December 19, 2009

TV Report Card: Week of December 13, 2009

This report card might be pretty sparse since most of the shows that I watch are on hiatus until the new year, but here goes nothing.

Monday
How I Met Your Mother: "Last Cigarette Ever"




Oh how the mighty have fallen.  Once again, we were given a poor excuse of a HIMYM episode, and it feels like we're getting more of the bad ones than the good.  This week's episode revolved around the gang trying to quit smoking, and most of the jokes just fell flat (like Lily's smoker voice).  There was a B-plot about Robin's job, but it wasn't interesting enough to care about.  Marshall and Barney had some good lines, but they weren't enough to totally save the episode.  This week's episode should be my last HIMYM ever, but like a smoker, I'll probably be coming back with hopes that the show will return to its former glory.

GRADE: C-

The Big Bang Theory: "The Maternal Congruence"




Not only did we get a piss poor HIMYM last night, but The Big Bang Theory was a rare swing and a miss.  The main storyline was about Leonard's mother (once again played by Christine Baranski) visiting, and dropping the bomb that she's divorcing Leonard's father, his dog is dead, and she's pen pals with Sheldon. We also get a tacked on subplot about Penny not being good enough for Leonard (as if), and some tired "Jesus was born in summer" jokes from Sheldon. Smart people really are buzz kills sometimes.  Oh yeah, and more Howard and Raj are gay jokes.  While the episode had some laugh out loud moments, they were few and far between because it felt like this outing was nothing but recycled jokes.  I just hope TBBT comes back from hiatus with some fresh material.

GRADE: C+

Tuesday
Scrubs: "Our Histories"


Scrubs 2.0 has made up some of the ground it lost last week.  Tuesday's episode had some of that old school Scrubs charm, and it didn't feel as foreign as I thought it would.  The main storyline focused the newbies and how they're all out for themselves and how Jo is trying to teach them teamwork by assigning the group the task of taking down patient histories.  Drew is tapped as the de-facto leader, Cole slacks off, and Lucy fails but the group cannot leave for a party until all of the histories are taken.  The show is hell-bent on having Lucy and Cole be a couple, which is odd at first since he's such an a-hole, but he shows that he is more than he seems when he comes back from a party to help out his fellow med students.  The b-plot focused on J.D. and Turk holding on to their youth by having a Bro-a-palooza (complete with custom t-shirts and cowboy & Indian costumes), but Cox is determined to remind them that they're not kids anymore.  The c-plot involving Ted and Gooch's departure from Sacred Heart was a nice touch.  The best part of the episode was the fact that they're starting to flesh out the characters.  Drew's slowly accepting his role as leader, Lucy is still too perky and naive but she's growing on me, and Cole finally gives us a glimpse of his non-douchey side.  Thew newbies are no J.D., Elliott, or Turk, but they don't have to be for this show to work.

GRADE: B-


Better Off Ted: "The Lawyer, the Lemur, and the Little Listener"




BoT continues to be the sharpest, wittiest, smartest workplace satire that nobody is watching.  This episode we get to see Ted and Veronica use Ted's daughter as a spy to find out which employees are getting axed, Lem get caught up in a company prostitution ring disguised  as the legal department, and Linda turn Phil into a cartoon lemur that ends up selling beer to kids in Japan.  Sound zany enough for you?  Of course, it's off the wall stuff, but the one-liners, pop culture references, and satirical tone are spot on.  It's just too bad that not enough people are experience the brilliance that is Better Off Ted.

GRADE: B+

Thursday was a repeat of Bones, and most of my Friday shows are on hiatus, so it was a pretty slow TV week.

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