Category Archives: Good Humor

2012/05/17 · 4:38 pm

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:

More: What do you with a problem like Rashida?

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Filed under Analysis, Checks & Balances, Flashback!, Good Humor, Must Flee TV, Must See TV

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2012/05/16 · 4:09 pm

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.

More: How Andy Bernard got his groove back…

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Filed under Analysis, Back to the Past, Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam, Good Humor, Must Flee TV, Must See TV

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2012/05/15 · 12:47 pm

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?

Read on: Go ahead and step back from that ledge…

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Filed under Analysis, Good Humor, Greendale Human, Must Flee TV, Must See TV

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2012/05/10 · 2:06 pm

They’re Finally Together

After more than a decade it looks like David Wain & Michael Showalter’s Wet Hot American Summer follow-up They Came Together is finally going to be made, if Variety is to be trusted (and, really, can they???).   Much like Wet Hot took on 80s summer camp flicks, this one has rom-coms in its crosshairs.  And, much like Wet Hot, They Came Together will star Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler, and also likely the rest of The State and Zak Orth and A.D. Miles and Elizabeth Banks and Mather Zickel and Nina Hellman (not that we’re complaining.  In fact, we’re crossing our fingers).

You can see a very brief, very blurry clip from the They Came Together read through at this year’s SF Sketchfest here, or, instead, watch this iconic Rudd clip from Wet Hot.  The choice is yours.

We’re starting the campaign for a Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan cameo now.

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Filed under Good Humor, Good News!, Hanx, The Big Screen, The State

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2012/03/15 · 6:09 pm

The Return of ‘Community’: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hiatus

Tonight brings us the long-awaited return our beloved Community, the show that is, if you ask us, far and away the funniest, most innovative show on television (or off television, as the last couple months would have it).  While we still had Parks and Recreation, and welcomed back 30 Rock with open arms, Thursday nights just weren’t the same without the Greendale study group, just not as magical.

However, even though we dearly missed the show, and do worry about its chronically low-ratings and tenuous chances of renewal, we were not in panic-mode like some others were over its benching.  First off, the show was not canceled, and even though there was no definitive return date when the hiatus was announced, there was never a doubt that it would return this season.  Even if the show pulls in dismal ratings (which it unfortunately does), it wouldn’t make much financial sense for NBC to produce a full season and then never air the back half.  It’s not like Community will fare much worse than any of their other comedies, save for The Office.  So the hiatus was not a punishment, or a really even a threat.  Just a business decision, one that NBC scheduling has now applied to Parks  and Rec, as that equally wonderful show takes a break til late April.

Keep reading: Why the hiatus was good for Community and good for us

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Filed under Analysis, Bob Loblaw, Brilliance, Discos and Dragons, Good Humor, Greendale Human, Mars Investigations, Must See TV

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2011/12/21 · 12:13 pm

On the First Day of Hanukkah Jumped the Snark Gave to You…

…a classic Seinfeld clip.  We saw this episode a few weeks ago and were blown away by how it absolutely holds up, better than 99% of shows on TV today.  Sure, the laugh track is antiquated and the Hollywood facsimile of New York City is legitimately laughable, but the dialogue and the acting remain sheer brilliance.

It’s also amazing that a show that essentially centers on four Jews (depending on how you categorize Kramer) was at one-time the most popular sitcom in these United but Divided States.  It is not surprising, however, that it’s still considered one the greatest, if not the greatest, of all-time.

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Filed under Good Humor, Lady Holiday, Woody Allen, Bar Mitzvahs & Bagels

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2011/11/26 · 8:11 pm

Happy (Belated) T.Hanksgiving

Hope your turkey was delicious! (and its production did destroy your kitchen, nor was it launched through a window)

(and, yes, we know we posted this clip just a couple weeks back, but it’s more appropriate than ever.  And if you’re complaining about too much Hanks, well, then, you’re just not the kind of reader we want on this blog).

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2011/11/02 · 4:49 pm

The Origin of a Laugh

It occurred to us recently, as we watched this classic scene from the Money Pit, that we may have very well learned our deep, guttural laugh from Tom Hanks himself.  Sure, the nature vs. nuture debate remains, but as this movie was a touchstone of our childhood, during our most formative years, it’s not a stretch to suggest we picked up our miggle (man giggle) from the former Kip Wilson.

(find the guffaw at the 2:10 mark, but watch the entire clip, unless you hate fun)

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2011/08/29 · 10:11 pm

Suds in Your Buds

Jumped the Snark favorite Jason Sudeikis was the guest on today’s WTF Podcast with Marc Maron, and he proved once again that he’s clever, humble, grounded, genuine and, more than anything, gracious.  He still might be our next movie star (even with Hall Pass‘ middling reception), but he shows no indication that fame and fortune will go to his head.  As you will learn, Gallagher he is not.

[audio http://hw.libsyn.com/p/8/4/d/84d0182f8c7631c2/WTF_-_EPISODE_205_JASON_SUDEIKIS.mp3?sid=67fa63fd23827d47851b40cfddf54376&l_sid=18938&l_eid=&l_mid=2698371]

Favorite tidbit from the interview: when Suds found out he was promoted to the SNL cast  he got day drunk with friends and hit golf balls at Chelsea Piers.  We always knew this was the kinda guy we’d like to hang out with.  He just went ahead and showed it once again.

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2011/08/03 · 8:49 pm

Comedy Central & Michael Ian Black Team Up to Celebrate Us All Week!

Well, it came has huge surprise to us, but Comedy Central has devoted a whole week to little ol’ us, and, even better, “Snark Week” is being hosted by our all-time favorite Michael Ian Black.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Honestly, we had no idea that they had this in the works, but we could not be more flattered, especially with Black (Magic to his friends) as the master of ceremonies.  Truly, an enormous, humbling honor.

Let’s say we all return the favor and tune in for Black’s Comedy Central special “Very Famous” this Saturday at 11pm (10pm Central).   It’s the least we can do.

 

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