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"I'm Fine, B*tch. I'm Fine," and the Rest of the Best Moments from NBC's Thursday Night Comedies

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (29)

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Community: Grade B-. For a series that has capitalized on Halloween so very well in the past, a mediocre episode was something of a huge letdown. The six horror stories felt too similar to the six time lines in the most recent episode, and this one simply paled in comparison.

  • And he chainsawed them to bits! Then he put them back together. And then he chainsawed them again! Forever. —Shirley

  • “”He had to watch her swallow his last eyeball. She kept it attached to the optic nerve so he could see down her throat to his own partially digested flesh… in her stomach.” — Annie

  • Britta: We learnt an important lesson tonight.We should never make the Britta of Brittaing each other’s feelings.

    Pierce: You’re using it wrong!

    Jeff: Wow, you Brittaed Britta.

    Abed: Yeah, way to pull an Abed.

    Shirley: I don’t get it.

    Jeff: Shirley, don’t Pierce.

    Pierce: I don’t get it!

  • Seth, appropriately, would also like me to note that Pierce’s “horror” story provided a hilarious new definition for the phrase “cockpunching someone.”

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    Parks and Recreation: Grade: B+. So this is how they can better utlize Ann? By pairing her with Ron Swanson so some of his awesomeness will rub off on her. I liked the Halloween party and storyline between Andy and Ben, but the other story line demonstrated that there can, in fact, be too much Tom Haverford.

  • “Look, I don’t like to throw around the word ‘butthead’ too often. If you call everybody a butthead then it kind of loses it’s impact. But I can say, without hesitation, that Tom is being a real dick.” — Leslie

  • Leslie: Okay, you know what you need? Some good ol’ fashioned comfort food.

    Tom: Where are we gonna get albacore tuna with crispy onions at this hour?

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    The Office: Grade: B+. The episode itself was fairly unremarkable, but for the fact that they made excellent use of Erin’s character. What made this episode stand out, however, was the incredible performance of James Spader, who demonstrated exactly why he has three Emmy Awards. There are a lot of great comedic actors on sitcoms, but seldom do you see a dramatic actor of Spader’s caliber say so very much with so very little. There was a moment, where he said something along the lines of “What am I doing here?” and turned up one side of his mouth ever-so-slightly, that I just thought, “Wow! F*cking Wow!”

  • “Why on Earth would a museum put a mummy in it?” — Kevin

  • “Fear plays an interesting role in our lives. How dare we let it motivate us. How dare we let it into our decision making, into our livelihoods, into our relationships. Funny, isn’t it? We take a day a year and dress up in costume and celebrate fear.” — Robert Motherf*cking California

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    Comments

    I sure hope that's the last of Entertainment 720. I was pretty bored with that right from the start, but last night it was just painful. Leslie naming all the businesses was great (especially the tramp stamp one), but as soon as Tom interrupted I felt like changing the channel.

    Posted by: Todd at October 28, 2011 11:21 AM

    • B-? That episode was fantastic. Its only flaw was following "Remedial Chaos Theory."

    Posted by: Courtney at October 28, 2011 11:26 AM

    I love when P&R does Halloween. But I was a little sad that, once again, Leslie isn't at the Halloween party. I'd love to see her get dressed up, and she and Ben need to be in the same room already. I wish everyone had just been at the party. That B-plot really was kind of boring, except for the listing of all Pawnee's businesses:

    "Food n Stuff, J J 's Diner, Reynold's Discount Cemetery, Tramp Stamp Tattoos [old lady owner, hee!], Enormous Kenny's Fried Dough Stand and Mobile Phone Emporium...Sue's Salads...Smooth Operator Bikini Waxes, Jeff's Savings and Loan..."

    Doesn't it make you want to live in Pawnee forever?

    Ron finding the 'toolbox' was awesome, too, though 90% was just his delivery: "A hammer. Half of a pretzel. Baseball card. Some cartridge that says "Sonic" and "Hedgehog". A scissor half. And a flashlight...filled with jellybeans."

    Posted by: figgy at October 28, 2011 11:30 AM

    What, no "Whitney" quotes?

    Seriously, can't say I blame you. The wife and I have started using 9:30-10 Thursday evenings to clean the kitchen.

    Posted by: Jarsh at October 28, 2011 11:34 AM

    Hm, Community was my favorite episode of the night (unless you leap networks and count It's Always Sunny). I thought Parks and Rec was kind of lackluster. What the hell are they doing with Ann? So aimless! And what's with Chris for that matter? Why is he turning into such a creepy guy? Plus the lack of Donna is always a disappointment. This episode was also the first one where I started to find Ben kind of annoying. Passive aggressive roommates suck. Overall, not a great showing. An ensemble show like this can't survive on the enthusiasm of Andy Dwyer alone.

    Posted by: Cree83 at October 28, 2011 11:35 AM

    Yeah, I honestly felt like that was pretty out-of-character for Tom. I mean, he's pretty self-centered, but not generally to that extent.

    But I'm going to agree with Courtney on that Community. I really think it only suffered because of the excellence of "Chaos". (Perhaps if the two preceeding eps had aired in their originally intended order, it wouldn't have been as much of an issue...) But there was a lot of very real laughing coming out of my face. And possibly some spittle. I thought it was really well done. (Of course, I have not yet gone through my second and third viewings yet, so perhaps I'll change my mind later. But I don't think so.)

    Posted by: Anna von Beav at October 28, 2011 11:41 AM

    The Office has surprised the hell out of me this season. I was done with it (and am still done with 30 Rock), but hearing that Andy Bernard was the new manager made me give it a chance.

    It's not that it's great, exactly, but they made enough changes that it doesn't feel like the same old thing anymore, and there's room to grow again. Maybe it just needed to be repotted.

    Posted by: Lucas at October 28, 2011 11:41 AM

    Also, can I get a gif of Chris Pratt LITERALLY straddling and bouncing on teeny tiny Adam Scott? Because holy crap, that whole sequence was AMAZING.

    Almost as amazing as Ron's Super Happy Face. I laughed for about 5 minutes straight.

    Posted by: figgy at October 28, 2011 11:46 AM

    Yeah, I'm with Courtney and AVB.

    I loved that episode of Community, but was way too similar to the timeline(s) episode.

    Epidemiology will never be beat, of course.

    Posted by: Candee at October 28, 2011 11:52 AM

    HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

    I just watched The Office and that was a GREAT episode. I'm so glad it's back to just being a happy, often hilarious, nice show. And I just adore Ellie Kemper and Ed Helms. They're so sweet together.

    California's speech was out of this world. Perfect writing and acting right there.

    Posted by: figgy at October 28, 2011 11:56 AM

    When the Dean came out in the witch costume, I thought I'd pee myself. But after that...I wished it was funnier. Psychic Abed/Troy was hilarious too. Jeff is getting on my last nerve, tho. Britta, too. They used to be funny. What happened?

    Posted by: ChickaBoom! at October 28, 2011 12:00 PM

    All I want to know from Community is WHO THE HELL IS JEFF TEXTING ALL THE TIME!? There better be a great reveal on that one because it's just getting bizarre now.

    Parks & Rec was good but I have a hard time thinking Ann would be at the party without Leslie bringing her. They have got to do something with her. I love Rashida Jones but the character is going absolutely nowhere. I loved Leslie's immediate reaction to all the E720 crap. It could have easily been a lazy sitcom contrivance, but from the start she was like "this is bullshit, Tom. You are ruining everything." Further underlines the difference between season 1 Leslie and the new and improved season 2 forward version.

    Posted by: TylerDFC at October 28, 2011 12:20 PM

    "Stifle your slackened maw you drained and tainted bitch dog!" and Trick or Dean! were awesome last night. Overall I thought all the shows were pretty damn funny, but I agree that there are some character issues. Creepy Chris is just, well, creepy, but I do understand how Tom would think taking over Leslies event in a last ditch effort to keep E 720 afloat was a good idea, but the writers did take it over the top. It was also great to see Ellie Kemper getting more to do on The Office.

    Go Rangers!

    Posted by: Groundloop at October 28, 2011 12:33 PM

    I wouldn't normally do this now, but Courtney started it (nyah): I thought "Community" was spot-on delightful last night. When it's on the DVD, in its rightful place with an episode between it and "Remedial Chaos Theory," this episode will stand out as being a whole lot of fun. It might not have had the effect of the first Halloween episode, where the series really started to find its sweet spot, or have the focus of "Epidemiology," but it was the closest to a live action "Treehouse of Horror" that I've ever seen.

    Plus, now we have confirmation that Abed is the only sane one. Personally, I always suspected as much.

    Though, Ron's smile after fixing the sink was my favorite moment of the night. (Not counting "It's Always Sunny" on FX, anyway.)

    Posted by: RobP at October 28, 2011 12:58 PM

    For me, last night's Community didn't pale in comparison to "Remedial Chaos Theory" so much as it did compared to "Epidemiology." It's an instant classic Halloween episode. But I still thought last night's ep was pretty great on its own. I loved Shirley's version of Britta - "I lived in New York!"

    The rundown of businesses in Parks & Rec was a nice little gag - especially the wink from the proprietor of "Smooth Operator Bikini Wax."

    I love Robert Motherfucking California.

    Posted by: MelBivDevoe at October 28, 2011 2:08 PM

    For me, the quote of the night was Ron Swanson telling the Home Depot guy "I know more than you do". That was expected and hilarious.

    Posted by: Gavin S. at October 28, 2011 2:14 PM

    It was Lowe's Gavin. And he was right. Oh lord was he right. You ask for corrosion resistant rebar, because OBVIOUSLY you are putting it into your step footings, and they insiston upselling you to stainless steel. Who do I look like, Thurston Howell the third? Jed Clampett? Just give me something that sits in the right place on the galvanic scale, not something that's going to scream "I'm not paying attention to project costs!"

    Posted by: Mrcreosote at October 28, 2011 2:44 PM

    Yeah, I really enjoyed Community. Especially when Troy was dancing along to Abed's "easy jazz" part of the story.

    Posted by: googergieger at October 28, 2011 2:51 PM

    I've been looking for something that sits in the right place on the galvanic scale all my life.

    Posted by: Mrs. Julien at October 28, 2011 2:52 PM

    Um, I may have actually enjoyed this week's Community more than "Remedial Chaos Theory". I rewound and watched Abed's story three times before I watched the rest of the episode.

    "I love y-"
    "Shhhhhhhh"

    Posted by: Three-nineteen at October 28, 2011 4:11 PM

    I was a little underwhelmed by Community. I agree that following Remedial Chaos Theory and the expectations from the other excellent Halloween episodes played a part in that. And I'm with Dustin on the separate story lines being too much like RCT. So I think B- is fair.

    Posted by: Dave at October 28, 2011 5:31 PM

    Community was ok. Just ok. But I'm not writing it off.... It was definitely more subtle than previous Halloween episodes (not a bad thing) so no doubt some of that genius is lost on the first viewing!

    Ive never understood the Park & Rec hype.. and I keep trying so damn hard. ugh.

    Posted by: layla at October 28, 2011 5:39 PM

    Me too lays...

    I have a theory. By which I mean philosophy. By which I mean...

    Watch it drunk. Clearly everyone that likes it is an alcoholic, is what I'm saying.

    Posted by: googergieger at October 28, 2011 6:05 PM

    I thought Community was brilliant. P&R dragged; I thought this was probably the weakest episode of the season.

    Posted by: Kobie at October 28, 2011 6:30 PM

    Every show this season of The Office has been unwatchable. I guess I watch it still out of loyalty or some sense of completeness, but I don't enjoy a single second of it.

    I HATE Andy as the boss. I hope Jim and Pam die in a car accident. Their characters have been done to death. There is nothing interesting left for them. I just don't care. They used to work when there was more stuff happening around them, like Creed, Meredith, Kelly and Dwight. What happened to those characters?

    Now, it's all about Sweet Andy and Sweet Jim and sweet Pam having their sickly sweet struggles with how hard it is to be so sweet and lovable. It makes we want to throw up.

    Posted by: John G. at October 28, 2011 6:37 PM

    Tom Haverford has been a dick this season. He needs to go back to work for Leslie. And the whole Chris Traeger routine is literally getting played out, don't you think?

    Posted by: Uriah Creep at October 28, 2011 9:42 PM

    I love Rob Lowe, but his character hits only one note, and a sour one at that. "Biking for charity is *literally* an interest on my Facebook page." Really Chris? Really?

    And I agree, they need to bring some emotionality back to the Ben-Leslie storyline. I need more. I want more. Where's my park? My recreation? I love P&R, but I want to see the characters interacting more. And more Ron Swanson. The thing with his wives and mother started the season off with a bang... now it has tapered off.

    The "Treat Yo Self 2011" story line was awesome though.

    "Designer fragrances- Treat yo self. Fine leather goods- treat yo self!" Excellent.

    Posted by: LBeees at October 28, 2011 10:47 PM

    I think they need to get back to the Parks and Rec. It's been a lot of (mostly really awesome) out-of-the-office episodes, but sometimes the best ones happen when they have to deal with ridiculous government stuff.

    Posted by: figgy at October 29, 2011 12:48 AM

    I will forget that the board is nailed to the bar. I know this is supposed to be focused on NBC, but FX is already selling CharDee MacDennis boards on their website apparently.

    I feel like this episode of Community would always pale in comparison as long as it came after Remedial Chaos Theory. It kind of makes me wish, as awesome as it was, that they saved Chaos Theory for later in the season. Maybe with mediocre ratings, that wasn't an option.

    Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at October 29, 2011 9:50 AM