-
Recent Posts
- Better Call Saul: There Are No Happy Endings between a “Rock and Hard Place”
- Black Widow Keeps It in the Family for Natasha’s Last Ride
- Loki Finds New Purpose in the Man behind the Mischief
- In its Debut, Star Wars: The Bad Batch Decides Whether to Obey or Rebel
- Nomadland: A Film Out of Time, For Our Times
Archives
Recent Comments
Meta
Category Archives: Other Sitcoms
The 6 Dances That Define Freaks and Geeks
In Andrew’s first ever video essay, he covers the six dances that define the well-loved cult classic T.V. series Freaks and Geeks, from Bill’s “sexy” dance, to Sam’s Parisian night suit moves, and beyond.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Freaks and Geeks, Jason Segel, Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Martin Starr, Video Essays
Leave a comment
What We Do in the Shadows: The End of Season 2 and What We Really Want for Guillermo
What I want for Guillermo de la Cruz as a person directly conflicts with what I want for him as a T.V. character. That’s an inherently silly conflict because, of course, Guillermo is just a T.V. character. But as I discussed on The Serial Fanatacist Podcast, part of what makes him so compelling on What We Do in the Shadows is how real and relatable his predicament is, despite his obviously fictional and fantastical circumstances.
None of us know what it’s like to be the put-upon familiar for a house full of self-involved vampires. But almost all of us know what it’s like to feel that your hard work is unappreciated, that your contributions are taken for granted, and that you have a greater potential that could be realized elsewhere.
“A Parks and Recreation Special” Was Warm, Familiar, and Exactly What We Needed
Five years after it left the airwaves, Parks and Recreation is back for a scripted reunion special that brings together all your favorite employees of the Pawnee Parks Department during their self-quarantine. Leslie Knope has organized a phone tree with her husband, Ben Wyatt, and all her old friends to make sure everyone’s okay and maintain her connection to her loved ones while they all have to stay socially distant.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Episode Reviews, Leslie Knope, Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation
Leave a comment
It’s Always Sunny Keeps Us Guessing In Its Record-Tying 14th Season
The Gang is back in action after one of their best and most ambitious seasons. As It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ties The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet’s record for longest-running live action sitcom, it’s remarkable that the show is not only this good as it begins its fourteenth season, but how it’s managed to evolve and stay relevant. Season 14 doesn’t have the same cliffhanger to resolve or Dennis-shaped hole to fill like the last one did, but it does have to follow up last season’s jaw-dropping finale, which set a new bar for what It’s Always Sunny is capable of.
Veep’s Series Finale and the Hollowness of Getting What You Want
“What did it cost you?” “Everything.”
It’s undoubtedly silly to try to draw too sharp a line between Veep’s series finale and Avengers: Infinity War, But for those of us steeped in both, it’s also awfully hard to disaggregate them. Selina Meyer is not Thanos, despite their parallel, all-consuming quests and shared status as snappy dressers. Selina’s goal is much more one of direct personal ambition, in contrast to Thanos’s faux-altruistic aims (and hers has a much lower body count to boot). And yet the costs, at least in a spiritual sense, are the same.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Episode Reviews, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Politics, Veep
1 Comment
Veep Kicks Off Its Seventh and Final Season in Familiar Fashion
It’s time for a “New Selina Now,” as America’s favorite foul-mouthed ex-Vice President (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) makes her bid to stay in the Oval Office for a term longer than the average celebrity marriage. Along the way, she has to combat some new foes and familiar faces, including the deplorable extraordinaire himself, Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons). Her old staff is along for the ride, with their mercenary schemes and acid-tongued repartee still out in full force. As Veep kicks off its seventh and final season, it promises a heap of the show’s usual pointed political pugilism, as Selina and company rumble through Iowa and New Hampshire in an effort to woo voters and sate their own egos and ambitions.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Season Reviews, Veep
Leave a comment
Black Monday Styles, Snorts, and Saunters Its Way Onto Television
It’s 1986, and Mo Monroe (Don Cheadle) is the coke-snorting, name-dropping, robo-butler-boasting head of his own rough-and-tumble Wall Street firm. Alongside his equally profane but effective lieutenants, Dawn (Regina Hall) and Keith (Paul Scheer), Mo is literally kicking in the doors of the New York financial scene, trying to use his ostentatious, unorthodox style to help his upstart firm keep up with the big boys. A chance encounter brings him face-to-face with Blair Pfaff (Andrew Rannells), a newly minted, squeaky-clean business school grad with an algorithm that could revolutionize the trading floor. What none of them know is that one year later, they’ll all be a part of the worst stock market crash in Wall Street history. That day of financial disaster, dubbed Black Monday, lends the title to this comedy series, which offers rapid-fire humor, an impeccable cast, and boundless style.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Comedy, Don Cheadle, TV Reviews, Wall Street
Leave a comment
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Finds Its Unsuspecting Heart with Kids
The most shocking thing from the season 12 finale of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia wasn’t that Dennis Reynolds, the venerable instigator of The Gang, seemed poised to leave Paddy’s Pub, and with it the show, forever. It was why he left.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Dennis Reynolds, Essays, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Leave a comment
The Office’s Top 20 Episodes
Andrew joins Matt Melis to rank and review the 20 best episodes of this outstanding comedy.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, Michael Scott, Pam Beesley, The Office
Leave a comment
The Good Place Season 2 Gave Us Beautiful Lessons on Morality by Smashing the Status Quo
The first season of The Good Place was full of twists, and yet, in a way, the show subtly stuck to its guns. While our understanding of Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, and Janet changed, their situation remained the same, even if they didn’t realize it. Every episode took place in The Good Place, and almost every episode featured the four mortal beings making their way through that particular setup, while flashing back to their past missteps to underscore the lessons they were learning in the afterlife. The contours changed, but the premise remained the same.
Then, in Season 2, The Good Place turned its premise on its ear time and time again.
