By Amy Van Veen (Contributer) – Email
The Office cold open showcases Dwight’s ever so wonderful Dwightness. All of his survival shelter food is about to expire, meaning it’s time for him to eat some eight year old canned tomatoes and the like and it’s also time for his desk mate to stir up a classic Jim/Dwight moment. Todd Packer is looking for a desk to call his own and Michael’s deluded respect for him means Holly hires him back without properly evaluating exactly who Mr. Packer is. After she finds out his hideousness, Michael can’t face the truth, so Jim and Dwight band together to pull a prank on Todd. Their plans give rise to the greatest quote of season 7 thus far: “Who is Justice Beaver?” “He’s a crime fighting beaver.” Along the sidelines of this major drama, Pam buys reception a new computer, but when Andy switches with Erin, Pam lets him know she can only save him if his computer is broken. Darryl catches onto their plot and scams her into giving him some vacation days. Pam is full on corrupt and Michael allows for Jwight’s prank to follow through as Packer leaves for Tallahassee.
Parks & Rec. There are few shows that offer consistently hilarious episodes season after season. When the department is going to receive a superficial commendation from the Indianapolis State House, Leslie’s pure excitement is almost matched by Ron’s excitement for a trip to Charlie Mulligan’s Steak House. The trip also gives her a chance to spy on Chris for Anne when she suspects him of cheating. April and Andy are adorable, but poor, so they use Dennis Feinstein’s new fragrance party at the Snake Hole to set the stage for some friendly competition. Meanwhile, Tom invites Ben by the order of Leslie and ends up needing him to lean on after Feinstein shatters his dreams of Tommy Fresh. Anne and Leslie have a good talk after a certain relationship truth comes to light and in true Amy Poehler style, some great one liners come out for all to enjoy.
Turns out 30 Rock is misogynistic. TGS hates women. The Girlie Show hates women. Liz tries to correct the situation by hiring a new hit comedienne as a guest writer giving Frank, Toofer and Lutz the chance to try out their new personalities of Rich Guy, Bad Boy and British. Turns out the guest writer, Abby Flynn, doesn’t exactly follow LL’s feminist expectations. Jack, on the other hand, has found the granddaughter of Kabletown’s CEO and sets the plans in motion to destroy her, not realizing she’s doing the same to him. Bring it on ninth grader. Bob Ballard, or Bobert Ballard, makes an appearance. LL finally defends Steve Carell’s “that’s what she said” as well as hating women even more. And fun new terms come to light, like “male douchebaggery” and “femalution”.
Outsourced. Gupta has debts. Madhuri is a gossip. Todd has a new employee just asking to be poached. There isn’t a lot more to say. This show seems to just be waiting to get cancelled with nothing new to offer and only gimmicky characters to maintain. The entire love triangle that fuelled the first few episodes has dwindled fast with nothing exciting on the horizon.
Despite the great shows filling every possible corner of primetime television, there seem to be more relationship shows than is necessary in a four day period. Mad Love, Traffic Light, Better With You and Perfect Couples all generally take on the same “different people in different stages of love” idea with different results. The only frontrunner by far is Traffic Light with a distant second for Perfect Couples, which is improving with age. The other two seem to have reached their peak, however low it is.
For all those going through a cul-de-sac crew withdrawal and desire even a little taste of that original series Cougar Town, check out New York Magazine’s online Vulture Blog with their coverage of Writers vs. Actors. In Part One, the issue at hand was Dan Byrd’s hair: no one likes it. The most recent Part Two, however, shows an even more intriguing concept as the writers put the actors to the test. Each one is asked to name all of the writers, pop quiz style. Can they do it? The guys show us how little they know in this part, the girls are soon to come.
Cougar Town is back from hiatus on April 13.
