This Week in Television - Oct. 3-7, 2011

The Playboy Club
Well, The Playboy Club was canceled this week. I don't know why this one got the axe and Charlie's Angels is still going, because I caught a few minutes of the latter and it was awful in a way that should have been left in an earlier TV era. Different networks, though. Speaking of different networks, it looks like CityTV will air the remaining episodes in Canada, and Bravo may or may not be choosing to continue the series, so we're not done just yet. Anyway, last week's was probably the best episode of these first three. It feels like they're not sure what pace to go at regarding the murder thing, as they spent the first two episodes with it lurking in the background, then this week they almost blew everything wide open, and then they put it back down to just the mob boss' son being pretty much the only person left who is suspicious of Maureen. And it may have been overkill to add a third woman for Nick, putting him in a crazy love quadrangle - even if the third woman is a closet lesbian. We get it, he's a womanizer, that doesn't mean he has to have 50 regular girlfriends.

Glee
This episode was all about everyone worrying that they're not good enough, and then recycling the show's old "be happy with yourself and like who you are" theme. In other words, another after school special episode. It was funny when Mike's father suggested he was on drugs, and then we got the scenes of Mike dancing and hallucinating his father and Tina, and I was like "maybe he's on drugs after all!" Then I hoped his backup dancers in the audition were also hallucinated, because I didn't buy that he would bring them, or need them. McKinley must be a top of the line Catholic high school, because the production values on every single thing they do there are way too high for high school students. And Sue's very brief cameo in the bleachers during Brittany's performance seemed unnecessary and a lazy excuse to squeeze Jane Lynch into the episode because they didn't have anything else for her to do. Might as well have just left her out entirely, it wouldn't have made a difference to anything whatsoever in the episode. I'm glad Mr. Schue kicked Mercedes out of the glee club, because she's been spoiled since day one and no one has ever really acknowledged it. I mean what she said about Rachel might be true, and Rachel is also full of herself, but not really in an aggressive way that is destructive to others like Mercedes. P.S. Coach Beiste stuffing her face with spaghetti was kind of funny but didn't do any favours for her, or spaghetti.

New Girl
I think the storyline with Schmidt aiming too high in his conquests could have been used later on in the series as a way for him to realize that maybe he can get better women if he stops being a douche and trying so hard. Instead it just kind of resulted in him pitying himself for going home with Natasha Lyonne and having no apparent epiphanies about it, but I did enjoy the scene in the bathroom with Jess cutting off her underwear and being misinterpreted by Katie Cassidy as crazy and threatening. However, it's going to get old soon if every episode ends with the guys joining Jess in making fools of themselves.

Survivor: South Pacific
Good job at the challenge, Dawn. She was the underdog but somehow she won it. Stacey probably shouldn't have been voted out, but it was funny when Coach tried to hug her and she refused. Why is everyone always so arrogant about Redemption Island? Unless you're the very last person voted out, you don't just have to win one challenge to get back in the game, you have to win a bunch in a row without losing. What part of that sounds easy?

Up All Night
Nothing against Maya Rudolph, but I don't find her character as funny or interesting as Reagan and Chris, and Nick Cannon is even more useless, but then I've never seen him make a valuable contribution to anything. But I really enjoyed the stuff with the A-Team van and them thinking the Native guy turned into a bird. I'm liking this show, but I would like it more without the Ava B-stories.

Suburgatory
Missed the premiere last week because it screwed up when I tried to tape it, so I'm coming in on episode 2. I liked the bright, sterile atmosphere and quirky suburban lifestyle this show seems to be developing. I don't know if ALL of the humour is my thing, but I did get a big laugh out of Ryan saying he would want to have dinner with a dead Scarlett Johansson. I'm not entirely sure yet if I like this show, but I'll keep watching for now.

Community
I enjoy episodes like this, that are about the group dealing with their own politics. Interesting to note that Pierce already rose in popularity after being at the bottom a short time ago, although the rankings were based on who everyone would want to be partners with for class projects, not necessarily who everyone likes best. But I knew the group had 7 characters, so as soon as they campaigned the teacher to let them pick their own partners, someone was going to get left out. Chang's film noir story was hilarious, if only because he was acting so insane and I am amused by things that make no sense. The biology teacher's speech about Legos was true, too. Can you even buy a set of just plain Lego bricks anymore?

Parks and Recreation
I recall the "patriotic person secretly not born in the town they love" story being used for Hank on King of the Hill, but since that show was more hit and miss and the stakes are higher for Leslie, I think it worked better here. Also, it's awesome that this episode was about Leslie's book, because for those who don't know, it is a real book. It's sitting in my room right now. According to multiple forewords, Leslie wrote the entire thing from memory and finished it in a 55-hour marathon without sleep and hopped up on energy drinks. Anyway, another very fun episode - loved the stuff with drunk Joan, Andy being Burt Macklin again (which never gets old), Tom spraying himself with cologne (he just kept spraying and spraying!), and Ann trying to figure out how to get the two most antisocial people she knows to talk to her.

The Office
This wasn't one of the funnier episodes because it spent a lot of time on Darryl being depressed and didn't have Robert California, who I feel is a more entertaining Michael Scott void-filler than Andy. I found some laughs in the little things, though, like the applicant who ate Stanley's lunch, and Oscar's delivery of the line about the guy who "got fixated on his calves, and his triceps went to hell".

Fringe
I thought Peter wasn't supposed to exist, but I guess it was just adult Peter that got erased, as both child Peters kicked the bucket in this new timeline. The psychic link made the spore thing more interesting, because spores by themselves would have been boring, and Walter spending time with the lonely kid worked as a transition to finally moving towards finding Peter as he acknowledges the hole in his life. Maybe he'll build some crazy machine that will allow Peter to stabilize long enough to convey the message he's been trying to send.

Hero of the Week: Ann from Parks and Recreation, for finally figuring out how to get Ron and April's attention (not an easy thing to do).

Douchebag of the Week: Todd from Community. No offense, Todd.

This Week in Television - Sept. 26-30, 2011

The Playboy Club
I thought this was a better episode than the pilot, mainly because they dropped Hugh Hefner's narration and weren't blatantly trying to show off how progressive Playboy was. Nick Dalton isn't really an interesting character so far, but the animosity between Carol-Lynne and Maureen can probably drive the show for quite a while. And I don't think using the key in the photo shoot was a good idea - apparently they have unique identifiers on them, so someone will probably see the photos and recognize whose key it is, getting Maureen in big trouble. Putting it in the "vanishing cream" afterwards was hilariously eye-rolling, but I would've just flushed it down the toilet. I'm betting there will be a scene where one of the other bunnies goes, "Can I use some of your vanishing cream?" and then finds it in there.

Glee
Well, that was fast. It's only episode two and we're already on to a boring, drama-filled episode. Does anyone actually beat anyone up for "lunch money", or does that only happen on TV? Because I know Glee loves to pull out the high school cliches and stereotypes. And as soon as Blaine auditioned, I saw it coming that the judges would want him to be Tony. Even Sue and Brittany weren't that great in this episode; the only good part was Kurt's dad, because he makes good fatherly speeches.

New Girl
Because of his reactions to Jess, I found Winston funnier than Coach, though there wasn't much to develop his character in this episode. Still don't like Schmidt, but without the douchebag jar he was, ironically, a little bit less of a douchebag. I wasn't really a fan of the gag with the guys putting on the pretty hats either, but I hope it served its purpose in getting Jess to finally move on from her ex-boyfriend. Confronting it in this episode was fine, but I don't think she needs to dwell on it for the entire season/series (and speaking of that, FOX actually gave it a full season extension!).

Survivor: South Pacific
Yeah, so Brandon is crazy, and it doesn't help that he's constantly trying to play the Christian card in his talking heads in a lame attempt to make the audience at home think he's a good guy. And it's not a good sign if even Coach recognizes how crazy you are.

Up All Night
I enjoyed seeing Wills Arnett and Forte together again in some expectedly weird but funny scenes (though not as weird as Forte usually is), and Christina Applegate's willingness to put vanity aside and do a scene where she wears baggy clothes, gobbles food messily and spills it on herself, and then gets it stuck in her teeth. It's when actresses refuse to do those kinds of things that people start to claim women aren't funny. Oh, and I don't know how intentional this was, but in the old Youtube video of Ava and B-Ro fighting, the way Reagan's hair was, Applegate totally looked like Kelly Bundy again.

Community
I like Pierce being his old racist self again, he's funnier that way. Enjoyed the model UN stuff for Annie's exaggerated tantrum, Jeff and Pierce having an immature argument through their countries, and Abed's obsession with the two parallel Earths. Britta is one of the less funnier characters, but it's nice to see her get to go crazy once in a while, and pairing her with Chang for the B-story was an interesting idea, though it didn't seem like the episode for Britta to have her own storyline because I would've thought she'd be applying her self-righteous activism to fictionally improve the world at the model UN. Then again, I don't think she protests things with the intention of actually accomplishing anything.

The Office
Yeah, Andy definitely felt like a Michael Scott in this episode, so much so that if they had done this episode with Michael instead, it probably would have turned out exactly the same, although whether Michael would have gone through with the tattoo is debatable, because he can be cowardly. I suppose the real difference in dynamic is that, according to this episode and last week's, the office started out generally loving Andy, while it took several seasons for everyone to finally love Michael. With the exception of Dwight of course, but Dwight almost never shares his co-workers' opinions on anything. Anyway, I knew the tattoo was going to be something nice when Pam switched it at the last second, but the Nard dog was perfect.

Parks and Recreation
Anything involving Ron and his ex-wives is always classic. Interesting that Tammy 2 turns him into a crazy, sinful demon while Tammy 1 turns him into a meek little church boy. The drinking contest was great just for everyone's reaction to the horrible liquor, and for Ron's odd way of shoulder-chugging. Ben at Entertainment 720 was similar to last season's episode where he helped April and Andy with their living conditions, but I suppose this is the opposite because April and Andy were just appallingly poor and messy, while Tom and Jean-Ralphio are very particular about everything but prone to ridiculous overspending. And anyway both were hilarious and in line with the characters, so it's all good.

Fringe
Except for the short Walter segments, this episode felt like they were just killing time and taking advantage of the main characters being able to cross between universes whenever they want. But it wasn't a bad episode, I thought the idea of a psychologist studying himself without knowing it was interesting, and the conversation between the two alternates nicely paralleled the one between the two Olivias in its suggestion that it may have come down to just one moment/decision that ultimately made their lives different. Would it be awesome or hackneyed if Peter ended up being in a surprise third universe? ...Where Olivia has BLACK hair!

Hero of the Week: Tom and Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation. Even though 99% of the Entertainment 720 headquarters is highly unnecessary, it's also 99% hilarious.

Douchebag of the Week: Tammy 1 from Parks and Recreation, because I was as horrified as Leslie was at what she turned Ron Swanson into.

This Week in Television - Sept. 19-23, 2011

The Playboy Club
The pilot was entertaining enough that I'll continue to give this show a chance, but it did feel like an hour-long brag-o-mercial about how Playboy was so revolutionary for empowering women, blacks, and homosexuals. Clearly there is some embellishment from Hef as he imparts this to us in his narration. Eddie Cibrian sounds way too much like Jon Hamm to avoid Mad Men comparisons, but I thought Amber Heard was good (or she just entranced me with her beauty?) and I find murder cover-up stories interesting. It will probably get canceled as everyone inevitably boycotts it for not being as good as Mad Men, so I guess I'll stick with it until then.

Glee
Well, the premiere wasn't too bad but it's likely downhill from here. At the end of last season I expressed concerns that it would be lame for Sue to be nice to the glee club, and I'm happy to see that she hates them again. Very happy. I also kind of liked the idea of Rachel and Kurt being humbled by people who are better than them, because their egos have always been too big. Zizes leaving the glee club was a good idea, because judging by her one and only solo song, she was never able to sing, and not in the same way that the actress playing Sugar in this episode was obviously trying to sound bad. Quinn's "reinvention" felt like typical high school soap crap, but then that's normal for Glee. At least this episode didn't heavily focus on the student romances.

New Girl
As reflected in the promos, Zooey Deschanel was really the only funny part of the show, but that's fine with me. I mean the other characters are clearly trying, but with comedy being so male-oriented I think it's perfectly fine to have a funny woman and three unfunny guys. And I think every household (or group of friends) should have a douchebag jar.

Survivor: South Pacific
I didn't see any evidence that Mikayla is as Brandon described, but then it's only episode two and there hasn't been much coverage of Mikayla. So far Coach is keeping the samurai and dragonslayer talk to a minimum, which makes him less funny but more respectable. Not holding my breath, though.

Up All Night
I liked this episode's depiction of stressing out over wanting people to like you. Sometimes we forget that you don't really need to try in order for someone who is already accepting to like you. Also I enjoyed Chris using "being ironic" as an excuse to have bad taste.

Community
Biology, eh? I'm interested to see what they'll do with that. The Pierce thing was wrapped up more quickly than I thought it would be, but I think a little role reversal with Jeff becoming Pierce was the way to do it, and I'm sure it will continue to pop up here and there throughout the season. The 2001 sequence was awesome, as well as "Cougarton Abbey" and "Inspector Space-Time". And it was cool to see Jim Rash added to the opening credits; I guess we get more Dean this year!

The Office
Really enjoyed the barrage of reveals at the beginning. Andy as manager feels like he's just a milder version of Michael Scott, though I guess the biggest difference is that he's less likely to be obliviously offending people. I don't know if this will be permanent, but I got a laugh out of the new opening credits, where Ed Helms mimics Steve Carell's statue-straightening at the end but accidentally knocks it off the desk. They had a lot on their shoulders, figuring out how to reformat the dynamic with Carell gone, but I think using Andy was the smoothest transition, as he is the most similar to Michael, and Robert California's odd genius provides opportunity for everyone to react to it in ways we haven't seen. At first I thought he was just using the list to mess with everyone, but it did have a point and his "winners, prove me right, losers, prove me wrong" speech was actually very fair. Don't know if I liked the subplot with Pam crying at everything, because crying isn't always that funny unless you're Troy on Community, but the payoff in the tag was kind of cute.

Parks and Recreation
Poor Ann and her penis-filled inbox. Perd Hapley's generic, non-committal interview with Leslie was hilarious. I saw it coming that Ben knew Leslie was running and they had to break up, because it's just the logical solution. But maybe if she wins then they can date again, since they wouldn't be working in the same department anymore. And it's always fun seeing "Woodsman Ron", though I think it was partly an excuse to have him in a beard to disguise the fact that his mustache hadn't completely grown back after Nick Offerman shaved it during the break (it looked weird in the opening scenes).

Fringe
So it looks like it wasn't just Walter crossing over that set everything in motion, but also saving Peter, because it sounds like the observers were implying that he was supposed to die in both universes. I guess that was already apparent a long time ago. But given what we've seen mirrors do on this show, it's almost like the visions of Peter in reflective surfaces are showing that he's over in the other universe. It's also looking like Olivia and Lincoln might hook up, which would be a setup for Peter returning and finding them together, turning the tables after the Peter/Fauxlivia relationship while Olivia was away. Which is a worse excuse, "I thought she was you" or "I forgot you existed"?

Hero of the Week: I think the first hero award of the season goes to Andy Bernard from The Office, for sticking up for his co-workers and impressing Robert California. Go get 'em, Nard Dog!

Douchebag of the Week: And our first douchebag is Schmidt from New Girl. He already has a jar proclaiming him as such, but also he did bother me.