You Won't Get This From Any Other Guy

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is one of those great shows that I don't really talk about too much. This is because I am at least nominally a grown-up and, as such, it isn't okay for me to watch cartoons. But make no mistake, Foster's is one of the sharpest and funniest shows on TV - smarter than anything Cartoon Network shows during the day and almost anything on Adult Swim (or most live action shows for that matter). Of course the kids still love it enough for Foster's to have its own float at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which they showed at a moment when I just happened to be watching. All of this is to preface this clip, which stars the Foster's float. Even if you are not a fan of the show, watch it and we'll reconvene afterwards:



Yeah, that's right. That is who you think it is. Now, I think we can agree to retire this joke knowing that it can never be done this well again. If you want to experience the awesomeness of the show itself you can watch the brand new movie on Saturday morning at 11:30 on Cartoon Network. Cartoons on Saturday morning? That's crazy talk!

Now if you need me, I'll be reading Proust and listening to Phillip Glass while drinking a fine wine from Bordeaux.

30 Rocks

This is pretty awesome:

"I'm the boss Lemon, you count the rocks."

Heroes - A Letter To Tim Kring

In lieu of a Heroes recap, here is a letter to the show's creator, Tim Kring.

Dear Tim Kring,

Two years ago, your show was the most compelling drama on TV. Lost was in its season long funk, 24 had started getting too far fetched, and everything else was crap. But here was your smart, fast paced show that kept me hooked, dying to know how to stop an exploding man or find out who Linderman was. Even the more annoying characters that didn't tie into the show's main plot were fun to see each week. Here, you had the perfect synthesis of comic books, Lost-like mystery, and family drama.

Then came Season 2. It was not good, but with the writer's strike impeding the show from hitting its stride, I looked the other way, deciding to wait for another full season and hope there'd be a return to form.

Unfortunately for me an scores of other fans, this was not to be. Instead, we've been treated to a season that is inconsistent within episodes, that has too many, often far fetched, threads to follow, and that has taken even the most lovable characters and made them hard to swallow, if they're even seen at all.

What's going on? Did the strike mess up your creative juice? Did you not have enough time to come up with a better plot? Or was Heroes a one-season wonder?

The first big issue to me seems to be that too much is going on. The Patrelli family war is clearly the main story, but why then are Claire and HRG (who's barely been there) bickering? Why do Sylar and Elle jump all over the board as far as if they're good or bad? Why has Daphne's story been so rushed, with Parkman falling for her too fast? Why is Mohinder still relevant? And most importantly, why the hell is Hiro 10 years old?!

I understand that the theme of this season is villains and that the idea is to make each character morally ambiguous so that we don't know who the true heroes and villains are, but maybe it's time to make one explicit or to kill someone off. There's too much going on, and much of it isn't worth caring about. Take a page from Lost or Season One and make one episode about one thread and move on. "Company Man" is the best episode you've done, but we haven't yet seen a comparable episode.

Furthermore, the likable characters are either annoying or non-existent. Peter started off as being super optimistic and bright, and now he's angsty. He can see the harsh realities of the world without being all emo. Also, pick a side for Sylar. He's fantastic as a villain or a good guy, but having him bounce back and forth takes the depth away from his character. HRG too has been gone for the whole season and when he as appeared, it's been sparingly. Fix that.

Lastly, there are too many threads that have been snapped off. What happened to Monica? Is Peter's Irish Lass still stuck in the future? Adam just got killed off before he could do anything. Even a character I despised, Maya, was simply sent home.

I think if these things get fixed, the show is salvageable. It's no longer the cultural phenomenon it was in its first season, but keep in mind, the same thing happened to Lost, albeit to a lesser degree. If you take a page out of there play book and start writing for the fans instead of NBC, maybe you'll get a little bit better response. I hope that helps.

I want to close by saying, I do love the show. It's just frustrating me.

Sincerly,

Michael of Television Rules the Nation

P.S.
I'm currently looking for a job in TV after I graduate in May, so if you liked my ideas and want me to come help the show, I'm available!

Updates

So I've kind of disappeared from the blog for a while, but I'm going to make up for it this week. With school weighing me down, I haven't had a much of a chance to post, so I'm making up for it this week with special recaps of all of the shows I've been neglecting to cover: Entourage, The Office, 30 Rock, and Heroes. TV may be going on a break this week, but I'm coming off of mine, so stay tuned. (In the meantime, enjoy that screenshot above with my favorite Entourage joke ever)

24: Redemption

Its been 18 months since we last saw Jack Bauer, but even if the writer's strike hadn't put off season seven by a year the show would be at a crossroads. Season six was an unqualified disappointment, with the show relying on lazy, repetitive plot points like Jack's magic torture abilities and the Terrorists' inexplicable urge to attack only LA. Add to this a year-long hiatus and a nation that has just rejected en masse the kind of worldview put forth by 24 and suddenly, a show that once seemed relevant and edgy finds itself fighting for viewers.

Which brings us to Redemption, 24's attempt to remind us that it exists. The movie is a prequel to the seventh season that didn't get made until after the strike and a significant portion of the season had been filmed, which explains the thrown-together feel this movie had. It also wanted to deal with a BIG ISSUE, in this case child soldiers in Africa. This is a horrible horrible thing, which means that if, like me, your first thought upon seeing the first scene was that this episode would finally answer the question "how many 8-year-olds could Jack Bauer take in a fight," then you are a bad person.

So my dream of an epic battle between Jack Bauer and an army of small children was not to be. But what happened? Not a whole lot. Jack has spent the year since season six going in hiding, because apparently America decided this whole torture thing wasn't working for it. This led Jack to the glorious nation of Africa where he finds himself volunteering at a school for kids led by The Full Monty's Robert Carlisle. A weasly US ambassador finds Jack and serves him with a Congressional subpeona but, like Harriet Meirs, Alberto Gonzales, and Karl Rove, Jack decides to dodge it by rescuing innocent kids from being forced to become cannon fodder for a brutal general's attempt at a coup. A couple of action scenes and a lot of running later, and Jack finds himself on a helicopter back to America since WUSA wouldn't let the kids escape without forcing Jack to follow the rule of law (what a slimeball!). In all honesty, it was unrealistically petty of WUSA not to let the kids out of the country without Jack. But, of course, not even WUSA could match the evilness of the UN Ambassador. Yes, he mocks Jack in the beginning. Of course he runs and hides when the evil soldiers come for the kids. And, as the UN Charter dictates, he defines "neutrality" as selling out Jack and the kids to the bad guys. If this is how the show is planning on being relevant in Obama's America, then it may have some issues.

In more promising news, Cherry Jones is the President! That should make up for her getting replaced by Meryl Streep in the film version of Doubt. She clashes with the old President Powers Boothe (did Wayne Palmer die last season? I thought he made it, but I guess not). I remembered Powers as being a crazy warmonger, but apparently the writers have been watching Heroes, because he suddenly decides not to commit troops to this particular war, despite President Cherry's objections. Her son, meanwhile, gets involved in some kind corporate conspiracy involving the evil Jon Voight, who is funding the coup. There wasn't a lot of juicy movement with these plots, but I imagine they'll come back into play next season.

Speaking of next season, despite my misgivings about this episode, I'm still looking forward to the season proper. I think moving to Washington D.C. is a great change for the show. Hopefully, they seem to be moving away from all the torture too. And, while bringing Tony back from the dead definitely reeks of shark-jumping, the show is best when Jack has a personal stake in what's going on.

But none of that makes up for the fact that the movie basically just spent two hours spinning its wheels. At the most basic level, it succeeded in reminding me that 24 is still on the air and is coming back soon. But as an actual episode of the show, it was pretty boring. Hopefully, this won't be a harbinger of the upcoming season.

C

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "The Night Man Cometh"

And so after 13 episodes, we have come to the long-awaited The Night Man Cometh, a rock opera as epic as Tommy and as dorkily complex as The Wall. It truly is a show that will define a generation of theatergoers.

So perhaps I'm overstating it. All in all, this was a solidly funny episode that was saddled with some unrealistic expectations; between being the season finale, reviving one of the show's best jokes, and being unintentionally forced to save a weak season it seems as if the burden "Night Man" had to carry was somewhat excessive. That being said there was a lot to like, from the distinctively Sunny homonym joke about the Night Man's desire to enter "that boy's hole" to Charlie's directoral power-tripping.

However, it all felt a little thrown together. The musical itself felt rushed and somewhat unfulfilling, with most of the good jokes having been given away relatively far in advance. I also feel like it was missing one or two truly classic Sunny moments.

But why dwell on the negative when there's so much more here than in most of what we've gotten this season. All in all its been a long, tedious, and disappointing march from Charlie screaming "Wild Card!!!" to Mac's wondering who the musical was versus. In between, there hasn't been much to reward those of us who first came on impressed by the show's comic inventiveness, free-wheeling feel, and ability to shock. While "Night Man" succeeded as an individual episode, it didn't seem like the kind of course reversal the show needs. Ideally, the season would have ended with an episode strong enough to make it seem like the rest of the season has been some kind of aberration. Instead, it seems like these good ones may become more and more unusual.

B+

Television Rules the Nation Theater Presents: "Ben Silverman Doesn't Have to Explain Himself to You!!!"

The following may not be suitable for Television Rules the Nation's younger readers. Once again, with apologies to Kissing Suzy Kolber

Ben Silverman sits in his office in a chair that's made of real gold. He wears the finest silks and sips from a diamond chalice. A loop of Ugly Betty and The Office airs on a 200 in. flat-screen TV on the wall.



Ben: Being Ben Silverman is delightful! Oh Joan!



Christina Hendricks enters

Christina: For the last time Mr. Silverman, that's a character I play. My name is Christina Hendricks. I'm an actor. I'm here to audition for a part on The Off-

Ben: Joan, bring me more Yoo-Hoo! Ben Silverman is thirsty! And see if my 1:30 is here.

Christina: You don't understand! I'm not your secretary! NBC can't afford a secretary for you because your highest rated show this season was the Barack Obama infomercial.

Ben: That will be all Joan.

Christina: Arrrgh!

Christina Hendricks exits. As she leaves, she passes Tina Fey



Tina: Hey Big Ben! What can I do for you?

Ben: Ah Tina. Thanks for coming. Sit down.

Tina looks around for a place to sit down, but there's only one chair

Tina: I'll just stand. So, I was wondering if I could talk to you about increasing 30 Rock's budget. We have this awesome joke where Tracy throws Kenneth and Keith Olbermann out of the 32nd story window, but they land on a giant bounce house-

Ben: Yeah, that's gold! But listen, Tina. Times are tough here at NBC. (Sips from diamond chalice) We can only do Green Week so many times before people realize that we're just keeping the lights off 16 hours a day to save electricity costs.

Tina: But you've got this massive TV screen that shows nothing but Ugly Betty and The Office.

Ben: BEN SILVERMAN DOESN'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF TO YOU!!!

Tina: Okay, I-

Ben: THOSE ARE THE TWO BEST AND MOST ORIGINAL SHOWS ON TV AND GUESS WHO CAME UP WITH THEM??? DID YOU???

Tina: No, I think they were created in other countries by-

Ben: THAT'S RIGHT. BEN SILVERMAN DID. (A pause while Ben collects himself. He sips from his chalice) Aaah. That's better. Now Tina, no offense, but your show's going downhill fast. We at NBC need winners. Shows like Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy. Now, while your show hasn't come anywhere near those two masterpieces, its not bad. I just think there are a few improvements we can make.

Tina: Well, we tried putting guest stars in every episode like you said, but I think that's-

Ben: Don't worry about that anymore. I've got a new idea that reflects that Silverman-genius that has become the standard here at NBC. YOU CAN COME IN NOW!

A panel on the wall lifts up as steam from dry ice pours out. Strobe lights begin flashing and out comes Sarah Palin

Tina: Oh no.



Sarah: Oh yes you sexist Northeastern liberal. I'm back!

Tina: I didn't realize you had left.

Ben: Now, Tina. Ben Silverman has been thinking. And he has decided to add Sarah Palin to the cast of 30 Rock.

Tina: What!?! This is ridiculous? You can't tell us what to do.

Ben: Shut up! I tricked you into adding all that sweet, sweet product placement, didn't I? How else was I going to pay for this chalice. (Sips from chalice)

Tina: Well, I'm drawing a line here. There's no way I'm putting Sarah Palin on my show.

Sarah: Now, let's just calm down and enjoy some of these fine mooseburgers. (She winks.)

Ben: I can never say no to a mooseburger.

Tina: Sure. Whatever.

Sarah distributes the mooseburgers

Sarah: Aren't those just the most scrumptidlious things you've ever tasted? (She winks.)

Tina: These actually aren't bad.

Sarah: Tina, do you mind if we have a quick pow-wow for just an eensy, teeny tiny second. (She winks)

Tina: I guess.

Sarah approaches and gets up in Tina's grill

Tina: Governor Palin, you're kind of up in my grill.

Sarah: (Takes off her glasses and drops the folksy accent and mannerisms) Good. Now you listen to me you hipster trollop. I've spent 47 years trying to sate my unquenchable thirst for power and I almost made it. Now, I'm not about to be beaten by the likes of you.

Tina: But-

Sarah: Silence! Everything was going according to plan until you had to stick your obnoxious glasses and absurdist sense of humor into my election. We don't even look that similar!

Ben: That recurring dream I've been having for the last 3 months begs to differ.

Sarah: You ruined my career Tina Fey. So now I'm going to ruin your show. (Puts glasses and mannerisms back on) You betcha! (She winks).

Ben: That's not all. There's better news!

Tina: (wearily) What's that?

Ben: Well, Ben Silverman has not only been thinking, he's been reading. The ratings. And he's realized that people seem to love you. But they only love you when you play Sarah Palin. So starting now, Sarah is going to play Liz Lemon and you're going to play her long lost sister: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Tina: But that doesn't make any sense. Lorne, talk him out of it.

In the corner of the office is Lorne Michaels. He has been there the entire time. He sits in front of a giant stack of money.



Lorne: What's that? Yeah, whatever you say Ben. Sounds good. (He returns to counting his money)

Tina: Why Ben Silverman? Why?

Ben: What did I just say!?! What did I just say!?! Lorne, tell her.

Lorne: Ben Silverman doesn't have to explain himself to you.

Ben: BEN. SILVERMAN. DOESN'T. HAVE. TO. EXPLAIN. HIMSELF. TO. YOU. When you create The Office AND Ugly Betty, you can sit in my SOLID GOLD CHAIR, wear THE FINEST SILKS IN THE LAND, sip FUCKING YOO-HOO FROM A DIAMOND CHALICE, and PUT SARAH PALIN IN MY SHOWS. (He exhales loudly and takes a sip from his chalice) But until that day comes, have fun making webisodes that promote American Express with your long lost twin sister over here. Now leave. And don't let Tim Kring in here on your way out!

Tina: I bet Mitch Hurwitz never had to go through this.

Tina and Sarah exit. Ben sits down triumphantly

Television Rules the Nation Theater Presents: "What About Tim Kring?"

The following scene is not suitable for our younger readers.

With apologies to Kissing Suzy Kolber

Bryan Fuller sits alone in his apartment. He looks over at the phone. Nothing. He checks his e-mail. Nothing.



Bryan: Oh Caroline, why won’t ABC talk to me anymore?



Caroline: Meowwwwww.

The phone rings. Bryan lunges at it.

Bryan: Hello! (Pause) No, I wouldn’t like to change my cell phone plan.

Suddenly a loud banging starts at the door.

Bryan: Who is it?

The banging continues.

Bryan: I’m coming!

Suddenly there’s a loud smash and the door explodes. Shards of wood fly everywhere. Appearing in the debris is Tim Kring. He chews gum, causing his teeth to smack together very loudly.



Tim Kring: What’s up, bra? Its me. Tim Kring.

Bryan: Yes, I know its you. You don’t have to explain everything like I was stupid.

Tim: I’m just making sure you get what’s going on here. How’s your pussy show going?

Bryan: You mean Pushing Daisies.

Tim: Yeah, that’s the shit.

Bryan: Its going fine.

Tim: Really, cuz that’s not what I heard. They cancelled it yet?

Bryan: I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything yet!

Tim: Well, that’s too bad. You know, if you want to come work on a REAL, MANLY TV show, we could always find some space for you at Heroes.

Bryan: I already said I’d think about going back if Pushing Daisies got canceled.

Tim: Oh, really? Well, hang on one sec.

Tim pulls out an iPhone and begins tapping rapidly. Then he stops.

Tim: Guess what, I just used all the clout I have from writing one of TVs most popular shows to get your little baby show cancelled!

Bryan: No you didn’t. Our shows are on totally different networks.

Tim: Yeah, but my show has something your gay little show doesn’t. VIEWERS!!!! So why don’t you take your water colors out of your vagina and come work on a TV show where shit EXPLODES!

Bryan: I don’t really understand what you just-

Tim: SHUT UP YOU WORDY DOUCHENOZZLE! EVER SINCE YOU’VE LEFT ITS ALL ‘WHERE’S BRYAN FULLER? WHY DOES HEROES SUCK?’ I’M SICK OF THIS BULLSHIT.

This rant causes Tim to spit his gum out. It hits Caroline who begins rolling around on the floor in the most adorable way imaginable.

Bryan: Is everything okay, Tim?

Tim: Now you want to talk about my feelings??? WELL FUCK YOU FULLER! AND FUCK YOUR PIXIE SHOW! Just because you can write witty characters with real emotions everyone thinks you’re a genius? WELL WHAT ABOUT TIM MOTHERFUCKING KRING? I created HEROES AND CROSSING JORDAN!!

Bryan: Look, as long as Pushing Daisies is on the air, I’m not coming to work on Heroes.

Tim: WELL YOU CAN LICK MY NUTS, FUCKSTICK!

Tim rushes towards Bryan. Bryan kicks Tim in the shin. He fails to floor writhing in pain

Tim: (sobbing a little) Why, Fuller? Why!?! That hurts. Damnit! I need some of that cheerleader’s blood! Stat!

Enter Sylar



Bryan: What is this?

Tim: (still on the floor) That’s right dipshit. The tables have fucking turned. If you won’t come to work for me then I'll just have Sylar here kill you and take your writing ability.

Sylar: Um…actually Tim, I’m good now. Remember?

Tim: Well, I need you to be evil again. So take your pointy ears and large forehead and start eating some brains!

Sylar: I don’t eat brains!!!!

Bryan: Then what do you do?

Sylar: I…um…I…Tim what do I do?

Tim: Well he…You know, he…It involves…WHAT DOES IT MATTER??? HE’S A FUCKING SERIAL KILLER WITH GODDAMN SUPERPOWERS!!!

Sylar: But I’m trying to redeem myself!

Tim: Yeah, but not now. I need you to EVIL SOME SHIT UP!!!

Sylar: But…that doesn’t make any sense?

Tim: What do you mean?

Sylar: There’s no logic to that. That’s not how people work.

Tim: I don’t follow.

A long pause as Tim considers this

Bryan: (sighs) That’s okay Tim. That’s okay.

Bryan walks over and helps Tim up. Tim walks over and joins Sylar and the two of them start to leave.

Sylar: I’ll buy you a new door Bryan.

Tim: That’s okay. I’ll just go back in time and stop the door from being smashed! Or we can heal it with Claire’s blood! Or the pieces of the door can be sent off to separate places around the world and then spend 11 episodes trying to reunite with each other!

Tim and Sylar exit. Bryan looks over at Caroline

Bryan: Please let Pushing Daisies stay on the air.

Caroline: Meowwwwwww!

THE END

News ranging from awesome to depressing

Lots of interesting TV tidbits this week, ranging from stories that induce expletives of joy, to ones that induce expletives of severe anger.

Let's start with the mind-blowingly good news: DON DRAPER MAY BE COMING TO 30 ROCK. Yes, according to Ausiello at EW, Jon Hamm may be joining the show for a multi-episode arc as a love interest for Liz Lemon. What have we done right to deserve this?

Also exciting is the announcement that Reiko Aylesworth, who played Michelle on 24 for a while, is coming to Lost, which, while we're on the topic, is coming back with a two hour premiere on Wednesday, January 21. Mark your calenders/DVRs.

But alas, all is not well in TV land. One of the finest shows on TV perches on the edge of cancellation and things look bleaker for it by the day. The silver lining? PD overseer Bryan Fuller said in an interview that if the show is canceled, he'd come back to work for Heroes. Fuller wrote for Heroes in season one (the good season) and was responsible for Company Man, which is pretty easily the best hour that show has ever produced. Of course, I'd rather have more Pushing Daisies (and I'm beginning to think that Heroes may be beyond fixing), but its good to know that Fuller will have something to do should the worst happen.

But the worst news of all may be about a show that hasn't even debuted yet. Fox announced their January schedule and among the news was the fact that Dollhouse will be moving to Fridays along with ratings challenged Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Dollhouse is the new Joss Whedon TV show and, after seeing Fox mistreat Firefly, its not very reassuring to see them give Dollhouse the exact same timeslot, a time which is normally death for TV shows. Add to that the fact that Dollhouse scraped its pilot and shot a new one (just like Firefly) and I'm beginning to get the feeling that this show may not last more than six episodes.

Gossip Girl - "There Might Be Blood"

Finally we get a week off from the Chuck and Blair show and I've got to say that this was probably one of the strongest episodes in a while.

I thought that the central storyline, involving Jenny's efforts to stage a guerilla fashion show (and not, as I had hoped, a gorilla fashion show), was reasonably compelling. The Jenny-Nate-Vanessa triangle is shockingly compelling and Jenny's bubbly, destructive self-absorption can be interesting when used in the right way.

After last week, Nate and Jenny aren't talking (apparently Jenny also forgot that even she was creeped out by Weird Model In Need of Acting Lessons) and Jenny's been working on a secret project: the aforementioned act of fashion terrorism (speaking of fashion terrorism, I didn't mention Jenny's awful new haircut or equally ugly outfit last week, but both seemed to improve this go around). Jenny, with the help of WMINOAL's sketchy friends, busted up a gala event honoring Lilly and Bart.

To be honest, everything before and after the fashion show worked, but I had a couple of issues with the event itself. First of all, I didn't find it nearly as awesomely rebellious as the show seemed to (and a note to Jemina Pearl and Thurston Moore: nice try, but no). Is it really that punk rock to bust up a party like that if your stated goal is to get funding? Shouldn't she have been trying to say something a little deeper than "pay me?" I also didn't like that everyone seemed to love it. If everyone loved it then the stakes are dramatically lower and there's no real consequence to her actions? And aren't these supposed to be old, boring people? No one was bothered by this?

That said, I thought the ending kinda redeemed this. Rufus' poor parenting and Jenny's refusal to care about anything but Jenny make for some interesting conflict. Its hard to say who's worse off at the end of the episode, but I'm going to go with Jenny, just because running off to live with WMINOAL is only ending in tears.

Meanwhile, Blair faced off against a mini-Blair (who reads Gossip Girl obsessively but hadn't seemed to have heard of Blair) in order to get on the good side of someone who can get her into Yale. The girl is determined to have her cherry popped before her friend Muffy, but Blair needs to stop her from doing that. Blair succeeds, thanks to an assist from Chuck who plants a fake story about Muffy on Gossip Girl. It was a pretty slight plot, but it gave Blair the chance to finally get catty again and we also saw a really nice moment of humanity in the end. Again, I felt kind of let down that Blair didn't end up blackmailing her way into Yale (because how perfect would that have been), but nonetheless it looks like she and Serena will be classmates. I also thought it was interesting, considering how both Blair and Jenny alluded to her, that Eleanor was absent. Given how her real daughter may have just opened up some previously untapped feelings and her fake daughter just declared fashion war in the New York Times, I would be kind of disappointed if we don't hear from her next week.

In other news, Dan judged Nate and, more interestingly, was inspired by his failure to connect with Yale professors and Jenny's rebellion to write the Chuck Bass Story - a move that I whole-heartedly support. Rufus didn't approve, but I'd say there's a difference between publicly airing out the tawdry affairs of Chuck, who has never been anything but obnoxious to Dan, and what Jenny did. And I think its better if Dan doesn't always do the "right" thing. Meanwhile, in the night's only plotline that didn't connect for me, Serena continued to try to connect with her Creepy Ex-Husband (seriously, you would have to change very few details of this storyline to make it fit on South Park). Serena, here's a bit of free advice: if you try to speak to or call someone three times and each time you end up talking to a different girl, the guy you are dealing with is sleazy. Ah, but young Serena finds his douchey advances irresistable, so we will be treated to another week of CEH.

Still, those are but small concerns for an episode that was otherwise pretty good. And on a week like this, I'm willing to let a few small things go.

B+

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell"

Sorry things have been quiet around here, apparently there was some kind of national vote or something? Anyway, I'll have my Gossip Girl review up soon, and next week I'm hoping to pick up Pushing Daisies to replace Mad Men (tear). So anyway, with that out of the way onto the review!

I've been reading Sarah Vowell's new book, The Wordy Shipmates, which is all about the Puritans. One of the early essays is about what happens when sitcoms try to present very special episodes about American history (classics include The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, both of which did Thanksgiving episodes). So it seems somewhat appropriate that this week's Sunny carries on that grand tradition. Unfortunately, it also carries on this season's tradition of not being very funny.

Vowell's essay is partially about how difficult it is to enjoy these kinds of episodes once you know a lot about history. I admit that I ran into this problem, specifically with all the Sweet Dee is a witch jokes. Maybe its just me, but I've never associated witch hysteria with Revolution-era Philly, almost a hundred years after the Salem panic of 1692. The slave jokes also felt a little weird to me. However, I almost wonder if they were making fun of the way sitcoms tend to play history as broad as possible when they do concept episodes like this. Perhaps they were driving at some sort of meta-commentary on the sitcom form in general? Or (and I think this is more likely) they were just making fun of Dennis, Charlie, and Mac - the tellers of the story - for being total idiots.

The rest of the episode doesn't really seem to support either thought. Instead, Mac and Dennis are up to their usual schenanigans; trying to get on the good side of British General Rickety Cricket. Cricket falls for Dee, who is uninterested until he promises her lots of money and an English manor. Meanwhile, Charlie and Frank end up with a bunch of guns that don't work.

I had hoped that the reason why the last few episodes were weak was they had been so focused on making this concept episode awesome. At the very least, I thought this episode might break the pattern of saminess that has made the last few episodes so bland. Ultimately, however, this felt just as paint by numbers as the rest of them; they just used a different brush. The jokes were a little better, especially Rickety Cricket getting his head blown off, but it still wasn't nearly as funny as seasons 1-3. Even the aforementioned head-blowing-off wasn't nearly as much of a showstopper as it should have been.

So what's happening here? How did a show that was once so funny become so tedious to sit through? I think its problem may be that its lost a bit of its freewheeling edginess. This show has always been best when its been plugging horrible, horrible issues into sitcomy contexts. And mocking "the historical episode" seems like the perfect way to do that. Yet here was none of the subversiveness that has marked the show's best moments. Instead, it feels like each episode draws the show closer to redundant shtick, be it Frank's scheming, Dennis and Dee's vapidity, or Charlie's Charlieness. We've definitely hit some kind of wall here, and if cracking the Liberty Bell won't get us over it then I don't know what will.

C+