By Amy Van Veen (Blogger)
Email: onlineeditor at ufvcascade dot ca
It looks like third week’s a charm for the 2011 prime-time schedule. Now that NBC is back with three hours of comedy, there is something for everyone from Monday to Thursday (or Monday, Wednesday, Thursday until the FOX Tuesday night line-up returns with new episodes).
Monday night brought laughter, but mostly tears as Marshall deals with his father’s funeral and the endless search for the greater meaning in someone’s last words while his friends try to figure out their roles in the grieving process. Lily opts for helping his mother while Robin becomes “a drug-dealer from a 1980s after-school special” and Ted and Barney try their best to make their friend laugh. There were moments of HIMYM hilarity, but it was definitely one of those rare emotionally-charged episodes.
On Wednesday night, ABC actually showed up, though there were a few glitches in the transitions. The Middle started things off with Mike’s dream of having a real conversation with Brick coming true when Brick dives into the history of football. Sue’s ex-boyfriend, Brad, was probably the most entertaining part of the episode with his many skills, “cooking, tapping, making centrepieces out of everyday objects,” as he and Sue team up to win a square dancing competition.
Better With You has been a little out of order in their episode line-up since last week, but they did offer a mildly amusing episode showcasing the competitive spirit of the Putney family as Vicky and Joel go head to head with Maddie and Ben to prove who the best guardians are.
In Modern Family, every child’s worst nightmare becomes a reality for Phil and Claire’s kids who walk in on their parents on their anniversary while Cameron and Mitchell get the honour of being terrified by the formidable Rachael Harris. Those eyes, that voice, she tamed Ed Helms in The Hangover and headed up the mean girls mom club in Cougar Town.
Speaking of Cougar Town, Ellie finds a new wine friend and the two of them have a judgemental stand-off that leaves yet another man under Ellie’s thumb and Travis tries to live up to Kirsten’s last boyfriend’s romantic week in Paris while Laurie bunks at Jules’.
Thursday night was done right in the world of NBC, but less so with CBS. Although Big Bang Theory offered a humorous look at what happens when the geek squad plus Penny go on a road trip and musical rooms allowed for some added humour amongst all of them, their outbreak as a science panel seemed overdone and Amy Farrah-Fowler just gets more annoying, if that’s even possible.
Community brought kettle corn, the fun time snack, and a bad clichéd ending with just the right Greendale twist. The pilot for the new show Perfect Couples was funny, but most everything in the pilot was in the show’s preview, so the real test will be if they can be strong going into next week. On The Office, we see Dwight as a Knight of the Night, Darryl betrays the paper company by buying a Kindle and Creed does a cartwheel. The gang from Parks and Recreation are back and if you haven’t given them a chance to prove they’re more than another show by The Office creators, tune in to see Leslie Knope get her team’s spirits high with the Pawnee Harvest Festival. 30 Rock has a wedding that even “Hitler and Martha Stewart would have hated” and everyone forgot that Danny works at TGS. Outsourced gets the employees out of the call centre for at least one night as Gupta chokes at a Bollywood singing competition and Todd helps Madhuri walk up to the mic to share her beautiful voice; meanwhile, Manmeet gets shocked and Rajiv shows a strange fascination with the lyrics of Whitney Houston.
Life is getting busy with this many shows to watch, and on February 8th, it’ll get even better as FOX brings back Raising Hope and Running Wilde.
