By Amy Van Veen (Contributer) – Email
Remember those days of Everybody Loves Raymond when Debra Barone would constantly be harassed and intimidated by Marie? Those days are back thanks to Doris Roberts’ guest appearance as Brick’s math teacher Ms. Rinsky on The Middle. While Mike and Frankie go back to third grade to learn how to help Brick out of a D, Sue and Axl reluctantly visit Aunts Edie and Ginny. The last time they were there, Axl was asked about his latest BM and Sue accidentally drank their denture water. In class, Mike finds out that Frankie was one of “those kids” also known as the goodie-goodie, but all those elementary school jitters come flooding back when Frankie has to do the final problem on the daunting chalkboard. Axl and Sue help Aunt Edie find a time capsule she may or may not have buried in her old yard and Frankie, after a few beers, sends off an email to the principal about Ms. Rinsky. Things get awkward when she reads the email to Mike the next morning and she notices a Nazi reference, Aunt Edie remembers it was Nancy Drew who did a time capsule, not her, and Brick gets D’s because he doesn’t do the tests. Patricia Heaton is funny every week, and the writing does everything right.
Samaire Armstong guest stars on Better With You as Casey’s ex-girlfriend Jessica who wants her couch back. The couch Mia’s been sitting on for months. The troublesome thing is, though, that the Putney women are crazy jealous, especially of girls named Jessica because all girls hate girls named Jessica. Casey thinks he can handle Mia, but when she microwaves his phone he needs Ben, known as The Fixer in the hotel biz, to help him get rid of the couch. In the meantime, Joel and Vicki need to update their will and Maddie can’t wait to lawyer up and prove to them how adult she is. She faces a roadblock, though, when Joel can’t get over how adorable she is, distracting her from the fact that he doesn’t want to share his health problems with her. Ben and Casey move the couch a few blocks after they tell Mia it has termites, get a couple of tickets for unlawful dumping of a couch, and eventually bring it to Ben and Maddie’s for Jessica to pick it up. Jealousy is sparked, laughs are had, and Mia and Casey learn to deal with their exes’ stuff otherwise they’d have no stuff.
Modern Family gets real for one family, cryptic for another, and enlightening for one more. After Oprah influences Cam to make adoption (clap-clap!) have a positive connotation for Lily, he notices that the birth certificate Mitchell lawyered up has his own last name as her middle name and Mitchell’s as her only last name. Thanks to a few flashbacks, we learn of the uncertainty Cam had before Lily came and the precautions Mitchell took to make sure his daughter wouldn’t have half a last name of the guy who left them. In the end, Mitchell and Cam’s story for their child, “Two Monkeys and a Panda,” might elicit a few tears in the weak-willed audience member. In another house, Jay has recently gone to a funeral and can’t help but wonder where he and Gloria will spend their afterlives. After reserving a crypt for the two of them, Gloria cannot approve because “here you’re just a mushy bag of bones rotting away for all eternity.” Her problem is solved when their future neighbours share their concerns of an older man and a younger woman buying a crypt. Thanks to Manny the bartender, Jay’s fears of being the putz in Gloria’s life are put to rest. Finally, in house number three, Phil finds spa gift certificates that are about to expire and after none of the women in his life can use it, he takes a trip to luxury land and learns a little bit about women. Haley and Alex act like sisters and Phil comes home as the greatest husband ever, and the most sensitive wife.
The sun is shining and the air conditioning is broken on Mr. Sunshine. Ben’s inability to remember anyone’s names have most of his employees hating him and, even worse, Luis the air-conditioning guy has quit. Roman tries to help by getting Ben to practice some name recognition, but his version is a little harsh. Fred Peterson becomes Fat Pumpkin. Doug Miller becomes Disgusting Moles. Meanwhile, Crystal’s hair has a strong reaction to the humidity and her double date with Alonzo and Alice makes things racially awkward, or so the latter two think. When Roman gets distracted singing Cher into an industrial sized fan, Ben’s new name association cards blow all over the stadium, causing a less than amiable reaction. Ben tries to fix things with an affinity circle which is oddly similar to a Michael Scott Roast, but with a miniature Lord of the Flies conch. Turns out Crystal isn’t a racist, she’s just dating one of Alonzo’s frat brothers who lived in a house that should be condemned, had a funny handshake and went to meetings. Ben learns to be a boss who gets to know people and not just their names and the air conditioning is eventually get fixed.
Big Bang and all of its NBC neighbours are taking a break. Sheldon and the gang return next week for some interesting dynamic shifts and Thursday night was filled with The Office marathon in preparation for saying goodbye to Michael Scott. It’s not even here yet, but it’s already getting emotional.
In the midst of the upcoming flood of tears when viewers have to say goodbye to Steve Carell, audiences can look forward to Happy Endings on ABC. This new sitcom starring Elisha Cuthbert, Damon Wayans, Jr. and Eliza Coupe, aka Abed’s newest secret agent girlfriend, will be premiering April 13th along with the return of Cougar Town. It follows six friends who are forced to choose sides when the one leaves the other at the altar. With some hilarious moments in the promo, a hilarious cast and the Russo brothers directing (Community and Arrested Development), this show has a lot of potential to be awesome.
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