Weekend round-up: Life, Earl and Always Sunny

Brief spoilers for the most recent episodes of, in order, "Life," "My Name Is Earl" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" coming up just as soon as I buy a grenade and a wedding dress...

If I hadn't already seen this Monday's episode of "Life," I'd be far more concerned that season two has opened with two disappointing episodes in a row. "Everything... All the Time" was actually weaker than the season premiere, which at least had some memorable "Life"-style visuals and a plot I could follow from beginning to end. I spent this one feeling like the Donal Logue character, not sure what the hell Crews and Reese were doing, or why, and so other than some of the business about Charlie not having a car (and then getting another awesome one), this didn't work for me.

Again, Monday's episode feels much more like the sort of thing they were doing late last season, so I'm not too worried yet. But since I'm skeptical that the show's going to be around very long, I want as many good episodes as possible before it goes.

This week's back-to-back "My Name Is Earl"s were both better than either of last week's. (They were also helped by being one of the few Thursday shows I watch that wasn't pre-empted by the VP debate, since I was just glad to have something scripted to watch.) Joy's one of the show's two strongest characters (Randy is the other), and the combination of her abrasiveness and Darnell's germ-phobia made for some funny moments before the inevitable "Earl heart-warming ending. Meanwhile, the second episode cast Jerry Van Dyke as the world's greatest killing machine, and I have to admire it for that. It's still inessential viewing, but on a week like this, it was welcome.

I should probably only write about "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" when they do an episode I like, which tends to be once ever three or four times out. But people like to talk about it, and I did watch the two-part "Mac & Charlie Die," even if most of it fell flat for me (other than Dee's unfortunate SEPTA bus ride and the matter-of-factness of the pawn shop guy), so have at it.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Almost forgot: My Name Is Earl

In doing yesterday's grab-bag post, I forgot that I had seen both of this season's new episodes of "My Name Is Earl." I forgot in part because I watched them both about a week ago on a review screener, but also because neither was strong enough to stand out in my memory after a day or two. Still, some brief thoughts coming up just as soon as I shove a squid in someone's face...

Greg Garcia has talked about how he wanted to bring the show back to its roots after last year's Prison Earl and Coma Earl experiments. The thing is, while the coma episodes were awful, the earlier prison arc featured some of the sharper outings the show had done in a while. It was a nice combination of the predictable List elements and some format-breaking surprises.

The two episodes opening this season were very much in the vein of the early days of "Earl," but I don't know that this is something to aspire to. Basic stories of "Earl" crossing items off his list have never done a lot for me, in part because they squander Jason Lee's talents by asking him to do nothing but act genial and confused. There are going to be funny moments here and there (in this case, I laughed at Randy's reaction to the prop squid, and at Earl and his dad getting beat up by David Paymer's wife in the stretch pants), but not enough to make it a must-watch, especially now that there isn't a show I care about airing immediately after it. (I haven't watched "Kath & Kim" yet, and could wind up liking it, but the clips and what I've heard from other critics isn't filling me with confidence.)

What did everybody else think? You glad for the back-to-basics approach, or are you as fatigued with "Earl" as I am? Click here to read the full post

Scrubs & Earl: Quien es mas macho?

Some brief, interconnected thoughts on "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" coming up just as soon as I shave a kangaroo...

Both shows have been so disappointing of late -- particularly "Earl," where the coma sitcom fantasy may be the single worst idea they've ever had -- that they've been reduced to watch-while-multi-tasking status. But even though I didn't pay as much attention to either one as I did to, say, last night's brilliant episodes of "The Office" and "Survivor," I felt both were improved over what they've been doing lately.

Specifically, while the "My Name Is Earl" writers still have Earl in a coma, this episode was 100% sitcom fantasy-free, which allowed them to take advantage of the biggest plus to the coma scenario: the good, boring version of Earl is in a coma, so we get more of the bad, funny version in flashback. Plus, this was maybe the best they've ever used Beau Bridges as Earl's dad. The sequence in the motel room (and kudos to Michael Pena for finding a slightly new way to play the cliche of the eccentric drug dealer) where Mr. Hickey had to deal with being frisked and being confronted with everything he hates (ambiguous sexuality, drugs, exotic animals kept in small spaces) was really well done, as was the montage of dad going through his humdrum life with more pep in his step, cut to the theme from "Superfly."

"Scrubs," meanwhile, got back to the Kelso forced retirement story they brought up right before the strike and had all of the characters behaving more or less in character and as recognizable humans. (We all know this has been a big problem with JD in recent seasons.) The Turk/JD friendship is almost always funny, but this was the first time in a while (and that includes the "We should be more grown-up now that we have kids" episode) where I felt like both were on equal footing as three-dimensional characters.

Also, "there's some truth to" Janitor's name being Josh? What the?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Scrubs & Earl open thread

My viewing of "My Name Is Earl" and "Scrubs" last night was too intermittent to allow for much analysis -- save that, like Turk, I'm all about the brinner -- but enough that I'm not going to go back and rewatch either episode in service of a longer post. So fire away with your own thoughts on each. Click here to read the full post

My Name Is Earl: Coma, C-O-M-A, coma

I basically said all I had to say about last night's "My Name Is Earl" in Wednesday's column -- short version: the Zucker commercial was the funniest thing about it -- but anyone who wants to weigh in with their own opinions, feel free. Click here to read the full post

All TV: Scripted show return dates, 'My Name Is Earl' review

Today's column starts off with a bit of customer service, as I reiterate the return dates (and number of remaining episodes) for most of the scripted shows that haven't already come back post-strike. I also preview tomorrow's "My Name Is Earl" episode (which, as too often is the case, underwhelmed me), and talk a little about Jeff Zucker's attempt to be the new Brandon Tartikoff.

And speaking of Zucker and NBC, the NBC upfront is today, and I should have a dispatch on it by late afternoon. Based on some preliminary comments by NBC co-president Marc Graboff, it sounds like the announcement is going to be short on specifics and long on contingency plans (NBC! We're the new Fox!), but at the very least we should know for certain about the future of "Friday Night Lights" and whether "Scrubs" will be on NBC or ABC next year. Click here to read the full post

Earl: You're not so bad

Spoilers for the final "My Name Is Earl" until the strike ends coming up just as soon as I ask my optometrist for some frames like Stan's...

Anyone who's read my sporadic blogging about this show over the last few years knows that I gravitate towards episodes where Bad Earl surfaces and wish that the writers would trust Jason Lee's charm a little more and make Earl's behavior more outrageous. So an episode titled "Bad Earl" should be catnip for me, right?

Instead, what the episode mainly gave us was Grumpy Earl. Sure, he threw out The List for a while, he walked out on helping Mistletoe (who was definitely the episode's best sight gag, non-car accident division), he knocked over Crab Man and Joy's trailer and he bigfooted on Ralph's Stan scam. But none of his actions were that terrible, and certainly not for that long, that they merited an intervention that quickly, either by the writers or the characters.

I'd be inclined to blame some of this on strike-related problems, but like I said, the show has always been a little too willing (either by the writers' choice or because of pressure from NBC brass) to distance themselves from Earl's dark side, even though playing likable bastards is the thing that Lee does best.

Ah, well. I probably should've seen the first car crash coming, but I laughed in surprise nonetheless. (Then I laughed at the Alyssa Milano crash because the special effects were so terrible. At least they used a stuntman for the Earl crash.) So long as NBC puts it on a night with much better shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office," "Earl" is just good enough for me to keep watching, but I almost always wish it could realize its potential more than it does.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Scrubs & Earl: Arrested development

I'm going away for the weekend, which means tonight's "Friday Night Lights" review may be brief, as will Sunday night's "Dexter" review (assuming I'll even have computer access on Sunday night to post it).

In the meantime, some very quick thoughts on last night's "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" coming up just as soon as I doctor my birth certificate...

I really want to be enjoying this final "Scrubs" season more than I am (and the longer the strike lasts, the greater the likelihood that the show won't have a proper finale, short of Bill Lawrence doing a YouTube diary entry where he talks about what would have happened with J.D. and Elliot and what The Janitor's name was), but it continues to feel both flat and repetitive. Having the characters acknowledge that they went through the exact same problem two or three episodes back doesn't excuse the fact that they're doing it again. I appreciate the look at how hard it is to leave behind your (relatively) carefree twenties and deal with the responsibilities of your 30s (having gone through much the same not long ago), but I feel like they're beating me over the head with it, and making J.D. seem even denser than usual in the bargain.

Also beating over the head? The none-too-subtle hints that Kelso was hiding his age to avoid mandatory retirement. It's the kind of story you can actually tell in a final season (not that we'll necessarily get to see the episodes where Kelso steps down), but as with J.D.'s cluelessness about when he could and couldn't be immature, Elliot not getting this, even after she learned he was 65, frustrated me.

Also running in place, though not necessarily in a bad way, was "My Name Is Earl." Earl was talking so much about his freedom that I suspected something would trip him up, and I'm okay with that, because it feels like the better episodes of this uneven season have dealt with Earl as a convict. (This one, maybe not as much as the inter-gang love story, but I'll never complain about an opportunity to see Jason Lee breakdance.) Plus, paroling Earl would have lost us Craig T. Nelson's warden, one of the more amusing characters they've added.

I still expect them to find a way to get Earl out of prison within a few episodes, but now there's a new issue to deal with: Earl's broke. He had to run out of Lotto money eventually -- $100,000 isn't that much money, especially after taxes, and even living in that fleabag motel, it's been more than two years -- and I'm curious to see how Earl sets about being a freelance do-gooder without any money to support himself. Even if he gets back that job at the appliance store with the cast of "Rudy," is that enough to both support himself and the various expenses that come along with The List?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

My Name Is Earl: Tim Stack, Tim Stack, set him on fire...

Spoilers for "My Name Is Earl" coming up just as soon as I get the number of Eddie Steeples' personal trainer...

The original "Our 'Cops' Is On" was easily my favorite "Earl" episode ever, 30 minutes of anarchic gags and unfettered Bad Earl. The sequel, unfortunately, was twice as long and maybe half as good.

There were a number of funny gags -- my favorites were the infra-red erections and everyone rushing to get their hands off the hooker after she started talking about keeping babies -- but a lot of the hour was either placed on the backs of less-funny recurring characters (the cops) or seemed too concerned with digs at post-9/11 patriotism and paranoia, and with "Earl" continuity jokes. (And speaking of which, how did Nescobar-A-Lop-Lop speak English so well before he took Earl's remedial English class? I know he's always been fluent in Mandarin, but I thought English was new to him.)

Unlike those hour-long "Office" episodes, this one had different writers for each half -- Tim Stack (author of the original "Cops" parody) for the first, Vali Chandrasekaran for the second -- and the non-Stack half was the funnier of the two. When the original "Cops" episode aired, I wrote that it felt like the writers had been saving up all these jokes about pre-karma Camden County for just such an occasion. At the very least, it seems that Stack was, though his on-camera appearances remain hilarious.

One of the better "Earl"s of this season, but like most sequels to the classics, it was bound to come up short of the original.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The honkies shot me!

Spoilers for "My Name Is Earl" and "30 Rock" coming up just as soon as I compete in a page-off...

It's a good thing "My Name Is Earl" gets to air first, because on nights like this where another NBC comedy does the same joke -- in this case, extended breast-feeding -- most viewers get to see the "Earl" version first. Nothing in this episode was as funny -- or as strange -- as Randy's creative writing exercise last week, but there were the usual grace notes sprinkled throughout, like Earl admiring the science behind his conjugal date's new breasts, or Joy asking Darnell to explain JPGs and downloading to her. It's hard for me to look at Alyssa Milano, though, without thinking of all the poor MLB pitchers whose careers she's messed with by dating them. (Think what heights Carl Pavano could have achieved if Milano hadn't gotten her hands on him!)

"30 Rock" did probably its best episode of the season by playing to its biggest strength: Jack playing off of Liz ("Are you an immigrant?") and Tracy (the entire offensive African-American and Latino role-playing therapy bit, highlighted by Jack as Tracy's dad saying "chifforobe"). Tracy's butchering of the National Anthem couldn't quite live up to the Frank Drebin version from "The Naked Gun" (which has rendered me incapable of attending a ballgame without singing, "And the rockets red glare, bunch of bombs in the air..."), but the satire of the public reaction to Michael Vick (as opposed to athletes accused of raping or killing people) felt right on.

Carrie Fisher was also one of the better-incorporated guest stars, returning to the tried-and-true theme of Liz's devotion to her job at the expense of all else. (And they only felt compelled to make one "Star Wars" joke.) As someone who served as "SNL" head writer and no doubt had to hear a lot of whinging from baby boomers about how the show had sold out and wasn't cutting edge like it was in Chevy's day, Tina Fey obviously had some issues to work out, and I like that she and Liz seem to have made peace with selling out so long as you can be funny doing it. (Plus, as she returned to Jack for more mentoring, he delivered another brilliant bit of Donaghy advice: "Never go with a hippie to a second location.")

While watching the slightly revised opening credits (Liz, Jenna and Jack get new poses, while Tracy, Kenneth, Pete and Frank don't), I made a note that Pete and Frank had barely appeared so far this season, and for my comeuppance got the most Pete-heavy episode of the season. It's all relative, but at least he got to resolve the page subplot before it got too strange. (I'm trying to figure out how any show, even one about a supercomputer, could spin off "Cheers," "Miami Vice" and "Highway to Heaven.")

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

What's eating Tracy's mind grapes?

Spoilers for "30 Rock" and "My Name Is Earl" coming up just as soon as I eat a lot of paper...

No bad Seinfeld acting this week to gum up the works, but "30 Rock" still doesn't seem quite all right yet this season. A lot of hilarious stuff -- much of it involving Jenna and Tracy, who were the two most uneven characters last year -- and yet the A-story with Jack and Devin Banks felt very uneven. I think part of that can again be blamed on the guest star; it pains me to speak ill of the man who would be GOB, but Will Arnett's been wearing thinner on me the last few years, even moreso than when he first played Devin in season one. The subplot wasn't completely a waste -- no story with a reference to Garkle could be -- but, outside of the easy Scientology spoofing (wih the Church of Practicology, "the religion founded by the alien king living inside Stan Lee"), it felt flatter than most Jack-centric stories.

(Speaking of Garkle,as I was watching the Yanks-Indians series, every time Ryan Garko came to bat or made a play in the field, I couldn't stop myself from saying, 'Well-played Garko,' even though I was rooting for New York.)

The problem's definitely not Baldwin, as evidenced by his amazing delivery of "No, no, no, no. You are fat." to Jenna. That subplot continues to be my favorite of the season, bringing Dr. Spaceman back into the fold ("For your height, your weight puts you in what we call 'The Disgusting Range'") and nicely pitting Liz's frustrated idealism against Jenna's attention-seeking vanity. (I think I spotted the following as Dr. Spaceman patients with photos on the wall, by the way: Alf, the Unabomber, Kenny Rogers, Ashlee Simpson and maybe John Ashcroft. How'd I do? Any obvious misses?) Liz is falling apart even worse than Jenna -- when a tooth falls out with no impact, you've got problems -- and yet her own neuroses, workaholic tendencies and preconceptions about how the world should work keep her from acknowledging it.

Tracy was a very hit-and-miss character for me last year, but I like what they've done with him so far here. The problem I had in season one is that I didn't like him when he was too crazy but got bored of him when he was relatively sane, and they've had a nice balance here: completely disconnected from all rational human behavior, yet not bouncing off the walls with it. I'm still laughing at the thought of Tracy's inscrutable vanity license plate (ICU81MI) and the brief snippet of his novelty music video "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" ("Boys becoming men, men becoming wolf"), and I like that even in a relatively normal scene (by Tracy standards) like Angie setting the terms for a reconciliation, we get completely bizarre details like Tracy's penchant for sexually explicit skywriting.

Meanwhile, I had reasonably high hopes for this week's "My Name Is Earl," as it was written and directed by Greg Garcia and was largely a flashback to the Bad Earl days. I was mostly disappointed, though; outside of the Michael Rappaport character's tour of the trailer (particularly the "half-bath"), most of the episode felt like an excuse to revisit earlier, funnier flashbacks (most of them from the Garcia-penned "Guess Who's Coming Out of Joy?" from last season) and tack on a few details in the margins.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

He's still... and you're still not

Still gathering my thoughts on "Mad Men" (maybe tonight, tomorrow at the latest). Meanwhile, spoilers for "Saturday Night Live" and "My Name Is Earl" coming up just as soon as I eat a pizzone...

I got to go to last night's "SNL" dress rehearsal. They're easier to snag tickets for than the live show, you get to see an extra half-hour worth of sketches (which can be a plus to some and a minus to others), and you get home at a decent hour (a bonus for a sleep-deprived soul like myself). Treats of being in the audience included Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen warming up the crowd with a faithful take on the Ike & Tina "Proud Mary," seeing Amy Poehler struggle to compose herself off-camera during the Willie Randolph/Omar Minaya segment on Weekend Update, and the realization as the stagehands wheeled out the original Update set that Chevy Chase was likely in the building.

A good show, I thought (though seeing it live is always a more intense experience than watching it at home), with my favorites being the Douchebag of the Year sketch (I need a comedy pro like Ken Levine to explain to me why the word "douchebag" is just inherently funny, as it lacks a K sound), where Andy Samberg in particular made a magnificent douche; the Rowlf/Swedish Chef duet between Seth Rogen and Samberg (the audience was going nuts during the commercial break once we realized who they were dressed as), and Rogen and Kristen Wiig as those horrific children. Plus, it was just cool to see Chevy do Update again. I haven't had a chance to go back and rewatch the episode to see how it played on TV, save to fast forward through and check which sketches made the cut.

I've had a few requests for a "My Name Is Earl" post. I'm still enjoying the prison arc, and putting Randy in there as a guard rather than a prisoner was an inspired touch. Glad to see Craig T. Nelson in an innately goofy part like this (you don't expect to see the guy from "Coach" playing Guitar Hero in his underwear), and the inter-gang love story went several steps above the easy "two macho dudes kissing" level. I like where this season is going, even though "Earl" for me is far less essential viewing than the other NBC comedies or something like "HIMYM." I rarely regret watching it, but I'm rarely in a hurry to see it, either.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Cliffhangers and their aftermath

The second column looks at the season premieres of "House," "My Name Is Earl" and (very briefly) "The Unit" and how each one tries to deal with a status quo-altering cliffhanger...

Season-ending TV cliffhangers are a bit like getting blitzed at the office Christmas party. It seems like a lot of fun at the time, but the next day you have to deal with what you said to your boss and figure out whose underwear you woke up in.

It was hard to find a major network series that didn't end last season on a status quo-altering cliffhanger. Inevitably, that leads to a lot of excited fan speculation for a few days, followed by the writers assembling for production of the new season and asking, "Okay, how quickly can we turn things back to normal?"

To pick just three of this week's returning shows for example purposes, "House" closed with House's three sidekicks either getting fired or quitting; "The Unit" ended with the entire team either imprisoned or becoming fugitives from justice as part of a conspiracy to destroy The Unit, and "My Name Is Earl" sent its hero to jail, having confessed to a crime he didn't commit to spare his ex-wife from going down for her third strike.

To read the full thing, click here. Click here to read the full post

Freebird! Wait, Free Earl? What?

Hat tip to Rich Heldenfels for bringing my attention to the funny "Free Earl" all-star (sort of) music video the "My Name Is Earl" people cooked up to plug season three. Any chance to hear Tim Stack sing is all right by me. Click here to read the full post

Don't just stand there...

Quick spoilers for "Scrubs" and the "Earl" finale coming right up...

A very frustrating "Scrubs," I thought. I feel like the writers put the J.D./Elliott thing permanently to rest around the time he made her dump Scott Foley, so having him get jealous again seems both tired and out of character. If it was just J.D. being envious that all of his friends and colleagues are paired off while he's still alone, that'd be one thing, but this is more Elliott-specific, and that doesn't work. Also, while I love Elizabeth Banks elsewhere, the writers haven't known what to do with her since her first appearance, so I'm not too excited to have Kim back.

Kelso as a pimp was funny, and the Old M.C. joke was one of those Letterman things that started off vaguely funny, got beaten into the ground, then somehow became funny again about 10 minutes later. Dr. Toilet, on the other hand? Never funny, especially not stretched out to a length previously reserved only for J.D.'s Floating Head Doctor fantasies. Yikes.

Meanwhile, "My Name Is Earl" ends its second season with an interesting cliffhanger: Earl's in prison (with Ralph as his cellie), with The List and his newfound adulthood all locked away from him. Does season three turn into some kind of extended "Oz" parody, do the writers do a "Galactica" time jump to Earl getting released and back to his criminal ways, or does he escape and run to Mexico to hang with John Leguizamo?

This wasn't my favorite episode of the season (though Randy's "WOO-HOO!!!! ROBBING THE DEAF!!!!" was a highlight), but I have to give Greg Garcia and the other writers props for their willingness to shake up the season one formula, to have Bad Earl occasionally creep into the present-day action, to occasionally make The List be besides the point, etc. It's been a much less predictable, and usually funnier season, even though the ratings don't reflect that. (I blame the move to 8 o'clock, a timeslot that's becoming increasingly tough on all scripted TV.)

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

My Name Is Earl: Who's the wild man now?

I had the climax of last night's "My Name Is Earl" inadvertently spoiled for me, but it didn't make it any less funny (particularly Dutton's speech). So, question to be discussed in the comments: who saw the tribute coming, and when did you see it? Click here to read the full post

Now if only he could do the Fish Out of Water...

Phil Rosenthal -- "Everybody Loves Raymond" Phil Rosenthal, not My Friend Phil -- is of the belief that in comedy, when all else fails, you put in some funny dancing. So in keeping with the spirit of yesterday's embedded YouTube clip, I present two fine examples of funny dancing in action, the first from Rosenthal himself (or his two on-screen surrogates), the second from a recent "My Name Is Earl."

I'm going to see if I can make it at least into next week with a daily silly TV dancing clip. Suggest away, because everything is on YouTube. Click here to read the full post

The one word you still can't say on television

Brief, belated spoilers for, in order, "30 Rock," "Knights of Propserity," "My Name Is Earl," "Scrubs" and "Survivor" coming right up...

A very strong "30 Rock" this week, particularly the montage of Liz the runt-y boss and Pete hitting her up for cash for the strip club. This was also one of the few times I liked a subplot where Tracy was relatively sane, and not just because they brought in Rip Torn as some kind of GE/NBC/Universal/KMart bigwig. Liz being a rare female boss in an agressively male profession and Tracy being a has-been who's oblivious to being a has-been are both good comedy fodder, and they haven't exhausted either one yet.

The "Knights of Prosperity" guys appear to have written a series finale without even realizing it. In case you didn't see the episode, the guys saved Esperanza from her evil Colombian drug lord ex-boyfriend (Bobby Cannavale, and is he too young and/or well-known to qualify for Hey It's That Guy! status?) by trading him all of their intel and resources on Mick Jagger's apartment in exchange for her freedom. On paper, it allows them to work around Mick's lack of interest in coming back, but I also think it gives ABC an excuse to pull the plug, immediately, because the ratings have been awful, losing huge chunks of the lead-in from "George Lopez" -- "George Lopez" -- every week. Considering the struggles of "In Case of Emergency" and ABC's belief that the best lead-in for "Lost" is "Lost," I wouldn't be stunned to see "Lopez" and "According to Jim" airing from 8 to 9 as soon as this week.

After a few back-to-formula episodes, "My Name Is Earl" presents another treat for Bad Earl fans like me, with an entire episode of Bad Earl's greatest hits. My favorite: the montage of Earl making fat jokes about pregnant Joy, as there was a level of glee to Jason Lee's delivery that reminded me of Banky and/or Brodie.

I'm really not feeling "Scrubs" at the moment, unfortunately. This episode didn't have any jarringly bad decisions like Kim faking a miscarriage, but it just feels like the writers are forcing the wackiness. And at the same time, the show's been so hardcore wacky for a while that the emotional moments don't work. J.D.'s realization that he needs to grow up and stop leaning on his friends to solve every problem should have been an important milestone for the character, but he's become such a cartoon in the last year and a half that I don't expect the development to stick. For most of last season, the more ridiculous tone was fine because the show was so funny; lately, I'm not laughing very much, and that hurts everything.

Also not feeling "Survivor" yet. Still too many contestants, and they're no longer even trying to be subtle about who's going to Tribal Council, as it felt like we spent about 30 seconds at the fancy camp. I think my problem with the feast-or-famine twist is that it hasn't been earned. In "Pearl Islands," Sandra's team had such a kick-ass camp because she did an amazing job of bartering in town, while the opponents ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, foreshadowing how badly they would do in most challenges. In "Palau," Tom's team won an amazing camp little by little through pure challenge dominance. Here, one team won a relatively tight Immunity Challenge, and now they get to live high on the hog at least until the next twist? Meh. Aside from Earl and the snakes coming to an understanding, the entire hour was flat.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Earl & 30 Rock: My name is Glurg

Spoilers for, in order, "My Name Is Earl" and "30 Rock" just as soon as I submit my application to the Ho Chi Minh School of Medicine...

Wow, the "My Name Is Earl" writers have just blown up the formula, haven't they? And I couldn't possibly be more pleased. They're on a great run right now, with the Mexico trip, last week's "COPS" visit, and now the "My Name Is Randy/Joy/Crabman/June Cleaver" perspective-shifter. (Best fake credits, by far: Crabman. I remember his love of cheese, but is him being a cello virtuoso new information?) It almost makes the first season feel worth it because it layed the groundwork for all these unconventional episodes.

The "Rur Jur" returns on "30 Rock," and it's still funny. (In particular, I liked Frank trying to make sense of that "View" interview and complaining, "I feel like I'm getting further away from it.") The Meat Machine story turned into a rip-off of The Cornballer at the end, but Dr. Spuh-che-men is quickly becoming an indispensible recurring character, so I won't complain too much.

Best scenes: Jack being schmoopy on the phone with Maureen Dowd (and is this in any way a dig at Aaron Sorkin, or just a dig at Maureen Dowd?), Jack explaining the GE corporate flowchart (a wig company "owns NBC outright"?), Dougie the prop guy harassing Kenneth with a fake bass, the Rashomon approach to the Liz/Jenna flashbacks (particularly Liz's boyfriend), and Dratch's Barbara Walters, which I liked much better than anytime she did it on "SNL."

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

In a VAN DOWN BY THE O.R.!

Spoilers for, in order, "Scrubs," "30 Rock" and "My Name Is Earl" coming right up...

I've already seen an advance copy of the "Scrubs" musical (short version: "Buffy" did it better, but still a lot of fun), so I kept being distracted during "My House" wondering when somebody was gonna sing. Good episode, and a more extended look at the eerie Cox/House parallels that we've all been noticing for a few years now. Frankly, I wish they could have really gone to town on that subplot, but servicing four stories in 20 some odd minutes makes that tough to pull off. (And a question for the many medical minds out there: in the original Orange Guy story in the "House" pilot, it was the carrot juice -- or maybe some kind of carrot-y vitamin, I forget -- that turned the man orange, where here Cox said that would make someone yellow. Who's right?)

Few other random thoughts before moving on to "30 Rock":

• I really wish they had brought Elizabeth Banks in for a different storyline that just let her be funny all the time.
• The Janitor's art (as seen above) rules.
• Hands up, anyone who somehow didn't realize it was Carla crying as soon as Party Doc mentioned it to Cox. They've been subtler.
  
• Hands up, anyone who intends to incorporate "mega-loathe" into everyday speech.
• Dave Foley! Love Dave Foley. Still trying to figure out exactly when this whole Satanic imp look of his started, however. What was he up to between "NewsRadio" and the celebrity poker show?

Now, "30 Rock." Is there any circumstance under which Alec Baldwin doesn't win the supporting actor Emmy? Big name star, satirizing cluelesss Hollywood executives, and screamingly funny all the time. The stress eating. The casual way he delivers lines like "My mother sent me to Vietnam to try to make a man out of me. I was 12." The contempt he puts into phrases like "trawling for seed." The rage behind "YOU CUT POP'S BALLS OFF! AND LEFT HIM IN THE STREET TO DIE!" Amazing.

A good Liz episode, too, and I never get tired of hearing Tina Fey refer to "my junk." Dr. Spacemen returns (and reveals multiple specialties), Tracy casually refers to "sex pooping," and the dubbing on the Jack and Tracy impressions was just obvious enough to actually make them funnier. (The faux-Baldwin sounded like Tom Davis dubing for Bill Murray in "Il Returno De Hercules.")

But the funniest show of the three, by quite a stretch, was "My Name Is Earl." This is why I've been arguing for more of Bad Earl. This right here. And you can tell the writers have wanted to go here, too, because the entire season's been leading up to it, notably his babyishness during the Mexico two-parter. Earl (man and show) gets funnier and oddly more likable the worse he behaves, and the entire episode felt packed with gags that the writing staff had been saving up for the right occasion (the stolen artificial voice box, the photo booth bit, Randy's "I love stealing!"). How do I not remember that Tim Stack (as himself) lives in Camden County? His IMDb entry -- which, at the moment, has 63 acting entries, not 62 -- lists him in an early first season episode. Did I miss it, or did it not address the fact that it was Tim Stack as Tim Stack? I love that guy, and great to see him in the Notch Johnson costume again.

But the highlight -- especially in light of the "Pardon the Interruption" discussion below -- was them recreating the bear/trampoline video that Tony played, like, three times a week for most of 2005.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post