NBC Thursday Night Comedy 10/7/10 Recap: “I Thought You Were Exactly Awesome”

NBC Thursday was in fine shape this week, assuming that you don’t count ‘Outsourced.’ As of this week, I definitely don’t.

Community

I have to admit, I missed the first few minutes of ‘Community’ this week. I was right in the middle of a pretty significant boss fight in ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’ and I lost track of time. But hey, I totally killed a werewolf guy, and that’s gotta count for something.

I’ll rewatch the episode once it hits Hulu. If checking out the first third changes my opinion, I’ll make a note of it. From what I saw, though, ‘The Psychology of Letting Go’ seemed like business as usual for ‘Community’.

Chang’s restraining order issue was highly entertaining. If recent developments mean I get more John Oliver in my ‘Community,’ the show will be that much better for it. I’ve also got to give some credit to the accidental oil wrestling, which honestly seemed to work better as a concept than as an actual joke, but I still got a kick out of it.

The main thrust of the episode involved Pierce and Jeff both dealing with death in different ways. Pierce denies it, while Jeff fights against it. It would have been nice to see Pierce figure things out, but revealing the truth to him would be like kicking a puppy. In the end, ice cream was a good choice.

30 Rock

‘When It Rains, It Pours’ is an excellent ’30 Rock’ episode. It’s a little light in some areas and speeds through some parts with plenty of joke potential, but it’s generally strong.

Like last week’s episode, Alec Baldwin’s performance really takes the show up a step. His speech in front of the congressional committee is absolute brilliance, as is the aside regarding the cancellation of ‘Law & Order.’

I’ve never much cared for Queen Latifah, but she really delivers the goods in her guest spot, even outshining Rob Reiner. Her grandstanding is fantastic, and the delivery of her somewhat nonsensical speeches is impeccable.

The one disappointment is the lack of focus on the creative soul that is Dot Com. There’s comedy gold to be mined there. While the talking dog sitcom at the end is fantastic, I feel like more focus on the entourage could be a very good thing.

The Office

If this season keeps going on like this, ‘The Office’ may finally win me back after a disappointing season or two. ‘Andy’s Play’ isn’t the funniest episode around, and it’s not the best by far, but it is a huge step in the right direction.

I could do without the fully musical intro, but it seems like Ed Helms is really having a blast here and that’s fantastic. Ed Helms is a severely underused member of the staff. Putting him as the central focus of an episode is a tremendous idea.

Michael actually made me laugh in ‘Andy’s Play,’ which is fantastic. If nothing else, his post-credit audition is something that needs to be seen. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing an extended cut of Michael doing a few full minutes of a ‘Law & Order’ episode on his own.

Keeping the focus away from Michael is a great idea, though it seems next week we’ll be getting him in full force as all four of his past loves converge in one spot. I can’t say I’m excited to see them all, but it’ll be nice to have Holly back for sure.

Outsourced

All right, I’m tapping out on this one. The show’s not clever or creative or different in any significant way, which would be fine if it at least had the common decency to be funny as well. Sadly, it’s none of those three. I wish the cast luck – especially Diedrich Bader, who I’ve always had a soft spot for – but they’re going to be continuing on without me.

5 comments

  1. Dick, do you not have a DVR? What century are you living in? 🙂

    Anyway, my take-away from Outsourced this week is that Todd there really needs a visit from the Sexual Harrassment Panda.

  2. Adam

    Favorite part of Friday mornings: Thursday Night NBC Recap! Well…that and it being, you know…Friday.

    I thought Community was good, but not great. I do love the Chang-Duncan mutually assured destruction though. I’ve missed John Oliver. I might be a 28 year old man, but I laugh every time he says the word “balls”. Just the way he says it. The whole Annie/Britta B-story was kind of “ehh” for me, with a side of cliche, but, being the aforementioned 28 year old male, the oil wrestling was at least fun to watch.

    30 Rock was pretty decent too. Jack’s Congress speech was awesome, as almost all Jack speeches are. The Law and Order line was classic and so true. And the line about Twofer’s Harvard background meaning he was smart and superb at masturbation was hilarious.

    I loved this week’s episode of The Office. I like musicals and Glee, so the music part was good for me, and Ed Helms was great. The best thing about the episode, I think, is that it backed away from the incredibly over-the-top humor of late and turned in a fairly understated performance. I LOVED Pam back in her old-style Pam wardrobe, and I think she softened up some too. There weren’t really any laugh out loud moments for me, but lots of little smiles. One weird thing – the way Dwight started gushing about Andy to the guy next to him, and then at the end of the episode when he walked back in and sat there. Is Dwight falling for Andy? It certainly gave that impression to me. Oh, and Angela definitely looked awesome in the jeans and shirt, compared to her normal attire, though that was certainly the point.

    I think I’m officially done with Outsourced, too. It’s boring, not funny, overly cliche, and sometimes just offensive. Also, they’re what, 3 episodes in and already trying to push a love triangle…well…quadrangle if you include Bader’s character? I just don’t enjoy it at all, though the Australian lady whose name I don’t remember (Tanya?) reminds me of a pre-Skeletor Nicole Kidman, which is a good thing.

    I have to admit, I’m excited for next Thursday – a LIVE 30 Rock (might have to go online and watch the West Coast version after I watch the East Coast one) and the return of Holly. Interesting to see how they’re going to pull off getting Carol, Jan, Holly and Pam’s mom all back together. Maybe like some sort of advisory council to Michael?

    • I’ll definitely be checking out both live 30 Rocks, just to see the differences and on the off chance that something goes horribly wrong.

      As far as musicals go, I’m a fan, though I still haven’t gotten around to watching Glee so I can’t comment there. Perhaps the intro turned me off because I just don’t like Sweeney Todd 🙂

      Good catch on the Dwight/Andy thing! I wonder if there’s a bit of a man crush going on…

  3. Junie Ray

    Agreed on best 30 Rock moments and performance ratings. Would also add “radiation canary” to the list of little moments of brilliance. And I think Liz’s comments in the interview reached full comic potential, “do you have to wear a bra with that?”, “you didn’t have to call your boss, I mean security.”

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