by Amy Van Veen (Blogger)
Email: onlineeditor at ufv dot ca
At first, ABC seemed to be the only network on the ball for week number two of 2011, that is until Better With You was at the last minute replaced by a rerun filler of The Middle in which Thanksgiving returns once more. Cougar Town stood up their fans, too, and was replaced by a Modern Family rerun in which Cam’s mother is introduced.
The Middle’s new episode, though, featured Patricia Heaton in the highlighted comedic role instead of the shadow of Raymond, the man everybody loves. In that special city of Orson, Indiana, Frankie Heck accidentally buys what she thinks is a twenty dollar smidgen of eye cream when in reality, there’s one more zero added onto that credit card bill. While she battles Mike in a freeze-out, Sue and Brick deal with the growing chasm in her bedroom wall and Axl deals with the realities of being a pseudo-parent, as well as the dismembering of his robot baby.
Modern Family’s new episode brings a little more insight into the relationship of Phil and Claire. She’s gorgeous, he really thinks he’s cool, but what exactly is holding them together? Croctopus in 3D, apparently. Mitchell and Cam walk into a PC problem when his ex-girlfriend’s supposed son turns out to be, not his son, nor a child. In the midst of it all, Jay and Gloria work through the fine line between being a supportive spouse and throwing one another under the bus when it comes to forging a new friendship.
All in all, the second week of the new year has been disappointing. The only network to step up to the plate only gave 50% and HIMYM’s emotional new episode has to wait until next week’s CBS Monday night line-up.
There is some good news on the horizon, though. Matthew Perry is taking another run at primetime television in Mr. Sunshine. Ever since his underappreciated stint with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, fans of the former Friends star have wondered if he’ll ever again light up the small screen with his sarcastic humour and doubtful looks. Allison Janney, step-mom in Juno and obnoxiously honest friend in Away We Go, joins Perry as they work their way through the adventures of managing the eventful world of a San Diego sports arena. Keep your eyes open on Wednesday, February 9th at 9:30pm.
CBS comes back with their episodes this week and rumour has it Big Bang goes on a road trip. ABC will finally air those two episodes they forgot about and NBC is making Thursday night right with three hours of comedy.
