Thursday: "30 Rock," "The Office," "Earl," "Grey's"
Posted October 25th, 2007 by Rich Heldenfels
Not everything on Thursday night was my cup of tea, but …
Alec Baldwin demonstrated once again he is a genius on "30 Rock." Yes, the basic surprise of the bit — playing everyone in Tracy's family — was spoiled in the promos. But it was still a tour de force to see. And the episode needed that. The battle of the pages was one of those ideas that even the show knew couldn't go anywhere; hence the abrupt end. The Carrie Fisher subplot had some good bits (and Carrie even let some of her own autobiography in there) but it wasn't as riotous as it might have been. But my gosh, Baldwin.
Another nice piece was Michael's ad for Dunder Mifflin. A small reminder that every now and then he knows what he is doing, while still managing to be funny. (I would have loved a scene where he talked Stanley into the orange jumpsuit.) Nice point, too, about the people in the office wanting even a little, odd recognition. But the episode staggered on its way to that point. There's a lot that's unsettling in the show right now, not only in the Dwight-Angela saga but in Jim-Pam. I've mentioned before that we're not seeing a nice side of Jim and it appeared again tonight, when he bulldozed over Pam's animation work to show her Dwight's online world. Yes, there was a good payoff in seeing what Philly Jim, but the bulldozing felt more than a little like something Roy would have done to Pam. So, was Pam always attracted to Jim because of some Roy-ness she recognized, or is Jim being changed by the relationship into something he thinks Pam expects, or what?
"My Name Is Earl," so-so episode (no "Respect the Meat") and I'm not convinced Alyssa Milano is adding anything to the mix. On the other hand, the show had some more good lines: Joy's about her water, Earl's prison-date dialogue about surgery.
Finishing the comedies, I've had a disc of the season premiere of "Scrubs" sitting around, and wasn't excited enough to watch it. It's just never been one of my shows. I finally put the disc in this afternoon, and wasn't excited enough to finish it. Still isn't one of my shows.
"Grey's" once again felt as if it has gotten back on track. Still don't want to see Izzie and George. And when the heart-transplant dad was being intransigient, I told the bride, "George is going to say something wise," and he did. We all knew Ava wouldn't be waiting for Alex. The foot and the chainsaw was really gross. But the stuff with McSteamy and McDreamy was amusing. Cristina and Callie as roommates: potentially very amusing. Meredith isn't annoying me right now. Liked the earless kid, and Bailey's speech.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:58 am
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October 26th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
I love watching Scrubs, but that episode did not do it for me. For a show that was typically upbeat and very funny, it was downright depressing.
October 26th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I loved this week's episode of "The Office"! It felt short though, especially after the hourlong installments (all of which I loved). It's an interesting point raised regarding the Jim/Roy juxtaposition. My impression on first watching Jim barging into Pam's reverie, however, was that Pam isn't always going to be the girlfriend that Jim would like her to be, partaking in his pranks and in making fun of Dwight. In fact, I think Pam's first reaction was sympathy towards Dwight instead (in the Second Life case last night). Perhaps this is the writers' hint of the first inkling that all might not be well with Jim and Pam? It seems that Pam is actively exploring her artistic ambitions further (as seen in her taking computer animation classes and being so driven in her craft as to stay overnight to work on the ad), while Jim appears to be more or less content to remain in the dead-end job he has, even though he clearly has other ambitions as seen by his Second Life avatar (e.g. being a sportswriter, playing the guitar). Or maybe I'm just overthinking this
October 28th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
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October 29th, 2007 at 10:03 am
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