Tag Archives: 30 Rock

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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2011/01/26 · 12:17 pm

You Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone: Quick Thoughts On Last Week’s NBC Thursday Comedies

 

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!).

 

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2011/01/20 · 6:15 pm

Flashback: Another Look at Another Look at ‘Parks and Recreation’

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!

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2011/01/13 · 10:26 pm

Gratuitous Search Term Bait of the Day: Dairy Show

It was just yesterday that we were thinking that our late 2009 blog post Dairy Burn (How ’30 Rock’ Taught Us That Stone Mountain & Long Island Are Not That Different) was one of our better works, if not for its convincing parallels between northeast yuppie suburbanites and southern redneck bumpkins, then purely for its impressive investigative journalism, tracking down the Long Island Dairy Barn that served as Fatty Fat’s Sandwich Ranch in a Season Four episode of 30 Rock. While not our crowning achievement, it’s certainly something to be proud of.  So what luck when we saw among today’s top search terms “dairy barn long island,” giving us the perfect opportunity to link to that original piece.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE POST (AND THEN TELL US IF WE HAVE A FUTURE IN DETECTIVE WORK)

And, for something new, here’s what our hometown Dairy Barn looks like.  First person to pinpoint the location of this branch wins an amazing* prize.

[It’s interesting to note that in that original post we implied that 30 Rock was the second funniest show on television, trailing only The Office.  Now, a little over a year later, we’d easily rank both of those shows behind their two Thursday night companions, Community and Parks and Recreation.  Even more, we’d have to admit that 30 Rock would now be slotted ahead The Office, but more for the latter’s decline in quality than improvement by the former.]

*”Amazing” is a relative term

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2011/01/05 · 9:41 pm

In Memorium Nostalgia Corner: Bill Erwin

Well, it’s been a big week for Growing Pains news.  Unfortunately, this latest development is of the sadder variety, as we’ve lost another member of the Growing Pains family.  It was announced today that veteran actor, Bill Erwin passed away at his home on December 28th, at the admirable age of 96.  You may know him best as Sid Fields from Seinfeld, the old man whom Jerry volunteers to assist, a role for which Erwin was nominated for an Emmy.  However, long before Seinfeld, Erwin had already made an indelible mark on us from his many appearances on Growing Pains.  Over six seasons Erwin appeared on the sitcom eight different times as seven different characters, from Buzz the plumber to Lloyd the fumigator to the school janitor (he was the go-to old man for thankless blue-collar jobs, evidently).  He was like Bruce Willis in North, or Rachel Dratch in the first season of 30 Rock, there whenever the Seavers needed him, in whatever guise was most appropriate.  We’ve seen him in many roles since then, some he shot after, some he shot before, but, to us, he’ll always be the old man from Growing Pains.

And here he is as Bubs the mechanic, from the Growing Pains meta-episode “Meet the Seavers:”

And if you watched Home Alone over Christmas (like we did a couple of times) you might also recognize Erwin as the old man in the Scranton airport who refuses to give up his plane tickets to Mrs. McCallister:

TV and film just lost a good one, that’s for sure.

[btw, not to be confused with Bill Irwin]

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2010/12/27 · 11:35 am

Winter Cleaning: My (Belated) Top 10 TV Shows of the 2000s

With the snow keeping us indoors we thought it might be a good time to go through our drafts and let some of these long-languishing, somewhat unfinished posts see the light of day.  First up, our best shows of the 2000s, which we held off publishing until we could embed some video evidence.  But, at this point, we’ll put that responsibility in your hands.

My belated best TV shows of the 2000s! (in a semi-particular order)

1. LOST: For the reasons I outline here.

2. The Sopranos: The Godfather of dark, fearless cable shows with flawed central characters.  Might be responsible for killing network TV.

3. Arrested Development:  Simply the smartest sitcom of all time.  It was probably to clever for its own good.  It was basically teaching a master class in comedy while throwing out an impossible amount of sight gags, call backs and cutaways.  We should just be thankful that we got 3 seasons of this masterpiece.

4. Veronica Mars: Could have put it below Freaks and Geeks, but I give it the edge for somehow making it to season three (even if that was a neutered, watered-down version of VM).  I’d put the first season up against any season from the last decade.

5.  Freaks and Geeks: The most gut-wrenchingly accurate depiction of high school ever.  18 episodes of achingly beautiful growing pains [editor’s note: just watched much of IFC’s Freaks and Geeks Holiday Marathon, and if we revised this list today we’d be tempted to put this show at the top of this list.  It’s that fucking good].

More: 6 – 10 and Honorable Mention

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2010/12/16 · 10:57 am

Danza Moment of the Week/Did ’30 Rock’ Rip-Off ‘Taxi’?

It’s a twofer this week with our Tony Danza Moment coinciding with our suspicions over a recent 30 Rock joke.  Take a look at the offending excerpt, and then check out a classic clip from Taxi (featuring  Mr. Danza), and you decide:

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Homage?  Plagiarism?  Coincidence?  Something from Tina Fey’s subconscious?  We’ll likely never know.

But perhaps this calls for Danza to guest star on 30 Rock (they’ve exhausted just about everyone else anyway).  Maybe as new “TGS” cast member Tony Gargonzola?  A new, older love interest for Liz Lemon?  A Kabletown rival executive for Jack?  The possibilities are limited!

(we should also note that Danza had nothing to do in that Taxi scene besides stand there quietly and doodle on a piece of paper.  But if you watch him closely (as we always do) he’s totally breaking by the end.  And do you know why?  Because his heart is pure)

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2010/10/31 · 12:17 pm

Have a Spooky, Scary Halloween!

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2010/10/11 · 3:58 pm

Muppet Monday: ‘Sesame Street’ is Now Like ‘MadTV’, But Good

Sesame Street has long been in the pop culture parody business; in fact that’s basically it’s whole model, come up with concepts that will educate children but also entertain adults. But lately, they’re becoming kings of the genre, with Mad Men, 30 Rock and, most recently, True Blood parodies.  And now they’ve moved even further from the mainstream with their version of Old Spice’s “Smell Like a Man” campaign:

Between Grover and Justine Bateman we’re feeling really uncool.

Next up, no doubt, is the Sad Elmo campaign.  Or maybe Cigar Kermit.

via PopWatch

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2010/10/07 · 4:39 pm

Wait, Didn’t ‘SNL’ Do This Already? Like Twice?

EW reports that the lady ghosts of Saturday Night Live past will reunite on November 1 for “The Women of SNL,” a two-hour prime time tribute to such greats as Siobhan Fallon and Melanie Hutsell.  But wait, didn’t they already do this in May?  And then again two weeks ago?  Well, I guess SNL has shown time and time again that it’s never heard the term “too much of a good thing,” nor the phrase “You brought back Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph for the Betty White episode last season and then again in this season’s premiere.  Don’t you think that’s enough?”  But we also know the show has no reservations about repeating itself.

Let’s hope the show, which will be comprised of old sketches as well as new material, will include some of these classics, and nothing with Gilly or Penelope or anything else terrible.

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Nora Dunn, Ana Gasteyer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Laraine Newman, Cheri Oteri, and Molly Shannon are also slated to return.  However, no word yet on Ellen Cleghorne.

But all kidding aside, where’s Jan Hooks on that Murderer’s Row-esqe lineup?  She was the best lady on there in the late 80s/early 90s and we’d love to see her go up against the youngins,  sort of like when Rocky fought Mason “The Line” Dixon.  And her appearances on 30 Rock weren’t enough to quench our Hooks-thirst, nor they did truly demonstrate her versatility.

Also crossing our fingers for Yvonne Hudson.

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