Top 10 Best Sitcom Episodes of the 2008-2009 Television Season

Well, I had meant to do this before the Emmy nominations were out, but now they are, so that ship has sorta sailed. I'm still offering my opinion, even when there is a much more respected one out there!

10. 30 Rock - "Kidney Now!"

I think I was more into this year's 30 Rock finale than most people--I thought it was far better than last year's finale, scattershot Emmy winner "Cooter." A lot of my enjoyment came fromm the fact that I'm a sucker for satirical points about the division between medium and message, which two of the three plotlines (1. a charity song to selfishly get one person a kidney and 2.a catchy but relationship-destroying catchphrase) dealt with.

9. Flight of the Conchords - "Prime Minister"

Of all the fun things in this episode--the guest starring roles of Art Garfunkel-obsessed Mary Lynn Rajskub and self-important Elton John impersonator Patton Oswalt to start, not to mention the cameo of Garfunkel himself--the one that pushes this episode into the sublime is the parody of Korean karaoke. The whole bit, sung by Bret, complete with both-languaged subtitles and marvelously weird stock footage, is the most consistently hilarious straight two minutes on TV since Alec Baldwin's therapy session last year on 30 Rock.

8. South Park - "The Ring"

I've knocked South Park before here, but man, when they get it right, they get it right. Calling out the Jonas Brothers' purity rings not for being lame but for being an elliptically dirty marketing trick--THAT is satire.

7. The Big Bang Theory - "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis"

This is a show that started with a terribly lame pilot, but has grown into one of the best sitcoms on TV, centered on Jim Parsons playing an self-important Aspegian asexual (and getting an Emmy nom for it, huzzah!). I wouldn't pick this episode to start with (for that I'd recommend either the first season's "The Loobenfeld Decay" or this season's "The Vegas Renormalization") but once you've familiarized yourself with Parsons' character, his every move in this episode is gold.

6. How I Met Your Mother - "The Naked Man"

Television critics smarter than me have pointed out that at HIMYM's best, it often recalls Seinfeld's social-deconstruction-via-term-invention but with more heart, and this episode is a prime example of that, in what is almost certainly the show's best season to date.

5. 30 Rock - "Gavin Volure"

I was a lilttle underwhelmled by this episode at first, but I kept thinking about it and remembering lines from it, and when I watched it again and realized that it's exactly the groove that 30 Rock has settled into--in a good way. It's not as mind-blowingly surprising as, say, last year's "Secrets and Lies," but it's just an excellent and consistent half-hour of comedy, with jokes like, Steve Martin: "This is my expert on fine art and yelling," John MacEnroe: "Why isn't there any good art in this house!" that I can only describe as perfect.

4. How I Met Your Mother - "Intervention"

Maybe my favorite episode of HIMYM to date, this just has callbacks building on callbacks building to an earned climax--this is like great sitcom writing 101. And something as wacky as old-man makeup as a plotline could only be sold by Neil Patrick Harris.

3. 30 Rock - "Generalissimo"

As I indicated before, I don't think that 30 Rock quite had the highlights of its best episodes last season, but was overall more consistent. That was helped out by a pair of reliably good-quality romantic storylines, Baldwin with Selma Hayek and Fey with Jon Hamm (whose good looks and serious comedic chops make him my biggest man-crush in a long while). This stellar episode is kind of a stand-in for how the several episodes with those characters were for me--brought over the top by Baldwin playing his gay Mexican doppelganger.

2. The Office - "Broke"

Even more so than 30 Rock, this one is a stand-in for The Office's superb 6-episode storyline about the clash between Michael Scott and Charles, the stuffy suit played by Idris Elba. This whole season saw Michael Scott shouldering not only the comedic weight that he always had on the show, but also the dramatic weight--with a major love interest early on and a major professional conflict later. Together they made this season of The Office the best yet, though it was more about the consistency in arc from episode to episode than it was about individual 22-minute chunks. I elected this one the best (over other close calls like "Heavy Competition," which may have the best Office line of all time in, "The meatball parm is their worst sandwich!") in part because all of the wonderful subtle details about Michael that appear when this show is firing on all cylinders. The fact that he has been drinking milk and sugar--JUST milk and sugar--every morning for the past six years, is too perfect for words.

1. Better Off Ted - "Racial Sensitivity"

Well. I have waxed poetic about this episode already. Suffice to say I thought it was the best half-hour of TV this season. Watch it, already.

CAVEAT: I have yet to see more than the pilot of Party Down. Also, there are other shows that I didn't watch, but they're shows that for the most part I don't like.

Top 7 Reasons to Watch Better Off Ted on ABC

First off, I would like to take a moment and give Peter and me the sole credit for How I Met Your Mother having a banner year ratings-wise.  I'm willing to say that the show's increased viewership this year is mostly related to our constant plugs.  (The show has also been fantastic writing-wise this year, something for which we can take less credit.)  However, HIMYM no longer really needs your support to ensure its survival--it's been renewed for at least two more seasons.  But I DO need you to watch Better off Ted, an ABC sitcom about the research and development firm at a large, slightly evil corporation.  Here's why:

7. Portia di Rossi is fantastic

Almost the entire main cast of Arrested Development have gotten quite a career bump from the canceled series--the show made a star out of Michael Cera and re-made a star out of Jason Bateman, as well as bringing a lot more light to people like David Cross and Jeffery Tambor who had been quietly having already fantastic careers.  But it never seemed to me like di Rossi had gotten the Arrested bump into another great role, until now.  She's the highlight of the show as the titular Ted's boss, Veronica, played with some of the same energy as Lindsay Bluth but directed in a much colder, more megalomaniacal way.  In some ways, she's a female Jack Donaghy, but she's both less human and more prone to error than him.  Check out this great bit of dialogue:

Ted: I have to watch Rose [Ted's daughter].

Veronica: I can wash Rose.

Ted: I said watch her, not wash her.

Veronica: Hmm.  Even easier.

Ted: The fact that you thought I was going to go wash Rose right now makes me thing that you may not know much about children.

Veronica: I know they need to be cleaned.

That sums up di Rossi's character very well, to me.

6. Speaking of which, that dialogue

A lot of shows and movies attempt and fail to get that kind of fast, banter-y funny style of dialogue down, and it often either comes off as overly smart and not actually funny (I'm looking at you, Diablo Cody) or like it's just about subjects too dumb for anyone to ever talk banter-y about.  But Better off Ted does it and succeeds, mostly because it has real jokes:

Ted: We may have created a monster in the lab.

Veronica: It's not a monster, it's a cyborg that can kill without remorse.

Ted: I was talking about Phil.  What were you talking about?

Veronica: I was...also talking about Phil.  (beat)  It's classified. (beat) But it's going to be a fantastic new tool if we can get it to tell the difference between soldiers and children.

Shit yes.  That is just straight funny.

5. Research and development is a great area for a comedy

I can't believe that I haven't seen a comedy deal with this before, because the possibilities for plotlines are seriously endless.  A company that makes new things can always make something new to have a conflict around.  A short list of things that the company has made/done so far (mini-list!)

1. weaponized a pumpkin

2. created ascratchy material for chairs to make employees uncomfortable and more productive

3. cryogenically frozen one of their scientists, just to see what would happen

4. grown beef outside of a cow

5. installed new towel dispensers that only dispence about an inch of towel when prompted

6. installed new motion-sensors that don't sense black people (more on that...NOW)

4. In the most recent episode, "Racial Sensitivity," the company INSTALLED NEW MOTION-SENSORS THAT DON'T SENSE BLACK PEOPLE

I can't stress how much I want to high-five the person who thought of this brilliant concept and the brilliant developments that ensue--first, the company attempts to make amends by creating separate, manually operated "blacks only" versions of everything run by motion-sensors (which is just about everything in the building, including DRINKING FOUNTAINS).  Then, the company decides to hire white people to shadow the black people and set off the sensors for them--a really wonderfully underplayed white slavery joke.  THEN, the company realizes that they'll get prosecuted for racist policies if they only hire white people for this shadowing job, so they have to a black person and a white person to shadow the black person, then another black person and another white person to shadow THAT black person, ad infinitum!

There's little more in the world that I like than a joke that goes to infinite regression.

And there's also little more that I like than a good race joke that doesn't trade in stereotypes OR people's misconceptions of stereotypes.

3. The scientists' lab is a meatbone science-lab

Okay, maybe this is the real reason I like the show.  The portrayal of an R&D lab doesn't even pretend to be realistic, but is rather like a live-action version of a cartoon science lab.  Which is AWESOME.  Beakers of green liquid bubbling everywhere, droppers used for everything, two of the main characters frequently described as "lab partners"--man, I cannot get enough of that.

2. The show gets good REALLY fast

I'll be honest, Better off Ted has a mediocre pilot.  But almost every sitcom ever has a mediocre pilot--it's just something really hard to do quite right.  (Arrested Development and the British The Thick of It are just about the only two pilots I would describe as great.)  So let's go by how long it took other currently-great shows to get great.  The US Office took around ten episodes (until "The Fire"), 30 Rock took eight (until "The Break-Up"), How I Met Your Mother took six ("Slutty Pumpkin"), but Better off Ted took four.  Or, if you're feeling generous, I'd even listen to an argument that it took only two--the second episode, "Heroes," is extremely strong.

1. The show doesn't have great ratings right now, spread the word and KEEP IT ALIVE!

This show has a fresh voice, its own style, and tons of potential, which it's already delivered on in 3 of its 4 episodes.  This show must be kept alive, because it is good television.  WATCH IT.  Do it for me if not for yourself, and you will end up doing it for yourself.