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.

Top 7 Statistics about the CBS Sitcoms I Watched Last Night

Last night, sirs, I achieved the impossible. A two-hour gauntlet of CBS sitcoms--The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, and Worst Week.  Here are some statistics I extrapolated regarding how much they overlapped.

7. 3 of 4 sitcoms had at least one romantic plotline

Kind of to be expected--not too surprising.  Worst Week was the odd man out.

6. 2 of 4 sitcoms had a romantic plotline between a weird-looking guy and a girl who was way too attractive for him

I guess this is kind of to be expected, too, especially from stuff like Two and a Half Men (which is written by a penis taped to a pen) and The Big Bang Theory.  Guy from Studio 60 and Dr. Horrible, and guy who looks like Matthew Broderick got hit with a tire iron--youse ugly motherfuckers.

5. 1 of 4 had a romantic plotline where the ugly guy succeeds with the hot girl

Here's the chick who was all over Jon Cryer (ugly Matthew Broderick--directly above if you don't know what Matthew Broderick looks like or something):

Yeaaaaaaaaaaah.

4. 1 of 4 sitcoms had a plotline that assumed the relevence of Battlebots

I'm looking at you, The Nerd-Stereotype Joke Theory.  (The theory, by the way, is that 30 minutes of nerd jokes can make a highly-rated sitcom.  The theory is right.)

3. 4 of 4 sitcoms made me laugh at least once

This one is embarassing, so I'm going to gloss over it.  Yes, Two and a Half Men made me laugh.  Shut up.

2. 2 of 4 sitcoms had "men read things while they poop" as an important plot point

Yes, you're reading that right.  It was an observation integral to both Worst Week and How I Met Your Mother's stories.  And yeah, I love Mother and like/tolerate Week.

1. 2 of 4 sitcoms had "seeing your lover's mother's vagina" as an important plot point

I kid you not.  Worst Week and Two and a Half Men.

The 31 Women Who Can Still Be the Mother of Ted's Children on How I Met Your Mother

If you haven't noticed, Rob and I are pretty big fans of How I Met Your Mother. It a) is one of the three best-written sitcoms on today, b) contains at least two of the top ten characters on TV today, and c) is THE most genuinely relatable show on television today. Call me crazy, but that's a quality I friggin' value in entertainment. If I'm going to let a bunch of people into my home every monday night, I want to feel like they should stick around for a beer once their 22 minutes are over. 

But who will be the eponymous mother! (PS: Band folks--that would be a sick name for a band. EPONYMOUS MOTHER!) Well, after three seasons and a handful of S4 episodes, a great many wonderful women have been written off as possible candidates for the mother of Ted's children. But 31 lovely ladies remain!!!

31. The Slutty Pumpkin (from the episode Slutty Pumpkin)

30. Mary the paralegal (from the episode Mary the Paralegal)

29. Margaret Thatcher (okay, enough of real things...)

28. Swoozie Kurtz

27. Betty White

26. Dakota Fanning

25. Virginia of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” fame

24. St. Cecilia, patron saint of music

23. Jenna, from 30 Rock

22. Topanga

21. Lilith (from a little thing called The Bible)

20. Lilith (from a little thing called Fraiser)

19. Gloria Stuart

18. Joan Baez

17. Bonnie Tyler

16. Rue McClanahan

15. Nessie, who is actually a chick

14. Elaine Robinson

13. Molly Bloom

12. Jordan Baker

11. The girl with the pearl earring

10. The girl next door

9. Lil Kim

8. Beth Cooper

7. Winnie Cooper

6. Mr. Cooper (that is actually a dude…)

5. Mrs. Cooper (that is actually a dude, too?!)

4. Mrs. Fields (that is actually a robot sent from the past to destroy your hunger!!)

3. Mrs. Dalloway

2. Robin (LISTEN I AM NOT A BAD PERSON FOR BELIEVING)

1. Bea Arthur

The 10 Most Underrated Bits of Culture Currently Happening

So, a while ago, I got livid about bands I think are overrated, and I thought about possibly doing a similar list of underrated things.  But honestly, it's really hard to find things that are genuinely great that have been consistently disliked by critics.  So, what I decided was that for a list of underrated things, I would look more towards stuff that just doesn't have the audience that it deserves.  Because I could call Tom Waits "underrated" for not moving as many units as Oasis, but it still wouldn't change the fact that he's got a niche and thousands of people who adore him.  Consider this a list of things you may not have tried yet and should.  Oh, and it's harder to come up with these, so it's just cultural in general and only ten items.  Help all of them find a bigger audience!

(Oh, and one final note: because it's about exposure, I'm obviously excluding cultural backlash.  If I were to make a list of bands who deserved their hype and didn't deserve the backlash--AND MAYBE ONE DAY I WILL--Vampire Weekend will be #2 and Bright Eyes will be #1)

10. Dylan Moran

As well as starring in an underrated sitcom (Black Books) several years ago, this guy is probably the best stand-up comedian that I consistently get "never heard of him" from other people.  He's an import (Ireland), but he ought to be a big name import like Eddie Izzard (to whom his stand-up is possibly most easily compared) or Ricky Gervais.  Here you go: get started on him with this.  It's the start of his best special, which is in ten parts on YouTube:

9. Current Saturday Night Live

I'm not going to go too far into this, because I plan on doing a list soon of "reasons I believe in SNL this year," but they've been producing a solid 2-3 memorably funny sketches per week, which is about as good as SNL has ever done at its best.  Kristin Wiig is amazing.  And they're doing great topical stuff that isn't even entirely impression-based!

8. Daily Dinosaur Comics

Yeah, if you read this blog, you already know how obsessed we are with Dinosaur Comics, but since it's seriously one of the funniest things being made right now, it must be emphasized.  Right now, the sites I visit daily are gmail.com, nytimes.com, and THEN qwantz.com.  Okay, also, fivethirtyeight.com but that's mostly just a right now thing that I'm visiting it daily.

7. Tony Gong

You know when really adolescent, high school-y lyrics work, the way it does in Big Star's "Thirteen" or The White Stripes' "I Can Tell that We Are Going to Be Friends," and it's friggin' awesome?  Do you want to listen to a singer who pulls that off on basically every single song, one after the other, and they're all catchy as hell?  Yes, I agree with you on this one, you do want to listen to Tony Gong.

6. The Burg

I already waxed poetic about this show in my review of it for the Bwog, which is here.  Anyway, they want sponsorship to make a second season, and good Lord do I want them to somehow do it.  MAKE IT HAPPEN, AMERICA.

5. Human Giant

This is the best sketch show on TV right now.  And it does have real competition, at least if you take my claim at #9 seriously.  But it's damn tough to beat concentrated brilliance like this:

4. Lewis Black's Root of All Evil

This exceeded all my expectations.  It's consistently funny, well put-together, and punchy without getting cheap.  Some idiot reviewing this show had the gall to call the comedians in it "second tier."  Second tier?  In what crazy universe are Patton Oswalt, Paul F. Tompkins, Greg Giraldo, and Andy Kindler second-tier?  Oh, right, I remember, in the universe of people who have only heard of three stand-up comedians and two of them are Dane Cook (I don't know what that means either).  Anyway, this show is really solid, and I want to see it continue.

3. Pheobe Killdeer and the Short Straws

The obvious reference point here is that she sounds like a female version of Tom Waits, but it's not just that.  Listen more closely and you'll hear other influences, like Fiona Apple, Nick Cave, and musical theater.  Her Weather's Coming... might be the best album released so far in 2008, or at least a heavy contender.  And I haven't read a professional review of it yet.

2. How I Met Your Mother

This is the third-best sitcom on TV right now--after The Office and 30 Rock (and yes I have seen Sunny or whatever other show you would put here)--but most people to whom I mention it either haven't heard of it or mentally group it in with terrible schlock  like Two and a Half Men.  Yeah, it's a multi-camera sitcom, but multi-camera isn't actually a worse format than single-camera, just a different one.  And when it's done right, like it is here, it's glorious.  Mother is probably the closest successor currently on television to both Seinfeld (in the way that it deconstructs the minutiae of human interaction) and Arrested Development (in its slavish devotion to intertextuality, consistency, and legacy).  All that, plus you have two of the best characters on TV in Jason Segell's Marshall and Neil Patrick Hariss's Barney.  FIND AN AUDIENCE, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER!

1. The Kitchen Cabinet

Think of what Uncle Tupelo or Whiskeytown would sound like if they were inspired less by country-rock like Gram Parsons and Cash/Carter country, and more by Fleetwood Mac-ish folk rolk and Dolly Parton-esque bluegrass.  That is, if country-rock birthed alt-country, this is more like alt-folk.  They're heavy on guitar and banjo (in a folk/bluegrass way, not a country way), but what really distinguishes The Kitchen Cabinet is their care and commitment to melody.  Splitting frontwoman duties are Ashraya, whose voice reminds me of Joni Mitchell's in the best ways, and Anna, whose darker, lower voice meshes great with Ash's when they sing together.  Check 'em out.