TV Reviews for Oct 4-8

Modern Family-Earthquake: B+
This is probably as good as Modern Family can get - and even at its best there are several things that are kind of annoying with the show. I though the best part of the episode was Manny's interaction with Jay ("You're playing pretty fast and loose with my soul.") and Phil running around the house was also fairly entertaining. What didn't work was nearly everything with Cam and Mitchell; the show makes them do the stupidest things (like running around like crazy last year when a bird was in their house) and in this episode with the unnecessary destruction of things.

Glee-Grilled Cheesus: B-
I don't even know if I like Glee; there are certain elements of the show that are just awful and others that are fun and creative. What doesn't work: Having a pudgy grown man playing the "jock" Finn, writing Finn so in some episodes he seems mentally challenged, making Kurt overly aggressive and creepy, anything with dumb as a brick blonde cheerleader, and the over-the-top sentimentality. What does work and what makes Glee worth watching is the music, anything with Sue Sylvester, for the most part anything that the Will Schuester character does (this might be more of a result as the actor, Matthew Morrison coming across as likeable and talented). In this episode I though Puck's cover of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" was really quite good, the rest of the songs were decent enough, and Sue was as usual excellent. What brought the episode down was the refusal of the show to really do anything moderately controversial. They literally brought every imaginable faith into the episode to pray for the recovery of Kurt's dad (who conveniently for no apparent reason collapses and goes into a coma - but miraculously regains consciousness after Kurt learns a valuable life lesson). This religious nut's review of Glee is worth looking at, if only for humor -> http://christwire.org/2010/01/what-every-parent-should-know-about-the-tv-show-glee/

Terriers-Pilot & Fustercluck: C-
I saw the latter episode (Fustercluck) at a screening with the stars of the show and while the actors themselves were engaging and nice the show itself is so boring. Every review I have read of this show has been positive and I honestly don't know if I'm watching the same show as them. The leads are somewhat interesting, there is some humor, and a little bit of action. However the show suffers from the fact that there is no rationale for why these two poor private detectives turn down cash and risk their lives to expose a conspiracy that has nothing to do with them. Its really Scooby Doo esque - seriously just take the cash and mind your own business. The pilot episode was equally as boring as the one I saw at the screening and suffers from the same issue of there being little to no explanation of why these impoverished, unsuccessful PI's are so hell-bent on exposing a conspiracy that has nothing to do with them.

Community-The Psychology of Letting Go : B
Community is now the best comedy on Television now in my opinion (especially considering the postponement of Parks & Recreation). This was probably the weakest of Community's first three episodes, primarily because of the focus on Pierce and his wacky religion for most of the episode. Pierce is funny in small doses and as a supporting player - not so much as the focal point of an entire episode. They really didn't use Abed much (who I guess was delivering a baby during the episode -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tP0ubODOUQ) which hurt the episode but hopefully they rebound next week. Ian Duncan (John Oliver from the Daily Show) using his restraining order to control Chang's behavior was classic stuff though.

30 Rock-Let's Stay Together: B+
30 Rock ended last year on a roll with Matt Damon guest starring, Michael Sheen's hilarious Wesley character, Jack getting married, and Kenneth getting kicked out of NBC. This season hasn't been quite as great as the end of last year (or as funny as the first couple seasons) but has still been an improvement over much of last year (especially the middle of the season) which was near unwatchable. I though some of the stuff really worked like the hyping of fellow NBC comedy "Outsourced" and the grandstanding Congresswomen and Jack's diverse hires. The annoying writer characters brought down the episode and the scenes with Liz on the black talk show were more awkward than funny.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia-Mac's Big Break: B+
"I don't wanna look like some kind of jabroni." The repeated use of the name/nickname of Jabroni got funnier and funnier as Mac kept on saying it. The podcast stuff was more hit and miss - its almost a perfect fit that Dennis and Dee being idiots would try to do talk radio. Also watching the gang re-abuse their regular victims was kind of unsettling. Dennis's weird ignorant patriotic country woman voice was fairly funny. Overall, it was a solid episode but not as good as last week with the whole "implication" of going on a boat.