Author: Nick K

Another week and another crop of shows have bitten the dust.   And now as that Queen song ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ bounces around my head, it will become apparent to most why a couple of these shows got the axe.   It’s always hard to see a bunch of shows go, even if they more than rightly deserved it.   To see something fail that people put time and effort and love into is a sad thing to have to witness.   So let’s get on with it and pay our respects to a few more fallen shows.

1. Hank- There was really no hope for this middling laugh track infested sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer about an executive who has to move his family back to the town he grew up in.   I’m not sad to see sitcoms facing death after death while more cutting edge comedies, with zero laugh tracks to hear from, thrive on and upwards.   Maybe it’s just I’m not a big fan of Grammer but I think his time for leading sitcoms has come and gone.   I found Back to You to be that not that bad but nowhere close to his glory days of Cheers and Frasier.   This show dies as well as his possibilities of ever getting another sitcom.

2. Eastwick- A few more people might care about this show because it at least had a bit more of an interesting concept than Hank did.   Basically inspired by the book and movie “The Witches of Eastwick”, the show followed a group of women living in New England with magical powers.   The show got very mixed reviews and apparently couldn’t attract a decent following even though it had the incredibly hot Rebecca Romijn leading the cast.   Even worse is that the show was so quickly yanked from the schedule that the few fans there were won’t even get a decent wrap up episode. Witches just aren’t as in as vampires right now I guess.

3. Doll House- Now here’s the one I really hate to have to report on.   I love Joss Whedon and really anything he did for TV was very special and inventive and never pandered to formulaic concepts.   Hmm, I wonder why this show got canceled then.   As Firefly before it, Doll House has is now facing the chopping block, but at least it got a better un out of it then that beloved sci-fi opus.   Eliza Dusku will be missed as she ran around in tight out fit after tight out fit and smart, edgy sci-fi takes another hit, which I fear Fringe might not be too far from sharing.   Potentially this show could’ve been saved if it hadn’t been relegated to its Friday death march, but there was probably nothing that really could’ve saved this very liked cult followed show.   It just doesn’t have the appeal of D-list stars dancing and making fools of themselves that apparently is the only thing people want to see right now.   FOX will graciously be airing the rest of the season come the beginning of December so enjoy this gem while it lasts.

Thursday night is officially back to Comedy Night Done Right with all four NBC comedies finally back on one night.   No more half hour Weekend Update episodes and most likely no more hour long comedy episodes, at least until sweeps anyway.   And if experience has taught us anything those hour long episodes can either be pure genius or make you feel that part of your life force has been sucked away.   I’ve been waiting since the beginning of the season for them to get back to this old, but perfect formula, and have four good half hour programs of hilarity.    We are now back to a good ol four course meal of comedy.

First off is Community which is like a nice appetizer as its light and not what you’re always looking forward to but usually comes off nice and easy.   I’ve found myself liking this show as the season progresses and I’m glad for that because it could’ve been a train wreck from beginning to end like I thought it would be.   Though I still think they need to tone down the insanity of Ken Jeong’s Asian Spanish teacher, he wasn’t overly annoying in this episode as he went way overboard after finding someone had cheated on his Spanish test.   Jeff then used his questionable powers of attorney to defend said person in some funny scenes involving a disciplinary board and a swimming pool.   I also liked how Chevy Chase’s character got himself roped into coming up with a song for the college and just kept ripping off other song’s tunes.   But, again, the least interesting part was the Arab kid as he used yet another tired plot device to try to trick Troy into thinking he was an alien in scene after scene that remained unfunny.

Then Parks and Recreation comes at you like the pre-main course salad because everyone loves a salad and it’s great to have around right before you get that big old steak.   This episode I thought was really the highlight of the night and was really the funniest episode of the season so far.   It was great to see Fred Armisen play the Venezuelan Parks and Recreation person from Pawnee’s sister city.   All he had to do through the episode was to completely insult Pawnee and America and everybody in the town and he did it perfectly.   I also loved how one of the Venezuelans went head over heals for the intern girl’s character and she acts so apathetically to it all.   Also when they think Tom is a servant and he hates it at first but then realizes these guys are loaded and tip him for every little thing that he does.   This show has really been on its game lately and continues to deliver perfect episode after perfect episode.

Then we have the big main course of the evening being the episode of The Office.   Sadly I wish I had done this whole meal analogy when they had a better episode on because you might want to complain to the waiter how bland it was.   It was just one of those episodes where it really feels like they just put it in there to take up time.   All that was the plot focus was Michael thinking he was getting a shake down from the mob and Dwight and Andy pushing this belief so Michael can do stupid thing after yet again stupid thing.   It did have its good moments though and I wouldn’t say it was the worst episode I’ve ever seen but it all felt so pointless in the end.   Though by the end Michael was showing more confidence in his wheelings and dealings and there was a great bit with different people from the office in some way screwing up Jim and Pam’s honeymoon for them.

And then for that sweet desert that you know you really want there was the premiere of 30 Rock to get all excited about.   Yes the show I know I’ve been waiting the most to come back on the air is finally back and it didn’t disappoint in the least. Mostly the episode followed Liz and Pete being forced by Jack to find a new cast mate and then everybody thinking that the two of them are having an affair together because they don’t want anybody to know they are looking for a new cast member.   This leads to a great part with Pete’s wife showing up just as they are lying to the writers and saying they are sleeping together and she kind of invites Liz to join them.   Also Kenneth and all the NBC pages go on strike leaving Jack to figure some way bribe Kenneth into calling it quits and we have yet another cameo by Steve Buscemi as the getting weirder private eye we first saw in the second season.   All, of course, leads to hilarious moment after hilarious moment in the show that has yet again won the Emmy for best comedy, and it’s easy to see why that is.