Sometimes I feel that my watching of television is an endless quest to find replacement shows for old favourites.  I've tried out shows like Boardwalk Empire and Treme to replace The Wire and Southlands to replace The Shield and each time I've only found middling success.  However, Community has filled one hole - the one left be the ending of first Seinfeld and later Arrested Development.


Community's first season was a magical journey of realisation about how superb comedy is still out there being produced.  It was a season that mixed bitter cynical humour with optimism and light hearted comedy.  The second season had one hell of a bar to reach.


Spoilers:  It raised it.  In fact it raised the roof and threw it into the neighbours garden.  Crushing a small shed in the process.


I don't know how the third season is going to manage to top the second one, the season managed to introduce exciting new support characters, continue running jokes, bring new ones in and provide not only a stop motion episode but also a zombie movie, a western, Star Wars and more besides.


Starting with the gang returning to Greendale after the summer break we follow on from the events of the last season.  Senor Chang is no longer a teacher, Jeff and the guys are now studying Anthropology together instead of Spanish and things have both changed and stayed the same.  Jeff's relationship status is 'resolved' and everything kicks up into a higher gear.


There are just so many highlights in this season; "Basic Rocket Science" provides a superb space film homage; the superb "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" features good old Dean Pelton in a story so twisty that you'll stop caring about understanding what's happening and just enjoy the fun and "Paradigms of the Human Memory" puts a fresh spin on the clip show.


But the personal favourites for myself were "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" and the two part season finale which built on the brilliant paintball episode of the previous season ("Modern Warfare") with a first part that homages the Western Genre and a second part that just gives up pretending to homage and rips huge sections of Star Wars off - the best sections I might add.


As before, performances are class throughout - While Chevy Chase is known to be a bit of a handful off screen, his delivery on screen is spectacular and the use of Pierce as a villainous foil to the group works exceptionally well.  Likewise Senor Chang's new role is possibly better than his original one, the mixture of adoration and hate he has for Abed and Company is something to really relish.  But for me, the best part is the increased role Professor Ian Duncan has John Oliver is a class act all the way, and he's just perfect in Community, rating alongside
Professor Eustice Whitman (the brilliant John Michael Higgins) as one of my favourite characters in the show outside of the main cast.


I dared to hope that the second season would surpass the first one, and it did.  Last time I wrote about Community I called it the best sitcom on air right now.  I feel justified in this opinion, it's sheer class.
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Television, TeeVee, TV ah how I've missed you my longtime companion.

Needless to say, at times life gets in the way of ones passions, writing became a real difficulty, then an obligation, then finally a chore.  At this point I knew it was time to take something of a break.

I hope it's done me a little good and I do feel energised sitting here in the mess that will eventually become my new home office.  Unfortunately, at this stage I'm a little out of it and behind the curve where it comes to television shows.  I've been forced in recent months to rely on my collection of DVDs rather than enjoying new shows, as a consequence I find myself in a bit of a bind - I don't have any new material to go over until September and I seem to have missed huge swathes of shows I used to watch.  I've got no idea what Torchwood was like, I've missed two seasons of Parks and Recreation, the latest season of so many shows...  And I'm still waiting to find the drama show with enough teeth and depth to capture my imagination the way my old favourites have done in the past.

Cream cheese and crackers that's starting to sound very negative isn't it?

Well, it's not.  First up, I'm looking forward to playing catch up on my favourite shows.  Secondly I have something of a fresh perspective on life and I'm hoping that it'll breathe a little life into the old blog.

And most importantly of all, I did keep up to date with one show in particular.  Community.  Good Old King of the Mother Fucking Situation Comedies Community.

That's the subject for Wednesday's post - Community's second season.  The highs, the delights, the excitement, the lows (i.e. the season actually finishing).

Until then, the plan is as follows - updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday (with a possible interruption next week because I'm a) getting married and b) going to Germany for a couple of weeks - but I hope to have some stuff written up in advance to cover that situation).  I'm hoping to source a co-writer for some Friday updates, but that depends on her.

Until Wednesday, keep your eyes open and your televisions tuned.  Or your internet connection streaming content - whichever works best for you.
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Spoilers, I've come to the conclusion that NBC's half hour sitcom Community was at the very least the best new comedy show of 2009 and it's possible that it was the best sitcom of that particular year. The show completely caught me by surprise last Autumn with just how good it was and most recently I caught up with the entire season in a marathon weekend session that solidified the shows place amongst my all time favourites.

The premise behind Community is based on the creator/writer Dan Harmon's personal experiences in community college. He found himself gradually becoming attached to a group of disparate people who had very little in common apart from the subjects they were studying. "...I was in this group with these knuckleheads and I started really liking them," he explains, "even though they had nothing to do with the film industry and I had nothing to gain from them and nothing to offer them." (read more here).

In the show it's currently disbarred lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale - The Soup) who plays Dan's analogue. Jeff is a cynical, independent, disdainful, womanizing individual who's only come to Greendale community college in order to gain a proper law degree and return to the job he loves. The attractive Britta (Gillian Jacobs - Choke) catches his eye and he invents a Spanish study group in order to get close to her. Unfortunately for Jeff Britta invites Abed (Danny Pudi - Greek) to the group and he in turn invites Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown - Drake & Josh), Troy (Donald Glover - writer, 30 Rock), Pierce (Chevy Chase - you should know where he's from) and Annie (Alison Brie - Hot Sluts - seriously, check it out here, it's in the category 'so intentionally bad it's kinda good' and of course Mad Men). This study group is not what Jeff wanted from community college, he was looking to just coast through on the bare minimum, sleeping with hot women and avoiding as much human interaction as possible. Instead he finds himself the head of a group of people devoted to passing Senor Chang's (Ken Jeong) Spanish class together.

Community is a phenomenal comedy show, it's a creation that's partially driven by the excellent cast, partially driving be pop culture references that are both nostalgic and on the pulse, partially by excellent plotting (especially in the genre of sitcom) - but it's mostly driven by a layered core of morals. Jeff is an excellent protagonist lead and the show plays up to his faults and strengths with exceptional skill. The show delivers moment after moment that at first appears hopeful and optimistic, but then you realise Jeff is doing it for selfish reasons, so it becomes cynical, but then he can turn around and just do something selfless that compromises his original intentions. It's rare you find a character who can turn around on the spot and alternate being sympathetic followed by being a complete arse without feeling like a flip-flopper or a detestable shrew. Joel McHale nails the role and gives you an exceptionally complete and rounded character with a lot of complexity.

But, whilst Jeff is the lead, Community is an ensemble show and without great performances from the rest of the cast and the supporting characters the show just wouldn't hold up. Fortunately just about every other character in the show is memorable and fun to watch. Abed is a wonderful portrait of Asperger's Syndrome and just a fantastic character and possibly my favourite (I also adore Jerry Espenson from Boston Legal, but I myself display many traits of Asperger's and fall just short of 'qualifying' - so it's no wonder I have such a connection with these two characters). Abed is a lot of fun, especially thanks to his film knowledge resulting in close to fourth wall breaking moments, describing situations in the form of television tropes and even saying that he was going to 'lay low for an episode' at one time.

Donald Glover's performance as Troy is one that takes a little time to warm up, he's a character that is very controlled and almost prim due to his lack of experience amongst people who don't idolise him. Now it did take a bit for me to warm up to Troy, but his connections with Piece and Abed really shine out and the various end of episode sketches he performs with Abed/Danny are without exception brilliant. Yvette Nicole Brown is instantly adorable as Shirley, she displays a mixture of mother-ish traits combined with an almost girlish glee that comes from someone reconnecting with the world and themselves. You can often count on Shirley to provoke the unexpected response from others (and herself) and when she squeals in delight at something you just can't help but smile.

Britta and Annie are two other characters that take a while to bloom, Annie grows a lot faster than Britta and thanks to Alison Brie's obvious talent. Annie's repressive and barely restrained nature results in some excellent inappropriate outbursts and she's a character who just grows in strength from one episode to the next. Britta on the other hand is a little uneven, she's fun and snappy but she's stuck mostly in the role of the group's spoil sport/kill joy - functioning often as the 'straight man' of the show, but the occasions where she gets to go off the page are great and Gillian Jacobs shows her comedy chops well at times.

The huge piece of the puzzle is Chevy Chase's role as Pierce, Pierce is outright the funniest and most outrageous member of the group. He's set in his ways, closeted, inappropriate, mildly racist, delusional and at times downright offensively ignorant. But there's a vulnerability to him that keeps him from turning into a complete toad, he genuinely wants to connect with other people - he's just lacking the right tools at times to do so (a bit like Michael Scott from The Office). His outbursts are almost always hilarious and the moments where he genuinely connects with other members of the group helps humanise him. The most impressive thing is his total lack of fear about making a fool of himself, he makes a lot of poor choices and then commits to them wholeheartedly (something he has in common with Chevy himself) and it's this trait that's the most endearing part of him.

Edit: Matt Murrell (@mattmurrell) quite rightly pointed out that I've done Senor Chang a crime by not writing about him in detail. Senor Chang rocks very hard and is frankly hilarious, I could go into this with more detail, but instead I shall share the youtube video Matt used to educate me with a gentle reminder on why Senor Chang rules.


In the supporting cast there are three notable members who deserve a great deal of praise, the first is Jim Rash as the sexually ambiguous and often inappropriate Dean Pelton, John Michael Higgins as the brilliant Professor 'seize the day' Whitman (John is almost always great in everything I've seen him in, I love his performance as Mentok the Mindtaker from Harvey Birdman) and John Oliver as Jeff's friend Professor Ian Duncan.

The episodes are often brilliant, considering it's a show about the low end of the education system and a small group of disparate individuals there's a remarkable scope in the situations and style of episodes that are employed. The show even manages to lampoon Die Hard and war movies in one excellent episode in a way that hasn't succeeded since Spaced did it. It's a show with some genuine talent behind the writing and it's always a delight to see each new episode.

Community has fast become one of my favourite shows, one of my top ten sitcoms and the best new show I saw in 2009. It's a quality piece that deserves to be trumpeted from the rooftops and I hope it runs for many years to come.
You'll enjoy Community if you like Arrested Development, The Office, Spaced, Black Books, How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock.
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I missed this feature last week, mostly because I had guests around on the Sunday and as such had less time to spend writing. That is in part why last week was rather update light, but ho hum we must press onward.

Community: "Debate 109"

If you're sick of my praising Community already then I'd skip onto the next entry in this, because this week's episode was another huge hit for me. It's been a long time since I've watched a sitcom which clicks so completely and feels like it's speaking to me. The last sitcom to make such an impression was Arrested Development, and while Community isn't at that level - it feels like it could get there.

I'm really enjoying the way the show is building on it's past episodes, keeping characters who could easily have been one off guest stars in the rotation. Including the awesome John Michael Higgins, who made a welcome return as Professor Whitman and the lovely Holland Roden as "girl" (second appearance for her).

The two main stories split up the usual pairings somewhat by having Pierce "hypnotise" Britta, Jeff team up with Annie in the debate competition (have I mentioned how awesome Alison Brie is? One to watch there) and the exceptionally amusing Shirley/Abed B Storyline which had her constantly accusing him of witchcraft and wizardry.

As for the end of the episode with Sandeep Parikh and Manley Henry (at least I believe it was them). Just brilliant.

The Office: "Murder"

In contrast The Office just wasn't on form this week, I can't put my finger on why. On the surface it should have been a fantastic episode, you've got everyone (apart from Oscar and Jim) taking part in a murder mystery game instated by Michael to try and distract attention from a possible company bancrupcy. This results in ridiculous accents, accompanied by pedantic correction of ridiculous accents and a chance for Dwight to get over enthusiastic about the entire thing.

But they are moving the Andy/Erin thing forward (haltingly), but they seem to be drifting back towards relying on the tired will they/won't they trope. Thinking about it, that might be the reason why the episode didn't do it for me. We spent ages waiting for the Pam/Jim story to resolve and I for one am not interested in walking into another version of that involving Andy and Erin. Still it's early days yet, they might move things forward with a more reasonable pace this time.

30 Rock: "The Problem Solvers"

I am disappointed with the direction this season has taken, and this episode was no exception. What happened to the 30 Rock I know and love? I do adore Jane Krakowski, that is all.

Parks and Recreation: "The Camel"

I picked up P&R last week and got up to speed with it this week, so I'm afraid I'll be skipping past all the episodes which have already aired in previous weeks and going ahead from this one. Which was by all accounts a great episode. I adore the ongoing series of 'inappropriate murals' which the show has and focusing around one - or the act of replacing it at least - was a lot of fun.

This was also the first episode to actually make Tom a likable character for me, while he is clearly a well written and amusing individual I find Aziz Ansari irritating to a high degree. This week though his obsession with the abstract painting he commissioned was endearing and funny.

Elsewhere it was the Ron and Andy storyline which did it for me, those two characters are brilliant and putting them together then creating such an awkward moment was hilarious. Especially afterwards where Andy's desperate attempts to avoid Ron just result in him spinning on the spot before having a faulting and slightly humiliating conversation. But the crown in the cap was Mark's suggestion for the winning mural, a completely inoffensive 'old man in park' which was delivered with such cynical intent that it was impossible not to love it.

Oh and bashing Jerry's frankly brilliant "murinal" because he mispronounced the word was hilarious, especially as he had a fantastic idea which would have certainly won.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Officer Krukpe"

Two episodes away from the "Seinfeld" episode and we had a pretty decent, but not overwhelming, episode of Curb. Myself I'm enjoying the Seinfeld moments more than the Curb ones now, which isn't a good thing for the show if I'm honest. It's reminding me just how great Seinfeld was - and the two auditions for the part of George's wife demonstrated to me how I prefer the pitch and pace of Seinfeld over Curb. Don't get me wrong, Curb is great, but it's no Seinfeld.

How I Met Your Mother: "The Rough Patch"

Not a great episode on the whole, it was entertaining, but it didn't feel like it brought much to the show beyond the ridiculously hilarious "fat Barney" (A nod to Friends and fat young Monica there?) Still that was a lot of funny and alongside Lily and Marshall's secret porn obsession it was pretty good.

The end of the episode was amazing.

Doctor Who will have it's own seperate post.

Other News:
I'm making a big push to finish watching the first season of Sons of Anarchy so I can deliver a verdict on it. I also received Moon last week and while I don't write about films that often I think it bares repeating to say that it's an excellent film with plenty to recommend.

I've also started to watch Legend of the Seeker, I've read the books since the first one was released over here - I'm not exactly a fan of the series, at times the writing is stunning but at others it's pretty flat and Terry Goodkind tends to rely on the same tropes over and over - so this means I'm actually pretty open to a re-envisioning of the story. Only seen two episodes at the time of writing this though, so I need to hang fire on judging it.

The last thing is a quick quesiton for those of you who care. I happen to already own the entire collection of The Shield on DVD, but I keep staring at the collected edition box set and being tempted to purchase it. Would it be overkill to own the series twice?
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The usual sitcom suspects are all present, Dexter was planned for watching this weekend but was bumped due to real life commitments. From what I've heard I'm definitely interested in catching up, I have some holiday time I need to spend before the end of the year, so I'll probably use that for doing so.

It's also been hard to get excited about Dexter because I'm watching and writing about the third season of The Wire for the third part of my Watching the Wire feature - it's my favourite season and as great as Dexter is, it does struggle when I'm watching at the same time as The Wire. I know I shouldn't compare them, but it does happen and Dexter always comes off unfavourably - which spoils my enjoyment of Dexter. I know this time last year I was watching the final season of The Shield and Dexter was positively awful in comparison. I know it was a weak season for Dexter, and comparing it to the strongest season of The Shield (and The Shield's swan song) is completely unfair. But it happened, and as such I'm trying to avoid that happening with the fourth season.

Community:
"Introduction to Statistics"

The episode was so great that it made it into my favourite Halloween episode list on Saturday. I shan't repeat myself too much here - I think it's enough to say that Community presses all my buttons comedy-wise. A great cast with fantastic stories and jokes. That is all.

The Office:
"Koi Pond"

For a show which has managed such amazing Halloween episodes in the past The Office didn't really try this year. It gave us a Halloween themed cold opening and then moved onto the main story, I guess the writers didn't really have much they wanted to involve Halloween in this year and as such they only included the opening skit to make it a Halloween episode.

For once I did think that everyone overreacted a little too far to Michael's costume of a hanged man, Halloween should be about scaring kids - within safe boundaries which do not put them in physical danger. I do think children are a little too protected these days and a good scare is not a bad thing for them. (Talking about suicide is a different matter though, even in the context of "it's wrong".) I'll tell you one thing, I'm glad that the present Michael had hanging over his crotch was not where the children were supposed to collect their candy from. Aborted joke maybe?

The rest of the episode was reasonable fair, I didn't really enjoy Pam and Andy out on sales calls, it felt exceptionally forced and unpleasant. Andy's a great character, but at times the writers take him a little too far along the scale and place him in overly creepy land. Considering what's happened to him it's not surprising he reacted the way he did, but ugh. It was not pleasant to watch.

On the other hand Michael falling into the Koi pond was pleasant to watch, as was the revelation about Jim's reaction at the time. This co-manager thing is really working well for The Office, I wasn't sure it would - but it's great.

Last of all, I did like the final pay off from the Pam/Andy storyline with Pam talking to Erin about Andy. Erin's just a lovely breath of fresh air in the show, she's nice, lovely and doesn't do the unpleasant things everyone else seems to get involved in. I could tolerate an Andy/Erin matching, but I'm pretty sure Andy would botch things in his usual indomitable fashion.

Curb Your Enthusiasm:
"The Bare Midriff"

An odd one for Curb, it travelled off into toilet humor - something I don't normally associate the show with. I'm not sure why to be honest, the shows first ever episode is titled "The Pant Tent" and is about erections. But I think it's the utterly slapstick way Larry's peeing is depicted, the amount of splash and the volume of the stream is ridiculous.

Still, the episode was frankly fantastic - if exceptionally Seinfeld in it's feel. Larry is falling into the role of George when Jerry's around on screen, this is not surprising as George is based on Larry, but it is giving the show a different feel. You could probably swap out the Curb theme and put in the Seinfeld music stings instead and you'd have an episode of Seinfeld. This, of course, is not a complaint - it's an observation.

30 Rock
"Stone Mountain"

An episode with some good moments, but on the whole it was pretty mediocre. As observed over at Cultural Learnings (a site I recommend you consider adding to your reading list) 30 Rock is very uneven in quality when you're dealing with their holiday specials. This one was not great.

The better moments included a few throwaway gags like Jack McBrayer appearing in the background as a "Female Kenneth" and a "Mustachioed Kenneth" and the always entertaining Tracy Jordan method of just setting him off in a direction riven with paranoia. But it didn't grip me too hard, Halloween felt like a barely present event. Now you don't have to do a Halloween featured episode in every sitcom, that's not a law
(though maybe it should be), but if you do include it either embrace the event or have a short segment on it and then move on. Don't have it sitting about like an elephant in the room all episode without handling it correctly.

30 Rock seems to have slipped a little in it's standard this year. But it's early days, so I'm hoping it'll pick up again.


In other news How I Met Your Mother wasn't on this week (so no return of the Slutty Pumpkin, which is something I hope for every year), and on the DVD front I've just been enjoying my way through the first three seasons of Futurama. Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad are still 'to be watched' and 'Parks and Recreation' has made it's way onto my to be watched list as light entertainment.

I was going to pick up the fourth season of Bones, but it was completely sold out everywhere I looked for it, there were piles and piles of Tru Blood and Lost season 5s around, but absolutely no Bones Season 4. I found this amusing for some reason.
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As it's Halloween and I have spent my time enjoying several Halloween specials today I thought I'd take a respective and look at some of my favourite ones. Without any further build up, here they are.



A complete newcomer to this list (relatively speaking). But, having just watched it for the first time before starting this list it's already become a firm favourite. In part because I adore the show and it's witty, intelligent form of comedy. But it's mostly because of one particular character in this episode. Abed's (Danny Pudi) fantastic performance as the Batman, which was close to pitch perfect vocally (Christian Bale Batman) and crackingly authentic in his movements as well. He pretty much lurked around for most of the episode on the sidelines, but the final three scenes were nothing short of hilarious.

The rest of the episode as is just superb both before the costume party and during it. Pierce arriving as 'The Beastmaster' and later freaking out on a trip had some fantastic moments and the main story surrounding Jeff was a great example of just how far his character has come in just a few episodes. He's still cynical, selfish and prone to discarding people when there's something he wants in his sights. But he's also now coming to care about the people who depend on him and is willing to bend for them, even to his own cost.

Still, it's "Batman's" closing monologue which propelled the episode from good into amazing.

This episode is the reason why I started watching How I Met Your Mother in the first place, I just caught it by happenstance when flicking through the channels a few years back and decided to start watching. It's from very early on in the shows run and it was one of the first times where the "is she the mother" angle was played up for great effect (outside of the pilot psych out).

Every year on Halloween there's a party on the apartment roof and Ted heads up there to try and meet the 'slutty pumpkin' again. A woman who was present one year wearing a pumpkin outfit with inappropriately placed holes. He got her number and then promptly lost it, so each year he heads back up there wearing the same (now completely out of context) costume in the hopes of finding her.

It's a great episode, showing a rather pathetic and romantic side to Ted. But it also plays well with Barney, his constant attempts to lift Ted away from this needy act and instead get him to head to a decent party become more and more entertaining. As do his costumes, especially the Top Gun one and of course the Penguin.


Because of the Wonder Woman twirl. Oh yes. I really have nothing more to say here except that it was a really unexpected episode for the show to pull, and it worked.



Say what you like about the various Treehouse of Horror episodes, I enjoy them a lot. But my personal favourite is the triple bill from the third season with the cursed Krusty doll, King Kong homage and Dial Z for Zombies - which is just about my favourite Simpsons moment of all time. Homer running down the corridor with a shotgun shooting various famous zombies who have no reason for reanimating in Springfield at all is just delicious.

I still do prefer Futurama's Anthologies of Interest on the whole, but Treehouse III will always remain my favourite animated Halloween episode - sorry Charlie Brown!



This episode wasn't exactly the Halloween episode for Supernatural, but it was released in October and is one of several episodes which shows just how special Supernatural really is. They often mix things up and homage the genre the show is built upon with great love and respect. Episodes like Ghostfacers, the Groundhog Episode "Mystery Spot" and the Evil Dead homage "Hollywood Babylon" simultaneously lampoon and affectionately pay tribute to the mediums of film and horror.

But it's Monster Movie which tops the shop, filmed entirely in black and white with a huge range of references to the old classic black and white horror b-movies it's an episode which is both Supernatural down to the core and something entirely different as well. The Winchester lads arrive in a small town which is being menaced by not just one, not two but three classic movie villains. It's ripping fun.



It's almost obligatory that this one makes it onto the list, but I'm not putting it on here because of that. It's a genuine and classic episode of a show which pretty much ran like a Halloween special every week. "Fear Itself" is another contender often mentioned in these kind of lists but I personally give Halloween the nod, in part because of the fantastic fun we have when each character takes on a new persona thanks to the outfits they're wearing. But it's mostly because this is the episode where we get to first see the steel and iron which hides behind the tweedish impertinence which makes up our initial perception of Giles. When his mask slips and we get to see the Ripper it's a great moment for his character and a great moment for the show.


This episode came in just the second season of the show, but it proved that The Office's American counterpart was capable of some stunning and subtle comedic insights of it's own. From the shrewd nod at the laziness women display when they turn up dressed as a cat, through Jim's rather amusing costume and all the way to Michael's second head berating Dwight and the attempted mind tricks - it's nothing short of classic Halloween and classic "Office". It's just a shame that this year's episode doesn't follow in that tradition.

Oh and Dwight's costume is one of the best, only beaten by last year's Joker look.


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I'm getting towards watching Dexter honest! But I have sidelined watching it for another week, in fact I'm now considering watching the show as a marathon after Christmas, but we'll see.

As for the rest, I've been keeping up to date with everything pretty well.

Community:
"Football, feminism and you"

Just to continue to beat that drum, if you're not watching Community you should be. This week's episode was another close to pitch perfect piece with Jeff playing a bit more of a defensive role than normal after the Dean blackmails him in order to take advantage of Jeff's influence over Troy. Either Jeff convinces Troy to join the College football team (named The Human Beings) or pictures of him attending the college are mailed out to various professional firms (including law firms). Revealing that Jeff's been forced to attend what is a pretty crappy college and tanking his future.

On the other hand Annie doesn't want Troy to start playing football again, she crushed after him all through high school and is just now getting to know him. This kicks off a tug of war between Jeff and Annie over Troy, both of whom have selfish reasons for wanting to dictate what Troy does.

Mix in two entertaining side plots, one with Britta learning how to connect with other women in the bathroom and the other having Pierce and Dean Pelton trying to come up with a racially sensitive human being mascot - and things are just great. As for Abed? His "Aspergers" plays up to the point that he decides he's been too prolific in last week's episode (his words) and he will lay low for this episode. Enjoyable fourth wall shaking from what is a pretty entertaining character - and sure enough, he's hardly seen in the episode.

Seriously, why on Earth are you not watching this show?

Curb Your Enthusiasm:
"Denise Handicap"

I don't know about this week's Curb - Curb has two settings for me, immensely enjoyable or frustrating with occasional funny. While last week's episode was in the enjoyable category, humiliating without being overly filled with irritants (just enough to keep it fun), this week's was. Well. Eh.

It just felt rather predictable, while often you can see where Curb is going to take you, and I enjoy that because it makes Larry's inevitable fall more amusing, this one really felt like it was just rehashing old ground with new paint. It had a few good moments, Rosie O'Donnell and Larry fighting in public over which of them gets to pay the cheque (they both wanted to) was a lot of fun, as was the beach moment with the Blackberry. But the main plot with Anita Barone? It just lacked, well everything.

30 Rock:
"Into the Crevasse"

Last week's season opener was a little uneven and not exactly inspiring, this weeks was a lot better but still not up to the standard of the 30 Rock we know and love. The big part of the funny was brought by the fantastic Will Arnett who plays Devon Banks with such aplomb that it's impossible not to enjoy the moments where he and Jack rant at each other.

The other funny parts include Frank breaking down over his inability to evenly microwave a burrito and his ranting at Liz over her "deal breaker novel" ruining his chances with a woman once she saw his action figures. In fact most of the men in the office were taking out their frustrations on Liz after their significant others had read the book and become aware of their failings. Tracy's reaction was (as always) priceless.

On the other hand I'm already a little tired with the two 'stars' Tracy and Jenna both acting up over the decision to add another actor to the show, Josh has already walked out so I don't see why we need both Tracy and Jenna acting in bizarre fashions (well more so than usual). Jane Krakowski is fantastic, 30 Rock needs to make better use of her. Having said that, the Iceland filming/night/werewolf fiasco was a funny concept.

The Office:
"The Lover"

The Office continues to develop, building on that wonderful Niagara episode with a stronger offering than last week's episode of 'Mafia'. This one has Jim and Pam returning to the office to find out that Michael has a new woman in his life - Jim finds out first that it's Pam's mother.

Pam's reaction when she finds out is just priceless and it sparks off a host of fantastic moments, including Michael being kind to Toby in order to try and get Pam to stop haranguing him (Toby's talking head moment on this is priceless, poor guy)

There's also a fantastic callback to the previous episode - with Ryan spending the entire episode wearing a flash gangster-esk hat without comment all the way through it and then refusing to let Kevin know where the hat came from because 'he can't say'.

The Office is living evidence that the will they/won't they trope can always be resolved and still keep the show entertaining. So Bones, you've got no excuse now - resolve the Booth/Bones thing this season, we're tired of it, K?

How I Met Your Mother:
"Duel Citizenship"

I'm not really sure what to say about the latest HIMYM, it was pretty much a solid affair but nothing special. There were a few good moments, mostly involving the caffeine laced soft drink 'Tantrum' but it was the first episode this season which felt like filler. Nothing overly funny, nothing particularly bad - it was just there and then done.

In other television related things I'm continuing to work on the third season of Watching The Wire, which starts this Sunday - this does mean that I'll be down to three posts during most weeks, but there will also be the Wire update on Sundays to make up for that. I'm also still (slowly) watching Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad - but due to a friend forcing me, I'm now also watching Ally McBeal (and I wouldn't admit it to her, but it's a fun show because I like David E. Kelley's dialog). And I have been keeping up with Family Guy/American Dad, but the episodes aren't worth commenting on, they just occupy time and space with mild entertainment.
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I'm afraid I'm still being lax where Dexter is concerned. I'm now three episodes behind with my viewing, I can't put my finger exactly on why I'm behind with watching it - I think it's a combination of my disappointment over the third season and the sheer amount of television I'm behind on already.

I have queued up to watch the following:
The Sopranos Season 3, 4, 5 and 6
Sons of Anarchy (Halfway through season one)
Breaking Bad - Season 2

And I'm back watching the third season of The Wire ready to start writing about it.

Mix this in with the ridiculous amount of time I spend commuting each day and I dunno, Dexter's just sort of languished and been left unwatched. I guess I'm saying "convince me to watch Dexter guys!"

Onto the television I have been watching:

How I Met Your Mother:
"The Sexless Innkeeper"
Another frankly fantastic episode from the HIMYM crowd, for once it wasn't the Robin/Barney or Lily/Marshall storyline which got the biggest laughs from me. It was actually Ted's 'Sexless Innkeeper' story. Especially the "It's a poem" justification as to why the tales of the sexless innkeeper were being told as if it was Dickens.

I'm absolutely miffed that this show hasn't released more Region 2 seasons on DVD. Get your butts out to the shops and pick up the first season guys. Convince them to hurry up and release the next three seasons. If not for the enjoyment and hours of excellent comedy you'll get from it, then for me!

Community:
"Advanced Criminal Law"
The little comedy engine that could continues to pick up speed and pile on the steam, this weeks episode was nothing short of superb. I just love the way the show took the core concept from the pilot episode and expanded on that - creating this growing, living universe filled with bitter, cynical comedy that also feels uplifting and upbeat.

When Senor Chang threatens to give everyone a zero unless whomever it was who cheated on the test with a crib sheet, Britta stands up and takes the fall. Then Jeff offers to give her legal counsel on the entire thing - which results in this wonderful flip-flopping of events that bring the brilliant Jim Rash (who played Fenton in That 70s Show - one of my favourite recurring characters) back as Dean "I go both ways" Pelton, Senor Chang and Professor Duncan together as the tribunal on Britta's case.

You've also got Abed learning about how 'friends mess with each other' and then taking it to a new level in an attempt to get back at Troy, while Annie and Pierce (Chevy Chase who's on amazing form) sort of bond together over the creation of a song for the college.

The episode ends with a classic and somewhat beautiful Pierce moment, which was quite moving and beautiful. But still laced with that cynicism which I'm beginning to love about Community.

Curb Your Enthusiasm:
"The Hot Towel"
This episode was a step back from the breakneck joy of the Seinfeld reunion storyline, giving us classic Curb - but with a subtle and brilliant Seinfeld reference built into it. After Larry hurts his hand with a hot towel he's unable to undo a bra because his 'undoing left hand' is out of action. The resulting scene homages a conversation from Seinfeld (George of course being based on Larry David.)

JERRY: Don't be so sure. Look at George - he's on his ninth date with Betsy, he still hasn't gotten anywhere with her.
ELAINE: What's his problem?
JERRY: Well, every time he tries to make a move, something screws up. Like on their last date, they were on the couch, but she was sitting on his wrong side.
ELAINE: Wrong side?
JERRY: Yeah, she was on his right side. He can't make a move with his left hand. Can't go left.
ELAINE: He can't go left.
JERRY: No! I'm lefty, can't go right. What about women? Do they go left or right?
ELAINE: Nah, we just play defense.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the return to classic Curb as it mixed things up. I also loved Christian Slater's part in the show.

The Office:
"Niagara" & "Mafia"
Seriously, how good was Niagara? It was pretty much the best episode of The Office I've seen in a long time and well deserving of the hour long episode. It also could have served as a fantastic season ender - or even a wonderful note to end the show on. So in some ways I'm a little surprised they've 'spent' it so early on, but I assume they've got some great comedy direction for Jim and Pam now they're married.

Who'd have thought it all those years ago eh? Unlike their British counterparts J&P have actually ended up together. It was a wonderful and sweet episode that is amongst the best I've seen in a long time, not so sold on the morning sickness joke, it was clever - but also exceptionally lowbrow, a little too lowbrow for The Office I think.

Mafia was back to a more standard form, I did enjoy Oscar explaining that the balance of reason in the office was out of kilter with Jim and Pam away on holiday. I also enjoyed watching Kevin single handedly ruin their honeymoon without even meaning too. But the main plot, Michael worrying about an Italian American selling him insurance turning out to be a member of the mob, was a little too late. A few years earlier, with The Sopranos still on the air, and it would have worked.

30 Rock
"Season 4"
I'm not sure about the season opener for 30 Rock. It had it's share of funny moments, many of them revolving around Tracy Jordan, but it was also a little uneven at times. The dynamic between Kenneth and Jack was fun, with Kenneth proving to be an almost unassailable wall of incorruptible virtue - until he got his own way and then realised that he'd have to lie to cover up what actually happened. I also appreciated seeing more of Scott Adsit who often feels woefully underused, he's a funny guy, exceptionally funny, and he needs more screen time and more story lines.

Solid, but it didn't blow me away.
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Television watching has been a little spartan this week, I was busy working on the Saturday and visited some friends who'd just moved into their new place on the Sunday. So the weekend, which I normally use to catch up on television, wasn't available. As such I'm behind with quite a few shows and there's not that much to report today.

How I Met Your Mother:
Episodes Two and Three

Forgive me if I gush a little, but I'm always constantly pleased with the way HIMYM manages to keep itself feeling fresh by spinning old situations into something new, and we had two episodes over the past two weeks which managed that. Episodes which had me laughing out loud while watching them, which is unusual because I'm a social laugher - I don't laugh when I'm watching shows alone normally, even laugh tracks or audience laughter aren't enough. But, both episodes of HIMYM managed to do this on more than one occasion.

While the first of the two episodes was pretty clever and had some good moments to boot (especially Stripper Lily and the obscenely funny Mustachio Marshall) it was the third episode 'Robin 101' which just shined, being simultaneously funny, entertaining, cynical and filled with character development for the cast. It was also a good opportunity for Cobie to show a range of amusing facial expressions.

Curb Your Enthusiasm:
Episode Three

Seriously, I sat there with this stupid grin on my face all episode. I'm absolutely loving this story arc, it's one hundred percent, self assured quality level gold genius in a platinum bucket of awesomeness. Seeing all the Seinfeld gang together, Larry's constant faux pas, his transparent attempts to win back Cheryl and his almost petty railing at the head of NBC over a small slight were capped with the wonderful moment where Larry imagines two possibilities - winning his wife back with a Seinfeld reunion vs. going to the funeral of the head of NBC and then tosses a coin on it to decide. Just brilliant!

Community:
Episode Four - Social Psychology

There is no doubt about it, Community is my favourite new show of the fall season. I don't think it's possible to count all the ways I'm beginning to adore this show. While it could have easily fallen into a sitcom slump and just given us the same old story over and over it's instead opted to expand on every character in it's show, giving each of them a distinct voice and place in the show. Pierce still remains the most consistently entertaining - wandering around with a radar stuck to his ear was inspired, but Jeff's lack of honesty and inability to learn remains good and most of all Abed's oddities are beginning to really steal the show. It's just great stuff.

And the end of show credit jokes are just getting better and better.

I am at this point behind in watching Dexter, I'll catch up this weekend. Promise! Same with the one hour Office special Niagara (which I'm positive will be amazing). I'm also still chugging my way through season one of Sons of Anarchy - the quick report is this, fans of morally ambiguous action drama. Saddle up and get watching! Likewise you need to get up to scratch with Breaking Bad if you haven't already.

In other news Watching the Wire: Part 3 is full steam ahead, the posts are beginning to take shape and will start in November, I'm keen to get the third and fourth seasons done because I'm so fond of the stories they seek to tell.
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This week's television remains mostly Situation Comedies, but Dexter's season premiere has now joined the list, likewise Family Guy and American Dad. Now, due to the difficulties I have in watching television during the week I'll probably remain a week behind everyone else as far as Dexter is concerned.

American Dad:
Episode One: In the Country... Club

One of my favourite genres in the world of film is the war movie, or more specifically the America sub-genre of 'Vietnam Movies' "In the Country... Club" grabbed these and gave us a wholesale feast of them. With Platoon, Apocalypse Now and Rambo all being homaged and parodied on the field of 'Vietnam re-enactment paintballing' this episode was nothing short of amazing.

As an aside, where's the British "Falklands War" movie genre? Gap in the market there! Quick, get writing about trench foot!

Community:
Episode Three - Introduction to Film

Community continues to be my favourite new show this season, after spending the first two episodes going "**** me, it's Chevy Chase" I spent the third one going "**** me, it's John Michael Higgins". John is one of those people who's been in so many shows I adore, including (but not limited to) Arrested Development,
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Seinfeld and Boston Legal.

He was fantastic as the offbeat 'seize the day' Professor Whitman, a role which looks like it was a one off - but I'm hoping might have the potential to become recurring. Either way it was great to watch him shimmy up lamp posts, tear up menus and just have immense fun on screen.

The rest of the cast continue to grow, at this moment things are still very centered around Jeff, but we are getting to know the others. The episode wasn't as strong as last weeks, but it was still clever, funny and warming to watch.

Cougar Town: Episodes One and Two
Kevin Biegel and Bill Lawrence's new "older promiscuous woman" related show has made it onto my viewing list thanks to the interesting cast (especially Christa Miller who's one of my all time favourite women on TV) and Bill's own involvement. More on this show later this week, but if you want a short version - it's something I feel guilty about liking.

Curb Your Enthusiasm:
Episode Two: Vehicular Fellatio

I wondered how long Curb was going to take to resolve the majority of it's "Meet the Blacks" plot and clear space for the Seinfeld reunion arc to move in. It looks like that plate is now clear, and while I am going to miss Vivica A. Fox a lot at least J.B. Smoove is around for a while longer.

The opening (and closing) joke in particular was something very special, I've never understood those products which are so heavily vacuum sealed that it's impossible to open them without application of force, a knife or often both - and it's also a situation I've been in more than once myself. So Larry's cries of frustration and anger were hilarious.

Dexter:
Episode One:

I've held off from watching Dexter's first episode despite it being leaked online, this has of course frustrated a few of my friends who've already seen it and know better than spoilering it for me. If I'm honest I've approached this season with a real sense of trepidation, mostly because the third season was a huge let down.

After watching it I'm still undecided. As I've said many times before, Michael C. Hall is great, but Dexter's last season started well before degenerating into a mess. We'll see how things turn out.

Family Guy:
Episode One: Road to the Multiverse

I don't know how long I'm going to be writing about Family Guy on here, probably just when there's the odd exceptional episode. This was one of them, but then I've always enjoyed the Brian/Stewie heavy "Road to ____" episodes as they often shake things up. This one was no exception, giving us a 'Sliders' (now there's a show which should have ended when the cast started to leave) style trip through alternate realities. Some of which were very funny, the Disney reality in particular was amazing.


Seriously how awesome are those? Just look how amazing Peter looks.

But unfortunately the other dimensions on the whole were kind of "eh" and a lot of the other really cool alternate realities only made an appearance in the title sequence. I especially liked these two:



I am tired of the constant 'Meg is ugly', let's treat Meg like crap jokes though - that's one ship which has gotten old.


The Office:
Episode Three: The Promotion

I don't have that much to say about this week's Office, apart from a few moments it seemed to be lacking in funny. I'm not sure how this Jim/Scott co-Manager thing is going to work out, it feels like it's going to be milked for a while (and it's not that funny) before everything returns to normal. I'd be a lot happier if the writers could come up with a solution which results in some growth and change in the office without losing any of the characters. But we'll see, as next weeks episode "Niagra" looks to be a great one.

On DVD I've just finished the second season of The Sopranos, more on that tomorrow. I'm also gearing up to watch Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy, I just can't find the time right now.
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The esteemed Rob Buckley (Of The Medium is Not Enough) recently peaked my interest about a new sitcom which had arrived in NBC's stable. It's called Community and to quote the pair of tweets from Rob which got my interest:


That was enough to make me want to take a closer look at the show, which I did by plunging into watching the first two episodes - I figured that at worst it would be about forty minutes lost watching them both and they might turn out to be entertaining.

So is this show going to be for you? Well check out the trailer yourself.


My first reaction when watching this went something like "Holy ****, is that Chevy Chase? It is, it's ****ing Chevy Chase! What the **** has he been doing all these years? Is he going to be any good?"

Short answer to that final question is yes, yes he is. Which is good because while there are other familiar faces in the show - Chevy is the biggest name there and as such it was important that he was still funny. Fortunately he is, he's been given a great character and he hasn't lost his comic timing.

That aside, what is Community about? As you will have gathered from the trailer the show centers around one Jeff Winger (Joel McHale - Talk Soup) a lawyer who has returned to community college after being disbarred for having an unacceptable law degree. He's a man who's used to getting his own way, using words to manipulate and control others. He initially meets talkative Abed (Danny Pudi) and then decides to form a fake study group in order to get closer to the attractive Britta (Gillian Jacobs). Abed is invited to the group by Britta and he in turn invites others to join. Turning Jeff's attempt at bedding Britta into a genuine study group.

The other people who join are divorcee Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown ), Troy (Donald Glover - 30 Rock), Annie (Alison Brie - 30 Rock) and of course Pierce (Chevy Chase). A disparate group of individuals drawn together by Abed (as as such indirectly by Jeff). It is this group which the show rotates around, supported (and taught Spanish) by the awesome Senor Chang (Ken Jeong - MADtv), Jeff's friend Professor Ian Duncan (John Oliver - The Daily Show) and Dean Craig Pelton.

Community is a show about these people, while it's still early days (just two episodes) and some of the characters still haven't had time to develop and explore their personalities they're already all distinctive and likable - even Jeff who's supposed to be a bit of a jerk. In fact that's something I'm a little concerned about, at this point there doesn't seem to be much in the way of an external antagonist, most likely the show will work through friction from it's disparate cast members instead - we'll have to see how things develop, 30 Rock for example evolved Alec Baldwin's character away from being antagonistic towards Liz and the show with great success.

The real thing which stands out about the show is not located in the pilot episode - which is more of a 'get to know the characters and situation', it's in the second episode 'Spanish 101' which builds up to a wonderful moment that is simultaneously heartwarming, funny, bizarre, cynical, world weary and just lovely. It's a moment with a lot of heart, tongue in cheek and is far better than any second episode moment has any right to be. This is in part thanks to the fact that the second episode is focused around Chevy's character Pierce and he really nails it.

I think I can feel pretty confident in predicting that Community is going to take off and become big in the same way that The Office and 30 Rock both have before. It's a clever, funny and entertaining show which has managed to provide a fresh enough spin on the old situation comedy. It reminds me of many great shows I've seen previously, and there's also something of the Brit-com in it's style as well. Which is to say - I like this show a lot and feel it's destined for big things, so get yourself in on the ground floor so you can say "I started watching Community before it became big" and have all your friends envious of you (or something).

If you're in the US the full episodes are available to watch at NBC's official site here.


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An old series making a return, The Week That Was (aka TW²) is a brief look at the various shows I've watched last week. It's an easier way for me to condense all the fall shows and write a little about each one, especially when dealing with American sitcoms with their relatively short length and light nature.

As always when dealing with this type of thing spoilers will abound, so be aware!

Community:
There will be more on NBC's new sitcom Community later this week. Suffice to say here it's good enough that it warrants it's own post which will appear tomorrow.

The Office:
The returning season premiere was both exciting and a little flat, I'm always thrilled to see The Office back on the small screen but on the whole the first episode wasn't that great. It was a little light on laughs and had Michael going a little too far beyond the normal expected behaviour for him. Fine one of his staff members is having an affair, but it's a bit of a stretch to have Michael going that far over it.

On the other hand, the rumours he generated to create a smoke screen were pretty hilarious, but in essence the episode was just a vehicle for revealing Pam's pregnancy to the

The second episode on the other hand (The Meeting), was more on pitch. The opening joke (Michael asking Oscar for advice on what to do when having a colonoscopy) was hilarious. Likewise the episode itself had plenty of great moments, I did enjoy Michael pulling out Toby's performance review for Jim and reading it - a nice subtle reminder of Toby's dislike for Jim. The episode ended with an interesting development as well, should be a season to watch!


How I Met Your Mother:
Another great episode from the little engine that could. Ever since I stumbled apon HIMYM by accident about two years ago it's done nothing but delight me with the comedy and performances from the cast. This episode was no exception, throwing a fun curveball at the viewer before settling into more expected directions. The whip was inspired genius and even Ted was given a bit of a chance to be funny and entertaining, he's normally the show's straight man - being set up by the situations rather than just being oddball (like the rest of the cast).

I can't help but wonder how many more years are left in the story, they've teased things out well over the first four years, but I'm not sure how I'll feel if we get to the end of this season and haven't found out who the mother is. Will we get five seasons or seven seasons of HIMYM?

Curb Your Enthusiasm:
After the amazing season Curb had previously I was left wondering what direction it would take if it returned. Then I heard about the superb idea of the Seinfeld reunion show, but I was still unsure if it would be good.

Thankfully it is, it's absolutely awesome. The show continues to deliver awkward moments, comedy and heart (well, misguided heart) at the same standard it's always managed. The build up to the reunion arc has already started with Cheryl mentioning how much she preferred it when Larry was working (and that was what lead to their break up). I frankly can't wait to see the gang all back together on the screen, especially in Curb. While Julia and Jason have both appeared in the show before (and Jerry cameoed in the brilliant 'Producers arc') it's still going to be amazing to see them all together once more.

And has Jeff Garlin (Jeff Greene) lost some weight? Cause he's looking a lot more svelt now!

On the DVD front I continue to work my way through the second season of The Sopranos - more on that once I've completed it. But I really enjoyed the first disc and the direction the show's taken, and I'm finishing up watching the third season of 10 Items or Less (more on that soon). In addition I purchased seasons 1, 4 and 5 of Ally McBeal - they were available for such ridiculously low prices that I felt they were worth it - I'll watch them at some point in the future.
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