Retroactive Post - Best Episodes of TV Shows on DVD

I promised it in an earlier post, so here it is: my picks for the best episodes of all of the TV show seasons I've watched on DVD so far. It's something I'm adding to future posts on TV DVDs and I didn't want previous posts to miss out.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume One
I don't know if I have a favourite on this one... Maybe "Revenge of the Mooninites", because I enjoyed Carl's expression of his love for 80's rock band Foreigner, which of course culminated in his head becoming a Connect Four board. Bonus: I didn't review the Volume Two DVD because I didn't really know what I could say about it that I didn't say about the first one, but my pick for best episode on that one is "Super Trivia", because watching the characters sit around a bar playing trivia turned out to be a lot of fun and really funny.

The IT Crowd - Season One
I almost chose "Calamity Jen" because of the hilarious fire brigade commercial, but I'll go with "Fifty-Fifty" because I loved the storyline about Roy wanting to prove that women love bastards. That is an age old debate that may never be settled.

The IT Crowd - Season Two
"Moss and the German", which may be one of my favourite IT Crowd episodes ever, because everything about it is classic - the anti-piracy ad, the weird cannibalism story (which, even weirder, was based on a true story), Roy desperately trying to avoid movie spoilers, and Jen's smoking habit evoking depressing Russian visuals. Definitely one of the most memorable episodes.

The IT Crowd - Season Three
I said in the post for this one that it was the strongest season, and really I could choose any of the six and be fine with that decision, but on a personal level I'd have to go with "Are We Not Men?". As someone who has no interest in sports, I found the conversation bluffing idea to be funny and probably true, though I've never tried it because even in that context I still wouldn't want to discuss sports with anyone.

Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes
I don't think the episodes have titles, but my favourite on this set was the second of the three lost episodes, in which Dave plays "Black Howard Dean" and security guard Gary Coleman, and puts George Castanza's "sex trifecta" to use. It's also the one with the controversial "stereotype pixies", but I don't care so much about that one. If only the Tupac sketch were in this episode instead. And as a bonus, Wikipedia says this episode originally aired on my birthday!

Dexter - Season One
I already mentioned in the post (although not as officially as I'll be doing in the future) that the best episode here was "Return to Sender", because it brought the tension and excitement from about a 4 to an 11, and solidified my enjoyment of the series. I would later be pleasantly surprised to find out that the entire second season is like that one first season episode.

The 4400 - Season One
The 1.5 hour pilot is what sold me on buying the complete series, but I think I'll have to go with "White Light", the season finale, because it had some cool stuff and really showed us where the show was going. Plus, you know, the trees were bending.

Breaking Bad - Season One
I said the first three episodes were the best, so that narrows it down, but I think my favourite is episode three, "...And the Bag's in the River", because the whole Krazy 8 situation was handled amazingly, and the moment where Walt puts the yellow plate back together is one of my favourite parts of the entire series so far.

Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes

Impressions before seeing it
The first two seasons of Chappelle's Show were hilarious. This was supposed to be the third season until Dave walked out, leaving Donnell and Charlie to host the sketches he left behind. I knew all this going in, and my only complaint is that I never really found Donnell funny in the previous seasons.

How was it?
Okay, there are a few things to talk about here. First I will just say that Donnell and Charlie hosting the sketches was nowhere near as funny as when Dave hosts them, because Dave does something that more closely resembles stand-up comedy as he introduces and bookends the clips. The replacement duo tries to crack a few uninspired jokes and then basically just goes, "watch this." I'm glad the sketches were still written by and starring Dave because I would not watch The Donnell and Charlie Show.

The interesting thing about the sketches though is that they seemed to foreshadow Chappelle's departure. He has the usual stuff about race controversies, but there are also a number of sketches about the success of Chappelle's Show having an effect on his life and how he doesn't want to sell out. There is some classic wacky Chappelle humour to be appreciated, but some of it also feels a little preachy or self-righteous.

Which brings me to the racism and why Dave left. It has always been my understanding that Chappelle's Show sometimes does perpetuate black stereotypes, but mainly as a kind of inside joke for the black audiences who will recognize them as such. I can't speak for other white folks, but I can say that the race jokes have never, ever been my reason for watching the show. I just like Dave Chappelle's sense of humour, especially when he's not talking about race. If there were white viewers stupid enough to buy into the stereotype jokes and use it as an educational tool to learn about black culture, then that is a very unfortunate side effect. They even had Charlie and Donnell interview some audience members about the racial stereotype sketches, and I thought some good opinions were shared. The best one was probably from a woman who said that the show shouldn't be used to educate or to make us think, only to make us laugh. I wholeheartedly agree, because Dave's most brilliant sketches from past seasons had absolutely nothing to do with race - I'm thinking of the "What if the internet were a physical place?" sketch, and the "real" versions of Hollywood movies, to name a couple. Perhaps he would not have left the show at all if he had stuck to that kind of comedy in the first place.

Recommendation
It's not as brilliant as the first two seasons but it's worth watching if you enjoyed them. Just try to ignore the racial stereotypes for Dave's sake.