by Amy Van Veen (Contributer) – Email
ABC gave viewers an early taste of Valentine’s Day with Cougar Town this week. Jules just really wants Grayson to open up emotionally, making for a rather awkward V-Day session. Even more awkward is when Laurie helps Travis take a sexy photo for his girlfriend, even though Kirsten was thinking more along the lines of a clothed sexy photo instead of, well, what Trav, Laurie and Bobby come up with. What’s even more glorious is Ellie’s megaphone announcement to her neighbours: “Attention neighbourhood idiots! Christmas was seven weeks ago! Take down your tacky lights or die. Thank you, that is all.” Andy and Bobby have a bro-mantic evening out while Ellie angrily sits at home stewing about how much she hates February 14th. For those Cougar Town fans who can’t get enough, check out abc.com for a series of webisodes entitled “Andy’s Dreams” that follow Andy’s siesta naps.
CBS only brought one show back this week as Sheldon gets acting lessons from Penny in Big Bang Theory. Even though it did offer another memorable look at Shenny, which is far greater than Shamy could ever be, it wasn’t quite enough. Leonard didn’t even seem to be part of the episode that much, though Raj did pick it up a little with a Bollywood dream sequence at the end. Hopefully they’ll make it a little better with next week’s episode. HIMYM will be either a great hit or an epic miss when Katy Perry guest stars on Monday, February 7th.
As for NBC, they may have finally hit their stall pattern this week. Community got even weirder than their Jesus film episode. They have become a show that loves their themed episodes, but an episode centered around Dungeons and Dragons only appeals to a small portion of their fan base and is lost on the rest. The only saving grace was Troy, as always, with yet another classic one-liner, “This is why I wanted to play Chutes and Ladders.”
Perfect Couples steals Fat Neil from Community to be their pizza guy, but other than that the show has become awkward. Not good awkward like The Office or Parks & Rec, just awkward, awkward; especially when Leigh helps Rex make their “man cave” a place for men to express their masculinity through shirtlessness and Edward 40-hands. The jury is still out on this show, but it’s not looking great.
The Office brought NBC back a little from a lost cause of a night with Pam’s caption contest and a three-person search for a grown man. It turns out Holly is the key to finding Michael since they seem to share the same personality. Michael passes a bakery just to smell the smell of baked goods. He goes to a pet store to explain love to animals. Apparently snakes will never find love, parrots are colourful and beautiful and the puppies win hands down. He tries to get a hot dog on collateral and fails at a dine-and-dash. Eventually, though, Holly and Michael end up together again and I can’t help but wonder if their relationship may be tied to Steve Carell’s final season.
A Pawnee Time Capsule is introduced by Leslie Knope in Parks & Rec for a brilliant episode among NBC’s lesser attempts this week. Will Forte guest stars as the Twilight-obsessed protester who wants a copy of each of Stephanie Meyer’s four books to be encapsulated (Leslie’s pun) so badly that he handcuffs himself to a pipe and converts Tom to being one of them. Leslie’s brilliant headline idea for the local reporter is a reminder of her classic: “Gazebo, more like Gazoinksbo!” Chris helps Andy bond with April’s new Venezuelan boyfriend and Leslie holds a public forum, showing Ben the wonders of the strange and beautiful Pawnee general public. In the end, Leslie comes up with a great solution to their time capsule dilemma and Jerry gets blamed for something, again.
Kabletown’s CEO, Hank Cooper, shows up at 30 Rock introducing Jack to a new business model of hugs and idea days from any staff who wishes to share. Tracy and Jenna revert to their immature feuds: shocking. Liz falls into a fake pregnancy since Avery is trying hard to keep hers a secret around the time of an upcoming promotion, which is made easier when Jack convinces Michael Kors to make wizard capes fashionable. As a result, Liz takes pregnancy photos. It gets weird.
Outsourced is losing steam, too, with Todd still not being able to understand any aspect of the culture he’s in and Charlie playing up, a little too much, that guy who cannot find the line between sexy and creepy.
This week, the week before that one day that most people dread in February, NBC will embrace their romantic side Thursday; Modern Family gets intimate and Mr. Sunshine premieres with great expectations on Wednesday night; and HIMYM and Big Bang bring something new. Also to look out for: Raising Hope starts up again on Tuesday night at 9pm on FOX. For those who haven’t caught how the Chance family raises a baby, check out the trailer below:
