Classic Sesame Street

Enjoy!

Parenthood: One More Weekend with You (S4E8)

This was a really heavy episode, right up until the end.

Adam and Kristina open on a chaotic house, one that gets even more so when a kid in a wheelchair gets dropped off for the weekend.  Kristina is adamant that she can handle it even after the chemo, but Adam is not fully convinced.  And he is vindicated when Kristina spews all over the staircase while attempting to make a quick getaway to bathroom.  She spends the rest of the weekend upchucking in the toilet, and it is really harrowing.  I really felt for her when she was like, “I’m gonna be the ONE person that doesn’t get sick from chemo.”

Oh, and Max is a complete and utter brat the entire episode.  First, he refuses to take out the dog, even as it is peeing on the carpet.  Then, he continually barges into A/K’s bedroom, even though Kristina is in there sick out of her mind, and Adam insists he stays out.  Then he refuses to play with the kid that is over for the weekend because he beat Max at checkers.  They really need to learn how to parent a kid with Aspberger’s.  Just because Max doesn’t catch on to social situations like a mainstream kid doesn’t mean you can just ignore when he does it wrong.  You need to remind, reinforce, and retrain when necessary.  I honestly wanted to punch Max, but it was much more an issue of parenting than action.

Amber and Ryan, to add to the heaviness, head to a funeral for a friend of Ryan’s a few hours away.  When they get there, there are a few others reminiscing outside the hotel, and things get very heated: turns out, the friend committed suicide.  But in the end, it is turns nice, as the couple gets even closer, and they take a dip in the ocean to top it all off.

Julia and Joel are having kid issues again.  Viktor is really starting to fit in, but at the expense of Sydney.  She is really getting the short end of the stick with parent time, and is acting out because of it.  The little girl that plays her did an exceptional job of playing the angst, and it was very satisfying when she finally let them have it by ‘running away,’ even though it was only to the end of the block.  Julia and Joel finally realize they need to give her attention too, and they go to the skating rink, where Sydney finally starts to accept Viktor into the family.

Sarah and Mark have their own little thing, where Mark walks in on Drew having sex with his ex.  It’s about as awkward as you can imagine.  Drew swears secrecy out of Mark, and Mark stupidly agrees, even though that lasts for all of an hour.  Sarah tiptoes around the subject a bit, but eventually everything comes out, and Drew is a giant brat.  And then, Sarah apologizes for reasons.

Lastly, Jasmine and Crosby are throwing some sort of party, but Crosby is not terribly interested.  Jasmine wants him to participate, though, and insists on his assistance in getting ready for it.  They basically fight for the whole episode, until the party starts, and Crosby mingles like a boss.  Things are going swimmingly until…

Adam shows up with all the kids in tow.  He’s there to score some pot, because of course.  Crosby unsurprisingly has some, and Adam brings it back to Kristina to help calm her stomach, and it works.  Of course.

 
This was really heavy, but most of the pieces were really well acted.  I was wondering when the ocean scene with Amber and Ryan was coming, I saw a couple of set pictures with it, and I was curious how it would be incorporated in.  I did enjoy their plot, I think the writers did a good job of making the arc seem natural.  I really hope they get a autism adviser, or if they have one, a new one, because what A/K are doing is practically 100% wrong at just about every turn.

The Funny Stuff: Fox/ABC Tuesday(11/20)

Two more Thanksgiving episodes down, none to go, I think.  It was a really strong night, with one homage to the Godfather, and one hilarious dinner.  Let’s get right to…

Raising Hope

Apparently, the Chances live in Natesville, and it is famous for it’s radishes.  Everyone is at the Radish Festival, and we learn that there is a candy selling contest to win the prize of the Little Pilgrim on the We Love Radishes float in the parade.  Jimmy reveals that he actually won the contest once, and he and Sabrina decide they want Hope to win this year as an incentive to potty train.

Jimmy and Sabrina attempt to help Hope, but fail miserably, because the candy sucks.  It turns out when Jimmy won, Burt and Virginia melted down the chocolate, and had Maw Maw remake it better.  And by better, I mean bacon.  Because bacon, or bacon drippings in this instance, make everything  better.  The newly converted chocolate bars were like crack, and everyone in town wanted some, and so Jimmy won over Virginia’s coworker’s kid.

The whole family gets into the candy remanufacturing business, and they got right back into the illicit candy trade.  Barney, the auxiliary police chief of the Radish Festival is not impressed, and tries to get Jimmy to rat out his family as the makers.  Though honestly, I’m not really sure why he didn’t like it.  The candy was selling much better, and they get a lot of money for the festival.  But whatever.  It made for a fun little candy war with Virginia’s coworker, using an ice cream truck for a pusher.

In the end, Hope gets to be the Little Pilgrim, and it is super cute.

This was a fun, fluffy episode.  There were tons of funny moments, and I caught a few of them for you:

A TV Reporter, describing the Radish Festival: "…a place where small business afraid of the internet can advertise!"

Maw Maw, when the family found her in the pantry: "I was hoping the cabinet would transport me to a magical place where none of you existed."

Maw Maw, upon hearing they are getting back into the chocolate business: “Fire up the bunson burner.  We’re gonna drop some cocoa madness on those chumps.”

Virginia, when Sabrina attempts to eat a candy bar in the kitchen: “Bitch, you know we don’t get high on our own supply.”

Jimmy, when Barney tries to get him to snitch: “Snitches get stitches!”

The Funny Stuff: CBS Monday(11/19)

It’s Monday, so we have one show today:

How I Met Your Mother

I love this show, but the title is so misleading, it’s verging on ridiculous.  We had another week of development for our favorite couple and our favorite perv, but Ted got nothing beyond a realization he was an obnoxious douchnozzle in college.

So Marshall ran into an old college friend who was down on his luck, and told him he’d recommend the friend for a job in his firm.  The gang were not supportive, because Marshall is a Stamp Tramp, which is not to be confused with a Tramp Stamp.  One is something people can get very easily and can have terrible consequences, and the other is a tattoo.

So the friend is a total schmuck, and Marshall’s boss is not impressed with his recommending skills.  Marshall gets kicked off the big case, and runs to Lily with his tail between his legs.  She advises him to regain his boss’s trust by recommending little things like funny videos and tasty snacks, and then lie his ass off.  Marshall follows to a T, and gets back on the big case.  It’s too bad, then, that his down on his luck friend wasn’t really, and was using the interview to complete a little corporate espionage.  Marshall’s boss is SUPER pissed, and Marshall is fired if he doesn’t win the big case.  And this is how we get Marshall and Lily to their life we saw a million seasons ago.

Barney is all distressed because Quinn is back at her stripper place, which was Barney’s place, but now he can’t go back.  He’s a free agent, and all the stripper joints are courting him to come to their club.  He’s getting small time gifts, but Robin convinces him to that shit right.  Under her tutelage, Barney scores box seats, fur coats, and fax machines.   And Robin skims some off the top, because reasons.  Barney eventually settles on a new club, and he and Robin go out drinking to celebrate.  Of course, they kiss afterwards, but Robin runs, for reasons.

This was actually a pretty funny episode, at least in the first two acts.  It really dragged in the third act, but some of the character development was nice.  I did get a couple of funny lines:

Marshall, in denying he saw a hot dog mascot: “I’m not scared of him…and it’s totally normal to see a hot dog with a face.”

Marshall’s friend, after taking an application from the hot dog mascot: “Looks like I’m about to be…on a roll”

Lily and Ted, with an assist from Robin and Barney, as Ted makes a ‘surprising’ confession: “Take a sip, follow my lead.”  “I’m…*deep breath*…Dr. X.”  *Spit Take* “NOOO!”

Amazing Race: We Was Robbed(S21E8)

The To Be Continued from last week was finished out in the first few minutes.  Abbie and Ryan ended up waiting with Josh and Brent until the swimming pool closed, and then Josh and Brent helped Abbie finish the lock task that she was melting down on, and they all finished before James and Abba, who still have a lost passport.  They also have a non-elimination leg, so they get to run around Russia for another leg, knowing they are eliminated, and thus ruining the suspense for this entire episode.

Once we got into the leg proper, here’s how things went down:

Trey and Lexi had taxi troubles right away, and dropped behind James and Jaymes, and stayed behind them the rest of the leg.  Lexi worked with Ja(y)mes to figure out the timezone roadblock, and they did decently well at the dance task.  They only dropped one place, and managed to finish in second for this leg.

James and Jaymes ran a flawless leg, and even cracked me up with their assessment of how they usually see people: “used to not finding people there cause we’re last, not first.” That may be a paraphrase.  James kicked ass at the dance task with a bum ankle, and they were super stoked to come in first for their first time this race.

Natalie and Naydia weren’t terrible human beings for the second episode in a row, and even made me laugh with their “We were like hell no.  We would have been sooo screwed!” simultaneously while describing why they used their express pass for the timezone roadblock.  Oh, and when Nadiya (or possibly Natalie) completely ripped her dancing pants.  They didn’t move at all in this leg, and finished in third.

Abbie and Ryan had their super late start, but weren’t completely hateful for this leg.  Ryan took the timezone task, and was fully confident in his ability to get done with the task quickly.  26 tries later, he finally figured out the trick, and the snarky moderator was awesome again.  They kept their placement as well.

Josh and Brent actually rocked the timezone task, and then were adorably gay at the dinner party half of the roadblock(they passed on dancing).  It is almost too bad they are so gone next week, unless the previews aren’t a fakeout and Abbie and Ryan are gone.

James and Abba were screwed from go on this leg, and we didn’t even see them do any of the tasks, not to mention they didn’t ever reclaim their passport, so they are soooo gone.  “We was robbed,” indeed.

There were no surprises in the finishing order this week, and the elimination wasn’t in doubt from the getgo.

Finishing Order(Average Place)

1. James and Jaymes(4.50)

2. Trey and Lexi(3.63)

3. Natalie and Nadyia(3.38)

4. Abbie and Ryan(2.50)

5. Josh and Brent(5.50)

6. James and Abba(4.13)-eliminated

SNL: Jeremy Renner/Maroon 5(11/17)

This was kind of a meh episode.  None of the sketches were really that memorable, and I was bored through a lot of the show.  I wasn’t expecting a whole lot of Jeremy Renner, he didn’t seem like a very versatile actor, and that was verified during the show, for sure.

Lets get right into…

The Good

Commercial: Your Hometown Vacation(8)- It’s funny cause it’s true!

Weekend Update: Headlines(7)-This kind of encapsulated the meh of this show-I have it as a strong 70% funny, but I can’t remember a single joke.

Weekend Update: Segments(7)-These, on the other hand, were not forgettable, though I didn’t really get the Kat Williams one.  It was buoyed by a very strong appearance by the (real!) Chris Christie, even though that was a titch awkward.

The Avengers(7)-Hawkeye is useless.  It’s another funny cause it’s true!

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!”

Glee: Gleese(S4E6)

This episode was ridiculous.  The fall musical episodes are always so random, but this one kind of took the cake.  Angst, bulimia, discrimination, cheating, we got it all!

To start, Shue officially tells the club that he is leaving, and giving Finn leadership of the club.  Tina leads the charge in outrage, and the rest join in almost immediately, which was hilarious.  Even Sue gets in on the outrage train, and drags the two of them all the way to Figgins, who has already given his permission, so Sue has nothing but a grudge.  And one character’s season arc is set.

Marley and FauxQuinn continue their antagonistic relationship, starting with the costumes.  FauxQuinn is bringing in the waists of Marley’s outfits, making her think she’s getting fat like her mother.  It continues with a sleepover at FauxQuinn’s house that is only a pretense to sing Sandra Dee in real mockery of Marley.  Oh, and FauxQuinn tries to get Marley to be bulimic for reasons.  Of course, before she actually gets to that point, FauxFinn saves the day not once, not twice, but three times, telling Marley she’s beautiful and making her laugh with poop jokes.  And three other arcs click into place.

Unique was all angsty today, mainly because Sue’s vendetta extends to all the arts again.  She tells his parents of the plan for Unique to play Rizzo, and they are not impressed.  Apparently, Chicago is much different than Lima, and you can be yourself there, but not in Lima, because reasons.  So Unique isn’t Rizzo anymore, causing Finn to call in the cavalry: Santana.  Brittany is super stoked, but they aren’t going to be getting back together anytime soon.  Mike and Tina, on the other hand?  Could be.  It was kind of ambiguous. 

Oh, and in stories no one cares about, Rachel has her first off Broadway audition, and asked her little boy-toy Brody to help her rehearse.  However, Kurt wants to go see Grease, and convinces Rachel to go with him, completely blowing off Brody in the process.  They angst all over McKinley until they run into their respective exes.  Kurt basically yells at Blaine and walks out, rendering his whole purported reason for coming completely moot. Rachel has a dream sequence to ‘You’re the One That I Want’ with her and Finn, and then calls Brody for reasons, but surprise!

Kate Hudson answers the phone!  Snerk.  She was all pissy that Rachel was an entitled snot, and decided to get back at her by bedding Brody, which took her all of a day.  Rachel hangs up, crying, and immediately runs into Finn, who gets all introspective of the many cries of Rachel.  They decide that they should talk ever again, and the world breathed a sigh of relief. 

Finally, the show gets a good review, and Shue finally FINALLY exits stage right.  Next week?  Superheroes, because of course.  And also?  A new show on Thanksgiving?  Harsh, FOX.

Featuring

Greased Lighting as sung by fauxFinn, Sam, Dreads, fauxPuck, Mike, Artie, and Finn

Sandra Dee as sung by fauxQuinn, Sugar, Tina, Unique, and Brittany

Beauty school dropout as sung by Blaine

Sandra Dee reprise as sung by Marley

There are worse things I could do as sung by Santana, Kate Hudson, and Unique

You’re the one that I want as sung by fauxFinn, Marley, and chorus(with Rachel/Finn dream sequence)