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Obsession: Your Summer Abed Fix

In case, like most TV-loving people, you're terribly lonely and missing your favourite shows now that summer is upon us, Variety is here to save your day. Your best friend Abed is back, if only in print, to give you his predictions for this year's Emmy race. Here's the link to the hilarious article from the savant's point of view. But be wary of the bitter sweet reality that Abed lives in a world where Community isn't a TV show and therefore the absurd and unfair fact that it undeservedly won't be in the race is lost on him. Not lost on him? The fact that his beloved Cougar Town won't be there either.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037818/

Enjoy!

NBC Thursday's Best Jokes This Week

"I'm not jealous"- Troy is jealous of Jeff's dinner with his best friend Abed. (Community)

Shirley as Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction. (Community)

"I want you take this money and buy a book, it's called '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'!"- Vance tries to help out a stripper at his bachelor party. (Perfect Couples)

 Leigh and Rex call each other every half hour to gossip about their respective parties. (Perfect Couples)

"You're not smart"- Leigh to Dave after he spills his darkest secrets to the whole room trying to head off Vance's threat of revealing them on Julia's voicemail. The voicemail says "Dave, you are your own worst enemy". (Perfect Couples)

Moments of transcendence. (Perfect Couples)

"Now you've hurt me twice" -Vance after Dave calls his wife his best friend, explaining why he told her Vance's secret. (Perfect Couples)

"THAT is Dallas" - Kevin swindles Andy and Darell out of their money by faking a fit during a game of Dallas the board game where they've been inventing all the rules. (The Office)

Hundreds of candles set off the sprinklers during Michael's adorable proposal to Holly. (The Office)

"It's called the ground when it's outside"- Ron after Ben says he'll sleep on the floor while camping. (Parks and Recreation)

Tom watches season 6 of Top Chef (the Voltaggio season) in his high tech tent. (Parks and Recreation)

Leslie tries to come up with her next great idea while listening to "Steal my Sunshine" (Parks and Recreation)

"Is it TNT? Are Rizzoli and Isles friends in real life?"- Liz wonders what new channel Jack's acquired for Cabletown. (30 Rock)

"I don't know if my tone is conveying my fury about this but I am, pardon my french, bonjour. Now, that's a joke, but I am really really mad" - Hank, the head of Cabletown about Jack's new channel acquisition. "It's okay Jack, you made a bad decision and bought something you didn't understand- like when I bought tickets for Black Swan. Remember when a movie was just a fellow in a hat running away from a fellow with no hair?" (30 Rock).

AN AARON SORKIN WALK AND TALK!- see previous post. (30 Rock).

True Love: Other Stuff Edition

It's Valentine's time and TV is in full romantic bloom. Here are our favourite romantic episodes of the week:

1) Glee 
(We've covered this already. Twice)

2) Community
(This too. Just once)

3) Modern Family
The reprisal of Clyve and Juliana, Gloria turning Valentine's day into a competition, Manny's quest for Hayley's love, Cam and Mitchell's jealous search for attention, the triumphant return of Dylan! Brilliant.

4) Raising Hope
It wasn't romance, it was bromance, but it was awesome. "Romeo and Romeo" was the hilarious story of two star-crossed single dads in desperate need of a friend. Hilarity ensued.

5) 30 Rock
Not overtly Valentines-themed but based almost completely on couples when the show almost never is, this week's 30 Rock saw the return (and dismissal) of my (and everyone else's) beloved Matt Damon (seriously, who doesn't love this guy?!).

6) The Office
An awkward (but cheeky) Pam and Jim plot and a sweet but strange one for Michael and Holly made this episode of the office slightly above average. What made it significantly above average (at least for the current season) was Erin's Valentines treasure hunt. It was designed for her by the wonderfully deadpan new character Gabe and followed by my favourite character in the office, Erin, and her endearing ex Andy. It was sweet, it was melancholy, and it disrupted the office wonderfully (the scene with Darryl is classic).

True Love: Community Edition

Never was a story of truer love than that of Troy and Abed. This week's Community Valentine's Day episode shined a light on one of TV's greatest friendships as Troy and Abed struggled with the fact that they were both attracted to the same woman. Unlike many a bromance before them (Dawson and Pacey, Alan and Denny, hell let's go all the way back to Arcite and Palamon), Troy and Abed were distressed more by the possibility of losing their friendship than by losing the girl. So they made a plan: they'd meet her at the dance and whomever she chooses, no hard feelings. It could have been a very flawed plan, but Abed's highly logical brain allowed him to walk away happily when sexy librarian Maria (predictably) picked Troy. But here's the rub: Troy couldn't deal. He began obsessing over why she hadn't chosen Abed, demanding "what was wrong with him?!" Troy was more defensive of his friend than Abed was of himself- true love! The deal breaker for Troy? "She called you weird!" Instantly, the girl he'd desperately wanted to date inspired a chorus of "I hate her, I hate her"s under his breath. Ladies and gentlemen, the best friendship on TV.

Also excellent on Community this week:

- Brita befriends someone who she mistakenly thinks is a lesbian who it turns out befriended her because she seems like a lesbian. It was a beautiful ode to political correctness as ignorance.

- "I'm a stylish American, I've been forcing myself to be interested in soccer since 2004"

- Jeff is noticeably upset when he doesn't get the 37 voicemails he pretends to be dreading from his friends whom he's ditched.

- The human side of Chang.

- A dark cliffhanger for Pierce which hopefully will have interesting consequences.

Maria: "he talked about the Saw franchise for 2 hours" (about Abed)
Troy: "it is 8 movies long! And the first one did completely redefine the genre..."

Joke of the Week

Malcolm Jamal Warner guest starred on Community this week. It was an okay episode, far from the best Community offering but still pretty good. But in a particularly Abed-light episode, the best joke of the week capitalized on his TV history-heavy humour without even putting him in the scene. Take a look at that sweater Warner's wearing in the photo. Recognize the style? Late in the episode Jeff compliments it and Warner replies "thanks, my dad gave it to me". 

If you don't get the joke, well, ... you really ought to get the joke. But if you really don't, I'll explain:

Malcolm Jamal Warner is Theo Huxtable. From The Cosby Show. If you're still not following, please give up now. Otherwise, here's an oldschool photo of him and his famous TV dad in one of HIS famous TV sweaters.

Christmas... Unstoppable

To say that I love Christmas is an understatement. To say that I love Christmas-themed popular culture is one of the biggest understatements of all time (see also: last year's Christmas-episode list, or the My Cinema Blogs ongoing series of Christmas-themed movie analysis).

See, as a young half-jewish girl growing up in an agnostic household, Christmas never meant Jesus or church or choir or even cross-country slogs to relatives houses. Christmas meant, more often than not, setting up the house with the perfect mixture of 92% Christmas decorations and 8% Channukah decorations and then cozying up on the couch with my little brother and parents to watch an onslaught of Christmas movies from December 1st forward. To this day when I get off the plane on the day before Christmas eve, I can count on the fact that the house will be filled with Christmas decorations and the Blu-Ray player will be cued up with the Muppet Christmas Carol, which we will all watch, even though we know every word, and I will always fall asleep at the same part, and my brother will always be annoyed by the same sappy love song.

I suppose the biggest understatement of all would be in saying that I merely understand muslim-Abed's christmas worldview. So maybe I'm not to be trusted when I say that I think this week's Community might be the finest thing the (I'm ready to say it) best show on television right now has put out.

Basically, Community has taken its theme-episodes to a logical extreme and turned the whole cast into stop-motion versions of themselves to act out the Christmas episode. IT follows Abed's Christmas-related mental breakdown, which causes him to indulge in the stop-motion delusion, and leads the gang to try to intervention him back to mental health. Said intervention ends with them all getting sucked up into his psychological christmas wonka-esque fantasy, and ultimately help find the meaning of Christmas.

It was no surprise that this episode was funny or moving or well done. But it was surprising just how dark it let the story get. Abed's pain is real, and deep, and coming from a place of deep hurt and loneliness. The people around him are there to help him (to differing degrees), but they are also dealing with the ramifications of just how lonely they are.

Where the episode really draws its power is in using the idea of Christmas as a time of shared-delusion (as made physically manifest by the gang ultimately protecting Abed's stop-motion ersion of the world), where we pretend that the "coldest and darkest" days of the year are filled with (forgive the rhyme) cheer to reinforce the bond between the show's principal characters and showing just how profound and meaningful their relationships with each other are. This isn't just a group of friends, or buddies, who we can anticipate moving apart from each other over time. Sometimes, literally, these are the people who stand between each other and teetering over into an all consuming abyss of loneliness.

The thing that makes Community so much more than just a half-hour sitcom (even the greatest of them) and so much more than most things currently in television is its ability to use the pop culture landscape that is so essential to understanding the modern existance to pick out, examine and ultimately find catharsis for difficult truths that exist across the modern landscape, and to use characters diverse enough and real enough that they seem like the flawed and fantastic avatars for our selves.

And so it is with the Christmas, stop-motion version of the show. They took the metaphorical sadness and joy inherent in Christmas (basically, the feeling you get when you listen to Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas song "Christmas Time is Here") and explained exactly why it is that it matters that we indulge in our rituals, that we try to give ourselves over to the twinkly light glee even though it doesn't feel exactly the same as it did when we were 6 and ultimately it changes nothing. December 26th comes and we're left in the same world we were in on December 23. Community argues, however, that it is in the act of believing so hard in the power of our rituals and by giving meaning to popular culture, Christmas trees, family singalongs and family viewing parties, that we really make them the worthwhile and cathartic endeavors that we need them to be. The family that Abed has created at Greendale is not what was necessarily what Abed thought family meant (much like Shirley might argue that the real meaning of Christmas has a lot more to do with the Christ at the front of that word), but it is none the less profoundly meaningful and really moving.

* Community was also very funny and enjoyable, and Teddy Pierce was probably the most adorable thing to ever have Chevy Chase's head attached to it.

... (pause)... Wow

A lot of people spend a lot of time (and a lot of time on TV) trying to say something about God. And faith. And religion. And everything else. Few ever actually manage to say anything.

The sad reality is that no one will even notice the incredible power of this week's Community, it's not a "powerful" show (a theory not even remotely true, but somehow prevalent in critical circles anyway). Much will be made of Glee's "Grilled Cheesus" episode a couple weeks ago while Community's "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" will join the vault of "could've changed your mind but you didn't bother to watch" genius episodes.

The story was about influence, meta-film, art, mob mentality, PR, narcicism, carelessness and, yes, faith. It was an examination of modern religion and the follower impulse, the massive and dangerous influence of leadership, and the sometimes obtrusive way art and artists can inhibit reality. It was also about a young community and how popularity grows and resets the standard for "normal" and "acceptable" in that community. It was about fame and desperation to be near it, share a piece of it. It was about spinning out of control, getting carried away, and not knowing your way back. And Shirley, Shirley's story was about the desperation of being powerless against something you feel is wrong and about being willing to look like the villain in order to be the hero. It was about admitting when you're wrong, humbling each other and trying to say something.

It was about all sorts of things, things with the power to infuriate and enlighten. But then again, Community isn't a "powerful" show, who knows if anyone even noticed. Post a comment if you did.

"I don't believe in God, but I love me some Abed" -Britta.

PS: The wonderful role reversals and clever playfulness of Pierce's storyline were also remarkable, and hilarious. And that tag was pure genius. Any other week I'd be writing paragraph after paragraph about them. But this wasn't just any week.

The Awesome is Back

Community returned this week with what is so-far my favourite premiere of the season. Last season's (actual) funniest new show was in uncertain territory after a mediocre finale that threw the characters into lame romantic conundrums. But after this week, season 2 appears to have the potential to be even better than most of the first.

From the brilliant C story of Troy turning Pierce into the new "Shit My Dad Says" twitter feed to the awesome game of love chicken that Jeff and Brita undertook as the show's perfect answer to an overly dramatic cliffhanger, the premiere was as good as they get. It had Betty White, as everything does, but didn't need her at all. Community's so great on its own, the guest stars and marketing stunts that help out so many other shows are totally unnecessary. Even Ken Jeong, the show's broad absurdity go-to character was enjoyable in this episode (though here's hoping he doesn't ruin future ones now that he's in the study group and apparently mentally ill, or possessed).

My favourite thing about the premiere? Abed. Obviously. His lovable TV obsession is constantly hilarious and brilliantly self-referential, never more than in this episode. He brought some of the episode's funniest moments, like when he asked Shirley if she'd spinoff with him and she replied with "Is this you being meta?". But that same gimmick of his provided the deepest moment in the episode as well, when Jeff accused his quirk of being "so season one", Abed replied: "I can tell life from TV Jeff. TV makes sense, it has structure, logic,  rules,  and likable leading men. In life we have this, we have you." It hurt us, it hurt Jeff and by god it was wonderful.

That's how you start a season.

Where I Stand

I realize I have fallen behind on the many many things happening in the TV world right now. It's finale time, which means it's My TV Season Wrap-Up time so my plate is quite full of writing to be done. In the mean time, in case you haven't been following @mytvblog on twitter (which you all should), I thought I'd get you caught up briefly on where I stand on the TV issues of the moment:

The Survivor and Amazing Race Finales: in both cases the wrong person won and the most deserving competitor took second. As much as I would have liked to see Caite win the race and throw it in the face of all the snobby pseudo-intellectuals who teased her, the title should have belonged to the cowboys, who ran the most consistently impressive race. As for Survivor, the finale was fun because Jeff was super snarky with bitter Russell but the only reason Sandra should have won was if she had actually succeeded in taking Russell out when she tried. This was Parvati's season, she played the best game and really should have had it.

The Lost Finale: I'm generally pro, though I understand why the mythology-oriented fans are left disappointed. It was an emotional, character-driven, spirituality-heavy farewell and if that's not your Lostian focus then you couldn't have been happy. As for me, a super sap who's all about character over plot, I loved that it got me emotionally reacting to Lost again. Despite solid writing, excellent effects and superb acting, the MVP award goes to composer Michael Giacchino for creating iteration after iteration of his iconic "important emotional moment" music for the episode's record breaking number of important emotional moments.

NBC Thursday Finales: Community offered its weakest episode yet (read Rachael's Season Wrap-Up for more, all of which I agree with), 30 Rock's finale was awesome after a really rocky season (again, see Rachael's Wrap-Up) and The Office was hardly noteworthy at all (hence, Wrap-Up still pending) except for the promise of Holly's return.

The Grey's Anatomy Finale: Amazing. A couple minor flaws but generally the best episode they've done possibly ever (after an altogether strong season). I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, even though I knew who would perish/survive because of contract news.

The Dancing with the Stars Finale: The right person won and managed to remind me that even if I despise her current band, I loved her first one and she was my favourite when she got her big break on Popstars back when I was a kid who watched Popstars. Also, Derek Hough is a god of choreography and dance and energy. Also, I love Evan Lysacek, he reminds me so much of my friend Chris.

Tomorrow's American Idol Finale: Team Bowersox!

The Bachelorette: I'm still not on board with Ali (she was just WAY too mean to Vienna, who danced on the DwtS finale btw and was beautiful!) but I do love The Bachelorette. I'd watch Chris Harrison do anything and there are already some really promising bachelors (including a cutie from Vancouver who caught my eye early).

Friday Night Lights: It's back and I'm still OBSESSED. I love very few things as much as I love this show.

Pascal's Triangle Revisited - Or The Season Finale Problem (Season Wrap Up: Community)

On a show as meta as Community, the season finale was bound to be semi-tongue-in-cheek dramatic. So in theory I shouldn't have minded when all the romantic drama usurped what was otherwise an episode about dalmatian fetishes and John Oliver's penis. But I did.

The season finale was probably my least favorite episode of Community this season. Now, that's a bit like saying it was the least cute golden retriever puppy in the litter (for evidence, click here), but it's still not a puppy that I want to take home with me.

The essential problem is that, while the episode was very good with the one-liners and the absurdity, it truly didn't need the usual finale shenanigans of rushed declarations of love and threatened show-altering moves. It just needed to be funny. And although I'm fine with an exploration of Britta and Jeff or Annie and Jeff, I don't think that this show needs a love triangle between its principal actors to fuel the plot. It doesn't need the plot fueled at all, to be honest. It makes it seem like the show is running out of ideas, when I'm fairly certain its not.

Having the episode close on a Jeff and Annie make-out session, although hot, felt... premature. And having Britta publicly declare her love for Jeff? DEFINITELY premature. And that's okay, if when the show returns in fall they label it as such and have everyone feel really awkward about it, but as far as a finale goes, it left me semi-blah. Still chuckling and enjoying myself, but blah.

Season Finale Grade: C+*

Season Grade: A

*This grade might be a bit like when a High School English teacher gives her star student a C because she feels like she didn't try her hardest, so even though most other kids would get a B on that paper, she got a C to tell her to shape up.

Modern Warfare

As an unabashed fan of both bad action films and Joel McHale's biceps, this week's episode of Community was always going to be a hit with me. However, the show really knocked it out of the park by anchoring it in the kind of plot-moving emotional relevance that few shows can pull off with this sort of gimmick (in fact, only "Once More With Feeling" springs to mind).

The gimmick this week pushed by the always meta-writing staff at Community was that the campus of Greendale devolves into an action movie when the Dean sets up a spirit building paintball game and offers "priority registration" as a prize. As a girl who had to sit through her fair share of annoying 100 lectures because she had a last name that guaranteed her a shitty registration time, I can relate. It was just on the right side of absurd to see the whole campus go gaga for it.

The parody was spot on, the direction of the episode so good it truly could have been an action movie, and the comedy was subtly infused in every scene. It worked even if you didn't understand that the roller blading badasses shooting at Jeff, Shirley, Britta and Abed were a reference to 1980s feel-good film The Warriors.

As for the Jeff and Britta stuff, it felt so good, unforced, and funny that while I still think they should avoid making them a couple for fear of Community becoming the Jeff-and-Britta show, I'm totally okay with the idea of them just having casual sex in the study group room. They're both the kind of slutty romantics who would do something like that before realizing that they are nowhere near ready for it to continue. Although it may just be that anything that gets Jeff into his boxer-briefs (and was it just me, or were those the same ones he was wearing in the pool episode?) is a-okay by me.

All in all, not only the best episode so far of Community, but probably the best half hour of television this season, period.

Obsessions of the Week

Manny: the only truly great thing about super overrated ABC sitcom Modern Family is the creepily mature, naively proud and generally delightful stepson/uncle/brother Manny (Rico Rodriguez).

One Tree Hill: Julian's adventures into brohood, Nathan's willing decent from superman status, Brooke/Haley bonding time, some fun Skills moments and a good campfire nanny Carrie story= one very funny episode of a show that really should be considered a comedy.

Community: last week's episode was hysterical and it's been solidly hilarious for weeks now. Jeff is a fantastically engaging character to follow as he skulks through the college halls (and Joel McHale plays him impeccably), Britta is a surprisingly refreshing female lead, Annie and Abed are delightful and used with the perfect amount of restraint needed with such quirky characters, Troy is an absurdist foil to the high energy craziness and Shirly has quickly become one of my favourite characters to watch. The only weak point in the show at this point is Chevy Chase, who's over-hyped existence on the show was destined to be over-the-top. Here's hoping that viewers and critics alike get their heads on straight soon and abandon ABC's mediocre Wednesday comedy line up and get behind NBC's Community and CBS' Accidentally on Purpose before they get the freshman axe.

Wanda Sykes: with a talk show kicking off, a prime character on Old Christine, a great interview on The Daily Show and a stellar standup comedy special that aired this week, Sykes is, and deserves to be, on top of the world right now.

A COMMUNITY I Really Want to Join

Community may just be the best written show on television. The lines in Community could be the most quotable, loveable wonderful television shows on the air. Emotional breakdown that starts with a teary eyed, "I've peed alone my whole life?" Check. Fun, only slightly-dated popular culture references that also serve as character analysis? "Annie also said she found Benjamin Button compelling. She's a smart girl, but sometimes she's JUST wrong." Double check.

So far, they've walked a brilliant line between caustic satire of ridiculousness, hearty gooey typical televisiony-ness, and wonderful, lightning fast one liners that are at once topical, witty, and completely unexpected. With a show that is so interested in just tossing jokes out at the speed of light, it would be easy to lose sight of the plot. Yet every episode thus far has deepened one of the supporting players, shown us fascinating new sides of Jeff, and also provided some surprisingly timely satire.

Take for example this exchange:

Annie: You're right, I could never be as good [at manipulating people] as you, probably because I actually care.
Jeff: True, but technically meaningless. And don't try and do that thing that girls do where they walk away and try to make you feel like crap, because it won't work... Crap.

It was at deeply funny and witty and served as a brilliant character moment for both characters. Annie realized the depth of her feelings for Troy, and Jeff had a defining moment of breaking through his own crap and giving up his own selfishness.

In summary, Community is the kind of brilliant that where it's almost unfathomable it made it on the air.

EXTRA QUOTE-Y GOODNESS:

• "I think not being racist... is the new racist." (Jeff about the attempt to make a Human Being mascot)


• "Bing Bong sing along. You're teams Al Gores cause your views are wrong." (Troy's ridiculous conservative rap)


• Every part of the discussion of Jeff's hair.


• Jeff: I just think we were both wrong.

Annie: Really? Because I'm an 18 year old girl and you made me cry in public.

Jeff: Okay... maybe I was a little more wrong.

• "We solved racism. What's next?" "Maybe we should do something for little people."

Dead Poets Society Makes a Comeback

Tonight's How I Met Your Mother paid tribute to the great coming of age movie Dead Poets Society. With Barney's gesture of standing on his desk and addressing Ted as "captain my captain", How I Met Your Mother made up for the merciless (and hilarious) mocking that the same film had endured on Thursday. Last week's Community also referenced the classic movie, but rather than paying homage to its charms, it mocked its absurdities, to great effect. The impracticality of ripping up textbooks, the danger in standing on a desk and the sheer pointlessness of the phrase "seize the day" all became clear as Joel McHale and Co. took a class with a teacher who was "convinced he's in Dead Poets Society" and assigned homework like the task of telling 10 people you love them. With references in two of the funniest shows on TV, this decades old film is clearly making a comeback, as an inspirational tale and a campy icon worthy of satire.

Thursday Night Hilarity

The Office

Sometimes, The Office is just so pitch-perfect that it shocks me. Tonight's premier episode comfortably, brilliantly straddled the line between Michael's awkward neediness, Jim and Pam's happiness, and the rest of the cast's quirks in a way that at once re-introduced us to our friends at Dunder Mifflin and made us wonder how we survive all summer without them. It wasn't a particularly huge episode (although it did include some surprising character growth amongst all the irreverence), nor was it the most quotable, but it took a well-worn Office trope (Michael's ridiculousness causes chaos, he tries to fix things, makes things worse. The office, specifically Jim and Pam, have to step in and fix things) and did it so well that I am feeling more confident than ever that this show can succesfully carry through on all the promises it has given out over the years.

I love how far The US Office has come from its UK cousin. Don't get me wrong, I loved Ricky Gervais' masterpiece way before Michael Scott was even a gleem in some tv producer's eye, but I like that our Office as its own flavor. It's not afraid of happiness. It started as a caustic workplace satire, but really, now it's a celebration of the tiny happiness of the average american. It's way too good natured to really be considered a satire, although it has satirical elements, and it's way too funny to just be schmaltz. But at the end of the day, this is a show that chose to end last season with two people with whom we've grown to love over five seasons more deliriously happy than I think we've ever seen a couple on television. And then they started this season with a witty, funny episode that deconstructed Michael Scott's neurosis without the malice that occasionally creeps into that discussion. It's a truly unique creation, and the best argument for The Colonies rebelling from their British Overlords since all that tea got dumped into the Boston Bay.

Community

After watching the previews for Community, I'm not sure I was ready for the angry, mysanthropic Joel McHale character of "Jeff." I had expected something more "wacky and good natured" than "college-faking and cheating." That being said, despite my surprise at its tone, I think I'm grooving at its promise, for a pilot.

I love Aved (the Arab, previously Sanjay on Greek ), who talks crazy fast and says things like "this is getting more like the breakfast club" and then does the Bender monologue with hilariously gleeful perfection, and who may or may not have aspbergers (although what great television protagonist doesn't, Sheldon?). John Oliver as the befuddled, morally-compromised, some-times-drunk-driving dean is all lovely British dry wit. And the surprise in the bunch is Britta, the love-interest for McHale, who is shockingly well realized and witty and cool in her own right. Or, as McHale's Jeff puts it, "how was I supposed to know you'd turn out to be smart and cool? You look like Elizabeth Shue."

The strength or weakness of this show will rest on how well integrated McHale's bullshit (which he does brilliantly) is with the rest of the show, and how much they make us believe in the man beneath it all. McHale is amazing to watch, and he's funny, and I'm only sort of distracted by how overly styled his hair is. The show is leaning in the right direction, but basing a show around a not-so-nice main character is always a tricky proposition, and I hope they can continue to get the balance right. You have to let the amoral dick that is at the center of your show grow and breathe without losing what makes the show funny to begin with.

And damn if this show doesn't have some quotable dialogue:

"As if there's a dinner on Earth that could make me forget you are a shallow douche bag."

"We are the only species on Earth that observes Shark Week."

"Do you think astronauts go to the moon because they hate oxygen? No. They're trying to impress their highschool prom kings."

"If it's so serious, why don't they call it meningitis?"

And never before has a show so succintly summed up my life and current woes: "The funny thing about being smart is that you can get through most of life without ever having to do any work. So I don't really know how to do that..."