting: “It’s just a regular nod, up and down, like a person.”  “I am a person.”

Parks and Recreation

This was an interesting episode, in that the main plot kind of blew, but all the side plots were fantastic.

Leslie and April have a disagreement, and Ann mediates.  April wants to build a dog park on Leslie’s pit lot, and Leslie is first happy that April is showing initiative, but pissed that she wants to take her lot.  They fight it out all the way to the council meeting, where April has temporarily aligned with Councilor Jamm, who immediately turns on her, and tries to push through a resolution selling the lot to a fast food joint.  Ann is not impressed, because the lot is in her backyard, and the girls unite to have a 90 day period to get their park crap together.

In more interesting plots, Ben is back in Pawnee, and has decided to take that job as an accountant that he took and quit last season for the election.  Before he starts, however, Tom asks him to look over his business plan for the Rent-a-Swag business.  Ben is impressed, and goes with Tom to several business related things to help him get started, and every single place offers Ben a job, first at a non-profit, then as a political consultant, and even as the manager of a Urban Outfitters.

So, when Ben finally makes it to the accounting firm, he has to quit again, because he want to do what he loves, blah blah blah whatever.  And then he says he’ll be Tom’s CFO and Tom jumps in is arms, and it is adorbs.  The End.

Oh, and Andy’s computer was taken from his desk, per his request to his office mates so he can practice his policing skills.  Andy interrogates everyone at the office terribly, until he gets to Chris.  Chris is surprised to hear that Andy’s computer is missing, seeing as someone in another department had their computer go missing as well.  Turns out there is a mystery going on, and they have to call in the real police to solve it.  Except oops, they only write a report, and that’s about it.  Andy is very disheartened, but Chris gives him the opportunity to be the weekend security guard, and Andy is super stoked to do it.

So this episode took the funniness of 30 Rock, and the character development of The Office, and put it into one show.  Oh, and there were a ton of funny lines for you to peruse as well!

Ben, after talking head about his new job at the accounting firm: “Just call me Bond…Municipal Bond.”
 Chris, on coming to his desk for the day: “Ok, something is different about my desk…aha!  My computer! It’s gone!”
Chris, when he decides to investigate: “The game is the foot!”
Tom, when Ben gets job opportunities wherever he goes: “What is happening!?!”
Ben, right after he quit the accounting job: “Life is short, why be an accountant?  Other than the stability, the health plan and the above average pay…oh God, this better work out.” 

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