The Funny Stuff: All the rest(1/13-1/23)

Ok, here’s a bunch of episodes I didn’t catch in my previous write-ups!  This is MASSIVE, since I am a lazy slacker.  Sorry about that!

Happy Endings-Sunday(1/13)

Ok, apparently, this episode was meant to play last season, but was shelved for one reason or another.

Anyway, we open on a slo-mo kickball game, with most of our group shown watching some sort of play in amazement…72 hours earlier, though…

Alex lets everyone know she signed her store, and by extension, them, up for the north side kickball tournament.  Everyone is kind of…apathetic, but with a series of bribes, she gets everyone to play besides Jane.  They get a random guy named Scotty to play, and get pumped up to play kickball.

That is, until Penny and Alex find Jane getting her uniform from the rival team, which brings up some harsh childhood memories for Alex.  She remembers the time Jane stole her spotlight away at a kid’s show, when Alex was called to the stage, but Jane pushed her away and stole it.  Alex gets even more pumped to beat Jane’s new team, as we make our way to the tournament.

Unfortunately, Team Xela(pronounced Shayla), does not get off to a hot start.  They are down 3-0 and only have 3 outs left, and Dave is set to kick.  And considering he has the yips from hitting Penny last year, things do not look good.  He heads to the plate, and misses miserably.  It’s a good thing they still had two outs, and so Alex, Max, Penny and Scotty bring it home, and they win their first game, and the next two go pretty swimmingly as well.

Then, they face Jane’s team in the semi-finals.  Jane is predictably fierce, but Alex has a trick up her sleeve: a Chicago Bear goes to Brad’s gym, and he is taking Dave’s spot.  Dave is not nearly as angry as one would expect, and they get right to the game.  Once they get to the last out, Alex is up, and Jane is pitching.  Jane pulls a dirty trick, and has the kid’s show shirt on under her uniform, and completely distracts Alex as Jane throws the ball, hitting Alex in the feet, and causing an easy out.  Team Xela lost, and is super sad.

It’s a good thing, then, that Jane saw her team’s cheating ways(steel in the boots) and turned them in, getting her team disqualified.  Her friends gladly take her back, and Team Xela makes their way to the final…where they find themselves in the same position they were in in the first game, down by three, and one out left.

Max accidentally takes out Scotty, and their only recourse is the yipper Dave, who gladly takes on the challenge.  He focuses, and manages to kick the ball!...right into Penny’s face.  Again.  The other team catches the ball, and Team Xela loses.  But they get the moral victory with Dave getting over his yips, yay!

This was a fun episode, and really funny, too.  You could tell it was from season two, as the jokes were rapid fire and great, and the group didn’t split into four different groups. 

I got so many funny lines, it’s ridiculous:

Brad, on discovering a favorite store closed: “Wait, they closed All Dogs Go To Evan’s…Bakery?”

Brad, when Dave is extolling his eye black: “Melanin, baby.  It’s what makes me brown.”

Brad, in reminding Dave of his yippy nature: “Remember when you forgot the words to Gangsta’s Paradise? To this day, you can’t perform a eulogy.”

Jane, when called on her dependability: “When I send $25, I expect a letter, Adolpho.”

Brad, observing Jane on the other team: “I’m gonna hate her like five times tonight”

Max, giving his team a pep talk near the end of the first game: “Well, we had a good run.  Actually, we had no runs.”

Glee: Sadie Hawkins(S4E11)

So apparently, continuity is not a word in the Glee writer’s dictionary.

Biggest offender? Tina.  She decided she was unempowered, or something, and started the ‘To Young to be Bitter’ club with Lauren Zises(!), Becky, Sugar Motta, and a couple of random geeky girls.  They decide they need to have a Sadie Hawkins Dance

SNL: Jennifer Lawrence/The Lumineers(1/19)

I was up north last weekend for my sister's baby shower, and only caught the last three sketches live.  This week has been crazy, and I didn't get a chance to watch the rest of the episode til right now, so onward with...

The Good

Nada...this was a pretty terrible episode, and nothing rated above a 5 to me.

The Meh

Cold Open:Piers Morgan talk show(4)-This sketch epitomizes the quality of this episode.  There were so many missed opportunities, first with the Notre Dame guy, then with Jodi Foster, it was really unfortunate.

Monologue(5)-The jokes themselves could have been funny, but there was somethign really off about Jennifer Lawrence's delivery.  It felt like she was nervous, or holding back, cause the jokes didn't have the punch they needed to really hit.

Weekend Update: Headlines(4)-Six of fourteen jokes made me laugh.  It was really bad.

Top Dog Chef(4)-The only reason this sketch was bumped from the uglies was Vanessa Bayer's cat at the end.  This was just a painful sketch to watch.

Love Letters(4)-The concept was...amusing, but I do not find the new guy funny at all, and his execution kind of ruined the sketch for me.

Hee hee!

That is all.

The Funny Stuff:NBC Thursdays(1/10&1/17) part 2

So here goes The Office and Parks and Rec, for all you lovelies who actually read my blog.

The Office

So, in our first episode, Jim is in Philadelphia for several days, wooing a very special client, some sort of basketball guy.  The end.

Pam, while in Scranton being single mom to two kids, is completely and utterly frazzled.  Not only is she taking care of the kids by herself, CeCe got lice.  Of course, it got spread over the whole office, but luckily, Erin has extensive lice experience, and immediately goes to checking everyone out.  Four don’t have lice, but the rest have to partner up to administer treatment.  Pam decides to use the obvious scapegoat of Meredith, and no one doubts it for a second.

Meredith ends up shaving her head, while Erin partners with Pete, Pam and Creed, Angela with Oscar, and Meredith helps Stanley.  Erin and Pete are super cute, playing around, and things, Angela is terribly passive aggressive to Oscar, who is less than appreciative, and Creed thinks Pam is strange.  Things are going swimmingly until Pam’s mother calls, and spills the beans over speaker phone that Pam brought them in.  Everyone is super pissed, but Meredith gets over it pretty quickly, and she and Pam have a nice girls night out, with Meredith commiserating about single motherhood, and it’s really nice.

On the other side of the office, Daryl, Phylis, Kevin and Nelly are chilling in the warehouse with their non-infected heads, and Daryl reveals he broke up with Val since he didn’t see their relationship going anywhere, but lied about it to his coworkers, who immediately try to get them back together.  Successfully, to Daryl’s chagrin.

This was a decent episode, and I really enjoyed Pam and Meredith’s interactions at the bar, with their karaoke and mutual respect and whatnot.

I did get a funny line:

Erin, as Stanley tries to leave without the mayonnaise treatment, and she jumps on his back: “I’m trying to save you from yourself!”

The Office, part deux

Part of this episode had me rolling, and other parts, not so much.  Let’s jump right in.

So Clark is back from a vacation with Jan(!?!), and he brought an espresso maker for everyone, with a bunch of different flavors.  Dwight and Clark leave on a sales call, and Pam and Daryl head to Philadelphia for his interview, leaving the rest of the bullpen to try the new espresso.  No one is sure which flavor they like the most, so everyone makes shots of each kind for everyone.  The results are…as to be expected, but it was pretty freaking funny.  Oscar decided he needed to move the copier to the annex, and managed to rip up a big chunk of carpet, revealing hardwood, which Oscar immediately gets a gigantic boner for.  So what do they do, but decide to rip up all the carpet, of course!  It’s just too bad that they all crash when only about twenty percent of the floor is ripped up, and everyone gives up and goes home…at the same time…with massive swatches of floor partially torn up.

While this is going on, Dwight and Clark are on that sales call, at a family owned business.  They try to tailor the sales pitch to the owner, first showing a great relationship, then, when the owner reveals the relationship with his son is terrible, leads to Dwight bashing Clark in very odd, but very specific ways.  That is, until the son comes in, and it turns out he owns the business, and his dad can’t make any decisions regarding the business.  Things turn on a dime, and Clark takes the lead on the sales call, and the whole thing was so long and drawn out, I got really bored.

Oh, and Daryl and Pam, while in Philly, see Jim, and then Daryl had his interview.  He’s terribly nervous, since he sucks at interviews(see: Andy’s job, which he had in the bag until the interview).  Daryl is a screwball during the whole interview, awkwarding all over the whole thing, AND killing their fish with an ill-timed basketball shot.  Even with the terrible interview, though, he gets hired, and is super excited.  Less excited is Pam, who is coming to grips with the fact that Jim is eventually going to want to move to Philly. *Sad face*

So, the espresso thing was freaking hilarious, but the rest of the episode was rather meh.  It was like a freight train barreling toward it’s destination, and the destination here is the series finale.

No funny lines, mostly because the comedy was physical rather than one liners.

Parks and Rec

This was a great episode.  Two parallel plots, with two very different resolutions.

It’s bachelor(ette) party time!

Ben’s party was super lame awesome.  The writers tried to make it seem like it would be the worst, but seriously?  Board games and alcohol with good friends followed by some great shows, what could be better?  The guys are not incredibly impressed, and after a round of Settlers of Catan, Tom insists on going to a bar for some drinks, and it is the craziest bar in the history of bars.  They have whiskey-infused lotion posing as a drink, for God’s sake!  But while they are there, they realize that no one got a bachelor party, and so, Chris plans something for everyone.  Andy gets to play on the Colts field, Jerry gets ice cream at his favorite joint, and Ron gets a great steak dinner, and all are toasted perfectly by Chris.  The whole thing is extra adorable, and everything was lovely.  And there were shirts!

Leslie’s party completely fizzled practically before it started.  She’s been working on getting a Wamapoe section in her park model, only to find out that Councilman Jamm has started construction on a Paunch burger behind her back.  Leslie is fully distracted during her party, and decides it would be a good idea to bury Indian artifacts in the pit to cause construction to come to a halt.  She almost immediately has regrets, and co-opts everyone at her party(stripper included) to dig them back up again.  Everything would have been fine, but Leslie in her drunken tiredness texted a PR person, and the artifacts they didn’t find were found. 

Leslie has to apologize to her Native American friend, but he totally covers for her, and manages to get Jamm to go back to the original agreement , and Leslie has more time to devote to her park.  Yay?

So this episode was about 40/60 strong to weak.  Ben’s party stuff was really good, really sweet, and I enjoyed it immensely.  The Leslie stuff, thought?  It really dragged.  How many obstacles need to be thrown at the pit/park?  I wish we could have seen April’s dream bachelorette party, that would have been fantastic.

I did get lots of funny lines for you!

Ann, when planning Leslie’s party: “I am stress-eating gummy penises”

Ben, after describing his dream party plans: “They thought I was kidding…I was not kidding”

Ron, after Tom sort of explains the weird concept bar he wasn’t to go to: “There is no wrong way to consume alcohol…this is the wrong way to consume alcohol.”                                                                                                              

Parenthood: Because You’re My Sister(S4E15)

Oh my goodness, all the feels.  All the feels!

Just about every storyline was wrapped up this week, and it’s a good thing too, considering this was the season finale, and possibly the series finale, depending on the vindictiveness of NBC.

Let’s jump right in.

Adam and Kristina are super excited about her final chemo treatment, and optimistically visit her oncologist for a checkup.  Turns out, there is some blood liver abnormalities, and he wants her to get a PET scan to make sure nothing is wrong, though he thinks it is just from one of her meds.  Kristina doesn’t take it well, and quietly begins to freak out. 

Later, at the chemo treatment, they run into Gypsy, who has relapsed.  Adam is still optimistic, but Kristina is a real downer through most of the treatment.  After, they are toasting to themselves and Kristina’s final treatment, when Adam pulls out a gift: a vacation to Hawaii.  Kristina is still scared she is going to relapse, and leaves the room crying, telling Adam to cancel the trip as she passed through the door.

Kristina does apologize at the luncheonette, and they get their groove on, until Crosby butts in, interrupting their macking session.  Kristina goes into her PET scan in much higher sprits, and finally heads to her doctor to hear the final word:  she’s cancer free!  Yay!  That means we won’t have this story line if Parenthood comes back!  I mean, they did it well, but it got really old after a while.  I’m glad it’s reached its (not unexpected) conclusion, nicely capping off with their trip to Hawaii.

Amber and Ryan had their arc wrapped up as well, and it started with Ryan showing up at Amber’s loft with a hugemongus bouquet of flowers.  He tells her everything he’s accomplished, including getting his job back, and starting therapy.  He tells her that he loves her, that she’s all he can think about.  Amber just bawls the whole time, and Ryan leaves without her saying very much at all.

After Amber has had some time to think, she goes over to Ryan’s house.  She tells him about her car accident a few years ago, and how she needs to know he can be responsible with her love.  They hug, and kiss, and it is basically super cute.  They’re back together, and it’s great.  They are actually a cute couple, and it seems like a grown up, mature relationship, one that would last in the real world.

Sarah and Hank have a bit of a downer wrap up.  Hank is headed to Minnesota to bang some heads together to help Ruby get enrolled in school or something?  I’m not sure, it was explained rather vaguely in the episode.  Anyway, he tells her they need to talk when he gets back.  Sarah puts on her thinking hat, and is totally ready for anything, except…

Mark, showing up at her house to tell her that he still loves her, and will do anything to get her back.  He then exits stage right, leaving Sarah slack-jawed in the process.  The next day, she does go and talk to him, though, right in his class, presumably so he can’t make a scene.  Sarah tells Mark she does love him, but that she is going to try to make it work with Hank.  Mark looks rather devastated as he sits back at his desk and Sarah pulls an exit stage left on him.

Soon after, Hank comes back, and has a bombshell for Sarah:  he is going to move to Minnesota, he needs to be closer to Ruby, and he can’t miss her growing up.  From his build up, though, Sarah thought he was going a different direction, and ends the scene with “That’s not what I thought you were going to say.”

The next we see them, Hank is in a cab at Sarah’s house, and he tells her he loves her, and that she should go with him.  Sarah doesn’t agree to go, but she doesn’t say no either.  I am so glad that she didn’t get back together with big dumb Mark, and now I kind of hope she actually does come to Minnesota, just because I feel like that is something Sarah needs in her life, to be away from her family, to learn how to stand on her own two feet again, since it seems like she has forgotten.

Crosby and Jasmine are all excited, it’s their anniversary, and Crosby has some fancy dinner reservations.  Jasmine is a bit apprehensive since Crosby pissed off her mom, and has yet to apologize, but Crosby is fully convinced they can get her to babysit.  Except oops:  Grandma is moving out, and going to live at her son’s house, thankyouverymuch.

Her son, Jasmine’s brother, is not impressed Grandma is going to share his 700 square foot apartment, but Crosby has no cares to give, and helps her pack up.  Later, when Crosby and Jasmine are at the fancy restaurant, Jasmine is all pissy, telling Crosby he really needs to apologize to her mother.  She doesn’t like that Grandma doesn’t feel welcome in her house, and besides, they are going to need help with the new baby!!!

Ok, not that that wasn’t telegraphed from a million miles away, but AWW.  They visit Grandma and break the news, and it is the second cutest moment in the episode.  But what it number one, you may ask?

Joel and Julia are getting Viktor and Sydney ready for the adoption ceremony, and Sydney is a royal pain, saying she’s not going to the ceremony, therefore she doesn’t need a new dress, and she doesn’t need to get ready for it.  Julia sends her to her room, but she was headed there already, so it’s no skin off Sydney’s nose.

Viktor later decides that football in the house would be an appropriate activity, and manages to break a very expensive vase or something.  He worriedly asks Julia if she’s going to change her mind on the adoption, but Julia quickly reassures him that there was no way that was going to happen.  Viktor then talks with Sydney, and asks her to come to his ceremony, since he wants her there, and she agrees, and Aww.  But not the big one. 

Finally FINALLY we reach the big day, and the entire Braverman clan is standing outside the courthouse, making small chat, just waiting their turn.  They finally get called in, and the judge goes through all the legalese, lastly asking if anyone has any objections.  First Zeke, then everyone else in the family speaks up, not to object to the adoption, but to officially welcome Viktor into the Braverman clan, and I’m pretty sure there was an onion cutting in the next room, because I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

This was a great episode, especially if it does end up being the series finale.  Every family unit got some sort of resolution, besides Sarah, but the Hank thing seemed fine unresolved as it was.  Everyone seemed happy, and it is nice, for a change, to have a large group of people that genuinely love each other. 

Bri...I have finally aquiesced

So this is a thing that I may have cannonballed in the last week.  You were right, Bri.  Shut up.

Holy crap, I've posted...

times!

And since I apparently fail at coding, image source here!

OMG OMG OMG!

My reviewing inspiration is coming back!

The funny stuff: NBC Thursday(1/10&1/17)

So here’s me, majorly slacking yet again.   But!  Now you get two reviews for the price of one, aren’t you excited??

30 Rock

So, to start with the episode on the tenth…

Liz is going through fertility treatments(with Dr. Spaceman, natch), and is super emotional. Annnnd….that’s about her whole plot: fertility treatments make Liz emotional, and so she decides to forgo them in favor of adoption, and may even get an older kid after realizing she has tons of experience with children in running TGS for seven years.

In the only other plot in this episode, Jack learns he needs to work fast to finish his master “become CEO of NBC” plan: Hank Hooper is going to announce his decision to give the company to Kaylie, his granddaughter.  Jack hires Len to spy on her, and he finds…dun dun dun! Banks in cahoots with her.  Jack finds him in as an instructor in a gym, and they concoct a plan to out Kaylie as not a Hooper.  They get a glass, and convoluted Jenna mess, and bada bing bada boom, paternatiy test, except oops! Banks never switched sides, but Jack knew that was going to happen, so he just distracted Kaylie long enough to not call her grandpa Hank, and so she loses out on running Kabletown, giving the company to Jack due to him sending him a card instead of the DNA sample like Banks thought.  And if you thought that was a confusing read, imagine watching it.

The long and the short of it is Jack is CEO of Kabletown, and Kaylie’s going to have to marry a finance guy and do fundraisers and things, eww(in her words).

Oh, I lied about that being the only other plot: Tracy’s movie started shooting, and Octavia Spencer is Tracy a la season one.  The whole point of this little plot was to make Liz see she would be fine adopting an older kid, so it almost doesn’t even merit a mention.

This was an OK episode, and a nice beginning of the end for Jack and Liz’s respective stories

A couple of funny lines for you:

Bev the adoption agent, regarding adopting an older kid: “I can get you a 6 year-old yesterday!”

Liz, in disgust of herself when helping Jack try to ruin Kalie: “I do anything for approval…I would have been a Nazi!”

But that’s not all for

30 Rock

On the seventeenth, we learned more about Jack’s mom…

Liz and Jack head to Florida to settle his mother’s estate, and find a housekeeper who describes Jack’s mother as ‘Mrs. Smiley,’ and a very happy person.  Jack is immediately suspicious, as he thinks the housekeeper just wants to scam on the money, but Liz is seeing it a bit differently.  She goes into his mother’s room, and it looks like the housekeeper so much a housekeeper as a lover.  Jack is terribly confused considering his mother’s rampant homophobia, but it seems to be true, what with the photographic evidence, not to mention the incredibly dusty second bedroom.  Jack eventually comes to terms with his mother living a completely different life than he expected, and they head back to New York, where…

Tracy and Jenna decided they were in charge since Liz and Jack had been gone, and they made a complete mess of everything.

They placed orders for giant carts full of oranges, they store office supplies in the elevator, and they get everyone to sign an affidavit that no sexual harassment had ever happened on premises.  And why do they need that?  Because Hazel has decided to file suit since she’s a vindictive little hoo-ha.  Tracy and Jenna convince Kenneth to sign the form over his rather strenuous objections, but then they feel bad, and have him take it back just in time for Jack and Tina to come back.

Too bad their presence couldn’t even fix this mess, as Hazel’s general craziness makes Hank Hooper decide that TGS needs to be cancelled like, yesterday, so their next show is their last show.  Oops.

I even got a couple funny lines from this episode, too!

Liz, when Jack mocks her for her lack of spontaneity: “I’m spontaneous, for example, I started talking before I had an example of me being spontaneous”

Jack, while looking thorugh his mother’s things: “The baby shoes she found after the fire…she loved looting”

The Lawyer, when Tracy and Jenna ask a legal question: “And I didn’t super duper finish law school, soo…”

Park and Rec next time, when I hopefully learn how to control my rampant procrastination!

Cute baby, or cutest baby?

You tell me!

Parenthood: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (S4E14)

Hmm.  So this was not a strong episode.  At least two of the plots made me hate the characters, and the rest were utterly predictable, or overly schmaltzy. 

Lets jump right in.

Adam and Kristina start off by having an utterly adorable moment with Nora, until Hurricane Max storms into the house ranting and raving about the fascists at his school, his obsession with the vending machine having finally grated on the student council advisors last nerve about as much as mine.  Adam is all for letting him learn the hard lesson of ‘things don’t always go your way,’ but Kristina thinks they should punt that down the road again, some more, and she decides to give Max a bit of a helping hand in getting the vending machine back.

She starts out by hitting up the other moms while waiting for Max outside of school.  They are basically sanctimonious bitches, and I kind of wanted to punch them in the face.  Kristina looks like she wants to do about the same, and so goes back home to regroup.  She and Adam devise a plan:  they will divide and conquer, getting people individually to agree to the vending machines, and then bringing the proposal to the PTA.  She finds a bunch of information on healthier vending machines to bring to the meeting, but it turns out it wasn’t even necessary:  one of the teachers is jonesing for a pop, and would really like the vending machines back yesterday, thank you.

When next we see this story, Max is dancing in a shower of Skittles.  As you do.  And thus ended the schmaltz.

Parenthood: Small Victories(S4E13)

Oh, my gosh, all the feels were in this episode.  It took me all this time to sort my thoughts, but boy, do I have thoughts.

Let’s start with the lighter stuff, shall we?

Sarah and Hank are doing their dating thing, but Mark decides to show his big dumb face, and Sarah is all conflicted again.  I really hope she doesn’t get back together with Mark, because they have no chemistry at all, and she and Hank are just so darn adorable, it verges on ridiculous.

Adam and Kristina are also having a bit of a light arc this episode, in that Max is growing up, and boy, does he stink.  And I mean that literally.  Kristina could smell him from the hall, and she insists Adam talk to him about all the changes he’ll be going through.  They start the talk, mostly insisting on more than bi-weekly showers, and Max…doesn’t see the point.  Kristina and Adam regroup, and Kristina makes Adam go in solo like he made her do for Hattie.  Adam is apprehensive, but goes in and gives a kick ass talk, and Max really seems to get it.  Well, he at least decides to take more than two showers a week, so progress?  In any case, it was really cute, and a natural progression for Max, a situation I think Kristina and especially Adam handled really well.

Crosby and Jasmine, on the other hand, are finally reaping the ‘benefits’ of Grandma moving in.  Her stuff is all over the house, she uses the bathroom like she’s the only one in the house, and routines are being altered to fit Grandma’s needs, and Crosby is NOT happy.  At the Luncheonette, Adam and Crosby are discussing the situation when Crosby get a call: Grandma got a job!  Crosby brings home cupcakes to celebrate after dinner, but Grandma isn’t going to take the job for some BS reason or another, and Crosby acts like kind of a douche to her.  She calls Crosby out on it, Crosby is suitably shame-faced, and they kiss and make up, and everyone starts looking for jobs for Grandma.

This storyline was a bit…odd for me.  The writers clearly wanted me to feel sorry for Grandma, but I really felt more empathy Crosby.  I would hate it if someone came into my house like they owned it, and messed around with everything I knew.  And the whole not taking the job she was offered was just frustrating.  I understand the pain this economy causes better than some, and not taking that job was the ultimate in selfishness on her part.