Date Posted: April 25, 2011
By Amy Van Veen (Staff Writer) – Email
ABC doubled up on two of their shows: one irrefutable hit and one questionable newbie. FOX brought some love into Maw-Maw’s life. Dr. Sheldon Cooper stood us up for another week in a row. And NBC congratulates one show on 100 episodes and gets ready for a tearful farewell to a memorable manager.
HIMYM brought family back together with a lesson-filled episode featuring Barney and John Lithgow, I mean Jerry. The parting words young Barney remembered from his “Uncle” Jerry were: “never stop partying”. His father’s new words, however, are “the party can’t go on forever,” yet Barney can’t let go of the advice he heard from his rockstar Uncle-Dad. All he sees now is an anti-awesometic suburban Dad who settled down and stepped out of the awesomeness that is Barney’s current lifestyle. The solution? Barney dreams up new back stories for his friends that make them more awesome in order to lure Jerry back to his old ways. Robin is a professional scotch taster. Lily is a naked super ninja with an open marriage, which she excitedly accepts, but changes her job to Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada. Marshall is a swilling, womanizing playwright with an open marriage, but he is less stoked than Lily seems to be. Ted just has a giant pile of topics to avoid talking about. Oh and Ted and Robin are together, otherwise Barney’s Dad will convince him to be with Robin. Oh, and they’re also a band. Cue opening theme! When Jerry shows up, they try to pick a club, but this exchange end up in an epic “Who’s on first” joke. When they finally decided that it’s Hopeless, the club, Robin runs into her secret crush, but Ted ruins it when he continues their fake relationship. Marshall’s plays are about the bourgeois and ennui. And Barney wants crazy Jerry, which he gets, or so he thinks. After all, a magician’s greatest trick is a drunk audience. When Jerry tries to teach Barney a lesson, it backfires at first, but Barney ultimately seeks some real advice. Barney thinks he’s too far gone to settle down, but Uncle-Dad Jerry assures him that even though it can be challenging, it’s worth it for the right girl. But who is the right girl? Robin? But she’s got her secret crush who will eventually return? Who is it? Bonus of the episode: back story of the red cowboy boots.
Cougar Town came back with a bang this week with two exciting new episodes, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. On Monday’s episode, Travis wants to find the time capsule that was buried when he was a baby. Jules is a little slow picking up on the reason why, though. Turns out he’s looking for his grandmother’s engagement ring. Because Kirsten got a job offer far away. And Jules is freaking out. Especially when Ellie tells her that Bobby is the better parent. Meanwhile, Bobby and Laurie try to make him some extra cash by selling Penny Cans (with the best commercial yet), but Grayson is less than supportive. Andy tries to teach him a lesson, and somehow the two of them are chased by a giant. The plot alone does not do justice for Monday night’s episode. The greatness is within the unbelievable writing and character development of each and every cul-de-sac crew member. Jules has a strange relationship with Trav: “you want to live in his blood.” Laurie wants to start a Gake Shop: “find me a gay dude who doesn’t love cake!” Just like, “slap out of it,” the gang has been misusing “that kicks ass” for years and they make an executive decision to change things. The new Penny Can in and out rule? A felt mustache which makes Jules look a bit like Orlando Bloom. Ellie’s “imaginary hat” compliment is still misunderstood and Jules is her truck ghost. These things need to be seen to be fully appreciated, so you need to watch it, and then buy a Bobby Cobb Penny Can. “Moving target Penny Can!”
Wednesday night’s episode involves a challenge between Ellie and Jules. Is it really harder being a mom in your forties compared to being a mom in your twenties? Apparently it is. Twenty-something moms are too stupid enough to worry and have enough energy to keep up with their kids. The entire experience teaches Jules one thing: she is done with babies. Problem? Grayson can’t wait to have a kid. Laurie tries her hardest to get back to her pre-Smith attitude where bar-hopping and one night stands were all that was needed to fulfill her. Andy acts as her wingman when the plaza turns into a club, but the two of them eventually seek refuge in Wayne’s wine bar. She’s changed. She can’t club anymore. But she needs her walk of awesome. It was never a walk of shame for her; she lived off those judgemental stares. A handsome sleepy stranger in Coffeebucks helps her find a solution: one night stands can be found at any pub or coffee shop just as easily as in any club. Meanwhile, Bobby tries his best to be a morning person in order to get to a fancy golf course before 6am for a free 18 holes. Again, a few golden nuggets from the Doozer universe: “pounding grape” is the new slang for drinking wine, Grayson’s gone from “tiny eyes” to “dime eyes” and Ellie is only happy for seven minutes each day that can happen at any time. It’s strange when it does happen.
Tuesday night on FOX brought a new episode of Raising Hope where Maw-Maw falls in love and Jimmy tries his best at sabotaging love. Jerry Van Dyke guest stars as Mel, an equally crazy old person at Death Tooth Shelley’s day care who has caught Maw-Maw’s fancy. Virginia doesn’t approve, though, because crazy Maw-Maw still thinks she’s married. Even though her husband is actually dead, she thinks she’s having an affair; in reality, Virginia is afraid of what Burt will do if she were to die. Jimmy, on the other hand, met a pretty girl, who is Mel’s granddaughter, at Shelley’s daycare but didn’t do anything about it. According to Burt, she has a perfect nose, and “noses are the unsung hero of the face.” Burt’s a nose man. Jimmy is still carrying a torch for Sabrina and sees a possible in when he fans the flames of jealous suspicion. Together, the two of them crash Wyatt’s pimps and hos frat party, dressed appropriately of course, and see him making out with a ho. They try to drive away, but Jimmy’s van runs out of gas and the three of them have an awkward car ride with Wyatt driving in the wrong lane with the lights off until Sabrina forgives him. When he tells her the only reason he was making out with a ho is because she made out with Jimmy, and Jimmy takes full responsibility out of fear for his life, Sabrina forgives Wyatt and the two of them make a third wheel out of poor Jimmy by making out on Wyatt’s car. Maw-Maw and Jimmy drown their romantic sorrows by eating pistachio ice cream together and watching a Katherine Heigl chick flick, which was originally the plan he had for when he comforted Sabrina. When he finally does go out on a date with Zooey, the perfect nose girl, he doesn’t tell Sabrina about the romance in order to hold out for her.
A new Traffic Light starts with the three gents sitting in the bar with matching broken noses with advice for the bartender: don’t ever use the phrase, “bone bag”. Callie is a woman with passenger seat road rage and rage of nearly every other kind. She’s created a term, “bone bag,” which the guys think is a combination between bonehead and douchebag, and uses it freely with anyone who may piss her off. Mike and Lisa want an evening away in a hotel room, so Adam and Callie are recruited to babysit Tommy. When they get to the hotel for their massages, though, Mike has to deal with the dilemma to either let a male masseuse touch his wife or himself. He at first chooses himself, but he can’t do it, so they switch and he has the female masseuse. Ethan, while on a call, is faced with a man who has taken some medical suppliments and it’s been over four hours. He advises Ethan to settle down and find the one lest he continue to play the field and end up like himself. As a result, Ethan takes it upon himself to find his soulmate. Via the internet. His username is “committedlistener515” and he meets his match in the park, which is also where he meets up with Adam and Callie after they have an awkward kickstand situation with Tommy. While at the park, another kid pushes and pees on Tommy, so Adam tries to be the man in the situation. Callie eventually calls the other dad a “bonebag” so his wife punches Adam in the nose. Broken nose one? Check. At the hotel after an invigorating massage, Mike and Lisa try to take advantage of the rather relaxed atmosphere by climbing on one of the massage tables together, and it breaks. Broken nose two? Check. Finally, while at the hospital for Adam, half of the gang meets up with Mike and Lisa and the guy Callie originally called a bonebag while Adam was driving comes over and punches Ethan in the face when Mike yells, “bonebag”. Broken nose three? Check.
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