The Man with the Golden Tunes

John Barry cameos in The Living Daylights, his final Bond film
John Barry, musical composer for the James Bond films From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, and The Living Daylights, died yesterday at the age of 77. I won't wax poetic about the man's life, which I honestly don't know that much about, and I'll leave it to all the other news sites and movie blogs to go "but of course, Bond was only the tip of the iceberg that was Barry's musical career" and expound on his other credits, but as a lifelong Bond fanatic it's his work with 007 that has continually dazzled and will stick with me forever. The bold, brassy style he created is still emulated by new composer David Arnold and continues to set the series apart half a century later.

Of course, everyone knows (and most websites will be content with only mentioning) the iconic James Bond theme which Barry created along with Monty Norman, almost certainly the greatest theme song for a single character ever conceived in the history of cinema. The style, the energy, and the sheer, unrivaled sense of cool that pulsates from it is singular; unequalled. When the main hook kicks in at forty seconds, just for a moment, everything in the world seems badass. The way Barry weaves it into the larger tapestry of specific film scores is also sublime, such as the way it announces "JAMES BOND IS HERE, ASSHOLE!" in this cue from Goldfinger before taking on a more subdued tone befitting a secret mission.

But the work Barry did for the Bond films goes way beyond just that one tune. The music that accompanies the Moonraker fleet's ascension to Drax's space fortress proves that strong orchestration can render onscreen images sweeping, captivating, and larger than life. Barry could make a trip to the casino scream elegance from the highest rafters (particularly once the piano kicks in) or make spying in Turkey feel like the coolest job in the world. He incorporates an eastern influence without missing a beat in You Only Live Twice and makes Bond scoping for snipers at the beginning of The Living Daylights tense and atmospheric in a way other filmmakers would kill to have in the climactic scenes of their movies.

Hell, he was able to make a movie that's basically entitled Eight Vaginas seem ritzy and stylish with a few horns and strings and flutes. That's like someone upending a dumpster onto your kitchen counter and you making a gourmet meal from it.

This may sound weird to people who go by the prepackaged Bond "knowledge" of critics and mainstream collective thought, but one of Barry's best Bond scores is for his next-to-last and Roger Moore's last Bond film, A View to a Kill. It's generally regarded as one of the silliest movies of the franchise (and even I won't dispute that it probably has the worst Bond girl ever, even over The World Is Not Enough's Dr. Christmas Jones), but god damn does Barry bring it in the musical department. Some of cinema's most atmospheric creepiness ever in "Bond Underwater," while tunes like the brass-heavy "Airship to Silicon Valley" and especially "He's Dangerous" make Max Zorin into one hell of a villain. When the instruments drop out about 25 seconds into "He's Dangerous," that's exactly what it should sound like when a megalomaniacal Bond villain is coming to kill you.

But for my money(penny) the most impressive accomplishment of A View to a Kill's soundtrack may be the way Barry takes his and Duran Duran's rockin' intro song and, changing very little except the tempo and instruments it's played with, remixes it into the movie's supremely classy love theme. I mean, god damn, that is one elegant tune.

However, as is often the case with the Bond franchise, 1964's Goldfinger reigns supreme. Anyone who knows anything about movies knows the scene where Bond finds Jill Masterson's golden corpse in his hotel room, but I do wonder if that moment would be quite so legendary if our first glimpse of her body weren't synchronized with the alarming notes 49 seconds into this song. What Barry does with strings toward the middle and end of the scene where Bond is about to be sliced lengthwise with Goldfinger's laser is incredible, the way he incorporates Shirley Bassey's opening title theme as Oddjob goes about his business is brilliant, he somehow manages against all odds to make Miami seem classy and appealing, and Auric Goldfinger's raid on Fort Knox is aurally overwhelming (especially past the one-minute mark).

So I guess all I have to say is a massive thank you to John Barry for the hours upon hours of music he composed for the James Bond series between 1962 and 1987. Much of my love of movies stems from James Bond and much of my love of James Bond stems from John Barry, so however little I may know about the actual man behind the brass, his work has meant a lot to me, and I'm glad it'll live forever through the Bond films' constant reissues on Blu-ray and DVD and airings on television and his style being incorporated into new Bond films, Bond 23 and beyond, as we embark on the sixth decade of 007's cinematic career.

NBC Sitcom Roundup for 1/20/11

Another year, another bout of weekly NBC sitcommery. There's a bit of change in the water, though; Parks and Recreation has obviously joined my lineup, but I've also added a new "Funniest Moment" category to the end of each review, plus weekly power rankings of all four shows at the bottom of each roundup. Perhaps at the end of the season we can add up the rankings and consider the show (by which I mean Community) with the lowest score the winner. Think of it like golf, but with less funny clothes and more funny people.

The Office, Season 7 Episode 13 — "Ultimatum"

The Office has had many, many rough spots this season, but I thought it rallied magnificently in the midseason finale, "Classy Christmas," largely thanks to the return of Amy Ryan's Holly Flax, and that high level of quality is mostly maintained in this midseason premiere. I've talked before about my love of Ryan / Holly and I won't reiterate the same ground again, but one great, specific thing this episode nailed is how Michael and Holly really get and play off each other in a way that everyone else finds wonderfully annoying. The whole E.T. dialogue run which left Kelly shouting from over the wall for them to please shut up was perfect.

But it was actually the B-plots I enjoyed most about "Ultimatum," namely Darryl, Andy, and Dwight's book store / roller rink / strip club excursion (particularly Darryl's interaction with the book store cashier and Andy's with the skating DJ) and most everything that stemmed from Pam's chart of new year's resolutions. The scenes with Kevin crying while being force-fed broccoli and Erin stealing Creed's cartwheel thunder (Creed: "FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU! GOD!") made me laugh and laugh. This may also have been the single Jim-lightest episode of the entire series outside of the one where he was off on his honeymoon, with him inexplicably vanishing after the cold open. This isn't a criticism, exactly, as I thought the episode worked just fine without him, but it was a bit strange.

However, the one thing that was so unforgivable that it sinks the entire episode in my eyes unless I block out that it ever happened was them relying on an honest-to-god fart for comedy in the final act. I felt wildly embarrassed for the show at that moment. Never again, Office. That's not okay.

Funniest Moment: Holly holding up her ring fingers, followed by Kevin flipping her off and going "Hey! Right back at ya, bitch!" Coupled with Amy Ryan's reaction shot I was quite literally laughing so hard I had to pause the episode. And following that up with Michael and Erin's ludicrously over-the-top party in Michael's office left me with huge grin on my face. Best collective minute of the entire Thursday comedy block.

Parks and Recreation, Season 3 Episode 1 — "Go Big or Go Home"

Although the last season of Parks and Recreation easily trumped the Office season it aired against in terms of both comedy and character work, I have to admit that this premiere definitely didn't make me laugh as often as The Office's "Ultimatum." But that isn't to say I didn't enjoy it; the ridiculous enthusiasm of Rob Lowe's Chris Traeger and the understated Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt are proving brilliant additions to the ensemble. The running gag of Ben being forced against his will into playing the bad cop over and over again never fails to elicit a laugh. I also like the show introducing a new objective in the form of the Pawnee Harvest Festival. Part of what I enjoyed about the first couple seasons was the way they were always maneuvering toward and around getting the pit behind Ann's house filled and built into a park, and I'm glad something else is filling that same need for narrative drive.

I was a bit iffier on the basketball subplot. It had a terrific buildup in contrasting Andy's lackadaisical coaching style to Ron Swanson's military precision (especially the introduction of the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness), but I thought that, rather than being especially funny, Tom's vindictive refereeing just kind of caused the whole thing to fizzle out into an awkward anticlimax. I also have to ask, what the hell was up with that overly, almost creepily enthusiastic narration during the previously on segment? I was sure it was supposed to be a joke but there was no punchline. That was so weird.

Funniest Moment: A close call between Leslie tossing Jerry's painting into the lake in the opening (Jerry in general makes me laugh my ass off, he's like Toby from The Office taken to the logical extreme) and Andy explaining that "every time I look one of these kids in the eyes and he calls me coach, that's how I know... I agreed to be a coach."

30 Rock, Season 5 Episode 11 — "Mrs. Donaghy"

So does Jack and Avery's mostly unseen nuptials going awry mean we're going to end up getting a big wedding episode after all? I was actually kind of appreciative of 30 Rock avoiding that cliche, but whatever. I enjoyed the cleverness of Liz and Jack's accidental marriage and the power plays and arm-twisting that followed, particularly the continuity-rich scene as they're read the list of questions at the end, Liz publicly dedicating $5 million to a school that asks "what is art?" in Jack's name, and Jack exclaiming "My adventures, I am the protagonist!" As usual, 30 Rock is at its best when Liz and Jack share a story rather than being divided.

Also as usual, 30 Rock is at its worst when Jenna and Kenneth are segregated to their own subplot, even if it's supplemented by Danny this time out. The pseudo-marital feuding failed to elicit any laughs outside of Danny telling Kenneth "Don't think for one second this means we love you less. Know that it means that," although Kenneth's scene with a double-drinking Pete was pretty good. Tracy's subplot was fairly nondescript, but it was nice to see Dr. Leo Spaceman. Altogether, a mildly amusing midseason premiere, although the weakest of NBC's Thursday comedy block... outside of Outsourced and Perfect Couples, of course.

And lastly, one quick, slightly off-topic question: when the hell is Liz's boyfriend Carol gonna show up again? They're still together, right? I guess only being able to get him for three episodes a year is the downside of casting one of the biggest movie stars on earth as a supporting character on your TV sitcom.

Funniest Moment: By default I suppose it would have to be Liz's press conference. "The Jack and Elizabeth Donaghy High School for Teen Drama, the Arts, and FEELINGS!" "Son of a bitch!" I do wonder how Liz and Jack's marriage could be a secret to Avery after that, but I doubt it'll ever come up again.

Community, Season 2 Episode 12 — "Asian Population Studies"

I knew as soon as I saw "written by Emily Cutler" (of "Contemporary American Poultry" and "Modern Warfare" fame) that we were in for another great twenty-two minutes Community, and the episode didn't disappoint in the least. One thing I especially loved about "Asian Population Studies" was the way that all three stories, about holding tryouts for the eighth member of the study group, Troy and Pierce's secret knowledge of Shirley's pregnancy, and Annie's crush on Rich, all elaborately intertwined into one comedic tapestry, flowing in and out of the same scenes. Outside of Abed and arguably Britta (who at least got to flash Fat Neil) the episode did a masterful job giving each member of the cast a lot to chew on, letting everyone flex their comedic and occasionally even dramatic muscle. Between his horrific puns, slow clapping, and hiding on top of the bookshelf, it's probably one of Chang's top five episodes of the series. I'm also curious to see whether or not he's actually in the group now (and whether the baby is his or Andre's, but that's for a few more months down the road).

One nitpick, though: Jeff saying to Rich at the end, "I've known you for almost two years now." Rich first appeared in the episode "Beginner Pottery," which aired on March 18th, 2010. I'm no mathemagician but I'm almost positive that's nowhere close to two years ago. Jeff couldn't even really say that to Britta or Troy, let alone Rich.

Funniest Moment: The moment I admired most for its absurdity and creativity was Chang slow-clapping himself and Jeff angrily explaining that you can't do that, but for some reason the single line that made me laugh longest and loudest was "My name is Kendra, and I spell it with a 'Q-U.'" Never seen that actress before in my life but she made a monstrous comedic impact in her five or so lines.

Weekly Power Rankings: 1. Community 2. The Office 3. Parks and Recreation 4. 30 Rock

TV Pilots, Day 1 — Bob's Burgers, The Cape, Episodes, Shameless, Off the Map

Has it really been half a year since I began my last batch of TV pilot reviews? (Answer: No, but let me have my wistful opening!) Since then I've dismissed many shows about cops and lawyers and seen half the small handful of new series I deemed worthy of regular viewing canceled, but I won't be dissuaded from my mission of watching and reviewing at least one episode of every new show that hits the air. At least not until I have to sit through another sitcom as atrocious as Mike & Molly.

Nothing that bad this time though. Nothing all that great either, but hey, that's television, baby. Today we put the spotlight on Fox's Bob's Burgers, NBC's The Cape, Showtime's Episodes, Showtime's Shameless, and ABC's Off the Map:

BOB'S BURGERS


The premise in ten words or less? Animated sitcom about a family-run burger joint.

Any good? I'll say upfront that I'm not much for the animated sitcom subgenre. On rare occasion, maybe once every couple months, I'll load up a random recent episode of The Simpsons or Family Guy on Hulu to kill half an hour, but by and large I find that The Simpsons and all of Seth MacFarlane's shows have grown tired (except The Cleveland Show, which didn't "grow tired" so much as was stillborn), and I don't watch South Park because I'm not a 20-year-old state college libertarian.

So no surprise that I wasn't a big fan Bob's Burgers. There were a handful of chuckles at the dark humor and I do kind of admire the way the show rejects the pop culture-infused surreality of most animated sitcoms in favor of a story taking place in something vaguely resembling the real world — no aliens, talking dogs, or talking babies to be found — but the overall tone and pacing was sleepy and slack and I really don't like the visual design of the show's human characters. In fact I'd go so far as to call them ugly as shit and a tremendous eyesore, more reminiscent of an internet flash cartoon made by one guy in his spare time than a professional production, although the settings surrounding the characters look just fine. I also kind of hate how the wife and older daughter are both voiced by men, something which must have seemed funny on paper and maybe even in the recording booth and editing lab but in practice is just stupid in the obnoxious way, not the funny way.

Will I watch again? A show like this doesn't demand you watch every episode, so me tuning into another isn't impossible. But if I feel that rare animated sitcom itch I'm a lot more likely to just watch The Simpsons or Family Guy. I'd put my odds of watching another Bob's Burgers anytime soon at about 5%.

THE CAPE


The premise in ten words or less? Framed man becomes costumed vigilante in semi-fascist city.

Any good? Well, no. In fact, it's pretty bad. But it's an energetic, lively sort of bad that makes it almost watchable in spite of itself. It's the kind of gleefully moronic show where the main supervillain is named "Chess" and when he goes into villain mode the pupils of his eyes turn into chess pieces, and the hero's weapon is quite literally his cape, which he learns how to whip with extreme power. Compared to other recent superhero shows like Heroes and No Ordinary Family it's easily the one that most resembles an actual comic book in tone and structure despite its lack of true superpowers, giving us a very Batman-esque hero who's actually putting on a costume and going out at night to fight crime by the end of the first episode. The dialogue is truly laughable, but awesome actors James Frain and Keith David do their best to salvage some of it in supporting roles. Summer Glau is in there too, which I guess is a big deal in nerd culture, but she does little to impress. David Lyons is instantly forgettable in the title role.

However, it struck me while watching The Cape that if you took its best elements — namely an antagonist who actually provides a legitimate threat and a city that actually feels like it's hurting and oppressed and in need of a hero — and applied them to No Ordinary Family, you would arguably have one complete, good superhero show, rather than one mediocre one and one comically shitty one.

Will I watch again? Geez, probably not. But I'd rather watch it than Generic Police Procedural #487, anyway.

EPISODES


The premise in ten words or less? British TV writer couple remakes their hit sitcom in America.

Any good? Not amazing, but easily the best of the shows I'm discussing today. Interesting thing is that it really is a British sitcom at heart, something I say not to sound snobby or to imply that I think British comedy is superior to American comedy (on the contrary, no contemporary British sitcom comes within a mile of Community), but just as an objective evaluation of its mostly dry and sardonic tone and the fact that, despite Matt LeBlanc being put front and center in most of the advertising, the British couple trying in vain to remake their hit sitcom in Hollywood without sacrificing its integrity are pretty clearly the protagonists and LeBlanc the supporting character. In fact, LeBlanc has all of one minute of screentime in the pilot, which was a bit of a shame. It's not cool to admit in elite TV circles, but I loved Friends back in its day, and there's no question that LeBlanc (along with Matthew Perry) was shouldering way more than a sixth of the comedic load for most of the series.

As Hollywood satire, I'm not sure Episodes is saying anything that films and TV shows haven't been regularly mocking themselves for for a couple decades now (especially the 2006 film The TV Set), presenting the network brass as foiling the creative people at every turn, but I did mostly like the way it was presented. The scene where the writers bring in the star of their original British show (played by no less than Richard Griffiths) to audition for the network suits and sit helplessly by as the audition slowly dies was superbly awkward and funny. Let's put it this way: Episodes ain't reinventing the Hollywood satire wheel, but it's about a million times less insufferable and smug than Entourage.

Will I watch again? I don't actually have Showtime and was only able to watch Episodes and Shameless because they put the pilots up for free online, so I won't be watching it as it airs on television. However, I'll Netflix it once it's released on DVD. I mean, Christ, the entire season is only gonna be seven episodes long. At half an hour apiece, that's a one-sitter even if I rewatch the pilot. Hopefully it won't take long too long after the season finale airs next month. You never know; sometimes these cable shows take horrifyingly close to a year to hit shelves.

SHAMELESS


The premise in ten words or less? Poor family, drunk dad, too many kids.

Any good? It's atmospheric, at least, presenting a world of semi-poverty in Chicago's West Side that feels lived in and authentic, and Emmy Rossum's leading (I think leading, more on that in a second) performance is very strong. But I don't find myself particularly gripped by the show's premise, which lacks any real drive outside of just asking us to watch these people live their lives. In the pilot, one of the teenaged sons accidentally outs himself to his brother when he gets caught blowing a male convenience store cashier, but it's okay because his brother accepts him, while Emmy Rossum hooks up with a car thief who buys her and her family a new washing machine. It's certainly preferable to any daytime soap but it wasn't exactly high drama that grabbed me by the balls either.

One kind of strange thing is that William H. Macy's family patriarch seems positioned as the protagonist — first name in the credits, gets an opening voiceover narration, focus of the first scene — then proceeds to disappear for almost the entire episode, making a couple tiny cameos as a sloshing drunk, while Emmy Rossum firmly takes the lead as the oldest daughter and her family's de facto mother, despite being second billed. I guess that's fine, since I certainly have no problem with Rossum, but it seems odd they would pay an actor as big as William H. Macy to be a series regular then deploy him for five minutes of screentime, much of it spent passed out.

I should also note that Shameless is a remake of a British show of the same name that began in 2004, and from what I've read the pilot in particular is a fairly exact scene-for-scene recreation, not unlike the pilot of the American version of The Office. Whether it will continue to stick closely to its forebear or blaze new trail like The Office did I have no idea, and seeing as finding out would necessitate watching not one but both versions I doubt I ever will.

Will I watch again? Keeping in mind that, again, I don't have Showtime, I could see myself throwing it on my Netflix queue and waiting for it to float to the top. But my Netflix queue is several hundred deep and contains films and shows that have literally been on it since 2007 and are still in the triple digits, so consider that a fairly loose and noncommittal endorsement.

OFF THE MAP


The premise in ten words or less? American doctors working in South America, including Matt Saracen!

Any good? There is nothing in this world I care less about than episodic medical dramas. Like, you know that stupid fucking dream you had last night that you insist on telling me about, ignoring my reflexive yawning as you begin, "I had the weirdest dream last night"? I'm actually more interested in that dream than I am in medical dramas, which even includes the critic-approved House, a show featuring a fine leading performance which has been telling the exact same story every week for six years now. All this being a longwinded way of saying that I hated Off the Map; it bored me to tears. It's just ER or Grey's Anatomy set in a jungle, and I didn't / don't watch those shows for the very specific reason that I didn't / don't want to.

Which is actually saddening, because the show is co-starring Zach Gilford, who, via his role as Matt Saracen in Friday Night Lights, is one of my favorite TV actors of all time. Shame to see him rocket from gold to shit with such velocity. It's also starring Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer, who, despite being American and having two American parents, has the most British-sounding name I've ever heard. Like, if someone said to me in a British accent, "Hello, I'm Mamie Gummer," I'd be like, "Nice to meet you, Mamie." If someone said the same thing to me in an American accent I'd be like "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE"

Will I watch again? I would rather suffer grievous injury and receive surgery at a poorly-stocked South American hospital.

NBC Sitcom Roundup — "Classy Christmas, "Christmas Attack Zone," & "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"

Yeah, these episode reviews are like two weeks late, but when better to review three Christmas specials than on the day before Christmas? Okay, okay, starting next year I'll try to get my sitcom roundups posted in a more timely fashion. I'm also pleased to say that via Netflix Watch Instantly I've caught up on Parks and Recreation, and the second season not only managed to find a voice beyond aping The Office but was franky terrific — better than the 30 Rock or Office seasons it was airing against, to be honest, behind only Community. So starting with the return of the NBC comedy block on January 20th I'll be adding Parks and Rec to the rotation and doing a four-show sitcom roundup. Will I survive such chaos? Probably not. Let's get this Christmas party started with a Christmas party episode:

The Office, Season 7 Episode 11/12 — "Classy Christmas"

My sincere kudos to writer Mindy Kaling, director Rainn Wilson, and all the producers: they brought out the big guns for their hourlong midseason finale. "Classy Christmas" was straight-up classic era Office greatness and the best episode of the seventh season by a mile. I loved basically every minute of it. Admittedly this may correlate to my (recently documented) love of Amy Ryan, who I think is one of the most effortlessly likable actors in the world on TV or otherwise, but even before she showed up I was laughin' and hootin' and havin' a great ol' time.

But let's come back around to Amy Ryan in a minute. Starting with the smaller plots and working our way up, while Pam's homemade superhero comic book, Darryl's semi-estranged daughter, and Angela's probably-gay state senator boyfriend may not have been overwhelmingly great A-plots to anchor their own episodes, they filled out the edges of this one nicely. I particularly liked Darryl being given some extra shading beyond being the droll, detached guy in the corner office. Between Pineapple Express and Hot Tub Time Machine Craig Robinson may be the actor outside of Carell and Helms whose extra-Office fame has increased the most since the show began, and he deserves (and, after Carell's impending departure, will no doubt get) increased prominence.

Jim and Dwight's snowball war (or, more accurately, Dwight's snowball terrorism) was a hysterical turning of the prank tables. Of course this is coming from someone who has always been iffy on Jim's pranks (and I do mean always, even in the generally sublime season two); they never bothered me on the original British Office as Tim Canterbury wasn't supposed to be as much of a lovable teddy bear as Jim, but in shifting all the characters three or four shades up on the likability scale the American version has always struggled with making Jim's pranks side look like anything more than juvenile bullying. But they were all worthwhile to build up to Dwight's retaliation in this episode. Jim's humiliation upon breaking the window and his terror at the snowman army at the end were both wonderful to behold. And kudos to Rainn Wilson the director for the way he shot Dwight's reveal at the end, looking down from upon the rooftop like the grim visage of Death. Hilarious.

And finally, of course, the return of Holly Flax. As I've said before and I'm sure I'll say again over the next several months, I love Holly and I love Amy Ryan in the role. Few times in the history of television has a new character entered an established series and won me over as quickly as Holly did in The Office's fourth season finale. She stirs up the chemistry of Dunder Mifflin in such an electric way and feels like such an integral part of the mythology that it's crazy to realize she's only appeared in 9 of the show's 138 episodes. Long story short, I'm a huge fan of the character.

And her return in "Classy Christmas" (which I didn't know was coming until the day the episode aired, making for a nice real-life Christmas gift) didn't disappoint! I loved Michael initially turning into a raging manchild but swallowing his anger and jealously and putting on a show of normalcy when A.J. arrived. The Woody doll confrontation scene between Holly and Michael with the rest of the office caught in the crossfire may be my favorite scene of the season so far. "But someday I think we will laugh about this... when we tell our kids." "Yikes."

However, much as I love Holly, I also love the fact that Erin irrationally dislikes her from the moment they meet. It feels like bizarro world Michael and Toby.

General midseason thoughts: The Office is past its prime. I don't think I'm offending anyone when I say that. I doubt even the writers and producers would disagree (in their minds, anyway). If you put aside the absolutely wonderful "Classy Christmas" and the pretty darn funny Halloween episode "Costume Contest" (and, to a lesser extent, "Andy's Play") it's been a shaky season that has pointed surprisingly little towards the endgame of Steve Carell's departure as a series regular in a few short months.

But still, I love The Office. However disappointed I may be by episodes like "Counseling," "The Sting," and especially "Christening," I still find myself looking forward to visiting Scranton every single week. It comes down to the characters, which may sound obvious but isn't really the case for all shows. Something like 24 I watched for the action, something like Lost or The Event mostly for the mysteries, even other sitcoms like Arrested Development or 30 Rock I really watched / watch for the jokes. But The Office has such a deep bench of talent (as of Amy Ryan being added to the main credited cast there are now nineteen people listed as "Starring," something I don't believe can be said for a single other scripted show on television) that even when the jokewriting feels stale there's always a freshness to who the show is focusing on any given week.

30 Rock has definitely been more consistent than The Office this season, but I find myself way more excited for the return of The Office for two big reasons: one, Holly. I'm sure she won't be getting only Michael-related "mythology" stories and will have her share of episodic sitcommy stuff to do between now and May, but even in that context getting to watch Amy Ryan will be a pleasure. And two, seeing what the big plan for Michael's departure is — something they've had a year to map out, so hopefully it'll be good. I absolutely dread what The Office season eight may look like without Carell, but at the same time there's probably no television happening of 2011 outside of Game of Thrones and the ending to Friday Night Lights I'm more curious about. Bring on January 20th.

30 Rock, Season 5 Episode 10 — "Christmas Attack Zone"

"Christmas Attack Zone" was pretty decent. Not on par with this season's extremely strong four-episode stretch between "Reaganing" and "College," but I had some laughs at the Jack Donaghy and Tracy Jordan stories. But first off I have a confession, one that I gather is blasphemous in 30 Rock fandom: I really don't give a shit about Elaine Stritch as Colleen Donaghy. Every TV forum and TV blog I read just goes fucking apeshit with praise for her every single time she shows up, and I just don't get it. Yeah, she was funny in her first appearance or two, but the hypercritical mom routine quickly became redundant and one-note. But I guess the rest of America is way more into Broadway shows than I am, because every time she makes her semiannual appearance I grimace in anticipation of reading novels worth of praise about the glory and the wonder of Elaine Stritch.

I preface with this because I want to make it clear that I'm actually saying something and not just shitting out prepackaged 30 Rock criticism when I say that I enjoyed the hell out of Colleen's story in this episode, largely due to bringing Alan Alda as Milton Greene, Jack's biological father, back into the mix. I would have liked actually seeing a bit more of the awkward dinner between the Donaghy clan and Liz, but the bits and pieces we did get were largely a joy that also made better use of Elizabeth Banks as Avery Jessup than any episode so far this season. Milton and Jack's exchange of "Listen to me, dammit, I'm a doctor!" "Of history! In what emergency would you be necessary, if someone wanted to know whether the 60s were awesome or not?!" "They were!" was my biggest laugh of the episode by far.

I'm not entirely sure whether Tracy's subplot was a tribute to or an unintentional knockoff of Sullivan's Travels, but I liked it for no other reason than that I largely agree with its thesis statement that critical society undervalues comedy as meaningful art while propping up manufactured "drama." As someone who believes Forgetting Sarah Marshall to be a greater film than The Reader in every meaningful metric, I appreciate 30 Rock for agreeing that sometimes comedy is just better. That, and the gag where Tracy's Kenneth voiceover was revealed to just be Kenneth standing off to the side. But Jenna and Paul's subplot again left me stony-faced (outside of the scene between Liz and Paul in the tranny restaurant, anyway). 30 Rock, I beg of you, stop, stop, stop trying to make me laugh with Jane Krakowski singing. I absolutely promise you it is never going to happen. Just let it go.

General midseason thoughts: 30 Rock is the TV equivalent of a warm and pleasant but somewhat stale long-term relationship at this point. There ain't much fire between us anymore and it hasn't been hot and heavy since 2007 or early 2008, but at the same time I have no interest in ending things — we still have good times and some regular laughs, so why would I?

I admit there was a point at the tail end of last season, when it seemed every other episode sunk half its time into the virtually-never-funny Jack / Nancy / Avery love triangle, where I briefly considered whether or not I even wanted to keep watching. It was a bleak era. But once Avery got pregnant and Jack committed to her the show felt like it had been let out of funniness prison and this season has been a stark, unmistakable improvement from the word go. I don't expect 30 Rock to start dazzling me on a week in, week out basis any time soon (or for the rest of its run), but there remains a lot of funny people behind the scenes coming up with a handful of great jokes every week, which is pretty much exactly what the show promised from the get go. I'm in it for the long haul.

There is an interesting elephant in the room, though, one that The Office is currently in the midst of confronting: Alec Baldwin recently stated his intention to give up acting in 2012, which would be at the end of 30 Rock's sixth season (which it has already been renewed for). There are three ways this can play out: one, he changes his mind, which is by no means out of the question if they flash him some fat green. Two, they end the show, which won't happen. Or three, they continue on for a seventh season without him. Although he may not be the protagonist, 30 Rock without Baldwin in my opinion leaves even more of a gaping hole in the show's heart than The Office without Steve Carell, so let's hope NBC offers him a raise, because the alternative would be hard to watch.

Community, Season 2 Episode 11 — "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"

In terms of pure laugh count it's true that "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" falls clearly short of last season's blisteringly brilliant Christmas episode "Comparative Religion" (as well as The Office's "Classy Christmas"). Too much of the show's comedy is contained in the actors' facial expressions, especially Donald Glover's, for it to truly cross over uncompromised into the claymation medium. But I still loved this episode for no other reason than that it showed once again how creative and how incredibly ambitious Community is compared to every other sitcom on television. Absolutely nothing else would have the brass balls to try something like this, or the zombie episode, or the Apollo 13 episode, or most of this season's episodes. Make no mistake, Dan Harmon and the rest of Community's writing staff are going balls to the wall with every out-there idea they've ever had, holding back nothing, and it's awesome.

In a way I think this episode was sort of the thematic sequel to the third episode of the series, "Introduction to Film." Both revolved around Abed's issues with his parents (although more specifically his mother in this case), filtering them through pop culture as Britta tries her best to help him and is largely brushed aside for her efforts. Difference being that the study group is much closer and much more a family by this point, and fittingly the entire crew is involved in Abed's crisis this time rather than just Britta and Jeff. In fact, I thought it was interesting that the episode dispensed with Community's official protagonist Jeff (plus Shirley) fairly quickly after they reached Planet Abed, with Pierce surprisingly being the only one to make it to the end of Abed's mindtrip.

The resolution went for a sort of gooey heartwarmingness that I admit I'd probably cringe at if they insisted on ending every episode in such an emotionally blunt fashion, but hey, it's Christmas, and it seems to be a one-time thing. I'll let it slide. Using the Lost DVD a metaphor to represent "lack of payoff" won my heart as well. "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" may not join Die Hard or Home Alone on my list of Christmas classics the way I felt "Epidemiology" was an instant classic work of horror-comedy able to stand with some of the best ever, but nonetheless, nice show, Community.

General midseason thoughts: Not only is Community still the best sitcom on television, it's reached the point where it's insane to me that anyone would argue otherwise. The ambition approaches Arrested Development and the unreal chemistry of the cast approaches Friends week by week. True, this semester saw what I feel is probably the worst episode of the series, "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples," but almost every single other episode has been one degree or another of fantastic.

Yeah, there's been a lot of high concept pop culture parodies, with zombies, 70s conspiracy thrillers, Apollo 13, Mean Girls, The Secret Garden, and now Rankin/Bass claymation Christmas specials all getting riffed on, but most of these have been so terrific I couldn't possibly criticize the show for it. Not to mention that other episodes like "Anthropology 101," "Accounting for Lawyers," "Cooperative Calligraphy," and "Mixology Certification" have been parody-free and outstanding, with the lattermost being understated and sad in a way that I didn't know this show had it in itself to pull off.

To go on would just decline into me listing a bunch of favorite moments from the season thus far, so I'll just say that "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" cemented Annie as my favorite character, I'm feverishly anticipating the show's return next year, and leave it at that. It's one of my favorite shows of all time, and my heart can barely take the notion that low ratings could lead to its cancellation next spring, especially if $#*! My Dad Says and Mike & Molly continue to shamble on, mocking television with their existence.

Ranking Community Season 1

For years I went back and forth every other day on whether the best stretch of post-Arrested Development TV comedy was the first two seasons of 30 Rock or the second and third seasons of The Office. Try as I might, it was an impregnable quandary. But in fall of 2009 Dan Harmon and the Russo brothers came along and made an impossible decision very easy: the best post-Arrested Development TV comedy, and a very real contender for my second favorite sitcom of all time, is NBC's Community. I mean, I love The Office. I love 30 Rock. Never missed an episode of either, never plan to. But I'd see both of them and every other non-Community sitcom on TV canceled and yanked off the air today if it would guarantee Harmon a few more seasons to do his thing.

An insanely likable cast with massive chemistry, clever and ambitious storytelling, sly subversion of sitcom tropes, strong filmmaking, flat-out sublime joke writing and more make it clear that Community is operating on a level unrivaled by any other comedy on television (and only one or two dramas, to be honest). I never thought a half-hour college comedy would trump Judd Apatow's Undeclared, but Community does so within its first ten episodes and just keeps on improving. It's so good it's almost ruined the genre of comedy for me. I saw dozens of comedy films in theaters in 2010, and even liked some, but with the exceptions of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and possibly MacGruber I was always left thinking, "well, that had fewer laughs than any given twenty-two minutes of Community, and Community is free."

I recently picked up and rewatched the first season on DVD, seeing most of the episodes for the first time since they originally aired, and just had to talk about how much I love this show. But rather than doing a straight-up review I decided to go through the entire season and and rank each episode from #25 to #1, along with some brief discussion of and favorite moments from each. Keep in mind that unlike my best of the year movie lists, which I try to write as readable and coherent even if you haven't seen a single movie discussed, I'm writing this more for the already-iniated, because I want to highlight specific jokes. But enough foreplay, let's get streets ahead.

25. Episode 2 - "Spanish 101"

I'll say first thing that there's not a single episode of this season that I consider bad television (the only Community to date which I actively dislike is season two's "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples"), but "Spanish 101" does, like several of the first six episodes, demonstrate some growing pains. It's somewhat fun to watch Senor Chang's intro and Jeff and Pierce's presentation, but Annie and Shirley's protest subplot is dead in the comedic water. I'm not saying any newbies should skip "Spanish 101" — it's still better than a solid half of 30 Rock season four — but I will say to power through and not think too hard about it.

Best Moment: "La Biblioteca," of course.

24. Episode 14 - "Interpretive Dance"

Again, not a bad episode by any means, but it seems like they were going for a "Debate 109" or "Comparative Religion"-level set piece with Britta and Troy's dance at the end, which it in no way measures up to. The exposure of Jeff and Slater's secret relationship is more entertaining.

Best Moment: Honestly, I'd have to go with Annie's gasp of shock and betrayal when Britta announces that she and Troy have something to tell everyone. Not because it's a particularly brilliant joke as written but because Alison Brie is the best.

23. Episode 5 - "Advanced Criminal Law"

The A-plot with the poolside trial is pretty good stuff and among the earliest hints at how bizarre and creative Community would eventually become, although I will say that Britta using a cheat sheet initially soured me on her character. Still, hard to deny the greatness of John Oliver. The subplot with Pierce's song is a bit flat and anticlimactic but fortunately Pierce's musical career would be put to much better use a mere three episodes later.

Best Moment: Probably Leonard getting "busted" for not wearing a bathing suit, because Leonard is hilarious.

22. Episode 11 - "The Politics of Human Sexuality"

I love Annie's entire "reverse Porky's" subplot, and although it stretches even Community's version of reality to have a TV nerd best the former high school quarterback, Abed and Troy's battle of athleticism is worth some chuckles. But while I appreciate Jeff coming to respect women (or at least Britta) as essential character development, I do think they could have found a way to make it a little funnier.

Best Moment: Either Annie's traumatic backstory about losing her virginity, the guidance counselor insisting that everyone say "penis," or any time the phrase "reverse Porky's" is uttered. Annie's whole subplot, really.

21. Episode 1 - "Pilot"

Sitcom pilots are the first dates of television — they're rough, awkward, mostly consist of feeling things out, and your chances of walking away satisfied are slim to nonexistent, but at the same time they're a necessary evil to get to the good stuff. Comedic rhythm between actors takes time to develop and it's almost never all there within one episode, and Community is no exception (neither is Arrested Development, for that matter, for which the pilot is probably one of the top five weakest episodes of the series). Annie and Troy are written slightly but noticeably differently than they would eventually become and Jeff's manipulative speech at the end runs a good half-minute long. However, it does a good job setting up the world of Greendale, Winger's character, and winning some laughs along the way, and I loved the John Hughes / Breakfast Club tributes.

Best Moment: "You know, I thought you were like Bill Murray in any of his films, but you're more like Michael Douglas in any of his films." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Well you have Asperger's." "...what does that mean?" "Ass burger." "It's a serious disorder." "It really is." "If it's so serious why don't they call it... meningitis? Asperger's!" "Burger for yo' ass."

20. Episode 25 - "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"

This is a good episode but, I admit, a little bit disappointing as a season finale in that it isn't a great episode. It really is just a sitcom love triangle — one with characters I'm actually invested in and jokes that are actually funny (the Dean's dalmatian fetish, Troy's cookie, people at the Tranny Dance shouting which "team" they're on, anything with John Oliver, etc.) — but on the basic story level it really doesn't attempt to subvert, parody, or rise above the traditional sitcom love triangle in any way. It's almost like something out of latter-era Friends. I also thought Britta's desperate, lovesick characterization was off.

Best Moment: Either the closing credits tag, where we see a whole different side of Greendale who neither know nor like our heroes, or Troy angrily telling Abed that there was a Happy Days where a guy literally jumped over a shark, and it was the best one.

19. Episode 20 - "The Science of Illusion"

Now here's where we start getting into the unambiguously good stuff. Britta's April Fools prank gone awry has amusing slapstick value even if cadaver humor is a little tired these days, and the Dean bringing in the corpse's family one by one to talk to Chang's Spanish class about their memories of him is hilarious, but the true magic of "The Science of Illusion" is in Shirley and Annie's bad cop / badder cop routine, with Abed always watching and occasionally playing their no-nonsense African-American police chief who's too old for this shit.

Best Moment: Annie macing herself.

18. Episode 6 - "Football, Feminism, and You"

The ladies' room etiquette subplot is a bit hit-or-miss, but any episode with a big emphasis on Donald Glover can't really go wrong, not to mention the introduction of the Greendale Human Being.

Best Moment: Troy's politically conservative high school shamefully outdated fight rap.

17. Episode 24 - "English as a Second Language"

Kind of interesting how both of the final two episodes of the season have such heavy emphasis on Annie, but on the other hand Annie is one of my favorite characters on television so I can hardly complain. The revelation of how poorly-taught the class has been for an entire year is hysterical, and while Troy's Good Will Hunting subplot is bizarre and arbitrary even by Community standards (and peaks ten seconds in when he steals the chalk instead of solving the equation), it's still pretty funny in its absurdity. I also like that it's Pierce who saves the day in the end.

Best Moment: Either the class realizing how in over their heads they are after a minute of their new Spanish teacher, Chang destroying Jeff's car followed by Jeff and Chang being tased together, or Star-Burns leading everyone out in a show of support for "Hannah." Tough call.

16. Episode 15 - "Romantic Expressionism"

This is definitely an episode where the B-plot trumps the A-plot. Not that the A-plot is bad (indeed, both of my best moments below stem from it), but while Jeff and Britta trying to break up Annie and Vaughn may amuse, Pierce's attempts at winning bad movie night are classic. Watching him bomb during Kickpuncher is awkward comedy done right, his hiring of a community college sketch comedy troupe (played by Derrick Comedy) to write him a series of homophobic jokes is one of the funniest Pierce bits of the season, and capping things off with Troy and Abed's own homoerotic Kickpuncher sequel makes for a great episode.

Best Moment: Either Troy having the weirdest boner or Jeff and Leonard shouting at each other over the macaroni.

15. Episode 4 - "Social Psychology"

Another episode where I feel the B-plot dominates. "Social Psychology" does a good job developing Jeff and Shirley's friendship (and one thing I like about Community is that there's a lot more variety to the nature of the cast's relationships than in something like Friends; everyone isn't just equal-footing buddies) and no one can deny that Eric Christian Olsen throws himself into the role of tiny-nippled Vaughn. But the real highlight is the titular psych experiment with Annie, Abed, and Professor Ian. Everyone's freakouts as the experiment goes on are classic (especially Troy crawling out of the room like a wounded animal). Annie and Abed are my two favorites so any plot that puts them together I'm pretty much guaranteed to love.

Best Moment: Abed telling Annie that he "figured we were more like Chandler and Phoebe, they never really had stories together," explaining to her that he stayed because he thought they were friends, or her apologizing to him with a gift of Indiana Jones... any Abed and Annie moment, really. The ending tag is great too.

14. Episode 16 - "Communication Studies"

Minor classic territory now, and the first episode on this list I feel basically every aspect of works completely. The level to which the main drunk dial storyline digs into Jeff, Britta, and Abed is brilliant, making room for pathos, awkwardness, power plays, Britta looking incredibly sexy dressed up for the Valentine's dance, and an absurdist Breakfast Club-styled drinking montage. Mix with Troy and Pierce's humiliation in the B-plot and the Greendale Human Being's transformation into the Cupid Being and you have great fucking television.

Best Moment: Three-way tie between Jeff and Abed's drinking montage, Troy dancing full-heartedly with his body while crying with his face, and Jeff looking back at Britta as he and Slater leave the dance.

13. Episode 13 - "Investigative Journalism"

This one seemed a little controversial on forums I read due to the way Jack Black takes over the show, but as a television junkie I thought it was a kind of brilliant parody of unwelcome guest stars stepping into and taking over sitcoms (remember Brad Pitt and a million other Friends guest spots?). I mean, obviously the character he's playing is annoying and unwelcome. That's the point, and the way he sneaks into the group hug at the beginning makes me laugh every time. In a way, "Investigative Journalism" is as much a pop culture parody as "Modern Warfare" or season two's "Epidemiology," it's just a parody of something much more niche and specific. Factor in all the flavorful M*A*S*H references and I think this episode rules.

Best Moment: Senor Chang's fake death, resurrection, and rap (although the most classic line is "Annie's pretty young, we try not to sexualize her.").

12. Episode 18 - "Basic Genealogy"

Okay, I'll admit that neither Abed's dad and Shirley's kids or Jeff trying to sleep with Pierce's stepdaughter just blow the roof off of contemporary comedy, but, seriously, Britta getting spanked by Troy's grandma while Troy sobs in the background is one of the absolute funniest things to be broadcast on television in 2010. It's just so beautifully, sublimely absurdist, and I suspect no actor on earth cries funnier than Donald Glover. When I first saw "Basic Genealogy" I was still thinking back to the spanking scene and laughing a week later. I still laugh thinking about it today.

Best Moment: Britta's spanking, of course. (Although a solid silver for second has to go to Jeff sobbing to Pierce about how much he hates Glee.)

11. Episode 3 - "Introduction to Film"

After funny but not quite revelatory first and second episodes, this was the Community that startled me with how much more I enjoyed it than any recent Office or 30 Rock and assured the show a permanent place on my viewing schedule, and is easily the best of the first six. John Michael Higgins (Wayne Jarvis on Arrested Development... what a pro) is hilarious as the professor who challenges Jeff more than expected with his supposedly blow-off "seize the day" class, but the episode's heart and soul is unquestionably Abed and the film project he's made for his father. I don't know that I've ever seen a non-lead sitcom character take shape so quickly and distinctly.

Best Moment: Abed's film.

10. Episode 7 - "Introduction to Statistics"

If "Introduction to Film" is the episode where I truly became a Community fan, "Introduction to Statistics" is the episode where Community truly became Community: the characters have taken shape and the unique, self-aware tone and the pop culture references are charging full-speed ahead. Sure, drug trips are a little bit generic for college comedy, but this was where I really started feeling for Annie (way more than after her guilt trips in "Football, Feminism, and You"), and although Abed-Batman saving Jeff and Pierce from the collapsing chair fort may pale compared to "Modern Warfare" (from the same episode director as this one, Justin Lin of Better Luck Tomorrow fame), it was unexpected and absolutely hilarious at the time.

Best Moment: Either Abed saving Jeff and Pierce or his Batman monologue on the roof immediately after.

9. Episode 8 - "Home Economics"

Every element rocks. Annie's unrequited passion for Troy which comes to involve a visit to the school nurse played by Patton Oswalt, Jeff becoming homeless, moving in with Abed, and absorbing his lifestyle, and especially Pierce and Vaughn's musical collaboration and then rivalry with Britta caught in the crossfire. I just had a grin on my face after watching, which is what a sitcom episode should aspire to.

Best Moment: All three insult songs ("Getting Rid of Britta," "Pierce You're a B," and "Pierce's Rap") are hilarious, but the first is definitely the best. Pierce's nasal "She's a G.D.B.!" just can't be beat, especially coupled with Britta's expression at the end.

8. Episode 22 - "The Art of Discourse"

Jeff and Britta's plot to achieve vengeance against the high schoolers by having Jeff sleep with the ringleader's mom would be enough to hold up a really funny episode all on its own (some people didn't like the "DUH!" climax, but it made me laugh my ass off), but when you mix in Abed and Troy going on a mission to work through Abed's first year of college checklist, culminating with Animal House "where are they now?" subtitles, and especially Shirley and Pierce's feud, you have one of the funniest TV episodes of 2010. Definitely the best Shirley / Pierce story of the series to date.

Best Moment: Easily Pierce offering flowers and an apology to the wrong middle-aged black woman. Absolutely fucking hilarious.

7. Episode 17 - "Physical Education"

Another all-brilliant all-the-time piece of work and a particularly great episode for Jeff and Abed, with a revealing and spectacular climax. I like how this episode and "Beginner Pottery" show that Jeff isn't pure cool and has his own absurd, self-conscious side just waiting to be unleashed.

Best Moment: I really can't choose. Naked billiards is hysterical and a choice I'd be comfortable with, but Britta's mispronunciation of "bagel," the revelation of white Abed, and Abed doing "Don Draper from Mad Men" and nearly kissing Annie are also goddamn classic.

6. Episode 19 - "Beginner Pottery"

You'd think that Tony Hale of Arrested Development fame stepping in to teach a class at Greendale would easily dominate the episode comedically, and the way it sends Jeff into a Goldblumming psychosis is indeed really funny (I also like that Hale is playing a character who has nothing in common with Buster Bluth), but for my money Shirley, Pierce, Britta, and Troy's boating B-plot is even better. The tragedy, the drama, the triumph of it; simply sublime.

Best Moment: Shirley sending the ship across the parking lot to rescue Pierce scored to epic adventure music, but "the hilarious guy-on-guy" followed by Tony Hale pointing to and then defending his anti-Swayze poster comes damn close.

5. Episode 10 - "Environmental Science"

I absolutely love these top five episodes. "Environmental Science" unapologetically spends its entire duration building up to Troy and Abed's rat-luring song sequence which is used to underscore the resolution of every story, but good lord does it really, really work. It almost has a season finale feel to it, when it wasn't even the winter finale. Community don't fuck around.

Best Moment: "Somewhere Out There" is the moment that Community officially became one of my favorite shows.

4. Episode 12 - "Comparative Religion"

First off, Anthony Michael Hall's guest spot basically couldn't be any funnier. Every moment he spends onscreen as Greendale's resident bully is gold (not to mention that Hall and Chevy Chase together makes this a National Lampoon's Vacation reunion, even if they never interact). But I also think the way the episode approaches the topic of religion is deft and funny (especially Pierce labeling Jeff a "lazy man's atheist"), not preaching one way or another and having it all come down to a mass brawl in the quad anyway. Part of the reason I disliked season two's "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" so much is that it handled bluntly and awkwardly what "Comparative Religion" already had with subtlety and care, but it doesn't change this being one of my favorite sitcom Christmas specials of all time.

Best Moment: You'd think the final brawl, and it'd be a good guess, but in truth the moment that made me laugh hardest was Pierce kicking Troy in the shin followed by Troy spitting "WHY SHE HAFTA BE BLACK?!" I couldn't breathe.

3. Episode 9 - "Debate 109"

The B-plots with Abed's eerily accurate student films and Britta's hypnotherapy are extremely solid (especially Chevy Chase's slow, agonizing pratfall into the drums as he attempts to escape the music room), but the A-plot dominates here and I think it's definitely the strongest Annie episode of the entire series to date as well as the one where I decided she's my favorite character. Something about Greendale vs. City College just really lets the comedy flow (also seen in season two's "Basic Rocket Science") and my only disappointment is that antagonist Jeremy Simmons has yet to make a return appearance.

Best Moment: This is gonna seem like a very shipper thing to say, but Annie kissing Jeff and forcing him to drop Jeremy Simmons to win the debate was probably the most perfect imaginable climax for the episode.

2. Episode 21 - "Contemporary American Poultry"

I love Goodfellas and I love The Godfather and I love Abed — hell, I even love chicken fingers — so it should come as no surprise that I consider this episode a masterpiece and, as with "Debate 109" and Annie, Abed's all-time high. Every aspect of crime cinema, from the initial elimination of Star-Burns that allows them in the game, to the establishment of their chicken finger criminal empire, to the period of wealth and prosperity, followed by greed, betrayal, and finally downfall, is somehow squeezed into twenty-two perfect minutes (less, not counting the ending tag). How'd they do it? I dunno, but I think "Contemporary American Poultry" is one of my favorite sitcom episodes of all time, something that truly shows how ambitious Community is compared to every other comedy on television. I should note that Emily Cutler wrote both this and the next and final episode on this list, which in my opinion makes her one of the best comedy writers on the planet.

Best Moment: The Godfather homage when Troy closes the door on Jeff while Abed's hand is being kissed just fucking slays me. That's how you do a pop culture reference, Seth MacFarlane.

1. Episode 23 - "Modern Warfare"

This is such a cliché pick for favorite Community episode, yet impossible to escape from. My jaw was on the floor after I watched "Modern Warfare." It helps that Die Hard is one of my all-time top ten favorite films and I love 80s action in general, but I don't think the ambition and scale of something like "Modern Warfare" has ever been attempted in the sitcom medium prior to 2010. It's just brilliant, breathtaking, and hilarious, and I love, love, love that they upped the emotional stakes to match the apocalyptic settings by choosing this episode to have Jeff and Britta finally hook up. Honestly, other sitcom producers should look at "Modern Warfare," something Dan Harmon put together in his first goddamn year as a TV showrunner (with the help of Justin Lin and Emily Cutler), and feel profound shame. This episode raised the bar, and while I can't read the future and say that nothing will ever be the same, I hope it won't be. This is the shit television was invented for.

Best Moment: Senor Chang's entire John Woo-flavored scene in the library with Jeff and Britta should be studied by TV writers, directors, and producers for years to come, and I'm not kidding or exaggerating in the slightest when I say that. It's two minutes of perfection.

Ranking Fall 2010's New TV Series FINALE

Okay, time for the final update to my rankings of fall 2010's new TV shows in light of the season finales of Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead and what turned out to be the series finale of FX's now sadly canceled Terriers.

First off, Terriers, which was an original, compelling, dark, supremely well-acted and often unexpectedly hilarious mystery show through its first eleven episodes, abruptly became fucking incredible in its two-part series finale. Like, holding-your-breath, heart-thumping-as-it-goes-to-commercial, saying-"holy shit!"-right-out-loud incredible. I had ranked it #2 behind Boardwalk Empire through most of the season, considering the two shows more or less tied, but after the finale there was no longer any contest. I'll stop here because I wanna do a more elaborate full series review later, so let's just say Terriers was the greatest new show of 2010 and leave it at that.

That leaves Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead fighting it out for #2. It's no secret by this point that Boardwalk turned out not to be the Sopranos-in-the-1920s-style gangster show they marketed it as and most people wanted it to be, instead being a show about business and politics at a time when business and politics were slightly rougher and may have occasionally involved a murder or two. And hey, I love political shows — The West Wing is one of my all-time favorites — so that's basically okay with me. I said at the beginning of the season and I say again today that the gorgeous and wildly expensive production values are probably the show's highlight and I look forward to season two if only to spend more time in the Prohibition-era Atlantic City they've created.

The Walking Dead is a rawer, more visceral and immediate pleasure which delivers exactly on the promise of its advertising: zombies, zombies, and more zombies. I think it has the potential to become a greater show than Boardwalk if the second season evolves in interesting and unexpected directions, but I did find the first season finale to be filler-esque and not the highest note to end on. It would have been a perfectly good sixth episode of a twelve or thirteen-episode season, but as a season finale it definitely wasn't a pockmark on Terriers' ass. Still, I look forward to more Georgia zombie adventures. As I said last month about a different show, consider The Walking Dead and Boardwalk Empire for all practical purposes tied. Now if they combined them into The Boardwalking Dead Empire, we may have the greatest show of all time.

As for the shows in my watchable tier, The Event and No Ordinary Family are alike in that I've grown a bit warmer on the positive aspects of each but colder still on the negatives. I continue to admire The Event's extremely tight serialization and the big picture has taken shape a little with the revelation of Hal Holbrook as the main antagonist of the 24-style half of the show, but the alien pod people that provide the main narrative impetus for the Lost-style half of the show have grown silly and I no longer find them intimidating or particularly interesting. The Event's better than most of what premiered this fall but I could never, ever describe these first ten episodes as good television with a straight face.

Meanwhile, over on No Ordinary Family, the main story with the husband and wife has developed nicely as they've grown into their superpowers, fought some crime, and deepened their partnerships with their sidekicks while a villain has taken shape and there's even been an unexpected death or two among the supporting cast. Unfortunately every episode has its runtime clogged with useless, episodic storylines involving the son and the daughter where they use their powers to do high school stuff. One recent episode involved the mom and dad trying to catch a pyrokinetic supervillain and coping with accidentally killing him in self-defense while the son and daughter, I shit you not, tried to fix a statue they'd accidentally knocked off a table at home. It was like that episode of Saved by the Bell where they break the Elvis statue at Screech's parents' house had been spliced in by accident. Talk about your fucking mood whiplash.

I dropped Mitch Hurwitz's new and rapidly dying sitcom Running Wilde down below No Ordinary Family, because when Fox announced its soft cancellation (they aren't yanking it from the air and will let it play out the season, but it's definitely done and will not be be renewed) I didn't have the slightest reaction of disappointment. I just kind of shrugged and was like "welp, saw that coming." I think even No Ordinary Family's cancellation would provoke more of a response from me than that. Running Wilde gave me some chuckles and even a legitimate laugh or three, but we didn't exactly have a torrid love affair.

Lastly, no show below Running Wilde has changed ranks, because I haven't watched any more episodes of them, so how could they?

Recap:
Day 1: Outlaw, Boardwalk Empire, Chase, The Event, Lone Star
Day 2: Detroit 1-8-7, Raising Hope, Running Wilde, Better With You, Undercovers
Day 3: My Generation, Outsourced, No Ordinary Family, Law & Order: Los Angeles
Day 4: Blue Bloods, The Defenders, Hawaii Five-0, Mike & Molly, $#*! My Dad Says
Day 5: Hellcats, Terriers, Nikita, The Whole Truth
Day 6: The Walking Dead
October 16th Rankings
November 15th Rankings

Beyond the jump, the rankings!

NBC Sitcom Roundup — "China," "Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish," & "Mixology Certification"

Apologies for being rather late with and terse in my sitcom roundup this week, but with the midseason finales just around the corner I'm holding off to post more elaborate thoughts on the general status of all three shows sometime in the next few days. But in the interest of not missing a week lemme bust out some quick and dirty minireviews on last Thursday's new episodes.

The Office, Season 7 Episode 10 — "China"

Just as "WUPHF.com" seemingly served to wrap up Michael and Ryan's relationship, this episode seems to put a cap on Michael and Oscar by letting Michael intellectually one-up Oscar for the first and presumably only time ever. I was cringing when their storyline began with Michael's red scare paranoia, because one thing The Office is not deft in is broad sociopolitical issues, but once it softened into a mental duel between Michael and Oscar it became much more enjoyable. I wasn't exactly rolling with laughter, but it amused.

Far better was the other duel going on in the episode's B-plot between Dwight and Pam. Very funny, brought out the best in both characters, and ended on a legitimately sweet note (as opposed to the faux-sweetness of the Erin / Andy and Dwight / Angela romances I find tedious) by showing that at some level Dwight really does care about Pam. Mix in the ice cream pigeon credits sequence and Erin being well-written once again (this time as paranoid and possibly a little sociopathic) and you have the best Office since Halloween, as well as the first one since then to trump the 30 Rock it aired up against.

30 Rock, Season 5 Episode 9 — "Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish"

After four consecutive strong episodes, 30 Rock slipped up last Thursday. I had exactly one huge belly laugh in the episode, which ironically involved one of the characters I've grown most tired of: I of course refer to the flashback revealing that Kenneth was forced to eat the pig he regarded as a father (including its face). That was hilarious dark comedy and one of the biggest laughs I had all week.

Shame then that the rest of the episode was mostly dead air. Other than assigning already-trademarked names to his various cockamamie business schemes the subplot with Tracy's "son" was a bust, especially the odd comedic monologue by Jack involving proteins that was about 95% odd and only about 5% comedic. Liz's psychoanalysis felt like a poor man's version of her confessing her dark sexual history in "Reaganing" just a couple months back and the less said about Jenna and her cross-dressing boyfriend's desperately unfunny subplot the better. Arguably the weakest episode of the season outside of the premiere and the live show.

Community, Season 2 Episode 10 — "Mixology Certification"

Community has tried its hand at many genres in 2010 — action with "Modern Warfare," horror with "Epidemiology," and thriller with "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" just last week — so it only makes sense that they now take a shot at drama. A comedic drama, of course, just as "Modern Warfare" was comedic action, "Epidemiology" was comedic horror, and "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" was a comedic thriller, but drama nonetheless.

"Mixology Certification" was a quiet, understated, and vaguely sad episode by Community standards that cemented exactly why this show is so amazing: I genuinely like the characters. As people, I mean, not as sitcom types. That's something that can't really be said about The Office or 30 Rock or Arrested Development or Curb Your Enthusiasm or Always Sunny. It's part of what made Friends so popular back in the day and it's the reason that, even after all the recent high concept episodes raised the bar, we can still just watch the cast hang out in The Ballroom for twenty minutes and it's fairly riveting stuff. The scene with Annie and Troy in Annie's apartment at the end did not in any way look or feel like a scene from a broadcast sitcom; it felt like something from an indie film, a good indie film.

This episode also again proved that Annie, Abed, and Troy, while not the official protagonists, are the show's holy trinity and some of the most likable sitcom characters of all time. Have I mentioned lately that I love this show?

Tim's Trailer Talk: Game of Thrones Edition

In lieu of an ordinary Tim's Trailer Talk I thought this week I'd highlight the teaser for Game of Thrones, HBO's upcoming adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. I've been looking forward to this series since they first announced it a couple years back so it's exciting to finally see some footage. I'd also recommend the novels to any fantasy fans who haven't read them, with the important caveat that Martin seems to have some horrific writer's block and hasn't published a book in five years, leaving us stuck on a multitude of cliffhangers. But the books we do have are some of the finest pulp I've ever read, eschewing the evil overlord, heroic quest, and magical MacGuffins of traditional fantasy in favor of a lot of moral ambiguity, political intrigue, plot twists, sudden deaths, sex, and bloodshed.

I actually read the pilot script that was floating around Hollywood a couple years back, which shifts and truncates some dialogue but is an otherwise incredibly accurate scene-for-scene recreation of the first hundred or so pages of the first book. This teaser is equally reassuring, with almost every shot recognizable as a moment from the novel. Sure, nerds will nitpick over hair color and facial hair and exact wording of dialogue and other bullshit that isn't particularly important, but all that would be skirting the fact that this seems poised to become the most accurate book adaptation in the history of television. The city of King's Landing looks sunnier and less traditionally western European than I pictured it, but as long as the political intrigue and deaths that go on there remain intact that's no problem.

Sean Bean's performance looks predictably excellent (even if his politician character being all "I was trained to kill," while technically accurate coming from a former soldier, will gravely disappoint anyone who tunes in hoping for Boromir-brand badassery — there'll be plenty of violence, but Bean the instigator of very little of it), but the real X factor is the litany of unknowns playing the younger characters such as Arya, Robb, Bran, Sansa, Dany, Jon, and Joffrey, who are not window dressing but largely drive the plot. This other miniature promo seems to mostly highlight Sean Bean as Eddard Stark, Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, which seems about right for the first season. Hopefully Harington and Clarke are up to the task.

I'm not gonna start counting chickens before they hatch because lord knows I've been let down by film and TV projects I've been excited about before, but the actors look spot-on and the production values gorgeous and expensive and if they stick to the text and keep the content harsh (which, seeing as this is HBO, should be no problem) then I think this teaser could be the prelude to an awesome series. Hey, last time they adapted a fantasy epic of this magnitude we got The Lord of the Rings, which I thought turned out pretty damn well.

NBC Sitcom Roundup — "WUPHF.com," "College," & "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design"

The Office, Season 7 Episode 9 — "WUPHF.com"

If you read too many TV blogs and forums like I do, this was among the most fascinating episodes of the season solely for the wide range of reactions it got. I read comments and reviews ranging from "best episode of the season, it felt like season two again!" to "this is fucking terrible, I'm done" and everything in between. I can't remember the last time I saw so little consensus. But I'm afraid I have no strong opinion one way or the other and must take the pussy middle-of-the-road stance of declaring it okay.

"WUPHF.com" was light on belly laughs, the only two I recall being Stanley sharing his lighthouse fantasy and the very clever "Washington University Public Health Fund" reveal. Kevin getting lost in the hay maze won a chuckle for the way Brian Baumgartner sold Kevin's panic, but there isn't a human being on earth who didn't know exactly what was going to happen the second he stepped into the maze. But what's actually interesting is that, outside of Michael and Toby's moment in "Counseling," this is the first episode that legitimately felt like part of Michael Scott's farewell tour.

Ryan Howard isn't really a character. Perhaps he was in the first three seasons as the temp filled with thinly-veiled contempt for Dunder Mifflin and all his coworkers, and maybe even in season four when he became Evil Ryan the VP, but since getting arrested and resurfacing as a bizarre hipster stereotype he's just a walking punchline who no longer has much of a place in the ensemble (and has fittingly had his office relocated to the closet). But the way Michael projects his need to be a mentor and father figure onto Ryan has always been a key part of Michael's character, and this episode put a small bow on this longrunning subplot by having Michael admit that Ryan is lazy and selfish and using everyone but saying he'll stand behind his employee nonetheless. I don't know if the show has any additional Michael-Ryan stories in store for Steve Carell's final seventeen episodes, but if this it I could live with that.

The main thing I hated? The sudden, out-of-nowhere subplot about the cap on sales commissions, which spat boldly in the face of the "sales is king" Sabre policy that shuffled Jim back down to his old position last season. I know this isn't a mythology show like Lost and loose continuity isn't a huge deal, but even as someone who only watched season six's episodes exactly once each I was immediately like "wait, what? Bullshit!" It led to a somewhat amusing moment at the end with Jim's prank on Gabe, but I'm going to be frustrated if this is a running subplot in coming weeks (and since Jim no longer has incentive to do his job, I don't see how it couldn't be).

But as a positive closing note, I thought there was a marked improvement in the character of Erin this week. I was getting fed up with them writing her as an absolute moron too dumb to convincingly breathe, let alone work as a secretary, and her protectiveness of the color ink is much more along the lines of what they should be doing with her; weird and neurotic, but not fucking retarded.

30 Rock, Season 5 Episode 8 — "College"

I said last week that season five is noticeably better than the fourth, and upon a little introspection the reason is clear and singular: we've finally moved beyond the turgid, seemingly endless love triangle between Jack Donaghy, Avery Jessup, and Nancy Donovan. I don't care that it was packed with famous actors, I absolutely loathed that subplot, and it seemed like it was all the show's greatest comedic weapon was stuck with for months on end.

But now corporate shark Jack is back, albeit a noticeably softened and humanized version from how he appeared at the beginning of the series. But that's okay; that's just character development, stemming less from Avery and his unborn daughter and more from his friendship with Liz. Watching him let go of the microwave division in this latest episode was a solid little Jack story (even if I could have done without the engineers explicitly noting the deliveryman was played by Alec Baldwin... thanks, I got it, 30 Rock), and I loved the way it collided with the pranking of Pete in a funny-yet-melancholy, pizza-shotgunning belated college party in Jack's office. It was great to see some writers room antics again too.

Liz's brief taste of popularity stood out less than the rest of the episode but was still amusing. Her threat to put her crewmember's dog down "with a smile" at the end was hilarious and ballsy in its willingness to make the show's protagonist aggressively unlikable. All in all, another pretty good 30 Rock joins a pretty good season.

Community, Season 2 Episode 9 — "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design"

Another Thursday, another outstanding Community. I'd be bored with the consistent goodness if it wasn't so goddamned good, but with "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" I have officially decided that Community has surpassed the peak years of both The Office and 30 Rock (as well as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Party Down, Always Sunny, and whatever Fox cartoons and laugh track CBS shows you care to name) as the best post-Arrested Development sitcom. It's simply brilliant and the current shining example of how film is lagging behind TV when it comes to comedy.

I won't bother going through everything I liked about this 70s conspiracy thriller spoof because that would just be summarizing the whole episode, but I'll note that it was interesting how half of the main cast either put in tiny cameos (Britta, Pierce, Shirley) or was entirely absent (Chang). Even Troy and Abed's role was pretty small in terms of screen time; this was really the Jeff, Annie, and Dean Pelton show, all the way from the hilarious "explosive" message to Annie to the Dean crying "would that this hoodie were a time hoodie!" in a scene that showcased exactly why Jim Rash should be added to the primary cast posthaste.

If the climactic scene featuring five subsequent fake shootings felt vaguely familiar to you, don't worry, that just means that you have good taste in sitcoms and were having flashbacks to "Pier Pressure" and "Making a Stand," the two Arrested Development episodes featuring J. Walter Weatherman using his missing arm to scare people. Both involved fake injuries to teach lessons and both were hilarious. But even more so than those Arrested episodes this demands a second viewing so you can see it knowing all the layers of conspiracy from the very beginning. It's just such an efficient and elegantly written 22 minutes of television even removed from the comedy that I can only applaud.

I was initially concerned that Abed and Troy's blanket fort was going to be superfluous and disconnected (not an entirely unfounded fear, if you look at recent Community episodes like "Aerodynamics of Gender" and "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" where the different stories seem to take place in different worlds), but the way the traditional 70s thriller chase involving Jeff, Annie, and Professor Professorson cut through it justified the whole damn thing. I was also impressed by how good it looked — after last week's bottle episode I assumed they were cutting back on costs, but these were some nice production values when it would have been easier and cheaper to just use vanilla dorms. I also kind of hope that Abed and Troy writing a screenplay together wasn't just a throwaway line and actually comes up again!

However, in spite of all that, the funniest part of the episode was near the beginning when Annie blew off walking, then blew off standing, then blew off talking language, then writhed on the floor of a busy school hallway shouting "BLEE BLOO BLUH BLOO BLOH BLEE BLUGH BLUGGHH" at Jeff as he walked away. Alison Brie is a national treasure.

NBC Sitcom Roundup — "Viewing Party," "Brooklyn Without Limits," & "Cooperative Calligraphy"

The Office, Season 7 Episode 8 — "Viewing Party"

This latest Office was distinctly okay. Which is actually a relief, because fresh off of last week's ghastly episode "Christening," I'll take any laughs we can get and be thankful in light of how much worse I know it could be. I was cringing during the first five minutes or so with all the Glee jokes — I'm apathetic towards Glee, I neither love it nor hate it, but I sure as fuck don't want it invading other shows I watch — but the Glee references ironically toned down in favor of a mishmash of subplots as soon as the titular Glee viewing party actually started, and the episode became much more tolerable.

My favorite story was probably Dwight's unexpected connection with CeCe, Pam's relief, and Jim's emasculation, capped off by a strange but vaguely sweet conversation between Pam and naked Angela in the back of a car. I'm not much for baby humor — in fact, that was part of what made "Christening" so terrible and also why I quit Fox's Raising Hope after three episodes — but Dwight's simultaneous benevolence towards Pam and CeCe and malevolent humiliation of Jim made for an amusing contrast. Andy's pining over Erin is one of those subplots I've become tired of but it was spiced up this time by the inclusion of Darryl, who I'm increasingly hoping takes over as boss when Michael leaves. However, Andy swallowing the drugs or whatever then having a freakout wasn't funny. Other than not being pot, it was to identical dozens of "I'm so high!" scenes in any number of shitty straight-to-DVD comedies.

Michael's subplot was a mixed bag. As I've mentioned before, I actually, unlike many Office fans, really enjoy it when Michael turns into a raging, petulant manchild to the intense discomfort of everyone around him. Yeah, it's bizarre and it's awkward, but it's what separates him from every other sitcom protagonist on television. So I liked his anger at Gabe and his storming off to the other room. However, the whole "I'm not your father!" thing with Erin was just weird. For a show that used to earn its dramatic character beats (think back to Jim and Pam in the second season finale), that came out of fucking nowhere. Maybe it could have worked near or during Michael's departure episode if they spent a lot more time this season building a father-daughter dynamic between Michael and Erin, but as is it felt like the resolution to a character arc we never even knew existed.

Another weird part was when Oscar pointed at Dianna Agron and incorrectly proclaimed that she had been in a couple episodes of Friday Night Lights, because one of the main credited cast members on Glee was in fact in several episodes of FNL, but not Dianna Agron.

30 Rock, Season 5 Episode 7 — "Brooklyn Without Limits"

With its third quality episode in a row, I think I'm officially ready to declare 30 Rock once again better than The Office. I know I said the exact opposite at the start of this season and labeled the show decrepit, but I was talking about the fourth season, and 30 Rock is one of the only shows I've ever seen (except 24 and maybe Friends) that has actually become better in its fifth season than it was in its fourth. I don't know if they got some fresh writers or they changed the coffee at the production office or what, but the show is feeling alive again in a way that most of season four didn't.

Of course it helps that this episode felt tailor-made for me, being primarily dedicated to skewering the Tea Party and with a bonus hilarious Nintendo reference ("Lesbian Mario Brothers!"). John Slattery's guest spot as a lunatic congressional candidate who wants to take back America and possibly reinstitute slavery felt a little reliant on being familiar with him from Mad Men and knowing that he was playing against type (not to mention it seemed like it was meant to air before the midterm elections, which makes me wonder if the show got knocked off schedule at some point), but it was an amusing satire nonetheless. I also loved the way Tracy Jordan's subplot mocked both the shallowness of campaigning for acting awards and ultra-gritty urban dramas, not to mention that the continuity of his fictional film Hard to Watch has been maintained across a couple seasons now.

The story about Liz's new jeans was a bit more generic and forgettable outside of the aforementioned Mario Bros. joke, but it didn't change this being a solid, funny, sharp little episode. 30 Rock has regained my trust.

Community, Season 2 Episode 8 — "Cooperative Calligraphy"

"Cooperative Calligraphy" is both a "bzzt, wrong!" to anyone who thought the show had lost its ability to entertain outside of broad, high concept gimmick episodes and the episode that made me start to consider that Community may one day be remembered as one of the greatest television series of all time. Not comedies, but series, period. Community is a brilliant fusion of great ideas, sharp writing, pop cultural awareness, distinct and likable characters, and a terrific cast with tons of chemistry and no weak spots, and it's definitely threatening to usurp the early years of both The Office and 30 Rock to win the title of my favorite post-Arrested TV comedy.

This was, of course, a textbook bottle episode, a budgetsaving measure presumably made to counterbalance the cost of the zombie episode from a few weeks back by featuring no guest stars (no human ones, anyway; there was a monkey, a cat, and some puppies) and no scenes set outside the library's study room except for the closing credit tag. And like all the best bottle episodes it expertly deconstructed the characters and their relationships. Secrets came out, fights were had, and emotions laid bare. Abed's socially uncomfortable observations and Annie's neuroses and even Shirley's possible pregnancy all had the light ingeniously shined upon them via the whodunnit mystery of the missing pen, but more importantly the pen became emblematic of the friendship among the group at large. The true success of Community is not just that I like these people but that it genuinely seems they like each other, something few sitcoms successfully replicate.

Toss in some strong continuity — Shirley's hookup with Chang, Pierce's broken legs, Troy's monkey, Abed knowing all the girls' menstrual cycles — and you got 22 golden minutes of television. I loved this episode and I love this show. It must get a third season.