Comedy Round-Up

I'm a huge fan of comedy. While the cable networks have almost all the best dramas locked up with Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, and Game of Thrones (among others), comedy still thrives on network television. During the early summer, typically a bit of a "down" period for television watchers and critics where there's a small gap between the fall-spring show finales and the real start of summer shows, there was even a small but rather heated debate about the merits of broadcast versus cable television with respect to drama and comedy.

I highly encourage reading up on all three articles in that debate (TIME's summary and the original pieces on The Hollywood Reporter and The AV Club which are linked in the TIME piece). However, I know not everyone is quite as big a TV nerd as I am, so I'll try to summarize the outcome for you. Cable television offers dramas more creative freedom and, often, bigger budgets on pay networks. Meanwhile, comedy continues to flourish on cable because the casual TV watcher is more likely to tune in for thirty minutes than sixty, among other institutional bonuses.

So it should come as no surprise that after the first full week of the Fall season that of the seven comedies I regularly watch, only one is on a cable channel. Below I have included a quick (seriously) review of all seven, three of which aired an hour block to start the season. At the end of each review, in case you're feeling even too lazy to read (an admittedly wordy at times) paragraph or so, I have conveniently rated the debuts of each show out of five happy moose each! So without further ado, let me grab a chunk of rum ham and rate last week's offerings.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER


I got very frustrated with HIMYM last season. Zoe was obnoxious, and I felt like they broke up Barney and Robin far too quickly, only to realize they wanted them back together. Plus, with the revelation that the show will go at least one more season beyond the current one, Carter and Bays (creators) seem none too eager to introduce the titular mother, which means Ted will keep falling into meaningless relationships... which would be slightly mollified if the storylines we are given are a bit better. I know, I sound incredibly down on this show. However, let me just say that unless they somehow find somebody with better chemistry with NPH than Cobie Smulders (Robin), we know we're on a windy trip to a Barney-Robin wedding at the end of this season or next wherein Ted WILL meet the mother.

As for the actual double episode order last week? The second was slightly stronger than the first and definitely funnier. Anytime they fall back on Jason Segel's solid comedy chops I'm rolling out of my chair, and the introduction here of BEERCULES was killer. I also think Martin Short could be a great recurring addition. The return of Nora seemed to suck all the life out of Barney for me, even though I don't hate Nora as a character despite her all-too-perfectness. Ted was Ted. Ted will always be Ted. Oh well.

MODERN FAMILY

This is the show that has won the Emmy for best comedy two years in a row. I already gave my opinions about the general direction of this show in my reaction piece to the Emmy Awards, and these episodes haven't changed that. I will say this, Cam is slightly less whiny and cartoonish in these two episodes. I also genuinely liked Mitchell more in these episodes, and I feel that he's often the most under-served actor on the cast by the writers.

The one thing I didn't mention in my reaction piece that Steve Levitan, the show's creator, DID say in his Emmy speech was that the kids on this show are amazing. Child casting is such a crapshoot, but Levitan is right. These kids are fantastic. There's really no weak link amongst the kids, but I have to say that Nolan Gould (Luke) and Rico Rodriguez (Manny) are two of the best and most hilarious kids I've ever seen on television and I'm including Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat from Arrested Development. If you've never watched Arrested Development, that is very high praise. Luke's firecracker subplot and Manny's conscience making him sweat in each of these two episodes were the best plots in each one. Hopefully the new Lilly, young and adorable as she is, will continue the trend.

BIG BANG THEORY

Pictured to the left will be the reason for the middling rating of these two Big Bang episodes. This is not a deep show. It does not aspire to deep character moments or tug at your heartstrings. This is a pure sitcom in that its one and only goal is to make you laugh. As such, that is pretty much my only criteria for a Big Bang episode.

However, I would like to applaud the show for gracefully pulling back from last season's cliffhanger ending with Raj and Penny waking up in bed together. That was dumb. Good putting that behind you, BBT! But that means these two episodes spent a lot of time unwinding out of last season's plot between Penny, Raj, Leonard, and Raj's sister. Now ordinarily I'd say dialing back the Sheldon in these first two episodes is a good thing, but in this instance the show spent its non-plot time on a nearly two minute long segment of Raj and Howard being even creepier than usual (pictured above) and Leonard's straight man reaction just wasn't enough to save it. Also, no episode which has even a dream sequence of bugs squirming up to cover someone will ever get higher than a 3 from me. Ugh.

COMMUNITY

I'm going to be a little biased in favor of this show and the next. I'm not sorry. Last season these two shows were the best comedies on television and both made compelling arguments to be listed among the best shows on television, period. Community is fearless. It is almost the opposite of Modern Family, while still being about basically the same thing... the building and maintaining of an oddball community.

The first episode back contained only one real weird pop culture homage (the 2001: A Space Odyssey scene with Jeff imagining himself as Pierce after the monkey gas knockout), but it also managed a fun dream sequence song and plenty of meta commentary ("I just came by to tell everyone that this year isn't going to be that different - with the notable exception we really won't have any money."). Troy and Abed still make a wonderful pairing, the ensemble cast is incredible, and John Goodman says the best "p" in television. Whassup indeed.

PARKS AND RECREATION

Parks and Rec does on a weekly basis what The Office has done at its best: wear its heart on its sleeve and still be gut-punchingly hilarious. For long-time viewers, the revelation of mockable sclub Jerry's...uh...physiology was both squirm-worthy and a delight. Plus, when is Ron Swanson running ever not funny? And to top it all off, Amy Poehler and Adam Scott knocked their final scene together out of the park. Like I said, heart on the sleeve. Last season Parks and Rec pitched a perfect game in my opinion with sixteen wonderful episodes. This wasn't a knockout, but as far as I'm concerned the streak continues.

THE OFFICE

So... Andy Bernard is the new manager. I'm not thrilled. Don't get me wrong. I love Ed Helms. He was great on The Daily Show and in The Hangover. And he was great when originally introduced in The Office, but honestly, the writers have sort of run into a dead end with his character in the last season or so. I suppose that might be why he's suddenly gotten the promotion, but so far, he feels very much like Michael Scott Lite. That said, it was nice to see him stand up for the "losers" to new CEO Robert California (love James Spader, didn't love the all-too-convenient explanation for his introduction). It's good to see that The Office can still hit those emotional beats with Helms as well as the more traditional ones between Jim and Pam. I'll see where it goes from here. Right now I'm very cautiously optimistic.

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

Everyone on Always Sunny is horrible. And not like Michael Scott or Dwight have been horrible on The Office. These people are genuinely bottom of the barrel BAD people. But you know what? They're HILARIOUS. And so far, both this episode in which the gang went to the Jersey Shore and the first with the Pretty Woman homage gone wrong were delightful. Even four days later I find myself staring into the fridge and wondering why I don't have some rum ham to eat. And while Dennis is my favorite character, his and Dee's story was the weakest in a trio of strong subplots about the perils and wonders of the Jersey shore. My favorite? Big Mac (the man put on 50 pounds for this season and it is really, REALLY funny) and Frank dancing with the guidos was probably the most joyous scene I'd seen all week on television. And Charlie... Charlie is always fantastic. If you didn't see him in Horrible Bosses this season, I highly suggest catching the DVD release. As always, this show offers up hilarity and a strong moral lesson: DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THESE PEOPLE DO.

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I'll try to review this week's comedies by next Monday, and maybe I'll even attempt to normalize the size of these dang ratings moose!