It’s getting late and we had a long day (and, more importantly, we have to watch Top Chef and there’s pizza waiting), so we’re going with a search term staple today, “rashida jones.” Here’s the lovely Ms. Jones appearing on the brilliant Jeannie Tate Show, created by and starring Liz Cackowski, the former SNL and current Community scribe you might best recognize from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
And if good comedy’s not your thing, here’s Jones on the cover of Vanity Fair‘s 2011 Hollywood Issue.
That’s how we felt about The Office. As much as we’ve harangued the show this year for underusing or misusing Jim, rendering him no more than the Greek chorus, it turns out that we really need him. Absent for the entire episode, save the cold open, we kept waiting for the camera to cut to him, to confirm the absurdity of the situation. But he wasn’t there (Jon Krasinksi off shooting a movie, we assume), and without Jim to ground Michael’s insanity it was a runaway train. Now, they could still cut back on some of the Jim reaction shots, but as long as Michael is around, we’ll need that balance.
Speaking of Michael, we’ll wonder if we’ll feel the same way when he’s gone. Because, right now, we’re eager for him to get moving out of Dunder Mifflin. The act has finally grown tiresome, and it often suffocates the other characters and the show. We’re sure we’ll miss him, but that doesn’t mean we’ll want him back. However, Kudos to Mindy Kaling and Craig Robinson for continuing your MVP seasons.
Parks and Recreation, welcome home! Thank goodness you gave us that season two recap to get us back up to speed (we could have used that for The Office and 30 Rock as well, frankly), and it seems like you haven’t missed a beat. We think it got a little too broad at times (Andy with April’s new boyfriend, for example), and the overuse of things like the “Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness” worry us, but it’s definitely picking up where it left off, as the second best show of the night.
Which brings us to Community. Oh how we missed you! And you were only gone for six weeks. Don’t stay away that long ever again! You guys came back from the Christmas break without any rust, setting up what we can only assume will be an even better second half of season two. Looking forward to it. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Oh, and Outsourced was awesome (jk! jk!).
With Parks and Recreation making its long, long-awaited return tonight, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at a post we wrote in September of 2009, just before the show returned for its sophomore season. Right now, in January of 2011, Parks and Recreation is widely recognized as one of the best, if not the best, comedies on television (which is why it was so excruciating when the series was pushed until mid-season to make room for the abominable Outsourced), but just about 17 months ago when it was coming off a lackluster, somewhat disappointing first season the story was much different. It’s developed into one of the most reliable, warmest, funniest shows on network TV or any other channel, and boasts perhaps the deepest ensemble cast, but back before its second season the jury was still out, and it was a show very much still finding its footing. But Jumped the Snark went ahead and asserted the potential of the show, watching the first season and finding much room for improvement but also much room for greatness. And we think its fair to say that both this blog and Parks and Recreation were vindicated.
In that post we outlined three areas where Parks and Rec most needed to progress to reach the quality of a show like The Office, its spiritual forefather (and not only has Parks and Rec equaled its progenitor, it’s now surpassed it. The student has become the teacher). Let’s take a look at those recommendations and how Parks and Rec took them into consideration.
See what we got right and they got wrong. Plus, our advice for Season 3!
We recently had the pleasure of viewing Die Hard for the very first time (seriously!) and we were struck by a number of things. For example, it’s really, really good, Bruce Willis had a lot more hair; Alan Rickman is super creepy; you can totally see its influence on Community‘s paintball episode; and the late 80s were a weird time when computer screens only broadcast in two colors, green and black. But perhaps our biggest takeaway was this: Reginald VelJohnson sure does play a lot of cops and other uniformed personnel. And with that small thought, that tiny light bulb, was birthed yet another Jumped the Snark semi-regular feature. So, without anymore hesitation, our first installment of the “Reginald VelJohnson in Uniform Moment of the Week:”
Yes, we did that.
Filed under Greendale Human, Reginald VelJohnson, TGIF, The Big Screen
Very, very, excited about today’s entry. Many thanks to whomever searched for today’s term, because it’s allowed us to post one of our favorite scenes from Community, and also one of our favorite scenes from anything ever. Today, more than a week after Christmas, we were gifted the words “anthony michael hall community.” The fact that it’s a holiday clip makes it all the more perfect.
Anthony Michael Hall with a mustache. A brawl in fake snow. Chevy throwing punches indiscriminately. Florence + the Machine. Can’t do much better than that.
But we’re going to try! As a bonus, here’s a clip of Anthony Michael Hall from his ill-fated stint on the ill-fated tenth season of SNL (along with Robert Downey, Jr! Also ill-fated!):
We’re going to Applebees!
Unbelievably, we’re about to enter our third calendar year in existence. It seems like just yesterday we were scrambling to put together our best of the decade lists (which makes sense, because we didn’t actually post one of those until this week). In 2011 we hope to be even more timely, on-point and just plain better. Until then, let’s try to end 2010 on a high note with our not-at-all anticipated Best Shows of the Year:
1. Community: This was an absolute no-brainer. Far and away Community was the most original, ambitious, rewarding, warm, funny, creative, fearless show of 2010. It was just a little over a year ago when the show delivered its holiday episode, “Comparative Religion” (featuring mustachio’d Anthony Michael Hall), and we began to feel then that the show was truly building towards something special. When Community returned in January of this year it began what should be considered one of the greatest runs of any comedy series in television history, playing “can you top that?” with itself from week to week. Solid episodes like “Investigative Journalism” with Jack Black, “Physical Education” with a nearly naked Joel McHale, and the truly superb Goodfellas tribute “Contemporary American Poultry” culminated in the single best episode of 2010 across the board, the paintball-splattered, action movie homage masterpiece “Modern Warfare” (we know that we’ve already proclaimed the greatness of this episode, but it’s worth doing over and over again).
Keep reading: More on why Community is the best show of 2010. And 9 other good ones…
We’re snowed in on Long Island and going rather stir crazy. This would have been the perfect opportunity for our long-gestating Saved by the Bell marathon, but, unfortunately, we recently brought all five seasons back to Brooklyn for that very occasion. It’s like Gift of the Magi, but with Screech instead of a comb.
So hopefully we’ll take this predicament as an opportunity to write, reflect, and ponder the nature of man. In other words, let’s turn snow into snowade. And thanks to our mother’s refusal to pass up a discount and our father’s love of soup, we have enough provisions to last through another dozen Snowreckonings. Certainly, we feel more prepared than Kip & Henry.
[Part 2]
While we tend to side with their conclusion about the nature of man, Community might disagree. What do you think?
YOU DECIDE.
Jumped The Snark 