In our discussion last week about Community‘s upcoming move to Friday nights we confidently predicted that, despite swirling rumors, we saw no reason why Dan Harmon would not return as Community showrunner. Perhaps we should have been more precise with our diction. What we meant was that we saw no reason why Harmon would choose not to return. The idea that NBC/Sony would not bring him back never crossed our minds. So while we still stand by what we wrote last week we were shocked and dismayed (like everyone else) when we learned over the weekend that Harmon was replaced as showrunner and essentially fired from his own show (however, unlike everyone else, we read the news on our phone during a bachelor party in Chicago, after sleeping off the night before).
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Must Flee TV: Last Exit to Harmontown AKA They Call it Show Business Not Show Art
Filed under Analysis, Greendale Human, In Memoriam, Must Flee TV, Must See TV
Must Flee TV: ‘Parks and Recreation’ – We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes
This week we’re checking in on NBC’s Thursday night comedies as they finish their respective seasons. Today: ‘Parks and Recreation.’
Perhaps the greatest compliment you can offer Parks and Recreation is that it’s no longer referred to as the quasi-Office spin-off (ignore the fact that we just did that in the first sentence). We’re now multiple seasons into an excellent run where Parks and Recreation has cast off the chains of its origins, found its own voice, become its own show, and surpassed its progenitor by all metrics save for Neislen ratings. We still maintain that Community is the best show of the night, but Parks and Rec has not been behind by much, outpacing The Office during its second season.
At the end of Parks and Rec‘s brief, unimpressive first season, we laid out a plan for how the show could not only improve but excel, and we revisited this primer just prior to the start of the show’s brilliant third season. We also presented three more key points as the show moved forward and they were as follows:
Filed under Analysis, Checks & Balances, Flashback!, Good Humor, Must Flee TV, Must See TV
Must Flee TV: Managing Expectations – An Uneven Season of ‘The Office’ Comes to the Close
This week we’re looking back on the just completed/completing seasons of NBC’s Thursday night comedies. Today we check in the senior member of the team, ‘The Office.’
For quite some time we were religious with our Office recaps, but then two things happened 1) we were working a paid job more than full-time and 2) the show became, well, inessential. We hoped to check-in during Steve Carell’s final season, but analyses was few and far between. But even though we weren’t providing regular reviews, the series was still required viewing. We might not follow-up the next morning with our thoughts, but we were still going out of our way to watch it Thursday night, as much out of habit as desire. But this season, with Carell’s Michael Scott off to Colorado, the show became the least appealing, least critical member of the lineup. Wait til Friday to watch Community? We’d rather not. Skip an episode of Parks and Rec? No way. But go a week without watching the latest The Office? Sure. View an episode of Robert California’s Dunder Mifflin out-of-order? Fine. We just didn’t care that much anymore.
But a funny thing happened at the end of The Office’s eighth season. We were actually invested. We almost felt things, things that just nearly came close to approximating the real emotions that the show’s best seasons elicited. For the first time all year, the series seemed to find its voice.
NBC: Requiring Shots of Earth From Outer Space Since 1966
Doing our due diligence we’ve been watching the trailers for the new series picked up by the big four networks for their respective fall seasons. Some have been promising, some dead on arrival, and others just somewhere in between. But there was one – NBC’s new JJ Abrams sci-fi thriller Revolution – that particularly caught our eye. However, it wasn’t the premise or the cast or the special effects that piqued our interest. No, it was the last few seconds of the trailer, an insert of the title over a grand wide shot of earth from outer space that stuck with us. We couldn’t shake the feeling that we’ve seen this before on NBC. In fact, it appears that this is a well that NBC has been returning to for decades. You hear a lot these days about how there are no new ideas, but this is a little excessive.
We’d suggest that there’s some kind of corporate conspiracy, or at least mandate, owing to NBC’s ties with Universal (the gold standard in spinning globes), but they didn’t merge under the same umbrella until 2004, so perhaps it is just a lack of imagination.
Gratuitous Search Term Bait of the Day: Gratuitously Gratuitous Milestone
There’s basically been one item – neigh, one person – who has been dominating our top search terms for the last few weeks. Today is no different, with the list reading as follows: “chelsea survivor, survivor chelsea, survivor one world chelsea, chelsea survivor 2012.” So, you know what, we’re beyond being clever these days. We’re just going to give you what you want (and this was one of the few days that did not also include the word “boobs” in that group).
Also, this is our 700th post!!! Yes, we’ve continuously fallen short of our goals and quotas, but it’s still nice to reach that, ahem, round number, and what better way to celebrate than with something that everyone (who is male and/or likes oiled up, surgically enhanced bodies) can enjoy. We were going to have special novelty glasses made up for the occasion, but they would have been asymmetrical and that totally would have bothered us, so you’ll just have to wait til our 1001th post.
Thanks for memories! (you two, Chelsea. And no, that was not a typo).
Must Flee TV: Friday Night Fits – About ‘Community”s Move to Friday Nights
We’ve admittedly, regrettably, been remiss with our recaps and analysis of NBC’s Thursday night comedies. There was a time when we provided weekly thoughts on ‘The Office’ (luckily our neglect kicked in just around the time when Friday morning post-mortems on that show would have been unbearable) and periodic temperature checks on ‘Parks and Recreation.’ With the season already complete for half of these shows, and the other two concluding their runs this week, we thought it was high time that we put aside some real estate to check in on these programs, starting today with a discussion about ‘Community’ (whose season (and not series) finale airs Thursday night (preceded by two other new episodes and the ’30 Rock’ closer).
NBC announced their Fall 2012 pick ups last week and, despite lots of rumors and hand-wringing, Community will return for a fourth season. That much wasn’t quite a surprise to us. Could NBC have axed the criminally low-rated comedy? Sure, and they would have the cold, emotionless Nielsen numbers to back it up. But, at the same time, they know what they’re getting with Community. Will it ever break out into a Friends or even These Friends of Mine sized hit? Unlikely at this point. But does it have a devoted, die-hard fan base? Absolutely. Attractive cast? You bet. A smart, discerning, relatively affluent audience? We guess. Close to reaching enough episodes for lucrative syndication? Definitely. So the renewal, especially for the 13-episode order it received, is not all that shocking to us. What was unexpected, however, was the announcement at the NBC Upfronts that come this fall Community will be found on Fridays, as the lead-in to…Grimm?
Filed under Analysis, Good Humor, Greendale Human, Must Flee TV, Must See TV
‘Survivor: One World’ Finale – Tops and Bottoms
[SPOILER ALERT!!!]
“I know I lied to you and voted you out, but I have no boobs left so have a little mercy.” – Kim
It is somewhat fitting and poetic that in a game defined by boobs – both anatomical and intellectual – it was the least endowed woman who triumphed over her more busty peers (and, no, we’re not talking about Nina). In the end, it’s not what you have here (pointing to our chest), but what you have here (pointing to our head). And whatever Kim may not have or may have lost in her bosom, she certainly more than made for up with her brains (we could also note how she played the game with a lot of heart, but that would require also pointing to our chest, which would confuse the whole point. She also played with a lot of guts, but if we’re going to point to anyone’s stomach, it’ll be Colton’s to giggle at his doughy appendix scar).
More: The road to the final goes through the Valley of the Fallen Mikes…
Filed under Analysis, Century 21 Reality, Flashback!, Freak Out Control, The Worst, Tribal Council
The Beanery
We got our hands on the exclusive, never-before-seen trailer for The King’s Speech, featuring the original actor earmarked for the role of King George VI. As much as we like Colin Firth, we think they should have stuck with their first choice.
Chills.
[btw, Rowan Atkinson is EXCELLENT in Love Actually]
Filed under Across the pond, The Big Screen, We'll Get It In Post
Jumped The Snark 