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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So I finally got around to watching the six episodes which constitute the first season of Parks and Recreation, the new series from Greg Daniels and Michael Schur (The Office - USA), which aired earlier this year. The show is superficially similar to The Office, it's filmed in a talking head/mock-umentary style and the humour has parallels, but beyond that it's quite a different beast from the expected show. Which was initially thought to be a spin-off from The Office.

Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope (a good sign because I generally love sitcoms with a character named Leslie in them - see 10 Items or Less) the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department in Pawnee, Indiana. At a meeting with the townsfolk one nurse named Ann (Rashida Jones) stands up to complain about a huge hole near her home. A hole that her boyfriend Andy (Chris Pratt) fell into and broke his legs.

Leslie forms a committee to deal with said hole; bringing on board Ann along with co-workers Mark (Paul Schneider), Tom (Aziz Ansari) and their intern April (Aubrey Plaza). The committee is "pushed through" by Ron (Nick Offerman) a bureaucrat who believes local government should do absolutely nothing at all but quite likes Leslie. So Leslie embarks on a quest through local government to try and fill in this huge pit and get a park put on top of it.

It has to be said that the first season is something of a mixed bag, while it does have a few great moments smattered about, on the whole it's a tad underwhelming. Leslie is enjoyable, but doesn't rise to any great heights of comedy and the show seems a little lost with where to direct her. Poehler herself is fantastic in her performance, hardly surprising considering her pedigree - and at times her performance does manage to echo Michael Scott's brilliance, while also reminding me of her husband's (Will Arnett) comic genius. There are a couple of moments where she delivers lines which reminded me of either GOB (from Arrested Development) or Michael Scott. This is a good thing.

As for the supporting characters, they're a mixed bag. Tom is rather "eh", but then again I didn't really like Aziz's performance in Scrubs, so it's not surprising I don't like his portrayal of Tom. They're very similar characters. Likewise April is rather weak as characters go, having little more than a single dimension at this time. Mark has a little more depth, but also toes the line towards that dreaded 'Will they/won't they' trope when placed near Leslie (they had sex once, will they get together in the end? WHO CARES? Pfft!) And Rashida is solid as Amy, but plays the role straight - giving an every-woman for others to bounce off.

But there are two supporting performances which are nothing short of fantastic, the first is Ron - the apathetic bureaucrat who would rather do nothing and promote people who feel the same way. His observations and talking head interviews are at times side-splitting in their hilarity and his office is just awesome. The second is Andy, who provides some great physical comedy combined with general piggish "douche-ness" and occasional moments of genuine thoughtfulness. He's the terrible boyfriend who does just enough to make himself be likable and seem redeemable before lapsing back into being selfish.

So on the whole the first six episodes are solid, but not amazing. There's some real promise in the show lurking beneath the surface - the cast certainly has people capable of great comedy moments - and given time to find it's groove this show could grow. The first season of The Office (USA) was at around a similar level and that grew into one of the best sitcoms on American television at the moment, so Parks and Recreation is certainly something to keep an eye on.

I've already heard that the second season shows strides in improving the show, and I'm going to get on that as soon as possible.
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