NBC Thursday Night Comedy 11/18/10 Recap: “We’ll Make This a Blanket Fort For Men!”

Last week’s NBC lineup was pretty disappointing, but the network turned around its game this week. It was all sunshine and lollipops and blanket forts. Seriously though, blanket forts.

Community

It’s a great mix on ‘Community’ this week. You get a few parts based in fantasy and a few parts based in reality all combined into one great episode.

It all starts out with Dean Pelton investigating Jeff’s class on conspiracy theories. Jeff made the class up, but the teacher turns out to be real – sort of. Things get complicated as deception after deception pile up and a vast conspiracy unravels.

Meanwhile, Troy and Abed make a blanket fort that quickly evolves from spanning one room to taking up an entire floor. In the short time the blanket fort is up, entire subcultures start to form, parades are held, and an epic chase scene takes place.

In the end, the blanket fort becomes popular, other schools start to emulate it, so Abed and Troy pull the plug. It’s a shame. I feel like there was a lot of unexplored potential in that fort.

The Jeff story ends with four or five fake murders, and just as many lessons, none of which are entirely clear. It’s a nice wrap-up, even if it does feel a bit too much like an ‘Arrested Development’ episode. “And that’s why you never teach your father a lesson.”

It’s a good episode from start to finish, the kind I really hope to see more of in the future.

30 Rock

Things are back to normal on ’30 Rock’, with two main storylines, equally successful in their character exploration. Liz wants to be cool again, just like she was for a few weeks in college, and Jack wants to prove that he’s made an impact at GE.

If there’s one way not to be cool, it’s through bribery. Liz wins an employee lottery and opens a bar tab with the money in hopes of being accepted as cool. It goes wrong quickly, and Liz keeps bending to the whims of the crew in an effort to be accepted.

Jack is leaving the microwave division of GE for good, but revisits one last time to congratulate the team on the record sales numbers. When the workers there don’t acknowledge him, Jack sets out to foil their efforts.

There are some really great moments in this episode, like when Lutz tries to take control of a prank that’s gone too far out of the way, or Jack’s advice to Liz about money. “Money can’t buy happiness. It is happiness.”

The show ends with a really nice moment between Jack, Liz and Pete in which we find out that Liz apparently eats alone in Jack’s office and can shotgun a pizza. It’s a little disturbing, but very funny.

The Office

We’re treated to a really solid episode of ‘The Office’ this week. The show works best when the writers remember that they’ve got a talented ensemble cast. This week’s Thanksgiving episode shows off several of the characters instead of focusing too much at once.

Things start off with Dwight and his Hay Place. It’s an attraction that appears to be held in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot which features hay displays, a hay maze, a hay ride and the eventual crowning of a hay king.

It’s a regression to childhood for Dwight, but a progression for Angela, who meets a nice man there, causing her to terminate the contract between her and Dwight.

Inside the office, Jim finds out that he’s reached the commission cap for the year, and has no further incentive to keep working. It doesn’t go well for Jim, who can’t even find a place to slack off during the day. By the end of the episode, he’s got a new person to prank – Gabe.

There’s also a bit of an issue with the company Ryan is trying to start. Apparently Wuphf just isn’t taking off the way it was supposed to. In a meeting with the shareholders who all work in the office, Ryan reveals that he can keep the company running for nine more days.

I enjoyed the episode from beginning to end. There’s plenty of comedy and only a bit of the drama that the show’s writers seem obsessed with trying to fit in. All in all, this is a really well done episode.

I just have one question that I think needs to be answered. With Dwight outside at Hay Place, Jim, Creed and Meredith slacking, Michael up to his usual antics and half of the staff involved in the investment antics, who actually works at the office anymore?

4 comments

  1. Now that you mention it, I see the comparison to Arrested Development. Even so, this episode of Community was frikkin’ awesome! I loved the bit when the chase scene had to halt for the Latvian Independence Parade. (“They had the proper permits!”)

  2. Adam

    This was possibly my favorite week of the season so far, at least as a whole. The whole doublecross after doublecross with Jeff, Annie, Professor Professorson, the Dean, and the security guard turned police officer got pretty old pretty quickly though. I did love the blanket forts. Seriously, who WOULDN’T want to spend a day in a blanket fort like that?? And I really think Jim Rash should get nominated for a Best Supporting Actor type. He’s just phenominal. No Chang at all though.

    30 Rock was strong too. My favorite quote of the episode: “Don’t worry about getting to your point. I’m going to live forever.” I might have to start using that one myself. The prank on Pete was pretty funny. Apparently he’s just desperate for attention to the point that he doesn’t hear the obvious computer generated pace of the replies.

    I agree with you on The Office. Seriously, who is working there? I understand it’s a tv show and all, and that the office is run by Michael Scott, but what company would let an employee build an entire “hay place” in their parking lot and then make money on it himself, all while apparently on the clock? Also, sort of another NBC joke sharing bit a la the Lady Gaga costumes. Back to back shows performing pranks using snippets from someone’s voice. Weird. Still, a good strong episode though.

    Also, funny to note, I believe Kevin Corrigan was Craig Robinson’s (Darryl on The Office) bad guy partner in Pineapple Express. Which also had Ken Jeong (Chang).

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